Jacob watched silently as Nessie pulled off her shirt, revealing a nearly nonexistent swim-suit top. The bright sunlight glinted off of her skin, similar to the way it did to her parents, but not enough to draw attention and cause her to have to hide from the sun.

Flipping her strawberry-blonde curls, Nessie turned around and eyed Jacob up with a playful smile. Then she grinned, and her legs bent in the tell-tale sign that she was about to do something random and exciting.

"Beat you to the water," she said, turning and racing off across the sand. Jacob scrambled to his feet, causing a whirlwind of sand around him, and took off after her. He caught her by the waist at the water's edge and she laughed, splashing water at him with her foot, effectively soaking the leg of her jeans. Jacob spluttered and let go of Nessie as the salty water got in his mouth. Gross.

Then it started to rain. No, not just rain, but completely downpour, so that Jacob's hair was divested of its usual gel and spikes and hung in a depressing, dripping way in front of his eyes. He sighed. Such was life in Forks, Washington. Nessie had the nerve to laugh at him. He pouted. She splashed him again.

"Ooh, you're gonna get it!" Jacob growled, and he sloshed through the water and grabbed Nessie around the waist, tossing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Shrieking with laughter the whole time, Nessie kicked and screamed all the way back to Jacob's truck. He opened the passenger-side door and dumped Nessie on the seat so that she landed in a highly ungraceful heap. On her back. With Jacob over her. Jacob gulped. That wasn't exactly what he'd intended to do.

But Nessie took it in her stride, leaning up on her elbows and pecking Jacob lightly on the lips. Jacob blushed deeply and gave her a goofy grin. Nessie giggled and looped her arms around Jacob's neck, pulling him down with her as she kissed him again, this time deeper.

When they parted, Jacob was grinning again. He really, really, really loved kissing Nessie. Almost as much as he loved Nessie herself. But he could never love anybody or anything that much. It just wasn't werewolf-ly possible. Nessie only laughed again at his expression and smacked him playfully on the shoulder, even as she scooted backward to get all the way inside the car.

Jacob crawled in after, hooking the back of his foot under the armrest on the door to close it as he did so. Jacob was really on top of Nessie now, not that either of them minded. Nessie's head was lying on the driver's seat, her hair fanned out around her perfect face. The small of her back rested on the storage box between the two seats, and her bottom on the passenger's.

Jacob was straddling Nessie's waist, just high enough so that he couldn't see her legs at all, but just low enough that he could see every last millimetre of her smooth stomach. The top of his head was almost touching the ceiling of the truck, and it would've been if he'd been sitting up straight. As it were, Jacob was leaning forward slightly, enthralled with Nessie's breathing, and the spark in her eyes.

With a mischievous grin, Nessie put her arms above her head (in a very inviting type of way) and winked. Jacob's grin widened…

…

Jacob was carrying Nessie over his shoulder again. They were both laughing. A lot. And Nessie was kicking him again, and he didn't mind at all. He was now officially in a Very Good Mood.

The door of the Cullen house banged open, as Jacob Black had just kicked it that way. The pair of them, giggling and laughing and really having a time of it, proceeded to drip extreme amounts of water all over the floor of the entry way. Edward couldn't find it in him not to glare.

Seeming to shrink several feet under the look Edward was giving him, Jacob let Nessie slide from his grip, landing on her feet, perfect, like always. With a gulp Jacob pointed behind him at the door.

"It's raining," he croaked.

"Indeed," Edward replied dryly, with a raised eyebrow. At that precise moment, perfectly, like always, Alice raced down the stares, took Nessie by the shoulders and sniffed her.

"Golly, you smell," she told her sort-of niece. Edward groaned and, throwing up his arms in defeat, he left the room. Loudly. Giggling like mad, Alice and Nessie ran back up the stares, presumably to one of their rooms, holding hands and… Was that – did she just skip?

Just before the two "girls" left the upstairs landing, Jacob heard Alice say, "God, you're going to have to shower before you tell me about it. You really smell." Jacob watched as the two disappeared, giggling some more. He sighed, not knowing whether to be insulted or extremely thankful. Alice had saved him. Once again.