Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters. Story is inspired by the Mexican novela "Caer en Tentation"

Lemons ahead.

Bella

I kiss both my boys on their little heads before sending them off running toward their friends and their parents. Norah waves at me as the back door of her van slides open and my boys climb in, high fiving their friends Lucas and Clayton, and their baby sister Anna. Jaime and Noah wanted to spend the night at their friends house for a pizza party and scary movie night, and I couldn't deny them that. I waved them off as Norah pulled out of my driveway, disappearing down the road.

Edward was still sitting in my living room when I walked back in, his eyes locked on the picture of Emmett, I and the boys that took the place where my wedding picture used to be. I sit down beside him, resting my head against his shoulder. Edward takes my hand in his, interlacing our fingers together.

"You're okay?" He asked, his lips pressed against the top of my head. "You've been awfully quiet since we came back from the cabin."

I shrug, curling against him.

"Can we go to your house?"

"You sure?"

"Yes." I tilt my head up, looking up at his emerald eyes. "I don't want to be here right now."

As we were driving back from the cabin, I got the call from the boys asking if they could spend the night at their friend's house. So, Edward and I picked them up from school and brought them home to get ready for their sleepover. However, the moment our house came into view and the boys happily chatted with Edward about their day, I felt yet another piece of my heart crack. After seeing the cabin, the shelter Emmett sought away from us, and seeing our home again, it just brought all that pain to the forefront. I couldn't look at our home the same way anymore, and I loved our home. It was our first home, the place Emmett and I moved into after getting married, when we brought Jaime home after the hospital, and then Noah. It was my shelter.

Now when I looked at it, from the outside and now in, I saw it for what it truly was.

A lie.

"Okay," Edward said, kissing my forehead once more. "Let's go then."

"Can I spend the night?"

His eyes sparkle. "I'd be a fool if I said no to that question."

That earns a chuckle out of me.

"Let me go get a bag ready."

I also pop in the kitchen and let Rita know I won't be home tonight. I rush to my bedroom and take out a small duffel bag, taking my pajama set, essentials, undergarments and clothes for tomorrow. Just as I'm packing everything into my bag, my makeup bag tilts over, spilling on the ground. I curse under my breath and kneel down to pick everything up. I reach under the skirt of the bed for my perfume bottle that rolled under when a sudden sharp pain in my forefinger jolts me.

"Ouch," I hissed. A bright red spot of blood pool on the top of my finger. "What the fuck?"

I lift the skirt that covers the space under the bed and there, right where the perfume bottle rolled over, is shattered glass and what looks like a broken wooden frame. Grabbing the broken frame, I pull out what used to be my wedding picture, now wrinkled and torn apart. The missing wedding picture from the living room.

Taking the frame, I chuck it and the picture at the bottom of my trash can, covering it with more paper and trash to keep it hidden. I wrap my finger with a bandaid and finish packing my bag, not giving the torn picture a second thought.

And when Edward asked what happened to my finger when he took my duffel bag from me at the door, I said, "Just a paper cut."

The ride to his house is quiet. He holds my hand the entire ride, gently caressing the back of my hand with his thumb. My mind keeps going on in circles, from the affair to the accident, to the murder case and now. It's a vicious cycle really. The affair, running away together, murder and now. Why did it have to be like this?

Edward parks the car outside of his house, killing the engine.

"It didn't have to be like this," I said, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"This. It didn't have to be like this." I look at him, my head resting against the headrest. "He could've left me from the first moment he thought about cheating. He could've left me once he realized he loved her more than he ever loved me and he wanted to be with her. They could've stopped this a long time ago, Edward. They could've asked us for a divorce, moved in together, gotten married and had children together. They could've been happy." I look down at our joined hands. "Seeing what used to be home for them and then seeing mine, and yours, it made me realize it didn't have to happen this way. He could've told me he didn't love me anymore. I would've let him go. It didn't have to be like this."

Edward stays quiet for a moment, but his thumb never stops drawing those circles on the back of my hand. He then brings our joined hands up to his lips, pressing a kiss on mine.

"You're absolutely right. It didn't have to be like this, love. Whatever reason they had for doing this, only they will understand. Rosalie has already suffered the consequences of her actions and Emmett's time is coming. But you and I? We don't have to pay for their actions. We can make something good out of all the bad they created and I want to be good for you, Bella. If there's something I've realized in these last couple of weeks is that I'm probably no different than Rosalie. I want you and I've wanted you even when I knew I shouldn't. I'm starting to learn that maybe I am a little selfish because I want you and I want to take care of you."

"Why are you doing this?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper. "Why for me?"

Edward sighs, his thumb carefully caressing my cheek. "I don't know, Bella. All I know is that from the moment I set my eyes on you all I wanted is to protect you from the fucking world. I have this urge to place you in a glass box and secure it just so I'm sure no one is ever going to harm you." His eyes drop, almost like he's ashamed of admitting this. "I don't know if I'll be able to survive if something happens to you."

"Emmett was like that too." My voice cracks at the memory of how loving and protective Emmett was of me. "And I'm scared that it's this way for you right now because what if that means in time you'll realize I'm not worth it. I'm scared you'll wake up one day and decide you've had enough, and you will hurt me the same way he has."

"No, no, Bella. I would never hurt you the way he has. I'm not Emmett, I'd be a damn fool to think of another woman when I have you." He cups my face and kisses me once, twice, three times before leaning his forehead on mine. "I didn't think I'd ever want another woman after Rosalie, but I was wrong. I've never wanted anyone as much as I want you."

I sigh, looking into his deep green eyes. The truth is that as much as I am terrified that he will hurt me and as much as I'm terrified of the feelings he awakes in me, I want to dive into the deep end with him.

We deserve something good.

And what if that something good was us? Could it be possible? That after looking comfort and support in each other all this time, we could be together? Is this fate's twisted way of telling us we were with the wrong person all along?

We deserve something good.

We deserve it.

I press my lips against his, pouring all my want and desire into him till I know he can almost taste. Edward groans against my lips, pulling me as close as we can get with the arm rest between us.

"I want you," I gasp against his lips. "Please."

Edward yanks the car door open.

"Get in," he growls.

We stumbled across the front door, our lips latched together. His shirt was gone by the time we made it to the living room, and the top of my dress was tugged to my waist when we stumbled into his bedroom. We stop when the back of my knees meet his bed, pulling our kiss apart. I lower myself on the bed, my eyes locked with his as my hand travels down his chest to the buckle of his belt. His breathing is heavy, his chest rising and dropping with each breath he takes.

I've never felt as powerful as I did at that moment. Watching him shudder under my touch, how his Adams' Apple bobs up and down in his throat as I undid his belt and pulled him out. To know that the reason why he throws his head back and moans is all because of my hand and my mouth, stroking him and taking him in. He tasted heavenly. I ran my tongue over the silt of his cock as I stroked him at the base, enjoying the sounds I was getting out of him when I took him in deep and slowly came back up.

It was euphoric.

One of his hands grip the back of my head and the other covers mine over his cock as he stops me from taking him in my mouth again. He takes my hand away from him and pushes me until my back meets the bed, his body covering mine as he kisses me with abandon. He needs me. Just me. His want is a feeling so addicting, I could live off it.

We're both desperate for each other. He sits me up enough to pull my dress from over my head and pulls the straps of my bra down as he kisses his way down my body, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake. He kisses me over my stomach, over the apex of my thighs and my eyes close with anticipation when he tugs my panties down my legs until there's no barrier between us.

Edward climbs back up, settling between my legs. One arm resting beside my head as the other grips his cock, aligning at my entrance.

"Do you want this?" he asks, his voice heavy with want.

"Please," I beg against his lips. I tug his hair and pull him closer to me until there's no space left between us. "I want you."

That's all the encouragement he needs. His eyes never leave mine as he guides himself inside me with a groan.

It's been a long time since I've felt this complete. Since I knew a desire like this. My entire body shivered as he withdrew from me slowly, only to push back in. He was gentle at first, savoring each slow thrust and every inch of me as he claimed me. He slowly began to speed up with every groan, every moan and whimper that slipped through my lips, and he swallowed each and every one of them.

I was a prisoner to him, completely at his mercy as he took over my body. Gripping my leg over his shoulder, Edward thrusted into me so hard and fast the headboard started hitting the wall behind us. I had to hold onto him to keep him from pushing me up against the headboard. My teeth clamped down on his shoulder trying to quiet my moans, my fingers digging into his back as a wave of pleasure came crashing into me over and over again.

The look in his eyes was feral. His green eyes darken with pure lust as he thrust into me, holding me down, making it impossible to move. The look in his eyes as he moved inside me, the sounds he made and the weight of his body against me was my undoing. I couldn't take it anymore. My body tensed around him, gripping him tightly as I came, crying out his name.

He didn't stop. He pounded into me, his moan almost echoing mine as I felt the pressure build up again. My hands flew up against the headboard, gripping it tightly as I began meeting his hips with mine, looking for that release again. You could hear the sound of our skin slapping against each other over our cries of pleasure.

I felt it.

Rising and rising in the pit of my stomach, my body arching as I climaxed and I muffled my cry against his neck.

Two, three thrusts later he shuddered on top of me, throwing his head back with a breathy fuck.

He dropped his head between his shoulders, looking down at me with his piercing green eyes as my hands threaded between his hair. His skin and mine were both coated with a thin layer of sweat and the only sound in the room was of our heavy breathing as we came down from our high.

Edward leans down and kisses me one more time before slowly pulling out of me. I make a quick use of the bathroom, wiping away the remnants of our activities before joining him back in bed. Edward wraps his arms around me and pulls me against his chest, covering us with his thick duvet. I lay my head on his chest, right at the very spot of his heartbeat and sigh.

I'd forgotten bliss, satisfaction and feeling complete.

"I want you to spend the day with me tomorrow," he whispers, drawing lazy circles on my back.

"As much as I'd love that, I have kids that need me."

"Bring them. I'll pick up Lucy first thing in the morning, you go pick up the boys and we'll have a nice day at the lake. Just you, me and the kids."

A smile creeps on my lips. "You want that?"

"Yes, very much. But tonight I want you all to myself."

I climb on top of him, pulling my hair over one shoulder and he grabs my hips. "I'd like that very much."

I wake up with a big smile on my face. My aching muscles are a good reminder of the night before. Edward is already awake when I turn around, watching me with a small grin.

"Were you watching me sleep?" I ask, burying my head in the crook of his neck.

"Mhmm. You're so captivating when you're sleeping," he said, wrapping his arms around me.

"Very stalkerish of you."

"You talk in your sleep."

I can feel the heat rush to my face. I'd forgotten about that. Emmett used to poke fun at me for the things I said in my sleep.

"What did I say?"

His lips trace my ear.

"You said my name more than once. It's nice to know you dream about me."

I pull away from his chest and look at him, but before I can say anything else, his bedroom door opens.

"Shit!" He curses, pulling the blanket over our naked bodies.

"Edward, I've been - what the - !" Alice freezes in when she sees us. The look on her face goes from shock to disgust. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" And slams the door.

"Fuck, what now?"

Edward gets up from his bed and grabs his scattered jeans, and I get his shirt and walk out behind him. Alice is pacing in the living when we walk out.

"Alice-"

"Are you two out of your minds?" She yells, her face red with anger. "You've got to be the biggest hypocrites I've ever met in my life!"

"Alice, calm down," Edward said, calmly.

"No, no, I won't calm down! Your wife isn't even cold in her grave yet and you're already fucking her?" She turned her murderous glare at me. "And you! Your husband is still alive, he's in a coma for god sake!"

"With all due respect, Alice, this is none of your business," I said through gritted teeth.

"You're fucking my brother, sweetheart, it is my business especially when there's a murder investigation looming over our family! You two haven't seen the news, have you? No, of course not, you're too busy shacking up to know what's going on!"

Alice takes the tv remote and turns on the TV, raising the volume. There's a man I don't recognize giving a press conference, but I recognize the man standing behind him. Jacob Black. The headline reads: Hale Murder Case Update.

"We ask the public if you've got any tips on Garrett Hale, please call the tip line or notify authorities. As of right now, he is a person of interest in this case."

"Garrett? What does he have to do with this?" Edward asked.

"I'm not sure, but whatever they found, it linked back to him. Black came to my home last night to ask Jasper about him."

"But Rosalie hasn't spoken to Garrett in over ten years."

"Neither has Jasper. None of this makes sense," she said.

"Who's Garrett?" I ask, completely at a loss as to what they're referring to.

"Garrett is Jasper and Rosalie's half brother," Alice said, not bothering to look in my direction. "They're looking for him right now."

"Do they suspect he did it?"

"Why do you care? Honestly, was this whole thing just an act to get my brother to fuck you? Is that the reason you showed up the day of the memorial and haven't left his side since?"

"Alice, that is enough!" Edward yelled, startling us. "You will not speak to her like that, especially when you've got no goddamn idea what we've been through. And if you can't say anything nice or stop looking at her like she's a fucking criminal, then get the fuck out of my house."

"You're kicking me out? You're actually choosing her over your sister?"

"Yes. Now get out."

Alice looks at me. "If there's any reason left inside you then you'll understand that this-" she motions between Edward and I "-will not end well."

"I think Edward and I are big enough to make our own decisions, Alice."

"And yet you've managed to make the bad ones."

She slams the door on her way out.

I turn to Edward. I knew she didn't like me, she didn't try to hide it since we met, but I never imagined this kind of reaction. As if I was the bad guy corrupting her brother.

"You can't fight with your sister, not for me, Edward."

Edward takes my face between his hands and shakes his head. "I don't care, Bella. I am not going to let Alice disrespect you like that. If she wants to stop being my sister over someone I care about, then that's her choice. I've made mine."

"But what if-"

"There's no ifs, Bella. I've made my choice."

Looking at him, I felt like this went deeper than just a choice regarding me. It was something he had finally wrapped his mind around, something he would never back out of, but the question is, what is it?

Chapter Seventeen Preview -

"I like to keep the people who make me happy close."