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.

A/N: Gosh, well, after posting "Bodice Ripper", it acquired a "fan". (Follower, admirer, supporter, stalker… but never a nag!) There might have been a little request (or two) that the bodice be ripped.

I tried.

Damn, that was friggin' difficult to write.

I have an epilogue of sorts in mind. Maybe one day I'll write it.

Bodice Ripper – Oh Mercy

Okay… that really wasn't helping. The heroine of that book was a copper-haired beauty with porcelain skin and flashing emerald eyes.

With the heaving bosom, of course.

Then there was the strikingly handsome dude with hair the color of midnight—inky black and glistening like the wings of a raven. With eyes, stormy grey and intense as the roiling clouds thundering over the icy still waters of the depth-less loch.

Okay. Whatever.

Then there was the other ruggedly handsome, sword-wielding dude. He had the lustrous golden locks that curled sensuously about his chiseled jaw; framing his full, firm lips.

Piercing azure eyes that hid an earth shattering secret?

Check.

Naturally.

Of course the thought that those two manly warriors were wearing kilts … Hubba, hubba.

I shivered, sighed, and dropped the book over my face.

I sprawled across the cream-colored couch in the living room, ratty old paperback covering my eyes. The heel of my left foot was hooked on the back of the couch, my right leg dangled off the front; twiddling my toes. Well, that's what Renee … er … Mom used to call it. It wasn't that I was actually twiddling them, I was just wiggling them. And why was I focusing on my toes?

Maybe because my twiddling toes were more interesting than that book? Well, that wasn't it exactly. The thought of a daring, kilt-clad rogue making it to third base, and rounding for home, with his titian-haired conquest by the third chapter; while I had barely gotten a twiddling toe on first base with Edward …

I was a little frustrated.

Well, maybe more than a little. Maybe "unfulfilled" would have been a better word. Er, disgruntled. Displeased. Peeved. Irked. Okay… downright cranky.

I shouldn't have been reading that. Why was I reading that?

Okay, so I was a little, uh, tense.

Edward and I had been enjoying a special moment up in his room, and special Alice had come charging in and somehow convinced Edward to go pick up some special thing she had special ordered over in special Port Angeles and had specially insisted that I wait, specially, for them to return.

Wasn't that special?

I hoped it wasn't another one of her special surprises for me. It was nearly my birthday, and I really hoped she wasn't planning anything stupid. Or overblown or extravagant.

Alice? Extravagant?

Pffft.

Our special moment had been filled with gentle caresses, soft sighs, and tender kisses. Sweet, chaste kisses that had slowly been moving beyond "tender" and were entering the realm of "urgent," when my special friend Alice barged in and wrested him from my desperate grasp.

(As they said in those bosom heaving romances.)

I had released a gusty, bosom heaving sigh.

Well, anyway, then I had stomped (indignantly) down the stairs to the living room and flopped (bonelessly) down onto the couch.

I fussed with the waist band of my jeans, trying to hike them up. Why Alice insisted I wear those low rise things today … The stupid things just wouldn't stay up.

And the sweater! Granted, it was a nice sweater. It was really soft, and I even liked the color. Alice had said the forest green looked good with my hair, but … Jeez! Did it have to be so short? I yanked the hem down to try and cover my stomach. Again. The stupid thing just wouldn't stay down.

Fiddling with my clothes hadn't used up quite enough time, so I combed my fingers through my hair for a few minutes and draped it (languorously) over the edge of the seat cushion.

I huffed and flipped over to lie on my stomach and picked at the threads of the cushion. (Perhaps I was picking at them dispiritedly.)

With another bosom heaving sigh, I re-flopped onto my back, yanked down the sweater, and stared up at the ceiling; ending up in the aforementioned sprawled position, twiddling my toes.

Rosalie (the strikingly beautiful, flaxen-haired, statuesque siren) sashayed by and dropped an old, bedraggled paperback on the cushion next to my head.

"Care for a bit of reading material while you're waiting?" she asked sweetly as she slinked (slunk?) on over toward Emmett.

Emmett (he of the adorably dimpled, boy-next-door good looks and appealingly charming, and sometimes downright friggin' annoying, playfulness; and the oft-times disturbing hugeness) was planted in the recliner in front of the equally huge flat screen, watching some boring sport thing.

She stopped next to him and trailed a cherry red painted nail down his neck and along his shoulder. (Seductively, I would have said.)

When he looked up at her, she smiled (coquettishly, of course). Then Emmett grinned (impishly) and waggled his eye brows at her (lasciviously). Then she responded by curling a lock of that flaxen hair around her finger and she winked (suggestively) at him.

I didn't know where they went, and I didn't want to know. I just didn't even want to go there.

Esme and Carlisle had been wandering around but even they had disappeared. Didn't think I wanted to know what they might have been up to either.

So there I was, abandoned, disappointed, and disheartened. Reading about vigorously virile, tested-by-battle, forged-in-war warriors (wearing kilts!) and soon to be not-so-innocent ravishing (ravishable?) maidens (with the bosoms); and passionate kisses, and grasping hands, and groping fingers, and thrusting …

"Bella."

I shrieked and vaulted up off the couch, flinging the paperback across the living room. I dropped to the floor in a heap, landing on my side, my hair falling over my face. I scrambled to sit up, flipping back the hair, and there was Jasper across the room, standing near the bottom of stairs, the hint of a smirk on his face.

Ho-lee shit! He was so damn quiet, I had completely forgotten he was even there!

"Jasper! You scared the crap out of me!"

"So I see." His smirked widened, and he stepped forward. He bent over (sinuously) to pick up the paperback I had sent zipping across the room.

I couldn't help noticing the sharp, and quite attractive, contrast between his pale skin and the black V-neck T-shirt he was wearing. My eyes followed the supple curve of the muscles in his arm as he reached for the book and picked it up, and I noticed how the soft material fit snugly across his broad chest. I also noticed how that self-same material flowed smoothly down and into his slim, denim clad hips. Then there were the mile long legs and the worn black cowboy boots. And then there was that area there around the hips and the legs …

Gulp.

He straightened (lithely), reading the cover. His eyebrows twitched and a faint smiled played over his lips.

"The bodice ripper," he murmured, and his eyes rose to meet mine.

"Uh, er, yeah," I stammered as I awkwardly struggled to my feet. "Ro … uh, Rosalie gave it to me to read while Alice and Edward went to go, uh, pick something up in Port Angeles."

"I know." The corners of his lips twitched a bit higher.

His golden eyes glanced down toward my middle and back up to my face. Belatedly, I realized that stupid sweater was bunched up around my waist again, and I hurried to yank it down, trying to make it meet the so-called waist band of the jeans. I felt the hot blush creeping up my neck and over my cheeks.

"Uh, I … I don't normally read …" I staggered back a step, bumping into the couch. I glanced down toward the couch, bracing my hand against the arm. When I turned back, Jasper had darted silently across the room. He was standing only about five feet away from me.

"Oh! Uh … right, uh, I don't usually read those but …" Flustered, embarrassed, I couldn't think of anything to say. I didn't know what to do with my hands accept tug at the stupid sweater. Normally, he didn't come quite so close to me. Why was he like, right there in front of me?

He took an unhurried step forward. His light golden eyes had darkened to a deep amber. "I've read this one."

"You?" I glanced away to keep from staring at him; desperately trying to find something to stare at besides his darkening eyes.

Oh golly, there just weren't enough things in the living room to look at.

I tried to step back away from him but since I had already backed myself into the couch, I shuffled sideways a step and peered up at him. "Uh, you've read this one?"

Unbidden, a vision of Jasper invaded my mind, and I gasped.

Jasper, bare chested, with a red and black tartan kilt hung low on those slim hips. A broad sword held at the ready in his strong hand. His gleaming, golden locks were lifted slightly in a delicate breeze. Golden locks that, coincidentally, just so happened to curl at his chiseled jaw, and frame his full, firm, sensuous lips.

I shook my head. He didn't have the azure eyes but ...

Eek.

I was staring at his lips!

My eyes flashed up to his, and I saw that his had gone from deep amber to a glittering black. I sucked in a breath.

Screw azure. Who needed azure?

He tossed the book onto the couch and his arms were around me, crushing my soft body to his hard one, his lips on my neck. Then his tongue was on my skin, and he licked softly up to my ear, and I shivered.

He inhaled deeply. "Yes, I've read this one … and others. I've found that these books, written by women," and he gently nipped my ear lobe, "are an intriguing treatise on what some women find to be … erotic."

Jasper said, "Erotic."

Quiver.

His left hand slid up my arm to the nape of my neck and he gripped a handful of my hair, turning my head to the side. His cool lips lightly brushed over the shell of my ear, and I heard him inhale again. As he exhaled slowly, his lips coasted over my temple, and he pressed light kisses along my cheek until he reached my jaw. He licked and nipped me with his lips until he reached the point of my chin.

"That shade of green is lovely against your skin," he whispered.

I was gasping at his touch, but when his cold lips crashed onto mine, I moaned. His tongue parted my lips and slipped inside. When our tongues met, my hands, splayed across his firm chest, clenched into fists gripping his T-shirt.

His right hand drifted from my waist to my lower back, then down over the curve of my butt. His gentle hold tightened, and he pulled me against him, shifting his thigh in between mine. He ground against me, and I felt his hard length against my hip.

"I like these jeans." He growled, deliberately grinding against me again.

Oh God, I couldn't breathe. I needed air. His lips broke away from mine, instantly finding my throat. He sucked on the pulse point then his silky tongue drew another blazing line up to my other ear.

"This particular book was the signal." He exhaled quietly into my ear.

My hands slid over his chest, up his neck and into his hair. I clenched two handfuls of that silky golden hair and held him to me. My mind was clouded with his scent of leather, pipe tobacco and a hint of cinnamon. He smelled like a man. That's what a man should smell like. Why hadn't I ever noticed that before?

I was breathing in his scent and could barely speak. "Signal?"

I had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe I didn't care what came out of his mouth, as long as it was his tongue and it was on me.

"Yes." He kissed the skin beneath my ear, and I felt the very edges of his teeth graze down my neck to my shoulder.

I believe I quivered again.

He sighed. "The culmination of a plan that's been in the works for a very long time."

He lifted me with his right hand then lowered me to the couch, not taking his lips from my skin. His right hand skimmed over my hip, up to my stomach and crept under the hem of my sweater, resting on my ribs.

"P… p… plan?"

He was kneeling on the floor, and I wanted him on me. I needed him on top of me. I pulled my hands from his hair and reached for his waist, trying to urge him up. But just try and move a vampire when they don't want to move.

"Alice and I were never mates, though everyone here assumed so." He took hold of my left hand and kissed my palm, then tipped his head down, tracing a line with the tip of his nose from my palm to my wrist. He inhaled deeply again. "Your scent is intoxicating."

He licked my wrist, watching me from the corner of his eye. His tongue swept up from my wrist, across my palm then to my index finger. He bent my hand down and gradually sucked my finger into his mouth.

Alrighty then. We blasted right past quivering and we were in the trembling zone.

"Oh, my God." That was incredible. I was sure my bosom was actually heaving. I was transfixed by his lips enveloping my finger, and I could feel his tongue curling around and … licking and sucking and ... It had never entered my mind that my finger… Him sucking my finger could… That tongue and the licking…

He smiled and, bit by bit, pulled my finger from his mouth, his razor sharp teeth barely touching the surface of my skin. "Yes. Licking. It's one way to put my scent on you."

Had I said "licking" out loud? Or was it "tongue" or "sucking" or …

"Oh, shit." I was dazed. My mouth was hanging open. I had to look like an idiot, but Oh. My. God.

He smirked and held my hand against his chest. He bent toward me and brushed my cheek with the tip of his nose. His sweet tongue licked the corner of my mouth then made its way agonizingly slowly across my bottom lip.

"After Alice and I met, she had a vision of a brunette. She could not see her face clearly, but Alice knew that brunette would be my mate. Her face was not clear because she had not yet been born."

He released my hand that he had placed over his heart and moved his to my stomach. His feather light touch progressed down my stomach, raising goose bumps, coasted over my jeans and slid firmly between my legs.

My breath caught, my eyes squeezed shut, and I thrust my hips up against his hand. I was on fire. I ached I wanted him so bad.

"Oh, Jasper, please," I begged.

His lips brushed mine. "Alice convinced the Cullens to move here, so I could be here, and wait for my brunette to arrive. And then you did." He kissed my lips.

"But … but … what about…?" I stuttered, suddenly remembering that other guy. You know… Edward.

"Edward?" Jasper laughed. "Edward saw you first and became instantly obsessed. Alice had not foreseen that. She had not foreseen that you would be his Singer. Had I made my intentions known then, he would have drained you. I wouldn't have been able to prevent it. I'd found you, but I had to wait even longer for you."

With his fingers he began to rub against my sex through my jeans. Bolts of pleasure shot through me, and I groaned, arching my back up off the couch.

His grip tightened in my hair, and his face was buried in my neck. He inhaled deeply again and licked the right side of my neck. He held my head still as his tongue blazed a trail along my throat to a spot just beneath my left ear. He nipped at my ear lobe and then his lips were at my ear. His breath was coming faster.

"I had to wait," he whispered. "Until Alice saw that the time was right. When it was, she would make sure that you got that book, a book no one here would pay any attention to, and she would make sure that I would see you with it."

His tongue traced a line from my ear to my mouth, and he kissed me, his tongue gliding between my lips again. He moaned against my mouth. He pulled away after an infinite moment, breathing heavily and bringing both hands to the sides of my face.

"He had 'dazzled' you, to use your word, to keep you next to him. I ached with longing for you, but I had to be patient. I'd already waited nearly a century and a half for my mate, I could wait a few more months." He lightly pressed his lips to mine.

"When James and those other nomads came after you, I nearly broke, but Alice said it would work out if I could remain patient. She assured me you would survive, and I would have you eventually. That's why Alice and I drove you to Phoenix. I had to be with you, I had to be near you."

His tongue flicked across my lips again. "That part worked to our advantage, but it nearly killed me when you got away from me, and James had hurt you so badly and bitten you. When Edward sucked the venom from your arm, and tasted your blood, I almost … I could have killed him then and taken you away, but Alice stopped me. I had trusted her for decades and almost decided to go against her. But I waited. When you were in the hospital in Phoenix, she told me she could still see you with me. She couldn't see what would transpire next, but you would be mine, if I waited a little longer." His lips ghosted across my cheek.

"The waiting is over." His eyes were black fire as he looked intently into mine. "You are mine. I will claim you, and then we will leave."

"Claim?" I squeaked.

He leaned back and his obsidian eyes traveled deliberately down my trembling body and back up to my eyes.

"Yes. Claim. I will make love … I will fuck you until you are screaming my name." His smirk returned as he drew one of his long fingers from the neck of my sweater, down between my bosoms and to the hem. "It's not a bodice, but it's certainly rippable."

I never saw him move, but he was hovering over me, his right thigh between mine. His right arm was under my shoulders, his hand cupping the back of my neck.

Eep.

"Don't be afraid, Bella," he whispered against my lips.

"Uh …" I needed a moment. Maybe more than a moment. Maybe like two moments. Five. Five or six moments would have been good.

"Er …"

That tongue lightly caressed my lips and slid just beneath my jaw, and his lips were on my neck again. I gasped and jerked my head to my left. His left hand fisted the shoulder of my sweater, and he pulled it down, growling as his lips and tongue tickled and teased along the top of my shoulder. I felt his teeth brush over my skin at the curve of my shoulder, and his hips ground against my leg again.

Oh, God.

"Wait, Jasper. Uh, wait." And I turned my head, burying my nose in his hair by his ear, breathing him in.

"Uh, my mouth tingles."

"It's the venom." He, very graciously, demonstrated the tingle again by licking the corner of my mouth.

"But, uh …"

"What do you need, Bella?" His teeth grazed my shoulder again.

"Um, I need … I need, uh…" His tongue drew a broad fiery stroke from the corner of my shoulder and up my neck, then he began sucking at the skin just beneath the corner of my jaw.

I shuddered in pleasure at the sensation, and my hands grasped at his waist, pulling him to me more tightly.

"Ohhhhh." I groaned. I knew there was something I wanted to ask him.

"Jas … Jasper. Uh, Edward dazzled me. Are you …?"

"No, I haven't 'dazzled' you. I haven't influenced your emotions." His fingers tightened slightly on my neck, and he licked up the side of my face from my jaw to my temple. "I've kept my emotions from you. Everything you've been feeling …" his lips pressed against my brow, "…is all you. I know you want me. I know you want me to fuck you."

Umf. Jasper said, "Fuck." Again.

He lifted his body away from mine, his right knee between my legs, his left leg outstretched and braced against the floor. His left hand pulled at the sweater. I heard it start to rip, and then he tore it away, flinging the ragged piece across the room toward the recliners in front of the flat screen.

Eek.

I felt my face glowing red with a blush.

"Uh, yes, um, I mean, I … I never, uh …"

"I know." He searched my eyes. "If Edward had ever …" His eyes closed slowly under his furrowed brow. "I would have killed him." He bent to my neck again, and he breathed in. "Every scenario, every plan I thought through ended with me killing him, and I knew that it would hurt you if I ended him. So I waited." He sketched a line with the tip of his tongue from the hollow of my throat to my chin. "Fortunately, Edward is afraid of you."

His flaming black eyes looked to mine. "But I will have you."

His eyes glanced down to the fragment of sleeve remaining on my right arm, and he ripped it away, dropping it on the floor. "I need you. I won't wait any longer."

He lifted me up from the couch, arching my back, and he dropped his head to my chest, his teeth biting down on the center of my very un-sexy, plain white, cotton bra, and he bit through it. Grabbing the strap from my right shoulder he pulled it down and off my arm. He leaned toward the left strap, and his teeth sliced quickly through it. He lowered me to the cushion and drew his right arm from under me, dragging the remains of my sweater and the bra from under my back, and he threw them toward the wall of windows.

He straightened up and grasped the hem of his T-shirt, and I crossed my arms over my chest, my fists just under my throat. I was mortified at being naked. I'd never been this naked in front of anyone before. I still had my jeans on but …

His laid his right hand over both of mine. "Don't be embarrassed or ashamed. All of you, every part of you, everything you are—I want, and I need, and I crave." He gently pulled my hands down to my stomach. His burning eyes roamed over my body, my chest and my face, and he reached again for the hem of his shirt. As he peeled it off, I couldn't help turning my head into the back cushions of the couch, trying to hide.

"Bella, look at me." His low voice was compelling. I couldn't not look at him, and I peeked at him from the corner of my eye.

He draped his shirt across the back of the couch and anxiously watched me. He looked like he was worried. Worried? What could he possibly have to be worried about? He was … breathtaking. His wide chest curved in to his waist, and his jeans hung low on his hips. A faint line of curling hairs, a little darker than the golden hair on his head, trailed from his navel and down, disappearing into the denim. His smoothly defined abs were hairless, but there was a light sprinkling of gold at the center of his chest and at each nipple. But there was something else. Something was different about his skin. It didn't look as smooth as I would have thought. Without thinking I sat up to look closer.

"Scars," he said.

"Scars? Like 'scar' scars? Like, you were hurt scars?" I leaned closer and my hand reached up to touch the very faint marks in his skin, my embarrassment completely forgotten. "They're like mine on my arm." He trembled when my finger traced over one of the barely discernible crescent-shaped marks below his chest.

"Do they hurt? What happened to you?" My heart broke for him. What terrible things could have happened to him to mark him so completely?

"It's a very long story and I will tell you about it. At another time, if you want to hear it." He watched my face intently. "But I was in a vampire war that lasted for years—decades."

My heart ached for him. I had one scar on my arm from a vampire bite. He had hundreds, maybe thousands. The more I looked, the more I could see. Were they all over him? How horrible of a life did he have that he would have so many scars? I didn't think; naked or not, I just needed to wrap my arms around his waist and hug him to me, to try and reassure him.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, Jasper. How did you survive? How did you live through all of that?" I sobbed against his stomach. His arms slid around me, and I hadn't realized how tense he was until I felt him relax and kiss the top of my head.

"I never lost a fight." He kissed the top of my head again and stroked my hair. He released a heavy sigh. "I am relieved."

I looked up at his face. "Relieved? About what?"

"I was afraid that you would fear me, be terrified of all the scars. I was afraid that you would cringe away from me, like everyone else has when they've seen them." He took my face in his hands. "But I should have known. I should have trusted that my mate would … I should have had faith that you, with your loving, compassionate and gentle heart, would not be afraid and would accept me, scars and all."

"Of course, I would!" I reached up for his face and cupped his cheeks between my hands. "Of course I would, Jasper. How could anyone see them and not feel compassion for what you've been through? How could they not feel admiration for your strength and your ability to survive?"

He pulled my face to his and his lips were on mine. He quickly licked across my mouth and kissed me again. "I feel all of that from you. This is why I need you. This is why I love you."

Love? He loved me?

Kissing me, he lowered me to the couch again. He tongue pushed against my lips, and I opened to him, feeling him, tasting him.

He broke the kiss and stared into my eyes. "Every rip, every slash, every bite brought me that much closer to you. As I told you, you are worth it. I love you." His lips crushed mine in a desperate kiss.

His right hand glided down my neck and over my breast, causing me to jerk up into his hand, but he continued until he reached the waist band of my jeans. At faster than human speed, he unbuttoned them and pulled down the zipper. He pulled his mouth from mine, lightly licking my lips again as he eased away from me.

He took his leg from between mine and, standing by the couch, he reached for my jeans and panties with both hands. He slid them down over my hips, along my legs and off my feet. He dropped them to the floor, and his hand went to my left ankle and drifted up my calf. His fingers pressed more firmly into my skin as his hand glided up the inside my thigh. His eyes were fixed on his hand as he reached the top of my thigh, and his fingers slipped between my swollen, heated lips.

I groaned as I thrust my hips up against his hand. His eyes closed and his head tilted back as he sucked in a breath through his teeth. "I love your scent."

His hands flashed to the belt on his jeans as he toed off his boots. When the belt was unbuckled and the zipper was down, he hooked his thumbs in the waistband and jerked them down.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Holy shit! Oh, my God!

I slapped my hands over my eyes. He was huge, and he wasn't wearing any underwear! I mean, I kinda felt him through his pants, but …

"ACK! It's huge!" I squawked. I trembled and drew my legs up. Fetal position. Yeah, that was it. I curled up into a fetal position.

He made a noise. If I didn't know better I would have called it a whimper.

I felt him hovering over me, though he didn't touch me. The couch cushions gave under his weight beyond my rear end, and his arm brushed my left shoulder as he put his hand down on the cushion beside me. I felt his breath on my hands that were still over my eyes.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

"Bella." He breathed, and I could hear his breath coming faster. "I appreciate the … compliment." I felt his tongue slide up the back of my left hand to my fingers. "But I'm only a little bigger than average."

"A little?" I squeaked through my hands.

I felt his left hand on my right hip, and his fingers pressed into my skin. "Yes," he groaned. "About an inch and a half. Or so."

Is that all? Jeez.

His hand moved down my hip and around the curve of my ass that was resting on his thighs, toward my sex, and his fingers slid between the folds, grazing over my clitoris.

I spazzed. My hands flew away from my face, my left arm hitting his rock hard arm braced against the back of the couch. My right arm jerked out, my hand smacking against his shoulder. My knees slammed into his granite stomach. Probably a good thing he was a vampire or I would have knocked the wind out of him. I thought I might end up with a few bruises.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

I could have hit him in the face!

He rose up away from me and grabbed my knees, easily prying them apart. He placed each of my knees on either side of his waist and he was staring down at my … and his … It was right there!

Oh, shit! Oh, my God!

His black eyes flashed up to mine and his eyes were smoldering. I thought … that other guy … smoldering … whoever … whatever.

"Bella, don't be afraid." He was panting. "I will take care of you."

His left hand shifted from my right knee to my ankle, and he straightened my leg. He turned to kiss my calf. Then there was that tongue again, leaving cool wet trails from my knee almost up to my ankle. His eyes closed, and he inhaled deeply.

"I love the way you smell." He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "I can ease your nervousness. I can help you, if you let me."

I was on fire, and not just with embarrassment either, and his hand went to my lower lips and spread them, his thumb sliding to my aching nub.

I sucked a breath in through my teeth and moaned, "Yes, yes."

And his emotions poured over me, drenching me. I felt his lust and it enflamed my own. His joy, his elation lifted my soul; lightened it, brightened it, and made it soar; and his love wrapped around me, enveloping me, warm and soft and comforting. I felt his yearning and his longing, and I gasped.

"Jasper," I whispered and opened my arms to him. The look on his face told me he was still apprehensive and unsure, I didn't need to feel it. I brought my hands up toward him again and said, "Jasper, come to me."

He released a gust of breath and bent over me, burying his face in my neck. "Bella, I love you. I love you, Bella." He kissed and licked my neck as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He kissed his way to my lips and breathed out, "I love you." As his tongue slid into my mouth, his left arm went under my back, and two fingers of his right hand slid into my heat.

His thumb circled over my throbbing clitoris. I groaned and thrust my hips against him.

"You are so wet," he groaned. "I need you. I need to be inside you." He nipped at my lower lip, and his tongue swept over my lips to my jaw, and his lips were back at my ear again. He pushed his lust and desire at me. "I need to be inside you, Bella. I want to feel you."

His thumb kept circling my clitoris and sliding over it, and his pace picked up. I began to feel a tightening in my abdomen, and I pushed against him, wanting him to go faster.

"Jasper, Jasper. I want … I want …"

"What do you want, Bella?"

I couldn't think. I pushed my head against his, feeling his hair on my face, my lips at his ear. "I want …" I panted. "I want you, Jasper. I want you." I breathed in his scent and groaned.

He kept sliding his thumb over my clitoris, but he pulled his fingers from inside me, and I whimpered.

A growl vibrated up from his chest. "I want you to cum on my dick. I want to feel you cum on my dick." He shifted his hips, and I felt him at my entrance. "You're so hot, so wet."

He needed to just keep talking. He could have said anything he wanted, I didn't care, just as long as he kept talking. And kept doing all that other stuff.

He pushed against me; he was so hard. I gasped again.

"It'll hurt, but I'll help you. It won't hurt very long." He shoved his lust at me again and my hips thrust against him, and he was just inside me. I sucked in a breath. It stung, the stretching, but his cool skin eased it. He held still, but his thumb kept up its motion.

"Jasper, it stings."

"I know. I know." He licked and then kissed my cheek. He pushed and slid in a bit further. He shuddered. "It feels so good. It's so good inside you."

He sat up, dragging his left hand down my chest between my breasts, over my stomach and to my hip. He gripped my hip, and his shining black eyes rose to mine. "I can't wait." His chest was heaving. "I need…" His right hand went to my other hip and both hands grabbed tighter, his fingers pressing into my skin. His spread his thighs and then they tightened against me, holding my hips. He looked down where we were joined and he slowly thrust his full length into me, shuddering, his hair falling into his face.

He filled me completely. It was … I had no words. He was inside me. All of him. I grabbed each of his hands at my hips and squeezed. "Jasper …"

He threw his head back, his eyes were shut, his nostrils flared. "There's blood. Not much."

"Oh, Jasper, are you okay? Are you alright?" What if the blood ...?

His eyes opened slowly. "I'm better than okay." He leaned forward, took hold of my right hand, and he slid my fingers between us. "I want you to feel how wet you are."

He pulled out just a bit, and I gasped feeling him move inside me. My fingers slipped over and around his hard length. It was wet, slippery, slick, so hard, and felt so good.

He groaned. "Oh, Bella, touching me like that …"

I started to pull my fingers away, and he grabbed my hand and brought my fingers to his lips. He inhaled. "I want to taste you."

I saw the blood smeared on my fingers, but because Jasper was sending his lust and want at me, I didn't feel that nausea like I usually did to the sight of blood. I suddenly wanted, needed, to see him taste my blood, lick it from my hand.

"I want all of you," he whispered and began to lick my fingers, his tongue curling around and over each one. He sucked my pinky into his mouth and groaned again. He pulled that finger from his mouth, "So much better than I had imagined." He moved to the next finger. He cleaned each one and then licked my palm, and placed a kiss in the center. He sighed and looked at me, licking his lips.

"You are mine, Bella." His left hand went back to my hip, holding me, and his right moved between us, his thumb sliding to my clitoris, stroking and rubbing over the slippery wet nub.

He bent over me and licked my mouth. His lust flowed around me. "Now I want to feel you come. I want to feel you come around my dick."

His tongue thrust into my mouth, and his hips began slow, measured movements, while his thumb picked up speed. That tension began to build again in my lower belly, and I thrust my hips against his.

I moaned and pulled my lips from his. "Faster, go faster."

He breathed into my ear. "I feel you getting hotter. You're getting wetter." He groaned as he thrust slowly and steadily into me.

I gasped, hearing his voice. I clutched at his hand on my right hip, and my left hand went to his head, gripping a handful of his hair, his hardness sliding slowly in and out, caressing me from the inside.

"You're close." He licked my jaw. His hips kept up their slow, short strokes. "I know you're close. I can feel it."

I was moaning, "Yes, Jasper, yes. Go faster. Harder."

"I don't want to hurt you." He held my hip, but his thumb went faster. "You really like it when I talk to you, tell you how good it feels. How wet you are."

"Yes, yes …" My head was thrashing back and forth. My legs wrapped around him, and I tried to pull him closer to me. My right hand squeezed his hand on my hip. My left fisted in his hair and pulled his head to mine, pressing our jaws together.

"You're going to come," he whispered. "And when you come, you're going to clamp down on my dick and squeeze it so …"

I exploded. Oh, my God, I never felt anything like that before. Heat and wet and hard and hot and … I felt myself tighten around him and it was so … My right hand jerked to his shoulder, and I pulled him against me.

"Oh, God. Oh, God. Jasper, oh, God." I shuddered and shuddered again, my hips thrusting against him as each pulse of my orgasm hit and swept through me.

"Jasper … Jasper!" Then I turned my face into his neck and tried to bite him. His skin was too hard for that so I settled for licking his neck as the last spasms coursed through me. Then I collapsed, my arms dropping from him, my legs limp over his hips.

Oh. My. God.

Definitely had the heaving bosom.

"Oh, Jasper." I sucked in air, trying to catch my breath.

He was panting. "Oh fuck, you come hard." His arms went around me, his right hand to my head, his left in the center of my back. His hips started moving faster, and he lifted me from the couch. He leaned against the back of the couch, and his hips began moving in a circular motion.

"Jasper, that feels good. That's good." I kissed and licked his neck, sucking on his Adam's apple. My left hand slid up his face and pressed his head against mine. My right hand went to his hair, taking another fistful. I loved his hair.

His lust and need swirled around me and swept me up. I wanted him. I wanted him so bad.

"Jasper, fuck me. Fuck me harder."

He growled, and I felt the muscles in his jaw tighten.

"I want to," he moaned. "But I don't want to hurt you, or fuck you through the couch." His left hand slid down my back and over my ass, and he crushed me to him. "Oh, Bella, I love you."

I licked his ear. "Then love me, and fuck me and come inside me."

I felt his lust spike even higher and then the eruption of his release; it flared over me bright and hot, every nerve in my body sparking and snapping.

He moaned and trembled, his hands tightening their hold, clutching me to him. He grunted, threw his head back, and he rolled his hips against me, forcing himself deeper. He thrust again and again, his body shuddering and quaking.

"To come inside you …" He sucked in a breath through his clenched teeth, his fingers dug into my ass and then his face was at my neck, growling and moaning, licking and nipping at my skin. I felt his dick pulsing inside me. His body curled over mine, he thrust one last time with a snarl, and his body tensed, quivering.

"Oh, fuck me." Blowing out a huge breath, he loosened his grip in my hair, and I felt his body begin to relax as he eased us back down onto the couch with me straddling his lap.

I had never noticed that he had stood up.

He slumped back against the couch, his cool hands sliding over my sweaty, hot skin, and his head dropped back, his eyes closed and he sighed. "I thought my eyes were going to bleed."

I snuggled against his chest and licked his throat. "That's good, right?"

"Oh, my fucking God." He drew his hands up my back and over my shoulders, gathering my tangled hair. Then his hands were at either side of my head, his fingers splayed over my face, his thumb lightly brushing over my lips. He gazed intently into my eyes and brought his face closer. He quickly pressed his lips to mine. "Yes. That was good." He kissed me again. "That was better than good." He brushed my hair away from my neck and bent to kiss the corner of my jaw, his tongue gliding over my skin. "You taste so good."

He nudged my head to his chest, and he kissed my forehead. "As much as I would like to stay here, just like this and feel your body against mine, feel your thoroughly satisfied and content emotions, we need to go."

"Okay." And I sat up, feeling a muscle spasm in my back. I scrunched my eyes shut and grimaced.

He chuckled and was feeling pretty damn proud of himself. (Cocky, one could have said.)

"Be still. I'll help you." He held me to him and stood up, his hands at my waist. He lifted me, slowly sliding me off his still firm shaft, and we both gasped as he fell free.

He turned and sat me gently on the couch. "I love you." He kissed my forehead and reached for his T-shirt draped over the back of the couch. As he turned the shirt right side out, I couldn't help noticing …

"Uh, there's a little blood on your …ah …" and I was embarrassed, feeling the blush flood my face once again.

"Yes, there is." He smirked. "Lift your arms. I'll help you dress."

"Oh, my arms are stiff," I whined.

He knelt in front of me and pulled his T-shirt over my arms and head, settling the hem over my hips and thighs. He pulled my hair from the neck and flipped it to my back. "You're going to be stiff and sore for a while." He reached over and plucked my pants from the floor and gathered the legs.

With a painful groan, I leaned back and lifted my feet, bracing my hands against the back of the couch. He shimmied my panties and then my pants up to my knees.

"Take my hands, I'll help you stand."

I groaned again as I stood in front of him as he knelt on the floor. "Aren't we going to … ah … clean up, maybe a little?"

"No. I want to smell me on you, and I want to smell you on me." He stretched to reach for a tattered piece of my sweater on the floor and then eased it between my legs. He leaned forward, lifting his T-shirt out of the way, and licked my stomach, making me shiver. As he kissed and licked around my navel, he gently wiped me clean with the piece of sweater then tossed it aside.

After my pants were up over my hips, he kissed the skin just beneath my navel and zipped them up.

Then what he did next astounded me. I was still under his emotional influence but I was absolutely flabbergasted. Gobsmacked, even.

He stood, and his hands slid to his crotch, reaching between his legs, massaging his groin, his fingers wrapping around his penis and sliding to the end. His eyes shut, he smiled, and he "mmmmm'ed" as his hand stroked down and then back up, slipping off the end. He placed his hands back in his crotch and dragged them up his belly, leaving faint pink smears across his skin.

Ooooo-kay. That was a little weird.

"Wh …what the hell are you doing?"

He inhaled loudly through his nose and released it with a long "ahhhhhhhh," and he rubbed his hands together.

"I'd roll all over you if I could. I love our scents mixed together." Then he stepped past me to the couch, bent over and planted both of his hands in the center of the cushion. He lifted them, grinned at the two huge, pinkish handprints and shifted to the next cushion, wiping his hands off on it.

"Here's the book." He snatched it from the corner of the couch and handed it to me. "We're taking that book with us."

I just stood there, dumbstruck, as he yanked on his jeans and pulled on his boots. He turned to me and his smile lit his face and the entire room. Happiness burst from him and it washed over me, feeling like warm sunshine on the first day of spring. He scooped me up into his arms and nuzzled my face.

"I love you. I will always love you."

"Uh, hang on, Jasper. Aren't we going to clean this up?" I glanced down at the couch and despite his utter giddiness, my embarrassment flared. "Where I was sitting on the couch … ew … and your finger painting and … and the pieces of my clothes …"

"No. There will be absolutely no question that I have claimed you." He smirked again. "You. Are. Mine."

Cuddling me to his chest, he made his way to the front door and bent to turn the knob. He toed it open, stepped through and quietly closed it. "I fully expect Edward to destroy my study, so over the last few months I removed anything that was important to me." He practically skipped across the porch and down the steps. "I have more clothes for us in my truck. They're in the back seat." He kissed the top of my head.

With his long strides we were already at the garage and he punched in the code on the key pad. The first bay door (of four!) opened and we were next to the biggest, shiniest, black four door pickup truck I had ever seen. Even the windows were black. He opened the front passenger door and carefully placed me on the seat, and reached over me to attach the seat belt.

"You are mine!" He kissed my lips, squeezed my hands that still held the raggedy old romance, and shut the door. Before I even realized he had moved again, he was in the driver's seat, starting the diesel engine. He reached over the seat to the back and rummaged through a duffle. He pulled out a grey V-neck T-shirt and slipped it on. Next, he reached across to the glove box, popped it open, and took out a tiny black cell phone. He punched one number and held the phone to his ear.

"Peter. Yes. Wolf and Dove. Do it. I'll see you in two days." He ended the call and tossed the phone back into the glove box.

Finally, my brain recovered from my totally confounding and mind-blowing orgasmic stupor. "Jasper, wait! What about Charlie? What about school? What about Alice and what about …?"

He turned to me, his golden eyes shining with love. He took my left hand, brought it to his lips and pressed soft kisses on my knuckles, before drawing his tongue across my fingers, of course. His other hand cupped my cheek. I felt peace, reassurance, and love flow from him and it surrounded me with a warm glow. "Alice will be fine. I know this is happening very quickly for you, but we cannot stay here and be together. Too many … complications." He kissed my hand again. "As we speak, 'you' and your truck will be in a catastrophic accident—there'll be practically nothing left. You will have 'died' to the human world." He leaned toward me and quickly kissed my lips. "Essentially, I have seduced and ravished you. Now I am kidnapping you." He kissed me again, released my hand, and began backing the truck out of the garage.

He backed around in a wide arc, shifted into drive, and pulled slowly away from the garage. The driver side window went down as he grabbed the garage door opener from the dashboard and pressed the button. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he tossed the garage door opener out the window and then closed it.

As he navigated down the long curving driveway, he reached across the bench seat and took hold of my hand. "I have new identification ready for you. It's all at my place in Wyoming. We'll be there in less than 20 hours." He squeezed my hand again, leaned over and kissed the back of my hand.

"Bella, I know this is a lot to take in, but I love you. Nothing and no one will keep you from me. You are my mate, and we will be together. Forever."

I felt his silky tongue on my hand as I stared out the windshield. He set my hand on the bench seat and covered it with his own.

So many things had happened since I had moved to Forks in January. So many impossible, unbelievable, crazy things. I met a vampire who lived with a family of vampires. Vampires who had golden yellow eyes and didn't have fangs, did not sleep in the dirt (didn't sleep at all), didn't kill people, and sparkled like disco balls in the sun. I was nearly killed by a van careening out of control, and one of those vampires saved me. I thought I was in love with him, but he Svengalied me with his vampy voodoo.

I sighed and stared out the side window, watching the trees whip past.

Other vampires showed up, hunted me, tortured me, beat me, and bit me. But Edward "saved" me again, sucking out the venom so I wouldn't become like him and be with him.

What was that song about unanswered prayers?

Then I found out the brother of the vampire I thought I was in love with, was in love with me and wanted me to be with him forever.

And he was blond and gorgeous, overwhelmingly charming, enthralling, entrancing, disorienting, and had this odd licking fetish-y thing.

So he seduced me.

Quiver.

He ripped my bodice, ravished me, and kidnapped me. Stole me from my life, my father, my friends, my home. Had devised a plan to make it look as if I had died. Wrenched me from the only life I've ever known.

I sighed again and looked down at the worn paperback in my lap, the corners of the cover, frayed and curled.

I looked up at Jasper. His eyes turned to me, worry and concern on his face. "Forever is a long time and I like to read. Do you have any more books besides this one?"

And he smiled.

..

"Wolf and Dove": code words Jasper uses when he speaks to Peter. Refers to the classic bodice ripper, The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. Known as being one of the first romances to go beyond the passionate kisses and groping hands. It is also the bedraggled paperback that Rosalie gives to Bella. Sort of. I kinda changed the male leads just a little. So I like kilts…

Song mentioned by Bella: Unanswered Prayers by Garth Brooks

Svengali: Svengali is a fictional character in George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby. He is a villainous hypnotist who, through hypnotism and telepathic mind manipulation, controls the actions of women.

The word "svengali" has come to refer to a person who, with evil intent, controls another person by persuasion or deceit. The Svengali may feign kindness and use manipulation to get the other person to yield his or her autonomy.