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Chapter 13
I had completely forgotten that she was soaking wet and lying directly in the line of the wind. Not to mention the fact that I was practically smothering her body with my icy chest.
“My attempts at warming you up just aren’t working, huh?” I mumbled against her stomach as I slid my chin along her shivering skin until I reached her neck. My hands had already left their task of removing her pajama bottoms and were now sliding up between the wet sheets and her back.
Bella smiled despite the chills that continued to rack her body. “Not when lying on a soggy bed in wet clothes,” she answered huskily.
I pulled her off the bed, simultaneously kissing the hollow of her throat. I lifted her body up as I rocked back, cradling her in my lap.
“I have an idea of how to fix that.” My lips began wandering dangerously close to hers, and her breath began to hitch again. Her hands moved down the sides of my face, pulling me nearer as she kissed me edaciously. I was instantly dizzy, almost falling forward to our prior position as I felt my body start to surrender to her touch.
Another violent shiver broke me from her spell, propelling me forward. I pushed myself up onto my knees and climbed off the bed, maintaining our heated embrace. Carrying her to the bathroom door, I gently set her down. She leaned back, pulling me towards her as I permitted my weight to shift forward ever so slightly. I braced myself with my hands on either side of her face, inadvertently pinning her against the wall. Bella continued to kiss me feverishly, ignoring the occasional shudder that passed through her body.
Bolero abruptly came crashing to a halt. Bella broke away from our embrace and gasped when she heard the next song start. Our beloved Schumann was playing again.
Her eyes were wide as she studied my face, her jaw open slightly. We stood like that for eternity, gazing at one another in complete rapture, neither of us willing to break the enchantment. Finally Bella realized we had moved off the bed, now standing against the wall of the bathroom. Her eyes darted quickly to her right, noticing the open door as she involuntarily shivered again.
“Shower?” She whispered timidly. I blinked, surprised by her utterance. What was she thinking? My plan to warm her up actually involved swaddling her in one of the plush robes hanging on the door, but her suggestion sounded much more desirable at that moment. Besides, we could still make use of my idea afterwards…
I answered her with another heavy kiss, guiding her arms around my neck and lifting her up so she could wrap her freezing legs around my waist. Bella succumbed immediately as I carried her through the bathroom door, brushing the switch for the heat lamp with my elbow. I walked us over to the oversized shower stall and propped her up against the wall while I turned the hot water on, never allowing my lips to leave hers.
My mind was back in pure instinctual mode; acting completely on impulse and swiftly discarding any rational thought. I backed into the steaming shower, still holding her tightly as I let the hot water run down my back first.
“Too hot?” I mumbled against her.
“No, it feels good.”
I continued backing up, the water first washing over my head, then striking her frigid body. Bella threw her head back and arched her back, letting the water wash over her. I attacked her glistening neck with my ravenous mouth; my icy tongue competing with the temperate droplets of water that slid down her body and lost themselves amongst the blue satin. I pondered whether to finish unbuttoning her sodden top so I could assist the droplets in finding their inevitable way down to the shower floor.
Although the warm water felt pleasant on my frosty skin, its effects were overshadowed by Bella’s energized reaction to the immediate rise in her body temperature. She pressed against me, attempting to get as much of herself into the tepid flow as possible. I happily obliged, stepping backwards so that the majority of the stream rained down on her. The water swirled her bewitching scent throughout the room, sending another round of scorching tendrils down my throat and through my veins. But I had become increasingly tolerant to this olfactory assault, almost to the point of welcoming it. Bella had never smelled as good as she did at that moment, and the pure ecstasy of her aroma acted as an accelerant to my already uncontrollable state.
As my mouth reached the edge of the satin fabric that clung delicately to Bella’s chest, I hastily decided her shirt needed to come off – now. I considered using my teeth to rip the satin from her shoulders, but a diminutive shred of my cautious and prudent self interjected. I slowly lowered Bella’s legs, making sure her knees didn’t suddenly buckle. She sighed softly, still pushing against me to keep herself within the warm arc of the water. Her eyes remained closed; her face tilted up towards the source of the pleasurable flow. I kissed each of her dampened eyelids before my hands moved from her legs up to the remaining buttons of her blouse. I hesitated when my fingers brushed her damp breastbone, acutely aware of her response to my intended actions. One of her hands reached around my waist, while the other drifted up until it found my awaiting fingers. She squeezed them once.
“I love you,” she murmured softly; droplets of water falling from her moving lips.
My mouth was instantly on hers while I worked downward to release the last three buttons. Bella made a small noise in the back of her throat as I undid the last button, allowing the waterlogged shirt to hang open freely. I slid my hands up along her curvaceous sides until I reached her shoulders; tenderly sliding the garment off. Then I wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her tightly to my chest, savoring the heat that radiated from her body against my cold skin. For the first time I felt like I was actually human again. I had never felt anything like it.
“Bella,” I gasped against her. “I’m warm!”
“Yes, you are.” She ran her tongue against mine, sending a wave of sensation racking through my bones. My knees threatened to buckle as her hands unabashedly explored my dripping torso.
I responded unconsciously to her actions by sliding my hands down her back until they reached her soaked shorts. I hooked my thumbs under the elastic waistband.
“Edward, I…” Bella murmured softly. Her arms were now wrapped around my neck, hands tangled in my hair.
I leaned into her, brushing my lips against her earlobe.
“I know.” We were so completely in tune to one another that she didn’t need to finish. I intuitively knew what she meant to say, our new boundaries extended but not completely vanquished.
I pulled the shorts slowly down as Bella lifted one unsteady leg at a time to step out of them, clinging dependently to me. Finally, the majority of her chill-causing garments lay in a heap on the floor of the shower. She released her hold on my neck and traced her hands down my chest and abdomen.
“Will it be too much?” she questioned as her fingers reached the button of my pants.
I inhaled deeply against her damp hair, testing my limits. My throat ached painfully, but the pain was crossing that line into pleasurable again. I debated prudence versus recklessness for a split-second, but it was ultimately Bella who made the decision for me when I felt her release the button.
I smiled, reaching my hands up to cup her chin. “No.” Then I kissed her face earnestly while she continued to undress me. Once the tuxedo pants joined Bella’s pajamas in the corner, I felt her wrap her heated body around mine, enhancing the burning sensation of feeling almost human again. Every part of her fit perfectly against me, making our actions that much easier.
As my ears rang with Schumann’s music and my tongue savored Bella’s taste, a determined thought permeated my head, pushing everything else out.
She’s mine - forever. I would never let her go, never let anyone harm her again. I promised myself I would do absolutely anything necessary to protect her and I would gratefully trade everything I had, including my life and my soul to keep her safe and alive.
We quickly became lost in the fog engulfing the steaming room, worshipping one another in a very private way. It was only when I was kissing her hands that I realized the effects of the pounding water on her fragile skin.
“Bella, we need to get you out of here.” I kissed each of her wrinkled fingertips to prove the point.
She was still dazed, her reactions delayed by presumably lascivious thoughts. I hurried her dripping body out of the shower, wrapping one extremely plush terrycloth robe around her, the other around myself.
“Warm now?” I teased, brushing back a piece of hair that clung to her forehead.
She smiled up at me. “Very.”
I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her as tightly as I dared to my chest.
“Are you tired?”
“I’m not going back to the wet bed,” she mumbled against my robe.
I chuckled lightly. “I told you I had an idea of how to fix that.”
She looked up at me suspiciously. “How?”
“Close your eyes and count to five.”
As Bella’s lids started to close, I picked her up and rushed her out of the bathroom, grabbed the room key, and raced her to the other suite before her she had said ‘two’.
She opened her eyes when she heard the door click open. “I forgot we had another room.”
“I’m glad to see I’m not the only one forgetting things tonight,” I jested before brushing my lips against hers. As I walked us over to the dry bed, the view outside caught my attention.
“Bella, are you sure you’re not tired?” I asked again.
“Not particularly.” She began tracing her lips along my jaw.
I closed my eyes, relishing the feeling of her tongue against my skin for a moment. “Ever watched the sun rise?”
She sucked in her breath. “It’s already morning?”
“Yes.” I turned and carried her with me out onto the balcony, settling myself in a plush chair with Bella situated snugly on my lap. I still felt like I was in a bit of a haze; my body deliciously warm and electrified by Bella’s presence, but also troubled by the double layers of terrycloth between us. On this side of the hotel we were blocked from the cold wind that had blown through the other room; the air much more temperate. I glanced down at the robe’s belt around Bella’s waist, debating a lubricious thought.
Once again Bella helped make my decision for me as she plunged her hands inside my robe so she could wrap her arms around my back. I felt a tease of body heat as she snuggled against my chest, a small sliver of her bare skin touching mine. I wanted more.
Before she could blink, I untied her robe and pulled her from it, simultaneously wrapping her inside of mine. Now she was close enough.
Her warm skin was like liquid fire on mine, the robe wonderfully containing her body heat and counteracting my own coldness. Bella snaked herself around me, effectively warming my cold skin as thoroughly as the hot water in the shower. She lazily began kissing the base of my neck, tracing my collarbone with her tongue as her hands slid down my back. I swallowed a fresh flux of venom, now associating it with the satisfying actions of Bella’s hands and mouth and reveling in the strange combination of pleasure and pain.
“No more music.” Her hot breath washed against me. I reflexively pulled her tighter against me, bending down to hum her lullaby in her ear. Bella sighed softly in contentment before continuing to kiss me.
We stayed in that position for a few moments until I gently reached down to lift her chin.
“The sun is almost up.”
Bella raised her face and gazed at me, her eyes still burning with desire yet also starting to show the slightest bit of drowsiness. Regrettably, I’d have to try and convince her to sleep very soon.
I shifted our position so that she was facing east, my arms tightly around her. I was reminded again how perfectly she fit against me, like we were made to hold one another for eternity. I rested my cheek against hers as the first rays of the new day began to peek over the hills in the distance.
As the sun gradually rose, bathing the city below us with its expanding rays, I felt Bella’s heart start to slow.
“Ready for bed, love?” I murmured.
Bella fought off a yawn. “No, not yet. I’ll sleep in the car.”
I chuckled softly. “If you sleep the entire ride back, you’re going to have your days and nights mixed up when we get back to Forks. Charlie may get the wrong idea if you’re up all night again tonight and effectively passed out cold all day again tomorrow.”
I could almost feel Bella roll her eyes in response.
“I’m not worried about it.”
“And how can I teach you to play Aufschwung if you’re sleeping all day long?”
“We’ll figure something out. After all, no one sleeps at your house…maybe you’ll just have to sneak me out at night and give me more lessons at your place,” she replied seductively as she twisted around in my lap and pressed her warm chest against mine. I had a feeling that she was implying a different kind of music lesson then the one we had originally discussed. “But tonight you’ll stay over with me, won’t you? If I sleep on the way home I’ll be needing someone to keep me entertained…” She leaned her face towards mine, teasing me by not quite allowing her lips to touch me.
“Maybe,” I jested. The thought of a repeat performance of the last several hours was tantalizingly tempting. But would we be too tempted to continually push the boundaries of our physical relationship? Charlie would only be two doors away, so that should be enough encouragement for us to behave ourselves. But did I want to behave? The voice in my head answered with a resounding no.
“We need to try and be good when we get back,” I whispered. I fought the growing urge to kiss her swollen lips that remained dangerously close to mine. “Thirteen more days.” It was going to feel like an eternity.
Bella’s eyes twinkled in the sunlight. “We’ll see about being good.” I felt her fingers tracing up the sides of my torso, causing a new round of flames to ignite inside of me. Then she kissed me roughly, my head starting to swim again as I felt her body shift so that she was straddling me. It was a good thing that checkout wasn’t until noon, because I had a sinking suspicion that unless I could somehow force Bella to try and fall asleep, we wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.
She pulled away from this latest heated embrace, testing my resolve to behave even more. “Isn’t there a dry bed in there?”
I groaned as I pressed my lips into her neck. I momentarily debated whether to push the sleep issue again, but just then the breeze blew another round of Bella’s intoxicating scent at me, convincing me to do no such thing. I might as well take advantage of our precious time alone. Besides, I hadn’t exactly specified to Charlie when I’d have Bella home, just that I’d have her home at some point later that evening. We could afford to stay if she wanted…
Locking my arms around her warm body, I stood up and carried her quickly back inside.
I had completely forgotten that she was soaking wet and lying directly in the line of the wind. Not to mention the fact that I was practically smothering her body with my icy chest.
“My attempts at warming you up just aren’t working, huh?” I mumbled against her stomach as I slid my chin along her shivering skin until I reached her neck. My hands had already left their task of removing her pajama bottoms and were now sliding up between the wet sheets and her back.
Bella smiled despite the chills that continued to rack her body. “Not when lying on a soggy bed in wet clothes,” she answered huskily.
I pulled her off the bed, simultaneously kissing the hollow of her throat. I lifted her body up as I rocked back, cradling her in my lap.
“I have an idea of how to fix that.” My lips began wandering dangerously close to hers, and her breath began to hitch again. Her hands moved down the sides of my face, pulling me nearer as she kissed me edaciously. I was instantly dizzy, almost falling forward to our prior position as I felt my body start to surrender to her touch.
Another violent shiver broke me from her spell, propelling me forward. I pushed myself up onto my knees and climbed off the bed, maintaining our heated embrace. Carrying her to the bathroom door, I gently set her down. She leaned back, pulling me towards her as I permitted my weight to shift forward ever so slightly. I braced myself with my hands on either side of her face, inadvertently pinning her against the wall. Bella continued to kiss me feverishly, ignoring the occasional shudder that passed through her body.
Bolero abruptly came crashing to a halt. Bella broke away from our embrace and gasped when she heard the next song start. Our beloved Schumann was playing again.
Her eyes were wide as she studied my face, her jaw open slightly. We stood like that for eternity, gazing at one another in complete rapture, neither of us willing to break the enchantment. Finally Bella realized we had moved off the bed, now standing against the wall of the bathroom. Her eyes darted quickly to her right, noticing the open door as she involuntarily shivered again.
“Shower?” She whispered timidly. I blinked, surprised by her utterance. What was she thinking? My plan to warm her up actually involved swaddling her in one of the plush robes hanging on the door, but her suggestion sounded much more desirable at that moment. Besides, we could still make use of my idea afterwards…
I answered her with another heavy kiss, guiding her arms around my neck and lifting her up so she could wrap her freezing legs around my waist. Bella succumbed immediately as I carried her through the bathroom door, brushing the switch for the heat lamp with my elbow. I walked us over to the oversized shower stall and propped her up against the wall while I turned the hot water on, never allowing my lips to leave hers.
My mind was back in pure instinctual mode; acting completely on impulse and swiftly discarding any rational thought. I backed into the steaming shower, still holding her tightly as I let the hot water run down my back first.
“Too hot?” I mumbled against her.
“No, it feels good.”
I continued backing up, the water first washing over my head, then striking her frigid body. Bella threw her head back and arched her back, letting the water wash over her. I attacked her glistening neck with my ravenous mouth; my icy tongue competing with the temperate droplets of water that slid down her body and lost themselves amongst the blue satin. I pondered whether to finish unbuttoning her sodden top so I could assist the droplets in finding their inevitable way down to the shower floor.
Although the warm water felt pleasant on my frosty skin, its effects were overshadowed by Bella’s energized reaction to the immediate rise in her body temperature. She pressed against me, attempting to get as much of herself into the tepid flow as possible. I happily obliged, stepping backwards so that the majority of the stream rained down on her. The water swirled her bewitching scent throughout the room, sending another round of scorching tendrils down my throat and through my veins. But I had become increasingly tolerant to this olfactory assault, almost to the point of welcoming it. Bella had never smelled as good as she did at that moment, and the pure ecstasy of her aroma acted as an accelerant to my already uncontrollable state.
As my mouth reached the edge of the satin fabric that clung delicately to Bella’s chest, I hastily decided her shirt needed to come off – now. I considered using my teeth to rip the satin from her shoulders, but a diminutive shred of my cautious and prudent self interjected. I slowly lowered Bella’s legs, making sure her knees didn’t suddenly buckle. She sighed softly, still pushing against me to keep herself within the warm arc of the water. Her eyes remained closed; her face tilted up towards the source of the pleasurable flow. I kissed each of her dampened eyelids before my hands moved from her legs up to the remaining buttons of her blouse. I hesitated when my fingers brushed her damp breastbone, acutely aware of her response to my intended actions. One of her hands reached around my waist, while the other drifted up until it found my awaiting fingers. She squeezed them once.
“I love you,” she murmured softly; droplets of water falling from her moving lips.
My mouth was instantly on hers while I worked downward to release the last three buttons. Bella made a small noise in the back of her throat as I undid the last button, allowing the waterlogged shirt to hang open freely. I slid my hands up along her curvaceous sides until I reached her shoulders; tenderly sliding the garment off. Then I wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her tightly to my chest, savoring the heat that radiated from her body against my cold skin. For the first time I felt like I was actually human again. I had never felt anything like it.
“Bella,” I gasped against her. “I’m warm!”
“Yes, you are.” She ran her tongue against mine, sending a wave of sensation racking through my bones. My knees threatened to buckle as her hands unabashedly explored my dripping torso.
I responded unconsciously to her actions by sliding my hands down her back until they reached her soaked shorts. I hooked my thumbs under the elastic waistband.
“Edward, I…” Bella murmured softly. Her arms were now wrapped around my neck, hands tangled in my hair.
I leaned into her, brushing my lips against her earlobe.
“I know.” We were so completely in tune to one another that she didn’t need to finish. I intuitively knew what she meant to say, our new boundaries extended but not completely vanquished.
I pulled the shorts slowly down as Bella lifted one unsteady leg at a time to step out of them, clinging dependently to me. Finally, the majority of her chill-causing garments lay in a heap on the floor of the shower. She released her hold on my neck and traced her hands down my chest and abdomen.
“Will it be too much?” she questioned as her fingers reached the button of my pants.
I inhaled deeply against her damp hair, testing my limits. My throat ached painfully, but the pain was crossing that line into pleasurable again. I debated prudence versus recklessness for a split-second, but it was ultimately Bella who made the decision for me when I felt her release the button.
I smiled, reaching my hands up to cup her chin. “No.” Then I kissed her face earnestly while she continued to undress me. Once the tuxedo pants joined Bella’s pajamas in the corner, I felt her wrap her heated body around mine, enhancing the burning sensation of feeling almost human again. Every part of her fit perfectly against me, making our actions that much easier.
As my ears rang with Schumann’s music and my tongue savored Bella’s taste, a determined thought permeated my head, pushing everything else out.
She’s mine - forever. I would never let her go, never let anyone harm her again. I promised myself I would do absolutely anything necessary to protect her and I would gratefully trade everything I had, including my life and my soul to keep her safe and alive.
We quickly became lost in the fog engulfing the steaming room, worshipping one another in a very private way. It was only when I was kissing her hands that I realized the effects of the pounding water on her fragile skin.
“Bella, we need to get you out of here.” I kissed each of her wrinkled fingertips to prove the point.
She was still dazed, her reactions delayed by presumably lascivious thoughts. I hurried her dripping body out of the shower, wrapping one extremely plush terrycloth robe around her, the other around myself.
“Warm now?” I teased, brushing back a piece of hair that clung to her forehead.
She smiled up at me. “Very.”
I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her as tightly as I dared to my chest.
“Are you tired?”
“I’m not going back to the wet bed,” she mumbled against my robe.
I chuckled lightly. “I told you I had an idea of how to fix that.”
She looked up at me suspiciously. “How?”
“Close your eyes and count to five.”
As Bella’s lids started to close, I picked her up and rushed her out of the bathroom, grabbed the room key, and raced her to the other suite before her she had said ‘two’.
She opened her eyes when she heard the door click open. “I forgot we had another room.”
“I’m glad to see I’m not the only one forgetting things tonight,” I jested before brushing my lips against hers. As I walked us over to the dry bed, the view outside caught my attention.
“Bella, are you sure you’re not tired?” I asked again.
“Not particularly.” She began tracing her lips along my jaw.
I closed my eyes, relishing the feeling of her tongue against my skin for a moment. “Ever watched the sun rise?”
She sucked in her breath. “It’s already morning?”
“Yes.” I turned and carried her with me out onto the balcony, settling myself in a plush chair with Bella situated snugly on my lap. I still felt like I was in a bit of a haze; my body deliciously warm and electrified by Bella’s presence, but also troubled by the double layers of terrycloth between us. On this side of the hotel we were blocked from the cold wind that had blown through the other room; the air much more temperate. I glanced down at the robe’s belt around Bella’s waist, debating a lubricious thought.
Once again Bella helped make my decision for me as she plunged her hands inside my robe so she could wrap her arms around my back. I felt a tease of body heat as she snuggled against my chest, a small sliver of her bare skin touching mine. I wanted more.
Before she could blink, I untied her robe and pulled her from it, simultaneously wrapping her inside of mine. Now she was close enough.
Her warm skin was like liquid fire on mine, the robe wonderfully containing her body heat and counteracting my own coldness. Bella snaked herself around me, effectively warming my cold skin as thoroughly as the hot water in the shower. She lazily began kissing the base of my neck, tracing my collarbone with her tongue as her hands slid down my back. I swallowed a fresh flux of venom, now associating it with the satisfying actions of Bella’s hands and mouth and reveling in the strange combination of pleasure and pain.
“No more music.” Her hot breath washed against me. I reflexively pulled her tighter against me, bending down to hum her lullaby in her ear. Bella sighed softly in contentment before continuing to kiss me.
We stayed in that position for a few moments until I gently reached down to lift her chin.
“The sun is almost up.”
Bella raised her face and gazed at me, her eyes still burning with desire yet also starting to show the slightest bit of drowsiness. Regrettably, I’d have to try and convince her to sleep very soon.
I shifted our position so that she was facing east, my arms tightly around her. I was reminded again how perfectly she fit against me, like we were made to hold one another for eternity. I rested my cheek against hers as the first rays of the new day began to peek over the hills in the distance.
As the sun gradually rose, bathing the city below us with its expanding rays, I felt Bella’s heart start to slow.
“Ready for bed, love?” I murmured.
Bella fought off a yawn. “No, not yet. I’ll sleep in the car.”
I chuckled softly. “If you sleep the entire ride back, you’re going to have your days and nights mixed up when we get back to Forks. Charlie may get the wrong idea if you’re up all night again tonight and effectively passed out cold all day again tomorrow.”
I could almost feel Bella roll her eyes in response.
“I’m not worried about it.”
“And how can I teach you to play Aufschwung if you’re sleeping all day long?”
“We’ll figure something out. After all, no one sleeps at your house…maybe you’ll just have to sneak me out at night and give me more lessons at your place,” she replied seductively as she twisted around in my lap and pressed her warm chest against mine. I had a feeling that she was implying a different kind of music lesson then the one we had originally discussed. “But tonight you’ll stay over with me, won’t you? If I sleep on the way home I’ll be needing someone to keep me entertained…” She leaned her face towards mine, teasing me by not quite allowing her lips to touch me.
“Maybe,” I jested. The thought of a repeat performance of the last several hours was tantalizingly tempting. But would we be too tempted to continually push the boundaries of our physical relationship? Charlie would only be two doors away, so that should be enough encouragement for us to behave ourselves. But did I want to behave? The voice in my head answered with a resounding no.
“We need to try and be good when we get back,” I whispered. I fought the growing urge to kiss her swollen lips that remained dangerously close to mine. “Thirteen more days.” It was going to feel like an eternity.
Bella’s eyes twinkled in the sunlight. “We’ll see about being good.” I felt her fingers tracing up the sides of my torso, causing a new round of flames to ignite inside of me. Then she kissed me roughly, my head starting to swim again as I felt her body shift so that she was straddling me. It was a good thing that checkout wasn’t until noon, because I had a sinking suspicion that unless I could somehow force Bella to try and fall asleep, we wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.
She pulled away from this latest heated embrace, testing my resolve to behave even more. “Isn’t there a dry bed in there?”
I groaned as I pressed my lips into her neck. I momentarily debated whether to push the sleep issue again, but just then the breeze blew another round of Bella’s intoxicating scent at me, convincing me to do no such thing. I might as well take advantage of our precious time alone. Besides, I hadn’t exactly specified to Charlie when I’d have Bella home, just that I’d have her home at some point later that evening. We could afford to stay if she wanted…
Locking my arms around her warm body, I stood up and carried her quickly back inside.
