Happy Sunday everyone! I'm hoping you guys can send me some positive thoughts, because I have two classes that I need to complete before my term ends in two weeks (Hard Classes!) So please keep me in mind and give me the strength to pass these classes. Thank you! Anyways, enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Seventeen

Edward texted me that he was here. I was still doing my hair. Usually I wouldn't take this long on my hair, but it had rained, and my hair turned into a tangled nightmare. My apartment was clean, so I wasn't too embarrassed about Edward seeing it.

When I knocked, I hollered for him to just come in. He opened the door and looked around at my tiny apartment.

"Nice," He said.

"Thanks. I know it's kind of bare, but it works for me."

"No I like it," he sat down at the table, "It's cute."

"I'm sure you live in a huge mansion," I chuckled, "You're parent's house was enormous."

"Oh yeah," he said, "My house is alright. I live in a townhome in Manhattan."

"Do you live by the gated park?" I said as I sat my brush down.

"Yeah," he said, "It's beautiful. I'll take you to it. Personally, I think it's a thousand times better than Central Park. A little smaller, but the HOA really keeps up with it. They decorate the trees with lights every Christmas, keep it very clean."

I smiled, "I would love to see it sometime."

He smiled widely, "Well, then I'll take you."

Cinnamon raced out of the bathroom and leapt onto the table in front of Edward. He jumped up quickly, the chair hitting the floor. He backed away slowly.

"Oh I'm sorry," I said, "Are you allergic?" racing over and grabbing Cinnamon.

"Uh," His eyes were wide, "I'm just… not a fan of cats."

"Not a fan? Cinnamon is so sweet though," I took a step forward, but Edward backed up, putting his hand up.

"I'm good, Bella." He said.

A little smile started to spread, "Are you scared of cats?"

"Are we ready to go now? It'll get very crowded if we don't hurry." He said quickly.

I put Cinnamon down onto the mattress, "Yeah, I'm ready."

He walked out of the door and waited while I grabbed my coat. He led me down the stairs and around the building. I offered to drive my car, but he refused and clicked his keys, his car starting.

"Was the Lamborghini in the shop?" I teased.

He looked over and made a face, "I don't have a Lambo. I think they're ugly. Now if you want we can swing by my house and pick up the Bugatti La Voiture Noire, if you really want to show off."

"That sounds expensive," I said.

"Eh, about $12.5 million. It was kind of a spontaneous buy."

"Jesus," I said, "I wish I had that kind of spontaneous money."

He looked over and raised a brow, "Well, m'lady, if you play your cards right perhaps I'll give you a million."

I laughed and rolled my eyes, "Ha-ha. I don't want your money."

"You're going to be the first woman I've taken out who's not interested in my money." He said jokingly.

I knew he said it as a joke, but part of my felt sorry for him, because I imagined it was difficult for him to go out on dates with women who weren't interested in his money. I felt a little sorry for him.

"So, you told me that you play the piano, how'd you get into that?" I asked him.

"My mom made me start playing when I was five. At first, I hated it. I just wanted to play and be with my dad, but she made me stick to it. I really didn't find a love for it until I was about thirteen. Now I play it as often as I can. I like getting lost in the music." He said.

"And I bet it comes really handy when you're trying to impress women, huh?" I teased.

"Actually, I've never played for any women besides my mother and my sister," he said, "Playing the piano is special, it's like the one thing I hold sacred."

"Awe, that's really sweet," I said, "My mom made me do lessons when I was a kid, but I didn't like it. I whined and whined until she let me quit. I preferred the guitar."

"You play the guitar?" He asked.

"Yes, but I can only play like three songs," I chuckled, "My dad was a great guitar player and he taught me when he could. I loved it when he played. There's a couple videos of him playing, but I left the video tapes in Forks with my dad's friends."

"Do you want them back?" He asked.

"Yes and no." I said, "I feel like if I listened to him singing and playing his guitar, I think I'd lose it. I'd never stop crying."

"You're a very strong person you know. When my dad had his heart attack, I lost my shit. I thought I was going to lose him, and the thought of not having my dad just almost killed me. I can't tell you how relieved I was the day he left that hospital. We joke about my mom being the insane one about his health, but we're all very active in making sure he stays healthy and stress free."

"Your family is very nice." I said, "I loved hanging out with all of them."

"They loved you." He said, "They ask about you."

"Really?"

"Yep, they really appreciate everything you do for us. And they like that you are so accommodating. Plus, you're an amazing baker. We have a lot of events that require catering." He said.

"What kind of events do you throw?" I asked.

"Well, we have the wedding coming up. My sister-in-law's baby shower and her gender reveal party, two separate events. My parents host an annual gala for all of the business partners and upper level employees. It's a huge event, tons a people and food. And then throughout the year, my mom hosts little art events for local, up and coming artists. Just a bunch of stuff." He said, "Oh, and every summer we have a sort of family reunion, I guess you'd call it. My entire family gets together at my parent's summer home in Montauk."

"A summer home? Jeez, I can't even imagine how big that house is." I chuckled.

"Yeah, the summer house is my mother's proudest project. She will take anyone up there just to show it off," He said, "My parents have a huge plot of land with their own private beach. It's a really beautiful home. Every year, my mom requires us to spend a week at the home. It's nice. I always look forward to it."

"It sounds really nice," I smiled, "There's the restaurant."

He parked his car in the parking lot then we walked around to the entrance. It was a small restaurant, connected to little clothing store and a laundromat. I will say that the neighborhood seems a little sketchy, but not too dangerous. Edward didn't really seem worried.

"A table for two," Edward said to the lady at the podium.

She took us to a little booth that was near the kitchen. Edward shrugged off his jacket and looked around the restaurant.

"This place reminds me of my teenaged years," Edward said, "My friends and I would go out drinking and partying, then we'd come here and eat a ton of greasy food to soak up the alcohol before going home."

"Were you a rowdy teen?" I asked.

He gave me a look that made me laugh, "I was absolutely wild. There was no controlling me."

"Were your parents very controlling?"

"Not so much to me, they just expected me to make very good grades and prepare to take over the family businesses and be the leader of the family one day. But I had a lot more freedom than Alice. She was under constant supervision."

"Really?"

He nodded, "But that's how it goes in our family. The boys have a little more freedom but have a lot more expected of them. It's good and bad."

"Well, that kind of sucks. I don't know if I'd like that. My parents gave me my freedom to explore and what not. As long as I was safe." I said.

"Oh don't worry about Alice. When she was older, I used to help sneak her out of the house and party with me. But then our parents caught us and there was so much hell to pay. My parents were so pissed." He chuckled, then shuddered, "So, how wild were you as a teen?"

"Honestly, I wasn't too wild," I said, "Actually, I was pretty tame. I only ever got in trouble for staying up too late to read. There were only a couple incidences where I really acted my age."

"Tell me about your experience with alcohol. I'm dying to hear it," He smiled.

"If I tell you about my alcohol experience you have to tell me why you're afraid of cats." I said.

The waitress came by and took our orders as he thought about it. When she left, he agreed to tell me.

"You first though," He said.

"Alright, but no chickening out," I pointed my finger at him, "So, my town was very small, and there really wasn't much to do. But, one Saturday a month, the teenagers in my town would throw these forest parties. Every month the location changed so no one's parents would figure it out. Well, I never went because they did nothing but listen to loud obnoxious music, drink, and hangout. It honestly sounded boring as hell. But, when I was fifteen, one of my friends begged and begged me to go with her, so against my better judgement, I went. I wasn't going to drink anything, but you know everyone was drinking and hanging out so after an hour, I figured what the hell. I started with one, and I said I'd only drink one, but then one turned into five and five turned into me doing a keg stand. Long story short, I got really, really drunk. Well, at this party, there was an amateur tattoo artist there, she was giving everyone jail tattoos. I guess that's what you'd call them; she just had a pen, a little bottle of ink, and a needle. I got really bold and I decided to get a tattoo. I had her put the tattoo on the underside of my arm because I thought my parents wouldn't see it. It wasn't such a bad idea because Forks is always cold and rainy and usually everyone wears long sleeves. The next morning I woke up with a horrible hangover that I was able to convince my parents was the flu, and a very painful, very poorly done tattoo on my arm. I felt stupid for getting the tattoo—,"

"What was the tattoo?" He asked.

I blushed, "Oh god, it's so embarrassing. It was the name of my zodiac sign, spelled wrong, and a horribly drawn scale, because the girl thought that Virgo was the scales. And it was huge, it took up like the entire underside of my arm."

"So you have a tattoo, I honestly never would've pegged you as the type to like tattoos." He said.

"I don't have any tattoos, and I'll probably never get one." I said.

"But you just said—,"

"I wasn't finished," I blushed again, "Well, three days later, the tattoo got horribly infected. After three days, I couldn't take it anymore, and I had to tell my parents. It was terrible. They were so mad. They took me to the hospital, and I had to be put on IV antibiotics for like two days. And as soon as I was cleared to leave the hospital, my parents took me to a place in Seattle and made me get it removed. It took six appointments to get it removed and it was freaking painful every time. My parent's didn't even ground me because they said that getting the tattoo removed was punishment enough."

He threw his head back and laughed, "Oh man, that sucks so bad! I thought you were going to tell me that you got a really bad hangover or something. Man, when you act up you really act up."

I nodded, "Okay, I told my embarrassing story. Now you, why are you afraid of cats?"

He took a deep breath, "Alright, I'm going to tell you this story, but you cannot repeat this to anyone, okay?"

I crossed my fingers over my heart, "I won't say a word."

"Well, when I was younger, I loved cats. We had a cat named Toby or something. He was a great cat, he always slept in my bed with me," He said, "When I was like six or seven, I was leaving school and while I was waiting for my ride, there was this cat in the ally by my school. Me being a little rebel, I jumped the fence and tried to grab the cat. Of course it attack me, tore my ass up. It was so bad that my school ended up calling an ambulance, but that could've been because I was screaming and crying. And they were scared because I had jumped the fence, and no one noticed. I had to get stitches, be treated for cat scratch fever, and I had to get the rabies vaccines. They went back to get the cat, but it was gone, so I had to get the vaccines. It was horrible. We had to get rid of Toby. And ever since then, I've just been terrified of cats. It's a stupid thing to be afraid of, but every time I see a cat, it reminds me of when I got attacked." He shuddered.

"That's awful," I said, "You were so little! No wonder you're still afraid of cats. But don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I won't tell anyone."

He smiled, "Thanks. It's embarrassing because I'm not scared of anything else."

"It's okay to be scared," I said, "When you come over, I'll make sure Cinnamon is put up," I thought about what I said for a moment, "I didn't mean like that—,"

He laughed, his cheeks slightly red, "I knew you didn't mean it like that."

Our food arrived then. We had gotten a large, meat lovers pizza and then he got a meatball sandwich, and I got a pastrami sandwich. I wanted to try the dishes that New York specialized in. I'd never had pastrami before, and Edward swore it was delicious.

"Oh! So I forgot to tell Alice the other day," I said as I wiped my mouth with my napkin, "I ordered the fancy platters and the name tags for all the food. I just went with white, because it's simple and I didn't want to clash with her colors."

"No, that's perfect. My sister's colors are white, red, and gold." He said, "Speaking of the wedding, I did some research and I discovered that we are paying you way too little for your services. So, I was planning on giving you a little more. I figured I'd tell you now and go ahead and pay it. That way you're able to buy the things you need for the wedding."

I sighed, "Okay, how much are you planning on giving me?"

"Well, starting with the cake. You're making a cake for three hundred people, but then Alice told me that she asked if you could make a cake for three hundred and thirty people, just to make sure there's enough or anyone wants an extra slice. Other bakers typically charge between ten and fifteen dollars a slice. So, three hundred and thirty people comes out to 4,950, and we're only paying you two-thousand. Plus, you're delivering the cake yourself. I did more research there, and bakers typically charge thirty to forty dollars an hour. Alice's venue is two and a half hours from your bakery, and you'll probably take an hour or two to set up such a large cake. So, I was thinking an extra two hundred. It's not exact math, but it does somewhat even it up. I'm planning on paying you 5,150, plus an extra thousand, just for the inconvenience."

I shook my head, "Edward—,"

He put his hand up, "No, no. Again, you're selling your services too short. You're an amazing baker, and people will take advantage of your generosity and your low prices. And I won't take advantage of you. So no arguing. You're accepting the money. Even if I have to buy the bank you own and forcibly put it into your account."

I laughed and rolled my eyes, "Okay, Edward. I won't fight you on it. But I felt like I was charging you a fair amount. I was fine with our original amount."

He shook his head, "You were charging us way too little," He took a pizza slice, "And the desert table. I did more research, and again you're charging way too little. So, I'm going to pay you fifteen thousand for the dessert table. Because that itself is a lot of work."

My jaw dropped, "Edward… that's $21,150. I cannot accept that."

He shrugged, "Too bad, that's what I'm paying you. But of course I'm going to just round it out, for my benefit and give you $25,000? Does that work?"

I felt somewhat lightheaded, "Edward, I cannot accept that much. It is way, way too much."

"Do you think I'm not good for it?" He asked.

I shook my head, "No, no. I know you're good for it, but $25,000 is just over the top."

"Bella, you're going to need a lot of stuff," He said, "For instance, you'll need a large, refrigerated van to transport everything. And now Alice wants to coordinate you and the caterers outfits, so you look uniform, that's an inconvenience. You'll need to buy the materials for the desserts. You'll have to pay the people who help you. And you'll have to shut down the bakery for like a day or two to get everything set up and ready." He tapped his chin, "Actually, now that I think about it, I need to be paying you $30,000. I forgot you'll have to shut down the bakery."

I slowly shook my head, "Edward I can't accept that. I feel uncomfortable, it's such a huge amount."

He pulled out his checkbook and started writing, "Too late. I'm writing it. And I want you to take it," He ripped the check from the book, "Use it to book a refrigerated van in advance, go ahead and buy the materials for the desserts, pay your helpers, and then get in contact with Alice about the clothing situation. This will cover the costs of the clothing you need."

I stared at the check for a little bit when he handed it to me. I couldn't believe Edward was paying me this much. I felt a little woozy as I stared at the number. I wanted to hand it back to him and tell him to pay me what we agreed upon, but I knew he wouldn't take the check back.

"I don't know how to repay you for this." I said.

"Bella, it's not a gift. I'm paying you for a service. You're giving it back by catering for my sister's wedding." He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and folded the check before stuffing it deep into my wallet. I needed to make sure I didn't lose it.

After we finished dinner, we walked down to the little theater that Edward was talking about. Tonight they were putting on a Romeo and Juliet production. That was one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. I was excited to see it, but then I realized that it was a spin off the play.

It wasn't bad though. Edward and I laughed pretty much the entire time while we watched and ate really bad popcorn. Afterwards, we had to run back to his car in the rain. By the time we got to his car, we were soaked.

"I'm getting your seats all wet," I laughed as my sopping wet hair dripped onto the leather.

He cranked the heat up, "It's okay. I'll have it washed." He laughed.

I leaned back as his seat heated up, "I had so much fun."

He looked over and flashed me a crooked smile, "I had a lot of fun too."

Seeing his crooked smile made me realize how beautiful Edward was. He had penny colored red hair and strikingly green eyes. I couldn't recall what my preference was, but Edward seemed to hit every check mark I looked for in a man. While he was driving, I looked him up and down and felt a familiar heat in my groin that I hadn't felt in a while.

It was raining even hard by the time we got to my house. He quickly got out of his car and opened my door. We ran around the building and up to my apartment.

"Jesus I'm soaked," He said.

"Hold on, I'll get you a towel." I chuckled. I grabbed Cinnamon who was laying on the table and put him in the bathroom, so he didn't make Edward uncomfortable. Cinnamon seemed a little irritated, but he just curled up in the dirty laundry basket.

"Here," I said as I handed him a towel.

"Thanks," he said as he wiped his face, "My shirt is soaked."

He pulled his shirt off over his head and revealed a black wifebeater. The shirt clung to his body, showing off every rock hard muscle he had. I blushed when I realized I was staring.

"I-I'm sorry." I said, trying to think of unappealing things to distract me.

"About what?" He asked.

I shook my head, "Nothing."

He held the towel out to me. When I grabbed it, my eyes travelled up his arm, mentally memorizing the tattoos that resided there, and the bulge of the muscles. When my eyes finally rested on his face, I was positive that his cheeks were just as red as mine.

"Bella…" He said as he looked down at me.

I don't know what came over me, but I let the towel drop and placed my hands onto his chest. He didn't lean away, in fact, he even leaned closer, his head dropping closer to mine.

"You're so beautiful," I told him.

His chuckle was low, "I was just going to say the same thing about you."

I leaned up on my toes and brushed my lips against his. It started off slow, our lips barely brushed against one another, then progressed to us wrapping our arms around one another.

I haven't kissed anyone in a long time, but I can't remember my last kiss being this amazing. I wanted to drag him to the bed and just kiss him all night.

I guess I was just craving the intimacy, because when he grabbed me by the hips and sat me on the table, I didn't complain. I actually wanted more. I ran my hands through his hair and tugged him closer against me.

Suddenly, it was like a bucket of cold water was thrown onto me because I remembered that Edward was a client, and I didn't really know him that well.

I shoved him off of me. It must've surprised him because he stumbled backwards and knocked my Aloe plant over.

"W-what's wrong?" He said, his face still red and his eyes slightly glazed over.

"You have to leave," I said, pulling my shirt back down, "I can't do this."

"I'm sorry if I scared—,"

"Please just leave Edward," I got off the table, "We… we can't have this kind of relationship. You're a client of mine. It's unprofessional."

"Bella…" He said. I avoided looking at his face because his voice sounded so hurt. I couldn't stand to look at him and know that I hurt him.

"Please, Edward. Just go." I said.

After a minute, I heard him grab his things. He twisted the doorknob, then paused. He inhaled, as if to say something, but then opened the door and walked out.

I groaned and threw myself onto the bed. God damn it.

I hope you aren't too mad about the ending! But, all in all, it was a very fun outing for Bella and Edward! Their relationship is slowly progressing! Anyways, tune in next week for another update!