“Bella?” Alice’s voice floated in, muffled by the half-closed door in between us. I waited, tensed, for the dreaded question to come out of her mouth. “Are you ready?”

My throat constricted and mentally I shook my head but outwardly I did my best to put on at least a shaky smile as she pushed the door the rest of the way open to check on me. Her caramel eyes flickered in delight over the lacy, white dress she had finally managed to stuff me in for good and I detected a definite note of satisfaction as she smiled at me.

For a brief second, an image of me fleeing from the overly-decorated building crossed my mind, but Alice put a firm, cool hand on my arm at that exact moment, effectively halting any thought of running.

“Oh no, you don’t, Bella. I’ve worked much too hard to make this day perfect for you to be running off like that,” Alice admonished and then tugged me out of the room where a small party was waiting for the music to thrum up. My heart skipped loudly as my father caught my eye from across the waiting area. He raised his arm in encouragement and Alice gave me a light shove in his direction.

I took his arm without a word, my stomach heaving nervously. My spare hand wandered nervously across the folds of the dress and Charlie looked on without comment. Before I was ready to hear it, the first notes of the march began to flood into the small room we stood in. The doors to the hall were opened and the first of the small procession began to walk gracefully up towards the altar. My mind raced uncontrollably.

Why had I chosen vampires as my bridesmaids? How could I ever compare to Rosalie’s beauty? To Alice’s charm? And then just as I was beginning to completely plunge into despair, I saw him for the first time since this whole ordeal had begun. He looked flawless except for the single line of worry that creased his brow. His head was craned ever so slightly, so slightly, in fact, probably no else would even notice the small angling, to catch his first glimpse of me although he must have already seen me in everyone else’s thoughts.

Charlie tugged at my arm and began to lead me forward into the hall. Suddenly, I realized just how long the aisle was and I mentally cursed Alice for not choosing a much, much shorter one. I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, trying not to look down too frequently to check my progress. I wanted to watch him the entire way. I couldn’t tear my eyes off of his perfection.

Why did I ever even let him out of my sight for a minute again?

Without fully registering the entire journey to Edward, I made it and found myself taking my place beside him in a daze. I barely even took in the smiling faces that surrounded us, the faces of my high school friends and my family. All I could see was him and his beautiful, somehow nervous eyes.

The rest of the ceremony was a blur of rings and repetitions that I barely noticed. The only part that lodged firmly in my memory was the kiss he gave me as the minister told us softly that I was finally his bride.

Edward’s eyes had filled with such an intense joy I thought I would burst with happiness just seeing it there. Then he gathered me in his arms and pressed his chilled mouth to mine in one fluid, quick motion. His lips sent a fire coursing through me and I clung to his lapels for what seemed to be at once an eternity and only a few seconds. Too soon, he was pulling away from me and I became aware of a general murmur in the crowd indicating that the ceremony was over.

I was still staring at Edward and he likewise was gazing at me, still holding me enticingly close. He leaned down to kiss the hollow of my throat with a smile and whispered so only I could hear, “I love you.”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak yet, and he smiled, taking my hand to lead me through the congratulatory masses. Most of the guests had begun to wander over to the reception area where dinner and music awaited them, and looking in that direction, I knew that we were expected to be there soon.

For now, I was content to let Edward guide me through the people who were still all but a blur to me, the only person I could even focus was him. Did he know that? Vaguely I knew that something very distasteful was supposed to be happening soon but my muddled thoughts couldn’t pin anything down for certain until Edward halted our progress and the crowd began to melt back with appreciating smiles.

I shook myself inwardly, coming back to full awareness of where we were. My wedding reception or more specifically my wedding reception’s dance floor. I gulped and it must have been visible to him because I heard Edward’s let a soft, musical laugh float over me as he took me up in his arms once more. He adjusted me so I could step onto his feet as the first notes of a beautifully familiar melody that Edward had written for me when he first met me, started to weave across the dance floor. Edward began to waltz slowly, spinning me around with ease and I was grateful the dress hid my feet, so no one had to know that it wasn’t really me dancing, but only the perfect archangel that had just married me.

I relaxed and let the lulling notes of the melody wash over me and I felt blissful in his careful embrace, but before I wanted it to be, the song was over and Edward was leading me towards a table reserved for us. I sat down without really looking at the table’s thoughtful decorations that had been labored over by Alice. There were plenty of other people in the room to admire her handiwork. I was too busy admiring her brother, my husband.

Edward sat down next to me and reached over to me, gently pulling me towards him. I grinned and instead of simply scooting my chair over to him, I moved myself so I was sitting neatly in his lap. His beautiful laugh erupted again and he hugged me closer to his cold chest. I instantly felt a shiver run through me that I was fairly certain had nothing to do with his intrinsic coolness.

“Are you cold?” he asked, his eyes teasing. He seemed to know by now that most of my shakes didn’t have much to do with temperature. Still, I nodded my head emphatically deciding to play along with his game.

“Yes, very much so. Would you like to warm me up?” I whispered as coyly as I could. He hummed lowly in response and his lips brushed along my collarbone sending another involuntary shock through my system. He really had no idea the debilitating effect his lips had on my body.

“As much as I very much would like to do that, Mrs. Cullen,” he practically growled as his lips still grazed along my neck, “we have an audience and the only things I can think of to warm up definitely require closed doors.”

My heart clenched in my chest involuntarily and despite myself, I almost forgot to breathe as my own mind was inundated by all the things I wanted him to do to warm me up. He smirked as heard my heartbeat jump erratically and pulled me a little closer.

“I promise we’ll work on warming you up a little later,” he swore seriously and then rose to his feet unexpectedly, pulling me up with him. “But for now, I think I’d like to dance a bit more with my new wife.”

I groaned and pouted as he practically forced me onto the dance floor, but it was only for show. Dancing with Edward was an experience I completely relished, but I would never admit it. My dislike for dancing was so well known it would only lead to embarrassment. The night passed quickly while I was in his arms and slowly for all the times I was forced to mingle with only half-interesting people. And in truth, everyone was half-interesting compared to Edward.

As the night wound to a close, I found myself resting quietly in Edward’s arms with a feeling on absolute serenity. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t even wanted this wedding to begin with, it was over and now Edward was finally appeased. I traced silent patterns on his alabaster skin while he bid goodbye to the last stragglers of the reception. I smiled unseeing at each new blur of color and Edward, seeming to realize I’d reached my limit, carried me gently to his car.

We arrived at the hotel that Edward had gotten for us in what seemed to be only minutes to me. Edward had already had all of our things for the next day sent to the room, so he only carried me in what seemed now to be a ridiculously big, voluminous white dress. He laughed as I mumbled incoherently about the dress and set me gently on the soft bed. I fell back in comfort and reached out for him with a child-like smile. I laughed, sensing my own ridiculousness and leaned up on my elbow as I watched him move about the room.

Finally, deciding he was spending way too much time fussing over our bags, I cleared my throat and when he turned around to look at me. I smiled, biting down on my lip.

“Aren’t you supposed to be warming me up right about now?” I asked softly. I had meant to be bold with the question, but my voice betrayed my own nervousness and instead came out in a shaky whisper.

He froze and his eyes flickered briefly from my eyes to where my teeth were biting unthinkingly at my lip. His eyes darkened infinitesimally and he approached me slower than I ever thought possible for him.

He lay down on the bed beside me and pulled my waist towards him. I could feel the frostiness of his touch even through the layers of ivory fabric that separated my skin from his. I heard my own heart stutter in my chest and hoped that he would overlook its uncooperativeness.

“Bella,” he pleaded quietly and I wasn’t sure if he was addressing me or himself. His eyes were staring at where his hand rested on my waist and felt a surge of a foreign emotion shoot through me. I shifted slightly closer to him and took his other hand from where it rested. His eyes flickered to mine and I held them determinedly, not willing to be swayed by the uncertainty that was in his usually composed expression.

I dragged the hand from under him, so he would shift his weight on top of me and pulled his form as close to me as he would allow. Edward rested his head gently against my collarbone where he could hear my heart and I’m not certain how long we lay there just listening to my own tumbling heartbeat until Edward’s hands began to slowly, cautiously caress the curves of the dress with the back of his hand. I raised both of my hands, unsure of what to do, and placed them in his hair. My fingers caressed his beautiful, golden hair while his hands slowly outlined the shape of my torso by ever so lightly brushing their way against the silk.

And then, he was kissing me. I gasped against his mouth and he took advantage of the opening to gently swirl his tongue, tracing against my teeth, my tongue. When I had to break away for air, his mouth moved slowly, placing drugging kisses over every inch of bare skin his lips could find. My hands untangled themselves from his hair and I tugged at his tie, his jacket, his vest. Every unnecessary piece of clothing he had on that I could reach came off until he lay atop me with only his pants and collared shirt still on. My hands wandered, content for now, over the crisp white fabric of the shirt that was only a thin barrier to his skin.

As his lips continued to slide along my shoulders, I became impatient for them to explore other areas and I found one of his hands to guide it meaningfully towards the zipper of my dress. He laughed deeply at the movement and I reached up to kiss him before he could deny me like usual. I didn’t think I could bear to hear him say anything about how much he could hurt me tonight.

Instead, when he broke away to allow me to breathe this time, his lips went back to nuzzling along my neck, his chest still shaking in almost silent laughter.

“You’re always in such a hurry, Bella,” he admonished gently in answer to my look of disappointment when he didn’t immediately slide my zipper down. “Have some patience.”

“I think I’ve had enough patience with you,” I pouted and then very slowly reached back to undo the zipper myself, but his hands stopped me.

“Not so fast,” he said sternly, pulling my hands back. “Who said I was done warming you up?” His eyes sparkled with mischief and I was almost paralyzed by their emotion.

“Edward…” I meant to moan his name, but instead it came out as more of a squeak.

“What?” he asked innocently. “I was under the impression you were supposed to warm up a little before you go stripping off all your clothes.”

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