Chapter 30

EPOV

As she ran her hand over my cock I couldn't stop the shudder that ran through my body. I knew we needed to talk about brunch, the holidays and the Aro situation but it had been months since we had had sex. I recognized the fact that it was my own fault but now that I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, I was racing towards it. I grabbed her hand that was rubbing me.

"For an untouched and promised lady you appear to be eager to touch me, Isabella." I pushed her back and pulled her legs out from under her. "Let's see if you are as eager for me to touch you." I pulled her shoes off and reached for the button on her jeans as she tried to scramble away from me.

"I was just curious Captain." She said quickly. "I promise to be good." I quickly unzipped her jeans and pulled them off of her. "You promised not to hurt me," she wailed as I grabbed her ankles to control her legs.

"And I won't Isabella but you need to calm down before you hurt yourself." I said and chuckled. Judging by the look on her face she didn't like that comment very much. I licked the inside of her left ankle before doing the same to her right and I heard a faint moan. "I won't touch any of your private places until you beg me to Isabella." Her eyes opened wide and I nipped the inside of her knee. "You will beg me Isabella, I promise you will." She moaned again as I licked the spot I bit and turned to give her other knee the same treatment.

"I will never beg you for anything sir." She said and I would have believed her if she hadn't whimpered when I ran my tongue up to her hip. I pulled on the hem of her shirt and her hands came up to hold it down. "But you said…" she started and I cut her off.

"I said I wouldn't touch you until you begged. I never said I wasn't going to look and in order to look your clothes need to come off." I gently moved her hands to the bed and pulled her shirt over her head, careful to touch as little skin as possible. I left wet kisses across her collarbone and the gently blew on her skin, she arched off the bed. As I looked at her I noticed luck was one my side and she was wearing a front clasp bra that I opened with a flick on my fingers. She gasped and tried to hold it together. "I get to look Isabella." I reminded her and gently moved her hands to the bed again.

"I have thought of being with you like this for months Isabella." I said as I ran my nose lightly up her side. "I have watched you and ached to make love to you." I started at her belly button and ran my tongue up the center of her body until I reached her chin. "You haunt my dreams Isabella." She moaned and pushed up into me as I nipped her jaw. You are mine Isabella, you belong with me not some cur who is not worthy of you." I flattened my hand and ran into down her stomach until it barely skimmed the top of her panties.

"Oh Edward," she sighed and ran her hands through my hair. "He isn't a cur and you remind me of him." She said and leaned up as if she was going to kiss me.

"Are you trying to kiss me, my Lady?" I asked as I pulled back.

"No, of course not," she said rather indignantly.

"Because it looked as if…" I started to say but she cut me off.

"I take back what I said. You are a cur sir and nothing like the man I love." She huffed.

I rolled her onto her stomach and starting kissing my way up her back. "Tell me Isabella does your breath quicken for him like it does for me when he does this?" I asked and ran my hands up her thighs and over her ass. As expected she let out a long moan. When I ran my hands back down I hooked her panties and pulled them off quickly.

"He does not do that, thank you very much and give me back my panties?" She said and rolled over while reaching for them.

"Has he ever touched you like this?" I asked and moved in between her legs as I spread her wide, she was dripping and shivered when I blew on her hot core.

"Not in a long time, no, don't tease me any longer Edward. Please?"

"Are you asking me for something Isabella? I promised to have you begging I believe." I said on a chuckle and started kissing her breasts while carefully avoiding her nipples.

"Touch me Edward," she demanded and started pulling my shirt over my head. I grabbed her hand to stop her movements. "If you can look so can I," she huffed at me and I let go of her hands.

"Okay, but I don't think that will help your control any." I said and stood at the foot of the bed to remove the rest of my clothes. She licked her lips as I slid back on the bed and I couldn't stop the smirk that formed when I saw her action. "Oh I think you are in trouble now my lady."

"I can handle you Captain." She said as I knelt between her legs. I gently ran my hands up to her knees and bent them until her feet were planted right next to her ass.

"Big words from such a little lady." I nipped the inside of her thigh and used my shoulders to keep her knees spread open. I was barely grazing along her outer lips where they met her hips and she desperately trying to push up into me.

"Please Edward, stop teasing me." I looked up at her without moving and quirked an eyebrow at her. "Fine, fine I am begging you. Stop teasing me, I need you Edward."

I chuckled and went right back to my teasing. The next thing I knew Bella did some weird ninja move, I was on my back and she was sliding onto me. I grabbed her hips to hold her still.

"Fuck Bella! Hold still a minute or this will be over long before either of us wants."

"No. You teased, I begged and then you teased some more now I am taking what I want. Hold on baby, this is going to being rough." She then dug her thumbs into my palms and I had no choice but to release my hold on her. She was riding me hard and fast as soon as my grasp loosened.

"You feel good Edward." She leaned down to kiss me. "I missed being this connected with you." She mumbled against my lips.

"Me too Bella, I love you so much." I was having a hard time holding back, she felt too good. I slide a hand down to rub her clit. I was determined not to finish before she did. "I'm close Bella, you feel so good." I leaned up and pulled her nipple into my mouth, sucking gently.

"God yes Edward." She moaned and started working her hips faster. "So close…make me cum…please." I felt her tighten around me and that was the cue I had been waiting for. I moved my hands to her hips, tilted them so I would rub her clit with every stroke and started thrusting up into her. After two strokes Bella clamped down me on my cock and I felt her orgasm flow over me. "Yes, yes, yes…oh Edward," she said almost on a sigh and I continued to thrust into her feeling myself getting ready to climax also.

"So tight Bella…fucccckkkk." I moaned as I emptied into her. I held her close to me as we both tried to get our breathing under control.

"I love you." I said as I rolled us onto your sides. "You are so precious to me. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you."

"I love you too Edward." She said through a yawn and I could tell she was fighting falling asleep.

I chuckled and pulled her closer to me, "sleep my beautiful Bella."

"M'kay" was her response before I felt her relax against me.

Things had been going well for us, better than before and I didn't want the shit from today to set us back.

BPOV

I love watching Edward sleep, it is the only time he seems to be completely worry free. There were things to worry about, but for the first time since I met Edward I felt he was really in this with me and that we would be fine once everything was handled.

I thought back over the last few days and had to admit things had gone better than I expected. The fundraiser was more fun than it had been in years and brunch went well, given the venue change, until the holiday discussion. Edward and I had talked about them briefly but with dates still up in the air we couldn't finalize anything. When the subject came up over brunch I was caught off guard by Esme's tone when she asked about when he would be in Seattle. Did she really think we wouldn't visit?

I felt Edward stiffen as soon as the question was asked and he squeezed my hand when I said of course he would be there, It was his way of reassuring me that he would deal with it and hadn't missed that I said he would be there and not we. Maybe it was childish on my part but after Esme's attitude towards me if she wanted me at her home she would have to explicitly invite me.

"Penny for your thoughts," Edward said softly, pulling my attention back to the moment.

"I don't think they are worth even that small amount." I said and leaned in to kiss over his heart.

"They are to me." He said and before he could continue his stomach let out a loud growl.

"I hear you buddy, me too." I said as I patted his stomach. "Let's get a shower and then we can have a light, late dinner out by the fire pit, if Stephen gives his all clear and we can discuss everything that happened today. Sound good?"

"Getting you in the shower sounds great and then we can see about the rest of it." He said as he picked me up and ran into the bathroom. After a round of hot sex in a lukewarm shower we made our way to the kitchen to see what Theresa had left for dinner.

Stephen gave us the go ahead for eating outside and even though it was fall with a fire the area was comfortable. During dinner we discussed the fundraiser and I noticed Edward kept glancing around the grounds, realizing he wasn't going to ask the obvious question I decided to open the topic for him.

"Just ask Edward, I know you want to."

"Where are they? I know you have extra guards, even on the estate, and I am shocked that Stephen even agreed to let us be out here like this with the alarms sounding all day. I guess I just assumed I would notice their presence more."

"They are around but they are well trained to make their presence known to others while not to me or whoever they are guarding. It also helps that they like you, even the new guys. William and Anthony have told them how you do what is necessary to keep me safe and don't complain when plans have to change." He looked confused. "The new guards get loaned out to different people when they aren't needed for Swan or Sinclair. You would be surprised the way some people act, even when it is for their own protection."

He nodded and we continued to eat in silence as the night grew darker around us. After we finished Edward pulled us to one of the lounge chairs closer to the fire and held me in his arms. When I felt him sigh I knew he was ready to talk about things.

"So, brunch?" He said, as if it was a question.

"Yes, brunch was…fun." I offered.

"It was." He said and I am sure I looked at him as if he was crazy, so he chuckled. "Until the holiday talk came out." I could not help but laugh.

"Do you think Emmett had any idea the can of worms he was opening with his seemingly innocent question?"

"No and I am fairly certain that if he lives to be 150 he will never ask anyone in the family again what they are doing for the holidays." I was pretty sure of that fact also.

"Edward I never meant to give Esme the impression that…" He cut me off.

"You didn't Bella and I called her on her bullshit in the car. I told her that wherever you are is my home and that she needed to personally invite you to Christmas Eve or neither of us would be there. I am done with her treating you like that. You are my future wife and the love of my life, you come first to me Bella, always." He looked at me with such sincerity and love that it was impossible to doubt him.

"As you come first with me Edward, but you have to know I want to spend Christmas with you, I assumed that would be in Seattle. I didn't mean to imply at brunch that I would be staying in Chicago."

"You didn't, I understood what you meant. However, I want you with me on

Christmas, I do not want to be at my parents and have you at Sinclair House. I want to be wherever you are and I told my mother that. She will either deal with her issues and invite us both to the open house or we can celebrate Christmas at your house. I will be with you for Christmas."

"Ok" I said to stop him from talking. "I have to be in Nashville until the 23rd, if you are able to go with me then we can go to Seattle from there and if not then we figure out what to do once we confirm all party dates." I was trying to be upbeat and positive about going to Seattle but by the look I was getting from Edward, I was not fooling him.

"It will be okay Bella, I promise." He stated, pulling me onto his lap. "I won't allow you to be treated as you were at the BBQ." I hadn't even thought about that yet.

"Will the same people be attending?" I hoped not but still expected his answer.

"Some will be there, but mostly it will be upper level Cullen employees. People will be coming and going most of the night. I will be by your side all night, I promise Bella." He was speaking with such sincerity and imploring me to believe him and I wanted to believe him but his expectations were not realistic.

"You cannot stay beside me the entire night Edward and we both know this. I am sure you will be expected to say something at some point and that is fine. I'm a big girl Edward, I can handle it and everything will be fine." I leaned in and gave him a fairly chaste kiss. "But I do appreciate the sentiment and am touched that you want to protect me."

"I want you to be comfortable Bella, not just protect you. You belong there with me more than 99% of them ever will. If it is going to make you too uncomfortable then we won't attend, you are my first priority Bella, I mean that."

"I know you do and I love you all the more for it." And I did. "I am sure we will have a great time. Hopefully we can nail down all the dates close to Thanksgiving, December is going to be a very busy month for both of us."

"Yes it is and I will have to go to Seattle for the Cullen company party but that should be the only traveling I have to do without you. I would love for you to come with me if possible but I am pretty sure that is wishful thinking on my part."

"Probably, I have Hope House in San Diego and the company parties here but I promise I will accompany you if I can."

"That is all I ask sweetheart." He said and pulled me in for a kiss. Someone cleared their throat and we jumped back from each other surprised.

"I am sorry to interrupt but Stephen wants you both in the living room now." Theresa said and when I looked at her she was nervous.

"Thank you," Edward and I both said as we moved indoors.

"What has happened?" I asked Stephen.

"Nothing yet but infrared picked up two bodies just outside of the alarm range and I didn't want to take any chances." He told us.

"So now they are staying just outside the alarms?" That was something new. "Have you gotten any indication that their overall objective has changed?" Were they looking to kill me now instead of taking me? It bothered me because I could not figure out Aro's reasons at all. We had brainstormed some fairly good reasons but none of them felt right to me. I couldn't shake the feeling that while I was the target, Aro was playing a game only he knew all the rules to.

"No. They haven't advanced and all our sources say that you still aren't to be harmed. I think they are just listening, trying to obtain information on your movements. I would love to order you to stay on the estate until he is caught." I started to interrupt and he held up his hand to stop me. "But I know how much you enjoy this time of year and I would be wasting my time so I won't even ask you to scale back. Once your schedule for the holiday season is set it will be closely guarded and you will have to wait until the very last minute to let people know if you will be attending their event or not."

"Fine, I hate doing that to people but I understand. Part of me hopes he does do something stupid in public. I would love to give him a beat down with the media witnessing it, let that be a lesson to anyone else who thinks they can get to me." Edward and Stephen both chuckled but I was serious. I would love nothing more than to personally beat the crap out of Aro in public.

"Just be aware that while we are jamming their signals, someone is trying to listen in when you are outside the house." Stephen said, shaking his head as he left the room.

"Let's go to bed slugger." Edward said, guiding me towards the stairs. "You can settle for kicking my ass tomorrow in sparring practice."

"You are getting much better though. It isn't as easy as it was two months ago." I said with a laugh. He really was getting better.

We were lying in bed when I felt Edward shift and sit up against the headboard. "Bella, can I ask you a question about Edgar and your marriage?" He asked softly. We had discussed many things over the last few months but I knew he had a few questions left and they weren't small ones either.

I moved so I was sitting Indian style facing him. "You can ask me anything Edward. You know this."

"Why did you and Edgar never have children? I mean I understand because of his illness but you could have adopted." This would be the hardest question he could ever ask me because the truth was I didn't know the answer.

"I don't know why. We had just begun discussing having kids when we found out his illness was hereditary. He was horrified at the prospect of passing it on to children, even though he knew if he had been diagnosed earlier it would not have been a death sentence for him." I pulled my knees up against my chest so I could rest my chin on them, I could feel the tears gathering. "I begged him not to do anything rash until we could talk to a geneticist and see what the odds were or if anything could be done. I wanted his child badly. I loved him so much and if he couldn't be with me forever then I wanted a child that he would live on in. When he came home a few days later and told me about the vasectomy, it was the first time I was truly disappointed in him. The first time my love for him stumbled. For as far back as I can remember he had always tried to make me happy and now he had done something that intentionally hurt me. I didn't understand."

Edward moved to wrap me in his arms and I realized the tears were flowing down my face. "Why didn't you adopt?" He asked softly.

"At first Edgar wouldn't and refused to explain why. When his illness progressed it wasn't feasible to, I wouldn't have had the time to look after a small child and Edgar like I was. I gave up on adoption then and resigned myself to the fact I would never raise a child with Edgar." As I thought back on things the anger returned. "I was so angry with him. After the vasectomy I didn't speak to him for weeks. We still went out in public and I am sure things looked fine to outsiders but at home we didn't speak…that's not accurate, he tried and I just walked away. I started talking to him again when he told me it was the only present he wanted for his birthday."

Edward was holding my face and gently wiping my tears. "And adoption?"

"Several months later I asked him about adoption and that is when he started to fully inform me of his more shady dealings and how he was getting out of that side of his business. He tried to play it off as if that is why he didn't want to adopt but it was more than that. I never pushed him too far on it because his mind was made up, but it wasn't just because of his illness, that I am convinced of."

"I'm sorry Bella, I had no idea." He whispered to me. I pulled back and sat with my knees on my chin again.

"You had no way of knowing Edward. Like I told you, the image we projected was a far cry for what our marriage was actually like. It was those instances that made we realize Edgar was a man who made mistakes, jumped to conclusions and needed forgiveness instead of the perfect being I had placed on a pedestal and idolized most of my life."

"Do you want children Bella?"

"I do, although I am not sure how easy it will be for me now."

"I don't understand." He looked confused, we had talked about wanting kids but not much beyond that point.

"Two years ago I had a cyst explode in one of my tubes, it damaged that ovary and both had to be removed. I was told there is no reason I can't have kids but I may want to undergo invitro to ensure a pregnancy rather than wait to see if it happens naturally. I know you want children Edward and I can have them. Please don't think I deceived you in any way." He put his finger to my lips to stop my rambling.

"You haven't deceived me Bella, I don't feel that way at all. I want a family with you Bella and I don't care how we build it, just as long as we do it together. I love you so much Bella."

I loved this man. The more I learned about him the more I loved him. Yes there were still things to discuss but when I looked at him I rarely saw even a trace of the jackass that looked down on me six months before. We were in a better place and I wasn't the same woman I was six months ago either.

"I love you too Edward." I said and leaned over to kiss him and as I pulled away he grabbed the back of my neck and deepened the kiss.

"We will get our family Bella, I believe that." He said and he was looking at me to see if I believed him.

"I know, I believe you," I said and I did believe him. I moved so I was lying beside him again and lightly ran my fingers through his happy trail. "But until we are ready for that…" I whispered and began softly stroking his erection. "…may I suggest lots and lots of practice." I scooted down and licked his shaft. "I mean we want to be sure we are doing it right when the time comes, don't we?" I engulfed him in my mouth.

"Yessssss, we do." He moaned out. I started moving faster and tugged on his balls. "Fuck Bella…lot-lots of…pr-practice." He stammered out before pulling me up and rolling me over for our first practice session.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters.

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A/N: Sorry for the wait for an update. The next one will come quicker – thanks for sticking with me!