So, we've started a new journey. I do have a blog for this story. A link for the blog is on my profile. On the blog, there will be picture teasers, teasers and pervy picture teasers. This story is going to be quite steamy and it's pre-written.
I also forgot to thank my beta, Sally, for magical red pen and making sure that the commas and such were in the right spot. You are amazing. Thank you for suggestions and guidance! ;-)
Now, onto the story …
Chapter Four
The first thing they saw was a green and pink living room with blue carpeting. The foyer had some sort of subway tile. Half of the tiles were broken or loose. Walking through the living room, they came upon the dining room. On the walls were an ugly rust-colored floral wallpaper with rust-colored shag carpeting. Hanging crookedly was an interesting looking chandelier, covered with fake cranberries. Garrett batted at it like a cat. Edward elbowed him.
The kitchen was a hot mess. There were no appliances, and the laminate countertops and cabinets were falling off the walls. Plus, the kitchen was very small for a house this size. Through another door, there was a tiny family room with a bathroom with blue carpeting and blue floral wallpaper. Who puts carpeting in a bathroom? "I seriously hope you got this place for a steal, Bella." Garrett chuckled nervously. Edward smacked his friend's arm, giving him a stern glare.
"I did," Bella giggled. "I can see the potential this place has, but we've got a lot of work to do."
"You can say that again," Garrett muttered under his breath.
"Don't mind him. He was dropped on his head as a baby," Edward said flatly. "Now, Bella, what do you see for this space?"
"Well, the main floor is the living room," she said, pointing behind us. "Foyer, dining room, kitchen, half-bath, and family room. I was hoping to possibly tear down the wall between the kitchen and family room and open it up."
"Can I make a suggestion?" Edward said. He walked back to the kitchen and family room. "Remove this wall and the family room altogether. We can convert a room upstairs to be a family room. This kitchen is entirely too small for this house. From here to the sliding door, we can put cabinets with all new windows."
"Don't forget an island. Put the gas range in there?" Garrett said.
"That sounds perfect," Bella breathed.
"We can also put in a small butler's pantry between the kitchen and the dining room. Another client did that, using it as a bar-slash-storage for their serving pieces," Edward smiled. "I don't know what you have, furniture wise, but that could be beneficial."
"Let's go upstairs," Bella said, her heart stammering and her mind reeling in complete giddiness for what Garrett and Edward were proposing. Plus, these two amazingly handsome men in her house for the foreseeable future made her stomach clench. On the second floor, there was a large empty room that had white carpeting, filled with obvious pet stains. There were two bedrooms on this floor along with a guest bathroom. The bedrooms were obviously once for children. One looked like Strawberry Shortcake puked in there, and the other had teal carpeting with a train border on the top. "What about here? A family room here?"
"A family entertainment room. We could put wiring for surround sound and have a large television on this exterior wall," Garrett said. "On this end, we could put a bar with a table and chairs in this nook."
"I don't know about the bar. I'm not much of a drinker," Bella said, crossing her arms over her pert breasts.
"What about built-in shelving and reading nook?" Edward suggested. Her responding smile made Edward's heart beat frantically. "We could put the shelving here and the nook overlooking the lake."
"Edward, that sounds heavenly," she breathed, placing her tiny hand on his bicep. Edward hazarded a look at her left hand. It was bare. Maybe Garrett is on to something. GAH! Stop thinking with your dick, douchewad! "Now, these bedrooms. I want one of them to be an office for me. Again, I want to include shelving. I'm an attorney, and I have a lot of law books."
"An attorney? What type of law do you practice?" Garrett asked.
"Adoptions, mainly. Sometimes, I deal with custody disputes, too. I prefer not to, but whatever my boss tells me to do, I do it," Bella answered, giving Garrett a coy smile. She removed her hand from Edward's arm, moving toward the last bedroom on the floor. "I love my job. It's very fulfilling, creating new families."
"Do you … um, have any kids?" Garrett asked.
Bella's mouth curled downward, and her eyes deadened. Open mouth and insert foot, Garrett. Smooth! "No. No kids. No family really, except for Essie." The men looked at her confusedly. "Esme," she explained. "My father died many years ago, and I'm not close with my mother. I recently got divorced and moved out here for a brand new start." Waving her hand dismissively, she gestured to the last room. "Guest bedroom?"
"Sure," Edward said quietly.
"Do you guys want anything to drink? I have some water in a cooler in my car," Bella murmured, her eyes obviously brimming with tears.
"Water would be great, Bella," Edward said soothingly. She nodded, darting down the stairs and out the front door. Once she was gone, Edward smacked Garrett upside the head. "Are you a fucking moron?"
"What is it with the hitting?" Garrett whined, glaring at Edward.
"Do you have any kids?" Edward hissed. "God! Her body just deflated after you asked that question, you idiot."
"I was wondering, in case we had to make a child's bedroom, Edward," Garrett said mockingly. "She's as old as Esme, and Esme's got a teenage daughter."
"Well, don't bring it up again, Garrett. I want this job. I want to make her happy," Edward said, pointing toward the stairs.
"You liiiiiiiiiiike her," Garrett sang.
"So do you," Edward smirked, his eyes traveling down to Garrett's semi-erect cock. "But that's neither here nor there. She's a job right now. I want to make this place an oasis for her, Garrett."
Garrett smiled coyly, idly walking to the guest bathroom as Bella returned with three water bottles. "Oh, my God! You have to see this!" he laughed.
"Oh, the oyster bathroom," Bella laughed nervously. Her eyes were a little red, as was her nose. She handed Edward a water bottle, not making any eye contact. Edward gently took her slender wrist in his hand. She jumped slightly, looking up into his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Edward asked.
"I'm fine," she said, squeezing his fingers. "Do you want to see the oyster bathroom? It's really bad." She dropped his hand, and Edward dutifully followed. His eyes widened, shocked at the ugliness before them. "Told ya!" She handed Garrett his water.
"Who?" Edward asked, opening his mouth in shock. "Who in their right mind would do this?"
"They must have been smoking some good weed," Garrett chuckled. "Do you want this to stay a bathroom? How about a laundry room?"
"Oh, that's in the basement," Bella answered. "Ironically enough, the laundry room is quite nice. I have no issues with that. Plus, there's a laundry chute all throughout the house."
"Cool," Garrett nodded. "Last stop?"
"Master bedroom and master bath," Bella replied, guiding them up to the third floor, which was the master suite, plus an outdoor balcony overlooking the lake. "Not to mention a kick ass walk-in closet."
"You've got to remember the important things," Garrett teased. Bella snorted, nodding eagerly. The carpeting upstairs was red this time with some god-awful green curtains. In the bathroom, there was a similar floral wallpaper to the dining room but with more pink in it.
"Do you like the layout?" Edward asked.
"I do, but obviously, all of this is hellacious, and it needs to go," Bella said, wrinkling her nose. "Essentially, everything inside of this place needs to be gutted and fixed up to my standards. Though, anything has to be an improvement from this."
"I agree," Edward chuckled, looking around. "Now, do you have a place to stay while we're renovating?"
"I have a corporate apartment, but I want to move in as soon as possible. I'm tired of not sleeping in my own bed," Bella sighed, looking at the bedroom longingly. "I'm off for the next month, and I can help out in any way I can. I'm fairly handy. Or I could use some of my residual anger toward my ex to help demo this place." She grinned excitedly.
Edward laughed. "We can start with the oyster bathroom. But before we do, I have to ask. Are we hired?"
"Depends." Bella smirked. "What's an estimate of the work that needs to be completed?"
"On the low end, roughly a hundred grand, upward to around two-fifty," Edward shrugged.
"Then, yes. You're hired. I got this place for a steal, and I have a fair chunk of change from my divorce settlement and the sale of my condo in Chicago. I was prepared to spend more than that, but if you can make it work, then so can I." Bella beamed, holding out her hand.
"We can spend more," Garrett laughed, shaking Bella's hand.
"We could, but we'll try to stay within the budget I just laid out, Bella," Edward vowed, enfolding Bella's tiny palm into his. "Let me come up with a few sketches for what we'd like to do for the interiors. If you want to work with Esme in regards to the furnishings that would be great."
"No. I want to come with you. I know it's a weird request, but my ex never let me decorate our condo. I want to be very hands on, going to various places to choose cabinetry, door handles, flooring, tiling, countertops," she breathed, her voice becoming slightly panicked. She closed her eyes, clasping her hands in front of her chest. "I have to do this for me."
Garrett was already rolling his eyes. She was going to be one those clients. Overly involved, delaying the process by changing her mind left and right because it just wasn't right. Edward, though, was happy to have her join them, wanting to make his new client the dream home she deserved.
"Well, I would still like to create some sketches. Garrett has to put in for work permits. We can't begin demolition until we get the approval from the city and most likely from the home owner's association. I'll contact you in a week?" Edward smiled.
"Let me give you my cell phone number," Bella said. She rattled off a Chicago number along with her private email address. Edward dialed her number, and her iPhone rang in her purse next to the doorway. She saved his number, blushing slightly. "Should I stay in the corporate housing?"
"Honestly, yes. We'll work as quickly as we can with our crew, but this place will not be habitable for a while," Edward explained. "One week, Bella."
"Thank you." She smiled, her entire face lighting up, staring at both men. Unconsciously, they both grinned in return, taken aback by Bella's exuberance. They were even more shocked when she hugged each of them, kissing them on the cheek. Garrett felt his pants tighten when Bella's breasts were pressed to his chest while Edward felt warm all over, wanting to consume her. In a daze, they followed Bella out of the house, mesmerized by her tight ass in her yoga pants. "I look forward to hearing from you, Edward," Bella said as she clambered into her sleek car. "It was nice to meet you, Garrett."
Edward and Garrett got into the truck, backed out of the driveway, and followed Bella out of the community. She turned right, heading toward downtown Seattle. Edward turned left, driving to his Bellevue office. "Dude, number one, she's hot. Number two, she's crazier than a loon. Number three, if you aren't going to tap that, I'm so going to once we're done with this job."
"You are so crude," Edward grumbled. "And she's not crazy."
"Her mood swings gave me fucking whiplash. But, I could handle that if she was amazing in the sack," Garrett said, taking out a notebook to make a list of the permits we needed for her job. "Her ex, though, he sounds like a total controlling asshole. Women want one thing when they get a place of their own. They want to decorate that shit. What douche canoe would deny her that?"
"I don't know. That's why I wanted to let her in on all of our supply runs. Lumber, obviously, we won't need her, but anything that is decorative, I want her input. She deserves that," Edward said, jutting his chin proudly.
"You are totally smitten," Garrett laughed.
"She is, as you say, very hot. And something about her, I just want to … I don't know. Let's forget it. I've got at least eleven sketches to create in a week," Edward grumbled.
A/N: We've heard from Garrett and Edward. Garrett is a bit of a perv and Edward is really sweet. Pictures of the house before are on my blog, along with pictures of Edward and Garrett. Link for that is on my profile. You can also find me on Facebook: Tufano79's Twilight Fanfiction Appreciation and twitter: tufano79. Leave me some.