Chapter 47

It is the true season of Love

When we know that we alone can love,

That no one could ever have loved before us

And that no one will ever Love

In the same way after us.

~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

.

.

.

Bella couldn’t stop staring at Edward’s moonlit profile as the Volvo meandered through the winding streets of Magnolia toward his house. She’d never seen him look so serene, so untroubled. He had the weightless expression of a man who’d just had a 50-pound yoke removed from his back.

But she knew that if she were in his shoes, she’d be anything but relieved.

Edward had felt her probing eyes on him for some time, but it only made the tiny grin on his face stretch wider. No amount of uncertainty about the future was going to get him down tonight. Tonight was a celebration. He and Bella had both shed the burdens that had dragged them down for too long. The time for lip service to freedom had ended. They were actually free.

He glanced at her, twinkling eyes meeting sober ones. “I know you’re afraid to believe it, but I really am done with Renaissance,” he assured her. “I thought you’d be a little happier about my decision.”

“I’m ecstatic about your decision. To the point where I think I might be in shock, actually,” she replied. The laugh he emitted couldn’t help but bring a smile to her face. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this. You’re practically . . . giddy.”

He laughed again. “Yeah. I guess I am. I wish you’d join me,” he added in mild reproach.

“I’m just a little worried about tomorrow, that’s all,” she explained while Edward steered the car into the cul-de-sac where the stately Cullen home beckoned. “What happens when you wake up and realize you have no income? I mean, the problems that drove you to escorting haven’t magically disappeared. How are you going to keep this gorgeous house, for one? I know how much it means to you.”

They both gazed up at the sprawling Tudor before them as Edward turned down the drive. To Bella’s surprise, his smile faded only slightly.

“I’m not in danger of losing the house. Not anytime soon.”

Her eyebrows knitted. “I thought Emily had it mortgaged up to the rafters.”

“She did.” He hoped the flush spreading across his cheeks was undetectable in the dimly lit car. “Charlotte helped me out with that. She, uh, took care of the last mortgage. So instead of owing the bank, I owe her. And her terms are a little more generous than theirs.”

“Wow.” Bella wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Charlotte Rinehart had been nothing but warm and charming on the occasions Bella had encountered her. But she couldn’t help but find such generosity suspect. The woman might claim there were no strings attached, but in truth, she had made sure Edward would be indebted to her for years.

He glanced at Bella’s troubled face and sighed. “You aren’t still worried about her, are you? She’s a friend. She’ll still be my friend even though she’s not a client anymore.”

Bella nodded. She suspected that his grandmother’s slow deterioration made Charlotte the only remaining mother figure in his life. She still wasn’t sure Charlotte saw it the same way, but if she hadn’t made any inappropriate advances toward Edward after all this time, chances are she never would.

“That’s a pretty amazing gesture, making sure you can keep this house,” she admitted. “She must care about you a lot.”

“Yeah,” he agreed quietly as he pulled the car into the garage. After killing the motor, he hopped out and made it to Bella’s side of the car in time to help her out. He held on to her hand and guided her along the path to the house.

“There’s something else Charlotte did for me that you should know about,” he continued. His eyes darted to Bella’s, dark and unreadable under the shade of a nearby maple. He felt her hand grasp his a little more tightly, and a shot of adrenaline danced along his veins.

“What is it?” Her voice was pulled tight with apprehension.

“Her late husband knew some important people in classical music circles. So she pulled a few strings and managed to finagle a spot for me in the Seattle Piano Competition this year, even though I missed the audition deadline months ago.”

Bella stopped short, her eyes widening. Even in the dark, it was easy to see her excitement.

“You’re going to be in a piano competition? That’s the big secret you’ve been keeping from me?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m a little freaked out about it, I guess.” He dropped her hand and ran it through his hair in the usual nervous habit.

“Why? You know I’ll support you no matter how you do. And you’re going to do great, by the way.”

“We’ll see.” He wished he was as sure about the outcome as she was. “I still don’t feel like I’m ready. I’m just not in the zone— not like I was when I was in school. I still feel kind of . . . off my game, I guess.” He trailed off, not knowing how to explain his anxiety.

Bella reached for him again, closing her hand protectively around his wrist. “What are you so afraid of? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“The worst that could happen?” he echoed with a sardonic laugh. “I’ll choke. Get up in front of all those people and make a fool of myself. This is the first time a lot of music bigwigs will see me since I competed four years ago. I showed a lot of promise back then. But then I walked away and lost my momentum, my drive, my skills. I can’t get back two years of lost time in a few weeks. What if I’ve blown it? For good?”

His eyes dropped to the paving stones beneath their feet. This was the first time he’d voiced his biggest fears out loud. The admission was both freeing and damning. He felt Bella’s hand slide down, her fingers working their way between his. She had shifted on the sidewalk, and when he lifted his gaze to hers, her face was illuminated now by the moon shining through a break in the leaves overhead. Her dark eyes shone with a determination so fierce, he was almost ready to believe she had enough of it for both of them.

“That’s ridiculous. You haven’t lost your drive, or your skills. I see them both whenever you sit down at a piano. And momentum comes back— every day you practice, it builds. But in the end, none of that stuff is what’s really important. What’s important is what you have in here.” She slid her free hand under his jacket, over his thumping heart. “When you let this guide your fingers, you can’t go wrong. I’ve heard it. I’ve felt it. It’s what made me fall in love with you, an hour after we met. Just set it free and you’ve already won.”

Edward felt his throat constrict. He looked down at her palm warming the starched fabric of his shirt; at his mother’s bracelet on her wrist, glowing faintly in the dark. He had the strange sensation that his mother’s spirit hovered nearby, watching and smiling in approval. Maybe she had somehow steered him in Bella’s direction, the same way she’d guided him to the four-leaf clover when he was a child.

“What would I do without you?” he whispered, to either the ghost, or the girl before him. Maybe both.

Before Bella could reply, he covered her mouth with his in a grateful kiss. The kiss quickly multiplied into more urgent ones, prompting Edward to suggest that they go in the house.

She readily complied, letting him lead her by the hand to the side door. But as soon as they were inside, an unhappy realization struck her. She stopped on the landing and frowned up at him.

“How long were you planning to keep this competition from me, anyway?”

Edward cringed, his words coming out slow and hesitant. “I don’t know. Until I got a job offer out of it?”

“So you were going to let me miss it entirely? You weren’t even going to let me be there to support you? To be there for your moment of triumph?”

“But what if it isn’t a moment of triumph? What if I bomb completely and ruin everything?”

Bella’s voice raised in exasperation. “If that happens— which it won’t— then I want to be there to help you through it. That’s what couples do. I mean, if that’s what we are now. If we’re seeing each other exclusively.”

Edward gaped in disbelief at the uncertainty in her voice. “Of course we are. Didn’t we just establish that back at the hotel? I love you. I don’t want anyone else. I thought you felt the same.”

“I do. So how could you leave me out of something this huge for you? I don’t care whether you win or lose— I care about supporting you, no matter what. Don’t you get that?”

He sighed at Bella’s growing fury. “I do get it. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ll be under enough pressure as it is without worrying about disappointing you.”

“You can’t disappoint me,” she insisted. “No, wait, I take that back. If you had gone to that competition and never told me about it until afterward, that would have disappointed me. Pissed me off royally, to be exact. I can’t believe you were going to do that to me— leave me out of one of the most important moments of your life.”

Edward stared in consternation at her incredulous face. Her eyes looked positively wounded. It was slowly sinking in just how badly he had almost fucked up, yet again.

“I’m sorry,” he reiterated. “I’m not used to . . . letting people in.” He stopped and raked uneasy fingers through his hair once more. “I didn’t even tell Alice about it until last week. She warned me you’d react this way, and that I should tell you the truth. Fucking Alice, always right,” he muttered under his breath.

“Well, she was this time,” Bella agreed, then relented. “Look, I know you’ve been trying to protect me from a lot of things, and keep parts of your life separate from us. But that needs to stop now. You don’t have to protect me anymore. Least of all from you.”

“Bella, I’ll always try to protect you. That’s never going to change. But you’re wrong about this one. It was myself I was protecting by not telling you,” he admitted, his expression sheepish. “I couldn’t stand the thought of you seeing me fail. I can’t stand the thought of failing you.”

Bella sighed and reached up to stroke her thumb along his jaw. “Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter. I’m not going anywhere. Even if you’re not perfect. Especially because you’re not perfect.”

That brought the smile back to his face, then hers. He slid his arms around her and pulled her close.

“I could tell you a hundred times how much I love you and it still wouldn’t be enough,” he murmured, his face dropping closer to hers. “But maybe if I take you upstairs, I can show you instead.”

The same thrill of anticipation rippled over Bella’s skin as it did that first night, wearing this dress, feeling the expensive cloth of this very suit under her fingers. She knew it was the same one. She recognized the fabric’s rich navy hue, nearly black in the moonlight filtering through the kitchen windows. She and Edward wore the same costumes as before, but beneath, they had both changed in profound ways. They had changed each other.

She made no audible reply; she simply nodded and let him lead her up the short flight of stairs and across the tiled kitchen floor. The low drone of a TV met their ears as they neared the dining room, and Edward emitted a sigh of disappointment that he and Bella weren’t alone.

“Alice is home,” he said. “I’d better check in and let her know we’re here.”

Bella followed him through the living room to the family room, then nearly ran smack into his backside after he came to an abrupt halt across from the couch. When she saw what had stopped him in his tracks, her eyes popped open and her mouth followed suit.

“Alice!” she heard him bellow. But she’d already averted her eyes from the sight of Edward’s buck-naked cousin on the sofa, frantically scrambling for her clothes from beneath an equally naked, and horrified, Jasper Whitlock.

“Edward!” Bella heard her squeak, in between the rustling of garments being hastily pulled on. “What are you doing home so early? And with Bella? Hi, Bella!”

Bella’s eyes stayed on the carpet, but her hand shot up in a little wave. “Hey, Alice.”

“It’s a long story,” Edward answered. “And don’t change the subject. What the hell do you two think you’re doing in the middle of the family room, on Em’s couch?”

“What does it look like we’re doing, genius?” Alice retorted. “You can look, now, by the way. We’re decent.”

“That’s debatable,” Edward muttered. Bella looked up at him before she hazarded a glance back at the couple on the couch. He was glowering in distaste at red-faced Alice and Jasper, still straightening and fastening the clothes they’d hastily thrown on.

“Like you’re one to judge,” Alice retorted, glaring back at her cousin. “You can’t possibly be trying to play the morality card with me.”

Bella saw Edward’s clenched jaw twitch a couple of times, but before he could offer a comeback, a still-shirtless Jasper spoke up.

“Look, I know this is not cool, fooling around on your grandmothers’ sofa,” he said in his soothing Southern drawl. His hands were raised in a gesture of surrender, as though Edward had a gun pointed at him. But Jasper’s attempts to calm him down were somewhat thwarted by the frenetic locks of hair springing up all over his head in post-sex disarray. “Don’t blame Alice for the impropriety, though. Blame me. I’m so in love with the girl that I sometimes lose my head, and my judgment goes right out the window. It won’t happen again.”

Bella couldn’t help but grin at the sight of Alice, staring at Jasper in starry-eyed surprise. “You love me? Really?” she whispered.

“You know I do. And your cousin should know that. My intentions are completely honorable.”

“Your intentions?” Alice repeated with a giggle. “I love how old-fashioned you are,” she said with a happy sigh. “I love you.”

She and Jasper leaned in toward one another, nose to nose and grinning dopily, seemingly encased in their own bubble of mutual attraction. Bella wondered if that’s how she and Edward looked to the outside world. She heard him let out something between a sigh and a grumble, then looked up to see the resignation on his face.

“Fine. That’s great. Just . . .” He paused, his lip twitching in a grimace. “Take it upstairs next time, will you?”

“Agreed,” Alice said, still slightly shame-faced. “You could have knocked, though,” she muttered as an afterthought.

“You want me to knock on the door of my own house?” he retorted, his voice rising again. Bella interceded with a loud cough before his ire returned.

“Edward has some incredible news to tell you, actually. Right?” She raised her eyebrows expectantly at him. He relented and gave her the slow smile she hoped she’d see, then turned to Alice.

“I quit the business tonight,” he told her. “For good.”

His cousin’s face registered shock for a moment. “You quit escorting?”

He nodded, trying to stifle his grin but failing. “I’m done. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I’m not going back.”

He stopped then, bracing himself as Alice hurled herself off the couch and made a running leap in his direction. She threw her arms around him with a squeal of elation; he picked her right up off the floor and rocked her back and forth for a moment.

“OhmyGod, ohmyGod, ohmyGod,” Alice chanted, tears filling her eyes. “I’ve been waiting so long for this moment. I’m so happy for you. And for you, Bella! For all of us.” Edward set her back down on the carpet as she demanded, “What happened? What made you finally do it?”

Edward glanced over at Bella. “I got a wake-up call tonight. I finally saw just how much I was still hurting Bella. And you, Alice. I’m sorry for how my choices have impacted you, too.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be sorry. You did what you thought you had to do. I owe you so much for the sacrifices you made. But I’m glad it’s over. Now you can concentrate on your music, the way you deserve. We’ll make it work, Edward. We’ll figure it out somehow.”

She threw her arms around him in one last hug, and he was almost ashamed at her obvious relief. He’d never fully realized what his lifestyle had been doing to her all this time. How could he have been so blind?

Jasper rose from the sofa and slowly made his way to the group, resting his hand lightly on Alice’s shoulder. She released her cousin and nestled back against him, placing her hand over his. Edward was struck by how right the two of them looked together. He wondered if that’s how he and Bella appeared to the casual observer.

He smiled at Bella and reached out to take her hand in his, then turned his attention back to Jasper and Alice.

“Well, if you don’t mind, Bella and I have a little celebrating to do. We’ll let you two go back to . . . watching TV,” he said with the quirk of one brow.

Alice and Jasper answered with matching grins, then retreated to the couch while Edward led Bella up the oak staircase to the bedrooms above.

.

.

.

Bella gazed at her reflection in the massive mirror perched over Edward’s dresser. Her eye make-up was a little worse for wear after the crying she’d done earlier. But the expression in her eyes was what intrigued her. She looked older somehow. Wiser, perhaps. Like she was finally becoming the person she’d always wanted to be.

Like she was growing up.

Edward appeared in the mirror over her left shoulder. She watched him take off his suit jacket and throw it at the foot of the bed before he came to stand behind her. His reflection looked a little odd, his nose off-kilter in the reverse image before her. She stared at him, trying to get used to the difference.

“I hope it’s okay that I changed the subject and made you tell Alice your news instead of yelling at her. She’s not that much younger than I am, you know. And it’s obvious she and Jasper are crazy about each other.”

“I know. I’m actually cool with Jasper. She could do a lot worse. But I really didn’t need to see my baby cousin in flagrante like that.” He shuddered slightly again. “It just surprised me, that’s all. Besides, I’d be the worst kind of hypocrite if I judged her at all, after the example I set for her.”

“True,” Bella told him with a wry grin. “But that’s over now. Time to move on.”

Edward nodded soberly. He reached out for a lock of her hair, pulling it over her shoulder and smoothing it down her back. A prickle of goose bumps rose on her neck at the brush of his fingers.

“Alice was so excited, even for her. I’ve never seen her like that,” she continued.

But Edward’s attention remained fixed on Bella’s shoulder. He slowly pulled the crochet sweater down until her upper arm was bare.

“What about you? Are you excited?” he murmured. He gave her a meaningful look in the mirror before he bowed his head and pressed his lips to the base of her neck, over her collarbone.

“Very.” Her voice shook slightly, her whispered reply hovering in the quiet air. His breath was warm on her skin as he moved his mouth along the curve of her shoulder. She watched his hand reach for the opposite shoulder and pull the delicate yarn work down, continuing until the sweater had fallen from her arms into his waiting hands. He tossed it near his jacket on the bed before replacing it with his hands, skimming them over her arms until goose flesh rose over her entire body.

“I like this dress,” he said, moving his fingers down the blue satin covering her back, then sliding his hands around her hips and pulling her closer. “I hate that you wore it for someone else.” He gave her a reproachful look in the mirror before his lips relaxed in a smirk. “Then again, that will only make me enjoy taking it off of you even more.”

He raised one hand to pull the shoulder strap down, plying her pale skin with kisses once more. His other hand found the closure of her zipper, slowly pulling it down while the satin fell away from her back. He pushed the other strap of the dress down until the garment glided over her hips and dropped to the floor with a soft hiss.

Bella’s breathing was labored now, her breasts noticeably rising and falling beneath the indigo lace of her bra. Edward flashed back to that first night, remembering the tension and excitement coursing through both of them at the prospect of their first time together. His desire was immeasurably stronger now— now that he knew the heart, soul and mind of the girl encased in this temple of ivory flesh.

He looked at her backwards image in the mirror, enjoying this new perspective. He wondered if she saw herself the same way now as she had that night.

“Do you finally see how beautiful you are?” he asked her reflection. “Why you have no need to be self-conscious? I had to fight your embarrassment at every turn. But you’ve let go of that now.”

Her reflection nodded back at his. “You freed me that first night. And tonight you finally freed yourself.”

He started, letting that sink in. “I had some help,” he said at last, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against him. “I’m not sure I would have done it if you weren’t waiting for me.”

“We were waiting for each other,” she said, sliding her own arms over his and clutching his hands beneath hers. They gazed at one another in the mirror a moment. Edward’s eyes remained fixed on hers as he planted several kisses atop her head. He rocked her back and forth gently and breathed in the spicy floral scent of her shampoo. His eyes closed, allowing his other senses to heighten, immersing himself in her musk and silk and heat.

Bella’s eyes closed too, but only for a moment. The enraptured look on his face was too wondrous to miss. She was still surprised that she could move him this way, even when the proof lay in the looking glass before her. But why shouldn’t she affect him the way he did her? Didn’t she deserve for her love and longing to be reciprocated? Everyone deserved that. She was just one of the lucky few who’d found it. She thought of Mike, and even mean-spirited Jessica. They’d merely been searching for what she’d managed to find, even if they went about it the wrong way. Wrapped in Edward’s embrace, she saw and felt the proof of what love could do, and she felt nothing but forgiveness in her heart. There was no room for pettiness or blame, regret or shame. The past was gone. The future shimmered before her from a piece of leaded glass, and the image was better than anything she’d ever dared hope for.

She sighed and leaned her head against Edward’s chest. She stroked the backs of his hands, then began working at the buttons of his shirt cuffs. She needed to feel the warmth of his skin, the coarseness of his hair beneath her fingertips.

He did not protest when she pulled away, sensing she was merely turning to face him. A faintly bemused smile played at his lips as he watched her reach for the knot of his tie. The action was reminiscent of their first night, but Bella’s expression was not. Gone were her anxious eyes, her fumbling fingers. She untied the silken noose from his neck with sensuous languor, then slowly unbuttoned his shirt with steady, deliberate hands. She seemed to be savoring the opening of this package every bit as much as she had the ones he’d given her on her birthday. The effect was just as frustrating, yet enticing.

“Different tie,” she noted as it slithered to the floor. She pulled the tails of his shirt from his pants and made quick work of the bottom button. “Different shirt,” she added, running her hands up the tensed muscles of his belly and chest until she reached his shoulders. She pushed the starched cotton over them and down his arms in much the same manner as he had undressed her. He watched, mesmerized, as her sure fingers unhooked and unzipped the closure of his fine Italian gabardine pants.

“Same suit,” she accused, her eyes darting up to his. “I hate that you wore this suit for someone else. Don’t do it again.”

With one quick yank, Bella sent the navy trousers straight to his ankles. His eyebrows raised, as did Junior, moving more freely in the boxers Edward had chosen to wear this evening.

“I won’t,” he promised. The knowledge that this was a vow he would keep sent a peculiar thrill through him. Where newfound commitment might send other men his age into a panic, it only strengthened Edward’s conviction. As long as he had the love of this girl, he would need no other.

The seriousness in his eyes sent the same thrill of certainty through Bella. The night of her birthday, she wondered if she could ever fulfill the need in his hungry gaze. Now, she had no doubt of it. The search was over. They had each found what they needed in the other.

Their kiss began in slow motion: bodies gently bending and stretching, necks craning in swan-like grace until lips met. Then, soft probing; gentle tasting; sighs of mutual bliss. Their mouths shared a communion both reverent and unholy; sacrosanct and base. For lust soon joined love in their kiss, the two emotions fusing into a force more powerful than either could muster on its own.

Bodies pressed together; hands grasped at flesh; lips pressed harder; tongues searched more deeply. When Edward and Bella broke apart at last for breath, their eyes met for one long, fevered moment. Trust merged at last with love and lust. The trinity was complete.

The fervor of this new religion overtook them; they reveled in its perfect union. They reached for one another with renewed awe, the sensation of each touch intensified by their mutual worship. When Edward bent to rid himself of his shoes and socks, Bella knelt to untie him. As soon as she finished with the task, she ran her hands slowly up the pillars of his legs, through the strands of sandy hair on his legs until she reached the smooth skin of his upper thighs. She didn’t stop there. She reached further, under the thin cotton, to the apex of his hips and thighs. His skin was so soft and smooth there; a stark white virgin untouched by the rays of the sun. She laced her fingers through the thicket of curly hair that lay between, circling her thumbs around the base of his thickening erection. She could see its increasing length rising to greet her beneath the fabric of his shorts. A small groan escaped him at the gentle pressure of her fingers, teasing him with their indirect contact.

She smiled at this power she had over him— the power to arouse and give pleasure, which would ultimately result in her own. She looked up into his eyes as she gathered the cotton material of his boxers in both hands and pulled down slowly, maddeningly, until his cock sprang free, pointing with insistence at the object of its desire. Bella ignored the bobbing head so close to her lips, methodically continuing to push Edward’s underwear down his legs. When they reached the rug, he hastily removed his feet one by one and kicked the boxers aside. He was the one breathing hard now, his eyes glowing fierce with want down at Bella’s serene Mona Lisa smile, hovering so close to impatient Junior.

He placed both hands on the sides of her head, gently drawing her closer until the tip of his cock brushed against those ruby lips. Please, he wanted to groan, his eyes fluttering shut for a moment at the feel of that kiss. The groan became real when she parted those lips and let him in; her tongue gliding beneath him, tickling and wetting him before retreating; then twirling and licking before she wrapped her lips around him once more and sucked him down deep before retreating again.

He sighed and appealed to a higher power, his first of many exhortations to God that night. He would make sure Bella cried out to the heavens herself before the night was through. His fingers combed the silky hair at her temples while she worked him into a lather as only she could. He watched, hypnotized, as his cock slid between those pretty lips over and over again, his hips gently thrusting in a quickening rhythm dictated by her stroking hands and mouth. The matching image in the mirror next to him only doubled his desire. He watched until he could watch no longer; until he knew must stop her or explode inside that beautiful orifice. It was much too soon for that.

He withdrew with effort, holding her head steady as he pulled out. “Stand up,” he ordered, his voice a rasp of desire. The minute she rose to her feet, he kissed her, replacing his cock with his tongue, reminding her that there were no barriers between them; nothing holding him back. Asking her to hold nothing back from him.

He turned her toward the mirror, toward the image of her gorgeous body in that silky black bra and panties. She must see herself the way he did. Must understand why he loved and desired her so.

“Look at yourself,” he whispered, placing his hands on her shoulders. “What do you see?”

Bella stared blankly for a moment. She had a hard time dragging her eyes from the drop-dead handsome image of Edward in all his naked glory, but she finally forced herself to study her own reflection instead. She saw cherry lips, wet and swollen from pleasing the man she loved. She saw dark eyes, hungry for more of him. She saw the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, flushed and panting in anticipation. And then she watched his hands wrap around her hips, rise to cradle her waist, then skim her ribcage before closing over her breasts, squeezing and gently pinching her nipples until they hardened beneath their lace cover.

She gasped at the sensation, her breath catching in her throat. His hands released her in order to unhook her bra and push the straps over her shoulders; she watched it parachute to the floor. He cupped her breasts again, pushing her rigid nipples skyward. Her back arched involuntarily, effectively pressing her cleavage further into his hands and her ass against his erection. She moaned at the realization that he was now the one with all the power.

　

“Do you see how incredible you are?” Edward whispered in her ear, his hands beginning to roam slowly down her body, thoroughly caressing every curve before moving to the next. “There is no one more beautiful to me. No one sexier.” His fingers slid under the thin band of her lace underwear, stretching over her belly toward her throbbing sex. “You’re perfect.”

His fingers dipped down; her eyes closed and her head fell back. Yes, perfect. The feel of his flesh against hers, delving deep, tender yet insistent. His lips panted hot breath into her ear as his fingers probed until she was wet and compliant. Her hips tilted upward, letting him in.

“Perfect,” she echoed. She spoke of a different perfection, but it didn’t matter.

“Yes,” he said. Now she saw. Or maybe she simply felt it. Felt what it meant to him every time she let go; every time she let him in. Let him touch her in her most private, intimate places. Let him try to return the pleasure she gave him.

He let out a grateful sigh before removing his fingers and kneeling down to peel her panties from her body, tossing them over his discarded boxers. She still wore her heels, and it suited him. He did not remove them. They made the muscles of her legs taut under his hands as they skimmed up her body and rested on her buttocks. He squeezed and stroked, slapped and shook that solid, round flesh. She yelped a little but her back arched once more, belying her arousal. The evidence was even more ample when he spread her cheeks to reveal the glistening flesh between. He let out a groan at the tantalizing aroma emanating from her, begging to be tasted. He moaned directly into those pink folds as he pressed his lips to hers, then lapped at her sticky sweetness with his tongue.

Her moans took over then. The intensity of the sensations shocked her every time, as if she had never been tasted before. But this time, the pleasure of his probing tongue was heightened by the visual aid of the mirror before her. Never before had she seen her own reaction to Edward’s sexual onslaught: the helpless euphoria etched across her face, the heaving of her flushed chest, the wanton spreading of her legs; not to mention the glimpses of Edward’s face pressed between them, tonguing her into a full-body swoon.

She gasped and grabbed at the heavy oak frame of the mirror as he continued to work her into a frenzy. Without thinking, she raised her left leg and rested her knee on the dresser, opening herself wider to him and allowing her to better see what he was doing. The thrill of the taboo raced through her as she watched him work his magic. She felt no shame at the sight of her pussy being thoroughly and deliciously ravished by that beautiful mouth of his. Instead, she felt only elation that he wanted her this much.

Bella’s invitation only spurred Edward on. He was unbelievably turned on that she liked the show; wanted to see exactly what he was doing to her. He devoured her with an insatiable hunger, burying his face until he was coated in her cream, then manually stroking her until she pushed her opening toward his fingers, taking the first two deep inside.

He pumped her slowly at first, continuing to tongue the parted flesh encasing his fingers. Then he moved his mouth back, gently licking and probing her anus in time with the thrusting of his fingers. When she moaned softly and her hips began rocking in time, he continued, pushing his tongue against her tight opening and then finally massaging it with his other hand. He continued this way, wetting that delicate starfish and then pushing his pinky finger against it, trying to gain admittance.

Bella took a deep breath, then exhaled and tried to relax. She wanted to be ready to explore this type of intimacy with him. She suspected he liked anal sex, though he’d never brought up the topic. But he’d stimulated her orally there several times already; it was only a matter of time before he tried more.

She stilled her body and willed her muscles to go lax. Edward took her cue and pushed his finger slowly but surely into her opening. She winced and bit her lip, but didn’t make a sound. At least not until he’d breached the tight ring of muscle and inserted his finger deeper within her. The sound she made then was not one of pain, but of surprise. Once he was inside, the sensation was oddly pleasant. She let out a sigh as he buried his smallest finger in her rectum, then twisted gently. Yes, that was good. Surprisingly great, actually.

“Do you like this?” came his tentative question. He was fairly certain he knew the answer. He was good at reading her body, and right now, she was on her way to reaching that sexual nirvana that he always hoped for.

“Yes. It feels good,” she admitted quietly, trying to calm her breathing, but to no avail. The sensation of those gorgeous fingers filling her, front and back, was overwhelming. As he tenderly massaged her, she teetered on that excruciating brink between pain and ecstasy. But the more he massaged, the more she leaned toward the latter.

“It’s not too much?” he asked her, increasingly unsure. Her body was tense and panting. When he looked up, he could see her breath fogging the mirror before her.

She let out something like a laugh, or a gasp. “It is too much. Don’t stop,” she ordered.

He slowed his movements. “Are you sure?”

She nodded vigorously. “Keep going.”

The intensity was nearly more than she could bear, but the thought of him stopping was worse. Instead, she gave herself over completely to the shockwaves barreling through her belly as Edward’s fingers stroked her nerve endings into a meltdown. She openly whimpered and moaned; she slapped her hands right on the glass mirror to support herself as he increased the pace. The sight of what he was doing to her only intensified her reactions. He was right, it was too much. Something was going to have to give.

Edward was as consumed in Bella’s sexual thrall as she was. It was nearly an out-of-body experience. Every bit of his concentration and consciousness was focused on the three digits encased within her, shaking her very core in the most intimate way possible. She was going to climax soon. Her body was tensing all around him, even as she pushed back on his fingers, welcoming the friction of his increasingly rapid thrusts. He was unbelievably high on the prospect of driving her to ultimate release.

The frantic sounds that came from her mouth surprised even Bella, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She was coming, and her vision was going black. She slammed her palms against the glass, squeezed her eyes shut and released a high-pitched cry as everything within her convulsed in paroxysms of ecstasy.

Edward stared with glassy-eyed wonder at the feel of her muscles gripping his fingers in waves, and the sight of her hips bucking along with them. She had come undone entirely at his hands once more. And he felt every bit as satisfied, yet strangely powerless, as the first time.

Frustration soon followed. He wanted in on her euphoria. He wanted to ride that roller coaster with her, not just be the guy at ground control. He glanced down at Junior, rigid and nearly purple with envy; then at Bella’s still-quivering backside, coming down from the first wave of her orgasm.

He was on his feet in seconds, ignoring her disappointed gasp when he withdrew his fingers from her warmth. He met her frazzled gaze with his determined one, then ran his hands slowly over her damp skin, down the length of her thigh, still perched atop the dresser. With the help of the mirror, his searching fingers quickly found their way to her swollen clit, while Junior reached from behind for the slick opening at its base. The two converged together, stroking and filling her in a swift unison that had her crying, “Oh, God!”

But her cries weren’t for mercy, and Edward wasn’t about to give it to her. He was going to give her something else altogether.

They both grunted like animals, their breath fogging the mirror and blurring their faces as they rutted. Bella still throbbed and burned from her interrupted climax, barely having time to recover before the assault of Edward’s cock began. She knew that was exactly what he wanted. The blood still pumped through her belly, squeezing her muscles rhythmically against this new invader. She practically sobbed as the pulsing intensified, heightened by the relentless stimulation of his fingers outside and his dick within. The mirror image of him disappearing deep inside her, over and over, added a whole new dimension to her arousal. Dear God, she was going to come again. Or still. She wasn’t sure which. She only knew that the ache of pure pleasure refused to stop racking her groin, and nothing else mattered.

Edward pumped in time with her contractions, meeting each one with a deep thrust that forced one guttural growl from his throat after the other. She was coming again, and damned if she wasn’t going to take him with her. He was close already. The minute she cried out and her walls constricted, he stilled his movements and let himself feel the reverberations, right along with her. They were quick and intense, gripping him repeatedly until he felt his own climax building. He began moving his hips again, driving his cock into her with long, deliberate thrusts until it erupted in bursts of excruciating pleasure.

“Yes,” she gasped, her eyes closing and her head lolling back, as if his ecstasy was her own.

He groaned at the glorious release, then collapsed against her, his hand joining hers on the looking glass to support himself. Through the panting fog on the mirror, his spent and sated eyes met hers in wordless communion. Was there anything better than this? If there was, he had certainly never experienced it. Never in the most sexually satisfying moments of his escort days had he come close to feeling anything like this. This was what drew him to Bella, over and over, and would for the rest of his days. Not just the mind-blowing physical connection, but all the things about her that deepened it into so much more than he ever knew was possible.

He kissed her cheek and wrapped his arms around her, never taking his eyes from hers in the mirror. He watched her slightly in order to lower her leg from the dresser, wincing at the stiffness in her joints as she put her weight back on both feet. Edward reached down to massage the limb until her face relaxed into the same picture of contentment as his own. He buried his nose in her neck, inhaling her essence, drowning in the scent of utter bliss. He never wanted to resurface.

He grinned into the tangle of her dark hair as the realization hit him: This time, he didn’t have to.