The Learning Curve: Chapter 75

Edward Cullen's House

The ride to Edward's house had been quiet, strange. Neither of us knew what to say, and maybe there was nothing to say at this point. We had, after all, said the important things long before today.

In the foyer of Edward's house, we stood waiting for some sign to move forward. I looked at my shoes and Edward rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um...have you eaten?" he asked with a glance to the kitchen. "I could get us something..."

I shook my head. "I'm not going to be able to eat anything tonight, Edward. I'm too..." I trailed off, unable to find the right word.

He gave me a wry smile. "Yeah, me too."

I stepped closer to him, eying the fit of his shirt across his chest and shoulders, the sharp line of his jaw, the curve of his lips. "Let's just go upstairs," I suggested.

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Yeah, let's go," he said, looking down at me. What he saw made him smile. "You look really pretty tonight."

"Thanks." I reached for his hand, and together we walked up to his bedroom.

Edward's room was always tidy, but tonight it was even cleaner than usual. He had turned the bed down, revealing navy blue sheets. There was a thick purple candle burning on his bedside table.

I set my bag on the floor and turned to Edward. "A candle?"

He dug his bare toes into the carpet. "I wanted to do the whole romantic room full of candles, but this is the only one I could find in the house," he complained.

I covered my mouth against my laughter. "I appreciate the sentiment."

We stood in another awkward silence until I couldn't stand it anymore. I went over to Edward and put my arms around him, pressing my cheek against his chest. "This shouldn't be weird. We both want this."

"It's not weird," he said, holding me close. "I just...wasn't sure where to start."

I looked up at him. "Well, that's easy enough. Start by kissing me."

Edward dipped his head and pressed his lips to mine, and I tugged his hair as I kissed him back. When I brushed my tongue against his lip, however, he pulled away and nudged me toward the bed. "Sit down?"

I did as he asked, although not without confusion, and I watched as he knelt before me and lifted one of my feet to pull my shoe off. He tossed my beat up sneakers – my shoe collection was limited – to the side and carefully took my socks off as well. When he'd finished, he asked me quietly to scoot back on the bed, and after I'd done so, he covered my body with his.

I felt overwhelmed with love for him.

Our lips met once more, and for a long while, it was enough just to kiss him, to feel his lips moving reverently against mine, to lie in the warmth of his body.

Then he rested his body against me just a little more, enough for me to feel the push of his arousal against my belly, and kissing became nowhere near enough.

A/N: Sorry for the delay on this - I was just wiped yesterday.

The next few chapters are going to reveal my biggest fanfic-writing weakness: sex scenes take me forever to write. So you're not likely to get it all at once, and the updates are not going to arrive early. If you'd rather read the whole sex sequence at once, you'd better wait about...three more chapters before you start again.

You've been warned.