"Hey, if we leave now we'll make it to Sam and Emily's for breakfast?" Jared said slapping Paul's arm to pull his attention back.
Rachel's eyebrows went up "I can cook for you!" She exclaimed and then blushed. "I mean, I'm probably not up to Emily's standards but, it's usually edible."
"That'd be great!" Jared smiled walking towards the house, but Billy held his hand up stopping him.
"Let's just give them some time together, okay?" He whispered and Jared nodded. "Jake! You think Emily's got room for me at her table?"
"Sure dad." He replied running up behind his chair and pushing him away from the house with Jared next to him.
"You can go with them if you want?" Rachel said looking at her feet.
"I'd rather not if that's okay with you." Paul said ducking his head down to meet her eyes. "Can we just go inside? Just to talk." And just then his stomach growled.
"And maybe food wouldn't be such a bad idea!" He chuckled, twisting his fingers into hers and pulling her into the house.
"I'm not sure what we've got; I haven't had time to go to the store yet." Rachel said when they reached the small kitchen and she began busying herself in the cupboards. "I should have gone while I was waiting for you instead of pacing a damn rut in the floor! I'll go now." She grabbed her purse and turned to the door, only for Paul to grab her shoulders and block her exit.
"Slow down!" He exclaimed. "I don't want fine dining you don't have to run around for me."
"I'm sorry; I guess I'm just nervous." She said placing a hand on her hip and rubbing her forehead.
"I noticed." Paul smiled. "Your hearts beating a mile a minute."
"You can hear that?" Rachel asked looking slightly taken aback.
He nodded "I could still hear it if I went all the way outside. It's a…"
"Wolf thing?" Rachel cocked an eyebrow and grinned. "That seems to the explanation for a lot of things around here. So what else is there? Apart from the healing and hearing…and the imprinting of course."
"Actually imprinting was supposed to be rare." Paul explained watching as Rachel delved through the contents of the fridge and pulled out a packet of sausages. "We thought it would start and end with Sam and Emily."
"Really? So who else?" She asked sticking a pan on the hob and tossing the sausages in.
"Jared and his girlfriend Kim and us…So far." He shrugged. "When we all started to phase Jared and Embry were the youngest and they were still at school. Embry dropped out but Jared's mom made him go back and on his first day he sat next to this girl that he'd seen everyday since they started high school. She dropped her pen and he caught it and the next thing you know… "
"That's kinda sweet!" Rachel said scrunching her nose.
"You have no idea! Apparently she was in love with him for years; she even scrawled his name over all her notebooks." Paul chuckled. "It was kinda weird actually."
"Well maybe she knew." Rachel smiled. "That they were supposed to be together. Now, what else?"
"Okay, well apart from what you've already mentioned, what we are in human form is basically a watered down version of what we are in wolf form, just less hair." He grinned "We have hyper sensitive hearing, smell and we're fast but it's no where near as powerful as when we're phased. We're hot too."
Rachel scoffed "Excuse me?"
"No seriously, you didn't notice?" Paul cocked an eye brow and grabbed her hand, placing it on his chest. "Our body temperature runs at about one oh eight and we have a really fast metabolism which is why we eat so much to keep our energy up."
"Wow." Rachel breathed glancing between where her hand lay on his chest and his face.
"There is one other thing." He said softly. "We don't age until we stop phasing."
"You won't age?" Rachel gasped, her fingers curling against his skin. "When will you stop phasing? How long does it take?"
"Whenever I choose to stop and then after a while the wolf gene will go dormant and I'll start to grow older at a normal rate." He explained.
"How will you decide?" She asked quietly.
"I'll decide when you tell me." Paul placed his large hand over where hers still rested on his skin and put his finger under her chin, lifting her face to look at him. "You need to understand, that as much as the wolf is my job, my obligation? You are my world. Without you there is nothing left for me so as you get older I'll get older with you."
"But you know nothing about me." Rachel said quietly. "How do you know I'm what you really want?"
"Because I wouldn't have imprinted if you weren't, and Rachel?" He smiled down at her. "The foods burning."
"Oh shit, sorry!" She yelped running around him to the stove and grabbing handle of the pan. "Ouch!"
"What? What did you do?" Paul was immediately at her side inspecting her hand.
"The handle was hot!" She breathed, wincing when he pulled at her hand.
"Here." he said pulling her to the sink and turning on the tap. "It doesn't look bad; just keep it under here for a few minutes."
"I burnt your food." Rachel sniffed. "How can I be good for you if I can't even cook your dinner without burning it?"
"Hey stop that," Paul demanded, turning her to face him. "You are everything, it doesn't matter if we have to order take out for the rest of our lives it doesn't stop you from being the person I need or want."
"You really want me?" Rachel asked, surprised.
"In any way I can have you." He admitted.
"I…I" She stammered, her mouth opening and closing as she looked up at him. Her brow furrowed and she nodded, raising to her tip toes and pressing her lips against his before stepping back to gauge his reaction.
And it was Paul's turn to look confused as she backed away, chewing her lip and flushing red.
"I'm sorry," she shook her head "that was probably way over stepping the mark. I won't…"
Her words were stopped as his hand found the back of her head and pulled her mouth back to his with an almost painful force. She sighed into the kiss, the tension of the past few days blew out around them and her shoulders relaxed as she brought her arms up and around his neck.
Paul nipped softly on her bottom lip and her mouth fell open to his tongue, working it slowly against hers as his grip on her tightened, pulling her body flush against his.
"Don't apologize for that." He said pulling back to rest his head on hers. "Never apologize for that!"
"Sorry!" She squeaked and Paul chuckled and shook his head. "I'll see if there's enough stuff for sandwiches."
"Actually, I've changed my mind." he sighed, pulling her back to his side. "There's something I'd much rather do."
"Oh," Rachel stepped back to look at him, her cheeks tinged pink. "What…what's that exactly?"
"I would really like to sleep!" He exclaimed smirking at the huge breath she let out. "I've spent the past few nights on a mountain side and it doesn't make for comfortable sleeping, not that I was sleeping well to begin with."
"Me either." She shook her head and picked at her fingers, looking up at him through her lashes. "Come on."
Paul took her offered hand and let her lead him through the house to her small bedroom. He closed the door behind him and watched stiffly as she toed off her shoes and pulled off her jeans before slipping under the covers of her twin bed.
"You sure?" He asked his voice slightly higher than normal.
"It's just sleep Paul." Rachel sighed; sleep already threatening to take her. She pulled back the covers and scooted against the wall, patting the empty space next to her.
He nodded and sat softly on the mattress, shifting down until his feet hung off the end and his head hit the pillow. Rachel immediately curled into him, her head on chest, hand on his stomach and her leg folded over his.
"I think I could get used to this." She mumbled, as his fingers found her hair, and combed through it gently coaxing her eyes closed.
"I already have." He yawned.
"Paul?" He growled as something nudged his arm.
"Paul wake up!" It nudged him again and his eyes shot open, and it took a moment for him to remember where he was. The sunlight that had filled the room when he fell asleep had been replaced by darkness save for a small slither of moonlight.
"Paul, I need to pee and I'm stuck under your legs!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Oh, sorry!" He moved quickly, disentangling himself and sitting up.
"I'll be right back." She smiled darting from the room. Paul scrubbed his hands over his face, and glanced at the small clock on her dresser. Nine forty five. There was a knock at the bedroom door and he frowned. "Uh, come in."
The door opened slightly and Jacob poked his head through the gap. "Hey, I just came to let you know that Sam's given you tonight and during the day off, but we need you tomorrow night." He swallowed and shifted nervously. "Bella's due home from her honeymoon tomorrow and we'll need to find if…whether she's."
"Sure." Paul nodded, hearing his unspoken words. "Thanks brother."
Jacob growled. "We're not brother's!" He exclaimed, all but slamming the door, and Paul smirked and laid back down on the bed. He closed his eyes and buried his face the pillow, breathing in Rachel's scent.
"Replaced me already?" Paul whipped his head round to find Rachel kneeling next to the bed, grinning at him.
"I could never replace you!" He exclaimed grabbing her and pulling her up onto the bed with a little squeal, pushing his nose into the crook of her neck. "You're the only one for me."
"Good," She giggled as his breath tickled her neck. "Because I'm not entirely sure I'd be happy about it."
"Tell me about yourself." She murmured, turning her face so that her cheek rested against his. "I want to know everything."
"Everything?" Paul asked surprise evident in his voice and Rachel nodded.
"I feel like I should know everything." She scrunched up her face. "Is that weird?"
"No, it's not weird." He pushed her away from his body and onto her back, rolling onto his side to look down at her. "I want to know things about you too. Where should I start?"
"Well Emily said that you're nineteen, when's your birthday?" She ran her fingers up his arm.
"January ninth." Paul answered "And yours is December thirtieth."
"How do you know that?" Her eyes shot to his and he chuckled.
"Jake's thoughts aren't exactly quiet. He's been pissing about having to buy two extra present so close to Christmas!" He shrugged.
"I feel at a disadvantage here!" Rachel cocked her eyebrow. "You can just listen to Jake's thoughts and know everything, and I have nothing!"
"I don't know that much, he spent way to long pining over that leech lover to find time to think about anything else!" Paul scoffed.
"You mean Bella? The friend that got married?" She frowned and Paul nodded. "She married a vampire?"
"They're on their honeymoon until tomorrow and she wants to be changed." He pulled her closer. "They're not like other vampires, they feed off animals not humans, but still- it doesn't change how un-natural they are."
"I can't believe she…" Rachel started but Paul cut her off.
"Do you mind if we don't talk about the Cullen's?" He edged, his arms trembling. "Tomorrow we find out if Bella's still human and subsequently if we have a fight on our hands. I'd much rather spend the time talking about you."
Rachel look taken a back. "You'll have to fight the vampires?"
"It's why I exist." He said softly. "But I'd like to forget that…just for tonight. Please?"
"Sure." Rachel nuzzled his cheek and felt his body finally relax. "I didn't mean to upset you."
"You didn't, it's a natural reaction." Paul smiled. "Now where were we?"
"Birthdays." She answered. "But can I ask you something? It's about something my dad said."
"Sure." He nodded. "Should I be worried?"
"Depends on your answer." She grinned. "He said something about imprinting being a mating imperative. Is that true?"
Paul sighed and pulled back to look at her. "Sam thinks it might be the reason we imprint, but it's not for certain. Why do you ask?"
"I just wanted to know what I was getting myself into. I've never really thought about having my own family before, have you?"
"Honestly, no." He shook his head. "I never had a reason too…until now, but we're no where near that yet!"
"Well what about imprinting making you want to…be with a person more?" Rachel sucked her lip into her mouth.
"Well you know about that, you saw what happened when you left. It hurts to be apart for any length of time with no contact." Paul replied but Rachel shook her head.
"That's not what I meant." She blushed and dipped her head. "When I'm near you it's not enough. I want to touch you, kiss you and just the thought of being so close to you does things to me. I've never felt like this about anyone before, and my ex wasn't…"
The rest of her words were swallowed as Paul's mouth crashed into hers, his hands threading into her hair. He rolled his body over hers, her legs automatically locking around his hips as he ground against her.
"Does that answer your question?" He growled, attacking her jaw and throat and she whimpered and nodded. "And for the record, I don't want to know about your ex…as far as I'm concerned it's me and only me."
"Only you!" She breathed. "Always."