Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

AN: Hello, lovely BB readers! It has been awhile, hasn't it?! As I heard recently, a story may end but a book never really closes, huh? ;)

That being said, this outtake was started a long while ago when I was in a fun and (ahem) smutty kind of mood, and I chose to finish it to debut during the 2014 Fandom Choice Award reveal, which was held last night. Bluebird was nominated for several awards and came away with first place for best romance and second for best drama. It also recently won first place in the Fanfic-n-tastic Awards a couple weeks ago for Most Extreme Tear Jerker.

This - again - just goes to show you guys are some of the best readers and even now, almost a year after finishing this fic, it still resonates among so many of you. Much love and tons of hugs to you all, and THANK YOU!

Now, onto the outtake... Rated MA fo sho for some gratuitous Embry/Bella sorta-kinda-but-not-really public loving...because sometimes you just need to scratch that itch, hehehe.

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A new round of voices filtered in from the front entryway of Charlie's house in Forks, bringing Bella out of her cooking-induced trance. Sneaking a cursory glance over her shoulder, she made sure no one was watching before she popped one finger in her mouth and licked the melted chocolate from it.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath through her nose as she swallowed.

Perfect.

Turning back to the stove, Bella continued to stir the chocolate sauce resting inside a double-boiler on the stove while reaching back with her other hand to shut off the burner. She could clearly hear the sound of several voices, coming from those gathered in the living room. The house was packed to the brim with bodies, but by some miracle, they had all left Bella to her own devices in the kitchen, mainly to finish the sauce for the cake she baked. Still, she guessed it had more to do with the fact the food had all been moved to the dining room and, like always, there was a pack of ravenous werewolves eager to get their hands on it.

Moving the whisk robotically, Bella wasn't paying attention, missing the footsteps coming into the kitchen a moment later, approaching her from behind.

"Hey, Preggo. What the hell are you doing in here?"

Bella jumped, heart stuttering as she took a quick step away from the stove, her protruding belly nearly knocking into the oven door handle. She was twenty weeks along, but measuring slightly large, according to her doctor, and she noticed. Every time it ran into the sink, the kitchen counter, doors – she noticed. Quil always joked, telling her if she wasn't more careful, her and Embry's baby was going to be born with two black eyes.

Baby…

It didn't matter how much time passed - the thought of it, the way when she wasn't paying attention one hand would absentmindedly trace the curve of her growing stomach, every time the small life moved inside her - it made Bella smile. It filled her with an anticipation of what was to come. Of what it meant for their lives.

Coming back to earth, Bella peered over her shoulder to see Leah standing a few feet away with her hands shoved in her jeans pockets, both eyebrows raised and a knowing smile resting on her mouth. Still stirring, Bella let out her breath in a woosh.

"Geez, you scared me, Leah."

Shrugging her shoulders, Leah pulled out her hands and took another step. "There's a full house in that living room. Figured I'd find you in here, and then maybe you could find something for me to do so my mom doesn't force me to be social."

One corner of her mouth lifting, Bella rolled her eyes. "Tonight's kind of a big deal," she insisted. "It's Christmas, Leah … and the first since my dad and your mom started dating."

Chuckling, Bella looked down to make sure the chocolate sauce was thickening. No one was happier than she was four months earlier on the day Charlie stammered his way through the news, turning a coffee cup in aimless circles between his fingers before eventually telling Bella he was dating Sue Clearwater, almost like he was the one who had some explaining to do. She had always hoped Charlie would find someone to be there for him, to help take care of him, despite how he'd managed to do just fine for himself in the two years since Bella moved out.

And Bella couldn't think of anyone better than Sue.

"Yeah, yeah," Leah quipped, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "You say that like I don't already know every single person in that room. Shit, most of them I've seen naked, in case you forgot … including your husband."

Shaking her head, another laugh tumbled from Bella's lips. "I'll remember that in case I ever need you to paint me a picture."

Leah grinned as Bella's gaze redirected behind the other woman, finding a flustered-looking Sue breezing into the kitchen. Both Bella and Leah watched her tentatively as she moved to the counter, flinging open a drawer and noisily sifting through its contents.

"You know, Mom, usually if you just ask, you can find things faster," Leah deadpanned.

"I don't need your input, young lady," Sue retorted curtly, following it with a quiet, frustrated groan, her hand pausing over the open drawer of utensils. Bella pulled her bottom lip between her teeth in amusement as Sue finally looked up at her. "Knife? To carve the turkey?"

Trying to suppress her smile, Bella nodded toward the block next to the stove. "On the counter there," she replied quietly.

Heaving a deep sigh, Sue rolled her eyes at herself before grabbing the handle and pulling the knife from its resting place. "Thank you, Bella." She glowered at Leah. "At least one of us can be helpful and not always unnecessarily opinionated."

Leah snorted. Bella bit her lip harder.

"Everything's on the table, sweetie," Sue continued, glancing at Bella. "So whenever you're ready to eat."

Bella nodded, offering Sue a small smile. "We'll be there in just a few minutes," she reassured. "Just waiting on Embry and Jake to come back in from outside, and I need to finish this up."

"Well, they better hurry it up," Sue ventured, her gaze shifting between Leah and Bella. "The way the boys are looking at the dining room table, I don't know how much longer I can hold them off."

"Tell the chief to go get his shotgun," Leah offered with a shrug of her shoulders. "A couple bullets in the leg can stop a werewolf just as good as the next thing."

Shaking her head at her daughter, Sue opened her mouth to offer some kind of retort but was interrupted by the kitchen door opening, bringing with it a cool gust of early winter air as it filled the small kitchen.

Three pairs of eyes redirected toward the door, and Bella smiled. Her gaze landed on Jacob, both arms loaded to the brim with firewood and a few flakes of white snow clinging to the raven hair atop his head. Her smile broadened slightly when she let her eyes roam behind her friend, instinctively seeking out Embry, who trailed his brother by a few feet, cradling a few additional pieces of kindling between his arm and body. Pushing the door closed behind him and locking out the cold, Embry ran his fingers through his disheveled hair, any lingering snow melting as soon as it came in contact with his flesh.

When he caught her watching him, Embry offered Bella the small, affectionate smile he saved only for her.

"You guys planning on building a fucking bonfire in the middle of the living room or what?" Leah retorted, breaking the silence in the kitchen.

"Nope," Jake replied, aimlessly stomping the snow from his boots and peering over the stack of wood in his arms, eyes traveling to each one of them in turn. "Charlie's stack was a little low out there, so we figured we'd take care of that and chop a few more piles. Help him out a little bit."

Bella smiled again, propping one hand lazily against her hip, listlessly rubbing a sore muscle with her fingers. "I'm sure he'll appreciate it," she said. "He's been a little preoccupied lately, I think."

"Yeah, banging my mom… "

"LEAH CLEARWATER!"

Turning back toward the stove, Bella pulled her bottom lip between her teeth once more, forgetting Sue was still in the room and realizing quickly that Leah apparently didn't care. She held her breath, trying to contain any laughter as she heard a set of muted snickers behind her. Peering to her right, she saw Sue step forward, eyes wild and a furiously annoyed look on her face.

"Make yourself useful, young lady, or go keep your brothers away from the food for the time being, because if I hear one more word… "

"Fine!" Leah exclaimed, twisting easily out of her mother's reach with an exasperated eye roll. "You told me you wanted me to socialize, not babysit," she muttered, ignoring the venomous stare Sue was giving her as she pushed herself off the counter, trudging across the kitchen. Bella watched Leah, trying not to look too amused as the other woman approached Embry, holding her arms out expectantly.

"I've got it, Lee," Embry insisted, peering at Leah skeptically.

Leah huffed. "Give me the damn wood, Call. Me and the almighty Alpha'll keep the idiots in check. You keep your wife company while we keep their dirty paws out of the mashed potatoes."

Hesitating for a single moment, Embry's mouth cracked into a grin - echoing the one that played on Bella's lips - before he shrugged, carefully transferring the pieces of wood from his arms to Leah's.

Shaking her head goodnaturedly, Bella turned back toward the counter, listening to the multiple pairs of footsteps retreating from the kitchen as she moved in front of the massive chocolate cake resting just beside the stove, awaiting the steaming chocolate sauce contained in the pot Bella held in her hand. Leaning down slightly, Bella redirected her concentration into her nearly abandoned task, watching carefully as she tipped the pot, drizzling the sauce over the top of the cake in a perfect, concise pattern.

"So when did chocolate cake become the stand-in for pie?"

Bella barely flinched when she felt a pair of familiar hands slip around her waist, fingers tracing soft, unpredictable lines against her t-shirt. She smiled when she felt one hand find the spot her own had been working at moments earlier, kneading the tender area gently with one deft thumb.

"Since I saw the recipe in a magazine last week and it became all I've been able to think about," Bella murmured softly, still not pulling her eyes from the cake as the last bit of chocolate drizzled from the pan. "Remember? I told you about it."

"I remember," Embry replied, and Bella could feel him leaning over, the heat from his body reaching out as he stretched to see her handiwork. "And it looks incredible, it's just … I'm pretty sure Quil might actually cry if he doesn't get apple pie."

Bella grinned, straightening until she could feel Embry's chest pressed against her back. She ran her finger around the lip of the pot, collecting the excess chocolate sauce from it. "I made him apple pie, too," she replied coyly. "Three, in fact, except he only gets one of them to himself." She could feel Embry press his lips to the back of her head, leaving a soft kiss there as she tasted a tiny bit of the chocolate on her finger. "Although I'm pretty sure he might forget about the pie if he tries this," she admitted, peering up to find Embry's dancing eyes already watching her. She offered him her chocolate-covered finger. "Here, try this sauce and you'll know what I mean."

Hesitating for a moment, Embry lifted one eyebrow in amusement before he leaned down, lips parting before he gently took Bella's finger into his mouth. Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, Bella tried to ignore what it did to her - how the way he swirled his tongue around it, not leaving a bit of the chocolate behind, ignited the faintest of fires deep inside her.

Bella was grinning by the time Embry's lips released her finger with a pop. Before he licked his own and peered toward the ceiling, almost like he was contemplating disagreeing with her.

He didn't. Instead, his gaze lowered, seeking out her mouth before he leaned forward just a bit, reaching up and grasping her chin with his thumb and forefinger before moving the rest of way, pressing a kiss to Bella's mouth. His lips moving slowly, exploring, before his tongue peeked out, running along Bella's bottom lip.

As he pulled away, Bella felt him smile against her mouth.

"You're right," he finally whispered. "It is pretty good."

Laughing, Bella pulled back, reaching up and pushing him playfully. "You're so smooth," she teased, a surprised cry leaving her throat when Embry suddenly wrapped his arms around her. Even though she pulled in a deep breath, releasing it, the cake forgotten when she instantly relaxed into his embrace.

Embry chuckled. "Not really," he said, nuzzling her neck with his nose. "Everything just tastes better when it's on you."

His voice was low, the words vibrating against her skin, and Bella could feel the blush race across her cheeks even though she made no move to stop him.

Even if she wasn't sure she wanted him to stop…

"You smell good today, too," he whispered, his nose tracing a line along the slant of her neck.

"Embry… " Bella warned quietly, despite how she leaned into him. Despite how she closed her eyes and tilted her head, inadvertently exposing her neck to him, allowing him access to every inch of her flesh there. Despite how she shivered when he breathed in - a deep, drawn-out inhale - the action doing nothing but pushing the heat through her veins.

In the years that passed, Bella was still amazed how their desire for one another never waned. How his touch still lit an excruciating fire inside her, and how in the months since she found out she was pregnant, it only seemed to exacerbate that fire. It only seemed to make the need worse.

Even more so with Embry than her.

Neither of them could really explain why his desire had grown so insatiable, and like always, Bella was too embarrassed to ask questions. Still, it was Leah who brought it up one day when she picked Bella up for the only obstetrician appointment Embry hadn't been able to make due to an overbooked day at the garage. When she wrinkled her face at Bella and pinched the bridge of her nose, telling Bella she could have at least had the decency to put on a sweater or at least shower five or six times before getting in her car.

It spilled out of Bella, and surprisingly, Leah listened patiently. When Bella finished, adding how it didn't really concern her yet worried her at the same time, Leah theorized that it had to do with her being pregnant and how the baby was affecting her body.

"Seriously, Bella, you can't smell it and that's probably a good thing," Leah had explained. "Your scent is just … stupidly potent right now. So much so, that even I'm half tempted to stop this car and jump you."

Leah's hearty laugh filled the small space when Bella's eyes went huge.

"I'm not kidding," Leah had continued. "That baby is fucking with your pheromones or something. You're just lucky the rest of the pack has been able to lock that shit down because you really have no idea, Swan. Embry's just the only one who gets to take advantage of what it does to us… "

Blinking, Bella still smiled when Embry pressed a firm kiss to her pulse, his mouth lingering there.

"Later," she insisted, halfheartedly wriggling in his grasp.

"I hate that word… "

Bella sighed. "The whole pack, my family, Sue … everyone's here."

"Didn't stop us before." That time, Embry's breath was warm, his words suggestive against her ear.

Chewing on the inside of her lip, Bella shifted once more, that time with a little more conviction. Somehow managing to turn in Embry's arms, she reached up and landed one quick kiss on his despondent mouth as he registered what it meant long before Bella spoke the words.

"And remember where that got us?" she retorted with a raise of her eyebrows. Embry groaned, and Bella couldn't help but feel a mixture of victory and reluctance when he finally released her, because in reality, she didn't want him to let go. In reality, she wanted exactly what he did.

She always did.

Her father's first Christmas with Sue was not the time or the place, though, no matter how much she suddenly wanted it to be.

No matter how - as they finally made their way to the dining room and were joined by several gracious, hungry pack and family members - Bella had to stop herself from mentally coming up with excuses to pull herself away from the table. To convince herself no one would miss them, at least not for a few minutes.

"Where's the pie?"

Everyone was in the process of getting settled around Charlie's dining room table. All the extra leaves had been put in it in order to make room for the large crowd. Bella glanced up in time to see Leah roll her eyes at Quil's petulant question as she slipped into a chair next to Seth on the other side of the table.

"Quil Ateara, the whole point of dessert is for it to come after the meal," Rachel spoke up from her place beside Paul, both of them seated to Embry's left. Bella peered across her husband in time to see Paul reach out and snag a dinner roll from the basket.

"Screw that," Quil retorted, his face screwing up defiantly. "I eat my dessert first."

"Umm," Charlie stammered from the head of the table, peering at Bella cautiously. "Kiddo, did you make pie?"

Bella rolled her eyes, grinning all the same. "He'll be fine, Dad. He can wait until after dinner." Raising her brow, it was Bella's turn to eye Quil. "Can't you, Quil?"

Quil heaved a gigantic sigh, leaning forward and taking in the entire Christmas meal spread out across the table. His lips parted to speak, but Jacob, who was sitting to Bella's right, interrupted him before he could.

"He can wait," Jacob insisted. "Especially since Sue and Bella spent so much time making this meal for us."

Everyone ignored Quil's groan, several pairs of eyes jumping between Charlie and Sue, who was sitting at the foot of the table.

Clearing his throat, Charlie cocked his head to the side with a shrug. "Alright, then...thank you all for coming. So … let's eat!"

The storm that followed, accompanied by a flurry of arms, hands, forks, and other utensils was something Bella was used to. She waited patiently, knowing had it not been for her belly and running the risk of knocking over glasses and candlesticks on the way there, she would have been diving for her own share. In this case, though, she only smiled as her plate disappeared from in front of her and Embry did the dirty work for her, stopping only once to thump Quil over the knuckles with a serving spoon as he attempted to snag a serving of green bean casserole with his hand.

When her plate was finally full, Embry collapsed into the chair, carefully depositing the plate in front of Bella with a wide grin. "Five-star service," he teased.

Bella nudged him playfully, her arm lifting until it was resting against the back of his chair. Her fingers finding the back of his neck, she rubbed it affectionately with her fingers. "Thank you," she whispered, her words somehow not getting lost among the din. "Just think… "

Embry glanced at her expectantly. "What?"

Bella took a deep breath, offering him a small, ardent smile. "This is the last Christmas where you won't be fighting to make sure two of us get food."

Embry only watched her, his eyes lingering, holding hers for several infinite moments before he finally smiled. Before she felt that subtle warmth from earlier resurface somewhere inside her. Leaning across the distance separating them, the noise around them somehow was lost for a single second as Bella closed her eyes, accepting Embry's slow, affectionate kiss. A larger part of her not caring that everyone could see as she felt his hand slip protectively across her belly.

Still, Embry lingered longer than she thought he would, pulling away just enough to leave a single kiss on the tip of her nose and smile, a response to the one she was sure she was already giving him.

"I love you," he murmured.

Bella's smile only widened. "I love you."

Still, despite the affection and the tenderness of the moment, Bella didn't miss the shift in his eyes. She didn't miss how they darkened ever so slightly, or how he pulled his gaze away for a single second to survey the table before glancing back. Before he leaned forward again, leaving one last swift kiss on Bella's mouth before he unexpectedly pushed his chair back.

Brows lowering in confusion, Bella peered up in time to see Embry stand, excusing himself although no one really looked up from the numerous dishes and pans being passed unceremoniously around the table, his words swallowed up by the loud voices carrying on their own conversations. She was still watching him when his gaze lowered for a single second, playful ebony eyes finding hers as he offered her the smallest of knowing smiles.

Confused, Bella watched him go, disappearing through the living room and toward the front of the house. A quick survey of those gathered around the table - Charlie, Sue, Leah, Seth, Jacob, and the rest of the pack - confirmed no one had seen him go.

Figuring he'd only forgotten to bring something to the table, Bella pulled her focus back to dinner, even though her mind was still wondering. She waited, sipping on her water but not touching her food, keeping her eye on the clock above the china hutch.

Three minutes passed, then five.

After eight minutes went by, Bella's curiosity got the better of her. Pushing her chair back, she carefully put her napkin next to her plate before excusing herself from the table. Leah was the only one who saw her go, throwing her hands up in a confused gesture, silently asking Bella what was going on. Bella only shrugged, making her way past her father and toward the front of the house, the same way Embry had gone.

Frowning, Bella walked quietly through the kitchen and entryway. She made her way to the corner of her father's house that contained the downstairs bathroom and laundry room, the loud yet lighthearted voices behind her fading with each step she took.

She half-expected the bathroom door to be closed when she approached it.

It wasn't. The door was wide open and the lights were off.

Bella stopped walking, holding her breath, her gaze inherently pulling toward the second door in the hallway. Toward the laundry room, a door that was supposed to be closed.

The fact it was open just a crack registered somewhere inside her, dredging up something familiar - something that made her feet move. Something that pulled her toward that door, both hands reaching out as she placed them against the wood, taking a single step as she started to push it open.

All the breath leaving her when it opened the rest of the way without her help.

Bella let out a barely audible squeak as a blazing hand wrapped around her wrist, deftly pulling her into the room.

She barely had a chance to get her bearings before that heat was in front of her, a familiar smell encroaching on her, wrapping around her senses. It was one Bella knew by heart, but she didn't have time to say a word before it was all there, surrounding her, pressing her gently yet purposefully into the door behind her.

It shut with a soft click, separating them from the rest of the world. If only for a moment.

Bella opened her mouth to speak, but the words were swallowed by a pair of insistent lips on hers, their movement demanding. Encouraging her to respond, that scent consumed her as it filtered into her nostrils. Reaching out, she felt beneath her hands the familiar lines and contours of a body she knew better than her own.

The kiss stole her breath, and she could feel Embry's thick fingers dig into her hip, his other hand brushing across her cheek, entangling in her hair. The taste of him was irresistibly sweet, his breath warm on her lips, when he pulled back for just a moment.

"What are you doing?" Bella whispered half-heartedly, her mouth curling into a smile as a small laugh escaped her throat. A part of her knew what it was, but the other didn't want him to stop. Still, the rest of what she wanted to say was swept away somewhere between Embry leaving insistent kisses on her jaw to the fiery heat of his hands finding their way beneath the thin cotton t-shirt she wore.

"I can't wait until later," he responded. His voice low, the words rumbled against her flesh.

Lips parting, Bella couldn't help it when her eyes fluttered shut, both hands lifting and wrapping despondently around Embry's shoulders.

"Embry… " she gasped, starting to protest, but her voice disappeared as Embry's mouth once again recaptured hers. Drawing in a sharp breath, she forgot what she was going to say, deepening the kiss with a reciprocated need she didn't know was so close to surface. One that threatened to erupt when she felt two hands gently move across the swell of her belly – the action tender despite his insistence.

Despite everything Embry wanted and how he planned to take it. Right there.

Stealing a moment that had only to do with them and nothing to do with their families, waiting for them just down the hall.

Bella dug her fingernails into the cotton of Embry's shirt, everything else disappearing from her mind as a delirious heat crawled through her veins, rendering her helpless. Her body was pliant beneath his touch, and the roughness of Embry's hands drew a shudder from the center of her body, causing hers to tremble as it ricocheted through her.

Embry fell still for a moment, pulling back just slightly, breath already labored although he was trying desperately to subdue it. Bella found herself leaning forward, gravitating toward him, hands grasping as she tried to pull him back.

"I need to see you," he whispered against her lips, and she opened her eyes for the first time, catching his instantly. The desire – the liquid need in those ebony eyes – was enough to knock the breath from her lungs. He held her gaze, his face set with determination, shoulders rising and falling with heavy breaths when Bella's back pressed against the door. When he let both hands drift across the curve of her stomach, searing heat against her flesh, until his fingers found the button of her jeans.

He leaned forward, his cheek grazing hers, and Bella's eyes closed once again.

"All of you," he whispered gruffly in her ear, nipping at her earlobe with a gentle bite. "I need to see you."

He pulled back again, eyes raking over Bella's frame. Her hands moved without waiting for permission, her chest heaving with deep breaths as they fell to the hem of her shirt. Eyes never leaving Embry's, she bit down on her lip the same time she pulled the piece of clothing over her head, not missing how his eyes darkened when she let it fall to the floor.

"All of it."

His words were a command, not a request, and Bella ceased to breathe as she straightened, hands moving behind her to unclasp her bra. Shaky fingers pushed it from her shoulders, letting it find a home on the floor with her shirt.

Embry's jaw was tight as he stepped forward, and Bella turned her head up to watch him, lips parting as his eyes paralyzed her. They held her in place when he leaned down, his mouth covering hers in one last slow kiss.

"What about the others?" Bella asked quietly when he finally pulled away, still watching her as he ran his fingertips down her arms, leaving a trail of goose bumps in their wake. She remembered the last time they had done this, years earlier, forgetting who was around to unintentionally bear witness. The consequences of what it meant when a roomful of people with supernatural hearing were just a few steps away.

The expectant smirk Embry gave her caused a shiver to race up her spine, the same moment one hand reached behind her and swiftly turned the lock on the door handle.

"We'll just have to be more quiet this time."

Bella was unable to look away when her husband offered her a knowing smile, retreating as he sank slowly to his knees in front of her. Lips parting, her tongue peeked out to wet them. She leaned her head back against the door, savoring what felt like a suspended moment in time. Her body froze as Embry's large, steady hands caressed her bare flesh, his lips placing one hot, open-mouthed kiss on the swell of her stomach, just below her belly button.

He was breathing heavily, warm exhales washing over Bella's flushed skin, his fingers once again finding the button on her jeans. She held the air in her lungs when his lips continued to map patterns on her abdomen, tasting her, his movements gentle for the moment. Refusing to miss a single spot as she felt his purposeful hands lower the jeans around her hips.

She couldn't breathe. The slowness of what he was doing to her was excruciating, causing the fire inside her to smolder. To make her skin crawl with a need and an urgency she couldn't comprehend, one contrary to what Embry was doing in that moment. Each brush of his lips, every touch to her skin, only made it worse, until Bella's hands impatiently curled into fists at her sides, her lungs refusing to provide any respite.

Unable to take any more, Bella suddenly understood the desire she'd seen in Embry's eyes. It suddenly made sense. It suddenly mirrored her own.

She couldn't wait either.

Gasping, finally drawing the first bit of air into her lungs after several long moments, Bella reached out, taking Embry's face between her hands. Feeling the strong, pronounced definition of his jaw as he silently understood, rising to his feet in one swift movement. One arm wrapped around her as she pulled him to her, his mouth covering hers with every bit of insistence she craved.

Embry's fingers trailed along her cheek, his tongue sweeping across her lips, deepening the kiss. Hands moving, Bella allowed them to travel over the planes of his chest, zealously finding the button of his jeans. Fingers fumbled with it even when Embry pulled away and a protesting whimper left her throat.

"Shh," he murmured quietly, peeking over her shoulder with a smile before looking back and capturing her fervent gaze. "Not yet."

Bella frowned, her fingers grasping at his neck. Curling into his flesh and trying to pull him back. "Embry … please."

"Not yet," he repeated, and she felt herself move. She let herself be led, his hands wrapping around her waist. Her mouth was barely able to swallow the surprised cry when her feet left the ground and suddenly Embry's face was level with her, the cool metal of the washing machine pressing against the underside of her thighs.

Leaning forward, Bella breathed in every ounce of his scent when he kissed her hungrily, ending it much too soon.

"I need a couple minutes," he whispered, kissing her again as her hands fell to her sides, bracing herself against the appliance beneath her. "Just a couple … for me."

Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth to contain her smile, Bella nodded, wanting to open her eyes but somehow unable to so long as she felt his breath spill over her lips. So long as he kept her waiting, anticipating what it was he wanted from her. What he wanted to do with those moments.

She stayed completely still, heart pounding mercilessly in her ears when Embry's lips ghosted across her cheek - slowly, arduously, until he reached her ear. His voice was low, filled with a longing that sent a visceral shudder through Bella's entire body.

"I want to taste you..."

She wanted to see him … she needed to see him. Eyes fluttering open the same moment Embry pulled away, his frame straightened, both hands still grasping her hips. The way he smiled at her - a suggestive, subtle gesture - paralyzed her as he shifted in front of her. As both hands grasped her thighs, pulling her flush with the edge of washer, her eyes following every single movement he made.

By the time he bent before her - by the time his dark, lustful eyes released her and she tipped her head toward the ceiling - Bella's entire body ached, every bit of heat inside it pooling where she needed it most. It anticipated him as his fingers dug into her thighs, her feet finding a home against his shoulders.

Hands curling into fists, her elbows pressed into the cold metal beneath her, releasing a sigh of relief when she finally felt his breath wash slowly over the apex of her thighs.

Her mouth fell open in a wordless cry when his blazing hot tongue slipped slowly between her slick folds.

It only took a moment, Embry's mouth moving expertly against the part of Bella that ached most for him - for her to lose her breath, her chest heaving to draw in air. Trying to find focus somewhere beneath what he was already doing to her, her head sought some kind of respite she knew her body wouldn't allow her to find.

One she didn't want to find.

Bella lost track of the moments, her head swimming in waves of delirious heat. She could feel a cry building in her chest, desperately seeking release. Not quite overshadowed by the way everything within her body tightened, searching for a similar escape. Bella bit down hard on her bottom lip, one hand lifting as it searched for Embry, finding him a moment later when her fingers wove roughly through his hair. As she held him to her, her hips inherently arched into his ministrations.

She wanted to cry out, her body already nearing that edge, threatening to fall to pieces as Embry continued to move. His tongue savored, taking every single drop he wanted to taste. Taking her higher, Bella's muscles clenched and her hand fisted his hair, pulling as he growled against her center. Bucking involuntarily, Bella bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep the scream in her lungs.

Her mouth fell open, releasing only a tortured whimper, some kind of silent prayer born from the words she couldn't form in her head.

She was there…

She was falling…

Yet just as soon as she reached that edge - just as soon as her body reached out to grasp it - the heat from between her thighs disappeared. It was gone, leaving Bella cold - violently trembling with an unquenched need and desire she could still see in the white-hot stars behind her eyelids.

"Please… "

She shook her head, barely able to open her eyes before she felt a pair of heated arms wrap around her shaking body. Suddenly pressed against a sweltering, bare chest, Bella's fingers found his face just before Embry's mouth covered hers.

She savored the kiss, the slowness of it somehow giving her a chance to come up for air, to come down just enough to focus. Tasting herself on his lips, she knew Embry had what he needed - that he'd taken the moments he craved, and hers was yet to come.

That he knew how to make it count.

A large hand grasped the back of her head, fingers twisting through her hair, tugging gently as it brought Bella back to earth. Pulling away, her eyes drifted to the ceiling when Embry shifted, leaving a trail of hot, insistent kisses down the length of her neck. Bella breathed in sharply when he reached the place her pulse was the strongest. When he shifted between her legs, one arm released her, fingernails trailing along the curve of her stomach. Venturing below her belly button, he drifted lower...

Bella suddenly jerked, a wave of fire coursing through her veins, lighting a brand-new fire to her insides. Strong, purposeful fingers slipped easily between her parted thighs, drifting slowly between their bodies, dragging out each and every caress.

A muted cry left Bella's throat, every muscle in her body contracting as Embry's hand moved. Hot breath washed over her neck the same time his fingers teased her, moving down before he easily slid two inside her body.

Bella lurched forward, clinging to Embry with both hands, hanging on for dear life as she pulled her lower lip between her teeth. Coupled with what came before, every stroke of his fingers - every flick of his thumb across her sensitive nub - was amplified, making it harder than ever to keep her cries inside. She held her breath, the heat once again pulsing through her veins as she pressed her mouth to his shoulder, his lips brushing wordlessly against her hair.

Fuck, she couldn't...

Bella could, doing the only thing she could think of to keep quiet. She bit down on the smooth flesh of his shoulder. Hard enough to hurt, she knew, yet somehow the only sound it elicited from Embry was a sharp gasp.

She could feel it again … see it, that edge, approaching faster than it had before, with more intensity.

Still, it wasn't a jump she wanted to take by herself. It wasn't a feeling she wanted to experience on her own.

Releasing Embry's flesh from between her teeth, Bella wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, limiting his movement just enough for her to take a breath. Ignoring the way she was shaking all over again, she turned her head, placing breathless, destitute kisses along the curve of his neck. Clinging to him, she soothed the spots with her tongue, pulling him down enough to leave a kiss just below his ear.

To whisper in it and tell him what she wanted, knowing somehow the moment had shifted somewhere along the way. It was suddenly less about tenderness and more about a carnal need neither one of them could deny when it begged so ardently to be filled.

"No more," she whispered, not missing it when Embry's breath caught in his chest, when his hand stilled against her and the other clung desperately to her waist. "It's my turn."

"Anything. Just tell me what you want… "

Bella held her breath, unable to help it as she felt herself smile against the flushed skin of his neck. Unable to keep the uncharacteristic words inside.

"I want you to fuck me."

The words barely slipped from Bella's lips before Embry turned his head swiftly, his mouth swallowing the lingering sound of them. Both hands curled into her waist and Bella kissed him desperately, not missing how a moment later the washer was no longer beneath her. She could suddenly feel her feet on the floor and Embry's fingers issued a wordless request as he prompted her body to turn. As she did, her eyes closed as he pulled her back flush against his chest, both hands splayed protectively across her belly as he kissed a heated trail down the length of her neck.

The moment didn't last long before Bella was moving, pulled as Embry followed. She opened her eyes, hands abandoning the place they rested over his and finding a home on the cool wooden door in front of her - the only thing separating them from the rest of the house and everyone in it.

She tried to listen, unable to hear anything on the other side, suddenly not caring as she watched instead. Peering down as Embry's hands disappeared from her body, Bella's eyes traveled upward as her fingers splayed wide across the door and a delicious, anticipant heat coursed through her veins

Bracing herself.

It didn't matter what she asked for. It would come, but not quite yet. Holding her breath, she felt the heat from Embry's body reach out, surrounding her as he wrapped one arm around her midsection. Holding her as the other traced a slow, heated path down her spine, he pushed gently, coaxing Bella as she responded to him. As he leaned forward, peppering kisses along her shoulder, her back arched just enough for their bodies to line up perfectly.

Bella didn't want to wait, and she didn't have to, her mouth falling open in a silent gasp as Embry teased her for a single moment, running the tip of his hardened length through the slick heat pooling at the apex of her thighs just before he pushed himself into her completely.

She couldn't help it as a cry tumbled from her lips, filling the air surrounding them just before she felt Embry lean forward again, one arm reaching around her until his hand loosely covered her mouth, silencing her as she closed her eyes, lost somewhere between where they were and the feel of Embry inside her, filling her.

"You gotta be quiet, Bella," Embry whispered, his voice low and gravelly in her ear. "Can you be quiet for me, baby?"

Pulling in a deep breath as Embry let his hand fall, she nodded her head viciously, pulling away from him just enough to encourage him to move. Biting down on her lip as two large hands dug roughly into her hips, they pushed her away for a single moment before both pulled her back, instantly hitting the place inside her that begged for it, that needed the release more than anything in that moment.

Embry didn't go slow. He wasn't gentle, knowing his deep, intense movements were exactly what Bella wanted, knowing just how much she could take and knowing exactly what she needed to push her toward that edge she'd been dancing along since she stepped into the room they were in - the one he'd led her toward before pulling her back.

The silence swallowed her yet somehow encouraged Bella at the same time, wanting to put a voice to the pleasure Embry was bringing her body, but unable to. Still, the muted sound of slick skin colliding with skin filling the small room was enough. It was enough to lift her higher as Bella gritted her teeth, her fingernails digging into the door as she braced herself. As she pushed back against his movements, each one urging her breath out faster. Each one pushed that fire deeper and higher inside her as it crawled through her veins.

Each one taking advantage of everything Embry had already given her as he refused to relent.

As Bella could feel those threads unravel slowly, torturously, building up to a moment where she knew she was going to shatter harder than she ever had before.

And asEmbry reached around Bella a final time - one hand closing possessively over her breast as he urged her body toward him, the other again closing loosely over her mouth - she did.

The heat exploded within, consuming her before she could take a breath, before she could prepare herself in any way. She couldn't stop it as she finally cried out, somehow - through the red behind her eyelids and the way she trembled violently in Embry's arms - understanding why his hand was there as the pleasure coursing through her body sought an escape. As she released it, she bit down hard on the back of Embry's finger, his hand swallowing the rest of the delirious cry.

She stayed there as Embry buried his face in her neck, setting free his own release. The noise he made vibrated across her skin as he pushed into her one last time.

Tremors rolled off Bella's body as she fought to catch her breath, as her nerves still protested, her legs shaking beneath her. Embry caught her just before she collapsed and she didn't miss his chuckle as he settled them both on the floor. As he pulled her into his lap, he pushed Bella's damp hair back from her face and left a soft kiss on both of her eyelids, prompting her to open them.

Bella could feel her trembling ease and she pulled in a deep breath, wrapping her arms around Embry's neck and leaving one, two, three light kisses against his shoulder.

Resting his mouth against the top of her head, Bella could feel him smile.

"Are you glad we didn't wait now?"

Letting a laugh fall from her lips, Bella nodded vigorously, leaning in to land a soft kiss on Embry's neck.

"Although I'll let you know for sure when we get out there and find out how quiet we really were..."

AN: No apologies. Sometimes you just need a little of this brand of loving in your life (like I did...clearly. *grins*)

That being said, huge shout out to ChrissiHR for beta-ing this in a HUGE flash. Seriously. I gave her, like, 20 minutes to do it, so any and all mistakes are most definitely MINE.

She also thinks I should continue this...at least in another outtake, you know, to answer Bella's question at the end there... What do you guys think? ;)

Can't wait to hear from everyone! Drop me a note! I miss you all! ~meliz