CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I drove the rust bucket truck towards the house as quick as it would go. I kept going over every detail in my mind and couldn't fathom how any of it was possible. It was clear that Bella had an accomplice and I wasn't able to make out who that accomplice was but I knew the figure I saw in the distance was definitely Bella. There certainly was no mistaking that ass.

The truck bounced down the dirt road kicking up dust in its wake and sure enough there was a small red Mini-Cooper parked in our drive. I pulled to a stop and got out of the car in one swift motion, slamming the door as I went.

I didn't know what to make of the situation. Was I upset? I should be. After all the time I spent begging Bella to help and then she hadn't spoken to me in days. What was her deal? Why now? Why decide to help me now?

Part of me was happy and relieved she helped me. I mean, my god! If I had to spend an entire evening with that Tanya, I don't know what I would do. I should thank her. I should just march up into the house and thank her.

I kept saying in my head over and over, "thank you." However, when I went through the door and saw three women sitting in my living room watching Game of Thrones and acting like nothing had happened, I nearly lost it.

"No, that guy's a punk. He later beheads the father," Bella said.

"What? No way! But I like that guy. I think he's sexy," Rosie replied.

"Ew! He's old enough to be your kid!" Bella exclaimed.

"Not him! The father guy. He reminds me a little of my man."

Bella looks up to me from the floor with her back leaning against the couch.

"Hey, you're back already? It's not even nine o'clock," She says pretending to look at her watch.

I stare at her and look at the other suspects and the little dark hair girl is avoiding eye contact with me. The silence is deafening.

"Uh…I should probably get home. Alice, it is getting late and we don't want our guys thinking we jumped ship," Rosie sings biting her lip.

"Yes! We should go. Uh…thank you for inviting us over tonight, Bella. We had a lot of fun." Alice replied getting out of the chair so fast you would think her ass was on fire.

"Oh, you guys don't have to go yet. I mean we haven't even made it to the best part."

Bella is practically pulling the pair back. She knows the moment her Charlie's Angel's disband, we are going to have words. She follows them to the door pirouetting around the two but she has no luck. She stands looking out after them on the porch and then slowly makes her way back in.

"I need to go and check on Maisey," She mutters with one foot on the stair.

"HOLD IT!"

Her foot pauses and she stays in her spot refusing to look at me.

"I'm waiting." I draw out the word and fold my arms over my chest. I already know I have the upper hand for once. There is no way she can win this argument.

She turns to face me and stares at me crossing her arms over her chest to mirror me.

"Well?" I asked.

"Well what?"

"Don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you."

She sighs annoyed and rolls her eyes.

"Bella, I know you were there. You did it. You gave Tanya the Bella Special! Just admit it."

"So what if I did," She snapped. "You have an odd way of thanking someone."

"Thanking? You think I should thank you?" I snap back at her. I knew I should thank her but when she decided to get all superior, thanking her was the last thing on my to-do list.

"I went around here for days asking for your help and you refused. Then you don't talk to me and now I am supposed to thank you?"

The nerve of this woman!

"I didn't talk to you because I was upset with you. You practically said that I can't give my daughter everything she needs. That I am a horrible mother!"

"No fucking way did I ever say that! You are so not going to make up some fantasy and make me the villain, Bella!"

She rushes toward me with her hands waving. "Would you stop with all the swear words. What if Maisey could hear you?"

"Then I'm sure her ears would fall off her head and she would spend the rest of her days deciphering hand gestures."

"You are so crass," Bella hissed. "I'm not going to argue with you. Especially if you can't keep your mouth clean. Besides, I'm sure Maisey will hear us if we keep going on like this."

I took a deep breath remembering my training. I couldn't kill her. There would be too many reports to file and I'm sure I would be on probation for a thing like that. Killing the very person I was responsible for protecting.

"You know what? I didn't need your help. I had it all under control so thanks for nothing, Kerns."

I strode past her and went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer heading toward the porch. I could practically see Bella's face go fifty shades of red and I knew I had won that round. She followed me quickly, hot on my heels.

"Are you serious? You were drowning on that date. She was a wilder-beast and if it wasn't for me, you would still be sitting in that diner or worse, trying to pry her off your leg as you got into your car to leave for the night."

I sat down in the chair and looked out over the driveway. I take a swig from my beer and laugh.

"Okay, Bella. Whatever you say but really…a girl like that isn't hard to get rid of. I'm mean don't get me wrong, you did okay. The chair and the spoon, it was a nice effort, a little childish but not what I was expecting from someone who I thought was like the Yoda of bad dates. And besides, she may be a wilder-beast but I probably wouldn't mind tapping that."

Bella's jaw drops and for a second I'm not sure what has her more upset. The implication that she's not an amazing dater hater or that she thinks I would ever screw a girl like Tanya.

"You want to have sexual relations with someone like Tanya!"

"Sexual relations?" I raise my eyebrow, "Uh...the last time I checked my last name wasn't Clinton."

"Do you have any ideas how many diseases that woman probably has? Rosie and Alice told me all about her. They said she is the lowest of the low. She has absolutely no standards and could open up her own brothel and keep every customer satisfied on her own."

"Really? Wow you're making her sound more and more tempting all the time. I mean someone with that kind of stamina is hard to come by."

The more I was relaxed, the more she became infuriated and I loved every minute of it. Bella threw up her hands and turned in a circle.

"I can't believe you. You are so much…more pathetic than I could ever imagine. You really have no standards. I guess my childish effort was on a lost cause. You and Tanya belong together."

She turned to go into the house and I jumped up and grabbed her around the waist. She squealed in shock as I pulled her back down to the chair.

"I was fucking with you, Bella," I whispered in her ear. "Thank you for getting me out of that horrible date."

I kissed her on the cheek bracing myself for a slap but when I pulled back, I was surprised to see her staring at me.

"You…you weren't interested in Tanya?" She asked softly.

I laughed, "Never. And yes, even I have standards."

I couldn't believe she was still sitting on my lap. She looked away from me briefly thinking something over in her head and then turned back to me.

"Well…I guess I can't take all the credit. Throwing that water in her face was pure genies," She smiled and bit her lip.

"That was improv but bringing out the ex? Man, how in the hell did you find him?"

Bella laughed and shook her head.

"You have no idea how impressed with myself I was for that one. Alice told me that he hung out at Jasper's bar and I asked her to call Jasper and see what he could do to get him over there. It wasn't hard. Apparently Tanya owes him a bit of money."

I rocked a little testing to see if she would realize that she was still sitting on my lap. I didn't want her to leave. I liked feeling her there but I knew she would feel embarrassed once she realized what we were doing.

"Uh, Bella. There's something I have to tell you," I whispered in her ear.

She leaned back waiting to hear what I had to say.

"What you did tonight was a little fucked up."

She turned to me with a gasp leaving her mouth open.

"You totally screwed that Rosie girl over. You never ever tell someone that Joffrey had Eddard Stark beheaded."

Bella looked relieved but pulled back to smack me in the chest. I easily catch her hand and hold it between us. I can see merriment dancing in her eyes and it was a first for me. It made her look like a completely different Bella. The kind of Bella I wondered if her husband had the pleasure of knowing.

I feel like I could read her mind in that moment. She looks at me as if she is waiting for me to kiss her but I don't. I don't want to make a move and then have it be the wrong move. That would be disastrous.

"It's getting late," I said lamely letting her hand go.

I look down awkwardly and am surprised that she is still sitting on my lap. I can feel her adjust her weight, readying herself to stand up but just as she lifts her body off of mine, she moves her butt from the tops of my knees and slides down toward my crotch. Her hand palms my face and before I can react her lips are on mine! Her tongue is inside my mouth! And what's worse is my dick is causing a very embarrassing bulge in my jeans.

I am thinking too much. Or maybe I am thinking too little because I allow her tongue to continue to tangle with mine. I allow her hands to make their way toward my hair as her fingers begin to wrestle with my locks. But the longer we are making out the more I lose my mind and allow impulse to take over.

I grab her and pull her closer deepening the kiss. My hand finds itself on her inner thigh and just as my finger decides to move to a place of no return, I snap out of it and jump up off the chair placing her quickly back on her feet. Our mouths break apart and she stares at me in disbelief. I am stunned into silence but I have to get away from her because my body is screaming for me to grab and take her to my room.

I rush back into the house and she follows after me. She's too close for comfort so I turn to stop her.

"Um…we have to stop."

"Yes. I know. You're right." She panted. She looked around and then her eyes land on me, "Why?"

I throw my hands up in frustration.

"You had to pick tonight to lose all your inhibitions? Have you been drinking?"

There has to be some form of explanation. Hell, I'll even take Freaky Friday as an explanation for now.

"What? No! Look, I'm completely sober." She says moving one finger back and forth in front of her eyes.

"Then what…are you thinking? You are…you aren't thinking. You hate me!"

She pauses from following me and steps back. She bites on her lip a little and it seems my words have hurt her.

"I don't hate you," she whispered. "I don't know what I'm doing to be honest. I can't believe myself but the other day when you said what you said….it made me really examine how I have been living my life. Maybe you're right. On all of it. Maybe I'm not enough for Maisey and I've been keeping myself locked up and its hurting her instead of helping her. Maybe James would have wanted me to move on. I don't know. I don't know."

I take a few steps toward her.

"You are enough for Maisey. That's not what I meant. You are an amazing mother and she is an amazing girl. You did that. But…I think if I was in James's place, I have to believe if I loved you as he did, I would never want you to "lock" yourself away. I would hope and wish that you would find someone who would love you and love Maisey. That is why love is unselfish."

Bella closes her eyes and causes her tears to disappear before they can fall. We are so close that I can feel her breath on me. She looks up at me through her eyelashes and I expect her to say thank you or something.

"Edward."

She takes a breath.

"Will you make love to me?"

Oh crap!

That isn't where I wanted this to go.

Did I want to make love to her? God, so many images of me burying myself inside her and I want nothing more but for the first time I stop myself because for the first time I feel more for her than some cheap one-night stand. I can't do that to her. She deserves more and I worry that if I have sex with her now, she will regret it and in return I will regret it too.

"Bella…" I pull her to me. "You mean more to me than this. You know what I am. You don't want your first time after him to be with a manwhore."

Bella looks down and smiles. "You're probably right. You wouldn't want to be with a girl like me. I don't "take care" of myself like the women you date."

She turns around quickly to hide her abashed face and I grab her wrist instantly.

"That's not it at all. You have no…"

"No! You're right. Thank you for stopping me. I would have been so embarrassed if you saw me like that. I can't imagine what you would think. You probably would ask for hazard pay."

"Bella! I wouldn't think like that at all. My god! I…I…"

I don't even know what to say because in a way, she's right. If I would have fucked her like I wanted to when we first met, I would have judged everything about her. I would have mocked in my head all her imperfections and then told Mike all about it. And then it hit me for the first time. There would be no imperfections on Bella to find. There would be nothing because when you truly care for another person, you only see the good. I truly cared for Bella. I wanted more with her. Was I really able to trust another person again especially after what happened with my ex?

I look Bella over and I know that she is nothing like my ex-wife. To even put them in the same category would be an insult.

Bella is still looking at me and waiting for a properly finished sentence but I offer her nothing in return. Instead I take her by the hand and slowly walk with her towards my bedroom giving her every opportunity to stop this.

But she followed me into my bedroom.

I pull her towards my bed and turn around to face her. I don't kiss her but I just stare into her eyes attempting to see any sign of doubt but I find nothing so I sit her down at the foot of my bed and wait once more for her to tell me to stop.

But she said nothing and sat on the foot of my bed.

She stares at me waiting for me to make a move. I attempt to control the trembling I feel lying beneath the surface and focus on my hand as it raises to brush against her hardening nipple. I can barely feel it and I imagine that its due to the fact that she must be wearing one of those granny bras. There is no way that Bella is a lace and lux kind of girl. I leave my hand on her breast testing to see if she gives me a negative response.

But she said nothing and took a deep breath in, slowly throwing her head back.

Finally, I can't take it anymore.

"Bella, are you sure about this? I don't want to ruin us. I need you to be sure."

She takes a moment and I take it that she is not sure about going further. I attempt to stand up but she stops me.

"I want to…but…"

I wait but that horrendous "but" is bothersome.

"…I haven't done this in a really long time and like I said before, I…am not like the other girls you've been with. You…might not like what you find."

She cringes thinking far too much so I push my torso between her legs and reach up to kiss her deeply.

I break the kiss and tell her, "I need you to not think anymore. Just feel."

I kiss her once more and this time my hand reaches around her back and I snap her bra off. My hands are under her shirt and helping to liberate her breasts from their thick padded prison.

I am surprised that Bella pulls her shirt off so freely. I can feel how self-conscious she is and this small task means a great deal to me.

I move my mouth to begin sucking on her nipples and begin making a plan. My fingers find their way up her long skirt and between her legs. I can feel the thick amount of hair they will tangle with through her panties. I am so focused on finding her clit that I nearly miss the panting coming from Bella's mouth. I can feel her body already shaking but staying stiff still sitting on the foot of my bed.

I push her down and lay beside her. I make a circular motion with my fingers never attempting to plunge into the depths of her womanhood. My mouth doesn't leave her breast as I continue to suck and tease her with my teeth.

I can tell that I am getting close because she becomes louder and louder every passing second. I climb over her and change hands. Now the one that was playing in her bush is across her mouth and my other hand is back in the thick of it waiting to bring her to her first orgasm. She is pushing herself on me as her pelvis pushes up from off the bed but I push her back down.

"I'm close. I'm close. Please. Please fuck me," She whispers.

I want to laugh at the dirty language but I don't. My fingers quicken their pace and push harder until I can feel her body freeze, her mouth screaming into my hand and it's over.

Bella collapses and I pull my hand off her.

It was never my intention to make love to her that night. If I wanted more with her, then I was going to have to give up my manwhore ways and be patient. She needed an orgasm though. There was no denying that. But, I will not make love or fuck her until we decide that we are ready to be more.

I laid beside her and basked in her glow. She had a small satisfied smile upon her lips. She let a few minutes' pass but then turned toward me and snuggled closer which I completely allowed.

"That was indescribable," She said.

"Yes it was," I agreed.

She looked up at me and smiled.

"Okay, I'm ready to continue."

FUCK!

AN: Thank you for having the patience to continue on with this story. i know it has been a long while but I am finally getting my zest back for writing. I am nearly done with my last chapter for The Governess and will be able to focus solely on this story. Thank you for taking the time to read and review. I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: Story is mine, characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.