Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

The Things We Do For Love

Chapter One: Rash Thinking

Edward's POV

"Hey." Jasper greeted walking into my penthouse apartment after coming from the practice.

"Hi." I said as I shuffled a few of the files round on my coffee table centred in the middle of the living room.

"What is that?" He asked, pointing to the small ball of fluff sleeping on a small blanket in the corner.

"That's…eh well…that's my dog." I answered, looking everywhere but Jasper's eyes.

"Your what?! When did you get a dog? No wait, why did you get a dog?!" I squirmed slightly. I knew I would have to go through this; I just wasn't prepared for Jasper to call the men in white coats to come and pick me up yet.

"Em…there's this dog walker, her name's Bella-"

"No Edward, tell me you didn't buy a puppy so you could talk to the hot dog walker?" I shrugged and tried to make it no big deal but he just groaned and covered his eyes. "How could you?"

"She's really nice. I like her and I wanted a reason to talk to her more." I finished trying to defend my rash actions.

"You lust her Edward, not like. How many times have you seen this woman?"

"I see her all the time in the street. We met about two months ago in passing. She smiled at me so I smiled back. Mrs Gardner on the second floor hires her to walk her two Chihuahuas so I occasionally see her in the elevator. We just talk sometimes and I wanted a reason to see her more, get to know her better." I tried to explain.

"So you couldn't have just asked her out like any normal person?"

"Well I wanted to get to know her first." Jasper sighed and shook his head.

"So she walks your dog now?" I nodded. "This is so Emmett of you." I smiled and was happy that Jasper was done with all the questions. He may not be impressed by my decision but it was a rash one and I'm glad I made it.

"What's its name?"

"Jake." At the sound of his name he opened his eyes and yawned at us.

"I guess he's quite cute." I nodded proudly, that's my boy. "Potty trained?"

"Yep, he goes in the tray set up outside on the balcony."

"You teach him that?"

"Yep."

"When did you get him?"

"Three days ago." Jasper seemed surprised but nodded.

"What have you done with him during the day?"

"Marty on the floor below was more than happy to look after him for me. He has a bull dog and they get on well. But on Monday morning he'll be going out with Bella and the rest of the dogs she walks."

"Well you know what this means?" Jasper said shaking his head. I frowned confused so he expanded. "Emmett's never going to want to leave your apartment. You know how he is with puppies."

Speak of the devil, Emmett walked in carrying a six pack of beer. He placed it on the counter after saying hi then turned to face us, finally spotting the fur ball in the corner. A huge grin broke out across his face before he was lying on his stomach flat down on the floor, face to face with Jake.

"Who is this?" He asked in his puppy voice.

"Jake." I answered, pretending he wasn't speaking in that awful voice.

"He's so sweet. Aw let me have him, please." Jake was now scooped up in Emmett's arms, licking his cheek. "See he likes me, can I have him. Please?" It was like a child pleading for a stray and Jasper and I were the parents.

"No Emmett, you're not responsible to have a puppy yet." Jasper said calmly.

"I am too! Let me have him. I'll take great care of him." Emmett whined. It's hard to believe this guy has graduated in the top ten of our medical class at Cambridge.

"You can't have him because he's mine." At this Emmett looked shocked and angry.

"Why is that you get all the good toys?" I rolled my eyes and shook my head at the absurdity of this conversation.

"He's not a toy Emmett. He's a living being." Jasper pointed out.

"Yeah, a puppy. I know that Jazz but still, I want him, he's so cute." Emmett smiled at Jake as he licked his chin and scrambled about in his arms.

Jasper and I got up from the couches, ignoring Emmett completely, and walked to the kitchen counter to get beer and a pack of cards. It was our poker night, the others would be arriving shortly anyway so we best get set up. As we prepared everything Emmett commando crawled along my wooden floors with the puppy at his side, got Jake to roll over, and sit. I didn't want to burst Emmett's bubble by telling him that the dog had already learnt these things. It's better to be quiet and keep the peace.

My father Carlisle arrived about ten minutes later then Marty, our neighbour, along with his grandson Dan. That made six of us therefore plentiful for a game of Texas Hold' em. We played like every other night and finished up around eleven.

Unfortunately Jake made his presence known during the game by brushing against my father's leg, at which he thought someone was playing footsy with him. I then had to explain to him why I got Jake and just like Jasper, he thought I was losing the plot.

Once everyone was gone it was just me and the pup. He followed me everywhere, staying right behind me, nearly causing a few accidents when I would trip on him. It was oddly nice, having some company in this plain, bland apartment.

There are five bedrooms and three bathrooms, far too many for a bachelor like me. But it's got a great view of the city and is close to the practice. It's the first piece of property I official owned and it took me years to save up for it. It may be big but one day, and I do mean one day, I'll hopefully have a family living in here with me.

I hit thirty last month and it was a real eye opener. Here I was a good looking, rich, bachelor with nothing in his life but his job, and now a puppy. I have been set for life. My father started a plastic surgery office and I followed in his footsteps and am also a plastic surgeon. In medical school I met Jasper and Emmett and we just bonded; now they work at the practice with me and we're highly successful.

So my career has been taken care of now all I have to do is find the right woman for me. This is where I think Bella comes in. Even though I know nothing about her, yet, and haven't had a conversation that's longer than twenty words, I like her. Jasper says lust but I've had that feeling and this is definitely not just that feeling. Granted I do find her attractive but it's the person I want to get to know, not just her body.

It was completely crazy for me to think that I could get to know her more if I bought a dog but at the moment I'm desperate. Apart from the elevator rides and passing each other in the street I have no contact with her, when all I want to do is take her to coffee and sit and listen to her talk for hours on end. She completely intrigues me and I'm bewitched. I have been for so long but now it's finally time to do something about it, come Monday.

Bella's POV

I just dropped off all the dogs back at their owners and made it back to my apartment by six. I crashed on the couch immediately and shut my eyes from the exhaustion. This job was only meant to be temporarily but it's become permanent until I know what I want to do with my life.

"Rough day?" Alice asked, coming from her bedroom.

"As always." I muttered.

"Did you get peed on again?" She giggled as she sat on the couch opposite me. I gave her a glare before answering.

"No. It's that stupid Great Dane though, he's huge and causing chaos. I can't control him, especially when the Chihuahua's cling to his ears with their teeth. It's carnage!" Alice laughed and flicked through a fashion magazine, not seeing how awful my situation really was. "Plus it's only going to get worse on Monday." I moaned.

"Why? Are you getting the French Poodle back that has a strict diet?" Luckily I was not, that owner was crazy. Not only was the dog hyper as hell but had to eat at exact times of the day and could only eat certain things, which the pet store never had. I later found out that the food it was meant to eat was human food, exceedingly expensive stuff too.

"No, I'm not. I'm getting a new puppy by the name of Jake."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Oh it is." I said shaking my head. "Puppies are disastrous. I don't do puppies."

"So why are you walking this one?" Alice asked frowning.

"Because I just couldn't say no to the guy." I mumbled, getting up and heading into the kitchen.

"Wait…the guy?" I nodded and rooted around in the fridge. "Rose, get in here! Bella's found a guy!" Alice called enthusiastically as I just about choked on my juice.

"What?!" I asked bewildered but Rose had already come running through and perched herself next to Alice. They were both sitting crossed legged on the couch waiting for me to tell them all about this guy.

"What's his name?"

"Is he good looking?"

"What does he do?"

"When did you meet him?"

"Has he asked you out?"

"Do you want to go out with him?" Before they fired off another question I cut them off.

"The both of you shush! It's not like that." They rolled their eyes and nodded to the couch opposite them. I walked over and sat down, wanting the couch to swallow me whole.

"Explain." Rose said, giving me her no nonsense look.

"Fine but don't make any assumptions." I warned as they rolled their eyes at me again. "His name's Edward and I met him about two months ago." Their mouths fell open in surprise and were both going to yell so I continued. "We never spoke to each other until about a month after. He lives in the same building as one of the women I work for and we saw each other in the elevator and halls a lot. That and I'd see him in the street during my walks a lot. Satisfied?" I hoped they were.

"No, you missed out all the good questions." Alice whined, giving me her please-don't-deny-me-this look that she has perfected.

"I don't know what he does. Yes he's good looking. No he's not asked me out and no I don't want to go out with him, that's completely unprofessional." They smiled and I wondered what I'd just said.

"So let's say this hot hallway man was not a client of yours, would you go out with him then?" Alice asked sweetly.

"No." I said firmly.

"Liar." Rose muttered under her breath causing Alice to giggle.

"Come on, seriously Bella, you wouldn't go out with him if he asked?"

"Fine, yes I would but he wouldn't ask so problem solved. I'm going to shower." I quickly made my exit while I could. No doubt they'd have me there all night talking about Edward and there was no way I was doing that.

I was already nervous enough about seeing him again. Come Monday I'll be seeing a lot more of him and I'm not really looking forward to it. He seems like a nice guy but I just act like an idiot in front of him. I don't even know why I said I would walk his puppy. I have a no puppy rule as they're so excited and that's the last thing I need, one excited dog to make the rest of them go crazy. But for some reason I just couldn't say no when he asked and I have no idea why.

A.N.

So another new story, a bit similar with Jake being another dog again but there is a different plot for this one. I like the whole Jake as a dog idea but hopefully this won't become too repetitive with my other story.