Dedication: I know I don't usually post stuff at the top but I feel the need to. Many kudos go out to my pre-reader, 01katie who, without her motivation, this story wouldn't be where it is as of right now. Even though she has some major real life stuff going right now, she read this chapter for me and had it sent back to me a mere 3 hours after I sent it to her. Thank you, darlin'! Many kisses and hugs and alone time with Peter go to you for this chapter!

Chapter 9: Let Me Show You What Love Is

Peter POV

While my relationship with Bella was going great, it was moving slower than I had anticipated. She was reluctant to let me in, to let me get to know the little details that made her Bella. Sure, she told me childhood anecdotes that made me laugh and gave me little snippets of what made her into the woman she was today, but she refused to talk about the one time in her life that made an extreme change in her personality.

Of course, I understood where she was coming from. Edward had hurt her pretty badly. Not only had he played on her emotions, he broke her trust. I knew that she trusted me with her life but she hadn't yet trusted me with her heart or soul. I wanted to know what I had to do to get her to open up to me completely.

She was sleeping at the moment; her head was on my chest while one arm was draped across my stomach and the other arm was around my back, almost as if she were making sure I didn't leave her. My angel just didn't understand that I would never leave her, not even if she asked me to.

I lifted my hand to brush my hair from my eyes and this caused her to shift and whimper in her sleep. Then she started to mumble a bit, as was the norm for her, but what she said nearly broke my heart.

'No…Peter…don't leave me…need you…love you…' she said. I was startled by the fact that she thought that I was going to leave her. Nobody should have to think that the person they loved would leave them. That's when I thought about what she said and my dead heart almost beat with elation.

She said she loved me!

I started grinning like a mad man. The beautiful girl in my arms didn't just want to be with me due to the mating bond between us anymore; she wanted to be with me because she loved me! Even though her dream was apparently not a good one, I was over the moon with happiness because she said she loved me. Although I wish she'd been able to tell me while awake, I'd take whatever I could get at the moment.

Alice poked her head in the door with a smile on her face. "Calm down Peter or you'll wake her up. She'll be awake in five minutes and 3 seconds; let her have her human time to shower and eat, then take her somewhere to talk. Tell her about your time with Maria, then about you and Charlotte. Even though you don't think she'll want to hear all of the nitty-gritty details, tell her anyway. It'll make her feel better to know you're not keeping things from her. Also, make sure you explain to her that you plan to make decisions with her, not for her. She hated it when Edward made decisions without her thoughts and opinions in mind."

I mumbled my thanks and waited for my love to wake up. This was going to be a long, hard conversation but I hope that it made her open up to me more, if not completely instead of making her see me as the monster that I was when I was in Maria's army. I know that each member of the family, sans Rosalie for obvious reasons, had sat down to tell her about their change. This included Jasper but I wasn't aware as to how much he'd told her.

I looked at her face as her heartbeat sped up. A moment later, her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at me and smiled beautifully, then stretched. I smiled back at her and waited until she'd finished stretching (and teasing me with the small sliver of stomach that winked at me when her shirt rode up a bit) before speaking.

"Bella, would you like to shower and eat, then go somewhere with me? There are things that I'd like to tell you and I think it would be best if we did it away from the house. It would be easier for me to discuss my past with you away from other ears."

She smiled and nodded before kissing my cheek and going to the bathroom to get cleaned up. I raced downstairs and made her pancakes, eggs and bacon. After her shower, she came downstairs and ate. I quickly cleaned up for her and we walked into the garage.

She immediately walked over to my truck and, as I was helping her in, the main door to the garage opened and Jasper pulled in on his flat black Ducati. Climbing off of it with ease, he removed his helmet (that was all for show) and tossed it with the keys to me.

"Take Olivia, she'll get you there faster. Bella can follow you on Nia or ride with you, whichever y'all prefer. Don't worry about her if you she takes Nia; Nia is Bella's Ducati and she rides almost as well as I do and you know I'm a wicked rider," he said with a smile.

"Plus, the ride will help ease your nerves and it'll help her work out all that energy she has."

I looked incredulously at Bella. "You ride? How did I not know that you had a bike?"

She hopped out of the truck with a shrug. "You never asked my sexy-pire. It's been awhile since I took Nia out anyway, it'll be fun to ride."

She walked over to the cabinet where the riding gear was kept and, after pulling her sneakers off, she stepped into a pair of black chaps, black riding boots, shrugged on her black riding jacket, and slipped her helmet over her head before straddling the deep blue Ducati in the corner. I sucked in a breath and looked at Jasper for help.

"Man, I swear you're trying to kill me."

He shook his head and laughed. "Nah, man, I just knew you'd like to ride today. I didn't realize the effect of seeing Bella in her gear would have on you."

Bella kicked Nia to life and, despite the roar of the engine, spoke in a normal tone: "Come on, scaredy-pire, are we gonna ride or what?"

I jumped on Olivia, pulled on Jasper's helmet, and we raced out of the garage and down the drive. Jazz was right, my girl could ride. She wasn't just riding either; she looked like she belonged on a bike, like they were made to be together. I couldn't help the spike of desire coursing through my body as I watched the masterful way she handled the machine between her legs. I also couldn't help the fact that I wanted to be between her legs.

'In due time, buddy, in due time,' I told myself.

I spoke into the microphone that Jazz had in his helmet, hoping that it was connected to the speakers in Bella's.

"Beautiful, let me take the lead. You don't know where we're going."

Her response was to slow down by five miles per hour and move a bit to the right so I could pass. As soon as I did she was on my ass and followed me closely. We pulled up to our destination: a cave in a mountain that you wouldn't notice unless you were really looking for it.

We parked the bikes inside and out of sight of passers-by. She shed her gear and we walked through the cave hand in hand until we reached a tunnel barely big enough to walk through. She looked at me questioningly but followed anyway and, once we reached the other end, she gasped in surprise and delight.

There was a hole in the top of this part of the cave, allowing sunlight in. On the right side, there was a waterfall leading into a little pool the size of a Jacuzzi tub. She ran over and dipped her hand in, smiling when she realized it was hot.

"Is this why Alice told me to wear my bathing suit underneath my clothes?" She asked.

I nodded and we both started undressing. I wasn't paying her too much attention but, when I finally looked in her direction, I was stunned. She was in a white bikini. The bottoms, though a bit low on her hips, were modest enough. The top, however, was a bit more revealing. The straps wrapped around her neck and the base of it around her back, successfully pulling her breasts up and together. She was absolutely stunning.

She was staring at me with the same sense of awe. Although I didn't see it in myself due to my scars (and I knew that Jasper felt the same way), vampires are meant to be attractive to their prey and, since Bella is technically my prey (although I'd never view her as such), she was lured in this attraction.

I walked over to her and helped her into the steaming pool before getting in myself. I sat on the bottom and she sat between my legs with her head rested against my shoulder.

"Bella, it's time for you to know about my life with Maria. I don't want to keep secrets from you. I want you to know everything there is to know about me. I'm sorry for keeping it from you this long; I'm just ashamed of my past, of the things that I did."

"Just remember, Peter, that I love you and will be here for you just as much at the end of your story as I am now. You have me, Peter; you're stuck with me now," she said.

I drew in a shaky breath and began my story. I told her about meeting Maria and her sisters, about being bitten, and about my time in Maria's army, making sure to hold nothing back. I told her about meeting Charlotte (although I held back the intimate details where Charlotte was concerned) and about running away when Jazz was ordered to kill Char.

After I got to the last part of the story where Char and I went back for Jasper, Bella was silent for a moment. I drew an internal breath and waited for her to reject me, for her to tell me that she was repulsed by me and that she never wanted anything else to do with me again.

After a few moments, however, she got on her knees, turned to face me, and wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. She kissed my lips so passionately that I could have sworn my heart began beating again.

Unable to hold it in, I groaned out loud and settled my hands on her hips. My body's reaction was instantaneous and, although her body was much less sensitive than mine, I was sure that she could feel my arousal through the thin layers of our swim wear.

She drew back gasping and rested her forehead on mine. This is where I knew, absolutely, from the bottom of my soul, that she loved me.

"Peter, I know that was a difficult time for you to live through, and I know it was even more difficult to have to live through it again. Thank you for doing that for me, for telling me about your past. I appreciate it more than you could ever imagine. I'm glad that you didn't hold back from me in fear that I couldn't handle it.

"Please, let me love you. Let me prove to you what Jasper told me awhile back: you are worth it. You are worth everything in your life and so much more. You're a good man, Peter. You're perfect for me and everything that I could ask for and then some. You are absolutely amazing and I love you from the bottom of my heart. One day, soon, I want to tell you about my time with Edward. It won't be easy for me to tell or for you to hear because, up until Alice and I went to Italy to get him, we were happy together. However, I've moved on from that. Let me love you, Peter."

"Dear, sweet Isabella, thank you for listening to me and I will be here for you whenever you're ready to tell me about your time with Edward. I will let you love me on one condition: you let me love you. Will you let me erase what you believed to be love and show you what real love is?"

She grinned and said, "Of course" before I kissed her again before she could say anything else.

A/N: So, y'all thought that there would be some sexin' in there huh? Not yet, but I do promise that it's coming eventually. Thanks to all of my reviewers, I enjoy them and read each and every one!

Also, thanks to 01katie for pre-reading this for me!

Disclaimer: I don't own, you don't sue. Simple as that.