A.N.: Sam and Bella are both bit of a tease right now, and yes it seems like I'm focusing on their physical responses to each other but hold on, there is a moral to this story…unfortunately, it's not just going to be about smut ;)
Chapter 10
Bella looks away trying to hide her hurt. Is that what he thinks this is? She can't really blame him for seeing it that way. What would he say if she told him the truth? That he made her forget that Edward ever existed in the first place…
His eyes zero in on her cheeks. She knows she's blushing deeply.
"Pink heat..." He whispers, reaching out a long finger to trail against her cheek. His gaze is so intense and Bella can feel her nipples, unfettered by any bra, harden deliciously under his hungry eyes.
Sam snatches his finger away from her flaming cheek as if her skin is on actual fire.
"Stop looking at me like that, Bella." Sam says painstakingly. His words have the effect of a torrent of frosty water being dumped over her heated body. How in the hell is she looking at him? Still blushing furiously Bella realizes that he can plainly see her...need for him stamped all over her body.
"You don't know how complicated everything is with me." He says.
"You're taking this too seriously, Sam." Bella blurts out.
A nerve ticks in his jaw and his eyes darken even more from their usual deep brown. He places his hands in his hair then slowly glides them through his thick, dark strands, seething silently.
"Taking this too seriously?" He chokes out and Bella realizes he is really angry now. Swallowing nervously, she is caught in an unfamiliar combination of surprise, fear...and excitement.
"Fucking you would be a very serious thing to me, Bella. And we shouldn't."
Desire and disappointment battle for supremacy and in the end, disappointment and her inevitable embarrassment win the war. Looking at anywhere but his face, she slides down from the counter, smoothing her rumpled top and pants. He's not touching her at all now but she can still feel the press of him against her…
"Bella." The gentle tone of his deep voice threatens to unravel her. She doesn't want his pity, that's not what she wants from him. "Bella, look at me."
Shaking her head, she turns away from him. She feels his heat before the tender brush of his fingers on her shoulders. Mortified at herself, at the way she let herself open up to him, she brushes his hand away perhaps with more gruffness than she really intended to.
"Sam, I think you should leave now." She says quietly, hating the quiver in her voice. He's so close she can hear him swallow.
"I'm not leaving Bella until I'm sure you're ok…" He says firmly.
Bella closes her eyes tightly, fighting the surge of tears that wants to escape. She doesn't understand the feelings ricocheting through her. And right now, she doesn't want to.
"Why wouldn't I be ok?" She snaps, choosing to embrace anger rather than her unwanted tears. "Just...go!" Swiftly she sidles out the narrow space by the counter where he's standing just behind her. She rushes to the sink, turning on the faucet until the stream of water sprays her shaking hands with stinging force.
"If you want me to leave I will. But I'll be back. And I know you will want me to be…" He assures her. There's a ring of confidence in his voice that pushes her over the ledge of her control. Anger beats a ferocious rhythm in her heart and a rush of blood throbs to her face.
"You can just kiss my ass!" She hisses, still not turning to face him.
"Oh, really…"
His deep voice is a dark, lethal purr and the sound of it sets off a warning bell in her mind.
The running water forgotten, she slowly turns back to look at him. His deep brown eyes seems to both darken and lighten with those mysterious silvery sparks as he stares back relentlessly at her.
Before she can respond, he's moving toward her again very quickly. She tries to take a step back but the edge of the solid sink jabs her back, signaling to her suddenly nervous brain that she's trapped. Sam reaches long fingers for her, his large hands almost touch each other when he grasps her about her waist, pulling her effortlessly against him. Lowering his head, he bends to whisper, "Will your father walk in anytime soon?"
"N..no…" Bella manages to stammer out. He's rubbing those long fingers against her lower back, in small enticing circles. Bella yelps in surprise when with quick efficiency, he maneuvers her towards the living room. Before she can even catch her breath, he has her pinned face down beneath him on the sofa while he hovers over her. No matter how much she tries to, he keeps her from moving with one well placed sturdy hand.
"What are you doing?" Bella yelps.
"Why, I'm going to oblige you, Bella." Sam murmurs hoarsely, moving his large hand to grasp the waistband of her shorts.
"Oblige me with what?" Another gasp torn out of her as she tries to adjust to the rigid feel of him against her. He kneels directly above her, his thick muscled thighs pressing on either side of her.
"I'm going to kiss your ass. After all, you told me to…" He whispers.
Bella's mouth falls open in complete surprise, a deep breath puffing out of her open lips where she's held down on the sofa.
"Are you serious?" She squeals. "Of course, I didn't mean that literally!"
She feels the pleasantly toasty warmth of his breath against the soft nape of her neck as he bends over her to whisper, "That's too bad. Because I choose to take it literally."
Bella can't help it. Burying her flaming face into the sofa, hysterical giggles bubble out of her.
But her laughter immediately tapers off when his warm fingers curl inside the waist band of her yoga shorts, tightening around the fragile material. For a second, she actually thinks he's going to rip them apart but then he gentles his grip, the tips of his fingers playing along the top edge of her panties. The light motion of his fingertips makes her tingle, a brief, enticing note of sensation.
Bella tells herself that she's mad more than anything else at his high handedness.
"Get off me, you big brute!" Bella says with as much indignation as he can muster. But her façade is all wasted.
"Not before I satisfy your wish...after all you asked for it." Bella can hear the smirk in his voice. His damned husky voice...
Even in her denial, she still can feel her hot response...those tingling tremors that cause a heated rush of wetness to dampen her panties. He sucks in a deep breath.
She feels his hot fingers slowly tugging her shorts down her thighs. Dammit of all the days to not wear her favored long denim...
He tugs the top edge of her panties down…
"Sam..." Bella gasps softly, barely aware of the quivery excitement resounding in her voice. Bella shakes her head as if the frantic gesture can prevent her instinctive response to the proximity of his hot body pressing down the length of hers.
"Shh…" He murmurs. Despite the adrenalin beating a path through her, his murmur strangely soothes her. "Let me introduce you to a fact, Bella. I'm going to be around you. A lot. And I don't like to be disrespected by anyone. Especially you…"
"I didn't disrespect you…" Bella whimpers.
"Okay, you say you didn't. So that's why I choose to take your little statement in the truest sense, then." He says gruffly.
She feels him shift slightly above her and then his soft, warm lips are lightly caressing the bit of flesh he's exposed past her lower back. Bella goes completely still, breathing harshly.
Then she gasps sharply, her hips involuntarily jerking off the sofa when the sharp edges of his teeth graze her skin. Enticing warmth spreads from the bit of skin he's nipped. He licks the spot he'd bitten and despite herself, Bella moans noisily into the sofa. His warm tongue feels so good...
"Your skin marks really easily." He murmurs, rubbing those hot fingers on her pulsing skin. Bella thinks her heart is going to thud right through the sofa, so fast and hard does it beat, moving almost in sync to her panting breaths. She is mortified by her loud and uncontrolled response to what is an obvious game to him.
But this is what she wants, isn't it? Only the fun. Only the game. And none of the heartache...
"God help me, you smell so good." He draws out the end of his huskily spoken sentence in a deep moan. Bella whimpers softly from the effect of his sweet, warm breath caressing her ear and the deep, sensual tone of his voice.
Then she forgets how to breathe properly when he glides her shorts down past her butt and down onto her thighs. His long fingers glide down the juncture of her inner thighs. He spreads those fingers right over the thin saturated material of her panties…
At that very moment, pressed into the sofa with Sam hovering above her, his firm thighs cradling her hips and his fingers trailing tantalizingly over her cotton clothed wetness, she can't remember why she was annoyed at him in the first place. He incites sensations in her beyond her puny scope of imagination…
"So ready for me, Bella…" He rasps.
He holds most of his weight on one hand. With his other hand, those long fingers are slowly driving her insane, caressing her soft, moist flesh through her panties. Her eyes slide closed as he continues to touch her where no one ever has before. Both desire and fear builds within her at the same frightening pace. Because she knows right then, she wants more…She wants all that he could give…
A crushing sense of loss engulfs her when Sam slowly removes his hand. Gently he turns her around to face him so that she's now lying on her back. Bella squirms under his thorough perusal. With his thumb, he traces her swollen lower lip that she'd unconsciously bitten when he touched her with those tantalizing fingers. Without thinking about it, Bella licks his finger, slowly swirling her tongue around his thick digit, looking at him through half closed eyes.
His eyes widen and he swears harshly, "Fuck, baby."
The rough, hoarse tone of his voice is further undoing her...
He tucks a ribbon of hair from her cheek behind her ear. His touch is casual yet feels so much more intimate. Maybe because she's lying beneath him on the sofa with her thighs cradling him as he hovers on his arms above her.
"We're going to do this, Bella. But not here. I want to mark every room of my house with your scent. Are you following what I'm saying to you? "
She could only nod dazedly, closing her eyes from the burning intensity of his as if his dark orbs are a too bright light.
"Look at me, Bella."
She does as he bids with no protest, meeting his gaze squarely.
"Are you on birth control?"
Bella blinks in surprise at his abrupt query. "N-no…"
"Ok, we'll have to arrange that. And there's…other things you need to know about me. Then…then you can really decide…but I really think that you'll run, when you know all there is to know about me, Bella."
Gazing up at him, Bella decides it'll have to be something really bad for her to stay away from Sam Uley…
Sam pov
Sitting at his desk in the corner by his big shelf of books, Sam tries his hardest to focus on the text spread out before him. But instead of environmental terms and legal jargon, all he can see is her. The way her eyes looked half lidded with blatant desire. The intoxicating scent of her arousal. For him. God, the way she looked at him with those large 'fuck me' doe eyes…
He reaches into the box of chocolates she gave him, the caramel latte ones. He slips one into his mouth, it's like sex enrobed in chocolate. But he knows she'll taste even better…
He takes a languid sip of tongue scorching coffee (triple dose of caffeine, hell yeah) hardly feeling the burn when Paul barges in.
Sam groans silently, his private thoughts interrupted by Paul's loud, brash greeting. Paul eyes his chocolates greedily and when Sam pulls the small box closer to him, his eyes narrow in suspicion.
"What's that?"
"Nothing." Sam says quickly.
"Give it up, Uley. You can't hoard food around here."
"Yes I can. It's my damn house. You know you can raid the kitchen…"
"Is that chocolate?"
"Yes." Sam says through gritted teeth, "Coffee?"
"Cut the bullshit, Sam. Since when you offer me any freakin' coffee? What's really the deal with that pretty little box of chocolates…where'd you get that from? Some chick, I bet…" Paul sniggers.
"Not that it's any of your damned business, Lahote." Sam snaps.
"Easy there, man. It's no big deal. She must really be sweet on you…if she's the one giving you chocolates…" Paul laughs boisterously, the sound now familiar in the house that had always been solemnly silent in the years before Sam first phased.
"Do you have any reason to be here right now, it's not your turn to patrol." Sam grumbles, eyes returning to the thick text in front of him. But a brief smile cracks through his serious face.
"Yeah, I know. " Paul suddenly turns away, all the mirth gone from his face. Sam is very attuned to his beta's moods…a circumstance of their shared shape shifting.
"Your father's home again, huh?" Sam guesses.
"The old bastard's dragged himself from the bar this time. I wasn't going to get him again. Maybe if I'm lucky, he'll just drink himself to death one night."
"He's still your father, Paul. Don't talk like that. I'll get the Council to arrange rehab…"
"Don't bother, man. I'm not going through that shit with him again. I'm done. You should count yourself lucky that your old man picked up and left."
A nerve ticks in Sam's jaw and it does not go unnoticed by his beta. Paul quickly changes the subject and Sam breathes out a small sigh of relief. He updates a wincing Sam on one of his conquests, a new nurse working at the local health centre.
Sam had the wolves volunteer to help with the reconstruction of the dilapidated building. It is a way to keep them occupied on weekends out of patrol…and keep them out of trouble. Plus a little community goodwill never hurt, especially on a college application. One of the many things he regrets is that these young wolves would never get the opportunity to go away to college now. That had always been his goal before 'fate' took over. Embry and Jared at least appeared willing when Sam brought up the subject of online tuition but Paul didn't seem to care one way or the other. He always found ways around Sam's good intentions.
Paul continues regaling him with the antics he and Nurse Jenny have been up to after hours at the clinic.
"Have you ever thought what one of your…friends... would think if they heard you talking about them that way, Paul. Damn man, that shit's not entertaining in the least." Sam mutters.
Paul just laughs, "My friends as you put it, happen to like my dirty mouth."
Sam shakes his head. "Have you ever wanted to be more than friends, to be around a girl besides fucking her?"
"Nope. I just want all the benefits, no friendship."
Sam thinks on what Bella said earlier. How she did not want to be emotionally vulnerable again. That she doesn't want a relationship. His jaw clenches at the thought of Paul being anywhere around her. A deep, possessive rage suffuses him at the very idea.
Taking a calming breath, he slips another truffle in his mouth. Paul inhales deeply then freezes. He watches Sam strangely for a moment.
"What the fuck's wrong with you?" Sam asks impatiently.
"Oh my God. It's the leech lover isn't it? You're secretly seeing her! Those chocolates has her scent all over them. Give me one…"
"No. And she's not any goddamned leech's lover!"
"Yeah, how can you be so sure she wasn't fucking the leech?" Paul grins irascibly at Sam and he stifles the urge not to leap across the room and smash the annoying grin further into his face.
"Fuck you, Paul."
"Oh yeah…you can tell, can't you. The same way you could have smelled me on that girl…"
"Alright, Paul. Shut the fuck up now…"
"I still can't believe it. You and the leech lover. Gotta hand it to her, chick's got balls. Annnnd," Paul draws out annoyingly, "…she bought you chocolates? She's practically fucking…courting you or something." Paul is roaring with laughter now, half falling off the sofa, clutching at his stomach.
"Get. Out." Sam growls.
"No, but seriously man. I'd hit that. Really."
"You breathe a wrong word to her and I'll kill you. Just so you know, I'm not…seeing her like that." Yet. But that wasn't Paul's concern.
"What do you mean you're not seeing her?" Paul adds with an air of disbelief. "You're getting me worried man. I mean, when was the last time you got laid? Seriously, you have to know you're the man right now. With tail chasing me like that, not that others don't mind you, I'd be racing from Forks to Makah and back every fucking day."
"My wolf doesn't see her like that, alright? And neither do I."
"Who? Forks or Makah?"
"Both." Sam says, "For completely different reasons."
"What do you mean about your wolf?" Paul asks curiously.
"After I just phased, you know I imprinted on Emily. And despite her letting me know she was open to this whole wolf thing, I just didn't feel that way about her, the way everyone else, particularly the Elders expected me to feel…And then I stumble upon Bella. She's so fucking innocent though she would have me believe otherwise. And she makes me feel nothing I've ever felt before. It all started with her…scent. It drives the wolf crazy, it drives me fucking crazy. Like I just want to pin her down...Everytime I see her, I have to fight the wolf back, Paul."
"Here's what you have to do. You have to fuck her if she wants you."
Sam raises his head to glare dangerously at him. Paul holds his hands up in a benign gesture, tilting his neck in a distinctively submissive wolf communication and Sam knows then that Paul can see the wolf glaring from his eyes. "Alright, let me rephrase that. Make love to her. But fuck man, since when did you get so sensitive?"
"It's not so fucking simple as you make it out to be, Paul. No matter what she says…"
"No matter what she…wait, hold up. She actually told you she wants you….and you left it like that?" Paul says incredulously. "You always try to boss us around but it's like your're actually intimidated by that little slip of a girl. You're overthinking, my man. Maybe you just need to get her out of your system."
Sam imagines trying to get Bella out of his system. He imagines what that would entail. He could graphically think of at least a dozen different ways… But he doesn't want her out of his system…Her very presence is like a permanent drug to him and his wolf.
Shaking his head, he mutters, "I want her like I've never wanted anyone or anything…but not enough to hurt her. And that's what would happen…as much as I don't want to, I have to speak with the Elders. They might know why my wolf's responding to her in such a way."
"But the Elders said that imprinting is when the wolf…mates or something right? And you didn't imprint on Bella, buddy."
Sam looks at Paul solemnly. "That's what the Elders believe. But they're not the ones who've phased. They're not the ones who have an animal living inside them. A wolf with its own distinct needs and characteristics. They don't know what this feels like. My wolf is telling me something totally different from what the Elders have told us. And the thing is, I completely agree with my wolf…"