Chapter Nineteen - The Final Countdown (Teaser #2)

“Bella…” Edward squeezed my hands tightly, silently urging me to look up at him. When I didn’t, he let go of my hands and gently tilted my chin up with his finger. The expression on his face made my heart clench.

I can’t. I don’t know how. “I…”

He has a right to know.

“Talk to me,” he urged. Sighing softly, I reached up and held his hands again, lowering them between us to give myself the strength I needed to do this.

“Edward…” I stared down at the floor, suddenly feeling sick with anxiety.

“Baby, you’re scaring me.”

Baby…

“I don’t know for sure, but-” I took a few deep breaths, trying desperately to calm myself. It didn’t work.

He squeezed my hands encouragingly, giving me that final push to look up at him again.

“I’m late.”

Chapter Nineteen - The Final Countdown (Teaser)

“God, I hate this…” I muttered under my breath. Edward sighed softly, then moved to stand directly behind me.

“What can I do?” he murmured.

“Come here?” I pleaded, reaching back with one hand and pulling him closer. He put his hands on my hips with barely any pressure and deliberately held his body away from mine, even when I pushed back to try and meet him.

“Bella…”

“I need you closer,” I explained, then groaned in discomfort. Not again…

“I’m going to get Di-”

“No!” I lifted my head much too quickly, then dropped it back down again as the nausea intensified. “Edward, I don’t need Didyme, okay? I need…” everything to sort itself out so I don’t regret not taking Didyme’s keys and leaving like we both wanted to. “I need comfort, so please… Come clo- Ugh, fuck…”

Chapter Eighteen - When You Call (Teaser #2)

“So, uh… We’re good?” he asked nervously, pressing his forehead against mine.

“Almost,” I murmured, then looped my arms around his neck and gently threaded my fingers through his hair. “I don’t think we’ve finished making up yet.”

“Oh, you don’t?” he teased lightly as he raised his head and grinned at me.

“Mmm…” I mumbled, glancing over to the bedside table briefly to try and look at the clock. “What time is it?”

“A little after five,” he replied. “Don’t worry; we have plenty of time. Marcus has something to give to us before we go, anyway, so we don’t even have to worry about packing yet.”

My stomach rumbled as he spoke, and I groaned internally; I’d been sick a few days before, and my appetite had become more than a little unpredictable. Stomach, can’t you just wait a little while longer?

“Hungry, baby?” Edward murmured softly, looking down at my stomach. I blushed, then nodded.

“Since it’s so early… Do we have time do order breakfast in bed and not have to worry about sacrificing our… make up time?” I tried not to look as hopeful as I felt, but Edward’s smirk let me know I’d failed. Miserably. “Please?”

“I’ll go get the menu.”

Chapter Eighteen - When You Call (Teaser)

As I walked over to the bed again, I tried to reassemble the phone as best I could, then flipped it open and pressed the power button. By some minor miracle, it turned on, and I frowned when a message popped up telling me I had a missed call from a number that looked familiar but I couldn’t quite place.

Before I had the chance to call the person back, the phone started to ring, from a withheld number this time. I hesitated. If it was Carlisle ringing…

Fuck.

I took a deep breath, then answered the call and held the phone up to my ear.

“Hello?”

I heard muffled whispering on the other line, and felt a jolt of fear rush up my spine; What if someone was trying to trace the call or had found out who I really was?

But something told me it wasn’t anything bad, so I decided to give it one more try.

“Hello?”

A pause.

“Mommy?”

Chapter Seventeen - Love is Worth the Fall (Teaser #2)

“Edwar-”

“Let me finish!” He sat down in front of me on the bed, gazing straight into my eyes. I wanted to pinch myself to check I wasn’t dreaming. “I don’t care that Carlisle won’t approve of us, because he means nothing to me anymore. He left me to rot, and you came to save me. You fucking… You gave me a reason to keep breathing. So you don’t get to interrupt me and stop me from saying what I feel anymore, okay? I love you. I don’t care that we’ve only known each other this long. I know what I feel, and I’m tired of fighting it.”

Chapter Seventeen - Love is Worth the Fall (Teaser)

“It’s silent,” I mumbled. “Why is it so-”

“Isabella.”

I sat up in shock, fisting my hand in Edward’s shirt as I held the phone closer to my ear.

“Carlisle,” I said softly, trying not to let my nerves shine through.

“What have I told you about calling me at home?”

I gritted my teeth and fought the urge to get snarky with him. “We didn’t hear back from you, and I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Yes, well, something else popped up that was more important, so…”

I clenched my eyes shut and exhaled a long breath through my nose. Okay, I deserved that.

“Is he there with you?” Carlisle asked, though we both knew he was aware of the answer.

“Yes, he is,” I told him. “But Juliet isn’t.”

Carlisle sighed. “What do you want to talk about, Isabella?”

“You’re calling me Isabella now?”

He just hummed noncommittally, which hurt more than I cared to admit. Edward looked up at me worriedly, so I tried to smile reassuringly, but when his expression didn’t change, I knew it hadn’t worked.

“Anyway, uh…” God, this was hard. “I need a favor from you.”

“A favor?”

Here goes nothing.

“I’m… I’m breaking out with Romeo and Juliet on Thanksgiving. And I can’t do it without your help.”

Chapter Sixteen - Those Three Words (Teaser #3)

“You ready for this?”

“Nope,” I replied truthfully as I climbed off his lap and he reached over for one of our bags to pull out the phone. “You?”

“Nope.”

We both laughed, and Edward leaned forwards to give me a quick kiss before switching the phone on and waiting for it to load up.

“I’m nervous,” I admitted, watching him type in the number for Carlisle’s office.

“Me too,” Edward murmured, taking my hand in his and smiling as he pressed the call button and held the phone up to his ear.

I squeezed his hand tightly as we waited.

“Be-” Edward began, then inhaled sharply when someone picked up on the other end of the line. “Hello?”

Chapter Sixteen - Those Three Words (Teaser #2)

“I have… plans for us tonight, and since we forgot to pack a certain bottle…”

“Oooooh. I see.” Forcing myself to push through the nausea, I slid my leg over both of his and straddled his lap, focusing my gaze on his. “And what makes you think I’ll be letting your plans become reality?”

He smiled slowly, then slipped both his hands below my skirt and cupped my ass, pulling me closer. I settled down against him, wrapping my arms around his neck, then sighed softly as he moved his lips to my ear and whispered, “I need to buy a disposable cell phone for you to use when you call them.”

I smirked, trying to stay in character, then rolled my hips against his and leaned back as he started kissing my neck. “Okay, then. And, uh… when, exactly, are you going to carry out your… plans?”

He grinned. “That depends. Once we get up to our room, how long do you think it’ll take you to get rid of these?” He gestured to my clothes.

“Hmmm…” I leaned in until my lips were beside his ear and whispered, “Twenty-five seconds.”

Chapter Sixteen - Those Three Words (Teaser)

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I told him, moving back to put some space between us and smiling. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just… I was just thinking.”

“About?” he prompted, turning round to face me fully now.

“Nothing,” I lied. “I was thinking about nothing.”

“Why don’t I believe you?” His brows furrowed briefly, but then understanding seemed to dawn on him. “Is this about… Yesterday, did I…”

“I don’t…”

“It’s not that I… Bella, what I said yesterday, about us not planning on having children? That wasn’t-”

“It’s fine,” I cut across, shrugging. “Seriously. You don’t have to explain.”

“I do,” he countered, then moved closer and took my hands in his. “I do, because I upset you and hurt you and I was…” He shook his head in frustration. “I was an ass, okay, Bella? I wasn’t thinking straight, and I spoke without considering the effects it would have on you.”

“Edward…” I squeezed his hands and tried to pull him towards me, but he wouldn’t allow me to.

“It’s not that I don’t want to have kids. I just… Now isn’t the right time for that.” He looked straight into my eyes. “One day… Maybe. But not right now. Not when so much is at stake and our lives are not our own.”

Chapter Fifteen - Brick By Boring Brick (Teaser #2)

"Fuck…” he breathed once he was as deeply inside me as possible, burying his face in my neck. I wrapped my arms around him tightly, hugging him to me, then whimpered in protest as he started to pull his hips back.

“Sorry,” he said softly, stilling immediately.

“I’m not hurt,” I murmured quickly. “I just… Stay still for a sec?”

He raised his head and gazed into my eyes for a few moments, smiling slightly. “Okay, baby.”

Sighing softly, he pressed his forehead against mine, and I had to close my eyes as I let myself absorb all the emotions and sensations of the moment.

I loved feeling him like this. There was nothing that compared to it, nothing that felt as good, and I hated knowing that we couldn’t stay this way for longer. It was never enough.

"Bella?” I slowly opened my eyes again, and once he was sure my gaze was on his, he slowly began to move his hips, first with shallow thrusts, then ones that were much deeper. I tried to keep my eyes open as long as possible, wanting to keep that connection, but then he kissed me and I couldn’t help but close them.

This moment belonged to us, and I wanted to shut everything else out, even though it would only be for a few precious seconds.