Thank you as always to everyone for reading and reviewing. You might recognise a little scene from the beginning of New Moon in this chapter, you know the one where Edward walks across the parking lot in slow motion towards Bella? Only he's not walking to Bella, obviously :P
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jacob's POV
It was ten days since I had heard anything from Edward. He had been texting me a couple of times a week letting me know how he was doing and we talked on the phone at the weekends. Except this last week I had heard nothing from him. I guess I should have called him, but I was torn between wanting to support him and not wanting him to feel pressured by me. Half of me thought that he did like me, while the other half was convinced he just needed somebody - anybody - to be there for him and that we would only ever be friends. This made me sad because somehow during the last few weeks, even though we hadn't seen each other, I was falling for him. I had told myself not to get involved, that he was too broken and didn't even know if he could really be attracted to a guy, but I hadn't been able to help myself. I had certainly come a very long way from practically hating him and being irritated by the way I had ended up having to help him out several times. Now I couldn't seem to get him out of my mind and I longed to see him.
"Jake!"
I jumped at the sound of Seth's voice. He had been working for me for the past couple of weeks, since I had gotten busier lately and he had been laid off after the explosion at the factory where he worked. He'd been lucky he hadn't been working the night-shift - a lot of people were badly injured. He made a good apprentice and I was glad to be employing someone I already knew and got on with so well.
"What?" I grunted.
"You're miles away. Anywhere nice?"
"Just thinking. What did you want?"
"Embry's here. Fender hanging off, looks like he hit something."
At that moment Embry walked in, a sour look on his face. "Fucking elk ran in front of my car," he grumbled. "Look at the state of it! God knows what it was doing down here, it must be lost of something."
"You can't have hit it very hard, it didn't do that much damage," I said, glancing over at his car which had a crease in the hood and a smashed headlight as well as the fender.
"I didn't hit it, I hit a fence trying to avoid it."
"What are you doing out of work this early anyway?" I asked him.
"Day off. When do you think you can fix me up?"
"I'll have to order the parts, couple of days I should think. I'll call now, they'll probably be in Thursday morning. Borrow the Rabbit if you want, Em, until it's done."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I don't really use it any more." I went to get him the keys to the small car which I kept in the little office I had built in the corner of the garage. I dug around in a drawer of disorganised invoices, knowing they were in there somewhere. The sound of an engine outside indicated the arrival of another customer and I called out to Seth to see to them.
"Fuck me!" I heard Embry exclaim a moment later as I finally found the keys.
"What?" I headed out of the office to find Embry and Seth both staring out of the garage, presumably at whoever had parked outside out of my line of vision.
"Edward Cullen's here," Seth said with a smirk. "He's kind of hot, too. How did that happen?"
My heart began to bang against my ribs and my mouth went dry. Shit, I shouldn't feel this excited over someone I hadn't seen in a month, who probably wouldn't want the same thing I did, but I couldn't help it. I walked over to the guys and gave Embry the keys, peering outside as I did so. Both of them knew now that I had been on a date with Edward and that we had decided to just be friends for the moment as he wasn't over Bella.
Now I watched as Edward hovered beside his Volvo, its door standing open. He was wearing charcoal dress pants and a dark green shirt, his chaotic hair looking as if he had been tugging at it all afternoon and his glasses perched on his nose, making him look oddly cute rather than geeky. He dragged a hand through his hair and then took the glasses off, put them inside the car and closed the door.
"Guys..." I looked from Seth to Embry. "Will you just...hell, disappear for a few minutes."
"Can't we watch?" grinned Embry.
I growled something unintelligible and to my relief they disappeared to the back of the garage and out of the rear door to the shed I kept the Rabbit in.
Edward was still hesitating beside his car, but now he seemed to shake himself before turning towards me. He looked slightly worried as he began to walk the thirty or so yards from where he had parked and I bit my lip as I watched. As corny as it sounds, it was like one of those movie moments where the hero stands waiting for the object of his desire to reach him. He seemed to be walking in slow motion towards me, dropping his eyes after a moment as a shy smile gradually curved his lips up at the corners. I took in everything in those few seconds - the way he had filled out so that he no longer looked half-starved, his face chiselled rather than hollow and having more colour to it, his eyes bright as they finally lifted again to meet mine a moment before he halted maybe four feet away. My mouth went dry. He looked so different, mainly physically, but I could see that he was different inside too. He looked amazing.
"Hello, Jacob," he said softly.
"Hey, Edward. It's good to see you." I tried to behave normally, but to my ears I sounded out of breath and I jammed my hands into my pockets to stop myself reaching out to touch him, which I was longing to do. This had the added benefit of disguising the fact that my cock was beginning to react to him with sudden eagerness.
"You too."
"How are you? You look really good."
He lowered his eyes again and a faint blush coloured his cheeks. "I feel good. I meant to call at the weekend, but..." He stopped and shrugged. "Anyway, I thought I'd just come over instead."
He looked up again slowly and licked his lips. I couldn't take my eyes off his mouth. I was surprised by the strength of feeling which was bubbling up inside me and I licked my own lips and swallowed.
"I'm glad you did," I said. "I missed you."
'Shit, what did you say that for?' I thought. 'Make it obvious, why don't you?'
"Um...well..." Edward cleared his throat. "So...um...I was wondering if we could maybe...ah...try that dinner date again. You know the one that I messed up by being...um...messed up?"
"You really want to give it another try?" I asked in surprise.
"Only if you want to." He bit his lip for a second before letting it slip from between his teeth and smiling again. His cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink. God, he was cute. Wrong word. Hot.
"I'd really like that. How about tonight?" I said.
"Sure."
"I'm almost finished up here, if you want to hang around while I get cleaned up we can head out to Forks," I suggested, not wanting to let him out of my sight now he was here. It was almost five and I could certainly get away with closing up my own business an hour early.
"Ok." He smiled dazzlingly and waited while I hurried out the back to find Embry and Seth.
"Seth, lock up, will you?" I said. "I'm done for the day."
"Oh?" He grinned and raised his eyebrows.
"You're not going out with him again, are you?" Embry asked.
"Yes."
"You know what happened last time."
"Nothing happened last time; he just wasn't ready, that's all."
"What makes you think he is now? Do you really want another let down, Jake?"
"Put a lid on it, Embry, he never let me down," I hissed. "He just needed a friend more than a date. Now get the hell out of here. I'll call you when your car's ready."
I left them and returned to Edward, inviting him to come over to the house and wait while I took a quick shower. He sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen while I dived into my bathroom, scrubbed myself vigorously and applied cologne before dragging on clean underwear, socks, black jeans and a white shirt. I hated long sleeves and I rolled them up the way I always did, shoved my phone and wallet into my pockets and found a pair of shoes. I was back in the kitchen within ten minutes to find Edward sipping a glass of water and looking at a car magazine I had left on the counter.
He looked so good, I thought. Healthier in general and there was just a hint of how much he had toned up visible through the thin fabric of his shirt. Blood immediately rushed to my cock again and I didn't know quite how I was going to keep my hands to myself. Even later, after the meal, I was aware I couldn't just rush in like a bull in a china shop. It would probably be quite a while before we got past the kissing stage, even if the date did work out this time. Did I care? I looked him up and down as he got to his feet and smiled at me again. Hell no. I would wait as long as he wanted.
Edward drove and chose the same restaurant as before. We arrived shortly after it opened and had our choice of tables. We took the same one as the first time and I wondered if he wanted to replay it and do things differently. He was certainly very different this time. He talked more and laughed, telling me hilarious anecdotes about his workouts with Emmett; how his elder brother had dragged Jasper out of bed to give him an example of what he could look like; how he felt he could quite possibly die from exhaustion and over-eating and his horror at the sight of the first breakfast Emmett made for him. He added with a shy grin that he had repeated my own words to himself over and over when he felt like giving up. The fact that he could even joke about his struggles astounded me.
"I have a long way to go yet," he said then. "Another three months or so and then I'll still keep working out regularly. I feel so much better already."
"You look amazing." I complimented him again and this time couldn't resist touching him. I covered his hand with mine where it lay on the table and he curled his fingers around it.
"Jasper asked if I was doing this for someone else," he said.
I grinned. "What did you tell him?"
"I lied. Well, I mean, I'm doing it for myself, so I guess it wasn't really a lie. But I hoped...if I felt and looked better then maybe you would...like me."
"Edward, I always liked you," I told him. "Well, from that day in Finley's anyway. If I'm honest, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. I've been wanting to see you for weeks. I didn't want to make you feel under pressure though."
His hand squeezed mine more firmly. "I wouldn't have. I pretty much convinced myself you wouldn't want to try this again. I guess I went ahead and asked anyway because I figured I couldn't possibly look any more foolish in front of you than I have already."
"You were never foolish, Edward, just hurt, that's all," I said and leaned over to brush my lips against his cheek. He shivered and smiled and I pulled back quickly as the waiter appeared with the dessert menus. This time Edward didn't run to the bathroom and come back upset and awkward. He chose a chocolate brownie sundae and I had the same, only the strawberry version. They arrived in tall glasses with long-handled spoons and we worked our way slowly down the mess of icecream, cream, sauces and chunks of fruit or chocolate and nuts, stopping halfway to taste each other's. I couldn't keep the silly grin off my face and Edward seemed just as keen to smile.
We finished with coffee and when I pulled my wallet out to pay the check, Edward protested and insisted that he should pay this time. It was still early when we left the restaurant and headed back to the car. I wanted the date to last as long as possible, but didn't think it would be a good idea to invite him back to my house. I longed to kiss him, but at the same time I didn't want to put myself in a position where I would find it difficult to stop.
"Do you want to go and see a movie or something?" I suggested.
"Yes, ok, do you know what's on?" he asked at once.
"Um...I know 'Fast Five' is showing; are you interested in the 'Fast and Furious' movies at all?"
He grinned. "I bet you think they're not to my taste. Jasper has a thing for Matt Schulze; by the time I watched the first one about fifteen times I was hooked. I was tempted to actually buy a Skyline, but Dad wasn't keen. 'There's no point wasting your money on a car like that, Edward, you need something more practical'," he imitated, sounding exactly like Carlisle. "So I got the Volvo. It's ok, I suppose, not very exciting."
"You like to drive fast?" I said in surprise.
"Yes, I've never done much else that was fun."
"We better do something to fix that then, assuming you have a good enough time to agree to another date." By now I had begun to think I probably wasn't pushing my luck by asking so soon.
He smiled and pulled the car door open, sliding into the seat quickly. "I'd like that," he said and closed the door before I could say anything else. I trotted around the other side and got in.
'Fast Five' had already been showing for three weeks and on a Tuesday night there were few people wanting to see it. Perhaps four other couples were seated in the theatre, all in the front half and we headed up to the back row where no one would notice us. My pulse quickened as the lights went down and the trailers began. I wanted to touch him - hold his hand, put my arm around him, something - but I dithered for perhaps thirty minutes until the movie was in progress before I eventually reached out and took his hand. I laced our fingers together and looked up at his face. He was staring fixedly at the screen, but a smile touched his lips, broadening when I stroked my thumb over his knuckles. My jeans began to feel uncomfortably tight and my mind wandered. I did my best to focus on the movie to prevent myself suffering for two hours with an aching cock, but it was impossible. All I could think about was kissing him, holding him against me, taking his shirt off...
'Jesus, Jacob, quit thinking that, it's not going to happen,' I told myself.
Somehow I got through the movie, with Edward's hand in mine and my body constantly alert to his closeness, but if anyone had asked me what the storyline was, I couldn't have told them. As we left the theatre and walked back to the car I shoved both hands into my pockets to disguise the persistent bulge in my pants, hoping I wasn't as obvious as I felt. Much to my relief, by the time we reached the parking lot it had at last subsided and we chatted as Edward drove me back to the Reservation and parked in front of my house. Damn, it was over. It was still only just after ten and I didn't want him to drive away just yet. I raised my hand to his face, turning him towards me. His eyes met mine briefly and then lowered, his lips parting as I leaned closer to him. The last time we had kissed had been good, but we had both had a number of beers and really it had only been fooling around. This time when our lips touched, it felt amazing. My lips caressed his gently and I determinedly kept my tongue in my own mouth, much as I wanted to thrust it into his and devour him. I drew back reluctantly after a moment and his eyes opened and met mine again.
"Do you want to come in for a coffee?" I heard myself say.
"Yes, please."
He locked the car and followed me into the house and through to the kitchen. I switched on the lights and set the kettle to boil, deciding on instant, and dumped coffee into two mugs. Then I turned around and leaned back against the counter. Edward was a few feet away watching me, a smile on his face. I still couldn't believe how different he was and I couldn't wait a minute longer to kiss him properly.
"Come here," I said, reaching out my hand towards him. He stepped closer and slid his hand into mine, letting me draw him towards me until we were only inches apart. I lifted my free hand to his face and stroked my thumb lightly over his bottom lip, then slid my fingers to the back of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. I kept it gentle as before, my lips moving against his slowly, but his response was immediate and more heated than I expected, his arms creeping around me and his body leaning in closer until it rested lightly against mine. I gripped him more firmly and deepened the kiss, giving in to what I had been longing to do and plunging my tongue into his mouth. His fingers dug into my back where he held me, his tongue toying with mine, encouraging me and I crushed my lips harder onto his, tasting him, feeling his heart hammering against my chest, his body trembling slightly in my arms. I could now feel what I had only had a hint of before - that his bones were no longer uncovered by flesh and that his arms and chest were firm and beginning to fill out. Even after only a month he felt great.
Edward moaned into my mouth as I continued kissing him and the sound made my blood rush to my cock again. It instantly began to strain against the front of my jeans and it was all I could do not to lower my hands to his butt and grind myself against him. He must have been able to feel it and I noticed he wasn't in the same state, despite his obvious enjoyment of our kisses. I put my hands on his waist and reluctantly pushed him away a few inches.
"Sorry," I said and grinned.
"It's ok." He flushed vividly and avoided my eyes as I turned back to the kettle to finish making the coffees. His shyness only aroused me more and as I stirred sugar into the mugs I couldn't suppress the images which flooded my mind of us lying on my bed naked together, kissing and touching.
'Fuck, Jacob, put a lid on it,' I cursed silently. I would certainly be giving myself some attention the minute he left to go home.
I passed him his coffee and we went to sit in the lounge for a while, this time Edward sharing the sofa with me. I slid my arm around him and drew him against my side, brushing my lips against his cheek or jaw every so often as we talked.
"Do you want to go out Saturday?" I suggested.
"Yes, I'd love to."
"Maybe we could go over to PA or something."
"Sounds good." He grinned suddenly. "Get away from Forks."
"Don't want to be seen with me?" I teased.
"It's not that. Well...it kind of is. My family don't know yet. I know they'll be fine, they never had a problem with Jasper being into guys, but I just know they'll think I don't know what I'm doing; that it's some kind of knee-jerk reaction to what Bella did to me."
"It's ok," I said. "There's no rush to tell them anything, is there? So long as you're sure it is what you want."
"Yes, I'm sure," he smirked. "Was I not obvious enough?"
He turned his head and his lips brushed my ear. I shivered slightly and my persistent erection pulsed against the buttons on my jeans. At the risk of making things worse for myself, I tilted my head to capture his lips with mine, unable to resist deepening it again upon his warm response. It was my turn to groan as his tongue teased mine, his hand coming to rest over my heart. That organ was hammering and as if my obvious arousal wasn't enough, the rapid beat would have told him the effect he was having on me. I could feel a damp patch forming in my shorts as I oozed pre-cum and I figured if I didn't come in my pants it would be a miracle. This time it was Edward who pulled away, his face flushed, lips swollen from our kisses.
"I think I should probably...get home soon," he said breathlessly.
"Yeah." I grinned sheepishly and let go of him, flinching as I got to my feet. I saw him out, giving him another quick kiss at the door and promising to call him to make arrangements for Saturday. I stayed where I was, surreptitiously adjusting myself in the darkness until he had reached his car and driven away, then I closed the door and locked it before heading to my room. I couldn't ever remember being so uncomfortably hard and my jeans were unfastened by the time I reached my room. I kicked off my shoes, shoved both jeans and shorts down and impatiently pulled my shirt off over my head rather than waste time with buttons. My cock strained upwards, quivering against my stomach, the tip wet and glistening.
"Fuck, Edward," I muttered as I collapsed onto my bed and wrapped my fingers around my shaft. I ran my hand upwards, coating my palm in pre-cum to give some lubrication before gripping myself more firmly. Half a dozen vigorous strokes and I was done, spurting all over my stomach and chest, one pulse after another, groaning loudly.
Although it was a temporary release, I was still hard and my cock appeared to have no intention of subsiding any time soon. I grabbed my discarded shorts to wipe myself clean and lay back with my eyes closed, stroking my fingertips lightly over my stomach. Now I would take my time and let my mind conjure up whatever it wanted.
I took myself back to the lounge where I had sat cuddling Edward, his lips on mine and his hand on my chest. I imagined unbuttoning his shirt, sliding my hand inside, stroking it over his skin. I knew he had a light sprinkling of hair on his chest from when I had seen him in the truck after I ripped his soaked shirt off of him. I grasped my cock again and began to stroke it slowly as I imagined myself taking Edward's shirt off altogether, pushing him back against the sofa cushions and bending to kiss his chest, gently biting his nipples and making him moan. He slid his hands into my hair, squirming beneath me as I moved lower, teasing his navel with my tongue, unfastening his pants and following the happy trail downwards with my lips until his cock bumped my chin.
"Shit," I muttered, quickening my hand movement. I longed to get my hands on him, but I knew I was going to have to wait. He didn't even get hard when we kissed, even though he was obviously really into it and I guessed it was probably a combination of his previous horror with sex and perhaps nerves over being with a guy or something like that. In my mind, however, he was as hard as I was, his cock escaping from the front of his shorts and twitching eagerly as I curled my hand around it. I imagined him cut, the swollen mushroom-shaped head oozing pre-cum as he pushed his hips upwards, encouraging me to take him in my mouth.
"God, Edward, I want you," I panted, another orgasm approaching faster than I expected. In my fantasy I just had time to flick my tongue around his head a couple of times, open my mouth around him and sink down until he hit the back of my throat and then I came again. It had been way too long for me.
Gasping, I got up and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower, my legs weak and my cock finally softening, much to my relief. I scrubbed myself clean, dried off and returned to bed, finding that once my head hit the pillow I could barely keep my eyes open. As I drifted into sleep, the last thing I saw in my head was Edward's cute shy smile.
