A/N

Ready for another dose of fictose? I'm not gonna lie, this entire chapter is almost entirely made up of fluff and lemons - in fact, I'm thinking of turning it into a lemon meringue pie! ;-) But, you know, I'm not even sorry. Britward and Yankella have definitely earned it. As have I, as have you guys - my sweet, patient, wonderful readers. Enjoy! :)

Deepest thanks to my top "Searchers" - Trip, Lady V and H xxx

EPOV

It's hard for me to remember now, the reasons that stopped me playing piano for all those years; the frustration, the disappointment and anger, at my dad and at myself. Now my playing is all about Bella. Bella's voice, Bella's body, Bella's laugh. Every note, every chord, is associated with her. It's a good job I have this outlet or I would be a complete loser who has no life besides following his girlfriend around like a puppy. Yep, safe to say, playing allows me to keep my bollocks intact, which is handy, I think Bella quite likes them.

Sometimes I play familiar old pieces, sometimes I learn something new. Mostly, I write. The piece I began for Bella when I first bought the Feurich has grown and grown. For a while I had no idea how to end it. Now I have.

Funny that, Cullen, I wonder where that particular burst of inspiration came from...

I grin to myself as I finish scribbling down the final phrase in the well-worn manuscript book next to me, unnecessary really as I'm sure these notes are sketched on my soul.

I check the clock and decide to play it through one more time before I go find my gorgeous girl, where she's reading in my bed. Our bed, really, since we've barely been apart, or out of it, for several weeks.

Making up for lost time...

I begin to play, losing myself in the music. I've no idea if it's any good, at this point I'm entirely unable to hear it objectively. Every rise and fall of the notes and change in tempo is linked to our relationship, ending in that final crescendo. That fucking amazing night last month when I pushed inside her and discovered what had been missing from sex during my 29 years.

I don't think I could ever play this in public. It must be like when an erotica novelist writes down her dirtiest fantasy and then realises she has to publish it for the whole world to see.

As I reach the close of the tune I close my eyes and remember everything - the taste of rain on her skin, her voice whispering my name, her incredible, warm pussy enclosing me so perfectly after waiting so long. The feeling of coming inside her, and having her come around me.

Shit, is it okay to get a hard-on at your piano?

I reach the end, pull my hands away and sit back with a deep breath.

"You finished it?" Bella's quiet voice enquires from behind me.

I turn to the side and watch my stunning girlfriend walk towards me wearing a short black satin robe, and stockings and...something underneath, the merest hint of lace revealed at her cleavage.

"Yeah," I murmur, pushing my stool back slightly and tugging her towards me to stand between my legs.

She leans down and presses her mouth against mine, her silky hair brushing my face. She pulls back and slips her hands in my hair and I make some sort of embarrassing humming noise.

"It's gorgeous," she whispers.

"So is the girl it's about."

I hold her eyes with mine while my fingers tug at the satin, her robe falling softly open. I rake my gaze down her body - breasts barely contained within a partially transparent black corset, her perfect creamy skin and the slightest flush on her chest. Lace detail, two tiny dark blue bows at her hips. Fuck me...suspender clips hooked onto sheer black stockings and the tiniest pair of black satin knickers I've ever laid eyes on.

"Christ." I run my hands down her sides and grip her tiny waist, tugging her closer. "I might have to write a whole bloody symphony."

I touch my open mouth to the curve of her breast, and dip my tongue beneath the lace at the top of the corset. I bring one hand to the centre of her chest and feel her heart fluttering quickly beneath my palm.

"I was lonely upstairs," she whispers, sighing. I slip my hands down to her bottom, pulling her close, practically onto my lap. I run my mouth along her collarbone.

"I'm sorry, baby, I didn't mean to keep you waiting."

She tugs my hair until I look up at her with a groan. My once-innocent girl cocks her eyebrow, the hint of a smile playing on her lips.

"How will you make it up to me?"

I grin back and stand, abruptly gripping her arse and lifting her onto the polished ebony surface of my piano. Her eyes blaze a little and I smirk. I pull her to the edge, dull notes ringing out when I place her stockinged feet on the keys. I bring my stool close and sit, my face perfectly lined up with her open legs.

I move in and start placing tiny, teasing kisses on her inner thighs. I move up one leg, reaching the top and placing a tiny kiss over her satin-covered pussy, before making my way back down the other. I run my hand up her calf, lifting her leg to rest on my shoulder, moving closer still.

"Lean back."

She places her hands behind her, tossing her head back with a tiny whimper. I lift my eyes to take in the sight of a lingerie-clad Bella Swan stretched across the top of my piano, a growing patch of wetness visibly darkening the material between her legs.

Using the leg I'm holding as support I lift her slightly to pull her knickers down her legs, tossing them over my shoulder. Her lips are glistening and I've barely even touched her.

"So wet already," I murmur, tracing a finger through her folds and watching in fascination as her liquid makes contact with the wood.

"I was wet before I came downstairs, just thinking about you," she says, breathless. "Just thinking about this."

I can't hold back if she's going to say things like that.

I move forwards and run my tongue over her clit, down her lips. I push it inside her.

She gasps and writhes a little. Then she lifts her head and says:

"Play."

I raise my face to look at her, eyebrow cocked.

"Play our song, baby. Play it while you lick me."

She knows exactly how to control me with words.

"I'm not great at multi-tasking, Sweetheart," I wink. "That's why I have a PA."

She smiles. "Try."

I place my hands on her thighs, pushing her legs further apart and lifting her feet away from the keys.

"You'd better hold on, baby."

I draw my stool close, stretch my head forward, place my hands over the familiar keys and begin.

I start slow, both my hands and my mouth. Soft, longing notes mirrored by gentle strokes of my tongue. She makes an adorable mewing sound and I can't help smiling against her flesh.

Barely even needing to think my fingers skim over the keys of their own accord, telling our story in music; intrigue, disappointment, desire, longing, learning, knowing, wanting. Our first kiss, learning the truth, telling the truth. Frustration, need, restraint...

I match the speed and strength of the notes with my mouth on her pussy before reaching that final crescendo - relief, release, at last. I quicken my pace on her clit and her needy cries are the perfect accompaniment to the final bars of our song.

The last chord rings out to the quiet room and I hear her whisper: "Wow."

My erection throbs, still caged inside my jeans. My hands shake a little.

She sits up slightly, resting her feet back on the keyboard.

"The end..." She takes a shaky breath. "It's about us...our first time, the first time we...?"

"Yes," I whisper, wondering if she can feel the heat of my embarrassment where my cheek rests against her thigh.

I lift my head, meeting her dark eyes.

"I can't wait anymore, Bella."

She shakes her head, agreeing.

With sudden haste I scramble to rip open my fly and drag my jeans and boxers down my ankles. I don't think I'll ever stop needing her.

I pick her up to pull her onto my lap and her legs straddle mine. I feel her wetness on my cock and groan into her neck.

"Now?"

"Yes"

She lifts slightly and I position myself at her entrance. She grips my shoulders and sinks down slowly, never once taking her eyes away from mine.

Tight, hot, perfect - like nothing else. Nothing else has been this good. Every time has been the best.

I close my eyes in pleasure, gripping her hips. She keeps one hand on my shoulder, nails digging into my skin, and I hear the piano again when she reaches out the other to lean on it for leverage.

"Jesus, Edward..."

"I know."

Slowly, surely, she begins to move. Lifting and sinking, gripping me from the inside. She rests her head on my shoulder, breathing quickening breaths into my neck.

I push my hips up with her rhythm, perfectly in synch like we have somehow always been since that first night. Pleasure builds and builds like the best fucking symphony ever written.

"Yes. Fuck, yes, Baby. Ride me..."

She answers with a needy moan that makes my balls throb.

Faster, harder, more. We rock, and thrust and ache.

"I'm gonna come," I tell her, relieved when she does too, milking me with every spasm of her pussy.

She collapses her head onto me and I rest my own against the hot skin of her chest.

We're quiet for a few moments, catching our breath, finding our bearings. There really are no words for this but still she finds some.

"I really love fucking you, Edward Cullen."

I bark out a breathless laugh. "I've noticed! Who knew I was unleashing such a dirty-talking, nympho, eh?"

She giggles and lifts herself off my lap to sit beside me on the piano stool. The truth is we're lucky. After that first night things seem to have dropped quite easily into place. I'd be lying if I said Bella wasn't sometimes still nervous and I wasn't sometimes still cautious about hurting her, but in truth what I had hoped for seems to be proving true. We're built for each other, in sex as well as everything else.

I graze my hand down her back and kiss the slightly salty skin on her neck, while she reaches out to the piano keys and slowly and carefully plays the one scale I've managed to teach her.

She smiles gently and turns to me.

"So I'm thinking you need to do something else with your piano playing?"

I give her a half-serious frown. "Oh yeah, like what?"

She shrugs, brushing some hair back from her face. She's so deliciously dishevelled I already want her again.

"I know anything serious is out of the question, you've made your thoughts on that very clear and I'd never push you that way. But you're way too talented for me to be your only audience, Edward."

She gestures towards the ivory. "Maybe you should share this with someone else."

I chuckle and play with the ties at the bottom of her corset.

"Sweetheart, I really think that should be kept between you and I."

She blushes a tiny bit, nudging me playfully. "Just the music, Mister."

I stroke my fingertips over the keys, considering. The truth is I have fallen back in love with playing. Would it be so terrible to try and get some gigs?

"Is this it? The song you wrote about us?" She fingers the manuscript paper.

"Yeah."

"Can I look?"

"Of course."

She traces my scrawled and etched notes with her fingertips while I lean down and kiss her shoulder, sliding my hand over her stomach. I don't think I'll ever tire of touching her.

A plastic wallet slips out the back of the notebook and she hastily saves it from the floor, scanning her eyes over the contents.

"Research, baby?" she asks, smirking slightly.

"Something like that."

She begins thumbing through the stack of property details - small houses in Islington, Balham, Camden and other London boroughs.

"Holy shit!" she exclaims, catching sight of the prices.

I grimace. "That's London, baby."

She turns towards me, throwing her leg over the stool to straddle it. She snuggles close, running her hands through my hair.

"I like this apartment."

"So do I, but it's not for sale." I gently hold her face in my hands, kissing her. "Maybe I want to put down roots."

What I don't say is that I want to buy a house for both of us. I don't say how I'd really like to leave this apartment behind, along with all its bachelor accessories, along with the old me. What I don't tell her about are the properties in the back of that folder, that I hope she doesn't stumble across before I've had a chance to talk to her about it.

I pretty much forget about all of that when she begins kissing me more intently. When her hand brushes my reawakening cock.

I groan and press closer to her touch.

"Enough talk. Can I see your tits now, please?"

"Such a boy!"

"Thank Christ."

I encourage her to her feet, facing her away from me and begin deftly undoing the laces on the back of her basque. Inspired, I lean down and pull them through the holes with my teeth, trailing my mouth and tip of my tongue up her spine at every point the flesh is slowly revealed, causing Bella to tremble slightly.

"I love it when I make you shiver."

She just hums in agreement.

Finally free from her lingerie prison I slip the material away, cupping her bare breasts in my hands. She turns around in my arms and I take her nipple in my mouth, while she moans quietly and pushes nearer.

I stand up and silently lift her into my arms. I carry her over to the sofa, already eager to be inside her again.

"I will never get enough of you, Ms Swan," I murmur, covering her with my whole body and slipping myself inside.

"Never," she agrees, tossing her head back, sighing when I find her throat and suck. I thrust forward gently, she's so slick from her juices and my previous release. We're slow and deep this time, like there's all the time in the world.

On Wednesday lunchtime I meet Alice for our regular monthly lunch date. One that I've missed for three months due to my increased workload and my increased need to be near Bella.

"Hey, Sis." I bend the obligatory two feet to kiss her cheek.

She grins sarcastically. "Thank you for fitting me into your ultra-busy schedule."

"Don't be a brat." I shove her towards our usual table.

We sit down and Alice gives me the strangest, defensive look. I ignore her whilst pointlessly skimming the menu before shrugging and saying:

"Usual?"

"Obviously."

The usual consists of a bottle of Peroni, a Kopparberg, a spaghetti carbonara, a meatball penne and our combined body weight in bruschetta.

"So, how's tricks?" I ask, after the waitress drops off our drinks.

Alice continues to give me the suspicious, evil eye.

"All right, enough, why are you looking at me like I sat on your kitten?"

She leans back and takes a casual mouthful of cider.

"I'm just waiting for the lecture to commence."

"Lecture?" One day my sister will talk in English and my life will be a lot simpler.

"Yes, sweet brother, the lecture about why it's too soon to move in with Jasper and your explanation for telling him such a thing."

"Oh." I grimace and begin peeling the label off my bottle. "That."

Is there any chance I'll ever again be able to tell either my sister or my closest friend something and not have it be repeated straight back to the other?

"Why are you being a prick about it?"

I'm guessing no.

The truth is I was a little alarmed when J first said he was thinking of asking Alice to move into the Islington flat with him. He has just split up with his wife and...she's my little sister. I'd murder him before I let him rush into something and hurt her, best friend or not.

But then I thought about it. And when I say thought about it, I mean thought about Bella, and how her divorce is only just being finalised, and yet all I've been able to think about for the last few months is being able to wake up next to her every day. I don't want her to have to keep going back to her apartment, or me to mine. I want us to come home together every night to a house we both live in.

At that point I pulled my head out of my arse and decided if Bella and I were ready to live together, then perhaps my sister and J are too. Maybe I was being an overprotective dick.

Alice is giving me the cocked eyebrow and pursed lips. She's the world's scariest midget.

I take a deep breath and raise my hands against any verbal violence she may decide to direct at me.

"Look, my advice-"

She snorts.

"My...opinion, may have been a little hasty. I admit it."

"Really?" She sounds surprised.

"Yeah. I mean, he loves you, right? And you're happy, aren't you?"

Her face softens completely, and I'm thinking it's because her head is now filled with Jasper.

"The happiest I've ever been."

"And Mistress Mental is completely out of the picture?"

"Absolutely."

I shrug. "Then who am I to stand in your way? After all, what the hell do I know?"

Alice laughs, irritatingly.

"Oh indeed! You are the last person to offer advice."

"Right," I agree, begrudgingly. "So...shall I call Jasper and retract my threat to beat him up if he shacks up with you?"

She laughs and snorts a little. Attractive. It's so easy to understand what he sees in her.

"No!" she giggles. "As if Jasper listened to you anyway! I gave notice on my flat last week."

I try to look annoyed but end up chuckling myself.

"It's been the better part of 30 years and I still keep thinking my younger sister will actually listen to me at some point. What a fucking fool I am."

She smiles sweetly. "You are my favourite brother though."

"I'm your only brother."

"A technicality."

I'm shaking my head, resigned, when the waitress brings over our food. We tuck in and then Alice, as casually as she can, says:

"So why the change of heart then?"

"What do you mean?" I hedge.

She smiles slowly. "Well...a few weeks ago you were certain that six months was too soon for a couple to move in together and now...a complete 180." Her eyes twinkle. "Could a certain American girl have something to do with it?"

"You tell me, you're the bloody fortune teller!"

"Yeah, good one." But she squirms in her seat, never overly comfortable discussing her strange...gift.

Oh why fight it? Alice has always been able to read me like a book anyway. I allow the smile that's battling to overtake my face to win.

"Okay, yes. I just think maybe I'm ready for her to...well, not have to go home."

"Oh you silver-tongued charmer you!" Ali teases. "Make sure that's exactly how you phrase it when you ask her, eh?"

"Shut up, I'm happy."

My sister gives me a soft, genuine smile. "Yeah, I know. It's awesome."

She takes a bite of carbonara.

"So what you thinking? When? Where? How you gonna ask her?"

"Well since I've had this pay rise I've been thinking I might buy somewhere in the city anyway. So it's kinda the perfect opportunity to think about it."

"And what does Bella reckon?"

"Well..." I slice a meatball in half.

"So you haven't mentioned it? Ed!"

"I'm just waiting for the perfect moment."

Alice rolls her eyes. "Oh Lord, you really are Mr Romance these days. Look, you're not bloody proposing, just ask her!"

"Yeah I know. I will. I think she knows it's on the cards anyway, she keeps catching me looking on Rightmove."

"Believe me, bro, until you ask her she doesn't know. You just can't read men that way, even soppy ones like you."

The thing is it's not quite as simple as that for us. She's American. A house is a big commitment; it means she's planning on making this country her home on a really permanent basis. And I know she's said that's what she wanted, but I still don't want to freak her out, she is only just divorcing. Plus, if I'm being completely honest, there are other options that have been playing on my mind, outside of London...

"How is Bella anyway?" Alice asks. "After...everything."

Bella knows how close I am with my sister and told me she's happy for me to tell her everything if I want to, but I still think that's completely private. And the fact is it isn't that relevant now anyway, considering we've...overcome the issue. We had our final session with Maggie last weekend, which was oddly bittersweet. She's a lovely lady and I will never be able to thank her enough for what she did for Bella, and for me. Not to mention the few anger management sessions we had. I was so sceptical at first but actually it really helped. She made me talk about Tanya, and the abortion and all that stuff I'd been burying, and I did feel better for it.

We even gave Maggie the bottle of champagne we'd talked about, and Bella gave her a beautiful green scarf she'd found weeks before in Camden market, which she said made her think of Maggie instantly. Maggie became uncharacteristically flustered at our little presents and big thanks, stuttering that she isn't suppose to accept things from clients, but I smiled when I saw her already draping the scarf around her neck and affectionately fingering the material.

She's never mentioned her own personal life, quite understandably, but we noticed she didn't wear a wedding ring. In this soppy, loved-up state I appear to be permanently in these days, I couldn't help but hope as we said goodbye that she has a good bloke in her life to take care of her. Maybe this Dr Banner she mentioned a few times during our one-to-one sessions, during which her tone betrayed their relationship to be possibly more than just professional. She deserves happiness after everything she has done for Bella and I, and no doubt countless other patients.

"Eddie?"

I come out of my thoughts when Alice waves her fork between us.

"Sorry. Um...yeah, Bella's doing well thanks."

"Any more word from Washington about her psycho ex?"

Due to her weird hunch, which I will be eternally grateful to my sister for, Alice did have to be told about Jake and the attacks.

"He's still in the loony bin, apparently. But he's doing okay."

I don't think my own feelings on Jacob will ever really change. I feel less murderous now I know Bella is safe and he can't get to her, but will I ever feel the dash of sympathy Bella seems to? I don't think so. He threatened the safety of my girl and I can never forgive that. But I can accept that he and Bella shared many years, and that she knew him before he became what I witnessed, so if she wants to feel small elements of pity that's understandable I guess. Just as long as the guilt is gone, and with Maggie's help
I think it is.

"And he's signed the papers? Bella is a free woman?"

"Yeah," I can't help smiling. She's free of him, but she's definitely mine, just as I'm hers.

Alice continues to smile gently.

"So there's nothing to stand in your way."

"Nope," I smile back, taking a mouthful of pasta.

"Good," Alice says. "I am relieved I have to say. I'd been wondering if I'd ever get any nieces or nephews out of you."

"Steady on!" I cry, before choking and coughing around a bit of penne that has become suddenly lodged in my throat. But when I can breathe again, I can't entirely ignore the warm feeling that spreads through my chest at my sister's words.

Some of that heat must make it to my face because when I look up to take a big gulp of soothing beer I can't help but notice Alice quietly smirking around her fork.

I clear my throat. "Anyway...I'm thinking maybe I'll talk to her about moving in together when we're home this weekend for the fireworks."

"Sounds good."

We avoid the heavy for the rest of our lunch and indulge in our usual pointless banter until I decide I need to get back to the office.

"So is J coming down this weekend?" I ask, helping her into her coat.

"Yep." Her eyes sparkle and I can't help feeling thrilled for them both to have found each other. Somehow, despite all our histories and mistakes, everything is coming up roses for us all.

"We're lucky bastards, you know that Al?"

She hugs into my side and I kiss the top of her head.

Pulling back with a grin, she says, "The luckiest."

By the time I get back to the office I wish I hadn't bothered taking a break at all. All that awaits me is a heaving inbox and five messages. But that's just how it is I guess - you take a promotion and you have to take the downsides as well as the rewards. I now have management responsibility for a small team - two consultants, Jess and another researcher and technically Bella. I'm yet to get the word from Aro on how that will be handled. Can anyone say "conflict of interest"?

I'm responsible for my own figures and a portion of theirs; this is a little unnerving as I don't mind my own head being on the block - I thrive on it in fact - but having to make sure someone else isn't falling behind is much more responsibility than the old Ed would have wanted to handle. Luckily, the new Ed is mature enough. Mostly. And we're fortunate enough to still be receiving a fair amount of work, which I happily delegate to the other consultants in my team. At the moment though, we're so busy we're all drowning.

Still, I also have a nicer office, a significant pay rise, a company car and a higher limit on my company credit card. So, every cloud.

"Hey," Bella says standing next to my desk and looking about as flushed and harassed as I feel.

"Hiya," I greet, casually. Keeping things professional at work has always been tricky but now? Christ, the need to touch her, however subtly, or even call her by an endearment is so difficult to resist.

She hands me some paperwork and a mug of coffee and I smile gratefully.

"You're my fucking hero, you know that?" I mutter quietly.

She shrugs. "It's just coffee, Edward."

I shake my head, lower my voice. "It's not just coffee, it's everything." My hands twitch and I feel the need to sit on them or something. "You are everything."

Her eyes turn a little soft, PA Bella morphing into girlfriend Bella.

She leans down a little closer, reaching across me for some invoice letters I've signed. Does she know I can see right down her shirt at this angle?

I watch her face, a small smile playing on her lips. Oh yeah, she knows.

"So are you," she whispers, before dashing out as quickly as she entered.

Yep, one hundred per cent professional at all times.

The afternoon flies on, way too quickly. Meetings, phone calls and emails, demanding clients, needy candidates and countless interview reports - it all merges into one mess of mayhem. Darkness falls and we carry on. Before I know it, I glance out of the glass and the rest of the office is deserted.

Of course, I spot my girl still studiously working, her desk one of the few left illuminated by the lights above our section.

I walk out and stand next to her.

"Hey, what time is it?"

She looks up with a tired smile. "Almost eight."

Confident that we're alone in the office I give in and stroke my fingers along the back of her bare neck. Her hair is held up in a pile by...a Biro?

"You should go home, I don't know how long I'll be but you shouldn't have to stay."

She faces me, glancing around before reaching for my hand and playing with my fingers.

"No, it's okay, I want to stay and help. You're working on the KCE shortlist, right?"

"Yeah."

"What can I do? If I help, we'll both be out of here quicker, right?" She places a kiss on my fingers. "I'd rather that than go home to an empty apartment without you."

God, I want to kiss her.

We work for another hour and get the shortlist finished, and email out all the reports and CVs ready for a catch-up meeting with the client first thing tomorrow.

Bella enters my office and collapses on the seat opposite mine with a big sigh.

"We're done?"

"Yep!" I begin logging off my computer with relief.

"Crazy day, huh?" She crosses her legs and I notice just the flash of the top of her stockings. I drag my eyes upwards to her shirt - dishevelled and an extra button undone, black bra peeking out.

Suddenly I don't feel quite so tired.

I clear my throat. "Um, yes, very."

She grins. "Edward...stop looking at me that way. Or at least, save it for when we get home." She winks and it's all over.

"Close the door." I tell her seriously, not mirroring her playful tone.

She stares at me for a brief moment, I watch her pupils dilate a little. Yeah, you know exactly what's going to happen, Sweetheart. She quickly stands and walks over to the door to close it, I stare at her arse. Fuck, my bird can wear a pencil skirt.

"And the blinds." There's nobody here but you can't be too careful.

She saunters back to me, well aware of what the sway of her hips and the devilish look in her eyes does to me.

"Come here," I demand, pushing my chair back from my desk a little. I tug her until she's standing with her feet on either side of mine.

"What are you doing, Mr Cullen?"

Both my hands grasp her arse and pull her towards me until she has no choice but to stumble into my lap. She slowly lifts her tight skirt high enough to straddle her legs comfortably on either side of me.

I hum quietly and bring her closer, her crotch now pressed tightly against mine. I look up and my expression show her exactly how much I want her, not to mention the rock hard erection she must feel.

I place a hand on the back of her neck and tug her face firmly towards me. I whisper against her lips, never releasing her eyes.

"Something I've thought about almost every day since the moment we met."

We crash our lips together and it's not gentle or teasing, it's rough and needy. It's our tongues reaching instantly for each other. It's the fucking ecstasy of our tastes combined. She moans into my mouth and I rock my hips, rubbing my dick more firmly against her, until she groans louder. I find the pen in her hair and knock it out to the floor, digging my hands roughly into the mass of brown waves. I press her body into mine exactly how I want it, turning our heads to kiss deeper and deeper, and she's just as rough with me. The little noises she keeps making only spur me on.

Eager to taste more of her I wrench my mouth away from hers and find the pulse point in her neck, sucking hard enough to leave a mark. I don't think she minds.

"Fuck, Edward."

She moves on me, rocking over me harder and harder. I slip a hand up the back of her shirt, snapping her bra undone.

She's so wet I can actually feel it through her knickers and my trousers. She grinds against me, panting a little.

I grip her hips tightly, stilling her.

"Nobody's coming like that tonight, baby. Stand up."

She climbs off my lap on shaking legs and I can't contain my smirk.

You haven't seen anything yet, darlin'.

"Turn around and lean on the desk."

It's absolutely silent in my office so I can fully appreciate her rapid breathing.

She places her hands on the edge of the wood. I lean close and lick a line up to her ear lobe. She trembles.

"Bend over more, I want to see your fucking amazing arse properly."

She reaches further forward, knocking a load of folders off the front of my desk, quite intentionally I think.

"Ooops." She tosses her head round to look at me, grinning. I lean in and kiss her hard, biting a little on her bottom lip.

"Face forwards."

My heart is fucking racing and as I reach for her hips I try to stop my hands from shaking. I need her so much, but no way am I rushing this. I've waited this long.

I slowly but firmly move my hands over her hips, her waist, her curvy bottom. I dig my fingers in a little and delight in her little gasp. I slip my hands back under her shirt, desperately seeking her skin. I tickle her sides gently before running my fingers firmly over her belly. I move closer behind her, pressing my hips into her. I move my mouth to her ear, listening to her breathe rapidly.

"Do you have any idea how long I've thought about this?" Her breath hitches when I pull her shirt aside to kiss her collarbone and neck. "Do you know how many times I've made myself come to this exact image of you?"

"I have too."

My dick twitches.

"You have?"

"Edward, there isn't a single corner of this building I haven't fantasised about fucking you."

"Jesus, baby..."

I reach down until I find the bottom of her skirt and roughly pull upwards until it gathers around her waist. I reach my hand between her legs.

"Your underwear is fucking drenched. You really love this, don't you?" I lower my voice to a whisper. "You want your boss to fuck you over his desk so badly. I think you've thought about it almost as much as me."

I watch her swallow and nod. I pull her knickers down to her ankles slowly, being sure to move myself down with them, brushing my fingers against her inner thighs, her knees, her ankles. I hold her steady while she steps out of them.

I catch her off guard by standing abruptly and shove my hand between her legs. She gasps when I circle her clit a few times and then slip two fingers inside.

"So ready for me, just like I always imagined."

She writhes into my touch.

"Please..."

I move my hands into her shirt instead, slipping my wet fingers under her loose bra cup to circle her nipple.

Her breath is so fast, her body almost rigid with tension but in the best possible way. I can't hold back much longer. I pull my hands out and bring them both to the top of her shirt instead. I think she can feel the tension in my grip as I hold both lapels firmly, either that or she can read my mind.

"Do it," she gasps. "Rip it."

As you wish, m'lady.

With great satisfaction I tear the shirt open and the combination of her moan with the sound of buttons hitting the floor pretty much shreds the last of my control. I grab her tits firmly and press my clothed cock into her now bare arse.

"I have to get inside you now."

"Thank fuck!" She exclaims, making me chuckle. I pull back for the briefest of moments to drag down my trousers and pants.

"Spread wider, baby."

She shuffles her legs apart, and lifts her backside greedily. I can't help but marvel at how far she has come. Here, she is exactly my fantasy and so much more. I move between her legs and when she feels my rigid cock she moans, pushing towards it.

"Yeah..." I murmur, slipping inside her, slowly at first and then with a firm thrust that makes us both grunt.

Holy Jesus...fuck.

This angle is so good. She feels so wonderfully tight and pulses and grips me.

"My God..." I really don't think I'm in control anymore.

She turns her head again, setting her pleading eyes on me.

"Fuck me...Boss. And don't you dare hold back."

I pull back slowly and then slam back in. And again. And again. Slow, hard thrusts that make Bella and the desk shudder. She bends lower and lower, her nipples practically dragging on the top of the desk. One of my hands grips her hip and the other spreads over her stomach and I pull her into me with every piston of my hips.

Her voice is pure need.

"Please...Oh God, baby...I'm close already."

I speed up and her low moan reverberates off the glass walls as she reaches orgasm. Afterwards, I slow down, offering lazy thrusts and gently caress her right nipple as she comes down. I want to see her.

I pull out and her knees buckle slightly until I wrap my arm more securely around her.

"Turn around."

She does, and hops onto my desk. I pull her to the edge, grabbing her legs to hook them around my hips, as I push back inside with a relieved groan.

I find her lips and roughly nip and suck at them, our breath mingled. She pulls off her shirt and bra completely and I eagerly take her nipple in my mouth.

"So beautiful...so fucking sexy. All mine." My words are mainly just grunts. "So long I waited for this, so long I thought about it. God..."

"Can't." Thrust. "Get" Push. "Enough!" I roll my hips, stimulating the most sensitive part of her. She clings to me, unable to do much else against my assault.

I know I'm close, caught between needing to climax and wanting this feeling to last forever.

I slip my hand between us, very nearly losing it when I brush against where we're connected. My fingers find her clit, hard and pulsing.

"Can you come again? Please say you can, baby."

"Yes. God...please."

I stroke her, and myself, bringing us closer and closer to the edge.

"I wanted this for so long, to come inside you. My cum in you - FUCK!"

I fall over the edge and have no way to stop it, but she cries out and I know she's fallen with me.

Afterwards she's almost shivering, I pull her off the desk and wrap her in my arms, only for my own knees to give, causing us to slip to the floor in a giggling, gasping heap. I wrap myself tightly around her and can't stop my weak hum of pleasure when she kisses my jaw and runs her hand gently through my hair.

"So...sex really is pretty awesome," she whispers.

I draw my head back to look her dead in the eye.

"With us it is."

She smiles and looks so bloody beautiful I can't believe what a lucky shit I am.

Eventually, when the chill gets to Bella and she's shivering in my arms in a non-pleasurable way I help her to stand. We re-dress as best we can. Her shirt is useless without buttons so with a huge smirk, I hand her the spare shirt I keep on the back of my door.

As we're locking up she murmurs, "So when's the next shortlist deadline?"

I grin, knowing exactly where she is headed.

"Why?" I tease.

She leans forward and gives me a searing kiss.

"Because, Mr Cullen, working late may just be my new favourite thing."

"So, let me make sure I understand this." Bella glances around my parents' backyard half confused, half smirking. "You celebrate a guy trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament by having bonfires and fireworks?"

Five Brits stare back at her, perplexed, before everyone tries to set the record straight at once.

"No, baby, we celebrate him not being able to do it."

She nods slowly. "With more fire. And by making an effigy and putting him on the fire?"

"Well...yes," Dad says.

"O-kay." She takes a sip of her drink with a grin. "No offence or anything, but that's a weird kinda holiday."

I jab my fingers into her sides until she wriggles in my arms, laughing.

"You know that's pretty rich coming from someone who, in a few weeks time, celebrates robbing land off the Native Americans by gorging on three different kinds of orange root vegetable."

She turns towards me on the swing chair. "You know, you should probably reserve judgement until you've tried my pumpkin pie."

"Sweetened vegetables. Yum," I grin, teasing. She holds my chin in her hand, kissing me quickly.

It's Bonfire Night and we've come to Mum and Dad's for our usual family tradition - jacket potatoes and Mum's homemade sloe gin in the back garden, and then we'll head down to the Pier for the firework display.

"Top up, Bella?" Dad asks, bottle of the warming but lethal booze in hand.

"Absolutely," she grins, holding out her glass eagerly. "It's delicious."

I better warn her that more than two glasses of that stuff will have you on your back, and not in a good way.

Mum comes out with a tray of buttery potatoes, each wrapped in foil, and we dig in. As a kid, Bonfire Night was one of my favourite nights of the year - I loved making the guy with newspaper stuffed into an old shirt and pair of trousers of Dad's that he would lend to the occasion. Then we'd have our own fireworks in the garden, back before that was considered a Health & Safety risk. To be fair, one time a Catherine wheel did fly off the fence and set light to Ali's abandoned Wendy house. I was nine and just thought it was funny. I think one of the main reasons I look back on these evenings so fondly, is because it was one of the few times Dad would be entirely present with us. But as I look at my parents tonight I realise how far things have come.

Credit where credit's due, he's made a real effort since Mum let him back home. I watch them tonight, Dad helping in the kitchen, occasionally wrapping an arm around her waist and giving her a kiss and I can't help feeling happy for them. I guess he realised how close he came to losing everything.

Alice and Jasper too seem pretty deliriously happy tonight. She's sitting on his lap, feeding him little bits of potato, and although that image is enough to make any big brother nauseous, I meant everything I said to her at lunch. We are both so lucky to have found people who understand us as Bella and Jasper do.

Once our bellies are full and our bodies warmed against the November chill by the gin, we head along the seafront. A crowd has already gathered at the top of the hill ready for Southend's firework display. It's no Disneyland or New Years at Sydney Harbour but it's not bad.

I wrap my arms around Bella and rest my head on her shoulder.

"Do you know how completely cute you look all wrapped up like that?" I try to nuzzle her neck but it's almost impossible to find a bare bit of skin. She's wearing a blue Parka with a fur-trimmed hood, cream scarf and her hair sticking out of the bottom of one of my beanie hats. Her cheeks are flushed from the cold and the alcohol and she looks gorgeous.

She turns her head, places two soft kisses on my jaw and scratches her nails through the hair at the nape of my neck. Even through all these layers my body reacts to her. Parents house or not, I intend to show her just how she affects me when we get home.

The fireworks begin and we watch quietly, wrapped around each other. I knew even from that very first night when I held her on the dance floor in Soho that I'd never be able to voluntarily let this woman go.

A young family stand next to us and the little boy, all sticking-up hair and miniature duffel coat, keeps tugging on Bella's sleeve to ask her what colour she likes best and if she heard how loud that last rocket was. Bella answers him indulgently while his mother offers several apologetic smiles. Choking on pasta aside, I can't help but imagine how life would be with kids. Bella's kids, specifically. Talking over the Tanya mess with Maggie really helped me to realise that having a family is no longer something I want to rule out. And having a family with this wonderful girl seems like a fucking awesome idea.

The fireworks draw to a close, the night suddenly seeming very quiet, and my heart quickens a little regarding my upcoming chat with Bella. I tell my family that we'll meet them back home, intending to take Bella for a little walk, the piece of paper burning a hole in my pocket.

"Oh, Ed?" Dad calls over his shoulder. "You hanging around tomorrow?"

"Sure," I shrug.

He nods slowly. "I was thinking, if the weather holds out, I might make a start on finally fixing that porch, if you wouldn't mind helping me?"

I feel a slow smile growing across my face. I guess now he's repairing his marriage he wants to make that old house shine too.

"Sounds great, Dad," I tell him softly, and they disappear up the road.

Bella and I stroll along the front in a companionable silence. She occasionally sneaks looks at me, just as I do at her.

"So...I want to talk to you about something," I finally say.

She looks at me expectantly and I drag her towards me for a kiss just because I can.

"I want to talk about...next Bonfire Night."

Her brow furrows slightly. "O-kay..."

"And next Thanksgiving and Christmas and all of the other special occasions after that."

Bella offers me a small smile but stays quiet. I brush a piece of hair away from her face.

Deep breath.

"As you know, I want to buy a house and what I'd really like is for you to live there with me."

Now the words are out there my nerves ease. She has given herself to me in every possible way; we've been honest with each other in a way I could never have dreamt I could be with another person. I know she wants this as much as I do. However, that doesn't stop my heart from gaining speed when she pulls me close, rests her forehead against mine and says:

"I really want that too."

We grin like lovesick fools and I kiss her silly.

"So, I think that leaves us three options."

"Which are?"

"First, we stay in London."

She nods, a little baffled.

"Second...we go to the States." I give her bum a playful squeeze. "I hear some very hip and cool people live in Seattle."

I wait, almost holding my breath while she thinks carefully as I hoped she would. I'm not bluffing, I'd go wherever Bella wanted to go, for as long as she wanted to go there.

"I do miss it," she finally admits. "We've come too far for me to lie about that. But-" She looks around herself at the tree-lined street, the sound of the sea in the background. "I don't think I'm quite done with England yet."

I slip my hands around her waist and look her dead in the eye.

"Are you certain? Because I don't want to dictate anything here." I grimace, thinking of her old life. "It seems you were told what to do for most of your life before we met and I don't ever want to make you feel that way."

"Edward, I don't. I never could with you. I promise." Pause. "So, what's the third option?"

With a little apprehension, I reach into my pocket and hand her the folded sheets of A4 paper.

She looks at me curiously and then down at the pictures and information.

"Wow, Edward, this house is beautiful! And so much bigger than the others. Where is it?"

With a sheepish grin I put my hands on her shoulders and turn her in the direction of the house we're standing in front of, the very same house as on the pages in her hands.

She stares at it for a few moments.

"It's right here?" she whispers.

"It's right here."

"It's gorgeous."

"Yeah." It is. It's exactly us in every possible way. "But the commute is a bitch and this town is not London, believe me. And you might have to put up with my mother popping over more frequently than we'd like. But it's an option. I want you to choose. I will love you anywhere."

She gazes at the house a little longer, her expression turning wistful and at that moment I know she sees it. She sees everything I see. She sees us making it our own, she sees all the things she'll teach me to cook in that big country kitchen, she sees walks on the pier and icecream on the beach. I'm pretty sure she eventually sees a bucket and spade and several pairs of tiny muddy boots in the hallway too.

She sees our future.

She turns to me, her eyes looking a little glazed. "I think I want to love you right here."

I reach down and hoist her into my arms, covering every part of exposed skin I can find with my lips and warm breath. She squeals and giggles and begs until I put her down. I wonder how anyone is allowed to be this happy.

She faces the house again, I wrap my arms around her waist and bend my mouth to her ear.

"How about this then? We buy this house and we make it ours. And one day, when it's ready, we come and live here by the sea. And one day, whenever you want, we rent it out and you teach me about being an American for a while."

I inhale a shaky breath. "And, maybe, one day I'll ask you a really special question and you'll agree to be mine for good. And one day...we can fill this house with little versions of us and just...laugh. Every single day."

I watch a single tear track down her cheek and I gently brush it away with my knuckles. She turns to me with the most beautiful smile.

"I think one day sounds absolutely perfect."

She kisses me solidly then takes my hand and we walk side by side again.

I've never been one to care much for religion, or any kind of higher power. The idea of fate was disconcerting; I hated the notion that my life was completely predetermined. However, I can't deny that mine and Bella's paths crossing feels somewhat kismet.

Sometimes you think you aren't searching for anything at all. You think your life is exactly how you want it to be. You think you're happy. It's only when something or someone enters your world like a bloody lightning bolt of delicious mayhem that you realise you were only living as a ghost before.

Bella's past was desperately painful, my present was broken so badly I didn't even realise it. We were searching for everything...and nothing. We didn't know what to look for until it was right under our noses.

Maybe fate is real, maybe everything happens for a reason. Or maybe we're just lucky beyond words.

I look back towards the house, our house, and I know the future will be exactly what we want it to be.

Call off the search, we're home.

A/N

Once again everything Ed & Ali is inspired by my own hilarious, hapless, adorable brother. In all his 26 years he has never once taken my advice and yet I will never stop offering it.

"One day" is quite a personal thing for me and the mister. We've been together almost a decade but it took us a really long time to find the money we needed for our future. In those years our conversations would often begin "One day..." "One day when we get our house..." "One day when we can afford to get married..." "One day when we have kids..." So, for me and my Edward - today is "one day" :-D

Only the epilogue left for Britward and his Bellamerica *sniff* Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one. Thank you, always.

Amber xxx