The Jaguar Versus the Wolf

Chapter 17 – Why Won't She Kiss Me?

Orbiting Satellites Book Two, Chapter 17 - A Dream and a Wedding companion


Renesmee and I had been dating for four months (if I included the month she was not speaking to me) and we still hadn't kissed. I'd promised her, and her ultra conservative father, that I would follow her lead. And I had. And it was killing me. And I felt like I was going to explode.

We were currently on another one of our dates – a trip to the Botanical Garden, conveniently located right here in Hanover, New Hampshire.

I was looking at a lovely little purple flower, while she seemed mesmerized by a yellow one. The flowers we were looking at were native to the area, so I knew nothing about them. If we had gone somewhere tropical, closer to the rainforest I would have been able to at least know the name of the thing. Not the scientific name like what was written on the plaques here that also listed its common name and a little info about each flower. But I knew other things, like which flowers made the best dyes to stain cloth and hides, which lasted the longest when picked, and which kept their color and shape the nicest when dried.

We'd been told, when we first arrived not to pick any of the flowers, but I saw one lying on the ground. It looked fresh, no signs of wilting or damage. It must have recently fallen.

Going over to Renesmee I brushed her hair back behind her left ear and gently affixed the flower in her hair. "Lovely, just like I envisioned," I murmured to myself.

She seemed surprised, but then smiled shyly and released her hair on the right, cascading it down onto her face. I thought I'd upset her but then with more confidence she began to tell me all about the flower she'd been examining. She said it was called an Iris Pseudacorus. I'd been secretly watching her for awhile and new she hadn't even glanced at the plaque like I had. She went on and on, giving me tons of details about the flower as if she had known about it all her life. She probably did. She had read more, sooner, and at a younger age, than anyone I had ever known.

"You're amazing," I blurted out, before I realized what I was saying.

The arboretum was empty except for us and one other family, that had moved on to the next exhibit twelve minutes ago.

"Why would you say that?" She peaked up from her hair, seeming equally amazed that I would think so.

"Renesmee, I have never in all my years met someone as curios about the world as you. But as sheltered as you are, as protected, as coddled, as insulated, you still have defined yourself as an individual. You've never settled, you could have coasted through your life, but you aren't. Your love of learning, seeking out an unending source of new information is extraordinary. You are incredible, you astound me," I confessed.

I wasn't sure exactly what it was about what I said, surely nothing she hadn't heard before from others in her family, but her eyes grew wide. At first I worried that my words had embarrassed her, but she came up to me and did the last thing I expected. It was wonderful. She kissed me! Soft and gently, barely pressing her lips to mine, but it may have been the best kiss I ever got.

It took all the self control and restraint I had to not tear her clothes off and take her right there!

No, I couldn't, she was young, as Edward continually reminded me, and Rosalie's threat to rip off my appendages echoed in my mind. But that didn't mean I had to be complicit with the chaste kiss either. Taking it a little further didn't seem like it would earn me the loss of any limbs.

As she started to pull back I went with her, pressing my lips firmer into hers. When she didn't object my tongue sought out hers. It took only a minor effort to break open and past her lips. She squealed at the invasion but then it wasn't long before she got used to it and the tonsil hockey (as I heard on a television program) began.

"Cough, cough," some grey haired janitor, or other servile employee, interrupted our fun a few minutes later with their rudeness.

If this had been Brazil and a stranger came up to me while I was enjoying a woman they would not have made it passed the first cough alive. Their neck would have been broken by a simple flick of my wrist and then I would have enjoyed not one meal, but two. But this was not Brazil, I wasn't feeding, and I was not the same man I had once been. He was lucky. "Can I help you?" I said instead.

"Zis iz a family plaze, ya needa do zat zomewhere elze young manz." He had an accent, and not one of the North American ones I was use to. It was hard to understand him, but the idea of this guy, whom I had a century on, calling me young, caught me by surprise and made me laugh. "Sorry, I guess us kids got carried away," I chuckled, as I grabbed Renesmee's arm and began leading her toward the exit.

"Excusez nous s'il vous plaît," she called back as we went.

All the while the old man muttered to himself while raking the trail, "Ztupid kidz! Alwayz cauzing trouble. Firzt it waz zee trash litering zee ground, zen mezzing up zee dizplay mapz, an drawing on zee rockz, now I gotta worry bout zem maken out in zee middle of zee gardenz. Whaz next…" He was still going on and on after we left.

"Now what," Renesmee asked me as we made our way back to the car. I didn't think she was embarrassed that she'd been caught with my tongue down her throat and my hand up her shirt. No, judging by her sad expression I didn't think she was ready for our date to end. Neither was I.

"What would you say to us continuing to act like a couple of teenagers?" My mind went to less than innocent places of what we could do.

"I am a teenager… sort of," she admitted.

"Then there should be no objections," I said, risking her rejecting the idea. I should have just kept quiet and took her deep into the forest where we could be alone. Then wait for her to tell me when she wanted to stop. That would have been better for me, I'd get to have a little fun before she came to her senses and stopped us. You could imagine how surprised I was when she didn't object and we ended up not returning home until well after the sun had gone down.

What an amazing, perfect evening. Nothing could ruin tonight.

Nothing, except the dog.

There he was, camped out on the front porch, torturing that guitar of his again, while waiting up for Renesmee.

"Jacob, wow, that what beautiful," she told him as I walked her to the door. What was she doing? I had just spent the day getting close to her, and the night getting even closer, so why was she now looking at him like that? She couldn't be developing feelings for her dog, could she? Now she's smiling at him! What the hell?

"Glad you like it," he smiled back at her. "So the date's over?"

"Um, yeah," she answered him, then turned to me. "Thank you for taking me out, Nahuel. I'm kind of tired. I think I'll go to bed, see you tomorrow."

Guess I wasn't getting an end of the night kiss. I wouldn't have cared, pushing past the stupid dog that was blocking the door would have been easy enough, but if I did manage to get my kiss I knew my mind would have gone in less than innocent directions and Edward would hear and sick Rosalie on me. That's alright; I had gotten enough of a taste of Renesmee for one night. There was always tomorrow.


Valentine's Day was coming up. I had the whole thing planned. Just the two of us; no family, no friends, and especially no dog. It would be nice to have one evening where I didn't have to see the dog pathetically try to get Renesmee's attention by removing his clothing again. It seemed he was developing feelings for her, past just being her protector. And her… sure she had one off night where she seemed slightly amused by his bare chest, but in the weeks that followed he had tried over and over to get her to react that way again, but I never saw her give him a second look. She'd pleasantly talk to him, she had to, he was her bodyguard, but that was it and my worry faded.

Everything seemed to be going well between us until I brought up my ideas for Valentine's Day and Renesmee informed me that she already had plans… with the dog.

"Maybe I can call them and ask if you can come too?" she offered. "It's going to be a small wedding, and I don't really know the bride, only meeting her once, and I've never met the groom…"

"So why were you invited to their wedding if you don't know them?" Flying all the way to Washington for a stranger made no sense.

"All of the wolves were invited," she said as if that was an explanation. "And their imprints."

"What's an imprint?"

"What do you mean?" She seemed shocked that I had no idea what she was talking about. "You don't know about imprinting?" I shook my head. "All of the wolves, well most of them, there are only a few who haven't imprinted yet, but they will, it's only a matter of time…"

"You're losing me," I interjected, trying to get her back on point.

"Right, sorry. Each wolf, when they find a certain person, they are instantly connected to them. It's involuntary. They don't get to pick who it is, and they don't get a choice in the matter. But they become whatever their imprint needs them to be… friend, companion, protector-"

"Jacob imprinted on you," I blurted out as the realization dawned on me.

"Yes, when I was born. All it took was one look and his life became tied to mine."

Huh, all this time I'd thought Rosalie was using some sort of gift of hers to make him watch over Renesmee for her, when in fact she had nothing to do with it.

"So what does this have to do with the wedding you were invited to? Is the bride or groom a wolf as well?"

"No, neither of them's a wolf. But the bride, Colleen, was imprinted on by one, Embry. He's in Jake's pack."

"Did I hear my name," the dog said as he entered the kitchen, finally showing up for lunch. Renesmee refused to start eating until he got here.

"I was just telling Nahuel about Colleen and Henry's wedding," she told him.

"Oh, yeah," he smirked happily.

"I know it stinks that I'm missing our first Valentine's Day together, but I tell you what…" she paused to give me a quick kiss, "I'll more than make it up to you when I get back." Her lustful smirk I liked. What I assumed she was alluding to I liked even more. And the dog, spilling his drink all over himself when he shattered the mug he was holding was an added bonus.

"In that case I'll have to plan something very special for when you return."

I made Bella and Edward promise me that they'd keep it a surprise, and not tell Renesmee what I had planned when they picked her up from the airport, after the wedding. Edward didn't seem to like my idea. Not only did he try to dissuade me, claiming that she would probably be too tired to celebrate as soon as she got back, but he didn't seem to like any part of my plan. When I returned to New Hampshire this year he had given me his word that he wouldn't interfere when Renesmee decided she was ready to become my mate, in the physical sense of the word, but now he seemed to be doing everything he could to delay things. He was very persistent, but so was I and only conceded in one area, moving our evening to the Cullens house. The rest I refused to budge on, much to his dismay.

I knew Renesmee hated most human foods. She would probably be stuck eating airline food, which is among the worst of the human food options, so I planned a special dinner for the two of us. Not wanting to disappoint her, and not being the best cook myself, the menu was heavy on raw and marinated vegetable dishes. But to make up for my lack of cooking skills I attempted to arrange the dishes in an appealing manner, and then took the extra step of placing some of the flowers from my homeland, that I had been growing in the greenhouse, around the room. When everything was set and I surveyed the dining room it still seemed lacking. Edward and Bella had left over an hour ago, which meant I still had time to set the mood. Digging around I found just about every candle in the house. The soft flicker of light set the perfect mood… romantic; perfect for a seduction. Tonight Renesmee would finally be mine.

"You could have warned me," the dog grumbled under this breath to Edward when they arrived back home. It seemed he kept his word and didn't tell Renesmee about my plans for tonight. I would have to thank him later, but he and Bella disappeared up the stairs soon after entering the house. That was two things I'd have to thank them for.

Normally I tried to ignore the dog as much as possible but when he hugged Renesmee and said something so low I had trouble hearing, I intentionally strained my ears to listen. Still I only heard the last part, and wasn't even sure I heard correctly, "… anything you don't want..." he said and then he ran out the back door.

I was glad he left, but it seemed like Renesmee almost wanted him to stay when she yelled to him, "But aren't you hungry?"

Good riddance was my opinion.

One down. I wished we could be completely alone, but we really weren't. Not with her parents upstairs.

As we ate, I saw her eyes drooping and I reconsidered my earlier plans. Seeing how tired Renesmee was, and as much as I hated to admit it, her father was right. Tonight would just be an innocent dinner.

There was time.

Having her fall asleep halfway through was not part of my plan. When she did become my mate I wanted her awake, I wanted her to enjoy it, I wanted to show her how skilled I was.


Thanks to hbyrd28 and "Guest" who reviewed the last chapter. Glad you love/hate Nahuel as much as I do.

Hope everyone enjoys Chapter 17 as much as i enjoyed writing it. I would love some more reviews. Are you relieved or disappointed in the Valentine's Day dinner date outcome?