Bella and Carlisle laid beneath the sheets in bed, enjoying the aftermath of this newfound intimacy they had both been deprived of for so long. She toyed with his hair, they kissed, the laughed and talked. It felt.. perfect.

"You've certainly opened my eyes," Bella spoke quietly with a smile, toying with his blond hair as he leaned on a forearm, looking down at her.

"To what?"

"Where do I even start?" Bella laughed lightly and sighed, feeling blissfully wiped out. She rested a hand behind her head and knew she was staring at him in that smitten kind of way. "I feel so.. comfortable with you, Carlisle."

He placed a hand on the side of her face and soothed her cheek with his thumb. Bella kissed the heel of his hand and pulled him down into a single, soft kiss.

Carlisle moved to lay flat on his back and welcomed Bella as she moved to lay partially on his chest. "I feel that way, too." He sighed out loud.

"Is it.." Bella scrunched her nose and smiled as she paused, prompting Carlisle to turn and look at her.

"You can ask me anything," he assured her, inviting any questions or conversation she might have.

Bella rested her chin on her hands and looked up at him from where she laid against his chest. "Is it.. weird for you? Being with me.. like this?"

"Weird.. no." Carlisle shook his head and tipped half of him mouth up in a barely-there smirk. "Surprising.." he nodded, "Yes."

Bella gave him a small smile.

"Is it weird for you?" Carlisle asked her and immediately Bella shook her head.

"No," said right away. "I just didn't expect this to ever happen between us. To be honest I was a little freaked out when I realized I started to have feelings for you. I guess I was surprised by it all, too."

"Since I've been.. alive.. if that's what we are-"

"That is what we are, Carlisle." Bella looked at him, knowing he struggled with his immortality in that sense. "You're alive. I'm alive." She smiled at him and he couldn't help but smiled back.

"Well then.. since I've been.. alive.." Carlisle sighed, "I never had feelings in this way for someone until I met Esme. I mean, I had fleeting thoughts of attraction but not enough for me to want to be close with anyone."

He looked at her as she stared intently as him from her position in his chest where his heart would have been beating.

"And after she died I thought that part of me was dead," Carlisle went on. "I anticipated another century or more of loneliness. Not completely lonely because of the others, but I thought I'd never be able to regain the closeness I had with Esme.. with anyone else."

Bella subconsciously began to trace lines down his chest without looking away from him.

"Never in my wildest imagination did I think I'd feel like this again." Carlisle swallowed hard. "But it feels.." he searched for the word and Bella finished his sentence very simply for him.

"Good." The word almost came out like a question when she said it aloud.

Carlisle settled his gaze on hers and then he nodded. "Yeah."

"I understand," she said quietly. Bella laid her head flat on his chest so she gazed toward a stray window on the far wall. When she felt his hand cradle her head she closed her eyes and took a breath.

Carlisle kissed the top of her head and then ran a hand up and down her back.

"I miss laying like this," Bella said with her eyes still closed.

"Well maybe now we won't have to," he said back, letting his chest rise and fall with a quiet, deep breath.

"Mmm.." she said contently, letting her arm drape fully across his bare midsection. She then added, "God, you're perfect."

Carlisle continued to trace the edges of her body with her fingers. When she looked up at him he closed his eyes as he anticipated her kiss on his lips again. Bella quickly deepened the kiss and finally pulled back as she bit her down on her bottom lip.

"I'm sorry, Carlisle," she breathed.

"For what?" He asked in a voice just above a whisper as he held her.

"For being like this.. for not leaving you alone," she laughed lightly at herself. "For trying to.. seduce you ever thirty seconds."

Carlisle chuckled. "Bella.. I'm trying to be.." he cleared his throat, ".. a gentleman. But.. I feel exactly the same way you do."

"It's been ten years," she added, continuing to justify her behavior to him.

"You don't have to explain," Carlisle assured her, guiding her back to him. "It was a little easier when I had no experience with this," he kissed her a little harder when she positioned herself fully on top of him. "But, as much as I can control myself, I want you.. in this way. All the time."

"All the time?"

"All the time."

Bella kissed him hard again and Carlisle moaned beneath her against her lips. "Can I make a special request?" She whispered.

"Anything," he whispered back with his eyes still pressed shut

Bella brought her lips to his ear, as she noted it was quite effective when he did it to her. "Will you take a shower with me?" She had seen the lavish nature of the bathroom attached to Carlisle's bedroom and the thought of being beneath the water with him gave her chills.

"Sure." Carlisle pecked her lips with his own. He brought her back to him when she went to get up and kissed her several more times before allowing Bella to drag him into the bathroom.

Bella took the lead and wasted no time as she entered the oversized shower a step ahead of him. Carlisle cranked on the water and Bella let the water wash over her for a second or two before pulling him toward her by the back of his neck for a forceful kiss.

"I love you," Bella whispered against his lips. "I do. I love you Carlisle."

"I love you, too." It was immediate that he said it back. In any other circumstance the words might have felt like they happened to soon; but the layers of their relationship were exactly that - layered. They weren't complicated or complex. Their closeness had evolved into something beautiful that sparked life back into both of them. To not embrace it would be a sin.

Bella enjoyed being with him intimately in the shower without it progressing to sex. They kissed, he bathed her, she looked shampoo on his hair and lathered it in as they both laughed lightly together. In that small, four-by-six cubicle it was like no one else existed in the world - at least at that moment.

When Carlisle held her from behind and kissed her neck, Bella felt a surge of that lustful feeling brewing inside of her. It amplified when he gripped one of her breasts with one hand.

"Did you mean that?" Carlisle whispered as he continued to kiss up her beck toward her ear.

"What?"

"What you said."

Bella knew what he meant and she covered his hands with her own and moaned as he continued to pursue her more physically. "Yes," she choked out, "I love you, Carlisle."