Don't own Edward or Bella but I do own Gracie :D and the storyline! Thanks for your kind reviews everybody. It makes my day when I get everyone's kind words.
Chapter 11
I pulled over to check the mail before heading down my half-mile long driveway. There was the normal sales papers, a few bills, and a letter from my accountant. Lieberman, Rouch, and Rouch was the firm that I had decided to go with here in Colorado. They were located in Telluride which was only about a forty-five minute drive from Rico. Ms. Rouch had found several investment opportunities that she thought I may be interested in, and requested my presence next Wednesday at 1:30.
I huffed a little as I read the letter from her. I really didn't want to go in. It meant getting Alice to watch Gracie after the center closed and besides, Wednesday was Edward's day off. I was hoping to spend it with him, not in some meeting. I'd have to think on it. Maybe I could talk him in to going with me. We could always do something after my meeting. I would just have to figure out if I wanted to tell him about my money or not right now. It was definitely something to think on later. I put the letter down in the seat and drove up the drive way to the house.
Pulling in, I grabbed the groceries from the back after letting Delilah and Gracie out and we made our way into the house. I headed to the kitchen to put away the groceries while Gracie went to the restroom. I looked at the clock and decided that I had enough time to run check on the horses before starting supper.
I went over to the patio doors and looked out over the yard and barn. I loved looking out and knowing that it was all mine. It was so beautiful and peaceful here. I called Gracie to come with me before opening the door. I walked out behind her and lit up a smoke before I took her hand and led the way down to the pasture to see the horses. Luna and River came trotting over, nickering happily, to see us. I scratched them between the ears for a bit and gave them some love before leading them back to the barn. I quickly fed and watered them, with help from Gracie and went back to the house to start cooking.
Gracie and I started supper before she went to play in her room and I went to grab my laptop from my bedroom. When I walked in all I could think about is what had happened in this very room last night and this morning. Smiling like a giddy school girl, I grabbed my laptop and went back to the kitchen.
I sat at the bar and checked my e-mail. There were the ever present junk mails, wanting to know if I needed penis enlargement, and my all time favorite of some random person in Africa or somewhere who was willing to give me all of their money. I laughed at those before moving on to the one from my mom. She didn't have much news, just rambled on a bit about the weather and such. There was nothing there that was too pressing really. I did have a new update from my fan-fiction site. After stirring the food on the stove, I settled down on my barstool to read the latest chapter. I had almost finished reading when I got the notification of new e-mail. I had to look, it was like a odd compulsion of mine. Even though I knew that more than likely it was going to be junk mail, I still had to go see what it was. I was happily surprised when it was from Edward.
He wanted to know if I would like to go to a local restaurant or if I wanted to go out of town. I sent him a quick reply that it didn't matter. I would be happy with whatever he chose. I'm really not that picky about it. I let him know that supper was almost done and that he should really be in the middle of a tattoo session, so why was he e-mailing me? I hit send before going over to the stove to pull the Chicken Alfredo together. It smelled so delicious and I couldn't wait to eat. I threw some garlic bread into the oven and set the timer before going out on the porch for another smoke.
I sat there in my swing and looked down at my nails. I'm going to have to go in for a fill-in soon, I thought to myself. I debated over whether to have them painted or to have the french manicure done again. Since I couldn't make up my mind, I figured that I would just wait until I got to the salon to figure it out. It's what normally happens with me anyway. I had just finished the last of my cigarette when I heard the timer going off in the kitchen.
I moved quickly to get the bread out before it burned. Once I had it out and cooling, I hunted up some containers to carry the food in. After a few minutes, I had everything packed up and was ready to head back to the shop.
I knew that I would probably end up staying there until closing, so I packed up Gracie's and Delilah's stuff to take with me again. After getting Gracie and everything in the truck, I called Delilah over and got her in the truck. It was a short trip back to the shop and I was happy that the food would still be nice and warm when I got there.
I pulled into my normal spot and unloaded Gracie before getting out all of the food I had brought. Delilah was happy to be able to see Samson again. I believe she was becoming just as attached to him as I was to Edward. I smiled as I walked through the door and she immediately walked over to nuzzle at Samson before settling down next to him. I swear it's like she had been coming to this shop all of her life and not just the last few days.
Gracie followed me as I took the food into the office at the back of the shop and set it on Edward's big desk. It was nice enough, but still needed some personal touches to make it truly his. There was the big desk and chair that had been left here from the last people who owned the building. He had his laptop set in the middle and a few drawing pencils and some pens scattered on it, but that was about it. Over in the corner he had his drafting table set up where he could sketch designs with a tall stool in front of it.
I hadn't seen him yet and caught his thought to me that he was almost finished."Hey Baby, can you go into the stock room and grab me some gauze? It's in the second cabinet from the door on the right. Third shelf down on the left. I forgot to bring some in here and I will need it in a few minutes," he thought to me.
"Sure Baby, it's no problem," I thought back to him as I took Gracie by the hand and made my way out of the office.
I walked down the hallway, passing the tattooing rooms that were directly across from each other and made my way to the end of the hall. There was a door there that opened up into the stock room. I easily found it and grabbed a few boxes of gauze along with some tape that I spotted on the shelf above it. Gracie carried a box of gauze for me as we went back to find Edward.
With my arms full, We went back down the hallway to find him. I followed the sounds of his tattoo gun and found him in the first room. I knocked gently on the door before opening it and going inside with Gracie trailing after me. Edward looked up and smiled brightly at us.
"Thank you for helping bring the gauze, Gracie," he told her while smiling at her.
"Your welcome," she said as she ducked her head shyly before coming over to stand next to me.
Edward looked at me and smiled his brilliant smile. I returned his smile before I said hello to his customer. It was Dalton Matthews, one of the guys from Newton's Feed, who had loaded my truck the other day.
"Hey Dalton, how's it going?" I asked him as I led Gracie over to the cabinet that Edward indicated with a nod of his head.
"Doing great Bella, how 'bout yourself?" he replied before wincing at a sharp pain from the tattoo gun. "What're ya'll doing here today? Ya'll helping Mr. Cullen out?
"Yeah, you could say that," I told him while I smirked over at Edward.
"Mr. Matthews, I asked you to call me Edward. You really don't want to upset the guy who is holding a tattoo gun to your skin right now, do you?" He good-naturedly teased Dalton.
"Sorry Edward! And your right. I really don't want to do that. I could only imagine what my deer would turn into . . . why he might have hair bows instead of horns!" he said with a laugh.
Edward just smiled before getting back to work, putting the finishing touches on Dalton's deer tattoo.
"Do you mind if I get a closer look?" I asked him. I was curious to watch Edward tattooing up close, but didn't want to offend Dalton if he didn't want me to watch.
"Naw, come on over and see. Edward here has a real light hand. Well, most of the time anyway! So far this has been the least painful tat that I've gotten!" he exclaimed excitedly.
I walked over with Gracie to watch for a moment. Dalton was getting a Buck tattooed on the left side of his ribs. It was beautiful, almost lifelike. I felt so proud of Edward's talent at that moment. He was a true artist.
"Looking good there Dalton! Edward's almost finished," I told him looking up. "Do you have many other tattoo's? I haven't noticed them before."
"Yeah, I have an eagle across my back and a tiger on my calf. I just don't go around here advertising them, ya know? What with this town being so small, a lot of the folks here don't take well to tattoos. But, I love them so I compromised." he told me with a little grin.
"Yeah, I know what you mean 'bout that," I told him softly as I ran my fingers through Gracie's hair.
"You have any tattoos?" he asked me.
"A few. Like you, I keep them covered." I told him with a small frown. I hadn't really meant to let him know that, but it just slipped out. He was the first person in this town to ask me about it and I didn't think before answering.
"I think we should revolt!" He said with a hearty laugh. "Seriously though, I bet there are more people here who have 'em, but like us they keep them hidden."
"I bet your right about that Dalton." I told him before moving to the side to be out of the way.
Edward had finished the tattoo during our conversation, and asked me to grab him some gauze while he cleaned the tattoo one last time with the antiseptic wash. I grabbed a box back out of the cabinet and handed it to him after opening it.
"Well, Guys, We're going to head back out to check on the dogs. I'll talk to you later Dalton!" I told them before leading Gracie from the room.
I went back up to the front counter before going over to sit on the couch. Gracie followed me and sat beside me as I pulled one of the photo albums that had some of Edward's original artwork in it. They ranged from angelic to downright scary! But what really came through was the skill of the artist. They were all wonderful. Gracie was full of questions that I tried to answer about all of the tattoo's in the pictures. Once she was satisfied, she went over to color while laying against Delilah. I was trying to think of what I wanted next and was lost in thoughts of designs ranging from fairies and Celtic symbols to Chinese lettering. I was a little surprised when Edward and Dalton came walking into the room from the back.
"Bella, can you come over here for a minute? I can show you how to ring this up, if you'd like." Edward asked me.
"Okay," I said as I got off the couch.
It really was a simple process. The software was installed on the computer and you just had to input the customer's info and then what the tattoo was of and how long it took, and that was mostly just for record keeping. Add the price and you were done.
I watched as Edward went over the aftercare sheet with Dalton one last time and reminded him to come in for a touch-up in three months. Dalton said his goodbye's and left the shop with a smile on his face.
Edward turned to me with a grin and swooped in to plant a kiss on my lips. After a few minutes of some light petting, he pulled back and asked me where the food was.
"I'm starvin' Baby! What did you decide to feed me today?" he asked as he went over to get Gracie. She squealed in happiness as he swung her up into his arms before leading me back toward his office.
"We made Chicken Alfredo and garlic bread," I replied with a laugh.
When we got to the desk, I uncovered the food and the delicious smells wrapped around us, causing us to moan in delight. I made a plate for Gracie first and got her seated on a stool at the end of the desk before I piled food on his plate. I handed it to him along with a Mountain Dew.
"Dew good? Or would you prefer water? I have that too." I asked him.
"The Dew is fine. It's what I normally drink if I'm not drinking water," he told me as he grabbed his plate.
"I think I've died and gone to heaven!" he said in appreciation after he took his first bite of the savory food.
I sat perched his knee while we ate, as there wasn't another chair in here. It was a little tight, but we worked it out. I hadn't even finished my plate before Edward reached out to get a second helping. We sat there, talking about our day and Gracie chattered away about what she wanted to do this evening. She was excited to be here, that's for sure.
"Baby, this is so good! You can cook for me anytime!" he said playfully after he had taken another bite of his food.
"Well, maybe I want you to cook for me, instead!" I told him, pretending to be angry.
"I'll cook for you anytime you want Baby, but it's nowhere near this good. That I can promise you!" he said with a laugh.
I love that we laugh a lot and pick playfully with each other. It's been quite a while since I had laughed as much as I have with him lately.
"Yeah, me too Baby," he thought to me while he gave me a one armed hug.
I draped my right arm over his shoulders, giving him a quick squeeze before leaning in to kiss the top of his head. We were so comfortable sitting here, just enjoying the quiet in between Gracie's chatter as we ate our supper.
I finished before Edward did and I started to get up off of his knee. I knew that it was bound to be getting tired by now, but Edward quickly set his plate back on the desk before grabbing me by my waist and pulling my back down.
I landed back on his knee with a soft "umph".
"Edward, let me up. You don't have to keep holding me here. I know your leg has to be tired by now," I told him as I struggled lightly to get back up.
"Why don't you let me worry about my knee and you keep your sweet ass sitting where it is!" he growled roughly at me while shooting a quick look over at Gracie to see if she was paying attention.
"Fine!" I huffed at him. "As you said, it's your knee. Just don't blame me when your whole leg goes to sleep and you fall on your face when you try to get up!"
I tried to keep the smile off of my face and pretend to be annoyed at him, but it just wasn't working. I couldn't resist that handsomely smug smile of his as he pulled me back into his chest. We sat there for a few more minutes before Gracie finished her food and wanted to go back to her coloring. I cleaned her up and let her go. I watched her settle down with Samson and Delilah before I went back over and sat on Edward's lap again.
Turning to face him, I lifted my legs and draped them across his other leg, too. I wrapped my arms around his neck, while threading my fingers into his hair and scratching his scalp lightly.
I swear that man purred at me! I couldn't hold back the soft laugh as he pressed his head more firmly into my hands.
"Like that do you?" I asked him while continuing to scratch.
"Um, you have no idea!" he was practically groaning from pleasure.
He tightened his arms more firmly around me and pulled me closer, resting his head on my breasts. He turned me a little more and ran his nose over my nipple, making it instantly hard and causing me to gasp quietly.
I had to stop my ministrations to his head because I honestly couldn't think with his face pressed so close to my nipples. I was having flashbacks of his mouth wrapped around my pink puckered nipple and I moaned quietly at the thought.
I felt him shrug his shoulders at me, trying to get me to start scratching again. I tried, I really did . . . until he started nuzzling my hard nipple through my clothes with his lips. I could feel his hot breath cutting through the layers of clothing with ease, so instead of using my fingernails to scratch like he wanted, I used them to pull his face and mouth closer to my breasts.
I was so caught up in the feeling of his hot mouth only millimeters from my wanting flesh, that I didn't notice his hand pushing my shirt up until he moved that wonderful mouth of his away from me. I protested lightly until I realized that he had yanked my bra down. I wasted no time in guiding his mouth to my nipple. He ran his tongue over it before sucking it into his mouth. I started squirming on his lap as he cupped my breast in his hand while he nibbled on the nipple.
After a few minutes, I gently pulled his mouth up to mine. I really wanted to continue what we had started, but the mom in me knew that I was being really irresponsible right now. I reluctantly pulled away and started to fix my clothing. "Baby, I'm sorry. We just can't right now. Gracie is out front by herself and I really need to go back out there," I thought to him.
"Bella, it's OK. I knew that we couldn't go much past where we were. I understand Baby. We will pick this up later though!" Edward thought back to me while he brushed a soft kiss across my lips.
I just nodded in agreement before I removed myself from his lap. We started to clean up the remains of our supper when we heard the bell on the door ring. Edward quickly went to see who it was while I finished up.
I listened as Edward greeted whoever it was, then asked them to fill out the routine paperwork. I decided that I really should go to the restroom to clean up a little. As I walked into the hall I saw Edward holding Gracie to his chest while handing the man's ID back to him and saw it was the guy who worked at the Wal-Mart in town. I wasn't sure of his name, but remembered seeing him there from time to time. Getting my sappy smile under control, I nodded my head at them before going into the restroom.
After finishing up in the restroom I went back out and saw that Edward was standing behind the counter, still holding Gracie, while the customer was looking at some designs on the wall. I walked up to him and stood beside him. I asked Gracie if she wanted to come to me but she just shook her head and snuggled into Edward's chest while she stared at the customer. I thought an apology to him for our little after noon delight, though I really wasn't too sorry about it, just about the fact that we had to stop when we did. He thought back to me that he was okay with it and he truly didn't mind either.
I gave his fingers a quick squeeze and asked him if he was OK with Gracie before I left him standing there. I had to go back to the office to find somewhere for the food and went nosing around the other rooms. I found a small refrigerator and a microwave in the room that had a copy machine in it. The room was really more like a large closet, but it worked for what Edward needed it for. I got the food and put it away in the refrigerator, and went out front.
I collected Gracie from Edward. She was very reluctant to let him go, but I eventually talked her into it by promising her that she cold hold him again once he was finished with his customer. Once he left the room I got her set up with a video and her coloring books before I sat at the desk and decided that since I was here I may as well help. I started answering the phone, booking appointments and just having fun.
Gracie eventually fell asleep curled up between Samson and Delilah, so I picked her up and moved her to the couch. She snuggled into the pillows when I covered her up and gripped her wolf stuffed animal to her chest before settling back down to sleep.
The night quickly passed and it was soon time to close. Edward was impressed that I had talked so many people into booking appointments. I just smiled at him and shrugged my shoulders. I knew that just because I had booked the appointment, didn't mean that they would actually have anything done.
I had let the dogs out a couple of times that evening. They were ready to go whenever we were. I told him that I had put the rest of supper in the fridge and that it was fine to leave it there for him to have another time. He agreed and went over to get Gracie for me while I gathered her things together. Once we were ready, we made our way out of the shop.
I loaded Delilah up in my truck while Edward put Gracie into her seat. I watched as he gently settled her in and buckled her up. He brushed a kiss across her forehead before he quietly closed the door. He went over and put Sampson in his SUV. He met me back at my door and pressed his hand against it, keeping me from opening it.
Looking up at him, I could see the question in his eyes. Then I heard the question in his thoughts. He didn't want to leave me and wanted to ask me to come to his place this time, but wasn't sure how to ask. I gently reached up to cup his cheek. He pressed his face into my palm and finally whispered the question that he had been thinking about all night.
"Bella, will you come stay the night with me?" he said quietly.
"I'd love to Edward," I told him in the same tone of voice. "I'll follow you," I told him and I finished with "anywhere" in my thoughts.
Of course he heard my thought and pulled me in for a quick hug. He pulled back after a moment and opened the truck door for me so I could get in. I climbed up and dropped a quick kiss on his lips before buckling up. He closed the door and gave me a little wave before getting in his car. I would truthfully follow him anywhere.
:D Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
