All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, apart from the few I added.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
BELLA POV
The next morning at work I was literally bouncing up and down in anticipation, waiting for Jacob to walk through the door so I could make him an abnormally large portion of pancakes. When it got to 12pm I realised he wasn't going to be coming by for breakfast like I had hoped. When it got to 4pm I realised he wasn't going to come by for lunch either. As the rest of the day dragged on, I was literally itching to see him.
"Is this normal?" I finally asked Emily, having chewed off every one of my fingernails in impatience. It was 8pm and I still had not seen Jake.
"Yeah, at the beginning anyway." She told me, glancing towards me with a strange expression. "It does get easier eventually."
I nodded, but she hadn't made me feel any less anxious. "When does it get better?"
She looked at me, but didn't answer for a while. Finally she looked up at me, blushing a little. "I take it you haven't… you know?"
"What?"
"You and Jake… you haven't…" she gave me a meaningful look, and my brain finally caught on.
"Oh that… no we haven't." I told her without looking at her, blushing myself now.
"Well… after that, it should get better. It did for the rest of us anyway. Apart from you and Jake there's only Quil who hasn't… satisfied that itch… for obvious reasons." She said, looking uncomfortable.
I felt uncomfortable too for a moment thinking about that, and luckily Emily seemed to see where my brain was heading.
"It's not like that with Quil and Claire, you've seen them. He's like her big brother or something, because that's what she needs him to be. Sam sees into his head all the time, and he's reassured me that Quil has never thought about Claire in that way. But at the end of the day, Quil is a wolf. They have needs, but he doesn't see women in that way. You'll know what I mean eventually, but let's just say they are pretty sexual beings, Paul's the worst. Having sex calms them down and the longing of the imprint isn't so strong, but obviously that isn't an option for Quil and he's never considered it."
That reassured me, after all Claire was Emily's niece and I was sure she would not let Quil see Claire if she thought there was something wrong with it. I had also seen Quil with Claire, and never thought anything was wrong with the way they were together. Like Emily said. They behaved like siblings.
"That's why he's always taking time off work to see Claire; he gets dangerous when he hasn't seen her for a couple of days." Emily continued, confusing me again. "Without the imprint being… satisfied… the longing is really strong unless the wolf sees his imprint regularly. She becomes all he can think about; he can't focus on anything other than her."
"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering how Quil could be seen as dangerous.
"Well once, Claire's parents took her on holiday to Disneyworld. They don't know about Quil's… connection… with her, so they didn't know it would affect him so much just to take her away from him for a week. He couldn't concentrate on anything, and he ended up dropping a car on Jacob at the garage."
I gasped, even though I knew Jacob was okay now. "Was he hurt?"
"Only temporarily, but if it was a customer who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, they wouldn't have the wolf healing powers to keep them safe. That's why Jacob lets him take days off, even though it leaves Embry and him up to their necks in work."
I smiled, liking that Jake was so compassionate. "So is Jacob feeling like I am now?" I asked, realising I had started pulling threads out of my t-shirt. I was finding it very difficult to stand still.
"Probably about ten times worse" she laughed. "Feelings are more intense for the wolf than they are for the imprint."
"So, to be able to get through a day at work, I need to… sleep with Jake?" I asked shyly, and she nodded. "Does he know this?" she nodded again. "I guess I can do that." I said seriously, and we both cracked out laughing.
JACOB POV
Unfocused was not a strong enough word to describe my mood today, but it was on the right track. All I could think was Bella. Changing a flat tyre? Bella. Replacing brake pads? Bella. Repairing a huge dent in a car door? Bella.
Embry wasn't even speaking to me by lunch time; I had irritated him so much during the morning. What do you think Bella is doing right now? Do you think Bella is busy? Do you think Bella is missing me? Do you think Bella is alright? In the end he had told me in no uncertain terms to fuck off, and had remained silent ever since.
Sam had told me all about the longing the imprint brought with it, but I never realised just how strong it was. I had always been annoyed about having to let Quil take time off work to see Claire, but I completely sympathised with him now. If only I could take the day off to see Bella. Would Embry mind? I asked myself, before slapping myself internally. Of course Embry would mind, it had only been hours since I had last seen Bella. Fourteen hours and fifteen minutes, to be precise.
Sam had also told me how to ease the longing, but I couldn't exactly just come right out and tell Bella that could I! It had only been a matter of days since we had met, although it felt like much longer. If I suddenly turned round and told her what Sam had told me, she really would run back to Arizona. Hey Bells, mind if we sleep together? Then I'll be able to cope with going to work without seeing you. Even in my head I sounded pathetic.
If I had been bad before lunch, I was terrible after. While working underneath an old Ford, I dropped the wrench I was using an impressive sixty eight times within ten minutes. Embry threatened to pull my man parts off so I would never be able to satisfy the imprint if I didn't get my act together. I only dropped it once more after that; Embry was pretty scary when he got mad.
I had worn a watch today so that I could know the time without having to keep looking up to the clock on the wall, but it didn't help because I spent a good twenty seconds every minute checking the time. The damn thing never changed! When the hand finally moved to show it had just turned 10pm, I understood why Embry had got so mad. I was even irritating myself.
Someone came into the garage then, but I didn't bother peering round the car I was working on to see who it was; Embry was closer. When I heard him let out a loud groan, my curiosity got the better of me and I paused what I was doing.
"Jake, I'm calling it a night." He announced, loud enough for me to hear but too quiet for normal ears. I opened my mouth to protest: we still had cars to get through, but then I heard him greet the customer. "Hey, Bella. Jake's over there, think he will be pretty happy to see you."
I practically sprinted to the door and picked Bella up before she could respond to Embry. I held her tight until I realised she was struggling to breathe.
"I missed you, Bells." I told her, giving her a quick kiss before setting her back on her feet.
"I missed you, Jake. A lot."
I felt bad that she was feeling the strain of the imprint too, but I still didn't have the guts to tell her what we would have to do to ease it. I didn't want to rush her into anything, even if I was desperate to be more intimate with her.
"I'm going home before this gets any more awkward." Embry gestured between the two of us, and gave Bella a quick peck on the cheek before he headed out the door.
"I brought you some food since you didn't turn up to the diner today…" Bella told me when Embry had left.
"Sorry, Bells. We've been super busy today 'cause Quil's with Claire for the day. Trust me, I've wanted to come and see you all day but I haven't even had a minute spare."
"I understand." She said, and I noticed she looked a little nervous and her cheeks were growing redder by the minute.
"Bella? What is it?" I asked, using a finger to tilt her chin upwards, so she had to look me in the face.
"Well, I brought you food. But I was thinking first maybe we could…" she trailed off and turned her head, seeming to look for something.
"Could what?" I asked, not following the direction of her words.
She didn't reply, but suddenly threw herself at me, kissing me passionately and rubbing her little hands from my chest right down to the waistband of my sweatpants. All thoughts of what she had said suddenly vanished and I kissed her back, returning her passion. It felt like so long since I had last seen her, I wanted to touch every inch of her. I picked her up and sat her on the hood of the closest car, never breaking the kiss. She moaned lightly against my mouth, and I pulled back a little to look at her.
"Is there any particular reason for this behaviour? Or are you just happy to see me?" I laughed, kissing her neck softly.
"Well… there is kind of a reason. Today has been really difficult Jake, not seeing you. I don't think I can go through that every day. Anyway, I spoke to Emily and-"
"She told you about the imprint thing?" I guessed, pulling away a bit more.
"Yeah, she did." She replied, avoiding my gaze and blushing.
"Bells… we don't have to do that yet." I told her, worried that we were rushing into this.
"No Jake, I really want to. Besides, if we don't find a way to ease the way I feel when I'm not with you then you're going to have to set up your garage in the diner! I can't go another day feeling like I have today."
"Trust me Bells, it's been really difficult for me too. But I don't want to rush you into anything."
She didn't reply, but reached up to pull my lips to hers again. Within minutes she was laid out on the bonnet of the car, me hovering shirtless above her, and I realised where we were headed. Pulling away slowly, I grabbed my shirt and pulled it back over my head.
"Jake, please?" she said quietly, biting her lip. "Don't you want me?"
"Of course I want you Bella. But there is no way our first time is going to be in my greasy garage." She smiled a little, and I picked her up to carry her towards the door. "We can save that for another time." I told her with a wink, and she giggled.
"Where are we going?" she finally asked when I had carried her across the road to where her truck was parked in the diner's car park.
"My place."
"What about your dad?"
"Hopefully he'll be out. If not I could always kick him out, I'm pretty sure he would comply."
She laughed and rolled her eyes at me, climbing into the cab of her truck. I jumped into the passenger side while she drove us over to my house. All the way I prayed, to any Gods that might have been listening, that Billy was out so we could have the house to ourselves. Someone up there must have been listening to me because when we got to the house it was in complete darkness, and dad had left a note letting me know he was on an overnight fishing trip with Charlie.
Holding Bella's hand, I led her to my bedroom and locked the door behind us just in case Rachel came home. When I turned to face Bella she was already laid in the middle of the bed, so I made my way over to her. Instantly she was up on her knees, pulling me towards her and kissing me passionately. Within seconds all of our clothes were on the floor, and I was hovering over her ready to finally satisfy the imprint.
"Bella, are you sure?" I asked, silently praying once again that she would say yes.
"I came to you, remember?" she replied with a hint of impatience that made me chuckle. I reached to the floor to get my wallet from my jeans, but this seemed to antagonise her even more. "What are you doing now?"
"Well correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we should probably use some protection?"
She shook her head and pulled me back towards her. "No need. Pill." She told me between kisses, and in that moment I loved her more than ever. Without further hesitation I lined myself up at her entrance, and slowly began to push in.
Making love to Bella, I was happy in the knowledge that she was my future. Even though I had to wait a lot longer than the rest of the pack to imprint, I was glad that Bella was the one. Lying in bed with her snuggled into my side afterwards, her cheek on my chest, I blurted one of my thoughts out before I could think of the repercussions.
"I love you, Bells." I whispered, completely disregarding the fact that declaring my love after so little time was probably terrifying to her. She was silent for an agonisingly long moment, and just as I was about to open my mouth to do some damage control, she finally spoke up.
"I love you too, Jake." She whispered back, looking up to my face and smiling. I placed a soft kiss on her forehead, unable to come up with any better way to express my happiness at her words. We fell asleep curled up in one another's arms; me with the biggest grin ever spread across my face.
When I woke up it was light outside, and I was very happy to find that Bella was still asleep in bed with me. Glancing at the clock I saw it was 9am, and both Bella and I should have been at work for the past three hours.
"Shit, Bells! It's 9am!"
She opened her eyes quickly and jumped out of bed. "Shit!"
Even though I needed to be rushing about to get to work, I couldn't help but sit there and watch Bella trying to get dressed whilst in panic mode. When she had finally got her jeans on properly after three failed attempts, she looked at me and scowled.
"What?"
"Come here, honey. Emily will be handling the diner so stop worrying. Just give me a cuddle."
She hesitated for a moment, then smiled and climbed onto the bed. After a few minutes, she pulled away and jumped up again.
"We can cuddle later, first I need to apologise to Em!" she pulled her shirt over her head and scraped her hair back into a ponytail while I put on clean shorts and a t-shirt. "If you hurry up I'll sort you some breakfast out at the diner to take for the guys, that should help get you off the hook."
"Yeah, they can't be mad at me if I take them some of your pancakes. Thanks, honey."
We drove the short trip to the diner in record time, and Bella relaxed when she saw everything was under control. She sent me away fifteen minutes later with a basket packed with dozens of pancakes, a large bottle of syrup and a long, lingering kiss. I walked into the garage with what I'm sure was the biggest grin ever on my face, which pissed Embry and Quil off enormously until they smelled the food. Sure enough, within minutes they were stuffing their faces and had forgotten about me sleeping in.
