Pre Edit Count –   2,430 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter:  Waking Up by OneRepublic

Previously:

He tells her as he smells a couple of what he has heard Rose call Bath Bombs in a jar on the floor and dumps in one that looks like a heart with a smell of Roses and Jasmine, “No, this is nothing like me spending our money.  This is getting you comfortable with your mate and I will not allow anything to rush this but the two of us.  No sex at this time.  All I am asking for is that we start to get comfortable with each other and our bodies.  Everything else will come when it does.  And when you want me to go faster, I will.  But only when you ask, love.”  He smiles.  And as the scents come from the bath, he tells himself that he will make sure that she always have a supply of these.  And since he knows that Rose knows where these come from, he will make them treats to her as Emmett does to Rose.

Bella nods in answer to his comments, Carlisle takes her in his arms and he kisses her.  “Nothing means more to me than you and our love.  I will even turn you and still wait if that is what you need.  Bella, I love you.” And that sums it all up to him.  He loves her, and will do anything, even move heaven and earth to make her smile.

Bella smiles up at Carlisle and tells him with a hand caressing his face, “I don’t think it will take that long.  Just keep doing as you are doing already, and I will work on it.” She looks at him slyly, “You make it hard not to want to do more.  Just give me some more time, dear.”

A smile lights up Carlisle’s face and he tells her, “We have all the time you need.  Now get ready and I will be waiting for you in the tub.”  With that he turns away from her and before she can say anything, he strips and she watched the fine ass that is her mate’s get in the tub.  “No, I don’t think it will be long, Carlisle.”  With that she leaves to grab a robe, Carlisle grinning as he watches her leave.

Now:

Carlisle is laying back in the bathtub, his head resting on the edge, waiting on his mate, completely relaxed for once.  His mind is busy however, as it goes back over the last couple of days and the huge changes in his life.

To find that his mate is really here, and that if he had just answered the pull he felt, he could have had her before now.  Before she had been hurt by the callousness of Jacob Black, it hurt him.  He had never believed that he would find her, even with the tales.  There are so many people in the world and you add all the years, well it is obvious how rare it can be.  For him to have a coven of mates, is too rare and most are astounded by it.  While Carlisle had been positive about it on the outside, inside he had admitted long ago that he wouldn’t have one.  The one he thought it could be, ended up elsewhere.

However, in grievance of his offense against Edward, it would have been fair for him to wait longer.  He had no idea of the pain of being separated from his mate.  Even with her in the next room, he can feel their Bond stretch painfully.  Some of that is because of them not completing the Bond, and his instincts are crying for him to Bond with her completely.

Some of it, however, is because of the strength of it.  Jasper has mentioned that theirs is one of the strongest Bonds he has felt in a long time.  It will take his brother, Marcus, to validate it, but either way, it just simply does not matter to him.

He already loves his little mate and will do anything to heal her.  It doesn’t matter if they have the strongest Bond out there, because he just doesn’t care whether it is or not. It will not affect the way he feels for her in any way, so what does it matter?  He will always do what is best for his mate because that is what he was raised to do, and that is how he wishes to treat her. She deserves no less from anyone and he is overjoyed that he is the one to teach her how one treats the love of their life.

With that in mind, Carlisle slowly smiles.  He has already ordered her crest, and it should be here anytime.  His Queen will at least have that, he will work on the rest.  He had gotten her to agree to the shopping, which he is thrilled about.  They had a great time, and it taught him a lot about his little mate.  Her fire is not all gone and that gives him more hope that he can free her from her shell soon.

He will have to work on her accepting more gifts, it is the normal way for a vampire male to show their affection.  It normally involves him hunting for her and other ways, but for now, he is satisfied as is his beast.  The two of them are making their mate comfortable, and she is actively being involved in the process.  The more they work on the house, the more proprietary he is feeling towards this place.  He will have to speak with his brothers on how they manage, there are literally thousands of people always in their castle at any given time.

He stretches out, making note that they will probably have to get a bigger tub at least.  He looks up, impressed with the details in the ceiling.  This room could have been downstairs and you wouldn’t have known with the lighting.  His mind starts thinking of tricks like the one above in case their mate happens to like it.  He knows that they will have no problem meshing their styles if shopping was any indication.  They both seemed to favor natural colors and textures.

Bella steps into the room, her robe covering her. She spent awhile in the bedroom convincing herself that this was a good idea, and even if it wasn’t, well it is better she learns now rather than later if Carlisle will like what he sees.

Her thoughts are not something she wants to revisit, since they are not helping in this matter, she looks around the room with an eye towards what needs to be changed.  She loves the natural effect of the lighting, but looking at Carlisle, she is guessing he will want something that they can both soak in.  And she won’t complain too much about a shower like his.  Unable to stop her thoughts, she blushes.

“The idea of a bath together is that you need to join me, sweetheart.”

Her blushing gets worse as she steps up on the ledge.  Carlisle opens an eye and smiles as he sees her in the deep emerald robe.  He tells her softly, “That is a great color on you, Bella.”  He can feel her nervousness and tries to help.

Bella looks shyly at him and then back down.  She can’t believe that she is going to do this!  She knows that he has seen her body already, and that he wants to see it again means something, but this is the first time she will show her body off on purpose.

Carlisle can tell she is getting more nervous, and sends her calm and love.  He knows this is really a big deal, and that after this, her exposing her body to him won’t be as bad.  He keeps his inner frat boy quiet.  But his beast is purring and he allows that to escape, thinking it will help calm her.

Bella can’t help the smile when she hears him purring.  “You look like a cat sprawled out in the tub and purring.”

Carlisle grins up at her, he lifts a hand and asks, “Will you join me?”

Biting her lower lip, Bella shyly unties her sash, and taking a deep breath, lets it fall.  Carlisle can’t help but look over his mate, his purring increasing.

Swallowing, but encouraged by the pure lust and awe in the Bond, she allows the robe to fall off her shoulders.

Smiling, Carlisle takes in his mate for the first time, with her allowing it, showing her body to him voluntarily.  “Beautiful” he says with awe, his hand still extended to help her in the tub.

She smiles at him, and takes his hand.  He rises in the tub and helps her into it, settling her against him, his arms surrounding her, him nuzzling into her neck.

Even though she can feel his hardness behind her, his side of the Bond is full of love and happiness because she is there with him.

Carlisle settles with her leaning against him.  He makes no apology for his erection, it is going to happen and has with him around her.  Even after they are mated, there will plenty of times that he will be aroused around her.  It is the nature of the beast inside of him.

He leans back, his thumbs making idle circles on her stomach as he continues to purr, content in this moment in time.

Bella relaxes against him, her head turned so that she can listen to the rumble of his purr.  Happy now that she agreed to the bath, it is the perfect ending for the day. She realizes that it was wrong to think that Carlisle would not like her, if he didn’t like what he saw before, he wouldn’t have asked her to be in a bath with him.  Sighing in contentment, she closes her eyes, trusting her mate to take care of her.

They spend about an hour this way, nothing more than relaxing in the tub, Carlisle keeping to his promise of not pushing her further.  It is only when he feels her close to sleep that he moves and picking her up out of the tub, he steadies her as he grabs towels for the two of them.  Drying her off and then himself, he picks her up, smiling at the sleepy mumbles she is giving.  He heads into their room and putting her down in bed, he smiles and climbs in after her, content as always in watching her sleep as he holds her close.

The next morning Bella is woken by the smell of coffee and opens her eyes to see Carlisle in jeans with the zipper up but with the button still undone, showing that he again isn’t wearing anything under the jeans.  And that is all he has on.  His hair is soft, falling into his face.  He is holding a cup of coffee for her as he smiles.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”

Smiling at him, she sits up and reaches for the cup of coffee, sipping it in bliss.

Carlisle is grinning as he watches her, waiting for the realization that she is naked.  What can he say, he is a 23 year old perpetual man, who has found the woman who is his other half.  She is perfect in every way, inside and out for him.  And why would he not enjoy looking at her? The grin is the result of his love and awe of the beautiful woman in front of him and as a manifestation of his happiness.

Once the caffeine kicks in she looks over to him, but seeing the grin on his face makes her check her surroundings. Only to then find out that she is naked under the blankets, and the upper part of her body is exposed, she squeals, “Carlisle!!” as she pulls up the blanket with one hand as she holds her coffee cup in the other.

He smirks. “Now, sweetheart, do you really think I would say something?  I thought you were just getting comfortable with me.”

She glares at him, “I thought you agreed we would go slowly?”

He lifts an eyebrow, “And taking a bath together wouldn’t infer intimacy of some sort?  Especially when you fell asleep in said bath with me?”

She looks down.  And doesn’t move when Carlisle takes her cup of coffee out of her hand and sits on the bed.  He lifts her head up to meet his eyes. “What is it, sweetheart?  I am sorry, I really am not trying to move too fast.  I just thought we were past this step, my love.  But you need to talk to me.”  His eyes are searching hers and he is sending his honesty and his love to her.

Sighing and looking away for a second before looking back at him, she tries to explain, “Like I tried to tell you last night, I am working on this.  But to find out I am naked and you are staring at me when I first wake up, it’s a little shocking.  Especially knowing you, I probably slept like this all night with you holding me.  It’s just startling.  I understand your thinking, and if I had known of this, I may not have minded.  I certainly admired and loved the view this morning, so I can understand you doing the same.  I am just not used to showing myself this way.”  She looks into his eyes pleading for him to understand.

He pulls her to him and hugs her.  “I am sorry, my love.  I didn’t think it would make you upset, I just didn’t want to wake you up by dressing you.  I really didn’t think it would bother you.”  His beast is purring at her, trying to sooth her.

Bella allows herself to relax in his arms, working her way through it.  She supposes that it is not much different since she did take a bath in his arms last night.  And his reasoning is right, it would have woken her up if he tried to dress her.  By now she has realized that he really does all he can to take care of her.  To him, her sleep is something he watches over carefully.  It is his way of making sure she is healthy, the same with feeding her.  He had told her that as her mate, he will take care of her, and he has done nothing but that the last few days.

But last night was a huge step for her.  She was only fine with it after she realized that sooner or later he was going to see her like this.  And if he didn’t like what he saw, well now is the time to find out.  She told herself that in the bedroom as she talked herself into taking that step.

Realizing she needs to talk this out with him, she mumbles, “I’m sorry I freaked.”

He kisses her on the head and tells her, “I’m sorry for not thinking it through.  I admit I was eager for this morning, knowing we had taken such a huge step.  I was looking forward to our new closeness, but then I am eager for any steps forward in our relationship, physical or emotional.  Please forgive me.” He softly begs her, hoping this is not a huge step backwards for them. What is the saying?  Two Steps backward for every step forward?

Smiling, she tells him, “Of course I do.  You brought a peace offering before even knowing you needed one.”

Smirking, Carlisle looks down at her, “The coffee?”

Looking back up at him, “Shirtless, almost naked you.  Wonderful eye candy in the morning.”  She somehow manages to say it with no expression on her face.  Her feelings give her away though.

Carlisle can’t help the laugh.  He tells her mischievously, “I can make sure you get all the eye candy you want of me anytime.  I can make it naked eye candy anytime you wish.”

Laughing back up at him, Bella arches an eyebrow, “Oh, don’t think I don’t know you’re being serious!! I saw how fast you stripped last night.”

He grins at her and kisses her quickly. “Anytime for you, sweetheart. Now, I am going to go downstairs and make you breakfast.  Why don’t you get dressed and join me.  We can plan out what we want done with the house before the guy gets here, and we can also work out how we are going to get your new vehicle.  I may ask Edward to take us if you don’t mind?”

She smiles and hugs him as she tells him, “Nope.  And I will be down in a minute.”  And she admires that ass of his as he leaves, and can’t help but laugh when he shakes it as he grabs the shirt next to the door and exits the room.

Final count, 2.851 words.

Fairfarren~Wendy