Fated Temptation

Author(s): bexi21 and roseofportroyal

Disclaimer: We own nothing. All fabulous characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter One

"How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams." Bram Stoker – 'Dracula'

Edward's POV:

Leaning against the counter, I watched as she carefully set out two plates and glasses on the kitchen table. The awful aroma of human food wafted through my senses, but I focused on her sweet, flowery scent; allowing it to block out everything else.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that Charlie wasn't upset about it you know?" she asked, frantically placing down napkins and silverware.

I studied her expression, noticing how nervous she seemed. "Yes it is."

She looked up at me suddenly then and frowned before walking over to the oven.

"Bella, you don't need to worry about anything," I reassured her. I knew she was contemplating Charlie's reaction to our engagement and it had been nagging at her constantly for the past few days. I couldn't read her thoughts, but I was glad that whenever I looked into her eyes, I could tell what she was thinking.

"He laughed, Edward," she stammered. "Charlie who finds you suspicious enough as it is, not to mention too protective, was laughing at our engagement, like it was a good thing."

"Are you saying it's not?" The words were out before I could stop them. Of course I knew what she was really saying.

"What? That's not what I meant all." Bella walked over to me, taking my cold hands in hers. I always loved the warmth of her skin radiating off onto my own. It made me feel more alive every time she was near. She sighed softly and I reached up to tuck a strand of her dark brown tresses behind her ear. "It's just that… it's not a normal reaction from him, you know?"

I nodded simply, letting a small grin lift the corner of my lips. "I know, love. But he's alright with it. He may think that I smother you a bit, but he'll get used to it."

Bella scoffed at me before turning back to the oven. "Ha! He should think about the word 'smother' a bit more when he starts asking about me and Jake."

The dog's name sent a low rumble through my chest and I did my best to keep the growl from escaping my lips. I would forever be haunted by Bella's confession of kissing Jacob Black, but I knew she loved me. And if she ever were to change her mind, I wouldn't be angry with her. But as the light caught the glisten of the diamond ring on her left hand, my dead heart seemed to flutter. No… she was definitely mine.

"Charlie's almost here," I told her, being able hear her father's thoughts as he drove down the road. My little girl is getting married… That damn Cullen boy, always looming over her. Probably put her up to it somehow…

I smirked despite myself. Charlie would never think of me as any different.

"DAMMIT!"

My eyes flashed up to see Bella gripping her hand in pain. I was at her side in seconds. "Bella, what happened?" I asked, taking her hand in mine and noting the red swelling that spread over her fingers. The casserole dish she had been pulling out was dangerously sitting halfway on the top of the stove. Oh my silly, clumsy Bella. "And how did we do this?" I asked gently, lightly placing my cold hand on top of her scalding fingers.

She winced, but immediately relaxed to my cooling sensation. "I almost dropped it and wasn't thinking and grabbed the other end of the dish with my hand." She then scrunched up her face in embarrassment and her cheeks flushed that beautiful shade of red. "The hand that wasn't covered with a mit…"

I chuckled softly and lifted her burned fingers to my eyes, pretending to be inspecting them. "You'll have to keep something cold on them," I told her.

She nodded and turned to go to the freezer, but I caught her around her waist. She looked up at me and I couldn't help but smile. Slowly, I pressed my cold lips to every inch of her fingers. The blush on her face deepened even more, only causing me to continue my advances. Her face was slowly inching towards mine and my eyes flickered to her full crimson lips. A hunger stirred within me and it wasn't for her blood. "Bella," I whispered against her mouth.

"Am I interrupting something, Bells?" Charlie boomed, breaking our intimate moment.

"Curses to you," I hissed lowly, only enough for Bella to hear me. She glared at me before pulling away and quickly walking to the freezer to grab some ice. I carefully nudged the casserole dish safely back onto the stove and turned around to face my future father-in-law. Shoving my hands in my pockets and putting on my best smile, I watched as he sat down in his usual seat. What does he think he's doing, assaulting my daughter like that… A grin reached my lips as he continued to grumble in his head. If only my love knew what he really thought of me. Although, I was pretty sure she already did. I wonder what he would think if he knew I came to her room each night?

"How was your day, Charlie?" I asked politely.

Bella turned to eye me darkly as she was the only one to pick up the sarcastic tone in my voice. I grinned at her, staring at her intently. She stopped sending daggers my way and her face softened; her eyes covering over in what I quickly learned to be lust.

"It was fine," Charlie grunted.

Bella immediately shook her head and walked over to me to reach for a spatula. "Stop doing that," she seethed.

"Doing what?"

She looked up at me exasperatedly, like I didn't already know. "Dazzling me." She then turned around and grabbed Charlie's plate.

"What happened to your hand, Bells?" he asked, eyeing the small bag of ice she now held in her hand. "I burnt it on dinner," she mumbled.

Before she could say another word, I swiftly retrieved the plate from her hand. "Sit down, Bella. I'll handle this."

She huffed and finally relented before sitting down heavily in her chair. "Fine."

I smiled and went about preparing she and Charlie's meals as she nursed her hand with the ice and answered her father's relentless questions. Sometimes I wished he would just ignore us and go watch the next baseball game.

"I feel so bad for Billy," Charlie had said. "No one knows where Jake is and we've searched high and low for him."

I tensed at the mutt's name again, but never enough for him to notice.

"Maybe you should come with us on the next search party, Bella," he suggested.

At that, I hastily put forth the warm human food and sat down in my usual seat, making far too much noise then necessary.

Bella eyed me warily but I kept my face indifferent, something I knew she hated.

"Charlie, I doubt that will do any good." I could hear the sadness in her voice. It made me sick to think that she had feelings for Jacob, but how could I blame her? I left her when I never should have. And as much as I despised the wolf's closeness to her, I will forever be grateful to him for keeping her alive.

I watched as she looked back at her plate and slowly shoved pieces of broccoli and cheese around with her fork. It was in times like these that I wished I could read her mind. I grimaced slightly. I could certainly read her father's…

She'd be far better off with Jake. I don't understand why he ran away. Probably because of that Cullen boy. He let out a deep sigh. At least I know he'll keep her safe. But she's only 18! He better not get her pregnant right away…

A low growl emitted through my lips and Charlie glanced up at me nervously. Immediately, I cleared my throat and straightened up further in my seat. "Sorry. Indigestion," I muttered.

Bella simply rolled her eyes and continued to pick at her food. For the next half hour, we sat in a tense silence. I did nothing but stare ahead at the table top, knowing that if I watched my fiancée too much, her father would have a conniption.

Suddenly, the silence was broken.

"I'm really beat, Charlie. Alice has been shoving wedding stuff down my throat all day, so I think I'm going to go to bed early," Bella said as she got up to put her half eaten food in the waste basket. I was to her side before she could fully stand up.

"I've got it, love," I whispered.

She smiled up at me and finished cleaning up her place. I could hear Charlie grumbling again as he finished his own dinner himself. "Alright Bells, I'll just be down here watching the game."

Within minutes, Bella was taking me by the hand and leading me to the door for our 'farewells.' This was our nightly play that we put on for Charlie's sake. Only she and I knew that I'd be back in her room within minutes.

"Good night," she said, standing up on tiptoe and gently placing her lips on mine.

I softly caressed her face while my other hand gingerly took her injured one. "Good night," I replied, loud enough for Charlie to hear. I then leaned in close to her and whispered quickly, "I'll be back soon, love. Try to not to hurt yourself between now and then." I quirked my lips up into a grin, loving her stubborn expression. Her eyes narrowed before she gently pushed me out the door.

"We'll see," she whispered. "I can't make any promises." She then flashed me a quick but breathtakingly beautiful smile. "I'll see you soon."

And with that I sped off to my car and raced home. It would be pointless to wait for her in the woods, as I knew Charlie would still see my car sitting in front of the house.

The trees whipped past the side of the car at a dangerously fast pace. I continued to drive back home, thinking of Bella's mood the entire day. She was stressed that was for certain.

Don't blame me, Edward.

I sighed as I pulled up into the front of our large home, expecting to see no one else but the pixie-haired sister of mine. Alice.

"Carlisle told me to give this to you," she informed me as I stepped out of the car. I took the small tube of ointment from her hand. "This will help with Bella's fingers. It calms the burning sensation."

"Let me guess, you saw this?" I asked her rather blatantly.

"Of course!" she beamed. "Why else would I be out here? In any case, Jasper and I are going on a hunt tonight and by the look in your eyes, you need to go on one too."

"I'll go tomorrow, Alice," I told her, shoving the ointment in my pocket. "Tell, Carlisle I said 'thank you.'"

I didn't give her a chance to respond. Within seconds, I was running, whipping past the trees at lightening speed to get to my love. And just as she did every night, her bedroom window was left open for me. I was standing in her small room in a matter of seconds.

She was already lying in bed, a worried look gracing her features. "Bella, my love, what's wrong?" I whispered, carefully climbing in behind her and wrapping her into my embrace. She stayed quiet for a few minutes longer before responding.

"I'm just stressed out about the wedding is all," she said. "Alice really needs to lighten up, think you can tell her that?" she teased.

I smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head. "Of course. But I can't promise she'll listen."

She huffed softly and I pulled her closer to my chest. "Carlisle gave me some ointment to put on your hand. It'll help with the stinging."

"I much prefer this," she said, taking my hand to cover her injured one. "This works just fine."

A burning love rose through me in that second. I'd never get enough of her, it seemed. I watched as her eyes started to drift close and waited for the sound of her breathing to turn heavy with sleep. She seemed to have a hard time settling in, so I did the only thing I knew would put her into a deep slumber. I hummed her lullaby.

A/N: So, first of all, I'm brand new to this site and obviously this is the first story I've posted here :) 'Fated Temptation' is co-written by another friend of mine and was originally posted on the Orlando Bloom Files Message Board under the Off Topic section. In any case, it is a POV story where I write in Edward's POV and roseofportroyal (Chelsie Kay) writes in Bella's POV. We hope you like it. This is our portrayal of what happens after Eclipse.