Many, Many Thanks:
Great thanks go to my betas who somehow work me into their incredibly busy lives. Head honcho mybrandofheroin does amazing work not only as a wordsmith and grammar goddess, but is an incredible support to all of my constant needs. Diamondheart is a wonderfully talented, incredibly busy virago that always is there with the perfect word and suggestion (except when it comes to female sexual organs.) Thank you so much ladies.
I have to give great kudos to my guest beta for this chapter, Purelyamuse, writer of the wonderful fics To Choose a Star, Nothing Sort Of, and For Him. Although I frequently wanted to throw week old cooked cabbage at her head, this chapter was made much better, longer, and warmer because of her incessant demands for more, more, more! Thank you, love.
Thank you halobabe 22 for the terrific title suggestion. I think it's perfect. (Amanda Wilder also used it in her terrific fic 1001 Jacobian Nights. Thank you for letting me share it, sweetie.) Thanks to clover for all of your invaluable help with Italian and Milano and anginha (a.k.a. Diana Chica-Brazilian) with all of the Portuguese/Brazilian assistance. I would be lost without you two.
Kisses and thanks to all of you that voted for me in Wave One of the Underdog Awards! Did you see my cool new banner by fromthisisland? I am sooo excited (even though it was really embarrassing explaining winning Best Panty Soaker to family members.)
Shameless Pimping Section:
I wanted to tell you about some undiscovered wolfy gems that I've been following. None of these stories are terribly long, so take a few minutes and go check them out. All of them have less than 100 reviews and they deserve many, many more.
After the Rain by Graveyarder03 http(colon)/www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/viewstory(dot)php?sid=11212
Until Dawn Arrives and Shadows Flee by Nara http(colon)/www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/viewstory(dot)php?sid=12541
Singing to His Moon by SacredJules http(colon)/www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/viewstory(dot)php?sid=9110
Days without Rain by EnjoyyourJacob http(colon)/www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/viewstory(dot)php?sid=12053
Love This Pain by cakes4547 http(colon)/www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/viewstory(dot)php?sid=12986
Fallen Princess by Bforqueen http(colon)/www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/viewstory(dot)php?sid=11841
To the Wolves by Jezunya http(colon)/www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/viewstory(dot)php?sid=8126
Not Just a Wolf by wiccawitch http(colon)/www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/viewstory(dot)php?sid=12401
And finally Entering Twilight by Bug Rehsom (even thought she's topped the 100 review thing) http(colon)/www(dot)Twilighted(dot)net/viewstory(dot)php?sid=9399
Here are two contests currently taking nominations at my two favorite wolf web sites:
Wave Three of the Underdog Awards at: http(colon)/community(dot)livejournal(dot)com/theair_thesun/55775(dot)html
and nominations for Jacob Black N Pack Awards are going on over at:
http(colon)/jacobblack-n-pack(dot)blogspot(dot)com/p/summer-2010-categoriesx(dot)html
Check out some great new stories here or nominate some of your favorites.
Usual B.S.
A few lines in this chapter and three actions were ruthlessly stolen from Chapter 10 of "Burning Wild" by Christine Feehan. Great. Now I'm going to get sued by two people. Yeah, yeah, Stephenie Meyer thought up the characters as well. I told you I was incapable of original thought.
Warning: Jake is not a happy camper in much of this chapter and one of the people with whom he's displeased is Bella. If this is going to bother you, you might want to skip it, but I sure wouldn't if I were you.
Previously…Years have passed since Edward left Bella in the woods. Bella and Jacob are crazy in love with each other, but neither one has told the other. Jacob is desperately trying to get Bella to say the words before they go any further in their relationship. Bella is desperately trying to seduce Jacob so he'll fall in love with her.
Jake, Bella, and half the pack are in Milan, Italy modeling for Carmen Bianca Silva, their very wealthy Brazilian boss, who wants Jacob badly. Jake and Bella plan a big date, but Carmen ruins their night by forcing Jacob to go out to dinner with her, threatening to pull the huge contract she has with the pack if he refuses. Bella is furious and very jealous.
Leah manipulates a male model, Val, who has the hots for Bella, into asking Bella out on a business dinner, (and eliminates Val's fear of Jake by telling him Jake is a gentle as a putty cat.) Bella agrees to go with Val since Jake told her earlier he'd "understand" if she had to go out on a business dinner. (She doesn't believe that load of crap for a second.) Unknown to everyone except Leah, Bella and Val are going to the same restaurant where Jake and Carmen are dining. Leah talks Bella into wearing a very suggestive dress and, much to Bella's irritation, Val starts feeling her up on the way to their table. When she and Val finally sit down, Bella sees a very pissed off Jake staring furiously at the two of them.
There is going to immediately be a reference to Norma Desmond. If you don't know who she is, watch and you will see exactly how Jake views Carmen:
http(colon)/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=xzYqUpV_B-A&feature=related***Slide the time tab forward to 1:00 when it starts***
AND FINALLY:
Chapter 11 "Hungry Like the Wolf"
JPOV
God, would this horrible fucking night ever end? My head was tilted back as I stared at the glass ceiling over me. Stretching out my neck, I forced myself to sit up and act engaged in Carmen Bianca's ridiculous games as I glanced over at her and tried not to shudder. Christ, she looked like ten pounds of shit crammed into a five-pound bag. Could that fucking dress she had on be any tighter? Maybe if she took a vacuum hose and sucked all the air out like one of those space bags that compressed huge sweaters down to the size of a napkin. Hell, for all I knew, that's exactly what she'd done.
She was in her element. Carmen had all of the adult pack members fawning around her, as well as the two sponsors she'd dragged along. Six men didn't seem to be enough for the Brazilian Norma Desmond as she flirted shamelessly with the waiter, the maitre d' and the restaurant manager. I prayed one of them would attract her interest so that I wouldn't have to feel those red claws of hers raking down my suit sleeve.
Since being tossed into Carmen's trap this morning, I spent the day searching for a loophole, someway to ruin her plan of seduction for this evening. Finally, I figured out that even though I was roped into going, I could certainly drag some other male members of the contract along as well. And Carmen could hardly complain; she was the one who said we had to make an appearance at sponsor events.
I didn't give a shit how pissed off Embry, Quil, and Paul were; their asses were staying next to mine until the bitter end of the evening. No way was that conniving cunt going to get me alone. I'd called the restaurant in advance to make sure there were three more seats available at Carmen's table tonight, then I'd ordered Paul and Embry to sit on either side of Carmen, and told them they'd better be charming to her or I'd beat the crap out of them.
To give everyone credit, they'd all been on their best behavior. Embry and Paul were flirtatious without being obnoxious and Carmen, who was visibly pissed when she first spotted the three extra guys, soon began to lap up the situation of having six men dancing attendance on her alone.
When we'd arrived, (two fucking hours earlier) we'd glanced at the complicated menu and saw it was all in Italian. Carmen Bianca quickly took charge, told us she'd take care of ordering, and began a rapid, involved conversation with the waiter. We'd introduced ourselves to the two loaded-looking investors with her, Stefano Danelon Romano and Adriano Moniet. Their English was as good as our Italian, which meant the four of us spoke to each other and the two of them talked, while Carmen translated sporadically when possible.
Pretty quickly, it was obvious the entire night was going to consist of negotiations in Italian between Carmen and the sponsors, and our job was to shut up and look good. At least we were going to be fed—or so we thought.
The first course of our meal arrived after a thirty-minute wait. When we saw the content of the plates, the four of us stared at each other in shock. One tiny cracker about the size of a postage stamp was perfectly positioned in the center of every dish. A drop of something resembling cat food was beautifully dolloped on top and little squiggly lines of sauce decorated the china.
What the fuck? Stefano, Adriano, and Carmen suavely used a knife and fork to cut theirs into microscopic bites. Embry chased his around the squiggly lines with his fingers and then shoved it in whole. I rolled my eyes at him and pulled out my fork. Hopefully, this was just some sort of teaser before the real appetizer arrived.
No such luck. Next came a tiny brick of lettuce; evidently, this was the chef's excuse for a salad. The only thing that set it apart from the first cracker we'd been fed was that it was green and a perfect cube. More little drippy lines painted the plate.
I stared at my pack mates, stunned. Jesus Christ, we'd waited another thirty fucking minutes for this little dab of nothing that was smaller than my thumbnail. I had a sickening feeling we were going to be tortured and starved by inches all night. I glanced over at Carmen, who peeked up at me with a sly smirk on her face.
"Gotcha," she seemed to be saying without words. Carmen knew how much food the pack devoured. This was just a little payback because I'd brought along my brothers for protection. So began the endless dinner.
At first, we had hope something would change, but as the minutes ticked by and course after course was served, each portion was about the size of a matchbook. Not only were the servings miniscule, we had to wait a golden eternity for every damned one. And it was obvious that conversations from us or between us were not wanted. Embry, Quil, and Paul were so bored they were going to start shooting green peas at each other if something didn't give soon. Of course, if we'd had green peas, we would have gobbled them down to stave off our starvation. I even caught Embry hungrily eyeing the floral centerpiece before I kicked him under the table. The only bright side of the entire evening was that at least I wasn't alone with Carmen Bianca.
As I listened to Stefano and Adriano's smooth voices, I started zoning out thinking about the night I should have been having. About this time, Bella and I would have been inside the Duomo where she would have been amazed at the building that literally took 500 years to build. Fuck, I could barely stand to think about it. What should have been the best night of my life had become one of the worst. What a fucking waste, and all because of Carmen Bianca Silva. God, I hated her guts right at that moment.
Thinking of Bella was just too painful, so I watched the other diners enjoying their meals. Everybody else in the restaurant seemed to have actual plates of food on their tables. Apparently, we were the only lucky bastards being served portions that would starve a fucking gerbil.
It was a typical Carmen type place, I thought sourly; beautiful place filled with beautiful people and beautiful servers at her beck and call to inflict any torture she decided was necessary, no matter how inhumane. I was in such a foul mood, I could barely stand to be around me. Between my anger and frustration at missing my special night with Bella, my fury at Carmen, AND being starved to death, I was ready to explode.
While we were waiting for the next decorated speck to be served, I noticed a couple arriving at the restaurant. All I could see were their backs as the entrance to the dining room was almost underneath our table, but what struck me instantly was the girl's resemblance to Bella. I even thought I smelled her as the woman walked towards the center of the room.
The two were obviously lovers; the man groped the girl's fine ass at first until she leaned in intimately and whispered in his ear. His hand shifted to her naked back, which was somehow covered in a tantalizing mesh of silver chains.
They stopped to talk to a friend for a few minutes; the conversation was in Italian so I quit trying to eavesdrop but I continued watching them. I looked at the Italian girl's back and could easily imagine she was Bella. Even though her hair was pulled up in a way Bella never wore hers, the color was identical. She was the same size and height as my love, but she moved with a confidence I was unused to seeing in Bella until recently. She stood in some of the hottest shoes I'd ever seen and in a dress that begged a man to chain her up or be chained by her, I couldn't decide which. As much as I'd shit if Bella wore something like this out in public, I needed to find another outfit just like it and talk Bella into putting it on for me and only me in our hotel bedroom.
While I watched, the man played with his lover's beautiful skin, so like my Bella's. He slid his fingers along her spine, up to her delicate neck and down below the folds of fabric that covered her ass, then to the edge of her dress, dipping into the soft sides of her breasts. Fuck it, if we were somewhere private, that's what I could have been doing with my girl. What in hell's name was I doing sitting around like some sort of a fucktarded idiot while Bella was alone in our hotel room, as miserable as me?
Enviously, I watched the way that ballsy bastard ran his hands over his lover's ass and tits under that damned dress. My blood began to heat as images of Bella wearing those smoking hot shoes while chained naked to my bed started filling my brain. Fuck, many more thoughts like that one and I'd end up with another boner at the dinner table, with Carmen Bianca there to see it. I glared as the couple continued on, the man still playing with the woman's skin lovingly. Jesus, these fucking Italians! Why did they bother coming to dinner at all? They obviously wanted to go straight to the bedroom. Christ, I was so fucking frustrated, I was getting jealous of strangers.
They moved to their table, but the woman turned to her lover so I still couldn't see her face. He instantly scooted next to her, stroking her cheek and running his hand down the side of that fuck-me dress, skirting the edge of her chest once more. She leaned over and whispered intimately to him again, obviously comfortable with him, probably telling him they'd get started right after dinner. Shit, it looked like he was about to toss her on the table and fuck her right there in front of God and half of Milan. I can understand your frustration, buddy, I thought to myself as I glanced at his face.
Suddenly, I was struck with a wave of familiarity. I knew that guy! He was the son of a bitch that kept pestering Bella. A lump of cold rage plummeted to my gut and my eyes slowly moved towards the girl. As I watched, she put down her menu and turned her head to look around the restaurant. No. There wasNO. FUCKING. WAY.
Blood exploded through my veins as I saw her beautiful face for the first time. It couldn't possibly be. My Bella. I was having hallucinations brought on by sexual frustration and hunger. Bella was at our hotel, snug in our suite with the boys; Seth was there keeping her safe. My Bella couldn't possibly be the other half of this Italian couple. My Bella couldn't possibly be out with this sack of shit who was running his hands all over her. But she was. There was no mistake. That gorgeous face belonged to no one else.
Her huge chocolate brown eyes took in the scene around her and eventually she looked up at our table. As I stared, mesmerized, at her face, her gaze landed on Carmen's back and then gradually turned towards me. Ever so slowly, her eyes rose up my body until finally, colliding with mine, they widened in total shock.
I'd never understood the expression seeing red until that moment, but a bloody haze seemed to wash over my vision, coloring everything I saw, while an explosion of fury filled me with such rage that I felt my eyes change. I couldn't believe I didn't phase on the spot.
Some tiny part of my brain heard Quil as he inhaled, choked, and spit his drink across the table. He must have recognized Bella as well. Something was making vicious growling sounds. It took me a minute to realize I was the one making them. Carmen reached across the table and grabbed my arms as I unconsciously rose to my feet. The voices of my brothers lifted around me in concern.
I snarled an alpha command in a tone I'd never used before, "Don't any of you dare fucking move," as I started for my woman. My woman who was currently with some prick I'd thought was going to start screwing her right in front of me. I looked forward to ripping out his guts and throwing them across the dining room. After I beat the living fuck out of Seth, I planned to lock Bella in our hotel room, chain her to our bed, and do anything I wanted to her for the rest of our time in Italy.
I couldn't believe it. How could my Bella, my mate, be on a fucking date with someone else? I'd waited for this night for years, hoping against hope she'd see me as the man she wanted to spend her time with, to love and to keep. And here she was on a goddamned date with some asshole who couldn't keep his paws off her or wait to get her in his bed. She'd never been on a date with me, but now she was here with fucking Valerie.
I'd never wanted to kill someone so badly in my life. It was going to take every ounce of self-restraint I had to let him walk out of that restaurant in one piece. The animal in me was straining to be unleashed. It longed to tear out that bastard's throat and crush the remaining bones and cartilage like cardboard. God damn it!
I had to keep my shit together and act like a human being no matter how little I felt like one. I couldn't completely lose control in front of a hundred people. Struggling, I reined in my wolf as I stalked to their table, my eyes fixed relentlessly on my prey.
Bella's eyes were round with horror. She seemed instantly aware how close I was to phasing, and her face paled as she stared at me. Valerie, too, watched my approach, but he seemed completely unconcerned; a sly smirk even covered his face.
When I reached Bella, I leaned down and grabbed the back of her head, tilting it to give me access to her mouth. She gasped as I invaded her warm passage almost violently; my teeth nipped at her while my tongue battled hers and won. It was a kiss that belonged in the bedroom, showing that skinny little piss ant whose woman this was.
Amazingly, she started responding to me; her tongue slid into my mouth, and I could smell her arousal rising from between her thighs. I growled as the aroma poured through my brain, filling it, while I searched out every bit of the honey in her mouth that was mine and mine alone. She looked shell-shocked when I finally ended the kiss.
Ignoring Valerie, I grabbed a chair from the next table and shoved it between the two of theirs, wedging myself in as I sat down. My hand started stroking Bella's neck and tracing that beautiful naked back that was on display for all to see.
"Hey, baby," I murmured in a rumbling, intimate voice. "I thought you were going to stay in our room tonight. You know I would have been home as soon as I could, sweetheart."
Color had finally returned to Bella's face and it flooded her cheeks at my mention of our shared room. She seemed to have lost her voice as her mouth opened and nothing came out but a series of squeaking sounds. Valerie seemed speechless as well.
I continued on, "Angel, who's watching our boys tonight? Seth?" She nodded mutely. "Do you think he's old enough to handle them? You know how they love to play in our bed while we're gone." Chuckling softly as if reminiscing about our toddlers instead of the 15 year olds that made up the brat pack, I slid my hand beneath those incredible snaking chains that wrapped around her body and my fingers stroked the flawless skin they covered. While I couldn't keep my hands off Bella, my words were also making sure Valerie knew she slept in my fucking bed every night.
Anger sparkled in her eyes and she found her voice for the first time since I stormed their table. "He's 18, Jake. I think he can control them," she snapped and tried to move away from my wandering fingers. I could tell she longed to smack me, yet she was also aware how close I was to wolfing out on the spot and eating the local diners, starting with Valerie.
I leaned in, ran my tongue up her neck, and nipped her ear softly. "Well, he couldn't control you, could he, honey?" I growled in her ear. She shivered and gave me a furious look. Her arousal smelled stronger, which seemed to piss her off even more.
I heard an impatient clearing of a throat on my other side. Valerie must have been getting restless.
"Jake, you remember Valentino Simonetti, don't you?" she motioned to her companion. "Val asked me out tonight to discuss business. He is interested in joining Black Moon and wants me to become his manager."
"Is that right?" I asked politely. I finally turned the full force of my eyes towards the little prick and watched with pleasure as his confident smirk fell from his face when he took in my expression. A deep growl poured from my throat and chest as I leaned into him, smiling. "I saw exactly what you were interested in, Valerie."
He jumped back in shock when he took in my eyes, almost falling out of his chair, and he yelped a startled Italian curse. I'm sure I looked completely insane with my wolf eyes staring into his and my mouth watering to latch onto his throat.
"So what have you two been doing tonight?" I asked him pleasantly. My voice was polite, inquisitive, and conversational while I watched him with the unblinking stare of a predator. I picked up Bella's rigid fingers and rubbed them under my jaw slowly. In a deliberately erotic move, I gently forced her hand to my mouth so I could nip at her fingers lingeringly as I stared at him. All color had drained from his face; he looked as if he was either going to pass out or puke.
He started talking swiftly in Italian and then began in English, his accent heavy as if he'd forgotten how to speak it. "Cristo santo, sono passato a prederia in albergo un minuto fa. I pick her up from Hotel Principe di Savoia just minute ago," he stumbled. "no, non faremo niente prima di—niente! We do nothing before—nothing!" He seemed adamant that I believe him.
My eyes focused on the rapidly beating pulse at his throat. In my mind, I rolled over the most enjoyable ways to kill the son of a bitch as I watched him squirm beneath my cold, smiling stare.
I turned to Bella and easily brought her palm to my mouth while she tried to jerk it away. "You should have told me you were going out tonight, sweetheart. I would have been concerned when I got home and you weren't there."
"You were busy with Carmen, Jake." Her eyes snapped with anger. "Leah and the boys knew I was going out."
I took the heel of her hand in my teeth and lightly bit down in the center, delivering a tiny punishment, before I stroked the spot soothingly with my tongue. "Yes, well, I'll have to have a talk with Seth about that. You know I'd be worried if you're out in a foreign city by yourself."
Bella rolled her eyes. "I'm not by myself, Jake. I'm with Val on a business dinner. You know, where you go out with someone to discuss business?" Her anger about the Carmen situation didn't seem to have lessened over the hours.
"Yes, darling, I know exactly what a business dinner is," I bit out sarcastically. "But I'm beginning to wonder if Valerie here knows what one is. Do you, Valerie?" I turned to him with an icy smile.
He stuttered wordlessly before I continued. "A business dinner is where you go out to dinner with someone else's woman and you discuss business. You keep your fucking hands to yourself; you never, ever put a finger on that woman because she doesn't belong to you. When you start touching her, you can never tell what's going to happen to you, either during the business dinner, or later, when you think you're safe in bed." A few choking gasps forced their way out of his mouth.
"You see, Valerie," I went on pleasantly, "you don't put your goddamned hands on her ass and start feeling it or put them on her naked back, run them along the edge of her dress so you can feel her tits, and you sure as shit never act like you're going to fuck the woman you've taken on a business dinner or you might really piss off her man. And, you know, some guys just aren't very understanding about that kind of situation. They may get real upset and decide you'd be just fine without your dick and those hands you've been running all over their woman."
Valerie was pouring sweat and the color drained unevenly from his cheeks, giving his gray skin the look of badly mixed wet cement. He tried for a shaky laugh. "You know, murder is illegale in Italia, Signor Black."
I smiled kindly. "Well, usually they like to find the body before declaring someone dead and murdered, and if it's chewed into tiny little bites and swallowed, that isn't possible, now is it?"
A shout of quickly muffled laughter came from Carmen's table. The guys were obviously honing in on our exchange.
"You know, Valerie, if some asshole was stupid enough to tell Bella he wants to take her on a business dinner, and if said asshole was also stupid enough to put moves on her, there's really no telling what could happen to that sorry piece of shit."
Bella jabbed me in the ribs and gave me a sharp look. I stared at her with all the anger I felt at seeing her being felt up by her goddamned date. God, that she was on a date, business or not, made me lose my fucking mind.
"Hadn't you better get back to Carmen, Jake? We don't want her missing you and becoming upset," she commented snidely.
"Baby, my business dinner is all over for the evening and so is yours. Come on, honey, it's getting late and we need to go check on our boys." I stood up to leave.
"We haven't eaten yet, Jake," she ground out through gritted teeth.
"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll satisfy every hunger you have when we get to our room." There were several sharp barks of laughter coming from Carmen's table, and Valerie coughed frantically as if he'd swallowed a bug, while Bella gasped in shock. She glared at me furiously but she knew better than to get into a public fight when I was teetering on the edge of control.
I threw down a few bills on their table and turned to Valerie, who looked like he'd been flattened by a farm combine. Leaning down, I rested my hand between his neck and shoulder in a warm, friendly gesture before squeezing until I heard things begin to pop under my fingers. His face whitened and he tried to squirm away. Evidently, he didn't realize movement was impossible. That quickly changed.
I shifted towards him as if we were having a pleasant chat and told him in a quiet voice, too low for Bella to hear, "Just for your information, Black Moon has all the models it needs and Bella is extremely busy with each and every one. She couldn't possibly take on more and you won't be asking about it because she's never going to see your fucking face again, is she?" He stared at me, trembling, and then quickly shook his head.
I crouched down until my teeth were at his ear and snarled softly, "And if you ever lay a finger on my woman again, Valerie, I will personally rip off your fucking balls and jam them so far down your goddamned throat you'll be tasting ball meat for the rest of your life, Capisci Buddy?"
He nodded repeatedly, his mouth hanging open in obvious pain. I pounded his back like we were the best of pals while he grimaced. "Ciao, Valerie," I called out over my shoulder as I grabbed Bella by the waist and ushered her towards the door. She echoed my goodbye and tried to pull out of my grasp, but I hauled her against my side. After this evening's escapades, the only way she was getting away from me was over my dead body.
"Slow down, Jake. I can't keep up with you in these shoes." I stared at the chains wrapped around her feet on those fuck-me heels she wore and felt my temperature rise even higher.
"Why in the fuck you are wearing something like that on a 'business—' No, we're not getting into it here, goddamn it."
"Don't you talk to me like that in a public place, Jacob Black!" she snarled back as she stopped to get her coat. I helped her on with it and spun her around so I could fasten all the buttons. At least every guy we saw wouldn't be slavering all over her as we left the building.
"I'm trying not to say a goddamned thing in public, Bella. Now, let's get a taxi and get the hell out of here." As we walked outside, the well-trained staff of Trussardi's was standing by, seemingly oblivious to our argument, but immediately one of them signaled for a taxi at my gesture.
"There is no way I'm going anywhere with you, Jacob. I can't believe you just interrupted me in the middle of business because you felt insecure," she snapped.
I thought blood was going to start shooting out of my eyes I was so fucking mad. "Little girl, you have no idea what you are playing with right now. If you have any sense of self-preservation, you are going to get into that taxi willingly, or else I'm going to throw your butt over my shoulder and carry you into it. The choice is yours."
She stared into my eyes and must have decided this was a battle she was going to lose. Stalking to the cab, she slid in and turned her face to the window. Fine with me if she didn't speak. She would not want what I had to say to be overheard by others.
Sitting next to her in the taxi, I tried not to stare as a toned thigh peeked out from underneath that short coat of hers. Goddamn it, if she was wearing clothes that covered her beautiful body, she wouldn't have given a woody to every fucker in the restaurant including me, I fumed irately as I tried to control my dick and failed.
An icy silence remained in the cab the short trip back to our hotel as I thought of Amish style dresses that would cover her from head to foot. Those women knew how to dress, damn it all. Maybe I'd dig out her old baggy sweats and ratty sneakers and pitch all of this new stuff that was driving me out of my mind. Fuck, I was losing it big time.
The tense trip in the elevator was a freaking nightmare since the mirrored walls reflected images of Bella everywhere I looked. I could see her legs displayed to perfection from every angle under the short coat and high-heeled shoes. Confined in the tiny enclosure, her scent was even stronger. I couldn't wait to get the hell out of there.
As we approached our suite, Bella came to a stop, saying haughtily, "I'm spending the night with Leah, Jake. I have to say, I really don't care for the way you've been acting."
I picked her up and swung her over my shoulder, holding onto her kicking legs and ignoring her outraged screeches. As we entered the suite, four shocked pairs of eyes stared at us. Seth instantly started searching for an escape.
"Don't even think about it, buddy," I told him sweetly. "The two of us are going to have a Nice Long Chat about this later." Dropping my saccharine smile, sheer alpha wolf poured out of me. "Until then, I don't want you or anybody else within a hundred yards of this room before I tell you something different, got it?" I snarled. "Now, GET THE FUCK OUT!" The four of them scattered like cockroaches. I slammed the door behind them, locked it, and turned to put down Bella. She looked amazing with her face flushed and fury in her eyes as she rounded on me.
"Well, you've acted like an absolute caveman tonight, and I have to say, I have no idea what your problem is. Why on earth are you so furious with me? I certainly did nothing wrong this evening!"
"You have no idea why I might be angry?" I returned, stalking up to her. "Well, let's see. I'm forced to go to the most horrible dinner of my life on a night when the two of us should be out on our first date when what do I see? My woman on a fucking date with another man! You're not out with me the first time you go out on a date in four fucking years, you're out with goddamned Valerie! And to top it off, the son of a bitch is shoving his hands down your dress right in front of my eyes. Now, why would I be fucking angry about that?" I shouted.
She stuck her little face as close to mine as she could get and blasted away at me. "So what if I was out with somebody else? Since when am I 'your woman'? That's news to me! And where were you all this time? Out with that damned witch from hell that wants in your pants so badly she can hardly keep from ripping them off of you." Jesus, she seemed to be just as furious about Carmen as I was about that Val idiot. I couldn't believe it.
"At least when I found out I had to go to dinner with that fucking bitch, I had the forethought to drag along half the pack to make sure she couldn't pull anything, which you would have known if you hadn't been hiding out in Leah's room all afternoon," I hurled back at her. "You know why the pack and I had to go to dinner with her. You know she'd yank the contract with us if she thinks she's not getting enough attention. I was with three other guys having dinner with a major client while you were on a fucking date with that goddamned piece of shit excuse for a model."
"At least I was on a business date. You know what Carmen Bianca Silva wants from you and it's not business!"
"Business date!" I roared. "Is that what they're calling them these days? If that's a business date, I want to know what the fuck kind of business it is!" I was almost afraid to touch her. Shit, I was so pissed, I wanted to put my fist through the wall or a handy tree.
"To point out the obvious, it's the modeling business, Jacob! Not that he'll ask me out again any time soon after the display you put on!" She turned away from me and threw her evening bag down on the sofa in disgust.
"Ask you out again? Are you fucking kidding me? If that asshole gets near you again I'll tear off his nuts!" I desperately needed some space between us so I didn't scare her. Hell, scare her? Even if she should've been scared, she instead looked so pissed I thought she might come after me with a tire iron.
"Why would he get near me again after the way you acted? You made it sound like we live together and have kids or something."
"For your information, we are living together and we do have kids, Bella. We have a whole pack of them we're responsible for. And why the hell do you care what that prick thinks?"
She rolled her eyes and turned to take off her coat. My blood heated as I got another look at her naked back wrapped with those goddamned chains. "Holy Crow, Jake, he probably thinks we have a whole brood of illegitimate children and will pass that little tidbit on to everyone in Milan."
"So what if we do? It's none of his fucking business anyway!" I realized I was pacing like a caged animal while I stared at her and I forced myself to stop. "Tell me why you're so interested in that bastard and what he thinks about your personal life, damn it!"
"God, I'm not interested in him, Jacob! I just wanted to answer his questions about Black Moon and tell him about what I do as a manager for you guys. That's it!" She tossed her coat down and stared at me accusingly. "Why are you getting so bent out of shape about this? We agreed this morning we'd date other people and this wasn't even a date. You're the one who said you'd understand perfectly if I went on a business dinner. Just like I was supposed to understand about you and Carmen!"
Christ, how could she be so fucking clueless about the way I felt about her? "We did NOT agree this morning we'd date other people! YOU agreed this morning we'd date other people! I have no intention of dating anyone else and you better not either unless you want to see me break their fucking neck!" I couldn't help myself; I couldn't stay away from her and I moved in closer. All she had to do was stand there in that goddamned outfit and my body reacted as if she was some sort of a sea siren luring me onto the rocks.
"And let me tell you something else, Miss Swan! You do not wear a dress on a 'business dinner' that screams out for every son of a bitch in the entire restaurant to throw you on the dinner table and fuck your brains out!"
"What on earth is the matter with you, Jacob?" She seemed to feel the draw as well as she inched in towards me, her face flushed with temper. "Leah said this was very appropriate for Trussardi's and it was! It fits me very nicely unlike that sausage skin Carmen poured herself into. That thing looked like the seams were going to blow at any minute. A streetwalker would be ashamed to be seen in that outfit."
"Why do I give a good bloody fuck what Carmen Bianca Silva was wearing?" Shit, if the damned woman was running around naked, I couldn't have cared less while the image of what Bella was barely wearing was seared permanently into my brain. Even now, I couldn't help but stare at the way it clung and snaked around her, emphasizing every curve of her body. "What I noticed all evening was that S&M dress you've got on and Valerie running his goddamned hands over every square inch of it and you!"
"S&M dress? What do you mean?" I honestly don't think she had a clue what I was saying to her.
"I'm talking about the chains that are wrapped all around you, Bella! Do you have any idea what kind of thoughts something like that puts in a man's head?" She looked completely confused so I filled in the blanks for her.
"It makes a guy think about chaining you up and fucking you senseless! Didn't you get that message when Valerie couldn't keep his hands off you?" Not that I was any better. I couldn't get the image of Bella handcuffed to our bed out my raging thoughts.
She brought me back to the present with a snap. "All I know is that Carmen can't keep her hands off you regardless of what you're wearing and I'm sick of it! And she's not the only one." She stepped closer and pointed her finger at me accusingly. "If I see Amy Nipples stick those fatty boobs of hers in your face one more time, I'm not going to be responsible for my actions! And you eat it up every time she does it, Mr. Black!"
"Amy Nichols? Jesus, that silly little twit?" She set me back on my heels with that one. "If I never see her or her boobs again I'd never even notice. And as far as being with Carmen, she had to threaten me with a million dollar contract to get me to go to dinner with her, unlike you who willingly went out with that Val motherfucker!"
I moved in like I was stalking her. "Tell me why, goddamn it! And don't give me this crap about a business dinner! You chose to go out with that skinny little asshole. I don't get it, Bella. Does he remind you of someone else? Is that it? Does he remind you of that fucking corpse? Is that why you want him?"
"This has nothing to do with Edward and you know it! Holy Crow, that's a low blow, Jacob; I can't believe you'd throw him in my face after all of these years. I do not want Edward and I certainly don't want Val! But I might ask you the same question, Mr. Self-Righteous!" I could hear her heart's rapid pounding and see her pupil's dilating the angrier she got. "There has to be some reason why that, that—woman—hangs all over you and rubs on every part of your body! You have to feel something for her or you've given her some sort of signal. Hell, she can barely keep the drool from pouring down her face every time she looks at you as she eye screws you!"
She took an angry step towards me in those fucking heels. My eyes were drawn like a magnet to the shoes and then traveled up her beautiful legs. I clenched my fists angrily trying to keep myself from reaching for her body like an animal.
"The term is eye-FUCK, Bella. And that's what that no good cock sucker—Val—was doing the entire time you were with him. And eye fucking is the least of it! I didn't even know it was you when I thought he was going to strip off what little you have on and you two were going to start going at it in the middle of that goddamned restaurant." God, I'd never get that image out of my brain. I wanted to run my hands over every inch of skin that prick had dared to touch.
"You must have been reading Cruella Deville's mind over there!" she spat back. Bella was only a couple of feet from me and I could feel the heat pouring from her body. Her breathing was getting heavier as she closed in on me. "That's all she ever thinks of every time she's around you. You tell me, did she or did she not try to get you into one of her 'offices' to go over some contract issues that suddenly came up? I'm sure that's not the only thing she wanted to come up! And, by the way, Val is not an excuse for a model. He's a very good model. After the way you acted, he'll never take me seriously as a manager."
"Is that what you think was going through his head? How naïve can you be, Bella?" I was only inches away from her but I couldn't help myself from moving in closer. I felt like a steel cable was relentlessly pulling me towards her. "He could give a fuck if you are the manager of the New York Yankees. You really think he's taking you seriously as a manager? That son of a bitch is only interested in taking you – period!"
"So what's the difference between what he wants and what Carmen wants, huh, Jake? Val is nobody—a nothing. But Carmen writes your paychecks and controls everything you do. Are you going to stand there and tell me if she curls her finger at you, you won't jump to do her bidding?" I sharply inhaled her delicious scent as we each closed the distance between us.
"Jesus Christ, Bella, for the last time, I am not interested in Carmen Fucking Silva! I'm not dating her! Can you say the same thing?" Blood was pooling to my groin as I stared hungrily at her.
"Yes, Jacob. I am not interested in Carmen Bianca Silva at all! I hope she falls in the Tiber River and her decomposing body is discovered in 30 years!"
"That's not what I mean and you fucking know it! For once and for all, are you going to go out with that goddamned bastard or not? Because I swear to God, I'll take him apart piece by piece if you so much as look at him again!" My fingers were itching to touch her; I wouldn't be able to keep them off of her much longer.
"What are you saying, Jake? You are going to continue to fawn all over that bitch whenever she snaps her fingers, but if I need to go on a business date with a potential client, you will dismantle him?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. You're mine, Bella, and don't you ever fucking forget it!" That was it; I'd had it. I'd finally reached my breaking point and I grabbed her arms and pulled her up to my eye level.
"That's bull crap, Jacob Black! If I'm yours then you're mine and don't you ever go out with that damned woman again, do you understand me?" she shouted in my face.
"Fine, I won't," I shouted back.
"Fine, see that you don't," she hollered.
I pulled her head to mine and kissed her angrily while she dug into my mouth with the same vicious energy and she grabbed my hair as she clung to me. Sliding my hands down that gorgeous back I'd been lusting after all night, I groaned at the feel of the textures of her skin and the smooth metal that snaked around her.
Moving to the edge of her dress, I shoved aside the loose silk that covered her breasts and my palms cupped their warm weight as my fingers moved over her velvety nipples, stroking and teasing them while they hardened against my skin. The chains were cold against her naked chest and her head fell back as she gasped my name. Fuck, I'd never get enough of her. My hands shook with the effort it took not to rip off her top so I could lick and suck her nipples as I wanted.
Moving as if they had a mind of their own, my fingers traveled back down the edges of her dress to the folding fabric that lay so enticingly over her ass. The satiny textures of her skin and panties felt so fucking good as I dipped my hands under the cloth and gripped the full cheeks of her ass. Slowly, I lifted her so I could grind her into my body; her cleft slipped to the top of my erection, she wound her legs around my waist, and moaned into my mouth, alternately licking and delicately biting my lips and tongue. I growled as I deepened the kiss and thrust my tongue into her in a suggestive rhythm.
I shoved up her skirt and wrapped my hands around that beautiful, firm ass that should have only had my hands on it tonight. She slid down against my hard-on and I could feel the soft, damp mound of her clit through her silky underwear. I wanted nothing underneath that goddamned dress; I ripped her panties off and held her naked bottom in my hands. She cried out loud and rubbed her wet folds along my length, slipping past the head and stroking down the shaft. Fuck me!
My eyes rolled back in my head as, for the first time in my life, I let myself enjoy Bella's hunger for me. With one hand wrapped around her, holding her to me, I dipped my fingers of the other between her legs so I could feel the hot juice accumulating there as I carried her into our bedroom.
Bella was busy pulling off my tie and forcing my jacket off my body. I shrugged it off my shoulders as she ripped my shirt open from the center and flung it back, greedily attacking my chest with her mouth and sliding her fingers down my stomach. I lowered her to the bed, releasing her so I could peel off my shirt and jacket completely, yanking the cuffs past my hands.
Her eyes widened; she stared at my bare chest seemingly mesmerized as I knelt between her legs. I kicked off my shoes and socks and then stared at the beautiful girl spread out before me on our bed. One at a time, I pulled off the shoes that had turned me into a raving lunatic, and skimmed my teeth over the side of each sexy little foot, my voice rumbled in my chest as I tasted them. Fuck, I wanted to eat every bit of her, to run my tongue and mouth over every inch of her body. When I slid her legs back to the bed, I forced them open, my hands lingering as I stroked the delicate skin of her thighs while I looked in her eyes.
"You are mine, goddamn it, Bella." I put my fingers in her slick creases and watched, as her eyes grew huge. "This is mine, nobody else's, and don't you ever forget it," I growled at her. All those torturous years of having to watch, hear and feel my pack brothers' every sexual deed was finally going to pay off as I stroked and fondled Bella. Between what I'd learned to do through the pack mind and what I instinctively wanted to do, I knew how to drive my girl insane.
She wrapped her feet around my ass and ground herself against my cock, moving my hand so she could get closer to me. "Well, now that's a two way street, Mr. Black," she growled back. "If anybody tries to touch this again, a body part is getting chopped off." She reached between us and ran her fingers up and down my hard on, engorging the thing to the bursting point. "I'm sick of other women thinking they can have this when it's mine. Understand?"
She was wet to the point that I could feel her through the fine wool of my pants. I wanted to ram myself in her so badly I could taste it. But our first time wasn't going to be some kind of jealous, angry fuck.
That didn't mean we had to let this horrible evening be a total disaster, though.
I loomed over her, supporting my weight on my hands and caging her beautiful face. "This dress is driving me out of my fucking mind, honey," I whispered huskily. "Let me take it off or else I'm going to rip it off you and shackle you to the bed naked with nothing but those goddamned chains wrapped around your body."
Her eyes dilated; she moaned and stared at me, wetting her lips like the idea thrilled and excited her. Fuck, it thrilled and excited me. Her hands slid slowly to the silver collar that held her dress together; I helped her unhook it and licked the skin that was exposed under the snaking chains.
She showed me how the dress came off and I lifted it over her head, revealing her beautiful pink-tipped breasts that just begged me to lick them. I growled and lowered my head, trying not to attack them like the cotton candy they were.
She groaned and arched her back, digging her hands in my hair and forcing my head down to her nipple, crying out as I eagerly latched onto it and teased it with my tongue. God, she tasted so fucking good. Her peak hardened in my mouth as I sucked and licked it, alternating between delicately touching it with my tongue and nipping it gently with my teeth while I reached up and rubbed the silky skin of her other breast between my fingers.
Her groans got louder as the pressure from my mouth intensified. I lowered one hand to touch between her legs and I savored how hot and wet she was. Her liquids coated my fingers and her smell almost made me unhinged. It was like my own private essence—created just for me and designed to drive me out of my mind.
I tore myself away from her perfect nipples, sitting back to examine the beauty between her legs so I could watch what I was doing to her. As I looked into her liquid eyes, she reached down and covered my hand with her own, showing me exactly what she liked, putting my thumb on the folds of her clit and my fingers into her hot core. Blood hammered through my body in waves. I didn't need encouragement. My hand started moving firmly between the glistening lips of her sweet pussy.
She moved her hand out of the way and began grinding down on my fingers as I leaned over her. "God, Jacob!" she whimpered as her body frantically arched against mine.
"Do you like that, baby?" I whispered in her ear as I gained confidence in my movements. She couldn't form coherent words any more, just guttural moans. "Do you have any idea how fucking good you feel and smell to me, Bella?" I was so fucking turned on, my voice was little more than a guttural groan as well. "I want you to fuck my fingers, honey. I want you to imagine it's me, buried to the hilt in that sweet, tight pussy of yours," I growled.
She gasped as I curved my fingers forward, hitting the spot I knew should drive her right to the edge. The slick walls of her vagina clung to my large fingers. She was so tight and wet; I remembered what it felt like when my cock had entered that liquid core. Fuck me, I wanted to drive myself into her and feel my length pushing into the slick walls while they clung to me.
"Jake, please!" she pleaded with me desperately, not knowing what to do as she grew closer to the first orgasm she'd ever had with me.
"Not yet, baby," I snarled softly into her neck. My erection was about to burst the seams of my pants as I rubbed the head against her juicy folds and I continued to stroke her sweet passage with my fingers. Sliding my dick between her legs almost made me come instantly and I furiously fought for control.
She cried out almost as if she were in pain, "My God, Jacob, I can't stand it! Please, honey!"
"Whose pussy is this, Bella? Who does this to you?" I questioned her like a madman.
"You, Jake, only you" She gasped as if she couldn't breathe and she fumbled clumsily at my waist, managing to pull down my pants; then she pushed my clothes out of our way and put her little hands around my erection. It looked enormous in her tiny fingers. "And this—it only touches me, Jacob." Fuck me running!
She led me to the hot, swollen skin of her sex and my eyes rolled back in my head as my naked cock slid in the liquid folds. I could smell my pre-come ooze out and mingle with her juices. The sensation of me, dripping with come, both hers and mine, and rubbing against her with my dick huge and engorged to the bursting point was almost more than I could take.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I was so tempted to slide myself down just another inch, replace my fingers, and push into that tight core that was aching for me as badly as I ached to be in there. I rocked against her clit, sliding my shaft up and down, imitating the movements that filled my brain. She cried out and clung to me as I growled harshly into her neck, sliding closer to the drenched walls of her vagina, pounding harder at her body.
"God, yes, honey. Fuck, Bella!" I cried as she screamed and started convulsing on my fingers. I thought my eyes were going to explode as she worked me in her hand, sliding me up and down the liquid covered petals between her legs. I felt my blood rage to the boiling point as my pulse pounded faster and faster through my body and I shook from head to toe. Finally, finally it all exploded and my heart felt as if it was going to burst as I started to come.
Christ, I came and came, blasting all over her clit as she continued riding me, her hand milking me as my spasms continued. I shuddered over her body and could barely remember where I was as I reveled in the most intense blow of my life. Finally, I stroked and rubbed her passage gently as she moved my cock so it slid over the edge of her convulsing vagina.
"Jacob, oh my God, Jacob!" She was barely able to speak or breathe.
"Shit, Bella." I was panting heavily and collapsed on her, as stunned as she was.
"I didn't know, Jake. I didn't know it felt like that," she whispered, tears leaking out of her eyes.
I immediately panicked. "What's wrong, honey? Did I hurt you?" I worriedly tried to lift off of her.
She gave a snuffy giggle and pulled me back down, wrapping herself around my body. "No, silly. You were just so amazing!" She ground down on my dick, which wouldn't take much before it become hard as an iron fence pole again.
"Sweetheart, we need to be careful. I'm not wearing a condom and we don't want anything leaking into you."
"It's alright, Jake. I took care of it before our trip." She slid her toes down my leg and gently rocked her pelvis against mine. "I'm on birth control."
Well, that made me pause. Was I happy she'd taken precautions? Hell yeah, if she'd done it with just me in mind. But what if she'd just wanted to be ready for anybody she might meet on her trip, like Val? I had to get that fucker out of my mind.
"Did you realize that's what it would be like?" Her sweet voice was husky as she nuzzled my neck and gently nipped my ear.
Relaxing, I rolled to her side, kicked off my clothes and threw my leg over both of hers possessively. I reached over and nuzzled my nose in her throat. "Well, I knew it would be pretty amazing, but no, honey, that was better than every fantasy I've ever had about it, and, believe me, I've had plenty. And this time, you're even sober," I teased her, smiling.
She snuggled into my side, giggling, her little hand stroking my chest. "Now THAT is a Quileute Magical Cure I'll take any day."
I grinned down at her and kissed the top of her head. "I'll remember that the next time you're hung over." She laughed sleepily and seemed to be as happy and content as I was.
I felt like I'd run patrols for 14 straight hours without food, but it was the best moment of my life. Getting Bella off was something I'd fantasized about for years. Doing it while she made me come was, as I'd said, amazing. I pulled her head onto my shoulder and stroked her body softly; I just couldn't keep my hands off of her beautiful skin or the smile from my face.
She was never getting away from me; she was crazy if she thought she could. After a few minutes savoring what had just occurred, I murmured to her to relax, got up, and covered her with the sheets and blankets of our bed. I padded into our bathroom, washed off, and retrieved a warm, wet washcloth.
Returning, I smiled as I uncovered my Bella and crawled between her legs so I could care for her delicate tissues. She stared at me, her eyes huge. I felt like I was performing a rite of some kind as I carefully and gently cleaned my precious girl.
When I finished, I reached down and kissed her sweet pussy tenderly, rubbing my nose in the mixture of our scents that still remained, and stroking the tender lips of her clit. Even though I'd wiped it off of her, to my heightened senses, the smell of my come was everywhere on her. God, I fucking loved it. For an insane moment, I thought I never wanted her to bathe off the scent of my seed coating her sex so that everyone would know she was mine. Shit, she was making me a fucking basket case.
She moaned and pushed her pussy towards my mouth and I smelled the intoxicating scent of her renewed arousal. She smiled, making me aware I was growling softly like an animal. God, she was so responsive to me. I barely had to touch her and her juices began to flow. If only I could make sure I was the only guy that got this reaction from her. I couldn't stop myself; I slowly delved my tongue between her legs into that wet, tight passage and tasted her for the first time. OH. MY. HOLY. GOD! She tasted like fucking spun sugar. I wanted nothing more than to shove up her legs and drink in that manna from heaven; I couldn't help it.
"Jesus Christ, you taste incredible, Bella, like the sweetest honey ever made," I murmured, unable to tear myself away from that addictive flavor and scent. "Soooo good, sweetheart," I groaned and slowly lapped the precious juices that escaped from between her legs. She gave a little cry and the thick liquid flowed into my greedy mouth.
"I want to taste you, too, Jacob," came her breathless voice.
Fuck, what the hell was I doing? I was supposed to be caring for my girl, not arousing her again after all she'd been through. Raising my head, I looked into her melting eyes. "Honey, I'm so sorry. I just meant to clean you. You've got to be totally exhausted, Bells. Forgive me?"
"Well, you're giving me all sorts of energy when you do that, you know," she smiled at me hungrily. Fuck me! I tried not to shiver as I looked into her heated stare. God, why did I have to be the dick that put the brakes on every time? Oh, yeah, remember? You're the one that wants to make sure she's in love with you, Shithead, I told myself furiously.
"We've got a long day ahead of us, sweetheart, and we don't want to regret it in the morning. Hell, we haven't even gone out on our first date yet and this is all so new. Maybe we shouldn't push it." I looked at her, suddenly worried. "Do you have any regrets, Bella?"
"Regrets? Are you serious?" She stared at me with those beautiful chocolate eyes of hers filled with honesty. "That was, without a doubt, the best experience of my life. If I have a regret, it's that we didn't start this years ago."
God, she was right about that. "I was supposed to be cleaning you up not making you wet again, but you're just so tempting, I lost my head," I whispered to her, smiling as I gently cleaned off the new juices I'd caused and dried her with the towel. The whole time, she watched me with those huge eyes drinking in my every movement. I tossed the towel to the side and crawled into bed next to her.
Christ, I was such a dick to get her going again after such a torturous evening. Couldn't I keep my fucking hands and mouth off of her for a few minutes? No, evidently, I couldn't.
Bella curled around me and made herself comfortable using me as her pillow. "That was sooo fantastic, sweetheart," she murmured sleepily. "We should do it every night." I could hear and feel the smile on her face.
Well, that was certainly my plan as long as we didn't have an entourage listening in. My little girl was pretty loud, I remembered with a grin. As I traced the skin of her arms, I thought back over the last couple of hours. Jesus, what a fucking night! From Carmen starving us to death to tasting the addictive flavor of Bella, and everything in between, it had been one hell of an evening. And the last thirty minutes…well, in spite of the sharp hunger pains shooting through me, I felt like I'd won the lottery.
After four torturous years of fantasizing about it, for one night, I'd finally had my hunger for Bella satisfied and hopefully satisfied hers for me. Now if I could only make my empty gut as contented as the rest of me. Right on queue, my stomach growled loudly, shattering the peaceful calm of the moment. Bella looked down at it in surprise, as if an alien suddenly popped out and started talking to her.
"Holy Crow, are you hungry already, Jacob? I thought you'd been eating for the last few hours."
My eyes rolled irritably. "Don't even get me started about what we had for dinner. I'm fucking starving." I rubbed her little belly. "I was going to ask you if you were up for some bologna sandwiches earlier, but somehow, I thought it might spoil the mood."
She laughed and kissed my cheek softly. "Mmmm, you are sooo romantic, sweetheart," and snuggled into my side, totally ignoring my broad hint.
"And I think I said something about satisfying every hunger you had when we got to the room," I growled in her ear playfully, hoping she'd pick up on the obvious message.
She turned her head and smiled mischievously at me. "Baby, you took care of all of my hungers. I'm satisfied in every way."
I stared at her, wounded. How could I make it more obvious? Surely she cared that I was starving to death, didn't she? Would I have to start shriveling away before she got worried enough to feed me? I felt my lower lip start to poke out, which made her snicker at my hurt expression.
"Awww, did that mean ole Carmen not feed itty bitty Jakey any din-din?" she tisked at me.
I gave her a dirty look, jumped on her body, and started blowing raspberries on her stomach while I bellowed into the soft skin, "I need FOOD, woman! Feed me NOW, damn it!"
She giggled heartlessly, "Or should I say Jack-obb? Mmmm, querido, you don need no food, meu Jack-obb, when you can look at me, Carmen Bianca Silva, and my delectable body. An then you con watch my bonito bumbum when it explodirs out of this waaaay too tightdress I wearing, hmmm, meu amor?" she purred in a terrible imitation of the Brazilian Bitch and then cackled gleefully at my horrified expression.
God help us, if Embry ever got a hold of the idea to start imitating the way Carmen oozed on me, my life would be a veritable hell. Reaching down, I began tickling her mercilessly. "I could always eat me a little white girl." I growled. "I know they are veeeery tasty!" She shrieked and giggled, trying futilely to get away from me as I started gnawing at her ticklish spots. "Mmmm, delicious," I mumbled into her sides as she howled with laughter and desperately tried to escape my torturous nibbling.
"Stop! Stop, Jake! I surrender! Order room service. I can't take it any more!" she cried.
That was more like it. An hour later, after having consumed nearly everything on the room service menu, I snuggled a little sleepyhead into my chest and thought about how far we'd come tonight except for a few critical omissions.
God, she'd been so fucking mad and jealous, I thought back with a huge grin on my face. It had to say something that she felt so possessive about me, the little shit. I stroked her hair back from her face, kissed her forehead and listened to her as she mumbled contentedly in her sleep.
We still had a ways to go, but damn, we'd made some real progress tonight in spite of all the obstacles that had been tossed in our path. Unknowingly, Bella had armed me with serious ammunition this evening. I saw just how easy it would be to drive her absolutely nuts with a little advanced seduction applied in the proper manner to the proper areas. If she wasn't willingly telling me what I wanted to hear, maybe I could get it out of her unwillingly—torturing her inch by seductive inch.
Was that fair and above board? Nah.
Did I give a shit? No fucking way.
She still hadn't said IT—the biggie—the big three; meanwhile I wanted to tell her I loved her so badly, I had to clench my teeth so the words wouldn't spill out. She was telling me next, goddamn it. Bella was going to tell me she was in love with me and convince me it was the truth; she better do it fast because I really didn't know how much more of this shit I could stand. And I was going to make damn fucking sure she couldn't stand it either.
Review this chapter and I'll send you a sneak peek of Chapter 12. If I screw up and you don't get it, write me at leelator(at)bellsouth(dot)net and I'll send it to you.
HYSOA! HYSOA! VOS WARNING!
(Thanks for the V On Standby suggestion, grayskiesatdawn.) Yeah, I know. The whole point of the HYSOA alert is to have whatever you need available before you read, but I couldn't give it all away in advance, could I? Was this one worthy of a Have Your Significant Other Available or VOS warning?
So, did Jake surprise you or did figure out that he was going to join Val and Bella at the dinner table? Do you think Bella held her own during the…er…heated discussion?
There is no picture of Bella's little black dress except the one you've created in your mind. I think in real life, it would be horrifically uncomfortable, because every time you sit down, the thing is going to brand your ass like it was thrown on a grill. But judging from Jake's reaction, it might be worth it.
Reviewers who generously donated their names to be the two suave investors dining with Carmen and the guys in the making of this chapter:
Luvtwilight14 (Stephanie) donated her great grandfather's name Romano Danelon, an Italian immigrant that arrived on Ellis Island in 1901 and Majesta Moniet, author of the brilliant Zenith, donated the name Adriano Moniet.
Teaching Moments Because You Know I Can't Help Myself:
Honestly, did any of you know who Norma Desmond was? She is the ultimate and classic wealthy cougar that falls desperately in love with a much younger man who is NOT in love with her.
Watch more of her in action at:http(colon)/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=OUQGzMJBS8o&feature=related
The dinner that Jake and the pack enjoyed so much at dinner is a type of cuisine called Nouvelle French or New American cuisine. Ever had it? Were you still hungry when you finished? Food is presented in an artistic manner; the plate should be arranged as a work of art similar to a sculpture or a painting. Chefs emphasize the quality and freshness of the items. Generally, the sizes of the portions are diminished with some chefs greatly exaggerating the size of the reduction. Poor Jake.
http(colon)/www(dot)gayot(dot)com/restaurants/features/nouvellecuisine(dot)html
The Duomo of Milan is the most fascinating and one of the two most beautiful buildings I've ever been in. (Far more stunning than the Sistine Chapel IMHO.) It really did take over 500 years to build. When you go in it, you can see why. Look overhead and it is filled with literally thousands of carvings, gargoyles, and statues of all descriptions everywhere. It is mind blowing. Because the ceiling is very dark, you won't be about to see all of this in photos. Construction began in 1386 and the last gate was inaugurated in 1965. There are blocks of marble that haven't been carved, so, technically, it still isn't really finished. The pictures I post will in no way show you how totally amazing this building is.
http(colon)/www(dot)flickr(dot)com/photos/12020866(at)N08/2314809299/
http(colon)(dot)com/en/churches/milan-s-duomo-cathedral/duomo-interior-side-aisle(dot)html Click the up and down arrows as well as the side-to-side ones. So cool.
http(colon)/s980(dot)photobucket(dot)com/albums/ae283/leelator/?action=view¤t=duomoofMilan(dot)jpg
http(colon)/i980(dot)photobucket(dot)com/albums/ae283/leelator/The_Duomo-Milanfromthestreet(dot)jpg
Read more about it at http(colon)/en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Milan_Cathedral
Warning: REALLY Gross, REALLY Violent, but True. (Don't read if this is going to upset you.)
Jake's threat to Val, (you know the one where he threatened to cut off his balls, etc.) was actually based on true event. Richard Kuklinski, the mafia contract serial killer known as "The Ice Man" disposed of one of his victims this way. After cutting off the man's penis, putting it in a baggie and showing it to him, Kuklinski cut off his balls and stuffed them down the guy's throat. The victim was still alive at this point, so he flayed him (cut off his skin) and threw him into the ocean so that the salt water would burn him unmercifully as well as attract the sharks that eventually ate him. Kuklinski was a guy you really didn't want to piss off. Read more about him at: http(colon)/en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Richard_Kuklinski and The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer by Philip Carlo which right now is being shot as a movie staring Mickey Rourke.