Chapter Ten

Day Twenty-One Stranded

Edward

I probably looked like an obsessive, crazy-stalker boyfriend, but at the moment I couldn’t bring myself to care. I guessed it was about eleven in the morning--I had been getting better at reading the position of the sun to tell the time--and Bella was still sleeping. I watched her as usual, caressing the skin of her collarbones. It was the softest skin on her body that I had tasted so far, and my favorite for now. Even in sleep it was like her soul responded to my touch; I watched as her ivory flesh blushed at my fingertips.

During the night, I couldn’t keep myself from imagining this girl--this angel--as my one true love for all eternity. There was no way I could ever go back to how my life used to be; I would be miserable.

I picked up her left hand, kissing all of her fingers, lingering on the one that I hoped she would one day let me occupy with a ring. I knew that I would marry this girl. I pictured her in a big white dress walking towards me holding a bouquet, her hair fixed and her face radiant with happiness for what was to come. My mind latched onto the image, creating many more fantasies. I tried to picture the face of the man who would hand her off to me, her father. Was she one of those children who looked like her father or her mother? Or was she one that was a perfect mixture or one who looked like there was a mix-up at the hospital after her birth? I wanted to know everything about her, and I knew so little despite all the things we had shared with each other. But I knew that if she gave me the chance, I would have forever to discover every detail about the woman who’d stolen my heart. I was officially whipped and I didn’t even care.

Her eyelids fluttered open at my movement on her hand, and she gazed at me lovingly, her eyes tired.

“You slept longer than usual, love,” I said. I couldn’t help the pet name, it just came out without permission from my brain. “Had any good dreams this time?” She smiled, cupping my cheek.

“You read my mind,” she mumbled sleepily, “Did I say anything interesting?”

I debated telling her what she said to me last night in her sleep. I didn’t want to embarrass her, but I wanted to know so badly whether she loved me or not. I decided to be truthful.

“Yeah,” I told her, smiling from the memory of her voicing her feelings, even if it was in sleep. “You told me you loved me.” She froze in my arms, and I could practically feel the blush on her cheeks. I panicked slightly from her reaction. Did she not really love me and not want me to get the wrong impression, or was she just uncomfortable with me knowing? I hoped it was just the latter. Or worse, was she afraid that she would scare me off with telling me her feelings, like my problem?

“Bella,” I said quickly, “calm down. Please.” I kissed her lips softly, glad when I felt her relax slightly.

“I-I’m sorry,” she said, taking her face in her hands. I took her hands away, but she wouldn’t look at me. Well, here goes nothing.

“Don’t be sorry You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to hear you say that to me.” She opened her eyes at my confession, her gaze lifting from my chest to my face until our eyes locked, both pairs full of questions and uncertainty and determination.

I thought of all the times I’d heard my parents say it, focusing on how happy they were and hoping it would help me to grow the guts and come out with it.

“I love you,” I said, the surest words I had ever spoken, hearing them echo in my brain as I said them; my mind probably wanted to store this special memory, playing it over and over in my head and feeling strange because I’d never in my life said them to a woman this way before. “I do, I mean it. I love you, Bella.” Her eyes looked glassy as if she were holding back tears.

She raised her fingers to my mouth, tracing my lips. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to hear you say that to me,” she used my words, smiling brilliantly now. “I love you.” Hearing her say it again made me want to throw her on the ground and ravish her. She replaced her fingers with her lips and kissed me passionately. One of my hands gripped her hip while the other drifted into her long hair, feeling its soft tresses. Her hands gripped my own hair and my neck, and without breaking our heated kiss, she climbed onto my lap. I was surprised she took our intimacy this far, as I was the one who always started. My heart escalated as I felt the heat pouring from between her legs to mine, coupled with the small whimpers coming from her throat. I ran the hand that was on her hip down her silky leg. Normally, feeling hair on the legs of a woman would gross me out, but everything here was natural; not one thing on or about Bella was fake, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. It was strangely erotic--there was nothing in our way. There were no neighbors to make any noise to disturb us--or complain we were disturbing them, I thought cheekily--no television blaring anywhere, no aggravating city lights or car horns to ruin the moment. It was just us, and it was perfect. If we were going to make love, however, I didn’t want it to be right that second. I wanted to hear the waves crashing against the shore and see the moonlight hit Bella’s body in all the perfect spots.

So, I knew if we didn’t stop now, my fantasy of our first time wouldn’t come true. I slowed my groping hands, moving them back to her waist. Her eyes were full of love and lust, and for a minute I almost decided to screw the fantasy, but then she buried her head in my chest, planting a kiss on my heart and telling me she loved me.

After a while, we returned to the spring and took a few sips, lying in the surprisingly cold water. Bella said she wished there was baking soda to go with the water, complaining that her breath smelled.

“I think you taste wonderful,” I said. She scoffed, walking away toward the waterfall. I watched her hips sway, the water making her clothing stick to her gorgeous body like glue. The water cascaded over her shoulders slowly, down her breasts and over her navel. I tried looking away, but it was impossible. How long has it been? A year? I haven’t wanted to sleep with anyone in a year, and here she is being all seductive and beautiful. And she probably doesn’t even know what she’s doing to me. That’s the sad part. I managed to tear my eyes away.

I had begun to notice how little self-esteem Bella had. She was not confident about anything she did. I didn’t understand it; she was brilliant and had every reason to believe she could do anything. I wondered what could have happened to make her so critical of herself.

***

I was walking along the shore looking for fish for dinner when I saw a large black thing floating in the water some ways out. I tried to make out what it was, but there was really no telling. We were still finding things along the shore, but most of it was broken. I walked toward the thing, taking in its size. The only useful item that had washed ashore was a piece of the mirror that had been in the plane’s bathroom. It was just a small piece, the mirror having been shattered, but it was sharp and came in handy when I had to cut something. It didn’t look like we were getting off the island soon, and I was getting worried about our resources, as the food we had wouldn’t last forever. It was vital that we find objects from the plane.

When the black box came nearer, I walked through the water toward it. I finally came in contact with it, turning it over and seeing the zippers, realizing it was a discarded suitcase. It was soaked and filthy, but otherwise looked in good condition. I dragged it to shore, excited. Bella saw me pulling it onto the dry sand, and came to me hurriedly.

She reached me and looked over my shoulder just as I was unzipping the suitcase. The first thing I saw was water, as it had been drowned, but we both started digging and our fingers touched clothing.

I felt extremely soft fabric and pulled it out curiously, the water dripping off the article. The color was murky and ugly, probably had once been white, but because of the water, now it was a blackish green color. Then once most of the water was wringed out, I noticed what the garment was and laughed, showing Bella.

“Is that a thong?” she asked, leaning closer to get a better look. I laughed harder at the blush on her face. I started looking frantically in the suitcase.

“Oh, here’s the other piece!” I said, holding up a lacy bra that matched. I wiggled my eyebrows in suggestion. “You’ve been complaining about having only one pair of clothes, well, here you have it! This is perfect, babe!” I said jokingly. She blushed a deeper red.

“Edward, I am not going to wear a dead person’s clothes, especially a dead person’s lingerie!” Bella huffed. I knew she wouldn’t go along with it; she was too shy, even though I had seen her in underwear before. Still, imagining her in the clothing I held in my hands gave me a nice picture to burn into my mind.

I smiled at her to let her know I was only joking, and we started digging more. The suitcase was mostly filled with lingerie, but there were a few jeans and tank tops.

“Wow, this woman must have been a prostitute or something,” I said, picking up a faded red bra. “I’ve never seen so much matching underwear in my life.” Bella found something white and held it out to me, giggling. I saw that it was a mug and it had red writing on it. It said #1 GRANDPA in bold. What the fuck?

I looked at Bella and we started laughing our asses off, only calming down when I put the mug to the side for later. Bella wiped the tears from her eyes while I drained the suitcase of water.

“Looks like that’s it,” I said, seeing that the case was now empty. “And not even one shirt that will fit me. You get loads of underwear and I get jack shit.” Bella laughed, picking up some of the less revealing undergarments.

“Some of these still have the tags on them. That makes me feel a little better; no one ever wore them,” Bella said, showing me a blue modest-but-still-sexy panty and bra set. I groaned, imagining the dark blue color against her pearl skin.

“Hear me now, Bella Swan, you will wear that at least once before you are off this island.”

***

Bella and I ate dinner as the sun went down. I’d lit another fire to cook the fish, and we were sweating, but neither of us wanted to move. I was sitting cross-legged, Bella’s head in my lap as I stroked her hair back from her face. The flames’ shadows licked at her feminine features, and I fought myself from growing aroused. She looked deep in thought, her eyebrows crunching every few seconds as she stared at the fire.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked, my voice a bit hoarse from not using it for almost two hours. She turned her head and looked at me, smiled, and then looked back at the dancing colors of red and orange.

“I was just thinking about how much I don’t want to leave. If it weren’t for our families, Edward, I would never want to go back,” she whispered, “Is that wrong of me? Is it stupid?”

I could see conflict on her features. “No, Love, I feel the same way.” I thought about it for a second, considering. “There are a few things I would like to see happen in the real world, though.” Like you in a wedding dress, promising to always be mine. That can’t happen here.

She looked back up at me, twisting her body so that she faced me fully. She sat up and kissed me, catching me off guard. “I’m so scared, Edward. What will you do when you’re not stuck with me always? What will happen to us? I can’t lose you, not after I’ve finally found you.”

Her words made me sad, and I wished that she wouldn’t worry herself over the future. Our future. I kissed her lips and put my forehead to hers. “Bella, believe me when I say that I love you. And I want to be stuck with you always. I can’t even imagine forever without you at all anymore.” I took her small hands in my own and caressed them. I brought her left hand to my mouth and kissed her palm as an idea occurred to me.

I fumbled with the frayed bottom of my jeans, ripping a thin piece of denim that was hanging off. I’d heard of the knot that was impossible to untie, the ‘untieable knot’. My father had showed me one day when I was younger how to tie it, and he told me to try to untie it. I couldn’t, and he couldn’t either. I didn’t know if he was just pulling my leg, trying to entertain me, and I wasn’t sure if there even was a way to untie it, but it came in handy now. The only way to undo it was to cut it. I took her fourth finger and wrapped the denim string around it, trying to remember how my father had done it.

It came back to me in perfect clarity, the memory of how to do this. I tied and tied and Bella watched my fingers, probably wondering if I had gone crazy.

When I was finally finished, I gave back her hand and as she examined it, I said, “This is the ‘untieable tie’. The day that it comes undone will be the day that I stop loving you.” Which will be never, I thought. She looked down at the giant knot I had formed, and I wished that I could put something real--something beautiful--in its place. Tears swam in her eyes as she looked back up at me.

“It will never leave my finger,” she whispered with so much emotion, it made her voice shake.

Some while later, the fire started to die, and I was about to go under our little canopy to sleep as we had done every night, but Bella stopped me, saying she wanted to stay up a little longer and watch the stars. I agreed and left to find more firewood.

We didn’t have much small wood left, and I had to search on the outskirts of the ‘jungle’ for some to burn. Bella was only out of my eyesight for five minutes, and when I came back, I was shocked to see that she was not next to the fire where I had left her. I looked around frantically, the twigs in my hands forgotten, falling to the white sand. I looked around and caught sight of her jeans and shirt right next to the shoreline, but no Bella. I looked out at the ocean, confused. Why would she take her clothes off?

Finally, I spotted her. She was waist-deep in the water, her body turned sideways so that I could see the outline of her silhouette. She was beautiful, and I felt like a magnet was in my heart, dragging me to her. Without even thinking, I started to walk toward her, my feet barely registering the combination of water and sand. Her hands were up in her hair, and I could see every curve of her body, the moon making the water look white and Bella’s figure was only a shadow. I seemed to be in slow motion, as if it was another one of those times in which my mind wanted to remember everything that was about to take place. My heart was beating fast and my eyes couldn’t seem to blink, but my legs worked on autopilot.

I finally reached the goddess and she smiled at me as if she had been waiting a long time. My hands came out to touch her, and I noticed that she was wearing the blue lingerie. She hadn’t even bothered to pull the tags off. She was darker in this moonlight, but I could still see how the color reflected off her skin.

“You’re so beautiful,” I said, skimming a hand along her jaw. She stared into my eyes, her own big and bright.

“Show me,” she murmured, “I’m yours.”

****(Lemon Alert)****

I looked at Bella questioningly, but I knew that she was the type of person that when she made up her mind, she wasn’t changing it for anything. With her eyes, she showed me nothing but love and determination. I licked my lips in anticipation, really scared for the first time since I had been here. I took her hand, the one I had claimed with the string, and kissed it, forcing her to remember what it meant. I love you.

I kissed her forehead, and then kissed her lips softly at first, then put more passion into it. Bella started to run out of breath, and I could feel her heart racing against my own. I could feel the curve of her breasts against my chest and the soft skin of her waist just below my own. I kissed her once more chastely before I picked her up from her hips and laid her out on the water. Her whole torso floated above the water with my help, and I parted her legs and wrapped them around my waist. My eyes skimmed her body from her silky legs to her navel to her chest and finally to her face. Her gaze was fixed on the moon, and I could see the light reflected in her irises. Her long eyelashes created shadows on her cheeks, and it made her so beautiful that I felt unworthy of even being here in her presence.

She looked at me, love evident in her eyes, but I could also sense a little fear coming off of her. I leaned over her, keeping one hand under her back to hold her above the water, and her hands came to my chest, tracing the planes of my abs. “You’re the first for me, Edward,” she confessed. I was pleasantly surprised, even though I had considered this to be true. She always seemed hesitant when we kissed, as if it had been a long time since she had been that close to anyone or as if she had never gone far intimately. Happiness and pride rushed through me, knowing that I was the only one she trusted enough to ever claim her. I briefly considered asking her if she was sure about this, but I knew she wouldn’t do anything without making up her mind first. But she did need to know what she was getting into.

“Love, I don’t want to hurt you, but it’s inevitable. You may be in pain for a little while.” She smiled and shrugged.

“I know. Edward, I’m a virgin, not an idiot,” she said, chuckling. I touched her neck, feeling the soft wet skin there. I spread her hair out so that it made a halo around her head, floating on the surface. She traced my face as I did hers. “You’re so perfect.”

I kissed her lips first, trailing them down her neck and to her chest. I reached under the water and unclasped the dark bra, freeing her breasts. She sank a little, causing water to fill the valley between them. I lifted her more, watching in awe as the droplets cleared from her. Returning my lips to trailing down her chest, I kissed her heart and ran my hands over the glowing mounds of flesh. I licked her navel when I reached it, and she moaned lightly. I straightened up again so I could remove the blue panties, and I could feel my heart beating crazily as I got closer to being one with Bella.

I lifted her legs against my chest with one hand and tugged the strings of her bottom down, caressing her skin as I pulled the cloth off inch-by-inch. When the final piece was gone and forgotten, floating a foot away from our bodies, I took in the view of my love, nude and breath-taking and spread out before me.

I’ve never been this nervous in my life, I mused, And also never this determined. I stared at her in awe and admiration, reminding her that she was beautiful.

“I’m yours,” she said again, and I saw her eyes dart briefly to the string on her finger. I pulled my soaked jeans down, never taking my eyes off her. I traced my fingertips over her ribs to the peaks of her breasts, and her eyes closed in pleasure at my ministrations.

She pulled my face to her lips again and kissed me roughly. I knew it was time, and no amount of foreplay was going to make this moment more perfect. I drifted a hand to between her legs, and found that she was definitely ready, even with all the water getting in our way.

I kissed her one more time before lining myself up with her entrance. I looked down into her shining eyes as I pushed in little by little, claiming more and more of her. I could not help but think the words this is mine, this is mine and this is the best moment of my life over and over as I went.

I love this girl.

I met her resistance, and decided prolonging the pain wouldn’t help at all. I gripped one of her hips and my other hand took hold of her cheek as I pushed all the way, breaking her hymen. She gasped in pain, and I looked to her face, praying that it wasn’t terrible. She clenched her eyes, and said, “Give me a second.”

She felt wonderful, and I fought the urge to thrust like a maniac, obliging to her wishes. I leaned over more and pressed my forehead to her heart, waiting. I felt the strange sensation of being home, like I had always belonged here. Bella was my other puzzle piece, my perfect half.

After a few seconds, she gave me the green light, gripping my biceps and digging the heels of her feet into my back. She smiled at me, and I smiled back, knowing that I was the luckiest man in the world. I started a slow rhythm, enjoying the feel of her for the first time. It was as if she were made for me.

She was enjoying our lovemaking, too; I could tell from the beautiful sounds she made and the quiet whispers of my name that fell from her mouth. We needed more, and I quickened my pace, getting us both closer to ecstasy. She started to meet my thrusts, quickly becoming a natural at this.

“Do you,” thrust, “feel that?” I asked her, wanting to know if she could feel how perfect we fit together. She had no experience to compare it to, but it was possible that she could just know.

“If you mean,” thrust, “how perfect you feel,” she moaned, “to me…then yes!” I smiled at her lovingly, feeling my orgasm near. Hers came first, and I gazed at her blush-red face as she fell apart. Her orgasm triggered my own, and a big warning went off in my head. Thankfully, I pulled out of her quickly, as hard as it was to leave her body in a state of perfect-being. I moaned in pleasure, even though I knew it would have felt even better had I not had to leave her haven. I saw stars in my bliss and thought I was just imagining things after the best sex ever, but then I realized they were real stars. We were outside, after all.

When I came down from my high, I looked at Bella’s face. Her legs were still wrapped around me, and her body just floated easily, like an angel treading water. She was looking at me, a fierce blush on her face. “I love you,” she said. “That was the most perfect moment of my life. Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Love. I love you as much as this sky is big, and I promise we will have more perfect moments like this,” I assured her as I motioned to the stars and moon above us. I kissed her softly, and I could see her eyes drooping. I picked her up bridal style, my hands drifting under the water to her body, and carried her to the shore. She tucked her head into my chest as I walked, and by the time I reached our little canopy, she was sleeping. I laid her down next to me, the both of us still naked. I had grabbed our garments that we removed in the water and placed them over the dying fire to dry. I wrapped my arms around her and fell asleep, counting day twenty-two.




All pictures are taken from either Google or Deviantart.

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Day Eleven Stranded

Bella

I splashed water onto my face again, trying to soothe my awful headache. Ugh, it hurt so much. I’d thrown up twice already and I still felt like shit. I should have paid more attention to how much I was drinking last night. When I woke up, Edward already had his wet tee shirt in his hands, waiting to put it on my forehead. Then, to my utter embarrassment, I felt the vomit coming up my stomach and into my throat, and I quickly turned my head to wretch onto the ground. I had looked at Edward apologetically, and he chuckled, putting the wet piece of clothing back over my face. An hour had passed since then, and it was just my luck to have a horrible hangover the first time I got drunk.

I looked back over to Edward, who was sitting in the sand watching me. I could make out his crooked-yet perfect-smile all the way from out here. ‘I love you!’ I wanted to yell. Instead, like the coward I was, I whispered the three words under my breath, as if he could hear me. And I knew they were true. I was in love with him, probably from the very start, but now that I was allowing him to break my guard down, I was starting to see it.

I’d never been in love before, but I knew this was it. And I didn’t want to fight the feeling or slow it down, because that was what old Bella would have done, and old Bella had been miserable. But even though I didn’t want to fight them, I didn’t know how to go about my feelings. What if I told him I loved him, and he thought I was crazy? I wouldn’t be able to take that. No normal person falls in love in just over a week, but this was definitely not a normal relationship. I mean, the only reason we met was because we got stuck together, the only two survivors of a plane cash.

Yeah, not normal at all.

We had been here with no one but each other, learning one another. I depended on him just as he depended on me. I had fallen in love with him after all of that, but what about Edward? Just because I felt that way didn’t mean he did, too.

I looked down at the water in front of me, reaching my waist. I could see my reflection, surprisingly clear. It seemed as if I had lost weight, but maybe it was just the water tricking me. My face looked slightly thinner, and my cheekbones seemed more prominent. My eyes were full of happiness, but confused at the same time.

It wasn’t too hard to figure out what that was from.

I looked back at Edward, blushing and smiling when I saw that he was still watching me.

What about when we got off the island? All these feelings of needing each other dependability could disappear, along with any love he could possibly have for me. In the real world, he wouldn’t need me, so who was to say he would still want me? Did he think this was just a fling for our time here, something just to pass the time, and once we were back on American soil, it would be as if it had never happened? I hoped not. I could see myself being with him, possibly even after we were saved. Possibly forever.

I shook the thoughts out of my head. If we were meant to be, we were meant to be. I was never much of a believer in fate, but now it seemed like my best option.

I walked back to the sand, back to Edward.

“Day eleven?” he said cheerfully?

I smiled. “Day eleven.”

***

Days passed in the same fashion, and I was unbelievably enjoying myself. Edward and I had a blast every moment we were together, and there was never a dull moment. We kissed and flirted like teenagers, and I was starting to grow more confident that Edward may love me back.

Maybe it was hopeful wishing, but something about the way he looked at me made me just know he loved me. He seemed to be so fascinated with me, which baffled my mind. I had never shared so much with someone before, and I had spoken more in the last twenty days than I had in my entire life. Edward was so full of energy, and his jokes even got me rolling in hysterics now, instead of scowling at him like I usually did.

Every time I wanted to tell him how strong my feelings were, I chickened out. I was starting to hope that he would say it first, seeing as he was so confident and outspoken, but he never did.

“What are you thinking?” Edward asked, pulling me out of my thoughtful trance. It was midday of our twentieth day here, and it was so nice, I just wanted to lay with him on the beach. He had been silent for so long, I thought he was sleeping. I rolled over onto my stomach closer to him, and we faced each other.

“I was just wondering…” I tried to think of something, buying time by rubbing his shoulder gently, “what we’re going to do today.”

“Liar,” Edward chuckled, calling me out on my fib. He traced his fingers along my jawbone, and I felt my face grow hot, even after all the times he had touched me. “You’re so beautiful, but you’re other-worldly when you blush like this. I wish I could make you blush every minute of every day for forever.” His words merely made me do it more, and at his mention of ‘forever’ I felt my face light on fire. I looked down in embarrassment.

Edward pulled my face back up and kissed me softly. I wanted to moan in pleasure. Just one kiss of his did this to me? Imagine if he made love to me. I would probably end up as a pool of Bella jello if we did go that far.

Edward retreated his face from mine, and laughed at my reluctant expression. He kissed me again, adding more passion this time. I tried to hold in giggles as his growing facial hair tickled my chin, but I failed, and I felt Edward smirk mischievously against my lips when he saw what he did to me. He paused for a second, and I wrongly thought he would have mercy on my face. Before I could pull away, he started rubbing his now thick stubble all over my face, making me break out in hysterical laughter.

“Stop! Stop!” I yelled. He laughed along with me as he tickled me, and finally stopped when I had trouble breathing.

“Edward!” I chided him, slapping his chest, then forgetting everything when I saw his pecs flex. He snorted loudly.

“Your face is all raw now,” he laughed, rubbing his stubble. I personally liked the scruffy look on him, but he probably looked good no matter what happened to him. He could wear a garbage bag and make it look good.

I rubbed my burning face, trying to soothe it, but my palm was so rough and sweaty, only making it worse.

“I’m sorry,” Edward said, pulling me into his lap and peppering my face with kisses. It felt nice until his stubble got in the way again.

“That’s going to become a problem, isn’t it?” he asked, smiling against my cheek. I didn’t answer, for his actions were filling me with desire again, and I didn’t want to show it. Edward must have noticed, though, because he tilted my head back slowly, gaining access to my neck. I closed my eyes unwillingly, giving in to the feeling of Edward trailing his lips across my throat.

I swallowed in anticipation. His hands came up around my ribcage where he stopped, probably unsure of how far I would let things go. I felt him kiss my collarbone, and nearly lost it when I felt his hot breath on the hollow of my throat. Then he licked around the bones and blew, eliciting a low moan from me. He must have realized that I was okay with this, because his hands finally came up to cup my breasts.

Then a stupid bird hooted loudly, and the moment was over. Edward’s hands fell to my hips again, his mouth leaving my heated skin.

Bastard bird, I thought, it seems that all the creatures on this island don’t want me to lose my virginity. I looked up at Edward, whose face looked apologetic.

“I’m sor-” he started to say again, but I cut him off with my fingers on his lips.

“Don’t apologize.” I wasn’t going to let him feel bad or regretful, especially when I was having the time of my life. He winked at me, and I removed my hand from his mouth.

“What do you want for dinner?” he asked as he removed my body from his lap carefully. I stood up and helped him to his feet, brushing sand off his waist.

“What do I want? I want a nice, big juicy steak and a stuffed baked potato,” I said.

“Okay, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a cow around here,” Edward joked. “Maybe there are some animals somewhere on the island.”

“I doubt it. We would have seen them by now if there were any wildlife,” I countered.

“Hey, you never know. We never really explored that much. We haven’t even been to the other side of the damn thing, and it’s already been three weeks.”

“Okay, smartass. Why don’t you go look for animals?” I asked, walking back into the shade. I was expecting him to answer me, but he stayed silent, and I looked up at him. He was smirking.

“Edward?” I stopped walking and he finally looked at me. “Mind telling me what’s so funny?”

“Sorry. What you just said made me remember something that happened to me when I was younger,” he said slowly.

“What was it?” I asked, curious. He sighed, pursing his lips to keep from smiling.

“When I was little, about five or six, Emmett used to always pick on me. He always called me smartass because I could read a whole book by first grade. One time we went to a horse stable and paid for a whole day of riding. So, when we were about to leave, Emmett and I ran into the barn and there was this stalled horse named Crazy.” Edward shuddered and continued. Well, the horse was crazy, you could tell just by looking at it. Emmett bet with me, saying he would give me five bucks if I went in and petted the horse. So, naïve like I was, I went in. The horse threw a fit that I had stepped into his stall, but I was determined to get that cash.” I gasped-he could have been badly hurt.

“What happened?” I asked anxiously. Edward grimaced.

“I went to pet Crazy on the nose and it bit me between my neck and my shoulder. That hurt like a bitch, too. I ran out crying, and I had a huge bruise for a whole two weeks. Emmett called it a horsy hickey.” I burst out in giggles. “I’ve been afraid of farm animals ever since. Talking about getting you a cow made me think of it.”

“Did you get your five dollars?” I asked. Edward scoffed.

“No, I didn’t! I’m going to have to remind him of that one day!” Edward said, laughing.

“So, I’m guessing you want me to go with you, since you’re scared?” I tried to clarify. He shook his head.

“Of course not. I’m just scared of horses. And there aren’t any on this island,” he said. “You just go sit and look pretty. I’ll go try to find something.” He kissed me quickly, turning toward the “jungle,” as we had deemed it.

I marched to the shoreline, wetting my feet, trying to burn time until Edward got back. I would have insisted on going with him, but I knew that we shouldn’t spend all day every day together so much, or we would either get sick of each other or drive each other crazy.

My face felt so dry and my mouth tasted disgusting. I didn’t know how Edward could stand kissing me-my breath must have been horrible. Edward’s wasn’t, though; he always tasted good, like honey and cinnamon and fruit. I wished I had some soap or at least a toothbrush.

I went back to the shade once again and took a nap.

I was woken from my sleep about an hour later by Edward calling my name and touching my face tenderly.

“Bella, I have something to show you!” I groaned, not wanting to wake up from my wonderful dream in which Edward had not stopped his ministrations on my body from earlier.

“Come on, Babe, you’re going to love it!” I groaned again-such a good dream. Suddenly I felt my body being lifted from the ground, Edward having picked me up.

“I can walk,” I said, looking up into his excited face.

“Silly girl, I know you can, but this is a surprise, and you need to keep your eyes closed. I’m afraid you can’t even walk straight with your eyes open, so there’s no way I’m letting you do it blind.” I scowled at him, but closed my eyes all the same.

“I hate surprises,” I muttered.

Edward chuckled. “No peeking.”

He traveled with me in his arms for nearly twenty minutes, still not giving me a hint as to where we were going.

“It’s at the heart of the island,” was all he would say.

“I hope you didn’t find a herd of monkeys or something,” I said dryly. “Because that wouldn’t really be a good surprise.”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” he said. I could hear the smile in his voice.

“How much longer?” I groaned.

“About ten minutes. This island is bigger than I thought. Still not big enough to build anything, though. Maybe a summer home at the least.”

I waited another ten minutes, counting in my head.

“It’s been ten minutes, Edward.”

“Bella, we’ll get there when we get there. It’s not much longer, petulant child.”

A few more minutes passed until finally Edward told me to keep my eyes closed as he set me down. I could hear a strange noise, and I got soaked as Edward lowered me.

I sputtered and tried to open my eyes, shocked that he was putting me in water. He covered my eyes with his hand so that I still couldn’t see. I spouted his name off, worried.

“Calm down, Bella,” Edward said soothingly. I felt my butt hit ground under the water, so the water wasn’t deep. Edward removed his hand from my eyes and I looked around.

It was a…creek? I looked down at the cold water around me, and it was clear and beautiful, floating over the packed gravel. I splashed it over my face, and licked my lips, gasping.

“It’s fresh water!” I looked at Edward, who was watching my reaction. He nodded and splashed water into his face, too. I turned to where the noise was coming from. It was a mini waterfall, the water cascading into the little stream I was in.

“It’s a spring,” Edward told me. “I can’t believe the island has one. And look what I found!” Edward pulled something from his pocket and showed it to me, palm up. It was a coin, and it looked gold and beat up.

“Do you think it’s real?” I asked, taking it from him and examining it closer. I could just make out the carving of a person, but I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, it was so packed with dirt and grime.

“I don’t know. You think pirates hid gold here a long time ago? Seems pretty exciting, huh?” Edward said, taking the coin back from me. I nodded. “You want to go on a treasure hunt?” I laughed at his happy face; he looked like a little boy on Christmas morning.

Edward laid back in the water, causing little ripples to float my way. I took a few sips of the water, feeling fully satisfied after being without fresh water for twenty days. I laid back on Edward, and he hummed the beautiful melody he had made up. We watched the sky through the trees as it darkened and the stars came out, shining brightly.

“You want to go back before we fall asleep here?” Edward asked after a while. I got up and we walked back to our little sanctuary. I yawned.

“My back is starting to hurt from laying on the ground every night,” I told him.

“Yeah, mine, too. I’ll have to do something about that.”

I buried my head in his chest once we reached our sleeping place, falling asleep quickly. The last thing I felt was Edward’s lips kissing the top of my head.

Edward

I watched Bella sleep as I drifted off. She started mumbling, which was strange because she normally only talked early in the morning, when she was about to wake up. I heard my name a few times and a couple moans which were really hard to ignore. I remembered how far we had gone earlier and felt my jeans tighten. This woman really would be the death of me. I didn’t want to ruin everything by going too far, but this waiting and watching her body all the time was driving me crazy. Why is it that when you don’t love someone, it’s so easy to not care and you have all the confidence in the world, but when you do love someone, your ego goes out the window and you never want to take a chance at messing things up? I never thought being in love would be this hard.

I ran my hands over the swell of her hip, enjoying the satin of her skin on my fingertips. Why couldn’t I do this when she was awake? I knew why; I was afraid she would reject me. I was afraid she didn’t love me, or at least didn’t love me enough to let me make love to her. But she didn’t complain earlier, a voice in my head said.

I shook off the thoughts. Maybe I would just know when she was ready, like how I just knew when I loved her.

I wrapped my arms around her little body, enjoying the warmth of her. She sighed happily in her sleep, still mumbling.

“Edward,” she said, “love you…” I looked at her in disbelief. I could almost feel my eyes bulging out of my head. She smiled lightly, obviously dreaming about me. Oh, how I wished she would say that while awake. I snuggled closer, beaming.

“I love you, too, Sweetheart.”




All pictures are taken from either Google or Deviantart.

polyvore for the characters' outfits