AN: thanks for the reviews and sorry for the cliffie of the previous chapter, I hope the reviewers that didn't get the preview will forgive me but I'm publishing the chapter so I think it's way better ;)

I've learned that people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

When they arrived in front of her door she suddenly stopped. He almost collided with her back, but he managed to stop before he crushed her into the door.

"Can I ask you something?" She said softly.

Paul sighed, was she never tired of asking questions? "Sure." As if he could ever say no.

"Why haven't you looked at me?" She asked him.

Everything stopped for a moment; she was too smart for her own good. "I look at you all the time." He finally growled out.

"No you don't, I mean you do… but you never look into my eyes. Is there something I should know?" She whispered.

"Turn around and I'll prove to you that you're imagining things." He said in a whisper, he didn't know if he could do it. He felt the tenseness of the situation, the fear and the anticipation all mixing in, his heart was beating wildly and he was terrified. Could he really do it?

Bella took a deep breath and turned around, after a moment of hesitation she looked up at him and he looked down into her eyes.

The world disappeared for a moment, only her dark curious brown eyes existed. Nothing mattered anymore but the girl in front of him. Damn it! He had imprinted on Bella Swan!

Before she could blink he had her with her back resting on the door, one of his hand was in her hair and the other around her waist. His lips were so close to hers that he could feel her warm breath. Paul focused his attention back to her eyes and while he saw that she wasn't going to push him away, there was a deep sadness lurking in their depths. It was too early, too soon.

The wolf was howling in anger at his refusal to kiss her, the man was almost giving in as well but he couldn't, not yet. He wanted her to want it as much as him. Taking a deep breath he slowly moved away. "I… is it enough to prove you that everything is fine?" He breathed out, still feeling the weight of the imprint pulling him to her.

Bella gulped and then took a deep breath. Her eyes were dilated and her heart was beating too fast. "I… I… we… we better get inside." She stuttered and he took another step back letting her turn around again and open the door.

His mind was thinking furiously, now what? He had an imprint, she was broken and he was a mess. What the hell was he supposed to do? Definitely he wasn't going to tell her anything yet; he needed to give her time to know him better. Okay, a step at a time.

"I'm starving." He blurted out, when in doubt talk about food.

Bella jumped, startled by his voice. She had probably been in her own world too. "I can make you a few sandwiches; you can wait in the living-room."

No way was he going to leave her side, the wolf was growling angrily at him. The man agreed with the wolf, they were going to stick with her. "I'll stay in the kitchen with you." He said, letting her know that his decision was final. She wasn't going to push him away.

Bella bit her lower lip, she has luscious lips, his mind whispered. "Okay." She then went into the kitchen and he followed her. Sitting at the table and watching her preparing his food was something that was warming his heart, he shook his head, fucking imprint wasn't going to turn him into a mushy shit.

He sighed, putting his head in his hands. He was totally fucked, and she with him. What could he really offer her? A little house in La Push and nothing else. His personality was awful on his best days, and his reputation was even worst. A hand on his shoulder startled him. He looked up to see Bella's concerned eyes on him. "Are you well?"

Yes, no, maybe, fuck if know! "Just a bit tired." He said, still not able to take his eyes away from hers. The blush that was starting to grace her cheeks made his inside flush in warmth.

"I'm tired all the time too." She told him, still touching him. "If you want we could take a nap, I slept well when you were with me Sunday night…"

Paul took a deep breath, sleeping in her bed, with her. Could he keep his hands to himself? No, both the man and the wolf answered, trying not to grit his teeth he said, "I guess an hour or two would help."

Bella smiled. "I still can't figure you out. When I'm with you I'm not that shy and it's nice that when I ask you something you always answer me honestly. You make me feel… safe."

If only she knew that safe wasn't really an option when they were together. In that moment Paul wanted nothing else than slam her down on her table and fuck her senseless. Definitely not safe. He smiled at her. "You make me feel a lot of things too." Then he raised his eyebrow suggestively, let's see how she took his flirty side.

Now all bet were off, he was playing for keeps.

She laughed, and then blushed some more. "Let me finish your sandwiches and then we can go to sleep." She turned around and went to the counter.

Paul sat quietly and watched her work, she looked pretty while cooking. She always looked pretty, and he shook his head again. Imprinting wanted to mess with his mind, but he was stronger than that. He would sleep in her bed and not even attempt to touch her. She didn't need sex quite yet, and he didn't want to be kicked out of her life before she gave him an honest chance.

"Here they are." Bella said while putting in front of him three enormous sandwiches.

Munching happily he watched her sitting near him and drinking a coffee. "Paul, I was wondering… what should I wear for the party?"

"Whatever you want." He said, not really understanding her question.

"I mean is it something like dress-like party or jeans-like party?" She said.

"Oh, I guess jeans will be fine. There're going to be two more girls, and they are pretty laid back. It's just a small gathering." He told her trying to reassure her.

"Who's going to be there?" She was a curious little thing.

"Sam and his fiancée Emily, Jared and his girlfriend Kim and the two of us." He answered.

Bella blushed. "Will they think that we are… you know… if we go together?"

He smirked. "That we're what?"

She stood up and swatted his shoulder. "You want to embarrass me so I'll stop asking you questions."

He laughed. "Is it working?"

"Yes." She said and laughed too.

"Good." And swallowing his last bite of food he stood up. "Nap-time, let's go Swan." Without looking at her he took her hand and started walking towards the stairs.

Her palm started sweating, was she nervous? He didn't ask, when they arrived in her room he let her pass him and then he closed the door.

When he looked at her he could tell that she wasn't really sure about what she should do or say. He walked confidently towards the bed and lied down on his side, well, at least in his mind it was already his side of the bed. Bella hesitated a moment, but then she walked on the other side and lied down too.

The situation would have been funny if he hadn't been nervous himself. His wolf growled and Paul's mind finally gained some kind of balance. He turned to look at her and took her hand. "I don't bite Swan." She was starting to relax until he added, "Unless you want me to."

Bella looked at him with her wide doe eye and he started laughing. After a moment she joined him. "You're quite something Paul." She moved to lie down her head on his chest and he put his arm around her shoulders. They were in the exact position of the last time, but things were very different now.

Bella was his imprint, and not just that. She was his everything, it was a scary thought, but it was true. "Try to catch some sleep Swan." He closed his eyes and maybe due to all the stress, or the tiredness of all the patrolling, he fell asleep quickly.

A howl woke him up; he opened his eyes and noticed that Bella was still asleep. He moved slowly and got out of bed, then walked towards the window and opened it. Sam came out of the trees and Paul put his head out of the window.

"What's up Sam?" He asked.

"Just wanted to tell you that we caught the leech, we burned him but he told us that the red-head is after Bella. Apparently Cullen killed her mate and now she wants him to suffer by killing Bella." Sam told him.

Paul was angry, that fucking corpse had brought death on the doorstep of the Swan's house. He was going to get the fucking leech after his Bella and then he would hunt Cullen down and finish the job with him. No more corpses were going to hurt Bella ever again.

"Thanks, Sam… I imprinted." He told his Alpha.

Sam looked up at him and then smirked. "You're going to be so whipped."

Paul smirked back. "Not as much as you, boss. I'll see you later; get the hell out of here."

Sam turned towards the forest and disappeared quickly; Paul closed the window and decided to wake Bella up. It was already six and she needed to start with dinner. He walked towards the bed and stopped to look at her, she was his, now and forever. It was scary but at the same time reassuring that she belonged to him. He had a real family now, and it felt good. Now he needed to convince her that he was the right man for her, softly he moved away a wisp of hair that had fallen on her face.

Her eyes opened and he was mesmerized, she was watching him with the same intensity and when she put her hands around his neck he was too shocked to react. She then pulled him down and her lips touched his, it ignited a spark that had him burn. Paul was trying to rein the wolf in, and to control his physical reaction because he didn't want to scare her.

Bella had kissed him and he was absolutely unprepared for the onslaught of feelings that she had caused in him. He kept his hands firmly on his side and when she moved away he blinked. Bella was blushing profusely; he hadn't even kissed her back. Was she already regretting the action?

She looked down and sighed. "I'm sorry… I…." She quieted then, at loss of words and probably embarrassed.

He cleared his throat, and swallowed. "Bella… I didn't mind you kissing me; you can do it anytime you want it… I just would like that you do it because you really want it and not because you want to forget someone else."

She gasped like he had slapped her, and he felt awful but he wasn't going to be second best. "Paul… I would never do that to you… I… I really wanted to kiss you."

He didn't spend another moment thinking about the consequences, swiftly he was on her. She was so soft under him; her eyes were wide and were watching him carefully. "Are you sure that I am what you want? There's no turning back Swan."

"I'm not sure about anything right now, but I know that I really want to kiss you." She whispered.

Without hesitation he touched her lips with his, he waited for her to get acquainted with the feeling before pushing out his tongue and licking her lower lip, she gasped in surprised and he pushed his tongue inside her mouth. She moved her tongue with his after a moment and he thought that there was nothing better than kissing her. He moved away after a while, her lips were red and swollen and she looked thoroughly kissed. She smiled at him and he smiled back, he stood up and pulled her with him. "Time to make food woman." He joked.

She laughed. "Okay, come on, you're going to help me tonight or we'll be late for dinner and Charlie will get suspicious."

"Lead the way Swan." He growled.

She walked towards the door and then stopped. "Paul… I'm not ready for a relationship right now… but I hope you'll have a bit of patience and eventually I wouldn't mind..."

"It's okay Swan. Let's take some time to know each other better." He replied and he was sure as well that it was too early for him too.

He needed more time to sort out his feelings. "Not too much though." He added.

She smiled at him. "I hope we can still kiss each other..."

"That can be arranged." He smirked back at her and when he took a step towards her she run out of the door.

"I didn't mean right now." She shouted while getting down the stairs.

"There's no time like the present." He growled playfully, but then when they reached the kitchen he just helped her cooking.

Being with Bella was something he could get used to, she was smart and pretty. And luckily he knew he liked her for real and not for the imprint. He just hoped that when he confessed to her that he was a werewolf she wasn't going to freak out. Although knowing her she was good with weird. And eventually he'll have to ask her about the red-head leech too, they needed some help to catch her and maybe she could give them some suggestions.

Needless to say the dinner had been a success, Charlie had been happy to see Bella smiling and had greeted Paul with a warmth that had made him feel really welcome. He couldn't wait for Bella to meet his 'furry family'; he hoped they would like her as much as he did.