Studying the treetops

I woke the next day with a smile on my face. Jacob was still wrapped safely around me, his arm holding me to him and his fingers entwined with mine. He was sleeping steadily.

I realized that for the first time in my life, I was waking up with Jacob next to me and we were both naked. My smile widened into a grin. Damn. We'd had sex. My stomach filled with butterflies when I thought about last night. It had been perfect. He had been perfect.

I turned around to look at him over my shoulder. I felt my heart warm all over as I took in his sleepy face. Sweet thing. He really was adorable. Amazing. I didn't have words.

As I thought about last night, my heart would now and then ta-dump unevenly, sometimes taking a back flip out of pure joy. There really hadn't been anything that hadn't been perfect. True, it had hurt quite a bit at first. But he had been so gentle and sweet that it had erased every unpleasant feeling, and then it had gradually turned into to something good.

Jacob let out a little snore behind me and I giggled. My mood was definitely on the bright side. I eased myself around in his arms so that I could face him, and wrapped my arm around his waist. I started to stroke my fingers up and down his back in soothing movements, and then leaned forward to rest my head under his chin.

I filled my lungs with his scent and his arms tightened around me as he started to wake up. I continued to stroke my fingers against his back, and then felt his lips press against my forehead. I leaned back to look at him, and the look he sent me made my knees shiver even though I was laying down, and that says a lot.

"Hi" I whispered.

As the memories of last night fluttered back, my stomach became all butterflied again. Jacob didn't answer right away, but reached out to place a tender kiss on my lips.

"I want to wake up like this" he started, looking down at our entwined bodies, "every single morning with you beside me"

His voice was husky and warm. I realized I must have been smiling like crazy, because his face broke into a grin a well.

"Did you sleep well then?" I poked his nose with mine.

"Very" he grinned back "Did you?"

"I did" I reached up to plant a soft kiss on his mouth. "But now I think I'm up for a shower"

"And leave me here all by myself?"

"You'll manage" I smirked.

I eased myself out from his arms and sat up. And then I realized I would have to cross the room naked. My clothes were spread around all over the place and I wouldn't be putting then back on anyway so there was no point in taking them with me. Suddenly for some weird reason I felt a bit shy.

I looked down at Jacob beside me. He was staring openly at my breasts. I playfully smacked his shoulder and burst out laughing when he looked at me. His expression was the same as on a kid caught with his hand in the cookie-jar.

I leaned down and kissed him, and his hands were on me immediately. I laughed as I eased myself away from his hands. He made a grumbling little sound. I looked down and briefly thought I could just wrap the covers around me on the way into the bathroom.

My thoughts must have been very obvious on my face, because Jacob leaned back in the bed, taking the covers with him.

"Oh no" he said. "If you're leaving me here all alone, the least you could do is to do it naked"

And then he put his hands behind his head, stretched back into the pillows and looked at me expectantly. I couldn't help but laugh, and he grinned back. I had a feeling there was going to take a lot to take that smile off my face today.

The laughter erased the shyness, and I pushed myself up from the bed. I walked around it, his eyes never leaving me. I playfully pinched his toes as I passed his feet, and he chuckled.

I went out into the hallway and into the bathroom. Right before I closed the bathroom door I'm quite sure I heard him let out a "Wooh!" and a muted thud as he let his head fall down back into the pillows. Late reaction to it all I guess. I smiled. I think I knew exactly how he felt.

I climbed into the shower and let the water run down my body. I was a bit sore. I wasn't sure if there had been blood, but I could feel a little stab shoot through me when I moved in certain ways. It would pass. And it was worth it. No doubt.

I found some body wash and a neutral shampoo and foamed me in. I thought about Alice. She would know now, I guess, based on what she'd seen of dad's reaction. She couldn't see us, thank god. I knew she didn't mind about this though, she had always been the open-minded aunt. No pun intended.

I winced as I thought about what she'd said about dad. That he would trace Jacob all the way to Mexico. Was she exaggerating? I didn't think so.

But dad wasn't...mad, was he? He couldn't be. He couldn't expect me to be two years forever. He must have known this would happen. Sometime. I wondered if my parents knew about last night. If dad had been there when Alice got her vision. I hoped not. Alice was normally very good at guarding her thoughts. I was good too, but she was better.

If they knew, I figured they would have called. To give us another talk, maybe. And then I remembered that my cell phone had suffered a horrified death due drowning. I smiled and washed out the rest of the shampoo from my hair, as the memories from last night once again started to flood back.

When I got out from the shower to dry myself up, I could hear some scrambling from the kitchen. Jacob was up. I wrapped the towel around me and shuffled back into his room to find some clean clothes. I poked around in his wardrobe and found a pair of my own knee-length sweats that I must have left here some while ago. I also found a t-shirt I knew was to small for him and a green flannel shirt.

I pulled on a pair of clean boxers (you know you're down and doing it when you're wearing your boyfriend's underwear) and got dressed. I went into the kitchen just as Jacob scooped some fried eggs and bacon from the frying pan and down on two plates. He'd made breakfast. Or lunch, rather, based on the late hour.

He put the plates on the table and went over to me to lift me up in a tight wolfhug. I swear I could hear my joints crack. While still holding me up in the air, he leaned back and planted a soft kiss on my mouth.

"You've made breakfast" I stated.

"You don't have to sound so surprised" he pretended to be offended but didn't manage. "Even I can cook when I'm hungry."

Just when he loosened his hold around me to put me down, my sore spots twisted inside me and I made a face. Jacob froze.

"What's wrong?" his voice was startled and filled with worry.

"Relax. It's nothing. Just a little sore"

He looked at me blankly for a couple of seconds before realization dawned on his face.

"Oh" he said, and carefully put me back down. "Is it very painful?" His whole face was painted with worry.

"No no, it's not painful at all. I'm fine" I smiled at him and sat down by the kitchen table in front of my plate. Jacob sat down opposite me but didn't eat.

"I'm so sorry" he said, looking down.

"What? No, Jacob, come on! Don't say that."

He sent me a insecure look through his lashes that clearly said "but I hurt you".

"I think it was wonderful last night" I said quietly, feeling warm all over as I thought about it. His face lit up.

"Really?"

"I already told you that" I laughed "Do I need to write it on my forehead?"

He grinned and grabbed the fork.

"I'm impressed" I said after a few bites. "This is actually quite eatable"

The food was good. He knew I was just teasing.

"I knew I could charm you with my cooking skills" he said, making me laugh.

He finished his plate when I was only halfway. He put his elbows on the table and looked at me.

"Did you really meant that?" he said quietly after a little silence.

"Mean what?"

"What you said about last night"

I looked up and smiled. "That part where I said it was wonderful and that I really enjoyed it?"

"You didn't say that you really enjoyed it". He paused with a smile playing on his lips. "Did you?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Did you?" I echoed his question and cocked my head to the side. "Enjoy it, I mean"

He chuckled a little bit before he answered. "Yes I did." he sent me a warm look. "It definitely wasn't like anything I expected"

Huh. That got me thinking.

"Expected? Like how you thought it would be?"

"Well, yeah." he shrugged.

"Do you mean because of the pack and all?" I wondered. "Since you can read each others minds, I mean."

He shrugged again.

"When you're a wolf you get glimpses now and then, from the others. We try to just ignore it, but still you pick up a thing or two, the basics, maybe a few other things"

Humph. I wasn't sure if I liked that. I knew I was being silly, but I still couldn't stop wondering what he'd caught glimpses of. Had he seen all the pack-girlfriends naked through the others minds? I didn't like it. Silly, I know, but still.

Jacob continued, as if he knew what I was thinking. "No one likes this, but we've grown used to it. There's nothing we can do to help it."

He drew his breath and sent me a shaky smile. "But none of the others could possibly have prepared me for this" he gestured with his hand between us, and his cheeks reddened just a little bit. "None of the others have girlfriends that can give a direct line to their feelings just at that moment."

I felt my face fall a little bit. Maybe he hadn't wanted me to do that.

"No no" he hurried to say as he saw my face. " I liked it" A shudder ran through his body "You have no idea how much I liked it. To feel what you feel... to know that you felt good...I definitely liked it"

Jacob sent me another shaky smile, but then his face fell a little and he looked down. "But I guess it didn't exactly help, when I was trying not to screw it up as it was"

"Screw it up?" I repeated "What are you talking about?" He hadn't screwed up anything. Again, no pun intended.

"You know" his voice dragged a little bit and he still looked down at the table. He seemed embarrassed. "I didn't exactly make your day, did I?" he mumbled.

I understood what he referred to. He was embarrassed he that hadn't waited for my happy moment, and he was afraid he'd let me down somehow.

I didn't want any of that. I stood up, walked around the table and sat down on his lap with one leg on each side facing him. I put my hands on his cheek and dragged them through his hair, letting him into my mind.

"Don't say that" I murmured. "Last night was amazing. You were amazing. You couldn't have let me down if you'd wanted to"

And then I showed him how I'd felt when I woke up this morning, and how I'd felt before we fell asleep last night. And I showed him how it felt when we...you know, and I showed him how much I enjoyed it and how much I loved him.

His lips were on mine the next second, and when the kiss ended he rested his forehead against mine.

"Was that too much?" I asked hesitantly, listening to his uneven breaths. I didn't want to overwhelm him completely, but when I looked at him I was afraid I might have had. I knew my gift could be a bit much to handle sometimes.

To my surprise he started to laugh.

"Too much?" he said. "I love it when you do like that"

As he leaned closer to kiss me, we both heard the sound of running paws outside. I wasn't surprised really, the pack dropped by all the time.

"Looks like we've got company" I noted.

"Mmm"

He closed the distance between us and kissed me anyway.

"Jacob, you in there?"

I stood up from his lap as we heard the sound of footsteps on the front porch. The next second Embry popped his head in the door.

"And do we smell food?" Quil stumbled in behind him, and then they noticed me. "Oh, hey Nessie!"

They both got in and immediately crowded the kitchen. They'd both gotten so used to me staying with Jacob they probably didn't think twice about it.

"You cooking, Nessie?" Quil eyed the eggs hopefully.

"You can make your own breakfast" Jacob answered and threw the spatula at him.

"Breakfast? Seriously? I've eaten three meals today already"

I just laughed and started to pop eggs into the frying pan. They could probably eat a dozen or two.

"Hey! Nessie?"

I was interrupted when someone called my name from outside. It sounded like... Seth? I started to walk over to the front door, and Jacob followed. On his way he shoved Quil over to the stove, making me laugh.

We got outside and saw Seth appear through the lining of trees close to the house. We got over to him. He looked puzzled, and I noticed he was fumbling with something in his hands. As we got closer I realized he was holding my phone.

"What's your phone doing on the ground?" he asked. "It just started to beep, startled the hell out of me."

Oh dear.

"It...err, I just..must've...uhm...lost it" I stuttered, and to my own horror I felt a violent blush spread in my cheeks. I looked up at Jacob, silently begging him to help me out. He didn't meet my gaze, but was very occupied studying the treetops.

Helpful.

Seth looked at Jacob as well. And then he looked at me. And then back at Jacob again. And then I wasn't the only one blushing.

"Oh." Seth said, looking down. "I'll just...uhm...here"

He handed me the phone and I took it without meeting his gaze.

Luckily, Quil called for Seth just then, saying that if Seth didn't help he wouldn't get any food either. Seth fled inside. I turned over to Jacob and smacked his shoulder. When he looked down at me I could see he was on the edge of laughing.

"Thanks so much for the wonderful help" I glared at him.

He chuckled and then snorted.

"You know what? That phone of yours is seriously starting to pinch my nerves. It has been laying out in the rain for a whole night, and it still works"

True. My phone was a sturdy little thing.

"Are you going to try and kill it again?" I said, pretending to be offended. He had been the one insisting on me getting a cell phone In the first place.

"Maybe" he smirked, and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"You wont make it. You've already tried once"

"We'll see."

We all got inside, and it didn't last long before all the food had been consumed. The guys got up to leave, leaving the dished behind. Of course. Lucky me. But then Jacob had made me breakfast.

Quil stopped in the doorway on his way out.

"Are you coming or what?" he addressed Jacob.

Jacob looked over at me.

"Oh, just go" I smiled. "Looks like I have enough to do cleaning up after you guys". I nodded towards the tower of dishes in the sink.

"Forget those" Jacob walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me. "They'll clean themselves."

"You wish"

I stretched up on my toes to kiss him, and Quil had to call Jacob's name twice before we broke apart.

"I'll be back soon" Jacob promised and dived in for another kiss.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on you two" Quil grabbed Jacobs arm and dragged him along out the door. I laughed as Jacob sent me a longing look.

"Bye Nessie, talk to you later" Quil called out and grinned at me before he pushed Jacob out the door.

I listened to their footsteps as they disappeared into the forest, and then as it changed into the sound of paws. I grinned to myself. My wolf. I started to fill the sink with water and to arrange the dirty dishes. I was just abut to add some soap when a choir of wolves howling broke the silence.

I got instantly alarmed, but then I realized it was not a howl of anger or fear. It was not a warning or an argue either. They howled in a way that reminded me of a whistle, just like guys whistle when they're teasing each other. It was a whistle that clearly said "Way to go, bro!".

I felt a deep blush spread in my cheeks. I guess Jacob hadn't been able to control his mind for long.

Maybe it was a good idea that I didn't bring Jacob home to my parents tomorrow.