Bella's POV

I woke up Monday morning in Edward's arms, and when I looked at the clock on the bedside table, I shrieked and flew out of the bed. The weekend had been so busy, we'd overslept.

"Bella, what's wrong?" Edward had nearly fallen off the bed when I screamed, and he was looking around the room, trying to figure out what had made me shout.

I was already rushing around, trying to gather up the clean clothes I'd brought over, as I answered. "We turned off the alarm. We both open in less than ten minutes," I cried, running into the bathroom. I didn't have time to shower, but I'd taken a quick one after getting back from Alice's new house yesterday, so just throwing on some deodorant should be okay.

As I had a normal morning moment, I heard Edward out in the bedroom, rummaging around in his dresser.

"Bella, lemme know when I can come in and do what I need to do, okay?"

I quickly finished and opened the door so he could come inside. "Lemme wash my hands and pull up my hair, and then the bathroom's yours," I told him, moving to the sink.

I was standing there with my hands under the water when he moved behind me. We were both naked, and when his cool hands slid around my waist and pulled me back against him, I nearly melted. He dipped his head and nuzzled my neck, his lips, teeth, and tongue teasing my skin.

Turning off the water, I spun in his arms until I faced him, my breasts pressing against his chest.

"Mmm, as much as I'd like to continue this—and I would like to continue it—we both really need to hurry," I told him. "Rain check?" I nipped his bottom lip with my teeth, hoping to show him how much I really did wish we had more time.

As his hands moved down to cup my butt and pull me against him tighter, he murmured, "Rain check."

With a last kiss to my lips, he pulled away and moved beside me to pick up his comb. I grabbed my comb from the counter, carefully straightened out the tangles that had gathered overnight, and then smoothed it all out with a little hair stuff the guy who'd cut my hair had promised would keep it tamed.

"I'm going out to get dressed," I told him, grabbing the clothes on the counter between us.

Five minutes later, we were both dressed and hurrying down the steps between the apartments to the front doors of our shops. My phone was in my pocket, my keys in one hand, and the money bag in the other. Edward had his keys out as well.

At the bottom of the stairs, Sasha and Rose were standing near my door, chatting. They both looked up as we approached.

"Good morning, sunshines," Rose snickered. "Oversleep?"

Edward glared at her, but I just laughed and nodded. "I think we hit snooze four times. We just woke up ten minutes ago."

"Nice," she said, grinning.

"Yeah," I told her sarcastically. "Nice."

Rolling my eyes, I turned to Sasha. "Hi, Sasha. Don't be too hard on Mr. Grumpy-pants here. It was a long weekend!"

She laughed. "I won't." Turning to Rose, she said, "It was good to see you, Rose. Tell Emmett I said hello."

She grabbed Edward's keys and moved away toward his door.

"Here, Bella," Rose said. "Give me your keys and the bag, and I'll open up for you. You can get all mushy and say goodbye."

I smiled my thanks and handed them over before turning back and wrapping my arms around Edward's waist. He bent his head and kissed me softly.

"Have a good day, love," he said. "I'm sorry about being so late that we missed breakfast. I'll bring over lunch a little early, okay?"

I nodded my thanks. "Sounds good."

We spent several long minutes kissing, nearly forgetting that we were out in front of the stores, where anyone driving by could see us. When Rose banged on the window, laughing, we broke apart, breathing heavily.

"Go," I said, smirking and pointing toward his store. "I'll see you in a few hours."

Sighing, he smiled. "If I must." With a wink, he turned and walked to his own door, leaving me to walk the few feet to mine.

~*~CIBD~*~

Rose and I had been chatting and handling customers for almost two hours when my favorite customer, Mrs. Cope, walked in, carrying a handful of books.

"Good morning, Mrs. Cope," I said, smiling as she got up to the counter.

"Good morning, dear. Good morning...Rosalie, isn't it?" she asked, looking over at Rose, who was sitting in one of the chairs by the front window.

"Yes, Rosalie. Rose, if you'd prefer," Rose answered, smiling at the older woman.

"Rose," Mrs. Cope echoed, nodding. "It fits you—you're a lovely young woman."

Rose smiled again and murmured a thank you as Mrs. Cope turned back to me.

"Did you have a good weekend, Bella?" she asked, setting her books on the counter.

"We did, yes! Seattle was fun, and it was good to see my friends again."

I told her a little bit about the trip to Pike Place Market, including Jasper's proposal to Alice, which earned a laugh.

"That does sound like quite the whirlwind trip," she exclaimed. "Now, I did have another reason for this visit, aside from picking up some new books." She waited until I nodded to continue. "Have you thought about hiring someone to help with the store yet? I know you just opened a few weeks ago, but..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at me expectantly.

Rose smirked in the background as I nodded.

"I have, actually." Tapping my finger on a piece of paper resting between us on the counter, I told her, "I'm actually writing out an ad for the newspaper now."

"If you recall from our previous conversations, I used to work in the office at the high school, so I'm quite used to dealing with people and some of the business aspects. Now that my husband and I are both retired, he's underfoot all day, and I simply have to get out of the house or I'll go crazy!" She laughed fondly at the thought. "Anyway, I don't need the money, really. I just want to be able to get out of the house and do something I would enjoy." Shrugging, she continued, "What else could be better for me than working with books?"

I grinned and reached for the paper on the counter. Crumpling it into a ball, I tossed it into the trash can, held out my hand for Mrs. Cope to shake, and said, "You're hired!"

I left Rose out front to watch the store, and Mrs. Cope and I moved into my office to iron out the details.

Twenty minutes later, she handed me the filled out and signed forms and smiled. "So, I'll see you tomorrow at nine, then?"

"Sounds good. I'll see you then!"

I walked her out to the main room, and Rose and I waved as she left the shop.

"I take it that went well?" Rose asked with a smile as I moved to sit down in the chair across from her.

I nodded. "She starts tomorrow, so your exile to Book-land ends today," I teased. Turning serious, I said, "Thanks for being here, Rose. Really."

She shook her head and smiled. "It really was no trouble, Bella."

~*~CIBD~*~

At fifteen after eleven, Edward walked in, carrying two bags from the Greek restaurant a few blocks over. After kissing my cheek, he said, "Rose, Emmett called me earlier, and when I told him what I was planning to grab for lunch, he said to get the two of you something, too." He handed her one of the bags. "You can run this over to the garage and eat lunch with him if you'd like. I'll be here with Bella for a while."

She gave me a questioning look and smiled when I shooed her away. "Go," I said. "Give the big bear a hug for me."

With a thanks to us both, she took the bag and left the store, heading for her BMW parked at the curb.

Looking around to make sure we were alone, Edward wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him for a long kiss. When he finally pulled away, he leaned his forehead to mine and grinned. "Got time for a quickie?"

Laughing, I smacked his shoulder and shook my head. "Not today, sorry. Guess what," I said as he let me go to grab the chairs from my office.

He waited until we were sitting and beginning to pull the sandwiches and containers out of the bag before answering. "Hmm? What?" he asked, sliding my food to me.

"I hired someone to help out in the store!"

At his raised eyebrow, I told him about Mrs. Cope's offering and the details of the job.

"Sounds good, Bella. I'm glad you'll have someone to help you. I know Sasha's a God-send sometimes," he said, laughing.

Settling in to eat our lunch—an original Gyro for Edward and a chicken Gyro for me, as well as stuffed grape leaves and a small Greek salad for us both—we talked as we ate.

Thirty minutes later, the door chimed, and I looked up to see a man in jeans and a denim work shirt walk into the office. He was carrying a large box and a clipboard and looked around the store before walking to the counter.

The ADT man was right on time.

I stepped around the counter to greet the ADT installer, who offered me—and Edward, who was right behind me—his hand.

"You must be Bella Swan and Edward Cullen," he said smoothly. At our nods, he continued, "I'm Eric Davis." He handed us a card and showed us his driver's license. "I have you down for a system here and in the upstairs residence, right?"

"That's right," I answered. "Thanks for being able to get here so quickly. I had an unsettling customer last week, and Edward convinced me that a security system for both the store and my apartment would be safest."

Eric nodded. "He's absolutely correct. This system will keep you as safe as a security system possibly can." He smiled. "If you'll show me back to the office, we can get started."

"I'll stay down here and watch the shop while—"

Rose walked through the door, interrupting Edward. "I'll do it. I knew he was gonna be here, so I came back as soon as I finished lunch. You go with her, Ed. You know you'll wanna hear all about it."

I smiled gratefully at Rose and looked at Edward, who looked a bit relieved.

When he looked at me with a raised eyebrow, I nodded, and he turned back to his sister-in-law. "Thanks, Rose."

"This way, Eric," I said, turning back to the office.

As he began setting up, I thought back to the trip home from Seattle, when Edward had brought up the idea.

~*~CIBD~*~

"Bella, Friday really scared me, and I know it scared you. I know you wanna be able to feel safe and secure in the store and upstairs, and right now, you really don't. Having an alarm won't guarantee your safety, but it will help deter most threats, when you're there and when you aren't."

I bit my lip, feeling conflicted. On the one hand, I was a grown woman, and I could take care of myself. On the other, Friday had really scared me too, and the fact that he was asking because it had worried him so much and he wanted to help protect me simply because he could had me softening to the idea.

He looked nervous as he glanced at me for a moment before turning his eyes back to the road, and when he continued, his voice was soft. "I can't bear the thought of you being hurt—especially not when there was something I could do to help prevent it."

"Edward, I appreciate the thought. I really do."

Reaching over to take my hand, he asked softly, "Does that mean we can call tomorrow and get something set up for as soon as possible?"

Taking a deep breath, I blew it out and nodded. "If it's that important to you, it's okay with me."

~*~CIBD~*~

He'd been so relieved that I hadn't argued. It had been obvious in the way his shoulders had relaxed and the tension that I'd apparently missed before had faded away. With the ADT guy here, I was even more sure of my decision to agree to his request because I knew within hours, everything would be more secure.

For the next two and a half hours, Edward and I followed Eric through the store to the office and then up the stairs to the apartment. By the time he was finished, my store and apartment had alarms, and we'd been given all the instructions needed for the operation and monitoring of the system. With a last final instruction and paperwork, he smiled and left the store.

"Be back in a few minutes," I told Rose, and then I took Edward's hand and pulled him into the office, closing the door behind us.

"Bella?" he asked and nearly fell over as I threw myself into his arms.

For several long minutes, he held me tight, not saying a word. I didn't really want—or need—to talk; I just wanted to be in his arms, and he seemed more than willing to hold me.

Finally, I pulled away and kissed him softly. "Thank you," I whispered against his lips.

"For what, love?"

"For caring enough about me to do this for me."

He shook his head. "No need for thanks, Bella. If it helps keep you safe, that's all the thanks I need."

I smiled shyly and held up a finger. "Hold on a second," I murmured, pulling away. I moved to my desk, opened the center drawer, and then went back to him and held out my hand. "Here. For you, if you'd like them."

When I opened my fist, two keys lay in the palm of my hand. He raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

"I, uh, had these made a few days ago and thought about giving them to you in a few days, but now seemed like a good time."

He took the keys in one hand and pulled my hand to his mouth, placing a kiss in the palm where the keys had been. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out his keyring, and slid my keys on. Less than thirty seconds later, he held up two keys of his own toward me.

"I've had these for a few days, too. I thought it would scare you if I gave them to you," he said softly.

The grin on my face could've lit up a dark room, I was sure, and I tried to show him all the love I felt for him as I took the keys from his outstretched hand and slid them into the pocket of my jeans.

"Thank you...for everything. I love you, Edward," I said softly, reaching out to cup his face.

He kissed me instead of responding. His returned "I love you, too" warmed me from the inside, and I felt at peace as we walked back out to the store.

After a quick goodbye to Rose and a kiss to my lips, he left the bookstore, whistling softly.