When You Least Expect It
A/N: So I actually had the full version of this chapter done and ready, but got mixed up with the preview that I'd decided to skip lol so now here's the FULL chapter lol
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
The Calm Before The Storm
Woodsy with a musk that seemed strong, sensual, and just all around natural.
Waking up with a deep breath of that wasn't at all unpleasant. Neither was pressing closer to the hard, warm body as a strong arm held me close. I'd forgotten how nice it could feel to wake up with someone in bed next to you. I mean it had been awhile since I'd waken up with anyone other than the twins. It was damn comfortable—even if my clothes from the night before were still on and a bit constricting.
I just wish I could enjoy it for a little while longer.
"Shh! A little quieter guys; your dad's still sleeping." Jake whispered to the boys who sat or lay at the foot of the bed watching The Proposal again if I was hearing the dialogue correctly.
The boys apologized and turned down the volume on the TV. I'd been in and out of sleep for about an hour now, but I knew had to bite the bullet and wake up. If not just to start getting ready to leave for work, then to at least relieve Jacob from his duties of keeping an eye on the kids before he realized just how far in over his head he was getting by wanting to get involved with us.
The last thought really did catch me off guard though, so as I opened my eyes to let everyone know that I was awake, I wondered just what exactly that thought meant.
Obviously I liked him, both physically and emotionally. I mean, you'd probably half to be dead to look at the man without feeling any sort of attraction to the veterinarian that peered down at me with an easy smile curving his lips; but that was the physical. What about the emotional attraction? That was something else entirely. It was the happiness that rose inside of me when I saw him smile; the warmth that spread throughout my entire being when he held my hand or said something sweet to me; and it was definitely the way my heart melted when I saw him smile, joke, laugh, or play with the twins as well as a bunch of other things that I'd noticed in the short time that I'd known and been around him.
"Good morning sleepy-head." He whispered softly to me.
It was then, as I murmured my own groggy and dry-throated "Good morning," that I realized something.
Jacob Black was a very dangerous man.
And that realization was enough to scare me—albeit, probably a bit more than would be reasonable but I was scared nonetheless. The only thing that really made it through to me at that point was that I couldn't—wouldn't—let myself get attached to this man just to give him the power that I gaze Garret before him. I'd expected too much from Garret, and look what happened there? He walked out on the three of us and left us devastated and broke when he wasn't ready to commit to the kids. I'd learned my lesson, and I'd use it here: I would not expect anything from Jacob, and I wouldn't push to have him decide what he wanted before he was ready. And most importantly: I would not, under any circumstances, let myself fall in love with Jacob Black.
"What time is it?" I croaked after realizing we'd both simply just lie there, staring intently at each other while I worked through my crazy thoughts.
"Uh…nine-thirty-ish."
"Oh…oh!" I shot up in and then from the bed, "Oh I have work in thirty minutes!"
"Oh…I'm sorry I didn't know. I would've woken you earlier if-"
"No, no it's fine. I just have to hurry and get ready and then call your sister or just pray that she remembered what time she was supp-"
"I could take you to work…I don't have to be in today until-"
"No. No no no no." I shook my head as I rushed through my drawers to pull my proper clothes out, "Just…no."
"Oh…" He muttered, sounding deflated and wholly shot down. "So…do you want me to just keep an eye on the kids while you shower?"
"No." I said the word again, shaking my head as I gathered up everything I'd need and headed to drop them off in the bathroom.
"So I should just…go then?" he asked, following me to stand in the doorway of the restroom.
"Yup. I don't want to take advantage of you or your kindness. I mean, I already slept in while you watched my kids—thanks for that by the way—and I don't want to keep you here against your will or anything." I chuckled—although it sounded nervous even to me—and went about turning on the shower water to get it warmed up while I got ready to brush my teeth quickly, doing anything really to avoid eye contact.
"Hey," he stepped up behind me, and my damn eyes immediately found his in the mirror, "you're not taking advantage of me; I offered to stay awhile longer, and if I had a problem with watching the boys while you slept, I wouldn't have done it. So if you want me to stay awhile longer-"
"No!" I practically shouted, and dropped my gaze to the faucet to fight the rush of heat flooding up my neck, "It's fine, really. I'll only be in the shower for a few quick minutes and then I'll be out. There's no point in you staying." I looked up to see that he'd turned his gaze away from the mirror.
"Alright." He nodded, "So, was I wrong to think that we had a good time last night, and that we had a good thing going when you asked me to spend the night?"
I tried swallowing a few times around the sudden lump in my throat, "No…you weren't wrong."
"So then what's with the sudden brush off?" I opened my mouth to protest but he rolled his eyes, "I'm a thirty year old guy, Paul. I know when I'm being brushed off."
If it wasn't for the fact that the door to the bathroom was left open, the room would be steamy now, for sure. But I had to wonder: What the hell was up with me right now? I don't even…
"Just so I don't waste my time, I'll ask now: should I even bother trying to call you later?" He asked quietly, his voice completely neutral, as if he didn't care either way. But the truth was in his eyes.
But still, something had bubbled up in me, and before I could think of saying otherwise, I was saying, "I'll call you."
Again, my gaze fell to the running faucet. He lingered in the bathroom for a few seconds more before I felt the warmth at my back disappear, and not but a second later, the front door opening and closing.
The sound of the door clicking into place had a certain finality to it that I didn't like at all and left me feeling slightly weak and nauseous. How had the morning turned so quickly from nice, relaxing, and content…to this? Were my doubts so strong that I'd seriously underestimated my fear of the situation? I'd only just decided not to expect too much from him no more than five minutes ago…and now it seemed as if I didn't really need to worry about that.
I'd completely pushed him away.
Jacob's POV
All day, all I'd been able to think about was the great night I'd had with Paul and the twins. Things were great, they liked the movie, enjoyed the food, and seemed to love the gifts I'd gotten them…and then when we went back to their apartment…in the kitchen.
Shit, I get hard just thinking about it.
That kiss was in no way, shape, or form a thanks-for-a-good-time-good-night kiss. Oh no, that was most definitely a I-want-you-so-much-take-me-now kind of kiss. And then I'd spent the night with them. So where the hell did things go wrong along those events? That was the real question just burning in my mind.
In my downtime between patients, I'd contemplated calling him, my fingers itching to reach for a phone every few minutes, but I'd fought the urge. I told myself that I'd wait to see if he called and not make myself look stupid by calling him before that. I really was trying to be understanding about the whole thing, since I knew that things had to be complicated for him in ways that I probably would never understand. He had more than just himself to think about in this situation and I'm sure his sudden hesitation was just him being cautious as a parent.
Another thing I'd been thinking about was something that Rachel had told me before I'd even met Paul—something about some guy abandoning him and the twins. Could that have been another main source of his resignation from the good night to the awful morning? What exactly happened between him and this guy as to where it would cause him to pull a complete turnaround in the time it took for us to sleep?
Hell, the thought of somebody hurting Paul, Brady, or Peter in any way had my clenching my fists against the sudden rush of anger that shot through me. It wasn't a thought that I was too fond of.
A knock on my office door pulled me out of my stupor, "Come in!"
"Hey, boss-man, your four-thirty is in exam room two." Collin said as he poked his head into the office.
"Alright, thanks Collin." I sighed, willing my thoughts back to the recess of my mind so I could focus on Mrs. Stein and her overly fed cat. "Hey, has my sister come in yet?"
Something flashed in his eyes at the mention of Rebecca, but I wrote it off as nothing when he smiled, "Yup, she came in a few minutes ago. Want me to get her for you?"
"No, thanks though."
Rebecca would no doubt want to hear a face-to-face play by play of last night, and that wasn't exactly something that I'd been looking forward to today. I wondered what Paul would tell Rachel since she would no doubt have grilled him over the details of our time together also. Would he tell her that he just wasn't interested? Write it off as something that just wouldn't work and then go on about it like it never happened? Or would he tell Rachel something so deep and person, and honest truth about why he didn't want to pursue anything? Would she even tell me if he did? Probably not. She was awfully loyal to Paul and most likely wouldn't want to betray his trust by running to tell me something that he obviously didn't want me to know. Would she call me too see if Paul had left out a certain detail or assume that I did something to put Paul in such a position?
With one last shake of my head, I plastered a quick smile on my face before entering the exam room where my patient was waiting patiently as his owner sat in the corner chair reading a book quietly.
"Hello Mrs. Stein, Cotton-Ball." I greeted them both, looking over the animal's charts.
Throughout the exam—where I found out that Cotton-Ball was overweight and had breathing problems—I kept thinking about different scenarios, things I could've changed or not done at all to get a different outcome of what I'd had with Paul. Between that and continuously deflecting any questions that Rebecca had thrown my way, I was just drained which made me want to do nothing but drive back to my house and crawl under the blankets and go into a coma.
I was in the process of shutting down my computer and sending up a silent thank you to whatever holy deity made it possible to get through the day without receiving a call from Rachel when Becky knocked on the open door of my office.
"What's up?" I asked as I stood from my desk chair and hung up my lab coat and pulled on my regular jacket. "Need a ride home?"
"No, I've got one already, thanks—but there's a walk-in here and I told her I'd ask if you'd take her in before we close down for the night—says her Yorkie hasn't been eating lately."
I sighed and wished I could say no, really I did, but I was just far too nice to send away a woman who's come here looking for help with her animal, so instead I said, "Sure, take here to exam room one and I'll be in there in a minute."
"Okie-dokie." She gave a play salute that had me chuckling before I removed my jacket to replace my lab coat before getting out the reading glasses I usually had to wear towards the end of the day when my eyes began getting tired.
One more client, I thought to myself as I made my way to the waiting person, One more and then I can go home and be miserable alone.
I stopped just before opening the exam room door to grab the makeshift file from Rebecca and glanced down at the owner's name before putting on my best happy face.
"Hello Ms. Hale, how are you this evening?"
The bombshell blond turned to greet me with a small smile, stilettos clicking against the linoleum as she moved to meet my extended hand, "Please, call me Rosalie."
A/N: Yay! Hahaha, so I'm happy with this one, but I assume that a lot of you guys won't be haha so why don't you guys review and let me know what you thought of it! And also, if you haven't already checked out my Paul/Jacob one-shot Cupcake then you should do it so you can get your little fix of smut for those two Ahaha
And also, I'm looking for some people to do collabs with because I think that if I do that, I can kinda get back into the swing of writing—ya know, get the juices flowing aha—so if you're interested lemme know!
Notoriously Yours,
GoinnGaGa
