This is a little all vampire tale of a battle of wills between Edward and Bella, full of lip puckering lemony goodness.

It was early spring. Snow still lay in drifts in the heavier shaded parts of the woods. The sun was out though this morning, the first day in weeks, patches of it streaming in from our windows through the bare winter trees that were intermixed with the grayish green pines.

I was laying on the couch reading. Edward was on the floor in front of me, his laptop sitting on the coffee table pulled up to him like a desk. He was supposed to be doing our taxes. Most of the family's income was from investments and the Cullens were very careful to make sure they were paid. It seemed surreal to me that vampires even paid taxes. When I expressed this thought, Emmett just chuckle and said, "That's how they got Capone."

However, Edward's fingers were not flying across the keyboard. Instead, he was leaning back on the couch, his head against my knee, staring out the bright window.

"I hate when it's like this."

I didn't need to look up from my book. I knew why he was complaining. Edward was always grumpy on days like this, knowing that we would have to hide from the public. It was because of me and I ground my teeth in frustration. I had began to notice the pattern not long after my change and pestered him into telling me what his problem was with the sun.

"It's something that was taken away from you." He finally confessed after much nagging one sunny afternoon.

"We go out in the sun." I said shaking my head at him at the time. "We just had to be a little careful, that's all".

What did I care about the the sun? I would have gladly dug a hole in the ground and stayed in it all day if I had to, just as long as he was there at my side.

Today was different. I was not in the mood to tolerate his nonsense. I smacked him in the head with my book.

"Edward Cullen," I scolded. "Some days, you are so ridiculous."

He responded with a sigh.

Feeling guilty immediately, I reached out and ran my fingers through his tousle of bronze hair.

"It wasn't like I was big into afternoons at a crowded beach before I became a vampire." I said trying to sooth him.

His pouty look did not improve. I needed to try a different approach. I slid off the couch, scooted the coffee table back and climbed on to his lap, straddling his legs with mine.

"How awful… Forced to stay in our warm, comfy house, with nothing to do." I leaned in and licked his ear, and sighed dramatically. "Nothing to do at all…"

"But we do that everyday." He said glumly.

"I am so sorry." I exclaimed in mock horror. "I did not realize that you were getting bored with our daily activities, Mr. Cullen. Maybe we should skip a day or two… you know, just to get your excitement levels back up."

Edward placed his hands on both sides of my face, lifting my chin. His nose ran up my throat, his lips took the return trip back. My mouth started to water.

"As if you could make it past more than one day." He teased, his voice soft as velvet.

"Me?"

Edward's fingers left my face, moving down to the ribbing at the bottom of an old sweatshirt of his that I was wearing. They burrowed their way underneath, edging their way up my stomach as my nipples began to pull up in anticipation of their arrival. His lips had moved in as well, to my ear, and he snickered. "Yes…you."

I pulled back from his face to get a good look at him. Lips pursed together now, amusement lit his eyes. My eyebrows came together and I put my chin out indignant.

"You say that as if you would not have a problem skipping a couple of days."

His only response was to smile.

"Hey, you aren't any better than I am. In fact, I would say you would fare far worse than me under that scenario."

"You're being absurd."

"Come on Edward." I laughed "You're a guy."

"Really? Thank you for providing me with that helpful reminder." His hands were still under my shirt, pulling me back toward his lips that were seeking out my neck once more, nibbling their way up to my ear.

It was hard to be irritated with him when he was touching me like this. Hard to form coherent sentences while sitting astride his lap, the thumb of his one hand rhythmically brushing back and forth over my nipple, the other at my back, fingers sliding down my spine and into my underwear.

"You may be well over a hundred..." I argued breathlessly, my head rolling back to give his lips easier access to my throat "...but we both know you have the raging hormones of a seventeen year old male."

"Did I not manage to lie in the same bed as you did for a couple of years, your virtue still remaining intact?" he murmured under my chin, his lips en route to mine.

"You also were a virgin on our wedding night, if I recall." I murmured into his mouth.

"True," he conceded his voice trembling slightly before chuckling low, "but that was only because I had to resort to using a ten foot pole to fend you off me."

"Only because you figured you'd kill me if we did anything."

He just shrugged.

My eyes narrowed as I pulled away again to get a gook look at him. "Are you truly suggesting that you could hold out longer than I could?"

"Well… yes, I suppose that I am." he shot back arrogantly grinning ear to ear.

"Would you like to bet on that?"

"It's not gentlemanly to take money from a defenseless woman."

"Balk, balk, balk, balk, balk."

His grin did not recede one inch as his hands drew back from under my clothes. "Fine then. I hereby challenge you to a… contest. The winner has to… do all the household chores for the next two weeks."

I was already getting wet from sitting like this across his lap and I knew darn well he smelled it. However, sitting where I was, I could clearly feel him getting hard. This was one game he was not going to win.

"Bring it."

"Fine by me." he responded smugly.

"So, how long is this contest to last?"

Superiorly confident he replied. "Until one of us gives in."

"Hmm…" I ran my hand down the crotch of his pants and snickered. His face betrayed nothing, but his body jumped like he had just been hit with a cattle prod. "Five minutes… Ten?"

His smile vanished.

"Don't you have a book to read?" He growled.

"Don't you have taxes to do?" I growled back

I hopped off his lap and got back on to the couch picking my book back up and stuck my nose in it. Edward pulled the coffee table back to where it had been, only now he leaned away from me and over toward the screen.

That smug stinker…

I openly admit that my need for Edward was an addiction. But there were moments, minutes, occasionally hours that went by without my need to feel him inside me driving me crazy.

However, there were days that he couldn't stop touching me. Days on end that he could not stop touching me. Not that I minded in the least…

I shook my head to clear it. I didn't care. He won at everything. It was high time for him to have a lesson in humility.

He was going down.

Going down…

It gave me an idea. Holding the book high enough that Edward could not see my face, I closed my eyes, got my thoughts organized and lifted my shield; a small smile crossed my face as I heard him groan in exasperation.

He was leaning against a wall… how about in a back alley… bricks… yes, a brick wall. It was nighttime and we were in some vague nameless city, just out of sight of people. The bars had just let out on a hot sticky August night and we could hear a few late night partiers making their way to their cars, just one block away. I had on a short black silk dress and let's see… I know… five-inch stiletto heels. He was wearing a tux. With my mouth welded to his, I had just pulled his bow-tie; it hung loosely around his collar. I felt Edward stiffen on the floor.

Something wrong my husband? You're not getting distracted from that schedule E in front of you, are you?

My thoughts were met with silence so I returned to the dark street. I tasted him inside my mouth and sighed with pleasure. He was so delicious. Conversion had only enhanced his flavor. His hand crept down my back, behind my thigh, sliding up underneath my little skirt. His nails grazed my naked flesh. Oops… no panties tonight. One by one, I unbuttoned his shirt, my lips abandoning his to trail after my fingers. The scent coming off him was intoxicating and I moaned in desire as I took him into my lungs. Edward's fingers cease to move on the keyboard as my hands and tongue slid lower down his chest.

God, he tasted so good.

I needed more. I forcefully knocked his hand from my backside and got down on my knees in the alley. I allowed my nose to run up and down the fly of his trousers, propelling my breath through the material before I started unbuckling his belt with my teeth. His gasp filled our bright sunny living room as my fingers unbuttoned, and then unzipped his pants in the dimly lit alley. Starving for him, I licked my lips and pulled out his big hard…

"You have an orgasm and I win."

My eyes flew open as my shield snapped back around me. The book had fallen to the floor beside him. My right hand was between my legs and the left was under my shirt, fondling my breast.

How in the hell had they gotten there? I yanked them quickly away, crossing my arms over my chest and tucking my fingers under my armpits.

"I should have just let you go. I'm really not a big fan of laundry."

I gritted my teeth as he chuckled, not a hint of strain in his voice. Then I looked down. Like me, he was lounging around in sweats.

"The circus is coming to town next week Edward. Are you available if they need an extra pole for their tents? ...or perhaps you could volunteer to hammer the stakes in."

A snarl erupted from his chest. He slammed the lid down on the laptop, and I was surprised it didn't shatter. He got up and turned the TV on, sitting back down in the chair farthest away from me in the room.

I knew why he interrupted me. I giggled as I picked my book back up off the floor, catching his glare from the corner of my eye. Such a shame that I hadn't got around to cleaning the dust bunnies out from under the bed that bred there over the winter.

I considered retuning to my first plan of attack, but I had lost my confidence. I was positive that he had been on the precipice of tearing off my clothes and taking me on the coffee table, most likely with his laptop squashed underneath me. However, I could not say that I had been in any better shape, especially given the evidence.

So I tried… tried to get back to my book. However, after reading the same sentence three times in a row and still not knowing what was written there, I gave up, laying the book on my chest and shutting my eyes. Edward had turned on ESPN Classic. Some idiotic football game from nineteen seventy-eight adorned the screen. Watching paint dry would have held my interest more. I grumbled under my breath, fully aware that this was part of his counter assault.

Honestly, I strove to get my all too tasty fantasy out of my head. But with its source so close by, failure was inevitable. My only solace came from the fact that I was not alone. Edward inhaled his last breath twenty-seven minutes and forty-six seconds ago. I reprimanded myself. Why hadn't I thought of that? His scent was drawing me in like a damn magnet. I considered copying his behavior, then changed my mind and kept on breathing as evenly as I could. I would show no sign of weakness to him. I took grim satisfaction in knowing that he had to resort to such a tactic. But my satisfaction came with a heavy price. The longer I was aware of him sitting in that chair, doing everything he could to keep away from me, his scent calling out to me, the more I wanted him. My body was aching to be near him. It took all the strength I had to stay on the couch.

"Want to go hunt?"

The sound of Edward's voice made me jump.

"What?"

"I said, do you want to go hunt?"

"But we're not due to go out for a couple more days." I replied.

"We might as well get it over with." A nasty little smile crossed his lips "It's not like there is anything else to do."

I rolled my eyes at him. "What ever you want Edward. Just let me change into some jeans." I gave him a nasty smile of my own. "Would you care to watch?"

"Would you?" he shot back.

Without responding, I got up and headed to our bedroom. I went to his dresser drawer and got a pair of khakis for him. The plan was to just throw them out the door at him. But then I stopped, holding them up to my face and exhaled several times into them, saturating them with as much of my scent as I could. For good measure, I licked the zipper.

A spasm of heat shot through me, causing me to shiver. Bad idea… The fly had been a little too intense. I shook my head and closed my eyes, taking a cleansing breath before I opened the door, surprised to find him there. My hand only trembled slightly as I handed them to him. Hopefully, he didn't notice.

"I'll be out in a minute." I put a cheerful lilt to my voice, shutting the door quickly in his face.

I threw my jeans on and opened the door timidly, peeking out around it not really sure what I was expecting. My husband not close at hand, headed down the hallway toward the living room.

Edward must have been listening very carefully. His timing was perfect. As I entered the room, he stood up from the couch nonchalant, his back to me, pulling his trousers up… maybe not slowly, but he certainly wasn't in any hurry. My mouth hung open. He turned to face me, looking down and leisurely tucking his t-shirt in. My stare followed his fingers straight to his crotch as he zipped the fly and did the button.

His head came back up so casually. No one lied better than Edward could. The perfect note of surprise in his face reflected in his voice as he took in my staggered expression.

"Excuse me, I didn't see you there."

My body recognized it as a direct blow and I involuntarily flinched from the impact.

Edward's lips curved up in a satisfied grin, savoring this small victory. He ran his hand through his hair… my own hand stung in envy… and walked over to me, close enough that I could feel his breath in my ear.

"Are you ready to go?" he whispered seductively.

Afraid of what I would say if I spoke, I nodded in affirmation and followed him out of the living room.

Edward and my jackets hung on a peg beside the door. We reached for them at the same time. Our arms crossed and the skin of his palm grazed the back of my hand. We froze, his fingers on mine.

Our eyes locked. He must have used up most of his reserves coming so close to me in the other room. His face was desperate and I took pity on him. I didn't pull away. I was not a cruel person. Let him have a little taste. The fact that I too felt a small twinge of relief had nothing to do with it.

He closed his eyes and gingerly removed his hand from mine. Pain that had receded just ever so slightly, doubled in force. Edward, eyes still shut, silently gestured for me to proceed ahead of him. I threw my jacket on, stuffed my feet into my boots and all but ran out the door.

Once outside, I inhaled deeply. The fresh air helped. I could still smell his scent, though it wasn't as concentrated as in the house. I heard the door latch closed as Edward followed out slowly, his smell growing stronger. I couldn't bring myself to turn and look at him.

"Regular route?" He murmured.

I indicated that I agreed and soon we were deep into the greenish brown forest.

I tried distracting myself by taking in my environment. There was no other way of putting it: the woods were dirty. Trees that had gave out during the winter storms leaned against their stronger brothers. The smell of rotting leaves was everywhere. Leftover snow mixed with bracken and animal droppings. Up until today, it had been very rainy that week and the thawing forest floor was particularly muddy.

He lead our hunt, running slightly ahead, down wind of me… the cheater. There was no point in trying to overtake him. Edward could outrun everybody.

We came upon some shaggy elk. Their winter coats had not yet shed. With much effort, I forced myself to concentrate on the sharp smell of the herbivorous and not him, allowing myself to be pulled toward them. I barely registered the relief I felt as the hot blood ran down my throat, my mind unable to fully pull away from an ache of another sort coming from a different part of my body. I had finished my kill off first and was watching Edward bent over his own meal, the doomed animal no longer fighting his iron grasp. His light tan jacket was wet from yesterday's rain dripping from the thick canopy of trees that had yet to evaporated in spite of the sun, but not a speck of dirt on it.

I assessed his strategy. He was taunting me, keeping himself in sight and yet out of reach. Physically moving closer would be dangerous. I was not capable of catching him, and in any case it would put him in control of the situation. I could easily let my guard down and in so, do something rash.

After careful consideration, I opted for bringing him to me. His back was to me and I giggled silently to myself, scooping up a mound of dirt, compressing it into the shape of a ball. Just as he dropped the elk to the ground and began to straighten up, I pitched the mudball, striking him square between the shoulders. He spun around, facing me so fast that a human would have never seen the motion. His expression was fierce and he snarled, bearing his teeth at me, an instinctual response to a surprise attack so soon after his kill.

I burst out laughing. At first he looked horrified, chastising himself no doubt for bearing his teeth at me. But as I continued to snort and cackle, his eyes narrowed.

"You shouldn't have done that." he growled.

"I couldn't help myself." I was still laughing so hard that I was bent over, my hands on my knees. "You should have se…"

He had me in his arms so fast it sucked the breath out of me. I had him just where I wanted him… or so I thought. With my newborn days long gone I was just a girl, no more a physical threat to him than if we were both human. Just a few moments more to hold out I thought. Venom pooled in my mouth as I waited in eager anticipation for his lips. However, he seemed to have alternate plans and began to run. I smelled the creek and knew instantly where we here headed. As he hurled us both down the steep slope of the mountain, I twisted and squirm in his tight embrace, my jacket spitting down the back from my effort.

"Don't you dare!" I screeched.

"I thought you wanted to play."

We had reached the bank of the creek and the trees parted, the sun shining brightly on the shallow water. I no longer was trying to get away. I wrapped my arms tight around his neck and managed to do the same with my legs to his waist.

"If I'm going down I'm taking you with me."

He halted his efforts, a sly smile crossing his lips.

"Whatever you say."

He leapt off the creek bank, landing flat on his back, mud and silt swirling up around us instantly. The water wasn't deep enough to submerge me completely so he rolled around a couple times making sure I did not have a clean dry spot to be found. It was icy cold, a human would have reacted far differently from us. In many ways we felt much more, but there was no shudder or discomfort from its freezing temperature. The mud on the other hand...

Choosing to continue the battle that I myself had instigated, I reached down into the brown water, grabbed a fistful of slimy silt and flung it square in his surprised face. He snarled, spitting and shaking his head. It was just enough of a distraction that I broke free from his grasp and took off running through the water.

It took a few more seconds than I would have thought for him to catch up to me. When he did, he slammed me into the bank pinning me down with his knee. He pulled the back of my jeans away from my body, shoving something slimy and wiggling in and threw me back into the water.

I screamed and thrashed about in the creek. Scary vampire or not, I did not want a live snake in my underwear.

I'm sure it wanted out of my pants as much as I did, but it was squirming in the wrong direction. I was keenly aware of Edward's crowing as I kicked off my boots and unzipped my wet muddy jeans. I wiggled out of them as fast as I could, desperate to get that thing away from me. I stood up a mess, naked from the waist down, half my jacket dangling off my wrist into the brown pool. I roared at him grabbing the snake and flinging it in his direction, not caring that he was paying far too much attention to be hit with it.

This was his undoing.

He returned my roar with one of his own and launched himself at me like a crazed starving lion about to consume his first prey in days knocking us both back into the water. Instantly, what was left of my clothing lay in muddy blobs in the stream. Too wet and filthy to remove easily, he tore his own clothing off as well and smashed his lips into mine.

Victory!

There was no prelude. Edward thrust himself into me the moment he freed himself from his pants.

It was pure relief! We rolled around in the creek joyous. My debris-caked hair tangled around our faces as we embraced, fused together in two places. I snarled and panted into his mouth unable to get my fill of him fast enough. The afternoon sun bore down on us, but no sparkles reflected off our bodies. Not one inch of our granite flesh was clear of slimy silt, bracken and mud. Edward pulled out of me just long enough to flip me off my back and on to my knees. The mud snapped and popped as we slammed each other over and over, grinding ourselves deeper into the mud. Growling and snarling, the intensity of our lust was inflamed by our self-imposed denial. It didn't take long for either of us and soon the muscles inside me clenched around him and we both came together, collapsing down into the dirty water.

"I won." I panted in his ear.

"That may be true, but I certainly did not lose."

OoOoOoOoOoO

We ran back to the house hand in hand. I had spent too much of the day yearning for her touch. Now that I had been defeated, defeated by my own idiotic actions, I would deny myself no longer.

Funnily enough, I had no feeling of losing anything. It wasn't my fault. How could any man have resisted? There she stood, filthy and half-naked in the middle of that muck, her eyes fierce, flinging her serpent spear at me, a sound I had never heard before bellowing from her lungs. My primitive side won out and I had no reason what so ever to feel that the victory had abandoned me. What else could I have possibly done? I felt light, happy; the world was a beautiful place.

I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face as we ran. It wasn't the first time we had come home sans clothing, but never in this condition. The dirt made me feel naughty, like a schoolboy sneaking back home before someone caught us. The mud began to dry on the run home and as we entered the the the living room it flaked off onto the floor.

"Glad I don't have to clean that up." she quipped

I laughed. I couldn't it find anywhere in my being to be mad at her for rubbing it in. I was the triumphant conqueror. Knocking her legs out from under her, I caught her up into my arms.

"One less set of tracks for me to sweep up." I explained brushing her dusty lips with mine.

I sat her down on her feet when we got to the bathroom. Still holding her hand, I turned on the shower. I did not know when I would feel it okay to let go of her, but it would be no time soon, of that I was sure.

One of the few places my wife indulged herself was in the bathroom. She was delighted the first time she stepped into this room with its oversize shower and heated floor. When we moved in, I surprised her with twenty-one spray heads, placed strategically all over the walls that could be programmed to send out patterns that any Las Vegas fountain would go green with envy to have. Today, the skylights overhead brightened the room with the soft glow of the late afternoon sun that filtered through our surrounding trees.

Before we stepped in, I reached over and turned the stereo on. Soft soothing music filled the room as we entered our own personal water park. The water cascaded down over us to the floor at our feet, turning the white tile floor brown, washing our day away from us. As agitated, aggravated, and desperate as I had been, I felt its loss. The climax… ah, the climax was worth the battle.

Swaying to Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" I held her tight to my chest as I picked the twigs and dead leaves from her matted hair and she smiled, reaching up and pulling a few out of my own. She giggled as we dumped shampoo over each others heads, our fingers digging in to remove the last of the debris. Her touch never failed to leave me awestruck. I sank to my knees in reverent worship, holding her close as she continued to massage my scalp. I would never take for granted the gift of her presence in my life.

I pulled her down to the wet floor with me. We lay on the heated tiles and I proceeded down her body, my only wish was to taste all of her.

Her throat, her shoulders, her elbows, her wrists… Every part was precious to me. I needed them all.

Her moans of pleasure drove me on. I inched my way lower, through the beating rain that drenched us in a wondrous heat. Soon I was flat on my stomach, my head between her knees. Water dripped in my face off my hair as I caressed her thighs spread wide by my hands, getting closer and closer to the altar where I frequently worshiped lay. I did my best to draw out the experience out, listening to her moans of desire and want as I licked her sodden folds. But her hand returned to my scalp, pulling me toward the apex, desperate for relief. I caved to her wishes and her nectar, so sweet, electrified my tongue as it vibrated over her clit. She ground against me and her legs began to tremble against my restraining fingers, the aroma swirling around me growing to it's peak. Her body stiffened and her back arched off the floor as she came, crying out in ecstasy. I wrapped myself in my own joy as she exploded into my mouth. Still parched for her essence, I drank until I could get no more.

I laid my head over her womb, at peace with the world as she recovered, her fingers combing through my hair. She tugged gently on the saturated strands, beckoning me higher. When my mouth returned to her, she rolled us over to our sides making room for her hand between us. Now it was I that trembled as she touched me, her palm rubbing over the tip, her fingers wrapped around the shaft, moving slowly up and down, twisting mid stroke.

She dragged me up to a sitting position with her lips and climbed on. I sat cross-legged as she took me in. With her feet flat on the floor, arms around my neck and her knees bent, she rode… me inside her, her delicious tongue inside me. My hands clung to her at the waist and we worked in tandem. She lifted and dropped over me, each time the penetrations became harder and faster. Grunting and panting into my mouth, her lips finally broke from mine and her head rolled back as the final push broke through.

"Edward..."She sobbed tearlessly as we both came. The intensity of the moment stinging my eyes as well.

She drooped into my arms. I held her tight as she laid her head against my shoulder.

I looked up at the skylight through the deluge. The sun had just buried itself in the forest. It would set soon. It would be safe again.

"Would you like to go somewhere this evening?" I asked as I kissed her forehead.

"Any place you want is fine by me."

"It's only a few hours into the city. We could be there before midnight."

She looked up at me, mischief dancing in her eyes. "My little black dress is clean. How about your tux?"

"I believe it is." I grinned in return. "You don't need to go without panties though. I rather enjoy removing them myself."

I hope you enjoyed this. Please take a moment to let me know what you thought. Reviews, good or bad are always appreciated.