Almost at 300 reviews. I am stunned once again!

As always, S.M. owns twilight, I'm just borrowing the characters.

Chapter 10

"Oh my god, she's going to be the death of me," Edward groaned dropping next to me on the sofa.

I looked up from the book I was reading.

"And why do you say that?" I asked humoring him. Though I could already guess why. Kate was pulling out all the stops on him. The ignoring, the pouting, the getting angry, and I am assuming that she was working up the tears.

"She asked for ice cream. I said no. She started pouting. I still told her no. Then she begged saying please and I swear she started to cry!"

"She's just working you to see what she can get and what you can handle, be strong," I laughed and leaned into his side propping up my book back on my legs that I had bent on the sofa.

"She's good," Edward stated swinging an arm over my shoulders and brushing my hair back with his hand.

My stomach began flipping and for the life of me I couldn't focus on the writing in my book.

I could feel him looking at me.

I gulped and turned my head to face him.

Our faces were inches apart.

"I really wonder what it'd be like to kiss you," he whispered.

I said nothing.

I'd be lying if I said that I haven't thought about it a couple times myself.

"Can I try it?"

Still no words were forming.

I think I felt myself nod.

Either way whatever he saw in my eyes was enough because he leaned forward using one hand to cup my cheek and bring his lips to brush softly along mine.

He brushed them softly against mine once, then twice, then a third time, a backed away. Our faces remained close; I could feel his warm breath blowing across my face.

This time I leaned in and captured his lips, tugging his bottom lip between my teeth.

He moaned grabbing the book from my lap and dropping it on the floor.

The kiss became more rough as he pushed my back against the couch until he was lying on top of me.

His lips parted causing mine to do the same. His tongue met mine. I moaned pushing my body against his.

"Oh god," he groaned pushing his hips into mine.

I could feel his hardness through his pants.

"Fuck," I mumbled against his lips.

He felt good.

I looked at his face. He was panting as hard as I was.

His head tilted down to capture my lips again.

"Momma," Kate broke through our heated moment.

Edward climbed off me immediate running his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, princess?" I tried to make my voice as normal as possible, but it still came out shaky.

Kate walked into the living room pouting, "I'm bored."

"You're on restriction. It's not supposed to be fun. Go back to your room and read a book."

"Fine," she grumbled stomping up the stairs.

I knew that was an exaggeration. Kate loved to read books, but on her own terms, not when it was her only option.

Edward sat back down next to me staring straight ahead.

I decided to break the silence. "We should talk."

"We should," he nodded into his hands.

"I don't know if I'm ready for a relationship," I told him honestly.

His head popped up, his eyes staring through me.

I continued, "I am not the just fool around with a random person type, I do not do that. I'm a relationship girl, even though I've had one, that's just how I feel I am. And with Kate, I don't know if I'm ready for one."

"I'm not either," he breathed out deeply.

He stopped talking. I looked at him and motioned for him to continue. I wanted to know his reasons behind that. I don't like not knowing things.

"I've been with one person, my college girlfriend. We went out for a year and broke up when I was twenty and I haven't been with anybody since then, physically or emotionally. I don't even think I was with her emotionally. It's always been about work for me, that's all I've cared about. It's my number one priority. I can't get into a relationship when I know that my relationship will take the number two spot in my life. It's not fair, I know that." He started laughing, "God, you're the first girl I kissed in five years."

"You're the first guy I've kissed in five years," I laughed with him.

Our laughing stopped after a moment.

"You know we can't let this progress then," I told him.

"I know," he said. I could hear some sadness in his tone. "I don't know what to do," he admitted.

"Okay, the way I see it, we can keep everything going how it has been, just nothing physical. If you ever decide that enough is enough, please talk to me. Especially if you find someone that you want to be with. I have to be able to explain it to Kate without her getting hurt."

"There's nobody else I would want," his gaze was too intense I had to look away.

We sat there not moving or talking, I groaned mentally. I hate this awkwardness.

"That was one hell of a kiss, eh?" He said smugly bumping my shoulder.

The awkwardness faded.

"I've got skills, what can I say?" I joked.

I picked my book back up from the floor and started to read it again while he kicked his feet up and flipped on the television.

I woke up realizing that I was no longer laying on the couch reading, but completely covered with covers in my bed. I don't even remember moving from the couch.

I picked up the alarm clock. Seven twenty. Wow.

My door flung open as a body hurled itself at me.

"Morning momma."

"Good morning, princess," I spoke while rubbing my eyes.

"Get up, get up. There's panacakes."

"You mean pancakes?"

"Yes, that's what I said. Now come on," Kate tugged on my arm.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I crawled out of bed, really wanting to lie back down and fall asleep again.

That feeling disappeared once we reached the stairs and I caught the smell of food.

"Is that bacon?"

"Yep," Kate answered popping the "p" and the end.

Pancakes and bacon. I'm going to marry this man.

"Good work, princess," Edward said when Kate pulled me into the kitchen.

"Thank you, Eddie," she scooted up to his side.

"Why don't you go have a seat," he told her. "The grease is splattering, I don't want you hurt."

"K," she responded and plopped down on an empty seat at the table.

I grinned at their interaction and made my way around the counter.

Edward really is a gorgeous man. His hair was sticking out in every which direction, he wore a white t-shirt and grey cotton pajama pants. His bare-feet were tapping against the wood floor even though there was no music.

"Need a hand?" I asked him.

"No ma'am," he glanced my way, but kept flipping the bacon. "The table is already set; as soon as this is finished we're good to go."

There were three separate pans on the stove, but before I could take a peek inside of them he had already shuffled me away and to the table.

I sat down next to Kate and took a giant gulp of my milk that he already had poured in a glass.

"Did you sleep, okay?" I asked Kate. "I'm sorry I didn't tuck you in bed, princess."

"It's okay, momma. Eddie said you fell asleep. He tucked me in and read me a book."

"He did?" I asked her.

She nodded happily. "He even did the voices," she whispered as if it was a huge secret.

Breakfast passed by flawlessly. Not only did Edward make pancakes and bacon, he had also made sausage as well. It was so delicious; he made fun of Kate and me for drowning our food in syrup, while he barely sprinkled it on.

"Enjoy a little pancake with your syrup?"

"Don't knock it until you try it," I told him.

So he did.

He now poured the syrup all over his food.

"What are we doing today?" Kate asked. I had her in the bath. She was a sticky mess after breakfast.

"You're still on restriction today," I told her knowing it wouldn't go over well being a Saturday.

"But momma," she started to whine.

"No buts, Kate. Every action has a consequence, good or bad. Yours is bad. Restriction ends tonight, tomorrow you're free again."

She ignored me for the rest of her bath and went to her bedroom.

I jumped in a hot shower; the water was steaming and felt amazing.

Once my skin was turning pink I stepped out and dried off. Pulling up my jeans and throwing on a t-shirt, I grabbed my phone off my dresser.

Alice and Jasper would be back tomorrow.

Jasper had already arranged to go to my apartment when they arrived and set up a security system.

"We'll be out of your hair tomorrow," I told Edward.

He frowned, but quickly covered it up.

I felt bad; I knew Kate was right when she said he was lonely.

"You're still coming over on Tuesday's right?" I asked trying to perk him up.

"I wouldn't miss it."

The rest of the day passed by slowly. Kate stayed in her bedroom and Edward was on and off the phone all day with work. He really wasn't lying when he said work took over his life. Apparently there was a contract that was going bad or something that he was trying to fix.

"Can I take Kate to the park while you get Jasper and Alice?" Edward asked me Sunday morning.

"Sure," I agreed. I was still a little hesitant, but I trusted him enough. It would be a perfect way for Kate to celebrate the end of her restriction as well.

Kate was over the moon when we told her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she gushed climbing on Edward.

We had packed all of our stuff back into our bags and made sure that the bedrooms were as cleaned and organized as they were when we had first arrived.

It felt weird. I had grown used to being here the past couple days, but I was excited at having my apartment back.

"Are we all ready?" Edward asked holding both Kate and my bags.

I took one last look around the kitchen and followed them out into the garage.

Getting the security system set up and in place didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. Jasper really is a pro at what he does. He gave me the code to disarm it and taught me what buttons to press that will alert the police immediately.

"Thank you so much, Jasper," I meant it too. I felt so much better being in my apartment knowing that it would be monitored.

Jasper slipped me his car keys so I could drive to the park while he set up the security system for Mrs. Cope.

I couldn't wait to surprise Kate and Edward at the park. It's been a while since I was able to goof around with Kate at one.

When I pulled up and parked it took me a minute to find Kate. She was running around on the jungle gym set playing with other kids. Parents were seated on benches watching their kids play, there were even a couple standing around the jungle gym playing with their kids. I didn't see Edward though.

I kept walking until I noticed him.

His back was turned to the playground set Kate was on and he was talking on his phone.

I watched him for a couple minutes waiting to see him turn around, but he didn't.

I approached the playground, until Kate noticed me.

"Momma," she shrieked and slid down the slide then ran to me laughing.

I caught her and hugged her tight.

"Having fun?" I asked her trying to appear that everything was okay and I wasn't getting angry.

"Yeah," she threw her little fist in the air.

Might as well ask, "Hey princess, how long as Edward been on the phone?"

"A while," she shrugged. "He played on the swings and then his phone rang. He said a bad word, momma," she whispered the last part.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Let's go sit down and wait until he's done," I moved us away from the playground to sit by a tree.

Time to see how long it would take for Edward to notice that Kate wasn't on the playground.

Every minute that ticked by seemed longer than the last.

I glared at his backside; his arm would wave around every so often.

Who keeps their back to a child for that long?

Twenty-five long minutes passed before he hung up the phone and turned around.

I watched as his eyes scanned the playground, his face panicked realizing Kate wasn't there.

He ran towards it, "Kate!" he yelled out.

"I'm right here, Eddie," Kate hollered back sitting right next to me.

He visibly relaxed once he saw us, but then I could see his shoulder tense as he caught my expression.

I was not too pleased and he could tell that.

"Bella…"

"Kate, thank him for bringing you here and tell him goodbye," I told her as pleasantly as I could manage.

His eyes locked on me.

She hugged him and said her goodbye.

I led her back to Jasper's car, Edward followed behind us.

Getting her all set in the car and the music on, I shut the door so she wouldn't hear what was being said outside of the car.

I was livid.

"Bella," Edward whispered.

"Let me see your phone, Edward," I interrupted.

"What?"

"I want to know how long your call lasted and your back was turned to my daughter."

He passed over his phone silently.

I took it and scanned his call log.

"Thirty-five minutes," I stated.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. It was business, about that contract I was dealing with yesterday," his voice pleaded for me to understand.

"I can understand you answering the phone, Edward. That's fine. I have no issues with that. My issue is that you had your back turned to my daughter for that long. My five-year old daughter! I don't know if it was the entire time, but I was there for twenty-five minutes of it," my voice rose significantly. "Do you have any idea what can happen in that amount of time? Any idea at all? She could have gotten hurt or worse. She may not have even been there when I arrived all because you had your back turned. Mistakes happen. I am more than aware of that! Kate has played Houdini on me a couple of times and my back would be turned for just a second. Just a second, Edward! Yours was turned for over twenty-five minutes. You said business, is your number one priority. Well, my daughter is my number one priority. I like you, Edward. I really, really like you. But I can't trust you with my daughter anymore. Something horrible could have happened while you were focused on your business. That is one risk that I'm not willing to take again. Goodbye, Edward."

He looked completely stunned and defeated as he moved out of my way so I could climb in the car and drive off.

"You alright, momma?" Kate asked.

She's always so perceptive.

"I'll be just fine, princess, let's go back home."

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