Epilogue

*Bella*

"What are you still doing here?"

I looked up, blinking rapidly as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, to see the redhead I'd hired three months ago standing in front of me with her hands on her hips and her head tilted to the side.

"Huh?"

"Your man is coming home today!" Leslie laughed, throwing her arms out to her sides and shaking her head incredulously at me. "Get out of here!"

I quickly looked at the clock on the computer screen at my elbow and sat up straight in the chair, my eyes wide.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, shoving the papers covered in numbers from the past month into the right folder and jumping up. "I have to go!"

"Yes, you do. I'll close," she said, quickly rounding the long counter and shooing my hands away. "You go."

I grinned at her and hugged her tightly before grabbing my purse and cell phone and running out of the store with a promise to see her in a few days.

It was the middle of May and Edward was finally coming home from his movie shoot in Canada. I had so many things planned, so many things that I needed to do before he came home and I was already running fifteen minutes late.

I hurried out into the street in the middle of rush hour, quickly dialing in the right number and pressing the phone to my ear as I crossed the street and made my way over to the parking lot.

I'd settled in to California as best as I knew how. I still wasn't used to the attention and driving on the five-lane roads terrified me, but I was adjusting as best I could. Being here for four and a half months or not, it was still taking a hell of a long time to get used to this shit.

I missed Rosalie and Angela more than I thought possible but we had worked out a system for our phone calls. Every Friday night before they went out, they'd get together at Angela's house and I'd call in to talk to them for about an hour. They'd tell me all about what wasn't happening in our little town and kept me updated on the gossip that was apparently running rampant about me and Edward. I missed our Friday nights with a passion.

Emmett had moved out to New York to be with Rosalie in March and Edward had taken up calling to harass him regularly. I found it highly amusing – especially since Emmett hadn't let off of Edward for chasing after me. Rose, however, didn't appreciate any of it. And she wasn't all that fond of Edward still, either. He'd quit being an actor initially, yes, and she was rather peeved that no one had told her about how I'd made him go back until we were in a rousing game of Uno.

She hadn't been very happy about that, either. But between Emmett and myself telling her that no matter how much she bitched about it, it wasn't going to change anything, I think she was finally starting to get it.

Seth called me regularly and always asked when I was going to send him a ticket so that he could come and visit us. Sue was still loving the bookstore and my father was… my father. Nothing much had changed with them and I missed that more than anything.

Edward and I had already made arrangements to go back and visit for the fourth of July weekend and I couldn't wait.

Alice and Jasper had made the move in February and she'd helped me out a lot when it came to finding everything that I could possibly need. She'd even gone so far as to rent two storefronts and say that I could have the other one that she just accidentally happened to purchase at the same time.

Yeah, because Alice Whitlock is someone who does anything accidentally.

But I hadn't had the heart to turn her down when she batted her eyes at me and said that it would be her welcoming gift to me. Plus it was in a really perfect spot. I was now ten times busier than I could've ever imagined being and while my head wasn't anywhere close to being above water when it came to finances, at least I was drawing customers.

Plus, it kept my mind busy while Edward was away.

I visited him as often as I could, but it wasn't easy and we didn't get nearly enough time with each other for understandable reasons. Instead of frustrating the hell out of both of us, we stuck to long ass phone calls as many times a day as we could and I threw myself into the bookstore.

I'd hired four of the best employees I could've ever asked for and let Alice and Tanya drag me out to Rodeo Drive whenever they felt the need.

Which was really fucking often.

Tanya – whom I'd met almost immediately after landing with Edward in January – was a sweetheart. Sure, she had expensive taste and had lived in Hollywood a bit too long, but she had easily accepted me and had kept me entertained when Edward had to catch up on everything he'd missed during his visit to "make things right" with me.

Jeannie had gleefully tortured him with multiple interviews and photo shoots and anything and everything that she could think of that he'd missed. I think she just liked stressing him out as much as he'd stressed her out.

As much as I'd love to tell myself that everything in my life was perfect, it really wasn't. Edward and I argued over stupid shit when we were stressed – like why neither of us had made the bed that morning or why one of us hadn't called when we were supposed to – and we were constantly being photographed or hounded by someone as we left the condo. Edward was splashed on the cover of so many tabloids that claimed he was cheating on me almost weekly that it wasn't even funny anymore. A few months ago, I'd even read that they'd gotten hold of Jessica Stanley for a comment on me and now it was altogether very possible that all of Edward's fans really hated me. I might've had a few on my side before the article came out, but after she told the horribly skewed version of the premiere she attended, I was officially the bitch that was trapping Edward into a relationship. It was absolutely amazing how many times I could be pregnant without looking the part.

It wasn't easy being in this kind of a relationship, but we always knew what was important at the end of the day.

Us.

Even if I forced him to sleep out on the couch or he wouldn't let me apologize to him no matter how long I sat on the other side of the room staring at him and fighting off tears – I may have wanted his forgiveness but I wouldn't force it from him – we were both fully aware of how much we loved each other.

We were no different than any other couple out there in the world and just because he was Edward Cullen didn't mean a damn thing to me. So there were tens of thousands of girls claiming to be in love with him upon first sight and he had to kiss and have sex scenes with actresses ten times prettier than I was, but he still left socks on the floor and he still burned things when he tried to cook.

Most importantly, he still came home to me.

"Alice, are they ready?" I asked, cradling the phone against my shoulder as I shook my keys out of my purse and unlocked my car.

Yes, I had my own car. It was something that I was still getting used to; I missed my truck like one of my arms had been cut off. But since I refused to have anyone cater to me and drive me around to wherever I wanted to go just because of who I was dating and our condo was too far away from the store, Edward had insisted on buying me a brand new car.

A silver Volvo that looked eerily familiar to the rental he'd had while in New York that he used more than I did when he was home. He had a gorgeous car in the parking garage of our building and he chose to use the damn Volvo.

I didn't understand men at all sometimes.

"Yep! They should be at your door when you get home," she chirped. "And you've given me inspiration to make an entire line for this so thanks!"

"As long as these pieces are one-of-a-kind," I stated, flopping down into the seat and throwing my purse into the passenger seat.

"I gave you my word. Now get going; you're late."

She hung up on me and I sighed, rolling my eyes as I jammed the keys into the ignition and slammed the driver side door. I dropped the phone into the passenger seat as well, hastily backing out of my parking spot and pulling out onto the road.

I made it back to the condo in record time, speeding into the parking garage and pulling in next to Edward's Aston Martin before I grabbed my stuff and jumped out of the car. I ran to the elevator and hopped on as the doors immediately opened, leaning back against the wall and blowing out a deep breath.

I always felt anxious and nervous whenever he returned from being away for longer than a few days. He'd had to go to France for some damn thing that Jeannie had roped him in to at the end of February and the store had just opened so going with him wasn't an option. By the time the week had ended, I was almost bouncing off the walls waiting for him to walk through the door.

I hated being away from him for long periods of time. I knew that it was going to happen and I was mostly okay with it. After the first few days without him, though, it started to get really hard. I'd go to work wearing one of his shirts or I'd shower and use the extra bottle of his shampoo I'd bought just for that purpose.

It was insane how much I missed him when he was gone.

And he'd been gone for almost two months this time. The two visits I'd managed hadn't nearly been enough to quench my need.

I practically ran off the elevator when the doors opened, skidding to a halt when I saw the telltale pink and silver striped boxes leaning against the door. Dancing a little, I grabbed them and unlocked the door, slamming my way inside and kicking the door shut behind me.

I put my purse on the small end table near the door and dropped my keys into the bowl on top of it, hugging the boxes to my chest as I flicked the lock and danced into the bedroom. I turned the light on and toed off my shoes, setting the boxes on the bed before shaking the top off of the first one.

I grinned, picking up the midnight blue silk and lace corset to hold it out in front of me. I'd asked Alice to let her imagination run wild with it – which would normally scare the shit out of me on any other occasion – and it had worked to my advantage.

Squirming excitedly, I set it back in the box and grabbed the other one, shaking the top off of that one and pulling out the floor length off-the-shoulder dress of the same color as the corset. Biting my bottom lip, I grinned and held it against me before dancing out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

I couldn't wait for him to get home.

~*~

I stood in the center of the living room with my bottom lip in my teeth as I heard his key in the door.

The corset and matching thong were surprisingly very comfortable and the dress looked pretty damn good on me. I'd managed to curl my hair without burning myself – as I'd so often done in the past – and had managed to walk around in the heels Alice had buried in the bottom of the dress box without killing myself.

Everything was perfect and he was home.

I held my breath as the door opened and clasped my hands in front of me, watching as he dropped his keys in the bowl with mine and let all of his luggage fall from his shoulders and onto the floor. He was looking down at all of it and I could practically hear him cursing it in his head. He finally shook his head and I watched as he reached up to run his hands through his hair.

"Bella?" he called out, stepping over his luggage.

I bit down on my bottom lip a little harder to keep from calling out to him and had to bounce on the heels of my feet a little to keep from running over to him and throwing myself into his arms.

"Bell—"

He finally looked up and his hands fell from his hair as his eyes met mine across the room. I watched the slow smile spread over his lips and released my lip from my teeth, twisting my hands together.

"Hi," I said softly.

"Hi," he said just as softly, his lips twitching to the side.

We stood there, both of us smiling like idiots for a few moments before he crossed the room in three easy steps and had me in his arms and his lips against mine. My hands immediately went to his hair and I opened my mouth to his, pressing myself against him and moaning quietly.

And there it was. That spark, that amazing jolt that I always got when we were reunited to let me know that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. He was my home, he was my life and no matter how far apart we were or how long it took to get us together again, it would always feel like this.

"I missed you," he mumbled, "so fucking much."

"Me too."

He placed his hands on my face, gently tipping my head back so that I could look up at him. I grinned, untangling my hands from his hair and dragging them down his chest, resting on his stomach as his thumbs circled my cheeks.

"You are absolutely gorgeous," he whispered, shaking his head slowly. "And I don't know how the fuck I survived without you for this long."

I reached up and grabbed one of his wrists with my hand, turning my head and placing my lips on his palm.

"It wasn't a piece of cake for me, either," I whispered, placing one more kiss against his palm before turning my head again and leaning my cheek into it. "You're…"

I reached up with my other hand and placed it on his cheek, feeling my eyes water for absolutely no fucking reason.

"Hey, hey, hey," he whispered, leaning down and resting his forehead against mine. "None of that. I'm home, I'm here…"

"Thank God," I breathed, wrapping my arms around his neck and capturing his lips with mine again.

His arms quickly wound around my waist and he pulled me tight against him, his hands splaying out on my back. His tongue traced my bottom lip and I immediately opened my mouth to his, our tongues meeting and twisting together. I felt his hands curling into fists around the back of the dress and smiled, breaking away from him.

"Not that I mind," he breathed, licking his lips, "but why are you so dressed up?"

"I wanted to look nice for you," I said softly, kissing his bottom lip gently. "I missed you."

"Oh, Bella, you have no idea," he whispered, shaking his head and breathing out a laugh.

"Maybe a small one."

"Mm, yeah, okay."

I laughed and stepped up, kissing him again.

"Make love to me, Edward," I whispered against his lips.

He moaned softly, his hands tightening in the fabric at my back before he released me. I reached out a hand to him and he grinned, shaking his head as he placed one arm behind my back and the other underneath my knees, lifting me up. I squealed, laughing and quickly wrapping my arms around his neck, burying my face against his throat as he walked towards the bedroom.

And the distance meant nothing. The time apart meant nothing. The tabloids and their skewed visions of what they thought they saw between us meant nothing.

Here, this moment and all the ones that were just like it, meant everything. We were Edward and Bella and we'd managed to overcome everything that had been thrown at us up until this point. We weren't perfect and we never would be, but we were exactly what the other needed and nothing was ever going to get in the way of that.

And that was the way we were always going to stay.

~*~

*Edward*

I leaned against the doorway of our bedroom, my arms crossed over my chest as I watched Bella's body move with each deep breath she took. The light from the hallway behind me was shining directly on her, illuminating her bare back and still curly, messy hair, her pale skin standing out against the black silk of the sheets I wasn't aware I'd owned before tonight. One of her arms was curled underneath her and the other was held out at her side.

I'd been under that arm a few minutes ago. I'd had her gloriously wrapped around me and pressed into me and the rest of the world had simply ceased to exist to me.

I smiled softly, leaning my head against the doorjamb as well and crossing my ankles over each other.

She was still here. She was waiting for me when I came home in a dress – with one of the most amazingly constructed matching corsets underneath it – that made my mouth water because she loves me and missed me just as much as I'd missed her.

The past month without her had been one of the worst I'd ever had to deal with. I'd known that it was going to be hard, but only seeing her twice since March had been something close to torture. And then not being able to really spend much time with her while she was there had me almost begging her to let me quit.

Bella was so much more to me than the career path I'd chosen and I'd gladly throw my hands in the air and be done with all of it if she'd let me. If she wanted to go back to her largely private life in New York, I'd gladly follow her. I'd get a regular job – maybe go back to school to become the doctor my father had always wanted me to be – and I wouldn't regret a single second of it.

I didn't need the glitz and the glamour and the polished sheen I'd had slapped on me every time my presence was requested at a red carpet event. What I needed was Bella in my life and if that meant leaving all of this behind, I'd do it.

But she still wouldn't let me. She said that she was adjusting, she was getting used to how everything worked and she loved the bookstore. She didn't want to leave and she'd reminded me that once this movie was finished, we had plenty of time together until the promotion for the movie needed to start picking up.

Then I was going to fucking get on my hands and knees to beg her to come with me when I needed to fly out of the state for any damn reason. She had an amazing team at the bookstore and they were more than capable of running things for a few days.

Pushing myself off the doorjamb, I padded over to her sleeping form and carefully slid onto the bed, leaning down and pressing light kisses against her perfect shoulder blades.

I leaned over her, bracing each of my hands on the sides of her and began to make a slow trail with my lips down her spine, stopping at the small of her back when I heard her breathing start to get heavier.

"Mm," she mumbled, taking a deep breath.

I smiled, trailing my lips back up and gently kissing the back of her neck once I'd reached it, pushing her hair out of the way and slowly letting my hand drift down the path my lips had.

"Edward," she breathed, slowly turning over onto her back.

I quickly kissed the length of her collarbone, making my way down as my hand trailed lightly over her stomach, making small patterns on her smooth skin and absolutely fucking elated at the way her muscles contracted at my touch.

Her breath caught in her throat as my mouth made its way to her breasts, kissing them thoroughly before I took one of her nipples into my mouth.

"Oh," she whimpered, one of her hands making its way into my hair and curling into a loose fist.

I switched sides, my hand reaching up to cup her other breast as I gently used my teeth on her nipple.

Her back arched and she brought one of her legs up, placing her foot flat on the mattress as her breath continued to accelerate.

I smiled, flicking my thumb over her other nipple and very satisfied when I heard the low moan sound out of her throat.

"Yes," she breathed, her fist getting tighter in my hair before I moved back up to her neck.

"I love you, Bella," I whispered into her ear, slowly climbing on top of her and easily settling in between her legs.

"I love you too," she breathed out, her back falling onto the mattress as her other hand joined the one in my hair.

I ran my hand down her upraised thigh, slowly grinding my hips against hers as she threw her head back into the pillow.

I trailed my fingertips over the back of her thigh, slowly moving my hand in between her legs and listening as she moaned and whimpered underneath me, her hips thrusting up against mine when my fingers danced around her center.

"Please," she whispered, one of her hands trailing from my hair and down my back to rest on the waist band of my boxers. "I need you."

I turned my head, placing soft, slow kisses against her jaw line as I slowly ran one finger up and down.

Her hips bucked into my hand and I smiled, gently nipping at her jaw line as I finally slid two fingers inside of her. She moaned, throwing her head back into the pillow and moving her hips in sync with my hand.

"More," she moaned, her hand pulling at my boxers.

"Patience, love," I whispered into her ear.

"Ran out of that," she breathed, her thumb hooking into the waist band and slowly pulling them down.

I laughed against her neck, moving up and capturing her bottom lip in between mine. Her mouth opened and I quickly met her tongue with mine, speeding up the movement of my hand and gently flicking my thumb against her clit.

She moaned loudly, arching her back as her hips continued to move against my palm. She had one side of my boxers down, abandoning them as she wrapped her arms around my waist and dragged her fingernails down my spine.

I moaned into her mouth, loving the way that she seemed to lose control with me, and shifted my hips against hers. This only elicited another loud moan from her, her fingernails digging into my back as her hips started to move a little faster.

"It's so good to be home," I whispered, pulling away from her and leaning down to rest my forehead on her chest.

Her hands immediately dragged up my back, her fingernails leaving delightfully painful trails until she finally dragged them into my hair and pulled just enough to have me getting impossibly harder against her.

If that was at all possible.

"I never want to be without you again," I whispered, tilting my head to drag my lips across her collarbone again.

I felt her clench around me and moved my hand a little faster, my thumb rubbing over her clit as her back arched off the bed again. Her moans became louder, interrupted only by my name falling off of her lips as I felt her burst around me.

She collapsed back into the bed, her chest heaving and her eyes closed tightly as I moved my hand from in between her legs and grabbed her upraised knee. I quickly slid my boxers down my legs and kicked them off, placing feather light kisses against her chest. Shifting myself just enough, I wrapped one arm around her knee and slowly slid into her, my eyes rolling back in my head at the mere feeling of being inside of her again.

Tight, warm, completely sheathed and fucking happier than hell about it, I was exactly where I always needed to be. I was home; even after all this time and the months apart, Bella was still home to me.

"Oh, Christ," I moaned out, leaning down to bury my head in her hair.

"Don't you dare stop," she breathed out, still gasping for air as she shifted her hips up to mine and moaned.

I slowly started moving my hips with hers, one of my arms still wrapped around her knee as the other anchored me above her.

"Look at me," I breathed, leaning up and moving my hips faster. "Bella, open your eyes and look at me."

Her hips matched my pace and her eyes slowly opened, meeting mine as her mouth fell open in a loud moan.

And there was nothing fucking sexier than having her eyes locked with mine while she did that. I leaned down, my hips working against hers as I fused my mouth to hers and tightened my grip on her knee. I felt her heel digging into my side, looking for purchase somewhere and quickly moved it over my shoulder, bracing my other hand on her other side.

She broke away from me and threw her head back into the pillow, the broken moan sounding out of her throat only driving me to go that much faster.

"Edward," she moaned, one of her hands grabbing onto my shoulder and the other curling into a fist in the bed sheets. "Faster."

I moaned at her words, my eyes rolling back into my head again as I did as she asked, the familiar tightening and coiling starting in the pit of my stomach.

"Bella," I moaned out, crying out hoarsely when I felt her intentionally squeezing her walls around me.

If she kept doing that, there was no way in hell that I'd be lasting as long as I wish I could.

And God knows I never wanted this to end. This was where I always wanted to be.

I threw my head back, grunting and moaning loudly when she started shaking beneath me, her breath sobbing out of her chest as her fingernails continued to dig into my shoulder.

"Look at me," I demanded again. "Bella, look at me."

She tilted her head up, her eyes snapping open and meeting mine once again, her breathing still labored and her lips parted.

"I love you, Bella," I whispered, hissing in a breath and reaching up to run my hand down her thigh, gently kneading her skin.

“I-I love you too,” she moaned, her fingernails digging into my shoulder. “Oh, God.”

“Keep your eyes on me,” I demanded, thrusting into her with every word. “I want to see you.”

“I’m almost… Edward, I’m so…”

“Yes,” I whispered, digging my fingertips into her thigh and bunching my fist into the bed sheets by her head. “With me, Bella, come with me.”

I kept my eyes on hers, uncurling my hand from the bed sheets and blindly searching for hers before linking our fingers together and squeezing her hand, raising them above her head.

She started to close her eyes and I increased the tempo of my thrusts, making them sharper and slightly harder until her eyes snapped open to meet mine again.

“On me, Bella,” I breathed. “Your eyes on me.”

“I’m…”

“Yes,” I whispered again, untangling our hands.

I dragged it down her arm, over her shoulder and sides and finally in between us, my thumb easily finding her clit and eagerly rubbing against it.

The sounds that escaped her throat as her hips started to buck against mine caused every little thought in my head to disappear, the coil releasing and bursting forth as I felt her clench down around me, her back arching off the bed and both of our eyes closing.

I collapsed on top of her as her back hit the mattress again, our chests working against each other as we breathed heavily. We were still connected and there was absolutely no way that I wanted to move from her, from this spot, from exactly the way we were right now.

I turned my head into her shoulder as my breathing calmed and placed gentle kisses on her neck and up to her cheek, barely grazing the side of her mouth as she continued to breathe heavily.

“You okay?” I whispered, bringing one hand up to place it on her opposite cheek.

She nodded, turning her head to press her lips against mine. She reached up to place one of her hands on the back of my head and I felt her breathing start to even out again.

“I’m fucking perfect,” she whispered, breaking away for a second before kissing me again.

I laughed, sucking on her bottom lip before propping myself up on my elbows and looking down at her. She smiled lazily up at me, reaching up to frame my face in her hands and run her thumbs down my cheeks.

“I’m so in love with you, Edward Cullen.”

I grinned and I swear that I could feel my heart getting just that much bigger, as if it was going to make just that much more room for her in there.

As if my heart wasn’t completely hers to begin with.

“And I,” I whispered, bending down to kiss her again, “am so in love with you, Isabella Swan.”

“I don't ever want to go that long without seeing you again.” She brushed her nose against mine before kissing me once more. “I don't ever want to leave your side again.”

“Marry me,” I whispered.

My eyes widened and I watched as hers did the same, both of us completely freezing and staring at each other.

Had I really just said that? I hadn’t meant to.

I knew it was going to happen eventually and I knew that one day, I was going to marry this girl.

I just hadn’t anticipated proposing to her while I was still connected with her.

I didn’t even have a ring. I didn’t have a ring and all of the ideas I’d had when I thought of proposing to her hadn’t happened.

No rose petals, no candles, no chocolate dipped strawberries; none of that was present. In fact, I’d just woken her up by practically jumping on her and now, while I was still comfortably inside of her, I’d just proposed marriage to her.

“Bella…”

“Yes,” she breathed.

I blinked at her.

She just said yes.

She said yes.

We were engaged.

We were going to get married.

I was going to spend the rest of my life gloriously tied to this woman in every single possible fucking way.

“Yes,” she said again, her voice stronger. “Yes, Edward, yes!”

I laughed, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling myself down to her, fusing my mouth to hers and rolling us onto our sides.

“You wanna be with me forever?” I whispered against her mouth.

“Longer than that,” she whispered back, her lips curving underneath mine as she tangled her hands in my hair. “So much longer than that.”

I laughed again, running my hands over her back and trying to pull her as close to me as possible.

Not that we could really get that much closer, but it was worth a shot.

“I’m yours, Edward,” she whispered, kissing me again. “I’m completely yours.”

I buried my nose in her neck and kissed her shoulder, thinking that the smile on my face wasn’t going to ever go away.

And I was perfectly okay with that.

“How are we going to tell everybody that this was how it happened?” she asked softly.

I laughed again, shaking my head and looking back up at her.

“We make something up.”

She bit her bottom lip and looked up at me from underneath her lashes before throwing one leg over my hip and pulling me close to her. I moaned breathlessly when her action caused me to move even deeper inside of her.

“Better get on that,” she whispered, rolling on top of me and slowly starting to move her hips back and forth over mine.

I quickly grabbed her hips, throwing my head back into the pillow behind my head and closing my eyes tightly.

And even as we both reached our releases again, all I could think about was how this woman was going to be mine for the rest of my life. I was going to be waking up to her, falling asleep with her and making love to her whenever the hell we both wanted it.

I knew that it wasn't always going to be peaches and cream and it wasn't always going to be the way it was now, but I knew that it would be worth it.

She was my life and she was here to stay.

The End.

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