Chapter 7

For the rest of the week until Friday afternoon, my life seemed normal until I took the time to think about the previous week in New York with Edward or our upcoming date on Saturday. I had just come out of my shower and put on my robe on when I heard the doorbell. I went to the door, looked out the peep hole, and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood; and thought I would stop by so we could run lines. Bella, I'm not used to being left outside standing on a door stoop. Do you think you could let me in?"

"Actually, I guess; but once again, you have poor timing. I just unlocked the door, give me a thirty second head start, then come in and wait for me in the living room, please."

"OK," I heard Edward say. I almost skipped down the hall to my bedroom because I had to admit I had actually missed him over the last three days. I put on a t-shirt and jeans. I quickly added a little bit of makeup, brushed out my hair and just left it wet hanging down by back. I then returned to the living room where Edward was waiting for me.

When Edward heard me enter the room, he looked up at me and smiled, "I really do have bad timing, don't I?"

"Yes, you do. You should call first."

"Well, I wanted to surprise you."

"You did."

Edward pulled out flowers from behind his back. "These are for you for getting through the first week of school."

"Thank you," I said. Edward finished handing me the roses.

"You're welcome. Why don't we sit down and you can help me run lines?"

"Okay."

We sat down side by side because Edward only had one script and we spent forty-five minutes running different scenes. We had gone through eight scenes when Edward said, "Go to the pink tabbed page and start with Kristin's lines."

"Okay." It was a bickering scene then something exploded around them, Edward saves her, and the scene ends with their first kiss. I easily said the last line before the kiss should take place.

Edward said, "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"The last part of that scene is a kiss; aren't you going to kiss me?"

"Edward, the other scenes contained action scenes. We did none of those actions so why would I partake in the kissing sequence. But if you want to, we can."

"Well, I'm tempted to only get one horse tomorrow so that I can hold on to you all day long on our date."

"Edward?" I said, as I rocked my body to try and get away from him. He caught my hand so that I couldn't stand up and walk away.

"Bella, you're beautiful. You have to admit this last hour has been fun."

"Yes, but?"

"Bella, I'll walk away from you in five weeks, if that is what you want me to do. But until then, I'm here to make you balance out your life and I'm going to be in your life, as well." With that, his face was right in front of mine and he captured my lips to keep me from saying anything else. After a few minutes, Edward tried to press his tongue into my mouth and I was having none of that. So, that is when I decided to end the kiss.

As I sat back into the end of one of the couch cushions, I heard the doorbell ring. I went to the door, opened it and my jaw must have dropped some. A chef was standing there and said, "Delivery for Edward Cullen and Bella Swan."

Edward was now at the door behind me and said, "Come in. The kitchen and dining room are straight ahead." So the chef and his assistant returned to their van and then headed back to the door.

I looked to Edward with a killer look on my face. "I'm going to my room! Let me know when they're gone." I am pretty sure Edward heard my door slam at the end of the hallway.

Ten minutes, later there was a knock at my door. "Dinner's ready. Will you please come and join me?"

"Edward, you cannot run my life."

"Bella, I'm not trying to. I left you alone all week. I came over so we could run lines. I also knew you would need dinner then you wouldn't have to prepare it yourself so I called in a chef friend to bring us dinner. I had a third reason for coming over as well and that was to show you our flight plan for tomorrow including a review of the weather."

I finally opened my door still pissed, but impressed at all the details he put into his plan and said, "Just admit to me that you planned all this."

"Yes I did."

"I figured it out on Wednesday and put the plan in motion." Edward gently nudged me towards my small dining room and table. Edward offered me a chair and held it out for me as I sat down. Edward then went into the kitchen and quickly returned with our two plates of food. He served us wine from the bottle sitting on the table for us to drink. Once Edward sat down, he removed the covers off the plate and we had pork, rice and vegetables. We talked about our flight plan; we were going to Reno, then Palm Springs and back to Vegas. On each leg, we were landing and then taking back off. For the next hour, Edward stuck to the business of eating, flight planning and answering my questions. He even reviewed the weather for me in all the areas we were flying to at all altitudes.

Finally, as we finished eating, I looked to him and said, "Are you finally done talking and eating?"

"Yes, why?"

"A - dinner was delicious and thank you. B - I'm impressed. You took everything as seriously as you need to when it comes to flying."

He took my hand and brought it up to his lips and said, "Thank you. How about dessert?"

"Sure," I said.

Edward got up and returned with the sinfully sweet fruit tart with chocolate hidden in the layers of fruit as well. As I finished mine, I looked up at Edward said, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Well the amount of time, I would've spent on a chicken burrito and rice, I got a wonderful dinner, sinful dessert and one of my preflights done."

So as Edward pushed away from the table, he leaned over to me, gave me a kiss and said, "You're welcome."

"Edward, do me a favor and call next time."

"Why? Surprises are fun."

"I actually hate surprises."

"Too bad. You had better get used to them with me around."

"Well, then good bye, Edward. I'll arrange for another flight instructor to go with you tomorrow."

"Alright, Bella, I get it. I'll keep them very limited; but I'll see you at the airport at 9 am."

"Yes. Just so that you know, I'll already be at the airport flying with another student."

"Okay."

"Let me grab a pair of shoes and I'll walk you out."

"That's nice of you."

So I ran down the hall to grab my flip flops, when I returned I found Edward loading my dishwasher. I jumped up on the counter next to him and said, "I do love a man who cleans up after himself."

"Well," he said and he put down the dish he was holding and stepped over by me. He leaned on the counter putting one hand on each side of me. "You are a beautiful lady and I promised you that the hour for dinner would save you time."

"Thank you," I said.

He leaned closer and said, "Look you are smiling and relaxed. I love this look on you," and he finished leaning in and kissed me very gently on my lips. I easily gave myself back to him and continued the kiss and brought my arms around his neck as well. We continued our kiss for another five minutes until Edward gently pulled back even though I was sure he was going to try and press the kiss open again. As the kiss ended, he smiled at me and said, "Delicious."

"Thank you," and a blush broke out all over my face.

Edward took my hands and gently pulled until my feet hit the floor. Then I did walk him out and briefly kissed him goodbye at his car door. As I got inside and looked back out my window, Edward was already gone. What the hell was going on? I don't fit in his world. I'm just a flavor that is different than the starlights he's use to and when he gets back to the set next month I'll be gone. I just knew I needed to protect myself from him though I was sure I could easily fall for him. I switched from jeans to sweats. I got on my treadmill and ran for almost five miles trying to get him out of my head. Then I took a cool shower and read from my text books. I finally fell asleep right before the news started around 11:00 PM.

Unfortunately the alarm went off at 5:30 am, I did get up, but pretty slowly. I barely beat my student to the airport. At the airport, my student and I flew for 2 hours. At 8:30 AM, I was drinking a soda when I heard, "Which plane are we using so I can go check her out?"

"We're taking N2767Q today."

"Okay, I'll go check her out."

"Good, give me five and I'll be right behind you." Five minutes later, I was going through my own check. Edward waited for me to finish so that he could escort me into the cockpit. As we were doing our final checks in the cockpit, Edward reviewed the weather with me again. I smiled and said, "Sound's like you're ready."

"Yes. I am."

"Well then, let's go!"

Edward easily called in to the tower and received clearance to take off heading for Reno. In Reno, we landed and then took off, headed to Palm Springs landed. Again we quickly retaxied and took off again. We were now headed back to Vegas. Edward had advised me that the wind was going to pick up and he handled it perfectly. He was well prepared when we landed without any problems into the crosswind. I just talked him through how to handle it. While we taxied back to the hangar, I said, "Edward, you did great today even with the wind coming back into Vegas."

"Thank you. I have a fantastic instructor. Now the question is, will she still go out with me today?"

"Yes. Just stick to the business of finishing up your flight." Edward finished bringing the plane back to the executive terminal.

He leaned over towards me and pulled my head towards him. He got a hold of my ponytail and pulled the holder out of my hair out, he leaned into my ear and whispered, "Relax, you're off duty now."

I smiled at him and said, "I plan to. Just let me check the plane in and then I'm all yours."

"Okay," he pecked my cheek and said, "You have 30 minutes and then I'm kidnapping you."

"I'll agree to that today."

After checking over the plane, I went inside and signed it in. "Sam, please let Edward know, I'll be right out."

"No problem. Bella, I will."

I grabbed my duffle and went into the restroom to change for our ride. When I came out, I had switched to a no sleeve button up shirt, my cowboy boots, and jeans. I put my hair back up in a ponytail. As I stepped back into the lobby, I was greeted with, "Hello, Beautiful."

I pushed away from him saying, "Edward, stop. I don't want everyone knowing."

"Fine. Are you ready?"

"Yes. Just let me put my bag in my car."

Edward took my bag from me and we stopped by my car leaving my bag in the trunk. Then Edward opened the passenger door of his Lexus, so that I could slide in. "Thank you, sir."

Once he slid into the driver's seat, he said, "Sit back and relax! Would you like some water?"

"Sure,"

Edward reached behind me and got a bottle of water from a cooler. "I'll trade you."

"Water, for what?"

So he leaned over the center console and whispered, "A kiss."

I leaned in to meet him and his lips where I delivered a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks," I said as I sat back with the water bottle in my hand. After a sip of water, I asked, "Is that fair enough?"

"I guess, but that was sneaky, Ms. Swan. Sit back and relax. It's about 45 minutes until we get to the ranch."

" Okay." We easily chatted and I drank some water. During a lull in the conversation, I fell asleep. The next thing I knew I was being kissed awake.

"Boy, I must be a great date if I bored you to sleep."

"No, I got up at 5:30 and flew with another student first."

"Okay."

"Edward, just get me a soda before the ride and I'll be fine, I promise."

While we waited at the barn, we quietly talked while I drank my soda. When two ranch hands came out with our two unsaddled horses, I asked, "Do you have any hunter saddles I could use?"

One of the ranch hands said, "No problem, Ms. Swan."

Edward asked, "Hunter saddle?"

"I'm just more comfortable on them; I took lessons years ago and I have always preferred that saddle."