AN- Phew! This chapter was harder to write than anything I've done before. I love that so many of you are reading, but I was surprised how much pressure I felt to get this right! Before, I was just babbling for my own entertainment. Now I feel like I don't want to disappoint any of you! I also took a little longer to post, because I let the chapter run long instead of dividing it up like I usually do. I thought you'd appreciate getting the whole steamy picture at once. : ) Here we go, on with the practicing. Wee-hoo!
A Morning of Freedom (Bella)
BPOV
As consciousness slowly reclaimed me, I stretched. It felt so nice, I decided to do it again. I stretched my arms and legs as far as they would go as well as yawning hugely, just like when I was five. I heard a soft chuckle from across the room. I cracked one eye open to peer at Edward. He laughed and walked toward me.
"Good morning, Angel," he said, caressing my cheek with the back of his hand.
I took hold of said hand and rolled over, pulling him into the bed behind me. He laughed again. It was a very pleasant way to wake up.
"Now it's a good morning," I murmured once his arms were around me. I sighed and snuggled closer to him, my morning breath pointed safely away from his face.
"I take it you're not ready to get out of bed just yet," He noted kissing my hair.
"Nope," I agreed. Then I sighed, "But I supposed I should, or I'll be late for Alice." Being late for Alice was one of the few things that could motivate me to move from where I was.
"Alice has decided to give you the morning off," he said, smiling behind me.
"Really?" I asked, incredulous and excited all at once. I loved Alice, but I was officially done caring about wedding details like how many peanuts versus how many cashews went into each nut cup.
"She said you deserved it."
I immediately felt guilty for my uncharitable thoughts. "Did she say why?"
"Apparently you were able to explain something to her that I've been unable to for years."
What could I have explained better than Edward? He was more articulate than I could dream of being. "What's that?" I wondered aloud.
"Why we're waiting." He said simply, kissing my hair again.
"Oh." See? Articulate.
"She refused to give me the details of the conversation," I felt him pout and almost turned around to see it. Then I remembered my morning breath. "She said, 'a lot of what goes on between me and Bella is none of your business, Edward'," he mimicked, doing a perfect impression of Alice.
I laughed. It was so very Alice to use Edward's own words against him.
"I am very curious, though. How were you able to finally explain it to her?" He asked softly.
"Well, I told her all about souls and virtue. She understood, but still thought we were insane." I laughed, remembering, "Alice was actually the one to put it into words that made sense, even to me."
"And the words?" he prompted. I decided Alice didn't really care if Edward knew what we had said to each other. I wanted him to hear it the way I had.
"We love each other, even more than we want each other." I said clearly.
Edward was quiet for a long moment. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore, dragon breath and all I turned to look at his face. His eyes were bright. At first I couldn't read his expression, then an absurd thought hit me.
"Edward," I said incredulously, "are you crying?"
"Bella," Edward whispered, ignoring my question, "That is the absolute truth."
I smiled brightly at him, glad he saw our relationship the same way I did. He leaned forward to kiss me. Remembering my dragon breath, I slid my hand between our mouths.
"Wait," I mumbled behind my hand.
He laughed, knowing exactly what I meant. He let me go and I ran to the bathroom to complete my human moment. Still in my pajamas, I slid back into bed and pulled his arms around me again.
"Now, where were we?" I asked innocently.
"I believe I was about to express how much I love you," he smiled at me.
"Proceed."
He chuckled then leaned forward again, pressing his lips to mine. The kiss lingered for a moment. Then he pulled away to kiss both my eyelids and my nose.
"I love you, Isabella Marie Swan." He said, captivating me with his rich topaz eyes.
"I love you, Edward Anthony Cullen," I replied. I snuggled into his chest, sighing with contentment.
Edward stroked my hair. For a long while we lay there, silently holding each other. Finally Edward spoke. "Are you determined to stay in bed all morning, or would you mind if we went somewhere?"
If Alice wasn't making me get out of bed, I didn't see any reason why we shouldn't stay right where we were. What could be better than laying here together?
"Where?" I asked, skeptical I would agree to moving.
"Our Meadow," he whispered into my ear.
Okay, that I could get out of bed for. From the light coming through my window, I could tell it would be cloudy, but I didn't think it would rain.
"Let's go," I said, jumping out of bed. Edward laughed at my sudden exuberance.
Soon we were together in the clearing. Edward was stretched out, relaxed with one hand behind his head. The other was resting on my hip as I lay curled up next to him, with my head on his chest. We sighed at the same time, then laughed at ourselves. I was totally relaxed and all was right in the world. I decided our meadow was the perfect spot. The perfect spot.
I turned my head to look up at Edward's face. His eyes were closed. He looked like he could be sleeping.
"Edward," I said.
"Mmmm?" he said without opening his eyes.
"Do you feel like practicing?" I asked.
He opened his eyes to look at me, lifting his brows as if to say 'you have to ask?'. He smiled crookedly at me. I smiled back at him. He raised himself onto one elbow and looked at me expectantly, waiting for instructions.
I decided I liked being in charge. It made me a little less nervous.
"I think we should try kissing again," I smirked, "Since it didn't work out so well last time."
He laughed at my understatement, "Agreed."
"I also think we should sit up," I blushed, "It might help my self control."
He smiled and nodded his head, "Anything else?"
"Nope," I said and sat up, crossing my legs in front of me. Edward mirrored my position.
I giggled, "I feel like we're in that scene from the movie 'Sixteen Candles.'"
Edward looked at me blankly. I was astounded.
"You're kidding! You've never seen it? Molly Ringwald? It's an 80's classic!"
Edward rolled his eyes, "I try very hard to pretend the 80's never happened."
I shook my head. I still couldn't believe Edward hated the 80's. He's the cheesiest guy I know! In a good way, of course.
Edward shook his head as well. Then, taking my hands in his, he asked, "Ready?"
"Yes." I agreed.
Edward lifted my left hand and kissed the knuckle just above my ring, his eyes never leaving mine. I was once again dazzled by the deep topaz pools, the intensity of his feelings for me clearly shining in them. I was drawn to him as he leaned forward. My eyes closed, expecting our lips to press together.
Instead, Edward only came close enough for our lips to barely touch. He parted his lips slightly, sending his delicious breath across my face. He brushed my lips softly with his, turning his head to press his cool cheek to mine. I smiled, loving his talent for being intimate without being overtly sexual.
He drew his face up, caressing my cheek with his own, then brought his face down, caressing the other side. He brought his lips back to mine, lightly brushing them together again. The whole process was both tender and incredibly sensual. It sped up the beating of my heart.
He smiled at the sound and pressed his lips more firmly to mine. Our lips began to move together. My heart rate continued to escalate. I reminded myself I needed to breathe. When I parted my lips to do so, Edward captured my lower lip. He gently sucked on it before releasing it to do the same with my top lip. I concentrated very hard on breathing, hoping it would help distract me enough that I wouldn't lose control as fast as usual.
Then he traced my open lips with his tongue, our breath mingling. I noticed his breath was coming faster, as mine was. I tried to let go of one of his hands to touch his face. Instead of releasing my hand, however, Edward twined our fingers together, pulling me even closer.
His icy tongue entered my mouth and caressed my tongue gently, slowly. We both moaned softly. It was a good thing he had my hands firmly locked in his own, or I would have been grabbing his hair and it would be over. I definitely didn't want it to be over.
For a few blissful minutes we continued kissing this way, Edward's tongue increasing in pressure each time it entered my mouth. I decided as much as I was enjoying kissing this way, Edward shouldn't get to have all the fun. The next time Edward brought his tongue into my mouth, I leaned forward, rising up onto my knees. He gripped my hands tightly. Then, as he withdrew his tongue, I followed it with my own, exploring the inside of his cool mouth.
His breath caught and we both moaned again. If I can spend eternity like this, I don't need heaven! I suddenly found my legs around Edward's waist, his hands on the small of my back and between my shoulder blades, pressing me against him. I wrapped my legs firmly around him, securing myself to him. My hands clung to the back of his neck. I was still trying very hard not to knot them in his hair.
We held our bodies still as our tongues continued to dance. Several delicious minutes later, Edward's hand slipped from my shoulder blades up into the hair at the back of my head, tangling in it. His arm was still holding my body tight against his chest. His other hand slid lower down my back, pressing my hips against him. My breathing was ragged, my heart beat erratic.
Still, I wanted to be even closer to him. I increased the pressure on the back of his neck with my hands and started to lean back. He knew what I wanted, because then I was on my back, pressed into the grass by Edward's body. After more passionate kissing, the ragged breaths between darting tongues were no longer enough to satisfy my lungs. I pulled back and Edward released my lips, turning his attention directly to my throat. As I took heaving breaths of air, Edward kissed aggressively up and down my neck. On his second pass up my throat, he stopped and began to kiss my ear, nipping at it and teasing it with his tongue.
"Edward!" I cried. What I meant to say was 'combustion!', but it was too late. My hands flew into his hair, gripping tightly and pulling him toward me. My body arched back, my hips rising to meet his. I was lost.
Edward gasped at my reaction. I had driven him over the edge, again. His eyes grew dark and he reclaimed my lips. His tongue was thrust in and out of my mouth while our bodies melted together.
Then the heavens opened and we were drenched with water. It didn't start raining, it poured. It felt like someone had suddenly dumped a bucket of cold water on us. We both jumped at the startling sensation. Then Edward rolled off me and we lay next to each other, panting and trying to calm ourselves. It took some time for me to catch enough breath for speech.
"We aren't very good at using our safe word." I noted, smiling. I sat up to look at him, curling my legs beneath me.
"You think?" he asked, laughing. He still had his eyes closed. His drenched shirt was clinging to his perfectly sculpted body. God, he's beautiful, I thought. How fair is that? He gets to look like an Adonis, and I'm sure I look more like a drowned cat.
Once his breathing had slowed, he opened his eyes and looked at me. Correction, he stared at me. Okay, maybe not like a drowned cat. Cold drips of water trailed down my back. I shivered. Edward's eyes grew even darker and he slowly sat up. He began to move toward me. Speaking of cat, I thought. I felt like a deer being stalked by a mountain lion. I can't say I didn't like it. He caught my eyes with his. My breath caught as well. I couldn't speak. I couldn't move, with him looking at me like that.
Just as he reached me, his cell phone rang. Irritated, I reached around and pulled it from his back pocket, intending to throw it into the woods. Edward caught my wrist gently and looked at the caller ID.
"It's Alice," he said, lifting an eyebrow.
I sighed heavily and pressed the answer button. He smiled and put the phone to his ear, still holding my wrist.
"Right," he responded to whatever Alice had said. He listened for a moment and then smiled, "No, we wouldn't want that." He listened again, "Okay," he said, laughing, "See you soon, and Alice, thanks."
He pulled the phone away from his ear and I pushed the off button. Then he put my wrist to his nose and inhaled deeply.
"Alice says, if we don't get you home to change right now, you'll get sick." He smiled at me.
"Does she, now?" I asked, doubting that's all she had said. I sighed again. "I guess I should be glad she's so willing to help."
"Yes," Edward laughed, standing up and helping me to my feet. He hugged me, kissing me on the top of my head, "very."
Next chapter will be the same scene, from EPOV. Sorry for those of you who hate the same scene twice, but I can't help comparing how differently, yet similarly they think. Besides, Edward is always more descriptive, and you know you love that
