a/n-- thanks to all those who reviewed, i appreciate it. Hope you guys like this chapter,and I want to jusst remind you guys that this is rated m for a reason, theres another m in this chapter particulary, but in the next few there is and Id hate for you guys to read something you didnt want to see. Anyways.. remember to review please, i love getting them! Thanks mediate89 for betaing this chapter for me, great job :D

Chapter 3

I looked in the mirror again, checking myself out. I had on a pair of jeans and a dark blue shirt that fit me tightly. It hugged my chest just right. I touched the top of my hair, making sure it would stay spiked a little bit. I opened up the bathroom and headed down the hallway. My mom whistled as I walked by her.

"Got a hot date tonight?" She asked.

I smiled at her. "I don't know, maybe. We'll see."

I didn't know if I considered Sarah a hot date or not. She was definitely hot, though. But the date part… we'd have to see about that. All week I'd been doing my best to woo her. I'd walked her home from work a couple of times, carried her bag at school, and brought her flowers one time. Well, flower.

I grabbed the keys to my truck and gave my mom a quick peck on the cheek as I left. "Bye!" I called out, jumping down the steps, skipping all of them but the top one.

I jumped in the truck -thankfully, the engine roared to life- and I backed out quickly. It was ten 'till seven. The store would be closed in a few minutes. I headed in that direction, the radio turned off. It was easier to think without it. I pulled up to the store, surprised to see Sarah already standing outside. She was bundled up in a puffy pink jacket and mittens. I hadn't even realized it was cold outside.

I jumped out and opened the passenger door as she hurried over to me. "Hey, Sarah," I greeted her, rolling her name off of my tongue. I grinned at her as I shut the door and went back around to my side and got back in. She looked nice. More than nice.

Sarah gave me a small smile back. "So, what's the game plan?"

I shrugged as I drove down the road slowly, trying to see if she would even let me take her somewhere other than the beach. "Bonfire? Or we could just go for a walk and talk for a while?" I suggested, breathing in deeply.

Sarah shifted around in the seat so that she could look at me. "Either," she said surprising me. I'd pegged her for a group activity kind of person. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye as I pulled into the beach parking lot. "We could walk along the beach for a while," she suggested.

"I was hoping you'd say that. We never really got a chance to really talk; my dad or your friends always interrupt."

She laughed as she zipped the puffy pink jacket up again. "They're so jealous right now. I thought Tia was going to kill me for saying I was hanging out with you tonight. I think she must have a thing for you."

I smiled slightly. Of course she had a thing for me. She was one of my conquests. Sarah didn't have to know about that, though. "She's okay. I'd rather be out with you, though," I told her, making her cheeks flush a bit. She was getting better at not blushing so much when I randomly touched her or said something sweet to her.

I went around the side of the truck and opened up her door, grabbing her hand as I shut it with my free one and started walking. "Aren't you cold? It's freezing out here. Or maybe I'm not used to the weather yet," she said looking at me in amazement.

"No, I'm fine. I'm a little hot-natured. I don't really get cold. Where you from, anyway?" I asked her, holding her small hand in my huge one. Just touching her hand was making me feel all… weird.

Sarah looked down at our hands as we started walking the shoreline. "From Nevada, actually. We moved here about six months ago. My dad works here on the reservation in Tribal Relations or something. My mom drives to Forks for work. She's an RN." Hmm… so her dad worked with the tribe. That was interesting. We didn't usually get outside help for anything. "What about you?"

I shrugged, swinging our hands slightly back and forth. "Nothing too interesting. My dad has the store and my mom works at the furniture place. She says it gives her something to do without working for my dad." We both laughed at that. We knew working for my dad could be a little annoying at times, especially when he got an off the wall idea in his head.

"So do you live here? On the rez?" I asked her, curious.

She shook her head, making a cloud of her body spray hit me. "No. Just outside of it, it's a little off the tribe lands. Down Elle Road, if that helps." She glanced up at me as she nervously gave my hand a squeeze.

"I know where you're talking about. Not too far from my house." I let my thumb rub the back of her hand; I'd take it slow for now. I didn't want to risk scaring her off just yet. It felt good to talk freely to someone. "So what else is there I should know about you?"

The wind blew through her blonde hair, and I instinctively reached up and pushed it back into place. She froze and looked at my hand for a moment. "Sorry," I apologized quickly, knowing I wasn't really sorry at all.

Sarah bit her bottom lip. "Its okay. It just... surprised me." She looked down at the sand now, instead of at me. Her heart was racing a million beats a minute. "And to answer your question, you should know that my dad saw you walking me home and told me to stay away from you."

I smiled. He would tell her that. Little did he know I was the safest date she could have in this town. "Any particular reason why?"

She stopped walking and turned to face me. "He said you're not someone I need to be hanging out with. He's convinced you're on drugs or something." She looked up into my face when she spoke. "And I don't think so."

So she thought I was a good guy. I could work with that. It was completely different from being the bad guy. "No, no drugs. Or alcohol for that matter. I'm not that bad of a person," I told her, looking down at her, waiting for her to look away from my intense stare.

She didn't. She held her gaze steadily. "Why are you talking to me?"

Whoa. I hadn't been expecting that. No one else had ever asked questions, just went along with it. I didn't even know what to say. "Because... because I want to get to know you. I've been seeing you around at school and thought we could be friends or something."

She leaned up slightly. "Friends or something?"

I tilted my face downward; this wasn't the same shy Sarah. The Sarah I'd been watching and talking to wasn't so upfront. "Or something," I said smiling.

Sarah moved away again, distancing us, but still holding onto my hand tightly. "I guess we could be. Maybe. I don't know, though. My family doesn't like you, and I don't think your dad wants you to see me, either because I'm not really what he had in mind. I heard him talking to Old Quil about it."

Knowing that they all wanted us to keep away from each other only made me want her more. Sarah was the forbidden fruit and I wanted to taste it.

"I don't care what they think. Unless you do. My dad doesn't have any ruling over who I go out with."

Sarah kicked up the sand with her shoes and I noticed then that she had on snow-boot type shoes. "I think my parents would like you if they knew you, they're just believing all of the gossip in town. I guess you're supposed to be in a gang, too?" She laughed a little bit.

"I've heard that one. We're not a gang, just a group of guys hanging out."

We were almost to the bonfire now, I could see the flames rising up and the figures standing around everywhere. I stopped walking again and tugged on her hand for her to stop too. Sarah looked up at me from under her long eyelashes. She had a look in her eyes that was driving me insane.

"Paul?" she asked slowly.

I didn't say anything back to her, just leaned and did what I'd been dying to do for a week now. I tilted her head back and leaned down to kiss her gently. I heard her gasp in surprise, but she didn't pull away from me. I slid my arms around her, pulling a bit closer. Sarah's hands snaked through my hold and shoved me back.

"Sorry," I muttered. My lips felt sore now. Sarah looked like she wanted to pass out. Her heart had slowed down a ton now. So she'd been anticipating that kiss almost as much as I had been.

"No, its okay, you just surprised me is all," she said, looking around timidly before leaning back up.

I felt her cool, soft lips press on mine again. God, she tasted good too. I pressed my tongue against her mouth until she parted her lips slightly. Her small hands raked my back; I'd forgotten a kiss could be this good. I let one of my hands entangle her hair, holding her head so she wouldn't move away from me too soon. This was better than anything I'd felt in a while. Finally, we pulled away from each other.

"I thought you were going to suck her face off," I heard a familiar voice call out.

I turned my head; Embry was standing a few feet away with a grin on his face. "Hey, Sarah," he said still grinning as he looked at her. I felt my blood start to boil. I didn't want anyone else to grin at her or talk to her. I especially didn't want them to look at her the way Embry was right now.

"Embry," she said, nodding toward him. I reached behind me and grabbed her hand again. She wrapped her fingers through mine, like it was natural or something.

"What do you want?" I asked hostilely.

"Just walking by and saw you two. I couldn't believe it. She turned me down but went for you?"

Sarah laughed playfully. "You didn't really ask me out, though."

I felt the spasm start to happen in my back. Embry had asked Sarah out? What the hell? She was mine. I saw her first. Mine. "It's okay, Paul. I can see she likes you more, anyway," Embry said, noticing I quivered a bit. I didn't say anything to him; I just tugged Sarah toward the bonfire.

"Bye!" She called out to Embry who didn't reply back. He knew not to push it now.

"He was just joking around. He does that a lot. We have a ton of classes together," she explained. I just nodded; I didn't trust myself to speak right now.

We went down the fire where several girls called out greetings to Sarah. I held onto her hand tightly, wanting to make sure she didn't try and part from me. I felt... possessive. This was turning out to be way more than a random hookup for me. She sat down on one of the logs and pulled her jacket around herself tightly, laughing and talking with the others. I kept to myself, except for a few comments here and there.

"So are you two like... together?" Katie Breslin asked us, nodding toward our joined hands.

I looked at Sarah. Hell, I didn't even know what was going on. I didn't know if I should be sitting this close to her anymore. Sarah looked back at me, before looking away.

"Kind of," I finally said earning a few snickers and smirks from the guys that were present. Jared was there, looking smug; I knew he could tell I was feeling fucked up right now.

Sarah leaned into me as we sat there and I moved so that I had an arm around her. I usually didn't get so girlfriend-like with the girls I slept with or intended to sleep with but Sarah was different. I threw my empty coke can into the fire and looked into it, listening as they all laughed about one thing or another. I was tuning them out.

We were there for hours it seemed before the group started breaking up. I looked at Sarah, her eyes were getting heavier by the second. "Sarah," I said softly into her ear. Her head jerked up quickly and hit me in the jaw.

Damnit, that hurt. Not a lot hurt me, but that sure as hell did. I rubbed my jaw.

"Paul! I'm so sorry," Sarah said worriedly, looking between her lashes. "I didn't mean to! Does it hurt? Are you okay?"

I waved her off. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it. It just surprised me." I looked around us, noticing there were only five of us left now. "I think I should get you back."

Sarah nodded, yawning a little bit. "Yeah, they didn't even know I was going anywhere. I couldn't say or they wouldn't have let me come out." I got up and pulled her up by her hands, supporting her weight.

"It's cool, I understand. I just don't want them getting too mad and start picking you up and dropping you off everywhere or we won't even be able to sneak around."

She laughed at me, taking my hand again. Hers was freezing. It felt like a hunk of ice in mine. "You should have said you were so cold. We could have left a long time ago; I didn't know you were freezing out here."

"I'm okay. You were like an electric blanket or something," she said with a hint of amusement in her voice. It didn't take long tonight to realize that Sarah had a bubbly personality once she relaxed with me. It was a change from the mindless flirting I was used to enduring.

I walked with her toward my truck. "Should I drive or just walk you to your house?" I didn't want to pull up and get her in trouble. It was almost midnight. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

Sarah squeezed my fingers tightly, not releasing her grip. "We can walk, it's not that far, and this way no one will see your lights when you pull up. I'd hate for us to get busted the first time."

I smirked. So she thought there'd be a second time. I wasn't so sure. "Come on, then." I walked toward the woods, heading for a trail I knew about. I used it regularly on patrols.

She shook her head. "I don't want to go through there," she said, trying to tug on my hand to stop me.

I scoffed at her, giving her hand a small pull making her walk again. "You'll be fine, you're with me and it's not like I don't know where I'm going. I go out here all time."

I led her through the clearing, taking in a deep breath. No vampires. I could smell one of my brothers not too far away though. Probably Sam. He didn't have a social life like we did. I pulled her as close as I could while I walked. "I don't know how this is going to work out," I said softly.

Sarah leaned onto me, leaning into my side; her head barely hit my chest. "We'll figure it out. I don't care if I have to sneak around. It's worth it."

"My parents don't usually pay too much attention to where I'm at if I tell them I'm with Sam or something, we'll just have to worry about yours mainly," I told her as we walked on through the dark woods. The moon was bright in the sky, lighting the way somewhat. The air was getting chillier, or at least I assumed it was, because Sarah was shivering.

Sarah stopped near the edge of the woods where her house was. A few steps out of here and we'd technically be off the reservation, making it a little bit more daring for me. As long as I stayed inside the lines, I couldn't really get in trouble except with the council if her parents saw us.

She turned toward me, shaking a little bit. "I guess I'll see you sometime? I work tomorrow morning at ten and I'm off the next day."

I thought on it for a moment. "I'll stop in tomorrow if my dad's not in there." It sucked that we couldn't even call each other or we'd be caught. I reached down, pulling her toward me like I knew she was waiting for. I held her against my chest, listening to her heart beat. I pressed my face down into her hair, breathing her in; Sarah was worth getting in trouble over. Even more worth it than the other times I'd snuck out.

I couldn't help but see if she would stop me, though if I tried something. I let my warm hand snake up her side, through the zipper of her jacket and push up the bottom of her shirt. She stayed still except for moving her hands to wrap behind my neck. I held back the smirk I wanted to form as I pressed my fingers underneath the lacy feeling bra she had on. Instead, I pressed my mouth on hers when I cupped my hand around her peak. I kept waiting for the shove to happen but it never did.

I heard her breathing get slightly heavier as I forced my tongue into her mouth, wanting to make this kiss count for something. I needed to see how far I could get before she reacted, so I knew how much work this would turn out to be. We stood there for a few minutes, stuck together, neither of us wanting to let go first.

Finally she pulled away, looking out of breath when she did. I gave her an intense look as she stared at me before she spoke. "I should get inside."

I nodded; she had to be half frozen by now. Then again, being so close to me, she might be sweating. "You probably should. It's late; I still got a few things to do, too." I needed to run a quick round before I headed to bed, to burn off some of this pent up energy I had rushing in me.

"Things to do? This late?" She asked curiously.

I grinned at her, running a hand over the top of my short, spiked hair. "Yeah, I gotta check some traps and run by Sam's."

"You always mention him; he must be a good friend. I've heard about him before," Sarah said with a tone that told me exactly what she'd heard about him.

I rolled my eyes at her and moved to give her another hug. "He's a good guy. We get along pretty well, too."

She moved back from my hug and took a few steps toward her house. "I don't think we should start that again, I might not ever make it inside the house," she said jokingly.

"You should go in; it's too cold for you to be standing out here like this." I backed up in the opposite direction. "I'll see you soon… Sarah."

I walked backward, watching her go across the lawn and get a key out from under the mat to unlock the door with. I made sure she was completely inside before I took off at a run, letting myself give in to what I'd been holding back all night since Embry'd pissed me off.

I ran on all fours, howling into the night. I felt free. I felt light. I felt pretty damn good.