Paul's lips collided with hers the second they entered the house. He walked backward toward the bathroom, guiding her there, then left her breathless as he pulled away to turn on the shower. He grinned and gently patted her cheek as he stepped past her, leaving the room.
Bella opened the cabinets to locate a towel but found none. Just as she shut the cabinet, he returned with unfolded towels in his arms.
Paul chuckled. "Sorry. They were in the dryer. I did laundry this morning."
"It's no problem." She watched him drape them over hooks on the wall by the shower. "I'm the one insisting on the shower over here."
"No, it's fine. It makes sense. You smell like the pack after all the manhandling before we left, anyway…"
He laughed as she feigned shock, tugged her closer by the waist, and kissed the tip of her nose. Paul stared into her eyes as he raised his other hand to caress her cheek. Bella leaned into his palm as she hummed, relishing the warmth at her cheek as much as the man who provided it.
"I'm glad you're here."
Her eyes fluttered open. "Me, too."
Winding her hands into his hair, Bella stretched toward him onto her toes. She wanted him, even if it was likely a huge mistake she might regret for the rest of her life.
Paul met her halfway with a kiss. It was so tender and affectionate that her toes pressed into the floor as they tried to curl, and butterflies erupted in her chest. His hands slid to the back of her dress and dragged down the zipper. Bella stepped back and raised her arms, letting him remove the gauzy material over her head. She reached for the hem of his t-shirt as he tossed her dress over the lid of his hamper. Too tall for her to pull it off without bending toward her, he chuckled as he finished removing the shirt and tossed it onto her dress.
He bent to press a kiss against her bare shoulder and trailed others toward her neck as he turned her around to unhook her bikini top. Bella watched their reflection in the bathroom mirror as she let it fall to the floor. Her dark pink nipples puckered as his warm hands slid around her waist from behind and up to cup her breasts. His tattoos, body mass, and ravenous expression hovering over her reflection made him seem almost threatening. For some masochistic reason, that only excited her more. She swept stray tendrils of her blonde hair aside and tilted her head to watch him trail more kisses up her throat and behind her ear.
She reached behind her back, between them, to unbutton his shorts and giggled at the 'whoosh' sound they made as the wet denim hit the floor around his feet. He grinned against her neck as he slid his right hand down her abdomen toward the top of her bikini bottoms.
"Oh, you think that's funny, huh?"
As she met his gaze through the reflection, his hand dipped under the fabric to cup her sex, engulfing her with his palm. He chuckled as he pressed his erection against her ass, and she sucked in a sharp breath. Sliding his middle finger into her folds, he closed his eyes and moaned at the warm slickness already accumulated there.
As if in slow motion, she watched him open his eyes and carefully withdraw his hand to bring it up to her mouth. Bella kept her eyes wide, locked on his in the mirror as she reached for his hand with both of hers, wrapped her mouth around his finger, and sucked. She hummed around it as he smirked and slowly withdrew it from her lips.
He asked, "Do you remember the first time I made you taste yourself?" He reached for the sides of her bottoms and pushed them down over her hips.
She stepped out of the bikini bottoms and toward the shower. "I'm not sure I'll ever forget it."
She could instantly recall the moment. Far less experienced than Paul, sucking the taste of herself from his fingers as she rode him, the intense desire on his face as he watched her - it had all felt incredibly sexy at the moment. It was one of her most persistently vivid memories of their weekend together. But she had learned plenty throughout the years and hoped he wasn't still expecting the semi-innocent girl he'd married. Simultaneously, Bella hoped she hadn't placed his memory on such a high pedestal that he couldn't measure up to it.
As Bella stepped into the shower, she glanced over his fully naked form and damn near blushed. His engorged cock, like the rest of him, looked even better than she remembered. Bella stepped backward into the spray as he followed her into the shower. She closed her eyes as he swept his arms around her and leaned down to press his lips to hers.
They kissed, touched, and explored, rediscovering each other until the water ran cold down their overheated skin. Paul had switched sides at some point, though she couldn't recall when or how. They were just about to climb out when Paul's hand swept across the scar on her inner thigh and paused.
His brow furrowed in confusion as he swirled his finger around the mark again. The sensation went straight to her sex, and Bella hissed as her legs trembled.
He asked, "Is… that… what I think it is?"
"Your fucking teeth marks? Yes. It is."
Paul blinked as he took a step back in surprise. She smirked over his apparent shock, wondering if he'd forgotten it. That it left a scar had never surprised her, however. Any other supernatural person who had bitten her had left a scar, too.
He turned away to turn off the water, and Bella stepped out of the shower. She didn't get the chance to grab a towel. Instead, Bella shrieked as he put her over his shoulder and strutted toward his bedroom. She squealed again as he dropped her onto her back on his bed, and she bounced against the firm mattress.
She pretended to be annoyed by his man-handling and hissed, "Cave Man!"
He scoffed as he climbed over her and, gruffly, teased, "Me no Cave Man. Me, Tarzan."
"Idiot." She shook her head at him affectionately.
"Yeah." He laughed as he trapped her beneath him, boxing her in with his arms and legs. "That too."
Glancing down at the water dripping from his chest to hers, she sighed. "Your bed is going to get soaked."
"Oh, I intend on it."
He growled, lowering his lips to her throat. He nipped her lightly with his teeth as she giggled. Paul pulled back, reached for her hair tie, and gently shook it out until her hair spilled over his pillows. Bella slid her hands up his back as he grinned at the mess he made and then met her gaze.
"Now you're just gonna be picking my hair from your ass crack for another week."
Paul brushed his lips against hers and whispered, "I hope so. Wife."
He left her no time to react, immediately and passionately kissing her into a stupor.
Nearly over-sensitized from all the petting in the shower, his weight atop her lower half and the feeling of his arousal sliding languidly against her sex soon had her trembling in his arms. Heat filled and surrounded her, reddening her skin and buzzing through her limbs as she whimpered with need, desperate to feel, touch, and taste him anywhere she could reach.
Like her dream, the sensation of his feverish skin on hers was all-consuming. She spread her legs wider and tilted her hips toward him, sending his erection gliding against her clit and through her soaked lips. Paul moaned as the head of his cock nudged against her opening, and with one gentle thrust, he pushed the head inside.
She gasped, panting as he moaned and arched his back, pressing his forehead to hers as he slid further inside.
"Oh, fuck. Paul…"
She cried out as he pulled back and thrust into her again. Bella's walls clenched around him, adjusting to his girth as he slowly worked deeper.
He cooed her name, making her open her eyes and look up at him as he brushed the end of his nose with hers. "I really wanted to make this last as long as possible…"
"Fuck me," She encouraged, ignoring the well of emotion that was quickly rising in her chest and the sob that threatened to choke her. Her voice sounded needy, tortured as she pleaded, "It's been too long. Please."
He kissed her again before pulling out and immediately sliding home again. Bella wrapped her arms and legs tighter around him as he began a rhythm, gradually increasing from slow, smooth strokes to a firm pace. Eventually, he lifted her and rolled onto his back, still buried deep as he sat up with her, smoothly letting her take over their rhythm as his now-free hands could touch her everywhere else.
Bella braced her feet on either side of his hips and arched her back as she rocked against him. Paul focused on stimulating her breasts for a moment before sliding one hand down to work her clit with his fingers. Another odd rush of sensation shot through her as the back of his hand brushed over his teeth marks, and he hissed as she began tightening around him. Her abdomen clenched as she threw her head back and rode him harder, nearing her peak.
Paul flopped onto his back, gripped her hips with the other hand, and began rapidly thrusting up into her. With a few more circles of his thumb, Bella screamed his name, and colors burst behind her eyelids as she came. He moved the hand at her sex to her other hip, riding through the spasming and tightening of her walls as they slowed his pace. She quietly chanted his name through keening cries, rocking against him through another orgasm that left her clit pulsing as he finally came inside her.
Bella climbed off him and collapsed at his side, panting. Without the bodily distraction, her emotions finally poured to the surface. Embarrassment only added to those as she burst into uncontrollable tears and sobbed.
She loved him. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to tell him that, but fear kept the words at bay. She couldn't have forced the words out if she tried.
Paul reaching for her to comfort her was far less surprising than the way he shuddered, sniffling through otherwise silent tears as he pulled her flush to his body and buried his face in her hair. For the second time that day, they cried together, and Bella knew that the memory of it could never fit behind the damaged wall she'd constructed in her mind. It would sit with her forever - a heartbroken reminder of the man she would soon leave behind for the second time.
It killed her a little as she finally realized he loved her, too. It was far better than believing he hated her, but it wouldn't change anything. At least he was hers for the time being. If tonight was all they would have, then so be it.
Bella clung tighter to him, pressing firm kisses to his jaw and chest - anywhere she could reach from where he'd pinned her in his embrace. Soon, his lips joined hers in worship, and intensity pulsated between them, more powerful than before. They came together several times that night, barely resting before one reached for the other.
Eventually, thoroughly sated and exhausted, Bella fell asleep under his heavy arm, her face buried in a pillow.
