Chapter 9
I noticed that this car was very similar to the rental car we had been riding in last weekend. "Did you get another rental car?"
"Nope, I loved that one so much, that I decided to buy one."
This one was a bit nicer than the one he had. It smelled new and clean and like Edward. The leather was soft and comfy, but I couldn't help but think about how not practical this car was. It made my little Volkswagen look huge.
Regardless of the fact that it was entirely impractical, I loved it. "It's beautiful Edward. Perfect car to pick up chicks…"
"It worked tonight didn't it?"
"It's just too bad you don't have a back seat," I teased.
"Nah, my girl is too classy to mess around in a car, but if, for some strange reason, she wants to give it a shot, I'm sure we can work something out." With that, he wiggled his eyebrows.
We arrived at the lodge in an insanely short amount of time. Edward must have been driving much faster than I realized. I guess my mind was on other things.
We ordered drinks and found a table in the corner.
"You really do look incredible tonight, B. Of course, you've always been the most beautiful woman in the room."
Blushing, I said, "Edward, I think you've always been a bit biased. I think your attracted to the fact that I'm a complete spaz and you see things weirdly."
"Bella, do you remember your senior prom? You couldn't find me for a while, and I made some lame excuse as to where I was."
"I think you told me that you left something in the car, but you wouldn't tell me what it was."
"Yeah, I was outside with Mike Newton. I got tired of watching him stare at you."
"That's ridiculous! What happened?"
"I walked out of the bathroom and heard him telling that guy Tyler that he couldn't wait until I was out of the picture, so he could show you what a real man was like."
"What did you do?"
"I politely told him that I would kill him if he ever touched you. He informed me that I couldn't keep you locked up forever, so I may as well deal with the fact that other guys were trying to get with you."
"Oh God," I said, remembering how possessive Edward had been. "I'm sure that went over well."
"I didn't mess up his pretty face. I just let him know that I didn't like his attitude."
Edward spoke again, "I'm not telling you this for any reason other than to let you know that you are way more beautiful than you have ever believed you are."
"Edward, Mike Newton chased anything that was female and had a heartbeat. Besides, I'm alright with who I am. It's one of those things that you have to grow into."
Edward spoke so quietly that I could barely hear him. "I just wish I could have grown into it with you."
The waitress came over and Edward ordered another round of drinks. He asked me if I wanted to eat here or if I would rather go somewhere else. Realizing that I hadn't eaten anything since this morning and that I had quite a bit of alcohol in my system, I thought it would be best if we went ahead and ate at the clubhouse. We ordered our food and talked some more about the prom. We had ended up back at Edward's house with a group of people. Alice and Jasper snuck into her room after Carlisle and Esme went to bed, and Edward and I ended up having sex on the pool table in the basement. I blushed when Edward asked me if I knew of a pool hall anywhere in town.
Edward told me all about the apartment that he had found. The complex was fairly new, and he was able to get an apartment with a garage for his new baby.
"I'll be moving in early this week, and my job starts on Thursday."
Everything was happening so fast. Edward was back, Alice and Jasper were moving in, the school year was ending. I started feeling a bit overwhelmed and I said as much.
Our food arrived as Edward said, "Bella, I will give you as much space as you need. I know that I fucked up, and I want to make things right. I'd really like to explain to you my stupid, fucked up reasons for hurting you."
Just then, Lauren walked into the lodge with a date. She saw me immediately and made a bee line for the table next to ours.
I looked at Edward hoping that he would get my silent message that this conversation could not take place with her around. Thankfully, he did. When Lauren sat down, Edward spoke first.
"It's Lauren isn't it?"
Lauren gave Edward a glowing smile. "Yes, how are you Edward?" She completely ignored me.
"Bella and I are doing very well thank you. And you are?" Edward spoke to Lauren's date who she seemed to have forgotten.
Lauren jumped in, "This is Jason. He's a friend of mine." Making it clear that she was available.
Taking the reigns, Edward introduced both himself and me to Jason and made it clear that we would be leaving soon. He told Lauren that it was a bit surprising to see her again tonight, left money on the table and held his hand out to help me up.
As we were leaving, he made sure that Lauren was watching before he bent down to kiss me.
"Edward, please don't encourage her. She will find a way to turn that little kiss into so much more."
"Oh but Bella, that kiss was not a little kiss. It's just the beginning of so many things."
****
We hadn't really thought about what we were going to do after dinner. I had planned to stay at the clubhouse for a while and just chat, but Lauren managed to hinder those plans.
We had decided to walk around a bit and look at some of the things the country club had to offer. The temperature had dropped a good bit, and I was feeling a bit cold. Edward walked me to his car to find his jacket but not before gently pinching my nipple and telling me that he really liked this shirt.
As he helped me put the jacket on, he leaned me against the car and kissed me deeply. His hands were inside the jacket roaming up and down my stomach as his tongue was in and out of my mouth. I forgot that I was cold as I leaned into him. I pulled at his belt buckles pulling him into me. The groan that I got in return was all I needed to keep grinding my hips into him repeatedly.
"Fuck the grounds, let's go to my room," Edward groaned into my mouth.
I took his hand and pulled him towards the lodge. We stopped every few yards to kiss or touch or tickle. So, by the time we got to the door of the lodge, I had to stand in front of Edward to hide the fact that he was obviously turned on.
His room was on the second floor, so we decided to take the stairs rather than wait on the elevator. As we approached, Edward pushed me against the door and kissed me again. I completely melted. I had no thought other than the feel of him against me. It didn't even occur to me that we were standing in the hallway of a hotel and people would be walking around. …until I heard a soft chuckle.
I opened my eyes to see a couple, probably in their late teens or early twenties, walk by trying not to look at us. My grin broke the kiss with Edward, and I felt the embarrassing heat begin in my cheeks. Edward laughed openly and pulled me into his chest. He took the key card out of his back pocket and opened the door. The room was a large room. I noticed the huge bed in the middle of the room and saw little else. Before Edward could get the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, I was pushing him towards that huge bed.
I pushed him onto the bed, and crawled on top of him straddling his lap. I had to pull my skirt up because it was so tight, which Edward seemed to like quite a bit. I liked feeling like I was in control, so I pulled Edward's face up to meet mine. I kissed him deeply while running my fingers through that gorgeous mop of hair. I'm pretty sure that the entire world could have come crashing down around me, and I wouldn't have noticed it. His hands were roaming up and down my thighs, and I could feel the heat trailing behind them.
Edward laid back and pulled me down with him. He tried to roll us over, but I stopped him. I put my knees down on either side of him as I sat up. I pulled his shirt up and let my mouth roam his chest and neck. As he sat up a bit to pull his shirt over his head, I pulled his mouth to mine and kissed him again. He began pulling on the bottom of my shirt, so I stopped kissing him long enough to take the shirt off. He seemed to like the push up bra and paid extra attention to the area that it covered.
Becoming frustrated, I reached behind me to unclasp the bra. Edward's mouth began licking and sucking, and I felt the warmth building in my body. We undressed and I climbed back into Edward's lap. Again, he tried to roll us over, and again, I stopped him. As I pushed him down on the bed, I climbed onto him. I held his hands above his head as I took him inside of me. I continued kissing his chest and neck while keeping his hands above his head. I could feel my release building as I increased the pressure. I continued to hold Edwards hands as we climaxed together. Spent, I let go of his hands and laid down on his chest. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Edward was next to me rubbing my arms and smiling.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"I don't think you really fell asleep, I think you were just dozing. I just moved you."
I got up to find the bathroom, and I was pleasantly surprised to walk in to find a large Jacuzzi tub and a huge shower. "I think we're going to have to make use of this tub, Edward." I said it loudly because I thought he was still in the bed.
"You read my mind," he said as I jumped about 3 feet off the ground.
"I don't know how you manage to sneak up on me like that, but it's really creepy."
Edward began to fill the tub and walked out of the room. He chuckled as he said over his shoulder, "It's all the years of training I had before I could work for the government."
"So what exactly do you do?" I had always wondered what job could drag him so many places.
He came back in the bathroom with a bottle of wine and two glasses. "I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you."
Somehow I got the impression that he was only half kidding. "So I guess you do a lot of top-secret spy stuff, right?"
He chuckled again, "Well, I'm no James Bond. I worked for a while collecting intelligence for the military. I have been in some really nasty places trying to get information from some scary folks."
I had a hard time picturing Edward as someone that could hurt or kill someone, but I'm sure there were sides of him that I would never see. "Did Jessica go with you on these missions?" I didn't know what else to call them. It all seemed so foreign to me.
"Sometimes. Her job took her many places too. We used to try to get assignments where we could be together, but then we stopped doing even that much."
The bathtub was full now and we climbed into the warmth. The wine was incredible, and it felt so warm going down my throat. "Is that why you two split up?" It was a conversation that I had been avoiding, but I knew we needed to have it. I also knew that I was going to need a lot more wine if we were going to talk about Jessica. I have compared myself to her in every way for the past fifteen years. Sitting naked in the Jacuzzi with Edward while talking about Jessica was not going to help my esteem.
"No Bella, we split up because we were never in love. I know you don't want to hear this, and I told you that I was going to give you your space, but I never stopped loving you. Jessica knew that. It got to a point where she and I just couldn't pretend any more."
I wanted to kick myself because I felt my heart flutter when he said he loved me. It also broke a little because if he really loved me, he never would have left. "Edward, that doesn't make sense. I didn't break up with you. I would have followed you anywhere. I wanted to marry you and have your babies." The flood gates had opened at this point, and despite all my efforts not to, I felt myself beginning to cry. "You were going to become a doctor, and we were going to live close to your family. We had all these plans, and you just left. You left, and you married someone else. Someone you dated when you were 14 for God's sake."
Edward pulled me into his chest. "I'm so sorry that I hurt you. I will never forgive myself for making the decisions that I made, but I knew that I couldn't be the man you planned on marrying, so I ran away. I wanted you to have all of the things you planned on, and I couldn't give them to you."
I wanted to push him away and yell at him but I couldn't. Burying my face in his chest, I said, "You were the man I planned on marrying. How could you say you couldn't be him?"
"Bella, I couldn't give you the life you wanted. There would have been no house on the hill with babies running everywhere."
