𝑺𝑶𝑳𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑪𝑬 [𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑹𝒀 𝑷𝑶𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹/𝑻𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻]

𝑊𝑅𝐸𝐶𝐾 𝑀𝑌 𝑃𝐿𝐴𝑁𝑆, 𝑇𝐻𝐴𝑇'𝑆 𝑀𝑌 𝑀𝐴𝑁

Edward felt a moment of complete triumph as Gwen Organa's lips graced his own, it was as though the sun had bursted through his life, engulfing him and spitting him back out again. He could see galaxies and he felt more human than ever as he felt her soft lips touching his.

Her warm lips parted against his, the fever of her breath burning on his skin. Her soft arms wound around his neck, her fingers twisted into his hair as he held her tightly to his own body. Her sweet scent erupted throughout his senses, and an utter bliss hit him in a way he had never felt before.

He had thought about kissing Gwen more than once, they had been on the cusp of it multiple times, always pulling away before their moment of fully joining as one. He had thought about this moment through multiple nights, daydreaming about the woman whose waist he was holding, whose lips were touching his own.

He thought he would be more prepared after all his imagining of being in this position, and yet, he was not entirely ready for the combustion. What strange alchemy it was, that the touch of lips should be so much more than the touch of fingers? It made no logical sense that simple contact between this specific area of skin should be so much more powerful than anything he'd yet experienced.

It felt as if a new sun was bursting into being where their mouths met, and his whole body was filled to a shatter point with the brilliant light of it.

Within a millisecond of her lips touching his, Edward kissed her back, as her fingers twisted harder into his hair, using that leverage to crush her lips more tightly to his. He gently placed his free hand to support her neck, doing his best to bridge them closer together. Her lips felt warmer than before, as fresh blood flowed into them. They opened wider, an invitation...

For the first time in a hundred years, he was grateful to be what he was. Every aspect of being a vampire—all but the danger to her—was suddenly acceptable to him, because it was what had let him live long enough to find Gwen.

Edward felt a thrill as her hands moved from his hair, lowering them down to his neck and resting one on his neck and the other on his chest. Her lips invited more than just a kiss, they were filled with the promise of more.

The decades he had endured would not have been so difficult had he known what was waiting for him, that his existence was advancing toward something better than he could have imagined. It had not been years of killing time, as he had thought; it had been years of progress.

Refining, preparing, mastering himself so that he could have this now.

He struggled to find words to name the feelings that flooded through him as he kissed her, their mouths moving in perfect motion, as though they were pieces of the same puzzle. But he had no words strong enough to hold the emotions he felt. For a long moment, he drowned in them.

He wanted to accept her invitation. To open himself up to her in every way possible.

But through the pure ecstasy running through him, every cell seemed to fight him on the thoughts developing in his mind: this was an invitation he knew he could not accept.

It was an insufferable thought as he closed his eyes, moving his hand from her waist to cup her face gently. Using all of his strength, with the lightest force possible, he eased her face away from his own and rested his forehead on hers.

He noted the unpleasant return of a few predatory reactions—an excess of venom in his mouth, a tightening in his core—but these were superficial responses. The light that had filled his body during their kiss lingered as he pushed her away. He felt so much happiness of the thought of this experience, he wasn't sure how to contain it all.