Once the words were spoken the hesitation and nervousness seemed to fade and fall like a sheet at their feet as they kissed.
With her in his arms Edward felt complete. With her arms holding him tight she knew she was where she belonged.
This kiss, as was the one that started them on the first road they'd taken to physical discovery, started out slowly. They both tried to infuse it with all the feelings that had been boiling under the surface for so long.
They stood in the living room of the suite for a long time and poured everything they had into that kiss. And just as it had at camp, the intensity floored them both.
Edward held her hard up against himself, one hand at the small of her back the other snaking through her hair as he held her. Bella had both hands on his shoulders, as though she was ready in case he meant to pull away.
But he wasn't going to. Not this time. This time conditions were right. Everything was right. He loved her, needed her, and he was free.
Bella dug her nails into him as he tried to move them. It didn't take her long to realise that he wasn't pulling away, or attempting to break the kiss, merely move them from the living room to the bedroom.
The hand at her back guided her and together they frogmarched, lips and tongues still hungrily attacking each other, until she was pressed up against the edge of the bed, his knees between hers.
There was no thought for removing the blankets. No thought for where they'd fall or if there was anything in their way. They simply let themselves fall.
They landed in a tangle of limbs desperate to be as close as humanly possible to one another. Shoes were kicked off right before they wiggled to the head of the bed. His belt was undone by Bella's trembling fingers but she wasn't afraid or nervous. She was excited.
It was new for Edward to be tracing the softness of her belly from beneath a t-shirt because she'd never worn a t-shirt before, but the gentle moan she forced into his mouth was the same as it had always been when their skin connected. Deep, satisfying and a desperate plea for more. More skin, more heat, more friction.
He tugged at that hem and they broke the kiss only long enough for her to shift to remove the shirt, leaving in her in a simple white cotton bra.
The same tugging meant it was Edward's turn to remove his shirt and then they were skin to skin, or bra to skin at the very least. A gentle moan escaped her lips as he pulled her hard to his chest.
"You're so beautiful," he murmured against her throat as the hand that he wasn't lying on ran up her back and shoulders. He told her over and over what each of her curves meant to him as he undid the clasp at her back. He told her how the feel of her plump breast in his hand electrified him as he pulled the straps down off her shoulders and the bra away from her. And then he told her how he'd imagined over and over for weeks what her breasts perfect weight would feel like in his palm.
Bella arched her back and mentally begged him to take that breast into his mouth. His hands were burning her with every touch. She ached in places she didn't know she had as he plucked and pulled at her nipple with the tips of his fingers.
"Please," she begged finally when the pleasure was too much and not enough all at once.
He had no clue what she was begging for but he knew what he wanted. He trailed wet kisses down her throat, over the top of her shoulder and down the inside of her uppermost arm before he allowed himself the pleasure of curving his lips around the rosy bud she offered him.
And she was offering it to him. She was pushing herself into him, thrusting her shoulders back hoping he'd realise what she wanted. Too nervous to ask and too unsure of herself to insist she hoped instead. And when his warm, wet tongue slid over her nipple she bucked wildly against him, from chest to thigh.
"Yesss," she hissed as he slid his hand underneath her breast and pushed its silky weight upwards towards his mouth. "Yesss," she hissed again as he used that hand to push her slightly back, until her shoulders were against the bed, so he could give the very same attention to her other nipple.
She threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled mercilessly, giving no thought to whether or not she was hurting him. She just knew that the pressure building inside herself could only be quelled by him. By his touch, by his lips on her skin, by his body.
"Please," she begged again when what he was doing wasn't enough anymore.
Reluctant to relinquish her nipple from between his lips, but just as ready for more as she was, Edward removed his hand from her breast and made quick work of the button on her jeans. Pausing only slightly he released her nipple and looked up at her through lust filled eyes for her permission.
Bella released the bite she had on her lower lip only long enough to nod her head and then she reclosed her eyes as his hand slid inside the denim. They needed to come off, she knew, but the heady feeling of his fingers sliding down her waist and beneath her panties was so intense she couldn't bring herself to break the momentum they had going to take them off.
He raked his stubby nails through the curls at the apex of her thighs and when she moaned he took her nipple back into his mouth. The kittenish keening sound she made as he traced her clit with his fingertip made his cock twitch behind his own jeans.
Grateful, now more than ever, that he'd done this all before with her – however abruptly it had ended last time – Edward wasn't unsure of what she needed from him as his fingers delved into the honey sweet folds of her sex. He knew exactly what she needed him to do for her because he'd learnt it from her sighs and groans before.
He knew that if he applied harder pressure to the underside of her clit she'd arch her back, forcing her hips upwards and shoving her breast up into his mouth harder. He knew that if he dipped the very tip of his finger inside her and then withdrew it she'd groan in frustration. He knew that if he used his middle finger rather than his index finger he could go deeper and he knew that if he did she'd come for him.
Only this time her jeans were restrictive and the angle was wrong. He did get the groan of frustration as he withdrew his fingers and lips from her completely, but the breathy moan she let out as he stripped her jeans and panties from her in one foul swoop drove him on. Her throaty cry as he took first her nipple back into his mouth and then returned his finger to her sex was his reward for having stopped to shed her clothing.
Bella felt full. Stretched and deliciously full as he extended his finger and slid it all the way inside her. She spared half a second to consider how much fuller she was going to feel when he replaced his finger with the erection he was sporting but soon that worry was replaced with need.
A raw and desperate need to grip and hold onto the tension that was building inside her sex.
It was heat and it was desperate at the same time. She felt hungry for it. Her pulse roared in her ears and when Edward left her breast and parted her lips with his tongue she could feel and taste him breathing hard too.
He needed her to come. He needed her to find her release before he had her. He needed to feel it and he needed to know that it was he who'd done it for her. The need was clawing at his gut and his chest was on fire as he twisted his wrist and hooked the finger he had inside her until he was palm up, reaching and grasping for some sign that what he was doing was what she needed.
He needn't have worried. That tiny shift in his ministrations was what did it.
Bella reefed her mouth away from his as her scream built in her throat. The hot, racing sensation took her over as she fell headlong into bliss. Her voice was a mere rasp, almost a choking sound as her climax made her shudder and shake beneath him and all around his hand.
Her clit pulsed with it; her walls clamped down on his finger as she clutched at his back and shoulders and shouted his name into the air by his ear.
"Yesss," she cried as it overtook her.
"Oh god," he moaned into her collarbone at the flood of juices he could feel coating his hand as she came.
The instant the pleasure began to wane she wanted more. She wanted that feeling again and again until her brain was fogged in it. But most of all she wanted him to feel it too.
With his belt already undone it was mere seconds until she had his jeans parted and at his ankles. His boxer briefs were shucked so fast he didn't realise they were gone until she had his length in her hot little hand.
"Oh fuck," he managed to whimper as she stroked him.
Bella, remembering his throaty plea to release him from her grip as he was losing control last time, made sure to stroke him lightly. He was on his side, she was on her back. His mouth was sucking on the flesh of her throat as he whimpered and groaned and all Bella could think of was how beautiful he was all over.
He began rocking into her hand then, the depth and desperation in his moans building until he was gasping for breath and she could feel the vein that ran along the underside of his shaft pulsate in time with his frantic heart beat.
"I need you," she whispered into his ear and heard him groan in response.
His lips retreating from her flesh made a loud pop as he withdrew them and then he was pulling away from her altogether. She was about to protest when he shushed her and reached for his discarded jeans at the foot end of the bed. She heard the crinkle of foil and immediately knew what he was doing.
He tore at the packet with his teeth and she tried her best to hide her smile at the tremble in his hands as he rolled the latex down over himself carefully.
She expected him to pounce on her then, but he didn't. She thought she had him wound up enough that nothing would distract him but she was wrong.
Encased in latex, her naked in front of him in all her glory, Edward was more clear headed than he'd ever been. He looked her over from the perfection of her little pink toes to the top of her shiny brown hair and then he smiled.
"I love you," he told her as honestly and as earnestly as he could muster with his heart racing and a sweat beading on his skin. "I need you to tell me this is what you want," he pled.
Bella reached for him, her fingers grasping for his hips but he stayed firm, braced on the bed beside her, hovering over her determined to do all of it just right. He had to know.
"I need you to tell me," he said again, firmly.
Bella looked up at him from beneath her lashes and felt her face flush with a new, crimson blush. She knew this was what she wanted and she knew she wanted it with him but she was too self conscious to voice it. She nodded hoping that type of answer would suffice. It didn't.
"No," he said even more firmly as he reached for her chin with his fingers. He tilted her face until she was unable to look away from his eyes. "Don't hide from me," he warned her sternly. "You're beautiful, so goddamn beautiful I can't believe how lucky I am that you even bother to speak to me, let alone this..." he told her with a sweep of his free hand, gesturing to their naked state. "But I need this to be real, Bella. I refuse to hide myself from you and I don't want you to hide from me. Being nervous is one thing, and I get that, I'm as nervous as hell myself," he chuckled wryly, "but I need this from you. I need you to tell me that you're ready. That this is what you want. That it's me you want. I need it," he said in a hoarse, strangled whisper.
He'd stop if she didn't. She knew it from the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes. His gorgeous jade eyes bored into her with such intensity that she knew she needed to not only say it, but she'd needed to hear it from him too.
She dipped her face until his hand was cupping her cheek and then she turned and kissed his palm gently before returning her eyes to his. "I love you too," she smiled up at him. "I'm so ready," she told him truthfully. "I'm so ready because it's you. You're the only one I've ever wanted."
"Thank you," he whispered as he closed his eyes and replayed the words over for himself. He wasn't saying thank you because she was going to give herself to him but because she'd understood his need to hear that from her before they took the final step. Now that she had he shook off his nervousness.
With his hand still cupping her cheek he shifted from his position beside her and knelt between her knees, parting them slightly. She was trembling; he could feel it in his hand and in his thighs where they came into contact with hers.
"I don't want to hurt you so you have to tell me if I do," he whispered as he lowered just his torso so that he could kiss her softly. He felt her nod but she said nothing audibly. He slid his free hand beneath her, around to the small of her back and used his fingertips to soothe her a little. He was beyond being able to be soothed so he did his best to calm her before he let some of the weight off his knees and sank a little closer to her, deepening the kiss until she was once again moaning into his waiting mouth.
He felt hot all over. The heat of her skin tingled his as his body covered hers. He withdrew his tongue from her mouth and edged across to her cheek, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake. He licked and sucked her earlobe while he positioned himself as best he could and when he felt her stiffen beneath him he knew he was at her entrance.
"It's okay," he cooed into her ear as she brought her knees up and tried to shift her hips, possibly because it already hurt. "Relax," he whispered though if he was asked to do the same he'd fail.
Bella did her best to do as he suggested and tried to concentrate on the sound of his breathing in her ear. She closed her eyes against the discomfort she already felt as he edged forward ever so slightly. She tensed again as he stretched her and blew a breath out over her lips.
"Relax," he whispered again. "We'll go slow," he huffed into her ear to reassure her. "We've got forever."
She managed a smile at that and felt a little of her nervousness float away at the words. It was then she knew that he'd stop if she asked him to. She knew that he'd forgo any pleasure for himself if she changed her mind. And it was then that she relaxed fully. He wouldn't hurt her and he was willing to go slowly, to help her adjust. Her love for him and his gentle nature bubbled up within her and so she relaxed.
She let her legs fall to the side a little and as she did she lifted her hips and took him a little further in. It still hurt, though it wasn't so much pain as it was fullness. Just like his fingers before she felt full.
It was Edward's turn to blow out a long slow breath then. He felt surrounded by heat. The tightness, the warm wetness of her surrounded him and had to grit his teeth and remind himself to go slowly. And not just for her benefit either.
His brain told him to plunge in. His brain told him to take, take, and take. His brain told him to possess her and brand her, mark her and make her his. But his heart reminded him that this was Bella and he loved her. So he steadied himself with another long, slow breath and then he shifted his hips forward just a little more and felt another inch of himself slip between her lips.
"Oh god," he groaned into her ear. "You feel so..." he trailed off, words escaping him.
"I know," she whimpered at his ear.
Another very slight shift and he was two thirds of the way inside her. His mind was racing with the enormity of it. He was about to ask if she was okay, if she wanted him to stop, when she bucked her hips upwards and he found himself sliding all the way home.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god," he chanted as he seated himself fully inside her.
"Oh, oh, oh," she whimpered as he filled her. She clutched at his back and tried to keep her legs from flexing at the shock and the intensity of the fullness, but when he lifted his face so he could see her eyes his hips surged forward with the movement and she hissed as his pubic bone pressed against her clit.
He reared up, concerned that he'd hurt her, but she clawed at his back and the cheeks of his ass with her nails so he stilled and watched her face for clues instead. Her eyes were closed but she didn't look distressed. She was panting hard but so was he and he wasn't in pain. He took a chance and withdrew slightly before pressing forward as he'd inadvertently done before.
A string of expletives he'd never guess she knew flew from her lips as she rocked herself forward and back, matching the movement he'd just made.
"Bella?" he managed to croak in question, mentally pleading with her to tell him she was okay.
Bella got the message and opened her eyes to find his peering down at her uncertainly. She licked her bottom lip and sucked in a breath. "More," was all she said but to Edward it was the most wonderful word.
Ever so slowly Edward began to stroke. Very shallowly at first and there was no consistent rhythm to it because he really had no idea how to set one. Couple his nervousness about the enormity of what they were doing with his lack of experience and suddenly his mind was very conscious of his impending embarrassment because he was going to end too soon.
All of that raced through his mind as he thrust a little deeper, lengthening the stroke slightly and still watching her beautiful face for signs of discomfort or outright pain. But there were none. She was biting her bottom lip but she was lifting and lowering her hips in time with his awkward thrusts so he sped up just a little and watched for any other sign of distress.
Again there were none.
Encouraged and emboldened he began to stroke faster. Deeper. Withdrawing almost completely before plunging back in fully. And with each withdrawal Bella groaned, with each thrust forward she bucked beneath him and clutched at him wildly.
Knowing she was unlikely to orgasm with him inside her the first few times Edward hoped to god and all that was holy that he'd acquitted himself well enough for a first attempt because within a few strokes he could feel his impending climax building.
He wanted to warn her. He wanted to apologise for not lasting. He wanted to take her with him as he crashed but as his balls tightened and the heat spread from his groin through his gut and up through his chest he was unable to do any of that.
Bella watched fascinated as a myriad of emotions flitted across his beautiful face. It was all there. The desire, the love, the pleasure and just below the surface was his nervousness.
"Let go," she urged, his eyes going wide as what she'd said registered. "Let go," she said again as he began to shake his head.
"Can you..." he trailed off, a grimace crossing his lips.
"Please," she begged him as she ran her fingers down his back and settled them at the cleft of his ass. She dug her nails in and tilted her hips until he was as deep as he could go on each forward thrust. "I've already gotten there, it's your turn now," she insisted.
All he could do was grunt as he gave in to the disappointment of her words. She wasn't going to come with him inside her. He knew she might not but it still stung him. He wanted to mourn that but his own release was impending. There was nothing he could do to stop it and he doubted withdrawing could stave it off even if he tried.
"Let go for me," he heard her whisper at his ear and he was lost.
He growled deep in his throat as the heat in his balls erupted. He was consumed by her. Her scent, her slick heat wrapped around him, her hands on his body and his body inside hers. And he let go. For her.
He exploded mid thrust; his hips bucking so hard Bella saw stars. The very same stars that usually preceded an orgasm and so she pushed her hips up as high as she could and held on as he continued to press forward as he came.
His orgasm was receding as hers began and he could only look down at her in wonder as she began to scream his name as the first waves rolled through her.
He could feel her walls contracting, squeezing him from the inside, and still Bella bucked.
With her eyes squeezed shut she moaned her way through the rippling bliss that consumed her and as it receded she fell limply back to the mattress, spent.
Edward was spent too, his full weight held aloft by one shaky hand beside her. He nuzzled her neck until her breathing evened out and then he began to kiss her.
Softly, slowly, reverently up her throat and towards her mouth.
It was gentle and languid and filled with thanks. From them both.
When his arm could support him no longer he rolled to his side, dislodging himself from her in the process. On wobbly legs he slid off the bed and headed for the bathroom to dispose of the condom. He cleaned himself up using the sink and then he made his way back to the bedroom, a smug grin on his face as he went.
Bella hadn't moved and for a split second he hoped she wasn't hurting. He lay down beside her and slid his hand across her belly. "Are you alright?" he asked in a whisper.
"I'm so much better than alright," she giggled softly as she placed her hand over his and squeezed.
"Me too," he chuckled as he lay back and set his eyes on the light fitting above the bed. "But are you sore? Did I hurt you? I've read that a hot bath might help. I could run you one."
Bella shifted her hips a little to test if she was sore and as the dull ache between her legs made itself known she thanked her lucky stars that Edward was as sweet as he was. "I'd like that," she said by way of an answer, successfully negating having to admit that she was aching in a pretty embarrassing place.
He kissed her cheek before leaping from the bed and rushing back into the bathroom. She lay there looking at the same light fitting and heard the taps being turned on and water running. She saw his shadow move past the foot of the bed but was too blissed out to lift her head to see where he'd gone so fast.
The shadow moved past her again, this time back to the bathroom and then she heard a zipper. The scent of her shower gel reached her nose a few seconds later and she smiled at his thoughtfulness.
After a few more minutes, and a few more shuffling noises from the bathroom, Edward emerged. "It's ready when you are, love," he told her.
She thanked him and offered him a smile as she moved by him and into the bathroom. She didn't close the door, thinking that would be rude, so she just slid herself down into the now bubble topped water and groaned as the hot water smothered her.
Edward watched from the doorway for just a few seconds before leaving her to it.
He was sorry she was sore but he couldn't regret what they'd just done.
He felt powerful. He felt victorious. He felt like a man. And he liked it.
He pulled on his jeans sans boxers and headed back into the living room so Bella could enjoy her bath. He retrieved their luggage and took both cases into the bedroom. He set her purse on the chair by the dresser and put his cell charger and wallet on his side of the bed.
Then he went back into the living room and used the handset on the end table to order them a room service brunch and once he'd done that he flung himself onto the sofa. Lying back, one arm over his eyes, he replayed everything over in his mind.
Sure it had been brief; probably embarrassingly brief, but maybe that would show her just how desperate he was to be with her? Would she see it that way or think he was pathetic?
Bella lay in the strawberry scented bubbles and replayed everything over in her mind too. She felt amazing. She felt loved. She felt sore and she was so proud of that feeling that she couldn't regret it.
He'd been so concerned to let go too soon and that told her just how much he wanted her and for that she was in awe. She felt so proud of herself and proud of him too.
She was determined not to be anxious or nervous again if she could help it. And she wanted there to be an 'again', very soon if she could manage it, because the ache she felt was the good kind. The kind that told her it hadn't been a dream. The kind that meant she was finally a woman.
After fifteen minutes lying in the water in silence Bella grew concerned that there was no noise from the rest of the suite. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he freaking out?
She called to him then, quite softly, and when he appeared at the bathroom door – his body hidden around the corner, just his face curved around the door jamb – he looked concerned.
"Are you okay? Do you need something?" he asked carefully.
Bella's smile went a small way to relieving his concern but it wasn't until she spoke that he knew for sure that they were both going to be okay now, after.
"I'm perfectly fine," she chuckled. "I just wanted to know that you were too?" she said, posing it as a question. "And you can come in you know, you don't have to hide round the corner."
Grinning Edward stepped into the doorway but went no further into the bathroom. "I'm perfectly fine too," he assured her. "Though fine is a pretty shitty description of how I'm feeling," he chuckled and ran a still shaky hand through his hair.
"Yeah," she mused, "It is pretty shitty. I think I'm gonna go with wow, just wow."
"Wow's good," he chuckled in answer. "And I wasn't doing anything, out there," he waved back out the door and in the vague direction of the little living room. "I did order us some brunch though. It'll be half an hour or so, I ordered it for later. I wasn't sure how much time you'd need...um, in the bath and what not," he grimaced.
Bella smiled again at his thoughtfulness. "Thank you," she told him honestly. "So...," she began carefully. "If we've got a half hour until the food arrives maybe you want to join me? I can let some of the water out and set the hot tap to run again, if you want?"
The tremor in her voice made him both happy and sad in equal measure. She was trying so hard to head off any post coital awkwardness but like him she had no idea how to do that. He might feel like a man now but inside he was just as nervous as he'd been before.
Coming to a quick decision he shook his head and noted the disappointed expression on her face before he spoke. "Don't worry about the water," he said, smiling.
He knew she was watching him intently as he shed his jeans, sans boxers, and made a slow progression towards the tub at the far end of the bathroom. He wasn't particularly self conscious, even though his tackle was swinging freely between his legs as he got into the water. She'd seen him already and hell, not half an hour ago he'd been inside her. Inside her body.
And that was that. He boned up instantly at the thought, a smug grin plastered on his lips as he got situated at the opposite end of the tub to his lover. Lover. Good Christ he thought, Bella was now his lover. Thank god for the bubbles he thought next. They covered his rapidly growing groin region nicely.
"That smile looks good on you," she giggled as she sat up a little to give him room.
He chuckled just enough to let her know he caught her meaning and then he looked at her own sparkling eyes and the gorgeous curve of her lips as she too smiled smugly. "Yours is lovely," he laughed, reaching across the expanse of the bubbles to run the tip of his finger down her cheek. "I should tell you, in the interests of being perfectly honest with you from the get go, that I'm totally in love with you."
Bella had never swooned in her life but the light-headedness she experienced as he spoke was pretty damn close she thought. "Since we're being honest then," she whispered, "I'm totally in love with you too."
"Phew, that's a relief," he laughed and withdrew his hand. As subtly as he could manage he swished his hands across the surface of the water to hide the tip of his knob that was now standing proudly between his legs like a Meerkat that had spotted a meal in the distance.
Bella's blush told him his efforts were in vain, though.
He reached for her hand under the water and strummed his thumb over hers. "You are okay though, aren't you? You can tell me if you're not."
"I am, I promise. It's a good kind of sore, if that makes sense," she told him sincerely.
"I few weeks ago I would've considered a statement like that to be an oxymoron," he mused. "But I think I get it now." Lying back a little he let the back of his head come to rest on the soft padding of the tubs outer edge and then closed his eyes. The water was fantastic and knowing she was there with him, still totally naked, made it even better. "I have the overwhelming urge to tell you thank you," he mumbled quietly.
"Me too," she mumbled in reply. She'd laid back too, her head resting on another of the pads.
Twenty minutes later, both with skin resembling prunes, they reluctantly got out of the rapidly cooling tub and pulled on some clean clothing. It made them both feel good to not be anxious about dressing, or being naked, in front of the other now. It seemed that all of their previous apprehensions had faded away after they'd finally made love.
They were both ready and ravenous when their meal was delivered and it was two very happy, very content lovers that sat at the tiny round dining table to consume it over light conversation.
Gone was the worry that had clouded their thoughts and exchanges lately. They'd both done what they'd set out to do to make themselves free and whatever came to pass now seemed inconsequential. Of course there were going to be some tough times, it was naive to think they wouldn't fight at some point, but outward influences and issues should be a thing of the past for them both now.
With the meal complete they retired back to the bedroom to lie in each other's arms and talk about the details of the plan for their future.
Bella was excited to begin looking into courses at universities and Edward was eager to get started along the road that might lead him to a career teaching piano.
They talked about suburbs close to likely colleges that might take Bella on mid-semester and about what sort of housing they'd like to share. They talked about whether or not to buy two cars or just one. They laughed at Edward's promise to learn to cook for himself and Bella's promise to loosen up her neat-freak habits.
Bella put voice to her concerns about studying and keeping a home and Edward was quick to reassure her that they'd both be diligent about making time for each other.
Edward wondered out loud about the cosy home they might make for themselves and Bella sighed contentedly as he spoke of the difference between his childhood home and her sisters. They were very similar, they both wanted to make a home filled with treasures that meant something to them both, not simply art for art's sake.
The entire dialogue had been punctuated with soft caresses and lingering kisses.
It was talk about buying furniture that had him kissing her with renewed fervour. She'd described in some detail how she thought their bedroom could be set out and he could actually see it perfectly in his mind's eye. The dark comforter, the dresser strewn with the debris of their day to day life, the matching towels in their bathroom and the way they'd bundle their dirty clothing up together and take it to the laundry room.
"God I want that," he moaned at the corner of her mouth, his hands burrowed into her hair at the base of her skull. "I want that with you," he rasped right before he ran his tongue over her bottom lip to demand entry.
They weren't nervous this time and even though Bella still had a slight ache between her legs there was no pain as he made love to her. They were both braver and a little more vocal about what they wanted and needed.
Neither of them was demanding and neither of them was comfortable enough yet to instruct the other, but when Bella came undone beneath him right before he succumbed to his own release they were both filled with a sense of pride, again.
They fit together so perfectly. Their naiveté was a good thing rather than a detraction. Neither of them brought any real experience to the table and so they both revelled in discovering for themselves, and each other, what it took to achieve orgasm together.
Edward, being the one who needed to get out of the bed to discard the condom, showered first, leaving Bella blissed out in the bed again until the bathroom was free for her use.
She grinned when she came out fifteen minutes later to a remade bed and her suitcase open at its foot end. She was undoing the towel off her hair when raised voices made themselves known through the closed bedroom door.
One of them was Edward but the other she didn't recognise.
"How did I find you?" the other man barked. "It was pretty fucking simple. You fucking idiot!" he roared. "Shacked up with Charlie Swan's daughter? What the fuck are you playing at?"
"It's none of your business," Edward roared right back.
Bella rushed around the bedroom and threw on the jeans and t-shirt she'd been wearing earlier and then went back to the door in time to hear the other man shouting again.
"You had no fucking right!"
"I had every right," Edward countered, though his voice was a little softer than the first, it dripped with the same venom as his accuser.
"If Jasper Whitlock informed you of that right I'll fucking ruin him!" the unknown man again.
"He did nothing wrong," Edward insisted, "And if he did it was on your instructions anyway. So go your fucking hardest if you think he'll be punished and you won't!" he raged.
All at once Bella knew exactly who the other man was. It was Edward's father and he wasn't happy.
She stood just to the side of the door and carefully turned its handle. Thankfully there was no squeak and then she got her first look in more than a decade at the older man.
He was a little shorter than Edward but he had the same bone structure. He was much fairer than Edward too. But it was the eyes where they differed so significantly. His fathers were jade, they had that in common, but Carlisle's were cold. And they were also narrowed menacingly at his son.
"Don't you dare threaten me," Carlisle boomed, startling Bella.
But Edward wasn't deterred in the slightest. Or so it might look to Carlisle, Bella thought. But she knew him well by now and she spotted his turmoil even at this distance. He was rigid from his shoulders through his back and hips, but one knee was shaking just a little. His fists were also balled at his sides.
"Someone needs to," Edward countered with a hiss. "You deliberately ignored grandfather's instructions and you kept that trust from me my whole fucking life! If that wasn't bad enough you struck my mother!" Edward snarled.
Carlisle's shock was well hidden. "Your mother..." he said on a sigh that was probably meant to sound apologetic but actually came off sounding pretty condescending, "your mother isn't taking your defection from the family firm all that well. She was hysterical, shouting and crying and blubbering about how you'd let her down. How her only son had chosen to hurt her the way you had, after all she'd done for you your whole life," he snorted. "No amount of comfort, or any of my concern, was settling her."
"So, what, you hit her to make her feel better?" Edward seethed through gritted teeth.
"No," his father hissed right back, his arrogance shining through his eyes like fire. "I slapped her to break her out of her hysterics," he said as though he'd done the woman a favour.
"How nice of you," Edward snorted. "You can cut the shit, dad. I talked to her myself. She's told me she had no idea you'd borrowed against my money. She told me it was all you. The lack of affection, never letting me out of sight, never letting me do anything that was going to make me happy in the long run. All that, that was all you, not her doing. So you can shove your false concern where the sun doesn't fucking shine, dad."
This time Carlisle's features showed exactly what he was feeling. Rage. Pure, unadulterated rage and it was all directed entirely at his son.
"And you believed her?" Carlisle roared, making Edward take a step back in alarm and Bella tighten her grip on the door. "She's a fucking liar! She knew all about your trust. It was her own fucking father that gave it to you you pathetic moron! How could she not know about it when it came from that bastard in the first place?" Carlisle asked rhetorically through a clenched jaw. He advanced toward his son, eyes blazing and finger pointed firmly at Edward's chest, "Why should you get to do what makes you fucking happy? Nobody gets to do that you gullible little shit," he hissed, poking Edward. "I didn't and you certainly won't. That isn't how life works for Christ's sake. I've worked too fucking long and too fucking hard to make that firm work and I won't let you or your whining, lying assed mother ruin that for me! Do you hear me?"
It was the way his mother was described that snapped the thread of Edward's patience. Bella watched, her heart in her throat, as Edward stepped toward his father and put both his hands to his shoulders and pushed, hard.
"I hear you," Edward bellowed into the other mans shocked face. Another shove and Edward was screaming, saliva flying from the corners of his mouth as he did, "And I don't give a shit what you think of me but you will not speak about my mother that way!"
Carlisle shoved his son back, tit for tat, and as Edward steadied himself the older man took hold of him, by his shirt front and began to scream into his face, just as his son had done.
"Your mother is a lying, whining, ungrateful whore who never did learn to keep her big, fucking mouth shut," Carlisle spat.
What happened next seemed as though it was playing in slow motion on a giant, life sized screen to Bella.
Edward's fist seemed to come from nowhere. The loud crack as it collided with his father's jaw reverberated around the living room for a long, long time thought Bella as she gasped in shock.
She ran then. She ran right into the room and skidded to a stop at Edward's side but he had no clue that she was there as he grabbed his father by the lapels of his expensive suit coat and hauled him back to his feet before punching him again.
Carlisle, stunned and with blood pouring out of the cut on his lip, and now out of his broken nose, glared at Edward as he recovered from the last blow.
Bella screamed as Carlisle swung and connected with Edward's jaw. Her scream alerted him to her presence. "Stay there Bella!" Edward roared, rooting her to the spot.
She watched, intrigued and more than a little frightened for him, as he shook off his father's punch and advanced on him once more.
Edward was younger, taller, stronger and filled with the rage of a man who was protecting not only his mother but also the love of his life so his next punch was thrown with the speed and accuracy borne of a man possessed. It also missed.
He was shaken and terrified that Bella would get herself caught in the middle of it all and he'd missed as Carlisle ducked and weaved. It didn't matter though, his intent had been clear and Carlisle had gotten the message. He couldn't win against his son.
He wiped his nose and mouth with his sleeve and took a good long look at Edward, and then an equally good long look at Bella – who he'd hadn't seen since she was a small girl – and moved towards the door.
"He's going to ruin you," he sneered at Bella who was now tucked under Edward's protective arm. Carlisle looked her over, from head to toe and back again and then grinned evilly. "There's no such thing as a fairytale. Love doesn't exist. You're going to learn that the hard way, just like I did," he added in Edward's direction as he reached for the door.
"Don't ever come near me, my mother or Bella ever again," Edward shouted after him as he went through the door.
The cut on his lip stung like a bitch as Bella put the cold wet hand towel to it, but he accepted her comfort more for her than for himself. He understood her and her need to be there for him because he had exactly the same instincts for her.
The unshed tears of concern in her eyes as she tended to him made his gut clench as he stared up at her. But she wasn't watching him, she was so busy positioning the towel – placing it and removing it constantly to make sure he got the benefit of its coldness in just the right place – that she didn't notice him staring.
But he was. He was staring at the love in her eyes. He saw her, truly saw her as she worked above him. She loved him and she had wanted to protect him against his father and she'd not bat an eyelid at the violence in the room. She'd simply come to his side and stayed there. She loved him.
"Marry me?" he whispered as he stilled her hand with his own, making the towel fall into his lap between them.
"What?" she cried, surprised. But she'd heard him just fine. She stared down at him for just a second and could see that he was serious. "Ask me again," she whispered as she stared at his mouth in anticipation.
"Marry me Bella," he said simply.
She ran her thumb across his split and already swollen bottom lip and ducked her chin to place the lightest kiss she could manage on the opposite corner of his mouth. "Yes," she whispered.
A/N: Thank you for reading.
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