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“I feel like I’m on fire,” I moaned, laying spread atop my bedding in the cross breeze of two fans. It wasn’t helping.
Quite frankly I thought this was an excellent excuse for Edward to tell me to take off all my clothes, but he was remaining staunchly silent. I knew it must have occurred to him though, and I tilted my head to arch at eyebrow at him from where he sat in my rocking chair. He looked back innocently. Not a peep.
Heat waves in Forks were few and far between, the area mostly succumbing to the cool, damp climate of the Pacific Northwest. But when warm spells hit, they hit hard; this was day four of the highest temperatures coastal Washington had seen in decades. I was used to the dry heat of the Arizona desert, but the humidity here was oppressive.
The worst part was how woefully unprepared the citizens of Forks were for this weather. Most of them didn’t even know how to turn on the air conditioning, if they had any at all. It took Charlie hours of poking around in the attic to scrounge up the measly breeze of these two miniature fans.
And here I was, in the same room as a human-shaped ice pack, and he was looking at me like I was a plague-infested rat; it could give a girl self-esteem issues. (He’d double checked the thermostat to make sure I wasn’t faking.) I got the impression he thought I had manufactured the heat just as a plot to seduce him.
Well sorry, Mr. Vampire, I’m just not that talented.
“I think you’ll survive.”
“No, really, I feel a heatstroke coming on.” The sad thing was, I was being totally serious.
And then he was gone. I started to protest, but he was back a second later with a glass of water.
“Drink this.”
He leaned over the bed to hand me the cup, which was his first mistake, thinking I wasn’t desperate enough to tackle him. Which I was. And which I did.
Thankfully he was balanced enough to not to (a) fall over or (b) spill the water and therefore soak my sheets. Not so thankfully the boy was built like a brick wall, and I think I might have chipped a tooth on his abs. I clung to him for dear life, feeling like a baby monkey.
“Um, Bella.”
“Yes Edward?”
“Are you really desperate enough from the heat to accost me this way?”
I nodded vehemently against his stomach, the sloppy bun holding my hair on the crest of my head bobbing comically. My sweat continued to soak into his clothes as he sighed.
“Here.”
He pressed his cool hand to my nape, the fine hairs there damp. I arched my neck in pleasure and let loose a moan. There was no way he hadn’t heard that, but my face was already hot and my heat-flushed skin couldn’t get any more pink.
My sweat-slicked skin caused his hand to lose friction and slide into the space between my shoulder blades, which felt fantastic. I could already feel my body temperature drop. I pressed back into his touch and his hand slipped under the back of my shirt. We both froze.
Edward made to pull away, muttering something about impropriety, but I held fast. The only way he was getting me to let go was to rip my arms off. And I told him such.
“Now you’re just being dramatic.”
I tilted my head up to pout at him, flashing him my most pathetic doe-eyed, hunter-killed-my-mommy look. Edward frowned.
Suddenly his hands were back on my skin, running laps up and down the parts of my arms left exposed by my tank top and wrapped tightly around his waist. When I started to break out in gooseflesh there, his fingers hitched, hesitating, before dropping to the small of my back. He traced circles around the dimples there before dancing up my spine.
In my pleasure I loosened my hold around him and he took advantage, flipping me onto the bed. A little whine built inside my throat before he appeared over me, his arms braced on either side of my waist. He smirked at his new possession of power over this little episode and I glared while simultaneously maneuvering myself closer.
What can I say? I’m a multi-tasker.
Edward’s expression held deep disapproval, the kind you might find on a teacher’s face when disciplining a student for stealing another’s cookies, but he answered my unspoken request, dipping down to kiss one side of my collarbone, then the other. He rose, now resting on his elbows and his chin hovering over my cleavage.
“Is this heat really very uncomfortable for you?”
I wiggled my head up and down slowly, focused on the fact that his face was inches from mine, only belatedly remembering to look pathetic and heat-addled.
“Well I don’t want you to be in pain,” he murmured.
I nodded on a delay, mesmerized by his lips. “Oh no, wouldn’t want that.”
He grinned wickedly before sitting back on his heels. This time I really did whimper.
But his hands were slipping behind the crook of my knees as soon as the sound fell from my lips, and I stared up at him in a shocked daze as he parted my legs to rest on either side of his hips. I wondered if vampires could get hyperthermia, because he was certainly acting like he had a fever. Edward chuckled at my wide-eyed expression as he traced his fingers along my thighs, bare up to the hem of my admittedly miniscule shorts.
“I’m just trying to make you more comfortable,” he assured with a devious grin, simultaneously warning me that this was not going to become a habit. I mentally harrumphed, but otherwise found little reason to complain.
Edward hovered over me, his eyes questioning as they darted to my lips. As if I would say no. My back bowed like the business end of scythe which brought my face closer to his in a very non-subtle yes please god yes.
He touched his mouth to mine and it felt like he was running an ice cube over my lips. This brought an image – totally unbidden, I swear – to mind; Edward’s tongue running down my neck like gravity-slicked condensation, following the contours of my neck and chest like a renegade ice cube. The thought invaded my mind like a contagious fog, and in the haze I pressed my chest against him in an arching maneuver.
This made me realize one small detail: At some point, Edward had lost his shirt.
My shirt had ridden up from all the, ahem, activity, and the lower portion of my stomach was now sweat-slicked and flush against his.
At that moment I could have been cooking into an entrée inside my own skin and I wouldn’t have known or cared. The entirety of my existence was boiled down to the points where his skin met mine. I had a hard time remembering anything else at that particular time.
Well, at least that was my excuse for why I didn’t hear footsteps on the staircase. I guess Edward was really distracted; these things usually didn’t escape his notice. (Mental fist pump.)
But Edward hadn’t lost all sense; he paused above me, and in the light of the street lamp outside I saw his eyes pop, clearly startled as he looked down at me. A hand knocked heavily on my door at the same instant that Edward vanished into thin air. (Well, thick air. I hadn’t forgotten about the demonic weather.)
I called out breathily, “Come in.”
Somehow I had enough sense to yank down my tank top and wipe the dazed look of my face before Charlie poked his head inside my room. He was tugging along a giant, industrial-sized fan and I couldn’t help panting a little in happiness; Edward had been missing for a total of thirteen seconds and I was already suffocating again.
“You went to the home store?” I squeaked happily, resisting the urge to give the metallic thing a bear hug.
“Sure did,” he beamed proudly, “Got one for your room and one for mine. This way at least we’ll be able to sleep nights.”
Charlie stepped fully into my room and let out a whistle.
“Woo doggy, it’s got to be ninety degrees up here. How can you stand it?”
It’s a good thing he wasn’t looking at my face, because it was probably priceless. I tittered nervously, wondering where Edward was and if he was listening. He was probably laughing.
“Oh, you know,” I tried to chuckle, managing to choke on my own spittle, “Guess I’m just better at handling the heat.”
Charlie nodded absently, clearly not really listening as he focused on the complicated settings of the fan’s switch pad, and I breathed a sigh of relief. He might have me committed if he was listening carefully enough. He reached out experimentally and flicked one of the switches, bringing the roaring fan to life. It felt like a hurricane.
It was spectacular.
“Thanks dad,” I chirped sincerely, this time resisting the urge to hug him instead of the fan. I knew we would stick together like Velcro, and that’s just uncomfortable. He waved away my thanks and wished me goodnight before disappearing the way he came.
I sat alone in the center of my bed for a few moments, soaking up the intense breeze before calling out to my original cooling agent.
“You can come out now.”
I felt like I was cheating on Edward with the fan.
Edward’s face appeared outside of my window, and I appreciated the view as he maneuvered himself over the threshold, still shirtless. I stared up at him as he came to tower over me, my arms wrapped around my folded knees. If there was one time in our relationship where I was at a loss for words, this was it.
Edward grinned, and I got the distinct impression that he was laughing at me under it all.
“Well. I suppose you won’t be needing my services any longer.” He eyed the fan with what might have been jealousy and turned to go.
I grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t even think about it mister.” And we both laughed as he allowed me to pull him onto the bed with me.
The next day the heat broke, and I was almost sad to see it go.
Almost.