Surprise! With Monday off I was able to squeak out another chapter. Hope you like it!

AN: I do not own Twilight and any errors are my own.

Chapter 4

The Cake

EPOV

"Oh my god, Bella, just look at him. He's so dreamy." Alice rested her head and arms on my bar in front of where Bella was slicing up limes for the Corona special we had going on tonight.

"Dreamy, Alice? American Bandstand called and wants its lingo back. Hey, Jasper?" She called out and waited until the lead singer of tonight's entertainment looked up from his guitar. Alice freaked out a little when the object of her affection's attention was abruptly directed her way and tried to look casual. "Which Beatle are you?" I let out a snort at that one. It had been three weeks since Bella started working for me and in that time I figured out that she has a quick wit and one hell of a sense of humor.

"John, of course." He flashed a million-watt smile Bella's way but I'm pretty sure it was aimed at Alice, causing her already starry eyes to glaze over.

"Good lord." I muttered. Jasper had been doing regular gigs at my place for over a year. He was reliable, the crowd loved him, and he was pretty damn talented. We had become good friends, but his infatuation with my sister irritated the fuck out of me. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not a 'no guy is good enough for my sister' type brother. I want Alice to be happy and he would definitely be good to her, but neither of them would make the first move. For god sake, it's been a year and they've done nothing but flirt and dance around their attraction for each other. It's fucking annoying. I wish one of the them, I don't care which one, would get there shit together.

"Oh, shut it, Edward." Alice glared at me for a nanosecond before returning her love struck gaze towards the musician set up in the corner.

"Just ask him out already. The two of you are ridiculous." I huffed.

"Now, now, Edward, give them a break. These things take time. You can't expect them to just jump into something too quickly." Alice smiled appreciatively but knowing Bella, it would be short lived. "I mean, who wants to get married before they're forty anyway? If you ask me, you two are doing it the right way." Alice's smile widened at Bella's pseudo compliment and then faded as she thought about it. You could tell the instant the idea appalled her.

"Fuck forty." She whispered before jumping off of her stool and walking over to Jasper.

"You darling, are a genius." I smiled at Bella and winked at her. This is how it had been between us after that awkward moment her first night here. I used all the restraint I had to make sure that Bella was comfortable around me. No touching, no looking at the pretty parts inappropriately, no invading her personal space. I found in time it was easy to interact with her when I wasn't so determined to fuck her. We actually were starting to become pretty good friends. It also didn't hurt that I jerked off in the bathroom connected to my office a half hour before she was supposed to arrive for her shift.

Hey, no judging. It was working, wasn't it?

"Something had to be done. It was starting to become nauseating." My thoughts exactly.

"Okay, enough about them. We have bigger things to discuss."

"We do, do we?" I could see her smirk even though her head was down and she was concentrating on her slicing.

"Yes, we do. I need to know what you are getting E.J. for his birthday." Emmett's son, Emmett Junior, was turning eight and tomorrow was his birthday party. I had no idea what to get the kid but I knew that Bella had been invited and that she had already gotten his gift.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh Masen?" Now, normally that kind of goading would just piss me off. But with Bella, it was an aphrodisiac. It made me instantly hard.

"Just tell me, Crash." She scowled at the use of the nickname I gave her when Charlotte trained her to waitress. I had never seen so many trays come crashing to the floor as I did that night. Now she has gotten so much better, but Charlotte and I both agreed that her place is behind the bar.

"I got him Minecraft for his Xbox." Damn, I wish I had thought of that. I knew I should have been paying attention when he was talking nonstop to me about creepers and endermen and shit. What the fuck was I going to get him that I could find tomorrow morning? "Listen, I also got him Angry Birds Star Wars which I was planning on saving for Christmas. Why don't I wrap them both up and say they're from both of us."

Now that's my girl.

"Are you sure? I don't want to steal your thunder." She waved her hand like it was no big deal and I knew that we were good. She was willing to share her gift with me. Another indication that she was just more than a gorgeous face.

The next day I found myself at Emmett's under the pretense of celebrating my nephew's birthday, but really I was just staring at Bella in a tank top and tattered mini denim skirt. Her hair, which was usually pulled back at the bar, was loose and freely fell in waves all around her. She was so fucking hot.

"You are giving me a complex." I broke my gaze away from Bella just long enough to see my sister-in-law looking at me with the most intense stares.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. I told Emmett that trying to get Bella a job at Masen's was a bad idea. He said it would be fine but as I look at you, I know that you are going to fuck it up?" Okay, that had my attention.

"What are you talking about, Rose?" Now deep down, I was scared as fuck when it came to Rose. She would not hesitate to cut my dick off and use it as a lawn decoration. But I was not about to let her know just how much she terrified me.

"You like her. And you want to fuck her. Please, Edward, I'm asking you not to. As family. You have no idea how hard it is to get good babysitting. If she walks, I'm screwed. And if you're the reason why she walks I will make it my personal mission to make your life a living hell." I'd never seen Rose this way. Yeah, there were the threats and intimidation that you would expect from her, but there was also this underlying desperation. It was different.

"Well, I haven't fucked her so far. It's been three weeks and we're doing well. No need to worry, Rose. It's not like that between Bella and me." And yet I so wanted it to be.

"Okay, good. I love you Edward, but I just had to say it." I understood. My history usually spoke for itself, but I was determined not to let it in the case of Bella.

From then on I decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to ogle Bella from afar. I took my beer and mingled about, talking to my parents, cousins, even Alice and Jasper who had agreed to this as a first date.

The afternoon went quickly and soon it was time for cake. Emmett said that Bella was getting the cake ready and I volunteered to help her with it. Rose and Emmett were so caught up in gathering up everyone and making sure that E.J. was having a good time that they were okay with me helping Bella.

Yeah, now it's okay to be with Bella. When you need something.

I walked through the sliding glass door and was rounding my way to the kitchen when I slammed into something hard.

"What the fuck." I said as I realized that it was Bella I ran into. And fuck me if she wasn't carrying the cake. The now Batman cake that was currently rammed face first into her chest.

"Yeah, Edward. What. The fuck!" She stared at me in shock as the cake stayed firmly planted on her chest. I reached up and tried to pull it way. Most of it came willingly, but the frosting layer pulled away from the cake and stayed stuck to Bella. Now what I did next was probably not the most intelligent thing I could have done, but damn, it was what I wanted to do.

With one finger, I reached out until I touched her shoulder. Then I ran down my finger through the frosting until I reached the top of her breasts. With a finger full of frosting, I put it in my mouth and sucked. Not intelligent, but fuck, it was awesome.

"You asshole!" Bella yelled. She was pissed. So pissed she used her hand to grab a bunch of frosting and hurled it so it hit me in the side of the face.

"Are you kidding me?" I screamed at her as I took a bunch of cake and smashed it on her head. From that point on, we were just a couple of idiots having a full on cake war. The two of us destroyed that cake on our quest to defeat the other. We were on the floor, shoving cake in places that should never have to see it. As much as I was giving it to her, she was giving it back. It wasn't until I was sitting on top of her, with a handful of cake ready to shove in her face that I saw how beautiful she was, despite being covered head to toe in birthday cake. I just wanted to kiss her.

Both of us stopped and just stared at each other. She looked at my mouth. She wanted me to kiss her.

I leaned in.

She closed her eyes.

"What the fuck!" Both of us startled looked up into what was probably the scariest sight I had ever seen . Emmett looked like he was ready to kill us both.

And yet, I couldn't find it in myself to care.

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