*Edward*
"You are a thousand times worse than Jasper could ever even think about being!"
I groaned and turned on my side, reaching out with one arm to find cold sheets next to me instead of the warm little body that should've been there.
"Fuck you," I grumbled. "Where's she?"
"She had errands to run and left me here alone with you."
He plopped onto the bed next to me and I groaned in pain, quickly wiggling my arm out from underneath him and opening one eye to look up at him.
"I hate you."
"Mhmm, I know," he said conversationally, leaning back against the headboard and crossing his arms over his chest. "And like I said, you're worse than Jasper could even aspire to be."
"Where the fuck were you all night anyway?" I grumbled, rolling onto my back and covering my face with my arms. "Bella and I were up until four."
"I don't need to hear about your sexcapades."
Oh, if only that were true.
"You were put on this earth to torment me, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"What do you want?" I whined. "Emmett, I've got a shit ton to do today."
"You are not still in California. You are in New York, patching things up with your woman and really, you have nothing to do today."
"Shouldn't you be packing something?"
"Packing's done."
"What?"
"Yep. Everything that she needed packed is done. She's just tying up all her loose ends or some shit like that."
"Oh."
"I, unlike you, have actual plans," he continued, his voice light and, if I wasn't mistaken, extremely fucking happy.
"What plans do you have? You don't know anyone!"
"I know Rose."
I slowly lowered my arms from my eyes, opening both of them to look up at him and see the shit-eating grin on his face. Like he'd just won the fucking lottery or some shit.
I knew that look.
"Oh my God," I moaned, shaking my head and turning my back to him to pull the pillow over my head. "You two hated each other, I thought. How did this happen?"
"Hey, I saved your ass from the fishing line, bro. Some thanks would be nice."
"Get out of my bed," I groaned, doing my best to smother myself with the pillow.
"I was supposed to wake you up three hours ago."
"Well, I'm up. Now will you get out?"
"Yes, because Rose will be here in about an hour to pick me up and I need to get ready."
"Now who's pathetic?"
I ended up on the floor when Emmett pushed on my back, successfully hitting my head on the buckle from my belt that I'd left on the floor last night.
"Oh I hate you so much," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my head.
"I know this. We're all doing dinner tonight. Her father and step-mother and Rose and Angela and Ben want to say goodbye to her."
"Okay," I grumbled, still rubbing the back of my head as he peeked over the edge of the bed and grinned down at me. "What?"
"You are beyond whipped."
I glared at him.
"You learn what's important real damn quick when you fuck up," I grumbled, sitting up and resting my elbows on my knees.
"She actually handled it pretty well, you know. She didn't freak out like I figured she would've."
"She's stronger than you give her credit for."
"I'm finding that out." And then his hand was on my head, roughly shoving it back and forth. "Grow some balls, though. Damn. She was still telling me to pack when she got off the phone so she was obviously going back to you."
I roughly shoved his arm away and glared up at him again.
"I didn't hear from her for an entire day, Emmett. I was running out of options."
He sat up, shaking his head as he crawled off the bed and smirked at me.
"You need to have some faith in her, too, man."
With that, he walked out of the room and left me glaring after him. Bella and I had had this discussion last night and I was aware of that. She had every right to be upset that I was the one who immediately thought that she'd blow everything out of proportion and it was something that I promised to work on.
It wasn't easy trying to rid my brain of the natural responses that the other girls had when I'd dated them. Yes, Bella was different in all the right ways, but after an entire year of this happening with most of my relationships, it was really hard to let go of it.
But I'd meant it when I said that the possibility of actually losing her had put everything into perspective for me.
I'd told her that I wasn't doing more than one movie a year and after a lot of arguing about it, she'd finally agreed to it. She'd countered with opening her own bookstore and hiring enough people that she could really trust to run the store so that she could still travel with me when she wanted to even though I half-heartedly insisted that she didn't need to.
She insisted on meeting Tanya, which I wholeheartedly agreed with and I promised to stay as far away from Victoria as possible once Bella had confided that she was uncomfortable around her.
It wasn't such a huge sacrifice to begin with.
We still had a long way to go and we knew that everything was going to be different again once we were back in California, but we felt stronger this time. I'd felt connected and tied to her before, but after last night, it was all so much more.
We'd gotten everything out in the open and even though we might not have liked certain points of the entire conversation, at least we were fully aware of how we each felt about everything.
She didn’t like the crowds and wasn't sure she could ever really get used to them. I didn't like how she downplayed everything she felt when she knew it would hurt my feelings.
They were small things, but now we both knew everything. They were things that we could work on over time and we could do it together.
"Edward?" I heard her voice float through the doorway and immediately looked over the bed.
She was standing in the doorway, one hand running through her hair and the other on her hip as she looked around the room. She was wearing a simple white t-shirt and a pair of old torn jeans, but she looked perfect.
"Bella," I breathed, grabbing onto the edge of the mattress and pulling myself up.
Yeah, all right, I spent all of last night and a good portion of this morning with her, but I'd woken up without her. And hell, every time I saw her, it was like a weight had been lifted off of my chest and I was… well, whole again.
She smiled over at me, tilting her head before walking over and draping her arms over my shoulders.
"Why were you on the floor?"
"Emmett," I grumbled, grabbing her around the waist and hugging her tightly.
She laughed softly and buried her face in my chest, her arms tight around my neck.
"My house is up for sale," she said quietly, resting her cheek on my chest and absently trailing her fingertips up and down my spine.
"Is that a good thing?"
She nodded, backing away to look up at me and smile.
"It's a very good thing."
I leaned down and kissed her softly.
"Sue and my dad are going to take my truck tonight after dinner so that nothing happens to it," she continued when I pulled back from her, "and Angela said she'd check on the house if you wanted her to. Just to make sure that everything is okay while we're gone."
"It probably wouldn't be a bad idea, huh?"
She shook her head and I reached up to brush hair off of her forehead before placing a small kiss there.
"What about the things you had left in your house? What did you do with them?"
"There's a thrift store down the road." She shrugged a shoulder and stood up on her toes to kiss the bottom of my chin. "They were more than happy to take a chair and my television."
"When did you have plans of flying out?" I asked softly.
"I made arrangements this morning for us to leave on the twelfth. Rose and Angela want me to go out on Friday and I'll need a few days to recover from that."
I nodded, already mentally trying to figure out what it is that I could do for an entire night. She deserved to have one more night out with her girlfriends before she disappeared to California with me.
"You're coming with us," she whispered, leaning up to kiss me softly.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded, smiling at me.
"It's the last chance we'll all get to be together on a Friday night. You've gotta come with us."
"All right."
She smiled and kissed me again, her eyes shining brightly up at me as she bounced up on her toes a few times. I laughed and shook my head at her before sucking in a deep breath and briefly pressing my lips together.
"I know that you've answered this already, but Bella, are you sure?"
She reached in between us to grab the sides of my face, bringing my head down so that we were nose-to-nose.
"I want to start our life together, Edward," she said softly, "and I want to do it as soon as possible."
I slid my hands down her sides, grabbing onto the back of her thighs and lifting her up. She quickly wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, our eyes locked the entire time as we moved and shifted.
"I love you, Bella," I whispered, leaning forward and brushing my lips against hers.
"I love you too."
We'd said it more times than I could possibly imagine in the past twenty-four hours and every time, I still got a small thrill running down my spine from it.
"Shower with me?"
She smiled and nodded, kissing me softly.
"I already took one this morning but I guess I can never be too clean."
I laughed and kissed her again, carefully starting to walk towards the bedroom door with her in my arms and my lips on hers.
As long as I didn't run us into the wall, we were good.
"Oh, seriously?" Emmett screeched from the bottom of the stairs as I walked us into the hallway. "At least wait until I'm out of the house!"
"My house," I managed before walking into the bathroom. "Do what I want."
Bella laughed and reached out, slamming the door behind us.
Oh yes. This was a damn good way to start out the day.
~*~
Bella pulled up to the huge pale yellow mansion set back off of the road a few hours later and I gaped up at it, completely awestruck that something like this existed in Lake George, New York.
It had to be at least three stories high with a wrap around balcony on the second floor, long windows extending from the bottom floor to the second with crystal chandeliers clearly visible through them. I could see Rosalie and Emmett in the living room, wrapped up in each other and probably still arguing with each other because he was literally squirming in her arms.
He was gone by the time Bella and I had gotten out of the shower and since we'd only been wrapped up in one very large towel, it was probably a hell of a lot better that way.
"She lives here alone?" I managed, looking wide-eyed over at Bella.
She laughed and nodded, shrugging as she turned the truck off and opened her door.
"Rose likes the finer things in life."
"Well then I have absolutely no idea what the hell she sees in Emmett," I grumbled as I opened my door and stepped onto the snowy driveway.
It had started snowing when Bella and I had been in the shower earlier and while the news had said that we weren't expecting any big snow storms anytime soon, the ground was already covered in a thin blanket of it. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if it got any worse out.
Bella laughed and rounded the front of the truck, coming up next to me and linking her fingers with mine as she led me up the walk and towards the intricately detailed front door.
"I honestly didn't think they'd even get to this point. You should've heard them, Edward, I swear to you," she laughed again, shaking her head. "They made me want to swear off children."
I looked over at her, raising an eyebrow as I quickly shook my hand from hers and wrapped my arm around her waist.
"You still feel that way?"
She smiled and shook her head, standing up on her toes to kiss me quickly.
"No."
"Good," I mumbled, kissing her again. "Because I want babies and I want babies with you."
"When the time's right."
I nodded and smiled, backing away from her to brush the end of my nose against hers.
"Not tomorrow."
She laughed again and shook her head, kissing me once more before placing her hand on the doorknob and twisting.
"Not tomorrow."
I followed her into the open room and followed her lead as she toed off her shoes and hung up her coat on the rack beside the door. They were clearly oblivious to our arrival and when I heard Emmett moan, I closed my eyes tightly.
"Please, dear God," I whispered, looking up at the ceiling.
Bella looked behind her and pressed her lips together in an attempt not to laugh before reaching out and grabbing my hand in hers.
"Hi guys!" she shouted, leading us further into the room.
They both jumped and stopped attacking each other but didn't move from the other's arms. Rosalie looked annoyed, glaring at me while Emmett just looked like an idiot.
A happy idiot, but an idiot with a comically large grin on his face despite the situation.
"I see all was forgiven," Rose said coolly, finally stepping away from Emmett to incline her head regally in my direction.
I inwardly sighed and squeezed Bella's hand, watching as Emmett made himself very comfortable on one of the cream colored couches behind him.
"Don't you dare start," Bella said quietly, pointing to her with her free hand. "It was a misunderstanding."
She sniffed before turning on her heel and storming into the kitchen. Sighing, Bella shook her head and stepped up on her toes to kiss my cheek gently.
"I tried telling her, Bella," Emmett said casually, draping one arm over the back of the couch and shrugging his shoulders. "But she wouldn't listen to me."
"She's never listened to you, Emmett," she sighed, shaking her head again. "Why would she start now?"
"You don't wanna know."
He wiggled his eyebrows and I felt the shiver pass through Bella and into me before she kissed my cheek again and disappeared after Rosalie.
Shaking my head, I slowly made my way towards Emmett, sitting down on the couch next to him and looking around suspiciously for anything resembling a spool of fishing line.
"You're safe. I made her promise that she wouldn't try to kill you tonight. Threatening you, however, is completely allowed."
I glared over at him and he shrugged innocently, grinning.
"It was the most I could do."
"Which also means that it was probably the very least that you could do, right?"
"She's very persuasive!"
"Mhmm," I mumbled, smirking and shaking my head as I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes. "I'm sure she is."
"Enjoy your shower?"
"Very much, thank you."
"You can't really still be tired, Edward."
"You weren't woken up by an annoying older brother comparing you to your brother-in-law, were you?"
"I can't wait to tell everyone about this."
I heard him clap his hands and rub them together and I rolled my eyes, opening them and leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees.
"I did what needed to be done," I finally said quietly, sparing him a glance. "And it worked out for the best."
"You're still so beyond whipped that I'm gonna be talking about this for years to come."
I reached up and rubbed my forehead with my fingertips, shaking my head and sighing heavily.
"I really hate you."
"Yeah, I'm used to that."
We both looked up when the front door opened and I tensed even more – if at all possible – when I saw Angela and Ben walk in, snow in their hair and laughter on their lips.
If Rose hated me, I didn't even want to think about what Angela thought of me right now. Sure, she offered to check on the house while we were gone, but it was probably just in favor to Bella. I hadn't heard much of her side since arriving, but I could only imagine that she would be about as happy to see me as Rosalie was.
"Ben! Dude!" Emmett exclaimed, jumping off the couch and walking over to them.
I didn't know how they knew each other already, and shook my head to clear it. That wasn't something that I was really all that concerned about at the moment.
I swallowed hard and wiped my suddenly sweaty palms off on my jeans before standing up.
"Rose, it was a damn misunderstanding and nothing happened! Stop this!" I heard Bella yell from the kitchen.
I heard Emmett and Ben talking about something involving sports as they continued to stand in the doorway and I looked down at my feet, not willing to look over at Angela to see the purely disgusted look on her face.
Maybe I should've stayed home. This was for Bella and I didn't even ask if I was included in all of this. I could've made a few calls that needed to be taken care of before we went back to California. Or, hell, I could've called my mother. Anyone, really. I even would've called Jeannie back to listen to her scream at me for my dumb ass running off on her if it meant that I didn't have to be the ass who ruined a goodbye dinner for my girlfriend.
"Hey."
I jumped and looked over to see Angela standing next to me. I swallowed hard and offered her what I hoped was a smile.
"Hey."
"You all right?"
I looked over her head when I heard something slam in the kitchen and sucked in a deep breath.
"I didn't do anything wrong, Angela," I said quietly.
She placed a hand on my arm, rubbing up and down as she smiled softly and nodded.
"Rose likes to make things worse than they are, Edward. She'll get over it."
I nodded and licked my lips.
"She's a little bitter about Bella leaving, but she knows that it's what's best for her. I really hope you weren't expecting an easy road when it came to her."
"And how do you feel about it?"
"She's happy." Angela nodded and smiled again, squeezing my arm before dropping her hand. "And that's all I'd ever want for her."
I quickly wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly.
"Thank you," I whispered into her ear.
"Shit, Bella, look at this!" Rosalie exclaimed.
Of course she'd walk in right at this very moment. Why would I expect anything differently?
I sighed heavily and backed away from Angela, reaching up and running my hands through my hair as I stared down at my feet again. I should've just stayed home.
"Are you being serious, Rosalie?" Bella seethed. "It's Ang!"
"And he's all…"
"He's thanking me for not being a massive bitch," Angela said easily and I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she smiled innocently at Rose. "No harm done."
"I don't understand you!" Rosalie exclaimed and I looked over at her to see her throwing her hands in the air. "There were pictures…"
"Of him walking down the damn street, Rose! It's not like they caught him making out with her!" Bella exclaimed, reaching up with one hand to rub her forehead. "Can we not talk about this anymore?"
"I just don't get it!"
"I didn't do anything!" I exploded, throwing my hands out at my sides and finally turning to face her. "I spent the night with a friend!"
I'd had enough. This was bullshit. She was accusing me of something that didn't even concern her and she was trying to make Bella see her side. I did not travel all this damn way to find out that Bella really was the perfect fucking woman for me just to have it turned around on me by Rosalie.
This was my future she was trying to destroy and I wasn't going to deal with it anymore.
As if the media and paparazzi weren't enough to make it a big damn deal to begin with, now I had to contend with Bella's best friend about all the doubts that she had? I wasn't dating her, thank God, I was dating Bella. And Bella was the only one that had had enough faith in us not to freak out on me like she said she wouldn't.
"An ex-girlfriend!"
"Who spent the whole damn night talking about some other guy's ass! You weren't there; you don't know what the hell happened so you have no right to make any kind of accusations!"
"You're an actor! You can baffle her in bullshit and she won't know the difference until someone shows up on your doorstep claiming to be pregnant with your child!"
"Rose, come on," I heard Emmett say from behind me.
"I flew all the way over here and quit my fucking job for her! Why the hell would I even think about someone else?"
"You quit?" everyone but Bella and Emmett echoed.
I kept staring at Rosalie, my blood close to boiling and my hands clenched into tight fists as I swallowed hard.
"Yes, I fucking quit because it wasn't worth losing her over it! If my job cost me the best thing that's ever happened to me then I wanted no part in it! So don't fucking tell me that I'm just an actor," I sneered at her.
"I didn't…" she started and I vaguely registered that she didn’t look as pissed off anymore.
It didn't matter to me right at the moment, of course, because she'd done a really good job at pissing me off.
Fuck, I don't know how Bella – and now, my poor brother – put up with her.
"No, you didn't know because you didn't even give me the fucking chance to explain anything," I seethed. "You just assumed that I was the asshole that thought I could actually do something like that to her."
"Edward, I'm…"
"I really don't want to hear it," I grumbled, turning on my heel and starting towards the front door.
I bypassed a rather shocked looking Ben and Emmett and barely resisted the urge to turn around and punch whoever it was that grabbed my wrist before I was able to make it to the front door.
Spinning around, I relaxed minutely when I saw Bella with her bottom lip in between her teeth and a slightly scared expression on her face.
"Come on," she said quietly, her voice shaking slightly as she tugged on my hand.
Guilt creeping into my chest as she turned and hooked her hand in mine, I followed her back through the living room and down a hallway that led to a staircase. We were both quiet as we walked up them and then down another hallway. I continued to follow her as we made it to a set of sliding glass doors and out onto the balcony I'd seen from the front. She pulled me out and closed the doors behind us as I walked to the railing and leaned against it.
It was still snowing and freezing and here we were, out on the balcony in nothing but our sweaters and my diminishing temper.
I closed my eyes tightly when she stood off the side.
Great. Scare her off, why don't you? Christ, I'm an idiot sometimes.
"Bella, I’m sorry," I said softly.
I heard her footsteps crunching on the snow and swallowed hard when I felt her hand on my back.
"Don't be," she whispered back, resting her head against my shoulder.
I quickly turned and wrapped her tightly in my arms, burying my head into her neck and tangling one of my hands in the ends of her hair.
"I didn't mean to scare you."
"I thought you were gonna hit me," she laughed into my chest, burying her nose into my shirt.
I swallowed hard and shook my head fiercely, fisting my hand in her hair.
"I'm sorry."
"You really need to stop apologizing for things that you didn't do," she said softly as she tilted her head and rested her chin on my shoulder.
"Well, I'm sorry for yelling at Rose, then," I said quietly, reaching up with my other hand to cradle the back of her head.
"Don't be sorry for that either," she laughed, pressing a small kiss against my ear. "That was pretty fucking hot."
I forced out a laugh and squeezed her tightly, taking a deep, shaky breath.
"This isn't turning out to be such a good night, is it?"
"It'll get better," she said confidently, nodding and kissing my ear again. "Just calm down a little and we'll go back in."
"Maybe I should've stayed home."
"If you stayed home, I stayed home."
"This is your dinner."
She shrugged and I smiled, shaking my head and taking a deep breath.
"You're here and I go where you are. So if you hadn't come tonight, then I wouldn't have either."
I huffed out a breath and shifted her in my arms, quickly capturing her lips with mine and curling my fingers into her hair. Her arms wrapped around my neck and I pulled her against me, tilting my head and kissing her more forcefully.
I pulled away when I felt her shiver in my arms and rested my forehead against hers, slowly opening my eyes.
"I really do love you so much, Bella."
She stepped up and kissed my bottom lip softly before stepping back down and cupping her hands around the back of my neck.
"Ditto."
I laughed and shook my head, kissing her one more time before standing up straight and sighing.
"I guess we should…"
I looked over at the door and trailed off when I saw Rose standing on the other side, her hands crossed in front of her and her eyes pleading as they met mine. Bella craned her neck around to find out what had stopped me and I watched as Rose held her hands up in surrender.
Bella turned back to me, dragging her hands down from my neck to rest on my chest.
"Let her talk?"
I looked down at her and ground my teeth together, nodding stiffly at her.
"Go inside," I said softly, relaxing my jaw and leaning down to kiss her forehead.
"You can't kill her."
"I won't."
But I smirked at the thought. Maybe just a little strangulation… that really wouldn't be all that terrible would it?
"I mean it!"
"I promise," I laughed.
She huffed a little and smirked at me, shaking her head before stepping up to kiss me softly. She turned back towards the door and slid it open.
"Bella, I'm sorry," Rose said quickly. "I'm just…"
Bella merely nodded and reached out to grab Rose's wrist in her hand.
"I'm not the one you really need to apologize to."
With that, she slipped by Rose and walked inside, leaning back against the opposite wall and wrapping her arms around herself. I watched as Rose took a deep breath and stepped outside, sliding the door closed behind her. She turned completely towards me, her hands tangled around each other and her eyes darting from the floor of the balcony to my face.
I raised an eyebrow at her, crossing my arms over my chest and waiting as patiently as I could.
And it really wasn't fucking easy, either. My patience with her ran out about the time she accused me of cheating on Bella with Angela of all fucking people.
"I didn't know," she started. "And I don't ask before I accuse most of the time. Bella's like my sister and you're… were an actor. It's like an instinct to protect her from you."
"She doesn't need protection," I ground out through my teeth. "She's strong enough on her own."
"I know that," she snapped, dropping her hands. "You have a sister. How'd you feel when she met her husband?"
All right, she had a point. I'd immediately disliked Jasper upon first sight. He was too blonde, too much of a smart ass, doted on Alice too damn much. She needed someone who was going to put her in her place when it was called for; not someone who was going to bow down and kiss her feet each time she walked in the room. But he balanced out her excitable side and it was obvious to everyone within a six mile radius that he loved her. And I really couldn't argue with something like that.
I nodded my acknowledgement and watched her force herself to relax.
"I know she loves you and you obviously love her more than I gave you credit for." I could almost hear her swallow her pride as she said, "I'm sorry."
I nodded again, letting my arms drop to my sides and hooking my thumbs into my jean pockets.
"Thank you."
She nodded before quickly turning on her heel and sliding the door open again.
And I wanted to throw myself off the balcony when I saw Charlie standing next to Bella in the hallway.
I definitely should've stayed home.
"Edward," he greeted, nodding his head at me. "Mind if we have a few words?"
Sure. What the fuck. I'll just stay out here for the rest of the night and freeze my ass off while everyone airs their personal opinion of what I didn't do that was so incredibly wrong.
"No, sir," I mumbled, my shoulders falling as I leaned back against the railing and stared down at my feet.
He stepped out onto the balcony and I looked up when he held out his hand and offered my jacket to me.
Fuck, he'd had this planned. And it was going to take a while if he was handing me my coat.
"Thanks," I said as I took it from him and quickly slung it over my shoulders.
I looked up as he slid the door closed to see Bella still standing against the wall, a small and what was probably meant to be encouraging smile on her face.
It terrified me.
"I want you to know that I'm not happy about this," he stated gruffly, looking out at Rose's snowy backyard. "Bella moving out to California is probably one of my worst nightmares."
"I'm gonna make sure that nothing happens to her, sir."
"If I didn't believe that, Bella would be in a jail cell in Albany where you couldn't get to her, Edward." I twisted my lips to the side and watched as he huffed out a deep breath. "But you seem to make her pretty happy so…"
He turned to me then and I held my breath, gripping tightly onto the railing of the balcony in preparation… just in case he shoved me off and made the decision a hell of a lot easier for Bella.
"Take care of her or I will hunt you down."
And with that, he turned and opened the door, walking back into the house and out of my sight. I started breathing again, gaping at the spot he'd just been standing in as I lightened my hold on the railing and closed my eyes tightly.
I flinched when I heard another set of footsteps crunching in the snow and held my breath again.
I couldn't take much more of this.
"Breathe, please," I heard Bella's soft voice say from in front of me.
My eyes popped open and I quickly grabbed her shoulders, pulling her against me and burying my face into her neck as she laughed and wound her arms around me inside of the jacket.
"Is anyone else going to verbally attack me tonight?" I grumbled.
"No," she said quietly, still laughing as she rubbed her hands up and down my back. She tilted her head and kissed my neck. "Sorry."
"It's okay."
"You ready to go back inside? I think dinner's almost done and Seth has been yelling for me to get downstairs since they showed up."
I stood up straight, raising an eyebrow as I looked down at her.
"Who's Seth?"
"My step brother," she smiled, moving her arms from my jacket to reach up and frame my face with her hands. "No one to worry about."
I huffed and leaned down to kiss her once again.
"No one is safe anymore," I mumbled against her lips.
"I'm safe," she mumbled back, her hands slowly threading back through my hair. "And you're safe."
I smiled, sucking her bottom lip into my mouth and tracing it with my tongue.
"And that's all we really need to know," I whispered, breaking away from her momentarily.
"Mhmm," she hummed, sliding her tongue in between my lips and effectively cutting off any further conversation between us.
"Really? On the balcony? In the snow? Bella, you don't even have a damn coat on!" Emmett exclaimed.
I groaned and pulled away from her, closing my eyes and resting my forehead against hers.
"I hate you," I breathed.
"Yes, I'm aware of this. But dinner's done and Seth's talking about Uno later so… move it!"
Bella laughed, kissing me once before moving her hands from my hair and grabbing one of mine.
"You've got me for the rest of your life, Cullen," she smirked as she pulled me back into the house. "Give everyone else a night."
And with those words, the night was immediately just… perfect. I hadn't been verbally assaulted by Rosalie when I walked in the house, her father hadn't threatened me if I didn't make her happy and Emmett hadn't interrupted a kiss that had the potential to melt away ten different kinds of stress.
Because right now – this moment right now – was the official start of my life with Bella.
And there wasn't a damn thing that anyone else could say or do that would make this feeling – this feeling of being home and complete – go away.
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