The taste of him was something I’d never forget nor tire of. His hands clutched me desperately as he pulled me onto his lap without our lips breaking contact, our tongues still dancing a frantic tango, our breathing ragged, and hearts racing.

I finally broke away, my lips skimming over his strong jaw and down his neck.

“Bella,” he sighed, almost regrettably.

It brought me up short while I examined his pained expression. It was an expression all too reminiscent of Edward each time he had been forced to rein me in. “What?”

He cupped my cheek, his very flushed, and pressed a gentle kiss on the corner of my mouth. “I want you; I do, in ways you can’t even imagine, but not yet. Not until you have truly let go of Edward. I want to be someone for the long haul, not the rebound guy.”

I nodded. I didn’t want to use him either, but if he was waiting for me to get over Edward before we proceeded, he’d be waiting a very long time.

I climbed off of him, my body screaming at me for relief, but I had a lot of practice ignoring that particular need. One needed restraint when dealing with a vampire that was torn between screwing you and killing you.

I took a long draught of beer and laid back on the blanket staring at the crisp black sky dotted with millions of stars that you almost never saw in Forks because of the constant cloud cover. Cloud cover that had afforded Edward a semblance of a normal life; he’d never be able to live somewhere like this and Florida was exactly the kind of place I’d prefer to live. It was almost always sunny and dry. Two of my favorite things.

“Tell me more about the vampire you work for,” I suggested to break the awkward silence that had enveloped us so tightly we were nearly choking on it.

He cuddled up beside me, his arm slipping under me to pull me against him and began his story, his eyes locked on the sky above. “His name is Aro and he, along with Marcus and Caius, are the leaders of vampire kind. They are the Volturi.”