*Bella*
I jumped when I heard the alarm go off the next morning and moaned unhappily, burying my face into Edward's chest as he chuckled and ran his hands over my bare back.
One of my eyes popped open and I grinned, snuggling into him as he moved one hand from my back to reach behind him and slap at the alarm clock to shut it off.
I'd never felt more relaxed and gloriously used before. And I'd never felt more wanted by someone else than I had last night.
The way his hands were all over me, his mouth eagerly kissing my skin, the way his body felt against mine and most importantly, the way he felt when he was inside of me.
I'd been whole, completely filled to the brim with emotions I'd never felt before and really fucking happy that I could cause him to lose the control he always seemed to have in a very firm grip.
And those stairs… oh, those stairs. I would build my own damn shrine to them on the bottom step if Edward wouldn't think I'd officially lost my mind when he saw it.
Who knew they'd be useful for more than accessing the second floor?
It was impossible to describe the way it felt knowing that he couldn't wait, either. We couldn't even make it up to the bedroom and I wouldn't change that for anything in the world.
And while I should've felt awkward right now – I should've been embarrassed about the way I'd thrown myself at him and about the way I'd demanded him to take me home – I didn't. It wasn't awkward and it wasn't weird; it was natural.
I was waking up to the man I was completely head over heels in love with the morning after we'd first been together and feeling nothing but absolute bliss.
"Morning, love," he whispered into my ear, his arms wrapping around me again as he pulled me even closer to him.
I pulled my other arm out from underneath us and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, kissing his collarbone and tangling my legs with his.
"Morning."
"Are you feeling okay? Everything is in perfect working condition? No bodily injuries? Bruises?"
"Why in the hell would there be bruises?" I mumbled, rolling my eyes.
"Stairs," was all he said as he nuzzled his nose into my neck.
"What about them?"
I couldn't hide the smile on my face or in my voice even as I buried my nose into his chest.
God, I loved those fucking stairs.
"You deserve more than the stairs."
"I happen to be quite in love with those stairs," I said, tipping my head back to look into his eyes.
He raised an eyebrow at me, reaching up with one hand to brush hair off of my forehead before returning it to around my waist.
"Really?"
I grinned at him, nodding. "I want to find the inventor of the stairs and marry them."
He laughed, leaning down and gently pressing his lips against mine.
"You'd be a bigamist," he said softly as he pulled away.
My heart jumped in my chest, but I beat it back down as I threaded my fingers in his hair.
As much as I wanted to, I wasn't going to let myself get my hopes up. It didn't necessarily mean anything for our future. It could've been an observation of some sort. He'd never mentioned that he'd be the one married to me.
"Why's that?" I asked innocently, doing my best to calm my racing heart.
He brushed his lips over mine again before moving onto my jaw and placing a line of kisses there.
"You're it for me, Bella," he whispered once he'd reached my ear again. "There's no one else for me but you."
I had to bite down hard on my bottom lip to keep the hysterically giddy laughter in my throat as I tightened my arms around his neck and pressed myself against him completely.
I'd never been it for anyone before. I hadn't dated many guys in the past, but even still, no one had ever told me that I was it for them.
It made me feel like I was floating. It almost rivaled the way I felt last night.
Almost.
And that was saying something because I'd been pretty sure that nothing in the world could top the way I'd felt last night.
I felt his arms tighten around my waist as he buried his face in my shoulder and I grinned into his chest.
"I love you," I whispered, lazily dragging my fingernails over his shoulders.
"You have no idea," he breathed into my ear, his lips brushing over my neck, "how much I love you."
"Mm, I think I do."
He laughed and pulled back only slightly to look at me again.
"You get out early today, right?"
I nodded, stretching up to kiss his nose. "At four."
"Mind letting me borrow your truck for the day? I've got a few things that I want to get in Queensbury and I don't want to dig out the car."
"Why don't you wait for me to get out of work and I'll go with you?"
"That defeats the whole purpose of giving me something to do while you're not here with me," he smirked, leaning in to kiss me softly. "I need something to distract me."
I laughed and shook my head at him.
"What did you do before?"
"Slept. Ate. Ignored everyone and everything. Talked to you when I could." He nudged his nose against mine and kissed me again. "I'm glad this time was so much different."
I smiled and nodded, moving my hands to tangle them in his hair.
"Me too."
He hummed contentedly, burying his nose back in my neck and running his hands up and down my back again.
"You should shower," he said suddenly, rolling onto his back and breaking our connection as he looked at the alarm clock. "You're gonna be late."
I pursed my lips at him before leaning up slightly to see that I had an hour until I needed to leave.
"Trying to get rid of me?"
I propped myself up on one of my elbows, resting my other hand on his chest and looking down at him. He smiled crookedly at me, reaching up to place one hand on my back.
"Always."
My mouth dropped open and I laughed once incredulously before climbing over him and resting my feet on the floor.
"Well in that case…" I mumbled, starting to stand up.
I screamed, laughing as he grabbed me around the waist and threw me on the foot of the bed before leaning over me with a wide grin on his face.
"Do you really think I want to get rid of you?" he laughed, leaning down and kissing me once.
"You said it!" I laughed, reaching up to place my hands on his neck.
He kissed each of my cheeks before leaning up again.
"I want to spend," he dipped his head down to kiss my forehead, "the rest," he kissed the tip of my nose, "of my damn," he kissed my chin, "life with you," he whispered before finally kissing my lips. "I never want to remember what life is like without you."
I smiled lazily up at him, warmth spreading all over my body as I rubbed my thumbs over his jaw line and bit my bottom lip.
"Got it?" he demanded, laughing and pushing hair off of my forehead.
"I got it," I said quietly, smiling like an idiot.
"Good," he said simply before grabbing one of my hands and pulling me with him as he got up. "Shower with me, love. I'm suddenly very unwilling to leave your side."
I laughed and followed him into the bathroom, hanging behind him as he pulled me along to watch the way the muscles in his back rippled under his skin as he walked.
"You keep doing that and you're definitely going to be late to work," he stated as he pulled me into the bathroom and turned to face me.
My face burned and he laughed, stepping over to me and cupping my face in his hands.
"Think it'd be worth it," I managed, glancing down at the part of him that seemed to contradict his easy tone.
He twisted his lips to the side, his hands moving from my face and trailing down my chest before they rested on my breasts.
"I will get you in my bed one day," he said quietly, his voice already husky.
I shrugged one shoulder, reaching in between us and grabbing him in my hand, smiling triumphantly as his hips jerked and his eyes fluttered closed.
"I'm not in any hurry."
His fingertips twitched on my breasts as I slid my hand up before he dropped his hands and quickly grabbed my arm with both of them, stepping away from me.
I stared at him as his eyes opened again, one eyebrow raised and my lips pursed.
And where in the hell did he think he was going? If I had to chase him around this house bare ass naked, I would gladly do so.
My lips twitched up into a smirk at the thought.
That'd be fun.
"You need to get ready for work," he managed through his teeth and I watched as he swallowed hard. "This will be a purely innocent shower."
What the hell kind of fun would that be? My highly gorgeous boyfriend was naked, I was naked and there were very obvious parts to both of us that didn't want anything to do with innocent showers.
Or anything else that included the word innocent in their descriptions.
"I'm sure the boss won't mind if I'm a few minutes late."
He rolled his eyes, breathing out a laugh as he shook his head and lightened the hold he had on my arm.
"I want to do this right with you, Bella," he said softly, finally stepping up to me again and brushing the back of one hand gently over my cheek. "You deserve more than the stairs or the shower."
"What did I tell you about the stairs? I love the stairs. I'm probably gonna love the shower a whole hell of a lot more, too. In fact, if you want to christen the rest of the damn house, I'd be perfectly okay with that."
He rolled his eyes and shook his head, laughing at me.
"I'm not going to…"
"Edward," I said sternly, shaking my arm out of his other hand and reaching up to fist my hand tightly into his hair, "it doesn't matter where we are in this house. As long as I'm with you, I'm more than perfectly happy with it. The stairs, the shower, the dining room table… I don't care!"
He raised an eyebrow at me.
"The dining room table?"
I smirked and shrugged one shoulder, loosening the grip I had on his hair.
"Passing thought. And you do realize," I started, quickly pressing myself against him before he could do anything to stop it, "that the longer you stand here arguing with me over it, the more time we're wasting, right?"
I ran my other hand up his thigh and grinned when I heard his low moan.
"The later I'll be," I whispered, stepping up on my toes to nip at his ear.
"You," he breathed, his hands reaching up and gripping my waist tightly, "don't play fair."
I grinned and shook my head, opening my mouth against his neck and swirling my tongue on his skin.
"Complaining?"
And before I had any time to react, he'd wrapped his arms around my waist, lifted me off the floor and stepped over the ledge to get us into the bathtub.
He reached down, flicked on the hot water and the shower at the same time. I screamed, turning us around so that his back faced the first blast of cold water that rained down on us and was instantly pressed against the back of the wall as I did so.
"Never," he breathed before he planted his mouth on mine.
Oh, yeah. Every damn day should start out like this.
~*~
"You have to go inside," he laughed.
I merely pulled his mouth against mine again, lazily dragging my lips over his as I grunted twice in disagreement and ran my tongue across his bottom lip. His hands were on my neck as he tilted his head to the side, granting me the access to his mouth that I always craved.
I stroked his tongue with mine and placed my hands on the top of his head, internally cursing the bandana I'd helped tie there about ten minutes ago.
We'd been spotted in Saratoga – far away from our little quiet bubble in Lake George – and he didn't want to have a repeat of the Price Chopper incident.
And while that was a very smart move on his part, my hands were absolutely itching to be in his hair right at this very moment.
"Bella," he breathed, backing away from me. "You're gonna be late."
I shrugged, reaching forward to wrap my arms around his neck and pull his lips to mine yet again.
"It'll be worth it," I mumbled against his lips.
He moaned quietly and quickly opened his mouth to mine, our tongues lazily twisting together as he moved closer to me and traced my jaw line with his thumbs.
"Okay, you need to go," he said abruptly, moving away from me and flattening himself against the driver door.
I huffed at him, pursing my lips and narrowing my eyes at him.
"I want you out at four on the dot," he stated, giving in a little and leaning over to kiss me again before plastering himself back to the door.
This was ridiculous.
You'd think that he hadn't had me pressed up against the shower wall forty-five minutes ago, moaning and grunting in the most delicious way against my shoulder blades as he took me.
"Fine," I huffed, snatching my purse from the floorboards and pushing open the door.
"Hey!"
I turned as I stepped out of the truck, my lips pursed at him again as I swung my purse over my shoulder and placed one hand on the side of the door.
"Yes?" I asked innocently, tilting my head at him.
He was across the seat, his hands on my face and his urgent lips on mine before I could say or do anything more.
"It's not that I want you to go," he whispered between kisses as he tangled his fingers into my hair, "I just want you to be able to come back to me as soon as possible."
If I hadn't been holding onto the door so tightly, it was altogether possible that my knees would've given out. If I thought his confession this morning had been enough to turn me into nothing but an incoherent pile of mush, I wasn't quite sure what this was.
I did know that it was fucking perfect, though.
"Mm," I mumbled, sucking his top lip into my mouth and leaning into him again.
"Stop it," he laughed, moving his hands to my waist and gently pushing me back from him.
"You're infuriating!" I exclaimed, huffing yet again.
He laughed and nodded.
"Yeah, but I love you."
I grinned and quickly kissed him once more before stepping back and holding my hands up in front of me as he started to push me away again.
"I love you too."
"I'll be here at four," he smiled.
"I'll be waiting."
He climbed out of the truck and walked over to me, kissing me once again before backing away from me and closing the passenger side door he'd just climbed out of.
"Have a good day."
He winked at me as he rounded the back of the truck and I backed up even further, watching as he climbed into the driver's side and pulled out of the parking lot. I waved at him as he drove off down the road and bit my bottom lip to keep the stupid smile at bay before turning on my heel and walking up the pathway to the store.
I pushed through the door, letting it slam behind me as I walked in and let my purse fall down my arm and onto the floor as I shrugged out of my coat.
"Good morning, Bella," Jessica all but snarled from her position at the front desk. "You're late."
I looked over at her, raising an eyebrow as I hung my coat on the old fashioned coat rack that once belonged to my grandmother before grabbing my purse again.
So she wasn't even going to wait for the work day to really start before she ripped into me.
Well, she wasn't going to get to me. Not this morning; not after the night and the morning that I'd had with Edward. Nothing was going to bring me down and her trivial little comments that really meant nothing to me now were not going to affect me.
"A few minutes," I said easily, shrugging my shoulders.
I wasn't even going to mention how she so often showed up a few hours late to work. I had no room in my mind to start a pointless argument that she'd always find a way to talk herself out of no matter what I said.
"Did you have a nice night?" she sneered, her eyes glued to the computer screen in front of her and her hand firmly on the little black mouse attached to it.
I couldn't fight the grin as I nodded, but did fight the urge to start dancing around the room with my tongue sticking out at her.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. Thanks for asking," I chirped brightly as I walked over to the counter and grabbed the stack of papers that I hadn't been able to get through yesterday.
"You're on the fucking internet, you mindless twit."
I grit my teeth together as my eyes narrowed and my fingers tensed on the papers, momentarily blocking out the surge of panic that ran down my spine.
I knew this was going to happen. I couldn't go anywhere with my famous boyfriend without expecting someone to see us and take pictures – especially when we all but invited all of the attention our way.
He'd said that he didn't want to wear a hat and we hadn't exactly been discreet about being together; this was something we both knew was going to happen last night and he'd wanted to be seen with me.
We weren't in our bubble anymore and it was because we'd both wanted it that way.
I sucked in a deep breath as I rounded the counter and started flipping through more papers to find the shipment report I'd need to take care of before I started my vacation.
And just the thought of having the entire week away from her and this place shoved Jessica's insult to the back of my mind as I smiled brightly at nothing.
"Bound to happen," I said easily, finding the paper I needed and placing it on the stack I held in my arms. "Not a big deal."
"Are you kidding me? This is a big fucking deal!" she screeched. "The entire world knows that the plainest person alive is dating Edward Cullen! Don't you know that this won't last, Bella?"
I bit down on my tongue, refusing to see the half truths in her brutal tone as I fought to keep my good mood and thoughts intact.
"You know, I really wish you'd stop making assumptions." My tone was light as I turned to her and as my purse swung from the crook of my arm, I had the brief thought of hitting her over the head with it. "You know nothing."
"I know enough! Do you know that he dumped his last girlfriend because she wouldn't put out? And I know," she scoffed, rolling her eyes and turning to me, "that you're not giving it up."
I wanted to snort and laugh at her but just shook my head and smiled peacefully.
Really, there was no getting mad at that.
"That's none of your business so I'd thank you to stop thinking about my sex life."
It was comical the way her mouth dropped open and her face turned red as she shook her head furiously from side to side and brought her hands up to ward me off as if I were approaching her.
"And I'd also thank you to stop drooling over my boyfriend." I nodded at the computer screen over her shoulder, wincing slightly as I saw the grainy cell phone picture of me pressed tightly against Edward while we danced. "He's not interested."
"Hell of a lot you know," she sputtered, still shaking her head and waving her hands out in front of her.
I really wish she'd stop doing that. I wasn't moving any closer to her than I needed to be and all she was doing was successfully making herself out to be a very big ass.
"Oh, that's right," I said, dramatically tilting my head to the side and bringing one finger up to the corner of my mouth as I looked back at her, "your five second conversation with him a while ago makes you soul mates, right?" I laughed and shook my head, dropping my arm to my side again. "I don't think I'm the one being delusional."
"You know nothing," she spat, finally dropping her arms into her lap and glaring at me. "You are nothing to him! He'll use you for whatever it is that he could possibly want from you and then he'll throw you out just like the others."
I swallowed hard against the words that rang mostly true in the back of my head and clenched my teeth together as my eyes narrowed.
I knew nothing of the so-called others she was spewing on about. For the sake of my sanity, whenever he'd been mentioned on some show or in a gossip magazine about dating some other Hollywood starlet, I'd been quick to change the channel or turn the page and do my best to forget about it.
He'd been my neighbor and nothing more; there had been no need to torture myself even further by trying to compare to the beautiful women he may or may not have been with at the time.
"If you think that's so true," I started, my voice low, "then why are you so hell bent on being with him?"
"Do you know how famous I'm going to be when people see me on his arm out in California? I'll be the next big thing."
My gaze was quickly veiled in red as my fingers twitched on the stack of papers I still held tightly in my hands.
I had never had the urge to lunge across the small space separating us to attempt choking her with my bare hands more than I had in this moment.
I wouldn't have liked it any better if she'd said something along the lines of liking him for him, but at least it would've been a valid reason.
Not something incredibly stupid and shallow based on his celebrity status for whatever reason she seemed to think that she needed to capitalize on.
No one should be used for something trivial and heartless like that.
"Until he gets tired of you," I managed through my teeth.
"The way that he'll eventually get tired of you?"
I sucked in another deep breath and concentrated on relaxing my fingers on the stack of papers I had in a death grip.
I didn't want to go to jail anytime soon. And if I was going to end up going to jail for something, I'd make damn sure that it wasn't over Jessica Stanley.
"Don't you know that he dated Tanya fucking Holden? Golden Holden?" she asked haughtily, raising an eyebrow at me. "You are absolutely nothing compared to that woman."
I felt my heart sink and swallowed hard.
Tanya Holden was the woman every boy, man and probably a good amount of other women dreamed about nightly. She was tall, strawberry blonde and had the most unusual amber colored eyes than anyone I'd ever seen all wrapped up with a perfect body and one of those annoying, perfect laughs and gorgeous mannerisms.
She was the epitome of perfection and the complete opposite of me. Everything she touched, every movie she starred in and everyone she dated immediately shot to fame; hence the nickname Golden Holden. There was no going wrong when she was linked to something or someone.
Maybe this was why I should've paid a little closer attention to who he was dating when he disappeared back to California.
What the hell did he want with me when he could be with women like her?
"Would you like to see what you look like when you're standing next to him?" she asked innocently, her voice laced with malice as she quickly turned back to the computer without waiting for an answer from me.
I shouldn't look. I shouldn't do it. Because now, no matter what had happened in the past twenty-four hours and how I'd felt walking through that door a few minutes ago, all I was going to see was a pile of shit that resembled me and the gorgeous man that is Edward.
But I found myself inching closer to the back of her chair, looking over her shoulder as she scrolled through the pictures of Edward and I dancing together last night.
My stomach turned when I saw one picture that must've been taken when we were dancing to Lollipop. I was straddling one of his legs, his hand was on my ass and our eyes were locked on each other.
I would've adored that picture if Jessica hadn't opened her damn mouth and made me realize how plain and completely wrong I really was for him.
"Do you see it now, Bella? Compared to Tanya, you are nothing. You'll never be anything but a convenient prop to keep her spot warm."
"What?"
"They break up and make up more than any celebrity couple in the history of Hollywood. They'll be back together before he steps foot off of the plane in California."
No. No. Edward wouldn't do that to me. He wouldn't say the things he'd said this morning about wanting to spend the rest of his life with me if he didn't really mean it.
He wasn't that person.
Briefly closing my eyes, I kept taking deep breaths in through my nose before opening them again and stepping back from the chair.
He loves me. I know he loves me. Things don't feel the way they felt last night or this morning if there aren't real feelings involved on both parts.
She wasn't going to make me doubt that again. Jessica Stanley was never going to make me doubt what was so obviously real between us ever again.
And as I stared hard at her when she turned around, the top of her head started to point up and turn black and her skin started to turn yellow.
My lips twitched into a small smile when I saw brown spots starting to form on her now completely yellow cheeks and I tilted my head at her.
"What are you smiling at?" she snapped, her hand coming up to brush what I assumed was actually hair off of her spotted yellow face.
And just like that, my world was right again. Jessica was turning into a banana and everything she'd already said was slowly beginning to lose its meaning.
"Nothing," I chirped, my shoulders suddenly feeling a hell of a lot lighter as the feelings I'd had this morning came rushing back to me. "Nothing at all."
"You know that I'm right, don't you? You know that I'm speaking the truth!"
"Believe whatever you want to, Jess," I laughed as I walked by her and shook my head. "I know what's going on in my relationship."
"You only think that you do!"
I reached the bottom of the stairs and spared one more glance at her, snorting and hiding my face in my free hand as I saw an actual banana sitting in the chair behind the counter.
"What is so damn funny?" she exclaimed, slamming her hands onto the counter.
That only made me laugh harder as I clutched the railing of the stairs to keep from falling over.
Bananas didn't have hands. They didn't talk, either, but there it was; yellow, brown and annoyed right behind me.
"Nothing," I waved her off, gasping for breath as I stumbled up the first few steps.
"I don't know how you can laugh at a time like this! I'm making perfect sense!"
I wheezed out another laugh and gripped the railing once again, shaking my head as I forced myself up the stairs.
Bananas didn't make sense, either.
"Sure you are," I laughed, finally making my way to the top of the stairs. "I'll be down in a few minutes."
I heard her let out an aggravated screech and only laughed a little harder as I closed my office door behind me and threw my purse into the chair next to me.
Ah, yes, I liked the banana thing a lot. And I was going to make damn sure that Edward knew how much I appreciated him teaching me this little tactic when we got home.
~*~
By the time four o'clock rolled around, I was still walking around the store, humming as I helped people find the books they were looking for while Jessica sat up at the front counter, fuming.
She'd even gone so far as to pull up different gossip sites that had our pictures plastered all over them and watch me closely as I walked by her to see my reaction.
It hadn't been hard to turn her into a banana again when I needed to and when I merely laughed at her, her yellow face had turned red and she'd quite literally growled before turning back to the screen and finding something else to do.
"I'm leaving!" she announced when the last customer had walked out of the front door, quickly grabbing her purse and walking to the coat rack. "And I'm taking tomorrow off."
"You remember our agreement?" I asked easily as I pulled the cash drawer from the register.
She shoved her arms into her coat before hastily shoving her purse high up on her shoulder as she turned to me.
"Yes, I remember. And when that premiere finally comes around, I'll be able to prove to you how wrong you are about Edward."
I merely nodded, collecting the signed credit card slips and waving her off.
"Sure, Jess. Have a nice night and I'll see you in a week."
She stomped her foot, turned on her heel and all but flew out the door. I grinned and shrugged a shoulder before slamming the register drawer and walking up the stairs.
When everything was counted and set, I walked back down the stairs with my purse in my hand and grabbed my coat. Getting myself situated, I set the alarm for the night and walked outside, locking the door behind me and smiling brightly when I saw the tail end of my truck poking out from the side of the building.
He was here. He was waiting for me.
I quickly hugged myself before practically running down the walkway, abruptly stopping when I saw Jessica pressed up against him as he leaned against the front of the truck, his hands and back pressed up against it with his face turned away from her.
Pursing my lips and rolling my eyes, I sighed heavily and shook my head.
I couldn't even get mad at her; I just felt horribly sad for her. She was making a fool out of herself.
"Jess, is there something that you need?" I asked, walking up behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder.
She looked over at me and smiled innocently, shrugging my hand off and quickly turning back to press a kiss against Edward's cheek.
"No, I think we're about done here."
My eyes narrowed as she flounced off to her car and climbed in. I watched as she backed out of the parking lot, waving flirtatiously at Edward before disappearing down the road.
I turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
"She just… I didn't… Bella, really…" he stuttered, his hands flailing wildly around him as he pointed in five different directions at once.
I wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to do that.
"Edward," I said calmly, forcing myself to keep a straight face.
It wasn't often that he stumbled over his words this much. It was rather amusing to know that despite what I'd always thought, he wasn't completely perfect.
And I loved him all the more for it.
"She just came out… and then she was… there," he pointed to his chest, looking helplessly at me as his arms fell to his sides. "I didn't… I wasn't…"
"She's been a massive bitch all day," I interrupted, laughing as I finished walking up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my cheek on his chest. "It's okay."
"What'd she do?" he demanded, grabbing my shoulders and gently pushing me back.
"I handled it," I said proudly, keeping my hands on his waist and smiling brightly at him. "Bananas."
He stared at me for a few moments before laughing and pulling me against him, rocking us from side to side as he rested his cheek on the top of my head.
"I love you," he laughed, his hands tangling into my hair.
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