Courtyard

A/N: This was inspired by watching the reunion scene in New Moon, and seeing the utter
happiness on Edward‟s face when he has Bella in his arms again – it made even my black little
heart go „awww‟. Of course, the fact that Robward was half naked then recaptured my attention and
led to the following one-shot.

Stephenie Meyer owns everything but what my (deviant) imagination concocts.

We all know the events leading up to Bella throwing herself at Edward in Volterra. My deviation
starts

“I can‟t believe how quick it was. I didn‟t feel a thing – they‟re very good,” he mused, closing his
eyes again and pressing his lips against my hair.

“You smell like heaven,” he murmured. His grip around me tightened, and in a whirl of color we
moved, so quickly the world was still spinning behind my eyes when Edward came to a stop. I
knew we were out of the shadow of the clock tower, but couldn‟t tear my focus away from him to
look. “I must be in heaven, if you‟re here with me.” His fingers were stroking a path down my face
and neck, little brushes that sent sparks along my frayed nerves.

“Edward, I‟m not - ” I started, but was cut off by his lips on mine.

Oh, this was what I‟d been missing all these months. This connection, soft meeting hard, warm
meeting cool, the way he set my pulse pounding. He cradled me against him because I was
incapable of holding myself up, and it was all I could do to keep my arms around his neck, and my
body pressed up against him. The taste of him, the scent of him that I was submerged in – all the
months faded away, and it was like we‟d never been apart.

I put everything I had into it, waiting for the moment when Edward would pull away from me, but
when it came, it wasn‟t what I expected at all.

My body stayed moulded to his, and his lips only left mine to whisper to me, brushing against my
mouth as he spoke.

“I‟m sorry I left you.” Soft as moth‟s wings, he grazed his lips over mine. “I‟m sorry I lied to you.”
Another barely-there kiss. “It was only to protect you.” His tongue slipped from his mouth and
licked softly along my lower lip, leaving a trail of sweetness behind. I had to gasp for air, taking his
breath in as my own, and my memory hadn‟t done justice to the scent of him. “I never stopped
loving you.” He took advantage of my parted lips to push his tongue into my mouth, not tentatively
at all, and all sensible thought left my head – I was lost to new sensations. He‟d never attempted
this before.

He pulled away again when all the air was gone from my lungs. “I can do so much now that I can‟t
hurt you anymore.” His smile was bright and exultant. Oh. He still thought he was dead –

“Edward,” I tried again, “This isn‟t - ”

“Please,” he cut in, “please tell me you forgive me.” The world narrowed to just his dark eyes,
locked on mine, liquid onyx that swirled so deep, sucking me under. I couldn‟t have told him no
even if I meant to.

“Of course I do.”

His smile returned, burning the world away in its brilliance, and I could only smile at him in
return. He took a step forward, moving me backwards. My back hit a wall, not roughly, but it
snapped me back to reality for a second.

We were in a small courtyard, bound on four sides by lemon-colored buildings with shuttered
windows, the high wooden gate we‟d come through fastened behind us and keeping the rest of the
world on the outside. In the centre of the stone-flagged floor was a small fountain, the midday sun
glinting off the water as it spouted from an ornamental tap.

Edward stole my attention back by beginning to kiss a path down my neck, his tongue sweeping out
at intervals to lick, and when he moved on the sun warmed where his cool lips had been. My
hands tightened on his bare shoulders, and the sun was so strong that it was even warming his flesh.
The light sparkled from his skin, making my breath catch in my throat.

There was something I was supposed to tell him...

His hands had been securely wrapped around my waist, and one slid under my shirt to caress the
skin on my back. It skimmed higher, his fingers stroking the length of my spine, and when he
pulled away again I whimpered.
Both hands grasped the fabric of my shirt. He pressed into me, and I felt him, every part, against
me – or rather, against my stomach – and I knew what his intentions were.

“Do you want this?” he asked, and his voice was harsh with strain. My body reacted to it, and I
could only nod my head in response, not having the breath for speech.

The fabric was over my head and at my feet before I had chance to blink, his hands running up my
arms and down my back again, and when he leaned against me to kiss me we were skin to skin, his
as cool as the stone at my back. His hands found the clasp of my bra and that was quickly gone
too. He swept his fingers over my shoulders and down, cupping me gently. Even during this he
kept control of the kiss, and it was always his tongue in my mouth, or meeting somewhere in the
middle. He was being careful of me even when he didn‟t think he needed to be.

He stroked my right breast, and it set me gasping and writhing against him. He moaned and pulled
away from the kiss, a small smile of satisfaction on his face as he bent his head, licking back down
my throat and chest until his mouth met his hand.

I was aware, dimly, that not too far away a festival was going on, and anyone walking past the gate
could hear us. That the houses overlooking the courtyard might be inhabited at this moment. But I
couldn‟t quiet the sounds that fell from my mouth as he continued his path down my body. In an
instant my jeans were gone from my body, along with my sneakers, and I was being lifted.

Edward had raised me up, so now I was wrapped around him, my face a little higher than his and
our hips so close together. I tried to wriggle against him, but he held me still, sucking at the skin of
my neck until I cried out. “More,” I panted.

I was dimly aware that his jeans were gone now too, because my legs were wrapped around smooth
flesh.

He swallowed my whimpers and gasps as we kissed, his position pinning me to the wall so I
couldn‟t grind against him. One hand cupped my face, stroking my cheekbone lightly so
goosebumps broke out across my entire body, and the other caressed my side. That hand slid to
my hip, then around so it was directly above where I wanted it to be.

One finger slide beneath the elastic of my panties, and I shrieked when his cold skin met my
overheated flesh. “Oh, Edward, oh - ”

He circled slowly, with the lightest pressure, and there wasn‟t a thing I could do to increase it. The
finger slid lower, and I shook against him as he pushed it inside me.

I could feel vibrations coming from Edward‟s chest, and it took a moment for me to realise that he
was growling, long and low. I felt my wetness seep down his fingers at this epiphany, and he added
another inside me as the growling increased in volume. I clenched involuntarily around him, and
he pumped the fingers a few times, but I didn‟t have the control to make a noise anymore. My
entire body was surrendered to him.
Something was building in me, something huge coming toward me that would sweep everything
else away, a storm on the horizon.

There was the shredding sound of fabric and cool air that told me my underwear was gone.
Edward pulled his fingers away completely, bringing them to his mouth and sucking them clean.

He caught my gaze as he wrapped his arms back around my waist, and though his eyes flickered to
my lips he didn‟t kiss me. My back came away from the wall, and he slid to his knees, taking me
with him, my legs still locked around him.

I could really feel him beneath me then, large and hard and thick, but I didn‟t have enough room
left in me to feel nervous. He shifted me so I knelt above him, and guided me so I was directly
over him, and he was pressing against me.

My clumsiness had ridden me of my hymen long ago, so I didn‟t have fresh blood to worry about,
but as he gently lowered me down it knocked the breath out of me. He was so much bigger than
his fingers, and for a long moment all I could feel was the pressure inside me, and I wasn‟t entirely
sure it was comfortable. But I stretched around him, inch by inch, and as I sank down he brushed
places inside I‟d never known I had.

After the longest minute, all of him was settled inside of me, and I rested my forehead against his.
“I love you,” he whispered, voice harsh again, and I murmured it back to him, lost for a moment
in the depth of his dark eyes.

He rocked his hips forward a fraction, and I clenched around him. He snarled, and that just
caused another stream of wetness to coat him. I moved, lifting my hips and sinking back down, and
it left me panting. I‟d never understood how good this could feel.

He let me set the pace, and I rocked over him slowly, revelling in the movement of his flesh along
my walls, each stroke a new discovery. He was growling, of course, and I felt it where we were
connected. There was a spot that felt better than all the others, and I found a rhythm and an angle
that meant he hit it every time I moved.

The clenching became more frequent, and every time it happened I felt there was something
bigger waiting in the wings, and it caused Edward to snarl his own pleasure at the sensation.

Abruptly, I was on my back, lying on our pile of discarded clothes, and Edward was above me,
every inch of his skin (what I could see) gleaming in the sunlight. I opened my mouth to tell him
he was beautiful, but cried out wordlessly instead as he pushed back into me. He felt even bigger
from this angle, and every inch of our skin touched, both warm from the patch of sunshine we lay
in. He carefully kept his full weight off me, but it was delicious to have him pressed so closely
against me.

I wrapped my legs around him, locking my feet together, and the pace he set was much quicker
than mine had been. I lifted my hips to meet his a couple of times, but I couldn‟t keep up with
him, so I lay back and enjoyed the feel of him thrusting into me with so much power.
Not that I was still; I had to move whenever he hit that spot, and my hands slid down his back, my
nails trying to find purchase and failing. He nuzzled into my neck, panting and whispering to me. I
caught “I love you,” a few times, but the rest was in languages I couldn‟t speak. I knew enough to
recognise “J‟adore,” in French and “Ti amo,” in Italian. I couldn‟t concentrate as he increased the
speed further, his hips a blur of movement; it looked like sparks in the air as the light flashed on
his skin.

Suddenly, the storm that had been building hit me, my whole body surrendering to it. It burned
along my nerves, from my curled-up toes and along my spine, leaving me spasming against
Edward, clenching and unclenching around him with no rhythm. The feeling was concentrated
where we joined, too intense to focus on.

I think his name fell from my mouth, but I couldn‟t hear it over the thunder in my ears. Light
flared behind my eyelids.

Edward stopped moving, holding himself as still as only he could be, then gave three quick,
forceful thrusts that set me shuddering again. He pressed his forehead to mine and whispered
“Bella,” into my open mouth as I felt a new wetness between my legs. This was from him, this
time, not me, and the coolness of it made me tighten around him once more.

He half rolled off me, still joined at the hips – literally – and the world was a shining thing around
me. I couldn‟t look up at the sky as it was too bright, so I let me head loll to the side.

Edward buried his face in my hair and kissed down the side of my neck. “I love you, I love you, I
love you,” over and again. I couldn‟t say anything; I was waiting for the bones to return to my body.
I felt the weight of his gaze on me the whole time, heavy with desire but deeply satisfied as well. I
think it was the smile only a man could wear after – well, doing what we‟d just done.

We rested for a while, his arm around my waist as he nuzzled into me, as I watched the water of
the fountain catch and dance in the light, the little flashes reminding me of Edward‟s skin. The
only sounds were the tiny gurgle it made, and my own breathing. This courtyard here, this little
square of paradise, was the loveliest place I‟d ever been. No wonder Edward thought we were in
heaven.

I turned my attention back to the man beside me – to the man still inside me – gazing at the way
his skin glittered (all over!). When I looked at his face, I was taken aback; I‟d never seen such
serenity. Edward wasn‟t the kind of person to wear that kind of open happiness and I felt a thrill as
I realised that I was the cause of that joy.

“Bella,” he began, practically purring his words, “Why do you still smell so good?” He lifted a lock
of hair to his face and inhaled.

“Because we‟re not dead,” I said lazily.

He froze. “What?”
I couldn‟t find it in me to mirror his tension. “This isn‟t heaven, Edward. At least, not in the
angels-and-harps sense. We‟re still in Volterra. I came to stop you from killing yourself.”

The look on his face was incredulous. “But you said you forgave me! If this is real – I hurt you so
badly – how could you - ”

“I love you. I forgive you,” I said simply. Nothing was going to kill what I was feeling right now.

“And we just – how could we have made love,” the last words were said with such reverence it sent
a tingle through me, “without me hurting you?”

I thought about it for a long moment. “I think because you thought you couldn‟t hurt me, you
didn‟t. You‟ve always had less faith in yourself than I do.”

Realisation flickered in his eyes. “You could have told me.” His voice carried surprise, and
something else – awe, maybe?

I let out a very un-Bella-like giggle. “I was distracted. I did try!”

His eyes darkened, not with anger, as he no doubt replayed the events in his memory. “Yes, I
suppose you did, and you were.” He smirked at me, which set my pulse thundering. I envied his
perfect memory, being able to replay what had just occurred between us in crystalline detail
whenever he wanted.

He swallowed. “Yes, you still make my throat burn.” He lifted my hand and brought it to his lips,
kissing each knuckle in turn, then turning it over the sucking gently on the thin skin of my wrist.
“Although, it‟s not such a problem anymore. Now I know we can be together, and I won‟t hurt
you.” He flashed that crooked grin at me and I exhaled sharply, understanding what he was saying.
Now we‟d done it once, successfully, he was willing to do it again. Of course, the fact that his body
had responded inside me helped me figure that out.

I thought he would cover me again, and we would „try‟ right then and there, but instead he slid
from me. I moaned as he left me, missing the connection and the way it felt to be filled in that way.

“Ssssh,” he whispered as he picked me up bridal style, and carried me over to the fountain. While
he was standing I had a good chance to finally look at his entire body, which would be a glorious
thing in the sunshine, but I couldn‟t tear my gaze away from the tender expression on his face.

The water in the fountain was only a few inches deep, and he set me down on the edge, then
retrieved the torn scraps of what I presumed were my panties. He used them as a cloth to wipe me
down. What he‟d emptied into me had spilled out a little, and he cleaned me up, washing my own
wetness from my thighs. The water was warm, and it soothed the soreness that I hadn‟t even
realised was there.

He cleaned himself too, and I had to avert my eyes as he touched his body. After everything we‟d
done, the sight of him still made me blush. He kissed both my cheeks, giving a very masculine
chuckle. Oddly, though, standing butt naked in front of him didn‟t make me nervous. The way
Edward‟s gaze scraped along my body made me feel proud – and beautiful, really beautiful, for the
first time ever. This perfect specimen wanted me. He got aroused by me, and when he thought I
was no longer in this world, he didn‟t want to be either.

He dressed me reverently, placing soft kisses on my skin as he went: on my knee, on my hip, just
above my belly button, on my elbow, on the swell of my breast, on my collarbone, and when I was
fully clothed, on my forehead.

Edward was still completely nude, and as he stood before me I had a moment to drink the sight of
him in for the first time. I suddenly wished I wasn‟t clothed again, and he must have read my
desire in my thundering heart, and the rush of wetness between my legs.

“We have no time now,” he murmured, brushing his fingertips along my jaw. He gave a soft smile.
“Alice is coming and I don‟t think you‟re ready to become an exhibitionist. But I promise you,” his
eyes darkened, and his body matched my own arousal “soon.”

He released me then to pull his own clothes on, and I had to lean against the wall for support as
my legs sure weren‟t going to hold me up. He was dressed in a few seconds, but his shirt had been
discarded along the way, so he was still naked from the waist up. That didn‟t help my situation
much, and effectively meant we couldn‟t leave the courtyard while the sun was still out.

I snuggled against his chest as we waited for Alice to arrive – Edward promised he could hear her
thoughts nearby, but she was having trouble finding the right courtyard amongst the dozens of
similar ones in Volterra. I didn‟t really want to leave the courtyard at all. Surely we could just stay
here for the rest of eternity, bathed in sunshine, naked and unashamed (and in Edward‟s case,
sparkling). Edward brought me out of that daydream.

“Bella, there‟s one thing I need to ask you before Alice gets here.” There was a note of tension in
his voice, and I instantly didn‟t like it. “I haven‟t had chance to prepare, but - ”

Then he sank to one knee in front of me, sunlight glinting from his entire torso, and looking up at
me with such adoration. “Will you marry me?”

I gaped and pressed back against the wall more firmly. I honestly didn‟t know what to say –
Renee‟s firm warnings about marriage drifting through my head. I was so young...

Alice slipped into the courtyard and threw herself at me. “Oh, Bella, you‟re going to be such a
beautiful bride!” she declared, and I looked at Edward blankly. Evidently he saw the answer he
wanted in her head. He rose, and the weight of emotion in his face nearly knocked me over – it
was a heady mixture of pride, and joy, and awe.

“She‟s right, you will be a beautiful bride,” he whispered as he grazed his lips across my cheek.

“But I haven‟t decided anything yet!” I protested.

“But you will, so let‟s just assume it‟s a done deed.” Alice beamed at me, smug in her capabilities.
It was hard to stay annoyed with Edward smiling at me like that, and he was trying very hard to
wrap himself around me.

“I come bearing gifts,” Alice announced proudly. She herself was wearing one of the red festival
cloaks, her tan gloves still in place, and she‟d found a big fedora someplace, keeping her face in
shadow. She brandished another cloak, hat and glove set at Edward. I pouted as he covered up.
“Sorry, I couldn‟t get replacement underwear at such short notice,” she said, her face carefully
blank. I flushed as I realised what she‟d probably seen.

Edward narrowed his eyes at her, but she lacked the decency to look ashamed. “We have twenty
minutes to get out of Volterra,” she continued, “but we do have time to stop off in Florence while
we‟re in Italy – Edward is going to find you the perfect engagement ring on the Ponte Vecchio,
Bella...” She prattled on as we trailed after her, Edward‟s arm around my waist. He smiled at
whatever vision he saw in her head. I was barely listening, entirely captivated by his proximity.

“We have plenty of time on the plane to come up with an excuse for Charlie. And although I can‟t
see it properly because of those wolves, I think the situation with Victoria will be resolved by the
time we get back to Forks...”

We were back among the crowd, but I very clearly heard Edward growl “Wolves?” Then, as he
picked another image from Alice‟s head, “Cliff diving? MOTORBIKES?” I avoided his eyes.

“It won‟t matter soon enough, Edward, “Alice said over her shoulder. “She‟ll be one of us after
graduation.”

And they led me out of Volterra, and into everything Alice could see of our future.

So that‟s my first (uploaded) story. And it‟s a lemon. Yikes. I‟m not going to beg for reviews but if
you have any thoughts please let me know.