Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Beta'd by SunflowerFran, who I am endlessly grateful for.

Hello to all of my new readers and those from my previous fic; Stealing Bella!

Reviews are love.

I'm not sure what woke me from my sleep, but there was a good chance it was the feeling of having someone else's body in such close proximity to mine. Sometime between falling asleep and being woken, Edward had carried me to the bed and had fallen into unconsciousness beside me.

I'd learned early on in my relationship with Jacob that I didn't like sharing a bed – at least not with him. I'd hated how his knee would try to wedge itself between my legs and how he snored so loudly it would pull me from what little sleep I'd managed to get. As I result, I'd spent the first few weeks after we'd started sleeping together staying awake, pressing my knee into his back and playing on the fact that he knew I talked in my sleep. I'd acted forlorn when he'd suggested discontinuing our sleepovers but had agreed with him, doing what was best for our relationship.

Sleeping with Edward Cullen had been entirely different.

We hadn't made it beneath his duvet, our bodies lying tangled over the top of it; one of my legs wedged between his, the other thrown over his thigh. The contrast between my smooth skin and the soft hair covering his legs made me blush. His hand rested on my hip, his palm spread out over my bare flesh beneath his shirt. The skin to skin contact feeling more intimate than any of the times Jacob had pushed his way inside of my body.

My skin flushed as my body began to react to his proximity, my cheeks darkening with embarrassment when I realised that my hand was fisted into the fabric of his t-shirt, resting directly over his heart.

I looked up then and a small gasp escaped my lips when my eyes met his. Shining, bottle green stared back at me, just barely illuminated by the soft yellow light coming from a lamp across the room.

I let go of his shirt with numb fingers and moved to pull my legs away from his when I felt his hand stroking the skin over my hip, calloused fingertips leaving trails of fire upon my flesh. Opening his palm over the small of my back, he pulled me close until our chests touched and our hearts pounded against one another.

I could feel him against my stomach, hard and hot and my body flooded with warmth in response.

He glanced at my lips and I licked them in response, lifting my hand to the soft hair at the nape of his neck as I reclined my head to meet his lips.

My heart sank into my chest when Edward dropped a soft kiss on my forehead and pulled away from me.

"Are you okay, Bella?" Rosalie asked her voice full of concern. She'd knocked on the door to Edward's bedroom moments after he'd pulled away from me to say that she and Emmett were going back to our apartment and that they would drive me there.

I lifted my head from the cool car window, pulling my gaze away from the bright, crescent moon and look up to find her twisted around so that she could face me, eyes filled with concern.

"Would it be bad for me to say that I haven't really thought about it? It happened so fast and I just … It doesn't feel real, you know? You hear about that kind of stuff on the news all the time, but you never expect it to happen. I don't know what I would have done if Edward hadn't come; that guy was dangerous." My voice was calm and I found that I was too caught up in thoughts of jade eyes to think about Jame.

"You should have seen what Edward did to him. He won't be able to hurt anyone again anytime soon," Emmett said, chuckling darkly. I grimaced, remembering his bruised and bloodied knuckles.

"I just want to forget it ever happened," I told them. And I did. I wanted to forget all about James and the ache in my upper arms from where he'd grabbed me. I wanted to forget about his vacant stare and the taste of cheap beer on his tongue.

However, I didn't want to forget about Edward Cullen.

It was well after five am before I gave up on the notion of getting any sleep. I abandoned my bed in favour of the roof of our apartment building. My eyes were red and tired as I watched the sun rise; illuminating the sky in soft pinks and oranges that I captured on my phone. Minutes later the picture was on Instagram captioned a new day despite the fact that I couldn't seem to get the previous one out of my head.

I spent the day baking, making tray after tray of triple, chocolate chip cookies until the bench is covered and I'm out of necessary ingredients.

I asked Emmett which ones Edward liked. I had always brought over baked goods for them in the past, with a separate container for Edward that I received back, washed and empty, every single time. He always left a small Post-It tacked onto the lid with the words thank you written in handwriting so elegant that I envied it.

Emmett left around lunchtime with an amused smile and two containers filled with cookies— one of them covered in yellow Post-Its, each of them reading the same two words in my messy scrawl.

Thank you.

Monday was spent in class, barely paying attention. I drifted from classroom to classroom, half of me there and the other half remembering how it felt to be in Edward Cullen's arms.

When I opened my notebook after dinner, I don't find the class notes I could have sworn that I wrote. Instead, I find page after page filled with passages describing his eyes, the way they looked at me, and how they made me feel.

I blushed furiously, tearing out the pages. I moved to throw them in the trash but found that I couldn't. With a small sigh, I shoved them inside of my journal and then tucked it under my pillow, determined to forget about it.

I don't.

I spend the rest of the week forcing myself to pay attention in classes. I pretend that my heart doesn't skip a beat every time I see a flash of bronze hair across the quad or in the cafeteria line, but it does.

I had read and reread the pages I'd written on Monday and by the time Wednesday hits I begin to question if I dreamed the almost kiss. I'd been with Jacob for years and hadn't felt even a fraction of the lust that had coursed through my veins in the few moments before we'd been interrupted. The more I went over what I'd penned, the more unrealistic the whole thing seemed.

He looked at me and his eyes were shining a deep, glistening jade. I wanted to squirm under his gaze, but I couldn't move, my body frozen in shock. And even if I had wanted to, I knew that I wouldn't have; I'd wanted him to move a little closer, to press his mouth to mine. I wondered what his lips would taste like and how his facial hair would feel against my cheek, my stomach, the inside of my thighs.

I closed my notebook aggressively, pushing it away before I lifted my fingers to my temples, willing myself to forget the words.

To no avail.

I'd spent mere hours in Edward Cullen's company and he'd only spoken a handful of words to me.

But he'd saved me from a horrible fate. One that would have changed me irrevocably and then he'd helped me; had washed my hair and stroked my cheek and I couldn't close my eyes without seeing his.

Rosalie tried to talk to me about it, but every time she mentioned it I withdrew into myself. Not because of James, and what he'd tried to do, but because I couldn't talk to her about what had nearly happened between Edward and I. I liked keeping those hours we'd spent together to myself. Just the way I liked wearing his shirt to bed, the soft material more comfortable than any of the ratty old shirts I usually wore when sleeping.

I knew I'd have to give it back, and I would, but I wasn't quite ready to give up the safety I felt enveloped in his scent.

"What's wrong with you?" Rosalie asked on Friday afternoon after I'd come back from the library, dropping my bag next to the apartment door and falling onto the couch with a thud.

"Nothing," I mumbled, my voice cracking.

"Bullshit." She muted the television and then turned to face me before giving me the bitch brow.

I sighed and tugged at the hem of my shirt, my fingers shaking. "I saw him."

"Saw who?"

I bit my lip, contemplating lying to her, but I knew she wouldn't let it go. "Jacob."

Rosalie groaned. "Fuck, I hate him so much. Did he say anything?"

"He said he heard about what had happened on the weekend … He said I didn't think you'd ever thaw out enough to have sex with someone with tastes like James. Rose, he made it sound like I'd wanted it and that I couldn't handle it so I freaked out. That's what James is telling people and they're believing him. Then he said that since you're expanding my horizons now, I might be willing to give you a second chance." There were tears in my eyes and rage in my best friend's at this point. Jacob's words had been harsh, accusing and tormenting and his eyes had raked over my body with a leer that had made my stomach turn.

"That fucking asshole," she seethed, jumping up from the couch and grabbing her phone. "I'm calling Emmett, he'll sort the fuckers out."

I shook my head. "Please don't. It'll just make more people talk about it and they'll ask questions and I just…Please don't, Rose."

She sighed and frowned softly at me. Dropping her phone on the coffee table, she sat down on the couch and pulled me into a hug that relieved some of the anxiety that seemed to be swallowing me whole. "I won't but it isn't going to be long before he finds out B."

I sniffled and pulled away from her. "I know."

She smiled then, a sly glint in her tiffany blue eyes. "It isn't really Emmett you have to be worried about though. Edward's going to flip his lid when he finds out."

I pretended that the knowledge meant little to me, despite the fact that my heart was racing just at the mention of his name and I forced my face to be blank. "Why would he care?"

"Oh, sweetie," she said with a small giggle. "You can't pretend there wasn't something there. I saw the way you looked at him."

I swallowed, looking away. "He's not what I expected," I admit.

Rosalie grinned at me then, all perfect teeth and red lips. "They never are."

Next chapter will be here in a couple days hopefully, as this one was short and transitional. I'm aiming for two before Christmas.

Fic Rec:

Outbound by aftrnoondlight

Two beautiful souls humbly traveling life's lonely path, until fate suddenly shows her hand. Will Edward and Bella surrender willingly... A tender, romantic tale of love and life in the clouds.