*Edward*
It was four-twelve in the morning and I hadn't been to sleep yet. The alarm would be going off in forty-eight minutes and I hadn't even closed my eyes for more than two minutes the entire night. Bella, however, was sleeping peacefully on my chest, our arms tightly wrapped around each other in much the same way that they had been for the majority of the night.
Mine kept getting tighter with each breathy Edward that fell out of her mouth during the course of the night. And there had so far been at least sixteen of those.
Yes, I'd counted. For a while, it had kept my mind off of the other things that had happened tonight and were driving me over the edge.
It should've been enough to lull me into a peaceful, deep sleep. Hell, with the day I'd had, I should've been asleep as soon as my head hit the damn pillow. Between dragging my hyper sister to the airport, getting extremely turned on in a bookstore of all places, telling Bella how I really felt about her and then dealing with Jacob's dumb ass, I should've been asleep hours ago.
But every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was his hand on her chest, her eyes wide with fear and those god-awful gasps that she'd been forcing into her lungs absolutely haunted me. It had taken a hell of a lot of willpower to merely shove him away from her and not continue to go after him like he deserved.
He'd put his hands on her with what looked like every intention to hurt her and I'd never wanted to kill someone else as much as I wanted to kill him in that moment.
And why, in God's name, he would ever want to hurt her in the first place blew my mind. So he wasn't getting what he wanted from her and she wasn't making things easy for him; she didn't have to anymore. They weren't together anymore and she had no obligations to help him out in any way any longer.
There was absolutely no reason to disrespect and hurt her like that while he was intruding in her home.
She shifted in her sleep, nuzzling her cheek into my chest and throwing one of her legs over mine. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, gently stroking her back and constantly reminding myself that she was okay.
The woman I loved more than I thought humanly possible was in my arms, asleep, safe and perfectly okay.
The night had been going almost perfectly before Jacob had shown up, too. I'd finally told her how I felt and everything in my crazy world had fallen perfectly into place when she'd said that she was in love with me, too.
When I saw her get out of her truck that night with the wind whipping her hair all around her, the snapping sensation I'd become so accustomed to feeling upon seeing her had been loud, echoing throughout my entire body and welcoming – completely shutting out all my fears and confirming what I already knew.
I was in love with Bella Swan and I didn't want to wait to tell her any longer. She deserved to know how I felt about her as much as I deserved to know whether or not she felt the same way.
I had been terrified when she didn't say anything back for a good minute and a half. She hadn't moved, she hadn't said anything since I had and it felt like my heart was slowly being torn in two. Like it was a piece of paper and she had her fingers on the top of it, slowly pulling one part down and ripping it easily in half.
I'd opened myself up to her, said those three words that I'd never said to anyone else before and it wasn't going over the way it was supposed to.
So I started doubting myself, doubting what
I didn't want to hear the rejection I could practically already feel at that point. In fact, I kind of wanted to take it back and pretend that it hadn't even happened in the first place.
But when she finally did tell me… I couldn't put into words the way I felt. Almost like I was flying, diving headfirst into an emotion that I'd never let myself feel before and it rivaled every other emotion I thought I'd had for anyone else.
It had only gotten better from there; the teasing and the playful jabs at my ego while I tickled her had only ended up in one of the best possible ways I could've ever even dreamed about.
Her shirt had been on the floor and she was absolutely fucking radiant. There had been no hesitation in her eyes and she hadn't tried covering herself like other girls had in the past; damn it, she was comfortable with me. There was just something incredibly amazing in knowing that the one woman that meant more than anything to me was completely comfortable being half naked in front of me.
And then he'd knocked on the door, successfully ruining anything that I was hoping to finish at some point during the night and really testing my self control while he was at it.
The night had taken a really sour turn the minute I heard his voice from the living room and I'd been quick to stand in the doorway leading into the living room. Leaving her alone when he began raising his voice was just not an option in my mind. And standing by while he put his hands on her was also completely out of the entire question.
While Bella had threatened to kill whoever might've been on the other side of the door as a half-hearted threat, I'd really wanted to. I didn't want to spend the rest of the night in jail until I had to deal with a trial, but for Bella, I would've gladly done so.
No one touches her like that.
So we'd spent the rest of the night doing our laundry after he finally left and I'd managed to rid myself of the rage that had been flowing through my veins. She even let me make the grilled cheese sandwiches we both decided we wanted for dinner and then we'd sat on the floor of her living room to watch television while the washer and dryer hummed away in the kitchen.
It would've been relatively normal if not for the fact that I still couldn't get the image of Jacob's hands on her or the way he'd looked when he shoved her back into the house out of my head.
"I love you, Edward," she whispered before snorting slightly and winding her arms even tighter around my waist.
My heart jumped and I slowly turned on my side, pulling her completely against me and holding her tightly as I buried my face into her neck.
I would never get tired of hearing those words come out of her mouth. Every time she said it, my heart would beat a little faster and those steel cables that had attached me to her only seemed to get that much stronger.
By the time we'd walked across the street to my house with our clean laundry in our hands, there had already been at least two inches of snow on the ground and I was really hoping that it would get bad enough that Bella wouldn't have to go to work.
I hadn't even been aware of a snow storm until Bella had said something about it over dinner. I didn't know how bad it was supposed to be or how long it was supposed to last. All I could hope for when she told me about it was that it would be bad enough to shut the entire damn town down for the day.
Yes, her vacation was coming up soon and I'd have her for an entire week, but I wanted this day with her. I wanted to make sure that she really was okay, despite the fact that I could clearly see that there were no marks on her. I needed just one extra day with her where I wouldn't have to spend the whole damn time wondering what she was thinking or how she was doing while I was away from her.
I didn't care that she was five minutes from home and that I could more than likely sit in one of those chairs for the entire day if I felt so inclined. I wanted her here with me, wrapped tightly in my arms for as long as she would allow it without any interruptions from anyone.
The alarm clock went off and I jumped, not realizing that I'd spent the past forty-eight minutes thinking some more about everything that had gone on in the past twenty-four hours and Bella sighed, her small hands rubbing up and down my back as she woke up.
"Off," she mumbled, yawning, "turn it off."
"I don't wanna move," I mumbled back, my voice gravelly as I merely tangled my hands in her hair.
"Turn it off and come back to me."
My heart sped up and I quickly untangled one hand from her hair, reaching behind me to slap at the damn clock and shut if off before I rolled back to her, my arms tight around her waist as I buried my head in her hair again.
She laughed sleepily and pressed herself against me, yawning again and nuzzling her cheek into my chest.
"Did it snow more?"
"I have no idea," I laughed, brushing hair away from her neck only to place my lips there.
"I want there to be more snow," she mumbled, one of her hands making their way into my hair and gently combing through it.
"Maybe we could make a snowman."
She snorted, her fingernails gently scraping down the back of my head as she worked one of her legs in between both of mine.
"I have to go to work."
"Nah," I mumbled, shaking my head and kissing my way up to her ear. "Stay home with me."
"I can in three more days."
"Too long."
She laughed, her breath catching in her throat as I sucked the bottom of her ear into my mouth.
"This is really not fair," she breathed, her hand curling into a fist in my hair.
I smiled smugly, flicking my tongue out against the bottom of her ear and tightening my arms around her when she whimpered softly.
"Stay," I whispered, kissing a line down from her ear and back onto her neck.
"I… I really can't." She sucked in a deep breath and I opened my mouth against her skin, making lazy circles with my tongue. "There's so much I need to do today."
I grunted, entirely too wrapped up in hearing her gasping for breath and whimpering quietly as I continued to suck on her skin.
"Edward, really," she breathed, her other hand coming up to rest on my stomach. "I shouldn't…"
I smiled, trailing my tongue back up to her ear and gently taking the bottom of it in between my teeth.
She was so close to giving in to me and I slowly started to pull up on the back of her shirt, listening as she sucked in another breath.
"I have so much… oh," she whimpered when my fingertips grazed her back, slowly running back and forth on her warm skin.
"Just today, Bella," I whispered, moving my mouth from her neck to trail it across her jaw.
"Why don't we," she started, moaning quietly as I dragged my teeth across her jaw, "see how much snow is outside?"
I hummed against her jaw, back to placing light kisses there as I continued to drag my fingertips lightly over her bare back.
"I'll make a deal with you," I whispered.
She hummed back in response, her body leaning into my hand. I smiled triumphantly, finally making my way to her mouth and barely brushing my lips against hers.
"If the snow is over the bottom two steps of my porch, you stay home."
"And if it's not?" she breathed out.
I smiled again, gently pecking her lips and pulling away.
"If it's not, you're more than welcome to go to work. Just know," I breathed as the hand she'd had on my stomach started to slowly trail down, "that I will be coming with you."
"Why are you so hell bent on keeping me in your sight today?"
This time, my breath caught in my throat as she began playing with the waist band of my pajama pants.
I had not been expecting that.
"I just… yesterday was… hard for me," I grunted, her fingertips barely grazing the skin of my hips. "I just want a little more time to…"
I sucked in a deep breath when she added her fingernails to her previously soft touches.
This was not how I'd imagined this conversation going at all.
"A little more time to what?" she whispered, pressing herself even closer to me.
Okay, when did the power shift from me to her? How had she gained the upper hand so damn quickly?
"To make sure that you're okay," I breathed, throwing my head back and letting my mouth hang open slightly.
Just a little lower and I wouldn't give a damn about anything anymore.
Instead, she stopped any and all movements and I groaned unhappily, slowly lifting my head again to look at her.
"What makes you think that I'm not?" she asked softly, her hand trailing back up my chest to rest over my heart.
The image of Jacob with his hand on her chest and that purely manic look on his face flashed in front of my eyes and I snapped my teeth together, nearly growling.
Everything that she'd been making me feel previously had suddenly disappeared, replaced with everything that I'd been working to get out of my brain since we'd gone to bed.
"He hurt you," I managed through my teeth, fisting my hand in her shirt.
"No, he didn't. He scared me," she clarified quickly when I opened my mouth to protest. "And you were there to make sure that he didn't hurt me. Edward, I'm fine."
"Then give me today," I begged softly, gently rubbing her back. "Bella, I'm begging you for today."
She began to tap her fingertips over my heart, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth and looking directly into my eyes.
"You're not getting rid of me no matter what," I attempted to joke, swallowing thickly around the lump that was suddenly in my throat. "Either you stay here or I come with you."
"It really means that much to you?" she asked softly.
"You really mean that much to me."
"Edward," she whispered, bringing her hand up to press it against my cheek.
"I love you, Bella," I whispered back, leaning into her hand. "And I need to know that you're okay."
She ran her thumb down the bridge of my nose and bit her bottom lip again.
"Edward, I'm fine."
"I'm not," I whispered. "I'm not fine with seeing that look on your face every time I close my eyes and I'm not fine hearing the way you were…"
"Okay," she interrupted softly, her thumb moving from my nose to trace my lips. "I'll stay home."
I relaxed, not realizing that I'd tensed up in the first place and placed my hand over hers.
"Thank you."
She traced my bottom lip with her thumb, smiling softly at me as I pressed my lips against it.
"I have to snow blow," she sighed.
"Show me how to use the damn thing. I'll do it," I said proudly, managing to puff out my chest.
She laughed and shook her head. "No."
My face fell and I pursed my lips.
"Why? I can do it!"
"You'll hurt yourself."
"Says the clumsiest woman in all of
Her mouth dropped open and she slapped at my chest with her other hand. I laughed, wrapping my arms around her waist again and slowly rolling on top of her.
"You do enough for me as it is," I said quietly, gently kissing her as she pouted up at me. "Let me do this for you."
"You come here to relax," she sighed, exasperated as she rolled her eyes and placed her hands on my shoulders.
"Do you really think that I'm going to relax when I know that you're out there in the freezing cold pushing around a machine that's almost as big as you are?"
She sighed heavily, shaking her head and gently digging her fingernails into my shoulder blades.
"I've done it before."
"Yeah, but… well… I'm a man! I should know how to do these kinds of things!"
She laughed, throwing her head back into the pillow and I pursed my lips at her, drawing my eyebrows together and wondering what it was in that sentence that would make her laugh this much.
I moved one arm from her waist and quickly dug my fingertips into her sides, smiling triumphantly as she screamed, kicked her legs out and squirmed underneath me.
"No!" she laughed, feebly pushing on my chest. "Edward!"
"Teach me how to use it!"
"Fine!"
I stopped, smiling brightly at her as I rolled to the side. She caught her breath, placing both of her hands on her chest as she looked over at me.
"That's not fair, you know."
"It worked, though."
She rolled her eyes and gently slapped my chest, laughing as she shook her head.
"I'm going to go take a shower," she declared, sitting up and looking down at me.
Her shirt fell down her back and I sucked in a very deep breath when I got a quick glimpse of her champagne colored panties.
Ah, this woman was going to kill me one of these days.
"And then I'll make us breakfast." She leaned over and quickly kissed me before hopping out of the bed. "Stay away from the stove!"
I huffed as she walked out of the room, watching as her hips swayed back and forth until she was out of my sight.
I heard the bathroom door shut as she walked in and rolled into the warm spot she'd left behind. I rested my head on the mattress, listening as the hot water heater kicked on and wrapped my arms around the pillow Bella used each night.
I buried my head in it, smiling when the scent of her shampoo mixed with mine filled my nose.
She was okay. Bella was okay; she was in the shower right across the hall from me in one beautiful piece and would be making the both of us a gourmet-worthy meal when she was out.
She was in my home and she was staying with me for the day because I asked her to. I had her entirely to myself today.
Grinning to myself, my eyes closed without my permission and within seconds, I was finally asleep.
~*~
I woke up when I heard something that sounded like a lawnmower and moaned, reaching out and expecting to find Bella next to me.
When my hand landed on cold sheets, I quickly sat up straight and looked at the alarm clock. It was nearing one in the afternoon. My eyes widened and I groaned, attempted to crawl out of bed with a little bit of grace.
When the blankets had other plans and I landed on my shoulder on the floor, I merely turned over on my back and stared up at the ceiling, my chest heaving with the extra effort I exerted trying to untangle my legs from my bed sheets had caused.
The lawnmower was getting louder and I drew my eyebrows together as I kicked my legs out of the sheets.
Who the hell was using a lawnmower? Hadn't it just snowed? What grass could possibly be visible underneath what I was sure was at least six inches of snow?
My eyes widened again as I let my legs fall to the floor and jumped up, cursing as I slipped on a discarded sock and only managed to land myself back on the floor.
"Fucking hell," I mumbled, slowly pushing myself off the floor and glaring at the offending sock.
I kicked it out of my way before carefully walking out of my room and down the stairs, sliding my boots haphazardly on my feet and running towards the door, grabbing my coat on my way out.
A burst of cold air hit me and I shivered, cursing again as I zipped up the coat and walked out onto the porch.
At least it had stopped snowing.
I probably should've gotten dressed before I took off on a mad dash for the front door. It would've made a hell of a lot more sense than standing out here in my very thin pajama pants.
I jumped when I was assaulted with a stream of snow coming from – not a lawnmower – the snow blower and my shoulders fell as I let the thankfully light snow shower down over me.
Maybe I should've stayed in bed. I'd still be warm, dry and my shoulder wouldn't be screaming painfully at me if I hadn't moved.
Shouldn't have let her get up, either. I didn't like waking up alone now that I knew how it felt to wake up with Bella at my side.
Bella was blissfully unaware of my presence as she continued on, maneuvering the damn machine around my porch stairs and carefully making a path by the Volvo.
Shaking snow out of my face and hair, I wrapped my arms around myself and looked across the street to see that the garage door to her house was open and her driveway was cleared. My own driveway was almost completely cleared, leading me to believe that she'd been at this for quite a while.
The whole point of showing me how to work that damn thing was so that she wouldn't have to. This was too much work for her to do by herself; I didn't even want to think about how many times she'd fallen or almost tripped. The possibilities – and the fear that came with those possibilities – were endless.
I pursed my lips, eyeing her as she turned the snow blower back in my direction and felt a little bit better when she jumped upon seeing me. She let go of the handlebar she was holding on to and the damn thing thankfully shut off.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" I demanded.
She placed a gloved hand over her mouth before walking out from behind the machine and slowly making her way over to me. She walked up the porch steps and I could see that she was fighting a smile behind her hand.
I don't know what the hell she was finding so damn amusing right at the moment.
"Did I do this?" she asked, her voice strained as she began brushing snow off of my coat with her free hand.
"Yes, but that's not the point."
She dropped her other hand and braced her hands on her knees as she started laughing hysterically.
"I'm glad you find this amusing," I said dryly, looking down at myself to see that my previously dark blue jacket was now mostly white.
"I'm sorry," she squeaked, raising one hand to place it on my chest.
She only laughed harder when more snow fell off of me and I shook my head, my own lips twitching with the effort not to laugh at her.
If it had happened to anyone but me, I probably would've been laughing just as hard as she was. But since I was the one covered in snow and it had managed to leak down my neck and onto my bare back, the only thing that was really amusing me now was how hard Bella was laughing.
No matter what the circumstances, it was always nice to hear and see her laughing like this. She didn't do it nearly often enough.
"You… you were sleeping," she wheezed, standing up straight and pressing her lips together to keep from laughing a little more at me. "I wanted you to sleep."
"And I wanted to help you with this."
"I told you that it wasn't a big deal."
"It's a big deal to me." I reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her against me and wrapping my arms around her shoulders. "I want to help you."
I felt her body jerk a little with the effort not to laugh at me some more as she brushed more snow off of my jacket before placing her head on my chest and I rolled my eyes.
"And I know that you didn't sleep." My eyes widened and I backed away from her to find that she was looking up at me with one eyebrow raised. "I could see those dark circles from space, Edward. You needed to get some sleep."
"I could've slept tonight. I got you to stay home," I whispered, leaning down and kissing her quickly. "And I wanted to spend the day with you, helping you."
"Okay, listen," she started, reaching up and cupping my face in her hands. "You took care of me when I twisted my ankle. I was only doing the same for you."
I sighed heavily and pursed my lips, looking back down at her. She smiled brightly and dropped her hands from my face to place them on my chest.
I was very impressed when she didn't start laughing at the avalanche she caused from the snow falling off my shoulders.
"Fine," I grumbled. "Thank you for taking care of me."
"You're welcome!" she chirped, standing up on her toes and quickly pressing her lips against mine. "I'm almost done."
"Is there anything you'll let me do?"
"You can shovel out your car if you want," she suggested, lifting one shoulder and smiling brightly at me.
"I can do that." I nodded and kissed her again before letting her go. "You have a shovel, right?"
"It's over in the garage. I didn't have enough hands to bring it over with me."
"Another reason why you should've woken me up."
"Get over it, Edward."
I huffed, reaching out as I passed her and gently smacking her ass before I walked across the street. She jumped, squealing slightly and I smirked to myself.
I turned around when I felt something hit my back to find that she was standing in the middle of my driveway, triumphant as she held up a semi-round snowball.
"Was that really necessary?" I called out, standing just on the edge of her driveway.
"Yes!" she laughed, nodding as she threw the second one at me.
I ducked, raising my arms over my head in victory when it sailed over my head.
"Ha!"
"You just wait!" she threatened, laughing as she walked back to the snow blower.
"Bring it!"
She stuck her tongue out at me before she pulled a cord on the side of the snow blower and it roared to life again. I smiled at her, shaking my head as I turned back around and started back to the garage.
I was almost there, only a few feet left before I stepped into the garage when I found myself staring up at the sky and my back flat on the ground. Great, now my head hurt, too.
I moaned, reaching up to cover my face with my arms as I cursed into them, listening as the snow blower abruptly shut off.
I should've stayed in bed. I should've held onto Bella as tightly as I could've and demanded that we both stay in bed for the rest of the day. I wouldn't be staring up at the sky in Bella's driveway if we hadn't moved out of bed.
"Edward? Are you all right?" she asked, her voice risen in what sounded like panic and I merely closed my eyes.
"I'm fine," I grumbled, waving one hand over my head at her.
I looked up when I heard her sit next to me and her hands were on my face, her gloves gone as she quickly ran her fingertips over every available inch of my face.
"Can you move?"
"I can move just fine," I sighed, dropping my arms to my chest and looking up at her. "This hasn't been a very good day so far."
She pressed her lips together and I watched as the corners of them started to lift into yet another smile.
"I'm not finding this funny!" I exclaimed, pointing at her.
"I'm sorry," she squeaked, moving one hand from my face to cover her mouth again. "I know it's not."
"And yet you're still laughing."
With that, a burst of wild laughter erupted out of her chest and she leaned forward to rest her head against my stomach, her body shaking as she snorted and hiccupped against my jacket.
Sighing heavily and smirking despite how horrible this day had been so far, I rested one hand on her back and folded my other arm over my eyes again.
"You're," she started, rasping as she looked up at me again, "you're spending too much time with me!"
I moved my arm, letting it fall into the snow beside me as I raised an eyebrow at her again.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm the clumsy one," she squeaked, tears streaming down her cheeks as she held in more laughter, "and you're spending way too much time with me."
"I haven't even told you how I fell out of bed yet."
That started her laughing again and I sighed, not being able to stop the small chuckle that escaped my lips as I began rubbing her back.
"You fell?" she squeaked again, looking up at me from underneath her eyelashes.
I nodded, pressing my lips together and sighing heavily.
"And then I slipped on a sock."
She buried her face back into my jacket, the laughter even louder than I ever thought possible.
"A sock?"
"Yes," I sighed, reaching behind me with my free hand to feel the bump on the back of my head.
Oh that was going to be a bitch later.
"Aw, poor baby," she cooed, her face suddenly directly over mine and her lips pouted down at me.
"I'm glad that you can find this amusing!" I exclaimed, slowly letting my head drop back down to the snow-covered pavement.
"Just know that if you'd been seriously hurt, I wouldn't be laughing," she offered, shrugging her shoulders and bracing her hands on each side of my head.
"Good to know, I suppose," I drawled. "Are you going to let me up?"
"In a minute," she said brightly before dipping her head down and gently pressing her lips against my throat.
My breath caught in my throat and I somehow managed to tip my head back even further, completely ignoring the shooting pain that was sent down my spine when I ended up stopping on the bump I'd found about a second ago.
"I'm sorry you're having such a crappy day," she whispered as she moved from my throat to my neck.
I grunted in response, reaching up to tangle my hands in her hair as I rolled my head to the side to give her a little more room.
"'S getting better," I mumbled.
She nipped at the space below my ear and I believe I even whimpered. I closed my eyes tightly, biting my bottom lip as she moved to the base of my jaw, her tongue joining the trail her mouth was making.
"Anything I can do to make it better?"
"I think you're doing it," my voice came out in a breathy squeak and I cleared my throat.
"Hm," she mumbled, moving to my cheek and placing gentle kisses all around it before I turned my head back to her.
She continued to kiss the rest of my face and I smiled, completely content with lying in the freezing cold snow with a raging headache, a shoulder that was still demanding my undivided attention and a very, very cold ass.
"I love you," she whispered before finally placing her lips on mine.
The rest of the world melted away at those words and I moved my hands from her hair, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling her down to me, not thinking as I tried to roll us over.
I groaned, wincing as I backed away from her and fell onto my back again, breathing heavily and reaching up to rub my shoulder.
"Go back inside," she said softly, sitting up and stroking my cheek gently. "I'll finish what little I have left and then I'll be in."
"You're doing too much," I gasped out, wincing again when I dug my fingertips into my shoulder a little too hard.
"Says the man gasping for breath on my driveway."
I narrowed my eyes at her and she laughed, leaning down and kissing me again.
"Just getting you back for this morning," she said brightly, her lips on mine again before she completely backed away from me and stood up.
"You're not supposed to mock the injured."
"It's different when I'm in love with the injured."
I smiled up at her, reaching up with one hand to tangle my hand with hers.
"I love you, too, you know."
"Yeah," she laughed, squeezing my fingers and gently tugging on my arm. "I know."
I grinned up at her this time before taking my hand from hers and anchoring myself on the driveway, pushing myself up without putting too much force against my other shoulder.
"I'll take your advice this time," I started as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and walked across the street with her, "but the next time that it snows I'm doing all the dirty work."
She laughed, both of her arms winding around my waist and nodding.
"Okay, fine. Now would you just go inside and relax?" she asked, all but pushing me up the porch stairs. "I'll be in soon."
"You better be," I warned playfully, narrowing my eyes at her as I walked sideways toward the front door.
"Edward, watch—"
I ran into the side of the house and bounced back from it, moaning unhappily as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
At this point, I was never leaving my bed ever again.
"Are you okay?" she squeaked from behind me.
"I'm fine," I managed through my teeth, hissing in another deep breath as I opened my eyes again.
I heard her start to laugh again and quickly turned to face her, one of my eyebrows raised and she quickly covered her mouth with both of her hands this time.
"I can't help it!" she squeaked, holding her hands up at the sides of her face and pressing her lips into a tight line. "You've never been this clumsy before!"
I sidestepped her, keeping my eyes on her as I slowly walked over to the rather large snow mound residing on my porch.
"Edward," she warned, still laughing as she held her hands out in front of her. "You don't want to do that."
I scooped up two handfuls of snow and began packing them together, wincing slightly as the motions irritated my shoulder.
"Yes, I really think that I do," I nodded, rounding out the snow in my hand.
"You'd laugh at me!" she bargained, slowly backing down the stairs.
"Yes, but I'd also wait until I was out of your sight."
"You're such a liar!" she exclaimed, slowly walking toward one of the many piles of snow she'd blown out of the way. "You'd laugh at me until you couldn't breathe anymore!"
"That's pushing it, love," I said conversationally as I slowly started to walk across the porch and down the steps. "I'd always make sure that you were okay first."
"I made sure!" she screeched, quickly turning to grab up a handful of snow and pack it into a ball as I approached.
"Well, then there's the little matter of you refusing my help."
"I didn't refuse! You needed your sleep!"
"Could've lived without it," I said easily, shrugging my good shoulder as I stopped about ten feet from her. "You, however, could've killed yourself out here."
Her mouth dropped open and she lobbed the snowball at me, completely off target and only managing to hit the car as I stood in front of it.
"You do know that if there is any damage to that car, you're paying for it right?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"You have more money than I do, Mister Cullen," she stated, squaring her shoulders briefly before turning to grab up another handful of snow.
I twisted my lips to the side and threw the snowball at her, laughing as it hit her squarely in the back and she screamed in surprise, turning around quickly to throw the one she'd just constructed at me.
It hit me in the chest and I leaped at her, ignoring the shooting pain my shoulder sent down my arm and grabbing her around the waist to fall into the snow pile she was standing next to.
"Okay, this is not fair," she pouted, trying to wiggle out of my grasp. "You're stronger than I am!"
"Even injured I'm stronger than you. That's pretty bad, Bella."
Her mouth dropped open as she stared at me before her lips curled up into a smile and she rolled on top of me, her mouth firmly attached to my neck before I had any real time to react.
My hands immediately went to her waist underneath her jacket, trailing underneath her shirt and I smiled briefly when she shivered at my cold touch.
"If you go inside right now," she whispered into my ear, nipping at the bottom of it and causing me to shiver this time, "I'll be in within twenty minutes with hot chocolate and," she continued, finding her way to my throat and licking slow, lazy circles to my other ear, "I'll even massage your shoulder for you."
I whimpered again, swallowing hard as she started placing soft kisses up and down the length of my neck.
"Okay," I breathed, nodding quickly.
If she asked me to go jump off the bridge right down the road, I'd probably do that, too. Hell, she had me exactly where she wanted me and we both knew it.
I just couldn't find it in me to really care all that much at this point.
"Watch where you're going this time, will you?"
"Funny," I grumbled, briefly digging my fingertips into her sides and smiling triumphantly as she squirmed around.
"Well, unless you want to end up in the emergency room for giving yourself a concussion, I think you should listen to me."
"You're damn lucky that I love you."
"I'm aware," she laughed, leaning back enough to kiss me before sitting up.
My hands fell out from underneath her shirt and jacket, landing on her thighs as I looked up at her.
"Go take a shower or something," she suggested, shrugging as she leaned over me and kissed me again. "I'll be done soon."
I nodded, letting her get up before I did the same, sighing as my shoulder twitched slightly.
"You're okay, right? I mean…"
I turned to look at her, standing behind the snow blower with her bottom lip in between her teeth and her hands resting on the handlebar. I smiled and walked over to her, cupping her cheek in one of my hands and gently leaning down to kiss her.
"I'm fine. Hurry up, okay?" I asked softly, brushing my lips across hers.
She nodded, stepping up on her toes to kiss me again before I turned from her and finally made it back into the house without falling and making an even bigger ass out of myself.
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