A/N: Clarification. I promised jessypt two lemons. I didn't say either of them were in the last chapter. Heh.

It was the hot, wet, slight suction at his neck that coaxed Carlisle out of his pleasant dreams. He came awake with a little whine of pleasure. The skin of his neck was such an erogenous zone; he was thrust from hazy unconsciousness straight into the cloudy arena of lust.

He opened his eyes, watching for a handful of bleary moments as her hair - wild from sleep and his hands the night before - tickled his nose. As he came more awake, he was increasingly aware of other stimuli, each more pleasant than the last.

There was a hand, soft and warm, sending tingles across his chest. There was another hand idly twirling a lock of hair at his neck around and around. The feeling was delicious and the effect incendiary.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he rolled them suddenly, carefully - this bed was so tiny - drawing out a delightful little squeal from Bella as he pinned her beneath him. In that instant, he became addicted to the sensation of her bare body pressing up against his.

"Don't you know old men need their rest?" His tone was a low rumble, teasing even as he scolded. "You should respect your elders."

A smile spread, slow and sultry, across her face. She reached up, winding her arms around his neck as she hummed. "Hmmm. Well, if old men need so much sleep, they need to learn not to be so goddamn hot if they're going to have much younger girlfriends with more stamina." She shifted, pressing her hips up against him, rubbing his hardon purposefully.

He gasped, biting the inside of his cheek, and growled as kissed her, his lips moving aggressively with hers. She drove him so crazy because he wanted to do a million things all at once when he was with her.

The night before had been a revelation. They didn't get very much talking done, and yet they'd communicated, or at least that was what it felt like. Carlisle didn't have words for this. He didn't know how to describe something that made no sense and yet all the sense in the world. He couldn't have expressed this emotion, complex and varied and textured as it was.

"Are we really doing this?" he'd asked as they made out on the couch. It felt surreal. His life had already changed so much from when they'd met. Could he really have everything?

Could he really have her?

To answer his question, she'd straddled him right there on the couch and, both shy and wanton, taken his hand and put it to her breast.

Nothing else in the world compared to how it felt when she finally slid down on him. Her eyes were open, hooded with want and adoration for him. Her body was perfect beneath his hands - soft and small. He thought he could live for the moans and murmured words that rolled off her tongue as he moved inside her.

Waking up like this, entertaining the idea this could be part of his life, Carlisle was dizzy with giddiness. A rush of energy went through him because he could think of a thousand different ways he wanted her. But before his fervor could get the better of him, he rolled slightly to the side, burying his nose at her neck and breathing in her salty-sweet scent.

They had time.

Pressing his back against the wall, he pulled her with him onto their sides. "You want to see stamina, do you?" he asked, and then took her lower lip gently between his teeth.

She gave a little moan, reaching between them to run her fingers along his cock. "Is that what you call this? It's a strange name, but I'll go with it."

He swallowed a groan - her hands felt amazing - and brushed down her back until he was palming her ass. "You're sassy this morning." He liked discovering this side of her - more bold than she had been two years before, more sure of her own sexual prowess. She definitely wasn't the trembling virgin she had been, and that both pleased him and made him more than a little jealous.

Tilting her head down, Bella broke their kiss, looking up at him with a suddenly pensive expression. "I'm just happy."

Realizing there was still a hint of a woman out of her depth in her, Carlisle was quick to cup her face tenderly. "So am I, sweetheart," he assured, and kissed her slowly - a serious kiss that built as their bodies brushed and wiggled against each other.

He needed her again. He needed to show her what she did to him. No part of him could walk away from this - not now, not for any reason he could fathom.

Pressing her onto her back, he reached for the nightstand where they'd tossed the condoms in their haste the night before. He was so lost in kissing her that he almost leaned too far, about to send them tumbling off the bed. He tightened his grip on her, keeping them steady. "This fucking bed is not big enough for two people," he grumbled.

Bella just smirked at him, tangling their legs together. "It is if those people really like each other."

Brushing his thumb over her nipple to hear her gasp, Carlisle smiled at her. "Well, it's a good thing we like reallylike each other." In emphasis, he thrust his hips against her, smothering a whimper because he could feel the heat she exuded and he was getting desperate to be inside her.

Apparently in agreement, Bella untangled their legs and lay back, tilting her head up to kiss the underside of his chin as he slipped the condom on. Through with that, he was over her in a heartbeat, reclaiming her lips as he positioned himself between her legs.

Just like the night before, when he thrust inside her, buried in her warmth, he had to pause for a moment because the emotion that welled in him was almost too much. He closed his eyes, nuzzling her cheek with the tip of his nose.

Then Bella bucked her hips, wrapping her legs around his waist and urging him on. Helpless but to obey, he began to move in her, with her.

She was glorious when she threw her head back, panting his name with a pleading wheeze. Her hands tugged at his hair, nails bit into the skin of his back. He thrust harder, faster, wanting, needing more from her.

"Never going to have enough. You're so perfect," he rumbled, nibbling along the lobe of her ear, working his way down to her chin and nipping at the skin of her neck.

The way she clenched around him nearly had him undone. Knowing she was close, and he wasn't so very far from release himself, he reached above them, gripping the headboard for leverage. They were both panting now, lips brushing with open mouthed kisses as their moans became guttural and loud.

Watching her come was a gorgeous sight, and her walls contracting against him pushed him into his own orgasm. He buried a scream into the pillow by her head more needing to be wrapped entirely around her than out of concern for the noise.

They were both breathing raggedly, the heel of her foot rubbing little circles against the small of his back.

With a grunt, Carlisle rolled, shifting them so she was mostly draped on top of him and his back was on the bed.

"Well," Bella said between pants, tracing idle patterns on his chest with the tips of her fingers. "You pass muster in the stamina department. I suppose I'll keep you."

He had to laugh. And then he peppered her face with kisses until she giggled.

~0~

"Hungry?"

Bella blushed. She couldn't answer right away, not when he was smiling at her like that.

For just a few seconds, her head spun. Carlisle Cullen - internationally known rockstar - was standing in her tiny kitchen, making her breakfast. After they'd had sex on the couch the night before. And in her tiny dorm room bed. Twice.

She'd dozed off and briefly panicked when she woke alone. But then she'd found the note he left on her nightstand teasing her - so much for stamina- and telling her he would be right back.

When he came back, she had just changed into one of her favorite concert t-shirts - a baby doll with one of his more suggestive lyrics right at breast level - he'd instantly dropped the bags of groceries in his hands and pulled her to him for a voracious kiss.

But then he had calmed somewhat, lifting her up onto the narrow counter to keep her from trying to help as he cooked. She kept stealing fresh berries from the bowl he'd set aside.

"I need to replenish my strength," she said with a grin, popping another blueberry in her mouth.

He glanced over his shoulder, stopping only briefly to push the pan of sizzling bacon off the burner before he turned back to her. Putting a hand on the counter next to her, he leaned in to her personal space and lifted a strawberry to her lips.

Bella's heart pounded. It was moments like these when she thought she would fail miserably at being smooth. If she stopped to think at all, she might wonder how many people he'd been with who could pull off being sexy in any given situation.

But that was one of the more thrilling aspects of how it felt when she was with him. Her inhibitions were lower, and she followed her desires. She leaned forward, taking the strawberry and the tips of his fingers into her mouth, swirling her tongue over his skin as she pulled the fruit forward. "Mmm," she hummed, straightening again.

The expression on his face was the definition of lust, his eyes wide, his mouth open, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. The air between them was static, magnetic. She bent down slightly to meet his kiss.

It was amazing how absolutely right this felt. Yes, they had so much they needed to figure out, needed to talk about, but for now, she was content to do this, possibly forever.

When his tongue swept across her lip, she opened her mouth, accepting him in. Her fingers mussed his hair as he pressed her back against the cabinets, his hands beginning to roam at her thighs, spreading her legs apart so he could step between them.

Her hunger then had nothing to do with food.

She moaned into his mouth when his hands slipped beneath the hem of her panties, his fingers seeking. She was-

"What the fuck!"

With a wild gasp, Bella pulled back so hard she hit her head on the cabinet behind her. Carlisle wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her off the counter and stepping in front of her.

She raised her eyes to find herself staring at Alice, Jasper, and Peter in the doorway.

~0~

Carlisle rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, frustrated and more than a little irritated.

But, on the other hand, he really couldn't be too angry. Bella's friends were protective, and if he was being honest, they had every right to be.

Alice had sequestered Bella in their room, leaving Carlisle to face Jasper and Peter. At least Jasper was being relatively level-headed. Peter was being a little insulting.

"I knew you were full of shit. No one remembers a random girl they picked up on the side of the road years ago. Not if nothing happened," he said scathingly.

"Peter, calm down," Jasper tugged on his arm.

Yanking it away, Peter glared at his friend. "You should be more pissed off than I am. Bella is your friend. If I were you, I'd have kicked his ass first and asked questions later."

"What is it you think is happening here?" Carlisle asked evenly.

"I think you took advantage of her - then and now. Everyone knows superstars think they deserve the fucking world."

"You hang out with a lot of superstars, do you?" Carlisle returned, his tone still steady.

Peter's features twisted. "Is this just a game to you? She's an innocent girl!"

"I'm not a child, and I can speak for myself."

The three men turned to look as Bella, her eyes narrowed. "Back off, Peter." Her voice brokered no room for argument.

"I know we don't know each other that well, Bella, but this is not okay. A man like him has no business with a girl like you," Peter argued. "He's only going to hurt you."

"That is the last thing I want to do," Carlisle interjected. He wanted to defend himself and Bella. He was only keeping quiet because he had no right. They hadn't talked. She'd called him her boyfriend earlier this morning, but he didn't want to speak for her.

He knew what he wanted, but he couldn't assume.

"This is none of your business," Bella said brusquely. She stepped to Carlisle's side, taking his hand and tugging. "Come on," she said quietly. "Can we go?"

"Of course," he said quickly, threading their fingers together as he stood.

"Bella..." Jasper said. He looked uncertain. He definitely wasn't comfortable, Carlisle could tell that much, but he wasn't jumping to the same conclusions his friend was.

"She's fine, Jazz," Alice asserted. "Apparently, our Bella has a few secrets." Her expression was amused. "She'll be okay with Carlisle."

"Come on," Bella said quietly, and Carlisle let her lead him to the door.

"Remember to ask about dinner!" Alice called - the last thing they heard before the door closed behind them.

"What about dinner?" he asked as they walked away.

"Um." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bella flush. "The only way I could get her to stop asking too many questions was to tell her I'd ask you if we could all have dinner." She grimaced. "Minus Peter. I really don't know him very well at all."

"Can't say that I'm unhappy about that," Carlisle muttered, letting his irritation at the younger man slide off his back.

"Yeah." Bella ran a free hand through her hair, her posture and expression radiating a pinch of uncertainty. "She wants to get to know you. If you're... If you're sticking around."

He stopped short, his hands at her waist as he pulled her to stand in front of him. His heart beat fast because it was never not-scary to admit to these kinds of things. "I'm not going to tell you I know what I'm doing, because I don't. I really don't," he said slowly, holding her gaze so she could see the sincerity behind his words. "But if I didn't want more of you, more withyou, I would have left you alone."

Her smile made his entire world brighter, and he couldn't help but kiss her right there, his hand cupped to her face, his thumb stroking her cheek.

"Is that what you want?" he asked against her lips.

Even though she wound her arms around him, clinging, pushing up onto her toes to kiss him back, his stomach still twisted with anxiety that she would break his heart with her answer. Instead, she smiled against his mouth. "Yes. We'll figure it out. This time, we can figure it out."

It may have seemed strange. Only two years had passed since it was absolutely the right thing to let her go. Now, though, the world was different - they were different. Yes, she was still somewhat terrifyingly young. Yes, his life was still complicated, but two years ago, those challenges were insurmountable.

Now, with Bella in his arms, he felt like anything was possible.

A/N: Many thanks to Barburella and jessypt for holding my hands... nay... DRAGGING MY ASS through this.

There will be an epilogue.

Merry New Year, everyone! Please be safe.