EPOV.

I was hugging Bella. Her soft lips slid slowly over mine, her hands were in my hair, and her alluring body was pressed against mine. But above all, I was surrounded by her sweet floral scent, as if I was bathing in it. Suddenly Bella's hand slid slowly under the waistband of my pants and I couldn't hold back my moan.

And at that quite interesting point, Bella's image slowly disappeared and I tried to open my heavy eyes. Something was off about my surroundings. My still not fully awakened brain was trying to figure out where I was, while I rubbed my cheeks covered with light stubble. As soon as the pictures of the previous evening began to rapidly change in my head, my eyes snapped fully open as soon as I realized where I really was.

I was lying on the couch in Bella's living room, waking up from a dream with her as the leading actress. And then another realization came to me, I just woke up from my own loud groan, which, purely theoretically, could be heard by the owner of this apartment herself. My eyes quickly found the locked door leading to the master bedroom.

Oh my god, I hope she is still sleeping.

I threw off a light blanket, which was definitely not on the couch yesterday. Warmth filled my body with the thought that Bella took her time yesterday to take care of me. She had every right to wake me up and yell at me for falling asleep during our evening together, but this silent gesture gave me hope that Bella was not angry with me. I slowly got up from the couch, simultaneously stretching my body that was aching after sleeping on the couch. I moved to the window and drew back the curtains with my finger to peak outside.

An incredibly beautiful view of the coastal area of the city opened in front of me, the sun was already at its zenith, brightly reflecting in the blue waters of the ocean, the clear sky, without a single cloud, almost merged in color with the water. It felt like it was around noon, and I couldn't remember the last time I allowed myself to sleep so long on a weekend.

I looked around awkwardly, unsure of what to do while Bella was still sleeping. The idea of making breakfast for her was the most romantic one, but unfortunately, I was perfectly aware of my cooking skills. I couldn't cook to save my life.

But I could try.

I opened the fridge door and begun to consider several options that didn't require any mad cooking skills from me. Hoping that our breakfast preferences were the same, I started making French toast. The convenient location of all the ingredients indicated that Bella loved spending her time in the kitchen, and yesterday's dinner was just another piece of evidence. Once my task was done, I decided it was late enough to wake Bella up.

Approaching the closed bedroom door, I first knocked lightly, but no response followed.

I hope she sleeps dressed. Or not.

After stomping in front of the door for another minute, I slowly opened it. The master bedroom has been expertly decorated in peach tones, and it blended effectively with the style of the rest of the apartment. The wall, opposite the bed, was covered with photographs in which I could see our mutual friends, but probably looking at other people's photos without their permission is wrong, so I turned away, even though I wanted to know as much as possible about her past life.

Bella slept on the left side, gracefully curled up almost on the edge of her huge bed. Fully dressed to my relief. Or disappointment. A cascade of her long, dark hair sprawled all over her pillow in incredible shades of chocolate brown. I couldn't help admiring her sleepy calm, enjoying her pale, milky skin and her delicate frame. I allowed myself a few more minutes to watch her sleep. Kind of creepy, but I figured she'd never know. Then I gently lowered myself to sit on the very edge of the bed beside her petite body, and reached out and brushed away the hair that had fallen into her eyes.

"Bella." I quietly said her name, bending over her. "Get up, sleeping beauty." She said something unintelligible but still didn't open her eyes. "Please."

The last word I uttered a little louder than all the previous ones, which seems to have had the desired effect. Her attempts to say something intelligible stopped, and she seemed to freeze in one place.

"Bella?"

In a reaction to my voice, she closed her eyes tightly, and then quickly opened them wide. For a few first seconds, perplexity played in her beautiful brown eyes, and it seemed that her sleep was instantly gone.

"Edward! Oh my god, I'm so sorry. What time is it?"

"No Bella, please stop. I'm the one who should apologize. Yesterday was just an incredible evening, and I ruined everything just by falling asleep..."

"Edward, I understand it like nobody else. I was surprised that you even had the strength to come to me in the first place."

"Thank you, I wouldn't trade our dinner together for anything else." Then I suddenly thought about my self-made breakfast, and I looked down for a second and then looked back into her eyes. "Um, I tried to make breakfast, and I really hope it's edible. And I hope you don't mind that I used your kitchen."

After my last phrase, Bella's eyes opened so wide that it seemed they could fall out of their sockets. I was about to start apologizing when she interrupted me.

"You made me breakfast in order to make up for falling asleep?" Her voice was filled with disbelief, and her face radiated some incomprehensible mixture of surprise and adoration.

"Did it work?" But then after a little hesitation, I decided to clarify the situation better. "I made you breakfast not only because I'm sorry that I fell asleep yesterday, but because I wanted to do something nice for you. You girls usually love breakfast in bed. My father used to make such little surprises for my mom all the time."

Bella closed her eyes and shook her head with a slight smile. Then she opened one eye and looked at me slyly.

"Oh, and where is my breakfast then?"

I laughed at her sudden mood change and went to the kitchen for a tray. Back in the bedroom, I set the tray in front of her, and a beautiful smile graced her beautiful face.

"Thank you," she smiled as she sat up and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek.

As soon as her lips touched my skin, I remembered our hot kisses last night, and I was surprised to notice that even such an insignificant contact, compared to yesterday's make-out session, could kindle the fire of attraction inside me.

Then suddenly Bella looked me up and down and some uncertainty appeared on her face.

"If you're free today, would you mind joining my breakfast in bed? I have a few pairs of men's shorts and T-shirts in my closet so you can change."

I mentally ran through my plans for the day, and realized that I had not planned anything important for today.

"I'll be glad to stay with you."

After clear directions where I could find clothes for myself, I entered her dressing room. Having found the right shelf, I pulled out the men's gray shorts and a large, stretched T-shirt in the same color. To my surprise, the clothes really did fit. Unpleasant thoughts about the owner of these clothes began to creep into my head. I knew from a small number of stories by Rosalie and Bella herself that she had broken up with her ex a long time ago, and their breakup was far from pleasant. So, the thought that Bella still keeps his clothes should have seemed absurd to me, but a fit of unknown jealousy began to awaken inside me.

What if Bella still has some kind of feelings for him? What if this is the main reason why she doesn't want to share information about her past relationship?

But then her eyes filled with pain, which appeared every time she mentioned her past, arose in my head, my thoughts about her unrequited feelings quickly dispelled, being replaced by a fit of anger towards the person who had betrayed her once. Just the thought of harming another person was disgusting to me, especially a woman. Since childhood, my mother brought up a sense of respect for the opposite sex, and my father showed how important it is to remain a gentleman, even in our time.

After a few minutes of my reasoning, I felt that the level of my hatred for this stranger had increased several times, so I tried to calm myself down before going back to Bella.

Entering the bedroom back, I immediately met Bella's gaze. Her beautiful hazel eyes scanned me from head to toe, but she frowned when she caught the remaining tints of anger in my face.

"Everything is fine?"

"Everything is just perfect."

And it was, because just the emotions that arose on her face could erase my concerns for the near future. I won't ruin our alone time again. I smiled at her and looked at the bed with slight uncertainty. Could I sit next to her? I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. As if she sensed my doubts, Bella tapped her mattress in an inviting gesture. I sat down beside her enjoying her closeness as she cut off a piece of her toast and tried to feed it to me.

"This is supposed to be for you, Bella," I laughed.

"I'm willing to share," she replied coyly.

That's how we spent the entire breakfast time, she praising my almost nonexistent culinary skills, and I closely watching her in the morning sun. As soon as we finished, Bella thanked me for breakfast and secured it with a light kiss. I took all the used dishes to the kitchen and went back to her bedroom.

The first thing I saw was that Bella was no longer in her sleeping place, but stood in her short pajama shorts and a T-shirt in front of the window, bathing in the sunlight. I couldn't resist letting my eyes wander up her body, she was so beautiful. The naked skin of her stomach looked so inviting that as I came into the room and stood behind her, I immediately let my feelings take over. My hand reached out and I brushed my fingers over the base of her spine and Bella shivered under my touch. Once I was convinced that Bella wasn't showing any signs of resentment on her part, I stepped even closer, so that my chest was pressing against her back. The new contact drew another shiver from Bella, and I ran my hands down her sides, resting lightly on her hips. I gently brushed the hair from her neck, and ran my nose from her collarbone to her ear, enjoying her delicate floral scent.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful and irresistible you are?" It seemed that my voices sounded even lower than usual, flashing with desire and other incomprehensible emotions.

Bella turned in my arms and looked surprisingly seriously into my eyes. It looked like she was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth. A few seconds later, having found something in my gaze, she pulled me in for a kiss. She sucked on my bottom lip and I moaned unable to restrain it. She smiled, and I realized that smiling while kissing is an incredibly pleasant thing.

After our kiss, we continued to stand hugging each other. I felt like Bella's body was completely relaxed in my embrace, but I couldn't miss the thought of her glance before the kiss. Why did such a simple phrase evoke such strong emotions in her? I couldn't even allow the thought that someone told her otherwise.

"Bella, can I ask you why my phrase bothered you so much? Don't you like compliments? Because I told the truth, you are beautiful." I tried to put all my seriousness into my voice to show the sincerity of my statement.

Bella looked down worriedly and released our hug. My body immediately ached with loss.

"I think it would be the right decision to talk about Jacob now." She took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed.

I immediately tensed at the name of her ex, but tried not to show it. I nodded encouragingly, knowing that so many questions would now be answered.

"It all started during my university studies. I spent a lot of time surrounded only by my textbooks and notebooks, and at first everything was fine with me. I had always liked medicine, but as you know, it takes a lot of time. Leah was my roommate at the dorm." She sighed strangely at this girl's name, but I didn't attach any importance to it. So far, everything sounded normal and even familiar. "We have never been very close. I knew her since childhood and we had several mutual friends. And one of this mutual friends turned out to be Jacob. He was a frequent guest in our room and always tried to give me as much of his attention as possible. At first, we were really just friends, I absolutely didn't see him as anything more, but Jake always seemed to want something different."

At the last sentence, I frowned. It was clear from Bella's account that Jacob was imposing his attention. But not that I can blame him, since I probably would have tried to get Bella's attention in any way too.

"He constantly showered me with compliments, said that I was his dream coming true. At first, I didn't even understand what he was talking about, but much later the meaning of his words came to me. This continued until my 22nd birthday. He invited me to some party under the pretext of celebrating, but in the end, it turned out to be a date for the two of us."

Bella's eyes filled with tears and she hugged herself as if she were freezing. But despite her condition, Bella continued.

"He asked me to become his girlfriend that night, and I couldn't find the strength to refuse. Probably, because I felt lonely and he made me feel needed, probably, because he convinced me that we were created for each other, and his constant compliments did their job. After half a year, we rented an apartment together, and I moved out from Leah, who to my surprise began to try to spend as much time with me as possible. The next half-year was very strange, I spent all my time with Jacob, and when he couldn't, in some incredible way Leah always appeared. She often asked me about our relationship, gave me advice, which for some reason was always more beneficial for Jake than for me. And most importantly, I didn't seem to notice anything strange in this. This all continued until the moment I met Rose."

Bella's face broke into a slight smile at the mention of my cousin's name. I mentally began to pray that Rosalie from Bella's story is about to intervene in this terrible situation, and won't let anything terrible come out.

"Her distinctive personality immediately caught my attention, and surprisingly, Rosalie seemed to enjoy spending time with me as well. But Jake disliked Rosalie almost instantly, and Rosalie disliked Jake. She pointed out to me several times that Jacob was too controlling, but then Leah then came and said the opposite. I was completely confused as Jake constantly confessed his love for me, and Rosalie was a relatively a stranger. It seemed to me that she simply didn't know him as well as I or Leah did. So, at some point, I stopped talking with her, and I continued to date Jacob. But my doubts didn't go away, as Rosalie's words left their mark. Then my academic workload had grown a lot and I was in a constant state of stress due to my arguments with Jake and my studies. One of the peak moments came when Jacob made a scandal, shouting that I should quit uni and devote more time to him and only him. We had a very bad fight and then he left for the whole night. Of course, I was angry with him, but he left at night and didn't answer a single call, I began to worry, since he didn't even take his bag with money and documents. But the next day he returned home in the evening, gave me flowers and apologized, said that he spent the whole night in my old room with Leah, and that I can be convinced of this simply by calling her. After this incident, I saw that something had changed in his look, as if he knew something that I didn't. It became even more difficult to tolerate his constant company, but soon he introduced me to his father, and I introduced him to my parents, our relationship was moving by leaps and bounds. Soon Jake got a job at his father's firm, we started to attend all kinds of social events on behalf of the firm, and I was like his personal arm candy. We were the perfect couple in public. But he still kept pointing out how my studies negatively affect our relationship and how much time it takes. Leah, as my only friend, continued to give me advice and fully supported Jake's side, persuading me to follow his lead. But one day everything changed dramatically."

For the first time in her long monologue, Bella interrupted her story, as if mentally preparing for what she was about to say next. My body was already completely shaking from the emotions rushing over me. I was ready to kill this Jacob only for his manipulations, which he carried out on Bella. How dare he tell her what she should or shouldn't do? How could he have thought that he had the right to insist on her expulsion from the university when she was already so close to her dream?

I took a few deep breaths, calming myself, and turned my attention to Bella. She sat with an incredibly pale face; all traces of today's morning happiness disappeared.

"Bella, you don't have to tell me, I can see how hard it is for you."

"No, Edward. I want you to know. I need to tell this."

I didn't dare to contradict her, but only took her hands in mine, hoping to give at least some sense of comfort.

"Things started happening too quickly. One day Jake came home drunk, and not telling a word, he just went straight to bed. Leah didn't answer my calls, Jacob hardly spoke to me, I began to think that I had done something wrong. But turned out that the reason wasn't in me. Once, then I was at home alone, someone rang my doorbell, it was Leah. I was surprised because I hadn't heard from her for a long time. Her face was distorted with emotions I didn't understand, and her eyes looked at me with pure hatred. Leah confessed everything to me that day. She told me how she liked Jacob all her life, how he didn't notice her, and communicated with her only because she was friends with me. She confessed that she only started spending more time with me because Jake asked her to control me so that I wouldn't hang out with other guys in my spare time. But what she said further plunged me into even greater shock. It turned out that during our argument, when Jake went to spend the night with her, they had sex, and after that night they began to do it all the time. He cheated on me for more than two years, Edward. With my best friend who actually hated me all this time! According to her, Jake was ready to leave me at any moment but didn't do it because of his ideal image in the business circles. He was with me all this time, just because I positively influenced his image and we looked great together!"

At these words, tears were pouring from Bella's eyes already incessantly. I silently approached her and hugged her tightly. This Jacob turned out to be a hundred times worse than I thought. I was ready to tear him to pieces for what he did to Bella. We sat embracing for another minute, as Bella pulled away from me and continued her story.

"She told me all this only because she was three months pregnant. It was Jake's baby, and he knew about it. The only thing he asked her to do was either an abortion or just not to spread information about the pregnancy. He wasn't going to leave me, and he didn't plan to tell me about it either. My world turned upside down that day. Two closest to me people, besides my parents, turned out to be playing a well-played performance all this time. I was incredibly stupid. I see that now. And he broke me, made me doubt all intentions of other people. As soon as Leah left, I quickly packed a small bag with all the necessary things and ran out of the apartment. The only contact in the city that I could turn to was Rose, for which I am still incredibly grateful to her. She told me to come to her immediately and let me live with her for a short period of time until I came to my senses and found my own place. After a while, I found out that Leah had blabbed about her pregnancy to a huge number of people, and Jacob had to stay with her so as not to destroy his image even more. As far as I know, Leah had a miscarriage, but they still stayed together after that." Bella closed her tear-swollen eyes and laid her head on my shoulder. "This was my story. I'll understand if you don't want to have anything to do with me after this."

"Bella are you crazy? Of course, I'm not going to leave you. The fact that you dealt with such a terrible past only proves to me that you are an incredibly strong person. What I can't say about your ex and ex-friend. I want to kill this bastard and this bitch for what they did to you."

My hands involuntarily clenched into fists, and my eyes filled with red. I had never thought that I could hate a complete stranger so much. To distract myself from angry thoughts, I fully turned towards Bella and directed my fiery gaze at her. She seemed to understand my plan and herself approached me in a kiss. All her pain and all my anger poured into this heated contact. My hands and my lips seemed to leave their own message for her. I will never hurt you like this. Trust me. And it seemed that her lips at the same time whispered their own words. I trust you.