3.

Bella sighed and jumped in fright when a woman entered with some clothes. Then she tried to smile and bowed her head, that must have pleased the woman that smiled back. Then next to the clothes she noticed that the woman had left some food, the woman quickly disappeared.

She stood up, and took the dress that was for her. It looked like it was made of animal skin, then under it she found a pair of moccasins still made of skin. The dress and the shoes looked comfortable, she took off all her clothes to change, she hesitated taking off her panties and bra. She sighed and decided to keep them for the time being, if she could wash them, then she would keep them, otherwise she would just stay naked under the dress like the other women. Bella had never been bothered much about clothes and dresses, and she adapted easily to the surroundings.

She noticed that there were two small strings, still made of skin, and she wondered about their use.

"It's for your hair, if you haven't noticed the women here wear braids." A voice said behind her, and she jumped because she hadn't heard Paul getting back.

She looked at the strings, and then shrugged her shoulders. She divided her hair in half, but before she could start she felt his hands on hers. "Let me do it for you, there's a way that only Natives know."

She kept her mouth shut, and she let him braid her hair. She thought it was a kind of peace offering. After a while she relaxed, while he went on working quickly. "How did you learn to braid hair this way?"

He chuckled. "You don't really want to know it."

She looked up at him noticing his mischievous expression. "Come on Paul, I'm sure there's an interesting story for this."

"I learned from Rachel Black, Jacob's sister. It was a request from Julie Collins. She told me that if I wanted to get into her pants I needed to know how to braid her hair in the Native way. And so I learned." He told her, and she knew he was expecting a reaction out of her.

She blushed, and he smirked. "Silly me, I know I brought this on myself. Everything you do is related to … sex… isn't it?"

"Is there anything else worth the effort?" He replied.

Bella wanted to say something, but she didn't want to tell him that she didn't know if sex was worth the effort considering she was still a virgin. So she kept her mouth shut.

"Here, I finished. Now, if it wasn't for your skin you would really look like a Native girl." He said, then he went to change into his clothes.

She turned away, and heard him wear the clothes that were brought for him. When she turned, she wasn't prepared to see Paul wearing only a breechcloth, and nothing else. She knew she was staring, but she couldn't take her eyes off his broad chest, and the way he looked absolutely perfect.

Paul cleared his throat, and Bella looked up, and she knew she had been caught ogling him. "Enjoying the view? Wait, let me recall what you said earlier? That hell would freeze over before you considered me something worth your time?"

Bella huffed, and blushed some more. "You're insufferable. Now let's eat and go to sleep. I have the feeling that tomorrow is going to be a long long day."

They ate in silence, and then Bella walked to where the furs were laid down. She stopped abruptly, and Paul crashed into her. "Why did you stop Swan?"

She looked at him. "Where are you going to sleep?"

He raised his eyebrow. "I'm going to sleep on the furs. Why?"

"You don't really think that I will sleep with you!" She spat.

He shrugged his shoulders and then he said. "Let me see... one, there's just one big fur so we can't divide it. Two, you are Mrs Lahote for them and if they enter and they see us not sleeping together it will cause problems. Three, I don't see the problem sleeping next to me, it's not like I'm gonna jump you. My women get into my bed willingly, I never had to force anyone." He then proceeded to lay down, and patted the place next to him. "Come on Swan, I don't bite."

She hesitated a moment, and then she knew he was right. She didn't have any other choice. Rigidly she lay down next to him, and then turned her back towards the fire. "Good night." She whispered, and sleep took her before she could say anything else.

….

Bella opened her eyes, and she realised that she was sleeping on Paul naked chest and was holding him tightly. She tried to move away before he woke and teased her, but she was blocked by his arm. "Good morning Mrs Lahote, how did you sleep? It's quite cold, something must be happening down in hell."

She pushed him away and stood up. She knew she was blushing, but at the moment the main emotion in her mind was anger. "Stop teasing me! You're … you're insufferable."

Paul was smirking and slowly he stretched, giving her an eyeful again of his perfect body. "Relax princess, you are different from what I was expecting. The images of you that we saw in Jacob's mind don't really match, you seemed tame and meek. But you're actually a spitfire."

Bella sighed, and then pinched her nose. Paul was going to give her a headache. "I'm not even going to ask about how you read in Jacob's mind, I'm sure it's a wolf thing. Let's get out of here and see if there's something to eat. I'm starving, and I won't work the whole day with an empty stomach."

Paul stood up, and opened the tent for her, they got out and went to the center of the camp. Everyone was gathering there, the men were ready for the hunt while the women were ready to dry the meat and sew the skin of the animals that had been caught the previous days. Paul spoke with one of the hunters and then took Bella's hand.

She fought her instinct to take her hand away, and followed him.

"Here, let's have some food. Breakfast and dinner are shared here. I'll probably be back this afternoon. Try not to get into trouble. I'm sure that if there's trouble here then it's going to find you." Paul growled quietly.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Sure sure, try to keep up with the skilled hunters. I know it'll be very difficult." She taunted him.

He glared at her. "I'm sure I'll do better than you, now don't get your knickers on a twist. It's for appearance."

Bella wanted to ask what he meant, and that was why she wasn't prepared for his lips on hers. Her eyes widened and before she could do anything, he pulled away. Bella wanted so much to swipe away his smirk, but she knew that she couldn't do anything. She was seething. "You're going to pay for this."

He chuckled, and then started following the hunters, one of the man passed to him a bow and some arrows.

Bella watched him until he disappeared inside the forest. Paul was the most intense man she had ever met, he brought out sides of her that she didn't think she possessed. He was very good at rubbing her the wrong way, and at the same time he never lied to her, he was honest even if his honesty sometimes hurt more than a lie.