Hello, people!
Happy Saturday, everyone!

Usual housekeeping:
- I still don't own any of it.
- Team Momo wouldn't exist without Midnight Cougar and Alice's White Rabbit with their red pens, or without AGoodWitch, Maplestyle, Mel, and Eternally Addicted who pre-read and tell me if I'm off my rocker or not.
- thank you for all the reviews and alerts! I love hearing your thoughts, keep 'em coming.

Also, reminder that nominations for the Golden Onion Awards are underway and will be open until July 31. All the pertinent info and the link to the nomination and awards website is in their FB group, The Golden Onion Awards (type in the search bar to find it). Don't forget to go and show your favorites some love with the nominations :)

We're with LawyerWard this week. I'll see you at the bottom for a posting schedule update. On with the show!

Chapter 30 – EPOV

Saturday morning dawned sunny and light, and the warmth filtering through my bedroom window shook off the last remnants of slumber.

When I tried to move, I found Bella's body still curled around mine, her hands clinging to my sides as if I'd vanish in her sleep. Last night, I'd moved us off the couch after a while, and we'd fallen into bed after Bella hastily shed her clothes.

We'd slept tangled with one another, always touching, with our arms shielding us from the outside world, and our faces so close we'd breathed each other's air. While the desire and longing between us never abated, I'd barely contained my pride at Bella's maturity when she stopped our tryst last night.

I would have given her whatever she wished, that much I knew. But I was also fully cognizant that we couldn't solve everything with sex, and I was relieved immensely that we were on the same page on that account. Further evidence that age difference was no hindrance when a couple made efforts to keep communication channels open.

The clock on my bedside table spelled ten a.m., and Bella still slept—which was just as well with the Friday she'd had and the busy, momentous Monday looming over our horizon.

After that first call from her mother, she silenced her phone; until she checked it later, there was no knowing whether her parents had tried to reach out to her again. With a lawyer's mentality, I completely understood Bella's reasoning in dealing with them on her own terms after she'd let go of her immediate anger. I only hoped they wouldn't overshadow her achievement on Monday. It was her day, her MBA, her party, dammit.

Alistair had been enthusiastic when I approached him with the idea of a dinner party in Bella's honor. My love would figure out before long that I was involved, and I couldn't wait for her reaction.

Meanwhile, I kept admiring her while she lay in my arms, her sleepy face relaxed as she sometimes moved from side to side, and her eyes flitted while she dreamed. How I loved her quiet beauty—her silky skin that needed no artifice of makeup to shine; her features were so delicate and yet slightly asymmetrical, with one lip plumper than the other, one side of her nose with a few more freckles. Those eyes of hers, chocolate depths I loved, where I read everything she thought. Even when she didn't particularly want to broadcast her opinions, her eyes betrayed her, as expressive as they were.

Always hungry for her, I let my index finger trace the contour of her face, and though I barely grazed her skin, she shifted her position. First, she stretched in feline, graceful movements, with a sound reminiscent of satisfied purring, then she smiled with her eyes still firmly closed but adorned with laugh lines.

"Someone's awake," I whispered.

She giggled, then opened her eyes. "You caught me. Hi, baby."

I leaned over her and brushed my lips to hers. She smiled into the kiss, murmuring some moot protest about morning breath, which I ignored and kissed her to my heart's content. She responded nip for nip and forgot all about nonsense like morning breath when I let my tongue dip past her lips. She moved with me, letting her hands roam free over my body until they sank past my waistband and landed on my ass. I loved how free, how generous and responsive she was with her touches. Always loving but ravenous for me all the same.

"Ooh, someone else is awake," she murmured in between kisses.

I couldn't help my saucy smile at that and jumped in my skin when her hand wrapped around my staff. My love moved fast.

"He's always awake for you."

She brushed her nose against mine as our kiss slowed down, and we slid onto our sides, still clinging to each other.

"We're slobs. We just dropped into bed like rumpled potatoes last night."

The things her brain came up with never ceased to amaze me. "Rumpled potatoes? What in the blazes is that?" I asked, laughing.

"Stop poking me with that," she countered.

"Last night, you were amenable to being poked."

"Last night, you weren't skewering my vocabulary choices."

I dissolved into laughter. "Poking, skewering … I'm sensing a theme here, love."

She giggled, scrunching up her nose. "Oops."

"Yeah, oops. 'Bout those potatoes? I'm still curious."

"You know when you peel boiled potatoes and throw them in a bowl before you mash 'em? They look kinda rumpled, not all nice and smooth. That was us last night. We were so pooped we didn't even shower."

I nodded, skimming my nose to hers. I loved cuddling up to her on quiet, lazy mornings like this. We didn't get enough of those.

"You are a wonder, my love. Now, if the lack of showering is the problem, then that can be remedied. I believe I have adequate showering facilities in my humble abode."

"Adequate, he says." She rolled her eyes. "At a minimum, I expect a rain shower head, multiple side jets, and … I dunno, aromatherapy lights."

"Dammit, I don't have those." Not that my mother hadn't pushed for them when I added a few gizmos to my bathroom after moving in.

She tapped her nose with her finger, pretending to mull it over. "Well, in my extreme generosity, I'll let that deficiency slide."

"Oh, will you?"

I rolled us over until she was lying beneath me; I didn't care if she felt me poking her. Hell, I wanted to do more than poking.

"Yeah. I'm … magnanimous like that. And I'm amazed I could blurt out a four-syllable word before coffee."

"I'm not. I love your brain, and I love you. And I'll shower you … and shower with you, how's that?"

She narrowed her eyes but smiled at me—devious minx that she was. "Mm, that sounds promising. Will the shower include poking?"

"And skewering. Repeated, passionate, deep, voracious … thrusting."

She arched into me at the same time I pushed my pelvis against her core.

"I'm a very willing participant."

"Good to know." I rolled us back to our sides so I could step out of bed and pull her up with me.

"And Edward …"

"Yes, love?"

"It's going to be a dirty, dirty shower."

First of all, I know y'all hate me for the cliffie now, but I can salvage that by telling you that the dirty shower will land on a screen near you on WEDNESDAY, and it will be in EPOV.

The posting schedule update I alluded to above is that from now on Shape The Narrative will post twice a week until complete, on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Assuming no hiccups, it will complete in early September.

After that, my next story Dreams Unwind, the RockerWard I've been teasing you about for a while, will premiere on September 26, and after that it will be on a weekly update schedule from October 7 onwards.

For teasers, info, and other shenanigans, head over to LaMomo's Lair on FB (type the name in the search bar).

See y'all on Wednesday!