A/N: I've decided not to include imprinting in my story- I don't really like the concept of it and loads of people have already written the "Jacob imprinted on Bella" story so I didn't want to copy, hence why it says "Sam and Leah" in chapter one. Also, the Jacob in my story has short hair. I don't find long hair attractive so I was finding it difficult writing about how amazing he looks when he has a ponytail! Please review, I thrive off them and value your opinions. Thank you. Enjoy!

Chapter 3 – Coming Home

I had to see Jacob. I had planned to see Edward today but... my cell phone suddenly started ringing. I checked the caller ID before flipping it open but there was no need, I knew who it was.

"Hello Edward," I sighed.

"Hello Bella," Edward's voice was a little sharper than usual. "Alice has just informed me that your future has disappeared. I take it that you no longer have plans to see me today?"

Damn it Alice! You couldn't keep anything from that girl and it was extremely frustrating. "I'm sorry but I really need to see Jacob," I said gently. "I haven't seen him in a while and want to catch up."

Edward growled down the phone.

"Please," I begged. "I can see you later on... we'll do something special okay?"

My words were greeted with a long silence and I guessed that Edward was deliberating whether or not to come to my house and prevent me from going to La Push.

"Okay," his velvety voice eventually replied. There was still a noticeable stiffness in his tone but it seemed softer now. "But be careful Bella. And call me to let me know that you're safe. I hate that Alice is blind when it comes to him. I like to keep an eye on you."

"Yes I know you do," I snapped. "But there's nothing dangerous about Jacob and you can't always be watching out for me. If there is any danger in La Push Jacob will be perfectly able to protect me."

I heard him murmur something in a voice that was too low for me to hear but I imagined that it had something to do with Jacob being a young, out of control werewolf. "I'm sorry Bella, you know that I just want to keep you safe," he paused. "Have a good time with Jacob."

"Really?" I said, shocked that I had gotten my way so easily. "Err... thanks. Don't worry about me okay? I'll be fine"

"You know I will worry Bella."

"I know... but don't. I love you."

"I love you too. See you later."

The line went dead. That went more smoothly than I had anticipated! I threw my list to one side and leapt out of bed, rushing to the bathroom. Charlie's bedroom door was open and his room was empty meaning that he had already left for an early shift at work. Though Edward had given me permission to see Jacob I still felt the need to rush before he changed his mind. I showered quickly, lathering my hair with strawberry shampoo and scrubbing my skin. I ran back into my bedroom wrapped in a towel with another in a turban on my head and began frantically searching my wardrobe for something appropriate to wear. But what did you wear for an "I-think-I-might-secretly-love-you-just-want-to-check-and-see" occasion? Eventually I settled for a pair of dark jeans that hugged my curves and a tight black top. I threw on a sweater for good measure as the rain was still lashing down against my window. Normally I wouldn't make much of an effort with my appearance when I was going to see Jacob as we usually ended up going for a ride on our bikes and getting filthy, but today it felt fitting to at least blow dry my hair before leaving the house. I brushed my teeth furiously and hurtled down the stairs, almost breaking my neck as my foot slipped on the last step. I grasped the banister to save myself from falling, realising how fast my heart was racing.

Calm down! I thought to myself as I into the kitchen but at the thought of food my stomach churned uncomfortably and I decided that breakfast maybe wasn't the best idea in my current state. Quickly shrugging on a raincoat I ran out to my truck, slamming the front door behind me with a little too much enthusiasm.

I turned the key and my truck roared to life. The familiar inside of the truck made me feel a little calmer, the drone of the engine was comforting as I sped down the dark, winding roads to La Push, constantly checking my rear view mirror to make sure that I wasn't being followed by a silver Volvo. I was unsettled about how calm Edward had been when I told him that I was visiting Jacob, maybe he was finally beginning to trust him with me. I instantly felt a wave of guilt rush over me. What was I expecting from my visit to Jacob's house? An epiphany? A sudden realisation of how much I loved him? Or just the confirmation that I needed... that he was just a friend and nothing more. I didn't even want to admit to myself that I was doubting my relationship with Edward but I had to make sure that I had made the right choice before... before it was too late to go back.

My truck pulled up in front of the red, wooden house and I cut the engine. My heart was thudding uncomfortably and my stomach was twisting with nerves. This feeling was familiar when associated with Edward but not with Jacob. I had never had any reason to feel nervous with Jacob before. I sat in my truck for a few minutes focussing on breathing normally, my hand grasping the cold door handle. Eventually I plucked up the courage to get out of the truck, shut the door quietly behind me and walked slowly up to the door, mud squelching beneath my trainers. I knocked twice and waited. Billy answered.

"Bella?" he said in his gruff voice, his expression politely puzzled. "I wasn't expecting you. Little early don't you think?"

My face fell, I had been in such a rush that I hadn't even checked the time before I ran out of the house. The sun was only just beginning to rise and I was now painfully aware of how it was obviously an unsociable hour. "What time is it?" I blushed, embarrassed at my stupidity.

"Not quite 7 yet, I've only just got up but Jake is still asleep. Come in." He wheeled away from the door and I followed him inside. The house was dim and cramped, the light from a single lamp in the corner was struggling to reach the far corners of the room.

"I'm really sorry Billy. I'm such an idiot I didn't even check my watch or think to call before I came down." I took off my soaking coat and hung it on a peg beside the door.

"Don't worry about it Bella," Billy smiled, heeding my obvious embarrassment. "Go wake him up if you like." He took in my reluctant expression. "He has to get up soon anyway and work on his car. Something's gone wrong with the head gasket."

I grimaced, Billy knew how little I knew about cars. He may as well have spoken a foreign language. I nodded and walked towards Jacob's room, slowly pushing open the door and tiptoeing inside. The small room was warm and cosy, slightly lighter than the living room because the windows faced the sun. Jacob was sprawled across the bed, snoring softly. His face looked so peaceful and content. I made a mental note to add the fact that Jacob could sleep to my list back at home. It was a nice characteristic to have after all. I sat down on the bed and stroked his arm that was laid outside of his bed sheets.

"Jake," I whispered. He grumbled and rolled over onto his side so that he was facing me though his eyes did not open. I bent lower to his ear and whispered his name again. His eyes still remained closed. He grumbled again, lifted the sheets away from his body, grasped me in his arms and pulled me towards his bare chest. I let out a small squeal of surprise.

"Err, Jake." I hadn't been expecting this. He was swelteringly hot and I was still wearing a jumper. I felt myself begin to sweat.

"Shup Bells. Sleep," he mumbled, snuggling into me closer. I couldn't help but smile, it was undoubtedly sweet but also uncomfortably hot.

I struggled against his vice like grasp. "Jake you have to get up."

He grunted in retort. "Jake!" I exclaimed loudly. He jumped and let go of me.

"Huh? Bells what are you doing in my bed?" he looked puzzled and sleepy.

"You pulled me in!" I laughed pushing him away and freeing myself from the sheets, resuming my sitting position on the side of the bed. I could tell that my face was red though I didn't know if it was due to the heat or the fact that I was extremely embarrassed.

"Oh..." he mumbled and sat up, yawning and stretching his long arms. "Sorry about that." He grinned and I could tell that he wasn't even remotely sorry for what he had done. I couldn't help but realise how adorable he looked. His eyes were puffy with sleep, his dark hair was tousled and messy and he was wearing my favourite smile, despite the fact that I had roused him from his dreams.

"I'm sorry that I woke you. I wanted to see you but I didn't check the time before I left and... well Billy said you had to get up anyway to fix your hard basket."

Jacob let out a snort of laughter. "You mean the head gasket?"

I flushed again, god this blush was such an annoying trait! "Yeah, that's what I said."

He seemed to calm down after a couple of minutes. "Aw your ignorance is cute Bells," he reached out to stroke my cheek. "I do have to work on the Rabbit all day though so I'm not going to be much fun."

"No that's great," I grinned, genuinely meaning what I had said. I enjoyed watching Jacob work, his large hands were so skilful and... precise. I suddenly thought of them running slowly up my thighs, teasing my legs apart so that he could touch me. I stiffened.

"You ok?" he frowned.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. You want some breakfast?" I got up abruptly in my desperation to leave the bedroom, tripping over my feet in the haste.

"Whoa!"Jacob leapt out of the bed and caught me before I hit the floor so that I was laid in his arms in a Hollywood kiss pose. "Gotta be more careful Bells." He tapped me on the nose with his finger playfully and stood me up. I swayed slightly. "And maybe you should stay off the morning booze in future," he added, grinning.

I was suddenly aware that he was only wearing boxer shorts. His long, muscular torso was exposed, a small line of hair trailed from his bellybutton teasingly hiding under the waistband of his grey boxers. I pulled my eyes away with great difficulty. "Get dressed! I'll make pancakes," I said quickly as I stumbled out of the room, leaving him chuckling behind me.

I bustled around the small, cluttered kitchen preparing the pancake mixture and trying to keep my mind occupied with thoughts about things other than Jacob's half naked body. By the time Jacob had showered and dressed I had laid out 20 fat pancakes on a plate in the middle of the dining table.

"Lush!" Jacob sat down and began wolfing them down. Though I had not eaten since last night my appetite was nonexistent and I nibbled on the corner of one pancake quietly, my stomach still churning uncomfortably with nerves. Billy joined us at the table and helped himself to three pancakes while Jacob ate the other 16. They both thanked me profusely before I jumped up and said "right lets work on the car!" Jacob eyed me with amusement. "Okay, you go work on the car and I'll sit and distract you," I grinned.

The garage was small and dirty but also homely and familiar. Jacob drew me up a box to sit on, placing a clean blanket on it in a most gentlemanly fashion for me to sit on. I watched him handling some strange looking metal objects whose purpose was a mystery to me, fixing them together and tinkering with his car. We sat for a couple of hours, chatting casually about innocent subjects like school, the pack, movies and where we should next go to ride our bikes. My feelings of nervousness had almost evaporated. It was just a normal day with Jacob, the dream and my confusion forgotten until...

"So Bells," Jacob started as he placed a metal object onto another metal object and screwed them together. "What are you doing here?" He looked at me, smiling. We both seemed to smile a lot when we were together and I felt happier and lighter than I had done in days.

"No reason, just wanted to see you," I lied, looking away from him and picking my fingernails.

"Okay," he said slowly. "You just seemed kinda awkward and you showed up real early!"

I hesitated, nervousness creeping back into my stomach. "I just had this dream and I couldn't sleep afterwards," I confessed, pleading that he wouldn't ask what the dream was about. I hadn't meant to let that piece of information slip.

"What was it about?" he asked.

Crap! I hesitated again. "Nothing really, just... I don't remember."

I blushed, still not looking at him and pretending to be very interested in my fingernails. He smirked and got up to wipe his hands on an old rag that lay on a box next to me. "You sure?" he said sitting down.

He was uncomfortably close now. I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. Already over hot, I peeled off my jumper hurriedly and threw it to one side.

"Yep" I said, my lips wrapping around the "p" forcefully.

He reached over and a large, warm hand on my knee. "You know you can tell me anything Bells."

I sighed, dropping my head. "No I can't Jake."

"Why?" he persisted, bending his head and trying to catch my eye. "Did something happen?" His voice was suddenly hard and serious. "Did he hurt you?"

"No!" I said, more loudly than was necessary. "I mean... no, Jake that's not it. Nothing has happened."

He seemed to relax slightly beside me. "Okay, so what is it?"

Jake was always annoyingly persistent and I knew that was his youthful arrogance shining through, maybe a point to add to his short list of cons. I was beginning to regret ever bringing up the dream at all.

"It's just..." I stammered. "I've been thinking... I mean... Argh forget it!"

I got up quickly and strode towards the garage door but Jacob shot in front of me, blocking my way with his tall form. Never try to outrun a werewolf, I thought bitterly. His large hands grasped my shoulders. "Bella, you've made it pretty clear that you have something you want to stay. You know that you can tell me anything... I won't bite," he added, flashing his perfect white teeth at me.

I smiled shyly. My heart was thudding again from the combined forces of Jacob's touch and the words that were bubbling up uncontrollably in my throat. Suddenly I could contain them no longer and they burst out of my mouth.

"Dunnoifmaderightdecision," I gushed in a rushed jumble, my face reddening furiously. I looked down at my feet, determined to not make contact with Jacob's large brown eyes.

He snorted. "Erm, Bells I know I have superhuman hearing and all but that was impossible to translate! Say it again, more slowly."

I breathed in deeply. I couldn't believe that I was actually considering telling him about how I felt. What good would it do? Apart from land me in a huge mess. But yet again, the words seemed to come out of my mouth as if I had no control over them at all. "I... I don't know... if I," I was still stammering hopelessly. "I don't know if I made the right decision."

He paused for a while, extremely still. "The right decision about what?" His voice was soft, tentative.

I finally willed myself to look up into his eyes, losing myself in their depths. His breath was hot on my skin. He was very close, our bodies were almost touching. "You know what Jacob."

He stared back at me, his black eyebrows were pulled into a frown. His mind seemed to be working hard to work out what I meant, as though he already knew but was scared to think it unless he was wrong. "I don't understand."

Yet again, the truth seemed to spill from me, desperate to get out. I spoke quickly. "I always thought of you as my friend, my best friend, and nothing more than that. I felt horrible for what I did to you, for leaving you behind. But when Edward came back I was so happy and all I wanted to do was to be with him." Jacob's body stiffened, his hands grasped my shoulders harder. "But then last night I had a dream. And you were in it... but you were different. You were more than my friend. And now... now I'm all confused about everything. I don't know if I made the right choice and it's all a huge mess." I buried my head into his chest. He smelled of engine oil and earth, like Jacob. I could hear his heart beating, hear his rapid breathing.

"I'm sorry Jake," my words muffled into his shirt. I could feel the tears beginning to rise in my eyes. "I've been such an..."

But the rest of my sentence was obscured. Jacob had lifted my head and was kissing me, hard and rough. His lips were so warm that mine, which were so accommodated to cold, hard lips being pressed against them, burned. His strong arms pulled me in closer to his muscular body, his hands were tangled in my hair, running down my back, grasping my ass firmly. My inhibitions were left behind me and all I felt was longing, caught up in the passion of our kiss. His hot tongue rubbed against mine, our lips moving in synchronisation, moulded into each other as though they were meant to fit together. Kissing him was like coming home, like I had been asleep for the past year and was only just waking up, realising that what I had wanted had been right in front of me the entire time. I held him as tightly as I could, my neck angled upwards so that I could reach his lips that were usually so far above me. My hand moved up his body, feeling his muscles through his soft, grey shirt until I reached his short black hair which I ran my fingers through, pulling on it lightly. My heart was beating profusely as we kissed even harder. We staggered over to the Rabbit, still locked together and he pressed me against the door, pushing his body into mine. He broke out of the kiss to look deeply into my eyes.

"I love you," he breathed and began to flutter soft kisses on my neck and across my jaw. His lips returned to mine and his hands pushed up my t shirt so that he could feel my skin. They grasped my hips, moving slowly upwards into my waist, upwards even further so that they were on my breasts and he cupped his hands over my bra. He began to slowly caress them and I groaned at his touch.

I slid my hands under his shirt, desperate to feel more of his body and touch his warm, soft skin. My hands ventured below the waist of his jeans and I grabbed his ass tightly. He groaned into my mouth. I could feel his arousal pressed against me, as long and hard and I had imagined in my dream. I was coming undone, my centre was aching for his hands to touch me.

I wanted him... all of him.

My mind was blissfully blank, free of all thought apart from the perfect kiss that we were locked in. I didn't even care about Edward.

Shit! Edward! I pulled away from Jacob, though my hips were still pressed against his.

"No Bells," he groaned deeply. "Don't stop." And he kissed me again. I moaned. There was no part of me that wanted to stop. His hard arousal was still pressed against me, my centre longed for it. But I broke free of his kiss and bit my lip. The temptation to throw myself back at him was so great that I had to avoid his eyes, knowing that his stare would turn me into putty.

"I can't Jake," I moaned, the words coming from my head- the part of me that was trying to think rationally. My heart on the other hand was trying desperately to pull me back into Jacob's warm embrace. "I want to so badly. But it's not right. I have Edward. I can't take this any further until I've had time to think about everything properly."

He lifted my chin gently with his hand and planted a soft kiss on my lips. He hugged me close to him as if he never wanted to let me go. He didn't need to say anything. Words were meaningless. I knew that he understood.

"So tell me," he said, breaking the hug after a few short minutes. "What exactly happened in that dream of yours?" His straight teeth were grinning at me. I smacked him playfully on the arm and we both broke into fits of laughter.