Jacob PoV

When the four little words reached my ear, I thought at first, I must have heard wrong. It could simply not be; Bella returning my I love yous this soon. But when I looked down and saw her smiling at me, I knew I didn't hear wrong. She had said she loved me, and it had been the truth. She loved me. She really, really loved me.

The way she had said it, the way she looked at me... She loved me not only as a friend but as a woman loved a man. When the music started playing on the screen and the couple finally came together in their first kiss, I too bent down to kiss her ever so lightly. I was afraid I would hurt her if I kissed her with all the happiness I was feeling. The wolf inside me howled with contempt and jumped around like a happy little puppy.

I cupped her face and smiled like a fool. "I love you, Bella. So much."

"That's settled then." She grinned before she leaned back against my side and continued to watch the movie. For my part, I didn't care about the movie one bit. All I wanted was for it to end and get the others out so I could have Bella all to myself and show her how much I loved her.

The film dragged on another agonizing forty minutes. As Embry had said it ended with a Happily Ever After. As soon as the credits started to roll, I got up, and looked at the clock on the wall.

"Wow, already this late? Maybe we should get the cooking started if we want to be ready when your dad comes over", I spoke a little too loud. Everyone except Seth seemed to get the hidden message. They merely grinned but I knew I would never hear the end of it once I had phased. Like I would care about something like that right now.

Embry and Quil brought the empty bowls and glasses back to the kitchen before they left. They waved and thanked Bella.

"It was very nice of you letting us stay," Embry said as they went to the door. "We should do something like that more often."

Bella shrugged and beamed at the same time. Quil passed her next, dragging Seth along with him. The younger kid bowed before Bella, took one of her hands and placed an elegant kiss on the back of it. One could just wonder where he had seen that. I narrowed my eyes and growled and this time he seemed to understand for once because he backed up and winked at me before he went after Quil.

I closed the door and sighed in relief. I loved them all like brothers but even brothers could be annoying sometimes.

Bella looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You know, four o'clock is not really that late..."

"Yeah, but they don't know that, don't they?" Without further announcement, I swept my Bella into my arms and carried her back to my room where I placed her carefully on my bed.

Even without any kissing, her cheeks were already flushed, and her eyes clouded. "That was... unexpected." She giggled and reached out for me at the same time. I didn't let her wait and was at her side within a heartbeat. I leaned over her so that I could see in her eyes. "I love you, Bella."

"I love you too, Jake." It didn't take anything else for me to bend down and kiss her. I had intended for the kiss to be slow and gentle but somehow it turned out different. Something seemed to have changed between us because the kiss seemed to be somehow more intimate and stronger than before. Like saying I love you had brought everything to a whole new level.

And maybe it had.

I lowered my body down a bit so that was half laying on her and half on her side and let my hand travel up and down her body. She wore only a red top and a pair of jeans today, the sweater somewhere on the couch.

I went down with my mouth, kissing her nose, her cheeks, her chin, her neck... When I pushed the strap of her top and her bra aside to kiss the soft skin on her shoulder, she closed her eyes and sighed, the sweetest sound I'd ever heard. "I love you, Bella. So much," I breathed against her skin before I kissed her again.

Her fingers clang to my back, leaving red marks but I didn't care. She could do everything she wanted to me, everything her body told her to do.

My hand had found its way under her top, feeling the warm skin. She didn't push my hand away nor did she stiffen so I tried moving my hand up a little. Still no resistance. I reached the underside of her bra and stopped. I gave her mind some time to function again, to tell her if it was okay for me to do that or if she wanted me to stop.

Bella looked surprised when I had stopped kissing and touching her. She frowned. "Why did you stop?" she panted.

"Bells, is this what you want? Like I told you, I'll stop if you want me to." I was totally serious. Even if it would kill me to leave her alone, I would gladly do it.

"Why would I want you to stop?" She really didn't know the answer and I had to suppress a small laughter. "Never mind then," I chuckled and kissed her warm lips once more.

I let my hand wander freely, tracing the outlines of her bra, gently going over it, touching her chest, pushing the bra just a little to the side... The feeling of her soft skin under my hands was nearly too much for me and I felt I would explode any moment. I breathed her name, once, twice, repeated only the one sentence I love you, I love you I love you again and again and again...

At some point I had to stop. I had reached the limit of what I could bear without beginning to undress her and do all the things my mind told me to do.

And that wouldn't be a very good idea. Would it?

I withdrew my hand and my lips and stretched out beside her, placing my hand on her rapidly rising and falling stomach while I tried to cool down a little. I caught her questioning look and grinned half-heartedly. "I'm sorry. But it was simply too much."

"Too much?"

God, this absolute innocence. She really didn't know what fire she had ignited in me only by kissing me and touching my back.

"There's only so much a man can do without letting things go too far," I tried to explain and was greeted once again with an unknowing look.

"Bells, I don't know how to explain this, so I'll just say it as it is. I love you Bella and I want to sleep with you and I know it is way too soon for that so we have to stop now or I can't control myself anymore, you know?" This had come as nearly one long sentence, but Bella understood. She blushed and lowered her gaze, seemingly too embarrassed to look at me.

"It's okay, Bells. Really. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I told you I want to let things happen at your own speed and I meant it when I said this. I love touching you and kissing you and love it when you touch and kiss me and that's more than enough for me. We have all the time in the world; we don't have to rush anything."

She mumbled something and then pressed her face onto my chest, her cheeks hot and red. I put an arm around her and simply held her, a small, innocent gesture to balance out everything that had just happened.