Chapter 71

EPOV

The phone vibrating against the wood brought me fully awake. Up until that moment I was drifting in a half-sleep state, conscious of my surroundings yet unwilling to completely rouse. My body was wrapped around Bella’s so tightly that with every breath she took I could feel the expansion of her back against my chest. Our legs were entwined with her wrapped in my arms as we lay spooning one another.

Turning my upper body I reached to get the phone, my movement disturbed Bella and as I hit the answer button she twisted slightly reaching out towards me while making a soft whimper, “Edwa…”

“Hold on a second dad,” the sleep in my hushed voice coming through.

Taking a hold of the arm that Bella was reaching out to me with I tucked it back under the blanket, giving her a feeling of security while whispering in her ear, “Shhh…sleep my love….sleep.” At my words her body relaxed while I gently slid my other arm out from underneath her head and moved to sit on the edge of the bed to talk with my father.

“What’s up dad?” my eyes went to the clock and I wondered why he would be calling at seven-o-two in the morning.

“Sorry if I woke you Edward, but I was hoping to be able to talk with you for a few minutes before your brothers arrived.”

Oh, this wasn’t going to be good

“Would it be alright if I came down?” Dad asked yet I knew there was no denying him.

“Ahhh...” my hand ran over the top of my head letting the hair flow through my fingers until it reached the back of my neck where I vigorously rubbed in an attempt to rid myself of the sleep that was still on my brain. My eyes shifted back to clock making sure that I hadn’t misread the time as I answered, “Yeah give me ten minutes to shower.”

“I’ll bring you a coffee.”

A coffee, he better bring the damn shop
I didn’t know what was so important that dad felt the need to come here so early. I had an idea that it had to do with what he saw on the balcony the day before. Even though we had spent the whole previous night together and there were times when dad and I were alone, the subject never came up. Then again, perhaps he was right and it would be better to talk one-on-one where there was no chance of being disturbed. I didn’t have time to ponder what he wanted and there was no reason to speculate, he would make his purpose known very soon.

Bella whimpered and shifted around on the pillow when I moved away from the bed. It was as if her body was responding to my absence and in a sick sort of co-dependency - that thought made me happy. However, we were up late the night before and the women had a long day of shopping planned so I wanted Bella to sleep as long as possible.

Leaning over her sleeping form, I tuck the blankets tightly around her body and placed my pillows behind her back in hopes that she would stay asleep. Once she seemed to have settled I went to start my morning routine. We still had not had a chance to make use of the massive shower for anything other than cleaning our bodies. That would change, but for the time being I let the water wash over my skin as my mind went through the memories of the previous evening.

After calling about the floating fairy Bella and I had changed to meet with everyone for dinner. The hotel had a small pavilion area with a fire pit off to the side that was surrounded by Adirondack chairs. Mom had ordered pizza, salads and even brownies for desert. After eating we sat around the fire toasting marshmallows, drinking beer and talking.

Emmett was still gloating over winning the whiffleball game and no matter how many times Jasper or dad asked exactly what Bella had done I wasn’t telling. Alice however laughed the hardest, “Oh my god Edward, you should have seen your face,” she snickered. “I thought you were going to have heart attack!”

Emmett laughed along with our sister, “The best part was when he kind of swayed…” he drew out the word while moving his shoulders in an exaggerated motion. “I knew that was the moment to strike.”

“Yeah, yeah…I think it’s pretty bad that you turned my own mother and the woman I love against me, just to win a silly game.”

Jasper was slightly more despondent, “You all cheated and worse than that you taught my son to cheat.”

“There was no cheating,” mom insisted. “It was a simple distraction that worked in our favor. I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times on TV.”

“You’ve seen somebody…” my voiced raised several octaves as my eyes went to Bella who was quietly sitting on the edge of her chair helping Mia toast a marshmallow. The glow of the fire enhancing the chagrin on her face as her eyes shifted over to mine. I grinned thinking back to what my family had put her up to, and even though it was a dirty trick there was no way I could tell exactly what she had done. Instead I placated my family.

“I’ve witnessed a lot of games in my life and never have I seen anything like that on TV,” I was absolutely positive that there was no woman off to the side making sexually suggestive motions with the sole intent of sending the opposing team into a turmoil. I was also pretty damn sure that was against the rules.

“What are you talking about Edward? Isn’t one of the functions of a catcher to distract the hitter?” Nodding at mom’s question I had to admit that was one of his duties. “yeah but…”

“But nothing,” Mom was sure of her stance. “It’s the same concept.”

“What?” dad, Jasper and I all said in unison as they tried to cram us with the crap they were spewing at us.

“Yeah little brother just face facts, you were out played.” At Emmett’s statement Bella glanced over at with the warmest blush coloring her cheeks mouthing, “I’m sorry.”

Oh, she was going to be sorry alright.

“I say we get a re-match and next time, I’m keeping my eye on her,” Jasper pointed to Bella who was still attempting to act innocent. “Any funny business and you guys forfeit.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Emmett sat back causally in his chair tipping back the bottle of beer, “you can beat us all you want, but in the back of your mind you’ll always know that today, you got whooped. Right Team?”

Emmett was trying to use that psychological coaching bull-shit on us and it was working, at least for the people on his team because everyone except Bella agreed with a hearty, “Yes!” The talk then went to the suggestion of gold leafing the whiffle ball and using it as a trophy that the winning team could keep from year to year. I sat forward taking Bella’s hand, licking the melted marshmallow off smiling as she giggled. They could do whatever the fuck they wanted but there were two things I knew for sure. First, from that moment on Bella was always going to be on my team. Second, when we got back to the room I was going to tease the shit out of her.

That’s exactly what I did.

We stayed outside until well after midnight, mom and dad had taken Mia and Vinny to bed amongst protest from my nephew. He wanted to stay up and he kept grumbling about having to go shopping with the women. He tried his hardest to come golfing with us but it was no use, he just wasn’t old enough. His last and final try had to do with going to the bathroom; he found it unnerving that he had to use the ladies room.

“But I got Gahonies,” he whined making us all snicker.

Alice didn’t find her son at all funny and glared at Emmett who she was sure had taught him that word while explaining. “You have little gahonies and you can’t go into the men’s room by yourself because I can’t go in there and help you.”

“But I don’t need any help! It all comes out and I can flush by myself.”

“Stand outside the door Alice and let him use the men’s room.” Jasper was given a death glare that had me cringing.

“Yeah, he can reach the wall Johnny. The little guy might have to stand on his toes and stretch the monster out but he’ll be fine,” Emmett was met with four women staring at him disbelievingly while he just shrugged it off “What?”

“We’ll see,” Alice mollified her son, but I was pretty sure that Vinny would still be marking his territory in the ladies room.

Poor little guy

With the kids gone Bella had moved to sit with me. She sat between my open legs leaning back against my chest. We sat laughing and talking, a few other guests had come to join us including a couple who were on their honeymoon. It seemed to me a strange place to come for such an event and I found myself wondering where Bella and I would go. She wanted to go to Egypt and Rome, those would be great places to see and I knew she would enjoy them. I however, would prefer something more personal and private. The idea started to formulate in my mind, and when the time came I would speak to Aro.

Once we were alone in the room I exacted my revenge on Bella, teasing her body with my hands and mouth over and over again until she was practically crying as she begged me to make her cum. When I finally gave in and allowed her the release she sought, Bella screamed loudly as her body shook while she spoke incoherently. All I could do was watch in fascination as her raw essence took over making her the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. It was the second time on our trip that I had wished I brought the video camera. Because although the memory was etched in my mind, I would love to show Bella how spectacular she truly is.

After a few seconds of recovery time Bella pushed me down on the bed, straddled my thighs and rode me. She tried to go slow with small smooth movements but I wasn’t having that. With my hands on her hips I guided her motions to meet my upward thrust until we both came and fell into an exhausted sated sleep. That was where we stayed until my father’s wakeup call disturbed any chance of a morning replay.

Stepping out of the shower with the towel around my waist, I wiped the foggy moisture from the mirror to finish my grooming. While I shaved, soft sounds of Bella’s sleep murmurings came through the door that led into the bedroom. She wasn’t saying anything tangible, just muttering, but it told me that she was still sound asleep and I hoped she would remain that way. If dad wanted to talk about what he saw, I didn’t want Bella to overhear and feel any sort of embarrassment from it.

I dressed as quietly as I could, opting for khaki shorts and a white polo shirt, taking my sneakers with me to put on in the other room. Just as I walked out of the bedroom dad knocked softly on the door.

Perfect timing

He said a standard good morning as he entered handing me cup of coffee with a black plastic lid on it. Dad followed me into the small kitchen area, where we made small talk while I proceeded to make a pot of coffee, Bella would want some and I could refill the cup before I left. Taking a look at the bedroom door it was still open a few inches and I didn’t want to disturb Bella so I suggested that we move to the balcony. Dad sat down taking a sip of his coffee while I stretched my legs letting my toes touch the rod iron railing while taking the lid off my cup. I didn’t mind drinking from a paper cup, but unless absolutely necessary I hated the way the liquid flowed through that little hole. After taking a large gulp the curiosity of what dad wanted got the better of me and I needed to know, “What’s up dad?”

He sighed, “Edward you know your mother and I try not to get involved in your business but I just can’t sit back watching and wondering anymore. It’s your mother’s request that I stay out of it, let you make your own decisions and she’s right to a point. You’re a grown man, who can do what you want within the letter of the law. Normally I would let you be, but I see you moving forward with your relationship with Bella and it just makes me wonder what you’re doing.”

What I’m doing?

I didn’t know what he wanted me to say, the vagueness of his question left a lot of room for interpretation. Did he want to know what my intentions with Bella were? Was he questioning if she was my submissive and where that relationship was going? Did he not approve of our involvement or did he think that we were moving too fast?

I hadn’t mentioned to either of my parents or really anyone from my family that I was contemplating marriage, so I didn’t think that was a problem. Besides, if I wasn’t mistaken dad was in on that little bet they all had going on for when I would be proposing.

Maybe he had a later date picked out

That thought almost made me smile but my mind just kept coming up with more possibilities of what dad was referring to. It was better to take the safe route in giving an answer. “I’m not doing anything dad.”

“I know Edward, that’s the problem, you haven’t done anything.”

Looking into my father’s icy blue stare, the seriousness of his reply showed in the small wrinkles around his eyes. Deciding that he really wanted an answer, I told him what my plans were. “I’m going to the jeweler when we get back for the ring.”

That answer seemed to surprise him for a second and then he smiled, “Well, that’s nice to know son. Bella is a lovely girl however given that you’ve only know each other a short time I would recommend at least a six month engagement. I know that you have…sown your wild oats but from what I can tell Bella hasn’t been in very many relationships.” He contemplated his words before adding, “Then again that could a good thing, because who wants a wife who has…been around the block?”

All I could do was stare at my father who narrowed his eyes at me, “Is that the hesitation with your future? I’ll admit it is more difficult with a wife but since children aren’t in the picture yet…” again he stopped to consider his statement then asked, “Are they?”

“Are you asking me if we have to get married?” My eyes narrowed while dads became wider as he asked pointedly, “Do you?”

I smiled at him, “No, I assure you that my decision is based only on wanting to spend the rest of my life with the woman I love.”

At my words dad relaxed while taking a drink from his cup, “Good, then back to my original statement, having a wife is an added worry but it shouldn’t discount your work.”

The more he talked the more confused I became, “Dad what are we talking about?”

“The residency program Edward,” He said as if it should have been obvious.

Oh

Internally I groaned as dad went on, “I told you that your letter of intent needed to be in by the middle of June, as of last week it still hadn’t arrived…”

“Dad, I’m not sending in a letter.”

“Edward, your whole life you talked about being a doctor. You’re mother and I sent you to school at a great cost for the pre-med program not to mention the first two years of med school at UW…”

They did do that, and I was grateful; however, I didn’t want that thrown in my face and I became slightly indignant. “Do you want the money back?”

My father looked like I had just wounded him, “Don’t be ridiculous. Your mother and I consider it an honor to pay for your education. I’m just trying to understand why you would throw it away.”

“I didn’t throw it away,” I countered. “I just decided to use it in a different direction.” He didn’t seem happy with that answer and I wondered, “Are you saying that being an educator is a worthless career? Because that’s all Emmett ever wanted to be and he was encouraged every step of the way.”

“Yes your right about Emmett that has always been what he wanted out of life. And of course being and educator is a very essential and worthy occupation. However you always wanted more for yourself. I worry that in ten years’ time you will look back on your life and be sorry that you didn’t proceed with your dream simply because it was too demanding.”

I laughed dryly and for some reason looked down at the palm of my hand letting the words that Bella had said come to my mind. Tracing the fate line I showed it to my father, “See this line?”
Dad looked at me like I had lost my mind but I continued, “That’s my fate line and right here this little piece breaks off into nothing.”

He was watching me trace the line on my hand with apt consideration before meeting my eyes, “That was the point where I decided not to continue with medicine. You’re afraid that in ten years I’ll be remorseful about not pursuing the profession because I didn’t want to deal with the challenges. My fear isn’t the hard work dad; it’s the regret I would feel being stuck in a profession that makes me miserable.”

My father believed in what he did and I certainly didn’t want to make it seem like I didn’t respect him. After all, there have been seven generations of Cullen’s who have been doctors, all amassing a great fortune that has been passed down to me. I’m grateful for that and maybe if times wouldn’t be what they are, my love of medicine would have carried me to that point. As it was, my opinion of the modern medical establishment was at best distorted. I knew that dad wanted to know my reasons – other than because the line on my hand says so – but I didn’t want to get into the same arguments with him. I had explained most of my reasoning shortly after I decided not to reapply for the residency program.

At that time I rationalized my points about how the establishment has forgotten the care of the individual to make room for what I consider to be socialized medicine. The insurance and drug companies have more to do with patient care then the physician who is treating them. I saw very quickly how persons other than the patient and their doctor call the shots with what is happening in the care of the individual. How certain treatments or pharmaceuticals are denied because they are not cost effective. It’s become a system of bartering for time and resources; we have exchanged quality of care for quantity, all in the name of making money for big businesses.

There was a part of my decision that had to do with fear; I didn’t want to be the one to look into the eyes of a child’s mother and tell her there is nothing we can do to save them. The other part had to do with integrity; I wasn’t going to be the one who gave false hope by having the mother give over her child to be used as a Guiney pig for some experimental process. Humans, especially children, deserved more dignity than that.

If I had at that moment said all that to my father, he would (as he had before) called me naïve, when in fact I considered myself a realist. I saw how things were and I wanted no part of it, I also didn’t want to rehash all the same arguments, so I remained quiet.

Realizing I wasn’t going to actually voice my reasons again, dad surmised that we were at an impasse. “There is no way you would change your mind and go back?”

“No. I’m content with what I’m doing and all the reasons I gave you before still stand,” I tried to lighten up the conversation. “Besides my hours are better.”

Dad smiled disheartened, and I knew that was not the answer he was hoping for. “If that’s your final answer then I won’t continue to badger you on the subject.”

I appreciated that, even though I knew he didn’t fully agree with my decision he was going to let me live my life as I wanted to and I respected him immensely for that. Dad followed me off the balcony, and while I got us each a real cup of coffee he sat down on the couch eyeing the roses on the table. The loud knock on the door startled me and I moved quickly to answer it before –I was sure it was Emmett – could knock again and wake up Bella.

Both Emmett and Jasper came into the room carrying matching coffee cups and I had to know, “Why are you here so early?”

“Well good morning to you too sunshine,” the sarcasm was not appreciated at seven-thirty in the morning. Jasper however gave a legitimate answer; he wanted to get out before Vinny woke up.

Apparently it was better to have Alice deal with a dismal child than for the both of them to put up with a full out tantrum. I didn’t think that sounded fair to my sister but as it was explained to me there was a good chance that with Jasper being already gone, it wouldn’t even dawn on Vinny to want to go golfing until much later in the day. By that time it would be too late and he would already be immersed into the shopping experience so he would never know the difference. Jasper called it a trick of the trade and evidently it works, most of the time.

Emmett looked at the roses, picking up the card that was folded in front of them as he went on to explain how they had arrived at my door. “I called dad to let him know that we were in the coffee shop and mom said he was here sooo…” he held the card out to dad, “did you read this?”

Shaking his head dad answered, “No, but I heard about the roses,” he raised his eyebrows at me. “I had to explain to your mother why she didn’t get roses and then I made damn sure there will be a delivery truck at our front door Thursday morning.”

“Dude your making us all look bad,” Emmett accused as Jasper took the card out of his hand to read it.

“Did you write this?” he wondered while I shook my head, “No it’s a quote, I looked it up.”

Jasper narrowed his eyes at me while Emmett chuckled, “Damn, who the hell are you and what have you done with my self-absorbed brother?”

I shrugged, “I like to make Bella happy and if all that takes is some flowers and chocolate…”

“You bought her chocolates too?”

“Shhh,” I had to shush Emmett’s loud voice again. He lowered his tone looking around, “Where’s the candy?”

“I’m not giving you Bella’s candy,” she hadn’t even had any yet.

Taking dads and my empty mugs over to the sink I filled up the travel cup dad had brought me and was just putting the lid back on when the bedroom door opened. Bella came out wearing a pair of turquoise cheeky panties and a small white t-shirt with pink writing that said ‘take me I’m yours.’ She looked rather groggy and the shirt that barely covered her navel rose up as she arched her back and yawned while she talked.

“Edward I thought you didn’t have to leave until eight?” her right hand went up to her shoulder as she stretched out her back while adding, “come back to bed, I’ll send you away happy.”

“That is why the man never goes out for breakfast.”

Hearing Emmett’s voice Bella froze where she stood as her mouth dropped open while the pinkness from the blush moved down her body. Jasper mumbled out, “I don’t blame him,” and I watched as if in slow motion Bella’s head turn to the left to see who was in the room.

In a flash I was in front of her pulling her arms around my neck as I turned us to use my body as a shield. She gasped against my chest in embarrassment as Emmett just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “Don’t worry little Bell, I’ve seen it before. Not quite that much, but I’ve seen it; and they’re both doctors so…they don’t count.”

I glared at my brother, who had the nerve to grin back at me, and I was pleased to see Jasper and dad at least had the courtesy to look off in the opposite direction. Lifting Bella up to take her back into the bedroom she buried her face into my neck shaking her head as she asked dismally, “Why are they always in our room?”

Shutting the door to the bedroom I put Bella down on floor and watched as her embarrassment turned to ire, “Why are they here?”

I gave her the rundown of what happened while she slept explaining dad’s appearance and then my brothers. I thought maybe she was going to yell at me for not warning her but truly it wasn’t my fault. I was just glad that she had put something on before coming out of the room.

“Is the coffee done?” she asked while putting on her gray robe and tying it tightly around her waist.

She shocked me by walking to the door stopping before turning the knob she turned to look at me with the most serious expression I’ve even seen on her, “You know by the end of the day you’re going to be short one brother, right?”

Smiling at her declaration I had to ask, “Why?”

Bella squared her jaw taking a deep breath, “Because he’s going to keep making comments, innuendos, and snide remarkes and I’m going to have to kill him.”

Her confession made me chuckle as I wrapped my arms around the small of her back, pulling her close to me. I placed a kiss on top of her head, “Don’t worry nâhtötse, I promise by the end of the day he’ll be apologizing.”

I had an ace in the hold and if that for some reason didn’t work, I’d sic Rose on him. In the mean time I didn’t want Bella to be uncomfortable, “Are you sure you want to go out there?”

“Might as well get it over with, besides that’s where the coffee is.”

I chuckled at the words yet I couldn’t help but admire her for her for wanting to face the situation head on – that was my Bella.

We no sooner stepped through the door when Emmett started, “That was the quickest sendoff I’ve even seen…quietest one too.”

Bella ignored him as she went to get coffee while I went over to the seating area to put on my shoes, giving Emmett a punch in the arm as I walked by. Dad cleared his throat getting to his feet. “Well, if we’re stopping for breakfast then we should be going.”

My brothers both followed his direction while I tied my shoes and then stood checking my pockets to make sure I had my wallet and phone. Dad said good bye to Bella who was leaning against the counter sipping her coffee. “Have a good day Bella.”

“You too Carlisle, get lots of birdies,” he chuckled, “I’ll try.”

“Don’t spend too much little Bell, although you should get some red panties. I think you’d look good in red,” Bella blushed at my brother’s words dismissing him with a cute, “Good-bye Emmett.”

She looked over at me shaking her head as Jasper said his good-bye, “Don’t worry Bella, you showed more skin on the beach yesterday.”

He was right about that, in the scheme of things she was covered more then she had been, I believe the problem had more to do with the fact that she was wearing panties and very lacy, leaving nothing to the imagination, show off her perfect round bottom panties at that.

Bella smiled at him, “Thanks Jasper.”

“What time are you leaving?” I asked not remembering if she had previously told me.

“Eight-thirty.” I smiled at her before giving her a quick kiss, “Have fun shopping.”

“Thanks,” Bella didn’t sound at all enthused. “Have fun golfing,” she answered then asked with curiosity, “Are you good at golfing?”

I shrugged, “I hold my own.”

“But you’re not all-state caliber, like with baseball?”

My eyes narrowed, “Who told you about all-state?” Bella inclined her head towards the door raising her eyes to let me know that it was Emmett, who at that moment stuck his head back inside, “Are you coming or are you going for round two?”

Bella shook her head while I grinned, “I might kill him for you.”

She laughed telling me to go and after another kiss I met up with the men in the hallway. Once we were outside each of us went to our respective cars to get our clubs. With them loaded into Emmett’s jeep Jasper and I climbed into the back seat and we were off. They wanted to eat at the pancake house where they had breakfast the day before. Dad said it was on the way and it was very good. He was right about that.

The menu was nothing but hot-cakes, every kind you could imagine, regular, blue wheat organic, filled, fruited, you name it - they had it. There was even Captain Crunch pancakes and right under that was listed Fruity Pebbles. I decided that before we left Bella would have to have some of them.

The golf course was only a fifteen minute ride and Emery was correct it was great a course. We played our usual game which was a variation of Champagne Scramble. It’s played the same way except rather than every player teeing off at each hole, only the person who had the least amount of stokes on the previous one took the shot. It saved a little bit of time and became a much more competitive match. At the end of the game a stroke was removed from your score for each lead off, it usually balanced out lost balls or penalties.

On the ninth hole we stopped to take a break letting the people behind us play through. Emmett and dad went to the bathroom leaving Jasper and I sitting across from one another at the small picnic table.

Jasper took a drink from his water bottle, letting out a deep sigh before he started talking, “I’m sorry about yesterday; I didn’t mean to be a dick.”

“It’s alright Jaz.”

He shook his head and I thought he was going to apologize more, instead he seemed to become irritated. “I just don’t understand how Bella could…do you know what her ex did to her?”

I nodded knowing exactly the abuse Bella had been through. What I wasn’t aware of was his knowledge of it; I was going to question him when he spoke up, “Alice told me a little bit…did Bella tell you everything?”

What was told to me in confidence was going to stay with me and I wasn’t going to elaborate; however, I did assure him, “I know the worst of what happened…”

Japer cut me off, “It baffles my mind Edward how that beautiful young woman could live through all that she did and then ask for more.”

“More what?”

“More abuse, more subservience, more imprisonment,” my eyes narrowed at his words and I found myself having to defend not only Bella, but my actions as well.

“There is no abuse; she is in no way imprisoned. Bella is free to do what she wants and for her being subservient that is just who she is. You make it sound like I think less of her because of it and you couldn’t be more wrong, if anything Isabella is esteemed above all other things.”

He cocked his head to the side, “I mean subservient in that she is forced to do your will.”

“Do you think I force her?” I laughed dryly thinking of the strong stubborn woman who controlled my heart and life. “You either don’t know her very well or we are talking about two different women because there is not a chance in hell that I could force Bella to do anything she didn’t want to. However, it just so happens that for small periods of time she chooses to relinquish control to me…”

Jasper interrupted before I could finish explaining the need Bella has and the void that is filled by giving into that need.

“Can I ask you something without you getting offended?”

Taking a deep breath I nodded even though I wasn’t sure what my reaction would be.
“The flowers and candy, was that like an ‘I’m sorry, it will never happen again’ gift?”

It took me a second to realize what Jasper was suggesting. I remembered Bella telling me about the three cycles of abuse – the buildup, the blow up and the honeymoon period. He was implying that my gifts had to do with the last phase, like I had hurt Bella and so I was trying to make amends.

Yeah, I shouldn’t have agreed to not get angry

I had to swallow back my rage but I was sure it came through in my voice, “I gave those things to Bella, because I love her and I like to see the smile on her face. I have never, ever, hurt a woman, any woman.” I emphasized that point so there would be no misunderstandings, “…in the way you are suggesting and I really resent that you could think I would do such a thing.”

“Are you telling me that you have never disciplined her?”

“I’m telling you that I have never - nor would I ever - strike her in anger or frustration and that’s all you need to know.”

Jasper stared at me for a long moment judging the truthfulness of my statement before commenting, “But Bella has been disciplined?”

He took my refusal to reply as an affirmative answer, “Why do you have to punish her at all?”

The condescending attitude was getting to me and I lashed out, “Why do you punish your son?”

Jasper looked at me dubiously, “He’s a child, he needs to learn.”

“So does Bella.”

It was obvious to me that answer did not sit well with Jasper, I was also sure that had Emmett and dad not returned at that moment he would have said more. As it was, when they arrived back at the picnic table they knew that something had occurred. My brother raised a questioning eyebrow which I shook off while dad took a more cordial approach asking if we were ready to continue.

Jasper and I were sharing a golf cart and for a moment I considered acting childish by switching spots with Emmett. Instead, I sucked it up playing through the next three holes in silence as I thought about a way to make things right with my brother-in-law. On the thirteenth hole the people whom we had let play through got held up again so we had to wait. The tension between the two of us sitting alone together in the cart was insufferable. After a short time we both spoke but I backed off to let him have his say.

“Look Edward, it’s really none of my business and as Carlisle said Bella is a big girl who can make her own decisions. It just eats my crawl that you put her in a position to service you in public.”

I knew he was referring to what happened on the balcony and I suppose that it would have been easy to misconstrue what was happening so I figured it best to set him straight, “Bella was not servicing me. We were having a discussion which made her upset and I was comforting her. That is what you saw.”

His head turned to eye me suspiciously, “She had to get on her knees to be comforted?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “Believe it or not, that is the position where Bella finds the most security, where she can let herself go and forget about the entire outside disturbance that threatens her peace. You don’t understand the strength she gains in her daily life by giving into that need…”

“Make me understand Edward.”

I sighed, thinking of the best way to make Jasper see what I was talking about, what I could equate in his life to the submissive’s desire to serve. I thought of something but I wasn’t sure how it would play out. Jasper is a Civil War buff, twice a year he goes out and plays soldier by re-enacting battles for the weekend. He sleeps in tents, wears hot itchy clothes and carries heavy equipment. Personally, I think it’s a silly thing to do just because some long-dead ancestor fought for the south a hundred and fifty years ago. He however likes it, looks forward to going to the meetings and doing the play-acting so much that it must bring him some kind of serenity so I was hoping that might work.

“Why do you go out on those civil war weekend things?”

His eyes narrowed, “What does that have to do with …”

I interrupted his question, “Just humor me Jaz.”

He pursed his lips for moment before getting a forlorn look on his face, “I enjoy it.”

“The heat, the scratchy clothes, the buttoned underwear?” I questioned smirking at the thought of the flannel underwear that Alice made for him with button closures and drawstrings.

“It’s more than that Edward. It’s a connection with the past, my great-great grandfather fought with Walker's Greyhounds.”

“So my great-granddad fought at Normandy, you don’t see me storming the beaches.”

Jasper huffed, “It’s not about the acting. There is just something about connecting with the past that brings a peace in my soul. Regardless of how uncomfortable the clothes are or the nasty way we live for a few days. Not showering, eating dry bread and crackers or shitting in the woods.”

“You shit in the woods?” I asked with a laugh.

“Yeah, they have these portable toilets with disposable bags in them that get buried in the ground.”

“That’s disgusting. It sounds like a lot of trouble to go through to play soldier.” There was a point I was making but it did sound gross and there was not a chance in hell I would be caught dead doing that.

“I told you it’s not about the acting,” I looked at Jasper waiting to see what he would say. His gaze met mine as he spoke with conviction.

“For those three or four days that I’m a part of something so much bigger than my own little world, I can forget about all the mundane things in my life. I have no worries about bills, work, or what new color Alice wants to paint the living room. I could be free and get lost in the role that I’m playing to the point where it’s almost rejuvenating.”

I nodded before asking, “If you could do it every weekend, would you?”

“I think your sister would divorce me,” we chuckled because that was probably the case; but then he thought about it. “Yeah, I would.”

“Now you understand.”

Jasper looked at me in disbelief so I enlightened him, “That feeling of freedom, getting lost in the role, not having to worry about everyday things, that’s exactly what the submissive feels.”

“It’s not the same thing Edward; I don’t have to worry about being punished.”

“Really?” I was the one asking in disbelief, “What rank are you?”

“Corporal,” he had a little bit of power.

“So you have a Sergeant above you and a Captain above him?”

Jasper corrected me, “Sergeant and then First Sergeant.”

Nodding in understanding I asked, “Do they give you orders?”

At his blank stare I wondered, “What happens if you don’t follow them?”

“K-P duty.”

I grinned.

That’s better than burying shit duty

“Bella gets a writing assignment,” at my words I could see his mind working as he was tried hard to dismiss my comparison.

“I can walk away,” Jasper insisted. I looked him straight in the eyes, “So can Bella.”

After a moment of quiet I summed up the similarities of the two very different circumstances. “The roles we play are just that, behaving a certain way to fulfill a desire within us. You choose to do that by sleeping on the ground and shitting in a hole. Bella and I choose to be more civilized; she wears my collar and allows me to control her for a specified period of time. She gets just as much pleasure out of the relationship as I do, along with the freedom and the…” I used his word “… rejuvenation that it brings to her. If she didn’t receive the peace she longs for there would be no way Bella would ever get on her knees, before me or anyone else. And to be honest with you, I wouldn’t want her to.”

Jasper smiled, “Are you sure about that? She did look damn good this morning in those almost not there lacey things.”

The growl came from me without even thinking as he laughed. “Hey I’m a Plastic Surgeon; women pay me thousands of dollars to look like that.”

I couldn’t help but grin because he was right, my girl had it going on; and in that last statement I also knew that Jasper had a slightly better understanding of the relationship that Bella and I share.

The rest of the golf outing was uneventful; Emmett won which meant that back at the club house we paid for his lunch while he boasted the whole way through it. As we were leaving there was a large canopy set up in the parking lot. Two young girls dressed in cheerleading outfits were standing by the walkway. As we approached the blond one stopped us. “Would you like to buy something from our arts and crafts tent to help us go to competition?”

It wasn’t normally something I would do however the girls were insistent and at the mention of bakery items we were headed under the tent. There was only a half dozen tables, Jasper went over to where a woman was selling homemade dolls and other toys. I stopped at a table that was selling toe rings, picking out three of them. One was a simple silver band curved in a continuous ‘S’ shape. The other two were also silver; one was in an antique finish with an infinity insignia and the other was a flower with a blue stone in the center that wrapped around the toe ending with a swirly. They were every inexpensive, even after I included the flip-flop shaped box to present them in. Emmett stood beside me while I paid holding a bag with a picture frame in it, he snickered, “Bella’s toes are going to turn green.”

I chuckled because he was probably right, but hey, it was all in the name of a good cause, besides I knew my girl so I could tell him with assurance, “She’s going to love them.”

He shook his head, “Not when I tell her how much you spent on those little gems.”

I chuckled without worry, “It doesn’t matter, she would be happy if I got them for free.”

The look on my brother’s face told me he didn’t believe me. I suppose he was basing his opinion on Rose who although I love her, she has a taste for the finer things in life. Where Bella was so much simpler, she didn’t want extravagance. To her it was the sentiment that meant more than the actual item. Hell, my girl got emotional over packs of ketchup, I’d lay odds that Rose never did that. No, I was sure Bella would be more than pleased with the toe rings.

The four of us left the tent carrying our clubs and each of us had a bag from the sale along with a pie dad bought. What can I say? We were suckers.

Mom called dad on the way back to the hotel letting him know that they were all going down to the pool. I had assumed that Bella would be with them so after putting the clubs back into my car I was surprised to find her in our room. She was sitting on the couch in a deep blue swimming suit with a plunging neckline that practically took my breath away. The only thing that stopped me from jumping her was the fact she was talking on the phone. As I shut the door she looked up at me and smiled waving her fingers hello. Not wanting to disturb her conversation I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and was going to go into the bedroom to change when she grabbed a hold of my shorts holding me in place while she ended the conversation.

“I think you’re right, that’s a really good idea….no Edward is here now…I will…thanks Jane, I’ll see you Thursday night.”

Jane? Thursday night?

When she hung up I looked at Bella questionably wondering why she called my aunt, or had it been the other way around? She didn’t answer my unspoken question; instead rising up on her knees she wrapped her arms around my neck pulling me to her for a kiss that let me know she was glad I was back.

Pulling away I smiled at her while running the back of finger along her jaw, “Did you have a good day, or are you happy to see me?”

Bella bit her lip giggling, “Both.”

She jumped to her feet taking my hand leading us into the bedroom. “Come here, I got you something.”

My eyes took in the rest of what she was wearing, it was supposed to be the bottom of her suit but it looked more like a skin tight skimpy skirt, actually it reminded me of a strip of blue gauze. However, my eyes nearly popped out of head at the sight of all the bags on the bed, for a girl who didn’t like shopping she certainly bought enough stuff.

“What is all this?”

Bella looked at me then back to the bed, “Most of it is baby stuff for Leah. The children’s place was really inexpensive and the one store had crib sheets…” she stopped talking, tilting her head to watch me “…do you know that when babies are first born they will go through two or three sheets a day?”

“Really?” that seemed like a lot.

Bella nodded, “That’s what Alice told me. She said they pee and spit up all the time, so the sheets need to be changed, so I got Leah a dozen. I figured that would give her at least four days’ worth of clean sheets.”

“What’s all the rest of this stuff?” there were at least fifteen bags there.

“Well, I told you the Children’s Place was having a big sale, so I got five different outfits for both sexes. I figured if Leah has a girl then I would give the boys stuff to Rose.”

That made sense yet I wondered, “What if Leah has a boy, what are you going to do with the girls stuff?”

Bella’s expression turned slightly dejected as she shrugged, “I don’t know.” I wanted to ask her what was the matter but she started shuffling through the bags. “Anyway I bought you…”

“Well wait, I got you something too,” she gawking at me in confusion. “You went shopping?”

“Inadvertently…yes.”

She went back to riffling through her purchases while I went out to get the little bag off the table, when I came back in Bella was standing there holding several pair of men’s briefs.

“You bought me underwear?”

What, is she my grandmother? Is it even proper for your girlfriend to buy underwear?

“Yeeaahhh” She stretched out the word with extravagant zeal. “These aren’t just any underwear; these are mic-ro-fiber.”

“Ooohhh,” I tried to get excited for her but I just wasn’t feeling it.

“Edward,” she shoved the pair of black ones at me, “feel them.”

I did, they were soft and kind of silky and even as Bella explained what was wonderful about them, the excitement still alluded me.

“They are light weight, airy and breathable, like cotton.” Her excitement started to grow, “But better than cotton. With these, your boys will stay all nice and tucked in without over heating them.”

Overheating? Was she planning to cook my junk?

The bewilderment must have shown on my face because my girl kept talking like she was trying to sell something on an infomercial. “It’s healthier for you, keeps your little swimmers strong. And you know how with cotton you sweat and the moisture just stays there causing chafing?”

All I could do was nod as she became more animated, adding her hands as she talked, “With the microfiber that doesn’t happen, because it pulls all the moisture away from your body and holds it in the material. So you stay all nice and fresh down there and seriously if I had to walk around with that thing flopping around…”she moved her hand like she was dribbling a ball, “I would want to keep it as comfortable as possible.”

I couldn’t take it anymore, the laughter rolled out of me.

“Are you laughing at me?” not wanting to anger her I tried to stop but she kept staring at me like I was the crazy one, when she was the one obsessed with my underwear. “This is serious Edward; will you at least try them?”

“Yes,” I told her with a chuckle.

“Good, because they are better for you and if you like them we’ll change out all the cotton ones for these.”

I had to admit that it was another first for me as well as for our relationship. I have never had a woman-other then my mother- to be so concerned about what kind of material I used to cover my ass with. And even though I didn’t know if it was proper for Bella to be so involved with it I nodded in agreement, “OK.”

Taking the other two pair of briefs from her I tried to hand her the bag with the toe rings. Bella flung her hands in the air in a halt motion, “Wait, I have more!”

“More underwear?”

She tsked, “No.”

Picking up anther bag Bella pulled out two silk shirts, one was a deep maroon and the other was a burnt orange. Neither of them were colors that I would have normally picked out. Bella took the small bag from my hand placing it on the dresser and then held each shirt up to my chest, eyeing me. “I thought these colors would go really good with your hair.”

She turned me around to look into the mirror before once again holding up each shirt, she was right. The colors accented nicely against both my skin tone and hair color. Bella caught my gaze in the mirror, “They look good, thank you.”

Smiling at me she nodded, “Your welcome.”

I turned back to the bed laying the shirts on top of bags, “Did you get anything for yourself?”

“Yup, red panties like Emmett requested,” I growled at her while she giggled doing a pirouette, “and I got this, do you like it?”

“I like it very much, I took notice of it as soon as I waked in the door,” I moved to take a hold of her but she slipped through my hands.

“Now what did you get me?” a coy smile played on her lips.

Ah, my girl wanted to play hard to get.

Picking up the bag I held it out for her, only to pull it back when she reached out to take it, making Bella step closer to me. Holding the bag open she tried to peek inside but I lifted it up so she had to step on her tip toes and then take another step towards me. Once she was just out of arms reach I quickly closed the distance grabbing ahold of her waist and pulling her to my body.

Bella giggled, “That’s not fair seducing me with gifts.”

“Oh nâhtötse, if you can tempt me with what you’re wearing, I can use anything I have to even the score.”

Looking up at me the playfulness was gone, “Is it too sexy to wear down to the pool?”

“Who says we’re going down to the pool?” I wagged my eyebrows.

Using her hands she pushed on my chest breaking the hold I had on her while she assured me, “Oh we are going to the pool.”

As she stepped away her hand quickly grabbed the bag dangling from my fingers, making me chuckle as she giggled in triumph.

“Oh…isn’t that cute,” she pulled out the box biting her lip as her fingers gripped the top. Once she saw the contents she smiled at me with a twinkle of delight in her eyes. That was the look that made me the most gratified. How could anyone not want to shower her with gifts when the simplest things brought her so much happiness?

“Toe rings, thank you,” I watched as she sat on chair putting the rings on her pink painted toes. When she was done Bella lifted both her legs wiggling her toes while she tilted her head from side to side in admiration. Satisfied she stood up walking towards me with a mischievous smile. Just as she stepped into my arms her phone started singing, “Fever”.

“Oh that’s your mom,” Bella quickly left my arms to get her phone off the nightstand.

“Hi Esme…no we’ll be right down, I was just showing Edward some of the stuff I bought…ok, I’ll bring some down…see you in a few minutes.”

Damn I wanted the pleasure of taking that suit off her

If we had to go I might as well get ready, opening up the dresser to get out my suit I didn’t know Bella was behind me until I felt her arms wrap around my waist, “Hey sweetie, can we resume what was started, later?”

“Absolutely,” I guaranteed her.

Bella stepped back letting me stand up, “Good, because I missed you today.”

“What are you going to do next week when we go back to reality?” I asked as she went into the bathroom. Coming out with the beach towels hung over her arm she stopped to watch me take off my shirt before answering. “Go through Edward withdrawals. I’ll be jonesing and will have to call you every hour for a fix.”

I chuckled while I continued to change, her mention of calling me made me wonder something, “You gave my mom her own ringtone already.”

Bella shrugged, “Everyone has their own song.”

“What’s my song?” The only answer I received was a giggle as she walked out of the room.

Well that would be easy enough to find out

Bella pulled the white cover-up she wore yesterday over her head, picked up the huge bag that she had packed for the beach, handed me the towels and we left. I really didn’t feel like going down to the pool. In fact I would have been happy to sweep everything off the bed and spend the rest of the afternoon alone. Bella on the other hand seemed very intent upon getting down there.

“Baby, why are we going down to the pool?” I asked as we stepped into the elevator.

“Because Alice and Rose are going to take out Emmett,” the words were said matter-of-factly, with no emotion or doubt.

“Why?”

“Because Vinny told the guy at Men’s Warehouse that he has a ball-sac, Alice was completely mortified…and Rose peed in her pants.”

Chapter 70

EPOV
I had three choices.

I could pretend that I hadn’t heard or cared that Bella offered her time to my sister, which being Saturday was actually my time she was giving away. I could speak with her about the infraction, let her help my sister and then reprimand her with a small punishment. The last option would be to forbid Bella from going to Alice’s and instead admonish her thoughtlessness with a harsh penalty.

The first choice was completely out of the question. Bella’s inattention to detail was not something that I was going to be able to let her get away with. Even though she had good intentions that would ultimately benefit my sister, she should have asked me first. My plans for the morning had no bearing on our arrangement. Her time from Friday night at six pm until Sunday night at six pm was not her own. Without a prior warning or an emergency she could make no plans for herself without my permission. I knew it and as soon as the words left her mouth Bella knew it too. Her eyes shot to mine holding my gaze for a brief moment with an expression of guilt.

No, I couldn’t just overlook the infraction because it was not something that I would want to continue happening. Besides that, the control that I maintained over Bella demanded that she be held accountable. At the very least she would be expecting some kind of retribution even if that only entailed a lecture. Which judging by the submissive posture she held at that moment would more than likely be enough.

However, sitting on the beach with my family eating lunch was neither the time nor the place for that conversation. Picking up the bag of pretzels I held it out to Bella in offing. When she stuck her hand in to take some muttering a thank you without looking at me, I figured I needed to do something that would ease her tension. Lifting her chin with my thumb I leaned in for a quick kiss whispering against her lips, “Don’t fret nâhtötse, we’ll talk about it later.”

Bella smiled sadly, “ái-ásgaya.”

Yes Sir

There was no need for the Sir and there was no need for Bella to feel sad either. We would talk about what happened and she would have a small punishment in the form of a writing assignment. To be honest I was even considering dropping that because in my mind it would be punishment enough to spend the time with fifteen five year olds. I couldn’t even imagine the torture that would be. Besides Bella was just being Bella, giving of herself to help someone she cares about. I couldn’t fault her for that, but it couldn’t go unnoticed either.

Putting my arm around Bella’s shoulder I pulled her closer, placing a kiss on her head. Trying to let her know that there was no reason to feel dejected. I hated to see her like that, all those old insecurities making their way to the surface. There had been enough uncertainty for the day.

Mom coming to our room early in the morning to tell me about breakfast caused Bella some alarm. In hind-sight that was my fault. When I closed the doors to the bathroom and bedroom it would have been a good idea to let Bella know that we had company. To be honest I didn’t think that mom would stay as long as she did. However, after basically yelling at me for not answering the phone she continued to babble on asking more questions about our time in Forks. She wanted to know what Bella’s father was like, my impressions of the town, and if anything unusual happened. After that we talked about Marcus coming to town and some possible family get-togethers with him and Aro. Her mention of my uncles reminded me of what Emmett had told me the night before. I hadn’t a chance to tell Bella about Jessica and Mike and I wanted to do that.

Mom had tried to talk me into cancelling room service and joining them, that wasn’t happening. Bella had given me a better offer, spending the morning naked in bed was a whole lot more appealing than the local pancake house. After mom couldn’t entice me with ninety-nine different varies of hotcakes she was just getting ready to leave when Bella came through the door. With her face hidden behind the bouquet of roses, her telling me about the pig-tails and making herself all clean and ready for me to defile her again was hysterical.

My mother’s face dropped for a brief second as she mentioned the roses, but it was the look on Bella’s face that was absolutely priceless. She turned four shades of red before she stammered out any words and I couldn’t help but laugh, because my girl was just too damn cute. Trying to redeem herself Bella offered mom her phone number saying that she always has her phone on and I didn’t miss the way her foot seemed to twitch. That lessoned had been learned.

I didn’t want to admit that I had heard my phone vibrating against the night stand but chose to ignore it, because at the time I was busy. The Earth could have opened up to swallow us whole and I would have continued with my intended mission.

Everything was going to wait while I convinced Bella of my love for her including the phone. What I should have done was checked the missed call log that would have eliminated moms need for a visit. I didn’t truly understand Bella’s full embarrassment until mom left.

In my mind we loved each other, besides even if that wasn’t the case we’re both consenting adults with a healthy sex drive. My mother was in no way a prude, she could appreciate playful banter the same as anyone else. Holding Bella in my arms while she talked about my mom having a low opinion of her, I could empathize. The whole time we spent at Forks I had wanted to put my best foot forward, so that Charlie, Sue and everybody else would be accepting of me. I tried to tell Bella that my parents adored her, in fact everyone was so taken by her charms she was already considered family. The small progress that I made in reassuring her was lost from my carelessness on the balcony.

The discussion of the play session we had the day before was not taking place during our standard usual time. That is not something I care to do, in fact it wasn’t something I had ever done before. Then again with every other woman, once the D/s time was over they were removed from my daily life, leaving no time for talking outside of our perspective roles. With Bella all of that was different, the boundaries were changed with no clear line that shouldn’t be crossed.

I was truly astonished at the maturity she showed in the entry that she started in her journal. I would wager to guess that the majority of seasoned submissive’s, those that had been serving for years have not questioned themselves on why they submit. If asked most would give a standard answer ‘because it brings my Dom pleasure’. That would be a suitable reason for me as the Dominant but for Bella to take it a step further questioning her own motives was very insightful. I wanted to know her reasons and told her to exhaust every motive she could think of. All those answers would help Bella to grow, along with giving me a clearer perspective of proceeding with her training. The task I had given her was part of that and would provide her with personal growth. It would also give me a way to see how she rationalizes priorities, and then the steps she takes to incorporate them into her life.

I knew she was stressing out over the goals I asked her to set and we could have talked about it all morning if need be. Instead she turned into an obstinate toddler - right down to the pig-tails - who needed correction from her daddy.
All of that previous maturity Bella had shown was extinguished with one word, ‘Why?’

Only it wasn’t just a word, it was an overblown insolent whine that like nails on a chalk board caused my skin to crawl. Having to give a reason for anything is outside the bounds of normal protocol. However, had Bella taken a more courteous approach; she might have received a response. As it was - the disrespectful tone only served to irritate me to the point where I needed to remind her to keep the rudeness under control.

Bella knew she pushed the constraints of behavior and in the back of my mind I knew that we were not in a full D/s mode. Yet because of the nature of our discussion along with conveying my instructions for her journaling the line was skewed. We had crossed over out of boyfriend/ girlfriend give and take, landing directly in the middle of Master/sub obligations.

There was not a doubt in my mind that Bella knew she overstepped the limits of acceptable behavior as she remained quiet while dropping her eyes into a submissive pose. Once I had her look at me, her eyes told me that she was sorry before the words even left her mouth. After I sat back to collect myself, Bella remained stiff in her seat. I could feel the anxious condemnation coming off her which made me want nothing more than to calm the apprehension she was experiencing.

Kneeling down Bella rested her head against my thigh, letting out a deep exhale while I felt all the tension she was holding on to disappear as her shoulders relaxed. We stayed like that; I gently stroked her skin while she nuzzled my leg making small little purring sounds. Had we stayed in that position I wouldn’t have been in hot water with my parents. My attention was on Bella and I will admit I was enjoying the sounds of contentment coming from her, but for the most part my eyes were looking out onto the beach. Moving her was my mistake.

All I wanted to do was finish our conversation, steal a kiss and head back into the bedroom. Vinny’s voice was not a welcomed sound. My gaze came in contact with my father’s and I moved quickly to get Bella off her knees. However the damage was done, they knew exactly what was going on.

Much like I had done to Bella earlier, Emmett found my precarious situation to be funny. Jasper’s scowl was completely understandable. On several occasions he had made reference to Bella’s abusive past. Perhaps it was the physician in him that felt like during her marriage, she had enough control exerted over her. He didn’t understand the need for more, nor did he comprehend Bella’s desire for it. To him – as with any outsider - he saw a D/s relationship as solely bringing pleasure to the Dominant. And there was absolutely no grasping of any reason to bring pain play into the mix. According to him that was equivalent to abuse, regardless of Bella’s wishes.

However, it was the total look of devastation on my parent’s faces that caused me the most duress. They were well aware yet had never seen any kind of interaction between me and a submissive. Staring into their faces I could tell that this was something that I would definitely be hearing about. I was also sure that just like Jasper their notions of proper conduct was twisted simply because of the woman involved. I wasn’t lying or trying to ease Bella’s mind when I said that my parents adored her, because they did. In fact at that moment and judging from the looks of dismay I was getting it was fair to say they favored her over me.

Emmett tried to ease some of the tension with an inquest to our breakfast, however standing by my side Bella was fidgeting. At the time I thought her actions was in response to the scrutiny of my family. Later on while we were back in the safety of our bed, she told me that most of her uneasiness was due to what she was wearing. Or rather the lack of what she had on and the fact that everyone was looking up. Her admission was comical making me laugh which she did not find as funny as I did.

Finishing with lunch Bella was still quiet as she leaned against my side and I could only imagine how she was berating herself. My words of comfort to not fret didn’t seem to have very much of an effect on her. We were going to have to talk it out so that she could relax and go back to enjoying the day.

“Let’s go look for some seashells,” I said giving her shoulder a squeeze. Bella nodded while gathering up our garbage. Once she had everything together I stood holding out my hand to help her to her feet.

Vinny looked at us with hopeful eyes, “Can I go?”

“Sure, if it’s ok with your mom.” Bella looked at me with a genuine smile finally figuring out that if I was letting my nephew come along she couldn’t be in that much trouble.

After putting the bag with our garbage in by the enormous tote she brought down with her – what the hell does she need at that stuff for? - Bella took my hand. Vinny clasped a hold of her other one as we started walking down the beach along the water’s edge. Vinny was kicking his feet, splashing water and wet sand as we went along. He was jabbering on about all kinds of stuff. The biggest tale was about how one of his classmates – Nickolas - who told him that when he went to the beach he burnt his feet on the sand. Then Vinny wondered why he didn’t burn his own feet.

“Well,” Bella started, “I guess your friend Nickolas must have gone to a beach were it is really sunny. That makes the sand get hotter and it can burn the bottom of your feet.”

He looked up at her with a quizzical expression, “What if you sat down in it? Would it burn your butt?”

We both laughed I was going to tell him yes but Bella answered first, “How could you burn your butt when you’re wearing a swimming suit?”

“What if you have to poop? Then you have to take off your pants.”

That’s a rational five year old

Bella was more diplomatic, “You wouldn’t go poop on the beach. That would be gross.”
Vinny seemed to consider that for a second, “But if you go poop and your swimming suit falls in the toilet, then you can burn your butt. Right?

“Dude, what do you want to burn your butt for?” if he kept asking there had to be a reason.

“So I can stick it in the ocean without freezing,” We laughed at his logic, but he was right, the water was cold and I suppose if your ass was on fire you wouldn’t mind it too much.

We had walked a good distance from the hotel stopping by the jetties so Vinny could look for more seashells. While he was busy Bella turned to face me, looking up through her lashes she talked in a soft voice. “My mouth spoke before my brain could stop it.”

“About what?” I knew but decided to argue ignorance.

She looked at me with a doubtful expression, “You know.”

“Are you referring to your plans for Saturday?”

Bella nodded and then acknowledged, “I should have asked first, making sure that you didn’t have any plans for me while you were gone.”

She still hadn’t given me the full impact of her transgression, so I hedged, “And that would be my concern because?”

“Look at this one Uncle Eddie,” Vinny broke into our conversation by handing me a piece of a broken Oyster shell.

Looking at it I told him what it was before handing it back so he could hunt for more. Bella’s eyes followed his movements for a second before looking back to me. “It’s during our…usual time and…you didn’t …I had no right to…”

The words were stammering out, she knew what I wanted to hear but couldn’t come up with the exact phrase. I helped her out by completing the sentence, “steal your time away from me.”

“Yes”

Taking a deep breath I exhaled slowly while holding her gaze, “I knew you realized at once that you misspoke. However, the words were already out and they couldn’t be taken back and I could understand that your heart was in the right place…”

“But my brain took a poop.”

I laughed at her adding, “in the hot sand, that’s going to burn your ass.”

“Are you going to punish me?” the words were spoken in a hush, so that little ears could not overhear.

I could only imagine the lecture I would get if Vinny repeated that little piece of information. The mental image of my parent’s faces when he told them that Uncle Eddie was punishing Aunt Bella was not something I wished to witness in person.

Pushing that thought to the back of my mind I answered her “Are you expecting me
too?” Bella’s face scrunched up in contemplation making me wonder. “Or perhaps a better question is, do I need to? Because what’s the whole purpose behind a punishment?”

“To deter the behavior?” Bella’s answer was asked with a curious tone and in that I had her Saturday morning writing assignment.

That piece of information would remain undisclosed until the right time. “I’ll let you know later what I decide. For right now Isabella, you committed to help my sister and so you shall, the rest we will worry about later.”

Wrapping my arms around the small of her back I pulled Bella close to me, my thumb skimming over the softness of her skin while she rested her head against my chest.

“Hey no nooky on the beach!” Bella giggled at Vinny’s perception of what was happening as she stepped away from me.

“I thought you weren’t going to repeat that word?” my question made him think for a moment before his bright face twisted until his nose was all wrinkled up, “Oh yeah,
I forgot.”

“Emmett is in sooo much trouble,” Bella murmured taking my hand as we turned to walk back to the rest of the family.

Vinny was a few steps ahead of us, his hands overflowing with shells and rocks. Bella gripped my hand slightly tighter as the two girls who introduced themselves earlier were strolling towards us. As they got closer the one with black hair – Jackie.. Jennifer.. I didn’t remember her name – smiled at me and waved, “Hi Edward.”

Her eyes went to Bella who squeezed my hand even tighter when I answered with a ‘hi’ as we walked past them. After a few more steps I couldn’t take it anymore, “Baby you’re hurting my hand.”

“Am I? Uh, imagine that.”

I chuckled releasing her hand to wrap my arm around her shoulder tucking her against my side. I was expecting Bella to say something about the women we just passed so I was taken aback by her question.

“Edward did you know about what Aro did to Mike and Jessica?”

“Ummm…” I did know, however I wasn’t aware that she knew.

Bella stopped walking looking up at me with an angry scowl, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I just found out late last night and believe me when I say that with you naked in my bed all morning, the last thing on my mind was Jessica Stanley.”

“Mmmm,” Bella’s face softened, “good answer,” she muttered.

Chuckling at Bella’s reaction we started walking faster to catch up with Vinny. I had wondered how Bella heard about what happened at the club and then wasn’t surprised that Rose had told her. We spoke back and forth about what had occurred along with Aro’s response. Rose had informed her of exactly the same thing Emmett told me and I assured Bella I had no other information. She then regaled me with her thoughts, telling me more of what Jess had said to her that night in the bathroom along with her theories. The more Bella talked the more things started to make sense. If Mike was using Jess to do something for him that he didn’t want anyone to know about, then it would stand to reason that he would try to hide their association. Then there was the question of who else Mike was in bed with, both literally and figuratively. I agreed with Bella that if Jess said she was reduced to playing third fiddle then there was definitely someone more important to him.

Vinny ran up to show his mom the treasures he had found when Bella stopped dead in her tracks. “Edward how many times has Jessica been to your house?”

Not wanting to get into this discussion I dropped her hand and groaned. Bella grabbed my arm, “No listen…” I could see the wheels turning in her brain as the freaky woman’s intuition that I had heard men talk about came to the surface. “…she knows the layout of your house right?”

Nodding my head as I was still unsure where this was going Bella went on, “Then do you think that maybe it was Jessica who tried to break in?”

“No,” I dismissed that thought immediately. “Bella I’ve known her for years, she wouldn’t…”

“Are you sure? Because she was mad that you stopped being with her. And that night in the bathroom was the night after someone broke into the house and she told me that she had just got her ass chewed out for something that wasn’t her fault. So she must have messed something up, really bad.”

Staring at Bella I couldn’t or rather didn’t want to believe that Jess would try to break into my house. Bella became adamantly excited, “And…the night of the break in…earlier wasn’t Mike there? The person who broke in was a girl,” Bella’s eyes shifted as she formulated her thoughts, “and they tried to silence the alarm by putting in the original code, but right before we went to Alice’s you changed it. So…”

She stopped talking to give me a piercing glare, “Did you put in the code on the security box in front of Mike?”

Did I? I must have

“I think I did.”

Bella gasped in realization as her eyes widened while she looked past me talking to one in particular . “OH my god. It was Jessica. But Mike gave her the wrong code.”

“Bella, that’s ridiculous. What would Mike want in my house? Besides Jess wouldn’t do that…”

Her eyes whipped back to me, “Why? Because you fucked her? Because believe me she was pretty damn pissed that you aren’t fucking her anymore.” The malice in her voice was raw and I knew that there was still more that Jess had said to Bella that I was not privy to.

Bella turned attempting to stomp away from me taking her arm she swung back around to look at me with tear filled eyes. “Listen to me…”

“No, you listen to me,” She spit the words out at me. “You can believe anything you want to about your precious Jessica, but I’m telling you,” She said in anger pointing a finger at me.

“Mike gave her the code so she could break in, for whatever reason I don’t know. But he gave her the wrong one and the alarm went off. So she ran away and then got her ass chewed out because whatever he wanted her to do, or get, she didn’t. And whatever she got reamed out for had something to do with me. Because right after she said that she got her ass chewed out for something that wasn’t her fault, her next words were, and here’s the skank-ho herself.”

“She called you a skank-ho?”

Bella narrowed her eyes as she raised her voice a few decibels, “After everything I said, that’s what you dwell on?”

“She shouldn’t call you names.”

“Ed-Ward! I’m telling you that woman broke into our house!” Bella was very adamant about her hypothesis to the point where she stressed both syllables of my name as she shook her finger in front of me for emphasis. I still didn’t want to believe it, but what Bella was saying did seem to fit not only the time-line but the whole scenario of events. Then again, everything Bella was saying was conjecture, all except for one thing.

She said our house.

“Is it our house?”

Bella blink a few times in confusion, “What?”

“You said she broke into our house, not just mine.”

Her mouth dropped open, “Are you kidding me? Again you focus on the most mundane things?”

I pulled her closer to me because three feet of distance was more than I could stand, “Not at all. It’s the most important thing Bella. Everything else is something I can’t change and even though I don’t want to believe that someone who I called my…” I choose my word carefully.

“friend ,would do that. There is nothing that can be done about it right now. But at this moment, you thinking of the house as ours; baby that is the most significant thing you said.”

Bella stared at me in astonishment for a long moment before her face softened and she shook her head with a grin making me smirk.

“You’re…” she was cut off by the sound of my sister’s voice standing at our side, “Are you two done fighting?”

“We weren’t fighting.”

Alice rolled her eyes at me, “Whatever…Mia is napping and Emmett wants to play a game of whiffleball, you in?”

Looking at Bella, she shrugged. Taking that for a yes I answered Alice with a dismissive tone “We’ll be right there.”

Alice leaned her arm on Bella’s shoulder gave me a grin then spoke into her ear loud enough for me to hear, “Give him hell Bella.”

My girl stood there giggling as my dear sister looked at me and laughed before walking away to leave us alone. Bella was still giddy as she wrapped her arms around my waist laying her face against my chest. “Will you at least think about the possibility of what I said? Because I want our house to be safe.”

I couldn’t get over the happy feeling the word our gave me, and even though I still didn’t want to fully believe it, something in the back of my mind told me to take
Bella’s reasoning seriously.

“I will baby,” I told her letting my hand slide down the length of her spine enjoying the slight shiver she made against me as I asked, “How did you get so insightful?”

“I’m a cops daughter,” her answer made me chuckle. Lifting Bella’s chin with my hand I brought my mouth to hers for a quick kiss.

“We will bring all this up to Mr. Weiss on Friday. If it turns out that you are right, then we will press charges. In the meantime, let’s enjoy the rest of the week and not think about Jessica Stanley or Mike Newton. Ok?”
Bella smiled, “OK.”

“Good, I love you.”

Bella lifted up on her toes to give me a kiss, “I love you too.”

“Let’s go play some ball,” at my suggestion she gave a curt nod taking my hand to rejoin everyone.

As we joined the group, my whole family was staring at us with varying expressions. Jasper had narrow eyes of uncertainty which were in direct contrast with my brother. Emmett’s eyes were so wide I thought they were ready to pop out of his head. Rose grinned smugly while my parents smiled at me with genuine warmth. I wanted to ask them what the hell the problem was.

Emmett started to chuckle, “Ok if Edward’s done having his balls handed to him…” his words made Jasper snicker, “…can we play now?”

Bella tsked giving me a sideward glance as her face turned a darker shade of pink. I wanted to stand up for myself but my girl had it covered. “Watch out RosCoe, you might just lose your beep beep.”

Jasper and I burst out laughing at Bella’s reminder of Emmett’s masturbating chant. While he glared at her completely speechless as she walked passed him to get a drink. He followed her motion until she stood by Rose, the two of them giggling. Looking back at me he grinned, “It’s always the innocent looking ones. They are all cute and cuddly, until the claws come out.”

“Ok, what are the teams?” dad wondered still smiling at me.

What the fuck was that about?

We spent a few minutes trying to make the teams fair, just when I thought it was all figured out Emmett had a change of plans. “Rosie is going to ump, so I’ll take Vinny and the girls against you three.”

That didn’t sound like even teams to me; I thought we should at least take one of the girls. Alice was a fairly decent pitcher as long as the distance wasn’t too far. Mom always played with us, and even though she wasn’t very good there was an advantage to having her on your team. No one ever threw her out, because what kind of an asshole tries to take out his own mother? I had absolutely no idea about Bella. The only thing athletic I had ever seen her do was the one morning we went jogging together. If that was any indication of her agility on the ball field, Emmett was in for a rude awakening.

“Ok here’s the deal, six innings, we bat last,” Emmett pointed his thumbs to his chest, then both index fingers at our team, “and get ready to loose, suckers!”
We used whatever we had for bases, Frisbees, water bottles; the pitcher’s mound was one of Mia diapers with a circle drawn around it. They took the field, Alice was pitching, Mom and Bella were in the infield with Vinny and Emmett further back.
Dad stepped up to lead off, and Emmett yelled, “Bella move to right center!”

She looked around and took a few steps towards left making me laugh under my breath. I was going to correct her when my brother yelled again, “Right Bella, Right!”

She turned around shaking her fist in the air, “This is right!”

Emmett groaned, “not your right, the field’s right!”

She still didn’t seem to grasp what he meant, once again I was going to go help her but Emmett beat me to it. Placing his hands on her hips he guided her to the spot between first and second base. Then spoke quietly to her while Bella nodded her head at whatever he was saying. As Emmett went back to his spot Jasper called out, “Are you sure about this, don’t be crying later saying our team was stacked.”

“Don’t you worry about it plastic man, the only one going to be crying is you!” I laughed at their banter. Jasper hated being called plastic man as much as I hated Eddie. Emmett came up with the name as soon as Jasper told us that he was specializing in plastic surgery, and my brother never missed a chance to tease him with it.

Alice’s first few pitches went wild, but once she got into a rhythm she was doing well. Dad hit the ball making it land directly between Bella and mom, both of them ran to get it. Bella got there first, picking it up she threw to Emmett who was covering the base for her but dad was already there.

“That’s alright, that’s alright,” Emmett clapped his hands in a standard coaching technique as he cheered, “That was good coverage little Bella.”

Jasper was up, hitting the first two balls foul, on the second one he argued with Rose that it stayed in the base line. Rose stood her ground and Emmett yelled, “The crying starts already!”

Jasper got so riled up that he hit the next ball high and long right to Emmett who caught it easily. As I stepped up to bat I was having a dilemma with myself of who to hit the ball to. After all, there were women and children on that field, and not just any women, but two of them were the most important women in my life.

Alice’s first pitch sailed by me and Rose called out, “Strike!”

Taking a deep breath I hit the next ball sending it to the space between Vinny and Emmett, dropping the bat I ran, passing first and heading to second when I saw Bella standing on the base. My mind warred with itself, the competitive side said ‘so what’ while the chivalrous side screamed “it’s Bella!”

In the mist of my internal struggle Emmett threw her the ball and she got a smug smile on her face, “Got cha!”

Apparently my girl had no qualms about tagging me out. That fact squashed the gentleman in me quickly.

“Oh, it’s on Swan.”

She grinned with conceit, “Bring it Cullen.”

Dad was stranded on third as Jasper made the last out. Emmett’s line up had the girls batting first, mom and Alice each made it safely to their bases, bringing up Bella who looked awful sexy in her ruffled bikini, holding a bat. She swung at the first two balls Jasper threw, missing them. On the third one she leaned into the pitch, hitting the ball low to my father who was in left. Bella ran towards me and I was so mesmerized by the way her breasts bounced that I completely missed dad throwing the ball. The soft thud against my chest brought me back but it was too late, by the time I picked the ball out of the sand Bella was already safe, and laughing at me.

That’s why girls don’t play baseball - Fucking bouncing breasts

Mom scored the first run of the game when Vinny batted, on Emmett’s turn we turned a triple play, catching the fly, dad ran Alice out at home and I tagged Bella at third. Emmett boasted loudly about taking the lead but it was short lived. We laughed and teased each other all the way through the game. Only stopping to take a break after the third inning to get a drink and check on Mia, who was sleeping in the little collapsible tent by the lounge chairs. At the bottom of the sixth and last inning our team was ahead twelve to nine.

Emmett looked a little dismayed walking quietly off the makeshift field to gather his team for their last at bats. “Ok everybody huddle!”

Jasper, dad and I stood by the pitcher’s mound watching the five of them put their heads together in a circle.

“What the heck is he up to?” Dad wondered.

“I don’t know,” Jasper chuckled, “maybe he’s having flashbacks of last year’s football season. He’s probably trying to explain a crossing route.”
I chucked adding, “Watch at the last minute he’ll call out an audible.”

“Next thing you know they’ll be taking a knee,” Dad chortled.

As we laughed Bella quickly peeked her head out of the circle, with an amused look then quickly got back in line. A few seconds later Emmett jammed his thumb in our direction it appeared that it was going to be a long wait so I needed some specifics. “Dad, when is tee time tomorrow?”

“Nine-thirty, I thought we could leave at eight, go for breakfast …”

“You joining us for breakfast Edward, or do you have other plans?”

Defending myself to Japer I explained that I wasn’t aware of their breakfast plans for that morning and that by the time mom told me, Bella and I had already ordered room service.

“Is that what you call it? Room service…” sarcasm laced Jasper voice.

I was wondering when I would have to hear the backlash of my family catching us on the balcony. Jasper all of a sudden became agitated as he yelled impatiently, “Are you ready yet?”

Emmett stayed in position as he yelled back, “In a minute!”

Jasper let out a deep breath as his eyes fixed on me, his face hardened. “It certainly looked like some kind of servicing was going on.”

My eyes narrowed at the implication, “There was nothing inappropriate going on.”
Jasper either didn’t believe me or he didn’t want to accept it. “Really Edward? That woman who stood down there on the beach giving you a piece of her mind, you’re telling me she got on her knees, because she wanted to?”

That’s right asshole she did

My anger at his words caused me to talk through a clinched jaw, “You shouldn’t talk about something you have no understanding of.”

“Boys,” always the voice of reason my father tried to interject. He looked to me, “Jasper is only talking out of concern for Bella’s welfare.”

The only person who needs to be concerned with Bella’s welfare was me, and I was going to tell him that when dad turned to Jasper, “However, Bella is an adult who can speak for herself and we have to respect her decisions.”

I could tell that Jasper had more to say however instead of lashing back at me he took his frustration out on Emmett. “Come on already!”

Glancing over to see if they were still in the huddle I saw Alice give us a quick glance. As her head went back into the fold I let a sigh of frustration. Jasper meant well, and even though it wasn’t his concern I couldn’t fault him for looking out for Bella. The truth of the matter was that the woman, who –as he said- was giving me a piece of her mind, can be and was the same one who gets on her knees.
It can be hard to understand how a vibrant, strong, independent person can submit their whole self to someone else, yet still be autonomous. The thing most people don’t understand is the ingrained need that lies in the heart of a submissive. It would be simple to say, “It’s just who they are” and leave it at that.

The answer is so much more complex yet simple in the basic philosophy. Every person on the face of this earth wears several hats, often more than one at the same time. A solitary woman in one single day takes on many different facets of life. She is wife, mother, daughter, sister, employee, neighbor, friend and lover, all rolled into the same person. At any given time she is called upon to implement whatever skills she has learned to flawlessly serve in the desired role.

The submissive side of her nature works the same way. Simply because she has consented to serve a Dominant doesn’t take away from who she is. It is the need to serve that drives her to her knees, yet all those other parts of her are still there. The hopes, dreams, and fears she holds inside her as a wife are all present in the slave. She is human and will at times loose her temper, feel sad, and get moody just like everyone else.

It doesn’t matter how much control a Dominant has over her, whether she is a play slave such as Rose, a true submissive as Bella is, or a slave like Jane. The natural humanity is always there along with all the aspects of her being. In the case of Bella and what Jasper was referring to as her giving me a piece of her mind; it would not have mattered when that discussion occurred, she could no sooner have kept silent at the situation than I could have held back the tides. Submissive or not she would have reacted in the exact same fashion, because that’s who she is.

The woman who shook her finger at me in agitation is the same one who looks loving up at me from her place at my feet. It’s just another role that makes up the perfection that is my Bella.

“Break!” Emmett yelled.

“It’s about time!” Jasper called out still sounding a bit disgruntled.

We were going to have to talk

Looking over at Bella I smiled at the sight of my mother and her standing off to the side. Mom had an arm draped over Bella’s shoulder as they spoke amongst themselves. Vinny followed Emmett to where they were talking, my brother wrapped his arm over Bella’s other shoulder and spun her around so her back was facing me. I couldn’t help but take in the beauty of her form; the muscles in her legs toned and defined leading to the swell of her bottom, which was camouflaged by the tiny ruffles around the bottom of her suit. It might have been masked from everyone else but I knew what was there, all her secrets and treasures couldn’t be hidden from me.

At the thought of the sweet, juicy gem that lay behind a small scrap of beige plaid fabric my dick jolted to life. I hadn’t realized that the groan left my throat until Jasper asked if I was alright. He no longer seemed agitated, yet I knew our talk would be forthcoming. “I’m fine, let’s finish this.”

Yes, finish so I can get started

My dick was screaming at me and no matter how much I tried to curb his eagerness, sometimes little Eddie just had a mind of his own.

I stood in center right waiting as Alice picked up the bat, stopping to listen to whatever last bit of information Emmett was saying to his team. Emmett bent down to Vinny’s level said something and seemed pleased when Vinny nodded in agreement. As Alice took the plate, everyone else dissipated, leaving Bella standing there looking bewildered.

Rose called out the first strike and my dick jump for joy.

One down, eight more to go!

On the second strike my attention went back to Bella who sensing my gaze looked into my eyes. There was no expression on her face, and I wondered once again what was going through that pretty little mind of hers.

She reached her hands up into her hair, jetting her breast out in an offering to me. My eyes stayed focus on the soft mounds that swelled ever so subtlety out over the top of the bikini she was wearing. Blinking my eyes I realized her fingers were threading through the length of her hair. I watched as she gathered it over her shoulders innocently stroking the long tresses until the back of her finger came in contact with her breast. She must have been lost in thought as her knuckles slowly skimmed over the soft peaks.

That was not helping my hard-on.

“Edward pay attention!” dad yelled running to get the ball that rolled to a stop closer to me. By the time he threw it, Alice was already on base and I swear my dick yelled at me.

Shit – now I have to wait longer!

Shaking that thought from my head, I glanced back to Bella who was looking at me with a soft smile which I returned. Thinking that I’d better keep my head in the game my attention went to Vinny. Jasper had moved a few steps closer and on the first pitch he hit the ball in a high arch that came down in the sand between dad and Jasper. Both of them took their time in retrieving it, letting Vinny get to first base and Alice just beat dad back to second.

Mom was up next and I have to admit I was getting a little worried, we were up by three but I knew that none of us would throw out Vinny. No one would dispute that winning was the name of the game, however making a five year old cry to do it was not so good. With that in mind I knew that we had to get Alice out, let mom and Vinny stay on base, then if Bella was next she would have to go, or better still turn a double play on Emmett.

It didn’t matter to me the sequence; the outcome would be the same.

“Ok mom, let’s go!” Emmett called out while clapping his hands.

Mom took the plate and I turned to see Alice shifting back and forth on her feet, leading towards third. Taking a step in her direction she squealed darting back to the base, making me chuckle by sticking her tongue out at me once safely there.
Mom had two balls and a strike on her when I looked over in Bella’s direction. She stared back at me with an intense expression on her face.

What the fuck is she thinking about?

Her eyes grew a little darker as her breathing picked up; she seemed to shift in the sand like she wanted to rub her thighs together. A soft moist tongue peeked out between her lips wetting them just before her top teeth bit softly into the plumpness. The edges of her teeth skimmed over the surface until the hold they held was released and her lip popped free. The look on Bella’s face was so mesmerizing that I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She looked like…like she needed a good fucking.

Holy Hell

The sound of Emmett’s yell broke me from the trance Bella had me under, “Yes! Run mom run!”

Emmett was picking up a bat, he was going next. Taking a few steps back I mentally took a quick survey of the situation. The bases were loaded, there were no outs and Emmett was the winning run. We needed to tag Alice and at the very least get Emmett out so Bella would be up, that would be the end of the game. It’s not that I wanted to take my girl out; it was more of the fact that I had a different game in mind that I wanted to play.

Jasper’s first pitch was a ball and Emmett razzed him about his girly arm. While they exchanged more insults my eyes moved once again to Bella. She looked perplexed as her eyes shifted to something in the sand. Following her gaze to the other bat, I figured that the look of trepidation was from her having to bat next.

Jasper threw a great ball making Emmett swing through the air. Alice who was leading off third base clapped her hands yelling, “Come on Em…bring me home!”

Yeah, like that was going to happen

I knew my brother; he liked to wait for that one perfect ball and then swing for the mountains. With that thought in mind I took one more step back so I could be ready to field because I knew it was coming in my direction.

From the corner of my eye I realized that Bella had moved, she turned slowly on the balls of her feet and walked with exaggerated movements to where the bat lay in the sand. It appeared to me that she was dreading picking the plastic toy up as she stood looking down at it with her hands on her hips. Bending at the waist her hands roamed sensually over her pert little bottom and continued to slide down her thighs. When she was completely bent in half she gripped the plastic bat with both hands.
My mind instinctively envisioned her in that very position, wrist secured to ankles, thighs held tightly together while my hands grip her hips and I bury myself inside her.

The little jolts that had been running through my dick turned into a full fledge pounding as she stood up stroking the plastic bat. Somewhere in the back of my mind I registered the sound of ‘ball three’ but I couldn’t have cared less. Bella placed the bat between her thighs and sunk to her knees in the sand as if she was in a waiting position. Her thighs were spread wide with the end of the bat jetting out between them.

At the sight of her fingertips slowly moving across the skin of her thighs towards the promise land my feet took a few steps towards her. I hadn’t consciously thought
to move, it was pure reflex, she was mine, she was waiting for me and I wanted her.

Now

Somewhere in the haze of lust I remembered where we were and who we were with, it was the only thing that stopped me. My dick however didn’t like that one bit as it painfully pounded against the material of my swim suit. Little Eddie was screaming at me to get over to Bella and it didn’t help the situation at all when Bella’s hand gripped the end of the bat at her crotch and gave it one long stroke.

“Edward, get the ball!”

Dad’s voice yelling at me caused me to wake up, however I still couldn’t move. Shaking my head clear of the fog, my eyes moved from Bella’s hands to her face. She was staring at me and I wanted to tell her to continue but I realized that everyone was running around the bases. The ball had landed twenty feet behind me close to the water’s edge. Picking it up I threw to dad, who threw to Jasper. By that time Alice, Vinny and mom had already scored and Jasper was running to tag Emmett.

“Safe!” Rose called out and their whole team started yelling in excitement while high fiving each other, including Bella who had sometime or another gotten to her feet to stand by mom.

“Women and children…Dudes, we beat you with women and children!” Emmett’s excitement couldn’t be contained as he yelled out in victory. Jasper clearly wasn’t as excited as he questioned, “What the heck were you doing out there Edward?”

What was I doing?

My eyes stared into Bella’s as I thought about what she had done and all I wanted to do was take her up to our room and let her finish what she started. I would have too if not for Vinny’s excited voice breaking through, “You worked it Aunt Bella!”

What?

I must have spoken the word out loud in unison with Jasper. Before Vinny could answer Alice in a somewhat nervous voice told him to go collect the bases.

Something was amiss, and Alice was trying to send away the one person who would tell me what it was. “Wait a minute Vinny. What do you mean worked it?”

His face was bright with excitement as he looked up at me, “Aunt Bella worked it so we could win. Mommy and Uncle Emmett told her to work it good. And she did!”

“She sure did,” I glared at my little tease who took a step behind my mother.

That wasn’t going to help her, wiggling my finger at her I grinned calling her to me, “Come here Bella.”

Her eyes widened as she took another step behind mom shaking her head, “Ah..ut, uh…”

Dad must have figure out that something happened and he questioned, “What did Bella do?” While Jasper started point his finger and yelling, “Shenanigans, I’m calling Shenanigans!”

My eyes were still on Bella who was shrinking further behind my mother, while dad questioned her, “Esme, were you a party to cheating?”

“There was no cheating…” mom tried to explain while Emmett interjected, “You guys lost, face it we are the superior team!”

Thank god for Vinny because the whole story came out, “We didn’t cheat. Uncle Emmett didn’t give Aunt Bella a flashlight.”

“What do you mean flashlight?” Jasper questioned his son who was more than happy to fill in the details, “Uncle Emmett said ‘flash him if you have to’ but he never gave her a flashlight so she couldn’t.”

“Esme!”

Mom got distracted from her protective stance in front of Bella just long enough for me to grab a hold of her arm. She was laughing for a moment until I scooped her up. Then she started to justify herself, “Edward they made me do it!”

“Made you?” I question as I carried her towards the water.

“Yes…they made me. They said take one for the team.”

“Oh, you’re going to take one alright, and you just might get more than one.”

The hold she had around my neck became tighter as we got to the water’s edge, “No…Edward don’t…don’t….please…it’s cold!”

“Well you looked kind of hot a few minutes ago. I’m just trying to keep you comfortable.”

The water was cold as I walked out to my knees with Bella clinging to me begging me, “Please Edward…don’t, it’s so cold!”

I lifted my arms as if I was going to throw her in the water and Bella screamed “No!” while wiggling her body against me. She had moved to an upright position with her chest squashed against mine. My hands loosened their hold and she tightened the hold she had on me to an almost painful level as she wrapped her legs around my waist, clinging to me.

Her fingers threaded through my hair as she looked in my eyes pleading with me, “Please don’t.”

I wasn’t really going to drop her in the water; I just wanted to scare her a little.
“Edward,” the tone of my mother’s voice reminded of times when she scolded us, “don’t you do it.”

Looking over my shoulder, mom was standing on the shoreline with her hands on her hips, daring me to defy her. Bella smiled at me as if she had been saved, but I wasn’t ready to let her off just yet, “But mom, did you see what she did to me?”

Actually I was hoping that mom hadn’t seen, so I was happy with her reply, “I wasn’t watching.”

Good

I thought the word as Bella said it out loud. Our eyes meet and I smiled at her letting her know that she was indeed going to stay dry, “You are quite the tease Ms. Swan.”

Bella smiled as mom called out, “Edward?”

“I won’t.” I said dejectedly smiling down at the woman in my arms who was beaming back at me. “She likes me.”

“What’s not to like?” I asked just before our lips met in a kiss.

My toes were starting to get numb and even though the water was freezing my dick was coming back to life. I figured one hard-on the size of Mount Everest in front of my mother was enough for one day. As I turned to walk back out of the water Bella stopped me.

“What’s that?” she pointed over to something red floating on the surface a few feet away from us. Keeping my hold on Bella we went over to investigate. The small red globe floated on the surface of the water coming closer to us. As it came to within our reach Bella took it out of the water. It was a red glass ball that looked like an artesian had made it. Bella continued to inspect the ball until we got out of the water, where she showed me a number on the area where the glass had been sealed.
Rose and mom were curious about what we had found but Alice knew exactly what it was. She called it a floating fairy. Local artists had started making hand blown glass orbs for the millennium celebration in an attempt to boost the tourist trade.

Every year since then, they make and release two thousand of the floating fairies into the ocean for people to find. The discoverer is allowed to keep them and is given a phone number so that the piece can be registered and the artist is revealed.
Carl was behind the desk when we took the floating fairy in to see if the hotel had the phone number to call. Much like the day we checked in, he was checking out Bella. She had put the white cover-up back on, but the neck hole was very loose, leaving a nice glimpse of the top of her breast, which Carl couldn’t take his eyes off. After he seemed to get enough of a look he was able to give us what we wanted.
We took the floating fairy up to our room; Bella had me make the call because she didn’t want to put her name or address out for public records. After telling the lady on the other end of the phone line the number that was on our piece she told me the artist name and then asked for my name. She told me that the certificate of authenticity would be mailed to us. The last thing she needed was how I wanted the certificate to state our names. There was absolutely no hesitation on my part at her suggestion of, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cullen.’

Now I only had to hope Bella wouldn’t mind.