Chapter 12

EPOV

Seeing how breathtaking she was in the flesh was beyond astounding and I had to remind myself that she could get pretty freaked out if she caught me staring at her.

In the industry, I had seen it all, but nothing, nothing, compared to how she looked.

I couldn't take my eyes off of her from the moment I spotted her, and I found that I instantly wanted to know more about her, but first I had to get us out of the airport before we were swallowed up in the crowd.

I asked for her hand on the pretense of looking after her, but in reality, I just wanted to know how she would feel under my touch.

She was hesitant at first, which I expected, but after she saw the guys looking after the other girls, she relented and placed her small warm hand in mine.

I knew that I affected her when I whispered in her ear, but I wouldn't do anything about that just yet. I wanted her to get to know me first and we could build from there. That was if she still wanted to hang around after we explained about the job. That was my biggest fear.

I feared that she would run out as soon as we told them what they were being hired for and I would be left without knowing anything about her.

Now, looking at Bella, I didn't think that she would stick around and that upset me.

I would just have to charm her, 'woo' her if I had to, in order for her to stay with us.

Although we had a lot riding on these girls, I discovered I was more concerned with

Bella than the business and that set alarm bells ringing.

"How 'bout we go to a small bistro down the road a bit, it won't take us long to get there and it's more intimate than the other places round here," Jasper asked us as we finally got back to the limo.

Alice was excited about it, and Rose nodded, but Bella stayed quiet.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I brushed a small amount of hair from her eyes. I wondered what she would look like with her hair down, but now was not the time to get a hard on.

"Yeah, sorry, just a bit overwhelmed is all," she murmured as she looked up into my eyes and I smiled back down to her warmly.

"It is a lot to take in, but we'll have you feeling at home in no time at all," I said simply with a smile as I helped her into the car.

It was big enough, but not too big to make a huge gap between us as we all sat down.

What I did like, was the fact that we were still holding hands, even though we technically didn't have a need to anymore.

She gave me a sweet smile before looking out of the window.

"So, ladies, do you want to do anything today after lunch? We were thinking about taking you shopping, if that's okay? We could have just ordered some stuff in based on your sizes, but we thought it would be fun to go on a spree," Emmett chuckled as he clapped his hands together and rubbed them happily.

I smirked at his playfulness and both Rose and Alice instantly reacted positively, but Bella seemed deep in thought.

"Bella, you okay with going shopping later?" I asked as I ran my finger down her arm.

Her body shivered again as she looked up to me.

"I'm fine with whatever everyone else wants to do," she smiled sweetly as Alice started to speak.

"Bella will be her normal self soon, she just needs to get used to the change," she said gently as she stroked Bella's thigh. Bella, in return, gave a small smile and then went back to gazing out of the window. I filed away the intimate gesture to think about later. Maybe I was wrong about my earlier thinking, that Bella was going to bolt as soon as she heard the details.

We all fell silent as the car took us to the bistro and it gave me a chance to gaze at Bella as she took in the small chunk of the city that was flying past us.

A little while later, we pulled up to the bistro and filed out of the car. I was sad that it was then that Bella dropped my hand, and with an awkward smile, she followed the others as they walked in.

I noticed straight away that she liked to watch people. She wanted to see their reactions before she gave her own and I had a funny feeling that she was always the one to put others first, before herself.

I decided I would make it a point from here on out to show her that she was just as important as everyone else was. It had nothing to do with the job, or getting her to stick around for longer, I just needed her to see that she was a very important person in her own right.

As we sat down, I threw a calming look at Alice as I spoke to Bella.

"What would you like to have, Bella?" I asked as I handed her a menu. She looked at me like she was going to throw up and I really felt sorry for her.

"Edward, stop dazzling her, Bells, just get whatever you fancy, okay?" Alice smiled and I huffed playfully and threw in my own smirk that made her giggle.

"Erm, there's no prices listed," she muttered in a whisper, but I caught it.

"Bella, people who come here have the money to not worry about how much things cost," I said gently as her eyes widened slightly.

"I don't want you to worry about how much this will cost," she said, clearly embarrassed.

"Bella, I can afford it and you will too, soon, but let's not worry about money and work. Let's just call this a friend treating another friend to lunch and have some fun today," I said as I ran my finger down her arm.

I knew she felt the connection, I could see it in her reactions to my touches.

I just hoped that she would want more from me, in both business and pleasure.

Yes, I, Edward Cullen, had faced facts and admitted that there was no way I could just work with Bella. If I had it my way, we would have so much more.

Bella finally decided on a grilled chicken salad with a baked potato and I got a steak. The talk at the table was small and while we all included each other, we still seemed to have split off into pairs. The others seemed to get on like a house on fire, but Bella was still her quiet self.

And that was something that Rose picked up on straight away.

It wasn't what Rose said that made me spot it, but it was the eye rolls and smirks when Bella stumbled over words.

A few times I found myself arching my brow at Rose and she had the decency to look caught out when I did and backed away from the hostility she had with Bella.

I made a point to keep an eye on the pair of them and make sure that Rose didn't get out of hand.

When the food was over with, we all made our way back to the car so we could start on shopping and it became apparent very quickly that that was something Bella was getting really nervous about.

I would have to make sure that we got her things in such a way so that she would think that they were part of the job.

It would prove to be an interesting shopping trip.