A/N: Who else fails at Pictionary?
Chapter 35
Pictionary
Bella's POV
When I woke, heavy headed and groggy, I quickly realised I'd pushed Edward to the side. His elbow resting on the arm of the sofa—with his fist propped up against the side of his forehead—was the only thing keeping us semi-upright.
My stirring was all it took to wake him. He seemed surprised that he'd been asleep and hastily pulled the two of us vertical.
"They live!" Nummi teased us before adding with appreciation. "You pair have been out cold for more than two hours!"
Edward released his arm from around me and rubbed his eyes before running his hand through his dishevelled hair. He looked sheepish, but then so ridiculously appealing all weary and droopy-eyed. Dropping his hands in his lap, he turned and smiled at me. His hair was beyond out of control and his eyes were bloodshot, but the power he had over me was still unmeasurable. I had to forcibly turn my head to break eye contact with him.
My gaze fell on Rach; she was smiling at me, in a shrew kind of amusement which was typical of her. "Rough night, Bells?"
I rolled my eyes at her.
"Rough six months," I confessed lightly, my voice rustic.
Dropping my head to my hands, I attempted to massage the grogginess away with my fingertips, when Edward slung his arm over my shoulders. He drew me gently against him again; back to the warmth of his arms. His arms—the only place where I had been able to extract the poison from my veins and find myself again.
"Well it doesn't look like this rain is going anywhere soon," Nummi spoke up.
I glanced over to her; she was staring through the window out into the rain soaked grounds, looking sad and wistful. When she turned back to face us, her eyes were glistening with tears. "I kind of feel like she's giving it all back. All the tears we cried over her."
"That's so beautiful!" Alice exclaimed, her voice instantly choked.
"Christ, Nummi," Rach whispered, seeming almost impatient.
Nummi's words affected me immediately, and as I opened the door—just a fraction—to the grief once more my chest began to ache.
Edward squeezed my arm soothingly, before dropping his lips to the top of my head. Again he was my life raft in a stormy sea, taking my fear and allowing me to feel everything, unburdened by it. How he was able to bring that out in me only made the swelling of emotion within me more intense.
My best friend—the closest person I ever had to family before moving to Forks—was dead, and the pain I felt over it was beyond anything I'd ever known. But at the same time, I was feeling something so real and extraordinary for Edward. He made the pain over Kel lessen; my fear over Renee diminish, and what I was left with didn't scare me like I thought it would. It was literally engulfing me, yet I found myself embracing it whole heartedly.
I loved Edward with everything that I was.
I turned to him and grabbed his hand. My heart quickened, while I fought to separate my feelings for him from my continued grief over the loss of Kel.
I shook my head, trying to decide how two completely conflicting emotions could exist with so much harmony within me.
"You okay?" Edward asked me softly.
I nodded quickly, half shrugging, quickly inhaling back the threat of tears.
"Okay enough of this," Rach burst with impatience.
I looked over at her; she was pacing the room, her hands on her hips defiantly. She met my gaze while hers burned with frustration. "I can't keep crying over her—it makes me feel helpless!"
"You're right, Rach, and Kel would be so pissed," Nummi agreed, wiping her eyes hastily.
"She would," I conceded, laughing flatly. God knows she'd told me to toughen up more times than I could count.
Carol walked into the room at that moment. "Lunch is ready..." she began, but when she noticed the sombre atmosphere and Nummi's tear streaked face, the words died on her lips." You girls okay?"
We all nodded collectively, and she smiled sadly in understanding. "Just having a moment?"
"One of many," Rach muttered.
Carol sighed and sat herself on the edge of the coffee table. "Just so long as you understand that you don't have to feel like it's taboo to talk about her."
Nummi nodded. "We know, Mum. I started us off this time."
Carol smiled at her, pausing with affection, before snapping back to business. "Well anyway, lunch is in the kitchen. I was getting worried Edward and Bella would sleep through it."
"Edward eats like a bear; there'd be no way he'd sleep through a meal." Alice snorted.
She'd told me the same thing numerous times, but I had yet to see it for myself. If anything, Edward seemed to be a light eater. I turned to him, my eyebrows drawn as I contemplate about it.
"Don't listen to her, she's suffering from Jazmina withdrawal," he said, breaking into a devious smile.
I grinned back at him, shaking my head to myself, before pulling him off the sofa with me. Then tucking me under his arm, we followed Rach, Nummi and Alice into the kitchen where an assortment of sandwiches waited for us.
Despite feeling so much better than the condition I'd woken up in that morning, my stomach was still rather delicate. I only had half a ham and cheese sandwich and a cup of tea, but as the day progressed, everything I ate made me improve that little bit more. By the time dinner came around, I managed to eat my whole plate of lasagne without a single bout of nausea.
Though the fact that Edward's presence made me a live wire of energy may have contributed. In fact, I found myself constantly struggling to grasp the sudden magnitude of it that anything else plaguing my mind ran in at a distant second. Surrendering myself to Edward and Kel—and coming back to Australia, had completely freed me. Now my main concern was reining in the incredible release of emotion over it. I felt like I was about to burst and the intense desire I was feeling for Edward was proving to be the hardest to reel in.
I insisted on helping Carol clean the kitchen after dinner as the girls and Edward went to shower. I had always been closed off to other peoples' parents—Kel, Nummi and Rach's especially. Their mothers intimidated me, in the sense that I had no way of relating to them. But now, I found myself chatting easily with Carol; who kept making me conscious of it by exclaiming her surprise.
When Nummi and Alice came to drag me back with them, Carol kissed me on the cheek affectionately. "You don't know how happy it will make the girls to see you go back home so healed, Bella."
I smiled back at her warmly, gratefully. I almost did feel healed, but one person still stood in my way. A person I knew I had to put behind me once and for all if I was ever going to move completely forward.
The guys had the bright idea of playing 'Pictionary' and since my talents in drawing were abysmal at best, I wasn't too thrilled.
I decided to have a quick shower while they were setting up. Despite having had an extra-long one that morning, I still felt contaminated by the effects of alcohol in my system.
Ten minutes later, I sat myself beside Edward on the timber floor in Nummi's room. He turned to face me, his eyes almost immediately lowering to inspect my pyjamas. I was wearing satin boxer shorts and a matching cotton singlet top with 'Tweety and Sylvester' on them that made a small smirk instantly pull on his lips. I leaned into him, nudging him with my shoulder before I turned my attention to Rach and Alice.
"Where's Nummi," I asked, quickly noting her absence.
"She went to get one of the boys. We're uneven," Rach explained, just as the bedroom door opened and Nummi appeared tugging Mick behind her.
And so our game of Pictionary began.
Alice and Rach won the most games, while Nummi and Mick came in second, despite adding love hearts to their pictures. As for Edward and I, thanks to both our terrible artistic skills, we had no chance.
Initially, he attempted to decipher my drawings, but eventually gave up, ending up in laughter the longer he tried to make sense of them.
Several games later, we were still trailing at last place, when Edward slung his arm over my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. "We might have to do something extreme from here on, gorgeous," he whispered, lowly in my ear before planting a quick kiss close to my temple.
For a minute I was dazed, completely inundated as a surge of heat pushed straight to my cheeks. I stared down at my note pad before allowing my eyes to rest on Edward's and waited for him to pick up his card and start drawing. Clearing his throat lightly, he gently prodded me with his elbow before discreetly turning his pad over, but instead of drawing he wrote the answer down.
My eyes rose slowly to meet his. I flashed him a devious grin, before innocently calling the answer out.
"Jeez, they got one," Rach muttered with a teasing tone, peeking over at me from her note pad and smirking.
Edward was a better actor than I was. He kept up his amused, bewilderment and let a believable amount of time pass before he called out the answer—that I'd written down, then hastily scribbled out.
We managed to get away with it for five games, giggling together like thieves, before Nummi clued onto us.
"They're cheating!" she exclaimed, pointing her finger at the two of us, her mouth falling open, while she attempted to mask her amusement behind a pretence of being annoyed.
"We're not!" I insisted, quickly hiding my notepad behind my back and trying to hold onto a look of innocence.
Edward scoffed out his laughter, and I all but broke into a guilty grin.
"I knew there was something suss happening," Rach said, quirking a knowing brow at us.
"Hey, we had to. Bella's drawings look like freaky alien symbols." Edward chuckled, wrapping his arm around my waist and squeezing me.
I whacked his knee playfully. "It was your idea!"
"Ratting each other out. Nice," Mick teased us.
"That's it, you two are sentenced with getting the drinks," Nummi jumped up from the floor and pulled the door open, ordering us out.
"So long as we play something else when we get back. Is it obvious that I majorly suck at drawing?" I sighed with resignation, allowing Edward to pull me to my feet.
He only laughed; a little too much at my expense.
I turned and pushed him, almost knocking him into the wall, while the look of astonishment on his face was so comical that I burst out laughing. He righted himself and held my gaze, his expression turning from surprised to calculated in moments. He took a single derisive step in my direction, his lips pulling into a small, sly grin, before I squealed and took off running down the hall. Of course, he caught me in a matter of seconds, wrapping his arms around me from behind and almost colliding us with the kitchen bench. He turned me around in his arms, laughing with me as I attempted to catch my breath.
His laughter died down and as mine continued, he only gazed at me with a curious kind of amusement. Then exhaling shortly, he broke into a huge smile that took me so off guard, my laughter stopped in its tracks.
He inclined his head to mine ever so slightly and that's when I all but pounced on him.
Grabbing his shirt with both my fists, I dragged him down to my lips, noting his surprise, before I leaped up into his arms. But just as his lips melted more with mine, as he wrapped his arms around me supporting my weight against him, he uttered an involuntary, reflexive groan.
Immediately I pulled back, forcing myself to my feet; horrified that I'd hurt him.
"Edward!—" I began, my voice shrill and distressed, but he interjected.
"I'm fine," his face clouded a little in frustration. "It's just sometimes, with sudden movements..."
He was looking at me apologetically as though he'd done something to me. I released my static breath, then reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"I'm sorry," I breathed against the base of his throat. He smelled so bloody good that I pressed my lips against his skin and inhaled him in deeply.
He sighed then, drawing it out, relaxing his posture and enfolding me into his arms.
He rested his lips on top of my head, and I ran my nose slowly back and forth across his throat, becoming completely immersed and dizzy by the scent of him.
"I'm sorry, Bella. It's just ... you kind of took me by surprise." His tone went from full of regret to amused, while this time when he took a breath, you could practically see the smile behind the ambience of it.
I snapped my head back to look at him, when in an instant he caught my face between his palms and planted a tender but brief kiss on my lips. It was over entirely too soon before he moved his hot, supple lips to my forehead.
"You can jump me later," he added huskily, almost chuckling.
That was a definite.
With a reluctant sigh, I pulled myself from Edward's arms and continued to the fridge almost literally seeing stars. It was like getting up suddenly after lying down and having a moment of wooziness, but magnified and added to by a completely raw desire.
I was in serious trouble.
I yanked open the refrigerator door and pulled a couple of cans of coke out from amongst it. Edward came up behind me, leaned over me, almost deliberately and grabbed a drink out himself. I was about to turn and shut the door when he placed the icy cold can on the back of my neck.
Sucking my breath in violently and gasping in shock, I promptly dropped the cans I was holding to the floor.
Edward broke into wholehearted laughter.
I spun around to face him. "What the hell was that?"
"That was getting even," he drawled with an intentional cocky smile; altogether too sure of himself.
I huffed, but my smile completely betrayed me. I couldn't help it; I had no hope of holding it back.
The minute we walked through the door to Nummi's room they all turned to stare at us, either rolling their eyes or smirking—or both in Rach's case
"It took you guys ten minutes to get drinks?" she declared, arching a brow.
"We..." I broke off as a flash of heat burned to the surface of my face.
"Uh-huh..." Alice mumbled all knowingly.
"Do you want your drinks, or not?" I threatened, plonking myself back on the floor and tossing the cans out to each of them.
"Did Bella ask to see your big pen again, Edward?" Nummi asked sly, while my initial blank confusion quickly turned to mortification.
I dropped my head into my hands, and futilely attempted to mask my absolute humiliation.
"That reminds me, Bells. How's your belly ring?" Rach jumped in.
I pulled my hands away from my face brashly for a moment. "Sore!"
"But on the other hand it would have pulled the strip tease off nicely." Nummi tried to sound all earnest and sincere, but with Alice and Rach almost choking back their laughter, her lips soon began to twitch craftily. In the next minute, the three of them were almost falling over themselves, while Mick only looked at me with sudden curiosity.
I huffed shortly, trying to hang on to an infinitesimal amount of my dignity without much success. I turned to Edward; he smiled at me, biting on his lower lip. It was a perfect mixture of amusement and tender empathy that only partially made me melt into myself. Though, the fact that he was all but corroborating it only made my face burn more conspicuously.
I scoffed under my breath, trying to remain good natured, when Edward reached over and squeezed my shoulder gently. I broke into a small, dubious smile and shook my head to myself.
"Okay, laugh at me if you want," I mumbled dryly before turning to Edward. "You know that whatever I said or did was only because I wasn't me … right?"
He opened his mouth to answer when it closed quickly as an almost injured look flashed behind his eyes. He broke his gaze from mine, his expression completely conflicted. It was almost as if I'd slapped him; his face was all but etched with it.
This sudden emotion from him was only brief and just as quickly he pushed it away, but he was fooling no one. Whatever it was impacted heavily on me. I just stared at him, suddenly feeling panicked, my mind quickly backtracking over what I'd just said in hopes of rectifying it.
Only I couldn't find anything.
I went to ask him if he was okay, feeling the concern for him suddenly consume me, but he cleared his throat stiffly and answered my original question, "Of course I do." He was tense, his voice restricted and unnatural.
For a moment he wouldn't meet my gaze; it was blatant. When I gave up and turned my attention away from him, I realised everyone had noticed the sudden shift in him—Alice the most intently. She was eyeing him gravely, before her eyes darted to me, her brow knotting with concern.
Whatever I'd unintentionally said to upset Edward, it continued to affect him. He attempted to put on a casual front, chatting and laughing as we moved on from Pictionary to Trivial Pursuit, but it became more and more obvious that he was far from okay. He grew completely distant and aloof with me, stopping all contact until he was almost completely avoiding me. Everyone noticed the change in him; Nummi and Rach would often pause to discreetly gaze at him. Even Mick regarded him quietly, while Alice kept a close vigil over him, her expression troubled as her attention alternated between him and me.
"Edward, what is it?" I asked him quietly, after becoming too impatient waiting for him to pull himself out of it.
"Nothing. I'm fine, Bella. I'm ... just tired," he answered with complete uncertainty laced in his voice and without meeting my gaze at all.
I sighed a little too audibly.
What had I said to him? What was he so upset about?
With my mood now feeding from Edward's, and all my thoughts consumed by his behaviour, I pretty much bowed out of the game—in the fact that Rach tactfully skipped over me until I was no longer a participant.
Eventually, Edward became so quiet and withdrawn that he changed the medium of the room. The atmosphere became awkward and with everyone so completely aware of him, the conversation was strained. It wasn't long after that the new charade had begun; to convince us of their exhaustion. Not that I could blame them; I certainly wouldn't want to be around Edward and me.
Edward, having successfully taken the hint, rose himself to his feet.
"Goodnight, guys—night, Bella." His eyes flickered in my direction almost as an afterthought.
This time the impatience rising within me started to gauge on aggravation. I sprang to my feet. "I'll walk you, Edward."
"Okay," he responded quietly, holding the door open for me as he left.
The minute the door was shut behind us, I reached out and grabbed his hand, stopping him from taking another step away from me. He turned back to me with a look of almost resignation on his face.
"Edward!" I pleaded with him. "Tell me what I said to upset you?"
"You didn't say anything, Bella. I told you, I'm tired." His voice was calm but expressionless while his eyes were weary. I gazed into them for a moment, almost becoming convinced that he really was just tired and nothing more by their jaded hue, but I knew better.
I sighed and scratched my forehead, running my fingers over the deeply forming knots gathering there. "I know that's not it. Talk to me?"
He exhaled, his shoulders falling with it, before taking a step toward me and placing both his hands on my shoulders. "Stop worrying about me, Bella. I'm fine. I'll see you in the morning, 'kay?" With that he leaned down and planted a soft, benign, kiss on my forehead.
He reached out and grabbed the door knob, but I didn't move; even when he stepped into the room and turned to close the door on me. Of course he didn't, instead he sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Bella ... I'm fucking shattered. Go to bed."
"Fine," I whispered, defeated before I turned away from him and walked back to Nummi's room.
He didn't watch me leave. Almost as soon as I walked away I heard the click of his bedroom door closing.
Walking back into Nummi's room, I slammed the door shut—almost throwing myself against it—as I folded my arms across his chest.
Why was it I seemed to screw things up with him time and time again?
It reminded me so much of the Friday before that damned bloody party. Edward had changed so suddenly, and I'd had absolutely no idea why then, too.
I brought my palm to my forehead and rubbed it heavily. I felt so completely overwhelmed by sudden doubt and uncertainty that I wanted to start sobbing. Edward had been my absolute lifeline and somehow I'd pushed him away—again!
My eyes caught Alice's. She was appraising me with a concerned brow that also hinted at exasperation.
"What's wrong with him, Alice?" I asked, becoming too anxious over him.
"From what I can gather, you must have said something to him last night that he now thinks you didn't mean," she explained straight out.
I let my arm drop back to my side, feeling helpless but with rising frustration. "I barely remember anything from last night—why is he so upset?" I exclaimed. My face was beginning to burn, and I could feel the prickle of tears forming behind my eyes.
What had I done?
"Unless, Bells..." Rach began, delicately, "you said something ... significant."
I shook my head, wracking my brain for something, anything, I'd said the night before, but came up blank. I recalled a lot of what Edward had said to me, but not a lot of what I'd said to him. "I ... I have no idea what, though."
I can only imagine what I could have said to him in the state I was in. Did I tell him I wanted to marry him and have his babies?
Did I tell him I wanted to have sex? Actually, that, I could recall.
"Bella, this is Edward. He is totally controlled by his emotions. Give him some time to work it out. He understands that you wouldn't intentionally hurt him," Alice said to me gently.
I knew Alice was only trying to make me feel better, but all I heard was the validation that I'd hurt Edward, and I felt like shit. The guilt was consuming me and I had absolutely no way of knowing whether I was overreacting or not.
"Come on," she said, sighing. She reached out and grabbed the bottom of my pyjama top, pulling me in the direction of my bed. "Get some sleep, and I guarantee in the morning he'll be fine again."
"If you ask me," Rach began, climbing into her makeshift bed, "you lot need your heads examined getting one of those things full time."
"They're not all as uptight as my brother—Jazz's amazing" Alice said chirpily, her tone going up several decibels at the mention of Jazz.
I crawled into bed, exhausted and disheartened, allowing Alice and Rach's conversation to fade into the background behind my increasingly uneasy thoughts. Nummi came bounding enthusiastically into the room a few minutes later after saying her goodbyes to Mick and switched off the light.
There wasn't much after-dark conversation; everyone was pretty much sleep deprived from the night before. We managed a few mumbled "good-nights", yawning loudly, before the room fell silent.
I knew thirty seconds after I'd closed my eyes there was no way I was going to be able to sleep. Not when whatever it was between Edward and I was hanging in the air completely unresolved. It ate away at me, along with the complete bewilderment at what I could have possibly said to him the previous night.
I lasted an agonising hour before I crept out of bed and stealthily into the hall to Edward's temporary bedroom. There was a dim light illuminated under the door. I paused, contemplating it for no longer than a second before I pushed back any apprehension. Then, knocking gently a couple of times, I turned the knob and peeked around the corner.
He wasn't asleep either. In fact he was lying on his back on top of the bed covers with his hands propped behind his head, wide awake.
"Bella?" he asked, not sounding terribly surprised before he swung his legs to the side of the bed and got to his feet.
I entered the room fully and closed the door behind me before all but bursting out, "I can't sleep, Edward. You have to tell me what I said to you last night—it's driving me crazy!"
He paused, releasing the air from his lungs and dropping his head. "What are you talking about?" he asked softly, running his fingers stiffly through his already assaulted hair.
I took a few steps forward until I was standing only a few feet before him. "I said something to you last night, Edward, and now you think I didn't mean it."
"I told you, Bella—" he began, but I cut him off hotly.
"Don't tell me you're just tired—I know you're not!" I stared at him, my brow tense from frustration, just as the smallest smirk ghosted across his face. It was that bloody all out amused look he often gave me every time I said something stupidly Australian. "Edward!" I snapped, my voice rising, instantly annoyed.
"What do you want me to tell you, Bella?" he asked me, sounding genuinely flustered for the first time; all traces of humour completely wiped from his expression. He seemed almost ... defensive.
"The truth," I replied, arching my brow, as if it went without saying.
He didn't respond; he only stood gauging me, while at the same time looking hopelessly lost in his own thoughts.
"Edward?" I spoke softly, all my frustration melting away as I watched his features etch more deeply with uncertainty. He looked up and met my gaze; I was almost taken aback from the vulnerability behind his eyes. Tentatively, I reached out and took his hand in mine.
He released the air from his lungs slowly, smiling with it and my heart warmed.
"Do you remember what I said at the prom—about us having terrible communication?" I asked him.
He nodded, scoffing a little, sounding frustrated again. "It's not you, Bella. It's … me…"
I released his hand and reached for him, but stopped myself, only grabbing a fistful of his shirt. "When I said it wasn't me last night, I meant doing crazy things like ... trying to pull your pants down," I ended lightly, while feeling my cheeks flame.
He broke into an immediate grin. "You remember that, do you?"
"Kinda," I mumbled in admittance.
His grin broadened, a little of his charm creeping back into it. "Well ... it wasn't that crazy."
I scowled at him teasingly and shoved him. He chuckled, and I sighed inwardly, full of relief.
"You're not angry at me?" I asked him, glancing up at him hesitantly.
"Bella, I wasn't angry at you to start with." He took a heavy breath. "Come here." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and led me toward the bed. Sitting us down, he paused in contemplation before turning to face me. The vulnerability was back and something so incredibly honest that brought to the surface a very protective nature in me. He cleared his throat apprehensively before he spoke. "I said something to you last night ... and you replied—and it-it meant ... a lot to me."
His tone continued to relay his vulnerability, but he was serious—incredibly so, and my heart began to pick up in speed.
"Okay ... well, why don't you say it again and if I answer—or respond the same, then you'll know I meant it?" I suggested, trying to rein in my suddenly hammering heart.
At the same time, I was curious. What could I have possibly said to him that made him react like this?
He smiled to himself, opened his mouth but then seemed to stall, a flicker of doubt passing through his eyes. "It's ... different—now."
"What is?" I asked him, my voice dropping to a murmur.
"The moment," he admitted, his brow furrowing.
"Well ... you can try and recreate it," I suggested, knowing I was being deliberately coy.
He seemed to contemplate this for a moment, before he grinned again—with that sexy bloody smile back in full swing. "See you later, alligator."
My forehead puckered in confusion. "That's what you said to me?"
He rolled his eyes, almost chuckling. "No—you're supposed to respond..."
"You want me to go?" I asked.
He closed his eyes and groaned lowly, dragging his hand quickly back through his hair before he thudded the heel of his palm into his forehead. "You're killing me here, Bella."
"I'm sorry—say it again?"
He dipped his head till his forehead was almost resting with mine, then dropping his voice huskily, he repeated, "See you later, alligator."
"In a while, crocodile," I replied softly.
He paused, lowering his lips to my ear, this time. "I love you, Bella," he murmured.
My heart came to a screeching halt before it went on a rampage within my chest. I drew my suddenly shaky breath in, answering him without another pause and just as his eyes locked with mine again, "I love you too."
He exhaled slowly and smiled, looking almost relieved, while his face completely softened; all tension, all doubt, immediately erased.
I only stared at him, my eyes wide; my heart continuing to hammer. I took a breath trying to force air past the building tightness in my chest. I was too overwhelmed to initially react; I was literally being flooded by emotion. "Why would you think I didn't mean it?" I asked him in a whisper.
"Because I'm an idiot," he replied, his tone light as a smile edged on his lips. "And you were so drunk you wanted me to take advantage of you." This time his grin amplified as he scoffed it softly through his nose.
My face instantly blazed, and I buried it against his chest only momentarily before I pulled back to gaze into his eyes. "But you didn't."
He shook his head. "Nope," he paused as his grin twitched deviously this time. "Though, I did think about it."
I whacked him and he laughed gently, before he bent his head toward me, his nose grazing past mine. I allowed my eyes to close and it wasn't until his lips pressed delicately to mine that my senses snapped back.
"I should have remembered saying that!" I blurted.
He pulled back and grinned, reaching up to rub his chin. "You were half asleep, and wasted out of your mind."
I shrugged sheepishly. "I know," I mumbled, "but..." I left it unspoken, distracted as Edward, pulling out the charm, inclined his head toward me again.
With a deep surrendering sigh, I tilted my face forward, meeting him half way. His mouth closed over mine, his lips hot and tender, encasing my bottom lip, before he pulled away fractionally. Then, tilting the angle of his face, he leaned in and merged his lips with mine again, kissing me only slightly longer before, again, he pulled back.
I wasn't sure what he was doing, but it was frustrating. This was on top of the complete disbelief that I could have forgotten saying something so incredibly significant.
"Did I ... sound like I meant it—last night?" I mumbled, as our lips separated and his nose slid to the other side of mine.
"Shhh ... you meant it," he spoke with barely a decibel before again his lips covered mine.
I felt his hand slide fluidly over my shoulder and around the back of my neck. He ran his fingers through my hair, pressing my face with more pressure to him. His mouth opened, before again he eased back.
"I meant it, Edward... Don't ever think I didn't," I murmured, before leaning forward, I reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him to me.
"I know you did," he responded, his voice gravelly, his breath washing over my lips before he merged them with his longer this time.
He would kiss me, tenderly, but briefly—only to pull back over and over again. Each time his lips returned to mine, they would linger, opening to me slowly with increasing pressure, as he lured me in breath by breath.
And he knew exactly what he was doing.
At the same time I was hesitating. My mind wanted to properly process and appreciate the meaning of this revelation—that Edward loved me, but as his hot and supple lips covered mine, parting and unleashing his breath into my mouth, all conflicting thoughts were soon wiped form my mind.
He moved his hand from around my neck to cup my cheek, and with his thumb against my chin he guided my mouth open to him.
The second I surrendered, the second the tip of his tongue contacted with mine, I knew my body had won out.
I pulled him further against me, almost tearing the fabric of his shirt. He tightened his arms around me, holding me flush against him, but it wasn't enough. I was ignited by the sudden need to feel his body pressing fully against mine. I wanted to feel the searing temperature of his skin warm me—connect with me.
And I wanted to feel the sensation of his hands on me.
I attempted to pull from him. I felt like I was losing my head and my senses, but each time he drew me back, only to kiss me with more depth and take me further into him. I became flooded with his breath; his taste; his scent, until every lucid, rational thought became completely lost in him.
Eventually the need to breathe—the need to speak became more paramount. I pulled back, only to immediately become sluggish. I practically crashed my forehead against his and closed my eyes, trying to pull the air I needed into my lungs to speak
"Edward..." I finally managed to utter breathlessly, my chest rising and falling to meet with his. I opened my eyes, locking them with the consuming depths of his.
"Bella..." he replied, his voice rustic; he was teasing me, before pressing his lips to my forehead, and then to my cheek; his breathing deep and audible.
"I want you to … put … your hands over me," I whispered, faltering, as the impact of my own words ignited a fire within me.
He looked up, meeting my gaze and holding it. He looked almost surprised, but it was soon overshadowed by the burning intensity in his eyes.
I reached around my back, where his arms were wrapped, and took his hands in mine. Then without hesitation or severing his gaze, I placed them on my stomach—where the hem of my singlet top ended—and gently encouraged him to slide them up.
He released his heated breath in a long rush, then curving his hands around the bare skin of my waist, he dragged me back to his lips.
This time it was with mounting urgency; our faces crushed together as our mouths merged with more depth, more fire.
I ran my hands up over his chest and around to the nape of his neck; pushing my fingers into his hair, but Edward didn't move his hands from my sides. Instead he kneaded his fingers into my skin, before gripping me again tightly, he pulled me further against him. Then in one motion, I lifted myself onto his lap; my legs on either side of him.
This is when I discovered exactly what we were doing.
As I settled into him, I immediately felt him digging into me, hard, and burning hot. I shuddered involuntarily, releasing my breath into Edward's mouth, as an influx of heat completely compromised all my senses.
Edward reacted instantly, tensing as a low, almost guttural groan escaped him, humming against my lips and washing my face in his hot breath
The sound of it was so raw, so distracting. I took his lips urgently with mine—completely opening myself and surrendering to him. My fingers tore through his thick mass of hair, before cupping to the sides of his face, and with every breath I reacted to him, beginning to lose myself further.
It was then that he began sliding his hands further up my sides, inch by agonising inch. I pulled back a little from him, closing my mouth a fraction, allowing the energy to calm. I was too fully aware of his touch to concentrate wholly on his lips.
He slid his hands further northward, his fingers gliding over the ridges of my ribs, almost making me jolt and leaving my skin tingling. When he reached the swell of my breasts, the pressure of his fingers became little more than a graze. His hands paused, just as I pulled my lips completely from his mouth.
Resting my forehead gently with his, I allowed my breathing to once again slow as I concentrated fully on the sensation of Edward's hands over me.
His face was tilted toward mine, his eyes were still closed, and a small crease was piquing between his eyebrows. With a heavy release of my breath, I allowed my eyes to fall shut again, feeling his hands on my bare skin more acutely.
He was so cautious and apprehensive, but his touch was like fire, igniting every inch of my skin with an intensity that was close to overwhelming me. I didn't want him to stop; in fact, I started wondering how I could have survived seventeen years of my life without experiencing this kind of emotion.
Slowly, he grazed his fingertips over my breasts, drawing an almost surprised, breathless gasp from me.
He immediately faltered, his hands freezing over me. "Bella," he began, his low husky voice barely audible as it bathed my face in warmth, "if you're..."
"Shut up, and don't stop!" I interjected, almost desperately as my voice fought against my bated breath. But I couldn't help it. His was evoking a desire within me that I had never experienced before.
He broke into an immediate smile, his breath shooting quickly through his nose, before with a little more pressure, he continued to run his fingers over my breasts; hesitantly at first, and then more firmly. It was like receiving a static shock. I quivered slightly, my breath catching, before I ran my nose and lips across his face.
"Edward..." I breathed his name, running my fingers rigidly through his hair again, this time wanting to grab fistfuls of it in my hands.
His reply was an almost animalistic, muffled sound. Not quite a sigh or a moan, but something so much more intense. His burning hands then cupped over my breasts and squeezed. It stimulated such a reaction from me, that I grabbed his face and pushed myself against him, taking his lips with mine.
With nothing supporting him upright, he quickly went backwards, with me landing flat on top of him.
He pulled his lips from mine, just as the air gushed from his lungs, becoming a breathless moan. Then in one motion he rolled us to the side—his hands still clamped over my breasts—where he locked his mouth to mine.
With one hand clutching the back of this neck, a fistful of his hair curled around my balled fist, I ran my other under his shirt, feeling his impossibly warm skin beneath my palm.
I wanted to feel that hot naked skin against me.
He slid his hands from my breasts, slowly, and as I continued to become hopelessly immersed in his lips, I was only semi-conscious of where he put them.
One of them curled around my waist, while the other trailed back down my side, past my pyjama bottoms, down my thigh until he reached the back of my knee. Then, pulling my leg toward him, he rolled into me simultaneously, until he was suddenly lying directly on top of me and wholly between my legs.
What we were doing became secondary in my subconscious. I was aware only of the sensation of him. Of his firm tender lips and his tongue as it slid against mine, of his fingers pressed into my skin; and finally of him, the very essence of him, bulging in his tracksuit pants, granite hard and pressing stubbornly against me.
The pressure of it made stars literally blaze behind my closed eyes, as my breath shortened and hitched. I breathlessly hummed the absolute release of it against his lips. A sound quickly echoed by him, more lowly; more primitively.
Pulling his lips from mine, he trailed them along my jaw, until he plunged them into the base of my throat. He planted a series of hot kisses up and along my neck, until he came to the end of my jaw, directly below my ear. Kissing the area more tenderly, he allowed it to linger before I felt the burning sensation of his tongue connect with my skin.
My breath caught, and I immediately became aware of the temperature between us; of the ruddiness of my aroused and heated blood flushing my entire body of skin. I opened my eyes, they rolled back a fraction as Edward continued to kiss and savour my neck, before they eventually focused.
I closed them again and sighed, long and heavily, before I brought my hand up to my forehead; pushing my hair from my face as I did. "Edward?"
"Mmm?" he murmured lowly, completely distracted, his voice muffled as he continued to nuzzle my skin.
"Buzz Lightyear is watching us."
A/N: Take a photo, Buzz! But who are these two? I barely recognise them!