Dear magnificent readers,
A shortish chapter today.
Edward's having a bit of a dilemma...
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Enjoy,
BPOV
They were going to pay me. They were offering me a place to stay. I could move out of that crappy little apartment to live here. In this mansion of a house. And I'd get a kitchen again. All I had to do was a bit of vacuuming around and cook up some meals.
I'd done this stuff practically all my life – helping Mom and Gran, and then for my dad, and then for him – and now they were paying me to do it. Insisting that I take money for it.
Plus, I get to stare at Edward Cullen all day, every day.
"I don't want much," I reiterated.
"I'll put you on minimum wage," Edward assured me, amusement colouring his tone, but I was pleased he was going along with it.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
I don't know how I'd deserved this. I'd just been fired from my crappy barely-lets-me-pay-the-rent-let-alone-eat job, and walked straight in to a job as Edward Cullen's housekeeper-come-cook. With my own room. And meals. And wages.
"Ok then."
This Edward looked ten years younger than the one that I'd met yesterday. He jumped up from the sofa and said something to Alice. I watched the way his lips moved as he shaped his words, the strong angle of his jaw, the column of his neck, the bright green of his eyes, the understated elegance of his fingers as he held his hand out to me...
Oh. I took his hand. As soon as our skin touched, a jolt ran through my hand, lighting the nerves in my hand like a surge of electricity, causing me to jerk my hand back.
What the hell was that?
Just some static electricity I reasoned Yes. That's it. A static shock.
I slid my hand back in to his gingerly. The nerves seemed to hum again, but it wasn't uncomfortable. His palm was smooth against mine but there was a roughness to the pads of his fingers on the back of my hand. He flexed his hand, shifting slightly so that our fingers interlinked. I wondered idly if he noticed the way our hands fit perfectly together.
"Where shall we start our tour then Bella?" he asked. "Upstairs?"
"Sure," I agreed. "Upstairs sounds good."
We talked easily as he led me around the house, him gently tugging on my hand to move me on, which he hadn't let go of yet and pointing out rooms as we passed them. "The bedrooms, as you probably noticed, are all referred to in colours. There're six all together. The one at the end is the white room – that's my room – and then there's the blue room, which is now your room. Next is the brown room. Then the green room. The green room has got twin beds in, but all the others are queen or king size beds. We've got the twin beds in there for when Emmett and Rose bring their kids over. The yellow room is right next to that. And then Alice is staying in the pink room."
"That's a lot of rooms," I said.
Maybe this cleaning job is going to be tougher than I thought.
He shrugged. "They hardly ever get used. Alice is the most frequent guest. And she's super neat. Occasionally I'll have other um, guests, but you don't need to worry about that."
Other guests? Why did that sound so suspicious?
Before I had time to dwell on that fact, he was talking to me again, explaining about en suites and laundry.
"Bella!" Alice called. "Bellllaaaa!"
"Coming!" I called back looking over at Edward. He smiled easily and pulled me down the stairs.
EPOV
I don't know why I'd been worried about this. I could keep my dick in my pants. I could ignore the urge to take her against the wall. Or to do a proper tour of the bedrooms...
But no. I was just holding her hand. That's all.
"Coming!" Bella called back to Alice.
I bet I could make you come.
No. She's my employee now.
My beautiful, sexy employee.
And I was screwed.
Bella glanced at me with those big brown eyes and I smiled at her, tugging her down the stairs towards where Alice was waiting.
She was stood in the back room and gave a pointed look at our joined hands as we entered. Bella blushed, obviously noticing the look, and loosened her grip. I sighed and let our hands drop immediately missing the feel.
"Here're your clothes Bella!" Alice chirped, shoving something at Bella. I recognised it as her uniform from last night. "And your phone," she added, producing it and handing it to Bella as well. "You've got a text."
She took the phone, pressing a few buttons to check her text. "Thanks Alice. I'll just, um –" She cut off as she read the text. Her eyebrows came together and the corners of her lips turned down.
Abruptly, she flipped her phone shut, muttering "I'll just go and change" before turning and striding out of the room.
"That was weird," Alice commented.
"Uh, yeah, a bit," I agreed. "What do you think the text was about?"
"Boyfriend, maybe?"
Boyfriend?
Oh God, what if she had a boyfriend?
So what? my other side argued. You've slept with girls with boyfriends plenty of times before.
But this is Bella. She's different. Innocent. Not like those skanks.
Not like it matters anyway. She's an employee. You can't fuck her even if you wanted to.
"Whatever it was, she didn't look very happy," Alice continued.
"No," I agreed. "She didn't look happy."
Maybe they'd had a fight?
"I think I'm going to go check on her."
Employee, Edward.
"Just to make sure she'd ok."
You can't take advantage of her like that.
"I've written up the contract. If you just read it and sign here while I check on Bella, and then Bella can sign it when she's dressed."
Maybe I could put it off for a bit...fuck her first.
No, that would be awkward. I'd scare her away.
And she needed this job.
I sighed and signed on the line.
BPOV
I took my phone from Alice and glanced down. The text was from Angela, who I guess I'd call my best friend, even if she didn't really live up to the best friend specifications. She was also my ex co worker and next door neighbour.
Banner says 2 days 2 pay rent or ur out. + Mike srsly pssed. he wants uniform bak.
I muttered my excuse to Alice and Edward and fled the room.
Two days? He wants his uniform back?
I sighed and hit the reply button.
Mike can go fuck himself.
I jerked on the blouse and skirt angrily. I'd never missed rent before. I was just a little behind this month. Banner just hated me because I'd turned him down, the ass munch. And Mike had the fucking nerve to ask me for my uniform back? After he'd made me fucking buy it in the first place.
I hated that fucking job. And my fucking apartment.
I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm my anger.
"Bella? Are you ok?" Alice asked in a timid voice, peering round the door at me.
"Alice?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly with anger. "When can I move in?"
