We Heart It O/S Contest

Title: The Naked Man In My Bathtub

Rated M for lemons and profanity

Picture: 38

Word Count: 8,104

Summary: Bella comes home after a long and stressful day looking to blow off steam and spend some personal bathroom time. What happens when she walks in and finds it already occupied? –Edward/ Bella, AH

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters. Those all belong to Stephanie Meyer, that lucky bitch. I just like to play with them every now and then.

BPOV

I stormed into my apartment and kicked the door shut behind me. Then I turned around and kicked it once more just for emphasis. I'd just had the workday from hell, compounded by the breakup from hell, which had apparently driven me to the point of insanity as I'd somehow thought it would be a good idea to take a page out of my roommate's book and indulge in a session of "therapeutic" shopping. I hate shopping. Three and a half hours at Victoria's Secret, whilst putting a major cramp on my credit card, had done very little to lift my spirits.

Before the shopping spree, I'd been royally pissed off. Now I was pissed off, exhausted and maxed out. Yeah, Alice….some therapy.

Worst fucking day of my life.

The only thing I was looking forward to now was the bottle of rum in my freezer, followed by a private, very drunken fashion show in front of the antique full-length mirror Alice had installed in our bathroom. I might even invite Journey and their friends to the party for some serious karaoke and knicker-dancing. I figured the combination of 42 proof and sexy lingerie just might be enough to undo the damage Jake had just inflicted upon my self-esteem. My very practical, nigh on cynical, boyfriend of four years had suddenly decided to start believing in love at first sight, which apparently was reason enough to end our relationship. Or at least it was when the new object of his affection, whom he'd known for all of sixteen hours, was a D cup with the perfect 36-26-36 measurements. My own pathetically boyish 32-23-30 just didn't measure up.

Ha, I made a pun. And I wasn't even drunk yet…God, I needed a drink.

I headed to the bathroom to drop off the fruits of my labor, wondering briefly if Alice had left any Diet Coke in the fridge for me to pour my rum into. Eh, fuck the Coke. I'd just drink the rum straight. It wasn't like—my thought process cut sharply off as I stepped into the bathroom and instinctively dropped my bags and screamed.

Holy mother of a naked man in my bathtub.

Glorious, sculpted, wet naked man. I quickly turned my head away to focus on one particular rose in the wallpaper, but not before I'd taken a few precious seconds to scan then entire length of that chiseled, naked body and committed it to memory for later use. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that this particular naked man rubbed me the wrong way….and not in a way that a girl liked to be rubbed.

"Edward Anthony Cullen, what the fuck are you doing in my bathtub?"

My eyes slid to the side long enough to see that he had that cocky I-know-I'm-the-shit-and-can-do-whatever-I-want smirk on his lips which always made my palm itch and that he was still sprawled out in the same relaxed pose he'd been in when I'd come bursting in. He hadn't even bothered to cover himself.

"Well, hello to you too, Baby Bells. Interesting purchases you have there."

I glanced down to see that the contents of several of my bags had spilled out and strewn across the floor—a lacy barely there bra, a leopard print push up bra, several frilly little thongs and even one of those sheer naughty-maid looking things. As I bent down to shove the items back into the bags, I felt my face fill with the damned blush that always seemed to surface whenever he was around.

"Mind your own business and just answer the question," I muttered. "And stop calling me that! I'm not twelve anymore."

"No, you're certainly not," he murmured.

My eyes flashed up. I immediately averted them as I realized that this angle put me just about eye level with his still fully displayed junk. I grabbed a washcloth off the counter and tossed it at him.

"And for shit's sake, cover up!"

He chuckled as he caught the cloth before it could smack him in the face and obediently placed it over his lap.

"There, happy? And what's with the school-girl blush, Bells? You'd think you'd never seen a penis before."

"Of course I have," I mumbled.

One…which I was beginning to think was only a miniature scale model of the real thing. Montgomery fuck, even hard Jake's little prick had been nowhere near the size of that thing. And I so should not be thinking about my best friend's big brother's cock. My eyes flashed down for a nanosecond and back away. My best friend's big brother's well-endowed cock which was still noticeable even under the cloth. Jeez, did he have a semi?

Focus, Bella.

"You still haven't said what you're doing here."

"Well, it was a long day of traveling with lots of layovers, and spending all day in airplanes always makes me feel a little dirty and travel worn so I thought maybe a nice long soak—"

"I mean what are you doing in Seattle, wise-ass! In my apartment in particular. You're supposed to be in med school at Harvard, defiling someone else's bathtub."

"Didn't Alice tell you? I'm doing a clinical in Seattle. I'll be crashing on your couch for the next couple months."

My mouth dropped open. Couple months? I was supposed to spend the next couple months living with the man who'd made it his personal mission to make my life a living hell? Could this day get any worse?

Once upon a time, I hero-worshipped Edward Cullen. I'd become best friends with Alice in grade school and Edward had been her talented, brilliant, and altogether perfect older brother by three years. Back then he'd always been kind and patient with us—always willing to take the time to play games with us and teach us new things. He'd helped us build a treehouse, taught me how to fly a kite, skip rocks, play guitar, cheat at poker. I'd all but lived at the Cullen house back then, spending almost as much time with Edward as I had with Alice. The world just seemed so much fresher, brighter, more exciting whenever I was with him. My young, naive heart had assumed he felt the same.

By the time I was a freshman in high school, and Edward a senior, I was madly in love with him. He must have finally recognized it because that was when things changed. He'd started calling me Baby Bells and treating me like a mildly annoying child. I'd thought maybe he just didn't want to be seen associating with a "frosh" at school, and while that idea was upsetting, I'd somewhat understood it and thought I could live with it. But he'd started giving me the same patronizing treatment at his house whenever I went over to visit Alice.

That is on the rare occasions he was home and not out with one his many Barbie-doll girlfriends.

I'd been devastated and thrown up my natural shield of flippancy and biting sarcasm, which up 'til then had been reserved for my dysfunctional family and those skanky bitches at school. Edward had at first been amused and then must have seen it as some sort of challenge, dishing out snark for snark. The older I got the more creative and suggestive our insults had become, until it was a vicious cycle of who could burn the other worse. It was a relief that he'd chosen a school so far away because by the time I was eighteen we could barely tolerate being in the same room together. By then my schoolgirl heart had been successfully broken, and my crush crushed to the point of oblivion.

Well…almost to the point of oblivion. Unfortunately, my body still responded to his inhuman beauty, raising my heart rate and getting me all hot and bothered whenever he was in close vicinity, but honestly what woman's wouldn't? He looked like he'd just stepped down off Mount Olympus with that sculpted body, crooked smile, and coppery sex hair. It was just a shame that the man inside that beautiful shell was such an arrogant ass-hat.

Edward cocked an eyebrow at me. "I'll take that blank expression as a no?"

I pulled myself out of my stupor. Fuck, the way he'd gloat if he knew the effect his naked body was having on me. Of course, the way my eyes kept flicking down to the impressive cock, which was merely molded and outlined by the wet rag rather than concealed by it, was probably a dead giveaway. By the smirk on his face, I'd say he thought so too. I crossed my arms and tried to evince the exasperated anger I knew I should be feeling.

"No, she neglected to mention it. Why the hell can't you get your own apartment? And don't pull the starving med student card 'cause I know for a fact your parents have money out the ass."

"I don't like taking handouts from the folks."

"Oh, but it's perfectly okay to mooch off your sister and her best friend?"

Edward's insufferable grin finally slid into an irritated scowl as he rose carelessly to his feet and casually reached past me for a towel. My eyes widened and I turned away, my face once again flushing furiously. It was too late, though, and I knew the image of water streaming down off all that naked perfection was going to be forever burned in my brain.

And likely the focal point of many a private fantasy.

"I'll buy my own food, cook my own meals. Alice said it was no problem, so what's the big deal? Or are you afraid I'll cramp your style? Good ole Jake wouldn't like you living in close quarters with another guy, is that it?"

His derisive remark hit a raw nerve, as I now had no style to be cramped and no Jake to give a damn who I lived with. It drove me to lash back out, despite the fact that he couldn't have known he was opening a wound.

"Maybe I'm just trying to look out for you. I doubt Barbie would take too kindly to you living here alone with two women, even if one of them is your sister."

"You looking out for me. That'd be the day. And who the hell is Barbie? I've never dated a Barbie in my life."

"I can't keep up with all your women. I just call them all Barbie."

Edward chuckled. "And what made you pick 'Barbie'?"

I smirked. "Because it fits. They all have plastic bodies and empty heads."

To my disappointment, Edward, rather than being offended or angry, simply threw his head back and laughed.

"I always could count on you for a good comeback, Baby Bells," he snickered as he tied the towel around his waist and stepped out of the tub. "These next couple months should be interesting."

I let out a little half-scream, half-growl of frustration and turned on my heel to storm out of the bathroom. The laughter echoing from behind me just made me grit my teeth harder. I was getting my fucking rum.

By the time Edward came strolling into the kitchen, I was sitting on the countertop swigging Parrot's Bay straight from the bottle. My eyes drank in the sight of him dressed only in a pair of low-slung jeans and an unbuttoned shirt, even while my mind cursed him for being so damn sexy. Belatedly, I noticed his cocky smirk and the little scrap of lace he was holding up.

"And here I always had you tagged for the cotton briefs type."

Normally I would have been mortified to see Edward holding up the ivory lace cut-out teddy I had just bought myself, not to mention the fact that he'd even spent time considering what underwear type I was, but I already had a fifth of a bottle of rum in my system and my brain had long since entered into Bella's Protective Fuck the World mode. BPFW for short. So instead of blushing and muttering something incoherent as Normal Bella would have done, Pissed-Off-I'm-Done-Taking-Shit Bella raised one eyebrow and replied saucily, "You like that? Stick around for Part 2 of tonight's entertainment. It's the fashion show portion."

"What's Part 1?"

"Part 1 is the Bella Gets Stinking Drunk part."

Edward finally noticed the bottle of rum in my hand and strode angrily forward to snatch it away from me.

"Jesus Christ, Bella, you can't just chug that stuff straight out of the bottle. What's the matter with you? This can't just be about me crashing here."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Only you would be self-centered enough to think this was all about you. Newsflash for you, Edward, the world doesn't revolve around you. I was already upset long before you showed up and pushed that last rock off the avalanche that is my life."

He looked taken aback for a moment by my heated outburst; but then his lips quirked, and he touched a finger lightly to my bottom lip, saying, "'Teach not thy lip such scorn, for it was made for kissing, lady, not for such contempt.'"

I sneered and smacked his hand away, unreasonably infuriated that he would make jokes at a time like this and try to use Shakespeare against me even while I was secretly impressed that he knew the line offhand.

"I'll teach this lip all the damn scorn I want, and don't even think you can best me with The Bard. Or did you forget I'm a literary critic for the Seattle Times with a minor in Shakespeare Studies? And my boss may be a cunt-licking, sausage-stuffing son of a bitch, but even he'll tell you I'm fucking good at my job."

"Wow, I'm sorry. Shit. I thought you'd appreciate the reference is all. That's a lot of anger you've got going on there. Is it something you want to talk about?"

I scowled down at the glass of coke-diluted rum Edward handed me.

"As if you care. And no, I don't want to talk about it. All I wanted to do was get very drunk and try on all my pretty new underwear, and somehow you managed to fuck even that up for me."

Edward froze for a moment, and the strange look that came over his face gave me pause. I couldn't quite place it. Was it shock? Horror? Irony? Regret? He sighed deeply and shook his head.

"Of course I care, how could you even think that? I know our relationship has been a little...unconventional the past several years, but I never thought—I guess I always assumed that closeness we once had was still buried in there somewhere. That those little battles of wit we shared were our way of showing affection even. Maybe I was wrong about all that, but I've always cared, Bella."

"Oh? I always thought they were your way of telling me what you thought of me. Or in this case how little you thought of me. And it's Bella now? What happened to Baby Bells?"

"I'm retiring that nickname, it's served its purpose," he stated ambiguously, before coming to stand in the open space between my legs and rubbing the outsides of my thighs in a way that was probably meant to be comforting, but which I was finding very distracting.

"I never meant to hurt you, Bella." He grimaced slightly. "Okay, maybe at one time it was intentional, but I promise you it wasn't because of 'how little I thought of you'. It was because I thought of you….too much."

I frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

Edward sighed again. "You're really going to make me explain it, aren't you?"

"You bet your tight ass I am, buster! I've just had one of the worst days of my life, and then you just show up with all your—" my hand waved vaguely up and down his body "—in my—" I pointed in the direction of the bathroom "—giving me the same hard time you have since I was fourteen, and now you say something all cryptic and Edward-like like that and I want to know what the hell you mean by it."

He smirked a little and got a mischievous look in his eye. "You think I have a tight ass?"

"Don't change the subject."

His smile faltered, and he hesitated. "I don't want this to make things awkward between us."

"Edward, our relationship for the past eight years has consisted of insults, mockery, and pretty much just going at each other's throats. How much more awkward can it get?"

Edward's eyes dropped to my throat then trailed farther down to the bit of cleavage created by one of the many bras I'd bought today and revealed by the V of my blouse. I'd seen him look at me this way before but it was usually followed up by some barb about my style or lack there-of. This time he just licked his lips and lifted his gaze back to my face. My heart sped up a little at the unexpected intensity of that gaze. Then he slowly pulled my hips forward until they came into contact with his, and I gasped, feeling the flush come over me at the feel of his hard erection pressing against my pelvis. Edward leaned forward and whispered roughly in my ear.

"This is why I always gave you a hard time, Bella. To keep myself from giving you the other 'hard time' I wanted to give you."

This would have been the perfect opportunity to say something suave and sexy. Hadn't I spent the last eight years pretending I'd gotten over my feelings for Edward and denying my attraction to him? And now here he was, standing in my kitchen and rubbing his hard-on against me, saying he'd always wanted me. A mature, sophisticated woman would take every advantage of this situation.

Being Bella, I blushed and stuttered.

"You-you wanted me?"

"Since you were fourteen and far too young for a seventeen year old to be thinking of that way. You were sweet and beautiful and so damn pure. Every time you looked at me with your heart in your eyes, I was so damn tempted to corrupt you. I didn't trust myself around you; so yes, I'll admit I tried to push you away. I was mean to you because I thought making you hate me was the only way to keep you safe from me. But you then you gave every bit as good as you got, and before long I was looking forward to all those exchanges. You've always been the only one who could outwit me."

I stared at him in shock. "And all this time I thought it was because you didn't like me…"

Edward shook his head ruefully. "Just the opposite. Only by the time you were finally old enough for me to do something about it, I'd missed my chance. You were with that damn dog."

"Jake? But you once said he was out of my league."

"You would take that the wrong way. I believe I said, 'You shouldn't play outside of your own league.' I meant he wasn't good enough for you."

"Oh."

I stared down at my forgotten glass and reflected on the irony of it all. All the miscommunications between Edward and myself. All that time he'd secretly wanted me, thought that Jake wasn't good enough for me, and Jake apparently thinking I wasn't good enough for him. Well, fuck Jake. He couldn't even live up to Edward's shadow.

"Bella? Are we…I mean is this going to make things weird now?"

I set my glass aside and finally looked up at him with a provocative smile. "Well….I don't know. I mean, you are still pushing your hard-on against my crotch."

He froze, and his eyes got comically wide before he started to back away. I locked my legs around his waist to keep him in place, watching the confusion come over his face. I smiled as I leaned forward and his hands automatically gripped my hips to keep me from falling off the counter. I stroked my hands up his bare torso and gave him one of those beneath-the-eyelash looks, my confidence suddenly returning to me in full stride.

"It would be a shame to let it go to waste."

His hands tightened on my hips, and his breath hitched. "Bella?"

I leaned forward a little more and began nibbling my way up his neck. He remained frozen, neither pushing me away nor joining in with me. I decided to infer the not pushing me away as a sign to continue. This was something I'd dreamed about doing for far too many years. Fuck, he smelled delicious. Like citrus and sandalwood and cinnamon. I finally understood why Big Red gum always made me a little horny.

"Come on, Edward," I purred. "You've always been so good at giving me a hard time. This time I actually want you to."

I sucked his earlobe into my mouth and felt his cock twitch against me, sending a rush of heat and moisture through my girl parts. His hands left my hips to roam up and down my sides, over my ass, and down my thighs again. I wondered if he was aware he was doing it.

"Bella, what about Jake?"

"Jake left me for Boobzilla. I didn't measure up."

I chuckled a little at my own private joke, the shock of Edward's revelation having somehow annihilated the pain of Jake's betrayal.

The hands paused. "What?"

"He broke up with me for a Double-D named Rena. What kind of name is Rena anyway? Sounds like she belongs on one of those little cards they hand out on the streets in Vegas."

My mouth was still on its mission to map out the terrain of Edward's neck, but his hands came up to cup my face, tilting it up towards his. That crooked smile was on his lips, and it was a beautiful thing to see when it was in response to something I'd said rather than at my expense. He gently tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"I always said that mutt was a stupid douche. Now he's just proved me right. She could be a carbon copy of Elvira and she still wouldn't be half the woman you are."

Even as my heart began to melt at the sentiment, I felt the laughter bubble up through my chest. This was the Edward I'd missed. The one who could make me go all gooey and laugh at the same time.

"Elvira, Mistress of the Dark?"

Edward grinned bashfully and shrugged one shoulder. "We used to watch Movie Macabre together, remember?"

I smiled at the memory. "Those were good times. I miss them. I remember you used to have a thing for Elvira. It's why I dressed up as her for Alice's Halloween party when we were thirteen."

"I know. That was the first time I started having thoughts about you that I knew I shouldn't."

I walked my fingers down his chest and traced them lightly across the top of his jeans, feeling his cock twitch against me again. I hooked my fingers in his jeans and tugged him closer, wriggling my own hips against him until he was lined up right where I needed him. Edward inhaled sharply then seemed to stop breathing altogether. If I rocked against him the right way, his head of his cock would now push into my clit. I rocked. Edward twitched. We both shuddered a little.

"And what kind of thoughts are you having about me now?"

Edward's eyes darkened before traveling down to my red silk blouse and black trousers and back up again. "I'm thinking we should proceed to Part 2 of tonight's entertainment."

"But I never finished Part 1," I pouted. "Someone went and poured Coke in my rum."

"Hmm, my mistake. Let me remedy that for you."

Edward grinned wickedly as he picked up the glass and bottle, intentionally spilling some over the rim so that it dripped onto my neck and down my chest. I gasped at the feel of the cold liquid hitting my skin, then again as Edward dipped his head and followed the trail of rum with his tongue. My head fell back, my breathing grew heavy. He reached the first button of my blouse and paused. His fingers came up to trace along the edges of my shirt, brushing lightly over the swell of my breasts and dipping under to come frustratingly close to my already peaked nipples.

"Oops. I think we got some on your shirt. It'll have to come off."

I started to lift my hands to the buttons, but Edward took my hands and placed them on the counter behind me so that I was leaning back with my breasts thrust out. He nipped my earlobe and demanded harshly in my ear, "Keep them there."

Shit, had I said cocky was a bad thing? Cocky was HOT.

He kept one hand against the small of my back, rocking his hips tortuously slow against mine, while his other hand worked the buttons of my blouse. He covered each new expanse of skin with a soft kiss until finally all the buttons were undone, and I was a panting mass of frustration. Edward pulled back slightly to push the blouse off my shoulders and take in the black lace-up bustier I was wearing, which I'd told myself I was buying for the cuteness factor and not because it reminded me of Elvira. By the way he was staring, slack-jawed and openmouthed, I was glad it was the piece I'd decided to wear home.

"Fuck me sideways..." he whispered.

"Sideways, forward, backward, and every which way 'til Sunday so long as you fucking touch me already!" I demanded as I reached forward and grabbed the lapels of his shirt to yank him down to me.

His lips were on mine, finally on mine, and it wasn't the fireworks or the earthquake I'd once thought it might be. It was an inferno. His hands were fisted tightly in my hair, holding my head back while his mouth plundered mine. His lips were hard and rough against mine, his tongue invading my mouth and demanding a response I was powerless to deny. I bit his lip, and he growled and angled my head to deepen the kiss further. One hand reached down to grip my hip while he thrust his hips forward forcefully, driving his cock hard against me and making me cry out in pleasure.

Edward stopped suddenly, leaning his forehead against mine while he clenched his eyes shut and took several deep breaths.

"Edward—?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to rush this, Bella."

What? He was stopping?

"But—"

"I've waited years for this moment. I plan to take my time with you. Savor every last bit of you."

Certain swollen parts of me clenched down in response to his words. Holy Shitballs. This man was going to be the death of me.

Edward pried my hands out of his shirt and placed them on the counter behind me again.

"Hands," he warned me. I swallowed and nodded, weirdly and violently turned on by this kinky, domineering side of him.

Edward kissed me again, softly this time, sucking one of my lips between his and running his tongue lightly across it and then repeating the gesture on the other lip before finally slipping his tongue slowly into my mouth. One of his hands came up to cradle my neck and rub light circles just behind my ear with his thumb. It was an odd combination of soothing and erotic at the same time. I moaned and itched to run my fingers through his hair, but I left them firmly where he'd planted them.

His lips ghosted over the arch of my throat, while his hands came to rest on either side of my ribcage and edged slowly up toward my breasts. I bent back further, trying to lure his lips and hands closer to where I wanted them. His mouth finally nestled in the dip between my breasts just as his hands came up to cover them. His fingertips traced along the edge of the bustier and just barely grazed along the top outer portion of my nipples. Suddenly he hooked his fingers inside the cups, pulled them down so that they were framing my breasts and pushing them up and in. He traced his tongue around the edge of one nipple, then pulled it into his mouth and sucked hard while his hand came up to roll the other one between his fingers. I whimpered and rocked my hips harder against him, already moments away from my first orgasm. Edward dug his fingers into my hip to hold me still and prevent me from finding my release.

My legs tightened around him as I instinctively reached up to cradle his head to my breast and bury my fingers in that soft hair. Edward growled before reprimandingly biting down on my nipple in a way that hurt so good it nearly sent me into orgasm anyway. He let go of the nipple with a pop and reached up to untangle my fingers from his hair. With a stern look, he place them once again on the counter, then held them there with one hand cuffed around my wrists. His head dipped again and he took the other nipple into his mouth, rolling it between his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

I writhed against him but stilled when I felt him place his free hand flat against my abdomen and slide it slowly down. He reached the waistband of my pants and continued down, cupping my sex overtop of the pants and pressing his fingers against my hot center. His lips came up to my ear, his tongue flicking out to trace the shell.

"Fuck, Bella, you're so wet for me I can feel you through your pants."

It was weird, with Jake I'd never been much into the dirty talk; but with Edward, every word he uttered just made me that much hotter. I was quickly reaching the end of my tether, and I wanted to drive him every bit as out of control as I was. Keeping my hands where they were, I pushed my pelvis against his hand and turned my head so that my lips were against his ear.

"You think that's wet? You should feel it on the inside…."

His eyes met mine, and his lips curved into that sexy smirk. "Oh, I plan to."

Edward's hands went to the snap of my pants and quickly pulled down the zip. I lifted my hips to help him pull them off, then smiled at the way he stilled and stared at the matching black mesh cheekies I had on. I leaned back on my hands and opened my legs in invitation. Edward stepped in close, dragging his fingers from my ankle, achingly slow up the inside of my leg, past my knee, up my thigh and finally to my sweet spot. I let my head fall back as his fingers began caressing me through the mesh of my panties. Then my mouth dropped open when he slipped two fingers beneath the hem and pushed them into me at the same time he began tracing circles around my nipple again, flicking it with his tongue.

My legs trembled as his fingers found a rhythm, his thumb pressed against my clit, causing the tension inside me to wind impossibly tighter, and each of my breaths to come out in a whimpery moan. My arms began shaking too, and just when I thought I was about to explode…he pulled back. My head snapped up, but he just grinned and began tugging on my panties. I lifted my hips eagerly, letting him pull them down my legs and off my body. Then he slid my ass to the edge of the counter and dropped down until his face was between my legs.

I gasped and nearly tried to clamp my legs shut in embarrassment, but the moment his tongue touched me my legs fell weakly to the sides. He dragged his tongue up my slit then spread me open with his fingers while his tongue drew lazy circles around my clit. Then he was working me with both hand and mouth, and the pleasure was so intense I could feel the tingling start in my toes, my thighs quivering uncontrollably. My arms gave out, and I dropped back onto my elbows, moaning like a porn-star. Huh. And here I always just accused them of overacting.

Those long, nimble fingers were strumming me with the same expertise they had once strummed a guitar, and I swear this man was the Jimi Hendrix of female anatomy. His fingers found some magic spot inside me at the same time he sucked my clit into his mouth and pressed the flat of his tongue against it. The tension broke. I cried out as my walls clenched violently down on his fingers. He stroked me gently and trailed soft kisses up my abdomen to my sternum and along my throat, letting me ride out the waves of ecstasy.

When his lips found mine again, I devoured his mouth, both weak and hungry at the same time and surprisingly turned on by the taste of myself on his lips. My hands came up to grip his hair, and this time he didn't stop me. I scratched my nails lightly against his scalp, which elicited a moan from him, so I repeated the motion. I nipped at his lips, then trailed biting little kisses across his jaw and down his throat. My energy was suddenly returning to me threefold. My hands pushed his shirt off his shoulders and to the floor.

Edward's hands pulled at the laces of my bustier, while my own worked at the button fly of his pants. I pushed him back a step and hopped down off the counter. My hands roamed around to his back and slipped down inside his pants to caress his ass while my tongue licked a path up his neck to that sensitive spot just behind the ear. I slowly slid my hand around front until it was wrapped firmly around his dick, and then I whispered in his ear.

"You don't know how many times I've gotten myself off on fantasies of this cock buried deep inside me."

His breath shuddered out, and his hands spasmed on my shoulders.

"But first I want to taste you. Everywhere."

Before he could comprehend or interfere in any way, I'd dropped to my knees in front of him and shoved his pants to his ankles. I took his cock in my hand, licked a slow trail up the large vein along the bottom and circled around the head with my tongue, then finally took him deep into my mouth. His hands fisted tightly in my hair.

"Bella—holy hell."

I slid my mouth teasingly slow up and down his shaft, using my fist to pump the part I couldn't fit in sync with my mouth. My free hand moved down to cup his balls and gently stroke that smooth patch of skin just behind them. I massaged them lightly in my palm, while hollowing out my cheeks to suck a little harder on his dick. His hands began to push on my head while his hips thrust reflexively, urging me to speed up my movements. I wriggled my tongue around and focused much of my attention on that spot where the shaft met the head. I relaxed my throat, allowing him to move deeper and occasionally holding my breath to hold back my gag reflex every time he hit the back of my throat. Edward's grip tightened and his thrusts became faster and more irregular. I glanced up to see his head thrown back and the cords of his neck taut with tension. My body flooded with a fresh wave of heat at the sight.

Suddenly he was pulling out of my mouth, tugging on my hair to pull me upright. His mouth slanted over mine, and his tongue drove wildly into my mouth. I moaned when his hand jerked my hips forward and ground his cock against my mound. I wrapped one leg around his to get closer and increase the delicious friction.

"Fuck, I don't even want to know where you learned to do that," Edward rasped against my lips.

"Cosmo," I muttered.

"Hmm?"

"I read it in Cosmo."

His lips burned down the side of my throat, and his teeth scraped over the curve of my shoulder. "Remind me to write them a thank you letter. Now where the fuck is your bedroom?"

"That way," I pointed vaguely.

Edward hoisted me up, and I gladly wrapped my legs around him. He stumbled his way through the kitchen to the living room while my lips and hands moved restlessly all over him. I sucked on his neck and explored the broad expanse of his back, while rubbing my nipples shamelessly against his chest. With every step he took, I could feel the head of his cock brushing against my entrance and I tried desperately to wiggle closer but his hands were cupped over my ass and held me just out of reach. I bit roughly on his jawbone in frustration.

Edward inhaled sharply and then mumbled something incoherent before dropping me on my knees in front of the couch. I was confused until I felt him drop down behind me with his knees placed just outside of mine. He reached around and slid his hands up my ribs to cup my breasts and pulled me back until the entire length of my back was flush against his chest. I could feel his erection against my ass.

Edward gently moved my hair to the side to place soft kisses along my neck and shoulder. I let my head fall back to the side to rest on his shoulder. One of his hands glided down over my stomach and between my thighs to test my readiness for him. I could have told him I was more than ready. I'd never been this wet and turned on in my life. My ovaries had started building an ark down there.

His hand disappeared, and I felt him finally positioning himself at my entrance. It should have seemed somewhat impersonal, having him take me from behind, but somehow with the way our bodies were connected from shoulder to pelvis and with his cheek pressed against mine...the moment was more tender and intimate than any I had ever experienced. The moment seemed to stretch on forever with both of us still and hovering on the edge of anticipation until it became too much for me and I tilted my hips back, taking just the tip of him inside me. Edward groaned and dropped his chin into the crook of my shoulder.

And the dance began.

Edward pulled my hips back and thrust forward. I gasped at the feeling of impossible fullness. The way he had my legs tucked between his made the fit tighter and the sensations that much more magnified. He began a slow rocking motion, pulling out just a little bit further each time before thrusting back in. I followed his movement, my hands reaching behind me and gripping his hips tightly for support. I was already on the brink of orgasm and sounds were falling from my lips that I'd never made before.

Edward's hands crept back up to my breasts and began rolling and tugging on my nipples, sending sparks of electricity shooting straight to the area where our bodies were joined. I brought my hands up to his hair and began tugging gently and scraping my nails over his scalp. He growled into my neck, and his movements became faster and more forceful. I knew I was moments away from the best orgasm of my life, and one of my hands reached down to push the button that would send me over the edge.

Edward caught it before I could grasp that Holy Grail and pulled it back away, slowing down his movements as well. I groaned at the sight of that O drifting away from me, but then he took my other hand and wrapped them both over the back of the couch so that I was bent over the couch cushion, and my groan turned into a moan at the way this position deepened the angle of penetration. Edward bent over me, trailing his lips down my spine. His fingers traced light circles over my sides and abdomen. His knees pressed my legs closer together, and everything I thought I felt before paled in comparison to the intensity of what I was feeling now.

"Oh God, Edward!" I cried out, overwhelmed by the sensations and desperate now for release. "Please..."

"Please what, Isabella?" he whispered in my ear. "You know I'd do anything for you."

"Please...harder..."

His hands gripped my hips as he drove into me in hard, quick thrusts that were still tortuously paced out.

"Like that? Is this what you want?"

I nodded furiously, gripping the couch cushion so hard that my knuckles were white.

"Fuck, yes. More."

"More what? Tell me."

One hand came up to pinch and pull on my nipple, and it was almost enough to send me over, but just not quite.

"God, Edward, I need...please...God, just fuck me, Edward!"

"Fuck..." he hissed and began driving into me hard and fast.

The coil began winding tight inside me, and then he tilted my pelvis and began hitting a spot deep inside me. You know, that spot. The one that up until this point I didn't even believe actually existed. At the same time, he brought those magic fingers to my clit, and then everything exploded inside me in so many colors, that for a moment, it all went white and then gold tinged and then just kind of hazy. Vaguely I was aware of Edward shouting out my name and thrusting jerkily into me while his dick pulsed and my walls throbbed around him. He collapsed down on top of me, his sweaty chest sticking to my sweaty back, and his breathing harsh in my ear. Neither of us moved for a long time, and something about the way his body was wrapped around me and inside me made me feel warm and safe and cherished, and I thought I would be perfectly happy to never move again. Although I don't think Alice would be too excited by the new living room decor.

"Holy shit," I said, when I finally felt like I could breathe again.

"I'll see that holy shit and raise you a wow."

I giggled. Edward slowly slid out of me and turned me around to face him. He cupped my face and kissed me tenderly. I gazed into his startlingly green eyes and couldn't believe the amount of emotion I was seeing there. Was it really possible it had been there all along and that, like me, he'd just been hiding it behind antagonism? Could I trust that this was real and not just a passing whim for him?

Edward smoothed my hair down with his hands while I gazed up at him. He smiled sweetly at me before cradling my head to his chest and holding me tight against him. He kissed my head and rubbed soothing circles on my back while we both just sat there and held each other.

"You know I'm not going to let you go now, right?"

I turned my head to smirk up at him. "That's going to get a little awkward when Alice gets back."

He didn't react to my joke, his face remaining soft and somber. "I've waited a long time for this, Mia Bella. I can't go back to the way things used to be."

My heart melted at the use of his old nickname for me—the one he'd given me before adolescence and hormones and pride and stupidity had come between us. I'd been his Bella then, and he was finally my Edward again. The one I'd loved and missed all these years. If only I'd known he'd been missing me right back, that we'd both been throwing up pretenses. We could have saved a lot of time. And indulged in a lot of mind-blowing sex.

"I don't want it to go back," I assured him with a smile.

Edward framed my face in his hands. "Be sure. I don't just want to be a rebound from—"

I placed my finger over his lips to shush him. "I was never in love with Jake. I think I just stayed with him because it was safe and easy and comfortable. He hurt my pride when he left, not my heart. It's always been you, Edward. Maybe you getting sent to Seattle for your clinical was just Fate's way of stepping in and knocking our heads together," I teased, needing to lighten the gravity of what I'd just confessed.

"Actually Fate had very little to do with it. I chose to come to Seattle."

I frowned. "But I thought you guys got sent out by some type of lottery deal."

"Sort of. We get to write down our top five choices, but with everyone else vying for Florida and California, there was never much doubt I would land Seattle."

"You chose Seattle over Florida or California? Why would you do that?"

"Because I was done waiting out Jake. I talked Alice into letting me stay here so I could be close enough to push him out of the picture. It was sneaky and selfish and underhanded, I know, but...I didn't want to wait anymore, Bella. Are you mad?"

I eyed him seriously for a moment, letting him sweat it out a bit, but honestly how could he think I'd be angry? He came to Seattle for me. He could have gone somewhere warmer and sunnier and so much more exciting, but he chose rainy old Seattle for me. It was sweet and touching, and if anything, I was only angry he'd never spoke up sooner. We could have saved a lot of time and heartache, but that was in the past, and it was about time Edward and I put all that nonsense away and moved forward. Together. So finally I smiled and threw my arms around him.

"Of course I'm not angry, you knucklehead. I'm glad. I'm really, really glad, and I can guarantee you wouldn't have had too hard a time pushing Jake out of the picture. I've loved you since I was twelve, and even when I hated you, I still couldn't stop loving you."

Edward grinned triumphantly and suddenly scooped me up in his arms and began striding toward the bedroom. I cocked an eyebrow questioningly at him, His grin merely widened in response.

"In that case, I believe you still owe me forward, sideways and every which way 'til Sunday," he stated. "And today's only Tuesday..."

I threw my head back and laughed. "And you think you're just going to keep me in bed all week and hold me to that promise?"

I screeched a little when Edward dropped me with a bounce on the mattress. Before I could even catch my breath, he was beside me with his head propped up on one elbow and a challenging little smirk on his face.

"What's the matter? Afraid you don't have the stamina for it?"

"Oh, I've got the stamina. I was just thinking maybe I should go a little gentle on you, what with your old age and all."

Edward rolled on top of me and began nuzzling along my throat and jaw. "Is that a challenge I'm sensing there? You know I can never turn down a challenge. We'll see which one of us cries mercy first..."

My breath caught when he hitched my leg over his hip, and I felt his hard tip nudging at my entrance again. I wrapped my other leg around him and met his challenging stare with one of my own.

"Well then, lay on, MacBuff, and damned be him who first cries 'Hold! enough!'"