Two Warnings: One, this ends in a pretty unforgivable cliffhanger. I tried to avoid it, but if I cut this chapter off at a non-cliffhangerish moment, it would have been nothing more than a boring filler chapter. I tried cutting it off elsewhere, but everything I tried seemed to end in a cliffhanger. Maybe I'm just seeing cliffies everywhere. Anyway, if cliffhangers really bother you, I recommend waiting for the next chapter before reading this one. I will try to get it out within the next day or two, but considering I am trying to write a sex scene while respecting this site's rules about not posting explicit material, this could be a challenge. Also, work is seriously cutting into my writing time.
Two, we are firmly ensconced in M-rating territory here, possibly bordering on adult. Consider yourselves warned. And remember that I am a fan of a slightly darker Edward.
Edward:
It was dawn when we started on the final stretch of our journey, up the narrow, winding, treacherous road that snaked up the mountain and led to one of my favorite places in the world to get away from it all. It was a slow, jarring, bumpy ride, and Bella, who had fallen asleep some time ago, soon woke up again. She stretched like a kitten, and pulled herself upright, looking out of the windows.
"We are nearly there," I said, reaching out to touch her cheek. We'd have gotten there a lot sooner, except for the fact that a Volvo wasn't the best car for navigating New Mexico's poorly maintained back-country roads. I had to drive slowly and carefully as I inched my way up the mountain, wishing for the Jeep that was locked away in my garage up ahead. Bella looked at me, blinking sleepily, clearly not quite awake yet. Poor baby…this endless drive had to have been hard on her human body. I opened all the windows, to let the cool mountain air in.
"Mmmm," she hummed, inhaling. "The air smells divine…a bit like vanilla."
"It's the Ponderosa," I explained. "The sap smells like vanilla."
She looked at me with an adorably confused look on her face. "The what?"
I smiled. "The trees…Ponderosa pine."
"Oh." She folded arms along the edge of the passenger door and propped her chin on them, her head sticking out of the window. "Uh…Edward?" she squeaked suddenly, pulling back in and cringing toward me. "You are awfully close to the edge."
"On which side?" I joked. The road, such as it was, was only wide enough for one vehicle. Barely. I was as close to the verge as I could get without damaging my car, certainly closer than a human being could have gotten.
"What if we meet someone coming the other way?" she quavered, reaching for my arm.
"There won't be anyone," I soothed her, unable to keep the laughter out of my voice. "This road leads to my place, and nowhere else." I tried to free my arm to wrap it around her, but she clung to it like a limpet.
"Keep both hands on the wheel, Edward!" she yelped. "Concentrate!"
"Bella…" I sighed, placing my hand firmly back on the wheel alongside the other for her benefit. "It will be fine. Remember who you are talking to. I have better than ninja reflexes. Besides, if we did slide off the road, how far do you think we'd go with all those trees blocking our fall?"
She let go of me and shifted back to sit fully in her own seat. She relaxed slightly, but was still tense, peering out of the window occasionally at the fairly steep wooded incline dropping away from the road on her side of the car. Twenty minutes of driving later, we rounded the last bend and approached the house.
"Oooh…," she breathed, awed. "That is the craziest, most wonderful thing I have ever seen!"
I felt the same way the first time I saw the place, and every subsequent time since. The adobe structure looked like it had grown out of the mountain side it was clinging to, and in a way, it had. The lowest part of the building was the first built. The owner, and eccentric with a great love for the environment, had spend the next thirty odd years adding rooms to that original building, while being careful to disturb the trees and rocks already there as little as possible. As a result, few of the rooms were on the same level, and the roof of each room below created partial terraces or balconies for the rooms above. The whole place looked like a series of uneven blocs climbing up the mountain side.
I pulled into the carport next to the garage and got out of the car. "Just take your overnight bag and your pack," I told Bella. "I'll come out and get the rest." When she didn't answer, I looked over to her.
She was staring at me, wide-eyed. "I don't think I will ever get used to that," she said, a little breathlessly. I looked at her questioningly. "The sparkling," she added by way of explanation.
I looked at my arms. "Oh." Most of the way up, we had been on the west side of the mountain, and therefore out of the morning sunlight. My house sat on the south side, and when I moved out from under the carport, I walked straight into the emerging sunlight. I looked back at her, grinning with sheer happiness.
"You have no idea how wonderful this is, to be able to stand in the sunlight without worrying about being seen, Bella," I said. "And the silence…"
"Yes," she replied, looking around. "It is amazingly quiet here."
"That is not what I meant," I interrupted her, putting my arm around her and steering her to the front door. "I was talking about the mental silence. I can hear no thoughts at all." It was ironic that for the first time in this place, I wished I did hear thoughts; one person's thoughts in particular.
She must have guessed what I was thinking; I could tell by the slight sharpening of her scent that she was blushing. I glanced down at her just as she snuck a sideways look up at me. She looked away quickly, before I could intensify the blush by smoldering at her. I kissed her on top of the head, resisting the urge to tease, and opened the door.
"It's unlocked?" she asked, surprised, preceding me into the house.
"Only because we were expected," I explained. "The caretakers have the key. They leave it here when they leave." I motioned over to the table where a set of keys lay.
They had done a wonderful job of carrying out my instructions. The place gleamed. Everything had been dusted and lemon-oiled, the floors waxed, even a fire laid in the kiva fireplace in the corner, ready for a cool night. The refrigerator had been plugged in, and was no doubt stocked with supplies for Bella. "Come on. Let's take your stuff up to the bedroom." I took her by the hand, and led her up a small flight of stairs,through the library, and up a longer flight of stairs, past a couple of doors to the room at the top of the house.
I waited for her reaction with anticipation, and I wasn't disappointed.
"Oh, Edward!" she cried, awed.
One of the walls was mostly take up by a huge window. Pushed up against it feet first, was a high, king-sized wrought iron bed. Bella ran to it, jumping on and bouncing lightly on her knees in her excitement, like a little girl. "How come you have a bed?"
"Most of the furniture came with the house," I said. "I kept all the human stuff for appearance sake. I'm glad I did," I continued meaningfully.
"Look at the view!" She sighed, too excited to pay attention to me. She stretched out, propping herself against the mound of pillows at the head of the bed. I moved silently into the corner of the room, so I could watch Bella's face. I knew the view outside by heart; pine covered foothills, the blurred smudge of the open mesa beyond, and on the horizon, hazy purple streaks of mountains. It was the view in here I was most interested in. Bella looked out of the window, her expression soft and pensive. I could tell she was already falling in love with the place. And I was, impossibly, more in love with her than ever.
"That window is facing west," I said hoarsely. "The sunsets are something to behold." She looked at me, blushing at my intensity.
I cleared my throat. "I'm going to get the rest of our stuff," I said, starting for the stairs.
"Wait, I'm coming too," she said sliding off the bed and bounding after me.
"I can handle it, baby, why don't you just hang out up here?"
"I just need to make that phone call first," she said significantly.
I came to a sudden stop in the middle of the library, and she cannoned into me. Turning around, I looked down at her. "Yes…I forgot about that," I said evenly, regretting the moment of weakness that resulted in my making that deal with her. I only did it because according to Carlisle, Alice would be out of reach until at least tomorrow.
She eyed me warily. "You aren't going to renege, are you?"
"No. I won't." I am just hoping that Carlisle is right, and that Alice is still incommunicado. I dug the phone out of my pocket, and handed it to her, mentally crossing my fingers. She took the phone, dialed the number and plopped herself into one of the leather armchairs, waiting. I didn't need to see her frown to know that she wasn't getting through. She snapped the phone shut, blowing her breath out in annoyance. I held out my hand, and she gave it back to me reluctantly.
"I'll try again later, I guess," she said glumly.
I had just the thing to distract her. "Would you like to take a bath?" I asked her.
"With you?" she said hopefully.
And so I stood at a crossroad. If I said yes, as I so desperately wanted to, there would be no turning back. If I bathed with Bella, I would make love to her, if not then and there, then certainly before the day was out. And I would have to live with the consequences of my actions, whatever they were. Was I prepared to change her if, God forbid, I hurt her in anyway? I couldn't even think of it, let alone formulate an answer. Selfish, miserable wretch that I was, I gave in to my desires while doing my damnedest to ignore the possible consequences. I took a step closer to her, and bent my head to kiss her.
"Yes," I whispered right before my lips claimed hers.
We took the rest of our luggage to the bedroom, leaving the unpacking for later. I got us a couple of towels, and Bella picked up her toilet bag. She was very surprised when I led her downstairs, right out the front door, and down a narrow path through the trees.
"Uh…Edward?" she said, stopping. "Surely this is not the way to the bathroom."
"Hush, Bella," I said, turning around to take her hand. "Trust me. It's a surprise." We walked on, reaching our destination in a few minutes.
It was a hot spring. Originally bubbling out into a shallow depression at the foot of a large boulder, it had been improved upon by the guy who built the house. He had built up a rough wall of rocks, in a semi-circle around the spring, creating a pool that was easily neck deep at its deepest when you sat down. The water was constantly renewed, leaking out through the stones and over the edge.
"This just keeps getting better and better," I heard Bella sigh. I couldn't help but agree. I had owned this place for twenty-odd years, but I was suddenly seeing many of its features through new eyes, Bella's eyes, as if for the first time. I never thought I'd be sharing this place with someone I loved more than un-life itself.
I put the towels down on the rock, and turned to her. She looked shy and uncertain suddenly, and I had to remember she was only 18, really 18. And though I may have been as sexually inexperienced as she was, I was far more worldly. Living as I did with three couples and reading all their thoughts to boot…it would have been difficult for me to stay as innocent as Bella was. I turned away from her to give her some privacy, and undressed slowly enough to allow her the time to get out of her clothes and into the water before I turned to get in myself.
Surprisingly, she hadn't sunk beneath the surface into the relative privacy of the water. She was standing, water above her knees, looking up the mountain.
"Bella? What are you looking for?"
She looked back at me. "I was just wondering when the sun would hit us." Her eyes slid down my body appraisingly, in a decidedly un-shy manner. "I want to see all of you sparkle."
I stepped into the pool and waded toward her very slowly, drinking in the sight of her body finally revealed to me in its entirety. I stopped inches away from her and reached for her shoulders, running my hands lightly down her arms and admiring her shapely curves. I pulled her to me, gasping as I felt the glorious heat of her pressed against my cold body, without any barriers of any kind between us, for the first time. I ravaged her mouth, sinking to my knees in the warm water, pulling her down with me astride my thighs, trying desperately to ignore the light brushing of my genitals against her belly. I broke the kiss, holding her head and looking at her.
"Are you going to make love to me?" she asked me boldly, her hands resting lightly on my chest.
"Not right now, but yes," I said, watching her face carefully.
She pouted a little. "When?"
"When I am good ready," I said firmly, putting my hands on her hips and pulling her flush against me. "Probably tonight," I added, whispering over her mouth, feeling the shiver of anticipation that coursed through her. "Now about that bath…why don't you get your sponge and soap and let me be your slave for an hour or so?"
We spent the rest of the day going about our business, acutely aware of each other. Bella spent an hour unpacking, and then alternated between exploring the house and its immediate surroundings (under my watchful but unseen eyes), and curling up in an armchair with a book, in whatever room I happened to be in. I took care of business, inspecting the house after my long absence, and discussing necessary repairs on the phone with the caretakers. I also made arrangements to transfer sufficient funds to cover future costs of caring for the place.
By late afternoon, the sexual tension was almost unbearable. We were occupied with our own tasks, but clearly not focused on what we were doing. More than once I felt her eyes on me, and I too stared at her when she wasn't looking, and sometimes even when she was. Finally, she closed her book, stood, and without sparing me a glance, made her way upstairs. I watched her hips sway as she went up the stairs.
Showtime.
I gave her a human moment or two, and then followed her upstairs.
She was sitting at the end of the bed, her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees, looking out of the window. She was wearing the new nightgown I had given her. She didn't turn when I came in to the room, probably because she couldn't hear me. She only noticed me when I sat down next to her, my weight causing a dip in the mattress that unbalanced her. Her hand shot out to steady herself, and landed hot on my thigh. She jerked it back as if the touch had burned her, and shifted to face me.
"We have to talk first, sweetheart," I said softly.
She nodded wordlessly. Her demeanor was calm, but her elevated heart-rate told the real story. She was extremely nervous. And so she should be. We weren't two ordinary teenagers embarking on their first sexual experience. One of us was a cold-blooded killer, a predator, and the other…well. She was the predator's favorite prey, and that made for a potentially deadly combination. Unfortunately, she wasn't afraid of what I was; she was nervous about what we were about to do.
"I need you to understand this isn't going to be a normal experience, not for me, and certainly not for you," I started. "It will be dangerous for you. I will try to be as gentle as it is possible for me to be, but it will probably get pretty rough. It will take every ounce of my strength to maintain control, and I will need your help with that, ok?"
She nodded again. "What do you need me to do?" she whispered.
"It's more a question of what I need you not to do," I said. "Don't tease me. Don't try to arouse me; I'll be aroused enough as it is. I'd ask you not to touch me at all, but I don't think that would be fair, if it is even possible. I just need you to keep your hands from wandering too much. The more aroused I get, the more precarious my control is."
I did not like the way I was sounding. If I hadn't wanted this so desperately, my words would have killed the mood. I was turning what should be a spontaneous life-affirming act into a coldly clinical scientific experiment. Of course none of this mattered to Bella, any more than it did to me. She wanted me, and she was going to have me which ever way she could. She was willing to comply to get what she wanted.
Willing, but not able. Bella just couldn't keep her hands from wandering. We didn't get very far; I was shirtless with the top two buttons of my jeans undone, and I hadn't gotten further than untying the bow on her nightgown to bare her breasts. My patience frayed a little more each time she let her hands stray into forbidden territory. I didn't blame her; I could barely restrain myself. But she had to be made to understand. I wouldn't be the one getting hurt if one of us got careless and made a wrong move. I was imperative that she took my warnings seriously.
Her hands strayed again. Already on edge from keeping such a tight hold on my control, and afraid of hurting her, I lost what little patience I had left and was rougher with her than I intended. In a flash, I was standing and had hauled Bella to the edge of the bed, flipping her over onto her stomach. Pinning her wrists to the small of her back with one hand, I pressed myself against her backside and braced myself on the mattress with my free hand. I leaned down to speak close to her ear. "What part of 'keep your hands from wandering' do you have a problem understanding, Bella?" I murmured, with an edge to my voice. "Because we can do it like this, if you can't handle my request," I threatened, pressing against her a little harder. I rather wished I could take her in this position. It would certainly be far easier to resist killing her if I didn't have her face to face beneath me, close enough to drain.
"No, not for our first time," she said, her voice a trifle unsteady. "I will try harder, Edward. I promise."
"Don't try. Do," I said sternly. "It could mean the difference between life and death for you. Understood?"
"Yes," she muttered, a little sulkily.
I was not satisfied that I had made enough of an impression. Moving aside, but still keeping her wrists restrained, I landed a firm, spur-of-the-moment smack on her backside to emphasize my point. She let out a strangled yelp. "Understood?" I repeated.
"Ouch! Yes, I understand!" she said with fervent sincerity. Satisfied, I pulled her upright, swept her up in my arms, and placed her carefully on the bed again.
"Now, shall we try this again?"
To be continued…
I'd like to recommend a couple of stories I have come across. And if anyone has any recommendations for me, please feel free make them. I found two of my favorite stories, and a few others that I am following, through you guys, so I'm confident I would really like some of your recommendations.
Aurora Australis, by IckyEcchi and Before Sunset, by Hopeful Wager are both Jacob/Nessie pairings, although right now they are mainly Nessie stories. It surprised me that I liked them, because I am not so much a Breaking Dawn fan. I do enjoy the idea of Edward dealing with a teenage daughter, and Before Sunset definitely gives you that. Also, they are both very well written, and when I say that, I don't just mean well crafted and well paced; I mean spelling, punctuation, and grammar too. That sort of thing definitely enhances my reading pleasure.
If you are die hard Edward/Bella, When a Wolf Challenges a Lion, by Jamie552 is for you. It's very sweet. And of course it's well written.
And last but not least, Instincts, another Bella and Edward story by stavanger1, incredibly well written, and, be warned, very adult in nature.