Chapter 6

Bella's POV

I lay on the hammock, swinging with the breeze and closing my eyes, just listening to the sea gulls overhead. This might have been extremely relaxing and, not that it wasn't, but I was on high alert. Edward was lying with his chest against my back and was running his finger along my arm in a random pattern that left fire and goose bumps in its wake.

Just minutes ago he had kissed me, the most amazingly perfectly mind blowing kiss I'd ever had that had my entire life that had me wanting more. He had kissed me over and over for minutes, long lasting kisses that made me lose my breath and small sweet ones that just brushed my lips and went up and down my throat and along my jaw line up to the hollow beneath my ear while I caught my breath. After minutes of this repetition neither of us had breath to spare and had settled into the ropes under us.

The hammock swung every so often, influenced by a lazy ocean breeze that pulled at tendrils of my hair so that they became waving strands in front of my face. Edward's hand appeared in my line of vision and caught the rogue hair and smoothed back behind my ear. I tried to suppress the flush that rose in my cheeks at the sweet gesture but failed miserably. He chuckled very quietly.

"I'm very partial to that color on your skin." He said. My cheeks warmed even more than they had been and I heard him chuckle again, this time sounding much closer. I turned to face him and was surprised to find his face right in front of mine, our noses almost touching. He was up on his elbow, his neck stretched down towards me. A small smile adorned his angel face and his thick hair brushed my forehead, casting a shade for my eyes.

He tipped his head to the side slightly and leaned down a few centimeters closer to me. His adoring look fueling my courage, I pushed myself up the rest of the way and wrapped my arms around his neck so that our lips were once again connected in a soft sweet kiss. I felt insatiable, my hunger and greediness for this kiss never ending and prayed for it to be followed by an infinite number more. I pushed all my burning desires into the kiss and I could feel him supplying his own, stimulating mine at the same time.

Finally minutes, hours, days perhaps, later we broke apart, our breathing ragged. My eyes fluttered open to meet his smoldering gaze and immediately lost the small amount of breath I had gained. I had heard our eyes were the windows to our souls but I'd never truly believed it as wholly as I did right then on. Edward's eyes were burning with the same passion I had blazing in me at the time, the same wonder in his eyes that I could feel too. I had never felt anything like this before, had heard of it, had seen it, but never actually felt it.

A nagging that I'd pushed to the recesses of my mind for the time being was coming to the front of my mind once again, the inequality of it all. I also thought of the near future. Where would he be next month? Back in Washington. And where would I be? The ship, working day and night because I had no other options.

I sighed and averted my eyes from his flaming ones to the waving palm fronds overhead. In my peripheral vision I saw him frown slightly at my sudden interest in the flora in the immediate area rather than in continuing the passionate kisses we'd been locked in only moments before..

"What?" he asked in a confused voice. Carefully I drew my eyes back to his and felt my breath catch at the intensity of his eyes, like molten gold.

"Nothing." I mumbled. He sighed, hard and frustrated.

"Tell me what you're thinking please." He said, a slight beg in his voice.

"We shouldn't be doing this." I said after a moments pause. He stared at me with an impassive face. "It's not right. Nothing can come out of this. We lead two very different lives and I don't think I could fit into yours. I'm always on the cruise ship and you'd be back in Seattle. It won't work. Nothing could come out of this." I said trying to be rational about it all. He held my slightly pained gaze with his hard one and studied me.

"Is that really how you want this to be? Just because it might not work, why try?" Immediately my cheeks flamed at the way he'd made me sound so weak.

"That's not what I meant!" I cried indignantly.

"That what do you mean? Look, I'm sure there will be a way to work this. You do come home right? I'll come down and visit!" My mouth twisted slightly.

"I don't want to tie you down." I said softly, my mouth feeling dry.

"That's not what's going to happen!" He groaned and rolled onto his back, rubbing his eyes with ht heels of his palms, before pausing and peering at me uncertainly out of the corner of his eye. "Unless you don't want this to continue…"

"No!" I cried immediately. "No, if there's a way we can make this work, I'll take it."

He chuckled lightly and kissed my forehead, murmuring, "Alright, then let's find a way to make this work." between kisses down my nose, across my cheeks, and, finally, my lips.

"Okay," I breathed once we'd broken apart once again. "By now I'm willing to try just about anything."

So we began discussing options, comparing schedules and distances and all sorts of plans, all in between stolen kisses that made me forget my name and what we were talking about in the first place.

Edward wasn't the first guy I'd kissed. My first was with Mathew Perkins when I was fifteen. It was quick and chaste and, even though I'd forgotten to tip my head and, to my embarrassment, bumped noses, it still had me on cloud nine the rest of the weekend. Emmett and my father had both freaked out and tag team chewed me out for being too young the rest of the night while my mother looked on, smiling slightly and choosing not to comment. Instead, she'd taken me aside later that night and we'd talked for an hour about how amazing first kisses were.

That kiss, and any I'd had since did not even come close to comparing to Edward's kisses. I felt like I could fly, like I was about to implode with sheer ecstasy. His fingers trailing across my skin or through my hair sent shivers down my spine and across the surface of my skin.

Eventually our talking was completely forgotten and only making out was the only thing on our minds until a huge shadow was suddenly looming over us.

"Oi," Emmett grumbled from above. Both of us looked up to find him towering over us looking fairly annoyed. His hair was totally disheveled, sticking out at random angles, and I glanced over at Edward's hair to find in similar disarray. Rose had one arm hooked over his shoulder and was grinning at me teasingly. "What are you two doing?"

"Kissing," I replied innocently, trying not to let my temper go astray since he seemed to have good intentions most of the time and attempting to not laugh at the ridiculous way he looked with his hair screwed up and a look of outrage on his face.

"Well, that's…! Totally unacceptable…! Completely inappropriate…! What do you thing you're…!" Emmett spluttered incoherently. Rosalie laughed at his incoherent state and turned to us.

"What he means is 'I'm happy for the two of you, want to see you happy, give my blessing, and wish you the best.' Right babe?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow at the mountain of a man. Emmett cowered and shrank under her gaze. I could almost see him deflate and melt under her challenging look.

"I… ah… yes." Emmett said in a defeated voice.

"Good boy." Rosalie leaned up and kissed his nose. "Now if you go let Jasper and Alice know that we should get back to the ship, I'll buy you some ice cream." Rose teased, towing him over towards the water where Alice and Jasper were sun bathing, Alice's head on his chest.

"I like chocolate." Emmett grumbled, glancing over his shoulder one last time at Edward and me.

I rolled back over so I was facing Edward again and grinned at his nervous expression. "You don't need to worry about him." I reassured him. "He just needs to get used to the idea that I'm seeing someone."

Edward nodded and kissed me one last time before pulling me up and off the hammock with him.

"They're right though, we should start getting back to the ship." I nodded and headed over to where the rest of the towels and bags were so I could pull my sundress back on. Alice and Rosalie were already over there and getting their own clothes back on. They grinned at me when I joined them.

"What?" I asked, flushing slightly.

"You and my brother are so cute together!" Alice exploded, leaping forward and reaching up to hug me, making me stumble back a step and blush darker. Rosalie laughed.

"She's right, you two look like you were made for each other." Alice nodded her agreement, bobbing her head from side to side.

"You and Jasper seem to compliment each other perfectly, and Rose, I've never seen Emmett so into a girl as he is into you." I told them as I tied to sash on my dress, trying to get the attention off of me.

"I'm starting to think that Emmett might really be 'the' guy for me, you know? He's so sweet and he doesn't seem to only like me for my butt like some other guys. He actually looks me in the eye when I'm talking rather than at my boobs, and he really listens too!" Rosalie grinned, her cheeks turning pink. "I've always looked down on girls who get all gooey and swoon over guys, but, for Emmett, I might just turn into one myself."

"I know!" Alice cried, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Jasper is my, like, Prince Charming or something! We click and he seems to totally get me. This is the best trip ever!"

Rose and I nodded our agreements. Even though I wasn't technically taking a trip, but instead just doing my job, it would be lying to say that I wasn't going somewhere this very moment.

A/N- I'M SO SORRY. SERIOUSLY. I really fell out of fanfiction for a while, didn't I? It's been, what, five and a half months since I've worked on anything!!!

I figured I'd try to get back into it slowly, and I'm sorry if it doesn't work and I just stop all together. I'll try to let you guys know if that will happen so I don't get annoyed messages asking when I'll come back.

Anyway, I'll do my best.

Cullens4everandever