He is such a tease! Two hours into the day, and he'd barely even touched me, never even held my hand. No kisses, no hugs… what was he playing at? Stealing me away from my dad, making me breakfast (delicious breakfast, I'd bet he was watching cooking shows without me), driving me out to the edge of La Push in the Rabbit, with a bunch of old blankets folded up in the backseat… it was like watching a how-to guide on seduction. Except that he was yards in front of me now, as we traipsed around in the woods, acting like yesterday had never happened at all, as if we were still just friends. It was weird, though, the absurd pack life jokes were still entertaining, and I almost paid attention the whole time. But no matter how hilarious the idea of Paul exploding into a wolf while in his grandma's shower was, the pull of Jacob's bared flesh was too insistent. Taunting me with those rippling muscles… it should be illegal for men to go around shirtless; it caused too many indecent thoughts.

The worst part was the way his arms were flexed from the weight of the burden he carried: one enormous cooler holding enough to feed a family of 11, with a case of soda resting on top of the blankets, which he barely seemed to notice. I was holding a first aid kit, "for the inevitable," he said. Jerk. His biceps, though…those perfectly rounded protrusions beneath the russet skin, looked impossibly smooth, and velvety, even. I badly wanted to squeeze one, to ascertain that it was in fact real. There was the slightest hint of raised, pulsing veins beneath his well-toned forearms, and the little bone gently jutting from his wrist was just so… so… I sighed heavily.

He heard me, and turned, propping one foot up on a nearby stump, and balancing the giant cooler on his knee effortlessly.

"You're not getting tired from that heavy load, are you?" He was dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm just irritated, Jake," I groused. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"About what? This morning? Don't worry! There's no need to feel embarrassed; it was only the most epic 'gullible' joke of all time! We'll be famous!" He laughed mockingly, causing his chest to rise and fall in a most interesting manner. Pectoral muscles… mmmm.

I tried to scowl.

"It's not that," I sighed, wishing I had just kept my mouth shut. "It's, well, you're… flaunting yourself, right in my face." I focused my eyes on a tree right behind him, so I wouldn't blush tomato-red. It worked, and I was very impressed with myself.

His chin jerked back and to the side, and he looked askance at me, utterly bewildered. "I'm what, exactly?"

I eyed his torso pointedly, pausing to enjoy the angles of his shoulders, and then, inadvertently, my gazed lowered gradually to stare, wide-eyed in disbelief, at an indent, a line I had never noticed before. It started near his hip, and angled down at a 45 degree angle toward the center of his body before disappearing under his jeans, which were hanging a little lower on his waist than usual. Girls did not have that line. Boys did not have that line… or at least, they'd been covering it up. It was, without a doubt, the most…shiver… erotic thing I had ever seen. What was it? Why did that line exist? My neck started to twitch, my mouth went instantly dry as the Sahara, and I swallowed noisily. Wow. Maybe that was how guys felt about low-cut shirts… if that was the case, I think I finally got it. It was a good thing he was several yards away from me, because if I had been standing any nearer to him, there would have been serious trouble, with a capital T, that rhymes with V, that stands for… wheeeew.

It took several moments for me to tear my eyes away from his body, and only then did I realize that while Jake's body hadn't moved, his expression had turn to one of horror and disgust. Had I drooled? In an attempt at casualness, I put my hand to my mouth to wipe it away.

"Bella… did you just…" he looked at a complete loss for words. "… OGLE me?"

I blushed.

"Ewwwwwww! I feel so violated."

For some reason, that ticked me off, a lot more than it should have.

"Right," I snarled, "because you've never done the exact same thing to me when I wasn't looking!"

I could see the long list of replies he was preparing to retort, starting with "It's different because I'm a guy!" or something equally bigoted. He wasn't going to deny it, there was no way he could. I'd taken sex ed, I knew how boys' minds worked. Well, I'd just have to prepare myself with a good comeback; I was going beat him, this time. But, he wasn't saying anything, and I just couldn't stop myself.

"… or maybe you haven't," I sneered, turning the phrase into a scathing insult. As soon as the words were out, I wished I could take them back. Why was I being such a.. a bitch? But, I needed to fight with him about this. I wanted to punish him for rejecting me, for reverting back to pre-phone call behavior, acting as if yesterday didn't change things, because it had changed everything. My newly opened eyes saw him differently, and they were starving.

Then, just to piss me off, I'm sure, he started smiling, and then sniggering. Before long, it had turned into a full-blown laughing fit, his whole body quivering so hard he had to put the cooler down before it tipped over. This was so insanely infuriating!

"Did I miss something?" I had to shout the words, because he was being so ridiculously loud. Finally, the peels subsided enough for him to reply, but he was still grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"I guess so! Do you realize that you were trying to start a fight with me over who wanted who more?"

No! That's not what… Oh. "Heh! There's no competition, Mister Monk."

"You've got to be joking," he said flatly.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I'm not joking! You haven't touched me all day, Jake, what's with that? You weren't like this before, when… uh, the other day! And yesterday, I mean… come on! I had to beg to kiss you. I mention being naked, and you mop? For goodness' sake, I invited you to spend the night, and you used snoring as an excuse! I keep THROWING MYSELF at you, and you back off. Like. A. MONK!"

"That's not funny anymore, Bella. I am not a monk! Just because I haven't ripped your clothes off, does not mean I don't want to, okay?" he barked, his voice angry, but then he laughed, like it was a joke, or something, which it clearly was. As if Jacob would do that... "Besides, I've liked you for way longer, so the amount of wanting is clearly in my favor. So there," he stuck his tongue out me teasingly, and then bent down to pick up the cooler, certain the argument was over. He wasn't entirely wrong, because I had something else in mind, entirely.

"Fine then," I practically shouted. "Why don't you prove it?"

"What part do you want me to prove, exactly?" he asked, putting his burden down again, his arms flexing beautifully. "I don't think you brought a spare set of clothes, after all."

"Whichever part you dare, monk-boy," I said archly, knowing full-well I was going to win. I envisioned those arms wrapped around me, lips pressed to each other, bare skin to bare skin, and I shivered, feeling my toes curl.

His plastered-on smile disappeared, and it was replaced by a terrifying face that sent shivers up and down my spine. He started moving towards me, and something about his walk took on an undeniably predatory air, and I was the prey. Unconsciously, I backed away, straight into the trunk of an enormous tree, dropping the first aid kit in surprise. Though it clattered noisily onto the forest floor, his eyes never left mine, and I could feel the heat burning into me.

"You don't know what you're saying," he whispered, his voice utterly calm. What was I saying? My flight-or-fight response had kicked in, and I couldn't think about anything but how badly I wanted to run… but I didn't. I dug my fingers into the bark behind me, trying to calm myself down. There was nothing to be afraid of, I tried to reason. It was just my beautiful, sweet, loving, protective-but-not-too-much, best friend. … right?

As he came within reach, his huge right hand wrapped gently around my neck, while the other gripped my hip possessively. My heart thumped wildly, and my fingers balled into fists of their own volition. "You… have no idea, what it's like… to have wanted to be with you for so long, with you looking at me like I was a little boy." He licked his lower lip, the upper one curling cruelly. "I'm not. You need to know that." The thumb against my hip squeezed just a little bit. "You can't know… how hard it is to keep from, from…" he stopped talking, and inhaled deeply through his nose.

Jake's neck craned lower, so his eyes were only inches above mine, and stared intently, obviously having some kind of internal debate. His lips, so close to mine, were taut, and they mouthed words I couldn't make out. My heart wouldn't stop its violent abuse of my ribs, making my breath ragged, and I couldn't keep my knees from quaking. Why was I afraid? This was Jacob, this was my Sun… and it all felt wrong.

"You're not ready for this," he said quietly.

"Yes I am," I countered feebly, no longer sure what exactly it was I had been thinking about in the first place. It was an auto-pilot response: to win the argument, one must instantly disagree. Unfortunately, it was a poor choice… because it made him angry.

Jacob growled. An actual feral growl, and his left hand suddenly glided over to my belly button, one thumb resting on the top button of my jeans.

"No… you're not." His smoldering right hand burned a path down my neck towards my bra, while his left started to slide up beneath my t-shirt… and I gasped in shock, cringing like he had slapped me, my arms coming forward to push him away, fists in clenched so tightly the knuckles were white.

Instantly, he dropped his hands and let out a breath I hadn't known he was holding, and the predatory façade went with it. I relaxed against the tree, certain if it hadn't been there, I would have collapsed.

It was like my brain now had two separate Jacobs: One, the beautiful happy-go-lucky boy I wanted to hang out with and hug, the familiar, safe friend. This other one, though… he was a man.

He started to back away, but I grabbed at his hands, squeezing them tightly. I didn't want him to think I was really afraid of him, I didn't want him to leave me.

He smiled sadly, and rested his chin on my forehead, pulling me into a gentle embrace. "Told you," he said softly.

We just stood there for a few minutes, thinking.

"Why do you always have to win?" I finally whined piteously, when my breathing had returned to normal.

"Silly little Bella," he snorted, and then pecked me lightly on the nose; I couldn't help but giggle a little bit. Then he pulled away, just as I knew he would, and started back over to the cooler. "It's 'cause you're not looking at the big picture. Plus, I really… really want to win." He turned to look back over his shoulder at me, and winked, a great big beautiful smile already in place.

Gosh, he gets over things fast. I was still panting, heart pounding away, and brain in a twist… and there he was, looking happy as ever.

He disappeared into the woods while I was still pondering everything, wondering what the heck had happened, and when I realized he was gone, I panicked.

"Wait for me!"

I knew he would.