Hello? Anyone still there? No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This really is an update. All I can say is I am sorry. Sometimes the words just won't come no matter how badly you want them to. But know, I'll always keep trying until this is finished.

A huge thankyou to My-Bella for making sure this is as good as it can be with her magic purple editing pen. I couldn't do it without her.

Hope you enjoy the chapter, see ya at the end.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Twilight or any of its characters. But I wish I did.

Something always brings me back to you
It never takes too long
No matter what I say or do
I'll still feel you here 'till the moment I'm gone

You hold me without touch
You keep me without chains
I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love
And not feel your reign

Gravity by Sara Bareillies

Gravity

~EDWARD~

"Holy shit that rain is cold," Bella squealed as we rode the horses straight into their barn.

I slid off of Sundance and walked around him, over to Midnight to help Bella down. She was a sight with stray strands of wet hair matted to her face and her wet shirt clinging to her body. It was hard to keep my eyes on her face.

"Some storm tracker you are," she teased. "Did you even check the forecast before you asked me to go riding?"

"One, I'd hardly call that a storm," I told her brushing the wet hair back from her face, fighting hard not to stare at the way her wet t-shirt clung to her chest. "And two, yes I did check the weather. It called for spotty showers this afternoon. Not my fault if someone else got it wrong." I added, pulling her closer to me and placing a quick kiss to her lips.

"Mmhmm ,sure, sure," she kept teasing before turning around and petting her horse. "So how do we cool the horses down since it's raining?" Bella asked.

The horses had to be cooled down, much like a runner would do after a run. It gave the horses a chance to stretch their backs and necks and bring down their heart rate and respiration.

"Looks like we'll have to do it in here," I replied, pulling Sundance's reins down over his head so I could lead him down to the other end of the paddock barn, Bella doing the same with Midnight, following a couple feet behind us. Normally we'd have slowed down to a walk while riding them and meander around the field for fifteen-twenty minutes after a ride, but with the weather changing on us as it had today, that wasn't possible.

Once we finished walking with them, we removed their saddles and brushed them down.

"I'd forgotten how relaxing it can be to spend the afternoon with a horse," Bella said, running the brush along Midnight's coat.

"Are you calling me a horse, Swan?"

She snorted and then spoke softly to Midnight, "He thinks he's pretty enough to be in the same class as you. What do you think about that, girl? Does he charm your too?"

Midnight shook her head as if to say, leave me out of this. I pulled Bella to me. "Isn't what's important here is that I charm you?"

"Do you charm me?" she teased.

Leaning in close to her ear, pressing a light kiss on her neck, I whispered, "I think I do." Feeling Bella shiver, I then added, "I know I do."

"Okay, Prince Charming, let's get the horses taken care of," Bella urged, while playfully shoving me away from her.

"I'll be right back," I told her as I led Sundance to his stall. Bella nodded turning her back to me as she resumed brushing Midnight. Watching her for a second, I saw the deep breath she pulled in and let out…maybe I was charming her after all.

By the time I'd secured my horse in his stall, Bella was finished brushing down hers. I walked with her to Midnight's stall.

"She need's fresh water," Bella noticed. "Are the buckets still in the same place?"

"Yeah, want me to go get it?"

"Thanks, but I'd like to," she replied.

Once Bella was off to get the water, I turned to Midnight and gently scratched her between the ears. "Here ya go girl," I said, holding out my other hand, offering Midnight a few sugar cubes I'd had stashed in my saddle bag during our ride. She nodded her head at me in appreciation before nibbling the cubes out of my hand. "You did good today," I whispered to the horse, stroking the side of her neck.

I was so caught up in praising Midnight that I hadn't heard Bella come back. Clearing her throat, she asked, "What's this all about?

"I think we're busted, girl," I said softly to Midnight. Looking up at Bella, I couldn't help the grin that was plastered on my face.

"Hmmm, being busted usually indicates you did something wrong," Bella surmised. "So wanna spill the beans, mister?"

I shrugged. "She won the bet so she gets the cubes."

"What bet?"
Yu

"That you'd forgotten how to ride and would end up on your backside."

"Rude!"

She turned to leave but I quickly stopped her, hugging her from behind. "Come on now, Kitten. Don't be mad," I whispered in her ear, hoping that using her old nickname I'd given years ago would win her over. "The truth is I was praising her for being a good girl and earning a few extra sugar cubes," I explained. "You know how finicky horses can be, and while you aren't a total stranger to her, you haven't been around her for a while. So, I was simply rewarding her for not acting out. That's all."

She sighed letting her frustration go and I felt her body relax against mine. Her sigh seemed a little forced so I was beginning to wonder if she was messing with me and not really flustered at all. "Do you try to win over all the ladies by rewarding them with sweet treats?" she asked as she turned in my arms to face me.

"No, not all of them, just the special ones." I could see her gears turning. But what I also saw was a tiny slight twitch in her left eyebrow, telling me she was faking it. Bella could never tell a lie when we were younger or fake anything. Her left eyebrow would always twitch. But knowing Bella, and what she'd just asked me, she was trying to decide how many special ones there'd been. It was time to change the subject, not that there had been that many since Bella had been gone, but it wasn't something I wanted to get into right now.

"Well, you'd have to really be mad so I think the odds are in my favor," I told her, waiting for her reaction.

"You do huh?"

"Sure do," I confirmed. "It seems you've forgotten just how well I know you, Miss Swan."

"Oh really, so what makes you think I wasn't really mad?" she asked with a sly grin.

"Two reasons," I told her. "One, you wouldn't be still standing her talking to me if you were really pissed. And two, your eyebrow gave you away," I added and placed a peck on the one that gave her away.

"You remember that?"

"I remember everything about you, Bella." A brief flash of what looked like remorse came across her pretty face.

"Okay, fine, I really wasn't that mad. I get why you gave her the sugar cubes."

"Next time, you can give them to her," I offered.

"I'd like that," she replied happily.

Pulling her closer to me with one hand, I held up the other open with the last remaining sugar cubes in it for her to see. "Can I win you over with a sweet treat, Bella?"

"Hmm, we'll see," she teased and before I'd had time to react Bella quickly placed a kiss on my lips, pushed away from me and took off across the barn and out the door laughing, the whole way.

"Fuck," I muttered to myself feeling bulldozed by the emotions swirling through me. "Bella Swan, you'll be the death of me, girl," I swore as I headed off after her.

It didn't take long for me to catch up to Bella. Once I did, she tried to run away again, but I caught her and flipped her over my shoulder and headed towards the house.

"Edward Anthony Cullen, you better put me down," she demanded, trying to sound scary, but the laughter in her voice betrayed her.

"Nope."

"Edward," she whined, dragging out my name.

"That's my name," I replied, teasing her, knowing it was only going to rile her up more.

She was quiet for a few seconds and then I heard, "Pleaaase."

Chuckling at her attempt to win I told her, "Sorry, I just don't think I can do that."

Switching gears yet again she then replied, "You are gonna pay for it if you don't."

I stopped walking and contemplated her harmless threat for about half a minute. "Oh really?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Sorry, still not going to happen." I started walking again, we were in the field right across from the house at this point. Next thing I knew Bella was smacking me on the rear with both her hands as hard as she could in the position she was in. It didn't hurt but it did make it awkward to keep walking. I stopped and gave her fair warning, "Two can play that game, Bella. You quit or I will retaliate."

"Ha!" she exclaimed, "You'd have to put me down for that."

"You think?"

Instead of replying she started swatting me again. Shifting her on my shoulder I made sure I had a good grip on her legs and I reached up and started tickling her on the inside of her thigh, right by her knee. It had always been a super ticklish spot for her and I knew it'd drive her nuts. She started begging me to stop through her laughing and when I didn't stop, she reached up and began tickling my sides. Before either of us knew what was happening, we fell and landed in a heap on the grass, both of us rolling over on our backs and laughing like crazy.

"What in tarnation are the two of you doing rolling on the wet ground like a couple of piglets playing in the mud? I could hear y'all from all the way in the house," Aunt Mae called from the porch. Her tone was scolding, but glancing in her direction I could see a smile trying to form on the edge of her mouth. It had quit raining but the ground was still wet from the passing storm that had moved through.

We stopped laughing and looked over at each other before up to Aunt Mae, standing there with her hands on her hips, and busted out laughing all over again.

"The two of you best find someplace to clean up before you even think of coming into this house," she hollered. "And Edward, don't you forget you promised to help Emmett this afternoon."

A minute later we heard the screen door slam shut, telling us she'd gone back inside.

I sat up and took a minute to catch my breath from laughing so hard. "Come on," I told Bella, holding my hand out for her as I stood up.

"What? Where are we gonna go? You heard Aunt Mae. I don't know about you, but I don't have a death wish," Bella said, sitting up and taking my hand.

"You think I do?"

"I sure hope not," she returned with a shrug.

"Let's go to my place, I am sure I can find something dry for you to throw on, and then we can head back up here and have lunch before I go find Emmett."

"You sure? I can just see if she'll have Rose bring me something out to the barn?" Bella asked hesitantly while biting her bottom lip, making me wish it was me doing it.

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't."

She looked deep in thought for a few seconds, glanced up at the house and then back at me like she was weighing her odds. Then finally answered, "Okay," and tightened her grip on my hand that she was still holding.

Once we reached my place, we both kicked off our shoes before heading upstairs. Bella waited by the bathroom while I dug through my clothes to find something for her. I finally settled on one of my old high school P.E. t-shirts stuffed in the bottom of the drawer for years and a pair of sweats with a drawstring in the waist so she could keep them from falling down.

Not that I'd mind seeing them fall off her.

"Thanks," Bella said, blushing slightly as she took the clothes from me and turned to head into the bathroom.

I'd missed that blush. It was nice to see I could still cause such a reaction in her. Once I heard the door click shut, I quickly made my way back over to my dresser so I could change before Bella came out. Not that we hadn't seen each other naked before, but we just weren't ready to take things to the next level yet.

"Oh shoot," Bella exclaimed from the bathroom.

"Bella, you okay?" I asked, having no idea what could have gone wrong.

"Oh, nothing, I just realized I got mud in my hair. Now I am gonna have to shower before I can eat lunch or my hair will be in knots. I'm sorry I won't be able to eat lunch with you before you head off to help Emmett."

I glanced at my watch. "Why don't you just shower here?" I asked her. "There's towels on the shelf by the shower and I will make us something here." I just wasn't quite ready to let her go yet, even if I was only buying us a short amount of time for now.

"Are you sure?" she called.

"Yes."

Taking a shot the rain had slowed Emmett down this morning, I quickly sent him a text telling him I was just having lunch and would meet him at the tracker shed when I was done. And luck was on my side, he replied saying he was running behind and about to have lunch himself.

Hearing the water start in the shower, I was wishing more than ever before in my life that I had some sort of super hero power like x-ray vision. Knowing Bela was just a few feet away, naked in my shower, was making it hard to not want to speed up the physical side of things.

Get a grip, Cullen.

Taking a deep breath I went to the fridge to see what I had. Growing up Uncle Carl had been taught to cook by his mother, saying a man needed to know how to feed himself, and so he made sure Emmett and I could as well. It began even before Alice and I had come to live here permanently. My father had thought it was a waste of time, but my mother convinced him there was no harm in it, reminding him he ate a lot of cereal in college when they were dating because he couldn't cook to save his life. I remembered several times when us three guys would take over the kitchen for a night, giving Aunt Mae the night off. It was always a good time and I actually enjoyed cooking. I was just never home a lot this time of the year to do much of it.

Looking around in the fridge, I decided on grilled cheese, knowing it would be fast and good. I also saw that a trip to the grocery store was in order. Especially, if Bella was going to be around more. It was common for me to head up to the main house for dinner. But maybe now I'd be spending more time down here for dinners when I was home if I could get Bella to join me.

While the sandwiches cooked, I grabbed a couple of paper plates and added a handful of chips to each one and grabbed a couple bottles of water out of the fridge. After flipping the sandwiches over I carried the water bottles over to the coffee table and set them down. Hearing the bathroom door open I looked up. Bella came out wearing my clothes and her hair wrapped in a towel on top of her head.

She was fucking gorgeous just like this.

"You can use my comb if you want," I offered.

"Thanks, I'll take you up on that after we eat. I need to let the towel soak up some of the extra water in it first or I'll have water dripping down my back like a leaking faucet."

I smiled at her description, remembering she used to do the same thing. "How do you women learn to do that towel thing anyways? Is it just something you know? Is there a secret towel wrapping club men aren't aware of?" I asked playfully. I'd seen all the women in my life at some point with their hair wrapped neatly in a towel that never managed to fall off and I just didn't get it. I'd gone through a phase where I'd had longer hair and couldn't ever figure it out. Not that I'd ever admit I tried to do it. Instead, I'd usually end up shaking it like a wet dog to dry. "Hell, even Emma can do it."

She laughed. "I don't really know. I guess my mom taught me. I just know I know how."

"Maybe you can teach me?" I joked.

"I don't think you have quite enough hair, you going to grow it out again? Like when you were twelve?"

"You remember that?" I was surprised.

"Yeah, you're not the only one with a good memory. Do you know how jealous all the girls around here were of your hair that summer? It was the perfect shade of auburn and looked so soft…they went on and on about it," she teased. "Besides, it was the last summer you were here before…. well before you had to move here."

"It's okay. You can say before my parents died. If anyone understands, Bella, I know you do," I told her sincerely.

She nodded in understanding.

"Anyways, I guess I was totally oblivious of their hair envy," I said laughing, and trying to bring some lightness back to the conversation. I reached up tugging on the ends of my hair. "It's too long now. I need to get a trim."

"Hmm, I kinda like it," she said, reaching up and ruffling the front of my hair. It was about all she could reach with our height difference.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." I leaned down and gave her a quick kiss.

"Can I help?"

"Can you hand me one of the plates, please?" I asked as I lifted one of the sandwiches out of the skillet.

"Sure."

After both sandwiches were on a plate, I added a second one for me to the skillet. While I waited for it to cook, I took notice of how good Bella looked in my clothes. She had the shirt knotted at her waist and the pants were rolled down and tied just above her hips so there was about a two-inch sliver of skin showing between the two. On top of that she smelled of my bodywash. I swallowed down the groan that wanted to escape. She was killing me and didn't even know it.

"This is almost done; you need anything else to go with yours? I don't have much, but I can rummage through the fridge and see what else I got," I offered, flipping over my second sandwich.

"No, this looks great, I'm, uh, just gonna go comb my hair now real quick," she said, motioning in the direction of the bathroom with her thumb. She looked a little flushed as she headed back towards the bathroom and had a strange look in her eyes. I couldn't be certain because it had been a while, but if I were to go out on a limb, I'd say Bella was a little turned on watching me cook.

I'd have to tuck that away for a later time.

~Bella~

We ate our lunch in comfortable silence. Watching Edward cooking was a new experience. One I liked probably way more than I should. Just watching him standing there, with his hair a mess, standing up everywhere from him doing nothing more than rubbing a towel through it. His jeans hanging low on his hips, fitting perfectly across his ass and thighs, along with his t-shit hugging his biceps just right, all while doing something so simple as making a grilled cheese sandwich… it was affecting me in ways I hadn't expected. It was a show I could watch on repeat all day long.

He was so oblivious. Or at least he appeared to be. He had no clue how fucking sexy he was and never really had. And if he did, he didn't care. He wasn't a stuck on himself or his looks kind of guy. No, he was very down to earth and easy going. Girls had drooled over and flaunted themselves at him in high school and he'd never given them any indication that he had noticed it at all. With us getting together near the end of the summer before his first year of school here, he'd been mine from the get go. I'd messed that up royally when I'd left, but somehow now knowing why, he'd forgiven me and here we were, sitting across from each other eating lunch that he made for us.

Things had been going better than I could have ever imagined since Edward and I had agreed to get to know each other again and see where it led us. The chemistry and pure physical attraction still crackled between us like cloud-to-cloud lightning, and was harder to resist than I ever remembered it being when we were younger. But more than that, we were getting to know each other again and though I had never stopped loving him, that love had been for the 18-year-old I'd left behind and I found myself falling in love with this Edward, who he was now.

It was thrilling, exciting, and terrifying all at the same time.

The scraping of Edward's chair pulled me from my ruminations. He stood and chugged the rest of his water bottle. Picking up his empty plate, he said, "As much as I'd love to spend the rest of the afternoon with you, I did promise Emmett I'd help him with some stuff around the ranch."

"No worries, I really need to head over to the house and finish up painting the bedrooms. Which reminds me. Could you give me Jack's number or should I just call over to The Bar? I wanted to see if he was serious about helping out with some of the plumbing work we need done. I can't pay him much, but he did offer."

"Sure, I'll text it to ya."

"Thanks," I told him, getting up to throw my own trash away and grab my wet clothes. After rolling them up to carry up to the main house, I walked over to Edward. "When do you head back out on your next chase?"

"Tomorrow morning." I nodded, knowing I'd really miss him this time. "I need to get out there and help your brother. You wanna go for a ride later? We can go in to town and stop by The Bar and talk to Jack if you want," he asked, taking my hand and pulling me closer to him.

"Yeah, that sounds great." I looked up at him with a smile, loving that he wanted to spend more time together later. Maybe he was going to miss me too.

He leaned down capturing my lips with his in a kiss that started out innocent but quickly morphed into a heated lip lock that lasted until we were both out of breath and panting for air.

"Okay, we really gotta go now or I'll never get out there to Emmett if you keep kissing me like that." He then turned me around and playfully gave me a nudge towards the stairs.

"Sure, sure blame it all on me. Go ahead and act like I was the only one involved in that kiss," I teased as I headed across the room, feeling him following behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I continued taunting him, "You started it."

"I did and I'd do it again too," he teased back.

Starting down the stairs I said, "Nope, not gonna happen. Not gonna blame me for you being late."

"I'm already late, what's a few more minutes?" he asked coming down the stairs behind me.

"Nope," I declared, trying my hardest to keep from laughing and pretend I was being serious, even though I had an ear-splitting smile on my face.

"Are you saying you won't kiss me, Swan?"

"Yup. Not gonna happen." I called back to him over my shoulder.

Quit lying to yourself, Bella. You've never been able to resist his kisses.

Reaching the bottom, I turned the knob and pushed open the barndoor. Just as I'd stepped out and was about to turn around and say bye to Edward, I was grabbed and pushed against the barn wall. Blazing green eyes met mine as if challenging me to try and get away from him. Butterflies swarmed in my stomach from the weight of his gaze. One arm wrapped around me and his other hand came up behind my head cupping the back of it as his fingers dug into my hair. Dipping his head down slowly, he brushed his lips against mine. His hold on me tightened when his tongue found its way to caressing mine. Lost in him once again I moaned into the kiss and pulled on his shirt I was now grasping, trying to get as close to him as possible. It felt like eons had gone by before we were abruptly interrupted.

"Hey, quit trying to suck my sister's face off and come get to work," Emmett hollered.

Edward loosened his hold on me and rested his forehead against mine. "Told you I'd kiss you again."

Still lost in the haze of his scent surrounding me and the power of his kiss, I couldn't respond.

He must have noticed the dazed look on my face. Smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary, he added, "I'm going to go now before your brother comes and pulls me away. I'll see you in a few hours. Okay?"

Finding my voice I whispered, "Okay."

Giving me once last peck, he turned and walked away. Taking a deep breath, I headed off in the opposite direction when Edward called out to me, "Don't eat dinner, we'll grab pizza at Jack's later."

"Okay," I called back to him, still having trouble saying much more. Giving him one last wave I kept walking backwards, not wanting to take my eyes off him until I absolutely had to. Once him and Emmett entered the horse barn and were out of sight, I turned and finished making my way up to the main house.

The house was quiet when I entered so it was likely Lilly was napping. Instead of searching out for anyone I went up to my room, but what I really wanted to do was jump and shout how happy I was with how the day had gone so far. I was nearly giddy with happiness. Reaching the door to my room I found a note form Esme, telling me my friend Jessica from Miami had called and needed me to call her back as soon as I could.

Entering my room, I placed my muddy clothes into connecting bathroom and glanced again at the note in my hand. I was curious about Jess's call, but as I flopped down on my bed and laid back, all I could think about was Edward. It was amazing and also a bit strange. I was falling hard and fast for the Edward he was now. But I'd never really stopped loving him so it was almost like falling in love with a familiar stranger. It was almost like we were both two people in one. The eighteen-year-old kids were four years ago picking up where we'd left off, recognizing in each other the love we shared, but then there was also who we are now and those two were falling in love as well. At least I knew I was and Edward seemed to be on the same page. His actions were telling me that as we got to know each other again he was happy with how our new relationship was evolving.

Tugging up the collar of the shirt Edward had lent me I pulled in a big whiff of his scent and sighed.

He's not getting this shirt back.

Feeling tired I decided I'd call Jess back later. I set an alarm on my phone so I wouldn't sleep too long and closed my eyes, looking forward to more time with Edward later.

Thanks for sticking with me, I can't wait to see what y'all think.