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Ch7:And Yet Another Truce

Jacob watched Leah on the small dance floor with his mother, dad, and a few customers. She was teaching them how to do the cupid shuffle of all things!

He couldn't remember the last time he had seen his mother dance. She looked happy, and he supposed he should be happy about that. And he would have been if Leah didn't have the entire rum shack, filled with all his friends and family members, eating out of the palms of her hands, her sexy, sexy warm little hands.

Watching them all doing the cupid shuffle was just that margin over too damn much… He had watched the line dance craze take off when the "Electric Boogie" came on, and he tolerated it when his mother pulled Leah onto the dance floor and they all did the electric slide. He grinned and bore it when Leah got the deejay to put on another song so she could teach them all another line dance. But when she had the deejay find "Cupid Shuffle" and taught them the dance…well… that had been the last straw.

His mom and everyone else seemed to love Leah, and Leah seemed to be having the time of her life. Jacob was irritated and frustrated, and he couldn't figure out Leah or how he felt about her. He was still vacillating between putting the past behind them and pursuing her or keeping his hard won and well-nourished resentment firmly in mind not trusting her as far as he could see her.

The only problem was what he could see of her bouncing happily around the dance floor looked too damn sexy and made him want her too damn much.

He took a sip of his drink just as the "Cupid Shuffle" went off and saw Leah get twirled into the arms of Embry Call as a fast paced song came on. He was one of Jake's good friends that he grew up with. Embry was taller than Leah by a good four inches. He didn't know about Jake's secret. No one on the island knew except his parents and a few stray vamps that always got taken care of. But the fact that he was touching her and Leah was allowing him to do so, put Jake further on edge. Jake was hoping that she would slap Embry or push him away or at the very least give him one of the glares that Jake always seemed to be on the receiving end of.

But she just gave Embry a soft, sweet smile, a real one, causing Jake to almost shatter the glass bottle in his hand.

That should be me receiving that smile.

Jake downed the rest of his drink and placed it on the counter behind him without taking his eyes off Leah. She had her arms around his neck as she swayed her hips from side to side as Embry lowered his head and whispered something in her ear as he pulled her in closer by grabbing her hips. Leah shook her head and tilted her head back as she began to laugh. Her scent that Jake was already addicted to spiked to a whole new level causing Jake's mouth to go dry. He thought she had smelled absolutely delightful before but now…

Jake didn't even pay any attention to his old friend opting to watch Leah instead. It was taking everything in Jake to remain rooted in his seat as he watched her long copper neck lean back a bit as she was still laughing and smiling.

Her neck was just there for the taking!

Jacob took a heavy breath to calm down. The song was almost over and Embry leaned down to whisper something else before Leah nodded beaming. Jake never thought she looked as beautiful as she had in that moment and he wasn't even the one she was speaking to. His wolf was extremely angry and jealous. Embry was touching his Leah.

Whoa, did I seriously just say my Leah.

Jake huffed in irritation as he watched Embry leaned down to kiss her cheek before he pulled her close in an embrace. Leah smiled and nodded again before she watched him walk out of the rum shack.

As soon as he was out of view Leah laughingly tried to make her way over to the deejay again. Jake took the opportunity to jump out of his seat and moved to where she was using every bit of the speed he had in him before she could tell the man to play whatever she was going to tell him to play. Embry wasn't going to get another opportunity to dance with her. In fact no guy was but him.

"How about a slow jam Collin?" Jacob asked the deejay.

Then he pulled Leah into his arms before she could complain and held her close as the deejay put on a slower song.

His mother rolled her eyes at him and was making her way back to the bar when his dad pulled her into his arms.

Sarah and Billy whispered to one another and laughed as they danced and watched Jake and Leah. Jacob really hoped that one day his mother would give in and break away from whatever it was making her too scared to accept Billy's many proposals in marriage.

She had three children with Billy so far, with Jake being the last out of three. Jake didn't understand why his mom still didn't want to marry him though, Billy didn't seem to be going anywhere either.

"Hey, I was about to teach everybody the cha cha slide since Embry left." Leah complained, but she didn't pull away from him. If anything, she melded closer into his arms. Now that he had her in his arms her scent that he could smell across the room was even more amazing. Only when he leaned down to inhale her neck did his wolf finally calm down in his head a bit.

"Embry is a non-factor. I don't want to talk about him or any other guy for that matter when you're with me." Jake wanted to growl but he managed to keep it down.

Leah laughed. "I'm not with you."

"Technically you are." he squeezed her exactly where Embry had touched her to erase his friend's touch as he changed the subject. "And on the whole dancing thing you can teach them another time. Don't think my mother will let you leave this island without coming back to see her. My family really seems to like you, Leah."

"Well, I hate to be conceited, but most people do tend to like me, Jake. I'm highly likeable if you couldn't tell. If a person doesn't like me, then that person, nine times out of ten, has issues." She quipped.

He narrowed his eyes at that until he saw telltale smirk on her face that said she was probably joking. He laughed and pulled her closer. "So, what's this nonsense with you going out of your way to downplay our friendship to my folks?"

"What? We barely like each other. We're bitter rivals and probably will remain bitter rivals until the end of time. The only thing keeping us from a fight to the death is that the stakes of a student government president campaign from years ago just aren't that high. But I know you didn't really mean it when you said we had a truce."

"Yeah?" Jake wanted to nuzzle his head into her neck as he watched her lick her lips. "And how do you know that?"

Her smile radiated sunshine and warmed him from the inside out. "Because I didn't mean it. I still blame you for that picture and for using that kiss and obvious slip of my standards to ruin me." She tried to pull away, clearly trying to escape.

But there was no way he was going to let her get away with that little whopper. He pulled her closer and stared down at her. "So basically we are back where we started? You really believe that I orchestrated the whole thing. I planned to kiss you and had someone waiting to take a picture? And then I planned to use it to somehow try and beat you in the campaign?"

"Yes. After all, you kiss me. I didn't kiss you." She poked him in the chest.

This was getting interesting.

He stared at her, licking his lips at the memory. "Oh, you kissed me back, little Leah. I damn sure remember you kissing me back. Let's talk about this outside where there aren't so many ears around."

Leah felt the cool island breeze coming over her but it didn't bother her in the slightest in fact it felt rather nice. She could hardly maintain her indignation at Jacob. He was sooo irritating. Why'd he have to make her dance with him and all that?

She had been doing a great job pretty much for the most part, forgetting he even existed.

Well almost.

How could she really forget with him sitting at the bar, watching her with that look of challenge in his eyes? When she couldn't see him because she was looking at Embry she could feel Jake. That smooth, sexy predator thing he had going was pretty hard to forget.

Leah had to admit that Embry could be an option for her island fling. He was sexy from head to toe. He was taller than her which was always a plus. His grin was almost to die for and his eyebrows… she never knew that eyebrows could look so sexy until she had seen him. Even though she didn't feel the electric spark when he touched her, he was definitely safer than Jacob. And he did have a dangerous side to him even though she knew he was human. When he whispered he had to go Leah was disappointed but he promised if she came back to the rum shack he would see her again.

Leah could feel how genuine Embry was from the few things he leaned down to whisper to her. He was a perfect gentleman with a hint of bad boy to him. Absolutely what she needed. She could feel the jealousy oozing off of Jacob when she had looked at him for a few moments.

Now Jacob had her standing outside of the rum shack, away from all her new found friends and allies.

"I don't know why you want us to rehash this again and again if you're not going to admit to what you did." She crossed her arms and glared at him.

He sneered. "Because, now that I think about it, I remember more about that night. If your silly soror Emily hadn't gotten a guilty conscience and called Jared, we wouldn't have even gotten the picture in the first place!" He gave her a pointed stare. "She gave us the pictures because, and I quote, 'I felt what the sorors were doing was wrong and I wanted to try and make amends.'"

"Yeah, right. Emily was the one who gave us the pictures and let us know what you all were planning. She said she had a momentary slip and fell for Jared's apologies and found the pictures in his dorm room after she heard you guys hatching your plan."

Suddenly back in that moment, Leah realized that Emily was the only one who knew about the meeting with Jacob. Emily had been acting as Leah's campaign manager and had set up the meeting.

"Emily." Leah muttered the name at the same time as Jacob did, and they found themselves staring at one another again.

"Emily set it up." Jake mumbled.

"Yea, but she couldn't have known that we were going to kiss. I mean, we didn't even know. There is no way she could have planned that." That was the part that still troubled her.

"You're right. She couldn't have. But she was supposed to meet us there along with my campaign manager. We were all supposed to going over the debate." Jake's eyes narrowed, and he rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"After the kiss you ran off, and I hung around to let Emily and Mike knew that we would have to reschedule. Emily never showed. But Mike did eventually. I'm thinking Emily showed up when we were kissing and took the pictures then."

"Sounds plausible. I guess." Leah frowned. She didn't like the idea that one of her sorority sisters, her cousin no less, could have set her up like that.

"It sounds more than plausible. The only question is, did you have anything to do with it?" Jake mumbled.

"What? You mean, did you have anything to do with it?"

"I didn't, and I don't think you did, either. I think we should call another truce." Jake held out his hand. "So how about the two of us form a truce for real this time. I feel somewhat comfortable stating that the election and my legacy were roadkill in the Emily/Jared crash of love."

Leah took his hand, and a charge of electricity coursed through her. It felt so sweet. She shook his hand and smiled.

"Good." Jake used his hold on her hand to pull her forward. "Because I have been waiting all night to do this." His head swooped down and his lips connected with hers.

She felt her lips heat almost immediately, and that heat covered her from head to toe as she opened her mouth to his kiss.

She thought for about a millisecond that she should be resisting this kiss, that she shouldn't be giving in so readily and so completely to Jacob's very impressive mouth. Unfortunately, she thought that as her hands inched their way up his chest and onto his shoulders. Before she could mount up even the most basic rationale for why she needed to run away from the rum shack as fast as her feet could take her, she was already leaning into his muscular body, feeling the all too real impression of his need for her pressing against her. With one touch of his lips she was already in too far— and her hussy wolf side didn't care.

Because this kiss… this kiss made that other kiss they had shared in college seem like child's play. In that other kiss she saw stars. In this kiss, she could have sworn she was seeing universes, freaking galaxies. In that other kiss, she had been a little nineteen year old, shocked that the big man on campus was showing her a hint of attention. But in this kiss, she was a grown ass woman ready to show the big man a thing or two herself.

She pressed in farther and twirled her tongue in his mouth, using it like a heat seeking missile. And every inch of him was hot. The electric shocks that she had felt when she touched his hand felt like they were racing through her body. It made her feel so alive and invigorated. And his lips were like soft cushions that grounded the charge of the kiss and kept her from exploding or rocketing into the stratosphere.

His lips pressed and pulled and puckered in just the right way, at just the right time. All she could do to counter the impact was draw him farther into her, devour everything he was giving her and delight in being able to do so. When his hands traveled down her back and landed on her behind, pulling her closer, she tried to get even closer still. She moved her hands from his neck, across his shoulders and down his muscular arms. She had been thinking about touching those arms all evening, even when she was in the arms of another man. She felt her nipples tighten, and they strained through the material of her dress as if they were trying to get closer to him.

It was as if her nipples knew what the rest of her body seemed to be screaming.

He felt good.

Kissing him was too damn good. It was too much. She didn't know if she could take any more.

She pulled her tongue away, and he tightened his grip on her behind as he softly nipped her bottom lip, pulling it before he dived back into her mouth and found her tongue. Their tongues danced, and she was pretty sure she could have continued kissing him forever.

"Jake! They said you were back, but I didn't believe it. I just knew there was no way you would set foot back on the island and not give me a call, cousin."

She managed to pull away from Jake at the sound of that male voice.

Jake pulled her back and held her close as he glared at his cousin for a moment. "I was going to call you, man. I've been busy. Quil, this is Leah. Leah this is my cousin Quil. He has always had the worst timing, and I see that hasn't changed." Jake let her go for a moment to embrace his cousin.

The two men hugged quickly before Quil turned to her.

"I can see why my cousin is so irritated with me right now. Hello, Leah you look gorgeous." He held out his hand.

"Thanks." She took his hand.

He kissed her hand after staring into her eyes for a few moments. "Nice to meet you, Leah. I'm going to go inside and get some food. I'm sure my cousin would like to get back to what he was doing."

They watched Quil head back into the rum shack, and Jake pulled her back into his arms. Thankfully, Quil's appearance had given her time to clear her head, and she was not going to allow a repeat of the kissing.

Jake traced her kiss swollen lips with his thumb ever so gently and oh, so seductively. She took in a sharp breath and already forgetting the intrusive, interrupting Quil and her vow not to kiss Jake again. His thumb felt amazing on her mouth and it made her wonder what his other fingers could do to other parts of her body. She shivered at the thought.

"So I guess all that, 'Ohhh, nooo! I don't like Jake. I could never like Jake. Ohhh, noo! I'm not attracted to that egomaniac, Jake' was just an act." Jake took creative license with her words as he mimicked her. His eyes were still hooded and sill sexy, but his voice, the one that just a few minutes earlier could have talked her into even more daring public displays of affection, now had an edge to it that dropped sarcasm.

Leah's eyes narrowed as she ripped herself out of his arms and away from him and his stupid sexy thumb. "Do you mean you did all that kissing me just to try and prove some kind of point? Or to prove I was lying when I told your mother that there was nothing going on between us?"

"I'm saying you didn't have to be so quick and forceful and outright indignant with your outrage and denial! Really, Leah I do have feelings." He playfully tried to pull her back into his arms.

She sidestepped him. He had given her the wake up call she needed. Never trust The Wolf.

Never, ever, ever, trust The Wolf…

He chuckled and placed his arm around her shoulder. "Don't get all salty now, Leah. I didn't get salty when you danced with one of my good friends. And I definitely didn't get salty when you acted like being in a relationship with me would be the equivalent of being in a relationship with a leech."

"No you didn't get mad. You just got even by once again using a kiss to make some kind of score. I bet your 'good friend' Embry wouldn't have done that." She smirked.

His nostrils flared. "I asked you not to bring him up again."

Leah shrugged. "You brought him up first Black! Just admit it you're trying to play a game to level the score."

Jake threw up his hands. "Oh, please tell me we're not back on that again."

"No, we're not, because we have to put it behind us and form a truce. But im just making note of the fact that there seems to be a pattern to your kisses, Jake. That's all."

"Yes, and that pattern is, I really like kissing you and it really irritates me when you try and ignore or deny the attraction between us." Jake's voice got very deep and seductive.

Well, I definitely wasn't expecting that declaration…

Speechless, Leah just swallowed and glanced around the rum shack's parking lot.

Jake shook his head. "Let's just go and enjoy the rest of the evening. And tomorrow, I'll take you on a real tour of the island. We didn't cover a lot tonight."

"Oh, you don't need to do that. I know you have family to connect with and I think I may have someone else to help me with the whole touring the island thing."

Although she didn't get Embry's number he did say he would be at the rum shack for breakfast, lunch and dinner so if she came back she had a chance of seeing him again.

Jake let out a low guttural growl causing Leah to back up a bit before he shook his head. "I insist. Now come on, I want to spend the rest of the evening dancing with you and having fun. Do you think you can handle that, rival of mine?"

She smirked. "I can handle it. The real question is can you handle it? You're a few years older. You might not be able to hang." She trotted off into the rum shack, looking back at him to catch his response.

"Oh, Leah you are a challenge aren't you…" his voice trailed off, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

Was it the competition for who could dance longer that caused that sultry expression to cross his face or some other challenge that had his jaw set and ready to win?

And did she even stand a chance?

Yeeeee Embry... Le sighh.. I kept playing with him being a wolf also but it just wasn't coming off right

But he might possibly come back :) Knowing my love for him though that possibly will turn into a WILL come back

But anyways LC's Room wont be updated for another day because I'm caught between school, work, and reading all of you guys wonderful stories too!

I love this site!

Review! :D