CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Dad, what would you think about me getting married?" I asked.

It was Friday morning two weeks later and we were in the truck on our way to work. I had been thinking about it since I decided what I was going to do and wondering whether to tell Dad or not. Would he accept it like he accepted me and Embry, or would he freak and think it was a step too far? I had considered several ways of telling him as I walked over to his house after breakfast and in the end I just blurted it out.

"Um..." was his response. "You mean to Embry, obviously."

"Yeah, of course to Embry." I could feel my face colouring up and I turned my head away and looked out of the window.

"Weeelllll," he drawled. "I guess it's the logical next step after moving in together, right?"

"So it wouldn't bother you, then?"

"Nah. I don't care what anybody else thinks either, only Charlie and she thinks the pair of you are - get this - cute." He wrinkled his nose and snorted. "You weren't even cute when you were in diapers, Paul."

"Thanks. I think." I relaxed and grinned.

"So when's the big day?" asked Dad.

"Hell, I didn't even ask him yet," I said. "I need to figure out how I'm going to do it so keep it to yourself."

Dad made a zipping motion across his lips and smirked. The butterflies which had been invading my stomach since I got up reduced slightly, but not completely. I had another task to complete that day, which was adding to the nerves. I was going to buy Embry a ring and I hadn't the first clue what he would like.

I went out in the lunchbreak and headed for a jewellers. There were no other customers in the store and two perfect looking girls behind the counter waiting to attend to me.

"May I help you, Sir?" one asked.

"Um...yeah..." I glanced around the store and headed towards the counter where she stood, which happened to have trays of rings under its glass top. "I'm after a ring."

She beamed at me. "Would that be an engagement ring?"

"Uh..." Hell, now what? Girls wore engagement rings and then added a wedding ring after the big day. I'd never known a guy to wear an engagement ring before, but wasn't this different? It wasn't like I knew any guys who were married to other guys that I could ask. Then again, we were hardly going to have a long engagement and plan a huge wedding with half the Res in attendance. I didn't think. I wished I'd thought things through more. I wished I knew what Embry really wanted. What if he said no? He wouldn't say no, would he?

"Sir?" The girl was eyeing me curiously.

"Sorry. No, I want a pair," I said decidedly. "Of wedding rings." It made more sense to me than getting him some kind of ring that was supposed to be an engagement ring which he would have to wear on a different finger after we got married - if we got married. My palms were sweating and I wiped them on my jeans.

"Oh, well we have a number of matching pairs, you know for the bride and groom."

I sniggered awkwardly. The girls must be thinking I was beyond weird. The other one had wandered over by now and was unlocking the cabinet beneath the counter.

"What's your fiance's name?" she asked.

"Embry."

"Some of these might suit, then." She straightened up with a tray in her hand, containing mainly mens' rings.

"How'd you know?" I asked.

"I don't know many girls named Embry."

"Before that."

"I don't know, a wild guess. My brother's gay, he behaved like he wanted to run for the hills when it came to buying rings."

"You saying I look like I want to run away?" I grinned. She smiled at me.

"I'll leave you to it, Jeanne," the first girl said and made her way to the other counter.

Jeanne showed me a variety of rings and I decided immediately that neither me nor Embry would want yellow gold. He sometimes wore a necklace which was silver and his wristwatch was also silver. I picked white gold and tried on half a dozen different rings on the third finger of my left hand, trying to imagine myself wearing them. Embry's fingers were more slender than mine and I tried slightly smaller ones on my little finger, eventually deciding on a matching pair of brushed satin rings with polished edges. Jeanne placed the two rings in a box which held a pair and in ten minutes I was back at work, the box hidden in my pocket.

I planned to ask him on Sunday and by the time I got home it was all I could think about. We would have the whole day to ourselves which would give me time to do something romantic. I felt silly and embarrassed, but at the same time excited, happy and nervous and a whole bunch of other jumbled up emotions. I kept going over and over what might happen in my head. I was going to take him on a picnic and I would probably neck a few bottles of beer first - Dutch courage. I tried to imagine what I might say; 'Will you marry me?' 'Do you want to get married?' 'Will you be my...?'

"He'll say no," I muttered. "He'll think I'm a jerk. Fuck."

"He won't," I argued with myself a moment later. "I'm his Imprint. Why would he say no? He'll do anything I ask, but maybe he'll only say yes because he thinks it's what I want...urgh!" I punched the bathroom wall none too gently and dented the tiles. Luckily Embry was working late for once, but I was still going to have to explain what happened to the tiles.

When Embry came home, the first thing he did was kiss me as usual, then he went to the bathroom. When he came out he had a puzzled frown on his face.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, why?" I said. Shit, he saw the tiles.

"It looks like you punched the wall."

"It's nothing, just a tense day, that's all." I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a kiss. "I'll get someone in to fix it next week."

"Quil can do tiling, I'll ask him," Embry said. That was all - he didn't question me any more and I relaxed marginally although I was still nervous as hell about Sunday. All I could think about was what I would do if he said no. Feel like a complete dick, that's what.

I continued arguing with myself until early Sunday morning, by which time I had resigned myself to the fact that I was going to go ahead with what I planned and if he didn't like the idea, I would deal with it at the time. I made the excuse that I had to see Sam about something first thing in the morning and left him showering while I drove over to Sam's to collect the picnic Emily was making up for me.

"You big softie," she teased as she handed me a basket. "Embry's so lucky." She eyed Sam at this point and frowned and he grinned sheepishly and shrugged.

"Yeah, well let's hope he likes it," I said.

"You think Embry won't like my cooking? Don't be so cheeky!" Emily teased.

"I think he means the romantic gesture," Sam said.

"I didn't think you knew what one of those was," I smirked and made my exit quickly. I put the basket in the truck and peeked inside before I drove off. Fried chicken, ham and egg pie, potato salad, strawberries and chocolate muffins all in large quantities and several bottles of beer. Emily made a mean picnic. Shame I had absolutely no appetite.

When I got back to the house, Embry was wandering about wearing jeans and looking for a shirt, his upper half still damp from the shower. I licked my lips and made an effort to quell my immediate desire to grab him and drag him back to bed. I was never going to get tired of looking at him, touching him, making love to him...

"Paul, your tongue's hanging out," Embry grinned. "Do I seriously look that good?"

"You have no idea. Put a shirt on."

"Spoilsport." He pulled a face and rummaged through the pile of laundry awaiting ironing. It was a task both of us hated and consequently we often went out in wrinkled shirts. He took out a red checkered shirt and put it on, tucking it into his jeans and rolling the sleeves up. Reluctantly I left him to it and went into the bedroom to grab the ring box which I had hidden inside a sock at the back of my underwear drawer. I grabbed the lube too, just in case, and a rug.

"Are we going somewhere?" Embry asked when I joined him again, the rug under my arm.

"Yes, I'm taking you out, I don't do it enough," I said.

Embry beamed. "Where are we going?"

"Just a picnic."

"Just a picnic?" He smiled wider and his eyes sparkled. "That's pretty romantic."

"Pretty romantic for me, you mean," I grinned. "You can pick the place."

"How about the beach?" Embry suggested at once. "That spot where we first...got together."

I wished I'd thought of that myself; it was perfect. Although it was only a ten minute walk, we took the truck rather than lug the large picnic basket and rug all the way down there and when we reached the sand, we found the area deserted. It was a cool windy day and most people avoided the La Push beach when it was like this. With our temperatures, of course it never affected us.

I spread the rug out in almost exactly the same place as I had before and placed the picnic basket on one corner. We sprawled in the middle, talking and cuddling for a while, watching the waves crashing onto the rocks close by. My heart was pounding unevenly with nerves and I wondered how I was ever going to eat anything. When we opened the basket a little later and got the food out, I had to force down every bite of Emily's delicious meal and it wasn't long before Embry noticed I was struggling to eat and gulping beer as if it was going out of fashion.

"Paul, what's wrong? Are you worried about something?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," I said.

"You're not, you're jumpy as hell."

For a moment I was filled with panic and tempted to forget the whole idea; just laugh it off and say there was nothing wrong; pounce on him to distract him. 'Get on with it; stop being such a dick,' I told myself.

"Well, I've had something on my mind," I said.

"What is it? Can I help?" Embry said at once.

"Sshh." I pulled him towards me and brushed my lips against his. "I want to say something to you." I put my beer down and took hold of his hands instead. "I hope you know how much you mean to me. I know I've hurt you, more than once, and you put up with it because you Imprinted. I hate that I did that to you, but I won't ever let you down again. You're my life, Em, and I love you with all my heart. So what I want to know is..." I paused and licked my lips. "...will you marry me?"

His eyes widened and he breathed in suddenly and then didn't move for several long seconds. My heart sank and I cursed myself inwardly. Damnit, I should have listened to the part of me that said it would be a mistake. Rather than sit there in silence and die of embarrassment, I began to babble.

"It was just an idea, you know, if it's a stupid one you can say no, I just thought..."

"Oh, Paul..." Embry interrupted, pulling his hands out of mine and wrapping his arms around my neck instead. "Will you hush and let me talk now I've got my breath?"

He had tears in his eyes, I noticed and I waited for him to continue and say gently that we should leave things as they were.

"I never imagined you would want to get married, not to me, anyway," he said softly. "I always hoped, even when we weren't together I dreamed that one day you would want me like you do now. You're my life too and I cannot wait to marry you." A tear spilled over, but he was beaming from ear to ear at the same time.

"You're serious," I gaped. "You said yes."

"Of course I said yes, did you think I'd turn you down?" he grinned. "Jerk."

"Yeah, I am, I've been stressing about it for the last couple of weeks," I admitted.

"Aww." Embry's lips touched mine. "I love you."

"I love you too." I reached out towards my leather jacket which lay on the rug and slid my hand into the inside pocket to find the ring box. I pulled it out and popped it open with my thumb. "Wedding rings," I said needlessly. "I hope yours fits ok."

I didn't think Embry's smile could have gotten any wider, but somehow it did as he took the smaller ring and tried it on for size. It was perfect and he loved the design, much to my relief.

"I don't want to take it off now," he sighed.

"Well, you'll have to until it's official, give it back," I said sternly. He took the ring off reluctantly and I put the box away again, then pushed the picnic basket out of the way and drew him down onto the rug. "Still no sign of anyone around," I grinned.

"Thank God for that. Please tell me you brought lube with you," Embry said.

"Why would I do that?" I teased.

"Because I suppose you thought if I said yes you'd want to celebrate by fucking me senseless and if I said no...well, I guess I'd have to entice you into fucking me senseless to make up for it."

I reached into my jacket again and grabbed the lube, but I didn't fuck him senseless - I made love to him slowly and gently before we cleaned ourselves up the best we could with the paper napkins from the picnic, gathered everything together and headed for home.

Once inside, the first thing we did was take a shower. I was still horny and I got under the hot spray and scrubbed myself vigorously, my cock throbbing and standing upright as I waited for Embry to join me. I couldn't stop myself from grasping my erection and stroking it slowly, impatiently, wondering what was taking him so long. I was half turned away from the shower door and I leaned my forehead against the tiled wall, rubbing myself more firmly and thinking about what we could do to each other when we got out of here and into bed - if we made it that far.

At last Embry stepped into the shower and slid his arms around me from behind, pushing my hand off my cock and curling his fingers around it instead.

"Couldn't you wait?" He pressed himself against me and I felt his erection against my butt. I groaned at both the feel of it and his hand on me. He cupped my balls in his other hand, squeezing gently, thrusting himself against me from behind.

"Do you want to?" I murmured, biting my lip as his thumb rubbed over the head of my cock. God, it was barely a half hour since I came and I was aching for more.

"Do I want to what?" Embry said.

"Fuck me."

"Uh...do you want me to?"

What the hell did I just say? Did I really want to get fucked in the ass, I wondered? Hell, no. Well, maybe. Who knew? I guessed I would let him if it was what he wanted. It was only fair and at that point, the way he was driving me crazy with his hands, I doubted I would have complained about anything.

"I asked first," I panted.

"No," he said. "I like you dominating me."

"Oh, you do?" I pushed his hands off of me now and turned around, sliding my arms around his waist and holding him so that our erections pressed together.

"Uh huh." He lowered his lashes and peeked up through them in that cute shy way he had that hadn't lessened any in the time we had been together.

"Let's get out of here and go to bed." I let him go and turned the water off quickly. Embry moved away from me and picked up a towel and within minutes we were at least mostly dry and hurrying to our room. I threw myself into the middle of the bed, pulled Embry down against me, then rolled him over onto his back, my body coming to rest on top of him, my elbows either side of his head taking my weight. His legs slid apart under me at once and I felt his cock throbbing against my stomach.

To my surprise curiosity continued to prick at me and I wondered what it felt like for him when I was fucking him. He was so hot and tight and his muscles would pull at me with every thrust. When I was balls deep inside him, he could make me come just by squeezing without me even having to move and he was missing out on that. If I didn't like it I wouldn't have to do it again, but no harm in trying and it was a special day after all.

"You sure you don't want to try it?" I grinned, grinding myself against him. He sucked his breath in through his teeth and slid his hands down to my butt, holding me tight there, my cock pulsing, the base of it resting against the softness of his balls and the tip quivering alongside his shaft. I was so hard it almost hurt and I was desperate for release.

"Are you serious, Paul?"

"Uh...yeah..." I groaned.

"Ok, see how you feel about this..."

He took one hand off of my butt and brought his fingers to his mouth, moistening them with saliva. When he reached down again I felt a finger press between my cheeks, feeling for the tight hole there, stroking back and forth over it. I slid my legs apart as far as his thighs either side of me would allow and dropped my face forward into his neck. That was way more sensitive than I would have expected and I shuddered.

"Oh, God..." I breathed.

Embry chuckled and brushed his lips against my ear.

"Pass me the lube," he whispered.

I propped myself up and reached out to grab it from the bed table. Embry took his hands off me, pushed me up a little further and squeezed a generous quantity of the slick cool liquid into his hand, then reached down and began to coat my cock in it. It was unexpected and I thrust myself harder into his hand.

"Fuck," I groaned.

Embry let out another soft laugh and shifted his position slightly, pulling his knees up higher and guiding me down to his entrance.

"What are you doing?" I murmured.

"You don't know by now?" he teased, pushing his hips up and almost sucking me into his hot tightness. "Just stay still and relax."

"Jesus," I said through my teeth. However many times we did this, I was never going to get used to how amazing it felt. I lay shivering, my cock buried deep inside him, every inch of it gripped tight, as he grabbed the lube again, applied more to his hand and returned his fingers to my ass. The tip of one digit, slick and slippery, circled my hole slowly and I bit my lip, not knowing whether to concentrate on the sensations running through my cock from the way he was squeezing me, or the fact that the tip of his finger was pressing gently against me, seeking access to the part of me I'd never thought I would let anyone near. I forced myself to relax and his slender forefinger slid in about an inch, then stayed still.

"Shit," I gasped.

"Shall I stop?"

"Fuck, Em...no," I heard myself hiss.

"You like that?" he whispered.

His finger slid deeper, as far in as he could reach and I was surprised by how good it felt. My response to his question was something like a whine and I bit my lip as he laughed softly again. He began withdrawing his finger and I was almost disappointed until it slid back in and I imitated the movement with my cock, pulling back and shoving it harder into him until his head rolled back and he groaned. Hell, the way things were going I wouldn't last very long and when he added a second finger, stretching me and causing a little discomfort, it only served to drive me closer to orgasm. When I came and felt him lose it at the same time, spurting onto my stomach, I was shaking and sweating and I still wanted more.

I slid off Embry and lay facing him, holding each other loosely as we panted for breath, our bodies slick with sweat and our cocks still semi-hard. Being a wolf had its advantages, I thought. From what I had heard, regular humans took much longer to be ready for more. I grinned to myself and stroked my hand over Embry's chest, feeling his heartbeat, still rapid, trailed my fingers over his stomach and felt the muscles jump. His cock bumped my wrist and I captured it in my hand.

"Still want more?" I murmured.

"Yeah, do you?"

"I'm thinking about it." I took my hand off him and squeezed more lube into it, lathering it onto him and rubbing him slowly.

"Shit, Paul, don't think about it too long," he groaned.

"I want you to fuck me," I whispered.

"Are you sure?" Embry's eyes opened and met mine.

"Yeah, I'm sure." After the way he touched me I had gone very rapidly from thinking I would do it to please him, to longing to see what it felt like. "I want your cock in me," I added.

"You might not like it."

"I liked what you did already. If I don't like it, I just won't do it again."

"Fuck." Embry giggled nervously. "Well, I've never done it either."

"I know. That's why I want you to." I stopped talking and kissed him instead, sliding onto my back, my heart banging against my ribs.

He didn't rush things, using lube-coated fingers for several minutes, stretching me and tormenting me as my cock quivered, untouched, against my stomach. By the time he withdrew his fingers and slid onto me I was on the point of begging him to get on with it. He guided himself hesitantly, the head of his cock seeming a hell of a lot bigger than his fingers. It pushed against me and eventually slid in slowly. I was holding my breath and I forced myself to relax and breathe when Embry stopped moving and met my eyes.

"Shall I stop?"

"No," I whispered.

I put my arms around him, resting my hands on his butt. He slid deeper into me and I shivered. It felt impossibly tight, but not as uncomfortable as I expected and my cock wasn't complaining about being rubbed between our stomachs. He drew back and thrust forward again, bumping something which I guessed was my prostate.

"Fuck!" I hissed.

Embry's response was a deep groan. I squeezed his butt with one hand, running the other up his back, his skin slippery with the sweat which beaded along his spine. I began to move with him, grinding my teeth together to keep myself quiet for a minute and then giving up with a loud moan. I was so close and he kept on moving tantalisingly slowly, no doubt wanting to make sure he didn't hurt me.

"Em," I panted.

He opened his eyes and looked down at me, his face flushing slightly.

"Fuck me," I said. "Hard."

He kept his eyes on mine as he pulled back and thrust harder into me, pinning me to the mattress. He continued, harder and faster, bringing us both to a rapid finish. I held onto him, feeling him spurting into me as I came, his hot breath on my neck, skin slithering wetly against skin and I sank my teeth into his shoulder, tasting salt. He slid out of me, but stayed where he was, panting in my ear.

"God, Paul," he gasped. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." I manoeuvred him onto his side next to me, my arms still tight around him. My heart was pounding so hard it felt as if it may burst out of my chest and I knew that what we had just done wouldn't be a one-off.