*Bella*
“Bella, it’s a salad. Not something you need to stab to death.”
I looked up from the grilled chicken salad Rosalie had graced me with ten minutes ago to sigh at her, dropping the plastic fork down and burying my head in my hands.
Jessica’s vacation had started today, earlier than originally planned, but I was not at all sad to see her go when I thought back on the last conversation we’d shared. I’d spent most of the quiet morning reorganizing books and fixing what she’d managed to screw up during the week.
There hadn’t been that many people walking in the doors that day and I was reveling in the silence. There was no annoying clacking with fake nails on a keyboard, no loud high-pitched voice on the phone as she ignored everyone that walked up to the counter and definitely no need to stress myself out as I wondered about what she wasn’t getting done.
I’d been happily sitting at the front desk, trying to make sense of the chaos on top of it and doing my best to completely ignore the fact that my boyfriend’s sister would be in town until I needed to face it when Rosalie barged in with a take-out bag from T.J.’s Deli swinging from her hand.
And with just one look at her, all my insecurities came crashing down around me.
She was my best friend. My realistic, demanding, and blunt best friend that I couldn’t hide anything from. And she’d patiently sit in front of me, not saying much of anything and definitely not leaving until I finally told her what was bothering me.
Kind of like she was doing right now.
“I’m dating him.”
She was quiet again and I could hear the lettuce crunching in her mouth as she chewed on it.
“Who is this him you speak of?” she asked quietly.
“All right, Yoda,” I mumbled, looking up and crossing my arms on the front desk. “Edward. I’m dating Edward.”
She continued to chew and stare at me, one eyebrow raised with her own plastic fork suspended in the air.
“And?” she finally asked, motioning with her fork for me to go on.
“That’s it.”
“What’s the problem?”
“His sister is coming into town today.”
“Again, and?”
“I’m not good with meeting family members!” I whined, dramatically throwing myself across the desk once I’d moved my salad. “I never have been.”
“You met Jake’s family just fine.”
I rolled my head to the side, glaring at her as she shrugged easily at me and speared a crouton on the end of her fork.
“Please do not put him in the same conversation as Edward.”
She shrugged one shoulder, sliding the fork and crouton in between her blood red lips.
“Just making an observation.”
“You’re not making me feel any better,” I pouted, sitting up again and resting my elbows on the counter. “What should I do?”
“Meet her.”
I wanted to bash my head against the wall. Right about now, it would have the same effect as talking to her currently was.
“I’m making her dinner. Of course I’m going to meet her.”
“Don’t try too hard. You always get yourself in trouble when you try too hard.”
“What if she doesn’t like me?”
She shrugged again, meticulously stabbing a few leaves of lettuce on the end of her fork.
“The world won’t end if she doesn’t.”
“My relationship might!”
She merely lifted her eyes up to meet mine as she stuffed the forkful of lettuce into her mouth.
“You’re being dramatic.”
“Rose, I’m nervous!”
“I hadn’t noticed,” she drawled sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “What makes you think that Edward will leave you if his sister doesn’t like you?”
I opened my mouth and then closed it again, blinking at her as I picked up my fork again and began twirling it around on a piece of chicken.
“There’s your answer. When do Ang and I get to meet him, anyway?”
I shrugged, still trying to come up with an answer to her previous question.
“We want to, you know. We haven’t seen you so riled up over someone since long before Jake was even in the picture.”
“I’ll talk to him about it,” I finally mumbled, stabbing the piece of chicken and stuffing it into my mouth, completely giving up on coming up with any type of rational answer for her. Really, I didn’t have one anyway; she was right, as she so often annoyingly was. “You’ll both behave, won’t you?”
“I’m not going to scream at him, if that’s what you mean.”
I rolled my eyes, dropping my chin onto my upraised palm and staring miserably at the door.
I only had about four more hours until I needed to meet his sister. Four more hours to find some sort of composure I’d never really possessed before and meet her without seeming like some stupid hillbilly from the sticks.
He’d said that she was protective. Meaning that she probably assumed that I was only out for the fame and the fortune that came with dating her brother. Meaning that I’d have to do a hell of a job to convince her otherwise.
Meaning that I’d have to keep my foot out of my mouth until it was safe to crawl back to my own house and bury myself in the horribly uncomfortable air mattress for the next two nights.
Staying with him while his sister was in the same house was just too odd to me. That would only mean that any assumptions she might already have about me latching onto him for what his celebrity status could offer me would seem true.
I was not going to give her any reason to think something like that.
“I’ll talk to him about it,” I said again, sighing heavily as I looked back down at my salad.
“Just be yourself, Bella. You can’t help it if she doesn’t like you, but personally, I don’t see why she wouldn’t.”
She said it quickly and quietly, not being the one to hand out compliments often.
Yes, Edward had said basically the same thing yesterday morning. Hearing it from Rosalie made me feel a hell of a lot better, though. She was more honest than anyone I’d ever known and if she had told me that I had no chance in hell, I would’ve gladly hid out in my house until his sister left.
Not that that would stop Edward from coming over to find me, but it was a nice thought.
“Plus, he has to have some sway with her, too. He’s with you for a reason. She’ll see that and she won’t have any reason to say that she doesn’t like you.”
I nodded once, watching as she stared intently at the salad in her lap and quickly stabbed the rest of the chicken onto her fork to stuff it in her mouth.
“Thanks, Rose.”
“You’re welcome.” She looked up at me again, offering me a lopsided smirk as she snapped the plastic to-go container shut. “What are you making for dinner?”
“I figured that chicken fajitas would be a safe route.”
“Yours are the best.” She stood up then, dropping the container and her fork into the trash can next to her. “I have to get back to work, but you’ll call me when we can meet him.”
It wasn’t a question, but with Rosalie, not a lot was. She knew what she wanted and didn’t hesitate to go for it. Or to demand for it. If she’d lived in the city, she would’ve had every major company eating out of the palm of her hand.
Instead, she chose to stay in
I nodded, standing up as well and rounding the counter to hug her briefly.
“I will.”
“And don’t worry about tonight.” She slung her coat over her shoulders and grabbed her purse before she walked to the door. “Your world won’t end.”
I rolled my eyes at her, pointing to the door and motioning for her to get out.
“Goodbye, Rose.”
She waved at me before disappearing out the door. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed heavily, shaking my head as I walked back around the counter when the door snapped shut behind her.
The bun I’d hastily pulled my hair into this morning had long since been torn out. It only gave me a bigger headache than the one I’d been previously trying to ignore. Apparently, not thinking about something important only gave me a very large migraine.
But Rosalie was right. All that I had to do was be myself and everything would turn out okay. I was a good person and my intentions with Edward were purely innocent.
I twisted my lips to the side as I sat down in the chair and smirked to myself.
Okay, maybe they weren’t really all that innocent all the time, but all I wanted to do was be with him. The real him; not the actor that everyone else drooled over on a daily basis.
His sister couldn’t fault me for that.
But when
Even the annoyance I felt at finding more things that Jessica hadn’t bothered to do months ago hadn’t managed to keep my thoughts off of it like it had this morning.
His sister would see that I wasn’t good enough for him. She would see that I wasn’t anything close to what he really needed and she’d tell him that.
What made it even worse was that I didn’t know what his response would be to that. I didn’t know if he would take her opinions to heart and leave me like I feared. I didn’t know what he would do if she said that to him and every inch of me was shaking as I locked up and walked to my truck.
I made my way to my own house with my bottom lip in between my teeth and my hands gripping the steering wheel as if it were my lifeline.
At this point, it kind of was. It was the only stable thing that I could really count on at this point in time and as I pulled in my driveway, I was terrified to get out of it.
I stole a glance at his dark house out of my rear view mirror, gnawing on my lip when I didn’t see the Volvo sitting in the driveway.
I could do this. I was being irrational. She was Edward’s family and if I really wanted this to go somewhere – and I really did – then I would have to meet his entire family eventually.
I felt my face pale and leaned forward to rest my forehead on the steering wheel.
Oh, God. I’d have to meet the rest of his family. And if things didn’t go over well with his sister tonight, then I had no chance in hell of being accepted easily by the rest of them.
It was absolutely amazing how much was riding on this one night.
“Stop it, Bella,” I growled, sitting up straight and pushing my hair away from my face. “Just stop it. Everything will work out the way it’s meant to.”
I stared at the front of my garage door, my bottom lip once again sucked into my mouth as I slowly climbed out of my truck. I snatched my purse off the seat and ran up to the door, jamming the key in the lock and stepping inside once it was open.
I glared at my poor, lonely recliner as I dropped my purse and shed my coat on the floor before storming into the kitchen.
I had dinner to make and it needed to be damn near perfect. I couldn’t afford to lose the one thing in my life that finally made some sense just because I was too damn scared to take a chance.
I took a chance by kissing Edward last Friday and it ended up working out pretty damn well for the both of us.
I could take a chance with his sister by being myself and praying that she would think it was more than enough for him.
Really, I had absolutely nothing else to offer her anyway.
~*~
I’d been staring out my front windows for the past half an hour, waiting impatiently to see his Volvo drive up the road and park in the driveway across the street. The fajitas were almost done and if I paced back and forth in my living room for much longer, there really would be a hole in the floor.
I wanted to get this over with. I wanted to meet her and I wanted to show her how much her brother meant to me. I wanted her to see that I was more than a random girl from the middle of nowhere. I wanted her to see that I had real, true feelings for Edward.
I wanted her to see that I would fight for him if I had to.
Running my hands through my hair, I paced back into the kitchen and bent down to yank out the broiler.
Snapping it back in place when I figured that they needed another ten minutes, I stood back up and eyed my refrigerator.
I smiled brightly as I lunged for it, yanking open the door and immediately grabbing onto one of the beer bottles I’d bought when I’d taken Edward shopping.
Flicking off the top, I threw it in the trash can and threw my head back, swallowing as much as I possibly could without choking on it. It would at least keep me from chewing off my bottom lip and there was always the very great comfort of it taking some of the edge off.
If I told myself that I was going to be fine one more time, it was altogether possible that I’d hang myself from one of the many trees in my backyard.
I knew it was getting bad when I began threatening myself with serious injuries that resulted in death.
I jumped and nearly choked on the beer when I heard a knock on my front door. Sputtering and coughing, I slammed the beer bottle down on the counter and caught my breath as I slowly walked back into the living room.
Wiping my mouth on the back of my hand and taking one more deep breath, I grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door open, a smile immediately lighting my face when I saw Edward standing on the other side.
“Hey. What are you doing here? I’m…”
He just grinned at me before wrapping his arms around my waist, stepping into the house and fusing his mouth to mine, completely and effectively cutting off any more of my thought processes. He’d managed to fucking perfect that maneuver.
My arms immediately wound around his neck and I vaguely heard the door slam behind us as he continued to walk with me wrapped securely in his arms.
I would’ve gladly stayed here forever. In fact, I never wanted to move. This was heaven on earth and I never wanted him to stop touching me, or kissing me or pushing me tightly up against the wall and eagerly sliding his tongue between my lips.
Every doubt, every thought, every little thing that had been plaguing my mind for most of the day disappeared, slipping through my fingers as he pulled my hips tightly against his.
I whimpered at the contact, hitching one leg up around his waist and burying one hand in his hair to press his face closer to mine. I wanted him as close to me as he could possibly get and as I pushed off the wall to flatten my chest against his, he didn’t seem to mind.
One of his hands trailed up my back, cupping my neck and massaging it gently, which only succeeding in my previous whimper turning into a full fledged moan.
“Bella,” he breathed, moving his mouth from mine to trail his lips down my throat.
I let my head fall back, tried to catch my breath, fisted my hand in his hair and made some sort of sound that might’ve been a response.
I wasn’t entirely sure.
When his mouth returned to mine, the urgency and need I’d briefly tasted before were gone, instead replaced with soft kisses and gentle grazes.
“Bella,” he whispered, bringing his hand from my neck to run his knuckles down my cheek.
“Hm?” I managed, barely opening my eyes and smiling stupidly at him.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t ruin it,” I laughed softly, shaking my head and letting my hand fall from his hair to rest on his shoulder.
He smiled and leaned down to rest his forehead against mine.
“I’m not going to have a chance to do much of that for the next two days so I thought I’d get my fill now.”
“And did you get your fill, Mister Cullen?”
He laughed and shook his head, grabbing my hand in his and twining our fingers together.
“I’ll never get enough of you.”
My heartbeat sped up and I was pretty damn amazed that he couldn’t hear it. Hell, I was even more amazed that his sister couldn’t hear it.
I furrowed my eyebrows at the thought.
“Where’s your sister?”
“Probably still sitting in the car, waiting for me to get her luggage.” He groaned and closed his eyes, squeezing my hand. “I just wanted to see you before she stole you away from me.”
I laughed nervously and leaned in to kiss him again. I wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“I’m not going anywhere without you.”
I watched the corner of his mouth twitch into a smile before his eyes opened and met mine.
And the look in them – one I didn’t recognize but definitely wasn’t opposed to – nearly took my breath away. They were so intense, so focused on my own and so damn green that my legs felt weak.
Ah, hell.
I knew this feeling. It hadn’t ever been this intense before, but I knew what that spark in the pit of my stomach meant.
I welcomed the burst of acceptance and mind-numbing happiness and stepped up again, gently catching his bottom lip in between mine and placing my free hand against his cheek.
I was falling in love with Edward Cullen and there was absolutely nothing anyone could do about it. To hell and back with what his sister might think of me; I no longer cared.
As long as this wonderful man kept looking at me like he just had and kept his arms around me for as long as possible, the rest of the world could go straight to hell and I wouldn’t give a flying fuck.
I didn’t want to question myself or even try thinking logically about this. If I did, I’d reason with myself that it was too soon to be feeling like this; too soon to even be entertaining the notion of being in love with him.
And standing in my more than empty living room, tangled with him and happier than I could ever remember being, I decided that I didn’t give a damn.
If this was what it felt like to really be in love, then I didn’t care if it was too soon. I didn’t care if it wasn’t logical or even possible because my heart seemed pretty content with the idea of falling in love with him.
“I should go,” he whispered, backing away from me. “She’ll probably kill me if I don’t hurry up.”
Okay, so now that he’d mentioned her again, I realized that her opinion did still matter to me. And I was still nervous. But it wasn’t half as bad as it was when I’d walked into the house an hour ago.
“Do you think she’ll like me?” I asked softly, stroking my thumb across his cheek and tilting my head to the side.
“You have no reason to worry about it.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Trust me on that.”
I smiled and nodded, letting my hand drop from his cheek to rest on his chest.
“Okay.”
“You’ll be over soon, right?”
“As soon as the fajitas are done cooking, I’ll be over.”
“Oh, thank God, you weren’t kidding about those this morning,” he moaned, licking his lips.
I laughed and gently pushed on his chest, letting my leg fall from his waist so that I could stand up straight.
“They just needed a few more minutes when I checked last. They’ll be done soon.”
“Good.” He kissed me one more time before backing away and letting go of my hand. “I’ll see you.”
I nodded, standing still as he turned around and walked to the front door, opening it only to stand in the doorway.
“Edward,” I laughed, wrapping my arms around myself as the cold air blew in. “I’ll be there before you know it.”
“Oh, no, that’s not it,” he muttered, looking over his shoulder at me. “She really is still in the car. She really hasn’t even gotten out yet.”
I laughed and walked up behind him, placing my hands on his back and gently pushing him out the door.
“Go,” I laughed, still pushing until he made it onto the porch. “Get her settled and I’ll be over there soon.”
“Do you know that she brought two suitcases with her? Two!”
“Go!” I pointed to his house, still laughing as he turned to face me.
“She’s only staying for two damn days!”
“Edward,” I laughed, stepping out onto the porch and shivering. “Go.”
He grinned and leaned in to kiss me once more before finally walking down the steps and back across the street. I quickly walked into the house and closed the door behind me, leaning back against it and closing my eyes.
Oh, yes. I was definitely falling in love with him.
~*~
The fajitas wrapped up tightly in a plastic container, I made my way across the road five minutes later with my shoulders back and my head held high.
Her opinion mattered, yes. Despite what I’d declared to myself before, her opinion of me did matter. Just because I’d come to the realization that I was falling in love with Edward didn’t change the fact that she could hate me and convince him to feel the same way.
It stiffened my backbone a little bit, but it didn’t take away the nerves I thought had disappeared.
Everything had been so much clearer when I was in his arms.
Taking a deep breath, I walked onto the porch and balanced the container in one hand as I knocked on the door.
This was it. I could do this. I could meet his sister and I could make her see what he meant to me.
The door opened and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw a frazzled Edward standing on the other side. I laughed when his eyes zeroed in on the container in my hands and stepped inside when he moved out of the way.
“You okay?” I asked quietly, reaching up to place my free hand on his cheek.
He smiled softly and leaned against my hand, closing his eyes and gently nuzzling his cheek into my palm as he nodded.
“You don’t have to knock anymore, you know,” he laughed, opening his eyes, taking the container from my hands and leaning down to peck me lightly on the lips. “And thank you for dinner.”
“I’m not just barging into your house. And you’re welcome.”
He rolled his eyes, his mouth open to respond before it snapped shut when we both heard thunderous footsteps on the stairs.
“Bella!”
I jumped when I heard the high-pitched squeal that came from the doorway of the living room. I peeked around Edward - who slapped his forehead with his free hand and sighed heavily - to see a very tiny little woman with spiky jet black hair and a mile wide smile on her face standing with her arms outstretched in front of her.
I found it very hard to believe that all of that noise had been caused by her. But unless Edward was harboring a six foot tall fugitive in the tiny upstairs closet, I didn’t have any other possible explanations.
“You’re finally here!”
“Yes,” I mumbled, laughing nervously and clearing my throat. “I’m finally here.”
She rushed over to us, throwing her arms around my shoulders, harshly nudging Edward out of the way and pulling me down to her level to hug me tightly.
I looked over at him and he snorted at what I could only imagine was the look of absolute panic on my face.
I’m glad he found this amusing.
“Bella, this is my sister Alice,” he introduced, his lips twitching as he closed the door behind me.
“It’s nice to finally be able to meet you!” she squealed, squeezing me a little harder.
She didn’t hate me, no; she just wanted to suffocate me before I even stepped any further into the house.
She jumped back then, hooked one of her arms through mine and dragged me into the dining room. She let go of me long enough to drop into one of the chairs and daintily crossed her legs, rested her chin in her hand and beamed at me.
“You too,” I smiled, slowly sinking into the chair she’d stopped me in front of. “How was your flight?”
“Same as any other.” She waved her free hand out at her side, shrugging her tiny shoulders dismissively. “How was work? Edward pointed out the bookstore you worked at as we drove by. It looks cute!”
I laughed nervously, fisting my hands in my lap and watching intently as Edward walked by us, shaking his head and mumbling on his way into the kitchen.
Ugh. Even clothed, I could practically see the muscles of his back as he walked. And although I enjoyed the thoughts that popped up in my head, his sister was sitting next to me and waiting for an answer to the question I barely remembered her asking.
“Uh, thank you,” I smiled, finally looking back at her. “Work was all right.”
She was grinning knowingly at me, her head tipped down slightly as she pursed her lips.
I didn’t know her well enough to interpret that look and merely looked down at my lap, my bottom lip caught in between my teeth as I felt my face starting to redden. Whatever it meant, I wasn’t so sure that I liked it.
“Do you two want wine or anything?” Edward asked, poking his head into the dining room as I looked up.
“Yes!”
He rolled his eyes at the back of her head and I coughed to cover up the laugh that wanted to make its way out of my throat when he disappeared back into the kitchen.
“This place is gorgeous,”
“There’s a reason for that!” Edward called.
She rolled her eyes this time, sighing heavily and shaking her head as if he were the most ignorant person on the planet.
“He’s just selfish,” she whispered loudly, leaning in to me. “Has to keep everything to himself. Including you! If I hadn’t decided to come here, I probably never would’ve met you.”
“Oh, well,” I mumbled, twisting my hands around.
What could I say to that without sounding like a pretentious snob? “Sure, you would’ve,
For some reason, I didn’t think that would’ve gone over very well.
“What are you doing for the holidays?” she asked abruptly, sitting up straight. “Christmas is coming up soon and then the New Year.” She sighed happily, tilting her head to the side. “I love the holidays.”
“I’m going to see my father and stepmother for Christmas,” I offered, shifting uneasily in my seat and biting my bottom lip again.
“And for New Year’s Eve?”
I shrugged one shoulder, smiling sadly at her.
The one person I’d want to spend New Year’s Eve with would be in
“Not sure,” I replied softly.
“Hm,” she mumbled, letting her hand drop to the table top as she regally lifted her head. “Do you have either of the two days that I’ll be here off?”
Trying to keep up with her in conversation was proving to be a very difficult task to accomplish. She was jumping from topic to topic so quickly that it felt like my head was spinning.
“Uhm, no,” I said quickly, shaking my head and biting my bottom lip again. “My associate is away on vacation and there’s no one else to run the store.”
“She left early, didn’t she?” Edward demanded, his voice accusing as he poked his head out of the kitchen once again.
I nodded, sighing heavily and shrugging.
“I really wasn’t all that upset about it. The less I see of her, the better my days at work are.”
“But you don’t have a day off.”
I looked over at Edward and he grinned at me before disappearing back into the kitchen.
What was he doing in there? All he needed to do was put the damn fajitas on a plate and stick them on the table. It should’ve taken five seconds tops; it was taking him close to five minutes and I was drowning out here.
“Very carefully,” I said, laughing quietly and looking down at my lap again.
“Mhmm,” she mumbled. “What time do you get out of work?”
“Most of the time, I’m out by six but for the better part of this week, I’ll probably be staying until seven or seven-thirty.”
“How come?” she demanded. “That’s entirely too late for anyone to be working.”
“It’s a two person job that I’m doing by myself this week. I have to be downstairs at all times and when I can finally lock the doors for the night, I’ll have to go upstairs and finish all the paperwork that didn’t get done.”
She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and outright pouting at me when I looked up again.
“That leaves us no time to go shopping!”
I heard Edward bark out a laugh from the kitchen and narrowed my eyes in his general direction.
He knew that was coming. He’d been waiting for it. The way he laughed said it all.
“I don’t… uh, I don’t shop,
She sighed heavily and reached over to gently pat my shoulder, the look on her face sympathetic as she nodded.
“Honey, I can tell.”
I grabbed the hem of my old t-shirt and pulled on it, nervously chewing on my bottom lip.
“You’re beautiful, of course,” she said quickly, shooting a bright smile at me as she placed her hand back on the table. “But there’s so much I could…”
“Dinner!” Edward shouted, gliding into the kitchen with the fajitas in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. “Shut up and eat,
“I wasn’t being mean, Bella. Honest!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide and innocent. “I just…”
“Shut up and eat,” Edward repeated, setting the plate and wine in the center of the table before disappearing back into the kitchen.
I wanted to curl up in a corner and die. I’d been so preoccupied with making dinner and trying to keep myself calm under pressure that I hadn’t thought about my plain jeans and boring t-shirt. Of course Alice, the fashion designer, would expect something better from her brother’s girlfriend.
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” she offered quietly. “It’s just a habit, you know?”
I offered her a shaky smile and nodded. “It’s okay.”
She smiled back at me and nervously began chewing on the corner of her mouth, one hand going up to her hair to gently pluck at one of the spikes.
Edward walked back into the room, one hand balancing plates and the other carrying three wine glasses.
When he set the glass and plate in front of me, I tried to offer him a reassuring smile. It didn’t work, of course, and he quickly grabbed my hand to squeeze it gently before letting it go and sitting down across from me.
I should’ve stayed holed up in the house for the rest of the night. We wouldn’t be sitting in an uncomfortable awkward silence if I hadn’t shown up. And as much as he’d probably knock on my door when I didn’t, he’d eventually get tired, freeze and give up. I’d have hell to pay when I finally did open the door, but by then
I was the first to grab the wine and pour it into my glass, setting the bottle back down and waiting for the two of them to take what they wanted of the fajitas before I did.
I suddenly couldn’t wait to get back to my air mattress.
~*~
Dinner went as well as could be expected.
My wardrobe was one strike against me; I didn’t need to add that I didn’t listen to the list I was sure she was keeping in her head.
Edward and Alice argued like any normal brother and sister and I even found myself giggling at times.
He’d glared at her through most of the night, his face turning beet red as she told me about how he’d jumped into a lake and had lost his swim trunks the minute he belly flopped into the water. She had pictures that she promised to show me when she could wrestle them from their mother and he threatened to return the new Louis Vuitton purse he’d bought her for Christmas.
She’d winked at me and then calmly finished her wine, batting her eyelashes at Edward when he continued to glare at her.
By the time
“All right,” I yawned, stretching my arms over my head. “I guess I’d better get going.”
Edward snapped his head in my direction, losing the staring contest
“Where?”
My arms fell to my sides and I furrowed my eyebrows together, tilting my head.
“What?”
“Where are you going?” he asked simply.
I blinked at him.
“Home,” I said slowly.
“Why?”
Did I miss something? Why wouldn’t I go home? He had company and it would be rude of me to stay. It would give
Apparently, I thought wrong.
“To go to sleep,” I said just as slowly, not able to stifle the yawn that crept up on me.
He motioned with his chin toward the stairs.
“There’s a perfectly good bed up there. In fact, I believe that you’ve got a few of your things up there as well.”
My face burned and I started chewing on my bottom lip again, laughing nervously as I played with the bottom of the wine glass.
Great. He’d just said everything I was trying to avoid saying in front of his sister without even thinking about it. I didn’t even want to know what she thought of me right now.
“I just… uhm…” I mumbled, beyond mortified as I kept my gaze firmly on the wine glass.
“I’m going to go take a shower,”
“You too,
I kept my head down, intently watching my fingers as they traced the base of the glass.
“Bella,” he said once we heard the bathroom door slam closed.
“Yeah?” I asked, my voice thick.
Oh, great. On top of being exhausted and slightly buzzed because of my exhaustion, I was going to start crying. Absolutely perfect.
There was no fucking way that I was ever going to meet the rest of his family. Especially not if that night had the potential to turn out like this one was. No. It wasn’t happening.
“Bella,” he whispered and I watched as one of his hands closed over mine. “Look at me.”
I shook my head fiercely, pressing my lips together tightly as he tried prying my fingers away from the wine glass.
He moved his hand from mine when I wouldn’t let my fingers wrap around his like they should’ve and I heard his chair scrape against the wood as he stood up, his footsteps clearly indicating that he was walking over to me.
He bent down next to me, pushing my chair back and forcing me to look down at him when he gently grabbed my chin.
“What did I do?” he whispered, his eyes searching mine.
“Nothing,” I squeaked, sniffling pathetically.
“I did something. I said something that upset you.”
He wasn’t going to give up on this. I should’ve known that he wouldn’t, but there was a little pinprick of hope somewhere inside of my heart that had hoped he might. It was embarrassing enough as it was.
But I sighed out a shaky breath and sniffled again.
“I don’t want her to think that I’m sleeping with you already or that I’m with you just because of what you do for a living. I didn’t want her to think that I was just trying to latch onto you.”
“She doesn’t. Bella,” he whispered, standing up and pulling me with him to wrap me tightly in his arms. “She doesn’t think anything like that. She knows that it’s different with us.” He pressed his lips against my temple, rubbing my back. “Why would you think that?”
“You said she was protective,” I whimpered, burying my face in his chest and loosely wrapping my arms around his waist. “I just thought…”
“No, Bella.” I felt him shaking his head and closed my eyes tightly. “Is this why you were so nervous about meeting her?”
I nodded, closing my eyes.
“You had nothing to worry about,” he whispered, grabbing my face in his hands as I opened my eyes again. “She knows that it’s not like that with you. In fact, she knew the minute she saw me at the airport.”
I blinked at him. “What?”
He laughed nervously and pushed hair behind my ear, taking a deep breath.
“I was thinking about you when she showed up,” he said softly, leaning down to rest his forehead against mine. “She said that she knew you were different by the way I was smiling.”
My heart melted and I smiled shakily, swallowing hard as I leaned up to gently press my lips against his.
“Yeah?”
He smiled and nodded, gently nudging his nose against mine as I stepped down. “Yeah. Stay, Bella.”
“I have to get up pretty early.”
He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes.
“You’ve really got to let that go.”
“I just want…”
“And I want you,” he interrupted softly, “here, with me, for as long as you possibly can be. I don’t care about alarm clocks or my sister being in the same house with us. I don’t want to let you out of my sight until I absolutely have to.”
I reached up to run my hands through his hair and kissed him again, taking that one step toward him that closed the space between us to press myself against him.
What sane woman was really going to say no to that?
“Go,” he laughed against my lips, running his hands down my sides and gently pushing my hips away from his. “I’ll be there soon.”
“Not soon enough,” I mumbled, nipping at his bottom lip.
Oh, yes, I’d seen the reaction I got from that the other day and there was absolutely no way that I wasn’t going to use it to my advantage as often as possible.
“She’s gonna wanna talk,” he shivered, his fingertips digging into the hips he’d been pushing away from him a second ago.
“What more could she possibly have to say?”
Good God the woman hadn’t stopped talking since I walked in the door. I couldn’t fathom that she’d have something entirely new and exciting to say that she hadn’t already touched on throughout the night.
“You’d be surprised,” he mumbled, capturing my lips with his again. “Go get some sleep, Bella. I’ll be there soon.”
“Promise?”
I felt him grin against my lips and answered with one of my own, linking my hands together behind his neck.
“I solemnly swear,” he whispered, sucking my top lip into his mouth and running his tongue across it, “to be there half an hour after she’s out of the shower.”
“Not good enough.”
“You’ve never tried getting
“Twenty minutes,” I bargained, touching the tip of my tongue to his.
“Or what?” he mumbled, darting his tongue into my mouth before kissing my bottom lip softly.
“Or I’m never wearing that shirt again.”
He groaned softly and sighed heavily, placing small, quick pecks against my lips.
“Twenty minutes it is.”
I laughed and finally fused my mouth to his, my tongue quickly finding his as his hands splayed out on my back and pressed me closer to him.
I think I might have died. Because there was no way that a day like I’d been having could turn out ending this right.
0 comments:
Post a Comment