A/N: I'm blown away at the response this is getting! Thank you readers, reviewers and alerters! I hope all my American readers had a happy 4th :)

This fic wouldn't be what it is without 3 lovely ladies that I am privileged to call my friends. Kari, Kim and Chevy. Much love and big hugs to you all!

There's a wee bit of citrus here at the beginning. Let's see if these 2 can see past their own misconceptions of each other.

I own nothing that is Twilight, except for the books and DVD's. And this plot idea.

Walk

Chapter 4

I woke in a sweat with a raging hard-on. I hadn't had such an illicit, wanton, wet dream since I was in college. And it starred Bella. Sweet, luscious Bella.

I knew it was wrong, but still lost in a mid-sleep, I couldn't stop myself. I closed my eyes, and conjured the dream back. Wrapping my hand around my stiff dick, I saw Bella hovering over me, her soft, thick hair cascading around us. I could actually smell her sweet shampoo.

I lifted my hips, imagining my hand was her. Thrusting into her. The image quickly changed, and I saw her kneeling over me, about to take me into her mouth. My thumb made a circuit around the head of my cock, my mind had her soft, pink tongue licking me.

It had been a while since I had an orgasm, so it didn't take me long. I stroked myself faster, gripped my cock tighter. I had to turn my head and bite the pillow to make sure no one heard me. I immediately felt remorse for using Bella like that, but at the same time...fuck, did it feel good!

I cleaned up with a few tissues and quickly fell back asleep. If I dreamed anymore about Bella, I didn't remember it when I woke.

I knew Bella would be at work by the time I got out to the farm, and for that, I was grateful. I'm not sure I could face her after that dream and my subsequent lascivious behavior.

I followed the driveway past the big house and saw mine just behind and to the side of it. Before I even got out of the car, I saw a note taped to the worn wooden door.

I got out and was greeted by Zeus snorting at me from the corral that butted up to the side of the house.

"Hey, Zeus." I called out to him as I reached the door. The note just said "Welcome" and had a key taped to it. I tore it off and unlocked the door.

"Christ." I said, as I waded through the cobwebs. I walked through the entire house, which wasn't that small, especially for just me. There was a loft and 2 downstairs bedrooms, one bigger than the other; a kitchen, living room, a utility room and a bathroom. I immediately thought that I would use one of the bedrooms as an office. I could definitely make this work.

After I got a cleaning crew out here.

I went back outside and heard footsteps. A big man, dark haired and tan, rounded the corner by the barn, walking in my direction. As he got closer, he spoke.

"You must be Edward." he held out his hand when he got close enough. "I'm Jake."

"Jake. Nice to meet you." I said, shaking his hand. He looked at least 10 years younger than me. "You work here?" I asked.

"No, not really." he laughed. "I help Bella out with feeding the horses. That is, until you take over the job."

"Oh. Okay." I watched as he eyed me up and down, no doubt sizing me up. I straightened a little taller and cleared my throat. "How long will you be around today?"

"I'll be here all day. I live here." he thumbed over his shoulder towards Bella's house.

Ah. Okay, I get it now. This is Bella's boyfriend. Shit, I wonder what he'd do to me if he knew I jacked off to his girlfriend during the night.

"Let me know if you need anything. I'll probably be working, so ring the door bell. I won't hear you if you knock." He clarified. I watched Jake take his time walking back to Bella's house.

Scratch that, his and Bella's house.

I felt...deflated. Like all the air had been sucked out of me.

What the fuck?

I walked back into the bunk house, MY house, slamming the door. I was suddenly kind of pissed. There was one beat up old chair in the room, so I sat down, raking a hand through my hair.

Bella was off limits anyway, and I knew this. Why did knowing she had a boyfriend, correction, a live-in boyfriend, bother me so much?

I couldn't allow myself the time to get my head around it right now, so I left the farm and headed back to Jasper's to do some research and find a good wrecking crew. This place needed a nice overhaul.

I called Jasper to get Emmett's number; I figured I'd use my new friend to help out with renovating the house. The next thing I did was hire a cleaning crew to go out there and make it breathable. The dust was so thick you could almost cut it.

Krissy's Kleaners couldn't make it out to the house until tomorrow, so I made the appointment as early as possible. I'm not sure what was fueling my obsession. Was it my need to get everything up and running, or was it Bella? She kept invading my every thought.

I called Emmett, who was just finishing up on a job site, and we made plans to meet out at the ranch after lunch.

I remembered seeing a small cooler in the garage when I had used Jasper's bike. After digging it out, I made a couple sandwiches and grabbed some water and sodas. I saw a bag of carrots, and hoped Alice didn't want them for supper that night; I'd have to replace them on my way back this evening.

I had a thought before leaving, and looked up Bella's cell number on the property contract. I wanted to take my laptop, but if I couldn't hook up to the internet, it wouldn't do me any good.

I waited 4 rings before she picked up, and that was when my mouth decided to go completely dry.

"Hello?" a tentative Bella asked. I quickly took a swig of water, trying not to choke on it.

"Bella? It's Edward." Nothing but silence came through on the other end.

"Hi Edward." When Bella finally spoke, her voice was less shy. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm going back out to the farm and I was wondering what kind of internet access you had out there."

"Back?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. I was out there already, to take a look at the house." All I heard was Bella breathing.

"We have the standard hook up, but also have a router." she stated matter-of-factly.

Was everything going to be difficult with her?

"You'd just need the password to use it." she continued.

"Okay, great. Can I get it?" I tried very hard to keep the frustration out of my voice.

"Sure." Bella drew a deep breath. "It's Corrine03." I had to repeat it back to her, she said it so quietly. I assumed she just didn't want anyone to hear the password.

"Thanks Bella, I appreciate this."

"It's no problem, Edward. Oh, so you know, the water is from a well but you'll need to call the power company to get that turned back on."

I thanked her again and looked up the local power company to get that taken care of. I grabbed my laptop and the cooler and got my ass back on the road.

It had been a while since I had felt this inspired. Probably since I was with my last patient. She was a sweet little 10 year old girl who had been hit by a car. She had been very lucky and only had to have some rehabilitation after her broken leg had healed. It was her attitude that infected me, though. Life can be amazing through a child's eyes.

I felt my mood fall as I pulled into the driveway. Emmett was sitting on the rail of Bella's porch talking to Jake. Just thinking his name made my skin crawl. I threw them a wave and continued on to my house.

I was getting used to this. MY HOUSE. I smiled, feeling a bit foolish. No one could see me except Zeus, and who was he going to tell? I parked and decided to check out the barn. I grabbed the carrots from the cooler and went exploring. Jasper was right. I had no idea why I didn't get out here and check this place out more thoroughly before buying into it. Things seemed to be moving so slowly, then all of a sudden, we were signing the papers. So far, though, everything seemed copacetic.

As I wandered through the property, I noted that there were plenty of stalls, and it looked like only half were being used. This place had some serious potential. I walked to the end, where the gate to the pasture was, and met Zeus and a couple of his stall mates.

I was jerked back to reality from my wandering thoughts when Emmett hollered at me to meet him at the house. I finished feeding the carrots to the horses and made my way back toward the house where he waited.

Emmett and I walked through all the rooms as we discussed what I would like to have done and what absolutely had to be done. When he gave me a rough estimate, I choked.

"If all I had to do was fix this place up, it would be fine." I told him. "Unfortunately, I also need to get the business side of this started, too. What if I help?"

"Tell me about your plans for the place." Emmett's eyes wandered the walls and came back to meet mine.

I told him about a couple of the other therapy ranches I knew of, and had actually been to. I went out and got my laptop from the car, to show him some of the websites, so he would have a better understanding of what I was trying to accomplish.

He looked at the sites, letting me talk until I started to feel uncomfortable. He hadn't said a word. I looked at him expectantly.

"What if you had a corporate sponsor?" he asked.

"That would be great, actually." I said, surprised.

"Let me talk to Rosie and get back to you." he said, as he wrote on his clipboard.

"You?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah. Why not? You can't have a construction company as a sponsor?" he asked seriously.

"Sure, of course. I'm just surprised that you want to help."

"Well, it would please me a lot to be able to help out sick kids. I'm sure Rosalie won't have anything against it, either, but I have to talk to her about it before I sign on."

"That would really help a lot, Emmett. Thank you." The more I got to know this guy, the more impressed I became.

"Great. So, you know how to swing a hammer?" he asked, with a big goofy smile on his face.

As Emmett was leaving, I told him that I would be in touch with him after the power was back on.

I was behind the house getting ready to eat another sandwich, when I heard someone pulling in. I figured it was Emmett again, coming back for a forgotten tool or the clipboard he carried around.

It wasn't Emmett.

I watched a long, lean leg ending in a black high heel emerge from the car. The other leg followed it and my eyes trailed straight up...to Bella's face. She was looking right at me, and I felt the burn of embarrassment streak my face.

My ringing phone saved me. I waved at Bella and dug it out of my pocket. My mother was right on time for our weekly conversation.

"Hi Mom, how are you?" I tried to control the spastic beating of my heart as I dropped down to sit at the base of a tree.

"I'm great Edward, thank you. How are you?" her tone suggested that I had fallen off the planet since leaving Santa Fe.

"I'm doing really well. How's Dad?"

We talked and got caught up on all the relevant and non relevant issues. I mean, I was happy her store was doing well, but didn't really give a damn which books the ladies were reading in her book club. I was polite, though.

I turned the conversation back to reality and told her all about my new acquisition.

"Yeah, I'm here right now." I told her, looking around my small yard.

"Send us some pictures, Edward. We want to see it!" My parents were really great. If I said I wanted to make paper airplanes as a new career move, they'd find some way to support me.

"It's still really rough, Mom, but I'll get you some. They'll be good 'before' pictures." I laughed.

As I was winding down the call, I watched Bella and Jake drive away in her car. They both had glanced my way, Bella's gaze lingering a little longer, I noticed, and immediately wondered whether or not she was regretting this whole thing.

I had a lot to do, in order to get this place up and running, so I pushed any thoughts of Bella to the back of my mind.

The next couple of days were hectic. I went around to the places I had interviewed at, and a few others, to place help wanted ads on the bulletin boards. I was going to need a couple of volunteers to help me. I ran into the lady from the first place I had visited, and subsequently had denied the job she offered. Tanya was her name, if I remembered correctly.

"Edward, right?" she asked, smiling brightly.

"Yes. Hi, how are you?" I asked politely.

"Great, thanks. What are you doing?" she pointed at the board I had just tacked an ad to.

"I'm looking for a couple of volunteers." I explained, not wanting to go into too much detail. She leaned in for a closer look, her shoulder lightly brushing across my chest. I took a step back.

"You found a place for your therapy idea?" she asked, not moving from her position, but turning towards me

"I did." I was kind of impressed that she remembered.

She looked at her watch. "I was just heading out for lunch, would you please join me? I'd really like to hear more about your plans."

I was hesitant to accept her offer, remembering her flirtatious nature during my interview. But since I wasn't going to be working for her, why not? She might make a useful contact.

"Sure, where are we going?"

The lunch turned out to be a really good thing. I found Tanya to be intelligent and witty. Though she came on a little strong personally, she was genuinely interested in my new venture, and really cared about helping kids needing rehab. Our conversation turned after the business part had concluded.

"So, Edward, what kinds of things do you like to do?" Tanya asked, as her eyes took on a playful look.

Her question caught me off guard. I didn't want to sound like a dumb ass, but I was still figuring out what I liked to do.

"Am I prying?" she laughed.

"No." I assured her. "I like a lot of things. Music, reading, pretty much anything physical." I gulped when she chuckled. Realizing what I insinuated, I felt my face heat up. "Like sports, working out with the kids...stuff like that." I quickly added.

I suddenly became very interested in my plate. "What about you?" I asked, before shoving the last of my turkey on honey wheat into my mouth.

"How about we save that for another time?" Tanya reached across the table, gently touching my hand. "I need to get back to my office for a meeting."

"Okay, sure." I said, thankful that I wouldn't be put on the spot by any more questions I wasn't prepared to answer.

"May I?" she picked up my phone.

Not sure what she had planned, I only nodded. Tanya messed with my phone for a minute. "There." she said, handing it back. "Call me."

"Uh...okay." She'd put her number on my phone. I started to put it in my pocket.

"Now, Edward." she laughed. "I'd like to have your number, too." Why she didn't just ask for my number, I had no idea.

After our number exchange, we went our separate ways down the busy sidewalk. I hadn't taken five steps and ran right into a woman. I looked down at the poor girl sprawled on the ground.

"I'm so sor.." I stopped mid-word. I had just knocked Bella down. She gazed up at me from the sidewalk, looking kinda cute in her sleeveless pink dress.

"Christ, Edward! Don't you watch where you're going?" she snapped. She was like a little bear cub, trying to be menacing. Cute as hell, but still dangerous.

"It was an accident, Bella. I'm sorry." I said, tugging her by the arm to get her off the ground.

"And then you manhandle me!" she winced, rubbing her arm.

"I was only trying to help you up." I snapped back. Her hand fell away from her arm, and I saw the redness from the grip I had on her. "I am sorry. Are you alright?" I softened my tone.

"Yes," she sighed. "I'm fine." Bella's phone rang and she reached into her purse to answer it, turning away from me.

"Hi," she answered. "Yeah, I'm on my way. I was detained a bit." she looked at me from the corner of her eye.

"I have to get going." Bella flipped her phone shut. "See you around, Edward."

BPOV

I was already running late to meet Jake at the gallery, which isn't a good thing with him. He was known to get his panties in a twist where punctuality was concerned. I parked where I knew I could get a spot and set off to walk the rest of the way. Then...BAM!

Truth be told, it was just as much my fault as it was his. I was rummaging in my purse, not watching where I was walking. The next thing I knew, I was looking up at Edward from the ground.

The first thing that I thought, after 'OW!', was that Edward was solid, deliciously so. I laid there looking up at him until he grabbed my arm and pulled me up. I was not prepared for the feeling that overtook my body, even from such a rough touch. Though, it wasn't as rough as I made it out to be.

Whether it was embarrassment, or being afraid that he'd see right through me, I snapped at him and made it seem like it was entirely his fault. His touch made my skin tingle and caused my body to react to him. Long after he let go of my arm, I could still feel his hand wrapped tightly around me. My ringing phone helped me save face and regain some composure. It was Jake wanting to know where I was, so I was able to make a quick getaway.

"What happened to you?" Jake asked, meeting me as I walked through the gallery door.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I wasn't going to be able to keep my Edward fixation from Jake for much longer. His face screwed up in frustration.

"Ugh! I don't know what it is that you aren't telling me, but I don't have time to interrogate you right now." Jake grabbed my hand. "Come on."

Jake was busy trying to decide how to set up his pieces for the show. He had taken Polaroids of his masterpieces and was scurrying around the room rearranging the pictures, in place of where the sculptures would be.

"What if I put Beauty here instead, and moved The Fish over there?" We'd been at it for an hour and I think everything was back in it's original place, for the second time.

"Here..." I moved a few pictures around then stood next to Jake. "That's it." I said, extending my arms to encompass the room. We wrote on the backs of the pictures where they'd be placed and gathered his stuff together.

"Are you cooking tonight?" Jake asked, putting a box in the back seat.

"I"m really exhausted, Jake. Plus, my back is killing me." Of course, my fall earlier was to blame for that. Coupled with my old injury, I was beginning to be in a lot of pain.

I pulled into traffic and headed to our favorite fish taco place for takeout. As I was parking, my phone chimed, letting me know that I had just got a text. Unfortunately, it let Jake know, too.

"Ooh, let's see who this is from." he snatched up my phone. "It's from..."

I turned the engine off and looked at Jake, who was staring at me with a look that said something along the lines of 'You got some 'splaining to do.'

"Who's it from?" I grabbed at my phone. Jake held it away from me, with his other hand out, fending me off.

"Why is Edward texting you that he is, and I quote, 'Really sorry and hopes there's no lasting damage', then, 'still friends?' Talk, Isabella." Jake squared himself in the seat sideways, strumming his fingers on the dash board.

"Jake, can we just get some food and go home?" I begged. "I'll tell you what happened on the way." I gave him a good look at my sad, tired eyes and fluttering eyelashes. It always makes him laugh.

"Okay, runt. Only because I'm starving." he laughed, dropping my phone in my purse.

"You're always starving, Jake."

Once we were back in the car, he barely gave me a chance to get on the road. He turned off the radio and gave my leg a pat.

"Start talking."

"As you know, I was running a little late today. I was made even later because I literally ran into Edward on the sidewalk. I ended up flat on my back."

I glanced over at Jake. His brows were furrowed and his lips were pursed.

"What?" I asked. "That's what happened."

"When I said you were gonna spill, I meant everything, girlfriend. You've hardly said a thing about him since that first time at movie night over at J and Ally's. There is much more to this story, and I want to know it all."

"Jake, come on. Do we have to do this right now?" I whined, looking for an out.

"No, you can wait until I have a beer in my hand and my stomach has stopped growling." Jake sniffed. "Then, no more stalling!"

Well, I'd gotten a small reprieve. I let Jake get the paper plates and beer while I went upstairs to change. I gave my dress a once over and found a small tear from my brush with the sidewalk. I made a mental note to fix it and threw it in the hamper.

After putting on my back brace, I got into my soft, warm PJ pants and t-shirt. By the time I got back down, Jake had drank half of his beer and had wolfed down a taco. I sat down gently next to him and took a long drink from my already opened beer.

"I think I have a crush on Edward." I just threw it out there, figuring it was all going to come out anyway.

"That's understandable. He's hot." The unsurprised Jake continued to eat, but fluttered his fingers in the air for me to continue.

"You don't understand, Jake." I sighed. "He thinks that I'm a kid. You should hear the way he talks to me."

"Like what?" he asked, licking at some sauce that had dripped down his finger.

"Well, I told you about the conversation we had at the bar." Jake nodded. "And he's insinuated more than once that he thinks I'm naïve. I guess it's the tone he takes with me." I snipped. "The disdain and condescension drips from his lips."

"That's poetic." Jake snarked. "Then why do you like him?"

I thought for a minute, staring out the window into the dark night. "To be honest, I kinda had a crush on him before he even got here. Hearing Alice and Jasper talk about him, how much he cares about the kids he works with. I got the impression that Edward was very compassionate and genuine, and I found that attractive."

"There must be more than that. You met him and he's been a jerk to you on almost every occasion." Jake observed.

"I'm not sure. I don't know if it's purely physical, or just my need to have him NOT dislike me, ya know?" I shook my head in confusion.

"Purely physical, huh?" Jake's eyebrows danced up and down.

"Oh my God, Jake. You have no idea." I conjured a mental picture of Edward and sighed.

"Everything about him is sexy. The line of his jaw, his long, thick lashes, his hands. Oh, and his eyes. I could get lost in those eyes of his..." I trailed off, my finger absently picking at the label on my beer. "They're so expressive."

"And what do they say to you?" Jake snickered.

"That's just it. When he was around the kids, he seemed like he was in such a good mood, happy. His eyes were bright and shining. When he's talking to me, he seems so...disappointed. His eyes seem to get darker. Almost sad." I let my head fall back against the couch.

"What else?" he pushed.

"When he ran into me today, and helped me off the ground...wow. His touch had my entire body tingling. It made me feel alive. And I could tell that he was solid." I sighed. "Of course, his mouth had to go and ruin it."

"Isabella Swan." Jake's voice took on a chastising tone. "I know you, and I know that you had to have contributed to that incident."

I smiled sheepishly. "It wasn't all his fault. I wasn't watching where I was going." Jake arched a knowing eyebrow at me. "And I didn't even thank him for helping me up."

Jake started rummaging around under the litter of taco wrappers and found my phone. Handing it to me, he said "Why don't you do it now?"

I finished off my beer as I read the texts Edward had sent me. I let out a long sigh and hit the reply key.

Thank you, I'm fine, I lied, feeling my back twinge. If it weren't for my previous injury, my back probably wouldn't be hurting.

Yes, still friends, I texted, cringing a little. As much of friends as we'll probably ever be, that is.

Send

I turned off my phone, downed some pain meds and told Jake goodnight. It was just another day I wanted behind me because of Edward Cullen.

Or was it my humiliation? I didn't feel like analyzing it any longer. I let the pills do their work and fell fast asleep.

~W~

I was going in late to the museum, and was supposed to be sleeping in. The loud radio and hammering, however, wasn't going to let that happen.

"What the hell is that?" I said to my empty room. Crawling out of my bed, I went to look out the window. What I saw made my heart stutter.

Edward.

The morning sun was shining on his bare, muscular back while he hammered at a window sill. Holy hell, the sight made my girly parts quiver. It was too bad he was off limits.

He stopped hammering and looked around, then turned and looked right at me. Edward grinned and started back in again. That pissed me off. How dare he make all this noise first thing in the morning AND have the audacity to look so scrumptious while doing it?

"Hey!" I yelled out after opening my window. "People do sleep around here!"

"It's almost 10 o'clock, Bella. Shouldn't you be at work?" he asked.

Great. More patronizing from the elder Cullen.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I am going in late today." I had the urge to stick my tongue out at him, but instead just closed my window, then the drapes.

I hadn't meant to sleep that late; I was going to have to rush in order to get to work on time. As I was getting into my car, Edward made another appearance.

"You may want to get another alarm clock." he said, scaring the bejesus out of me. "I heard yours go off an hour before you decided to holler at me."

"Maybe." I mumbled, closing the door. Not wanting to be too rude, I immediately opened my window after starting the car. "Did you need anything?" I asked.

"I wouldn't know where to start." he muttered, looking at the ground. "Have a great day, Bella." he said, turning back towards the bunk house. His house.

I guess I'd better get used to that.

On my drive, I found myself scrutinizing every word he said to me. The tone, the connotation. He talked to me like he was my father, for Christ's sake.

I ran through a drive-thru for a quick coffee and breakfast and made it to the museum 5 minutes late.

"Bella! There you are." an exasperated Alice said.

We were having a class of students in today for a test run of the stations and Alice was freaking out on me.

"Is everything ready?" she asked, flipping through a handful of papers she held.

"It should be." I blew on my coffee and took a drink.

"You look preoccupied. What's wrong?" Alice's well clad toe started tapping.

"I'm good. There's going to be a transition period with my new partner, is all."

"Edward?" she asked.

"Yeah. He woke me up this morning with a radio blaring while he was hammering on his house."

"I've never known Edward to be inconsiderate, Bella. Are you two not getting along?" Alice's face took on a look of concern.

"He sees me as a child, and treats me as such. Always talking down to me, patronizing me. I am finding it increasingly frustrating." I sighed. Alice's face screwed up in confusion.

"Edward? Edward Cullen?"

"Damn, Alice. Yes, Edward Cullen." Was it so unbelievable?

"It sounds like maybe you two got off on the wrong foot. Or something. That is just weird. Edward is one of the most likeable, amicable people I know."

"Well, he isn't very amicable towards me." I didn't mean to sound pouty, but it came out that way. "I'd better get moving. The class will be here in a couple hours. I'll talk to you later."

I left Alice standing in the middle of the foyer, ready to lose myself in my work. I needed to get Edward Cullen out of my head.

A/N: What do we think about Jake? And I think many of us would love for Edward to manhandle us. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have! Thanks for reading.

Recs: TheQueenWriter has two very different WIP's right now that own me. Out of the Blue and Bird Girl. OOTB has a yummy, tatted/doc Edward that is truly swoon-worthy. BG is freakin hilarious with a very fiesty, very OOC Bella. Go take a look, you won't regret it!