A/N Song for this chapter Trey Songz- Already Taken http :/ youtu. be/ CGNsJBirnck
Paul sat at the kitchen table watching his imprint move around the kitchen. She seemed so out of place to him. She didn't belong here on the reservation. Tall, with long black hair and trim with just the right curves in just the right places she was too perfect. She belonged in movies, on magazine covers, not this dumpy reservation tied to an asshole for the rest of her life.
"Vanilla OK?" She called from the freezer.
"Yeah, I'm not picky."
A few moments later she brought over two plates. Hers had a slice of pie and a scoop of ice cream. His had three of each. He grinned at her as she placed the plate in front of him. "It smells delicious."
"Thank you, dig in." She motioned with her fork and cut a small piece off of her slice.
He took a small bite and made a good effort to chew slowly. Rachel burst out laughing.
Paul stopped mid-chew"Mwhat?"
Between laughs she told him, "You don't have to do that, you know? … I'm sorry, it's just so cute, like you're worried you'll frighten me if I see how you really eat." She covered her mouth to try to stifle the laughter. "I watch Jake eat every day, Paul."
He swallowed his excessively small bite and smiled at her. "You couldn't have said something earlier? It nearly killed me to eat dinner that slowly!" He shook his head as she continued to laugh at him. "I'm sorry, you just looked like you were trying so hard, I didn't want to ruin it for you."
In response, he grabbed an entire piece of pie and shoved the whole thing in his mouth with a snarl. Rachel roared again and grabbed her stomach. Paul made a dramatic show of how much he enjoyed the pie and the moment it was gone he grabbed a second slice with his bare hands and ate it whole, increasing the drama of his show even more. Bits of blueberry stuck to his face.
Rachel looked at his plate and stopped laughing. "Paul, you can't be enjoying it that much. You're not even eating your ice cream," and with that, she grabbed a scoop in her bare hand and shoved it in his face.
"He grabbed her wrist with one hand and a scoop of ice cream with the other. She squealed and stood to try to get away as he pushed the ice cream into her face in return. He reached for the last scoop and she grabbed the last slice at the same time. She leaned back over the table and he had her trapped. They both paused, looking each other over.
She knew she was trapped and the heat of his hand was melting that ice cream fast. She put her pie back on the plate and offered, "Truce?" He put the ice cream back on the plate, but then smiled devilishly at her and wiped the melted ice cream on his hand from her mouth clear back to her ear. "Now we're even."
Her mouth hung open in shock. She scoffed, "Paul! You dick!" and punched him in the arm. He feined injury and they both smiled.
Suddenly, it became all too obvious how close they were. She was leaning back over the table on one hand and he stood right over top of her. He leaned in to reach a towel behind her on the table and she tilted her head back and closed her eyes. He froze. She was waiting for a kiss. There, covered from lips to ear in ice cream, his imprint sat with eyes closed, her soft lashes touching her cheeks, waiting for him to kiss her.
He waffled for a split second thinking, This is not what friends do, before he cupped her ice cream covered cheek in his ice cream covered hand and gave her the best kiss he had in him. He tried his best to make it slow, sweet, soft and passionate all at once. Her hand came up to rest on his arm. He slid his hand back into her hair.
Once he felt she'd been thoroughly kissed, he pulled back just enough to look into her eyes.
"Wow." Her eyes were still closed. He could hear her heart pounding in her chest.
His pride swelled. To be able to elicit that reaction from his imprint with just a kiss was a good feeling. He gave her a minute to calm down as he retrieved the towel from behind her. He reached out to wipe her face. Her eyes now open, she took the towel from him, "Maybe I should just..." She smiled at him as she ducked under his arm.
He turned and sat on the table watching her wet the towel in the sink. "I'm sorry-"
"No," she cut him off as she spun to face him, "please don't be. It was... it was the nicest kiss I've ever had. I just," She turned back to the sink and wiped her face with the towel. "I just don't want to get ahead of things, you know?" She rinsed the towel again and brought it to him. She held it out, but he didn't take it. Instead he looked at her pointedly. She sighed and stepped closer to wipe his face for him."I think I know why that happened." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "No," she pinched his side, "we haven't had much contact since... the imprint, and you said that touch is important. I've really been enjoying getting to know you, but maybe we should try to find a way to touch more. So things don't get to a breaking point." She paused. "Hey, I have an idea. Go sit on the sofa, I'll be back in a minute."
She disappeared down the hall and he went to the sofa to wait. After a few nervous minutes she reappeared in a tiny outfit. A white sports bra and shorts so tiny he wasn't sure they qualified as more than underwear. "So, you're idea of relieving the sexual tension is to get naked?"
She blushed, "No! Turn, so your back is to me.
He looked at her with doubt, but obediently turned so he was sitting sideways on the sofa with his back to her. She sat down behind him pressing her back to his. "There. Now we can have a lot of physical contact, but still take things slowly. What do you think? "
While unable to stop thinking about how close to naked she was, Paul was happy to be touching so much of her skin to his. "I don't know, you're still wearing a lot of clothing." Can't blame a guy for trying, right?
"Paul. Friends, remember?" He could hear the humor in her voice. He knew she liked the compliment. She seemed to enjoy his teasing and wasn't bad at teasing him right back.
"So, tell me about the red-headed vampire."
"Well, she's been coming around a lot since before the vamps left. She's fast as hell. I'm the fastest wolf in the pack and I've only given her a couple of scrapes. She never fights back, she seems more interested in testing the boundaries and learning about us, how we fight. Like, she wants to outsmart us. I've been telling Sam for months that we should just offer up the leech lover as bait. Maybe she'd get distracted enough that we could rip her apart. Of course, Sam wont go for that, and now that she's Jake's imprint it'll never happen."
"Is Bella safe? I mean, you guys patrol the reservation, but she doesn't live here."
"Yeah, one of us is always on Bella duty. Mostly Jake, when he's not sleeping or patrolling. He spends the night over there every night and then one of us comes to relieve him when he has to be home for his patrol in the morning. Since she's not interested in a fight we all sleep pretty easy knowing that she wouldn't even think about going in Bella's house with a wolf in there with her."
"Charlie doesn't know about that, does he? I can't imagine he'd be OK with Jake over there every night."
"Naw, he's clueless. Doesn't know about the pack, the leeches, none of it. He has no idea Jake is in there spooning his daughter all night every night. He has nothing to worry about, though. Well, he did have before they imprinted. She wasn't interested in him at all. She prefers her men cold-blooded. I felt pretty sorry for Jake, but he's a real pussy anyway. He turned down his chance at alpha and follows Bella around like a love-sick pup all these months wiping away the tears she's been crying for a fucking vampire." He shook his head, "Pathetic."
"I think he's sweet! He's been in love with her since they were really little, you should have seen them, Paul. They were adorable! I'm really happy for them."
"Well, maybe he'll man up a bit now that he has an imprint to take care of."
She shook her head this time. "So, what are your plans now that you're out of school? Are you going to try to make something of the landscaping you do?"
"Oh, I don't know about that. It's OK, but I don't know how I'd make any money in the winter. I need year round income. I've been thinking about getting a job down at Marco's in Forks. They're looking for someone to work the counter. It's a shitty little place, but at least it would be steady income."
"Hmmmm" She was thinking hard. "That wouldn't be bad, but maybe you should keep an open mind. You never know when something is going to come up!"
He didn't blame her. He was trapped here on the rez with just a high school diploma and no chance of going to college and no decent job prospects anywhere in sight. It was embarrassing to think that he would never be able to provide much for his imprint.
"Paul, I know this was my idea, but I have this muscle in my back that cramps up if I sit wrong and this position is killing it. I'm going to have to move."
"Oh, here. Lie down on the floor." He grabbed a blanket off the sofa and spread it out on the worn rug. "On your stomach. I'll rub it for you."
She hesitated a moment, but after putting a hand over the muscle, decided to lie down. Paul straddled her ass with his knees and began rubbing her back softly. "Let me know when I hit it." When he got to the right spot she jerked, "Oh, there it is."
"OK, just relax and I'll see what I can do with it." He increased his pressure slightly and gave the muscle that was bothering her all of his attention. After a few moments her skin began to turn red and look aggravated. He jumped up to his feet. "Stay put, I'll be right back."
"OK, where are you going?"
He went into the kitchen and sniffed the bottles around the stove until he picked out the one with the least smell. He was back in a flash and returned to his original position.
"Oil." He poured a small amount into his hands and rubbed them together to warm the oil. When he returned them to her back she relaxed even more.
"Oh, Paul, that feels really good." Her breathing deepened and slowed as he released the tension in her back.
Once he felt the muscle was sufficiently worked he added more oil to his hands and continued working all over her back. The contact with her skin was electrifying and the way she was relaxing into the floor made him want to go on for hours. With the stamina he had from being a wolf, he certainly could. He silently rubbed her back and shoulders, then continued down her arms, then skipped down to her feet and legs. By the time he'd worked every muscle as much as he thought they needed, she was breathing very deeply and he was unsure if she was still awake.
He whispered to her, "Rachel?" No response. He took the opportunity to look her over. Her clothes were so tight they left very little to the imagination. God, she was beautiful. Her skin was so smooth and soft and it glistened with oil in the low light. She was trim, but not too much so. She had a good amount of muscle, he could tell it was from running.
He hopped to his feet and walked down the hall to make sure her bedroom door was open. The room smelled so much of her he was ready to move in right then and there. He moved to the bed and pulled the covers back. Lying on the bench at the end of the bed was a satiny nighty. He couldn't help but touch it and press it to his face. He wasn't sure how this friend thing was going to work out. Every day he wanted her more. She was doing her best to give him what he needed, but the more contact they had the more he wanted her. He returned the nighty to it's bench and went back down the hall.
His imprint still lay on the floor just as he'd left her. She must be sleeping deeply. He gently rolled her into his harms and she barely stirred at all. He carried her down the hall and placed her into her bed, pulling the covers up around her. She didn't wake in the slightest.
He stood watching her for a long moment, shifting on his feet. He turned and moved to the door. Running his fingers through his hair, he turned and walked back to the bed. He considered sitting somewhere he could watch her sleep for a while, then considered getting in bed with her, but decided that she might be freaked out if she found him in her bed uninvited in the morning. He breathed in her smell once last time and left the room.
Returning the blanket to the sofa so Billy wouldn't be suspicious in the morning, he left out the back door and headed to the woods. Maybe he could take an extra patrol tonight. He needed to run.
