Author's Note: The following is an outtake from The Cocky and the Cougar, originally written as the inaugural piece for “Fuck Me Fridays” on The Twinklings blog, many moons ago (http://thetwinklings.blogspot.com/). Many thanks to Natalie and the gang there for inviting me to participate.
This scene takes place prior to the final chapter of The Cocky and the Cougar, as Teddy and Bella are on their way to Europe for their long holiday. It is not essential that you be familiar with the original story, however, to enjoy this one-shot. And enjoy it, I hope you do.
Reminder - adult content follows.
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Snake on a Plane
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the Captain has turned off the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign. You are now free to walk about the cabin. While you are seated, however, we request that you keep your seat belts fastened. Thank you.”
Edward leaned over the armrest and pulled the bud from my ear.
“Hey! I’m trying to listen to Bruce.”
I glared at him while replacing my earbud and he smirked at me as he grabbed my iPod from my lap. I tried to snatch it back, but he held it out of my grasp and paused the music.
“The Boss will always be there,” he said. “In fact, he pretty much always has been there.”
“If you are going to make a wisecrack about my age, trust me, this is not the time.”
That damn smirk was still on his face. “I’m not making a crack about your age. I’m making a crack about Springsteen’s.”
I grabbed my iPod from his hand. “So sorry he lacks the emotional depth of Miley Cyrus, young man. Get your own iPod if you don’t appreciate my musical choices.”
“Champagne, Mr. Masen?” The perky flight attendant, all white teeth and shiny blonde hair, leaned over Edward’s seat, smiling down at him charmingly. I gritted my teeth in an effort not to tell her to fuck off. After all, I wanted champagne, too.
“Yeah, sure,” he said, barely looking at her, but still smirking in my direction.
After pouring him a glass, she glanced at me. “And ... ma’am?”
It’s a good thing my seatbelt was cinched tightly around my waist or I might have jumped up and pushed her to the floor, my knee at her throat. Instead, I gave her a thin-lipped smile. “Please.”
She handed me a glass and I downed it, handing it back to her as she raised her eyebrows and refilled the glass for me. Edward finally looked up at her.
“Yeah. Stay close,” he said as she gave him a puzzled look.
I had to admit it. There was one good thing about traveling with Edward Masen, man of a zillion frequent flier miles: upgrades to First Class.
“Bella...” I turned up the volume on my iPod as he put a hand on my thigh and leaned toward me. He exhaled in exasperation. He put his hand over mine and used our fingers to turn the volume back down. “Bella, stop it. I said I’m sorry.”
I hit the pause button on the iPod and gave him a pointed look. “An apology doesn’t count if you’re laughing while you give it.”
“Well, I’m sorry now, that’s for sure.” He sighed.
“You’re sorry because I’m pissed. Not because of what you did.”
He looked mad, finally, and he reached and pulled the bud from my ear again. “You’re right,” he said, an edge to his voice. “Because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No?” I was aghast. “Then why am I mad?”
“Um ... Because you’re nuts?”
I could feel my face transform as my stare turned cold. I watched as his adam’s apple bobbed with his swallow in the face of it.
“You really don’t plan on getting laid any time soon, do you?” I asked.
“Just tell me what I did.”
I pulled the other bud from my ear and turned toward him slightly. I was trying to keep my voice to a whisper, but it was still obvious how angry I was. “I was gone for five minutes, Edward. Five minutes. I come back from the restroom and you’re totally flirting with Miss Hottie McTightPants. You think I didn’t see that?”
He stared at me for a few moments. I could almost hear the wheels in his mind spinning.
“I was not flirting with her. She was flirting with me. There’s a difference.”
I finished my second plastic flute of champagne. “Oh, she was definitely flirting with you. Miss twenty-two-year-old with the perky tits shoved up to her chin.” He started to chuckle, but my glare shut him down. “But you were flirting right back with her. I know you, Edward. I know how you flirt. You used to flirt with me.”
His fingers trailed along my thigh. “I’d still flirt with you, if you’d let me.”
I stared icily down at his hand until he removed his fingers from my person. Once he had, I put the earbuds back in place.
“Oh come on, Bella. It was harmless.”
“Sure it was. You only had five minutes.” I glared at him. “I guess it’s a good thing I wasn’t suffering from gastric distress. You might have had half an hour.”
He laughed and I only glared harder. I failed to see the humor in the situation.
His jaw grew tense and he yanked the earbuds out of my ear again. “Bella. You don’t honestly think I would do something with a stranger at the airport, do you?” he whispered angrily.
I stared at him until I felt tears threatening at my eyes. His eyes grew wide in response, all anger leaving his features.
“That’s not the point,” I whispered.
“What is this?” He reached across me and held my cheek in his hand as he spoke softly. “Baby, you can’t be this upset. I’m really sorry. I just didn’t think—I mean, it was harmless. You can’t honestly think I would ever cheat on you. Bella…”
I sniffled, knowing I was being childish, but unable to stop myself and a tear dripped down my cheek. “No. I don’t. I just–” I was unable to continue. What I felt was embarrassing and I thought I might start sobbing if I continued to speak. Instead, I looked down at my lap and tried to get hold of myself.
“Bella?”
I took a deep breath. “It’s just ... hard, Edward. Since the car accident, I–” The tears started coming again, in spite of my efforts to combat them. “You know, I had to chop off my hair and I feel so out of shape and ... I just feel so–” If I could barely admit it to myself, how could I say the words out loud?
“Bella ... Baby, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. How can you not know this?” His thumb ran across my cheek, catching my tears as they fell, and he bent to kiss my forehead.
The stewardess came back around and asked if we needed more champagne. Instead of answering her, Edward reached over and unhooked my seatbelt, then his own, grabbing my hand and standing.
“I’m afraid my girlfriend isn’t feeling very well,” he said to the flight attendant. “I’m going to take her to the restroom.”
“Of course, Mr. Masen,” she said, stepping back to make room for us in the aisle. “Is there anything I can get you?”
He shook his head and motioned for me to walk in front of him. “I don’t think so. I’ll let you know if we need anything.”
I looked down as we walked up the aisle, though the few passengers in the seats in front of us were either asleep, masks on their eyes, or involved in movies. One man looked up briefly from his laptop as I passed by his seat, but I didn’t look him in the eye. Luckily, the restroom was unoccupied so I felt confident that no one had witnessed my crying jag and I’d successfully avoided embarrassment.
I opened the door and looked back at Edward. “I’ll be out in a minute,” I said, but gasped as he pushed inside the small room behind me and locked the door.
“What are you doing?” I asked in a quiet, but panicked, voice. “You can’t be in here with me.”
He was pressed against me, his hands on my hips, and he kissed my forehead again. “Turn around,” he whispered. “I want you to look in the mirror.”
“Huh.” I looked around at the tiny space we occupied. “Easier said than done, bud.”
He grinned and his hands shifted my hips, urging me to turn. When I did so, brushing against him in the process, I looked in the mirror, focusing on his beautiful face behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned his chin on my shoulder. I felt his breath against my collarbone.
“Look at that,” he whispered, nudging my hip from behind.
“Edward, are you trying to get me to talk about how beautiful you are again? Because seriously, your ego...”
“Bella.” He whispered in my ear before kissing its lobe. “You know what I mean. Look at you. Look at how beautiful you are.”
“Edward...” I sounded suspiciously like I was whining. It was not attractive in the least.
“Bella. Stop looking at me. Look at yourself.”
I shifted my line of vision and looked at my face next to his. It was the same old me. The same brown eyes, the same red lips. The hair was ... well … it was the same brown, but far shorter, and curlier, as a result. I’d had it cut after getting more than a dozen stitches on the side of my head, and it was barely chin-length. I’d had it layered shortly before we left on our trip, trying to bring some bounce and style to it. Wisps fell across my forehead. At least it was finally long enough to fully cover the scars.
It was the same face, the same body. But somewhere along the line, I seemed to have lost some of the spark I’d once had. My eyes seemed dead, my skin flat and without the glow that used to highlight my cheeks. My body, while still thin, had become almost flabby due to lack of exercise over the months I recuperated from the accident. As I looked at them, it appeared my breasts were sagging.
“I don’t think we’re looking in the same mirror,” I whispered, tears threatening again.
“Baby...” He whispered again against my ear, his breath making me shiver. “How can you not see what I see?”
I shifted my eyes again toward his reflection as he smiled at me in the mirror. He lifted a hand to run two fingers along my neck, making me shiver again and warm to his touch. “I loved your hair long, you know I did. But this hair cut, baby...” He leaned in and kissed my neck, his tongue darting out to run up to my ear. “I love seeing your long, graceful neck. And I love having easy access to it.”
I smiled shyly as he kissed my neck again, sucking on the flesh briefly. I lifted my hand to his hair and ran my finger through its silky strands.
He planted a soft kiss at my temple and continued to whisper against my skin. “You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Those long lashes have always, since the first day I met you, overwhelmed me. And they still do, baby. Just when I think I know everything about you, that I know exactly what you look like, you look at me through those lashes and you take my breath away—like I’ve never seen you before. You seem to have all the answers to all the questions buried in your eyes.”
A slight blush came to my cheeks as he spoke. He dropped his hand to my hip and moved it around to squeeze my ass.
“I think I might love watching you walk away from me almost as much as I love watching you walk toward me, baby.”
I giggled and tightened my grip in his hair, tangling my fingers there.
“Your ass is like a fucking cupcake.”
That made me giggle again and my other hand flew to my mouth, my eyes flying open wide, in fear we would be heard. He paid no mind, though, as his husky whisper brought goose bumps to my skin.
“I just want to take a bite out of it, every time I see it.”
I moaned softly as he continued to caress my ass, his other hand moving up to my breast. My breath caught in my throat as he squeezed me through my blouse. I could feel my nipples hardening under his caress.
“And you know I love your tits, baby.”
He brought his other hand around and up and pushed my breasts together, his fingers teasing over my taut nipples as my breath began to come faster. I pressed back against him, feeling his hardness against my lower back. I bit my lip in an effort not to moan and alert others to our activities.
His quiet groan was barely restrained, however, as he looked again at our reflections in the mirror, pushing his hips toward me. “Fuck, when you bite your lip like that ... See, I know you do that when you come. So when I see you do it...”
His words trailed off and he brought his hand up to my face, urging me to tilt my head back so he could kiss me on the mouth. His tongue slipped through my parted lips to meet mine and the two danced together eagerly. I moaned into his mouth as the hand at my breast slipped beneath my blouse. He pulled at the buttons, giving him more room to move about, and he pulled the lace of my bra aside. I gasped against his lips at the feel of his fingers teasing my nipple.
He pulled away slightly, smiling as he whispered, “Can you be quiet baby?”
I gasped again. “Edward, we shouldn’t do this.” My body, though, was saying something entirely different as his hand snaked up my skirt, lifting it, while his other continued to work at my breast. He ground his hips into my ass, his hardness insistent.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t. But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to.” His eyes twinkled at me from the mirror. “I need you, baby. You’re so fucking sexy. I can’t let you out of here without getting inside you first.” His teeth sank into the skin of my neck.
“Jesus...”
His fingers played along my thigh as he continued to speak into my ear. “You have the softest skin.” His hand dropped from my breast and moved behind me. His knuckles brushed against me as he worked at his pants and I felt a little faint at the knowledge of what was about to happen. I leaned forward, slightly, bracing myself with my hands on the edge of the sink.
His fingers slipped inside my panties and through my folds. I moaned and he caught his breath when he felt my wetness.
“Christ, Bella. How can you not know how lovely you are, how perfect you are for me? The way you look, the way you feel, the way you smell.” He brought his fingers to his lips, sucking them into his mouth while I watched in the mirror. “The way you taste, baby. Like brown sugar and cream.”
A whimper escaped my lips and I reached behind me to grasp his cock in my hand. I watched as his eyes closed, briefly, and his hand returned to my skirt. He lifted it up and bunched it around my hips, then dropped his hand to my panties again and moved them to the side.
He slipped inside of me and my eyes closed, almost involuntarily, as I dropped my head to my chest and let out a long breath in pure pleasure. He was having none of that, however, and he put a hand beneath my chin, lifting it.
“Keep your eyes open, baby. I want you to see what I see. I want you to see how sexy you are, how gorgeous you are.”
I whimpered again as I opened my eyes slowly, catching his again in the mirror. He started to move inside of me and dropped his hand to my breast, squeezing as his other hand flattened against my tummy. I pushed back against him, eager to feel him as deep inside of me as possible.
We watched ourselves in the mirror. A flush came over my face and my chest. My eyes were alight with passion and love for the beautiful man behind me. He bent his head to nibble again at my neck and I reached behind me to grip his silky hair. He looked into my eyes in the mirror and the depth of the love I saw there made my legs weak.
His hand slipped down my stomach and beneath the front of my panties. When he found my clit, he took it between his fingers, making me moan again. He grinned.
“Ssh...” he whispered into my ear before licking behind it. “Don’t give us away.” His fingers became more insistent, rubbing in circles, and he bent his knees so he could thrust further into me.
“Edward,” I whispered. I could feel myself starting to clench around him and knew that he felt it too when he turned my head back toward him. Taking my mouth to his in a deep kiss, he swallowed my moans as my climax took me, my hands gripping the sink for dear life, my legs wanting to fold and collapse beneath me.
He flattened his hand against my tummy, holding me to him as he thrust urgently into me, his other hand still squeezing at my breast. In moments, he grunted into my mouth and I felt his heat spilling inside of me. I was certain my whimpers would be heard without his kiss to silence me.
We broke our kiss and stood panting against one another. Edward dropped his head to my shoulder. I stared at our reflection as I caught my breath, at the beauty of us together. My cheeks remained pink, the light still alive in my eyes and a smile on my lips. My hair was a mess, but nowhere near what it would have been were it still long. A few trails though it with my fingers and it would be like Edward’s hands had never been near it.
Finally, Edward brought his head up and pulled out of me, backing up only a step so he could adjust himself. I pulled a few paper towels from the dispenser and wet them in the sink, smiling at his reflection in the mirror as I handed them back to him. He grinned at me.
“Baby, you are the sexiest thing I ever met,” he said. “Don’t ever forget that.”
“Well...” I smirked at his reflection. “I might just conveniently forget so you can remind me like this as often as possible.”
After a few moments, Edward peeked out of the room before leaving me alone so that I could use the facilities and clean myself up. When I felt I could walk without my legs giving out, I made my way back to my seat. The businessman I’d noticed earlier lifted his head from his laptop and gave me a knowing smile. I winked at him.
Edward rose as I approached our row, allowing me room to move in front of him to my seat by the window. I noticed that we each had a new cup of champagne in front of us. He gripped my hand in his and lifted it to his lips as I fastened my seatbelt.
After ten minutes or so, the flight attendant served us dinner. “Everything okay?” she asked. “Do you feel like eating anything?”
“Oh yes, thank you,” I said, smiling up at her. “All of a sudden, I am really hungry.”
