Once I sat down at the Cullens' table and looked into the faces of my future family, I pretty much already knew whose votes I would and wouldn't have. I just wanted Edward to see for himself. I also knew he'd be upset with the outcome. I just didn't expect the extent of his outrage.

When he came back in the dining room and said he would take me home, I could see the anger clearly ringing in his eyes. It was something I didn't want to see there, especially after spending six involuntary months away from him. He turned around for me to climb on his back, but instead I shook my head and said, "Edward, please turn around." The silence was torture.

He turned to face me much more slowly than even a human pace. "Bella, you have to get home before Charlie wakes up." His voice was monotone and I didn't like that either. Where was the velvet?

"I know, and I will." I held my hand out for him to take, hoping he wouldn't be too stubborn to hear me out. "I just missed you so much and I don't want to spend any longer than necessary having you hate me for what happened here tonight. You're breaking Esme's house over things I—,"

I couldn't finish because his lips were on mine, moving almost angrily. When I was starting to run out of breath, he pulled my face away gently, and then the velvet was back in his voice, albeit an angry velvet, he scolded, "Don't you ever talk like that. I will never hate you, not ever. Bella…" He reached up and stroked my face from temple to jaw with the back of his hand. "Don't think I didn't miss you, because I did…so much it physically hurt, and that's hard to do."

I nodded and blinked back my surprised tears. "I'm sorry; it's just you were so mad and you broke…whatever it is you broke." I wiped the back of my hand across my eyes quickly, and he reached up to wipe away the tears I missed with his thumbs.

"I'm sorry I got so mad." He stared intently into my eyes. With no warning, he kissed me again, starting more passionately than ever before. It started off the same as it usually did, but I felt it as soon he passed over the line from his usual cautious kisses to taking it for all it was worth. He pulled away less than a centimeter away from me just to warn, "Let me control this so I don't hurt you." With that said, his lips were back on mine in an instant.

My eyes opened in shock when I felt his tongue graze my lips, and because of his warning, I new he wouldn't pull away and that this was no accident. I was staring into his fiercely passionate black gaze. The darkness of his eyes should have made me nervous, but it didn't. I parted my lips slightly and sucked in a breath as his tongue entered my mouth and grazed my teeth. I figured that by control he meant not pushing my tongue into his mouth. I didn't think meeting it with his was a problem, so I tested the waters, and I was right. He met it enthusiastically and I felt all the air leave my lungs and my heart sputter. He chuckled against my lips and let me breathe only for a moment before he left off in exactly the same spot, his tongue leading mine across the unfamiliar dance floor. His tongue was like flavored ice swirling around mine, minty and sweet. I knew already that this flavor, Edward's flavor, would be my new drug. As amazing as his kisses were before, it had increased ten-fold. How he knew what he was doing when I didn't was beyond me, but I didn't question it. This was what I wanted for so long, and he was finally conceding, and doing a wonderful job, so I followed his lead.

After what seemed like much too short a time, he pulled away and brushed the hair back from my forehead.

"I'm proud of you," I complimented with a smile. I was also proud of myself for forming coherent words. "How'd you manage that one?"

It seemed to be an answer he already had prepared—possibly one he used to convince himself he was strong enough. "I missed you so much; I'm strong enough for anything when it comes to you now."

I nodded; that seemed like a more than satisfactory answer.

He smiled a very small half smile and pulled me onto his back tenderly. I put my face right next to his and kissed his cheek. "Show me what you broke?" I asked him softly.

He sighed, and I could tell he didn't want to, but he walked past the living room anyway, and I saw the piano laying in mangled pieces across the living room, like he had picked it up by the legs and smashed it to the ground. I never knew how attached I was to that piano until I felt my eyes well up in tears. "Not the piano…" I said in barely a whisper, but of course, Edward heard me loud and clear.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm going to buy a new one…obviously," he promised. Of course I knew it would be replaced, he needed it for writing his music. But it wasn't the same.

"But you wrote my lullaby on that piano," I explained.

He sighed and looked right into my eyes. "I didn't realize you saw it that way."

I nodded and he kissed my forehead. "I'm so sorry, Bella. I'll make it up to you somehow. Still love me?"

I huffed in mock disgust. "What a stupid question. Of course I love you." To prove it, I pressed a kiss to his neck. "And you can't make me stop."

"That's very good," he said quietly. "I wouldn't want my love for you to go unrequited."

I smiled slightly as he began his run, heading out of the house and back toward Forks.

--

When we got back to my room, Edward promised he'd be gone only until Charlie left to go fishing with Billy. Alice had told us before they gave Edward and me privacy that Charlie was planning on leaving early, four o'clock. When we got back to my room it was two, and he told me he needed to hunt and that he'd be back in an hour because he wasn't going further than the mountains right outside Forks.

After that kiss, I was in the mood to beautify myself, for one of those reasons that a girl just can't explain. With Edward, I couldn't expect a repeat performance, but I had a right to dream. I grabbed my bathroom stuff and tried to be as quiet as possible so I didn't wake Charlie any earlier than necessary. I went the whole nine yards, shaving my whole legs, not just below the knee and blow-drying my hair, leaving it down over my shoulders, when I was finished. I realized that blow-drying wasn't the best way to go about keeping Charlie from being woken up, but I was sure he knew I had already slept a good thirteen hours.

I finished off by clipping my nails and toenails, not wanting to overdo it by painting them. I didn't want Edward to be suspicious. I went back to my room wearing something out of the norm for me, but not something that screamed "sex." I didn't know where it came from, but I was quite certain that Alice had taken a trip to American Eagle during my long hours of sleep. I was very grateful, and I wondered if she'd had a vision of me needing them for something just like this. She'd picked out a matching pajama set, but not one of those flannel sets like I gave to my mother for Christmas. It was a light blue fitted t-shirt that said Aerie across the chest in royal blue letters, and blue plaid lounge pants.

I was sitting cross-legged on my bed reading Wuthering Heights when Edward climbed through the window. I felt a huge smile stretch across my face as he came toward me. I threw the book on the floor and pulled myself up to my knees.

His eyes were back to my favorite golden color, and the crooked smile that I felt was always reserved for me appeared on his lips. I knew I should have been positive that he was coming back, but there was a huge part of me that worried he would leave me again. I just didn't realize how big a part that was until I felt the intense relief come over me.

It must have shown on my face, because a split second after that relief washed over me, he was at my side and I was in his arms.

"Bella, I know you heard me promise that I would come back," he whispered in my ear as one of his hands stroked my hair softly.

I gripped my arms tighter around his neck. "I know." I was barely audible, even to myself. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."

"It's alright, shh," he soothed. His voice was soft again, my smooth silk, my velvet, my Edward.

I breathed in his scent, and he just held me for I didn't know how long. All too soon, though, he pulled away and pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. "Bella, I've told you how I feel like I can do anything now, like I can handle anything when it comes to you."

I nodded, remembering what he'd said after the most amazing kiss of my life—a kiss I would never forget.

He continued, pulling me off the bed and placing me on my feet on the floor. "I think I can do more than that kiss, and there's a humongous part of me that can't wait to try."

I wondered silently if he meant what I thought he meant. He wanted something that I'd wanted for so long, but suppressed because it had always seemed impossible. I put a hand up to his face, smiling, wanting to show him that I wasn't at all opposed to the idea. The countless dreams I've had about Edward finally making love to me were finally coming true?

"But there's something I need from you first, Bella. I'm willing to slightly curve tradition, but not entirely." He surveyed my eager gaze, and seeming to realize I wasn't running away screaming, he continued. "I want you to promise yourself to me."

I breathed a laugh. This was all he wanted? "Of course I promise myself to you. I've already done that, Edward."

He smiled and gripped my chin between the side of his forefinger and the tip of his thumb, bringing his lips down to mine. He kissed me lightly and said, "No, Bella. Not like that, I know you've done that."

My breath stopped and I couldn't regain it because all the air had been sucked out of the room as he got down on one knee and pulled a box out of his pocket. "Edward," I managed to choke.

"Breathe, love," he reminded me, and I was finally able to stagger in a small breath. He took my left hand and kissed the top of my ring finger. "Bella, you've already promised me eternity. Will you go one step further and say you'll be my wife?"

"Edward, I…" I was truly at a loss for words. How hard was it to say the word "yes?" It wasn't like I planned on spending it with anyone else. There was that nagging idea that my parents couldn't make it, but I also knew that I was not my mother. I had been told multiple times that I was twice as mature as she was at my age. And Edward and Charlie were as different as night and day.

He didn't push me to say anything; he just let me think. I didn't know if it had been thirty seconds or five minutes, but I finally let myself just answer with whatever felt natural. I decided to stop analyzing it and just go with what my heart was telling me to do. I nodded slowly, and a second later when it dawned on me that I was nodding, saying "yes," a smile spread across my face. "Yes," I told him. "I'll marry you, Edward, I will." I had said it. I told Edward I would marry him, and I was going to be Mrs. Cullen, his wife.

Edward's answering smile was so brilliant, it was nearly blinding. He slid the ring on my finger. It was absolutely stunning, and just looking at it I could immediately tell that it wasn't something he'd gone to Tiffany's and bought.

"It was my mother's," he explained once the ring was in place.

I smiled and pulled on his shirt so that he would stand. "It's stunning. I love it. I love you."

He pulled me into his stone embrace and kissed me tenderly. "I love you too, my Bella." He just held me for a while, neither of us bothering to sit on the bed or anything. We just remained standing until finally he pulled me back far enough to look into my eyes.

I could tell he was afraid of asking, and if I knew Edward like I thought I did, he didn't want to just start without my permission.

"Edward," I whispered, "make love to me." I reached up and ran my fingers through his hair.

He hesitated, seeming to freeze to a stone more solid than usual, but it didn't take long for him to relax and smile crookedly at me. "I can only promise to do my best, Bella."

"I'll take what I can get," I agreed as he bent his head to meet mine, meeting my lips softly at first. He lay me down on the bed and supported his own body by his forearms, leaning down to brush his lips across mine; he moved them across my cheek and to my neck. I wasn't sure why, maybe it was the nerves, but I felt the need to talk.

"It's so weird that just a week ago I thought I would never see you again and now we're…engaged?"

He lifted his head and looked into my eyes, his conveying a look of agony which instantly made me feel guilty for bringing it up. "You have no idea how much I regret leaving you. It was the stupidest thing I've ever done, Bella, and that includes letting you near me in the first place."

I wrapped my arms tightly around him. "Shh. I've already told you, there's nothing to apologize for. I only brought it up because I'm so unbelievably stoked that you're here in my arms. Not only that, but here in my arms agreeing to do this."

He smiled then, to my immense relief, and went back to kissing me, entering his tongue more swiftly than before, now that it wasn't quite such foreign territory. I moaned against his kiss and my fingers found the hem of his shirt and I tugged on it gently.

He succumbed, sitting up and pulling it off himself, leaving me free to roam his perfect chest with my eyes. I had seen his chest before, but every move either of us made meant so much more than it ever had before.

He bent back over me, his eyes burning with a mix of pure happiness and utter lust. He slid his hands slowly under my shirt, locking his gaze with mine, probably to make sure I was okay. I shivered from the cold and pure sensation of his hands on my bare midriff.

I regretted it the instant it happened because he pulled his hands away. "I'm too cold; I don't want to get you sick."

I rolled my eyes impatiently. "I really couldn't care less about that right now, Edward." I grabbed his hands and put them back on my stomach, lifting my own shirt from the bottom.

Sensing what I wanted to do, he slid his hands around to my back and lifted me up, then took my hands away and slowly lifted my shirt off himself. I watched his face as his eyes raked over my body, biting down hard on my lip.

He chuckled and bent down to kiss my lips sweetly. "Stop chewing your lip off." He looked down at my chest, now clad only in the only lace bra I had ever owned. "You're so beautiful, my Bella," he whispered, nearly knocking me senseless as his sweet breath washed over my face.

He lowered his head, kissing my collarbone and down the center of my chest, resting his face there for a moment; I was sure he was trying to gain as much control as possible. As his long fingers curled around my hips, he trailed small kisses down the rest of my stomach.

My breathing quickened even more, if possible, when his thumbs slid under the waistband of my lounge pants. "Bella, you can tell me to stop at any point, you know."

I sighed in frustration that he doubted himself. "I know, Edward, but I won't want to. I guess if you don't want to you can stop, though." I smiled innocently at him.

I heard a low growl from somewhere in his chest and smirked to myself as he kissed me passionately, his icy tongue back on mine before I had time to gloat in victory. My nails took a worthless attempt at digging into his granite-like back. I pulled my right leg up and wrapped it around his hips, pushing him closer into me and feeling his erection throb against me through the fabric of our pants.

A soft moan escaped my lips, my toes curling as I raised my left foot slightly to rub against his right calf and his pants getting caught between my toes in the process. He growled lightly over me and gave me the chance to catch my breath raggedly.

His thumbs that were already resting inside the top of my bottoms, pushed down further, exposing the top of the panties that matched my bra. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at them and chuckled, causing me to blush. "Were you expecting something, Bella?" he joked, referring to my matching undergarments.

"So what if I was?" I teased back. "I know you didn't come here without completely thinking this through, Edward."

He chuckled through the kiss that he had already started as his he slid his whole hand slowly under my waistband, his palm forming to the shape of my hip. He lifted me off the bed slightly and used his other hand to slide my pants the rest of the way off. Once they were on the floor, he sat up and cupped my calves in his hand and pulled my legs apart to kneel between them, looking me up and down with the softest possible expression, his golden eyes digging deeply into every inch of my skin; his gaze was so intense I could feel the heat burning into my flesh in the most pleasurable way.

He brought his hands up and used the backs to graze lightly from the sides of my breasts to my hips. I arched my back under his touch and closed my eyes, whispering his name under my breath. When I felt like I had regained some sort of control over my limbs, I reached up to grab his upper arms and pulled myself up, matching his position on my knees.

I brought my lips to the hollow of his neck and kissed down his cold, smooth chest while my arms still held onto his arms. I felt his hands go to my hair, stroking it softly. My hands followed the trail that my kisses left, stopping at the button of his jeans and holding my breath as I unbuttoned them. I pulled the zipper down slowly and slid my fingers through the belt loops pulling his pants down over his black boxer-briefs. I smirked; I had a feeling that's what he wore.

His erection was more obvious than ever, and I was certain my breathing stopped all together, but I couldn't have cared less. If this was how I would die, I would take it. My hand twitched at the impulse to reach out and touch him, but I knew I had to be careful of his reactions, so I looked up into his searing gaze. He flashed a crooked smile and nodded as one of his hands went to my waist. "It's alright, Bella," his velvet voice urged me.

I inched my hand forward, surprising myself by keeping it steady. I touched his hard-on through the cotton cloth of his underwear and sucked in the last breath of oxygen left in the room. I curled my fingers around his length and closed my eyes, my heart beating a million beats per second, so it was more of a vibration than a beat.

He growled low in his chest again, and I could feel him shake from it. I rubbed my thumb over his tip through the obnoxious fabric. "Bella," he moaned, pulling me closer to him by my waist.

I had no moisture left in my mouth to swallow, but I felt the need to relieve the knot in my throat. I was certain that that all the moisture had traveled to another place in my body. Before I could go any further, he took back control, laying me down and rubbing his thumb in small circles over the lace of my bra with one hand, the other sliding up my outer thigh and under my panties.

I lifted my back an inch off the bed to make way for his hand to unclasp my bra. Naturally, he was so smooth and quick I didn't even realize it was gone until I felt his icy lips hesitantly kissing my bare breasts. My fingers found their own way to his hair, weaving through his already-disarray strands.

My leg took it's spot back around his hip, the other joining it on the opposite side this time. I felt all the moisture pooling between my thighs and moaned, begging him to do something about it as I gave him an extra hint, grinding my hips against him.

He took it immediately, and, gaining confidence in himself, slid his freezing cold, long white fingers past the dreaded panties and into my heat. I screamed softly and shuddered at the same time that I felt his usually stable composure falter. "Edward," I cried.

He moved his two fingers slowly inside me, being ever so careful yet passionate at the same time, touching me in exactly the right spots to make me squeal in delight as my eyes rolled back into my head and my teeth dug into my lip. When it felt like I'd barely had any time to enjoy the feel of his fingers inside me, he pulled out, only to remove my underwear and his own completely.

Unthinkingly, I grabbed for his length again the instant the cotton layer was gone. The length and icy cold hardness reminded me of a huge popsicle, and I moaned louder, thinking what was normally done with a popsicle. But I would save it for another time.

"Please, Edward, I'm ready." I was more than ready to feel him sheathed within me; my Edward finally becoming a part of me. This was the only human experience I would ever need, and he was finally going to give it to me.

He nodded, fixing his position above me so no weight was resting on me. He lifted my leg by the knee, and positioned himself at my center. My breaths were coming in shallow gasps, but so were his unnecessary ones, making me feel like less of a fool.

"I love you more than anyone could ever comprehend, Bella. I'd give you the world if I could," he told me before kissing me deeply, giving me the sweet taste of his tongue again for something to do with my mouth instead of screaming.

"You have given me the world. I love you, too." I pulled his lips back to mine and gave him quick kisses that matched the pace of my breath.

He entered me slowly and cautiously, and each second I was pulling in another jagged breath. I knew, without a doubt, that this was the single-most wondrous feeling in the world, and more so for me than for anyone else; no one else had Edward. Once his length was nearly fully inside me, he stopped, kissing my neck softly.

I couldn't be sure what he whispered to me, but it sounded like, "I'm sorry." If that was indeed what he said, I knew that he was apologizing in advance for the next minute or so, but after he pushed past the barrier, I felt nothing but immense pleasure.

He paused to make sure I was okay, so when I shouted his name in what was clearly ecstasy, he started moving in and out slowly, both of us barely taking air into our lungs. It didn't take long before I began to feel an orgasm shake my entire body. I felt it radiate from my center where Edward and I were finally joined as one, out to the ends of my hair and the tips of my toes. I heard his name being screamed, and it took a second for me to realize it was coming from my own throat. One of my hands gripped the sheets on the bed, and the other was clawing at the back of his neck. "Jesus fucking Christ, Edward!" I screamed when I couldn't hold it in anymore. He opened his eyes to look at me, never having heard that type of language from me before, but I ignored it.

I shuddered and regained some much-needed oxygen, breathing heavily which I knew was good because at least my heart hadn't stopped from the intensity. "Bella, mmmm," he yelled as he bit his lower lip hard. Another orgasm rocked my body while he fucked me quite literally senseless. I couldn't remember my own name by the time he pulled out and spilled into his hand.

He wiped his hand on a towel from the floor and turned back to me, pulling me close so that my head was resting on his chest, my top arm and leg draped over him. "I'm sorry, I realized at the last second that I didn't know what would happen if I…"

I silenced him with a deep kiss, moving from his lips to his jaw, to his ear and whispered, "It's more than fine. Thank you, I love you, my Edward. Thank you for being so strong for me."

"There's no need to thank me, Bella," he assured as he kissed my temple. "I love you too, and it's good to know we can do that. I'm glad I gave in," he admitted, smiling crookedly and kissing the corner of my mouth.

I smiled, too, and looked around my room that now felt entirely different than it had an hour ago. Doing so, I noticed something strange. "Edward, why are we covered in feathers?"

Author's Note: Thank you to Sergio for unintentionally providing me with the vibrating heart idea in his Facebook status. Also, this is my first one-shot, so please give me feedback. Let me know how you liked it!