Thanks as ever to my friends who read through my chapters and offer me encouragement, and also to my beta's Whitlocked & Angelz1114577.

Ok, this is the last of my stock-piled chapters, I'm writing as we go now, the pressure's on! This is where I'll need your reviews to keep me going!

Chapter 20

Jacob PoV

Things were reaching a head. Even though a big part of me was still hurt at Nessie's betrayal, I could not physically bear to see her so upset any longer. I knew we still had a lot to figure out, but I also knew that I was determined that we would do just that.

"Jake, can you ever forgive me for all of this?" she whispered. I smiled slowly and shrugged as she showed me for the first time that she wanted to work through things as much as I did. I was still nursing severe emotional bruising from all of this, but despite the hurt, I couldn't help being relieved that there was still a possibility of a future for the two of us.

"Ness, I don't have a choice. I don't want to live without you. We'll work it out, honey. C'mere." I flicked my head upward to her in encouragement and she climbed to her feet, moving toward me. As she grew closer to me, my skin began to tingle in anticipation. It was hard to believe that it was only a matter of days since we'd touched each other; I felt like a man caught in a drought about to take a life-saving drink of water.

Before she'd had a chance to reach me I'd taken two steps forward, my arms reaching for her. My hands made contact with her upper arms and a sudden current jumped between our bodies, flowing through my skin and making me shiver, before it faded and I stilled again. I'd never felt anything like it; it was exquisite.

"Holy crap!" I gasped, as I tried to work out what had just happened. "What the hell was that?"

I held onto Nessie as she wrapped her arms around me too, holding on as though for dear life. Since we'd touched, something had changed subtly. The air around us seemed charged with an energy that I'd never noticed before and Ness seemed to be almost emitting some kind of aura.

"Shooting star," she whispered, almost in wonderment and I was unable to stop the happy chuckle that rose from my chest.

We stood like that for a while, neither of us talking, just revelling in being close enough to touch each other again. There were still unresolved issues between us, but the feeling I had that made my heart want to burst from my chest with happiness, also reassured me that if we both felt this way then there was nothing that could happen to keep us apart any longer. I was reluctant to break the spell, but everything that had happened here in this room earlier had me feeling a little stifled now.

I lifted a hand and smoothed it over Nessie's hair.

"Let's take a walk, Ness."

She looked up at me, contentment in her eyes despite everything we'd gone through during the past week, smiled and nodded. We drew apart but I kept hold of her small hand in my large one, frightened that if I let go then she might prove to be a mirage and disappear.

****

Nessie and I walked through the silent house; there was no sign of Rosalie or Emmett. We headed outside onto the terrace and down the steps toward the waterfront. It was late now and the sky was a clear, inky black, the thousands of stars twinkling brightly above us. We made our way down onto the waterfront and strolled side by side, the stones making next to no sound below our feet.

When the lights from the house had faded behind us, I stopped and pulled Nessie round to face me, linking our other hands together. I smiled at her, aware that I couldn't completely hold back the sadness as I thought of her with him and knowing that some of it had escaped and tinged the smile.

As her eyes took in my face, her expression became pained.

"Oh God, Jake. Please don't look at me like that, it's killing me!" She hung her head and leaned forward to rest it on my chest. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"Hey," I said to her, softly. She didn't respond. "Hey." I said it more purposefully this time and raised our entwined hands together, lifting her chin with my thumb so she was looking up at me. "It'll be ok, Ness. If we both want to do this then we can work it out."

She nodded and allowed herself a small smile. I kept our hands where they were and bent my face down toward hers. I paused for a moment, my mouth just an inch from hers and I heard her breath hitch and shake. The sound made my stomach flip and I slowly leaned in to close the small gap. Her lips were even softer than I'd remembered – despite the number of times I'd played out kissing her again in my memory. She groaned softly and a delicious tingle of electricity passed through the kiss, from her lips to mine and down through my body. Instead of fading away this time, it stopped between my legs and I felt myself slowly harden as the kiss continued and the feeling manifested itself there.

Nessie untangled her hands from mine and slid them up my chest, over my shoulders and reached them around my neck where she gently ran her fingernails over the skin, causing shivers to run up and down my spine. I opened my mouth slightly and gasped quietly, but didn't break the kiss; instead I slipped my tongue out between my lips and ran it across Nessie's lower lip. She responded by parting her lips gently and slipping her tongue out to meet mine. Our lips touched again as our tongues entwined, moving sensuously together, slowly at first, then more urgently. She gasped and broke away from me. I leaned forward, toward her and gently sucked her lower lip into my mouth. Our breathing quickened as we began to kiss deeply again. My hands had been cupping her face, but then I slid them down her body, grazing her breasts as they moved down, causing her to moan gently.

I held onto her waist for a while and then I suddenly yanked her body roughly forward so she was pressed against me. As her belly collided with my hard cock, I groaned loudly and broke off, panting. I nuzzled into her neck, inhaling deeply the scent that I'd missed so much and feeling my heart beat increase in response. I kissed my way downward, nibbling and licking gently as I went. Nessie was holding onto me tightly now and her breathing was heavy. She pushed herself against me, causing me to gasp again.

We were right by the tree-line at the edge of the forest. I gently pushed Nessie backward, until her back rested against one of the large tree trunks. I bent and kissed her mouth again. As out tongues met, Nessie moved one of her hands down my body. As she reached the bottom of my t-shirt, she slipped her hand underneath it and ran her finger along the inside of the waistband of my jeans from one side of my body to the other. She brought her other hand down too, and without pulling her tongue away from mine, she popped the buttons open on my fly. I groaned in anticipation.

She pushed us away from the tree and turned us around so that I was now the one backed up to it. She broke the kiss off, and as I looked down at her, my eyes half closed in ecstasy, she gazed back up at me with a hunger in her eyes as she licked her lips. My cock strained against my jeans at the sight, and then again as she hooked her fingers in the sides of my jeans and shorts and pulled them down, slowly. I groaned as my hardness sprung free from the confines of my clothes, and again as I watched Nessie sink to her knees in front of me. She wrapped her hand around my length and then her eyes still on mine, she leaned forward, licked her lips again and took me into her mouth.

It was too much for me. I gasped loudly with the intense sensation, closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the tree. I wrapped my hands loosely in her hair as she slid me steadily in and out of her wet mouth.

Every so often she would use the tip of her tongue to flick the underside of my cock just near the head, where it was most sensitive, causing me to gasp loudly at the intense sensation it caused. She'd then go back to sliding me in and out; in as far as she could fit me, then nearly right back out, circling the head of my cock with her tongue deliciously. Occasionally Nessie would moan herself, the vibrations impossibly making it feel even better.

It wasn't long before I knew that I was heading toward the point of no return. I didn't want that – I'd been awaiting this reunion eagerly enough to not want it to end like this.

"Ness." My voice was huskier than usual as I spoke to her. She opened her eyes and looked up at me, but didn't stop what she was doing.

I gasped at the erotic image before me, fighting the urge to just give in and let her make me cum like this. "Ness, stop," I pleaded as I unthreaded my hands from her hair and put them on her shoulders. I pushed her away slightly and shifted my hips back to pull myself from her mouth. "I want you," I told her as I stroked her face slightly with one hand. She turned toward it and kissed it before she slipped her mouth around one of my fingers and sucked it, just as she'd just sucked another part of me. "I want you now." I spoke more urgently, the desire to take her becoming overwhelming.

She moaned and looked at me, eyes filled with hunger. She crouched down and began to undo my boots. I quickly pulled my feet out of them and she slid my jeans and underwear down and off me, abandoning them on the damp grass next to us. She stood and pulled at my t-shirt. I quickly yanked it off over my head and then reached forward and did the same to hers. Her skin was beautiful in the dim light, pale and ethereal. My heart swelled with love for the girl in front of me and I felt overcome by my emotions, especially after the rollercoaster of the last few days. I reached out with my hand and stroked her face. She leaned into my palm, still breathing heavily and looked up at me, her eyes filled with desire. I ran my hand slowly downward. Her breasts were full and her nipples erect, hardening further as I brushed my fingers across them.

I bent and took one gently in my mouth, swirling my tongue around it, teasing gently with my teeth and then sucking on it before I moved my mouth across to the other one and did the same. I straightened again and she released a small moan of frustration. She looked beautiful standing out here like this, and my heart threatened to burst from my chest with the satisfying knowledge that she was mine. It had come close, but she was still here with me.

I was desperate to be inside her now, to share everything with her completely. I leaned forward and kissed her greedily, reaching down to push her pants down and running my hand over the lace of her panties on her behind as I did so. She stepped out of her pants and I slid my hand around her hip and onto the damp lace that covered her wet center. She groaned lustily at my gentle touch and tried to push herself onto my hand, gasping in frustration as I moved it away slightly, teasing her.

"Jake, please," she begged me. I smiled.

"Be patient, Ness."

She hissed, frustrated again and I pounced. I ripped the panties from her with one hand while I plunged two fingers from the other inside her wet folds. She cried out ecstatically and reached for my body to steady herself. I moved my fingers skilfully inside her, finding all the places to stroke that I knew she liked best, and being rewarded with her sighs and moans of pleasure. She pressed herself harder against my hand as I moved my fingers inside her and pressed the heel against her on the outside, higher up, pressing and rubbing it against her as my fingers brought her closer to her release.

I could feel her legs trembling and she leaned her forehead onto my chest. Her gasps were driving me wild and I couldn't wait to have her. I buried my nose in her hair and breathed in the scent of her deeply, loving the fact that the extra sense added another layer to the way I was feeling. Suddenly I felt her take my throbbing cock into her hand and begin stroking it gently up and down in a direct contrast to the pace at which I was pleasuring her. She stroked her thumb across the head and gently circled it across the sensitive skin there, spreading the sticky wetness around. I gasped too at the delicious sensation and eroticism at making each other feel so good at the same time. As I became worried that she was going to bring me to a climax soon, I recognised the signs that she was nearly there herself. As she became increasingly caught up in her own ecstasy, I managed to gently pull myself from her hand. She immediately grabbed onto my body with it, holding tightly onto my hip as I continued touching her, increasing the pace slightly. She was panting noisily, faster and faster, until finally I felt her muscles clenching tightly around my fingers, in spasms that rocked her body as she threw her head back and cried out.

I couldn't wait any longer. As her orgasm faded and her legs threatened to collapse, I slid my fingers out of her and placed my hands under her behind, lifting her and turning so that she had her back to the tree. As she wrapped her legs around my waist, I guided myself inside her. She was soaking wet from her excitement and I slid easily into her, both of us moaning loudly.

"Oh My God, you feel so good," I gasped as I found a rhythm and moved in and out of her. She can't have had any idea how much I'd wanted this since she'd gone. Not for the sexual release, but for the nearness of her, of being as close as it was possible to get to another person. I felt that I wanted to melt into her, for our bodies to become one.

"You too," she whispered breathlessly, having not been given chance to get her breath back before I started working her body towards another orgasm. She leaned back against the tree, her smooth, yet tough skin at no risk of being damaged by the bark as I moved her against it, up and down, back and forth.

I looked at her face through my half-closed eyes, the intensity of my pleasure keeping them that way involuntarily. She hung on to me, her eyes much the same as mine, her mouth hanging open slightly, her breath coming in gasps each time I thrust into her. Every now and again she'd lick her lips, the sight nearly driving me over the edge. I leaned in and kissed her deeply, our tongues hungry for each other as our bodies moved together, our chests sticking slightly where we were damp with sweat, before there was more and the stickiness stopped and our skin slid against each other.

Nessie was trying to move faster with me now and I increased the pace, thrusting faster and deeper. She cried out as I plunged deep inside her, driving us both toward the very pinnacle of almost unbearable pleasure. We came together. She started to clench me as I felt myself start to come. Her muscles squeezed and released me over and over again as I simultaneously emptied myself inside her and we both gripped each other tightly and cried out, with gasps and grunts and groans as we shared the most basic thing that a man and a woman can share. And it was right; we were right. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, we were a perfect fit.

As I held her to me, her legs still wrapped around me and our heads on each others' shoulders as we panted from the exertion and our hearts thudded in our chests, I felt complete. We both pulled our heads back at the same time and gazed into one another's eyes.

"I love you," we both said at the same time, causing us to laugh. We both became serious again and I leaned forward to kiss her softly.

"Forever," I said simply, and Nessie nodded with tears in her eyes.

"Forever," she agreed, and we hugged again.

A/N Your reviews will help spur me on with Chapter 21 so please let me know what you think!