A/N: Early updated because I'm restless, and I wanna.

Seducing the object of your affection was the fun part, Alice said. Fun Bella's ass.

The problem with Alice was that she was a meddler. The problem with Jasper was that he was a charming bastard with an artist's soul. Damn artists. He believed in beauty and love, and he spun fanciful tales about taking risks. With Alice to add the cheer of rah-rah girl power, they were a dangerous combo. They'd made her believe there was no such thing as out of her league.

Which was how Bella found herself in this ridiculous position, about to make a complete and utter ass of herself. "This is such a bad idea," she muttered to herself. For one thing, Edward was going to kill her whether this ended well or badly. Maybe she should have consulted him before she did this, but she'd chafed at the idea of having to ask someone else's permission to make decisions about her love life. Still, there was every possibility she could lose both of them.

Except that she didn't really believe that last part. Edward and Carlisle loved her. They'd both forgive her this severe lapse in judgment if it turned out Alice and Jasper were full of shit. Carlisle would tell her she was like a sister to him, she'd want to die of embarrassment, but she'd survive somehow. On her deathbed, she'd laugh at it.

Bella tried to calm her erratic breaths. She repeated Alice's little pep talk. She was a strong, independent woman. There was no reason she couldn't go out and get what she wanted. She didn't have to wait for any guy to get off his ass and woo her.

Besides that, Bella knew damn well that if she wanted this particular thing, the only way it was going to happen was if she instigated it. Carlisle had told her once that he kept himself under tight control—the result of his heartbreaking upbringing. If he did want her, he'd never let himself act on it.

She'd read this story before. The woman who thought she was too young and silly to be with a man like him. The man who thought he was too old to tie down a woman like her. But fuck that noise on both accounts. She was young, but old enough to know there was no script, no perfect way, no magic recipe to guarantee success or failure in life.

So, she could do this. Whatever happened, it wasn't going to kill her.

Before she could get the gumption up to actually knock, the door came open of its own volition. It wasn't Carlisle who stood there but another man. A handsome, giant of a man in a crisp, black suit.

Startled, Bella took a few steps backward. The man's size made him intimidating, but his grin was disarming. He looked over his shoulder. "Carlisle, I think this chick is here to sell you cookies."

Bella scowled. "I'm not a Girl Scout." She straightened her shoulders, even more self-conscious of her age than she had been a minute before.

The door opened wider, and Carlisle stood there next to a gorgeous blond woman. Was he dating again? He did, of course, but it had been a while that she knew. Bella shrunk back again, her stomach twisting painfully, but she didn't miss that Carlisle's whole face lit up when he saw her. "Bella." His bright expression turned concerned. "What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, um… Everything is fine." The blond was seriously throwing Bella off her game. She had the distinct impression she was being appraised and against a statuesque beauty like her, Bella was never going to come out on top. "I was just in the neighborhood."

That was when she noticed that Carlisle too was wearing a crisp, black suit. Bella hadn't ever seen him in a suit. She had to press her tongue to the roof of her mouth to keep from groaning. This was just plain unfair. There probably wasn't a guy alive that didn't look good in a suit, but damn. Carlisle looked so good, the visual alone could be sued as foreplay.

None of which was making it easier for Bella to think on her feet. "Um." Her throat was dry, which made the words come out scratchy. "I didn't know you were busy. I should have called." She took a step back.

Carlisle shouldered past his friend and grabbed her hand. "No, it's okay." He nodded his head at his guests. "This is Emmett McCarty. He works at my firm, and his wife, Rosalie."

Oh. The blond belonged to gigantor. That pleased Bella a little too much. She had to press her mouth into a thin line to keep from grinning like a fool.

"This is Bella." He let go of her hand, but his fingertips were close enough to brush her. Bella curled her toes. It was unbelievable how her skin tingled as though sensing his nearness.

Emmett's eyebrow arched. "Bella? Wow, wait. Bella is your brother's age?"

Bella glanced at Carlisle in surprise. Emmett had heard of her?

Carlisle cleared his throat. "I thought you had to leave."

Bella bit the inside of her cheek, another smile threatening. A giddy rush went through her, making her want to giggle like a schoolgirl.

Emmett too looked amused, and Rosalie's eyes were on Bella, her glance a little too knowing for Bella's comfort. She ducked her head, wondering if everyone there could read her thoughts so easily. What the hell had changed? Yesterday she was blissfully unaware. Today, she was strangely conscious of every little thing—how his body angled toward hers, how he hadn't stepped away from her personal space—and she couldn't quite keep her reactions off her face.

"Yep. We promised our kids we'd retrieve them at some point today," Emmett said, putting his arm around his wife. "You two play nice."

"It was nice to meet you, Bella," Rosalie said, a smile about her lips that suggested she thought Bella was just adorable.

Bella's cheeks burned. "Yeah, same."

"Give me a minute," Carlisle murmured, ducking his head to speak directly to her.

Nodding, Bella slipped between Emmett and Rosalie to go into the house. Once inside, she could breathe a little better. She scrubbed her hands over her face, once again wondering what the hell she was doing. With a sigh, she ducked around a corner, out of sight of the three in the doorway, and leaned up against the wall in the darkened dining room. She closed her eyes, tilting her head up.

Even this house was intimidating. For the last four years, she'd rented the same shabby apartment. She'd accumulated a few things, but every stick of furniture she owned—most of the me second-hand and worn—could fit in Carlisle's dining room.

Carlisle was an understated man save for two things—his car and his home. He liked fast cars, and as for the house, well, Bella privately thought it was a statement aimed at his father who had told him constantly that he'd never amount to much.

The house, while far from a mansion, was way too big for a single man. Bella had only been here a couple of times, both of them big to-dos. Last June, he'd thrown Edward a twenty-first birthday party the likes of which Bella had only seen on television—a house packed full of all Edward's friends, an open bar, and waiters with trays of fancy party foods.

Bella brushed away thoughts of that night. She'd had too much to drink, and remembered little about the end of the night except Carlisle's arms around her. He led her upstairs, all but carrying her, and laid her down in the guest room. She could still remember the feel of his fingers in her hair, smoothing it away from her face.

Then again, he'd done the same for Edward—gotten his drunk ass safely in bed beside her.

Again, Bella turned over the thought that not only was Carlisle an adult, but he was a successful adult. He'd made it. She hadn't even graduated yet. Sure, she'd have a degree in a few more months, but Carlisle had two degrees and a successful legal career under his belt.

He was rich, powerful, and yeah, she had to face the fact he was desperately out of her league. He was quiet and self-effacing, but that didn't change the reality of the situation.

It wasn't difficult to accept the idea that he was attracted to her, but that didn't mean anything. She was attractive. Not Rosalie attractive, but she was pretty enough to lust after. Maybe that was all it was. She was an itch he wanted to scratch, but he was way too honorable for that.

"Bella?"

Bella sucked in a sharp breath. His voice was close. She could feel him—his heat.

"Are you sure everything's all right?" He tucked her hair back behind one ear.

Slowly, Bella opened her eyes. He was much closer than she'd expected. He leaned with one elbow against the wall not a foot from her; his brilliant, green eyes searching hers. He was beautiful, and yes, he cut a powerful figure. That suit. That face. His kind eyes.

She didn't have any words. She didn't know how to articulate why she'd come here, and what she wanted—just how much she wanted now that she realized how she felt. If she opened her mouth, nothing smooth or suave would come out; she knew this.

Reaching out, she drew her hands down his suit. It felt good, smooth, against her skin.

"Bella?" His brow wrinkled.

Bella fisted the fabric in her hands and pulled him toward her, tilting her head up to catch his lips. It was a quick kiss but firm. Undeniable.

Carlisle gasped, but he didn't pull away. His eyes had gone dark and hectic. His breath was hot on her mouth. There was electricity running under her skin, sparking in the air between them.

Oh, hell. She couldn't take it back. She couldn't unknow what it was like to kiss him, to taste him. If he pulled away now—

He cupped her cheek, tilting her head back up. He kissed her, skimming his thumb along her cheekbone as he took her upper lip between both of his. As the kiss went on, Bella's head spun. She hadn't known until that moment that it was possible to be intoxicated by a kiss. She was drunk. Deliriously and delightfully drunk.

And if he put her to bed this time, she knew without a doubt she'd pull him down with her.

With a gasp, he pulled back, though he kept her in his arms, his hand still against her cheek. "You know how to kiss," she murmured, still drunk and stupefied.

He laughed. It was a breathless sound. He ducked his head, but he didn't kiss her, though she tilted her head up invitingly. He moved his hand so his fingers curled around her chin, and his thumb brushed over her lips. His eyes followed the movement before he looked at her with a surprisingly vulnerable expression. "What is this, Bella?" he whispered.

Fuck. Right. Grown-ups talked about things. And he deserved an explanation. She'd waltzed into his house and drastically changed their dynamic in the space of a heartbeat.

Nerves twisted in her gut. Okay. She wasn't going to be suave or charming or alluring. She'd have to settle for stilted and awkward. She licked her lips, steadying her breath and reminding herself he still hadn't let her go. "I don't know why now, because I think it's been a long time, at least for me. It just happened. Like a switch has been flipped, and the lights are all on." She closed her eyes, giving her head a little shake. Those words hadn't made any sense. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and looked into his again. "I just had to know."

"Know what?"

She bit her bottom lip, searching for the right words. Finding none, she took his hand and pressed it against her heart, letting him feel the rapid beat. "I had to know if you felt this."

For a long, heavy moment, he only stared at her. She gnawed the inside of her cheek, and then soothed it with her tongue, letting her eyes drop down to study the patterns of his fancy tie. "Tell me I didn't just make a huge fool of myself."

He exhaled in a gust, tilting her chin back up. "No. No, you haven't." He took her free hand and pressed it likewise against his chest. His heart was a jackhammer. His eyes searched hers. "I didn't mean to be so quiet. It's just that my switch was flipped so long ago." His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, his eyes beginning to roam her face with a look that was part longing and part desire. His voice was husky when he spoke. "And I've spent the last four years trying to convince myself I couldn't want this."

Her lips tugged up at the corners, the wide, goofy smile threatening again. "You can want this," she whispered, splaying both hands wide over his chest beneath his suit jacket, feeling the lines of him. "You can have this. Me."

They stared at each other for one, two, three heavy, charged seconds, and then the whole world changed.

Carlisle leaned in, swallowing every last inch of space between them as he claimed her lips. The hard lines of his body pressed into hers, pinning her back against the wall. These kisses were fevered and hungry, like he was ravenous. She whimpered into his mouth but returned his kisses in kind.

No, it wasn't like starving. It was like she'd been without air for too long, and now she was gasping it in in huge lungfuls. She needed more. She needed him to fill her, to consume her.

And for as calm and measured as Carlisle always was, he was anything but controlled now. Her words had unlocked something in him, and this was a part of him she couldn't have guessed existed. Who'd have known he could kiss like this—hard and demanding and intoxicating, but lacking the utter inelegance she'd experienced from the men she'd kissed before.

He didn't shove his tongue down her throat in some kind of dominant attack. Instead, his tongue parted her lips with a gentle insistence, and when she opened to him, it lapped at hers, caressing.

His hands slid down her body, one at her side and the other cupped around her back. He alternately pulled her up against him and pinned her back against the wall. His unrestrained fervor surprised her—the best kind of surprise—and she moaned, the sound vibrating between them. When he reached around, cupping her ass in his hands and pulling her almost roughly against him, she squeaked.

With a groan, he broke their kiss. "Bella," he whispered, panting and breathless as she was. He groaned again, his hands on either side of her head as he held himself just a little off her. "I didn't mean to go from zero to a hundred like that."

Bella shook her head quickly. Her fingers, curved around the back of his neck, tangled into his thick, soft hair, tugging him back down to her. She could sense the return of calm, controlled Carlisle, and fuck the hell out of that. She wanted to see more of this side of him. She pushed up onto the balls of her feet to kiss him.

"I know you," she murmured against his lips. She kissed him again. "And I trust you." She reached up, circling his wrists and pulling his hands down. She brought them around her, putting them back on her ass. "I'm a big girl, Carlisle. All grown up." She guided his hands into her pockets, watching his eyes darken as he gasped in a breath, finding the familiar foil wrappers she'd stashed there.

Funny. She'd turned beet red when she'd dressed to come here today. She'd put on the jeans that hugged her ass just right, and a crimson, fitted shirt. Though she'd been alone in the room at the time, she'd almost choked with embarrassment when she put the condoms in her back pocket, checking five times to make sure no one could see the imprint of them against the black fabric.

Now, though, she wasn't embarrassed. She wasn't ashamed of what she wanted.

And oh holy god, did she want it. Want him. He wasn't a stranger, and this wasn't as sudden as it felt.

"I know who you are. I know what I want." She let her lips brush his ear. "And you don't have to go slow."

His eyes locked with hers for several tense seconds. "You want this?" he asked.

She almost moaned at the feral look in his eyes. He wanted her. She could see it, though she could see the tenderness there too. "I want you," she whispered.

With a groan, he gave in. He brought her up against him, squeezing her ass as he kissed her. For minutes he kept her tight against him, his hands roaming up and down her back as his mouth moved with hers.

"You know, this was the first thing I noticed about you." He nipped at the side of her mouth, caressing her ass over her clothes now. "You were standing there, with your back to us, your hands on your hips and this." He squeezed her again.

She laughed, turning her head to catch his lips. "You're an ass man. That's good information to have."

He pinned her against the wall with a thrust of his hips. She gasped, feeling him hard against her. Lust burned brighter in her, and her nipples pebbled at the sensation.

"You have no idea what this is doing to me." His voice was a rumble. "To have you come in here like one of my fantasies of you come to life." His eyes had found the bumps of her nipples, straining as they were against her shirt, and he brought a thumb up to press over one, circling. "I've thought about these too. You have such perfect, perky little tits."

Bella felt the walls of her pussy actually contract. Oh, fuck her running. Was he going to talk dirty to her? Because she wasn't sure if she could get through that without combusting. "What have you…" She pressed her lips together, muffling a moan as he traced the outline of her breasts, thumb still brushing over her sensitive tips. "What have you thought about?"

"How you taste." His eyes flicked up to hers, and the devilish smirk playing at his lips stunned her stupid. "Did you mean what you said about not needing to go slow?"

"Oh, hell yes." She licked her well-kissed lips, thrilling in anticipation.

His hands dropped to the hem of her shirt, and he pulled it up and over her head. Now it was him who moaned. He drew his fingers along Bella's one concession to Alice's planning—the prettiest bra and panty set she'd ever owned in her life. It was a dark blue lace and mesh number that managed to scare up some cleavage from god only knew where. "Is this for me, Bella?" The fingertips of his other hand brushed along her stomach, making it contract under his feather-touch.

She wanted to snap something snarky—a quip about how she didn't dress sexy for him; she did it for herself, but that was a bunch of bullshit. "S'all for you," she said, highly distracted. He'd ducked his head to kiss her neck with a light, wet suction.

"Hmmm." His hum vibrated on her skin as he trailed kissed down along her collarbone. "If you have matching panties on…"

She tilted her head back against the wall, drawing her fingers along his shoulders. She bit her bottom lip as his fingertips teased the line of her jeans. "I guess you'll— Ah." She squeezed her eyes shut as his mouth found her breast and he nipped lightly through the fabric of her bra. Why was that so much fucking sexier than if he'd yanked the damn thing off like she'd imagined he might? She swallowed hard. "I guess you'll have to find out for yourself."

He hummed again, and when his questing fingers found the button of her jeans he undid it, tugging her nipple between his teeth. He didn't bother pulling the zipper of her jeans down. Instead, he put his hand down her pants, exploring. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for—the ridiculously tiny panties in matching mesh and lace.

With a growl—a fucking growl that rumbled low in his chest—he pulled back. "Christ, Bella." He took her face in his hands and kissed her. There was nothing proper or soft about this kiss. It was gratifying. He had her tangled up in knots and twitterpated. It was good to see that maybe they were on the same page.

Bella tugged at the edges of his suit jacket. He shrugged out of it, and then his lips were gone from hers. When she opened her eyes, she found his on hers, dark and wild with desire. His fingers hooked into the waistline of her jeans and, still looking her in the eyes, he pulled them down her hips.

She couldn't help it. She was self-conscious, her heartbeat going a mile a minute again as her jeans puddled at her feet. Feeling foolish and uncoordinated, she kicked them and her shoes off and away.

"Bella." Carlisle spoke her name with reverence now, and when she finally looked up, she found his eyes traveling up and down her body. She shivered as though his gaze had touched her physically. How was it possible for someone to undress her with his eyes when she was already undressed? "My wildest fantasy couldn't have done you justice." He rested one hand at her side, the other fingering the design of the panties. "You're perfect."

With those words and the look in his eyes, Bella's nerves settled.

But then, his eyes locked on hers, he dropped to his knees.

"Carlisle, what—"

"I told you." He hooked his fingers in her pretty new panties and slowly, so slowly, drew them down, uncovering her sex. "I want to know how you taste."

To that end, he wasted no time. Before Bella could process his words, he'd hitched one of her legs up over his shoulder. She gave a little cry, grasping at him to steady herself. He didn't give her time to adjust but used two fingers to part her pussy. He ducked his head between her legs, taking her clit between his lips.

"Jesus. Oh, hell." Bella had no context for this. This was some kind of porn-star shit. Her hand scrambled against the wall, as though it would somehow grow handles to hold onto. Her fingers of her other hand tangled in his hair.

He was good at this. He lapped and sucked at her clit, skimming his teeth along the sensitive nub. His fingers explored and teased along her slit before finally entering her. It was no time at all before she forgot to be self-conscious about her moans and the way her hips bucked up to meet him.

She screamed when she came. That had never happened before.

He set her foot down and stood, his arm coming around her to steady her. She needed it. Her legs were jelly. He had such a beautiful smirk on his face as he caressed her flushed cheeks. "Delicious, in case you were wondering."

She blinked. "What?" Her brain was too blissed out to process words yet.

"Your taste." His hand to the small of her back, he pulled her up against him. She tilted her head up, and he needed no more invitation. He kissed her, and she could feel he was hard, straining against his pants.

But before she could summon the words to address that situation—she wasn't sure if she had enough brain cells left after that orgasm—his kiss slowed. The air around them changed again. It was a serious kiss, stunning in its intensity. Bella found herself shaky all over again, but not for far different reasons.

There in his arms, as she returned his sensual, heated kisses, knowledge washed over her. The strength of what she felt overwhelmed her, and a truth she hadn't let herself acknowledged rang clear in her head.

She loved him. This wasn't just about want, though yes, lust clouded her vision, making it so difficult to think around desire. This whole thing was so intense because she was in love with him.

When he broke their kiss, pulling back with her face between his hands to look at her, her heart raced. Soared. She could see it there in his eyes, everything she felt—lust, need, uncertainty, fear, and love. It wasn't just attraction. Not for her, and not for him.

He kissed her again, more chaste now. Wordlessly, he swept her up into his arms, his mouth still on hers as he carried her up the stairs.

A/N: For those of you who read and remember the o/s, this is where we start to deviate. The next chap should be in Carlisle's PoV. I can't promise it will be up in two days coz, yeah...additional info! But I'll try.