SURPRISE! Yeah, so I wasn't feeling 2C this week, and all of a sudden even more plot bunnies for this little fic assaulted me while I was away on business. Total utter hell in that I had no time to write them, not to mention trying to remember them all for when I got home!

Smoochies and megahumps go to my Pufferfish, HammerHips for record time turnaround, to my wifey MistressGemGem for saying I flipped what had been a shitty day for her around, and AlexisDanaan for her love, and coming up with a new fic that she let me read the first bits!

As always, I don't own dick. Not even Edward's.

Enjoy...

Chapter 5

"I can handle myself, Edward. I'm not interested in getting all co-habitational." I said from my perch at the bar, eating the last of my scrambled eggs. Thank God it wasn't another sandwich.

A long sigh, and the clank of silverware against china, and I knew enough that the King was slightly miffed.

"Bella, I'm not asking you to move in, I'm asking you to stay with me a few days, until things settle down." Edward's frustration was clearly evident, and getting more so each time we had this discussion.

"No." Keeping my gaze on my plate, I muttered before I swallowed the last bit of breakfast Edward had cooked for us both.

"Goddammit, Bella." He pushed away from the bar, taking his dish and slamming it into the sink, his back now to me. I only knew because at this point I snuck a look at him. "Why can't you just…cooperate?" His shoulders sank as he said it, and then he turned and walked away, taking the stairs to the upper deck.

It had been like this for the last twenty-four hours. At first, it was an invitation, delivered amidst the post-coital bliss of our last fuck. Jasper had disappeared, Emmett having phoned saying that after the cops had let him go, he'd fallen off the grid. Emmett had his men—I should say his and Edward's goons—scouring Chicago, the airports, trains, rental car companies, not to mention the states of Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa.

But Assper was nowhere to be found.

Edward thought he had help, someone either on the inside, or someone who knew enough to work the system. He'd interrogated me yesterday on any and all possibilities at the office, any outside-of-the office acquaintances, fuck buddies, anyone who might have a connection. I tried to tell him that I knew of no one, that Jasper and I…well, we didn't operate that way. It was sex, and release, and that conversation hardly ever came into play, not to mention a threesome. I was plenty enough to handle.

I grinned slightly as I remembered saying those words to Edward. They were enough for him to hop up off the bench where he had been, grab me off the stool where I had been, and shove me up against the nearest wall. I stood, while he tongue-fucked me, my fingers twisting in his hair, my thighs quivering, about ready to pop, when he stopped suddenly and said, "You're staying with me, Bella. It's not a request."

It took one glance down at him, and my hand shoving his head with the talented tongue from me to disengage myself from his hands on my hips. I walked, rather difficultly, to the bathroom, slamming the door behind me.

Trying to fuck me into submission, Cullen? King, my ass.

I locked the door, flinging my shirt over my head since the yoga pants I had been wearing were still somewhere in the galley. Waiting 'til the water was good and hot, I stepped in, letting it singe my skin, my fingers finishing what he had started, eliminating the need, taking control. Control of my body, control of my thoughts, control of the situation.

No one told Bella Swan what to do, and no one used sex to get it. Well, except for me.

Our last day, yesterday, had been tense to say the least, both of us spending as little time together in what little room there was to keep apart. Edward had been on deck, I could only assume using what little juice was left in his crackberry pretending either to work, or how to get me to his place and keep me there. Thoughts of being tied up at Edward's admittedly took up at least an hour or two of my day, and damn if I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I hadn't been restrained in years, since the beginning actually, when I'd been trained, recognizing early on that my talents were best served on the other side of the dom/sub relationship.

But Edward and I, this… this überfucked thing we had. He had been patient these last few days, and so had I, both of us foraging through what was uncharted territory. While the sex had been fucktastic even with my still-tender back, I wasn't sure anymore what I wanted. Oh, I knew for damn sure I wanted to own his dick, just like I had that first day in the office. The problem was, I knew he wanted to own me, and somewhere deep inside I knew he was close. I'd never believed in the tugging of heartstrings bullshit, the flutterings of the internal organs that made women replace good sense with gushy nonsense. Until he looked at me with those fucking emerald eyes, and the smirk that would launch a waterfall between my legs.

That look that said he was about to fuck me every way to Sunday.

Yeah, that.

It was then that my insides betrayed my brain, and the more I thought about it the more frustrated I became.

I'd slipped into bed alone tonight, our last night on the boat. Edward was once again up top somewhere, avoiding me as much as I was avoiding him. I didn't bother to check to see what he was doing, nor had he come below. For a minute or two, I felt like diving off the edge and making a swim for it, just to be free of it all: of this fucking boat, of this fucking prison, of…him. Instead, I climbed into bed naked, curling up under the sheet, hoping to torture him when he finally joined me and I refused his touch.

You're fuckin' him, aren't ya?

It was Jasper, his hand around my throat, squeezing tighter with each passing second. I could just make out we were in my office, as his other hand tore open my blouse.

Jazz… I was only able to squeak out, my voice unable to project the power I needed it to. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't scream for help. JesusHChrist he was going to kill me.

I'm going to finish what I started, Beller. With my hands around your neck and my dick inside you, I'm going to make you scream like you never have, before I put us both out of misery.

Grabbing his shoulders, I shoved him, letting out a wail with everything I had, or at least I thought I did, my body wiggling and squirming trying to…

"Bella!"

Jasper had somehow ripped my skirt from me, his pants around his ankles, his mouth now on mine, pressing, suffocating…

"Bella, wake up! It's just a dream!"

There were hands on my shoulders shaking me, somehow I knew this, but I screamed again, this time my eyes popping open, attempting to focus, blinking away what had been Jasper's face, to find Edward's. His shirtless body sat on the edge of the bed, his one hand leaving my shoulder to cup my face where something wet caught the chill of the air. My eyes glanced around the room, until I looked up in his. I could still feel Jasper, still see Jasper, and I started to shake uncontrollably.

Edward's arms pulled me to him, but I couldn't push away. I had the strength of a ragdoll, until the realization slowly seeped in that it had only been a nightmare. I reached for him, my arms suddenly finding the strength to pull him to me, my fingertips boring into his skin, wanting him, needing him, and not wanting to fight that need.

"He was, it was…him, Edward. He was…" I sputtered into his skin as I dug my cheek into his chest. "He said he was going to finish…what he started." I said through clipped breaths, and I realized I was sobbing. I couldn't ever fucking remember sobbing, at least not in a man's arms.

"Fuck." Edward muttered, beginning to rock me back and forth, and the next realization scared me even more than Jasper. I had a nightmare. Edward was here. I was in his arms.

And I liked it.

The thought sent a shockwave through me, and I pushed away, laying back down, rolling on my side, curling the covers up with me into a tight ball. It was all too much, all too real. All of it. Jasper, Edward, my internal walls crumbling around me. I squeezed my eyes shut, but it was Jasper's face I saw. I opened them, sensing Edward was getting undressed, and the dip of the mattress next to me let me know that he was now behind me yet not touching me. I wanted his arms around me, I didn't want his arms around me. I wanted it to all go away, the past two weeks, of my world turning upside down, of the rollercoaster ride.

Of everything spiraling out of control.

"Fuck!" I screamed into the covers clenched tightly in my fist that I now held up against my mouth, so loud that my body shook again, and this time Edward inched up behind me, his hand going around my hip and pulling me to him. This time, I didn't pull away. This time I let the warmth of his skin, his chest at my still-scarred back, envelope me.

His lips at my ear whispered, "It's going to be ok."

"I know. It was just a fucking dream." I managed to whisper back.

"It's more than that. I get it. Trust me." His thumb gently grazed my stomach as he said it. I wanted to believe him. I really did want to trust in the fact that he knew, understood even. Even thinking about the word trust sent another shiver through me, Edward feeling it, his hand moving up to underneath my tits, his fingers splayed open as if trying to hold all of me in the palm of his hand while simultaneously pulling me as close as possible to him.

I merely nodded, unable to remotely verbalize anything more than I already had. My head was so fucked, I barely remembered how to breathe.

"Just relax. Sleep. I'll be here right here. We'll figure out everything else…later." His lips on the side of my head punctuated each sentence, until I felt him settle in next to me.

Tenderness. Yes, this is what this was. Something so foreign I barely knew the word, and again that stirring inside of me that only Edward unlocked. I pushed back into him, turning around and pressing him onto his back. My leg slowly slid over his middle, feeling his semi-hard cock brush against my thigh as it did. Straddling him, I rocked, feeling his cock brushing my ass, my hands pressing into his chest, my fingernails scraping as I moved my body. The surprise on his face only lasted a moment, until his wide-eyes lessened, and the look that sent tingles through me took over.

"Take it all away, Edward. Take me away, My King." I whispered, my hand reaching between us, wrapping it around that huge cock of his to guide it into me. His hands came up to grab my breasts, squeezing as I rode him, nothing existing in my head anymore but for us to find oblivion together.

"From your lips, My Queen."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Fucking piece of shit." I threw my pen across my office, hitting the opposite wall. Trying to work, trying to think through this fucking fiasco of my life was getting more difficult by the day. After that last night on the boat, and at breakfast the next morning, Edward and I had come to a compromise.

Yeah, some fucking compromise.

He basically became my bodyguard, albeit a fuckhot and useful one. He escorted me to and from the office, either in my car or his well-appointed Mercedes SL63 AMG, and stayed with me at my place until I either kicked him the fuck out, or asked him to stay. Sometimes, he was quite persuasive in overcoming my attempts to boot his ass, and frankly, on occasion, I wanted him there. I didn't tell him the nightmares were worse on nights he wasn't with me. I didn't tell him of waking up screaming and sweaty, unable to breathe.

Doing so would've made me look weak. Or at least that's what my head kept telling me.

It had been a month since that shittastic day when Edward Cullen had nearly busted in on me and Jasper going at it in this very office. Every time I thought about that day, those few days where Mr. Emerald FuckMe Eyes had upended everything that I had worked for, everything that I knew and accepted, everything that had taken me years to build and organize, my anger and frustration grew. Staring at these boring four walls had not helped in erasing them, or to focus my mind elsewhere. They only proved to remind and reinforce.

Above all, I couldn't go to Heaven. Emmett had shut down the upstairs operations until things calmed down, whether it was on his own or Edward's request, I didn't ask. I had lost my oasis, my kingdom where I ruled, where I could find escape, and with it I sensed my control slipping.

That pissed me off even more.

So I poured myself deeper into my work, attempting to sign two new titles with brand new authors, relationships I had been fostering over the past year in order to make my signing goal. Rose had come to me that first week wanting an explanation, and I could only assume more. I was cold, but professional, not allowing her even the faintest hint of where my head had gone, or what had happened. She was too smart to let it go at first, questioning and digging, things I admired most about the way she operated. The way she did her job.

Rose didn't take no for an answer, except with me. She knew her place.

I couldn't fault her for finding ways to circumvent my refusals, and so she came up with other avenues, our upcoming National Sales Meeting for one, excuses to meet with me, a fact that didn't go unnoticed. The big Hoo-Hah was in a week, and being held downtown at the newly-built Trump Tower, culminating in an awards dinner and masked ball at the Art Institute. The company was sparing no expense for its first Chicago sales meeting in ten years; our previous year, and sales through the first half of this one were still exceeding goals, even with the Jasper bullshit.

I found myself no longer wanting to be with Rose, in that sense anyway, and as days passed, and her attempts failed, our meetings grew more and more about what were going to do for the sales meeting, and less about her doing me. Which was good, the more I thought about it, and yet the thought of being exclusive with Edward brought up that whole pent-up frustration of ownership. Like I should have papers or something.

Name: Bella Swan

Pedigree: Psychotic bitch

Shots: Tequila, sometimes Jameson, always anything given to her.

Certifications: Publisher, Dom*

Relationship status: Unknown, and getting more unknown

*May need recertification after current events

Before I'd even realized it, I'd picked out another pen and doodled that little piece of hilarity on the notepad in front of me. Quickly ripping off the page, I tore it into tiny bits and threw it in my garbage. The last thing I fucking needed was someone getting their eyes on that.

Suddenly, my phone rang, the caller ID telling me it was Edward. I hesitated for only a moment, long enough to know something was up, because Edward and I had been steering clear of each other in the office. Only once had I even daydreamed of introducing him to the fuckroom.

"Edward." I answered as unaffected as I could.

"Come to my office." He said quickly, and with just a touch of arrogance.

"I'll be right there." I hung up the phone, staring at the receiver. Edward hadn't used that tone with me, not in the office anyway, for weeks. It reminded me of that first conversation.

I know who you are.

Something was going down, and it wasn't good.

I grabbed my notepad and some file that had nothing to do with shit from the top of my desk, walking down the hall just like the Bella Swan of old would do. Poise, confidence, smiling at some, ignoring others. Mary was at her desk as I approached Edward's door.

"Just go in, Miss Swan. He's expecting you." With that, she abruptly stood up, my hand turning the doorknob as I watched her go away. As if she already knew…

What the fuck was going on?

"Edward?" I pushed open the door, and saw him gazing out the window, his back to me, just like he had been that day I came to win his trust. I nearly snorted at the memory.

"Come in, Bella, and close and lock the door behind you, please." He said without turning. I did as he asked, walking to stand in front of his desk, and dropping my fake props on top of it. I scanned his papers and files as quickly as I could for any clue what might have made him summon me, but it was financials and proposals, one of mine still in its folder off to the side.

"You're coming home with me tonight, Bella. I don't want any arguments." He suddenly said, the tenor of his voice just this side of angry, as if he were trying to hide it.

"Edward, while I do appreciate the lengths at which you've been…extending yourself, I am not Whitney Houston, and you're not Kevin Costner."

He spun around so fast, the bottom of his suit jacket flew out and it almost made me giggle, my Superward and his charcoal Armani cape. I must've let slip a smile.

"Do you think this is funny? Do you think someone…" he stopped abruptly, taking the distance between us in three, maybe four quick strides. He grabbed my shoulders, his fingers tightly clutching, too tightly, and for a moment, I was reminded of Assper, and his last attempt at me in my office. I shrugged out of his grip, but glanced up at him, his eyes finding mine, and I didn't need him to tell me. It was there, written all over his face.

"Edward, I'm-"

"Don't make me carry you out of here for everyone to see. Go now, get your things, and meet me downstairs in the garage." His expression was nothing if not stern, but there was something else, as if he was upset I had pulled away.

"Just tell me, dammit." I said, stepping slowly back from him. I'd only seen the look on Edward's face once. "Something's happened."

"You have ten minutes." He turned from me, going to his desk, beginning to organize the papers strewn all over it. "Nine." He barked, without looking up.

I took one last glance of him. Part of me wanted to run, do exactly as he said. The other wanted to tell him to take his overprotective bullshit and shove it up his ass. I chose the former, but rather than running, I walked swiftly from his office.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Mystery of You" – Red

"Letters from the Sky" – Civil Twilight

I shifted in my seat once more, the third time I had crossed and uncrossed my legs. Edward was quiet, too quiet, as he drove the Stevenson like it was Indy, his soundsystem blaring a song I'd never heard, the lyrics fucking with my already fucked-over psyche.

"Are you ever gonna tell me what the hell happened?" I asked, not even glancing at him.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the fingers of his left hand squeeze the steering wheel tighter, as his right hand hit the shift to take us to Mach 10.

"We're going for sushi, and then I'm going to take you home and fuck you proper."

My head whipped to my left, catching his profile and his jaw clenching. Not dwelling on the fact that he completely dodged my question, a familiar feeling made me squirm once again in my seat, my thighs rubbing together of their own volition. The helicopter blades were back, and Edward knew it too, as his glance went to my lap, and his fingers around the gearshift stretched open and closed again. Edward had never used that tone with me, that complete and utter you're mine and you will obey. Oh, I'd heard it before, from others in my past, but never from Edward.

Fuck me proper you will, My King.

It suddenly occurred to me that I hardly knew the man sitting next to me. That what I'd seen in the last week was a blip, an alteration of what had been, and the significance made my stomach do a triple twist. If I were to really think about it, not that I wanted to, there had been changes in me – variations of myself that were as strange and unnerving as the words that had just passed those infinitely kissable lips of his. This continuing chess match between Edward Fuck-of-the-Century Cullen and my libido was about to get considerably hotter than it was between my legs at this very moment.

Fuck if that's where I didn't want it. Him. Before the end of the night.

The Japanese Sushi place was damn near empty when we arrived. Being only just after five o'clock, I was hardly hungry, but smart enough not to even mention it. The waiter led us to an out of the way booth, Edward slipping him something most likely to grease the seating, but with nobody in the place, I didn't see a reason. I slid into the booth, while Edward ordered wine, but I didn't even care enough to hear what it was. All I could think of was what information had provoked the sudden change in Edward, and the images my mind was conjuring of just what he would do later. Hard as I tried, though, I couldn't sit quietly, so I tried one more time.

"Edward, not telling me what happened is only going to piss me off more, which in turn will cause me to piss you off more." I didn't look up from my menu as I made my case. It was the truth. I knew it. He knew it.

His deep inhale made me look up, and only made me more determined. "I'll find out, eventually."

He dropped his menu, and gave me a good long look. His eyes roamed my face, then my neck, then my tits, and then back up to meet my gaze. "There was a threat today, against your life, intercepted by the mailroom and delivered to me."

I sat back in my seat. A threat? "What kind of threat?"

"A threat, Bella. What other kind is there?" Again with the aggravation. Well, I'd show him aggravation.

My tirade was interrupted by the waiter, Edward and I ordering, shockingly he let me do so on my own.

I quirked my eyebrow to say the previous discussion was not finished as the waiter left. "What did it say?"

"It doesn't matter. Thinly-veiled it wasn't." He took a long sip of wine trying to end my questioning.

I pretended to straighten my skirt. Someone had sent a death threat to the office. Edward must have had a hand in the guys in the mailroom checking for suspicious packages or mail with my name on it. In some ways, I felt violated, in others, tremendously thankful. What if it hadn't just been a threat, what if it had been…something worse? My fingers inadvertently went through my hair, pulling it from my face, as I mimicked Edward's very long sip of wine. It was Chardonnay, and it was quite nice. I drank some more, suddenly wanting a buzz very bad.

Someone wanted to kill me, and that someone could only be Jasper.

I finished my wine, setting down my glass, and reached for the bottle at the same time Edward did. "Bella, although it is a very good Chardonnay, I'd rather we enjoyed it with the meal, rather than finishing it beforehand."

I pulled my hand back, feeling and most likely looking like a petulant child. I signaled the waiter. "I'd like a Grey Goose, extra dirty, blue cheese olives if you have them."

I could feel Edward's eyes drilling a hole through my head.

"Have your wine, then." I glanced back at him.

"Bella, this dinner was not meant to be a war," he said, taking another drink. "I just…" he shifted in his seat. Seems I wasn't the only one uncomfortable, and I wished momentarily I could see his lap. "I feel…very protective of you."

My mouth dropped open and I laughed, not because it was funny, but more out of surprise. "No Edward, you want to shove me in a room without windows, lock the door, and throw away the key. I can't live like that."

I set my hands flat on the table. Any other time, any other place, any other circumstance, I would've walked. The air was stifling, my fingers fidgeting, intertwining, tugging and pulling, until his hand reached across the table, and he rested it on top of mine.

"Don't fight me on this, Bella. I can't stand the thought of…" his other hand came up, as he took my hands in his, "I will not let you get hurt again."

I had been staring at his hands, our hands joined over the table, when the full meaning of his words hit me. While Jasper had nearly choked and beaten me, Edward had been cuffed, unable to stop him. Unable to help me.

He was overcompensating.

"I've been taking care of myself for a long time." I said, pulling my hands from his.

"True, but how many times have you had someone trying to kill you?" He jested.

"Touché, Mr. Cullen." I mumbled as the waiter with impeccable timing walked up with the first dishes.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Edward opened the door of his 24th floor condo. Lake Point Towers, aptly named because it was literally a clover-shaped high-rise right at the pinnacle of Randolph and Lake Shore Drive. Beautiful views of the Lake, with an accompanying relevant price tag. He must have offshore accounts somewhere. Drug smuggling maybe? I knew what a VP made, and although it was substantial, the Mercedes he drove, and this address made me think there was even more to Mr. Enigmaward than I would ever know.

"Make yourself at home." He was gracious, yes, and as I walked down the hall, into the main room, the manliness of the décor was evident, but in a comforting way. Brown leather, and muted neutrals, very little decoration or knickknacks, save for a few. It reminded me of something authentically Tuscan, but not in an overbearing way. A massive flat screen TV took up on wall, along with technological wonders and a collection of CDs to rival an Amazon warehouse.

His voice floated over to me from a bar on the opposite end of the room. "I had Emmett pick some things up for you again, for at least a few days. You and I will be working from here tomorrow, and at least through the weekend."

I spun around from where I had been studying his music, having noticed NIN seemed to be a favorite.

"We can't possibly stay cooped-" He shook a martini shaker either to stop me from finishing my sentence, or to drown out what I was going to say. He poured one, and then brought it and a beer for himself over to me, a peace offering handed to me with a pretty stem and three blue-cheese olives.

"How did you-"

"Might I remind you, I know everything about you. Oh, and the fact that you just ordered one two hours ago." His mischievous grin turned into that devastating smile, my panties growing as wet as the martini in my hand.

I chanced a sip. Perfect. Damn the boy was good.

I decided on another tactic. "Well, now that you have me here, what are you going to do with me?" I flashed a smile of my own, knowing full well I had stolen the line from Pretty Woman, before taking another sip. He set his beer on the table, his grin receding as he stepped closer. He reached out for my drink, taking it from me, and setting it on the table next to his beer. His eyes never left mine, and I was physically incapable of looking away.

"It's not what am I going to do with you, it's what I'm not going to do with you."

I'd read about breath hitching before, but I never quite knew what it felt like. Until now.

His hand cupped my face, his thumb running softly over my cheek. A momentary look of concern broke through, and I could only imagine it was the ugly dark circles that were under my eyes.

"Think you're ready to play my game, Isabella Swan?" His hand left my face and slowly traveled across my shoulder and down my arm to take my hand. I took a deep breath as I suddenly realized I hadn't taken one in the last, oh, 3 minutes or so.

Knowing what Edward wanted, expected, and actually doing it were two separate things. I hadn't been a sub in forever. I wasn't sure if I could go back there, to that place, to who I had been. I didn't take orders anymore, I gave them, and the punishment for disobeying that went with them. Power was my aphrodisiac, wielding my toys and watching their complete submission to me, a release.

Edward was challenging me, and I couldn't deny I was more than a little turned on. I loved a challenge.

I stepped closer to him, my free hand on his chest and over his heart. "Bring it."

With his hand in mine, he pulled me to his body. I could already feel his semi-hard cock pressing through his pants against my stomach. "As you wish."

He led me back down the hall to a bedroom. It didn't look to be the master, and I'd seen two other doors in the same hallway. He opened the door, stepping aside to let me walk in first.

"Go to the middle of the room in front of the bed. Stand still, and not another word unless I instruct you to respond. You can address me as your King, and for now, I will address you as Bella. I'm sure I don't have to remind you of the rules."

"Yes, but do you-"

"Oh, no you didn't." He closed the door behind him as I immediately recognized he was going to be a strict fuck. All I wanted to ask him is if there were any special rules of his that I should know, but I guess I was going to find out the hard way. When I reached the very large canopied bed, I turned and he was already there in front of me.

"Since we're just beginning, and I need to…test your limits, I'll let that go. But not again. Do you understand, Bella?"

I merely nodded.

"Good girl."

He walked over to a chest of drawers on an angle in the corner, which gave me the opportunity to look around. The walls were a deep burgundy, with heavy curtains over the window. He had turned on a dim light, a chandelier almost, which was right above my head. Even though the sun was still out, the room was relatively dark and intimate. Hardwood floors covered the room, what looked to be a Persian rug on the side of the bed. I couldn't help but feel the tingle in my gut, the burn between my thighs, the pending excitement.

Edward had taken something from the drawer, something black, and walked back to me. "Safewords. Green, Yellow, Red. Remember them."

I nodded again.

As he brought it up to my face, I realized the black thing in his hand was a scarf. "What were those words you said to me that first time?" He asked, tying the scarf around my eyes as I took a deep breath. I couldn't believe how fucking turned on I was. "Ah yes." No longer able to see, I felt the rush of his breath on the side of my face, and then near my ear. "Anticipation is as much the torture as the actual pain coursing through your veins, I believe."

I felt his smile, as he ran his lips from my ear to my throat, and suddenly fingers at the front of my blouse. "You'll find, Bella, that I don't always follow the rules either. I like to unwrap the package myself, I'm rather tactile in that sense." I could tell the fucker was already enjoying this, the material of my blouse being pushed down my arms, until his hands circled my hips and then around me, and more fingers on the zipper of my skirt until it was around my knees. The helicopter blades were at full speed, the ache deepening to the point I wasn't sure if I would make it.

He took my hand. "Step." I lifted my leg as I felt my hand guided to his shoulder, and what I could only presume was him kneeling. "Again." I raised my other leg, and then felt his hands, around my ankles, slowly going up and over my calves to my thighs, until his hands pushed at their insides to spread them. I moved my feet, until his hands grasped my thighs to make me stop, and then disappeared. The rustle of fabric and the noise of his shoes told me he had stood up and walked away. Fuck I wanted his hands to stay, to linger, to move over me between my legs, to rip off the expensive but now wholly unnecessary black lace panties I was wearing. He could buy me more.

I heard more movement, what I thought was his jacket being put somewhere, the clink of a belt, the dropping of pants. Hot damn. My fingers clenched and unclenched at my sides. He hadn't said if I was allowed to touch him or not. Usually it was a no-no, but at the moment I didn't give a rat's ass. If he came back, I was pretty sure my hands would be uncontrollable.

A drawer opening again, and then…music. Not like before. I had to grin. It was Ravel's Bolero, the classic anticipation music. Playful yet seductive, it was a dance, slowly building, spiraling, until the final climax. Just thinking the word made my legs quiver.

The silence of his bare feet made it difficult to know where he was, until a finger slowly ran down the valley between my tits and made me gasp, a slow trail down my stomach until it slid around my waist, tickling my sides and making me flinch.

"Ticklish, I see. Well, there's something the files didn't tell me."

He ran it around to the small of my back, until I felt him undoing my bra, the straps slowly sliding down my arms. He pulled and my arms went out and a swish and a sound of it hitting the floor somewhere off in the room. His hands came around my waist, sliding up to cup both in his hands, his fingers kneading, his thumbs playing over my nipples in time to the music. I couldn't help but lean back into him, until he pulled me forward with my tits in his hands.

"No Bella. Stand straight." I tried not to moan, to make a sound, but the pull of his hands, the teasing of his fingers, was sending a direct signal to my abdomen and below. Until his hands slid down once more, his fingers digging inside my panties to cup my ass, and then take them down to my ankles.

"Kick." I knew this maneuver well enough, and sent the black lace flying somewhere in the room. His finger trailed a path back to the front of me, tickling me again as I flinched, and I could hear him try not laugh. His thumb rubbed just above my pubic bone as another finger teased around and inside my belly button.

Pure, unmitigated torture. Is this what I did to them as I realized he was mimicking my moves, my initial dance? I let out an exhale, nearing pressing myself up to his teasing fingers.

"Not yet." He said, removing his hand. "But you're better than I thought you'd be, Bella."

Suddenly I was being pushed backward, his hand at my hip guiding me. "Raise your arms."

Oh God.

I complied, feeling a soft rope of some sort going around each, until a pull raised them even further, not uncomfortable, but just enough to make me start to breathe faster.

"Bella you are so fucking beautiful like that." Movement again told me he had walked, a drawer opening, closing, and more movement, until a sudden touch of strips of something, leather, on my thigh, and then the other. A flogger. Holy fuck.

I started to tense, knowing what was going to happen, and not sure if I was ready. I knew Edward wouldn't hurt me, he was a pro, but it didn't mean that there wouldn't be some pain. Could I really do this? Yes. No fear, Bella. No fear. I needed to relax, let Edward take me on this journey, be what he needed me to be.

I no sooner had braced myself, when the straps slid from my back and a sharp crack came across it. My hands tightened into fists, remembering techniques from long ago to not make a sound. The burn wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be considering my back still had the evidence of Jasper and the cane. It surprised me that Edward would go there, but before I could get pissed, another stronger snap hit my asscheeks, this one stinging slightly, make me jut forward, my feet sliding forward to catch myself. As I regained my balance, I felt the handle brush across the tops of my tits to the other side, until another snap to my ass with even more strength.

The sting of this last one simultaneously sent a jolt to my core and to my head, my mind spinning in denial, my body telling me otherwise. No, I couldn't do this anymore, I was not the submissive, I didn't want to give in, but I could no longer deny what Edward was making me feel. I pulled at the restraints, considering safewording, but that would be losing, admitting defeat, and I had told Edward to bring it, whatever it was, and he was only on a flogger.

"Bella, I'm checking in. Safewords?" I heard his voice from across the room, and I shook my head, fighting the desire to cave, succumbing to the desire to win. The drawer once again opening, more toys being gathered. His light footsteps were once again in front me, as I felt his finger brush my lips, and I couldn't help but part them. Kiss me, dammit, I screamed in my head. Fuck I just wanted to feel him. As if knowing, I felt his arm come around me, gathering me closer, his mouth on mine, tongues searching, finding, possessing, until I felt a sharp sting on my left tit and I gasped pulling away.

"Unnnh." I tried not to scream, biting my lip, remembering nipple clamps, the initial bite and then the slow dull pain. He pulled me to him again, his mouth on mine, this time putting on the clamp and holding me to him as I groaned into his mouth with the first sting.

"Breathe, Bella." He whispered, as my head dropped to rest somewhere on his body until he pulled away. The muscles in my arms were beginning to protest, the sockets and my shoulders becoming painful because of my pulling. I tried to do what he asked, I tried to breathe, to find the pleasure, and as if he knew, his fingers were suddenly between my legs, slowly going over my center to my clit, softly circling. My hips jutted forward in response, the tension building inside me like never before. I was going to break, and his fingers would be the death of me.

Then they suddenly stopped, long enough for his hands to spread my thighs again, and something…oooh. Edward's tongue, sliding, gliding, his fingers holding me open, his tongue inside me, thrusting, licking up to my clit. I couldn't help but pull on the ropes, my thighs starting to shake.

I couldn't come until he said so. I couldn't come until he said so. I repeated in my head.

Until one hand reached around behind me, finding the crack of my ass, fingers searching as his tongue continued its assault.

"Come, Bella. Come for me." I felt fingers go inside me, fingers tease my ass, and his teeth bite softly on my clit.

"K-king!" I screamed the only word I could remember, my body bursting, and Edward's hand behind me now pressing me to his mouth holding me up, his tongue continuing to circle, my body jolting in response. The pain of my nipples gone, the pain on my back and ass obliterated, and the pure bliss washing over me.

It was like nothing I'd ever known, even with Edward.

Suddenly I was in his arms, nipple clamps gone. He released one arm and then the next slowly bringing them to his shoulders to ease into the shock and pain of having been stretched. But I wouldn't have felt it even if I could. He laid me down on cool sheets, my head on a soft pillow. My arms and legs were spread wide, as I heard his footsteps walking…somewhere. I couldn't move, I couldn't see, and I didn't care. All I wanted was Edward, his touch, his skin. I wanted more, I wanted him inside me.

Suddenly his hands were on my arm, turning me over, his fingers and something cool brushed over my back and my ass, making me inhale sharply. The blindfold was removed as he turned me onto my back, kissing a trail over my shoulder, down, sucking on a nipple and then the other, until he was hovering over me, his face just above mine.

"I'm going to bury myself inside you, Bella. You were…magnificent." Before I could even process what he'd just said, he moved to the side of me turning me, grabbing my thigh, and moving my leg back on top of his. Oh fuck he was going to come at me from behind and I didn't have the strength, I didn't have the…until I felt the tip of him sliding in, then thrusting slowly, building, his lips on my neck, his breath against my face, and I reached back finding new strength to tangle my fingers in his hair.

He had me building again, his hand at my hip, pulling me to him, deeper, harder, slowly, then faster, then slowly again.

"Talk to me, baby. I need to hear you." He groaned in my ear. I wasn't sure if I was capable of speech.

"I…can't." I managed.

"Music to my ears, My Queen." He groaned even louder, his huge cock filling me, thrusting faster, the smacking of our skin, the sweat on us both, the smell of sex, and Edward.

His fingers suddenly left my hip, holding me yet searching down between me. "I'm gonna come, baby. Come with me. Again." Like a homing beacon his finger touched the spot as he thrust into me and yelled.

"M-mine!" His teeth bit down on my shoulder.

I nodded, and said through short breaths. "Y-yes… yours." With one last push deep into me, I felt his body quake behind me, his moan against my skin where his teeth still were, and his fingers press down on me, pulling me to him and over the edge with him.

"Ed…" I managed to get out, my insides clenching around him, wave after wave, and him jutting into me until he stopped, his fingers leaving my clit and traveling up to my stomach, where he held me to him.

I had nothing left. We stayed like that, still, the only sound the music, and our breaths fast and furious, until they slowed. There wasn't a word for what I was feeling. Reeling maybe? Gelatinous? Electrified? All of it wrapped in amazement, contentment and… something else. Edward's hand slowly brushed my stomach, my ribs, like he was strumming a guitar. His slightest touch still sending zings through my body. I felt warm and yet on fire, all because of this man behind me, who at that same moment, knew enough to pull out and move, letting me lay on my back.

"Open your eyes." He commanded near my face, and it took everything I had to do it. His face was just above me, and his eyes searched mine as his lips softly touched, caressed my own. Seeing his face, seeing his expression, his soft smile, another sensation went through my chest.

"That was…"

"Sensational." He finished.

"Edward, I-"

"I know." He said, leaving my lips to gaze at me once more. His hand came up to push away my hair, his eyes staring into mine. "I know."

What did he know? He reached down to gather covers throwing them over me, cacooning us as he spooned in behind me once more. "Sleep. Talk later." He whispered into my ear, gentling nibbling at the outside before he settled in behind me. I nodded once again, settling into him, his arm over my waist and mine on top of his, and I was out.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The urge to pee woke me, face down on the pillow, Edward's arm across my back. I slowly pushed up my head and turned to look at him. His soft snore told me he was still out.

I slid out from underneath his arm, not wanting to wake him. Thank God the light was still on, although the music had stopped. I tiptoed across the floor, looking back to check if he was still asleep. He didn't move.

I reached the door, when I noticed his suit jacket laying across a chair just to the side, a piece of paper sticking out of the pocket. I wasn't the type to snoop or pry, but something about it struck me as unusual. With one last glance back at him, I grabbed for the paper, opened it. It was just like in the movies, letters from magazines or newspapers glued to the paper.

Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight

Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We're off to never never-land

Something's wrong, shut the light
Heavy thoughts tonight
And they aren't of Snow White
Dreams of war
Dreams of liars
Dreams of dragons fire
And of things that will bite, yeah

Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight

Exit light
Enter night
take my hand
We're off to never never-land

And at the very bottom, in big red letters…

You will be mine, Bella.

I gasped, I couldn't help it. So this is what had come, what Edward had intercepted and kept from me. I folded the paper and carefully put it back in his pocket. Taking one last glance at him, I opened the door in search of the bathroom, and got lucky when it was the first door on the right. Walking in, I turned on the light, closing the door, not wanting to look at myself in the mirror. I sat on the toilet, holding my face in my hands. What the fuck was I going to do? What if they never found him? What if he was out there, right now, waiting? I finished my business, flushed, and stood up to lean on the counter, looking at myself finally. Karma was definitely not on my side on this one.

You will be mine, Bella.

I bent over the counter more, suddenly feeling lightheaded. He wasn't going to stop. He wasn't going to stop until I was dead, or he was caught or dead too.

Why, Jasper? Just because I had screwed Edward? Hell, at the time I didn't even know it was Edward, and neither did you.

I slid down, my ass hitting the tile floor hard, my hands making a smacking noise as I tried to brace myself. I'd never passed out before, but my head was spinning and something told me I was close.

"Edward." I whispered, leaning down on my arm. I'd never needed anyone, least of all a man, but now, here, nearly prone on Edward's bathroom floor, I couldn't help it. I didn't have the strength to get angry, my breaths were coming short.

Holy fuck, I was having a panic attack.

"Edward." I managed a little louder, falling back on the floor, the room spinning faster.

The door suddenly swung open. "Holy shit!" Edward was on the floor next to me, his hand on my face, his other at my wrist. I tried to find him, but he was morphing into two, maybe three, Edwards. Suddenly his arms were under me, lifting me up, carrying me out of the bathroom and back to the bed. He disappeared, and then came back again, a glass of something in his hand. Sitting next to me, he helped me sit up, my head lolling back onto his arm.

"Drink this. Slowly." With semi-closed eyes, I managed to open my mouth and not choke. It was apple juice.

"I think your blood pressure just dropped, or something else." He raised the glass back to my lips and I drank more. I was starting to feel better already.

"I think I may have taken you too far tonight, My Queen." He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

I tried to shake my head. "No." I paused. "I saw the note."

A/N:

*grins* If only...

I'd love to know what you thought.

Thanks for reading.