Disclaimer: These characters belong to Stephanie Meyers.
Chapter 15
Bella POV
Companion (N.) A person or animal with whom one spends a lot of time or with whom one travels.
"I'm yours."
He'd said the words with conviction and millions of tiny pieces of coal shattered around my heart. Just like that, he had penetrated the very essence of my being without trying. Just like that, he'd invaded my inner most parts and pumped my heart back into motion. It was now beating, not strong, not steady, but still... there was a heart there that was no longer black and cold.
He'd broken through my darkness with two simple words.
No one has ever belonged to me. The responsibility for the care of someone else's most precious part of themselves. How could he do that after only knowing me six weeks? How could he entrust me with his heart when all I've been trying to prove is how unworthy I am? Why would he place himself in my care?
Why would he do that?
Why?
The better question is why am I not trying harder to push him away?
For the past three weeks, Edward and I have spent the first two hours of our day dedicated to a five o' clock run on the beach. Usually, he comes back around the time my girls and I do our segment, and he watches at a respectable distance.
"A lot of what you ladies do look to me like pranks." Edward points out, drinking his beer while he watches me eat a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup with rapt interest.
I moan around a bite before answering. "Mmm, yeah, well I guess they are sort of pranks."
"The other day you pantsed like thirty guys."
I shrug with one shoulder and bite around the edge of the peanut butter cup savoring the middle for last. It's a really weird way to eat it, but I've been doing it since I was a kid. I didn't have many pleasures growing up, so this was one thing I treasured. The middle of the Reese's cup.
"Social order needs disrupting every once in a while." I pop one finger into my mouth licking away the chocolate.
"Is that really a stand to take?" He seems fascinated by the way I'm eating, and even though I'm not looking at his face, I can feel his eyes on me.
Just as I'm answering his question, the wind picks up, and my other Reese's Cup is lifted by the wind. I squeal and reach for it with my index finger in my mouth.
"Let me help." He says as he grabs my hand pulling it free from my lips and taking my thumb into his mouth, his eyes locked on mine as he sucks away the chocolate. My eyes flutter as the sensation of his swirling tongue pulses through my body sending a flood of arousal between my legs. I squeeze them together hoping it's enough friction to stop me from jumping his bones.
When he releases my hand, he stares at my thumb, then looks at me and says, "That's damn good baby."
Bella Pov
I'm lying on a blanket under an olive tree letting the wind caress my skin and blow through my hair while I get reacquainted with a good book. Edward missed our workout session this morning so the macho man is doing pull-ups on a tree branch looking a lot like a monkey.
Did I mention he's shirtless? I giggle when he falls a few times, but otherwise, I try to keep my eyes off him because he's one sexy eighteen-year-old and honestly, I want nothing more than to acquaint our two most private areas.
I try to keep things playful and light since we're just friends, but often times it's hard because he's so fucking amazing.
He stops his curls and falls onto his back above my head taking calming breaths. When his breathing is normal, I feel him shift to face me with one arm supporting his weight.
"Tell me about your parents." He has his hands in my hair, running his fingers lightly through the tresses as he waits.
"Not much to tell. My dad was a pimp, and my mom's a whore. End of story."
He doesn't miss a beat as if I didn't just say something completely off the wall and crazy.
"So you live with your mom?"
"Yes." That's the easy answer. I can't go around telling people my mom abandoned me months ago, and now I have to fend for myself.
To distract the both of us, I put my book down and line the screen of my phone with the beam of the sun and angle it to flash the light in his eyes.
"You think you're cute." I look up at his face to see his lips twitch as he places me under the spell of his sexy narrowed stare.
I squirm beneath his gaze and my phone tumbles out of my hands as he easily lifts me and places me over him so that I am straddling his body.
I'm giggling like a crazy person all the while, because, in the midst of lifting me as if I weigh nothing, he tickles my sides until I have tears rolling down my cheeks.
When he stops his attack and just stares up at my smiling face, his expression morphs into something more, something warm and not so friendly.
My smile slowly falls as I try to comprehend his expression.
"What is that look for?" I ask him with my hands planted firmly on his chest. I pat him, trying to turn back the mood and set a friendlier atmosphere.
We're friends. Nothing more.
"Every time I see you, I feel like I'm seeing you for the first time with a new set of eyes." He reaches his hand up to push my hair back, then he's cupping my cheek and running his thumb over my skin. "There are so many beautiful things hidden behind those eyes, Princess. I want to be the one to free you."
"What if you don't like what you see when you finally free the real me?"
His smile is answer enough, but still, he says, "I'm too far gone to care."