*************PLEASE NOTE!******************

I just changed my pen name from AlohaBEL to TwilightBEL!! I am sorry for any confusion. I felt the need to do this because so many people I know IRL know me by AlohaBEL -specifically my 12yo daughter. She has expressed an interest in reading my Twilight stories and I just can't have my little girl reading the smut her mommy posted on the internet! Not to mention all the M stories I saved in my favs! I hope you all can understand and, again, I'm sorry for any confusion. :o)

Disclaimer: They're still not mine, people!!

A/N: I am sad. :o( Only 4 reviews last chapter... did you guys not like it? I know I strayed from the SIT storyline with that scene but I thought it fit in nicely, plus we got more ExB fluff. I only had one person guess where the kissing 'where it doesn't hurt' scene came from, too. I hope I get a better responce with the lemon! :o) It's a long one, too. About 4,000 words so I split it in two so your eyes don't cross. Don't worry about waiting for the second half; I'm posting that tonight, too. :o)

BTW The chapter name, Prelude, is a musical term which means 'a short piece preceding a more substantial work'. I thought that fit well here.

Enjoy!!

Chapter: 11

Prelude

EPOV

We've been here before. In this room, in an embrace, kissing much like we are now. There is a difference, though. Bella doesn't hesitate. She slides her warm hands up my bare torso to hook them on my shoulders. This feels right. Bella, in my arms with her lips pressing against mine again and again, feels right. She leans further into me and I raise a hand to cradle the back of her head and open my mouth to trace my tongue along her luscious bottom lip. This time there is no knock at the door. This time there is no interruption.

She gasps at this and I slowly press my tongue into her mouth. I'm not sure what she will think of it as I tentatively lap at her tongue. She squeezes my shoulders a bit tighter and stiffens in my arms and just as I am about to retreat she relaxes into my embrace with a small moan. Bella begins to respond to the kiss and slowly her tongue begins to dance with mine. When she briefly sucks my bottom lip in her mouth, I find heaven in her arms. But I know this has to stop.

I slowly disengage our mouths and it's difficult because the further I pull my head from her, the further she leans forward to meet me. With a few kisses to her lips, each one more chaste than the last, I finally pull away to look her in the eyes.

"Don't stop," she whimpers gently tugging at my shoulders.

"I have to, love," I tell her with a sad smile. I rest my forehead against hers as we both calm our breathing but neither of us loosens the hold we have on the other.

"But, why?" she sadly whispers.

I take a steadying breath. "Bella, I am a man with a beautiful woman in my arms that I love very much. There is nothing I would want more than to continue kissing you but, if we do this much longer, I won't have the good sense to stop." My hand leaves the back of her head to lie against her cheek as the pad of my thumb rubs softly against her swollen lip. "I won't be able to let you go. I'll want to hold on to you. Forever."

Bella looks me straight in the eye. "Edward, I love you, too." Then she says softly with conviction. "I want this. I want you. I don't want you to let me go. Ever." With those words her hands slide up from my shoulders. She clutches handfuls of hair at the nape of my neck and pulls my head down to hers once again.

"Bella-" is all I am able to get out in my surprise before she crashes her lips to mine. She is a quick learner. This time she is the one to trace her tongue along my lip. I take her cue and open my mouth to her. When her tiny warm tongue presses into my mouth and dances against mine, the hand that is against her check travels lower. My hand trails slowly down the column of her neck and my fingertips trace her collarbone. Without warning, she presses into me hard trapping my hand between us. My hand is so large and my pianists' fingers so long, that, with my fingertips still on her collar bone, I suddenly have her soft breast palmed in my hand. I brace myself for her surprise. I wait for her to pull away. Instead, she leans into me even further with a small sigh.

I wrench my mouth away from hers and move my offending hand to her waist. "Bella, please." I beg, my breathing ragged. I set her aside to stand and distance myself from her. I lean one hand against the door jam and run the other through my hair as I try and calm my breathing. "I am trying hard to be a gentleman. You deserve bett-"

"I am twenty five years old, Edward," Bella interrupts with amused annoyance. She rises from her knees and walks over to me. She comes to stand under me so that her back is against the door jam with my hand above her head and her face directly beneath mine. "By most people's standards, I'm a spinster, having chosen a career rather than accept one of the men who asked for my hand. I have never regretted that decision, not once. I knew that those men were not for me," she places a chaste kiss on my lips sliding her hands back in place around my neck, "much like I know you are the man for me."

Time to lay it all on the line, Masen. "Love, you need to know that I have nothing to offer you but myself. I left my life in Chicago behind and I come to you with nothing but what you see before you, the clothes on my back and the few dollars in my pocket." I need to make her understand.

She smiles at me as if I just granted her fondest wish. "That's all I want," she tells me with another quick kiss. "You are all I need. If you don't want to return to Chicago, we can stay here and make a new home in Michigan or you can come with me to Denver and meet back up with the company and see if the traveling suits you..." Her face brightens as see senses me relax. "We won't have to hire a pianist at every stop anymore," she giggles before telling me seriously, "It doesn't matter to me where we go, or what we do, as long as we are together. You did say you wanted to hold on to me, didn't you? Never let me go?"

"That I did, love, and I meant it." I kiss her slowly this time lingering on her lower lip. I look into her eyes again and bring my hand back up to the back of her head lacing my fingers into her hair, my thumb rubbing against the tender spot below her ear. When she closes her eyes and leans her head back into my hand I lean forward again. This time, I only ghost my lips past hers once and continue along her cheek. My lips brush against her ear when I tell her I love her causing her to shiver. I nudge her cheek with mine to tilt her head into my hand exposing her neck to me. Her breathing quickens when I take her lobe between my lips with my tongue for a quick suck, only to release it and press the flat of my tongue below her ear. I lavish some attention to the sensitive spot for a few moments before trailing nips and open mouthed kisses down her neck. Once I reach her shoulder, she finally has access to my neck and starts placing little kisses everywhere her soft lips can reach. The first time I feel her teeth lightly scrape across the cords of my neck I groan. The sound vibrates between us and I feel the tension coil deep in my gut, my trousers now almost unbearably tight.

I pull against the shoulder of her dress and expose as much of her shoulder as I can as I move her back against the door jam. My neck is straining so my mouth can reach the newly exposed skin. This isn't working. I grab her around her ribcage with both hands and lift her up with only a small protest from my achy shoulders. She is now pressed into the door jam looking down on me cradling my head in her soft warm hands. I return my mouth to her shoulder and trail my tongue down to her collar bone. Avoiding my tender bump, Bella runs her hands through my hair, down my neck, across my shoulders and then back up again. Her hands leave a trail of fiery tingles in their wake. I slide one hand around her lower back to steady her with my arm while the other slides up her ribs to cup the underside of one breast. My hand gently squeezes her breast and, when she seems that she is accepting of it, I squeeze again with more pressure slowly kneading. My face lowers to her other breast and I trace my nose across its peak as my thumb starts brushing over her other nipple. I feel her nipples pearl up under the soft layers of fabric and it makes me harder to feel that she is so responsive to me. As I roll one nipple between my fingers, I take the other into my mouth and gently trap it between my teeth rubbing my tongue back and forth across the thick fabric.

Bella whimpers and thrusts one hand back into my hair, pulling my mouth closer to her breast, while the other grabs desperately at the back of my hand careful of my wrist. With a moan, she spreads her legs enough that she is now straddling me high on my waist, far from where I ache for her to be. I look up to see her head thrown back, her eyes squeeze shut and her mouth opens as she gasps for air. There is a beautiful blush running from her rosy cheeks, down along the column of her throat, disappearing down into the neckline of her dress. She looks magnificent. She looks down at me, probably to see why I've stopped, and I grin at her. She looks for a moment at my smiling face before lowering her head to mine.

As we kiss, I back away from the wall and allow her to slowly, torturously, slide down me. I groan into her mouth when her soft body comes in contact with the hard bulge in my pants. I stop her there palming her buttocks and grind her lightly against me. Bella whimpers again and is suddenly scrambling out of my arms. Shit! I've scared her.

A/N: This was just a bit different than the oneshot. I tweaked it here and there and, of course, the seque at the begining is different.

Pretty please, remember to R&R. :o)