Just the Way You Are, a twilight fanfic

WINNER 2011 Best One-Shot Avant Garde Award! Thank you to my readers for showing so much love for this story!

Author's Notes: This could be The Esme Chronicles' Carlisle and Esme today. Thank you to my fabulous betas, MelissaMargaret and Sweetishbubble, and the inspiring songs of Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and a little bit of B.O.B. This is lemony and rated M for a reason. It's my first time not writing from Esme's perspective. Here's a look inside Carlisle's mind as he looks at his wife.

I rarely ever listened to current music. It seemed like the radio stations in the Olympic Peninsula hadn't updated their music since 1989. My satellite radio was programmed with news, classical, jazz, opera, and for the most part, stations playing music that came before the first half of the 20th century. However, Alice insisted on loading an iPod full of the latest music to make sure I had at least heard the current stuff once. Once was usually enough.

"You supposedly have a bunch of college age kids Dad, and you are only in your thirties. You have to be slightly familiar with – well familiar with what I listen to.

Alice was into all the trends, so she was always up to date on the latest music. While Edward stockpiled CDs, Alice should own stock in iTunes. Actually, we owned a lot of stock in Apple and were part of the IPO. Between that and Google, we were set for a few centuries.

"Carlisle," Alice called to me this morning as I was about to head out the door for work. I stopped and turned around as she grabbed my hand and shoved the iPod into it. "Those new student nurses are big on music. They are going to try and strike up conversations about it. Don't be an old man. I put together a couple playlists. There is a Billboard Top 20; start there. You are going to hate some of it, but there are a few songs that I think you are really going to like."

"Alice, do I want to strike up a conversation with the student nurses?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I had enough experience with flirty nurses over the years to know I should ask.

"They'll find you attractive like everyone does, but they're harmless. They'll be more intimidated than anything. They are young," she said with a shrug.

"Fine, Alice, but it is not like I'll get in very much on my short drive to work."

She winked at me in some all-knowing Alice way. "It will be enough."

The few songs I heard on the way into work did little to excite me, but on the way home, I found myself staring at the iPod while stopped at the light at Division and Forks Avenue. The song that played had to have been written for my wife. I had heard thousands of love songs over the centuries, and some were more appropriate for my Esme than others, but occasionally a gem came along that fit her to a tee. The song by Bruno Mars was one of them. I touched repeat as the light changed.

I smiled as each word made me think of her. By the time I pulled into the garage, it was finishing the third time and I couldn't wait to see her.

As I got out of my Mercedes, I noticed Jasper's Camaro was gone. If Jasper was gone, Alice was gone. Rosalie and Emmett were on a little getaway at the chalet in Aspen. I didn't know what Esme was up to, but she must have been alone. I listened as I walked out of the garage and did not hear my giggling granddaughter.

Stay home, Edward, my mind practically screamed. Just to make sure he heard me, I quickly pulled out my phone and sent a similar text message to him.

I could hear music blaring as I approached the front steps. Esme's garden clogs were muddy and sitting outside the door. The smell of fabric softener was in the air from the dryer vent. As I opened the door, I was hit by the combined odor of pine and lemon cleaning solutions. I could tell then that Esme had been busy. She had the place all to herself and leave it to her to clean it from top to bottom.

I closed the door quietly and listened as she sang along with the stereo. She was belting out one of the tracks I had heard on the iPod on the way to work.

Let's go all the way tonight
No regrets, just love
We can dance until we die
You and I, we'll be young forever

You make me
Feel like I'm living a
Teenage dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's run away and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back.

My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now, baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back

I'mma get your heart racing
In my skin tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight
Let you put your hands on me
In my skin tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight

Esme rarely sang, which was a pity because she had a beautiful voice. While she hummed incessantly at times, she only belted like this for when she thought she was alone. I had caught her singing in the shower before, and now, as I came around the corner, I caught her singing while she scrubbed the kitchen floor on her hands and knees.

"Carlisle Cullen, you stop right there," she ordered, which instantly caused my feet to stay firmly in place. She was behind the island, and all I could see were her sneakers.

"I was just admiring your rock star moment. And yes, I think you are pretty without any make up on."

Her head popped up to look over the counter at me in surprise. "You know this one?"

"Miss Katy Perry? Yes, I do." I smugly added, "And I know California Girls, too." I had heard both for the first time that morning but it was enough.

Esme wrinkled her nose. "I deleted that one, but this one I love."

"Deleted it?" I questioned.

"Alice always puts together a poppy, energetic playlist for me to listen to when I'm cleaning. It's got Britney, Gaga, and Madonna. You know, her standards that I like, but she always throws a few new things, too. Some don't make it past one listen, but she added this one a couple weeks ago, and I've been humming it quite a bit. I only was belting it because I wasn't expecting an audience. You're home early."

"Dr. Snow came in early for a case and was done sooner than expected. It was slow so he told me to leave. Why do you want me to stop right here, my love?" I questioned with amusement.

"The floor isn't dry yet."

"How were you going to get out of the room if you were scrubbing yourself into the corner?" I asked with a slightly teasing tone.

"I would have crawled out," she said exacerbated with me. "It would have been mostly dry by the time I got around the island and back there."

"Are you almost through cleaning?" I wasn't leaving that doorway. I would wait for her.

"Almost," she said and disappeared behind the island again as Lady Gaga's Bad Romance blasted out of the speakers on the counter.

I could hear her singing quietly to herself. "Esme, it's just me. You can sing for me."

Her voice didn't rise as she started to back up while she continued to scrub away. As the song continued, her sneakers and socks, followed by the skin-tight jeans that Katy Perry described came into view first. Her butt swayed in time to the music. As she kept crawling backwards, I saw a shirt hanging away from her waist, almost giving me a view of her stomach.

"Remember when you had to do that in a dress?" I questioned with a smirk on my lips.

"Starting when I was eight in my mother's kitchen. The fifties in a crinoline petticoat were horrible. You never saw perfect Donna Reed on her knees like this," she said teasingly as her entire body came into view. Her hair was tossed up onto her head in a messy knot. The grey tank top she wore was tighter around her breasts than it was around her tummy.

"Donna Reed wasn't nearly as graceful as my wife. She would have hired someone to scrub the floors. I can't imagine her down on her knees."

As soon as the words slipped from my mouth I swallowed my tongue. God bless Esme for her sense of humor. She looked at me and pushed a stray piece of hair out her eyes with the back of her wet hand. "I really don't want you imagining any other woman down on her knees."

Before I could respond, the song changed and I immediately recognized the familiar beginning of my new favorite song. Wet floor be damned, I walked across the kitchen not caring what footprints I left or any wrath from Esme.

"Carlisle! I told you to stay!" she said looking up at me with a rather put out expression, but I wordlessly held out my hand to her.

"What?" she practically spat out, but I tried to sooth her.

"Take it, darling and don't be mad. This song is for you."

"I don't know this one," she with a slight edge in her voice as she threw the scrub brush in the bucket and wiped her hands. She reached up and I effortlessly pulled her to her feet and into my arms.

"Good," I said looking down into her bewitching and still confused eyes, "because I wanted to sing it to you first."

I sang every word of the song that played while I danced with my amazing and beautiful wife.

Oh her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying

She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day

Yeah I know, I know
When I compliment her
She won't believe me
And it's so, it's so
Sad to think she don't see what I see

But every time she asks me do I look okay
I say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Her lips, her lips
I could kiss them all day if she'd let me
Her laugh, her laugh
She hates but I think it's so sexy

She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day

Oh you know, you know, you know
I'd never ask you to change
If perfect is what you're searching for
Then just stay the same

So don't even bother asking
If you look okay
You know I'll say

The way you are
The way you are
Girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

My eyes never left hers as I echoed each word that came out of the speakers. I watched as each lyric touched her. Some made her smirk. Some would have made her blush if she were human. Some humbled her. Some she slightly disagreed with and I was sure I would enjoy debating it with her. Some made her look at me in way that humbled me. She was truly amazing.

I pressed my forehead down to hers. "If you want me clean up the footprints, I will."

"Thank you," she whispered, staring up into my eyes. I pulled away to dive for the bucket, wanting to get the floor clean as quickly as possible so I could get her to move onto other activities, but she grabbed my hand.

"Where are you going?"

I was confused.

"I thought you wanted me to clean the floor."

'What?" She was shaking her head. "No. Don't worry about the silly floor."

"But you just said thank –"

"Not for offering to clean the floor! For the song. For that moment." She pulled me back to her, wrapping her arms around me and burying her face in my chest. "For being just the way you are." I heard her mutter against my shirt.

I looked down at the top of her head. "You liked it, then?"

She looked up at me. "Coming from your lips, it is my new favorite song."

"Mine too. It played on the iPod as I was leaving work and it was like I had written it about you."

"I don't hate my laugh, but you think my laugh's sexy?" she asked with a bit of wonderment.

"Sexier than you realize. Hearing you so happy that you are expressing it through laughter makes my heart leap."

"The whole world stops and stares for a while." She looked up with a questioning expression.

I chuckled. "I knew we were going to end up debating this. Yes, everyone stops and stares at you."

"Jealous?" she teased.

"More like proud. Any man would kill to have you on his arm, but I am lucky enough that you chose me."

"You chose me, Dr. Cullen."

"I'm not going to debate that with you right now, love. No other woman has anything on you."

"Different song, Carlisle." She laughed.

"I like that one for you, too."

"Millions of girls, all over the world, I could be chasing?" Her skepticism was endearing.

"But they have nothing on you."

"No chasing or thinking about chasing," she charmingly ordered.

"Would you like a leash?"

"Carlisle!"

"I'm joking, love. God knows, I'm joking."

"I believe you when you compliment me," she said, quickly changing the subject.

"Sometimes, but I also have seen that adorable dismissing look when you don't believe me."

"But I always love the way I look in your eyes." How could she adore me as much as I adored her?

"That's because I always love you no matter how you look. I lied to you earlier when I said I think you are pretty without any make up on, because I actually think you are gloriously beautiful without it."

I pulled her close to me.

"Carlisle."

"Yes, goddess?"

"You can kiss me all day any day. I'm never going to not let you do that." She was tempting me and wasn't going to resist.

"Can I kiss you all day for the rest of the day?"

"The kids will be home soon."

"Rose and Emmett are away. I told Edward to stay home. I believe Alice may have set this in motion and Jasper's car is gone."

"I love that pixie," she murmured as she rubbed her nose along my jaw. "We're keeping her forever."

"As far as daughters go, she is pretty darn perfect."

"But enough about Alice."

"Yes, let's focus on Esme." I leaned down to begin the kissing that would last for the rest of the day by capturing her full lips with mine.

"And you wow when you ain't got nothing on," I muttered against her smile.

"Wild," she stated.

"What's that?" I asked as I drew back to see her eyes.

"The lyric is and you wild when you ain't got nothing on."

"That's even better and true, too."

She yelped in surprise as I reached down and grabbed the back of her thighs and lifted her, making her straddle my hips. She quickly relaxed and lazily wrapped her arms my neck and pressed her forehead to mine.

"I love you," she said just for me, an inch away from my lips. She had been my wife nearly 90 years and had said those three words thousands of times, but I would never tire of hearing them from her lips. I would never take for granted that I was the one she bestowed with such an honor.

Before I could repeat them she closed the gap, her hands pulled the back of my head toward hers as her tongue sliding across my lips, looking for a way in. I welcomed hers with mine.

If I had wanted her before, I wanted her even more with her literally wrapped around me.

I backed her up, our mouths fused together, until I could sit her on the island. As I placed her on the granite her eyes opened and she pulled away. My lips moved to her cheek and followed the trail to her neck hoping to stave off any objections. I slid my hands under the hem of her tank top to try to get her to stay. I wasn't going to get away with it.

"Not here," she whispered.

"No one is home, and no one's coming home," I reasoned with her as my lips pressed against her throat.

"It's not that; it's that I just scrubbed every inch of this kitchen."

I couldn't help but chuckle as I stood up to take her in. I was sure that she cleaned the entire house from top to bottom, in addition to however much time she spent doing work outside. Her hair was up in a messy knot. There was a rare streak of dirt on her shirt, which hugged her curves and her breasts. The jeans were skintight against her thighs and I couldn't wait to peel them off of her. Even with all of her hard work though, she still was perfect.

I lifted my hand to her cheek and stroked in gently. "You're beautiful."

"And you tell me every day," she said with a stifled giggle.

"And I mean it every day. I love you."

"I know."

"Then what's wrong with here?"

She bit her lip before blurting out, "It's not exactly sanitary."

God, I loved my wife. If that was her only objection I would compromise. "Esme, I will rescrub the entire kitchen with boiling water, bleach and a toothbrush." The words rushed out a bit too fast but I needed her, and from the scent mixing with her denim, I knew she desired me too.

She wasn't going to just throw her hands up and say alright. She leaned back slightly, supporting her weight on her hands and cocked her head to the side with an adorable smirk on her lips. Feisty Esme rarely made appearances for others, but alone with me she reared her head and I adored her.

"A toothbrush?"

"To make sure I get every inch."

"It seems like a duplication of efforts since every inch of this kitchen is already clean."

I let out a dramatic sigh and shook my head. "But you're wrong, love. You missed a spot."

"Where?" she asked and sat up straighter to look for the offending dirt, but she wasn't going to spot it because I was staring right at it.

"Right here," I said running my finger along the line of dirt that conveniently ran across her shirt at the top of her left breast. She glanced down at the spot I was moving my finger back and forth over.

"That doesn't count." Her voice had changed; the humor replaced slightly as her own needs were becoming more apparent to herself.

"What about here?" I said as my free hand touching her waist where barely a drop of water from the bucket had somehow touched her shirt.

Her body automatically reacted to my hand and she involuntarily leaned into it, but again said, "Still doesn't count."

"Well, I could make claims then about the dirt in my mind."

"Well, then I should probably sweep you out of the kitchen."

"Or you could finish cleaning up right here?" I questioned, the hopefulness obvious in my voice.

"You're so twenty-three sometimes," she teased.

"Only with you," I said as my hands drifted under the hem of her shirt and stroked the flesh at her waist. "Besides, it's about time we visited the island."

"I agree with you but this the wrong island."

"I disagree. Right now it's an island and Esme is on it. I think it could be deemed Isle Esme as well."

Her resistance was slipping and I could see her mind as it worked through those eyes and that expression. She leaned back, but this time onto her forearms. She wagged a finger at me as she said with a sigh, "Fine, but I'm going to hold you to the toothbrush."

I knew she wouldn't, but any surface that we violated I would gladly take care of later.

"Deal."

She nodded her consent and I dove in. I lifted her shirt a few inches higher as my lips pressed against the skin at her midriff. She let out a little noise in surprise. Apparently she wasn't expecting her tummy to be my first target but it was close to her thighs. While I wouldn't rip her pants off right away, it put me closer to her scent and where I soon wanted to be.

My tongue lavished over her stomach, belly button, and ribcage to right below her breasts. I glanced up toward her face. In her eyes I saw the lust that I had been making every effort to draw out, although I knew it wouldn't take much. I loved that look. It was one of the expressions I thought of when I was without her. It was a wonderful vision, but in person it dropped any defenses. I wasn't doctor, father or leader. I was hers.

She reached down and pulled her dirty tank top over her head and tossed it aside. She adorably bit her lip as I caught sight of her lacy black bra.

"Alice?" I asked, for surely this wasn't the undergarment she randomly threw on for housecleaning.

"She came in and started throwing clothes at me as she told me her and Jasper were going to Seattle. I told her I was going to clean then but the clothes were already on the bed. I just figured she wanted me to match and be fashionable in her usual way, but I'm guessing she knew more," she said with a chuckle.

My cell phone beeped at that moment. I yanked it from my pocket and read the message from Alice.

Alice: Have a good night you two. We're staying in Seattle tonight. We'll be home tomorrow night. You won't be interrupted.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Just confirmation from our daughter that we won't be interrupted for at least 24 hours."

"Good."

I grinned. I couldn't help it. I loved the moments when we had the house to ourselves. They were few and far between. With confirmation that we would remain alone she would be uninhibited.

I cupped her breasts through the lace. There was no shyness as she watched my hands gently knead her flesh through the thin material. She reached behind her and unhooked it.

"You are being awfully helpful, love," I teased. "Are you being a good girl for a reason?"

"The reason is that I want your hands and your lips all over my body and I'm just moving things along," she said as she punctuated that lusty sentence with a lingering kiss on my lips.

I grasped the top of the cups and pulled the bra away, down her arms and dropped it. I lightly grasped her breasts again as I kissed her shoulder and slowly made a trail of kisses downward until my face was at her breast bone. I looked up at her again and found that her eyes were on me. She brushed a hand through my hair to encourage me.

I darted my tongue out tasting her skin once more. I moved slowly to the left as I moved up her mound and around her areola before lightly flicking it over her nipple. Her body shivered beneath me. It was such a human reaction and one that I loved. I wrapped my lips around it and sucked it into my mouth as I ran my tongue over it. With one hand at the side of her waist, I wrapped my hand around her other breast and began flicking my thumb over the nipple that wasn't in my mouth.

With one hand she held the back of my head and with the other she touched the back of my busy hand. My mouth and hands switched places and she followed. I could hear from the noises falling from her mouth to my ears below that she was happy and aroused. I could have spent hours worshipping her breasts, but I had plenty of time to come back to them.

The hand at her hip dipped a finger below the waistband and traveled slowly around to the button of her jeans. I swiftly unhooked it and moved my mouth from her breast downward. While she let my head go she held my other hand firmly to her breast not releasing control for the moment.

"Honey, can I have my hand back, please?" I breathed against her navel before darting my tongue over it once more. She squeezed my hand but held on. "I need my fingers." She let go.

She shifted her hips forward as I pulled down her zipper, but suddenly she was leaning over me pulling at the knot of my tie. I hadn't taken off a thing since I walked in the front door. I was still wearing my jacket for Pete's sake.

"At least loose the tie and the jacket," she said as her breasts hung in front of my eyes as she pulled the tie off. I couldn't help myself from licking the top of the one closest to my mouth as I shrugged out of my jacket and dropped it to the floor. She deftly flicked open the top few buttons of my shirt, but then let it be as she sat back and waited for me to continue.

I reached down and pulled off her left sneaker, and then the right before returning to her jeans. I reached under her to lift her so I could slide the denim down from her waist exposing the scent rising from between her thighs. My mouth watered to drink from her. As I pealed her pants down and off her legs I removed her socks as well. Only a little bit of black lace still covered any part of her, but it was the part of her I wanted.

I lifted her foot in the air as I kissed the inside of her ankle and made my way down toward her inner thigh. I grazed my nose over the drenched crotch of her panties. I couldn't take it anymore.

I pulled her panties off in a flash leaving her completely nude. There was just a trail of venom left on her thigh from where the puddle that had been held in place between her body and the cloth separated as I pulled the fabric away.

I started there.

My tongue lapped up the dew on her thigh before pulling her closer to the edge of the counter, and pushing her legs just a little further apart. I ran one finger along her seam before following it with my tongue. She moaned my name above me. I dipped my tongue inside her and she gasped. Nothing tasted better than this, which only I could savor and my actions created.

I applied more pressure as I moved my mouth over her clit and slid a digit inside her. I suckled at her sex overwhelmed by the senses of her scent and taste and feel – the vibration of her body and sounds falling from her lips. I wouldn't stop, but I did look up.

Her hands were at her breast, squeezing, kneading, pulling, and making me wish I had two more hands. Her head was thrown back as she let go of everything, and gave herself over to her wants and to me.

I could feel her tightening; getting so close.

"Add another," she demanded and I slid another finger in her at her command.

"More." She groaned.

"More what?" I asked, not giving in so easily this time.

"Pressure. Another. So close!"

I nipped her clit with my teeth before pressing my tongue flat against it hard while adding a third finger. That was it.

She yelled as her orgasm took over her body. She shook beneath my mouth and fingers as her nectar continued to flow from her. She was mine.

She fell flat on her back on the counter while basking in her own glow. I licked every bit of moisture I could get to away before standing up. Splayed out before me, looking so satisfied, her body still showing signs of arousal, she was spectacular.

My own arousal was threatening to burst through my pants now and as she looked up at me with that nymph smile. She pushed herself up to sitting and wiggled a finger at me, calling me closer to stand between her curvy thighs. Her small hand reached up and stroked down my cheek to my jaw. I turned my head slightly to kiss the inside of her palm. She beamed up at me like I was the only person she had seen or would ever see. I was her best friend and she was mine.

She moved her lithe hands to my shirt and began unbuttoning where she had left off. I couldn't help but let out a small growl as she followed behind her hands with her lips on my chest. I could feel her lips turn up in a smile as I made that noise. She pushed the shirt off my shoulders and hopped down off the island to pull it from my wrists.

She hugged me then, her hard nipples rubbing against my chest, but she was also turning me around, my back now against the counter and my length pushing against her abdomen. Her fingers began working my belt and then my zipper. I longed for her touch.

My pants fell to my feet leaving me in my moist boxer briefs. Her hands slid behind me and below the waistband and ran over my buttock. I shuddered slightly, trying to hold it together. She felt it, and looked up at me with a devilish grin as she moved her hands once again to my waistband. She started pulling them down and let me spring free as my underwear fell to my feet.

Her eyes admired my erection as she suddenly reached for my waist and placed me in sitting position on the island. She disappeared below me as I felt her pull off my shoes, socks, pants and underwear before standing before me in all her glory once again.

"Now it's your turn, lover."

Her delicate hands stroked my thighs as she licked from my jaw to my navel. I was so lost in the sense of her tongue that I almost jumped off the island when her hand wrapped around my length.

She patted my thigh with her free hand and from my stomach said, "Relax, darling. Just relax."

Her hair was still pulled up on top of her head and I wanted to see it cascade down around her face. My hand went for the knot but she caught it.

"Let's leave it up for now."

She amazed me how my innocent looking wife could make her voice drip with sex. I hoped she was going where I was longing for with these actions. As her hand stroked down and her tongue lavished the tip, I knew she was.

She didn't do this often. It was a treat for me and she never indicated that she didn't find pleasure in it as well. The problem was me. The senses as I watched and felt Esme take me in her mouth were beyond anything else. The intimacy of this gesture from her meant so much. In this position, she made me let go of everything and just feel, which resulted with me, as our children would say, "loosing my shit." There was no muffling of cries. I would be gone and screaming out for her. She only ever does this when we are completely alone.

She slid her tongue up and down my shaft as her hands still massaged my thighs. Her hands were drifting in their movement though, and as they made their way to my balls she looked up from my lap with those dark eyes that shined brighter than any star. She winked at me and then opened her mouth and dropped it down over me until I could feel it against her throat and her nose rubbed against the fine hair on my body. She was still for a moment. Her head was tipped back and her eyes closed. When she opened them, I saw Esme the goddess.

Decades of practice she had spent perfecting her technique. It was never boring. It was never the same. She knew just the right strokes, the right places, the right amount of pressure, and the sounds – the moans coming from her throat letting me know she was enjoying herself, the sucking, the slurping – she wasn't holding back in anyway. Just as I desired her essence she needed mine.

As her mouth continued its ministrations, her hands were far from idle. They roamed from my thighs to my buttock and lingering over every bit of flesh in between. I was putty in her hands as involuntary noises fell from my lips. I couldn't control and wouldn't control the way my body bucked in her direction; after all it wasn't fazing her one bit.

Just as I could sense when she was close, she could sense me as well. To help me along she took one of those elegant fingers and ran it in between my cheeks down to the perineum and applied a bit of pressure sending me over the edge.

I roared her heavenly name as I convulsed. She held on, grasping my hips to keep me from falling off the counter. She gulped down every drop, and that noise alone probably lead to more being gulped.

When there was nothing left, for the moment, she slowly slid her mouth off, dragging her tongue with it. She kissed my inner thigh as was her one routine whenever she finished giving me this type of affection, and then rested her cheek against that spot.

I was already growing hard again. I couldn't help it as she was practically breathing on it.

She stood up with a slightly guilty, but so incredibly sexy, grin. The lust was still bright in her dark eyes. She was far from done with me, and I certainly wasn't done with her.

She suddenly pushed me back with two hands so my back was flat on the island and my legs were dangling over the edge. She lithely scaled the edge of the counter and straddled my waist. I thrilled at the feeling of her wetness against my stomach. She leaned over me pressing her chest against mine as she enveloped my lips with hers and said in her quiet way, "Now you can take my hair down."

I smiled as I reached up and grabbed the band holding it all in place and tugged it out, letting it fall perfectly without even trying around her face and shoulders. She sat back and looked down at me, her eyes roaming over my face and down my chest and arms. "So beautiful," she breathed.

"The view is even better from down here," I teased but at the same time meaning every word. "After all, I have an angel above me."

She bit her lip, and I could see her suppressing a bit of her sexy laugh.

She took each of my hands in her own and with no effort raised them over my head and as I had often done to her. She moved her body forward, sitting on my chest now, so she could grasp my wrists together in her small hand as she once again licked my lips. "A very naughty angel."

"A totally perfect one." She was absolute perfection in every way.

"I have my flaws, but I won't apologize for the naughty ones."

"They are not flaws, and there is nothing to apologize for except maybe making me take the Lord's name in vain."

She giggled at that, and I felt her trying to reposition her body. Her lower half was reaching out toward me, but her body was only so long. She couldn't hold my hands that high and impale herself on me. The physical limitations were becoming apparent to her too.

She was graceful in her movement as she slid her hands back down my arms and kissed my face, my jaw, and down my neck, lingering over my scar. She longed to kiss it away – make any mark that wasn't caused by her disappear. She could lick it and kiss it a thousand times, and she had, but it was permanent.

She must have sensed something and reassured me, "Without it you wouldn't be here with me. It is part of who you are." She kissed it gently now before she began adjusting her body again.

She lifted her hips and hovered over me. I was completely ready for her.

"Esme, love, I need you," I groaned as she teased me, sliding her clit against my tip, mixing our fluids.

She purred. "What do you need? What can I give you?"

"I need all of you. I need to be inside of you. I need to be one with you."

Her head had lolled back, but now she looked me directly in the eyes as she enveloped me. When she hit bottom, she sighed in contentment and I echoed her. Perfection. Being one with her were the most perfect moments of my life. It was like our bodies were formed to be joined this way. We were meant to be a whole.

I grasped her hips and her hand ran over mine. She was on top. She was in control. She began gliding up and down with just a little help from me. I sat up a little so I could touch her. I ran my hands over her perfect form – caressing her face, her shoulders, her arms, her hips, her breasts as her lips parted slightly, lettings out wonderful little moans from my touch and from her actions as she rode me. I sat up more so I could pull her to me. I caressed her smooth back and captured her lips. I reached down in between us and stroked her slippery bud as she continued to thrust her body against mine. She hissed and gasped and slid her tongue into my mouth. She was happy.

She moaned. I groaned. It was heaven.

She withdrew her mouth to gasp and secured her arms up my back with her hands on my shoulder as her muscles began to vibrate. My body reacted to hers and my own orgasm erupted deep inside her. I kissed her as we rode out the wave, and she pressed against me so hard that she couldn't get any closer.

As she came down from her high, I laid back keeping her secured to me. She once again uttered, "I love you."

"I love you too," I said as I lazily ran my fingers up and down her back. I was debating what to do next. With Esme there were so many possibilities.

I certainly wasn't ready to get out that toothbrush yet, although I knew it would be necessary. I could feel the results of our lovemaking running down my butt, landing on the counter and dripping onto the floor.

Again, she read my mind. "I'm not handing you a toothbrush yet, but I could hand you a sponge if you are really longing to clean."

I chuckled. "You are going to let me use a sponge now? Have you decided to go easy on me?"

"Oh I wasn't talking about cleaning the kitchen, dear. I was talking about cleaning me."

"That's a chore I would be happy to take care of immediately."

"So we're off to the shower?"

"How about a bath?"

"I love the way you think, Carlisle."

In one sweeping motion, I lifted my wife off of me and into my arms and was on my feet, carrying her bridal style out of the kitchen, leaving the iPod playing that we had tuned out in favor of our own soundtrack, the bucket on the floor and our clothes strewn around the room. I would take care of it all later. At that moment a bath was in order for the hardworking woman in my arms – my always amazing without even trying wife.

It was going to be a sunny day. It was rising in the distance. All the more reason to stay in bed.

We had relaxed in the tub for hours. There was cleaning, but there also was chatter and laughing and making love. It was a perfect way to spend an evening, but there was a lot of night left when we finally emerged from the water.

We quickly found ourselves in our bed and continued the mix of pillow talk and sex.

She now was to my right side and was partly on top of me, her breasts against me and her right leg draped over me with her head resting on my shoulder, my arm wrapped around her.

We could talk up a storm or lay there like this - quiet, just enjoying this closeness. There were times when the house was full that we just did this. We may not sleep, but that didn't mean we used this bed exclusively for sex. Often we escaped to this space and cuddled and talked. It was our sanctuary.

Her eyes were closed, and her face was perfectly content. She was the most beautiful creature in the universe. I would never look at another. I would never want another. It took me more than two centuries to find her and in the more than eight decades since no one had even come close to her equal.

"I need to take you away," she suddenly spoke. Her head didn't move.

I smiled. "Where do you want to take me?"

"Well we haven't been to the island enough in the last decade."

She was right. The island I had given her as a gift, which was meant to be our retreat, had been used more by our children than by us in the last decade.

"That's always your first choice."

I could feel her smile as she lifted herself to look at me. "I get you all to myself. No kids. No hospital. No worries. And you sparkling stark naked in the sun. Why would I want to go anywhere else?" Always concerned for my needs though she added, "But of course I'm making you take a trip instead of you whisking me off so if you prefer to go somewhere else…"

I reached up and brushed her hair out of her face. "You know there is no where I would rather be than with you naked on that beach, but are you comfortable being away for a while?"

With a rapidly growing granddaughter it had been hard for anyone in our family to be separated from Renesmee for long, but as her development had slowed it became easier to leave.

She nodded. "I think it is about time that we can be away for a time or am I being selfish wanting to take you away?"

I chuckled. "Esme, you are the least selfish person there is and you only voiced what I was thinking. We have been so entrenched here that we haven't take the time for us." I pulled her tighter against me. "The time between even these moments has been too much in recent years."

"The last thing I want is our granddaughter putting her questioning hand to my face and seeing an image of us like this or worse."

I kissed her forehead.

"So let's get out of here for a week or two. I'm in good graces at the hospital right now. I've barely taken any vacation time over the last several years. I'm sure I can take the time."

She pushed herself up and kissed my lips. "I think that sounds like a brilliant plan." She sat up with an eager look. "But in the meantime we could enjoy this sunrise from the local island downstairs."

I laughed. "And you were the one so against being on that island yesterday."

"It grew on me." She shrugged and went to get up but I grabbed her hand and she looked down at me.

"I say screw the sunrise and the island and let's just stay in this oasis right here. We have all day before anyone come home." She freely came back into my arms, and as I hovered above my stunning wife taking in her curves, her beauty and those eyes that I became lost in every day, I couldn't help but utter the words that started us on this path yesterday, "You're amazing."