A/N: Oh, boy. I have no fucking clue where I got the Doobie Brothers as being the people who first sang Drift Away. Dobie Gray. That's who I meant. Yikes.

"Mommy. Mommy."

An urgent voice stirred Bella from an otherwise sound sleep. She grimaced. Dry cotton mouth. Unquenched thirst. Check. No headache though. That was nice.

"Mommy." Melody patted her arm. She climbed onto the bed, sitting on her knees. "Did you know Daddy's here? On the couch? Making monster noises."

Bella had to press her lips together to smother a giggle. "Yes, I know. I'm the one who put him to bed there."

Melody's eyes brightened. "Is it a special day? Like Christmas?" She'd been ecstatic when Edward had stayed overnight on Christmas.

"No, love." Bella caressed her daughter's hair. "Daddy and I had a little too much fun last night. He overdid it a bit."

With a gasp, Melody's brows furrowed, her expression hurt. "You and Daddy had fun without me?"

She looked so crestfallen, Bella had to struggle not to laugh. "No, Mel. Not like that. Daddy went out with his friends, and I went out with my friends. We went to the same place. It was just a coincidence. Do you know what that means?"

Melody shook her head.

"It means when two separate things happen at the same time when you didn't mean them to."

"Good things?"

Bella's smile gentled, and she felt her cheeks flush hot. "Not always, but in this case, it was a really good thing." She sat up. "Now, do you want to wake Daddy up first, or should we make him breakfast first?"

"Can we wake him up so he stops making bad noises? He sounds like this." Melody made a noise that was part snort, part growl. Bella chortled as she stood, pulling Mel to her hip.

In the living room, Bella found Edward exactly where she'd left him the night before. They'd stumbled in together, drunk and high and connected at the lips, their hands roaming and urgent. Even now, Bella shivered remembering the words he'd rumbled in her ear—all the things he wanted to do to her.

But, they were both drunk. He wasn't up to the performance no matter what his silk tongue said. They'd made out on the couch, her fingers stroking through his hair, until his kisses slowed and he'd slumped, just as she suspected he would. She'd laid him back, taken off his shoes, and draped a blanket over him.

Now, a warm tenderness came over as she gazed down at him. His hair so disheveled, his features smooth in sleep. How could one man be so dead sexy by night and beautiful in sleep?

And then, the most horrendous sound she'd ever heard came from his slightly parted lips. The donkey's bray snore of the formerly inebriated. Bella clapped a hand over her mouth. Melody made the most exasperated noise of disgust. "See?" She shook her head sadly.

"Here." Bella set Melody on the ground and took her phone out. She pressed a few buttons and put the phone in her hand. "Take a video. You can send it to Uncle Em. He'll get a kick out of it."

Gleeful at the prospect, Melody scrambled to her father's side. Her face scrunched up as he breathed out and she was standing too close. "Ew," she said plaintively.

Bella really had to try not to laugh then. She was sure her breath didn't smell much better. She watched Melody, amused as always at the things toddlers these days knew how to do. Her daughter lifted the phone with unsteady hands. She knew enough to hold down the record button. The video would be shaky—Melody was giggling now—but that just added to the charm. Emmett was already smitten with his niece.

When she tired of filming him—only a minute or so later—Mel put the phone down safely on the floor and climbed onto the couch. She straddled Edward's chest. He gave an "Ooof," as her bony knees dug into his stomach, but he didn't really wake.

"Da-ddy." Mel bounced on him. "Daddy. Daddy. Daddy."

"Uh?" Edward came awake, blinking adorably as he stared up. He winced, no doubt as the headache hit him. "Oh, man."

"You can't hold your liquor, little boy," Bella teased, grinning as Edward's head snapped toward her and he winced again.

Melody let out a gail of high-pitched giggles. "Mommy! Daddy isn't a little boy. He's old."

Edward smirked. "Yeah, Mommy. I'm old, see?" He groaned as he did his best to sit up, keeping Mel on his lap.

Bella stepped forward and ruffled his hair. "I'll make you something greasy, okay?"

He tilted his head, a strange look on his face. That was exactly how this felt. Strange. Him being there when she woke up, like it was the most natural thing in the world, stoked a weird feeling in her. Warm, but weird.

He nodded. "Greasy sounds great." He squinted. "And maybe something for my head?"

She nodded. "I'm on it."

But before she could get far, his hand tightened around her wrist. She turned back and saw concern in his eyes. "Bella… We didn't…"

Her cheeks flushed hot and she squeezed his hand. "No."

"Oh, good." He slumped back on the couch, readjusting Melody on his lap. His lips turned up at one corner as he waggled his eyebrows at her. "I want to remember every minute of that."

Bella considered teasing him, putting her hands on her hips and remarking that some things never changed. He still had sex on the mind when they had other things to talk about. But she decided it was cruel to give him a hard time when he already had a hangover. Besides, she might not have been hungover, but she didn't want to try to figure out how to word all that so as not to rouse Melody's curiosity.

Besides, she didn't think she could get through it with a straight face. She wanted him. Badly.

Melody tilted her head back to look at Bella. "Bacon?"

"Bacon what?" Edward prompted their daughter.

"Bacon...an' eggs?"

Edward and Bella both chuckled, sharing a look over Melody's shoulder. "How about a please, little face?" Bella said.

"Oh. Please, bacon an' eggs an' maybe some chocolate milk?" Melody batted her eyelashes.

"Oooooh. Chocolate milk." Edward said, looking vaguely dreamy.

Bella snorted. "Okay. Eggs, bacon, and chocolate milk coming right up."

~0~

They were bad at talking.

And because life was complicated, and they seemed to be on the same page about not changing the way they interacted in front of their daughter, they were bad at the following through on sex thing too. Which was why Bella found herself in the position she'd long claimed belonged to Edward.

She wasn't interested in talking like a responsible adult. She didn't really care the about all the questions they had to answer. She wanted to throw him down on the floor and have her wicked way with him.

He knew it too, the bastard.

That first day, as they sat down to breakfast, even as Edward rubbed his head, listening to Melody chatter away, Bella felt the tip of his toe climb up her ankle. It was a light touch, but one that made her aware of every inch of her skin. Then, some minutes later as they lazed together—their little family—he draped his arm over the back of the couch so his fingertips could play with her hair.

The cycle continued like that for days. Their schedules mixed, and they only saw each other when Melody was awake. They both had early hours and too much to do that week. So his touch lingered—electric and warm, sensual and visceral—for days. Thoughts of him crept up on her even when she was busy at work, until there was a persistent buzz, a cloud over her mind and thoughts that whispered his name.

She wanted him, and she'd always been a woman to go after what she wanted.

The evening before Edward was set to go on his winter-time hike in Olympic National Park with his friends, Bella made her move.

This was the nice thing about being forty years old and confident in who she was. She was comfortable in her own skin. Like anyone, she had flaws and problem spots she was aware of, but she was also aware they didn't much matter.

Still, she had to take a steadying breath before she knocked on his apartment door that evening. When he opened up, she was leaning against the jamb, her lips turned up in the slightest smirk.

Edward's eyes went wide and then lust-dark as he took her in. She was wearing a cowgirl get up—tight jeans, a red button down, a cowboy hat perched on her head and the boots to match. "Bella?" Edward's voice was low and raw as he stared.

"Let me in." She put a hand to his chest, pushing lightly. "It's freezing out here."

He stumbled backward, his hand wrapping around hers on her chest as she shut the door behind her. She entwined their fingers and led him to his ratty couch. "Give me your phone." She held her hand out even as she pushed him to sit down with the other.

"Uh…" Edward had obviously caught on enough to understand where this was all going to end up—with both of them very naked—but she'd caught him by surprise. Good. He could stand to be flustered in the sex and sexiness department every once in a while. It was good for character growth.

He fished his phone out of his pocket and put it in her hand, his eyes still locked on hers—dark and confused and turned on. "What are you doing?" he finally managed as she began pressing buttons on his phone. "And what the hell are you wearing?"

She waggled her eyebrows mischievously as his sound system, hooked up to Alexa and his phone, clicked on. "Hush, little boy. It's just a music lesson."

That was the other good thing about being forty. Her formative music years had a few classics. She put his phone down on the coffee table as Ginuwine's Pony came on.

"Oh, Jesus. Fuck," Edward groaned, getting the idea as Bella's hips began to sway in time with the music and she unbuttoned the top button of her shirt.

By the time she got to the chorus, her shirt was off. She climbed onto his lap, gyrating her hips as Ginuwine sang, "You're horny, let's do it. Ride it. My pony."

Edward raised his hands, but Bella caught him by the wrist. "You know the strip club rules."

He furrowed his brow, his face flushed as his hips rose to meet hers. "I've never been to a strip club."

She leaned in so her lips were near his ear. "No touchy touchy."

He groaned, and she took pity on him, guiding his hands to her hips and pressing them there. Then, she reached back to release the clasp of her bra. His eyes went directly there, and Bella felt her nipples tighten as he licked his lips.

She wouldn't mind if he touched her with his tongue. No, not at all.

But she wouldn't be distracted. She wanted to have him undone by the end of this song.

She continued moving to the music, backing off him and standing again. He groaned, and he adjusted his hard length in his pants, but his breath caught as she kicked off the cowboy boots. Her jeans followed, and he she straddled him again, this time putting her cowboy hat on his head as she ground her panty-clad center against the bulge in his jeans.

"Bella." His voice was breathy and deep all at once. "Can I please touch you?"

Pretty breathless herself by then, Bella could only nod. In an instant, his hands were all over her. He tilted his head, catching her mouth in a fervent kiss. His fingertips slid up her back, and she moaned against his lips, cupping a hand to his cheek. His hands came around to her breasts and he squeezed—too rough and yet…

God, yes. Rough was good. Rough was great.

His grip gentled and he rubbed a thumb over her nipples, his hips bucking up against her. She rubbed herself harder over him, seeking that sweet friction, and she gasped, suddenly finding herself flipped onto her back on the couch with him pressed over her. He released his mouth and kissed down her neck to her breasts. She arched beneath him, hands in his hair as his talented tongue swathed over her. His fingers danced along the hem of her panties—and then slipped beneath, tracing along her sensitive flesh until he found her wet and hot for him.

And she was done teasing. She reached between them, finding the fly of his jeans and unbuttoning. He straightened up, so he was kneeling on the couch at her feet, and pulled his shirt off in one smooth motion.

He was beautiful. It wasn't as though she hadn't noticed, even through all these years they'd been just friends. In the summer when he had occasion to take his shirt off, she'd drunk her fill watching him. His body had been changing as he got more into outdoor adventuring—his arms more muscular from rock climbing, his legs stronger, his torso more cut. She enjoyed the view, watching as he did his own version of a strip tease—much more hurried and many times less graceful.

"In some type of a rush?" she teased.

He fixed her with a sardonic look. "You've been driving me insane all week."

Bella raised herself onto her elbows to stare sat him. "I've been driving you crazy? Are you kidding me?"

"You've been giving me that look." Undressed now, he climbed back over her, dropping a rain of kisses across her stomach before he claimed her lips again. "Like you want to devour me. Or have your wicked way with me."

She gave a soft sigh as he kissed her again, letting her hands wander the expanse of his back. Tilting her head up, she nipped at his earlobe. "You started it. You kept touching me."

"I like touching you." He pulled her panties down, working them off one leg and then the other with her help. He pressed her legs back, his body slotted between them. "I've thought about that a lot. All the ways I want to touch you."

She pressed her lips together to smother a moan, lifting one foot to press her heel to his backside. She could feel his heat close to her, the head of his cock teasing her entrance.

Before she could beg him to do it, to take her, he did. He slid forward, his cock parting her folds and sliding home. The arched beneath him, crying out, and he stifled a whimper. "Fuck, that's good," he murmured under his breath as he thrust, thrust, thrust deeper into her.

She cupped his ass, squeezing and urging him closer, and brought her legs up. He lowered his mouth to hers, swallowing each moan and whimper she gave him, leaving her his in return. His hands roamed her body, skimming and squeezing, gentle, then rough. Needy.

With a groan, he broke their kiss, panting. He turned his face to the side, still moving in her. "Oh, hell. Bella. I…"

She pressed a hand to his cheek, turning his head back to look at her. "We have time."

This was no one night stand.

He let out a shuddering breath, groaning again when she squeezed his cock with her walls, urging him on. He didn't need to be told twice. His thrust quickened, and she let out a breathy cry. "Edward," she whispered. He felt so good inside her.

"Ah. So...agh." He babbled nonsensically and buried his head at her neck. He pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her throat, his teeth digging in just a little as he began to pulse inside her. His body was glorious beneath her hands—the way it jerked, muscles tensing, and then, with his long moan, relaxed.

She stroked his hair, enjoying the weight of him on her, the slick heat of his skin and the way he felt in her arms.

They had to talk. There were truths to face and hard questions to be asked. But this?

This wasn't where they ended.

A/N: Sooooooooooooooooooooo.

Hi.