With one quick motion, he scooped me up into his arms, cradling me gently while the white sandy beach disappeared behind us. He was swimming, carrying us into deeper waters, while holding me in his arms. I knew we were moving, but I couldn't feel his legs beneath the surface of the water. All I could think about was this moment, and his face in the moonlight, and his inescapable beauty… and that he was mine.

I reached up to touch his face, and our eyes met. His liquid gold eyes stared deep into mine, and my heart started to pound. I remembered to breathe as the slow, deep burn spread throughout my body, and I wound my fingers in his bronze hair, pulling his face down to mine. My lips pressed softly against his, for a moment, and then he slowly pulled away just enough to look into my eyes again.

"Bella," he whispered. "My Bella…"

His eyes were bright now, liquid fire, flushed with desire. He looked… hungry. For my blood or my body, I didn't know which, but I was about to find out. He kissed me again, our lips moving softly together, then more urgently, more passionately. I parted my lips slightly and touched the tip of my tongue to his stone cold lips. He froze, just for a second, as if he were about to impart one of his many long-standing rules, and I felt his breath catch in his chest. He didn't stop me, so I took advantage of either his aquiescence or his hesitation, and I ran my tongue slowly across his lips. He moaned softly and shuddered. Ah… my heart soared! I could give him pleasure! Could it be possible? I had forever to find out, but I would start tonight.

I knew his lips were as far as I could go, staying a safe distance from his sharp, venom coated teeth, and I started to pull back, but then something happened that never happened before. His lips opened, and I felt his tongue against mine, moving slowly, hesitantly. My heart started to pound again, and I tried to remember how to breathe. He had never allowed this before, but we were past all the rules now, we were married, we were trying.

His free hand cradled my head, his fingers in my hair, twisting and knotting as our kissing grew more and more passionate. His lips moved hungrily across my jaw, down to the hollow of my throat, and lingered on my neck, where I was sure he could feel the blood pounding in my veins. His lips were open as he kissed me, and he gently used his tongue to taste my neck for the first time. He paused, again just for a second, as if deciding whether I tasted too good, and he could no longer resist. But I knew my Edward. Hmm. I sighed to myself as I thought that again… my Edward. I didn't think I would ever get tired of thinking that.

His hand had moved from my hair to my neck, softly stroking my skin with his fingertips, down across my shoulder, then brushing back to my throat. His lips moved back up to meet mine, as his hand slowly drifted down the front of my body. I gulped as I realized what he was doing, what we were doing, and I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. I'd never had to deal with this level of embarassment before, this total betrayal by my body. Edward always stopped before either of us could lose control, his rules, not mine. But there were no rules tonight, only his icy fingers brushing against my bare skin.

His hands moved gently across my body. Down to my quivering stomach, and then slowly back to my throat. Maddeningly slowly. And back down again. Exploring, testing. Testing himself. If only I could tell him he didn't need to worry about that. If he did decide to suddenly end my life by crushing my neck to his mouth and draining my body of every drop of blood, I wouldn't mind. I would die happy. I would die with Edward, with an uncomprehendingly deep and fulfilling love that I would never understand and never get enough of.

A fresh chill ran down my spine, and my drifting thoughts were quickly brought back to Edward's hand on my stomach, brushing slowly back and forth. My body was on fire, his ice cold fingertips leaving blazing trails across my skin. The warm, black water surrounding us neither warmed him up or cooled me down, but it didn't matter. We were perfect, and this night was perfect.

I noticed that his breathing had changed, faster still, and his kisses slowed in urgency. I could tell that he was thinking, deciding. He was hesitant, as inexperienced as I, and I wanted to comfort him. Was he worried about killing me, which was not a new concern for us, one that I had long ago acknowledged and moved on. Or… another thought occurred to me suddenly. Was he nervous about pleasing me? I pulled my face away from his and I looked deeply into his eyes.

"I love you," I whispered softly in the night air. "And I trust you." I ran my hand down his arm, feeling his cold hard skin beneath my fingertips, the lean muscles and tendons beneath the skin, and I rested my hand on his as it moved slowly across my stomach. "I… I like the way you… you make me feel." My pulse was pounding in my veins as I tried to drum up the strength to tell him how I felt, to make him realize that I wanted him as much as he wanted me. "I don't want you to stop… ever…."

He stared at me, slowly realizing what I had said, and I watched the hunger building in his eyes. He leaned in to kiss me again, and whispered my name against my lips.

"Bella, Bella, Bella…, " he said in a low, throaty moan, as he crushed his open mouth against mine. The sound of his velvet voice, thick with desire, the urgency in it, gave me fresh chills, and I moved my hands to his face, his hair, anything to be touching him.

I don't know how long he kissed me like this, how long a kiss like this could last. It could have been minutes or hours, I didn't care, but I suddenly realized that his hand on my stomach was moving again. Not slowly back and forth like it was before, but further down my body. So slowly, it was barely noticeable, but his touch was electric fire, and my senses were acutely aware of every movement. I stopped breathing. He was touching me in places where I have never been touched before, and I was glad it was him, glad he was the first person to make me feel this way. The feeling was strong and overwhelming, something I had never felt before, and I suddenly threw my head back and cried aloud.

"Oh!!!" I gasped.

Edward immediately froze, then quickly grabbed my face in his hands.

"Bella! Bella, what's wrong, did I hurt you? Tell me where, tell me what's wrong!" His expression was concern and guilt and worry all at once.

I tried to breathe, tried to find my voice to comfort him, to calm him, but my head was swimming.

"No, no, I'm fine, I'm… " I gulped air into my lungs raggedly. "I… you… that was… you didn't hurt me…." My breathing started to even out, and although I needed more time to compose my thoughts, I knew I needed to quickly ease his worry. I took a deep breath and smiled my best guilty smile. "That was good, that… felt good. I was just… overwhelmed. By you."

His face didn't change. His lips pressed together in a hard line while he continued to look at me. I could tell that he wasn't convinced.

"Edward." I paused, gathering my strength. It was hard for me to talk about my feelings, even now, now that we were married, and I knew he loved me as much as I loved him. "Edward, what I meant to say was… don't stop."

He continued to stare at me for several very long seconds. Gradually, I saw the furrow in his eyebrows relax and the hard line of his mouth soften. He took a deep breath, a breath I knew he didn't need to live but that he needed at this moment.

"Are you sure?" he whispered.

I nodded my assent, grinning shyly, as I pulled his face back down to mine.

He touched me again, and this time, when I gasped, I felt the corners of his mouth turn up slightly as he kissed me. He didn't stop.

The burning, the fire in my body, was growing, building with every caress, and my body ached beneath his touch. I could feel something happening, something I've never felt before. The warm feeling in the pit of my stomach started to spread, quickly building inside me. I pulled away from Edward's face and gasped for breath. I let my head fall back again and moaned softly. "Mmm… Edward…"

His mouth was on my neck, hungrily kissing my exposed throat, and I remembered how difficult that once was for him, the smell of my throat, but I could barely think of that. My concentration was on what Edward was doing to my body, what I was feeling, this building, tingling, burning, getting stronger and stronger by the second. My body stretched and twisted beneath his sure hands. Before I knew it, I was tumbling over the edge, and I felt my body exploding, every nerve ending on fire. I gasped again. My heart raced and my entire body collapsed in his arms.

He pulled back to look at my face, but this time, I could tell that he wasn't worried that he had hurt me. His face was full of wonder and awe, but still hesistant, unsure of my response, needing confirmation of my utter and complete happiness. He waited for me to catch my breath, stroking my face with his fingertips, cold and hard and welcome on my hot skin.

Time had no meaning for me, and my breathing and heart rate eventually returned to a more normal pace. I realized that Edward was standing in the water, again, no longer swimming. I hadn't even noticed that we were moving, returning to shore. I curled my body against his and rested my head against his chest. I sighed heavily. No one could be this happy. No one had ever been this happy.

"Bella, love…" he whispered. "Tell me what you're thinking… please." He tried to hide the desperation in his voice, but I knew him too well.

I didn't move for a moment, I was so comfortable in his arms, the warm water beneath us, the salty night air blowing softly against my skin. I flashed back to a very recent memory, sitting collapsed on the bathroom floor of Esme's beautiful island retreat, full of indecision and worry. I smiled to myself, thinking how silly all of that was now, how I should have known that being with Edward would be the most natural thing in the world. I remembered our time in the deep water, and the amazing way he made me feel, how my body responded to his touch like it never had before. Remembering that slow burning, the building, the tingling….

I pulled my head away from his chest and turned up to meet his eyes.

"I'm thinking…" I whispered as I looked up at him beneath my lashes. "That it's time to go inside."