Capitolo Quarto

Knowing a person is like music. What attracts us to them is their melody. And as we get to know who they are, we learn their lyrics.

When I woke up Saturday morning, I had a moment where I forgot where I was and the fact that my parents were gone. I broke down and let myself feel the grief wrap itself around me. I sunk into it, needing to feel it and process it. There was nothing that could bring my parents back, and it was clear from their letter to me, they didn't want their death to keep me from living my life. It would be very easy to shut down, but that wasn't how I was raised. I got dressed in my last set of clean clothes and then went to go find someone to see if I could do a load of laundry.

As luck would have it, the only person I found was Edward. I just took a moment to look at him. He really was attractive, but I knew nothing about him, and it wasn't like it would matter because that wasn't why I was in NY. Ugh, why was I standing here thinking about him anyway?

"Were you planning on coming in and sitting down, or did you just want to stare a little longer?" he asked, his velvet voice breaking me out of my musing.

"Um, neither. I am out of clean clothes, so I was wondering if I could do a load of laundry?" I gestured to the backpack slung over my shoulder.

He got out of his chair at the breakfast bar and nodded. "Yeah, follow me. I'll show you where everything is."

I followed him to the basement where he opened a door that I hadn't noticed on the tour. We walked down a hall and ended up in a little utility room that had a washer and dryer and some shelving. Unzipping my backpack, I began to throw the contents of my backpack into the washer.

"Those are the only clothes you have?" he asked, leaning against the dryer, looking surprised.

"I didn't want to lug a ton of stuff cross-country." I checked my pants pockets to make sure nothing was in them. Seeing the soap on the shelf, I sighed and tried to jump and grab it but failed.

"Need a hand?" he asked smugly.

"Oh, don't be all smug because you're a tree." I scoffed.

"A tree?" He reached up, grabbed the soap, and then handed it to me.

I took a pod out and handed the container back to him. "Tall and skinny." I threw the pod in the washer. "What's wrong, city boy, don't know what trees are?" I turned the washer on and leaned on it with my arms crossed, looking at him expectantly.

"There are trees in the front yard." He chuckled. I smiled at him, glad to see he had a personality. "I'm sure Rose could tell you all the places to get more clothes," he said as he started to head back upstairs.

"Yeah, I've been trying to put that off. I'm not really that into shopping."

He turned to look at me with both eyebrows raised in question. "A girl who doesn't like to shop? I don't buy it."

"I don't care if you buy it or not." I cut ahead of him and went up the stairs. When I got to the top, I turned to him. "My parents had money, but we weren't rich. I had what I needed, and that was all that mattered. Agreeing to that really expensive dress for tomorrow was hard enough."

We walked into the kitchen, and I sat down at the breakfast bar.

"Tomorrow? You want some coffee?" he offered.

I nodded. "Yes please, and creamer. Your mom invited me to church tomorrow, she made it clear that declining wasn't an option."

He smiled minutely and handed me a cup of coffee and the container of creamer, nodding. "Yeah, missing church is like a cardinal sin, Bella."

"I'm not strictly religious." I shook my head.

He sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Yeah, I wouldn't mention that either."

I made a fake pout. "I already did. Why? Is your mommy not gonna let us play together now?"

For the first time since I met him, he gave me a real smile and it was beautiful. He needed to smile more often. He scratched the stubble on his chin and then leaned closer to me over the breakfast bar. "My mom has no say in who I play with."

"Really? Any good Italian mom would be all up in your business."

"My dad is the traditional Italian one, and my mom is a socialite first and foremost. She only cares how things look, rather than what they actually are."

"So, it wouldn't look bad for you to be hanging out with the twenty-year-old orphan?"

"What would we be doing while we're hanging out?" He came around the kitchen island to stand closer to me.

I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. I don't know why I was so blatantly flirting with him. He was attractive, and I couldn't help myself. "What do you do with your friends?"

"The things I'm thinking of doing with you I wouldn't do with my friends." He put his arms on either side of my hips, caging me in where I was sitting.

I smiled and tilted my head. "Oh, are you thinking dirty thoughts, Edward? What if I was an innocent girl?"

He shook his head and smiled again, showing all his teeth. "There's no way you are innocent with the way you are looking at me."

"How old are you?" I asked, not able to pinpoint his age.

"Does it matter?"

"I guess not. Just tell me you're not like forty."

He chuckled. "I'm thirty-two."

"So, are you going to kiss me, or are you just going to tease me some more?"

His eyes widened minutely, probably surprised by my boldness. His eyes darted between looking in mine and staring at my lips. He grabbed the back of my neck and crushed my lips to his. My eyes widened before slowly closing, as I sank into the feeling of his lips against mine. I threaded a hand into his crazy hair, and the other slid up his arm, feeling the muscles through the cotton of his t-shirt. His other hand dropped to my hip, sliding around my waist, and pulled me closer to him by pressing on my back. His tongue licked my upper lip until I opened my mouth to him, our tongues mingling together. I wasn't expecting him to be such a good kisser so I moaned.

We pulled away from each other, just staring, chests heaving with heavy pants, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him again. Both his hands gripped my waist and he lifted me up to sit on the counter, helping our height difference. Cupping my cheeks on both sides of my face, he locked eyes with me. His eyes were hooded and a darker jade color than before. Leaning into me, he pressed a soft kiss to my neck. Moaning again, I pulled his lips to mine, tugging on the strands of his hair. Locking his arms around my waist, I felt connected to every part of his body.

Edward's hands slid underneath my shirt, and I pressed myself into his hands. Things were starting to go further than I think either of us had anticipated when the front door slammed shut. "Edward?" Elizabeth's voice rang out from the foyer. I pushed Edward away from me and jumped off the counter. Sitting back down, I started drinking my coffee.

Edward chuckled. "We're in here, Mom." He sat down in a chair and adjusted himself, making me softly smirk.

When Elizabeth walked in, with Ted in tow, we looked the picture of innocence. Elizabeth and he both sat down with their own cups of coffee. "Hey, Ted. I was wondering if it would be safe to get a phone. I destroyed my old one and got a burner phone with the location turned off."

"That's actually pretty smart if someone was following you," Ted stated, his expression a mixture between surprised and impressed.

"Yeah, well my stellar good looks are not all there is to me, Mr. Cullen," I answered with a small smile.

He chuckled and nodded. "I suppose it should be fine. Though it would probably be better that you don't travel around by yourself. Edward, why don't you go with her?"

He looked at his dad in surprise. "When did I turn into a babysitter?"

"Excuse me. I'm not a child that needs watching. I'll go by myself if that's how you feel." I glared at Edward, completely indignant at the stab at my age.

"Nonsense, Edward. This woman is a guest in our home and under our protection. This is not the way I raised you. Would you like to rethink your response?" Elizabeth chastised.

I saw the muscle in his jaw tense, and he heaved a heavy sigh. "I apologize. I would be happy to accompany you, Bella."

His tone was polite but I scoffed, knowing it was forced and not sincere in the slightest. "I'm gonna go check on my clothes."

"Clothes?" Elizabeth asked.

"I had to do a load of laundry. I was out of clean clothes..." I explained, trailing off when I noticed what Edward was doing over his mom's shoulder. He was running his hand in front of his neck, like telling me to stop talking. Ted looked at his son, and Edward stopped immediately and acted nonchalant.

"If you need more clothes, dear, I'm sure Rose would be more than happy to take you shopping." She smiled and patted my hand.

I returned her smile and shrugged. "I should be fine for now. I'll be right back." I got up from the table and headed back down to the basement to switch my clothes to the dryer. I pulled everything out of the washer, but it was pretty deep so I couldn't get all the items out. I transferred what I could to the dryer and then I grabbed the edge of the washer, hefting myself up so that I could basically lie my top half inside the washer. I retrieved the rest of my stuff. I was about to jump down, but I felt a hard body press into my raised ass. I huffed, the breath whooshing out of me.

"You looked pretty hot there, Swan, with your ass up in the air."

"Edward, you're kinda crushing me." He chuckled and stepped back, gripping my hips so I didn't just fall to the floor. I turned around and pushed him to take another step back. I gave him a glare before putting the rest of the stuff in the dryer. I turned it on then looked at Edward expectantly.

"Okay, it seems I pissed you off."

"Yeah. What was with the babysitter comment? Is that really how you feel? I'm not crazy about the fact that someone may be after me and that I need someone to come with me everywhere I go."

"Wow, before you get started, because I feel a rant coming on—" He held his hands up in surrender. I crossed my arms and tilted my head, waiting. "I don't know you, Bella, and yeah there is a significant age gap between us. Aside from what happened upstairs before my parents interrupted us, that conversation about shopping was the most interaction we've had since you got here as far as they know. If I just jumped at the task of taking you to the cell phone store, it would seem odd to my parents." He pulled me closer to him with my belt loop, planting a cocky smile on his face. I tsked. "I mean, I'm looking forward to babysitting you, ragazza."

"You sure think you're charming, don't you, Edward?"

"I know I am."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "It makes sense, I guess. Anyway, when do you wanna go?"

He looked at his watch. "We can go now. Plus, I can show you a place or two to get simple things like jeans and t-shirts."

I put my hands on my chest over my heart. "A man after my own heart. I'm a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl."

I turned and headed out of the utility room. I was grabbed by my wrist, spun, and pinned against the wall, with Edward's weight against me. He pushed his lips against mine, and I pressed my chest closer to his, arching my back, gripping his neck with one hand and hitching my leg to his waist. He kissed me with several closed-mouth kisses, and I had to show great restraint to keep from mounting him here in this hallway. I pushed him away first. I gave him a smile to show I liked him kissing me but we needed to stop.

We went upstairs and he grabbed his car keys from the hook. I told him to wait while I went upstairs and grabbed my "purse." My wallet was in there, and I needed ID and money. I met him back in the foyer and followed him out to the garage. Edward hit the key fob, and the lights on his car lit up. It was some fancy car that didn't have an English name. I knew enough about cars to know the really fast crazy sports cars were made in Europe.

I got in the passenger side, and once the car started and we were on the road, I asked if he could turn the radio on. He turned it onto some contemporary station and then turned it to a lower volume. "So have you ever been to New York before?"

"No. Never really been outside of Washington. I would have liked to have done some more sightseeing on the way here, but I was on a time crunch and I needed to not stay put for too long."

"You'll have to make time here to see things. Being someone who has lived here his entire life, it's all the same to me, but there is a lot of interesting stuff always going on in the city."

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Sounds like it could be fun. Have you ever been outside of New York?"

He turned to glance at me quickly. "Only outside the country. When I was younger we went to Italy often, when my relatives still lived there."

"Wow, Italy. That has been on my list for a long time," I said in awe. I couldn't even imagine being outside the country.

He nodded, smirking. "Yeah, Rose was too young to remember it now, but it was pretty amazing."

"So are you and Rose close? I'm an only child, so I have no reference when it comes to sibling relationships."

He got a somber look on his face, and I realized that what I had seen as brooding was him just being serious. "Rose is quite a bit younger than me—she's around your age—but yeah, we're close. I'd protect her against anyone that tried to hurt her."

The intensity in that statement and his expression made me shiver slightly. So, he cared about his loved ones and would protect them. But who would try and hurt Rose? I started to feel bad that maybe I had brought trouble to this family by running to them instead of dealing with the people who may be after me in a different way.

I was broken out of those thoughts when we arrived at the Verizon store. I went inside and straight to the sales associate to get a replacement for my phone on my account. Edward meandered around while waiting for me, just looking around. I saw several women eye fucking him, but I really couldn't blame them. I paid attention to the young guy helping me restore my data, while also trying to inconspicuously check out my rack.

Once I was done downloading my info, Edward came over and put his arm around my waist and drifted his hand down to my ass while looking at the clerk with a challenging look. I swatted his hand away from my ass and laughed. We left the store and bossy Edward reared his head. "Why did you just let that guy stare at your tits, Bella? You know that makes them think they have a chance."

"And what's wrong with that? Does it make you jealous, Edward?"

He looked at me in surprise and then grumbled for me to get in the car. I wasn't trying to piss him off, but just because I had kissed him, it was not like I was promised to him. Nor did he have any right to get mad that I didn't cause a scene in the store and yell at the guy for harmlessly staring at my chest.

"So did you leave behind some heartbroken boy when you split town?" he asked, really trying for nonchalance.

I chuckled and shook my head. "I don't have a boyfriend, nor did I when I left if that is what you are so covertly trying to ask. What about you, you a heartbreaker, Edward?" Glancing over the top of my sunglasses, I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

He laughed before answering. "I don't know so much about that. I have had my fair share of 'relationships.' They tend to not pan out well," he said airly.

This was interesting. Rose told me that he met the wrong women, and maybe I judged too easily and thought he could have been at fault for the end of those relationships. "Why do you think that is?"

"Guess I've just found the wrong girls." A stormy look passed over his features, but it soon passed and he smiled at me, glancing my way.

I had no right to push, and maybe I shouldn't have, but for some reason, I wanted to unravel the enigma that was Edward. I tried to be subtle, hoping he'd respond with his own story. "I've only had one serious boyfriend, but I found out he wasn't what I wanted. I thought I was in love with him, but when I tried to imagine him in my future, it just wasn't there."

"So, you fell out of love with him?"

"I was only seventeen, Edward. I realize now that I had no idea what love was. I loved my parents completely and absolutely. I also loved my best friend, Jacob. But those are a different type of love, you know?"

"Yeah. I thought I was in love once or twice, but I was wrong."

My response was interrupted by the realization that we were pulling into the parking lot of a Target. I started bouncing up and down in my seat, smiling at him, so happy that he had brought me here. I could definitely do some quick shopping to get some more clothes. I grabbed stuff quickly. Jeans and shirts. Hoodies and socks. When we got to the lingerie section, I tried to get him to go look at something else.

"And miss watching you shop for bras and underwear, wondering what you look like in them." He had that cocky smile plastered on his face again and waggled his eyebrows at me.

I shook my head, laughing at him. "You're a perv."

"Guilty."

I grabbed several bras and underwear, trying not to act too flustered or that I was trying hard to find cute stuff. I grabbed some pajamas and then I was ready to go. "Seriously, Edward, thank you so much for bringing me here." I gave him a hug, launching myself at him, surprising both of us. His arms wrapped around me while his warm breath fanned over my ear and shoulder.

We broke apart before he spoke. "Yeah, my sister would have dragged you to Saks or Bloomingdales or something, and if you don't like shopping, I don't wish that torture on anyone," he said, giving me that genuine smile again. He was stoic and brooding sometimes—that was the impression I got that first day—but around me he was playful. We had this natural easiness around one another. I wasn't looking for a serious relationship. I was still trying to find my footing in this new life I had been thrown into, but it never hurt to have people you could be yourself around and not have to pretend. I wasn't a rich girl, that just wasn't how I was raised, and Edward taking me to Target so that I could be comfortable—that meant something to me.

I popped up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, smiling at him. "I appreciate that."

He waved me off and we hurried through the checkout. On the way home, Edward stopped somewhere so that we could get lunch. By the time we got back home, Rose was already there. When I made it inside with my Target bags, a look of confusion settled on her face.

"Hey, my mom said that you might need to go clothes shopping. I would have taken you. You didn't have to go to Target."

Edward snorted and walked past us, going somewhere else in the house.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me to my room, so I could put my stuff away. She helped me while I explained to her. "I actually prefer Target, Ro. Remember I grew up with not a ton of money, so this is what I'm comfortable with. Plus, I'm not a huge shopper."

"Okay. I get it. Some people don't like trying on clothes and shopping. I guess I'll just have to keep my mom and Alice as my shopping partners." Rose was sitting on my bed, folding my new clothes and handing them to me while I put them in the dresser.

"Thank you. But I do have good news."

"What's that?"

"When it comes to hair and makeup, I am very inexperienced, so will you help me tomorrow morning before church?"

"Oh my god. Absolutely. You're right. That is great news." She smiled, looking very cheerful.

I smiled, pleased that such a simple thing could bring her joy. We chatted conversationally while we put all my stuff away. Then I played on my phone a little bit before I went down for dinner. Rose had left an hour ago to go help her mom with dinner. I offered to help because I was good in the kitchen, but Elizabeth refused because I was a guest.

They had made chicken parmesan and served it with spaghetti noodles. "Wow, this looks delicious," I said as I sat down. I noticed that there was wine being passed around the table, and I realized everyone else around the table was over twenty-one. I was no stranger to alcohol, and I was happy that they offered me a glass. I took a little bit of white wine, since I had no plans to overdo it. While the dish looked simple, my first taste told me that the sauce was homemade and not from a jar. The noodles too were made from scratch. I was surprised how much better this Italian food tasted than any I'd had in the past.

For dinner it was just Edward, Ted, Elizabeth, Rose, and me, and I liked the family atmosphere that it brought. We all chatted about different things between bites of the delicious meal. They told me that I would meet a lot of the rest of the family tomorrow after church because they all had a huge dinner together, and I told them a little bit more about myself. I went to bed that night feeling like I was starting to fit in.

Translation:

Ragazza- Girl- a way to say baby etc.

A/N: So, looks like Edward and Bella are definitely attracted to each other. Leave a review and give me your thoughts and let me know how you feel. Next chapter will be posted Friday morning because Sunday is my birthday and i will be camping. Later lovelies.