A/N: Did anyone order a sponge bath?? I sure needed one when I came back from camping!!! Forks, Port Angeles and La Push were certainly a lot different than I pictured them, but it's gorgeous up there anyways. Thanks so everyone who's reviewed... we're well past the 100 review mark from that last chapter, thank you so much!!!! I love all of your reviews. :-) Thanks to the lovely and groovy LittleLea05 for beta-ing this one for me!!! :-)

Disclaimer: I don't own Emmett, but I DO own a sponge... ;-)

BPOV

My hands were shaking as I filled a bucket of hot water from the tub. It had to be hot, but not too hot, and had to be hot enough to last for several minutes without a refresher. And soapy, but not soapy enough. And it couldn't be a floral scent. A masculine, lust-inducing scent that made my heart (and uterus) leap with recognition and joy.

I was so screwed.

Emmett was still insisting on his bloody sponge bath. I don't know if he was trying to kill me or not, but it was steadily working. At the very least, I was losing my mind. And I knew my heart hadn't pulled a crazy stunt like this in a very, very long time… if ever. Just the very idea of getting my hands on him… bare skin against naked flesh… in any form at all was setting my body in some sort of crazy tail spin.

At least I wouldn't be touching his goods. He assured me he was fully capable of washing those bits on his own.

Why he couldn't manage the rest was beyond me.

Like I said, I think he was trying to kill me.

My phone rang just as I was grabbing the sponge.

"Alice, thank God!" I practically shouted into the phone. My hands really were shaky; it was hard to hold the phone to my ear.

"Hey Bella," she said in that damned knowing voice of hers. "Whatcha up to?" She asked it like she already knew the answer, and it pissed me off.

"Getting ready to bathe His majesty," I said through gritted teeth.

"Ooh, sounds sexy!" she giggled. "Let me know how that one goes."

"If I survive it," I muttered.

"Bella Swan, you so want him!" she exclaimed, still giggling.

"I do not."

Lying.

"You liar!" she confirmed.

"Did you have a reason for calling?" I asked, trying to distract her.

"Yes! Jasper and I are going out again tonight! He's so dreamy Bella, I swear! I'm going to marry him."

"You met him yesterday."

"Yes, but I just know, Bella. It's fate."

"No such thing."

"That's what you think, but I swear on it! Jasper is the one for me."

"I'm so happy for you," I said sarcastically. She was not improving my mood by any measurement.

"You're killing my buzz, Bella," she said unhappily.

"I'm sorry, I'm just in a really bad mood."

"Why? You get to see Mr. Sexy shirtless."

"Don't remind me."

"Good luck, and tell me all about it later!"

"Yeah, same to you. Have fun, and be safe," I reminded her.

"Of course. Jasper would never let anything bad happen to me. He's my soul mate," she said confidently, and I rolled my eyes.

"Sure. Bye, Alice."

"Bye Bella!"

I hung up, and sighed deeply. I thought maybe the extra oxygen would calm my body down. No such luck. I gulped in fresh air, close to hyperventilating, trying to find the courage. Finally, I gave up. I was nervous as fuck, and nothing would change that.

Brave face, indifferent face, I told myself.

Emmett was lying in the center of the bed, splayed out across all the pillows. It was the first time I'd seen him look genuinely comfortable. Too bad I was nervously sweating like a pig.

"R-ready?" I asked, cursing myself for stumbling over any words. I gulped, hopefully inaudibly.

"Yeah," he said indifferently, still watching TV. Bastard. I'm freaking out here, and he couldn't care less.

"So… you wanna take off your shirt, or what?"

"Anxious to get me out of my clothes, are you?" He smirked at me, and I tried to ignore the dimples his smile accentuated.

"I just figured you wouldn't want me to douse you while fully clothed," I said, squeezing the damp sponge across his chest so a few drops splashed.

"Yeah, good plan," he said, frowning at me for a moment. "Help me, will you?"

He reached for the edges of his T-shirt, while I contemplated the implications of stripping this man down in his bed.

I had to stifle a moan as I helped him pull his shirt up and over his head. His body was perfect. He was heavily muscled, but not like one of those over-zealous weight-lifters. Each muscle had a practical purpose for his sport… and I wanted to lick each contour. I unconsciously bit my bottom lip.

I realized that Emmett had stopped moving. I froze, realizing I had been gawking at his body for a lot longer than socially acceptable. I cleared my throat, and looked up at him. He was grinning widely, making me blush that much more. He didn't flinch from my gaze.

I swallowed the saliva that had inconveniently pooled in my mouth. "Ready?" I asked hoarsely.

EmPOV

I'm not going to lie; I know I have a nice body. I work hard for it, and I've had a lot of girls admire it from afar and up close.

But I have never wanted anyone's approval, reaction, desire, like I did with Bella. I wanted her to want me. I saw her eyes darken, and I knew she liked what she saw. And I was just cocky enough to grin at her.

My smile seemed to break her from her reverie, and she shook her head briefly, her chocolate brown eyes coming into focus again. The blush on her cheeks was priceless. I loved seeing her flush red. It made her pale skin glow beautifully, reminding me of the afterglow of sex. I wanted to be the one responsible for making her that way, whether with my teasing or other exerting activities. I wanted to make it come back, again and again.

"Bella?"

She cleared her throat, looking away from me, and dipped the sponge that she had been holding in her hand into a bucket of what I hoped was warm, soapy water. She wrung out the sponge, closing her eyes briefly.

Damn. She affected me, but did I really affect her that much?

"Tell me about your day," I prompted, trying to make her comfortable with me.

"Uh…" She paused, and brought the sponge to my shoulder. It was a little too warm, but I wasn't about to complain to her. She rubbed it gently, like she was afraid she was going to break me. Injured or not, that wasn't going to happen.

"Bella, you can wash me a little harder than that. I'm not going to bust in two," I teased.

"Right," she said, but her voice was far away. I resisted the urge to smirk, or to cup the back of her neck and kiss her, devour her. She was too damn beautiful for her own good. That particular urge I would definitely have to keep under wraps. It wouldn't do to ravish my caretaker.

She rubbed the sponge deeper into my arm, that sexy blush still dominating her features.

"Alice and Jasper are going out again," she blurted out after a moment. This entire time, she had focused entirely on my bicep. I gestured for her to continue down my arm before answering.

"Really now? Seems we've got ourselves a love match."

"Huh? Oh, Alice and Jasper. Right." Bella moved the sponge over my arms, brushing her left fingers over my hand as she scrubbed with the right. Goosebumps erupted over my body.

"Oh, is that cold?"

"No… a draft…" I said dumbly. The room had to be over 80 degrees at the moment.

She continued to work over my body, finally mustering the courage to wash my chest and other shoulder. I watched her as she bathed me. It looked like she was having difficulty breathing.

"So, you think they'll get together?" I asked, trying to be friendly. I really couldn't have cared less at the moment, but I didn't want her to think I was some freak that was getting off on her rubbing me all over with a sponge.

Although I was.

"She's convinced they're going to marry each other," she said, smiling for once. "She's always been a little psychic freak, I'm sure she's right."

I laughed, happy that my healing ribs would finally allow it. I missed laughing, before the accident I thrived on it. It was so odd to laugh again, but good.

"Well, I hope she's good for Jazz. He's a good guy."

"I sure hope so. If he hurts Alice in any way, he's dead."

"Don't worry, I'll watch out for Ali. She has nothing to worry about." I winked at her. She stared at me for a moment, lips parted slightly. Her hands were still working over my body, and suddenly she grazed my nipple with the side of her finger. I hissed instinctively. It felt good… way too good.

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, pulling back.

"Its fine," I gasped, willing away my virtually instant erection with a vengeance. Not now, I ordered myself, though it took several mental images of my parents having sex, Jasper mud wrestling with a sumo, and the classic old-lady-in-a-thong to make it go away.

She nodded, and continued, down towards my waist. I was panting for air, trying to ignore the sensation of her hands on me, and just how dangerously close she was to where I wanted her to be.

I had to close my eyes. I didn't need the images of her touching me down there stuck in my head, giving me wank material for later. It was bad enough as is, the way her tiny hands moved down my stomach, closer to the Promised Land.

Was I just supremely horny, or was it her? The thought crossed my mind, but then I had to let it go. I wanted to just enjoy her, and the way her skin felt against mine. Yes, most of the time it was the sponge against my body, but there were moment, tiny instances where her fingers would brush against me, and I would feel a current, a nearly electric sensation between the two of us. I was constantly seconds away from fucking moaning.

Though it was pure torture, soon, much too soon after, she set the bucket aside, quickly toweled me off, and whispered, "Done."

I pried my eyelids open, and our eyes met. She was standing at the side of my bed, still that glorious red, and neither of us looked away for a long moment.

I wanted to say something. Anything. But the words stuck in my throat, and I was rendered speechless. She too looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't get it out.

"Here," she finally muttered, and pulled a clean T-shirt out of my dresser. She awkwardly tried to help me into my shirt, without looking at me once, and then ran into the living room when her cell phone rang.

What the fuck was going on? I had to take several deep breaths to calm myself. The way she touched me, the way it felt, the way I responded… I had to calm myself. This had to be just lust, a physical reaction. I haven't been with a woman since Rosalie, and that was… fuck, over a year ago. And even then, there hadn't been many before her. I was simply horny, desperate.

Bella was just there. She was hot, which I hadn't expected, sweet when I didn't deserve it, and smart enough to knock me on my ass when I needed it. I didn't deserve her, even if I wanted her. Which was wrong. I shouldn't want her as much as I did.

I didn't know why I was so pulled to her. And I wanted it to stop. I barely knew her. I'd either have to change that, or leave her alone. I wasn't the kind of guy who slept with a girl I wasn't attached to. That just wasn't my style.

Of course, rumors ran rampant around campus, stemming from over eager girls who wanted more, and didn't want to seem rejected. I don't know how many girls I denied access to my junk, and how many stories I'd heard about myself later on about how I was in bed. It was annoying.

My thoughts were pulled to the present when I realized Bella was still talking on the phone… to Edward.

"Shut up!" she shouted into the phone. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

There was silence on her end, and she began pacing up and down in front of my door. At that moment, I would have given anything to be able to jump up from the bed and hold her until the frown on her face melted away.

"Edward, you're being an ass right now. I can't deal with this. Just… I can't talk to you right now. Don't bother calling back."

She let out a feral, angry growl as she flung the phone into the couch cushions.

"I'm sorry," she apologized needlessly. She turned towards me, and her face was full of rage, but for once, it wasn't directed at me, which was nice to know. We were doing better at keeping the squabbling to a minimum.

"It's fine. Being a douche again?"

"As always," she agreed. "Sometimes I wonder what I see in him."

"What DO you see in him?" I asked curiously. She slipped back into my room and sat on the edge of the bed. I was happy to see tears weren't in her eyes.

She sighed. "I'm not sure. But it seems our little 'arrangement' isn't working out anymore…"

I did a little victory dance in my head.

"I think I'm going to have to end it. I can't take his jealousy."

"Still convinced we're still going to fall for each other?"

"Nahh, I think he's given that thought up. But he still thinks we're going to fuck each other silly."

"Ridiculous." Best idea I've heard in my life.

"Of course."

She was leaning towards me, and I was doing my best to do the same. If only I weren't crippled, I could just kiss her…

The phone rang again, and she was up in a flash.

"So help me God, if it's Edward…" she muttered under her breath. Her features softened when she saw it wasn't him. "Alice," she confirmed to me. "Maybe Jasper's proposed." She grinned, and rolled her eyes playfully.

I rolled my eyes back, and put on my iPod to give her some privacy. Hey Jude, by The Beatles rolled onto my play list. It was one of my all-time favorites, but it felt a little too much like Paul was singing right to me, like I was Jude. My good arm reached up to rub my face in frustration.

I had to straighten out my thoughts. The things floating around in my head were simply unacceptable, and I had to figure them out.

If I could just figure out why she was all I could see when I closed my eyes, that'd be great.