A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter! I heart you all! Thank you also to the wonderful betas mcsc2008 and CapriciousC. I am going to have a very busy day tomorrow, so I decided to get the editing done and post tonight! You guys deserve it :)

A few notes on this story. First and foremost, it is rated M for language and some sexual references, not graphic lemons. So if you're hoping for lemons, I'm sorry to disappoint. I do, however, have some lemony outtakes that I might post. I haven't decided yet… Reviews might sway my decision (Does that make me evil? Mwahaha!). Keep in mind, however, that if I do decide to post them it won't be until after this story has been completely posted.

Second note: this story will be six chapters long and is already completely written, just taking a while going through beta. I will update as regularly as possible, and anticipate an update every week depending on beta. Although it is completely written, I would love to hear your thoughts and speculations. Let me know what you think happened between Edward and Jacob.

So with that, enjoy the second chapter of Aftermath!

Reviews are the cream in my oreos!


Aftermath

Chapter 2

~*~JPOV~*~

Her smile made me smile. I wished I could be enough of a jackass to ask for details about the sex, but she seemed embarrassed just talking about how she kissed me. From the smile on her face and the look in her eyes, it seemed like it was good to her.

But in the end, I tried not to think about it and just hoped that we could get to know each other and someday have a repeat performance. I wasn't lying to her when I told her I wasn't the type to be with someone and leave her. I wasn't into one night stands and I knew I never would be. Sex should be personal, not spur of the moment between strangers. I felt bad about what happened but tried to ignore the guilt after the look she gave me in the kitchen.

She truly was a beautiful woman. I already knew from what I had seen in my bed this morning that she was petite and pale with long, tangled auburn hair. But now, I could see her eyes. Her eyes were wide, like I thought they'd be, dark brown, and expressive. They were eyes I could lose myself in.

I held her close to me and tried to think of something to say, some way to get to know her better that wasn't dependent on last night. She looked up at me, and I sighed.

"I admit I've never been in this situation before, Renesmee. I don't know where to start."

She smiled and sat up, her little hands on my chest to hold her up.

"How would you normally start with a girl?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Depends on the girl. I'm usually pretty good at judging a person, and I'd try to decide if she was the type to laugh at corny pick up lines or if she'd prefer something more serious. With you, I can't tell."

Her smile widened. "Why don't you give me your best line, and we'll see."

Of course she'd ask that. What the hell would I have said to this woman? I decided to go with her eyes; they would have drawn me in like a moth to a flame. "I would have said, 'Do you have a map? Because I keep getting lost in your eyes.'"

She rolled her eyes, but her smile never wavered. "That is corny. But I probably would have said, 'No, I'd prefer to keep you here.'"

I chuckled and held her tighter.

"What would you have done after that?" she asked, perching herself closer to me on my lap. Her eyes were full of humor and life and they sparkled with enthusiasm. I'd never seen eyes so incredibly dynamic and beautiful.

"I would have asked you to go out with me," I said softly, running my hand up her back.

"You wouldn't have asked my name?" She smirked.

"Yeah, I guess I probably would have. I would have said, 'What should I call such a beautiful woman?'"

She blushed and giggled a little. "No, you wouldn't have." She looked up at me through her lashes, still blushing. "You would have said, 'There's just one thing your eyes haven't told me yet … your name.'" She blushed harder and looked down.

I chuckled. "Good one. I like it." It would be useless to store it for the future, though, because I knew I'd never notice another woman's eyes after hers. "Would you have told me your name then?"

She nodded. "Yes, I would have told you my name is Nessie because that's my nickname."

"Nessie. I like that. How'd you get that?"

She shrugged and licked her lips as she met my eyes again. "When I was young, my sister and I watched this movie about the Loch Ness Monster. I had nightmares about it for a week until she and my brother finally got fed up and told me the monster wasn't real. We researched for hours and hours to find some proof that it either was or wasn't real, and after researching, I decided that it wasn't scary anymore. But it sort of went to the other extreme; I liked it so much I'd play pranks on my sister and brother. I was four; they were both eight. They played along and called me Nessie, and the name just kind of stuck."

"Interesting. Are you still into the monster?"

"Not as much, no. But I did do a paper on it in high school that won an award."

I nodded as she blushed and smiled up at me. "So after you told me your name, would you ask for mine?"

She shook her head. "No, because after I told you my name, you'd just give me yours."

I smiled. "Okay, so I'd tell you my name is Jake."

"And then you could ask me out. How would you have asked me?" She put her arms around my neck, her face close to mine. I held her tighter and thought about what I would have said.

"I would have told you that I need to see you again to make sure you're real." It wasn't quite as cheesy as before, and I wondered if she'd correct me again.

She blushed again. "And then I'd pinch you and tell you that you weren't dreaming." Her fingers pinched my arm for demonstration.

I laughed; I was starting to like her more and more. "But because you pinched me, I'd have to get you back somehow." I raised an eyebrow and waited to see how she'd react.

She bit her lip and leaned a little closer, her arms tightening around my neck. "What would you have done?" Her eyes blazed with curiosity and sensuality, and I couldn't help myself as I leaned in to kiss her. She tensed for a second, but then her hands pulled me tighter to her, and she kissed me back. It wasn't exactly what I had planned or what I really would have done had our imagined scenario played out, but I wasn't about to complain. Her tongue was soft and warm against mine, and I could feel her breasts through her shirt as she pushed her chest against me. My hands held her small waist tightly, and somehow, a clearer memory of the night before broke through my hypomnesia. I remembered her taste, both the taste of her mouth and other parts of her body. The sudden memory caught me by surprise and made me hard faster than I could push her away. She pushed her body against me, rubbing against my sudden arousal and causing me to groan. I grabbed her hips and pulled her into me tightly, thrusting my hips up involuntarily.

She broke the kiss and pulled back, blushing as she looked at me through her lashes. I pushed her hair back behind her shoulders and cleared my throat.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. There was a reason I'd brought us out here to the living room. Although everyone was still passed out, we'd have an audience should anyone wake up or come over, and I wasn't about to do anything with her with an audience.

She licked her lips. "It's okay." She smiled a timid smile and lowered her eyes.

"You say that, but I really shouldn't be so careless. Not with you." I touched her cheek, and she peeked back up at me.

"Why?"

I licked my lips. "Because I want to do this right, Nessie. I'm not joking or being an idiot when I say that I've never met a woman who has this … I guess effect on me. Last night is a mystery to me, but I know if I could start over, I'd want to prove myself to you. I'd want to show you that I can be serious and be what you need before I asked you to be with me like that."

She leaned in and rested her head on my shoulder, her face buried in my neck. She kissed me there a few times, moving up to my ear. I shivered and my arms constricted around her lightly. "What if I told you that you've already proven that to me? I can't explain this, Jake, but I feel something with you that I've never felt before. I noticed it last night and thought it was the alcohol, but I still feel it. I'm happy with you." She sat up a little and met my eyes. "You have me, Jake. You don't need to impress me."

I smirked. "I'll never stop trying to impress you." I kissed her lips gently, and she smiled.

"I guess it's a guy thing. But you have to promise me that last night isn't going to get in the way. I mean, I remember it, and you don't. I guess I'm kind of glad you don't, but that's beside the point. I want to know that you're not going to keep yourself at a distance just to prove to me you're not only after sex. If it's going to happen, let it happen. I won't object."

I kissed her again and sighed. "How about a compromise? I promise I won't avoid anything sexual, but you have to promise that you won't let me push you. If I come on to you and you don't want to—"

Her lips on mine interrupted me, and her tongue in my mouth nearly drove the thought away completely.

"I can live with that," she said softly.

"It's settled then."

She kissed me and blushed as she pulled back. "Not entirely. I'm not really … I mean, am I your girlfriend?" She bit her lip and blushed again.

I touched her cheek and kissed her lips. "Of course. And I'm your boyfriend. And of course, this means I get to kick anyone's ass that looks at you wrong. You know that, right?"

She laughed and nodded. "Yep, and I get to beat away all the other girls drooling over you."

"Hmm, catfights. I like it."

She laughed again and put her head on my shoulder. I held her tightly, wondering briefly how I went from not knowing she existed one day to being unable to live without her the next. I rubbed her back as I considered thanking Stacie for bringing her to the party. Which made me wonder…

"So you came here with Stacie, right?" She nodded against my neck. "How do you know her?" I asked, laying my cheek on the top of her head.

"I go to school with her. We have a few classes together at the U. We've been friends since my sister and I moved here about two years ago." Her fingers traced lines on my neck and shoulder as she spoke. "I'd been jealous of her because she had Embry. I always thought he was pretty good looking. When she told me there would be single guys like him at the party, I decided to go for it. I remember seeing Seth and Brady, but it was you that really caught my attention."

I had to remind myself that neither Seth nor Brady got the attention I did from her. I knew it was illogical, but I couldn't help but get possessive especially when I knew either Seth or Brady would have gone after her in a heartbeat.

"I'm glad to hear it."

I could feel her smile against my skin as her fingers danced up my neck to my jaw.

"What about you? Did you grow up here with all the other guys?"

I turned my head a little to kiss her hair before answering. "Yes, we all grew up together. Sam's the oldest; he didn't hang around the party last night, so I'm not sure if you met him, but he's sort of the responsible one. Paul and Jared are around his age, and then I'm next. I remember Embry, Quil, and Seth when they were young, and I was there in the room when Colin and Brady were born. Colin wasn't there last night, though; he's with his girlfriend."

She nodded and rubbed her hand over the stubble on my cheek. "So how old are you then?"

"I'm twenty-six. You?"

She kissed my neck again. "Twenty-one."

I was a little surprised that she was so young, but it didn't bother me.

Stacie groaned and rolled over, pulling herself out from under Embry's head. His head hit the floor and suddenly he was awake.

"Wha—" He lifted his head and looked around like he was lost. Nessie rearranged herself on my lap so she could see what was happening. Embry shook his head and slowly started lifting himself onto his knees.

Nessie smiled up at me, and I put my finger over my lips to try to tell her to be quiet. I wanted to see how long it would take him to realize there were other conscious people in the room. She nodded and rested her head back down on my shoulder.

Embry groaned as he stretched and yawned and then shook himself off like a dog. I stifled a chuckle and watched him assess the room without turning around to see Nessie or me. He yawned again before reaching over to shake Stacie gently.

"Hey, Stace. Wake up, babe."

She grumbled and smacked his hand, but he didn't give up. He shook her again, and when she turned away from him, he reached over and tickled her. He chuckled when she started squirming. She tried to get away, but eventually she gave in and started laughing.

"Okay, okay! I'm up!" she said, laughing. Embry helped her sit up and kissed her before pulling her up close to him.

"Good morning," he said.

She kissed him. "Morning." She stretched and kissed him again before starting to get up. Embry grabbed her hips and pulled her back. She giggled as she fell on him, and her arms grabbed his shoulders to try to steady herself. She looked up at me over his shoulder, and her smile disappeared. She pushed back from Embry and stood up.

"Babe?" he asked, reaching for her leg.

She put her hands on her hips, and I had a feeling I was about to get reamed for whatever happened last night. I just hoped she wasn't mad at Nessie.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she asked although I wasn't sure if her question was directed at me or Nessie on my lap. Nessie must have known because she sat up and held out her hand.

"It was my fault, Stacie. Don't be mad at him."

Stacie didn't budge. "You think that's going to work? I didn't bring you to the party to fuck some random guy!"

Nessie rolled her eyes and stood up. She was a little shaky but she managed on her own. "No, you brought me to get drunk off my ass; which I did. Fucking a guy I didn't know was my idea. And it wasn't random; I deliberately chose him." She grabbed Stacie's hand. "Come on, let's go talk outside."

Embry sat on the floor, smirking at me. I just knew he was going to ask for details, but even if I had them I wouldn't have given them.

"So, how was your night?" he asked, hinting at the details.

I shook my head. "I don't know. From what she says, it was pretty good, but I don't remember a damn thing after the alcohol."

Embry shook his head and stood up. "Too bad. She looks like she would have been quite the firecracker."

The same flash of possessiveness from earlier when Nessie mentioned Seth and Brady surged through me. I stood up and slapped my hand on his shoulder. "Sure does. Keep your eyes and hands to yourself if you don't want to lose 'em." I nodded once and went back to the kitchen to find something to eat.

"Come on, man. Stacie is all I need; why would I go after her best friend?" Embry asked, walking into the kitchen behind me.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just saying don't do it."

"You with her?"

The question was casual, and had it been any other woman we were talking about, I might not have reacted so violently. But the need to claim my territory overrode any thoughts of keeping my cool. I turned and planted myself right in front of Embry, my chest nearly touching his. He had to look up to meet my eyes, and I saw a rare flash of fear in his.

"Yes, I'm with her," I all but growled. "Keep your distance, Embry."

He raised his hands in surrender. "Calm down, Jake; I was just asking."

I took a deep breath and realized what I was doing. I backed off and shook my head. "Sorry."

He shrugged. "Just don't go all homicidal if another guy talks to her, 'kay? Women don't particularly like that."

I smirked and opened the fridge. "What do you know about women?"

I could feel the smugness radiating from him. "I know about Stacie."

Just then, I heard tires screeching and a horn honking. Someone started yelling as a car door slammed, and I abandoned my food search to get outside and make sure Nessie was okay. I groaned to myself when I saw Edward's car outside and wondered what the hell the bastard wanted now. His brown-haired bitch of a girlfriend was yelling at Nessie, and I didn't hesitate to get in the way. Edward glared at me the way he always did, and the girlfriend barely paid any attention to me.

"I told you not to come here, Nessie!" she yelled. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Nessie was backing up away from the other girl's attack, and I grabbed her shoulders, holding her to me to try to protect her. She looked up at me and smiled.

"I got it, Jake." She sounded so confident, yet I could see something in her eyes. Was it fear?

"Is this him?" the brown-haired girl asked.

Nessie sighed. "Yes, this is him. Bella, this is Jacob. Jacob, this is my sister Bella."

Oh, shit. No way. My hands tightened on Nessie's shoulders, and I took a deep breath to try to calm down. Of all the people in the western hemisphere, why did Nessie's sister have to be the girl Edward had already turned against me?

Bella didn't waste any time. She launched into an attack aimed right at me.

"You son of a bitch!" she shrieked. I wasn't sure now if I was holding Nessie to protect her or to use her as a shield against her sister. Bella pointed at me and raised her voice. "This is my sister! She's barely twenty-one years old!"

Nessie shook her head and defended me. I didn't have a clue what I could say. Edward stood back against his car, watching the scene and probably happy to see his girl ripping me a new one.

"I am plenty old enough to make my own decisions. You don't have any right to attack him because of what I did. Be mad at me; you don't even know him!"

I decided she was my shield.

"Edward knows him," Bella said matter-of-factly. "Edward knows he's a backstabbing son of a bitch."

I shook my head, slowly getting pissed off but trying to rein in my temper. If association with Edward made Nessie leave before I even had a chance to prove myself, I was going to kill him.

"If I cared what Edward said I wouldn't have come here in the first place. Clearly, I don't. So you can just get back in the car and leave me alone. I'll be home when I'm damn good and ready to come home."

Thank you, God.

"I am not leaving you here, Nessie. You could get hurt!" Bella suddenly softened, playing the concerned older sister instead of the pissed older sister. "What do you think Mom would say?" She made her eyes big and wide, trying to get Nessie to follow her. Nessie sighed, and her body tightened.

"Don't even, Bella," she said, her voice strained with anger. "If I was going to get hurt, it would have happened last night when we were all too drunk to care what was happening. Just get your ass out of here, and if you're lucky, you'll see me tomorrow."

But Bella wasn't giving up. "Maybe I should get Jasper out here to see what's going on?"

Nessie laughed without humor. "Fine, go ahead. Ask our brother to leave his wife and kids to come out here to see that his little sister is all grown up and knows how to make her own decisions."

Watching the girls go back and forth was almost like a watching tennis match while standing behind one of the contestants. Edward kept his place next to his car, just watching from a distance. I wondered briefly if he thought his girl was being too harsh on Nessie. Then I remembered he was the asshole who invented harsh. He was probably waiting for Bella to force Nessie to go with them. I tightened my hold on Nessie's shoulders, this time protectively.

"You think Jasper would condone this behavior?" Bella asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I know Jasper would at least try to get to know my boyfriend for himself before just accepting that what someone else says is true." Nessie looked pointedly at Edward for a moment.

Bella's mouth dropped, and I could almost see the steam shoot from her ears. "Your what?" she screeched.

"My boyfriend. You know, the man I am currently dating. I would think you would know what it meant since you have one yourself."

I held in my laughter; it wouldn't do any good to stoke the fire.

Bella stalked forward and grabbed Nessie's hand. Nessie pulled back, and I withdrew a few steps to pull her out of the way. Bella glared at me.

"You stay out of this," she spat. I pulled Nessie behind me, deciding I was done with the shield.

"She said to leave her alone; you need to leave." Nessie grabbed my arm tightly and peeked around me.

Bella narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath. Edward didn't like me challenging Bella; he came up to me and pushed Bella behind him like I'd done with Nessie.

"You can't tell her to leave," he said, trying to be menacing.

"I can. This is my property."

He looked down and swore to himself; the thought obviously hadn't crossed his mind. I knew him well enough to know he was deciding if it was worth it to fight me. He turned and looked at Bella.

"He's right; this is his property. If he says we have to leave, we have to leave."

"What about Nessie?" She sounded honestly concerned.

Edward turned back to me. "Give me the girl, and we'll leave."

I shook my head. "You sound like I'm keeping her here against her will. You heard her earlier; she wants to stay." Nessie's hands on my arm tightened. I pushed her back a little more in case Edward decided to get physical. I didn't want her to get hurt.

"What if I don't believe her?"

I was done playing diplomat. "Believe her or not; she's already said it. You have five minutes to get off my property."

"Or what?" Edward asked, testing my patience.

"You're trespassing, Edward. Use your imagination."

Edward huffed and turned back to Bella. I turned quickly to make sure Nessie was okay behind me. She smiled up at me, and I returned my attention to Edward.

Finally, Edward and Bella started walking back to the car. "I expect you to come home tonight, Nessie," Bella called, clearly not happy about having to leave her sister here.

Nessie didn't answer. When the car was finally out of sight, I turned around to pull Nessie against me.

"You okay?" I asked.

She hugged me back tightly. "Of course I am. Thank you." She stood on her toes to kiss me.

Embry and Quil were both standing at the door with Stacie and Claire in the house. They were prepared to back me up if something turned physical. It wouldn't have been the first time Edward came here to start trouble. They backed up and went to their girls as Nessie and I went inside.

Food forgotten, I took Nessie to the couch again, and she sat on my lap like before. It wasn't lost on me how close I'd come to losing her. I had no doubt that if Edward had wanted it badly enough, he could have convinced Nessie that I was the bad guy just like he'd convinced Bella. The thought of him turning Nessie against me made me want to keep her here with me forever just to make sure he never got his teeth in her. I wanted to prove to her that I wasn't the asshole Edward thought I was.

Nessie perched herself on my lap and kissed my neck. "I'm sorry, Jake," she said softly.

I kissed her forehead. "For what?"

She sat up a little and looked at me. "For all that. My sister's a little overprotective."

I shrugged. "It probably doesn't help that Edward's convinced her that I'm Satan."

She smiled sadly. "Why does he hate you so badly?"

I sighed. "Truthfully? I don't really know. We used to be good friends. All through high school, we were always together; we did everything together even though I went to school on the reservation and he went to Forks High. We both took the same college classes the last year of high school, and we both got the same degree in IT engineering. Then one day about five years ago, he's knocking down my door, yelling at me, and telling me I'm a backstabbing son of a bitch. He wouldn't tell me what the hell was going on, and he wouldn't let me defend myself. Eventually, I had to fight back just to get him to leave me the hell alone."

She rubbed her hand on my chin, and I remembered I needed to shave sometime soon. She smiled and laid her head on my shoulder.

"Maybe he just had a bad case of guy PMS or something."

I chuckled. "I don't know. He still won't tell me what the hell happened. Of course, I'm not idiot enough to try to ask either. I did try for about six months, but every time I saw him he'd attack me again—sometimes physically, sometimes just verbally. But I wasn't going to put up with it just to figure out what his problem was. I decided if he was done with me, I was done with him."

She nodded and kissed my neck. "I could ask him what happened if you want."

I laid my cheek on the top of her head. "I don't want you getting in the middle of it. Edward can be very cruel when he wants to be, and I don't want you to get hurt. Just please know that whatever happened, I never intended to hurt anyone."

She nodded and scratched my chin. It felt good. "I believe you, Jake."

I kissed her and took a deep breath. I realized slowly that the air smelled like eggs and sausage.

"Mm," Nessie said, lifting her head. "Someone's cooking."

I heard a giggle from the kitchen. "Damn straight," Claire said. "You want some, come get it before it's gone."

Thank God for Claire. My stomach growled, and Nessie kissed me quickly before hopping down and grabbing my hands. I followed her to the kitchen and let Nessie get her plate before I got mine. I sat next to her at the bar, and she smiled at me as she put a forkful of eggs in her mouth. We ate mostly in silence, just listening to the others. Suddenly, Nessie reached out and touched my fingers.

"Why 'wolf pack?'" she asked.

I shrugged. "Because we're stupid," I said through a mouthful of food.

Stacie smacked my arm as she passed behind me. "That's not why, Jake. Let Embry tell you. He tells it best."

"Yeah, but you're biased," I said.

She shrugged and sat by Embry at the table. Nessie smiled at me before turning to face Embry. Embry swallowed his bite and cleared his throat, sitting up straight like he was some kind of oracle about to tell the future of the world. I stifled a chuckle, and he glared at me before beginning.

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," he began. I rolled my eyes. "There was this small tribe in Washington called the Quileutes. Their chief and a few other elders were shape shifters, spirit warriors who were able to transform their physical form into wolves to scare off predators and keep other tribes from kicking their asses at war. Over the generations, the ability to shape shift has been lost, but the spirit of the wolf pack lingers."

Nessie turned to me. "Is that true?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't have made it so damn corny, but that's one of our tribe's legends."

Embry threw a piece of sausage at me. "Don't knock my awesome storytelling prowess."

"I'm the one who needs to worry about storytelling prowess; don't get your panties in a bunch." I picked up the sausage and tossed it back at him. He caught it before it could hit him.

"Why you?" Nessie asked me curiously.

I shrugged. "I'm sort of next in line for chief."

Her eyes widened, and she smiled hugely. "Really? That's so awesome."

What I had thought was a burden suddenly seemed less foreboding. Pride surged through me, and I felt like strutting.

"Thanks."

We all cleaned up our mess from breakfast and went out back to the site of the party last night. I took some sodas for everyone and sat down in a lawn chair. Nessie decided to sit by Stacie, and I didn't complain. I watched her for a minute as she talked. Claire was with them, and it made me happy that Nessie was being included with them.

"Who would have thought that the woman you get with when you're piss-ass drunk would be a woman you'd actually like when you're sober?" Quil asked as he sat down next to me.

I chuckled. "Lucky me, I guess."

"She seems nice. Genuine."

I nodded. "Did you get to talk to her at all last night?"

He shrugged. "A little. She was after the single guys, though. She seemed like she was on a mission until she met you."

I smiled and looked back over at her. The girls were laughing about something. Nessie glanced at me and smiled brightly before turning back to her conversation. I found myself smiling just because she was having a good time.

We hung out in the yard for a few hours, just bullshitting with each other until Stacie had to go home to get ready for work. Since Nessie had come with Stacie, she needed to leave too. She came over to me and sat on my lap.

"You could stay if you want," I said, running my hand through her hair. "I could take you home later. Or in the morning."

She smiled slyly. "You think you're going to get sex again?"

I smirked. "No, not really. But you could still stay here if you want."

She laid her head on my shoulder and sighed. "I'd like to, Jake, but I have to work tomorrow morning. If I don't go home tonight, I'm afraid I won't sleep."

I put my cheek on her head and tried not to think about the possibilities of what her comment could mean. "If you think it's best that you go home, I won't stop you. I'll miss you, though."

"I'll miss you, too."

She kissed me and got up to follow Stacie into the house. I sighed and got up to go with them, hoping for one more kiss before she left. I remembered something as I passed my room and ran in to grab it quickly. I turned on my cell phone as I walked back into the living room. Nessie hugged my waist, and I kissed the top of her head.

"You know what? I think there's something wrong with my phone," I said, holding back my smirk. Nessie looked up at me, one eyebrow raised.

"What?"

"Your number's not in it."

She smiled and rolled her eyes a little, taking a step back to hold her hand out for the phone. I gave it to her, and she programmed her number into it.

"I also called my phone, so I have your number now, too." She smiled brightly and gave the phone back.

I hugged her tightly and kissed her again before letting her go. "Call me when you get off work. Or whenever," I said, following her to the car. She smiled and nodded.

"I will. I get off at four, so I'll call you when I get home."

I got one more kiss before she got in the car and slowly made my way back into the house.