Chapter 18

EPOV

Bella was, without a doubt, the strangest and most dangerous creature that I had ever come across.

Her reaction to everything, my profession, my job, the job we had offered her, was not at all what I was expecting.

I had a sneaky suspicion that she was putting on a braver face than what she was actually feeling, but I would keep an eye on that.

And to top it off, she took less than five minutes to get dressed.

What normal woman could do that and still look breathtaking? It didn’t seem possible, but obviously it was, because the impossible was now standing in front of me in a beautiful red halter neck dress that we’d bought earlier on.

I couldn’t form the words to sum up how she looked in the first few seconds.

I noticed instantly that the shirt dress, although not formal, gave her an air of something so much more than a young girl, lost in a new city. No, standing there in the creation of luxurious fabric and professional stitching, she looked like a young woman with the world at her feet.  The dress clung to her body like a second skin and in that moment, I wanted to ever so slowly peel it off of her and explore every bit of ‘womaness’ she had to offer.

It wasn’t a formal dress by any standards, just very well made, and she had on barely any make-up, but she looked like pure perfection just standing there, smiling gently at me.

“Stunning as always, Miss. Swan,” I said in a fake British accent as I held out an arm for her.

She snorted in her cute little way again as she took my arm happily.

“As always? You’ve known me what, about seven hours?” she laughed as I opened the door and let her walk ahead of me.

“No, I’ve known of you since you sent in the application with your picture, and even in that picture you looked stunning,” I smiled as I led her down through the house to the dining room, where I knew the rest of them were having a late dinner.

I let the little comment about thinking of her since I got her application stay with her as we walked down the stairs. I didn’t want to frighten her off, but I wanted her to know that I was thinking about her.

It was now nearly nine in the evening, but mom had refused to eat without Bella, so while she was getting dressed, I sent a text off to Emmett to let him know that we were coming down.

We made it into the room just as mom was serving up and she rushed to put everything down to greet Bella.

“Oh, it’s so good to finally meet you, Alice has told us so much already,” mom said as she rushed to her side and swept Bella up into a fierce hug.

I noticed at once that Bella literally froze in her arms and she sent a panicked look to me.

“Mom, slow down, she’s just woken up,” I laughed slightly as I pulled Bella back into my arms and made sure she was okay.

“It’s okay, Edward, I was just caught off guard, that’s all,” she whispered as she sent an apologetic smile to mom.

“Of course, I totally understand,” mom replied as she cast her eyes towards Alice.

This was something that they’d obviously talked about and something that I wanted to know more about, but I wouldn’t push it tonight though.

Instead, I helped Bella sit down next to Alice and then helped mom pass the plates around as we all waited for dad to turn up.

“He won’t be long, he just had to make some calls,” mom said as we all sat down and I made sure to stroke Bella’s leg under the table.  She gave me a soft smile as she picked up the cutlery and started to eat along with the others.

Dad came in a few minutes later and was happy to see Bella in the flesh instead of a photo or a video.

“It’s great to meet you,” he smiled kindly at her as he sat down and started talking about random things, hoping to get the girls to open up a little bit.

Bella was more reserved and seemed to prefer to listen more than talk, but I would try and change that during her time here.

“Bella, has Edward told you about the job?” I heard Alice ask her quietly and Bella gave a small nod to her head as she listened to the other’s talk over her. “Are you going for it? I will if you do,” Alice said and it looked as if she were almost pleading with Bella to agree.

“Sure,” Bella smiled in reply and I could see the top of Alice’s head bounce as if she were bouncing in her seat.

One hurdle down.

~*~

After dinner was over with, dad asked us all to join him in the sitting room. We weren’t going to talk about the business tonight, but he just wanted more time to get to know the girls.

He offered us all a drink, waving off Bella and Alice’s concerns about their ages.

“If you can handle being around my boys, then you can handle a drink. That or by the end of the night you’d need a drink anyway,” he chuckled happily as he handed out us ‘younger ones’ a JD and Coke while he and mom shared a Gin and Tonic.

“So, how do you like the house so far?” mom asked the girls and I felt like a right dick.

I hadn’t even shown Bella around yet.

I blocked out the rest of that conversation as I thought about showing Bella the house and the grounds and that’s when my mind swayed to what else we could do in the house and gardens together.

“All I’m saying is that if you’re serious about taking the job, you need to open up and loosen up a bit,” Rose said a little heatedly and I brought myself back to the room.

What were they talking about? What did I miss?

“Rose, I hardly think it’s fair to judge someone that you’ve only just met. We have plenty of time for Bella to get used to how things work around here and Edward will be by her side the whole time,” Alice cut in before anyone else could say anything and I looked down to Bella to find out what was going on.

Why was Rose being catty?

Bella was looking down at her nails and I swear I could hear her growling.

Hot. As. Fuck.

“Yes, but if she can’t pull this off, it’s a huge financial risk to the Cullen’s,” Rose huffed as she sat in the arm chair opposite us.

What the hell had crawled up her ass?

All of a sudden Bella stood up and I thought she was going to walk out of the room, but she didn’t.

What she did do, was to shock the hell out of me.