Thank you, everyone, for all of the amazing reviews of chapter 2! I love that you guys are loving the story so much! Enjoy another chapter!


Three: As Sweet as Her Cooking

Seth's POV

Somehow, I thought that once I imprinted everything would somehow fall into place. Call me one of the only male romantics left in the world, but I truly believed that. Only, I imprinted on beautiful, perfect, sweet and shy Jane Mcalaster five days ago, and I have not seen her since.

The current consensus was split among the women of the pack. About 1/3 of them thought that I should give her time; on the other, about half agreed that I should find her on Instagram, thoroughly stalk her to figure out where she spent all of her time, and then just happen to "run into her." Though the majority sided with that option, from what I could tell, Jane was a lot more like Scarlett and Claire, who thought leaving her alone was the best idea, than the hot-headed and loud personalities of the other ladies, so I was most definitely leaning towards that option.

Though I recently realized that my opinion mattered very little to everyone else.

"Oh my God she's so cute!" Lena Lahote screamed from across the room where her and her mom, Scarlett, were looking at her phone.

"Aweee," Scarlett agreed. "She is cute, Seth!"

I moaned. "Would you guys stop. You're stalkers."

"Dude go to this girl!" Jacob announced with Nessie sitting in his lap.

"Yes!" Lena agreed, jumping off of the couch to run over to me. "She's adorable! Her Instagram is so not typical. She posts cute, artsy stuff. Like look at this picture from last winter. She's got a fuzzy sweater on, a book in her lap, and the fireplace lit in the background. That's so cute!"

"She definitely seems not sorority, Kim," Scarlett announced.

"That's what I was thinking!" She sat up where she was lying on the floor, taking her face out of her phone for just a moment. "Nothing about her Facebook or Instagram gives any indication."

"Quite the opposite actually," Leah agreed.

"Leah!" I actually felt betrayed. "You're in on this too?"

"She retweeted a quote saying 'My personal hell would be sorority girls with iced lattes, selfie sticks, and nude lipstick,' so it's safe to say she is most definitely not in a sorority, thank God," Leah ignored me.

"You found her Twitter?" Lena and Scarlett announced at the same time.

"We couldn't find it!" Paul agreed. "What's her username?"

"Oh my God," I moaned to myself. It was funny that though this was all about my imprint, everyone seemed to be ignoring me.

"I like how she always has a light nude color on her fingers, that's very cute," Scarlett said sweetly.

"I agree," Lena said. "Either go black or nude. In-between makes me want to vomit."

"Well I found her name in the chemistry department at Seattle U so she's not lying about that," Leah added.

"Lying?" I asked. "Why the hell would she lie?" I sat up angrily and then sighed, walking towards the back door.

"Where are you going Sethy?" Scarlett asked thoughtfully over the couch.

"You guys are bothering me," I grumbled.

"You're just in a shitty mood because you miss your imprint," Quil laughed at my pain. "Hey, remember how bad Paul was?"

"That's because Scarlett wouldn't speak to me."

Scarlett laughed, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him sweetly. "I'm sorry. I was very damaged," She grinned happily.

Paul smiled at her so lovingly it actually somehow made me miss Jane even more.

"Take it from me," Scarlett sighed and turned back to me. "If Jane's anything like me, she most definitely won't make the first move, but she wants you to. Go back to her house. Bring over a care package or something. Inquire about her eye. She did get attacked, after all. It wouldn't be the craziest thing in the world if you checked up on her."

Suddenly I felt like an idiot. "You're right," I agreed with her. "Crap. Was I supposed to check on her earlier? Why the heck didn't I go to her house earlier? F. I'm an idiot."

All of the guys in the room burst out laughing. "Welcome to imprint life, kid!" Sam smacked my back as he walked by.

I made a v-line for the back door. I had to get the best damn care package the world had ever seen.

A few hours later, I was heading to Jane's house with one of those giant teddy-bears from Costco, and a basket filled with candy, movies, whatever the hell adult coloring books are, and something called "bath bombs" that some lady at the mall convinced me I had to get once I explained to her my situation.

I rang the doorbell and then held the teddy-bear in front of me. I was nearly seven feet tall, but the bear covered me completely.

After a moment I heard the door open, and then a scream.

Crap.

I pulled the teddy-bear to the side, my eyes wide. I finally saw her for the first time in days. Jane had on a thinly-strapped, white sundress, and her hair was pulled up into a loose pony-tail. She didn't have any makeup on, at least as much as I could tell, but she still looked beautiful. Heck, she looked more beautiful than any girl I had ever seen with makeup on! The one thing I was entirely sure of, though, was that she looked entirely, completely terrified.

Jade's beautiful, smooth and usually pristine face was masked with terror at the sight of the giant teddy-bear.

"Jane!" I quickly attempted to backtrack. "I- I'm sorry!" I dropped the teddy-bear. "Stupid, stupid, stupid idea. What is wrong with me?"

"Ugh, Seth?" Jane chuckled. "What are you doing here? Or should I ask mister bear, there?"

I laughed finally, the tension leaving my body with one simple joke. "I'm sorry I scared you. Thought it would be funny, you answering the door to a very large bear."

"And that is one large bear," Jane's eyes widened.

"I think it's bigger than me," I agreed. "For you," I held it out to her.

Jane's mouth parted. "Me?"

"You think I just walk around with this all day for fun?" I laughed loudly.

Jane giggled. "Well, no," She answered in that adorable little whisper that she talks with quite often. Heat flushed her adorable cheeks, illuminating her freckles even more. "But- ugh- thank you, Seth. You really didn't have to do this."

"You're welcome," I smiled at her. "And I got you a care basket."

Jane fought a smile- that was adorable. "A care basket?"

"Yes," I nodded definitively. "Now I have one serious request."

"Oh," Jane spoke quietly.

"You need to tell me your favorite candy. Are you into fruity things, chewy things, chocolates or hard candy? I had no idea so I got one of everything, but I took a risk that you liked Reece's because, honestly, who doesn't like Reece's, and I got a bunch of those, too."

Jane giggled. God, she was so stinking cute. Everything about Jane was cute and perfect and adorable. She was perfect. I never knew what the guys had talked about when they said or thought things like that; surely, no girl was perfect; but Jane... Jane was perfect.

"I love Reece's," She admitted quietly.

"You do?" I asked a little too excitedly.

Jane bit the corner of her lip and then nodded her head. Her face heated up, and I noticed her eyes flash from the door back to me a few times.

Please invite me in, I thought over and over again. Like Scarlett had said, if she needed time, I was willing to give that to her, but I really hoped that she didn't, because all I wanted to do was be around her. When I wasn't around her I was thinking about being around her. Basically, I could get nothing done unless I was around her, and it was getting difficult to get through the day.

"Do, ugh," Jane looked down towards her feet. It was something that I was beginning to realize that she did often. "Do you want to come in?"

I could barely hide my excitement. "Sure," I attempted to sound cool in some way. God, this girl was perfect, I couldn't imagine that she would find me even remotely the same.

I stepped inside and was immediately slapped in the face with something that smelled close to heaven.

"Wow," I spoke without thinking. "That smells amazing. What is that?"

"Oh," Jane blushed. "That's my favorite candle. I keep like thirty of them stock piled in the closet at one time."

"That's amazing," I laughed. "Truly, it smells like a French Bakery in here."

Jane laughed. "I wish."

The inside of Jane's house was irresistibly warm. It had the touch of a family in it, and the funniest part was that there was a grand piano sitting in the middle of the living room, the first thing that my eyes connected with when I walked in.

"Sorry," Jane smiled nervously. She completely disregarded the giant piano in the middle of the room and instead, went over to the couch that, along with the other, usual, furniture, was pushed back and scattered around the piano. She picked up a blanket and then began piling up her laptop, a notebook, and a few other books. "I was just working on some homework."

I suppressed a smile. "I didn't mean to interrupt you. Were you working on anything important?"

"Just a study on neurons in the brain in response to pain stimuli in mice," She sighed. "Nothing urgent."

I raised my eyebrows at her.

Jane blushed and then looked down at her feet.

"Did you get a chance to reschedule your lab?" I asked her, suddenly remembering. Jane's school seemed important to her; the last thing I wanted was for her to miss anything important.

"Yes," Jane smiled, and I could tell from just the way that her shoulders remained slumped that she wasn't lying. "The teacher wasn't even mad. She said that I never missed and that she knew an emergency had come up, so she emailed me what I missed and then I scheduled a time to go in and re-take."

"That's awesome, Jane," I smiled widely at her and then pointed at her eye. "That's healing nicely."

Jane appeared confused for a moment before she suddenly seemed to remember that she was punched in the face, and then immediately pressed her fingers to her yellow bruise. "Oh! Yes," She blushed again. "Thank you. It barely even hurts anymore."

I cringed, not even meaning to. The thought of anyone hurting her drove me mad, but I had actually seen it. I had seen what those men were doing to her, and because of the images I could imagine all too vividly what they were going to do to her next.

"So," I began, wanting to get the topic off of Jane's attack and instead onto something less depressing. "Where do you want Mr. Bear?"

"Oh," Jane's eyes widened at it once more. She looked around the room before finally walking towards me, taking him from me, and struggling to walk him across the living room, to a chair across the room. She set it down, frowned, and then picked it up again to go set it in the window seat.

"He needs sunlight," She stated firmly.

I laughed. "And he told me on the way here he'd prefer to be lying."

Jane looked over her shoulder to smile at me. The light from the window illuminated her, shocking me for a moment. "He told you that?"

"Don't shoot the messenger," I held up my hands.

Jane laughed and then took her time to meticulously lay Mr. Bear out so that he had one arm behind his head and then one leg up on the side of the window. Finally, she stepped away and then smiled happily, turning back to me.

"Perfect," She smiled.

I nodded my head. "Perfect, I agreed quietly. After a moment of awkward silence, I finally held out my hand, and the care-basket.

Jane cocked her head. That was purely adorable. "What's that?" She asked curiously.

"A care package... or, basket I guess. I'm not really sure about anything in this thing but the women at the mall were very passionate that you would love this."

Jane bursted out laughing and then reached for it. "Thank you," She said to me earnestly before she even looked at the basket.

"You might want to check what's in it first," I told her so that I didn't have to say "You're welcome," again. Jane was so appreciative and grateful that it actually made me a little uncomfortable; why did she feel the need to thank everyone for everything? She deserved it, she didn't need to act surprised.

"Oo!" Jane popped up once she looked inside of it. She popped down on the edge of the couch and pulled something out. "You got me bath bombs, Seth?" This was the first time that I had heard Jane's voice heighten in honest excitement. Thank God for those mall sales-ladies!

"Yes," I held out the world. "Though I still have no idea what those are."

Jane giggled. "I love these things! You put them in water when you take a bath and they fuzz up and change the water color and smell amazing!"

"Oh," I thought to myself, actually proud that, that was something that I picked up for her; a relaxing bath sounded like a great idea after everything that she had been through.

"And chocolate and," Jane gasped. "A coloring book? Ugh I've wanted one of these!" She pulled it out to excitedly flip through. "Seth," Jane finally blushed, but really, it was inevitable. "You didn't have to do all of this, really. This is too much. I- I can't take it."

"What?" I sat down next to her on the couch. "Jane, of course you can."

"N-no," She looked at it worriedly. "I can't."

"Jane," I said sternly. "Yes. You can. And you will."

"But why did you do this for me?" Jane asked nervously, peering up from beneath her long, dark lashes.

My mouth opened but then quickly shut again once I realized that I had no idea what I wanted to say. My mind could not wrap around the fact that Jane was so uncomfortable with someone doing something nice for her. Sure, it was a kind, out-of-the-ordinary gesture, but I had done even more countless times for my previous girlfriend, and for other girls that I went on dates with as well, and they were never even close to this appreciative.

"Jane," I spoke to her slowly, leaving enough time in between for her to look up at me. "Because you got hurt the other night, and I feel bad."

Her face fell. "Oh, well," I noticed her gulp. "You really don't need to feel bad for me."

"Jane," I began, quickly realizing how wrong she took that. "I would feel bad for anyone who got physically attacked. I wouldn't ask just anyone out to dinner. You still haven't given me an answer on that, by the way."

Jane pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. I loved it so much I almost blurted out the first terrible joke I knew to get her to do that again.

"If I'm remembering correctly, Seth," She playfully narrowed her eyes at me and a quiver went through my entire body; she hadn't even meant it, but that was so freaking sexy on so many levels. "I said that we'd talk once my eye was healed." Jane pointed to her eye. "Not healed yet."

"You didn't specify how healed, though. Gives a guy like me a lot of false hope, Jane."

"How about I ask Mr. Bear," The corners of Jane's lips pulled up at the corners. "See what he thinks about the situation."

"Heard he's biased towards pretty brunettes. Not good for my cause."

Jane giggled loudly and then covered her mouth with her hand before shaking her head and leaning back against the couch.

A stretch of silence followed after that as I attempted to figure out what the hell to talk about that would have been interesting enough for beautiful, intelligent Jane. I could already tell that she was so much smarter than me, and that brief moment of smoothness I had a moment ago in which I was able to somewhat flirt with her without stumbling over her attractiveness midway through was very unlikely to happen ever again.

I caught Jane eying the piano in the middle of the room, strumming her fingers in a bouncing rhythm on top of her knee, finally giving me a talking point.

"Do you play?" I asked her casually.

Jane seemed surprised by my voice, and almost immediately her hand dropped from her knee to her lap. "Oh," She sat up a little straighter. "Yes," She blushed. "What gave it away?"

"Either the giant piano in the middle of the room or you playing on your knee."

Jane blushed again. "I do that sometimes," She shook her head at herself and then looked away.

"How long have you played?" I inquired.

"Since before I could walk," Jane smiled to herself as if she was reminiscing about a distant memory.

"Is that even possible?" I asked her honestly.

Jane laughed naturally, and my chest hurt from how melodious it sounded. "I don't know! My parents always told me that."

"Are your parents here?" I was suddenly reminded. I had seen two cars in the driveway, the same two cars in the same exact spot that had been here the first time that I dropped her off; the last thing that I wanted was to be caught lounging with their daughter without first introducing myself. I wanted to make a good first impression.

"Oh, no," Jane diverted eye contact, which I noticed she did quite often. "They're not home." Her voice had gotten so quiet and soft, that I had to lean in to hear her.

I frowned. I felt like I said something that made her sad.

"What are you doing today?" Jane's eyes lifted to meet mine.

"Homework," A small grin filled her features. "Interested in joining?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed before I had the common sense to control myself.

Jane's eyes widened. "Really?" She blurted. "That was a joke!"

"Ugh, well," I cleared my throat. "I actually have some schoolwork I could be working on too, if you don't want to be alone."

Jane's eyes went distant for a moment, but a very small, hint of a smile remained on her face until she answered. "Well you know what they say," She finally looked at me. "Misery loves company."

I gulped. "I don't think it would be possible to be miserable in your company, Jane."

Her expression fell, and for a few moments I couldn't read her, but her eyes never left mine. I wondered if she was so entirely enamored and confused by me as I was of her, but then I realized that there was just no way. Jane was so fucking beautiful; her voice was soft and even and smooth, like music, but she didn't use it often. Jane spoke the bare minimum to be able to carry a conversation, and that mixed with her obvious beauty, made her mysterious.

"You didn't mention that you were in college," Jane observed, taking the end of her hair and twirling the curl around her finger again and again and again.

I had to force myself to look away. Jeesh, everything that this girl did was somehow ridiculously sexy. "Well I'm... not. A few of my older friends forced me to go to school right after high school just to get the degree. I got business, but I never really liked it. I've been going back slowly to get my engineering."

"Engineering?" Jane seemed to light up right before my very eyes.

"Yeah!" I was actually shocked at her interest. Most girls weren't interested in engineering, let alone knew what it actually entailed. "Angles, puzzles, making things work. Kind of my thing."

"So you're pretty handy?" Jane asked nervously.

I bursted out laughing. "What do you need fixed, Jane?"

Relief rushed across her features. "Just my showerhead! I've been trying to fix it for weeks with no luck!"

"You've been trying to fix it yourself?" Now I was the one suppressing a laugh.

"Yes," Jane cocked her head at me. "What's wrong with that?"

"Absolutely nothing," I held up my hands. "Just very different than mice brains."

Jane giggled. "Probably why it's been deemed unfixable by me."

"Take me to said impossible hardware! I'm going to put all this money to use!" I stood up.

Jane bit the corner of her lip. "Are you sure? You brought me that nice gift and then I put you to work. That doesn't seem fair at all."

"Awe come on Jane," I ignored her. "Show me that showerhead."

"Well, alright," She finally stood. Jane led me up a small, narrow staircase in the back of her kitchen that led up to one, single door. Beyond that door was a large shaped room that dipped down like a pyramid on the sides. It had a large window seat with a blanket strewn overtop of it in front of a very large window that overlooked the front of the house. There was also her bed, which was very neatly unmade, and then an absolute plethora of books covering every single square inch of floor and surfaces.

Her room was extremely charming, much like herself.

"Sorry it's so messy," Jane blushed and then led the way into her bathroom. Now this, this is where I had to keep myself from laughing. Jane's bathroom looked like every girl's bathroom that I had ever seen before. A mess of perfume, makeup, products, and styling tools attacked every square inch of the countertop. It was adorable because it gave away the parts of her that she liked to keep hidden.

I stepped into her shower and tried to ignore the fact that it smelled like strawberries and mango, like her hair had smelled that first night, and focus on the task at hand. What I found was a very adorable concoction of duct tape, rubber bands and hair-ties, holding together the remnants of a shower-head.

"Well," I sighed as Jane rested her side against the doorframe. "I would just go ahead and get a new showerhead, but I'll do what I can with this one."

"I prefer this showerhead," She stated sternly.

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Not that I'm an expert on dirty jokes; you'd have to ask Jared, Paul or hell, even Embry on that one, but when a woman is so into her showerhead, doesn't that usually send some sort of message?"

Jane gasped. "That's not what I meant, Seth!" Her mouth dropped and heat flushed her entire face, not like a blush, but actually like her face turned entirely the color of a tomato.

"I was kidding," I held my hands out, one which held the broken showerhead, as if to play dumb.

Jane rolled her eyes, looked in the mirror, groaned, and then narrowed her eyes at me, as if her red face was my fault.

"Just fix it," She grumbled quietly as she exited the bathroom. My laughter followed her out.

After about a half hour, and Jane supplying some nails and a screwdriver, I was able to temporarily fix her showerhead, though I made a mental note to pick one up for her when I got the chance; preferably the same one because she seemed to not want to part with this one.

I found Jane in the kitchen, stirring something on the stove whilst staring out the window. I stood in the doorway for a moment, regardless of how creepy that may have looked, and just watched her. I never wanted this moment to end; I was in her house, among her space, watching her when she thought that no one was looking.

Jane sighed and then reached back to pull her long, messy hair into a pony-tail. I could tell from the way that she wrestled with it that it annoyed her, but I absolutely adored her hair. It was the most beautiful, shining brunette color, and it was so thick that there were layers upon layers upon layers. Jane's hair laid in beautiful, messy and impossible curls, not too tight to look unkept, but not loose enough to be classified as wavy. And how I adored it up in a pony-tale.

Jane must have caught sight of me out of the corner of her eye, because she suddenly turned towards me, a small smile covering her beautiful features. With the sunlight shining on her through the window, it made her freckles stand out even more.

"Done?" She asked happily.

I smiled at her and nodded my head, walking further into the kitchen. "It's fixed. I did the best I could, but the thing's broken. You're going to need a new one."

Jane frowned but didn't make any mention as to why that would upset her so much. Was it a money issue? I wondered to myself, only, the high middle-class sized house, two cars, and everything else was telling me that, that wasn't it at all.

"Are you hungry?" She asked softly. "I'm making lunch."

I peered over at the clock on the cooktop, but really that just gave me an excuse to walk closer to her. "It's four-thirty, Jane," I suppressed a laugh.

Jane bit the corner of her lip. "I like to eat breakfast around noon, lunch around four, and dinner around nine." She blushed, "I'm very weird, I know."

"Not weird," I lied. "You spaced it out nicely. It would be very weird if you ate them all within two-hour increments!"

Jane laughed easily. "You know, you're right, Seth," I internally screamed at her saying my name. "It could always get worse, I guess."

"What prompted this particular eating schedule?" I inquired, leaning my back against the cabinets next to the stovetop that she was working on.

Jane spoke to the spoon that she was stirring as she responded. "Oh, well, I have a serious dislike of the morning. I love staying up late, but I just can't do mornings. If I have to wake up before like 9:30, I am evil; it's a disease."

I laughed loudly. "Clinically diagnosed?" I asked between laughs.

"Yes," Jane laughed. "I diagnosed myself."

"That's funny, Jane," I sighed and crossed my arms. "You're funny."

"Really?" She gave me an odd look.

I cocked my head at her. "Yeah."

"Hm," Jane examined me for a moment. "I don't think I've ever been called funny before."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "No?"

She shook her head.

I was very confused by her comment at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how this could have been very true. Jane was so shy and quiet, one really had to give her the chance to reply and listen to what she said to get below the surface with her. I could imagine that a lot of people wouldn't stop talking long enough to ever be able to hear her humor, or ever notice it for that matter.

"Well I think you're funny," I stood up straight. "Can I help you cook?"

"No, no, no," Jane shook her head seriously. "You fixed my showerhead, brought me a gift, saved my life. Sit down. I'll cook."

"Are you sure?" I began to ask her uneasily, but she waved me off. I sighed and then finally begrudgingly set down at the kitchen island. In all honesty, I loved cooking, and I hated having to watch other people cook. From all the years I spent in the restaurant with my mom, I could easily tell when a spice needed to be added or just from the smell alone if something was burning. The worst thing in the world for me was having to sit there and wait for the person cooking to take my food off of the stone while I smelled it overcooking. The life of a child born to an amazing cook was quite difficult.

"Do you like soup?" She asked over her shoulder. I stared at the way that the skin of her shoulder shined brilliantly. I wonder what it would have felt like to touch it.

"Love it," I answered after a moment.

"Good," Jane nodded her head and then smiled to herself. In a few minutes, following a long stretch of silence, Jane finished cooking. To my surprise, I did not smell the familiar toxins of overcooking, and instead, she took the soup off of heat at the exact perfect time. Jane served me a large bowl of dumpling soup, with two slices of bread on the side, before getting a bowl for herself.

"Do you want something to drink?" I asked her as I stood up. She was just turning to place her bowl on the counter at that exact moment, so as to not collide with her, I placed my hands lightly on her hips to guide her while I slid around her back to where the tall cabinets were.

Jane took a deep breath before responding. "Water," She answered weakly. I gulped as I poured us two glasses. Just that millisecond of touching her had sent shockwaves through my entire body. I wondered if she had felt the same way, but there was just no way.

Once I sat back down, I took a bite, expecting to lie, and was pleasantly surprised.

"Wow, Jane!" I exclaimed, not having to fake what I would have said anyways. "This is amazing!"

Jane blushed. "Thanks. It's an old family recipe."

"Well I've got to meet your parents," I replied seriously. "Who's the chef in the family? Mom? Dad?"

Jane's face fell. "Mom," She said.

I quickly attempted to backtrack. Perhaps I had upset her with insinuating that I wanted to meet her family too soon; maybe I creeped her out! The thought was terrifying.

"I just mean that since I grew up in a restaurant with my mom's cooking, it is rare that I encounter other great cooks!"

Jane chuckled. "I'm not a great cook. I'm worthless without a recipe."

"I'll have to cook for you sometime," I heard myself telling her. I guess I just wasn't able to stop myself.

The corner of Jane's lip lifted. She licked the center of her lips in an undeniably yet unrealized sexy manner, and then lifted her eyes to me.

"I'd like that," She said, her voice as sweet as her cooking.


UGH raise your hand if you are as obsessed with Jane and Seth as I am!

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