Edward and Bella are just getting to know one another in this chapter.


Chapter Seven


Leaving Jake was harder than I thought it would be and as I drove to Edward's, I began to feel nervous. Guilt was starting to build up inside of me. I don't know why because it's not like I was actually going to be cheating on him, but the illusion of cheating would be there. And it's not like I could talk to Alice about this. All she knew was that I was going to Seattle for an internship with a big law firm. I wish so bad that I could get her opinion on all of this, but I can't.

Pulling up to the gate at Edwards house, I roll down my window and stop in front of the keypad.

"How may I help you?" I hear Edward's voice.

"Um, hi. It's me. I mean, it's Bella." I say. "I mean, Isabella Swan."

I groan at myself and close my eyes. Why do I have to sound like such a bumbling idiot?

I hear his laughter as the gate opens. "Hi, Bella. Just drive up and park in my garage. There is a spot to your left when you pull in."

"Okay." I start my trek down the long and winding driveway, my truck groaning and heaving with every S curve and hill.

Just like the last two times I was here, I smile as I look around at the beauty of the forest surrounding the drive and then at his perfect home when it comes into view. By the time I pull into the garage off to the left of the house, I start to worry about my truck. What if he doesn't want this old rusted thing in the same space as his other beautiful cars? I could park it off to the side...

I start to veer off the driveway but change my mind at the last second when I catch sight of a cleared spot in his garage. I pull into the large pristine building and park my behemoth next to the beautiful black Ferrari I admired when I first came here.

I turn off the truck and tuck the keys in my pocket then grab my luggage. It's heavy and when I pull it out, it crashes to the ground and takes me with it. "Ommph!"

"Bella?" I hear Edward call out.

My eyes widen with horror and I stand up quickly, trying not to let him see that I busted my ass. It would be so embarrassing if he knew something as ridiculous as luggage could take me out. I hear bare feet slapping against the polished floor and look over the bed of my truck towards the back of the garage.

Edward smiles easily when we make eye contact. I'm surprised to see he is just in a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt...and barefoot. I don't know why, but I expected him to be in a suit. Seeing him like this is really...refreshing. And somewhat disarming. He's much more relatable and approachable like this.

And much more delicious looking with the way that white shirt hugs his chest.

I have to swallow before I can speak. "Hey."

He rounds the back of my truck then and looks down at the luggage by my feet. "I should have come out here sooner. I should have gotten your bags down for you." He walks over and grabs my two bags from the ground. "It's perfectly fine. I managed." I lie smoothly.

He gives me a dubious look and now I'm worried that he saw me bust my ass.

Please don't let him have seen. I would be mortified.

"Come on. Let's get inside and get you settled." He smiles and nods for me to follow him.

He leads me out of the door he came through at the back and onto a grey stone path that leads back to his house. There is beautiful foliage that lines the path along with small solar lights. Looking to my right, I see thick forest and then after we turn a small corner, it opens up and I can see the river down below. The views are simply stunning.

"Here we are," Edward says when we reach the house. He smiles back at me before opening the door and motioning for me to go first.

Coming from this direction, we pass his office on the left and a closed door and a staircase leading down on the right. I keep going till we reach the living room and I can't help but stop and turn towards the back of the house, looking out of the back wall. I suspect that no matter how many times I see it, the view from here will still knock my socks off.

On the wall to my right, there is a sleek television hanging and a small entertainment cabinet below it. In the middle of the room is a beautiful crème colored sectional couch that looks like it would swallow me whole if I were to sit on it. I can see the kitchen to my left on the other side of a half-wall that separates it from the living area. There is a small portion of it sticking out of the back and opening up to the glass wall where a small table for everyday eating is.

"Your room is this way," Edward says after a moment and I follow him past the kitchen. He stops at a room on the left with a window that overlooks the front of the house. "I got this room ready for you because I didn't know if you would like to stay in my other guest room across the hall. Some people don't like the idea of sleeping in a room where a whole wall is a window."

"I'm not one of those people," I tell him, excited by the prospect of waking up to that stunning view every morning.

He smiles down at me. "I had a feeling you wouldn't be. That's why I prepared both rooms for you."

I follow him across the hall and gasp when I see the new room. He lets me move inside and it's beautiful. It's not an overly large room, just big enough to have a king sized bed on the wall to the right, a chest of drawers along the entry wall, and a cozy chair that looks like it would be perfect for reading in the corner where the glass wall meets the wall on the left.

The other three walls are covered in beautiful teak wood planks that run slanted on a diagonal down to the floor. The linens are the same crème color as his couch but there is a vibrant splash of color coming from the pillows on the bed. It's clear that the centerpiece of the room was to be the view.

Edward clears his throat and points to the left wall where a door is. "This is your bathroom. There is a closet inside there and a linen closet with towels and other toiletries." He walks in and sets my luggage down by the chair in the corner. "So, is this okay?" he asks sounding a tad unsure.

Even though the responding smile on my face gives him my answer, I still say, "It's more than okay."

"Good." He smiles back. "Are you hungry? I was just about to make some gyros for lunch."

I should say no and start to unpack my things to keep my distance, but I really am hungry. I didn't get to eat breakfast this morning because of Jake. He barely let me out of the bed and then when we did finally get out and dressed, we fought and I forgot about eating.

"That sounds good. I'm pretty hungry."

He smiles like he has been doing every time he looks at me, and motions for me to follow him.

He leads me to the kitchen and I get to take in all the beautiful details. There is a large island in the middle of the room with a marble waterfall countertop. The cabinets are the same color as the teak wood in my room and are beautiful. There is a professional looking range and oven combo and an oversized fridge where he is pulling out food. "I hope you don't mind leftovers." He looks sheepishly at me. "I made these gyros last night but like I always do, I made too much."

"I don't mind at all." He opens a container with some meat that I think is lamb and starts making two gyros. "That smells delicious."

"Thanks. I'm still trying to learn how to cook via YouTube."

"YouTube?" I ask, scrunching my nose.

"Of course." He says with mirth. "Didn't you know? Cookbooks are so last century."

I smile and let out a small laugh. "That's right. I forgot."

I look around for a second. I completely expected him to have a cook or a butler or someone here to do things for him.

"You thought I would have a cook, didn't you?" he asks, smirking as he slides a plate with a gyro on it over to me.

I blush profusely. "Maybe." I shrug. I hate that what I was thinking was so obvious. It's embarrassing for me.

"No thanks." He says, shaking his head and furrowing his brows. He takes a bite of his food before talking again. "My home is my home. It's the only place I can have real privacy. I couldn't relax if someone was walking around doing things for me while I sat on the sofa and watched a movie."

"I know, right?" I say. "I mean, I couldn't have someone watching me while I sat in my pajamas, waiting for me to do something embarrassing like pick my nose or talk on the phone with my mom, secretly judging me and thinking I'm lazy because they were doing all the work."

He laughs. "I told my mom the same thing about picking my nose when she suggested I hire someone to manage the house. I like privacy when I pick my nose."

I laugh and almost choke on a bite of food. Thankfully, Edward didn't notice.

"How is the food?" he asks.

"It's good."

"You're not just saying that to protect my feelings, are you?" he asks.

I just shrug and smirk. "Maybe. I guess there's no way for you to know for sure."

Edward gives me a cheeky grin before taking another bite of his food.

We are quiet for a few minutes while we eat. It's not awkward, thankfully, and it's quite comfortable. I'm trying my best not to look at him while I think he is doing the opposite. I feel him looking at me almost the whole time.

It doesn't make me feel uncomfortable like it should, being an engaged woman.

When I am done, I look over to him and he's smiling as he looks down at my clean plate. "I guess it was good."

"Dammit," I say, playfully glaring at him. "I'm usually good at bluffing."

"You might be if the delicious food that I made wasn't involved."

"True," I answer.

"Why don't we go into the living room and get to know each other better? You know, since you are supposed to be my girlfriend for the next month."

"Okay...boyfriend," I tell him. His eyes sparkle at me for just a fraction of a second before he looks away, the smile that was on his face slipping slightly.

I follow him and watch as he practically disappears when he sits on his couch. It looks like my assumption about the furniture's comfort was correct. I sit diagonally from him on the other side of the sectional, but not too far to where a conversation would be unnatural. I slip my shoes off and curl up, sinking deep into the cushions.

"Alright, what do you want to know?" I ask him.

"Well, I already know that your father is the police chief of Forks and you take pride in working and the fact that you put yourself through law school without crippling debt, and at the top of your class to boot. You're loyal and seem to be very forgiving. Not to mention, you're not afraid to do what needs to be done to accomplish what you want."

"Like what?" I ask. "Go to school?"

"Calling me when Mr. Black's loan fell through."

I shake my head. "I don't think that was necessarily noteworthy."

"It was. Most people are intimidated by me because of my success. But not you." He studies me for a moment and I have to look away.

I want to tell him that he's wrong and that he does intimidate me. Instead, I feign nonchalance and pretend that when he looks at me like that, it doesn't affect me. "All I did was make a phone call." When I force myself to look back up at him, his eyes are dark.

"So, tell me more about yourself. Leave nothing out." He gives me an encouraging smile. "You've been nothing but intriguing so far. You're not like anyone I've ever known."

I scoff lightly and say under my breath. Yeah, sure. I study him for a moment before I start. "Okay. But prepared to be bored. There are a million stories just like the one I'm about to tell you." I take a deep breath as he waits. "My parents divorced before my first birthday and I moved with my mom to Phoenix. I grew up there until I was 16 when my mom remarried a minor league baseball player. He traveled a lot but she stayed home with me when he left. I saw how much she missed him when he was gone so I decided to move up here with my dad so she could go with him."

"That's what I'm talking about." He says softly. "You are not like anyone else I've ever met. You probably sacrificed so much when you moved from the place where you grew up, leaving friends behind and moving to a place you probably hardly ever came. And you did at the time in life when we are most selfish; when we're teenagers."

I shake my head. "I don't see it that way," I tell him. "My mom deserved to be happy and I love my dad. We are very similar so living with him was always easy. Actually, the most difficult thing was adjusting to the rain after living in a desert my whole life. Plus, everything everywhere I looked was just so green. There was no escape from the greenness."

Edward laughs heartily at this statement. "The greenness bothered you?"

"It did."

"Duly noted. No green."

"No, I like green. Just not too much." I say.

"Alright. Not too much green."

"What about you? Where did you go to college?" I ask, wanting him to do some talking.

"I went to the University of Washington for two years before I dropped out."

"You dropped out?" I'm surprised. "Why did you drop out?"

"Because they weren't teaching me anything that I didn't already know," he says with a shrug. "I had already bought all of the required textbooks for my degree and read them all. I didn't see the point in paying to go to class just to have a professor read back to me what I already read in the books. Anyway, by that point in time, my company had just really started to take off."

"I guess I never looked at it that way," I say. "Theoretically, you don't really need the professors if there are books that cover what they teach. You would just have to sacrifice the little piece of paper that says you have a degree."

"Exactly. So, I dropped out and applied what I had read." He fiddles with a stray string on his pants while he talks. "I love to read so I just absorbed all the information and it seemed to work."

"You like to read?"

"No. I love to read." He smiles at me.

"Me too. What are some of your favorites?" I'm curious to know if we have similar tastes in books.

He tells me about how one of his first favorites from when he was young was Moby Dick. He admitted that it was the first time that he didn't know how he wanted it to end; if he wanted the whale or Captain Ahab to win out. He then tells me about his biological mother and how she was a musician. He regretted how he hated it so much when she would make him learn to play the piano and how now, he'll never get to thank her for forcing him to learn.

When he talks about his little brother Emmett, he can't seem to stop smiling. Edward tells me about how he moved in about a year after he did and how he hated him at first. Emmett would apparently lurk around the house and wait for Edward to walk by and then he would pounce on him and wrestle him to the ground or just scare him to death by yelling loudly. Even though he says he hated it and hated Emmett at first, it's clear that that's not true by the permanent smile on his lips.

He doesn't mention his little sister that died though.

We talk about my biggest fear (spiders) and he tells me that he's not exactly thrilled with snakes. When I ask him if he is afraid of them, he very unconvincingly scoffs and says 'no' adamantly. I have to bite my bottom lip hard to keep from giggling at his poor attempt at nonchalance.

I tell him about Alice and how I had a rough start in school here because of my nemesis Jessica Stanley. When I talk about my rusted old truck, he asks me endless questions, surprised and fascinated by the fact that I loved it at first sight.

When the light in the room starts to dim, I look out of the back wall, surprised to see the sun hanging low in the sky. "Wow. It's getting dark. What time is it?" I reach down beside me to grab my phone and realize that I left it in the bedroom when I first got here and I am just now realizing it. Wow.

He looks towards the television and I see a little digital clock right below it attached to some sort of receiver. "It's almost 6:30."

"I didn't realize how long we've been sitting here talking," I say. Now that I'm thinking about it, my throat is dry and aching and my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much.

And I didn't think about Jake once.

Guilt washes over me with that thought.

"Me either." He's smiling at me with such warmth that I look away. "Why don't I show you downstairs since I didn't do that earlier?"

I look back and give him a nod. "Okay."

He stands up, but when I try to disentangle myself from the cushions, I fail miserably. Edward reaches out and offers his hand for help. "Thanks," I tell him as I take it. When our skin touches, that annoying current zings up my arm again. I both hate it and love it at the same time.

"I think your couch was trying to eat me." I laugh as he lets go of my hand once I am standing next to him.

"Can you blame it? You look delicious."

I just roll my eyes and give him a reluctant smile. "Lead the way, Casanova. But I feel like I should tell you that you need to work on your pick-up lines. If you are going to go around telling women that they look delicious, you might get smacked."

"Trust me, I've never said that to anyone but you and the reason I said it to you is mainly because it's true."

I reach behind me and pull my hair over my shoulder, shielding my face in hopes to cover the blush that is spreading. He can't know he affects me. "Where are we going?"

"This way." He says and starts down the hall where my room is.

There is a big opening at the end of the hall that I noticed before and I was curious as to what was down there. When it becomes obvious that is where he is going, I get excited.

When we reach the end of the hall, I look to my left and gasp lowly. I don't think he heard me thankfully. "That is my library."

There is no door on the room, just an oversized entry. Every wall is a built-in bookshelf that is overflowing with books. There is a cushioned window seat that overlooks the front of the house and a huge chair that looks like it belongs with the sectional that tried to swallow me whole. The smell of parchment calls to me.

Before I can move inside the room, he is leading me to the other side of the hall. There is a wide opening that leads into the most beautiful room. Not one, but two of the walls are made of glass. There is a door tucked into the corner of the room that leads out to a deck that runs all the way along the back of the house. From this vantage point, it actually looks like you are suspended in the tops of the trees.

But that doesn't catch my eye for long.

There is a beautiful black grand piano in the middle of the room. There is no furniture, no pictures, no anything except for the piano sitting on a slick whitewashed wood floor. I can't help but move closer to the piano. My hand reaches out of its own accord and my fingers slide along the sleek lines of the black lacquered instrument. "This is beautiful, Edward," I whisper.

When I look back over to him, he is standing by a staircase with his hands stuffed into his jean pockets. "It was my mother's. She taught me to play on that piano. She saved for almost 10 years to afford it." He smiles as his eyes drift off and he's clearly reminiscing.

I smile at the contented look on his face. "Would you play something for me?" The moment the words are out of my mouth, I regret saying them. He brings one of his hands up and rubs the back of his neck. There is suddenly this nervous energy that is radiating from him. "Please don't feel like you have to say yes."

He lets out a sigh of relief. "It's just that I don't usually play with anyone here. Just for myself to relax. No one has heard me play in a very long time." He looks sheepishly at me.

Even though my curiosity is raging, wanting to ask him why that is, I beat it down with an iron hammer. "I understand." I give him my best encouraging smile and walk over to the stairs behind him. "This way?" I ask.

"Yes."

I take the steps slowly and end up in a game/theater room that looks like it's the size of his whole house. Once again, the whole back wall is made of glass. The one difference is that the glass down here is a series of doors that look they fold like an accordion, making it possible to open up the whole downstairs. There is a small pool and a large hot tub in a small backyard that I didn't notice from upstairs, probably because I was too mesmerized by the view.

Turning around, I see a pool table, old arcade games lining the walls, and a large projection screen with every gaming system known to man sitting in an entertainment cabinet below. I smile at the couch under the screen. It looks very similar to the one upstairs.

"This is my entertainment area." He tells me as he passes. "Over here is a small home gym."

He walks over to a door on the other side of the room and inside is a treadmill, a bike, a weightlifting bench, and a couple of other pieces of workout equipment. "You can find me in here most mornings."

I nod and look over his shoulder at another set of stairs. "Those lead to right beside my bedroom and across from my office."

I remember seeing stairs to my right when I first walked in. This must be those.

"Would you like to maybe do something down here while I make some dinner?" he asks.

My bottom lips tucks itself under my top row of teeth as all I'm able to think about his library. "Actually, would you mind if I went upstairs and perused your library?"

He breaks out into a wide grin as he shakes his head in disbelief. "Just when I think I have you pegged, you go and do or say something that surprises me. You, Bella Swan, are like no one I've met before."

I roll my eyes. "I find that truly hard to believe."

"Out of all the things I've shown you, you want to go and see my library. No one has ever asked to see my library. Just like how you were more interested in my old truck than my other rare cars. You pick the one thing that will reveal something personal about me; my reading preferences."

I didn't even think about it like that. I can't do anything but shrug. His eyes are boring into mine and I can't look away. "I just really like to read. I want to see if you have any books that I haven't read before." I finally am able to move my eyes, but not very far. They find his lips and stay there. "Plus, now that you mentioned about your reading preferences being personal, I'm really curious."

I smirk when he does.

"Alright. Lead the way, then." He says and motions for me to go up the stairs in the gym.

He isn't far behind and I wonder if he suggested I go first because he wanted to look at my ass. Surprisingly, I don't mind that thought and I may even sway my hips a little.

What the hell is wrong with you? I think to myself and shake my head, clearing that line of thinking.

Now that I am more familiar with the layout, I walk across the length of the house, moving a little quicker than usual in my excitement to get to his library. Once there, I take a deep breath before moving inside. "I love the smell of books."

"Me too." He says from close behind me. "I have an e-reader but it's just not the same as having the book in your hands and smelling the pages."

"I agree," I say as I turn to face him. "How are they organized?" I ask as I look around, finding no rhyme or reason to the layout.

He moves to the right and points to the wall of books there. "This wall is pretty much nothing but informational books and textbooks. The stock market, investing…boring topics." He rubs the back of his neck nervously as he moves to another wall. "These are arranged by genre and then by preference within that genre."

I move to the books and he keeps talking as I run my fingers along the spines of the books. "Sci-fi, horror, romance, biographies, suspense, action, mystery...I have a bit of everything. I have more in the attic though."

I turn to face him with my brows raised with shock. "You have more books?" I ask him. "There must be over a thousand in here."

"1,800 to be exact." He smiles unsurely. "I can't seem to not buy books. I might have a problem. At least that is what my brother tells me."

I laugh lightly. "I wish I had more money to spend on books. I usually just borrow some from my friend Angela. But my favorites I own."

I turn back to his books and start reading the titles in the romance section. Just when I am almost to the end, I find one of my favorites. "You've read Wuthering Heights?"

His brows furrow. "Twice. But I don't really understand Heathcliff. I don't understand his appeal. The characters in the book, especially Heathcliff, always make the worst decisions. He never thinks anything through."

"But that's the beauty of the story, though. Love makes us do crazy, irrational things, doesn't it?" I say to him.

"I wouldn't really know." He scratches the back of his head and shrugs his shoulders.

"You wouldn't?" I ask surprised. "You've never been in love?"

"No. At least not yet." He says.

His eyes are trained on me and they feel like ten-ton weights, pinning me to this particular spot on the floor.

"But you've had girlfriends before, right?"

"Only two." He says, his green eyes smoldering. "But they weren't what I was looking for. Not even close."

I really want to ask him what he's looking for, but I don't. I can't. I have to bite my tongue inside my mouth to keep from asking because I'm not sure I really want the answer to that question.

I know he'll say me.

The air is starting to feel heavy and I know I have to say something...

My stomach growls and we both look down at it.

Oh, thank God. I don't know how much longer I could take him looking at me like that.

I giggle. "Apparently, I'm hungry."

He laughs once and says, "Come on. Let's go figure out what's in the fridge and make some dinner." As he's leaving the library, he surprises me by grabbing my hand and pulling me behind him.

I should pull my hand back to myself, but I don't. I don't because I don't want to.

And that scares the hell out of me.


Bella is in so much trouble and I think she is starting to realize it. Up next, the charity ball!

Thank you so much for reading and don't forget to follow and review! Tell me what you think.