I stood in the middle of my bedroom for a few minutes, unsure of how much to pack. I figured I should take a week's worth of clothes and if I needed more, I could come back. I was becoming fairly adept at performing tasks with my left hand, so I packed quickly. I went into the bathroom and filled a duffel bag of toiletries and cosmetics. To be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about staying with Edward. We could end up driving each other absolutely crazy. But I realized that I had to take my safety seriously; I had underestimated Aro before and I couldn't do that again.
I rolled my suitcase into the living room where Edward was waiting for me.
"Just the suitcase?" He asked.
"There's a duffel bag in the bathroom." He went down the hall and returned with the duffel bag. I took my laptop bag from the kitchen chair and hooked it over my good arm. After looking around the apartment one last time, I was ready to go. We walked out of the door and down the hall toward the stairwell
"Edward, I want to stop by Mrs. Santrini's and tell her thank you." He nodded.
"I'll go put your things in the car. Come down when you're done." Edward plucked my computer from my shoulder and went ahead down the stairs. I knocked on Mrs. Santrini's door and as soon as she opened it, she pulled me into a hug.
"Isabella, I was so scared!" She exclaimed tearfully when she pulled away. She looked down at my arm in a sling. "Poor baby."
"It could have been much worse." I told her. "Thank you for calling Alice. And thank you for always looking out for me."
"Did they catch the man who did this?"
I shook my head. "I can't stay here; I am staying with a friend. The man has been stalking me and the police are worried that he might come back."
"You're not staying with Emmett?" she asked, perceptive as always.
"We broke up."
She chuckled. "I try to stay out of your love life just like I try to stay out of my own granddaughters'. But I can't say that I am sorry to see him go."
"I realize now how unhealthy it was." I admitted.
"Lesson learned. Now you can open your heart to someone who is worthy of you and who can love you the way that you deserve to be loved." She smiled, patting my hand.
"I'd better be going." I told her after we chatted for a few more minutes.
"Wait!" she cried, walking to the kitchen and coming back with a Ziploc bag filled with her famous cookies. "For you."
"Thank you. For everything." After one last hug, I left and made my way outside to Edward's car. I didn't even know that Edward owned a car; we'd always traveled by subway or taxi. But he had a quite new silver Volvo S60. As soon as he spotted me, he jumped out of the car and opened the passenger door for me.
"Cookies?" Edward asked, once we were en route to his apartment.
"From Mrs. Santrini. You can have one. The rest are for me." I giggled, handing him a cookie. He popped it into his mouth.
"Damn, that is good." He waited until I was looking out the window and snatched the bag from me, grabbing a handful of cookies.
"You jerk!" I laughed, pulling the bag from his hand. A few minutes and cookies later, we pulled into the garage underneath his building. I had been to his apartment a couple of times in the past with Emmett; Edward lived on the eleventh floor. We rode the elevator up in silence. When he unlocked the door, I realized how close he was to actually moving. There were half packed boxes all over the living room and kitchen.
"Edward…" I started. He stopped me right away.
"I know what you're going to say. And don't worry about it. As soon as you're settled, I am going to make some phone calls. This is what I want. I want to stay in New York and be with you. Okay?"
"Okay."
He led me past the kitchen that looked barely used and a sparse living room with a humungous television and into his bedroom. In the middle of the room was a king sized platform bed with a black quilted leather headboard. There were two side tables and a six drawer dresser against the wall, also with black finish. The window beside the dresser was covered with winter white vertical blinds. Of course, there was also a huge plasma television anchored to the wall in front of the bed.
"Make yourself at home. Umm… there's a pull out sofa in my office…I can sleep there and you can have my bed."
"I don't want to you to have to sleep on a sofa bed in your own place. I can sleep there if you don't want to…umm…" Ugh, why was this so awkward.
"Izzy, are you okay with us sharing the bed? I didn't want to be presumptuous. I just want you to be comfortable." He said, wrapping his arms around my waist.
"Yes, I'm okay with that." I smiled. And with that the awkwardness eased and we were just Izzy and Edward again. He showed me where I could put my things in the bedroom and bathroom, he showed me where the clean towels and washcloths were, he showed me the emptiness that was his refrigerator and I demanded that we go to the supermarket immediately. I sat down at the bar in the kitchen to make a shopping list and check my work emails while he went into his office to take care of some business.
Edward emerged an hour later, all smiles. He went to the fridge and got a bottle of water.
"They haven't given away this apartment yet, so when I told them that the new job in North Carolina 'fell through', they were okay with me staying. And I was able to negotiate and get 75% of my deposit back on the condo I was going to rent in Charlotte."
"Only 75%?" I asked sadly. I didn't want him to lose money.
"Better than the 50% they originally offered. The cost of living down there is cheaper, so it's not as bad as you think."
"What about your job?"
"I called the law firm in Charlotte and let them know that I wouldn't be taking the position. The managing partner was disappointed but not surprised. Then I called my own firm." He sat down at the bar next to me.
"And?" I prompted him.
"And I told them that I wouldn't be relocating to North Carolina but there may be another firm in New York that was very interested in hiring me. And they offered me more money to stay with them. And I said that I would think about it. And then I called them back twenty minutes later and said yes."
"That's great!"
"Hell yeah it is. But I have to go into the office. Will you be okay here?" he asked.
"Sure. I have my own work to do." I said, gesturing to my open laptop.
"I'll be home around six and then we can go to the market. Okay?"
"Of course." I responded.
He leaned over and kissed my lips. Oh, how I had missed his kiss. I felt tingles all the way to my toes. He tasted tentatively with his tongue and I responded eagerly. My breathing quickened as I melted into the kiss and then he pulled away.
"I gotta go." He breathed. He pecked me once and was off.
We settled into a routine over the next couple of days. I made coffee and breakfast in the morning, nothing major, usually just bagels and cream cheese, and Edward went off to work. I stayed in the apartment and worked from Edward's office, thanks to my understanding boss. Edward came home between six and seven and I made dinner. After dinner we would watch television. We argued about what to watch- he hated the reality shows that were my guilty pleasure and I wasn't a fan of Parks and Recreation, but we compromised. I usually went to bed around eleven or twelve and he stayed up watching late night television and working on his computer.
He was so kind to me and appreciative whenever I cooked a meal or even buttered a piece of toast for him. He truly opened his home to me and what was his was mine. He always kissed me before he left for work and he cuddled with me while we slept. But he wouldn't really touch me. Anytime our kisses got intense he would pull away and his hands never wandered when we were in bed. It was all very chaste and I was starting to wonder whether he didn't find me attractive anymore, or maybe now that the challenge and the taboo wasn't there he'd become disinterested.
Edward crawled into bed Friday night close to two in the morning and I was still awake. He put his arm around me and pulled me close, his front against my back.
"Edward?"
"I didn't mean to wake you." He whispered.
"I wasn't asleep…Edward, I really appreciate everything you've done for me." I murmured. I didn't want him to think I was ungrateful.
"You know that your safety is very important to me. I don't mind at all, Izzy."
"How come you don't…why do you…" I paused. "Are you not interested in me in that way anymore?"
"What?" his voice sounded confused.
"When we kiss, you always pull away. You never… want…more." I sputtered.
"Izzy, I don't want you to feel like that's all I want. I know what that fucker tried to do to you and I figured that you wouldn't want to be intimate so soon." Edward never said Aro's name. Never.
"I know that you're not him. And I need you, Edward."
"You'll tell me if I do something that makes you uncomfortable, right?" He whispered against my ear.
"Yes. I promise. Just go slow."
He maneuvered so that he was hovering over me, leaning on his elbow. He kissed me, deeply, no longer holding back. He moaned into my mouth when our tongues touched. I threaded my fingers into his silky locks as our tongues danced together, perfectly in synch. His soft lips moved down, kissing my chin and jaw and then my neck, where he sucked softly, eliciting a soft moan from me. His hand unhurriedly slid under my tank top and caressed the skin on my stomach. He slowly moved up until his hand was on my breast.
"Is this okay?" he breathed against my neck.
"Yes…"
He stroked my breasts softly, so softly, before brushing his thumb across my nipple. His mouth followed and he sucked, applying light pressure before moving to the other nipple that was aching for his lips. His eyes were on me as I gave myself over to his ministrations. He gently peeled my tank top off, being careful of my right arm and he returned to my breasts, this time nibbling their peaks until I was gasping in pleasure.
"Can I take off your shorts?" he whispered.
"Uh huh…" I consented. He pulled back and slid my shorts down my legs and over my feet, tossing them to the floor. I laid there wearing just my panties and Edward cupped my mound over my panties, rubbing. It felt so good, desire lit my body aflame. He dipped his fingers under the waistband of my panties and touched me.
"Izzy, baby…so wet." He groaned. And I was. I was so ready, ready to be with him without the guilt and confusion from before. Ready to be with someone who cared for me and treated me with compassion and affection. He peeled my panties off and tossed them with my shorts. He removed his pajama pants and wife beater quickly and I saw the need that he had for me as well. He fumbled in his night table for a minute and then pulled out a condom. He rolled it on and looked down at me, lust in his hooded eyes.
"Emmett is the dumbest asshole ever. You are worth going to the ends of the earth for, baby. You're so beautiful and so fucking sexy." He turned me on my side so that I was leaning on my good arm and he got behind me. He kissed my neck while he entered me in that position. I heard a harsh gasp in my ear when he was all the way in. He began to move and I knew that I was going to come hard and quickly. It was a new position for me and his cock was stroking all of the right spots.
"Edward…yes…yes…right there." I moaned, my hand gripping the sheet.
"Mmmm…here, baby?" he crooned, hitting me where I needed it.
"Harder…" he held me around my waist and pushed into me with more force. He kissed the back of my neck as he whispered dirty things that I loved into my ear.
"Your pussy is so fucking good."
"I love being inside of you."
"You like it like that, Izzy?"
"Are you going to come all over my dick, baby?"
When he whispered that, I immediately fell over the edge, spasming around his hard cock as I came.
"Yes, baby. I love it when you come." He groaned. He held my top leg up and pounded into me deeper and let himself go. His rhythm faltered and then he fell too, murmuring my name.
"So good." He whispered as he tossed the condom into the wastepaper basket by the bed. He kissed my shoulder, my back, anywhere his lips could touch. I fell into a peaceful sleep for the first time in weeks.
~SD~
I was awakened the next morning by soft touches in naughty places. He spread my legs and pushed into me; we slowly climbed to ecstasy and quietly shattered in each other's arms. We went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until after eleven in the morning. I sat up and covered my body with his royal blue sheet.
"Want some breakfast?" I asked, yawning.
"Yeah, I want you for breakfast." He responded, lying flat on his back with his head resting on his hand. His hair was all over the place and he looked so sexy and masculine. His voice was still raspy with sleep. He tugged on the sheet until it fell away, revealing my bare breasts. His mouth descended, licking and sucking. Suddenly we heard an insistent knocking on his apartment door.
"Who could that be on a Saturday morning?" I asked.
"I don't know and I don't fucking care." He growled, pulling the sheet from my lower half.
"Ed…Ed…open up!"
We locked eyes as we both immediately recognized the voice.
Emmett.