A/N: Okay guys! Here we go! The sequel that I think most of you knew was coming. Bella and Jacobs story is truly just beginning! Hope you enjoy this first chapter. Please review with your thoughts and thank you for all your support! :-)

CHAPTER ONE

(BPOV)

The Spring came and went in the blink of an eye and before I knew it, the lilac trees in our front yard were in full bloom. Summer seemed to be passing us by at the same fast rate of speed.

I glanced around at our small kitchen and sighed heavily at the mess and clutter that currently lined the counters. Flower, sugar, chocolate chips and vanilla was sprinkled and spilled in various places as far as the eye could see, but the sound of the little voice contentedly babbling away while playing with the many pots and pans strewn on the floor, seemed to make the mess a lot more tolerable right now.

We'd made a home of our little house on the Reservation for almost six months now, and while I had never done more painting in all my life, I loved being here. Mistakes were made, wall paper patterns changed and then changed again, but despite some of the more stressful and crazy times that came along with home ownership, I truly wouldn't have changed a single thing about it.

The sun touched Clarissa's face as she looked my way with pure glee in her rich chocolate eyes, while banging her wooden spoon happily on one of the many overturned pots in front of her, and all I could do was smile.

This was home. Our home.

I knelt down next to Clarissa with a shake of my head, as I took in the sight of her sweet messy face. She had flour on both cheeks, and even some in her hair, and I laughed when she clapped happily with the kind of dimpled grin that melted my heart every time she showed it.

"Yeah, I know it's a real mess in here, huh?" I playfully asked her. "...-but you're about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Come on, let's get you in the bath before daddy gets home?"

"Daddy." She giggled to me in return.

It had been a lot of work but it had paid off. Sue's old place had made for a great starter house that we could call our own. Many hours of blood, sweat and even some tears had been poured into this little place of ours and it surely showed. The walls were painted in a pale yellow and the doors a creamy white. Our final piece of furniture had been delivered just last week, everything else, including our kitchen table, Jacob had made and stained himself by hand. I adored every piece because it was purely his own design.

There wasn't a single part of this place that didn't have a story behind it, and truth be told, it made me love it all the more.

There was just something about recreating a place with your own two hands that gave you a sense of real pride, and I couldn't have been more proud of Jacob than I was right now.

My father and Billy had been a big help with a lot of the inside renovations, and we'd paid them back ever chance we could with free dinner here. Charlie looked much happier now that I was back home, and I knew it did his heart good to see me far more often than he had before. We even made regular breakfast dates now, and would meet at our old favorite diner in Forks for scrambled eggs, bacon and coffee every Friday morning. It had become so routine, so easy and simple for us, and yet the act of it held so much meaning for the two of us. Charlie and I were closer now than we'd ever been before, and it made me stop and realize just what I'd been missing out on for so long. I would never take our relationship for granted again.

Clarissa played and splashed in the sudsy water with delight as I washed her up, and quickly dressed her in a clean pair of pajamas. She was really growing these days, and had already sped past many milestones that we'd captured with a picture or on our phones with a video. Her eagerness to learn never ceased to amaze me and I found her to be simply captivating most days.

She filled our lives with pure joy.

The sound of the oven timer loudly beeping from the kitchen then made me scoop her up with my hurried words.

"I think our cookies are ready! We better get them out of the oven before they burn, huh?-"

"Mama."

I froze where I was at this, her sweet little face filling with yet another smile, as she leaned her head against my shoulder while I held her.

For weeks now, I had wondered when her vocabulary would start to really grow, and expand into naming new things and adapting to new words, but I hadn't expected this one to come out as soon as it had.

I carefully took the cookies out of the oven and kept her balanced there on my hip, while I cleaned up the baking mess and started the dishwasher. Within a few minutes she was nearly asleep and I rocked her by the bay window Jacob had installed a few weeks ago with Charlie, my emotions a mix of joy and sadness as I gazed out to our front yard. The luscious green trees swayed to and from while the Summer breeze swirled around them. Once she was sound asleep, I crept down the hall to her room and laid her there in her crib. She sighed and tucked her knees up under her while she slept as I quietly left her to rest.

"Sweet dreams, baby girl. I love you."

When we first arrived back here in Washington, I had hit the ground running in search of a new job, but after weeks of dead end interviews, I found myself simply wanting to be home with Clarissa more and more.

I hadn't seen it coming really, this longing to be home with her, but right now, I was more than happy and content to do just that.

Before Clarissa, the last thing I had ever seen myself as was maternal or nurturing, but being around her had changed all that for me. The very idea of her being shuffled from one persons house to another throughout the week didn't set well with me, and now that Jacob was back to working full time at the garage, this routine looked to be the only suitable option for her. Both Sue and Charlie had offered their babysitting services on many occasions while I pursued other jobs, and while we greatly appreciated their help, we knew that given their own schedules, they wouldn't always be reliable. Billy had also been willing to keep her a few days a week, but with his failing health, we worried that the burden of it could prove to be too much for him in the end. This left us at an impasse, but after much debate and a long talk with Jacob, I knew where my heart truly was, and it was here at home with her. There would always be ample time for a career change in the not so distant future for me, if I wanted to cease other opportunities. At the present time, this was more than enough for me.

Since leaving Maine, I checked in with Callie and Tina often, the three of us exchanging emails and text each week with each other. According to them, not much had changed at Pen Bay Medical. They told me about a few new hires in the ER department and complained regularly how these new nurses could never take my place, but they knew by just the sound of my voice when we talked, that I was happier now than I had ever been. They were supportive but reminded me often how much they missed me back there. They were both shocked when I told them about my choice to stay home for the time being with Clarissa, and while they didn't come right out and say it, I had a strong feeling they thought I could be making a mistake by putting my nursing career on the back burner. Either way, they were mostly supportive and I thanked them greatly for it.

Gentry and Jacob had kept their word on staying in contact and remaining close once we settled in back home. They called each other almost every night after dinner and Gentry sounded like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place most nights. As predicted, he and Leah had really hit it off over the New Years and the long distance struggle was making it hard for them to maintain any kind of real relationship. Jacob reminded him that he always had a place here with us and with Billy, and we were hoping that come this Fall, maybe he'd have a change of heart and come to Washington after all.

I piled the three dozen cookies high on the serving tray in the center of our table and soon headed for my favorite place to be on warm afternoons like this one. The wrap around porch had been one of our last and hardest renovation projects to complete in the late Spring, but all the tireless labor had been well worth it.

I stepped out onto the large wooden porch and breathed in the fresh late Summer air, as I looked toward the forests edge, knowing he would be there if I waited long enough. I passed the time doing what I most enjoyed out here in the afternoons... reading a good book. Once I had finished the tenth page, I peered up and felt my heart sink a little further when I saw no sign of my russet wolf lingering there at the edge.

He was burning the candle at both ends these days and I knew his time was spread paper thin.

Jacob and Sam had worked out a new schedule for patrol this month, and while it seemed to be smooth sailing at first, some of the others struggled with the leadership swap. Sam had recently informed us that he and Emily were trying for a baby and that he wanted to be home more with her than he was at night. This left Jacob filling in for him from mid-day till dark, and the act of balancing it all had left him exhausted most evenings, but somehow he managed. Between the shop and his new pack schedule, he had a lot on his mind.

I soon folded the page at the top as a book mark, noting the heavy clouds that were starting to roll in, and closed the paperback with disappointment as I headed for the house again. My eyes scanned the trees ahead one more time in a fleeting glance to be sure he wasn't there, just as the sky darkened above and the rain began to steadily fall.

I was nearly through the sliding glass door when a pair of arms caught me around the waist and drew me back against a firm warm chest.

"Did you think I wasn't coming honey?" Jacob huskily whispered, his lips barely grazing my ear as I nearly dropped the book in my hand.

"You're sneaky, you know? I didn't even hear you. I thought maybe the meeting had run longer with Sam or-"

"...-that maybe I forgot about what you said to me this morning before I left?"

I grinned shamelessly and shook my head as he placed a kiss to my neck, the clouds now opening up with a sudden late Summer thunder storm that was sure to soak us both. The mere feel of his lips sent a trail of shivers down my spine while I recalled our playful banter from early this morning. "We didn't have time then-... you would have been late for work. There are schedules to stick to...-"

He chuckled in response and turned me in his arms with his reply, as I tugged him forward into the house and out of the pouring rain.

"I think it would've been well worth it and sometimes schedules will just have to wait."

I blushed furiously at this and met his stare as he drew me closer into him.

"You can't be late. Aren't they expecting you to close up the shop tonight?"

"You're worth being late for." He countered in a sexy whisper that ghosted against my lips and just like that, my teasing argument with him faded and his touch was all that mattered. His lips brushed the sensitive skin of my neck once more and I melted in his arms.

"You're insatiable, Jacob Ephraim." I sighed, as his hand slid up my abdomen.

"For you, honey... always."

I reached for him, my kiss fueled by a passion that had yet to simmer in all our months in this house. It left me breathless every time.

Jacob hoisted me up as he shut the sliding glass door and headed for our room, the two of us drenched now. His strong hands were quick to strip me of my flimsy tank top with a low throaty groan that made me whimper against his mouth.

We had christened nearly every surface in this house and yet, we couldn't seem to get enough of each other.

My tongue met his with an audible moan and I chuckled when his hurried steps faltered some from the sound I made. He smiled with a hearty chuckle of his own and reached around to unclasp my bra. It fell to the floor and all humor left me when my bare skin touched his. He kissed me with a passion I had never known and laid me down on the bed. I watched as he stepped out of his cut offs and slowly undid the button and zipper of my jeans, the wet denim against my skin making me shiver slightly from the cold now.

Jacob tugged them down my legs and reached for me, as he slowly slid the flimsy lace panties down over my thighs and kissed his way up my body. My back is arched in anticipation of where I know his mouth will soon be, and my head rocked back against the pillow with a deep moan that escaped my lips.

The slight chill on my skin from before was erased and long forgotten as his body becomes entwined with mine.

This heat between us, always left me in awe and I knew without a doubt that he was the only flame I would ever need.