A/N – This was originally written for the Fandom Gives Back.

Summary: Bella is shocked when Edward Masen sends her a friend request on Facebook. Ten years after their breakup, what could he possibly want with the rising star author?

Accept or Ignore the possibility of a reconciliation with her long lost love?

Thanks to Twilightmomoftwo for her beta skills and KatieCav & Lilbit42_ for pre-reading this.

Disclaimer: I don't own this. I just play around with these characters for my own non-profitable amusement.

Internet Reconnect

Izzy Bella has one new friend request

I clicked on the link in my email to see who had recently joined the fray of Facebook users wanting to be 'friends'. I used that term loosely since now that my first novel had been published and was tracking to be a New York Times bestseller, 'friends' were coming out of the woodwork. All thinking that they had somehow contributed to my success and were secretly hidden within the pages of my fictional account of a Midwestern high school. For some reason, the definition of fiction was eluding most of them. While a few of my very close friends were loosely represented in my book, it was a made up account of what I wished high school could have been for me, instead of the horror, ridicule filled hell that I'd been subjected to for four years within the walls of Thomas Jefferson High.

The book's premise was about a shy, bookish girl being thrust into popularity and gaining the eye of the school's resident bad boy, and all the trials and tribulations she'd had to go through before realizing that her dream of popularity wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The story seemed to resonate with the young adult crowd, and I was proud of the moral statement it was making as well.

When I finally looked at the e-mail I'd just opened, I almost spit my coffee out all over the screen.

Edward Masen has requested to be your friend – Confirm / Ignore

My hands shook, finger lingering over the mouse button, unsure which to choose. I'd longed to hear from my first, and so far only, love for so long that even seeing his name in the e-mail before me made my blood rush through my veins.

We'd tried to continue our relationship after high school, but the pull of new friends and experiences coupled with the distance between us crumbled the fragile love we'd only just found the last semester of high school. I'd never thought someone like him would've fallen for someone like me. I was a theater geek who always had her head in a book while he was on the periphery of being part of the popular crowd, in a rock band that people were just starting to notice. I'd followed his career from afar finding out tidbits from our last few remaining mutual friends. I'd never thought about cyber-stalking him until right now. I accepted his friendship request and immediately went to his page.

Seeing his photo avatar was almost like looking at my yearbook. The eight years since high school had treated him well, and aside from the longer hair and scruff, he pretty much looked exactly the same. I was flipping through the photos that he'd been tagged in, a slew of ones from the various shows his band had done along with various college photos of him and his buddies. Shockingly there were very few with him and other women, which surprised me for someone in a band with his rugged good looks.

Bella, are you online?

A message popped up on my screen from Facebook's chat box. Edward was messaging me. I reeled back, almost throwing my computer off of my lap.

Shit, shit shit, I repeated in my head, not knowing if I was ready for a walk down memory lane. I hadn't spoken to Edward in almost ten years, but my heart still remembered every square inch of him. Every little thing he did to woo me during our brief courtship. The last one I recalled was him wading into the pond in the back of my neighborhood to pick me a water lily, illegally, mind you, since they were protected flora, all to say he was sorry about the fight we'd had earlier in the day. The makeup sex we had in the back of his tiny Honda would be one of the last times we were able to sneak away before going our separate ways to colleges hundreds of miles apart.

Bella?

My fingers hovered over the keyboard waiting for my mind and heart to finally agree which was going to take the lead.

Edward, hi. Lame, but a start.

God, it's been so long. How are you?

I'm well. Busy. What are you up to these days? I figured if I was going to chat him up, I might as well find out what he'd been doing for most of the last decade.

I'm still playing in Morphing Twilight on the weekends, but spend my days doing my real job. I'm an investment analyst. Working for the man. You know, it pays the bills.

I couldn't believe that he was still with the same group of guys he'd started playing with back in high school. I knew Edward was smart, but when I thought about his future, I always figured he'd be a man on the road. Him and his music. It never occurred to me that he would be living in a house and playing with other people's money.

Wow, that's great. So you're still friends with Jasper and Emmett? That's a long time to be playing with the same group of guys.

I couldn't help but smile at the reference of Edward's two best friends who he'd started the band with. They were more accepting of me that I would have ever imagined when Edward and I started dating. They made me feel like I was part of the family, brothers I never had growing up.

Yep, we all live within about five miles of each other. We all moved to Chicago a couple years ago. We lived together for a while, but now they're both married so I live in a little house on the Southside.

Based on what he said, I was happy to hear he was still single. I didn't know if he was dating, but at least he didn't mention he had a wife. That would've killed me, not that I had any claim on him. First loves die hard, I guessed. I wasn't sure if he knew I too resided in Chicago, only instead of a house, I sat overlooking my view of the city from my 28th floor apartment. My very stark and lonely apartment.

You sound happy. I'm glad.

I didn't really know where else to go. I wasn't really even sure why he was chatting with me. We'd broken up so long ago and yet my heart never healed. The fissures leaving scars around my heart that seemed to have shored up any feelings I might have had for anyone else. Of course I had dated a little over the years, but they never lived up to my first love.

I'm okay. His words sounded simple, yet felt as if there was something buried within them.

He began typing again and I waited anxiously to see what he else he would say.

I miss you, Bella. I read your book. It made me remember how much love we had for one another. Do you still think about me? I do. All the time. I've tried. God, I've tried… I wish you were closer and I could see you. I don't even know where you live now, but God. I just... wish…

He wished what? My hands began typing quickly, hoping to figure out the puzzling declaration he left unfinished.

What do you wish for, Edward? Because I've missed you, too.

As soon as I'd typed my confession I wanted to take it back. I was usually guarded, not knowing what someone wanted from me, but knowing they always wanted something. I couldn't help holding my breath while waiting for his reply to appear in the chat window.

I wish we could have made it work. Over all these years, no one's ever been you.

My heart raced at his words. Could it be? Could we start over again? Knowing he lived within the same city as me I decided to take a chance. If it didn't work out, at least I wouldn't regret it. I'd finally know once and for all if my pining was worth it. And if it wasn't, perhaps I could move on with my life and so could he.

Why don't you call me? I'm in Chicago too. (312)555-4128

Calling now. XO – E

My heart sped up at the thought of Edward's hugs and kisses, something I'd pushed far back in my mind, giving up at the very thought of ever having him in my arms again. Seeing them put so simply at the end of his chat box gave me something I hadn't had in so long, hope.

A moment later, hands still trembling, I answered the phone and was met with the voice from my past.

"Bella?"

"Hi," I whispered into the receiver, thanking the heavens for having this second chance. A chance I'd never in a million years think I'd receive.

"You're in Chicago? You live here?" His voice was filled with the same enthusiasm he'd always had when he got excited about something. It was one of the most endearing traits about him. He was never half-assed. Edward was an all or nothing kind of guy. Passion oozed out of his pores, something I only experienced when I was writing. Yet it seemed Edward had it all the time. I remembered how much he loved playing that old guitar of his dad's, yet he had almost as much enthusiasm for learning about the failure of the stock market in the thirties and the history of the Great Depression. It felt like he just had a certain joie-de-vivre, a spirit that you couldn't replicate or bottle up. It came from deep within, and Edward had always had it.

Chuckling lightly, I replied, "Yeah, only I'm down a little ways off Michigan, in one of the high rises. Where are you?"

"Hyde Park-ish."

The conversation stilled for a moment. I didn't know where else to go, my mind drawing a complete blank. This is why you write for a living, because you suck at personal interactions, my mind reminded me of how little of a social life I actually had. Zilch, nada, zero?

"Um, well…I…," Edward stuttered, seemingly at a loss for words too. "God, this is awkward. I'm sorry, Bella. I'm a bit out of practice. Areyoufreetonighttohavedinner?" Edward's words flowed out of his mouth in a successive stream.

I couldn't help myself and giggled like someone fifteen years my junior. "Did you just ask me to dinner?" I asked through my fit of laughter.

"You understood that?" Edward's voice was light and filled with a humor matching my own.

"I did and I am if you meant it." My smile couldn't be contained as I cradled the phone, reminiscent of my youth, when I would drag the phone cord across the kitchen looking for some privacy in the dining room. Laying on the floor and whispering into the phone as we talked into the evening. My mom almost getting clotheslined a few times eventually put an end to it.

"Really? Can I come and pick you up? Say, in an hour?"

I hadn't been this spontaneous in… well, in forever. I wasn't usually one to get asked out on dates, especially not lately. My life had been an endless loop of writing and eating takeout for the last three years as I worked and perfected my book. It took a long time to find the right idea, the perfect mix of characters and plot. Finally, I found the one that struck gold, or rather a publisher's attention. Lots and lots of edits later, and a small book tour to promote it, meant I hadn't seen the sun in what felt like years.

"Yes Edward, I'll see you in an hour." After giving him my address was the moment panic set in.

I had a date, a date with my first and only real love. As soon as we hung up I realized I probably didn't have anything to wear.

The area outside my closet soon became a mountain of bland shirts and boring pants. Time was running out when I finally just decided on a simple navy blue shift dress I'd found in the way back, tags still hanging off the side. Putting on the nicest bra and panty set I owned, I slipped the dress on and was shocked immediately by my appearance. I looked feminine and curvy, both things I hadn't ever really seen in myself, but remembering why I was coerced into buying it by my best friend Angela.

"Bella, you look fabulous. You'll knock 'em dead"

"And where am I going to wear this exactly?"

"You never know. Better to have something nice just in case, than have nothing at all."

Little did I know she would be the sage of great advice.

Rushing into the bathroom, I put on a light layer of makeup and ran a damp brush through my hair before putting some anti-frizz serum across the ends to keep the humidity in the air from turning my head into the Bride of Frankenstein.

With five minutes to spare, I sat down and took a deep breathe, once again flipping through the pictures on Facebook. Looking at his handsome face, I tried to imagine what he'd been up to all these years. How much he'd changed from the boy I knew all those years ago.

My intercom buzzed by the door, and I knew he'd arrived, unsurprised he was still as prompt as he was when he was young.

"Edward?"

"Can I come up?"

Granting him access into my building, I unlocked the door and waited for the telltale ding of the elevator arriving. I couldn't help but look through the peephole, anxious to stare at him unabashedly.

I watched as he turned the corner, bouquet first, his eyes shifting from side to side to figure out which direction to go. He looked so handsome. So much the same. His hair was cropped shorter than in the photos I'd seen on Facebook. Pulling myself away from his image, I opened the door just as he'd raised his hand to knock.

"Hi." My voice sounded breathy and very unlike my own.

"Hi." Grinning down at me, he leaned in to kiss my cheek while handing me the beautiful bunch of Gerbera daisies. He'd remembered my favorite flower, bringing me a dozen of the colorful stems.

"Come on in, please." Stepping out of his way, I couldn't help but watch his ass when he entered my apartment; it was always one of my favorite parts of him.

"Bella… always an ass girl," he commented, catching me mid-ogle, a chuckle escaping him as he stood in my entryway.

My cheeks heated from embarrassment, but I couldn't deny that I hadn't changed all that much. "Guilty as charged," I mumbled, turning my back to him and placing the flowers in the one vase I owned in an attempt to hide my mortification. I stood facing my cabinets, trying to take deep breaths in an effort to ease my frazzled nerves. Now that Edward was standing in my kitchen, I was terrified of blowing it. Of him finding me drab and boring and nothing like the girl he'd been picturing in his head. I knew all about building up someone in my mind and was sure he'd probably done the same.

"Bella?"

I felt his hand caress down my arm, his voice a whisper in my ear.

"Why are you panicking? You know me, I know you. Our lives have changed, but I know inherently we're the same. Please give me a chance?" His voice had this pleading tone I just couldn't help but respond to. I had forgotten how well he knew all of my mannerisms, the quirks I used to hide my shy and awkward side from others.

Spinning, I looked up into his sparkling evergreen eyes and smiled slightly, willing myself over to his wise council. "Okay."

It felt like when our eyes met, all was right with the world, as cliché as that sounded. I cringed at my internal reference, realizing that even I wouldn't write it in one of my stories. Shaking off my optimistic daydreams of wedding chapels and babies, I tried to focus on the man who was with me now.

Grasping my hand, he led me back toward my front door, asking where my coat might be since the winds off Lake Michigan had picked up since the sun had set a bit ago.

After helping me with my coat, we left hand in hand towards the bank of elevators, each lost in our own thoughts.

Allowing my skanky ass neighbor out of the elevator, I felt Edward's hand tense around mine.

"Edward? What are you doing here?" Lauren's shrill voice asked, before we'd escaped into the car.

"Uh, hi Lauren." His voice had taken on a sheepish tone while the hairs on the back of my neck rose in alarm, warning me in advance of the words that tumbled out Lauren's mouth.

"Gosh, I haven't seen you in ages. I still have your Bears Jersey in my apartment if you want to get it back, or perhaps let me keep it for next time?" She winked at him, ignoring my very presence next to him.

"No, it's okay. You can have it. Good to see you Lauren." His snippy reply was punctuated with him pressing the close door button, effectively ending any further conversation.

"Soooo…. Lauren, huh?" I tried. I really, really tried to keep the snotty tone out of my voice, but knowing he'd spent time and probably slept with Lauren, Miss. Pussy-Across-America contender, I wasn't sure I was willing to go where she'd been.

"It's not like that." Edward looked down at me and explained that he'd met her at one of Jasper's football parties last year and she'd run into him, causing him to spill his entire cup of beer down the front of her. He'd had a shirt on under his Bears jersey and gave it to her so she wouldn't have to stay at the party in a soggy, beer drenched shirt.

"How very chivalrous of you," I sniped, still feeling the sting of jealousy.

"Bella, even if I had dated her, it's not like you and I were together at the time, so come on. Forget about her. She's not my type anyway." He tugged me into an embrace, just as the elevator descended down to the lobby of my building.

I tried to get the picture of him and her in flagrante delicto, but it was hard not to replay it over and over in my head. I had a wild imagination, that's what made me such a good writer, but a terrible girlfriend. I could make up a thousand endings to go with Lauren's statement, none of which would actually be the one he told me.

"If you're going to be in your head all night, we might as well turn around." Edward sighed deeply as we exited the elevator, waiting to hear my response.

If only it was as easy as the snap of my fingers to turn my brain off. I wished.

Lips suddenly were pressed up against mine, urgent and hungry. My mind went blank in an instant as I wrapped my arms around Edward, kissing him back in earnest.

Pulling away slightly, Edward rested his forehead against mine and gazed into my eyes, grinning like a boy who'd gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Are you good now?"

"Yep. You sure know how to clear a girl's thoughts, that's for sure."

We both laughed, walking out into the brisk night air, hand in hand.

Over dinner we caught up about everything except us. We pirouetted around the topic of our mutual dissolution like someone doing the Mexican Hat Dance.

The University of Dayton and all the wild experiences Edward had with Emmett as his roommate. - check.

My parents' divorce after I'd completed my freshman year at Northwestern. - check.

Morphing Twilight and the single they'd managed to get airplay for, a couple of years ago. -check.

My book and the US tour I'd just completed. - check.

But us? Anything remotely related to our past or any other relationship with someone from the opposite sex was all but taboo it seemed.

When the bill landed on our table on a little plastic tray, I grabbed for it instinctively.

"This is a date, right? Am I going to get to kiss you at your door step? Maybe even make a play for second base? Then why in the world are you grabbing for the check?" Edward teased, smiling gleefully at me while dragging it out from beneath my hand.

I couldn't help be return his smile. I'd forgotten how playful and fun he was. He'd pulled me out of my shell more than anyone had, past or present. Unfortunately when he disappeared from my life, so did his magic sparkle that seemed to cause me laugh and smile and enjoy things I never would have imagined trying, let alone like doing.

"So, I know it's kind of late, but I have someplace I'd love to take you if you aren't quite tired of me yet."

We caught a cab and ended up in front of an old brick building with the marquee, Myopic Books.

"Edward," I gasped, "I've always meant to come here, but never have. How in the world did you know?" Myopic Books was a Chicago landmark. Three floors stuffed wall to wall with used books of every subject and author you could imagine. It was my own personal version of Disney World. Glancing behind me, Edward just stood back smiling a little like Sylvester after he'd eaten Tweety Bird, minus the little yellow feather escaping his mouth.

"Bella, you honestly haven't changed that much. I figured you'd probably been here before, but since it was open late, I thought we might as well peruse the stacks together. Who knows, perhaps you'll pick something out for me to read to you later?" With a wink, he pulled the heavy door open, the tinkling bell ringing ahead of us.

My mind immediately drifted to us curled up on his parent's sofa while he would read passages from the various books we'd been assigned to in English. He said it would help with our comprehension, but it usually just made me horny and we'd end up taking his car out for a spin to someplace deserted so we could get it on.

"Welcome to Myopic Books, let me know if you need anything," droned a young guy dressed in black from head to toe.

"They only employ the hippest of the hipsters, so I've heard," Edward joked, dragging me further into the store and up a long set of stairs.

We wandered through the tall shelves, weaving back and forth until Edward found something he wanted to look at closer. Glancing up at the sign, I groaned seeing the subject matter he'd pulled us into.

"Erotica? Really, Edward? And I thought your palate had improved over the years." Try as I might, I couldn't help but be turned on a little bit by the thought of Edward reading to me, the sound of his voice wooing me into submission.

Grabbing one of the titles off the shelf, Edward pulled me towards him, leaning down to whisper in my ear. "And yet those parts of her body which were the most continually offended, having become sensitive, seemed to her to have become, at the same time, more beautiful, and as though it were ennobled: her mouth closed on anonymous members, the tips of her breasts that hands were forever fondling, and between her wide-flung thighs, the twin ways leading into her belly, paths wantonly trod. However astonishing it might seem, that she might be ennobled, that she might gain dignity from being prostituted, continued to amaze her…"

I couldn't help the tiny moan that came out of my mouth listening to him read a passage from The Story of O, all the while his lips were murmuring the words beside my ear, his hands caressed my arms from his stance behind me.

"Remember? Reading can be sexy."

Laughing at his boyish charm, I wandered a little further down the aisle, perusing the myriad of titles and subjects.

We'd been browsing for about an hour when a voice chimed over the intercom letting us know the store would be closing in ten minutes.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Edward's deep timbre asked from behind me.

"I did. What about you, Casanova?"

He answered with a sly smile, taking my hand and leading us back down to the registers to pay for both of our purchases.

Huddling up close together to stave off the brisk wind whipping down the street, Edward leaned down to kiss me softly on the lips. "Thanks for going out with me tonight. I never would have imagined that by you accepting my friendship request on Facebook, we'd be standing here now, me kissing the girl I've dreamed about since we broke up."

"Me neither. To be honest I almost didn't." I wasn't sure why I chose that moment, when Edward's hands were deep into my hair, his lips caressing my neck, to be bluntly honest, but I did.

He pulled away, a look of confusion set in his handsome face. "Why wouldn't you accept it?" Edward's voice was filled with hurt, lingering on disbelief.

"Can we get a cab or something before we start going down this road, please?" My thin coat wasn't doing nearly as good a job of keeping me warm as Edward had been doing just moments before.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Gruffly, he turned, hailing us a cab. Holding open the door, I slid in watching as he sat far on the other side, arms crossed in front of him, a frown seated firmly on his face telling the cab driver my address before turning to look out his window.

"Edward," I plead, reaching my hand across the gap between us, trying to get him back to where we were.

"You know how hard it was to reach out to you? To send you a request on a stupid social media site? Shit, I've been trying to get in touch with you for years. Years, Bella. You dropped off the face of the earth after college. It felt like no one knew where you went. Esme came to one of our shows, but even she didn't know where you'd gone. I tried your parent's old house, but there were new people living there. I would have tried information, but by then I didn't even know what city you were living in."

His voice was exasperated, and filled with a longing I knew so well. My feelings mirroring his own, except unlike him, I'd given up ever finding him. I was the quitter here and couldn't blame him for being upset.

"Then your book came out. Then…then you popped up on everyone's radar."

The cab stopped in front of my apartment before I had a chance to respond. "Can you come up so we can talk more? I'd like to explain this to you now. I don't want to waste any more of your or my time." And I didn't. We'd lost so many years we wouldn't ever get back. The least I could do was resolve this now. If he didn't understand my trepidation, then perhaps things just weren't meant to be.

"Yeah, sure."

Still the gentleman, he got out and pulled the door open for me before I had a chance to tug on the handle.

It felt like we'd moved backwards in the course of ten minutes. How had things turned on a dime? Instead of laughing and coming into my building hand and hand, we were at arm's length, both silent on the way up the elevator.

Granting him entrance into my apartment, I took his coat and my own, hanging them up in the closet by the door.

"Come on in. Would you like some wine?"

"I guess."

His answers were short and snippy. Where in the hell had my bubbly, fun-loving ex-boyfriend gone to?

Pouring us both a glass of Cabernet, I entered the living room to see him looking out at my amazing view of the city.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked shyly, handing him a glass and joining him by the window. We both took large gulps of the crimson liquid, yet I barely tasted it.

I knew if I was going to break the ice, I needed to take the first step. Placing my glass on the table, I slowly reached down and grabbed his hand in my own, tugging on it in hopes of getting him to look at me.

"I'm sorry." That seemed a good place to start. "I'm not really sure how to begin, but if you can't tell, I live alone. My parents live in Florida and Arizona, each escaping their marriage and the bitter winters by fleeing south. I don't really have a lot of friends. I haven't spoken to Esme in, gosh... maybe five years? I've been in Chicago since college. I never went back home. Once my parents moved, there wasn't really anything left for me there." Taking a deep breath, I glanced up to gauge Edward's reaction. His eyes were softer now, attentive.

Holding his gaze I continued, "I'm a loner, Edward. I always have been, probably always will be. So when all these people wanted to be friends with me on Facebook after my book was published, I got a little shell-shocked and wary of the whole thing. I'm not famous or anything, but when people think they know you, they think they can get things from you." I urged him to understand these fundamental ideals about me. "So when I got your request it felt a bit like a dream. But I was scared. I wanted you to friend me because you wanted to be friends with me. Not because you saw me on the Today Show and thought I wrote the book about you. I don't know who I can trust these days. I'm sorry." The last words floated off as a whisper, my feelings out in the open for him to do with them as he will. My eyes drifted towards the floor, sad for messing up my second chance at love.

"Don't you think I was scared too?" His finger nudged my chin up so I'd meet his eyes. "I get it and I'm sorry you've had to deal with that. But if you can't trust me, we can't start over. I'm too old to play games."

His words immediately put my heart at ease and I did the only thing I could think of.

I kissed him with every ounce of passion and pent-up longing I had for him.

Placing his glass down beside him, he wrapped me up in his arms and returned my kiss. His tongue was hot and persistent in its re-acquaintance with my own. His hands, big and strong, yet soft and yielding, feeling like they were all over my back, as if they weren't sure where they wanted to take up residence.

I allowed my own to skim over Edward's muscled shoulders, doing their best to memorize every square inch of the man I'd missed so much.

When we dated in high school, he was thin, almost sinewy in stature. Tall, lanky and awkward with his long arms and legs, he'd finally grown into them, and I was excited to be experiencing it. His body was incredible, muscled but not bulky, and I had the sudden overwhelming urge to get him out of his clothes to see him in all his glory.

"Bella," he gasped as my fingers reached for the buttons on his shirt, pushing him back toward my leather sofa. "We don't have to do this, you know? I didn't come here expecting to-"

Taking his lips for my own, I shut down his thoughts, for once I was allowing my heart to take over for my ever controlling brain. I wanted him so badly I was shaking in need, panting like a woman in heat.

Well, it's not like you've had sex in the last two years.

Pulling me down on top of him, Edward smoothed my hair from my face and looked me directly in the eye before saying, "I've waited ten years, I think can wait a little while longer."

"What if I can't?" I challenged, my fingers continuing their frontal assault on his buttons.

He grabbed my hands, holding them to his chest and smiled. The kind of smile people show you when they have great news and are deliriously happy. "Sure?"

"Gah! Yes, I'm sure… now can you get your lips over here? They have a lot of making up to do. Lost time and all." I giggled brightly while sprinkling kisses across his face, trying to not miss a single place.

When he finally relinquished my hands, I couldn't stop them from tangling into his hair, bringing my lips down to his. Our teeth banged against one another, our smiles so big we hadn't thought to close them enough to properly kiss.

"If you're sure, why don't we move someplace where we can spread out?" His hands gripped tightly around the curve of my ass as he stood up and asked me where my bedroom was. Without breaking contact from his skin, I mumbled that it was straight down the hall.

Depositing me on my bed with a bounce, he tackled me at once, nibbling up my neck to whisper in my ear. "This should be a lot better than in my old Honda."

My brain couldn't agree more as we took our time, removing one article of clothing at a time. His shirt, my dress. My undies, his pants. Tit for tat until our hands and mouths stilled at the realization that we were finally naked.

Sitting up, his thighs still straddling my own, he gazed down at me, my naked body lit only by the smallest fraction of moonlight filtering in from the gap in the curtains.

"You're so beautiful. Even better than my dreams. My imagination didn't do you justice. You've grown up into such a gorgeous woman."

I felt a tear escape out of the corner of my eye at the words being spoken about me. I'd been told I was pretty, or cute, but never in all of my twenty eight years had someone used the term beautiful.

The pad of his thumb whisked my errant tear away, kissing the streak of moisture it had left in its wake. "Don't be sad," he urged, kissing me so deeply, I could have sworn I felt it in my toes.

"It's not sadness, really. It's just no one's ever said that to me before. Guess I'm having a hard time believing it."

"Well, you should get used to it, because I'm going to be repeating it plenty."

Cutting off any further chit chat, his mouth descended, demanding to be heard. His kiss was tender yet urgent at the same time.

My hands roamed over his ass and back, relishing in the feel of his heated skin. His lips trailed kisses and light nips along the column of my neck, dragging them over my collarbone before sucking a nipple into his mouth, his teeth tugging gently before releasing it and repeating the action on its lonely twin.

Reaching between us, I found him hard and ready, weeping a little at the tip. Wrapping my hand firmly around, I moved up and down his shaft, slowly but relishing in the feel of his smooth, weighty cock in my grasp.

"I've forgotten how good your hand feels, but you gotta stop. It's been too long and I want to last longer than I did with you in high school," he groaned, chuckling against my breast.

I'd forgotten how much I loved his self-depreciating humor, but his words didn't diminish the stroking of my hand on his dick.

"Bellahhhh," his voice moaned out my name just as his hand grabbed mine, trying to still them.

I'd have loved to apologize, but I wasn't sorry. Instead, I allowed him to take over, pinning my arms above my head with one hand, while the other caressed down my chest, his hand flat against my skin, skimming between my breasts, his fingers circling my belly button. His touch was so light and airy it was verging on ticklish, but as he reached my waist, he increased the pressure of his fingers, almost like he remembered my ticklish parts.

He released my hands just in time for him to press his down firmly against my hips as his tongue took a long lap between my legs, a moan escaping my gaping wide mouth.

I hadn't been touched in so long, let alone by someone who actually knew what I liked, my shyness never really allowing me to ask for what I wanted or to tell them where to go. But with Edward, we'd explored together, discovering so much of our sexuality, all of those years ago.

Apparently, the man before me now had plenty of skills.

My brain effectively turned to mush as his lips and tongue worked over my clit, his fingers doing some kind of tribal mating dance with my core, pumping in and out to a magical rhythm my body responded to wholeheartedly.

The shockwaves of orgasm clenched around his fingers, my head thrown back, moaning his name worshipfully as my toes curled in kind.

He didn't even wait for me to come down from my high before plunging into me, thick and filling. It felt like home. My hands released their grasp on the sheets, pulling Edward down on top of me, clutching at his back, urging him on, almost as if a nymphomaniac had suddenly overtaken my body and I couldn't get enough.

"You feel so good. So fucking tight."

Another thing I seemed to have forgotten was what a dirty mouth Edward got when he was in the throes. At the time I was embarrassed by how verbal he got. Not tonight. Tonight, my mouth was taken over by a trucker, asking him to fuck me faster and harder, the words a run on sentence of profanity laced porn.

It didn't take long for Edward to come, his body dropping down onto mine, kisses peppering my neck as he panted gratitude and affection into my ear.

The feel of our warm slick bodies still melded together was soothing even as Edward's cock began to soften, leaving me wanting more.

"Well, that was an improvement," I teased, kissing him playfully before he rolled off of me, tucking me against him, and spooning up against my back.

"Just wait. I may not have had the staying power this round, but give me ten, and you'll be begging me to get on with it." Nibbling on my ear, I could hear the smile in his voice, tender and warm.

"I can't wait." Releasing a contented sigh, I started grinding my ass up against him, shocked to feel him already coming back to life.

"Lucky for you, you won't have to for long. Seems you have this power over me. I just can't keep the poor guy down when you're around."

And indeed I was lucky. He kept his promise and surprised me with two more amazing rounds of hot, sweaty, delicious sex. The kind I really wished I'd had a great girlfriend who I could boast to. Since I didn't, I kept all of his yummy goodness to myself.

Well, at least until my next book came out. But it was fiction, right?

The End

A/N

Thanks for reading. Love to hear what you thought!

Happy New Year to all my readers.

Much love,

Mcgt