Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

"Edward, what…are you all right?" Isabella asked her husband as she shook her head and wondered what was going on.

Her question was quelled quickly as Edward's mouth covered hers and she was given a kiss like one she hadn't gotten in some time. It was full of love and need and infinite tenderness and it immediately brought tears to her lovely brown eyes. His lips met her soft ones and he expertly teased and prodded until she opened her mouth to allow him entrance. Edward tried to not let the feelings that were swarming around him completely overwhelm him, but it was hard now that he was finally here with her.

In the back of his mind he knew that he was acting completely out of character. He knew there would be questions he didn't want to answer. He knew that right there, right then, was the beginning of a painful process that he would have to undertake; that he would have to admit to his past actions and that there was every possibility that Isabella would never forgive him, no matter how good and forgiving a person she was.

For right now though, none of that mattered. What did matter was the woman in his arms and the one he needed more than ever before.

"Edward," Isabella breathed out in delighted surprise when it became necessary for him to release her mouth to allow them both a much needed breath.

"Isabella," Edward responded back to her as his large hand cupped her now pink cheek. He grinned in satisfaction as he watched his gorgeous wife melt against his hand and sigh deeply. He sat down next to her on the oversized chaise and drank in the sight of her.

"You are so beautiful," Edward said on a sigh as he ran his long fingers through her silky hair. As he watched the strands slide between his fingers, he wondered how he managed to go days or weeks without feeling the exquisite softness. Immediately following, he wondered how he was ever going to manage to go hours or hell even minutes without touching it.

Isabella gasped at both the gesture and the words. They were both beautiful and for any other woman, probably things that were heard with, at the very least, some frequency, but as she quickly went through her mind she couldn't remember the last time he'd been so complimentary.

In the five years they had been married it wasn't often that Edward showed such outward affection for his wife and Isabella was immediately alarmed, thinking that something had to have precipitated his certainly uncharacteristic mood.

Maybe he'd gotten bad news while he was away? Maybe he was sick and delirious with fever? Maybe he'd taken some sort of mind-altering drug?

Isabella shook her head as the ridiculous thoughts raced through her mind but she knew something had changed in her husband. She could feel it in the gentleness of his touch and could see it in the emerald green eyes that seemed to glow in the fading sunlight.

"Are you finished?" Edward questioned as he pointed to the manuscript that lay across her toned stomach.

Isabella nodded at him and he chuckled softly quite amused at her inability to speak. He knew, of course, that he had taken her completely by surprise. He could kick himself in the ass for allowing the mesmerizing woman in front of him to be so shocked by a mere compliment and sweet gesture.

Damn, he had a lot of making up to do, Edward thought to himself.

Edward gently lifted the stack of papers from her and set them down carefully on the deck so as to not lose her place in her work. He stared down at her, for a moment completely speechless, as Isabella looked at him with eyes full of wonder and hope.

There was so fucking much he wanted, he needed to say to her but he couldn't even form a coherent thought in his mind. His heart was beating so loudly he was positive it was going to explode out of his chest. His hands shook and his stomach was tied in knots. His wife, his life's partner, laid before him, had been waiting for him to return. Even after the horrid way he had treated her at times since they'd been married, she was willing to let him make love to her.

He was blown away by the strength of her commitment to him and to their marriage. So much so he was almost overcome by his shame in allowing himself to be so thoughtless and neglectful to her.

Almost.

His need for her, his need to claim her again as a husband claims a wife quickly pushed all those thoughts away. Oh, he had no doubt they would return, but for now the ache for his wife outweighed anything else.

"I'm going to make love to you now, my beautiful Isabella," Edward said softly as he moved his body so that he had one knee on the chaise beside her as he bent down to capture her velvety lips in a scorching kiss.

Isabella's mind was a chaotic mess as she tried to reconcile the man kissing her with wild abandon to the man who left the house just a few short days ago. The one that left was hardened, closed off from everyone, and difficult. The one that was currently turning her body into a pile of mush and made wetness pool between her thighs was infinitely gentle, passionate, and needy.

Edward moved his lips from his wife's and placed them along the delicate expanse of her neck. His tongue swirled and licked and he couldn't remember tasting anything so divine in all his life. Even the angelic scotch he'd consumed paled in comparison to the taste of Isabella.

What the hell had been the matter with him, Edward chastised his dumb ass…again. He was positive that if he berated himself from sunup to sundown from today until when his time was up, he wouldn't even come close to the amount of derision he deserved.

With quick, sure movements Edward slid his hands across the toned muscles of Isabella's stomach and then inched them higher until they covered her breasts. He could feel her heart beating in a cadence that matched his own, and while it made him achingly sad, it also filled him with joy.

The fact that she still allowed him to touch her, to make love to her after the pain and heartbreak she had to have felt at his thoughtlessness, astounded him. Edward vowed to himself, without the need of a reminder from the annoying angel person, that he would spend whatever time he had left on this Earth, be it days, weeks, or months, loving and adoring his wife.

His Isabella.

The words spoken reverently, though only in his mind, swept through every part of his body and filled him with such a sense of completeness he wasn't sure he was strong enough to keep the intense feelings from bursting forth. That connection, that unknown, unexplainable feeling he got whenever he was near her was present, and this time it felt like a living, breathing force. He didn't understand it, but had come to accept it, but he knew he'd never felt its presence as he did now. He had never allowed himself to feel it before now.

Isabella watched her husband through lust-filled eyes and was stunned at the sight before her. Edward was an inhumanly beautiful man but looking at him now was almost painful. Without the mask that he carefully and fastidiously wore everyday to protect himself from whatever horrors he kept locked inside, he took her breath away. His eyes weren't guarded; instead they blazed with so much emotion she felt like she was being hypnotized. The jaw that was usually held firm was relaxed and when she reached up and ran her fingers along the length of it, they left a trail of molten fire in their wake.

Edward sighed in contentment at the feel of her feather-soft fingertips and was shocked when the fingers that were caressing him also trembled.

"Isabella, love, are you cold?" Edward questioned his wife as he ran his hands along the skin under her tank top. Beneath his fingers he felt her skin break out in goosebumps and he immediately chastised himself for allowing his needs and wants to come before her comfort.

Never again, he reminded himself sternly. Never again would her feelings be disregarded.

Edward moved to get up but she surprised him by grasping his arms to hold him in place.

Isabella didn't want the moment to end. She wasn't the least bit cold. In fact, where Edward's hands moved, her skin felt like it was on fire. Desire burned deep and profound inside of her and she would be damned if she let this moment go. She had no idea what was going on with her husband, but for the first time in much too long, he looked at her with love in his eyes and she was determined to enjoy whatever the hell this was, for however long it lasted.

"Edward, no, sweetheart." Isabella gently shook her head. "I'm not cold at all."

"You're sure?" he questioned, needing to make sure she was comfortable.

She nodded her head. The brown hair that framed her heart-shaped face fell across her tiny shoulders and covered her sinfully sexy collarbones. Edward felt something primal stir within him and he bent forward trailing hot, wet, open-mouthed kisses from her shoulder across her collarbones and up her neck.

"I need you, Isabella," he breathed out into her ear as he let his tongue curl around her earlobe.

Isabella groaned wantonly in her throat, the feel of Edward's glorious tongue against her skin sent tingles to the place between her legs that ached to feel his touch. Feeling bolder than normal due to Edward's strange but welcomed behavior, she shifted her body and arched against him. She reached her trembling hands up and ran them through his hair. She placed her lips next to his ear where she whispered in a voice that was so full of all she was feeling…love, lust, want, need, hope… "Then take me, Edward."

Needing no further encouragement from his wife than that, Edward frantically removed her top and then her pants. His eyes devoured her when the garments were thrown haphazardly to the side and his breath caught in his throat. The navy blue scraps of lace Isabella had picked out for her husband did their job well, as he was not only breathless, but speechless. The dark blue stood out starkly against her flawless pale skin. The candles that flickered in the night breeze cast a glow that danced across her body and made her look more otherworldly than human.

She was, without a doubt, the most magnificent being Edward had ever laid his eyes on and quite unexpectedly the sight brought tears to his eyes.

"Edward," Isabella whispered softly, pulling him from the trance he'd found himself in. "Are you okay?" she asked in a voice laced with worry.

She reached up to touch him as he bent over her. Her fingers traced the lines across his forehead and down the side of his face and across his cheekbones. Her thumbs wiped the tender skin beneath his eyes, and Isabella was shocked when she felt the wetness of his tears. "Edward, what has happened? Is everything all right?"

He couldn't speak, too overcome with emotion, but he didn't want this moment to be about anything but them coming together so he placed his lips over hers and kissed her deeply.

"Shh, Isabella. Nothing in this moment is more important than you," he said when he'd finally gotten control of his spiraling emotions.

"Let me make love to you. Please? I need you so badly," he told her as he pressed the evidence of his need against her thigh as he hovered over top of her small frame.

Isabella reacted in a most pleasurable way when she felt him shift along her body. The friction each of their movements created caused them each to groan into the other's mouth as they kissed again. Edward began fumbling with the buttons of his dress shirt and was somewhat shocked when she placed her hands on top of his to still his movements.

"Let me do that. You'll rip the shirt if you don't slow down," Isabella stated and then blushed adorably as she slipped the first button through the hole. When her fingers ghosted over his chest, Edward sucked in a sharp breath and reached down to stop her.

"Fuck the shirt," he hissed as he grabbed it and flung it open. The sounds of the buttons plinking across the wooden deck mixed with the sounds of the music floating out of the speakers. When Isabella looked up into the eyes of her husband, the emerald green she was so used to had changed to almost black. If she didn't know him as well as she did she might very well be afraid of him, but she knew he would never hurt her, physically at least.

Edward lifted himself away from her, but only so he could quickly rid himself of his pants and boxers.

Isabella watched her husband with hungry eyes and didn't even try to stop her breathing as it began coming in quicker, shorter bursts. She wanted him, desperately so, and having him here in front of her, with the same need and want she felt, was almost too much for her.

He laid down again, pressing his body firmly against hers and Isabella and Edward both felt as if their bodies were fused together. His lips claimed hers again and his tongue dipped slowly into her waiting mouth. Once, twice, a third time. Each time, they twirled and twisted their tongues against the other, relishing in the feelings the intimate act brought forth.

Holy hell, Edward thought in some part of his brain. He flicked his tongue purposefully against hers and the sound that came from her caused his erection to grow even harder against her. A feat he thought was surely impossible.

"Isabella, please love, I need to be inside of you," he panted as he began to rock against the smooth skin of her thigh.

Edward reached down on the side of the chaise and released the lever that would lower them back down and as he did he moved so he was fully settled between her thighs. Christ, he thought to himself, she's so damn wet and warm already. As his mouth descended and he took a hard nipple in between his lips he wondered, yet again, how he was going to be able to go without touching her, tasting her, feeling her for any length of time ever again.

He continued with his ministrations moving from one breast to the next, teasing and tasting until Isabella was a writhing mess beneath him. Her legs spread wider to allow him to press himself even more fully against her and he couldn't help the groan that escaped his mouth when the scent of her arousal filled the air around them.

Again, he was the biggest asshole in the world. How he ever managed to make love to the woman beneath him and then retire to his bed, alone, had to be one of the stupidest and most asinine things he'd ever done in his wretched life.

Edward pushed those thoughts, and the thoughts of angels, and airplanes, and mistakes far, far away and concentrated on his wife beneath him. He was hard and aching, and she was wet and wanting, and there was no more time to waste.

He reached between their bodies and hastily pushed the fragile lace panties down Isabella's legs and then reached behind her back, taking the time to brush his fingertips across the sensitive skin to unclasp her bra and slipped it down her shoulders.

"You are absolutely breathtaking, Isabella," he whispered fervently allowing himself only a moment to memorize the sight of her, naked and glorious, in the fading sunlight before he entered her in one, swift motion.

As he completely filled her, Edward tried to focus on his wife but he couldn't. There were too many things floating in and out of his mind for him to be able to do anything except feel. The falling apart feeling from the plane settled over him as he continued to move in and out of her. He was so overwhelmed he couldn't decide if he wanted to yell out in ecstasy or cry out in shame for all the mistakes he'd made.

Isabella was freefalling. There was no other word to describe the way her body felt right at the moment. She wrapped her legs tightly around Edward's waist and with every thrust into her she raised her hips instinctively to meet him. Hips ground against hips, lips crashed against lips and fingers plunged in hair of brown and hair of bronze.

"Oh, Edward. Yes…so good, you feel so good," she panted as her tiny hands gripped the muscles that flexed in his biceps.

All it took was one look into the brown eyes beneath him and nothing else existed, nothing else mattered, except for her. All the thoughts he'd just had disappeared as Isabella's sweet cries of pleasure filled the air around them.

"That's it, Isabella. Let it go, love. Let me hear you come," he whispered as his hips swiveled and moved against her.

Her body was slick with sweat and her center was positively dripping wet as Edward slid fluidly in and out of her. She had never felt anything like it before, not even on her wedding night or during their honeymoon. Not any time since, either. Whatever was happening to them right then was on a whole other level of ecstasy, the likes of which she couldn't even have begun to imagine.

Isabella reached up and clutched Edward's shoulders as her orgasm continued to build until suddenly it exploded and she shattered in her husband's arms.

"Edward…oh God…it's too much…oh yes," she muttered incoherently as she came again, this time with such a force that all she saw was a blinding white light.

"Yes, Isabella…oh fuck…I'm coming," he panted against her neck as he released inside of her.

Their mutual release left them in a boneless, limp state as they continued to hold each other. He was never one for cuddling after having sex with Isabella, but today he couldn't move if he wanted to. His fingers ran up and down her arms and he placed numerous kisses along her shoulders and cheeks.

Isabella may have been a virgin on her wedding night, but after numerous talks with her Nonna and her mother before the day arrived, she had been given more advice than she cared to hear. She was well aware of the night time activities of Charlie and Renée Swan and her closest friend, Angela, had told her many stories of her experiences with her long-time boyfriend, Ben. She'd read about more sex than Charlie would ever want to know about. She'd seen it on television and heard it sung about in songs.

She may have chosen to save herself to give to her husband on their wedding night but that did not make her a prude. Nor did it make her shy when it came to the act itself. Isabella was eager and excited to experience sex and as Edward undressed her in the middle of their Honeymoon Suite in the Grand Hotel in Rome, she happily let her husband take her virginity. He had been surprisingly tender and gentle with her and in turn she had been willing and enthusiastic. As has happened throughout all of time, the first time ended with a bit of pain and a bit of blood.

Due to the long flight to Italy preceded by the intimate but extravagant wedding Edward and Isabella had had, making love one time was all their exhausted bodies could manage. However, they more than made up for the egregious mistake during the remainder of their stay in Rome. Edward had promised Isabella he would take her to all the museums, cathedrals, shopping centers, and restaurants they could fit in their two week honeymoon, but managed only a trip to the Vatican during their time in Italy. The remainder of it was spent making love on every surface imaginable in the suite, not to mention the pool, the elevator, and a few others as well.

Edward was more than pleasantly surprised by his new bride's voracious sexual appetite. While no one would ever dare call Edward Cullen a demonstrative man, the two weeks he spent in Italy with his newly-deflowered wife could honestly be categorized as the happiest days he'd ever spent. Perhaps it was the freedom from responsibilities or the distance from the painful reminders of his past that allowed him a brief respite from his normally staid life.

The return flight to Chicago was long and made to feel even longer still as Isabella watched with horrified eyes as her husband turned from carefree and buoyant to closed off and cold. Gone were the tender touches, the casual looks, or the presses of soft kisses to her temple for no apparent reason. In its place was restraint and aloofness and Isabella cried herself to sleep their first night in their new home in Evanston.

Edward heard her of course; they did begin their marriage sharing the same bed at night. However his work schedule, though it was by choice that he was at the office until all hours of the night, coupled with his pretended indifference gave Isabella the push she needed to leave their bedroom and make her own in the room down the hall.

It was a gradual thing, slowly building after years of sporadic intimacy. They made love with a somewhat regular occurrence. It wasn't as frequent as she wished, though. It was almost as if Edward felt it was easier to be close to her while they were making love than by spending a night with her curled up on the couch watching a movie. Isabella tried to talk to him about it on numerous occasions. She got angry, really angry sometimes, and Edward was shown up close and personal just how volatile her temper could be when pushed to her limit. When that didn't work she tried to talk to him calmly. She tried to talk to him in the middle of and after making love, but the moment the subject of his reluctance to share all of himself with her was brought up, he immediately shut down and would remain that way until he felt less cornered.

It really had just gotten to the point where it was too painful to sleep in the same bed as him and feel like he was miles away, so she left. She didn't want to, no woman would ever want such a thing to happen, but it was really the only way she could protect herself from the pain his actions continually caused her. Again, it was less than ideal, and whenever Isabella felt like she had reached the end of her patience with him, her heart would literally feel like it was breaking when she tried to imagine her life without him in it.

He never acknowledged the move outwardly, but the first night alone in his bedroom he paced the hallway more times than could be counted. He would pause every single time at her new bedroom door, poised to knock and beg her to return. And every time he would berate himself for being a cold, heartless bastard, and a scared fucking idiot, and resume his pacing.

So much time wasted, Edward said to himself and he tried to rid himself of the unpleasant thoughts that threatened to come to the forefront.

Once their bodies returned to a normal state, Edward found himself missing being inside of his wife. It was a new feeling and one that would require further examination at a later time. The night had turned a bit cooler and he shifted them so that he lay beside her and was able to wrap an arm around her and pull her close to him. She instinctively curled her tiny body toward his and cuddled against his side, laying her head comfortingly above his heart.

Isabella had no idea what was happening or what had caused her Edward to act in such an uncharacteristic manner but she didn't care at the moment. All she knew was that for the first time in a long time, Edward didn't immediately leave after their lovemaking. He was holding her and if she wasn't mistaken, he was just as loathe to be away from her as she was him. She felt herself being lulled to sleep by the feel of Edward's fingers running through her hair and the soft music playing in the background.

"I love you, Edward," she breathed out just before sleep claimed her.

Edward stopped his movements when he heard the soft words escape her mouth and his heart contracted painfully in his chest. Those four words, so simple really, but so profound at the same time.

"She does, too, you know?" Seth said, materializing beside where Edward lay with Isabella.

A blanket immediately appeared to cover the both of them and Edward had to fight back the jealous urge that flared at the thought of anyone seeing his wife in such a state. Even if that other person…wasn't a person at all.

Once he was able to shift his body and ensure Isabella's privacy, he turned to the annoying being.

"I know she does," Edward murmured softly.

He squirmed under the angel's incessant stare. Seth regarded his charge, noting with distinct pleasure his relaxed features and calm demeanor. There was something different about Edward and Seth was sure he knew what it was, even though as he promised, the reunion between Edward and the delightful Isabella was private between the two of them.

"You love her, too, yes?" Seth questioned with a smirk.

"Without question," Edward answered immediately, filled with too many emotions to even give them all a name.

"So why didn't you tell her?" the angel asked.

Tonight, Edward noticed, the big man was dressed casually. He had on a pair of khaki cargo shorts, a Chicago Cubs t-shirt and red, white, and black Nike Air Max's were on his large feet. He had on a Cubs hat, turned backward, and he reminded Edward of his brother, Emmett.

A sudden wave of nostalgia wafted over him and like with Isabella, Edward suddenly wanted to see his brother. Their relationship was strained due to his mercurial nature but the easygoing Emmett loved his brother with all his heart. Edward was well aware of that fact, though again like with his wife, he didn't usually acknowledge it. Instead, like was his nature to do, he kept himself from getting too close.

A twenty year pattern of behavior was a very difficult thing to deviate from.

Edward attended Emmett's wedding to his Rosie but never showed up for the births of either of their children. He was absent the days Father O'Connor baptized each one. Edward did not know that Emmett had desperately wanted him to be the godfather to his son Jack, but Rosie convinced him that it made no sense to even ask him. Isabella attended both baptisms, accompanied by her parents and grandmother. Isabella was even Emma's godmother. Edward's best friend, hell one of his only friends, Jasper, was Emma's godfather. According to Jasper, he was just filling in until Edward pulled his head out of his ass and then Jasper would willingly give Edward the duties that should be his in the first place.

While Edward lived his life blindly, hiding from those around him for the most part, his family never stopped loving him. His behavior had scarred them all deeply and though no one was privy to the dark places inside of Edward, everyone knew they existed. Isabella wasn't even privy to the demons Edward fought within himself.

Edward was adopted by Carlisle and Esme Cullen when he was fourteen-years-old. When he arrived at the Cullen household after a quick and very necessary adoption, Emmett had already been adopted by the wonderful duo many years before. Emmett was adopted when he was only two and never knew his biological parents. Emmett loved his parents, he truly did, but he was lonely being an only child. Carlisle and Esme had discussed adopting another child numerous times, but whenever it came time to contact their lawyer and begin preparations something always held them back.

It was if they were waiting for a sign and it came in the form of their nephew, Edward. He was the son of Esme's estranged sister, Maggie, and her husband, Liam. At the time of their death, the facts of which only Edward knew, Esme hadn't spoken a word to her sister since before Edward was born. Maggie had had a falling out with her father over her relationship with Liam, and when forced to choose between her family or her love, like any headstrong seventeen-year-old girl, she chose the man.

Edward had endured years and years of despair by the time he went to live with the aunt and uncle he'd only heard about and it had caused severe damage to him. Edward was reserved, aloof, and distant. Edward spoke only when spoken to, interacting with his family only when it became absolutely necessary to do so. No matter how much his family wished differently, Edward was always on the outside of his family looking in.

"Mmmm, Edward," Isabella murmured in her sleep, pulling him, thankfully, back to the present.

There was time to revisit the first fourteen years of his life later. Here, with a beautiful woman laying serenely in his arms, was neither the time nor the place.

"Why did you not tell her you loved her, Edward Anthony?" Seth questioned as he regarded his charge.

Edward quickly put the thoughts of his birth parents out of his mind and glanced at the angel again. "Because I don't deserve to tell her again. What have I done to show her that I love her? Why would she ever believe a word that came out of my mouth? No, when I next tell my wife I love her she will know, without a doubt, that what I say is true. Actions speak louder than words, yes?" Edward asked Seth.

Edward didn't often tell his wife he loved her; a fact of which he admitted with a heavy heart. There wasn't much about love he understood, and what he understood was too painful for him to think about. The feelings he had for his wife, that he'd had for her since the first moment they met, scared the ever-living shit out of him; they always had.

Seth was, in all actuality, stunned by the words Edward had just spoken. While Seth knew what haunted Edward, it was most unexpected for him to act in such a way.

"Edward, are you all right?" Seth asked, sounding more human than otherworldly. So much so that Edward chuckled, which in turn caused Isabella to stir in her slumber.

Edward bent his head down and whispered softly in his wife's ear and ran his fingers lovingly through her hair as it fell across his chest. She immediately calmed and with a tiny sigh, fell asleep once more. "Of course I'm fine," Edward said in a measured tone as he turned to face the angel person. "Wouldn't you know if I wasn't?" he questioned as he thought for the first time since he'd arrived home about the reason for the annoying being's presence in the first place.

"I presume so, yes," Seth answered affirmatively. "However, even I am at a loss for your rather sudden and total change of demeanor," the angel stated.

Edward thought seriously for a moment before he began to speak. "This isn't a trick or anything like that, is it? I mean you say you've been sent to help me put my life in order before it's my time to go. Is that really true? I'm really going to die?" he asked, trying to choke back the despair that threatened to spill out.

"Yes, Edward Anthony, what I've told you is the truth. You know I can't lie to you, nor would I. When I was given my duty to help you I was told that you did not have long before the end would come. I know my kind's interpretation is much different from you human's, but time is of the essence nonetheless," Seth said as he tried to figure out the complex man in front of him. "Why do you ask?"

"When I die, will she be okay?" Edward asked in a voice that was so full of pain it was hard for Seth to hear.

"Edward, Isabella loves you deeply. She will never love another the way she does you," the angel said softly, his voice sounding more like bells than the thundering drums it usually did. "While your passing will cause her tremendous pain and she will mourn your loss for many years, she will move on. Much like her Nonna, though the ineffable Gianna Santoro had many, many more years with her Angelo than Isabella will be granted with you, sadly," Seth finished.

"Do you know how I will die?" Edward asked, not entirely positive he wanted to hear the answer.

"I do not," Seth answered.

It was true. When Seth was given his assignment and was given all the pertinent information he needed, Seth had been in such a hurry it was a wonder there was any time to make the necessary preparations. While the angel was well aware of the monumental task ahead of him, there was no one who would be better equipped to handle Edward Anthony Cullen than Seth.

"What do I do now?" Edward asked, this time really wanting to know the answer.

"Well, if I am not mistaken, and we've already readily established I am NEVER wrong, the lovely Isabella will be waking momentarily. Just a word of warning my young friend, you will have some massive explaining to do."

Seth let out a booming laugh that shook the ground.

"I'll be close by if you need me, Eddie. I can't wait to see this," the annoying being chuckled as he faded into the night.

Edward shook his head and looked at his delectable wife. Surely the angel was mistaken, right? There was no way Isabella…soft, quiet, and gentle Isabella would ever be anyone to be afraid of…was there?

The way they'd just made love and the way it felt to hold her as she slept lulled Edward into a most false sense of security. He cringed as he realized that while he might choose to pretend he had fooled his wife, he knew nothing was further from the truth. Isabella could spot bullshit from a mile away and he was quite certain that no matter how much he wished in this case he could hide from her, he knew in fact he could not.

Isabella awoke from the best, most restful sleep she could remember. Her limbs were relaxed and her heart and mind were full of nothing but the way Edward had kissed her and the way he held her while she slept. She stretched and moved enticingly against her husband and said husband had to grit his teeth to hold in the moan of pleasure as his wife's lithe body moved along his.

"Hello, love, did you have a nice nap?" Edward asked his wife sweetly as he pushed her hair back over her shoulder and bent down to kiss her naked shoulder.

Before his lips reached their target, the sweet wife he was used to turned into the ball of fire Renée Swan and Gianna Santoro knew so well.

"Now you just wait a damn minute, Edward Anthony Cullen. I want to know what the hell is going on with you and I want to know right now!" Isabella demanded as she reached down and grabbed her husband's ruined dress shirt and slipped her arms in. She tied the shirt closed to give herself a bit of modesty and Edward nearly groaned out loud at the sight in front him.

His wife stood before him, her brown eyes seemingly lit from within they blazed so brightly. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was a gorgeous mess of brown curls from her nap and Edward's fingers. Her legs were so firm and shapely and the dark blue dress shirt he had worn with his suit set off her pale skin in such a way that Edward was nearly breathless at the sight of her. Gone was the demure wife he'd made love to; in her place was a breathtaking Italian siren who was going to get the answers she was looking for.

"So why don't you tell me where the real Edward Cullen is because he is most definitely not you!" Isabella said and leveled her bottomless brown eyes at him.

Shit, where was an angel when you needed one?

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