Author Notes:

Many, many thanks go to my ever patient, ever kind beta, mybrandofheroin. How she puts up with my constant demands, questions and bitching is beyond me. If she hears me whine one more time, "But whyyyyyy, Meg??" I'm sure she'll blow her brains out. I love you very much, GB. My love and thanks to my little Sachertorte, diamondheart, who contributes so many hysterical sparkling lines, ideas, corrections and emails. Thank you, angel face.

There were three winners of the "Name a Chapter for a Sloth" contest: Terry_Deanne, btrimble, and BellaFlan. All gave me not only a great title, but also excellent feedback, which I really appreciate. Btrimble contributed some stellar ideas that I immediately stole and BellaFlan offered to not only give me her brilliant thoughts and suggestions, but actually edited my crappy grammar and sentence structure. Wow! You all are the cheese and melted butter on my grits. ;) Thank you! Thank you!

Shameless Pimping Section

I have been reading some really outrageous stories that I think you should check out:

Becoming Bella Swan by BellaFlan

Distortion by Wordslinger

Fate's Idea of Fun by little furry cannibals (my beloved twin)

Fire and Ice by Franny

1001 Jacobian Nights by Amanda Wilder

The Neighbor: Anytime, Anyplace by artbeatsandlife (she's expanding it)

To Choose a Star by purelyamuse

These stories are a wild ride through the Twilight universe and may not be for everyone. But my, my, are they hot, crazy and outrageous! Again, they are not for the mild and retiring!

One precious story I adore that just posted here is the award winning The Color of Rain by chef diamondheart, an adult Seth story that is just as sweet and adorable as Seth himself. Diamondheart is expanding the original oneshot. Check it out. I have more, but you all are on overload already.

If you are looking for more Jake/Bella stories, you HAVE to check out the fabulous new fanfic site, The Air, The Sun A Jacob/Bella Fanfic Community – all Jake and Bella 24/7

community(dot)livejournal(dot)com(slash)theair_thesun(slash)

As always, Ms Meyer owns all, I own nothing. Not even a house. We finally sold the damned thing and soon will be living under a bridge near you.

A little recap:

Bella finally realizes she's in love with Jake when Jake deliberately flirts and ogles another girl, Amy Nichols at a college dance. (Amy is actually engaged, which Jacob knows and Bella doesn't.) After observing the flirtation, Bella gets schnockered and dances with a real slime ball, Rick Graves, who proceeds to grope, grab and grind all over Bella. Jacob sweetly informs Rick this may not be the best course of action and escorts Bella home.

Bella gets, er, close to Jake in the shower, while he is trying to rid her of bodily fluids. Jake ends the encounter with the liberal application of cold shower water. Bella feels like shit the next morning. She seeks out Leah for advice, who encourages her to try to seduce Jacob and proceeds to give her some helpful tips. They go to Seattle to purchase clothes. Meanwhile, Jake is concerned Bella may just be horny, not in love with him. He seeks advice from Sam who encourages him to romance Bella. Jake, Bella, Leah and half of the guys in the pack are going to Milan for a modeling gig. (Oh, in case you haven't realized it by now, Jake's language is a little…er, um…crude. If this is going to bother you, you really should have stopped at chapter one, you know.)

Chapter 7 "American Werewolves in Italy"

JPOV

The past ten days completely sucked and were getting worse every minute. Since my heart to heart with Sam and after hearing his advice to the truly pussy-whipped, I'd been in a foul temper, but my real problem was that I missed my Bella. I hadn't seen her in days and my mood was becoming blacker hour by hour.

The entire pack was trying to keep as far away from me as possible. I made that easier by staying holed up in my house so I could fume in private. Embry had been the only one idiotic enough to brave me in my den and almost had his head ripped off—literally—for his efforts.

Hell, I knew I was being a prick, but I didn't give a shit. If only I could see or hear from her, I knew I'd quit being such a grumpy asshole, but she had been "busy" (i.e. avoiding me) ever since the infamous Morning After.

She and my BFF, Leah, had beat feet for Seattle immediately after the Valentine's Dance. I barely heard from Bella the whole time she was there other than a few lousy text messages, so all of my big plans to push our relationship forward were going right down the toilet.

While it was a welcome relief to have a break from Leah's bitchy mouth, I felt like I had a hole in my chest where Bella should have been. The headquarters of our modeling agency, Black Moon, were in Seattle, but there was no reason that I could think of for her to spend a fucking week there. She'd handed me some line of crap when she told me she was leaving, but I honestly couldn't figure out what she was really up to.

Two days ago when she finally came home, she told me she was too busy packing to see me, and she'd been packing ever since. That had to be a load of bullshit. I'd known Bella most of her life. We'd been traveling together for years, and it usually took her thirty minutes to throw her crap in a bag. Why in hell would it take her two days to get ready for this particular two-week job?

When I offered to help her pack, she'd been almost frantic and had adamantly refused to let me come over. She acted like I was going to paw through all of her panties or something. Well, hell. Of course I would have gone through all of her underwear when she wasn't looking. Jesus, I'm a guy. I would have been discreet about it, though. I figured she was just trying to hide from me again, and my nasty mood became even surlier.

To Bella, I'd been pleasant and understanding. Well, on the surface. Inside, I felt like exploding I wanted to be with her so badly. God, just thinking about the way she'd been all over me That Night made me crazy. I'd gnaw off my right arm to get that kind of passion from her when she was sober.

I was beginning to think it would never come, but finally the day of our departure for Italy arrived and I drove over to Bella's house to meet her. We were riding together to catch our flight and I couldn't wait to see her and get her in my arms again.

Since we were taking Bella's truck to the airport, I'd driven Ethel over to Charlie's house and was storing her there to protect her from unscrupulous borrowers, namely the pack members who were remaining behind at La Push during our Italy trip. I'd been in such a shitty mood, I was glad to be thwarting any of their entertainment ideas concerning Ethel. I'd come home too many times to find her odometer had increased by hundreds of miles to trust those sneaky shits again.

As I dumped my bags on Charlie's driveway, the earsplitting shriek of automotive brakes pierced the air causing my head to snap around to identify the source. Fifty feet down the road, a car swerved dramatically, sliding and shivering to a stop, and narrowly avoiding the ditch lining the street. A familiar scent hit my nose, and my eyes zeroed in like a laser on the driver right before he ducked down in the seat of his car.

Rick Graves, that little cocksucker!What, did he think I wouldn't notice him if he hid on the floor of his car as he drove by? Seeing me rightfully scared the bejesus out of him. From his floorboard, he swerved his car erratically to the opposite side of the road before making a wild u-turn, skidding out of control and donut-ing down the street. The car appeared to be driverless and it started doubling back the same direction it had come, its engine roaring as Dead Asshole accelerated maniacally.

"Yeah, you better keep that fucking head out of my sight, you fucking prick!" I bellowed after him. Piece of shit; I still wanted to rip the little rat bastard apart. I didn't give a crap if he hadn't drugged Bella; he'd still run his fucking paws and his fucking dick all over her as if he had some kind of right to touch her.

My rapid heartbeat didn't slow down a fraction as Bella walked out of her house, obviously drawn by all the racket going on outside. It was my first glimpse of her since The Morning After and I couldn't believe how gorgeous she looked. Her hair seemed to be framing her sweet face and she glowed as she looked at me. Normally, she wore baggy sweats on our plane trips, but today she was wearing some kind of pants thing and it outlined each and every one of those curves I couldn't get out of my head.

"Bella!" I cried as I flew across the yard and pulled her into my arms, burying my nose in her hair. I could feel the tension and anger that had ruled my days seep out of me as she hugged me back, laying her head against my chest.

"Hey, Jacob!" she whispered, seemingly as thrilled to see me as I was to see her. I ran my hands up her back and inhaled the fragrance I'd missed so badly. God, it was so good to have her sweet little body snuggled up to mine and to feel her tiny hands on my skin.

Some deep, primal instinct told me to just wrap her legs around my waist and keep right on going into the woods so she couldn't get away from me again. It was everything I could do to make myself release her and feel Bella's body slowly slip down against mine until her feet were on the ground.

Separation from Bella was not good for my health or for the health of anybody unlucky enough to be around me. I actually felt sick being away from her, and my resulting pissy mood made it possible to literally "kick the dog" when I was around my pack mates. At least I was going to get her to myself for the next two weeks, day and night, Leah be damned. I grabbed her bags as we walked over to her old red truck.

We were taking the red monster she'd christened Fred Mertz, and as we approached it, I saw its back end was practically covered from view. As I dropped our bags by the truck bed, what I saw stunned me. I assumed the small bags she'd handed me were her baggage for the trip. That was before I saw the heaping pile of luggage she'd packed and dumped by Fred's rear end. Shit, maybe she had been packing for two days!

"Jesus, Bella, are you moving to Italy? I thought we were coming back in a couple weeks. What the hell is all this stuff?" I was shocked. "How'd you drag all this crap out here by yourself? Did Charlie help you?" How she got it all down the stairs without killing herself was another good question.

"It was no problem, Jake. I just wanted to bring a few things I got in Seattle."

"A few things?" I asked incredulously. "The plane only holds 6,500 pounds and you've got half of that right here! We're not flying in a 767 and there are other people going too, you know. What are we supposed to do, throw our crap out, strap ourselves to your bags and ride them all the way to Milan?"

I couldn't help laughing, "I can't wait to tell Embry and Quil. They've always wanted to ride on the plane instead of in it. I don't think they're going to have a choice, now." It felt so good to laugh again after a ten-day drought.

She broke into a huge grin and started chasing me around Fred, trying to pinch and tickle me as I ran from her. I let her catch me and I hauled her into my arms and kissed her neck. She giggled into my hair and nipped at my ear, kissing it softly.

I covered my surprise, but this was a real switch for Bella. We'd hugged and held hands, we'd touched each other and I snuck in a few harmless kisses, but her kissing me, much less biting me, was a totally different story. She had always kept things strictly platonic between us until That Night. Jesus, maybe I'd been right to tell Sam something was changing with Bells.

As we were loading Bella's mountain of luggage, a car slowed down as it approached Charlie's drive and Amy Nichols rolled down her window, greeted us, and then called me over to her car. I made my way to her driver's side window and, leaning down, saw she had two of her cute little classmates with her, Amanda Williamson and Wendy Cole. I greeted the girls with a grin and then turned towards Amy as she reached for my shoulder.

"Listen, Jacob, I just wanted to tell you it was really nice talking to you the other night. And guess what? He's here!" she squealed and then launched herself onto me, pulling my shoulder and whispering conspiratorially into my ear. "Robert—my fiancé is Robert Curry—and he's here in town. I mean Port Angeles.

"But you can't tell anybody about this, okay Jake? Not even Bella. Robert made me promise I wouldn't say a word to a soul about our engagement. His family isn't going to be thrilled with the idea at first and he doesn't want any chance of them finding out before he can smooth things over." She clasped my hand and looked at me earnestly. What could I do but agree?

"Well, don't Amanda and Wendy know?" I asked, glancing at the two girls who seemed to be gawking at me, absorbing my every move.

"Oh, sure, they know. But Robert knows they know, so it's ok. He doesn't know you know though, Jake. And I really don't want him or anybody else to find out about you, alright?"

Jesus, she made it sound as if we were having some sort of illicit affair or something. "Sure, sure, I won't say a word," I promised. I wondered how closed mouthed Amanda and Wendy were going to be. They caught each other's eye and burst into giggles. I couldn't help chuckling at them as I waved goodbye. I turned and started back to the truck only to encounter Bella's furious face.

"Holy crow, what did she do, track you down to my house, Jacob?" she snapped. Hell, I didn't know. She probably had.

"Uh, no, er, she just wanted to tell us goodbye when she saw us getting ready to leave," I mumbled. I couldn't lie convincingly to Bella. She could spot my B.S. as easily as I could spot hers.

"Sure, sure. She just happened to be driving by all the way from Port Angeles. I'm sure it was just a coincidence." Bella glared down the street at Amy's retreating car then seemed to shake herself off and plastered a smile over her obvious anger.

"Well, come on. Let's go! We don't want to miss the plane!" she tried to laugh off her irritation, but did a piss poor job of it as we finished loading the truck and headed to the airport.

The short trip was smooth; Bella made an obvious effort to be pleasant, and we got to the charter plane early. Trying to jam eight giant male wolves, one wolf bitch, and a sweet little lamb on a twenty-four hour commercial flight with connections was pretty much a nightmare any way you looked at it. Thankfully, the agency took great care of us and we could arrive at our destination in our private jet eight hours faster with everyone on board alive, sane, and in one piece.

My only concern leaving was when the luggage handler tried to pick up Bella's baggage and seemed to wrench his back when lifting the enormous suitcases she'd evidently stuffed with slabs of granite. The plane actually shuddered when her bags dropped into its belly. I hoped the damned airplane would be able to lift off the runway with the extra ton of weight Bella was dragging along with us.

On the long plane ride over, Bella and I sat next to each other as usual, and we finally were able to talk about everything and nothing. It was so good to spend time with her. The ache in my body I got when separated from her only stopped when I was with her again. We lifted the armrest between us and stretched out on the large reclining seats.

After an hour or so, she snuggled into my chest and promptly fell asleep. I think she really was exhausted from all her packing because she looked and acted as if she hadn't slept in days. I cuddled her next to me and closed my eyes. If Embry and Quil would shut the hell up, I'd be in paradise. Finally, just as I was about to doze off, I heard her begin to mumble in her sleep.

"Jake, Jake, where are you?" After plenty of experiences with Bella's sleep talking, I'd learned to go with the flow and respond as if she were awake.

"I'm right here, honey." I squeezed her tighter and stroked her head.

"Mmmm, my Jacob, mine," she sighed heavily. She moved restlessly and wedged a leg in-between mine. "I want you, Jake," she breathed and seemed to settle down again.

I looked around cautiously. Had any of the eight extremely powerful sets of ears caught that? As I peered into the back of the plane, I saw that six of my brothers and my wolf sister were down for the count. Most were snoring loudly, but one pair of laughing eyes was staring my way. Embry. Damn it! I sighed; I didn't know who Embry would rib more—Bella or me. Yes, I did—he'd taunt me for the rest of the trip if not longer.

"My Jacob, I want you." He started in already, quoting Bella in a high-pitched, girly voice.

"Fuck off, Embry," I couldn't help but grin. He was such a twat. "You know you're seething with jealousy back there." We could both speak quietly and easily hear each other.

"Yeah, you're right, man. I am," his quiet admission shocked me. "Good luck, Jake. I hope it works out just the way you want, bro."

"Thanks, Em. I'm working on it." I leaned over and kissed Bella's hair. God, please let this finally happen, I prayed sincerely. I closed my eyes and smiled as I drifted off to sleep.

We arrived in Milan a little jet lagged, but unlike Bella, I felt pretty well rested. Even though we'd both napped a few hours on the plane, I could tell she was still exhausted. Arriving at our hotel, we quickly settled into our rooms. As usual, the agency reserved a huge double suite for Bella and me.

A few years earlier on our very first trip out, Bella woke the entire hotel with a screaming nightmare at 3A.M. This had continued for four nights in a row until the management had threatened to throw all of us out on our asses unless "something was done".

I guess we should have figured this would happen. When Victoria started sniffing around Forks years ago, all of us became very familiar with Bella's nightmares once we began patrolling her house. She eventually told me about her dreams, and it was just one more thing I added to Corpse Boy's tally. I still dreamed about sinking my teeth into the bloodless jugular of that filthy, no good sack of shit.

As I was the only one that could calm Bells, we tried adjoining rooms with an open door so I could get to her easily, but after a week of stumbling to her bed each night, shushing her and quieting her trembling body, I decided the hell with it. I'd moved my stuff into her room and she never uttered a peep in protest. Every evening, we climbed into one bed and I cuddled her next to me, snuggling into her neck. She never had another nightmare.

We kept up the façade of our adjoining room arrangement for a while but there was a serious downside to it; all of the other pack members began congregating in our rooms. We finally got smart and started reserving a suite with a huge living room and two bedrooms. Most nights, the younger pack members ended up sleeping on our sofas and in the empty bedroom. At least we could keep one bedroom off limits from the pillaging hoard. We'd gotten so used to this arrangement, neither one of us wanted to sleep without the other, anyway. Going back to Forks and being alone in my bed caused me sleepless nights every return trip.

Until now, our room sharing had always been a totally platonic, totally innocent situation except for the erotic thoughts and dreams going around in my head. As much as I wanted to change this situation immediately, Sam's dumb-assed warnings kept rumbling through my head.

Don't push Bella into a physical relationship. She's an innocent girl. You need to romance her.

Jesus, how stupid was I to even listen to that shit, much less plan on doing it? But I was determined to make sure that Bella really loved me before things got even more complicated. I'd be damned if she was going to fuck me and toss my ass aside so she could move on to somebody else. She needed to realize that once we had sex, I wasn't going to let her go. Hell, even if she never touched me again, I'd never let her go.

Our first night in Milan as usual, everybody piled into our suite and we prepared for our first night travel ritual. After having so many high-energy wolves confined in an airplane for sixteen hours, we were far less likely to kill each other or an innocent bystander if we got together for a long pack run when night hit.

Quil pulled out a huge map of the surrounding area and we looked at the lay of the land. While the rest of us argued over the areas we wanted to cover, Bella was busy getting a shower and throwing on thermal underwear for the cold trip ahead. As much as I resented Sam's crappy advice, I realized there were some special things I could do and I wanted to do for Bella.

The last few times we'd come to Italy, Bella talked about wanting to see a tiny area of the northern Italian coastline called the Cinque Terre. She'd shown me pictures of the group of five ancient towns set along the cliffs of the craggy coast. I knew she'd love to see it for herself and I hoped it would be a special surprise for her. The pack agreed the trip would be a great stretch of the legs and the guys promised me they wouldn't blab our destination.

As soon as Bella was ready, we trooped through the hotel lobby and out to our waiting cars, getting the usual stares from the hotel guests and employees. When we went somewhere as a group, we always attracted gawkers. I don't know if they thought we were basketball players, members of some weird cult or part of a circus act, but people couldn't keep their eyes off us. Come to think of it, the weird cult thing wasn't too far off the mark.

We piled into our waiting cars with instructions for our drivers to drop us at the edge of a forest well outside the city and told them we would call for a pick up in a few hours. What the drivers thought the group of us was doing always made me snicker. We had eight enormous guys, a ripped towering she-devil, and one petite little angel carrying nothing but a huge duffle bag. We were always dropped off in the middle of nowhere and left there for hours. I could only imagine what was going through their minds. They were probably imagining weird cult scenarios as well. They'd be right.

Leah headed off to phase and Bella followed the rest of us, discreetly turning around as we threw our cell phones, clothes and shoes for her to stow away into her duffle. We phased and Leah joined us, dropping her clothes she'd carried in her mouth into the growing bag. Bella stuffed it under a bush, making sure it was hidden as we stretched and shook out our fur. Man, sometimes it was great to be a wolf.

Most of the pack took off, howling with delight at the freedom of running wild through unchartered territory. Bella turned to me and a huge smile split her face.

Bells loved being around me when I was in wolf form. I thought she'd be terrified the first time she was really close to me when I turned into a huge copper hairball, but she'd shocked all of us. Just like the first time, just like every time, tonight when Bella saw me as a wolf, smiling wonder spilled across her face.

She approached me gently and ran her hands through my fur, scratching and massaging me. "Hey, wolf boy," she murmured as she reached for my neck. She ran her hands through my fur and scratched the base of my ears. I closed my eyes and pushed into her soft hands. She whispered in my ears and then kissed my face like I was her lap dog. Before That Night, these were the only kisses I got from Bella and I treasured each and every one of them.

I understood her actions completely. When I became a wolf, I was no longer a sexual being, no longer a threatening male to Bella and she could show me all the love and affection she had for me without worrying things would go beyond her line in the sand. I relished each and every second of it and never pointed out to her it was still me under all the fur.

The person I least wanted to hear from flooded my brain in her usual acidic voice.

Jesus, is she going to do this again? Can't she ever just get on already? Does she have to rub all over you every time like you're a fucking shih tzu?

Leah's thoughts were never enjoyable for me. Everybody else got her vision of me with a pink bow on my topknot, just like a girly lapdog and roared with laughter. I tried not to grin.

Sure, sure, snipe and laugh all you want, guys. I'm the one with the love of my life kissing my face and running her sweet hands all over me.

God, she is doing that kissing thing again! I hate it when she smacks all over your face like that. Please don't—Oh, for fuck's sake, Jake, do you have to lick her face? That is just disgusting!

Wolf whistles and crude images flooded my brain from my laughing pack mates.

My Jacob, mine, I want you, Jake, Embry cooed in his Bella voice. I rolled my eyes in disgust. Embry had remained behind and could appreciate the gesture.

I know you do, Embry, but I'm Bella's, I crooned back at him. You're just going to have to keep your paws to yourself, sweetness! Think that's possible, big boy? Every time you phase, I've seen how you like it right up the a—

Everything I like, I've learned from my big, bad Alpha, MY Jacob! Embry interrupted me as he made mental kissy sounds and fluttered his eyelashes at me.

Oh, would you two homophobic assholes just shut it for once, the Bitch snapped at us.

I am NOT homophobic! I protested, offended. I love Embry very much, regardless of his sexual orientation. I think of him the same way I think of you, Leah. By the way, are you two going to start phasing together, because you know Embry keeps getting turned on whenever he phases with the rest of the pack—

Embry snarled and made a lunge towards me.

GET THE FUCK BACK, NOW!! I roared in my strongest alpha voice, hackles raised, teeth bared as I snapped around, positioning my body to shield Bella. Embry hit the deck immediately, turning over onto his back in the weakest, most submissive position possible.

What in the name of holy Christ do you think you're doing, you stupid prick? Are you seriously going to attack me with Bella standing right here? Fuck, Embry!

Sorry, man! I just got carried away and was going to give you a friendly shove. I couldn't see her and I just forgot she was standing there for a second.

Fucking Hell! I don't want to kill you, you dumb motherfucker, but you know I would in a second if I thought you were going to hurt her. I wouldn't have a choice. For fuck's sake, could you possibly be any stupider, shit head?

Sorry Jake, Embry mumbled clearly ashamed as he slowly rolled to his feet, backing away and taking off along with the remainder of the pack.

Bella had moved back to my neck, her hands stroking deeply into my fur, seemingly oblivious to what had just taken place. I don't know if she thought of me as her own personal guard dog or what, but anything the rest of the pack did when we were in wolf form never even startled her. Her unflinching trust amazed me.

I turned back to my beautiful girl. This was one the best things about being a wolf and I was going to enjoy every second. I knelt down and Bella crawled onto my back wrapping her arms around my neck. I stood up and cocked my head in inquiry. "Let's go, Jake," she whispered in my ear and off we went.

The cold night Italian air delighted my nose. It smelled so different, rich, and intriguing. I turned towards the coastline and stretched my long limbs as far and as fast as they would go.

We flew through the forest, and out into the bare countryside and ate up the miles. The land was rocky and hilly as we finally approached the coast. The salt spray from the sea was comforting, but still tantalizingly different from our own coast. I slowed as I approached the cliffs and came to a stop to look at the amazing site before us. Bella gasped as she hovered over my ears.

"You remembered! It is the Cinque Terre, isn't it? Holy crow, it's so gorgeous, Jake, it doesn't look real." She was right. The most beautiful little village I'd ever seen sat like a jewel at the end of a finger of land extending into the Mediterranean Sea. The soft but vibrant colors of the old buildings were amazing. I hated that Bella didn't share my night vision. She was missing so much of the scene in front of us.

"I can't believe you brought me here. Thank you, sweetheart," she whispered in my ear. "I never would have seen it if you hadn't taken me tonight." God, she called me sweetheart. It was the first time she'd called me any kind of endearment. I hoped it wasn't because I was a freaking wolf. I wanted to explore this beautiful area with Bella all night. It seemed so magical and peaceful in the moonlight.

The rest of the pack was busy trying to throw each other off the cliffs into the icy, rocky waters below. Of course, no one approached Leah, who was rolling her eyes in irritation at the sophomoric play.

Great idea, dipshits! I growled. Who's going to volunteer to see how far their brains will splatter all over the fucking rocks down there?

Aaah, you're just pissed you've got a girl on your back and you can't dive in with the rest of us! Paul snarked.

Oh, you got that right, asshole! I'd so much rather be playing with you than having my girl wrapped around me.

Hoots and hollers greeted that statement. Keep it clean! I'm not listening to that shit about Bella! Come on! If you guys want to get wet so bad, let's go down to the beach so we don't have to carry somebody's dead ass back to the hotel in a body bag; unless it's Paul's, of course.

Snorts, laughs and curses greeted that statement as we easily loped to the tiny, rocky beach where the guys piled into the sea, snapping, biting and knocking each other down as they charged through the waves. I walked over to a sheltered bluff and lay down as Bella slipped from my back. She snuggled into my side as I curled around her, my thick fur and body heat keeping her warm as she burrowed closer.

I lay my head on my paws and sighed. The moonlight glowed down on the Mediterranean Sea and the fighting, splashing wolves. I could hear their thoughts as they razzed and pushed one another, each having a great time. I looked at the fairytale village to my right and nuzzled the sweet girl wrapped around my side. Sometimes, life couldn't get much better.

I watched Bella carefully as she settled against my shoulder, sinking into my fur, lower and lower. She finally drifted off, exhaustion overtaking her. I curled completely around her; my tail lapped my face as I encircled her. As I relaxed in this beautiful place, I felt my eyes grow heavy, too.

Bella smelled so wonderful. Her scent was certainly stronger when I was a wolf, but now her aroma seemed totally intoxicating. Maybe I was just relating to our shower scene and the way the fragrance of her – I cut off my thoughts to that door immediately.

The guys were still having a great time in the cold waters of the Mediterranean. I tried to concentrate on their thoughts instead of the deepening addictive scent burrowing into my fur. Tiny little whispers and moans reached my ears, and I turned my head to see what Bella was doing. She seemed to be uncomfortable as she moved around, seeming to be searching for something while she slept.

"Jake," she cried softly. I nuzzled her and pushed my nose under her arm, trying to comfort her without being able to speak. It didn't seem to be working as she shifted again, not finding what she wanted.

Her hands dug into my fur. She arched her back and cried again, louder this time, "Jacob!" as she rubbed her head against me. All at once, her scent hit me in the face with the force of a wrecking ball. Holy shit! Bella was having a sex- SLAM!! The iron door of control smashed down on my thoughts. Not only was the pack around me physically, they could hear everything I was thinking. What the fuck was I going to do?

Chapter Ending Notes:

Want a vagina exploding Jake picture? Write a review over at Twilighted(dot)net and I'll send one along with a tiny little peek at Chapter 8. Even if you do not want said picture and peek, please review. It's the only reward we get for our work, you know.

Ok, so I have a teeny little cliffy here. I know. I know. I'm ready for the hot tar and chicken feathers. Originally, Chapter 7 was 15,000 words long and I was forced to cut it into two parts so you all wouldn't fall asleep on top of your laptops when you read it. The good news is, Chapter 8 is finished other than beta'ing and rewrites! So it really will go up quickly. Promise. I swear!

Wonderful reader/reviewers named in this chapter are Amy's fiancée, Roberta Curry (sorry about that, Roberta!) and Amy's friends Amanda Williamson and Wendy Cole. (Bella is not very happy with those two at all!) Thanks so much, ladies, for taking time out to review and support me! Hope you don't mind my stealing your great names. It was really fun to put you into the story!

So how did you like the wolf ride? Have you ever envisioned one? How is Jake going to get out of this mess? Are any of you familiar with where they are? Here is a link so you can see it for yourself even though I couldn't find a picture that did it justice.

wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/File:Vernazza(dot)JPG

(It is beyond incredible. Hubby and I almost didn't leave. We thought we could become Bagiggi fishermen and live off the sea. Well, it was a good thought, anyway.)