They aren't mine!
We entered the house to a delicious smell wafting from the kitchen. Edward placed a hand on my back and led me that direction until we entered where we saw Esme at the counter arranging the dinner she had prepared for decoratively on a plate. She looked up and smiled warmly at me, carrying my plate over to the kitchen table.
"I just wanted to make sure you had a good dinner," she said, still smiling. I couldn't help but smile back just as warmly.
"Thank you Esme," I replied, feeling a surge of affection for my soon-to-be mother in law. She was so good to me. She was so good to everyone.
Edward and I walked toward the table and he bent to kiss Esme on the cheek, also thanking her for her immense kindness to me. Edward pulled the chair out for me and waited for me to sit before he sat himself. Esme touched both of our shoulders exiting out the back door.
"The rest of the family has decided to go hunt for the evening to give us some privacy," Edward commented, as I began my dinner. He seemed so content watching me eat, stroking my arm, my back and shoulders from time to time. "They'll be back in a couple of hours," he finished.
I just nodded, remembering the last time I was alone with Edward at the Cullen house for a couple of hours. It was the night I had agreed to marry him, the night that changed everything, or maybe more accurately, the night I had committed myself to my chosen future with Edward. It was also the night I had tried to seduce him into sleeping with me.
My cheeks burned slightly with the memory of that night and his bed, and I looked up to see comprehension on Edward's face. He knew what I was thinking about.
Edward smirked at me, and tried to smooth out his face as he asked, "What are you thinking about Bella?" His feigned innocence didn't convince me. He knew exactly what I was thinking about. He just wanted me to say it out loud.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied, taking a bite of dinner and chewing it forcefully to emphasize my point.
He leaned into me, lightly breathing on my neck as his lips approached my ear and he asked, "You don't understand why I want to know what you're thinking about sweet Bella?" He chuckled lightly and placed a kiss on my neck, right below my earlobe. I was in a haze. This kind of behavior still stunned me into silence and quickened my pulse.
When I had collected myself, I pushed my plate away, having decided I was done for the evening, and I turned to find his face just inches from mine. I know my pulse gave me away, but I wanted to tease him like he was teasing me. I reached up both hands to either side of his face and slowly touched him, running my fingers over his temples and my thumbs across his cheeks. I let out a breath and saw him close his eyes and lean closer to my face. He inhaled deeply to take in my scent and sighed when I continued to move my fingers over the planes of his face.
"I was thinking about spending more time with Alice, you know, planning the wedding. Doing girl stuff," I lied. Nothing would wound him more than claiming I would rather spend time with someone other than him. He opened his eyes, giving me a sharp look. He didn't buy it for one second.
"Oh, well I think that sounds great. Alice would love that. I'll call her…" he started as he pulled out his phone, but I cut him off before he could scroll to her number.
"Fine, you know I was thinking about you and the night I accepted your proposal," I relented. Why couldn't he just let me win? I started to pull away, but he held me close.
"I was thinking about that particular night myself," he admitted. "We've had a lot of good memories on that bed. Some frustrating memories too, but that night on my bed was the single greatest in my existence."
"I know how we could make that bed even better in my eyes," I joked.
"Everything is on your terms now Isabella. Everything," he replied, taking me way too seriously.
I pulled him in for a brief kiss, then told him, "I meant it when I said I wanted to wait. We're so close now. I am happy with pushing our boundaries like we have been. Very happy…" I murmured.
He smiled his crooked smile at me and stood, pulling me up with him. He grabbed my hand and started toward the stairs. Toward his room. Toward the bed. We arrived, and sure enough he pulled me over to the bed. He picked me up and sat me down on the edge with my legs dangling off the side. He stepped closer to the bed, between my legs and leaned over to kiss me softly, slowly.
He moved his kisses from my lips across my jaw to my ear where he whispered, "We have a couple of hours to improve the bed in your eyes. What would make you love the bed as much as I do?"
My pulse quickened to hummingbird levels and I started to stutter. Would I ever get to the point where I could be completely comfortable and confident with Edward? I was embarrassed by my embarrassment. I was still wearing the Alice-approved undergarments, and I needed to find the confidence to match. I said the first thing that came to mind.
"I very much enjoyed your missing shirt last night," I whispered back to him. He stiffed under my touch at those words. Where had that come from? I flushed, immediately regretting my moment of honestly until he pulled back from me to look into my eyes. The fire was back.
"Did you?" he questioned, his eyes smoldering. I nodded. He was grinning down at me, clearly enjoying both my honestly and embarrassment over that honesty. "I enjoyed my lack of shirt as well. I think you can make that happen again," he said, stepping as close as possible to me. He leaned over me and pushed me back further on the bed and crawled over me.
"How?" I asked. My voice wavered just the tiniest bit.
"You can take my shirt off," he replied simply, before kissing me soundly.
He lowered his hips so the bottom of his sweater was easily accessible to my hands. I broke my eyes away from his and looked down at his waist where my hands, apparently of their own accord, had moved to the bottom of his sweater. I toyed with him briefly, gently pushing the sweater up his back and running just the tips of my fingers over his now exposed sides. I looked up at his face to see him starring intently down at my face. It was the kind of look that made my stomach clench in a good way.
I had one of those moments of clarity right then. My gorgeous, sexy, brilliant and passionate fiancé was hovering over me waiting for me to peel his sweater off of his body. I was, without doubt, the luckiest girl on earth. No contest. I smiled at the thought and his intense stare broke and he smiled back at me, wiggling his hips a little to remind me to get back to the sweater removal process. I giggled and winked at him, then wagged my eyebrow a bit before pulling his sweater up and over his head. I struggled a bit with pulling it over his head and messed up his hair even more than it was previously. I pushed the sweater down his arms and he helped pull it off over his hands.
He tossed the shirt off of the bed and knelt over me with his knees on either side of my hips and his hands on either side of my head. I smiled up at him and he reciprocated my happy look. He bent to kiss my lips and as he did so he sneakily moved his hands to my sides. I was so lost in the kiss that I was surprised when he began to tickle my sides. I squealed like a small child.
"Edward!" I screamed kicking out, futilely attempting to break free from his hand which had grabbed my two wrists together. I knew I couldn't escape, but it didn't stop me from trying. I squirmed and screamed and tried desperately to pull away from his long fingers tickling my side.
"Please Edward!" I begged. He laughed in response. After a few more minutes of torture, he let me break free. I rolled away from him before kneeling and springing on to his chest. He let me push him backward onto the bed, pinning him there.
"Are you ticklish at all Edward?" I asked, running my fingers over his sides in an attempt to elicit a reaction. He shivered a bit, but confidently looked into my eyes and said, "Not at all, love."
I pouted. Of course he wasn't ticklish. I laid perpendicular over his stomach looking up at his face and traced patterns over his chest with my finger the same way he traced patterns over my back last night. He laid back with his hands behind his head while I used my finger as a pen to write him notes across his chest.
"You are perfect," I wrote. "You are my everything. I cannot wait to be your wife. I love you so much."
"I love you too," he murmured, clearly having understood everything I wrote out, " and I cannot wait to be your husband. I still cannot believe I found you after all these years. I have no clue what I have done to deserve you and your love in return. I don't deserve it, but I will do everything I can to keep you and to make you happy forever." He had looked up to watch my face as he said the words. My perfect, wonderful, loving fiancé.
I moved up his chest and pushed his hair back off of his forehead and continued to run my fingers through his hair. He smiled and I leaned in to kiss him. He let me take control of the situation. He wrapped his arms around my back, holding me to his chest as I continued to slowly and deliberately kiss him on his mouth, his cheeks, his eyelids, the tip of his nose, his chin – anywhere my mouth could reach. He practically purred underneath my, sighing in contentment and my ministrations.
I could sense our weekend was coming to a close when he shifted a bit under me. He made it harder to reach his face. We had been kissing for hours, or at least it felt like hours.
"They're home, aren't they?" I asked him.
"Yes, they are and it is probably time to take you home to Charlie," he replied, confirming my suspicion. He sounded appropriately disappointed, which comforted me some.
"I don't want to go back to Charlie's house yet," I whined. "I want to stay home with you. I don't want this weekend to be over yet and I feel like it will be the second I walk out the door."
"Love, we have the rest of time to be together. You need to appreciate the time you have with Charlie, no matter how much I don't want to share you with anyone," he said. He was right, which wasn't a surprise because he was always right about these types of things. I did need to be there for Charlie.
"You're right," I admitted, shifting to stand up off of the bed. Edward stood too and went to retrieve his sweater. I had to swallow down my disappointment as he put the sweater back into place in order to drive home with me. He came over and wrapped an arm around my waist as we made our way down to the living room. I paused and made plans with Alice for a dress fitting later in the week and a meeting with a bakery for the cake and a few other odds and ends which needed to be addressed.
Edward led me out to the garage and over to my new vehicle. I sighed, resigned to the fact I would be driving a car worth more than some people's homes. Edward smiled at me and offered to drive me home. I was profoundly relived when he said we could do driving lessons tomorrow instead of having to deal with them today. I was too tired to deal with relearning how to drive.
We were silent for the most part on the drive back to Charlie's house. How strange that I considered the Cullen's house my home these days. We held hands on the drive back and Edward walked me to the front door when we arrived at the house.
"Thank you for this weekend Edward. It really was amazing," I said, feeling kind of nervous, like I was on a first date and I wasn't sure if he was going to kiss me or not. Edward smiled.
"Of course love. Thank you for accepting the car, the credit card and the phone with such grace," he replied, pulling the phone and credit card to hand me with the keys of my new "before" car. "I'll be over in a couple of hours when Charlie is asleep," he said, sensing my unease at his departure. "Go be with Charlie for awhile. I'll be over in no time at all," he said with a smile.
"I love you," I said and he replied in kind, pulling me close to him for a kiss. He released me, letting me head inside to see Charlie and to anxiously count down the minutes until I would get to see him again. I guess now was as good a time as any to inform Charlie of my new mode of transportation.
I finally managed to finish up the weekend. This might be it for this story. I may start a new one with some glimpses of different parts of the summer before the wedding. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate them all! I never realized how much review meant to the writer until I decided to write something myself.