While You Were Gone Ch 3 Teaser

Here's a piece of the conversation it seems everyone is dying for in this fic...

TMWCBM readers: You'll have ch 33 out to you in a couple of days. I actually opted to work on its FGB outtake last week instead of finishing the chapter. I still have two more FGB obligations left, but once they've been fulfilled, the schedule should go back as it was.

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His golden eyes weighed heavily with regret as he stared back at me. “I have so much to make up for,” he whispered.

I steeled myself. Now was as good of a time as any to talk about this. “Why’d you go?”

“I thought I was protecting you.” He looked away from me and frowned. “I thought I wasn’t any good for you.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “How could you ever think that?”

He sighed. “Bella, look at what I brought into your life. James. Jasper. And now Victoria. I’ve brought you nothing but danger.”

“You didn’t bring that to me,” I argued. “I’m a danger magnet, remember?”

His lips quirked. “I remember.”

“I…” I took a deep breath so that I didn’t cry. “I thought you didn’t love me anymore. You said-”

“I lied,” he said emphatically. “I have never stopped loving you.”

My brow furrowed. “But… I don’t understand.”

“A piece of me died that day, Bella.” He grabbed my hands. “You didn’t put up a fight. You just believed me. How could you ever think that I didn’t love you?”

“Because it didn’t make sense. You’re you… And I’m me. You always kept your distance, like maybe there was a part of you that didn’t want to be with me-”

His lips abruptly cut off anything else I was going to say. His mouth moved avidly with mine as passion erupted between us. I moaned and clung to him as his hands touched everywhere. The chill, the speed, made me dizzy with desire. In one swift move, he’d laid us on our sides and had my leg hitched around his hip, grinding me against him.

He broke the kiss and made an icy trail over my jaw to my ear as his fingers found my nipple underneath my shirt. “I always wanted to be with you,” he whispered. “But I wanted something more for you. I wanted you to be normal. Human. I wanted you to grow old and have babies. I can give you none of that, Bella, and you deserve so much more.”

I focused on answering him instead of the way he was making me feel. “I only want you. None of it would mean anything without you.”

“I’m sorry,” he murmured against my skin. “All my reasons for leaving - no matter how good I thought they were - were wrong. I wanted to keep you out of my supernatural world, to keep you safe, and you found your way into it anyway.” He pressed a kiss to neck. “So stubborn. Going to such great lengths to get me back here.”

I let myself smile a little. “You can’t get rid of me.”

“I’m glad.” He slowly lifted my shirt over my head and flashed a wickedly crooked grin as he stared down at my chest. “And in the spirit of full disclosure, I’m also glad to have access to these now.”