Falling To The Sun | B. Swan + E. Cullen

cinquante

Roman could get used to the type of ache that she woke to, the type of ache that stretched all the way through her, and she sighed happily as she stretched across the warm sheets -- warm from the sun that shone unrelenting through the clear windows and beat against her bare skin. 

Turning over, she pressed herself against the cold body that lay at her side, humming happily at how relieving it was to her flushed body. 

She knew that she would have to open her eyes eventually, that she would have to drag herself out of the soft bed away from his smooth side. She knew that it would be bright, even with the billowing netting that surrounded the bed. 

A soft, feathery touch, played at her wrist, the warmth of it told her that Bella was awake at the other side of him, sending her pulse fluttering. 

Fingers trailed up and down her spine, cold touch leaving a chill in its wake, and she shivered, pulling herself closer into his side. She lifts her leg, her foot falling between his thighs. She adamantly ignores the way he tenses at the shift. 

Moving now would break the moment. It would mean that she would have to get up and move on from last night instead of basking in the afterglow that continued still after last night. She wanted to stay like this forever with the sun on her back, the sound of the waves and birds, our breathing, her heartbeat, Bella's heartbeat... She didn't want to open her eyes yet and break the moment. 

Then there was giggling, soft and sweet. Roman bit her lip, hiding her smile. 

"What's funny?" Edward murmurs, still stroking up and down her spine. 

"You just can't escapebeing human for very long," Bella says, giggling again. 

She doesn't stop the smile this time, pressing it to his bare chest. "Hungry, babe?" 

"You're not?" She counters. 

"Guess I'm still caught on last night," she says innocently, twisting her wrist to catch Bella's hand. 

"Edward," Bella said, voice catching. "What is it? What's wrong?" 

"You have to ask?" his voice was hard, cynical. 

Opening her eyes, it takes her a moment to adjust before she sees the sharp arc of his jaw, the type of thing belonged on sculptures or, well, vampires. 

Squinting, she glances at Bella, catching sight of the sun that halos around her, glowing in a way that made her pale skin luminescent, rose-gold, and she was struck for a moment that this was her life, that this was her future and her happiness, and wow... 

Wow, Roman could not be happier, could not be luckier, than she was at this moment. 

But then she saw the expression on her face and her happiness was chased away with worry. 

"Bella?" she asks, propping herself up on her elbow. "What's wrong?" 

"What are you thinking?" he whispered.

"You're upset. I don't understand. Did I...?"

"What? No, you were wonderful, Bella," Roman bursts, interrupting anything Edward was about to say. 

Edward's slow, easy motions on her back still, his hand frozen. "Is that what you think? No, last would have been the best of my life if not for--" he trails off, eyes clenching shut-- "how badly are you hurt?" 

"Hurt?" 

"The truth. Don't try to downplay it." 

Roman blinks. "What? Why would you think she was hurt?"