CHAPTER NINE

Edward:

They are the first things I notice.

I don't know why but when I pictured the sleeping arrangements for tonight I'd always pictured one. Even when I was supposed to be sleeping with Emmett I imagined kicking his ass to the ground, but then again I almost always pictured Bella, even before Rose voiced that she wanted to sleep with Emmett tonight. I knew she would anyway, her words were just confirmation.

I don't know why it didn't occur to me that there would be two beds. My head never voiced practicality. It was another voice that kept telling me that there was going to be one bed tonight and that thought had me fretting, but not necessarily upset.

I look up to see that Bella is watching me.

I know she is thinking the same thing:

Are we really going to sleep in separate beds?

I think about it and watch her as she ponders the situation. Her eyes give no clue as to which way she is leaning. I will be happy with either. We have shared a bed once before... We sleep separately but so closely when we are at home. I look at the beds again and I know what the answer is going to be.

Yes, we are going to sleep in separate beds.

"I don't want the one near the bathroom," Bella voices as she dashes to the one by the window.

I laugh as she strips her shoes and dress off without any self-consciousness and climbs into the large bed. I am relieved that this isn't going to be an awkward decision at all. I turn off the light, leaving the bathroom light on and leave the door slightly ajar. I strip down to my boxers and relax into the hotel mattress.

I close my eyes and bask in the silence. I crack one eye open when I hear the quiet squeak from the bathroom door. The basin tap is running and I assume Bella is washing off her makeup. I hear her make her way back to her bed sometime later. I am dancing the line of consciousness.

"Edward," I hear her small voice sound. "What are we going to do?" Her voice is quiet and I wonder if she thinks I am asleep.

"Bella?" My voice is laden with sleep. I pretend that I didn't just hear her. I want to know if she really wants to ask that question, "Did you say something?"

"Oh," she sounds slightly disappointed, "no... Well, yes, I was wondering what you're going to do, after the wedding that is." I notice she's turned the question so it reflects entirely on me.

"I was thinking of getting work here. Maybe do weddings and babies, that type of stuff, for a while." The thought had been on the backburner for a while. I haven't told anyone that I ended my contract in Seattle before the wedding. Everyone thought that I had just taken time off. Things weren't sitting well down there.

"Oh, where were you before?" Her question proves how much we don't know about each other. I am curious about why she is asking now all of a sudden. Is this somehow related to the beds?

"I was based in Seattle and once a year I would fly somewhere for a month or two." I realise how vague my answers sound and I wonder if I am protecting myself from something, something which I don't recognize, but something that will hurt me.

I hear Bella yawn in the darkness. I wait for her to speak first before I realise that she's asleep. Her breathing is slow and deep. I roll over and fall asleep too.

...

I wake to find Bella waking. I watch her nose and eyebrows twitch. I watch as she lets out a small yawn. I watch as she rolls onto her back and stretches her arms above her head before letting her eyelids open slowly. She checks the time and grins to herself.

I wonder if she does this every single morning.

She sits up and the white sheets fall around her practically naked form. She turns to me and with that same small smile she says, "Morning."

"Good morning," I reply.

There is a knock at the door and I realise the reason for her smile.

"Stay in bed," I tell her and make my way to the door. She doesn't snuggle down between the sheets like I hope.

I go and open the door widely, knowing that the food cart is going to have to enter. There is a kid, probably fresh out of high school, trying to navigate the cart into the room. He looks up as he is trying to enter and his eyes widen. He almost rams me with the cart, but I stop it with my hands. I follow his line of sight. He has a perfect view of Bella's bed.

"Good morning, sir," the kid says before looking up at me. I glare at him and he looks down the hall awkwardly. He tries to look into the room again but I move to block his view.

"Morning," I tell him rudely. "I'll take it from here," I say as I stop him from trying to push the cart into the room. I thrust a tip into his chest pushing him back out of the room. His hand grabs the money and he nods before turning and leaving, only trying to look into the room once. He doesn't look again because I growl at him. I watch him until he makes it to the elevators. Stupid perv.

I let the door fall closed and wheel the cart over to Bella. She finds the coffee pot immediately, pouring herself a cup and taking a sip she sighs. The smile remains on her face as she sips slowly with her eyes closed. I shudder inwardly at the thought that she might have woken up hours before the cart was due to arrive.

She looks so beautiful sitting in front of me. She's got no makeup on and practically no clothes either. It's just so natural. She opens her eyes and her smile turns into an amused grin. "What's with your face, Cullen? It's all scrunchy and angry-like," she tells me.

I ignore her question and try to smooth out my features. I banish the pervy kid from my brain and ask, "So, what's the plan for today?"

She finishes her first cup of coffee and pours a second before answering. "To get home alive," she jests.

"Ha, ha, you're so funny," I deadpan. I have a strong feeling that Bella does not like my driving. I drove Emmett's Jeep half of the way to Seattle. Apparently Bella is a fan of the speed limit. "It wasn't like I was flooring it."

She just rolls her eyes and begins lifting the lids off the plates. I ordered a lot of food because I didn't know what she would want.

She looks up from the mountain of food. I can tell she's about to make a sarcastic comment, so I quickly steal a piece of bacon. Her eyes widen and she glares a little at me before she spies another plate that is heaped with meat.

She giggles quietly and says, "Thanks Edward." She takes the second dish and we eat quietly and then head for the shower, reasoning that we should save water in these times of need.

It's a relatively clean shower until Bella 'accidently' drops the bar of soap and bends over to pick it up. I run my hands over her squeaky clean ass before moving one around to her front. Just before I can touch her there is a loud banging on the door.

We both freeze.

"Do we ignore it?" Bella whispers.

"Probably shouldn't," I whisper back, "if it's Emmett then ignoring it could make it worse." I know he would say something to the family that would imply sex between Bella and me. All we need is the seed planted in people's heads.

Bella stands up. Play time is over. "You go," she whispers and then shoves me out of the shower.

I quickly towel dry myself and throw on some clothes.

"Cullen! Open the god damn door!" It's Rosalie and I breathe a sigh of relief.

I open the door and she smirks. "Bella just got into the shower," I tell her. She lets herself into the room without permission. I see her eyeing the two unmade beds and I am thankful that we didn't sleep together last night.

"All right, I believe you," she says mysteriously and I am not quite she what it is she believes. "Emmett's checking everyone out, so pack, and meet us in the lobby, soon." She smiles and leaves.

We pack and check out quickly. Unfortunately there was no time to fool around, especially with Rosalie on our hides. Emmett pulls the Jeep around and everyone except Jasper and Alice pile in, they're driving back to Forks alone.

We stop at least twice along the way so Bella and Rosalie can both pee -something which I cannot understand- and I offer to drive several times, but stop asking when Rosalie joins forces with Bella in the 'don't let Edward drive' campaign.

Eventually we make it back home where we all unload the car and crash in our respective rooms. I end up snoozing but awaken with a jolt when I hear a female squeal.

I get up out of bed and wander downstairs. I stop because I am faced with a frightening image.

My gut churns and I break out in a cold sweat. I am panicking and I don't know why. I've done nothing wrong, well, not legally. I look at the cop with confusion until the reason for his presence clicks. My epiphany does not make me feel any better though. I can tell that everyone else has already made introductions and gotten reacquainted with him. I wipe my sweaty palms on my pants and swallow. I pray I don't look as ghostly white as I feel, and walk closer to the group.

"Oh, Dad, this is Edward Cullen," Bella says. She releases her father's arm as he moves to shake my hand.

"Hello, Chief Swan," I say strongly. Bella watches as her father gives my hand a solid shake.

Chief Swan waves the air, "Call me Charlie, son. Are your parents home?" I breathe easy for now.

Alice starts talking to Charlie and I watch as he sidles up next to her like a father would. Jasper guides them everyone into the living room. I move uncomfortably to follow, but Bella stops me.

"Come help me get drinks," she whispers. I follow her into the kitchen where she pulls a beer from the fridge and pops off the cap. "I didn't know he was coming today," she tells me.

I watch her as she pulls out different drinks for everyone. She counts and then looks at me, perplexed.

"I'll grab a beer," I say as I move to the fridge, "and it's alright about your father."

"Oh, it's just … you looked a little nervous in there earlier." She laughs, "Thought you were going to pass out or something."

I don't say anything but I agree with her in my head. Seeing Bella's father, the cop, right there in my parents' home where I've been doing dirty things to his daughter, set me on edge. A lot. I didn't think about the fact that no one knows what we're doing, or is even close to thinking about us like that, no, all I could think of was that I am not making an honest woman of his daughter and that this situation is not going to lead to holy matrimony and that he is going to pull his shot gun on me and make me admit this to everyone.

Bella pulls out a tray that I didn't know Esme had, and puts all the drinks on it.

"I'm fine, Bella. It's just your father." I look at her pointedly, but she doesn't get the point I am trying to make.

"But, I thought you would be nervous considering what we're doing," she tilts her head as she speaks.

"What are we doing, Bella?" I ask her.

I can see the moment she understands because her eyes widen and she lets out a small, "oh!" She taps me on the cheek like a dog that's learnt a new trick and picks up the tray, "Nothing, Cullen. We aren't doing anything." I watch her hips sway and I realise that she would make the sexiest waitress I've ever seen. "Bring that beer to my dad, Edward."

I put my tongue back in my mouth, and try to act like I did not just check out his daughter's ass, as I give the beer to the Chief.

Bella sits down next to her father leaving me to sit in the recliner to his right, which is much too close for my liking. Esme can still tell when I'm about to steal a cookie off the baking tray when her back is turned. I wouldn't put it past the Chief to be able to read minds, too,especially when all I can think about is his daughter. I try my hardest not to, but my mind does the opposite.

"Is Esme here?" The Chief asks.

I look up and see everyone is looking at me. "Uh, yes. She's in the study working. She gets lost when she's in there," I explain. Flustered I continue, "I should probably go get her, she'll be mad no one informed her... she likes to play the perfect hostess..." I slowly run out of steam.

I stand to leave the room and hear just before I am completely out of earshot, "... I need to stay here..."

Oh shit!

Just the prospect of being in the same room as the chief makes me break out in a sweat and start to hyperventilate. And to think of the situation between his daughter and me turns my stomach in circles.

There leaves just one option.

I cannot have sex with Bella while her father in under the same roof as us.

Rash? Maybe, but I just can't do it. I know he is supposed to stay here the night before the wedding, but a week? I don't think I could deal with the guilt that I would feel every morning upon seeing him, knowing that I had just fucked his daughter.

I knock on the study door, when I get no answer I open anyway. Mom looks up in surprise. "Edward?"

"Chief Swan is here," I explain.

"Did he just get here?" She gives me the 'mom' eyes.

"Uh..." She jumps up from her chair and rushes out. I close the door and make my way out to the kitchen slowly.

I see Bella in the kitchen and rush towards her.

"Edward..." she exclaims as I grab her and press her into the wall. We are concealed from view by the open pantry door. I kiss her long and hard. I kiss her like I'll never get the chance to kiss her again. I grope her without care. I push my body against hers. I need to get closer but there is already no space between us, so I just kiss her harder.

We part to breathe heavily. I rest my forehead against hers. "Sorry," I tell her.

"Um..." She's confused.

"I just had to kiss you. I don't know when I'll get to kiss you again." I look at her with desperation. Her eyes soften and she reaches up and hugs me.

"It's only for two nights," she tells me.

Two nights?

"What?" I exclaim.

"Oh, don't be such a baby, two nights is nothing," she rolls her eyes and continues, "geez, it's not as if it's the entire week..."

I start to smile.

"What?" she questions.

"I thought that it was up until the wedding."

She laughs, "No. Were you not eavesdropping like I thought you were?" she asks and I shake my head. "Oh, well, the plumbing at home has blown so Charlie just wanted to know if he could use the facilities here, so he's only going to stay two nights because he already has a room reserved here. I asked him if he wanted to stay until the wedding but he declined."

I double over with laughter.

"Why are you laughing?" Bella asks slightly peeved.

"I'm such an idiot." She looks at me telling me that she is not going to contradict that statement. I sigh, "So at least we've only got to wait two days to have sex again."

She gives me a perplexed look. "What?"

"Bella, I'm not having sex with you while your dad's in the house." I'm adamant that he would know, father's intuition?

She looks at me like she is going to argue, but I can see her thinking about the reality of the situation. She knows I'd be a dead man. Eventually, she rolls her eyes, "So if he's not in the house it's fine?"

I nod.

"If he is in the house it's not?"

I nod.

"What if he's in the house but we're not?"

I ponder the thought: If we fuck in the forest again, then, no. He might catch us doing the walk of shame. Any cars are also out of the question because they rock like a granny in her chair, but... "If he's here and we're say..."

"In the bathrooms of the catering restaurant, then it's fine?" I spin around to see Rosalie standing in the doorway with her hands perched on her hips.

"What?" I ask her. I look to Bella, who is blushing.

Rosalie rolls her eyes, "Please, I heard what you two are plotting, now do you want a couple of hours alone, or what?"

...

"Edward, this is a really fancy restaurant. I will not fuck you in the ladies stalls," Bella whispers to me.

"Pretty please?" I beg.

"No, but if you're good I know just the place." She smiles at me and I groan with impatience.

We are in Port Angeles in a fancy restaurant which is catering the wedding. There is food upon food being brought to us. It's a dream. Emmett's going to be so pissed that he missed this. Alice and Jasper had already approved the menu for the wedding, but they wanted a second opinion. Rosalie and Emmett were supposed to be the taste testers, but thanks to Rosalie, Bella and I have been given the job.

I was a little shocked when Rosalie told us that she heard what we were planning. I knew she thought that I had a crush on Bella, but now it is out in the open that we're having sex, I'm a little worried. Will she tell? I don't know. Does she think that we're boyfriend/girlfriend? I sincerely hope not. I don't want those types of rumours floating around. She did seem to understand in the kitchen, though, she didn't ask any questions...

As if Bella is reading my thoughts she asks, "Are you going to tell me why Rose is being so supportive of... this?" She waves her hand between the two of us. "Rose has never been a salad type of girl, she's giving up her chance to hoe into rich wedding food."

I know one reason, but I'd promised Rosalie I'd not tell Bella. "Eh, I could tell you but I wouldn't put it pass Rosalie to kill me," I tease her and she grumbles and crosses her arms.

"Why won't she tell me?"

I shrug. "Have you asked her?"

"If you don't tell me then our deal is off."

I know she's bluffing, "Fine." I grin at her.

"This is so unfair!" It's a lose-lose situation for her.

Someone clears their throat and I look up to see the waiter there holding three dishes. "The couple have chosen for alternate drop with three dishes, chicken, beef or fish." He lays them down and Bella thanks him quietly. We had the detailed menu in front of us. Our table is overwhelmed with food.

"Where to start?" Bella asks.

"Chicken, beef or fish?" I ask her in a pompous accent.

She giggles, "Anything but fish."

"You don't like fish?"

She shakes her head. "The thought of eating it creeps me out." Her blush creeps up her neck. "It's like eating Nemo or something."

"You can't eat clown fish, Bella." I roll my eyes and her pointy flats meet my shin under the table. "Ouch."

She pulls the chicken filled with camembert and sundried tomatoes towards her and I take the beef tenderloin with mushrooms, brocolini and parmesan potato. I watch as she cuts into the chicken. The melted cheese oozes out. She puts the chicken in her mouth, and her tongue darts out to lick her plump lips.

Who knew eating could be so erotic? And then, as if on cue, she moans a little. My cock raises his hand just slightly in response to the question.

"You have to try this chicken," she moans.

"Uh," my voice squeaks out. I clear my throat, "ok."

She smirks, the minx. She knows what she's doing to me. "The breast is just so tender! And juicy! Mmm!" She licks her lips seductively and I gap at her. Eventually she kicks me again. "Geez Edward, get a grip. I moaned like a porn star, big woop."

Big woop?

"Please, Cullen, close your jaw. It's so low that if that fish were alive it'd flop right in."

I slowly close my jaw, my mind still back on her porn star moan. "Do you want my mushrooms?" I ask her.

She chews slowly and looks at me in a funny way, "Well, I've never heard that one before, Cullen, but I will not have your mushrooms in front of all these people." She's still teasing me and it's taking my sex-hazed brain a while to understand this. Finally she takes pity on me and huffs, saying, "You don't like mushrooms?"

She slides my plate towards hers and takes the two stuffed Portobello mushrooms off of my plate. "No, it feels like I'm eating a fungus."

Her fork clatters to her plate. "Oh, deal is off. I can't have sex with a guy who doesn't like mushrooms." She looks serious and I reel back in shock.

"What do mushrooms have anything to do with what we're doing to each other?"

She pauses in thought. "You're right. Lucky we're not dating, otherwise you'd be dumped just like that."

"Shit, so that's all it takes to be out of the league with Bella Swan?" I jest.

She nods slowly, "We couldn't even eat dinner. Mushroom ravioli is one of my favourite meals."

"Couldn't I just have the ravioli?" I ask.

She looks at me disgusted. "You have no understanding of women."

I laugh at her.

"This is why you're single."

I look at her, bemused by her reasoning. I could have women if I wanted to nail one down. "Well, by that reasoning you're single because you don't like fish."

"Cullen, that's like apples and oranges."

"They're both fruit," I counteract but apparently that the wrong argument because she just shakes her head and spears a bit of my beef, again moaning slightly.

We end the main meal and are treated to two desserts, both simple but both go down quickly. Bella dabs at her lips and I ask, "So, where to now?"

She looks up at me slowly, through her lashes and asks, "Edward, have you ever fucked in a pastry shop before?"


FINALLY! An update, sorry for the long wait, ff has been silly for the last couple of days.

So, was everyone shocked by the beginning? I know a lot of you expected them to sleep together. There is reasoning in my madness, I promise.

Review please :) Update next week.