A special 'thank you' to all my readers, that review. I really appreciate people telling me what they think about my story and whether it's good or not. Although I write to amuse myself, I love to know if other people share my same sense of humor. As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Chapter 7:

It had been a very long night, I thought. I barely slept a wink. Listening to wolves, in theory, was great. I'd even go as far as to say I love the sound of wolves on New Moon's CDs, but I discovered something pivotal last night…too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

All I heard last night was wolves. Or rather, all I heard last night was one wolf that wouldn't stop howling. It drove me to the brink of insanity. Don't get me wrong, the howls were beautiful, poetic really, but not at four in the morning when I'm trying to get my beauty rest.

Ugh, I moaned, rolling my shoulders back and forth. All I wanted to do was go back to bed and sleep until noon. No, instead I'm outside in the freezing cold, stretching in preparation for my run.

Why did I have to be born one of those rare creatures that can't sleep past noon, even if I haven't slept at all the night before?

It wasn't fair.

Oh well, I thought, getting ready to start my run. Nothing in life is fair.

Ignoring my cynical thoughts, I started running down the main street. Without realizing it, until I approached a familiar curve, I noticed that I was heading in the direction of the reservation.

Great, maybe I'll run into Kim or Claire.

Or maybe Paul?

Oh boy, here I go again. Wasn't it bad enough that he was on my mind all night; couldn't my imagination just give me a break?

I tried refocusing by thinking of the last book I read. I got half way through the thought before I realized I was thinking of how similar Paul was to the hero in the story.

I should just give up. Say 'to hell with it' and kiss him passionately the next time I see him.

Yah right! He'd probably shove me away and this time he really would get that restraining order. That's not even mentioning how Ana would react. She'd probably disown me.

How did my life become such a soap opera? I started laughing, it stopped me from crying.

"Whatcha laughing about?" came a voice to my right.

I screamed, jumping towards the middle of the road.

"What the hell! Why do you guys keep doing THAT?" I shrieked once I realized it was Paul and not some demented killer out to stab me.

He had the nerve to laugh. I glared, "It isn't funny! I could die prematurely because of shock!'

He laughed harder.

"Stop!" I yelled striding towards him.

He ignored me, choosing to sit on the pavement and hold his stomach instead.

I was so angry, I wanted to kick him. So I did.

The pain that shot through my leg was intense. "Ow!" I howled, bracing my foot, jumping up and down. "What are you, made of steel?"

Still laughing, Paul got up. "You poor baby, let me see."

"No," I said childishly, putting pressure on my foot because it hurt like a mother. "Ow," I sniffed a little.

"Let me see," he ordered.

I ignored him.

"Talliah," he said my name a little too sharply. "Let me see your foot."

I would have stuck to my guns, but it was at that moment that I noticed Paul didn't have a shirt on. I immediately sat down.

"Damn it," Paul said, as he walked towards me. "Let me see your foot."

This time I just sat there dumbly, letting him do whatever he wanted. I couldn't speak, all I could do was stare. He was magnificent. He was like a bronze statue, I wanted to poke him to see if he was real. I fought the urge.

Barely.

There was sweat on his chest. I groaned.

"What?" asked a worried Paul. "Did that hurt when I touched you there?"

I closed my eyes, focusing on leveling my breathing. The last thing I needed was for him to hear me panting.

I felt trembling by my foot. Was that me? I opened my eyes and saw Paul looking down at my foot that he was holding, he was shaking.

Was he still laughing at me? I glared, but the wind was taken out of my sails when I noticed the concerned wrinkles on his forehead.

"Hey," I said, placing my hand on his. "Are you okay?"

"You're asking if I'm okay?" he said, shaking harder.

"Yah," I said, taking of my jacket.

"What are you doing?" he looked at me with confusion.

"You have to get warm," I stated the obvious. "You're shaking."

His hand stilled on my foot. "I'm fine, keep your jacket on."

"No you're not," I said, trying to reach his shoulders with my jacket.

"Talliah, put you're jacket back on." he said, shivering again.

I ignored him.

He touched my face with the back of his hand. "See, I'm warm. Now put your jacket on before you catch hypothermia."

I barely understood a word he was saying. I was distracted by the fact that he had never before touched my face until now. His hand was very warm and I more than liked it on my face. I wanted him to put his hand on my face more often.

What was I saying? Over half the female population wanted that very same thing, what made me so special?

Evidently nothing because he just ignored me and went on looking at my foot.

"Do you think you can walk on it?"

What? Oh yah, my foot. I turned it, it hurt a little, but nothing I couldn't live with. "It's okay," I shrugged. "I'll survive."

He stood up and before I knew it, he was hauling me up alongside him. He had me positioned, so that I was leaning most of my weight on him. This wouldn't have been a problem but both of our bodies were lined up against one another.

If one could faint from their imagination alone, I would have been down for the count.

"Talliah," Paul barked beside me. "Pay attention."

"Wh…what," I stuttered, just now remembering that this sexy body also had a sexy voice.

He grinned at me. "What were you thinking?"

I blushed.

He laughed and totally shocked me by grabbing a strand of my hair. "I love it when I catch you thinking about me."

"Wh..what," I stuttered again, I was starting to wonder if it was becoming a habit.

"You heard me," he whispered, near my face.

Before I could reply, he said, "I think I'm going to take you to Sam and Emily's. They're some friends that live close by."

Trying to pretend that the previous conversation didn't happen, I asked, "Wait, are you talking about Sam, as in your manager Sam?"

He grinned, "The one and only."

Looking down at my workout clothes, I suddenly understood how Ana felt the day she was going to meet the band members. "I can't meet him dressed up like this and all sweaty."

He made a weird face and started sniffing the air around me, "Yah, you are kind of stinky."

I glared, but instead of hitting or kicking him, I used his own sarcasm against him. "Thank you for understanding, I'll just have to meet them some other time," I smiled sweetly.

His eyes narrowed.

I kept smiling.

"You're going," he said, as if he was my boss.

"HA," I fake laughed in his face. "I don't think so."

He rolled his eyes. "Come on," he said, moving us in the direction, that I assumed, was Sam and Emily's house.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" I asked, putting all my effort into dragging my feet. It didn't help though, Paul must have been made a machine, because my efforts didn't faze him.

"Yah," he said pulling me. "But you'll enjoy yourself once you get there."

My temper sparked and I opened my mouth to argue, but he beat me to it. "Stop dragging your feet, it's useless."

Who did he think he was? He can't just drag me where ever he pleased. I wasn't some…some…some whatever the hell thing that gets dragged behind people is called!

"Ah, excuse me?" I said very, very calmly. "There's this thing called FREE WILL!" I shouted.

He stopped, turning around to get a better look at me. "Please?" He said with the deepest puppy dog eyes. "I really want you to meet them. They're like…my older siblings."

I was goo.

Putty in the damn man's hands. I nodded, to afraid that if I moved or said anything, I would rip his clothes of right here and now.

He smiled and moved his hand that was holding my arm, so that it was now holding my hand.

I stopped breathing when he squeezed it.

Was it possible to die from happiness? Or at least pass out? I definantly think I was one small step away from fainting.

I Talliah, little Miss No One, was walking down a deserted road holding Paul's hand. His HAND!

I wonder what he'd do if I squeezed his hand back. I blushed, just thinking about it. I better not; he really would think I was obsessed. Not that I wasn't, but I was really trying to keep that embarrassing little fact to myself.

Oh my gosh! What if I tripped and accidently squeezed his hand, but he didn't know I tripped? So then he would think that I actually was flirting with him by squeezing his hand! My mind went spastic, just thinking about that possibility.

My over active imagination finally helped though, because instead of thinking about Paul and his near naked, sexy, scrumptious, delicious body during our trek to Sam's house; I focused on watching every obstacle in my path and trying to master the art of complete stillness in my hand. That way, I wouldn't accidently squeeze his hand and have Paul think I'm an uncontrollable flirt.

How I made it there, I'll never know. All I did know, is that it was the longest friggin walk of my life.

"You'll love Emily," Paul said, squeezing my hand again.

I whimpered.

Paul's head whipped around. "What's wrong?"

I stilled, "Nothing."

His eyes narrowed and he started trembling. "Are you lying? Has your foot been hurting this entire time?" His voice was getting louder with every word.

My eyes narrowed as well. "Don't use that tone of voice with me," I said, and flicked his chest to get my point across.

He stared down at where I had touched him.

"Did you just…flick me?"

I blushed a little. "Well kicking doesn't help."

He threw his head back and roared with laughter.

I tried glaring but the effort was lost when he'd stop laughing, then look at my face and start roaring all over again.

"It wasn't that funny." I murmured, more to myself than to him.

It was then that the door swung open and four people were on the other side staring, in wonder, at Paul. I recognized Kim immediately and gave her a fast smile. The other woman must have been Emily and the men I recognized as Sam and Jared from the band New Moon.

"Is that really Paul?" Jared said from the doorway.

"Jared," both Kim and the other woman warned.

"Hi," greeted the other woman, with a smile. "I'm Emily, you must be Talli. I've heard so much about you."

I smiled nervously, "Yes, I'm Talli." Then I looked over at Paul, who was just chuckling now, "And when Paul isn't constantly bruising my ego, by laughing at me, he tells me about you to."

She smiled.

"I'd love to know what was so funny," commented Kim, still looking at Paul in amazement.

I rolled my eyes. "Paul laughs to much, he needs to be more serious."

Four heads whipped around and stared at me as if I was from Mars.

"Is she serious?" Jared asked.

"I'm afraid so," replied Kim.

"Leave her alone." Paul said, putting his hand on my lower back.

The warmth from his hand immediately started to spread throughout my body.

"Move, so we can get in," he said to them, using his hand to push me towards the door.

When we got into the house, the smell of something frying assaulted me. "Mhmm, whatever you're cooking smells delicious."

My belly rumbled in agreement.

Emily laughed, "It sounds that way."

I started to smile at her, but was caught off guard when I saw the other side of her face.

I inhaled sharply. Emily was the same woman from the gas station.

The one, where I had met Kim, on the day of the kissing booth. She was the woman I had compared to the 'Mona Lisa.'

"Emily?" I asked. It felt like the entire room tensed when I said her name.

"Hmm," she smiled, but it wasn't very convincing, she looked apprehensive.

"Do you need any help with the food?"

"I'd love some," she smiled.

"Great," I said, following her into the kitchen, as I unzipped my jacket.