TUS Chapter 25 TEASER

He was nervous, yes, but I suppose I expected him to be a bit more restive than he was.

“Are you positive you want to go through with this?” I asked. It was D-day, so to speak, and I needed him to be certain.

It wasn’t that I felt he was incapable of actually going through with it, because he’d proven time and again his strength and determination to be a part of the outside world with me, but this was different from being on the other end of a Walkie-talkie where you could hit a button and make the voice piercing through the speaker disappear. That voice wouldn’t know your discomfort because they couldn’t see you, see how they affected you. One movement from your finger would make them disappear.

This time, though, he wouldn’t have that safety net. He was about to stand face-to-face with another person, a person that wasn’t me. That fact alone was significant.

Our eyes met as he nodded. He reached for my hand and guided it toward his mouth, kissing each finger tip tenderly. “Oh, meu anjo, se você pudesse entender o quanto você já curou minha alma. Você é minha esperança, lembra? Eu posso fazer isso.” His eyes scanned my face, the warmth within them illuminating the green. I could see myself, see that I was precious to him. “I’m ready.”

He placed my hand against his cheek as I leaned toward him, pressing my forehead to his while closing my eyes and breathing him in. His touch and scent always eased me. “I love you,” I whispered. It was all I could say to let him know I believed in him, to let him know how much he meant to me.

I reached for the Walkie-talkie that sat alongside my left thigh, keeping the physical connection between us as I spoke into the receiver. “Alice,” I breathed. “It’s time.”

OO-OO-OO

Oh, meu anjo, se você pudesse entender o quanto você já curou minha alma. Você é minha esperança, lembra? Eu posso fazer isso. =  Oh, my angel, if only you could understand how much you've already healed my soul. You're my hope, remember? I can do this.

CF Chapter 12 TEASER

I kept Bella’s hand clasped tightly in mine as I moved toward my car. She kept up pace with me. “Edward, where are you taking me? And what about my truck?” she asked. “I can’t just-”

“Leave the fucking thing. We’ll get it later.”

I didn’t give a shit about anything but proving a point. I wanted her so goddamn bad, but I never wanted to hurt her… physically or emotionally. She thought I saw weakness when I looked at her, saw nothing but the scar on her chest, but she couldn’t have been more fucking wrong. She was a survivor, the strongest person I knew, and she’d become too important to me now. I wanted to do shit right where she was concerned, show her she was so much more than a fucking body to me, but she had to second guess me, and I was so tired of her second guessing how I felt about her.

She put up a little resistance, but I wasn’t having that shit. Not now. “But, Edward, I can’t-”

Before she could finish speaking, I had her back pressed against the passenger side door, my body against hers, keeping her from being able to move away. “Are you really fucking worried about your truck, Bella?” I thrust my hips forward, pressing my dick into her stomach, replacing her words with moans. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. See, you think you got shit figured out, but you don’t.”

“What…” she swallowed thickly. “What are you saying?”

I smirked down at her. “You had to push, and you couldn’t just let me do shit my own way. You want to know how much I want you, what you fucking do to me, how much you make me burn inside for you?” I leaned forward, running my nose along her jaw. I could literally hear her heart beating within her chest. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” She whimpered. “I know it is, and I’m gonna show you exactly how much I want you, Bella.”