Cursed With Beauty

X15

The following morning, Annalise is awaken by something cold pressing against her cheek. More like caressing her cheek. Her eyes flutter open and she's met by the luminous sun that sat high in the sky.

"Did I wake you?" Edward's voice come from above her.

Tilting her head back, she meets his gaze head on. His eyes are no longer the golden color they were before she fell asleep but coal black.

She frowns and sits up on the bed, reating all of her weight on one hand as she starea up at him. "Tell me you did not stay the entire night? Please tell me you went hunting while I was asleep and that your eyes are just now becoming this shade of black."

He stares at her without saying anything or even moving and inch. He didnt even blink. His silence gave her, her answer.

"I want you to go," she says, pushing herself off the bed. "I want you to go right now." she crosses her arms and plants her feet firmly onthe floor.

His eyes widen and his lips part slightly. "You want me to leave?"

She nods. "Yes. I want you to leave, now," she points toward the window. "And you are not to return, Edward Cullen, until you are properly and satifiyingly fed."

A look of relief spreads across his beautiful face and he's suddenly standing in front of her, taking her face in his hamds.

"I thought you wanted me to leave because you regret last night." He says, caressing her cheeks.

The space between her brows wrinkle as she stares at him. "You thought I was going to say I regret everything I said last night?" She lifts a hand and rubs his forearm. "Everything I said last night and well into the early morning, I meant. Every word."

He lowers his head, pressing his forehead agaisnt mine. "Are you sure? It wasn't just a spur of the moment kind of thing?"

She shakes her head. "No. I want to be with you. I want to give us a fair chance."

Smiling, he dips his shead to kiss her lips and her entire body flushes with heat. She's never felt anything like this before in all the years she's been on this earth. And she loved it. It wasn't like the heat that flooded her when he touched her hamd but it was the kind of heat that she thought people felt when they were....when they were in love with another.

She gasped and pulled away from Edward quickly, her eyes trained on him.

"What's wrong?" Edward questioned.

Annalise turned her body from him and sighed. "Nothing."

Could she really, already, be in love with Edward Cullen? She couldn't be...not already. Right?

"It's not nothing, Annalise. You don't gasp, out of the blue, for nothing. Please, talk to me." He said.

Annalise turned around to gaze into his eyes. She knew she should tell him the truth if they were going to really to give this relationship a chance.

"The truth?" she questioned.

He nods. "Please."

After taking a deep breath and running her fingers through her hair,  Annalise sighed, all while holding his gaze.  "I think I love you, Cullen.  I think I'm in love with you."

A slow smile spread across his lips. "You love me? You're in love with me?"

He took a step forward and she took a step back. "I said I think I love you and that I think I might be in love with you," she stated calmly. "I don't exactly know what it is that I'm feeling right now.  It's not something I've ever felt before, so I have nothing to compare it to."

With the smile still in his face,  Edward sighed. "Okay,  then tell me what it is that you feel? How does it feel to you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know how to really describe it. When we touch it's like my body is on fire, like I'm literally over heating but when we kiss," a smile graced her lips. "my chest tightens, my heart starts beating so fast that I can't feel or hear it and my entire body flushes with an overwhelming heat. And all I want to do is keep touching you, hearing you,  and seeing you."

Edward cautiously took a step forward and took her hands in his own. "I love you.  Whenever I am away from you for even a minute,  I want to come and find you just to see your face,  hear your voice and touch you. You are the life that keeps me going and the breath of fresh air that reminds me how lucky I am to have existed long enough to meet you," he puts her hands on his waist while he cups her face in his cool hands. "If my heart could beat right now it would be beating uncontrollably and I would be a sweating idiot during our time together. Everyday I question what I did to deserve you in my life and even though I haven't figured it out yet, I will forever remain grateful."

Annalise closed her eyes and let his words replay in her head over and over again before she opened them and met his gaze. "I - my feelings for you,  in the short amount of time that we've been in each others lives, have grown tremendously strong.  I don't know why or how but I do know that I love how they make me feel and how true and strong they are," she pushed on her toes and kissed his lips.   "I've never had anyone look at me,  treat me or care for me the way you have in this short time. Not only because most people find me unapproachable but also because I could never trust anyone enough to let me get close enough. If I did, that opened the door for them to hurt me and I didn't ant that. I didn't want to take that risk...until I met you.  You made me second guess my thought process and my way of living and for that I will forever be grateful to you, Edward Cullen."

Edward smiled. "I am honored to be that man for you."

Annalise smiled. "So am I, Mr.  Cullen."