Bella the Babysitter: Chapter 14

Bella the Babysitter

Chapter fourteen

Bella Swan POV

"Bella Swan, you are a strong not-so independent woman. You're going to man, well woman up and go out there and pretend everything is just fine even if it's not." I paced the bathroom patting my face with a damp washcloth in an effort to cool down my burning cheeks while talking to myself like a crack head.

A knock on the door caused me to jump a foot in the air and drop the washcloth.

"Bella." he said knocking softer as he spoke. "Please open the door. Please baby."

As if he didn't know him calling me that affected me in such a pathetic way. I almost rolled my eyes as my hands started to sweat and I could feel my body begin to vibrate, moving on its own accord to give him what he wanted. I watched helplessly as my hand moved to unlatch the lock. Immediately the door swung open and Edward slid inside before shutting the door just as fast. His arms were around me in an instant and I found myself relaxing substantially.

"Are you alright?" he asked squeezing me just a little tighter.

"Hmm, I dunno your sister just brought up my sexual history in front of everyone at your son's birthday party Edward. How would you feel if your employers entire family just found out you were a virgin?"

"That's just it baby." Again my heart began to flutter. "You're not my employee any longer."

"To them I am Edward." I felt my cheeks begin to flame again as he drug his thumb down the side of my face.

"That was your choice." he sighed.

"I know, and I'm not ready to change that yet. We've only been home for two days." I pressed my forehead into his chest.

The trip to Texas will be something that I won't ever forget. Edward and I had grown exponentially closer in those three days, making it easy to fall into a family oriented routine with him, Lucas and myself. When people thought we were a family and commented while we were seeing the sights neither Edward nor I made a move to correct them and it felt nice, perfect even. Days were spent pushing or carrying Lucas around the historical sites while nights usually ended particularly late. After hours of conversation, talking about anything and everything that crossed our minds, Edward would walk to the door and kiss me goodnight before going to his room. The tradition followed us home as well.

The man that I cared a great deal for was still across the hall from me every night.

"I'll wait for you. Forever if I have too." he whispered. "I like you too much to let you go."

"Me too. I'm just really embarrassed. I would have rather you learned that I'm celibate when the topic had risen during a private chat, not the baby's birthday." I mumbled.

Waiting to have sex until I got married was a decision I made freshman year of high school. A club had been formed by some churchy young adults and every Tuesday morning before school they would meet up and teach the teenagers that believing in abstinence was the way to go. I'm not nor have I ever been a church goer or bible beater but something in the words that the counselors spoke, got to me. Sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies scared the shit out of me. I placed my pre-Jonas brother's hype purity ring on my hand and it will remain there for as long as my virginity is intact. The few guys that I've dated in my past never asked about the lime green band on my ring finger so I had never come across the subject with anyone until about ten minutes ago.

Everything was going perfect, Esme was feeding Luke his smashed bananas and oatmeal for breakfast while Alice and I hung streamers and other decorations around the house. Edward was sitting in the living room with his dad and Jasper trying to put together a ridiculous riding toy that wasn't age appropriate for the one year old. Somehow I managed to get glitter all over my hands and took my ring off so that I could scrub them thoroughly when Alice picked it up.

"What's this? Oh god don't tell me it's one of those gay purity rings." she had laughed. Everyone's attention had been averted to the two of us without my knowledge as I informed her that it was a purity ring.

Esme awed. While Edward turned beat red and Carlisle chuckled. Jasper merely nudged his little brother and mumbled something incoherent while I fled holding my cheeks in an effort not to catch the streamers and papermache on fire with the heat that was coming off of my face.

"We're more alike than you know Bella." Edward whispered kissing the top of my head.

"What? You've recently been humiliated in front of an empl- significant other's family? Cause my parents are dead and Rose and Emmett haven't been around much." I looked up at him with an arched brow.

"No." Edward chuckled. "I'm a virgin as well."

"GET OUT." I snapped pushing him away from me. "This isn't a joke Edward. Making fun of my beliefs
and choices isn't funny at all."

"I'm not kidding baby." goddamn heart. "I'm not celibate just waiting to find the one, so far I've not had any luck. Until now." cue the swoon. "I respect you in your decision to wait until marriage Bella. That sort of stuff is hard to come by these days."

"You're not lying?"

"Why would I?" he smirked. "That's why Jasper and my father acted that way. As much as I didn't want to know this tid-bit of knowledge, my mother was a virgin on their wedding night so abstinence isn't something to be ashamed of."

"I'm still embarrassed."

"And I still sort of 'like' you."

Like, the word is used often. People say it when they're talking about food, music or just anything in general but to Edward and I, the word like was our one step away from love. It was far too early to start throwing around that particular 'L' word so we just used 'like'.

"I really really 'like' you." I whispered standing on my tiptoes so that I could reach his mouth.

Kissing Edward was my new favorite hobby. I'd even told him so. His lips were always smooth even though I've never seen him use Chap Stick and they tasted like mint even after we ate. My tongue loved dancing with his, it was smooth and strong, able to force mine into submission. Our mouths worked together in beautiful tandem until we were pulling away gasping for air against each other.

"Do you think we will ever be able to kiss without almost suffocating?" I asked breathlessly.

"Practice makes perfect. We better get out there before they send out a search party."

With one last peck to his lips I pulled away from him so that I could situate myself. My hair was a mess thanks to Edward's lack of restraint so I pulled it into a messy bun and turned around to find Edward staring at me.

"What?"

"Do you realize that every time you put your hair up in a pony tail, the tip of your tongue hangs out? I've seen it a billion times and it get's cuter and cuter every time." Edward laughed.

"Well did you ever realize that when you drink orange juice with pulp you do this weird thing where you like strain it through your teeth? It's gross but surprisingly cute… almost never." I batted my eyelashes and slipped out the door.

As I made my way back to the kitchen I could hear that Rose and Emmett had made it and were joking around with everyone else. I had just made it to the door to the kitchen when Edward grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"Wh-" I was cut off by his mouth and he took advantage of my surprise, slipping his tongue inside for a split second before pulling away.

"People are going to be around all day for Luke's party. I just wanted to kiss you one more time before we have absolutely no privacy until we kick them out tonight." Edward smiled.

"You're too sweet." I laughed sarcastically. "Very thoughtful."

"You forgot ruggedly handsome and an awesome boyfriend." Edward said rubbing his chin.

"Oh yeah, add that to self conceded fool." I giggled softly trying not to grab the attention of anyone in the kitchen.

"Kiss your fool." Edward instructed tapping his lips once before puckering up.

"With pleasure."

This kiss was more passionate than any of the other's Edward and I had shared so far. I could feel his hands loosening the band around my hair before burrowing inside my messy locks while he ravaged my mouth. I pressed my body as close to him as I could while our mouths moved together… that is until a crash brought us out of our juvenile make out session.

I pulled away from Edward and turned towards the noise to find Esme holding a hand over her mouth in surprise.

"Busted." Emmett guffawed from the open kitchen door.

"Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry." Esme said kneeling down and trying to clean the cake she had evidently dropped after encountering her son and his nanny in a not so professional manner. "It's ruined."

I knelt down and started to gather the ruined birthday cake back onto its serving platter, my face burning in embarrassment. By the time we cleaned up most of the mess, I desperately needed another shower and the floor needed a good mopping. No one had spoken and I refused to meet anyone's eyes as I stood up and made a hasty exit for the second time today.

I had just made it to my bedroom door when someone, that wasn't Edward grabbed my arm and spun me around. Esme's bright smile was far too bright to ignore as she pulled me into a hug that could rival one of Alice's.

"Oh I'm so mad at you two for not telling me." she swung our bodies back and forth in excitement.

"It's fresh." I mumbled. "Like days old. I didn't want to tell people because of how it would look. I'm just the nanny."

"Oh you foolish girl. You were never just the nanny." Esme sighed, grabbing my face in both her hands. "Why else do you think we would allow Edward to hire a woman to look after a baby with absolutely no experience?"

"Because you were desperate." I joked.

"Sweetheart between the two of us Alice and I would have had no problem assisting Edward in caring for Lucas until he found proper caregiver. Alice saw something, I saw something. You and Edward were far too blind to see what we saw. It's a good thing honey."

"You think so?" I murmured.

"I know so. You're perfect for each other."

And with that Esme walked back downstairs while I had the quickest shower ever. I dressed in a pair of worn blue jeans and a sleeveless button up blouse. I decided to go bare foot due to the blisters I had suffered walking aimlessly through San Antonio in flip flops after I forgot to pack a pair of tennis shoes.

I walked back down stairs and into the kitchen just as Rose started the counter top mixer up.

Everyone turned to look from me, to Edward who was reading out of a recipe book with strong determination, to Lucas who was playing with an apple that someone had cored and peeled for him. It took Edward a couple of seconds to realize that the three of us were the center of attention.

"Everyone stop staring at my girlfriend." he growled. "Mom please come help me figure this icing recipe."

And like that every one found out that Edward and I were together. We all worked as a team in an effort to bake Lucas an epic first birthday cake before the party guests started to arrive.

"I think I like this better than the store bought one." Edward said swiping his finger over some of the baby blue icing left over and sticking it in his mouth.

"Yeah, clean the mess up and then come tell me that was a good idea." I joked grabbing Lucas and walking out to the living room to meet his guests.

Luke mostly burrowed into my neck shyly, a trait I hadn't experienced with him in the three months I had known him. He refused to go to anyone when they tried to wish him a happy birthday and everyone was pretty understanding, joking that the birthday boy was simply getting his way.

Edward had just introduced me to a woman with a weird name that I can't pronounce when my heart fell in my stomach.

"Bella this is Laurel." Edward said kissing the older woman's weathered cheek before turning back to
me. "Laurel, this is Bella my girlfriend and Lucas's caregiver."

I didn't understand why he would label me that way until the woman moved to take Lucas from my arms.

"Let me hold my grand baby." she cooed. "Oh he looks just like his momma. Doesn't he, Ed?"

Before Edward could answer Lucas looked back at me, holding his hands out as his lip began to quiver.

"Momma." he cried.

Silence seemed to wash over the room of party goers in a split second. Gasps were heard as Lucas continued to cry for me. Vicky's mother looked at me with an unfathomable expression while Edward remained silent.