Snell

A/N: Well here it is a new week. Time for another update of this story.. Thank you so much for all of your support and lovely reviews. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my words. Thanks always to my pre readers and my Beta; they helped so much with this story. So Bella found out some things and had some revelations, let's see what develops from there.

I slept all the way through to Tuesday morning, which just solidified in my mind that Edward was indeed watching me. Why immediately return to the scene of the crime after you all but admitted you were guilty. Being so early in the morning, I stumbled my way down the stairs. I was in a tight sleeveless shirt and my boycut lace underwear, not bothering to change. At this point, we were beyond all pretenses, weren't we? As I waited for my coffee, I started impatiently tapping my nails on the granite countertop.

I reached up to get a mug and came up empty handed. I popped up on my tippy toes, finding the cupboard bare of mugs. What the hell? I looked in the dishwasher and still nothing. I heard the shower turn on upstairs. Oh no, no one messes with my morning coffee. I was not a morning person, and the one time I was out of coffee, Rose had to bring me one from the gas station before I killed someone. I flew up the stairs without thinking and knocked on Edward's door loudly and without stopping until the door flew open.

Normally, once I have my first jolt of caffeine, I applauded myself for my self-control. I hadn't mounted the cocky—apparently kinky—sexy man I lived with. Seeing Edward in a towel though, with drops of water all over him, well, that was almost my breaking point. Obviously I had seen him in swimming trunks, and I had seen him naked in the shower, but I wasn't able to fully appreciate his body during those moments.

His shoulders were broad and strong, his chest muscled and abs defined. His arms and biceps were toned without being overly bulky. I knew he had to be fucking strong. There was also that delicious V formed by his hip bones that I knew was pointing to a very good looking dick. I was broken out of my perusal by his rushed tone.

"Bella, what is going on?"

"Where the hell did all the mugs go, Edward?"

He let out a sigh and looked relieved, now knowing there wasn't a truly urgent matter, at least in his mind. I needed a mug and coffee in me, like fifteen minutes ago. It was now his turn to ogle me, because I obviously wasn't dying. I saw his hand tighten on his door, and I wondered if it was to keep him from grabbing me or help him stay standing.

"Edward," I said, getting his attention. His eyes snapped to mine. "Mugs."

He cleared his throat and nodded. "I put them in the pantry. I planned to tell the maid to reorganize today, so I was just getting a jump start on it."

"So I guess it's safe to say you're working from home today?"

"Um, I actually have the day off. My mom was gonna pick up the kids from school and bring them home, but I'm going to go pick them up. I miss them." That small smile I was getting used to broke on his face, and I saw his love for his kids in his eyes.

"Oh, okay," I said, a little surprised.

"Do you want to come with me to get them?" he asked, his eyes searching mine.

I smiled. I was happy that the kids were coming home. "Yes, I would love that. I'm gonna go and let you get dressed." I turned on my heel and went to my room to get some leggings on before I headed back downstairs.

By the time Edward made it downstairs, I was on my second cup of coffee, and I had a mug waiting for Edward so he could get his own when he was ready. Content to stay silent and keep my distance from him, I sipped my coffee, building my strategy to keep pushing him. I was resolute in my idea, but really, a girl could only stand so much rejection. It was clear that I needed to revise my plan of attack, especially now that the kids were going to be around. Mrs. Cullen probably did not take them every weekend, and I didn't want the kids to see something they shouldn't, so I needed to be more strategic in my seduction.

Around mid-morning, I decided to take a shower. Once in my bathroom, I turned the water on, letting it warm up. Realizing I hadn't brought a towel with me, I went to grab one from the linen closet. Testing the water, I found it to be the right temperature and hopped in. In my haste to get in the shower, the door didn't latch and I was already wet and soapy when the bathroom door popped open out of the corner of my eye. I ignored it because I knew Edward was downstairs engrossed in some TV show he was binge watching. After having sufficiently cleaned off and with hair that was shampooed and conditioned, I thought that I should take a page out of Edward's book and relieve some tension

My hands drifted down to find my clit. I started rubbing tight circles on it, increasing the pressure with each pass. I let out a low moan and slid two fingers inside myself, surprised by how wet I was already. Leaning back against the tile wall, I pinched my nipple, pulling on the tip. The speed of my fingers picked up as I pumped them faster and used my thumb to rub my clit again. "Oh fuck," I ground out, starting to feel the heat spreading across my body.

My breathing started accelerating and I moaned again. I was starting to feel weak from the pleasure coursing through me, and I slapped my palm against the wall where the faucet was, leaning my forehead against it. I needed just a little bit more to get me there; I always had a hard time coming from just my fingers. I added a third finger and imagined that Edward was there watching me, and that threw me over the cliff. I was clenching around my fingers and my legs were shaking. I moaned Edward's name as I climaxed, then fell to my knees. I just sat there under the spray, trying to catch my breath.

I reached up and turned the water off, still taking a minute to come down. When I had regained coherency, I opened the glass door and grabbed the towel on the rack, where I had hung it. I wrung my hair out and then wrapped the towel around myself. I peeked my head out the bathroom door and looked both ways before I hurried the few feet to my room.

I shut the door and got dressed quickly, opting for jeans and a cute top. It was one of the few times I hadn't worn leggings, and I knew Edward would probably comment on it. He did on Sunday when I went to brunch with Rose. That woman would not let me wear leggings even if she had to rip them off my body herself. I dried my hair and brushed it, then weaved it into pigtail braids. I loved it because it made my hair wavy when it was fully dried. I also put on my simple ribbon choker with the calavera charm hanging from it.

I exited my room and saw Edward's door shut. Weird. Usually when he wasn't in his room, the door was always wide open, and I think it was before I took a shower. Holy fuck! That means he was upstairs when the bathroom door was open. When I was fucking myself in the shower. But why didn't I feel like I was being watched? Maybe he didn't notice. Or maybe he didn't care.

Honestly I was unsure whether or not he really wanted me. Sure, he thought about doing kinky shit to me, but he said he didn't see a happy ending for us. When it really came down to it, it didn't mean that he wanted me. Fantasy is great because you can imagine anything you want, but it's not real. I was twenty-three years old; I was cute, had a nice body, and a good personality. That didn't mean anything, just that I was hot. I huffed and headed downstairs, pushing the thought out of my head for now. I saw the clock on the stove and realized it was almost time to go get Sophie. I ran back upstairs and ran smack into Edward again, this time actually falling on my ass.

"Ow, fuck!" I yelled.

"Shit, Bella. Are you okay?" His face was full of concern as he leaned down and helped me stand.

"I'm fine," I murmured.

"Looks like I failed in keeping your ass from getting bruised for no good reason," he said smiling, gently tugging on one of my braids.

I chuckled to cover the moan he caused from pulling my hair. "I was actually hoping you'd be the one to do it," I mumbled. I knew he heard me, but I didn't dare look at him. A little louder, I told him, "It's time to go pick up Sophie." I bounded down the stairs before him, and a few seconds later, I heard him following me. I opened the garage and pressed the button on the wall to lift the door and waited for him to unlock the car. He shook his head at me and gestured to the SUV sitting there, not knowing he even had it. "Where did this come from? Where's the truck?"

"Emmett and I switched. I don't really need the truck. He prefers it, so he doesn't have to drive his car to his job."

I opened the door and got in. After buckling my seatbelt and Edward had got in, I turned to him. "What does he do? I don't know much about him besides that Rose seems to like him."

He chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, she does. Emmett is a contractor. Owns his own business and everything. EC Construction. Not very imaginative, but he's doing really well."

"Oh, wow, yeah. A lot of people use his company. That's impressive," I said. It was pretty stunning to be accomplished so young, but knowing the family he came from, it wasn't surprising. Edward was the CEO of a major software company. His dad, Carlisle, was chief of medicine at Swedish Medical Center, which was the largest hospital in Seattle. Then his mother Esme was a self-employed designer and had a large number of clients. They were all a very intimidating family with their accomplishments.

We were mostly quiet on the drive, listening to music and sneaking glances at each other. The looks he was throwing my way were almost like he was questioning or reevaluating. I don't know what he was thinking about, but it had me on edge. The tension in the car wasn't uncomfortable, just very charged—it was making my skin tingle. We waited in the pickup line and when we got to the main pickup area, the door was opened and Sophie got in the back seat, the tension dropped exponentially, but it was there like a fourth person in the car.

"How was your weekend with Grandma and Grandpa, princess?" Edward asked her.

She smiled happily and started telling us all about her weekend with Papa and Nana. This little girl was always so animated in everything she did, and I wondered where she got her exuberance from. Edward was a nice guy, but he played a lot of things close to the chest. Archer was a sweet boy too, but he was always cautious, though friendly. I knew most of that came from what happened with his mom. Sophie was just a ball of cute and fun. She reminded me a lot of Alice, more than once. I think that was one reason why I connected to her so well.

"Did you get to play your board games, Soph?" I asked, reminding her what she told me before they left.

She nodded and smiled even bigger. "Yeah, I beated Papa at Clue. Uncle Emmett came over and got really mad halfway through playing Monopoly; the pretty blond girl he brought made him go bankrupt," she said, laughing.

My head snapped up at this and I looked at Edward, then looked at her in the rearview mirror. "Rose was there?"

"Yeah, that was her name. She was really pretty and funny."

"Rose is my best friend," I told her. I was surprised that she had met Emmett's parents already. What the hell was going on? I felt like I was totally left out of the loop from my friends. "Maybe she can come hang out with us sometime."

She clapped and squealed. I laughed, looking at Edward. He was smiling and shaking his head. "Daddy, can we have hot dogs? Please?" She unleashed the full-on pouty lip and puppy dog eyes.

I saw his eyes soften and he melted a little. "Yeah, we can go get hot dogs for lunch."

When we got done with lunch, we went to the park and let Sophie play on the playground until it was time to go get Archer from school. When all four of us finally got back home, I immediately hightailed it to my room and called Rose.

"Hey, Bella."

"Hey. You failed to mention the big news this weekend."

"What?"

"That you met Emmett's parents and were over there playing games with Sophie and Archer."

"Shit, they told you? Look, Bella. It's not a big deal; it wasn't a planned thing. I was hanging out with Emmett when his mom called to invite him over so he asked me to come with him," she explained.

"So, how was it?" I hoped his family liked her. She seemed to be hitting it off really well with Emmett.

"Haven't you already met Esme? She was nice. Carlisle is kinda a flirt." She laughed.

I rolled my eyes because that always happened to Rose. Even my dad teasingly flirted with her, which was disturbing. "Yeah, I don't think she likes me. I'm too young."

"Well, I mean you can understand that, right. I don't think it's an issue anymore though. I talked you up, plus Sophie and Archer talked about you constantly. That little girl is so fucking cute."

"Yeah, she thinks you're pretty and funny."

"Well, obviously she has taste."

I chuckled and nodded even though she couldn't see me.

I was about to reply when I saw Edward in my doorway. "Hold on, Ro. What's up, Edward?"

"Hey. I know we talked about income, but I never asked if you wanted to get paid weekly, every other week, or monthly."

"Oh." I was caught off guard. It just brought back to the forefront that I was his employee. Fuck, what was I doing? Was I really trying to seduce my employer? "I hadn't really thought about it, how often did you pay your former nannies? I noticed the other day that my car has been making weird noises lately, so if it's not too much trouble, is every two weeks okay with you? I need to take my car to Jake," I told him.

The look on his face brought me up short. That primal look was back, but instead of lustful, he looked more angry.

"Who's Jake?"

"Oh, he's a mechanic friend I have."

Rose cleared her throat. "Excuse me. What is going on with your car?"

"I told you that it's making that weird whooshing sound like it's breathing."

"I'm coming over. You're not taking it to Jake because he is a moron and doesn't know what he's doing. I'll take a look at it."

"Rose…"

"See you in a few, babe. Toodles," she finished and hung up.

I looked at Edward. "Apparently, Rose is coming over to look at my car."

"Why didn't you tell me you were having issues with your car, and if Rose can look at it, why do you take it to this Jake guy?" He looked genuinely perplexed as to my thought process on this whole thing.

I was just as perplexed. A simple conversation about when I wanted to get paid had devolved into my boss standing in the middle of my room questioning me about my decisions. "Because he works at a garage. Rose knows what she's doing, but if it's something major, she doesn't always have a way to fix it."

"So, why not let your guy friend fix it for free?"

"Remember all the wrong guys I told you about? He's one of them and he is persistent. I don't want him to think I owe him."

Edward's fists clenched and I could honestly see his nostrils flare. What the fuck? "If Rose can't fix it, I'll take it to my guy. He owes me a favor, and he's better than some punk who wants to get in your pants."

Oh my god. Edward was jealous. That would be flattering if he wasn't being so resistant.

"At least someone wants to," I said. I really hadn't meant to say that out loud, and I regretted it almost immediately.

Edward stiffened and left the room without a response. Well, fuck, that hadn't gone well. I heaved myself off my bed and went to see if I could apologize before Rose arrived. Hopefully he wouldn't be too angry.

A/N: Well shit. That didn't go well at all. How are we feeling? I think someone is jealous and in denial. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Once again thank you so much for your support and encouragement I really appreciate it. Until next time lovelies!