Chapter 14

Bella hustled around the kitchen and checked both ovens. She whirled back and forth like a miniature hurricane. Jacob stayed out of her way, watching her with a smile on his face. He enjoyed the 'woman on a mission.' He'd do whatever she asked him, then back off and wait for more directions. Bella muttered to herself about how this or that needed to be finished.

Finally, she announced she was ready to take a shower so she'd be all ready for everyone to come. Bella walked lightly over to Jacob, and smooched his lips before turning away to head to the bathroom.

"Need some help?" he asked, with a suggestive smile. "You're pretty dirty."

"Ugh! What?" she answered indignantly. "I've been sweating my butt off in here and that's what you're going to say to me? Maybe you aren't hungry!"

"First of all, if I had to, I can still feed myself. I just happen to like your cooking, too. I'm just offering to get you squeaky clean is all," he countered while leering at her chest and lightly squeezing her hips.

"You dog!" she laughed and headed off before closing the door with a loud click. Jacob chuckled and headed out to the backyard to make sure all was in order there. He saw the chairs had been uncovered, and a few tables arranged for food. He went back in and grabbed all of the paper products. He set those up and then headed back in to get himself ready. Even after fiddling around a bit, he'd still be done before Bella.

In the shower, Jacob's mind stayed on Bella. Things had been too quiet lately. After Rosalie and Emmett came to talk to them, they were expecting immediate chaos. But there wasn't any. To be honest, he was hoping it would all just blow over and the vampires would all stay away.

Jacob stepped out of the shower and finished dressing before he went back out to the living room. He clicked on the TV and caught up on the latest scores, while he waited for Bella to come out of her room. They slept in her bed each night, but things hadn't really progressed much beyond kissing. Jake wasn't disappointed as much as he was impatient. He knew that Bella had a lot of issues to face, so he would continue to be patient.

"Jake? Can you come here a second?" Bella called him from her room. He stood and walked in to see what she needed. He paused in the door before he walked up behind her as she stood in front of her dresser mirror. She was wearing a beautiful dark red halter top with crystals on the edge. It tied at the back of her neck and covered her entire chest, yet the sexiest part was her entire back was exposed. His breath caught at her beauty.

"Can you tie this at my neck?" she asked, getting his attention. She was holding the two pieces for him.

Jacob had just been telling himself in the shower how patient he could be-now this! So he walked up behind her, but ghosted his fingers over her bare back. Bella shuddered at the feeling. He continued up her shoulders to her neck. Her arms relaxed a little and the straps she was holding moved away a bit. Jake stepped closer to her as he tickled lightly to the front of her neck. Then ever so slowly his fingers ran down her chest, pushing her shirt down to feel her full breasts.

With her shirt lowered, he cupped her breasts in his hands, circling his thumbs ever so gently around her nipples. Bella leaned her head back onto his chest, making the softest sounds of approval. This spurred him to continue, as she grinded herself into him behind her. He obviously liked this position as well.

Jacob leaned down and kissed her shoulder, nibbling the skin between her neck and upper arm. She rocked back into him as he held her and he pressed against her. He pushed her shirt even lower until it rested just below the waistband of her pants. At this, Bella's arms came up to cover her scar. Her breath hitched in her throat at the first strike of panic. No one had ever gotten an up close view of this scar. Not really even her, as it was a painful reminder of everything that happened to her.

Not saying a word, Jacob continued to kiss her neck and rubbed his hands all over her chest until her hands relaxed away from her center. He knew the silver scar would remain the rest of her life. They couldn't really get rid of it without explaining how it got there.

Bella pushed her shirt the rest of the way past her hips, until it landed at her feet. She lifted her arms up behind her and wrapped them around Jake's neck. She turned her head and he leaned in to kiss her deeply. He kept one arm around her chest as his other reached down between her legs. He pushed himself into her back, and groaned.

Suddenly, he heard a loud cackle in the backyard.

"Ugh! Those bastards. Sorry, honey, the guys are here," he reluctantly let her go. He adjusted himself as he walked out of the room. "I'll be back in just a second."

Bella could hear rowdy hellos in the backyard as she stood in her room. She decided that after that little adventure in the bedroom there was no way she could wear that shirt. She walked over to the closet and chose a black button down sheer blouse. She slipped a black tank on first and then her blouse and headed out into the house.

The deep voices and laughter brought her out to the backyard. Jacob turned as soon as the door shut and beamed in her direction. He walked over to her and kissed her. She turned the slightest shade of pink as everyone turned to stare in her direction.

A chorus of "Hey, Bella!" rang out and Bella walked around to hug her former bodyguard entourage. Jake and Bella headed in the house to pull all of the food out and take it to the backyard for the tables. She had cooked an enormous amount of food for the hungry wolves. Jacob was impressed at the pans of cupcakes, yeast rolls and a number of pots full of pot roast and vegetables. It all smelled amazing and the pack agreed.

They sat around and ate, talking about what all they had been up to for the week. Several of the guys helped Jake out fixing up houses. They had been working on installing a water collection system at the Clearwater's house. They didn't need to worry about saving water for watering the yard, but it could help them have clean water for things like laundry and other chores where no one would be drinking the water. It was called rain harvesting. The system filtered out the water and it was technically clean enough to drink. But Sue refused to drink water that way so she insisted all she would shower and cook with was fresh out of the tap water. They all agreed that they got enough rain where they lived so they might as well start using it to their advantage.

After that project was finished, they planned on fixing up some of the elders' homes by sealing cracks and checking insulation. It was great for Bella to hear how they all wanted to improve their community. Later they talked about patrols and schedules. Since Jake and Bella returned, they had picked up patrols again. Bella expressed how awful she felt that they had to be back to 24 hour patrols again.

"Bella, it's not your fault. Don't feel like that," Seth reassured her as he stood and ruffled her hair like a pup.

"Ugh! Seth, you know I hate it when you do that," she fussed at him, fixing her hair back and giving him a look that said she wasn't really mad.

"Bella, I'd run every night if it meant I got to eat more of this food," Phoenix said while stuffing another roll into his mouth. Then he smiled a big doughy smile before standing and gathering his trash.

All together they worked to clean things up and return the chairs and tables to the storage closet behind the garage.

"Quil and Jared, you guys had better head out. If you smell anything out of the ordinary, do not hesitate to let us know," Jacob spoke to them before heading into the house with Bella.

They were in the kitchen finishing up putting the last few things in the dishwasher. Jacob walked up behind Bella, keeping her pushed up against the counter. He placed his hands on the edge of the countertop on either side of her.

"Thanks for doing that, honey. They really loved your food and we all loved the company," he rested his chin on top of her head. "We're all glad to have you here."

Bella turned around and leaned up on her toes, looking at Jacob's face lovingly. "I'm really glad to be here. I wasn't sure how I'd feel once we got here, but I am glad to be here with you."

Jake bent his knees so that Bella could reach his lips. He rested his hands gently against her as they continued to kiss. Bella opened her mouth and Jacob didn't waste one second before plundering his tongue into her mouth. Their tongues met and slid against each other. They both started to breathe faster and Bella wrapped her arms around Jake's neck. He picked up her left leg and pushed himself into her.

Jacob didn't hesitate when he picked her up and carried her to her bedroom. He laid her in the center of the bed and looked into her eyes. He kneeled on the bed and propped himself up on one elbow. He trailed his knuckles down the side of her face.

"I love you," they whispered at the same time before picking back up where they left off. Jacob leaned up on his knees. He unbuttoned Bella's shirt and spread open the sides with his warm hands, caressing her skin as he trailed his fingers along her delicate skin. He leaned down and placed hot, wet kisses anywhere her skin was exposed. Without removing her tank top, he pulled the neck down and kissed the top of each breast. Gently he squeezed them as he continued to kiss up her neck to her ear. He gently nibbled her lobe and then sucked it into his mouth. She panted, loving everything he was doing to her body.

"Shirt off, Jake," she commanded quietly as Jacob complied quickly before telling her to do the same. She pulled off her tank top and then removed her bra.

Jake placed sweet soft kisses all over her face as he relished in the feeling of her pert nipples rubbing over his chest. Then he kissed down her face, between her breasts and down the center of her stomach, just to the side of her scar. When he reached her belly button, he rubbed his face against her skin. He wished it had been his child that had grown in her belly. When he used to sit with her, he would pretend that was what they would have done if he had married her and they were the ones pregnant.

He was quickly snapped from his thoughts at the sound of a loud howl that was much too close to the house. He leapt from the bed and ran out of the house, instantly shredding his close as he phased to hear, "Incoming!"