Worth the Risk – Chapter 10

On Tuesday, Edward made sure to stop at the florist and the wine shop on the way to Bella's. He found a nice bottle of Napa Valley Cab to go with the stew, and he chose a happy looking bunch of gerber daisies. Since it was a casual evening at Bella's house, Edward dressed casually in a tee shirt and jeans. When he got to her door, he could smell the delicious scent of stew wafting into the hallway. Feeling his stomach growl softly, he knocked.

When Bella heard the knock on the door, her face immediately erupted in a bright smile. She set down the spoon she'd been using to stir the stew, and brushed her hands on her jeans. Running a quick hand through her hair, she walked to the door.

Edward knew that Bella was pretty. In fact, it was all he could think about sometimes. He knew there were guys who would say that she was gorgeous, sexy, beautiful, breathtaking, and stunning, and she was all of those things. But whenever he thought of Bella, it was always Pretty Bella with her pretty eyes, pretty lips, pretty hair, and pretty smile. He wasn't an overly eloquent guy, and he wasn't complicated. Edward was a simple man that found himself falling for the prettiest girl he'd ever seen.

The door opened, and Edward felt his mouth water for a completely different reason than the stew. There was Bella in a plain black tank top with jeans that looked like they were painted on her legs. Her hair was loose and hanging down her back, and her feet were bare. Her pretty toes were painted a sparkly lavender today.

There were times when Bella thought of Edward, and she wondered how she'd managed to catch the attention of a guy like him. As she looked at him on the other side of the door, she found herself thinking those thoughts again. Edward's tee shirt hugged his shoulders and chest in all the right places, and his jeans hung low on his hips. His hair was a little crazy and untamed, but she thought that just added to his appeal.

Edward extended the hand that held the flowers to Bella and said, "Hi. If that stew tastes as good as it smells out here, you may never be rid of me."

Bella took the flowers and smiled. "Thank you. These are so happy. I love them. And who said I wanted to get rid of you? Come in."

Edward walked in to Bella's apartment and looked around. It was small, but it was nice. There wasn't anything fancy about it, but there were little Bella-touches that made the small space feel homey. She had pictures of her family and drawings from her students up on the walls, and there were big, soft looking pillows on the couch.

Setting the bottle of wine on the table, Edward said, "The guy at the wine store said that this would go well with a stew."

Bella took a vase out of her cupboard and filled it with water. "Thank you. I'm sure it'll be perfect."

Edward walked over to Bella as she stood at the sink arranging flowers, and put his hands on Bella's hips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rest his chin on her shoulder. "Hi."

Bella stopped arranging the flowers and closed her eyes. She put her hands on his and turned her head so she could press her forehead lightly into his cheek. "Hi. How are you?"

Edward tipped his head down and placed a soft kiss on her bare shoulder. "I'm good now. I had lunch with my dad. It always helps to talk to him after difficult fires like yesterday. He knows how to process the loss of someone from a professional standpoint."

Bella turned around in the circle of Edward's arms and brought her hands up to his face. "I read in the news that the family was gone before you even got there. You couldn't have done anything, but I'm sure that doesn't make you feel any better."

Edward gave Bella a small smile and shook his head. "No, it doesn't. Knowing that people died is never easy. When it's a kid or, worse yet, a baby, it's harder still."

Bella nodded and slid her hands gently down his face and his neck to stop at his chest. "I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do to make it better for you. Whenever my dad would have difficult cases at work, he would run or beat up on a punching bag. Is there anything you do?"

"Other than talk to my dad?" Edward shot Bella a guilty smile. "In the past I would get just drunk enough to avoid a hangover and watch reruns of Family Guy."

Bella laughed and said, "Hmmm, well, how about we start out with some stew and wine, and then we can consider Family Guy?"

Leaning forward, Edward closed the gap between his lips and hers. He couldn't wait any longer to kiss her. He loved her sound of her laugh, and she was just so pretty when the corners of her eyes wrinkled a little when her smile got big enough.

When she felt Edward's lips meet hers, Bella inhaled quickly to take in as much of his clean, masculine scent. She felt her eyes drift closed on their own, and her hands slid up his chest to wind themselves into his hair. Feeling the softness of his hair between her fingers, Bella gripped it lightly, only to feel Edward groan softly. It was quiet that she would've missed it if she didn't feel it against her lips. Knowing that she did that to him made her warm and tingly all over, and she wrapped herself even closer to him.

Feeling Bella pull closer made Edward feel more powerful than Superman, Iron Man, Batman, and Spiderman combined. At his first taste of Bella, Edward knew that he'd never have to eat or drink again. All he needed was Bella. She quenched his thirst and fed his hunger. The longer they spent kissing, the more Edward knew that he'd have to slow it down. He could feel himself getting lost in her, and it would be so easy to let himself go completely and forget about the consequences of moving too fast. Bella mattered, and he wanted to make sure that she knew that.

Pulling back slowly, Edward rest his forehead on Bella's and said softly, "As much as I want to keep doing that, we need to have dinner. My stomach is about to eat itself, and you matter more to me than just a quick tumble into bed."

Bella leaned forward and gave Edward a quick peck on the lips. "You mean more to me too. Now let's get you fed."

After they were both seated at the table with bowls full of stew and glasses filled with wine, the conversation flowed smoothly from topic to topic. It never failed to amaze Edward how easy it was to talk to Bella. She always had something to say and seemed genuinely interested to learn more about Edward the man, instead of Edward the Platt heir.

Over dinner, Bella learned that Edward wasn't like a lot of the guys that she'd known in Jacksonville. Edward wasn't embarrassed to be a mama's boy, and he considered his dad to be one of his closest friends and heroes. Even though the he drank after difficult fires, he didn't get drunk on a regular basis, and he never went out to clubs. While he liked music, he hated hard core rap and thought electric dance music was kind of annoying.

The more Edward learned about Bella, the more drawn in by her he felt. He loved hearing the passion in her voice when she talked about her students, and he thought her stories of the horrors of paper mache were hilarious. He was glad to hear that Bella's mom had found a man to love after Bella's father had passed away, but he had to admit to being a little frightened of Renee's more zany qualities. Bella's stepfather Phil sounded like a standup guy who knew he had big shoes to fill but did his damnedest anyway.

When their bowls were cleaned, Edward helped Bella clean up the kitchen. While he washed, she wiped and put away. Before heading to the couch to pick a movie, Bella grabbed Edward's hand and steered him towards the freezer.

"We have one choice to make before we select a movie." Bella opened the freezer door, and there in the shelves were six different pints of Baskin Robbins ice cream. "I got a selection in hopes that one might be your favorite. I thought we could try one every time you came over until we got it right."

Edward looked at the ice cream and turned to Bella. He reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist. Pulling her forward, he gave Bella a sound kiss on the lips. "You're perfect, you know that?"

Bella just laughed. "I'm not perfect. I just love ice cream. Which one sounds like a winner?"

After perusing his choices, Edward said, "Jamoca Almond Fudge."

Grabbing the pint, Bella shut the door and took two spoons out of the drawer. When they were settled on the couch, Bella handed Edward a spoon and the pint. When he took his first bite, she asked, "Do we have a winner?"

"Nope," Edward said as he shook his head. "It's good, but I think I'd love it more if it was my favorite."

"Well, I guess we'll have to keep trying then," Bella said. Picking up the remote, she handed it to him and said, "What would you like to watch? I don't have any DVDs, but I have NetFlix and RedBox on here."

While they were flipping through the thousands of different selections, Edward said, "Before I forget, my mom asked if you would come to dinner next Sunday night. She wants to meet you."

Bella bit her lip, feeling a little nervous. "Okay. Let me know if I can make anything to bring over."

Sensing Bella's nerves, Edward turned his body towards Bella. "Hey. Don't be nervous. I'll make her be nice."

Bella slapped Edward's knee and nudged him. Laughing, she said, "I don't want you to make her be nice to me. I want her to like me on her own."

Edward laughed and see the empty ice cream container down. He took Bella's spoon and set it with his inside the container on the coffee table. Reach over, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her against his body. Still chuckling, he said, "I'm sorry. That came out wrong. I'll tell my mom to leave the hard ass at work."

"Edward!" Bella laughed. "I want your mom to be herself. I just want her to like me without you telling her what to do. We'll be fine. I'm just nervous."

Pulling back, Edward ran the tips of his fingers down Bella's cheek. "Pretty Bella. My mom will like you. I know she will. In fact, that's what I'm afraid of."

Laughing more, Bella asked, "Why does that scare you?"

Edward pouted a little. "Because. My mom is bossy. She's going to want to make sure I'm treating you nicely, and she's going to scold me if she thinks I'm not being a gentleman enough. Whatever happens, do whatever you want to do, not what you think she wants you to do. Don't let her boss you around. Esme Cullen doesn't always have to get her way."

Bella thought pouting Edward was adorable. Scooting closer, Bella angled her body, so she could tuck herself into the crook of his arm. Nuzzling in, she said, "Silly, Edward. Now, what are we going to watch?"

On Friday morning, Bella arrived at school to see her classroom door was open. Hearing Alice's laughter, she knew not to be alarmed. When she walked in the door, she found Rose sitting behind her desk, and Alice on the row of cubbies next to her desk.

"My, my. To what do I owe the pleasure of such an early visit?" Bella asked. She set her stuff down next to her desk and waved at Rose to stay seated. Bella took a seat in one of the kid's desks and said, "I'm fine here. Nice change of perspective."

Alice handed Bella a coffee and a small brown paper bag. "Rose sprung for scones. Blueberry cream cheese."

Opening the bag, Bella inhaled the sweet scent. "Caffeine and carbs? Does this have something to do with the Fair, or more importantly, the two hot fire fighters I have waiting to meet you?"

Rose sat up a little further in Bella's desk. "Are they hot? Do you know what they look like?"

Bella took a sip of her coffee and said, "I don't know what they look like. I didn't get a picture. I just know that their names are Emmett and Jasper. The guys are going to meet us at the entrance at 6 p.m. tonight."

Alice sighed heavily. "Bella! Is that all we have to work with? What kind of reconnaissance is that?!"

Rolling her eyes, Bella said, "It's not really a blind date if you know what they look like."

"So literal!" Rose groaned, as Bella laughed. "And I bought you carbs! You better watch it before I put you on Lunch duty for a month."

Bella popped a piece of the scone in her mouth and said, "So, what do I get if he's not and charming?"

Rose thought about it for a second before saying, "Alice gets your share of Lunch and Recess duty for a month."

"Hey!" Alice said. "That's not fair. Why do I have to do it?"

"Because," Rose said, "You can consider it payment if your date is hot and charming too."

Alice thought about it before shrugging and nodding. "I guess. Do you really not know anything about them?"

Bella kept chewing and shook her head. "Nothing. Edward and I have better things to talk about than setting you guys up dates."

Rose leaned further forward on her forearms and whispered loudly, "Like phone sex?"

"No!" Bella felt her cheeks burning with blush, even the tips of her ears felt like they were on fire. "We haven't gotten that far yet. Sheesh! We're just getting to know each other better."

Alice looked at the clock and hopped off the cubbies. "We're going to have to work on getting you more comfortable with the funness that can happen between men and women. In the meantime, we have to get this day started so it can be done. I have a date!"

Edward was in the exercise room doing bicep curls when Emmett and Jasper walked in quickly.

"We were looking for you!" Emmett said, sitting down on the bench next to Edward. He picked up the 60-pound dumbbells and started doing curls without a thought.

Jasper sat down at the weight machine and started doing flys as if it was automatic. "Yeah, you need to tell us about Cookie's lovely lady friends."

Edward finished his rep and set the weights down. "I did. I told you their names were Rosalie and Alice."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Is that all you know about them?"

Edward shrugged and picked the weights back up to start his next set. "Yeah. What else am I supposed to know? We're meeting them at 6 p.m. tonight at the entrance to the fair. That's all the important information."

Emmett dropped the weights down when he finished his rep. "Dude, how am I supposed to turn the charm on when I don't know anything about the chick? I can't prepare myself properly on so little information."

When he was finished with his last rep of curls, Edward brought the weights to his chest and reclined to the bench. Bringing the weights above his head, he started on his new set. "All you need to know is not to fuck up tonight."

"Well, can you at least tell us if they're hot? How old are they?" Jasper asked.

Edward rolled his eyes and took a break between sets. "I don't care if they're hot or not, and all you need to know is that you don't have to buy a Senior admission to the Fair tonight. So you can calm the fuck down, Rico Suave."

"You can say all the shit you want about older women, Edward, but that just means you don't appreciate them. Women are like a fine wine, son. They just get better with age," Jasper said.

"And you call me an ageist motherfucker. You discriminate against women your own age!" Edward said.

Emmett nodded. "Seriously, Butch. You need to give credit where credit is due, and you have to say that there's something about the enthusiasm and energy that the young ones possess. Plus, a lot of them take yoga now. Being bendy is a pretty awesome quality to have."

Edward put the weights down and ran a hand through his hair. "Bella's going to fucking kill me."

A/N: Thank you for reading and sharing what you think!