"Man, I hope this is what he meant by comfortable." Bella blushed as she pulled on her favorite long sleeved t-shirt and jeans.

"What else would he mean?" Luned asked. She was sitting on the edge of Bella's bed in the stream of morning light that was pouring in the window, kicking her legs back and forth.

Bella blushed again and looked at her friend out of the corner of her eye. "Ah, 'slipping into something more comfortable' could mean lingerie or nothing at all."

Luned's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed in thought. "And men like that?"

"Like what?"

"Women to 'slip into something more comfortable.'"

Bella giggled. "In my limited experience, yes. Dare I ask why?"

"You may ask."

Bella rolled her eyes and pulled on her sneakers. "Why do you want to know…wait, don't tell me, maybe I don't want to know."

Ignoring the last part, Luned said, "I have lain with Jacob, and now he is acting oddly. I am thinking that something more comfortable may bring him back to normal."

Bella choked on a shocked giggle. "Already, Luned? You've known him for all of, what, five seconds?"

"Five days, I believe, my lady."

"Five days then. You're not worried you're moving a little fast?"

"I knew James less than that time."

Bella shuddered. "James was a different story, Luned. This is different. Jacob is completely different."

"He is a man."

"Yes, but not all men are the same."

"In some ways…"

"Not Jake. Of course he's acting weird. It took he and I years…" Bella stopped at the look on Luned's face. "Ah, that is to say…he likes to take things slowly, and you obviously look so much like…" She stopped again, and chewed on her lower lip. "It's unusual for him to act so quickly. He probably feels guilty."

"For what?" Luned asked. "I wanted it. Surely I believe I begged him to…"

"Okay, Luned, more than I need to know. Call him. His number is in my address book, by the phone." A knock sounded downstairs. "I have to go. I'll see you later."

"Do not worry about going to quickly, Isabella. You like him, he likes you. It is surely the way to a man's heart."

Bella flushed. "Ah, thanks for your advice, Luned. I'll see you later." She raced down the stairs and flung open the door.

Edward stood there, looking like a male model. He was wearing jeans and a sweater, and a pair of worn hiking boots. Bella's face fell slightly.

"Are we hiking?" she gulped.

"I did say to wear something comfortable." His voice rolled over like smooth honey. She shivered at the sound.

"I though you meant for something a little less…dangerous."

"There's nothing dangerous about hiking."

"You overestimate my ability to walk."

He chuckled lightly. "Come on, Bella. I'll be there to save you. I am your knight in shining armor after all."

She blushed again. "All right, let's get this over with." She stepped out of the house and closed the door carefully behind her.

"Over with? I'm hurt that you would doubt my ability to protect you."

"I don't. I doubt my ability to survive in the woods."

He laughed again and held open the door of his silver Volvo. "Never fear, my lady. Sir Edward Cullen is here."

* * * * *

"Are we almost done with the torture?" Bella panted. Her jeans were torn, her hair a matted mess, and her hands were covered in cuts from the many tomes she'd fallen over branches, leaves, and her own feet. Edward had taken to walking beside her, one hand around her shoulders to steady her every footstep.

"Just through those branches ahead."

Sighing with relief, Bella slipped out of his arms and hurried forward, tripping face first through the braches and into a stunning little meadow. Edward came running behind her. "Are you alright?" He asked in concern.

"Yeah, nothing I haven't done a thousand times today alone." Pushing herself up into a kneeling position, she let her eyes wander around the meadow. It was more than stunning, it was absolutely breathtaking. Almost perfectly round, with a carpet of bright emerald green grass--the exact color of Edward's eyes, she noted--dotted with wild flowers in shades of white, yellow, and purple. The trees surrounding the meadow provided the perfect amount of privacy and weather protection, with a smaller circle in the very centre where the weak sun was allowed to shine through.

"It's beautiful." She murmured.

"It is. Just as you are, Isabella Swan."

She blushed bright red.

"You and your blushes."

He helped her to her feet and turned her so that their eyes met--clear sparkling green with dark chocolate brown. "And your eyes."

She shivered in anticipation. She could feel the heat radiating from her to him, from him to her. She melted forward, face upturned, in the same position she had been in beside the fountain.

"I've wanted to do this for so long…" With a moan he pressed his lips to hers, softly, gently, like the brush of butterfly's wings.

Bella's senses drew in and then exploded outward. She flung her arms around his neck, pressed her body against his, and forced the kiss into something deeper, more passionate, with a heated mingling of tongues and breath.

His hands rose slowly to her waist, slipped around and pulled her in. His body molded itself to her softness.

She moved her fingers from his neck into his hair, grasping at it, trying to pull him in closer, trying to become a part of him. Her knee found itself sliding up his outer thigh, her ankle trying to slip behind his back.

With a sudden gasp of denial, he pulled away from her, panting slightly. "I'm sorry, Bella. That was inappropriate."

Bella shook her head. "No, I…"

"It was," he interrupted. You know next to nothing about me. Who I am, what I really do."

"You're a doctor."

"No, I'm not. Not just that, anyway."

The gaze that had dropped in halted desire to the ground now shot up in amazement. "What do you mean, you're not?"

* * * * *

Luned stared at the thing in her hand. A phone, Bella had called it. She'd seen it ring, seen Bella pick it up and talk into it, but she'd never gone near it. It had seemed to her like an object of madness--how could you talk through the little block of plastic to someone who wasn't with you? Frowning at it and the address book in her other hand, she moved the phone to her ear tentatively.

"Jacob Black," she said, and waited. Nothing. She looked again at the phone book. "5550987," she said forcefully. Again, nothing.

"Jacob Black!" she shouted into the phone.

From the other side of the front door came a shocked answer. "Yeah, it's me! Sorry, I'll go away if you're busy!"

Luned dropped the phone in amazement. She'd never seen it have this effect before, but it was precisely what she'd hoped for. Perhaps phones did what you wished--let you speak to the person or bring them right to you.

"No, I'm not busy!" she called out in reply. "Come in, Jacob!"

He pushed the door open tentatively and slipped inside. "Ah, hi, Luned. Is Bella around?"

Luned frowned and folded her arms across her chest. "She left to have sex with Edward."

Jacobs's mouth dropped open. "Really? Ah, well, then maybe I should go."

"No! Please don't! I…will just slip into something more comfortable!"

Jacob's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Ah, Luned, just because I was stupid enough once…"

It was Luned's turn to be shocked. "Stupid? You thought you were stupid to…oh!" With a sob of understanding, she turned her back on him and fled up the stairs to Bella's bedroom and slammed the door, before throwing herself across the bed.

Downstairs, Jacob was mentally kicking himself. Idiot. Beautiful girl flings herself at you, and you tell her that the last time was stupidity…

With a heavy sigh he climbed the stairs and stopped outside Bella's bedroom door. The scene of so many years of happiness with Bella when he was young, before Leah and the heartbreak of her disappearance, before Luned and the confusion of her remarkable resemblance to Leah.

"Luned? Luned, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that sleeping with you was stupid. I meant…"

The door was flung open. "You didn't?" she asked skeptically.

"No, really. You're gorgeous and wonderful--it's me who's stupid. I can't use you because you remind me of Leah."

"Why not? You remind me of someone too."

Again he gaped at her, openmouthed.

"There is nothing wrong with making the most of what you have, Jacob Black. I do not have my love any longer, nor do you have yours. But we have each other…"

He continued to stare in amazement. "You could live with that, Luned…ah, Luned…"

"I do not have another name," she stated simply.

"You don't have a surname?"

"No. Where I come from, only those of note have any reason to have two names. I am merely a maid servant; therefore I do not need one."

"I didn't know Amish had maids?"

Luned sighed. "I am not Amish, Jacob Black."

"Ok." He drew the word out, in a voice so low it was almost a growl. "Then what are you, Luned, because you surely aren't…well."

"A normal woman for your time?"

"Exactly."

"That is because I am not. I will tell you the truth, but please do not think I am crazy."

"Ah, you can't seem any more…"

"Please."

He sighed. "Something tells me I should sit down for this."

Luned shrugged, but stood back, opening the door wider for him to enter. He inched past her, trying not to let any part of his body touch any part of hers. Even though he'd sworn to himself he wouldn't use her again, being anywhere near her was torture. She was overwhelming to his senses--all passion, and life, and heat, and excitement. Every time he looked at her, he couldn't forget the long night in the woods near La Push, and her sojourn into the fountain at the mall had done nothing to dispel that image--in fact, it had only served to intensify his desire.

He made his way to Bella's bed and sat lightly on the edge, as close to the door as possible in order to make a speedy escape if necessary.

Luned closed the door with a soft click and wandered to the window, gazing out to the trees.

The light framed her, added golden highlights to her brown hair, tinged her already gold skin brighter, like an angel haloed by sun. Jacob turned his face determinedly from the sight.

"So?" he said, the words coming out colder than he had intended in his effort to distance himself from her.

Luned turned slowly from the window, her narrowed eyes taken in his tense posture, the scowl on his averted face. With a deep breath she crossed the room and sat next to him close enough so that their thighs were touching.

Jacob jerked at the contact and slid over a few centimeters.

Luned followed, and he stiffened knowing there was no fleeing this; she would be there, no matter where he was. She was in his dreams, on his mind, and she would be in his bed, no matter how he tried to run.

"I'm…not from here, Jacob."

"I know," he said tightly.

She leaned closer to him, her huge brown eyes drawing him in, capturing him in their depths. "I'm not from now."

He didn't hear her. He was lost in her. He leant forward, his eyes trained on her lips, her slightly parted, slightly damp lips. He licked his own in anticipation.

Luned saw his intention and all thought of telling him the truth was lost. She met him half way, her lips molding themselves to his warm, soft ones. His tongue flicked out to tease her and she parted her lips further, eagerly allowing the intrusion into her mouth. Her hands reached up to rest against the broad expanse of his well-muscled chest. The black tee he wore quickly found itself bound up in her clenched fists, her loose hair wound into his questing hands. His heated kisses quickly moved from her lips to her throat, his tongue again darting out to tease the sensitive skin there. She moaned, pleading for more, and he accepted the challenge her shivering body offered. His kisses drifted to her collarbone, nudging the straps of the tank top she wore off her shoulder. His hands unraveled themselves to move to the bottom hem and he drew it up, so his mouth could begin a new path, moving from the top of the waistband of her jeans up to her navel, his tongue twirling around the indentation and causing her back to arch and both of them to tumble flat onto the bed. With a chuckle that caused tingling vibrations along Luned's skin Jacob deposited butterfly kisses up her rib cage, across to the other side just below her breasts and down again. With a growl of desperation, she flung her legs around his slim waist, and arched her back again, pressing her body into the kisses he was so readily offering.

He laughed again, and she followed with a groan, releasing him only long enough to tear her own top to shreds. Jacob's breath caught in his throat. It was impossible to think or breathe when she offered him this view--her perfect breasts, unrestrained by a bra, the nipples erect. With a whimper she pressed herself against him again, now moving her hips so that the hardness in his pants became unbearable.

"Luned…" He grimaced, trying desperately to hold onto the final flicker of willpower he had.

"Now, Jacob. Give it to me now."

With an animal growl he slipped off the bed and out of his restrictive clothing. The slanted eye look she gave him said more than words--her need flamed in her eyes, and her hands dropped to the zipper on her own pants.

"No," he stopped her with a hand on hers. "That's for me…"

She ceded without complaint to his gentle hands, soft hands that slowly lowered the zip in her jeans.

Again his breath caught as he began to draw them off her body; not only did she forgo a bra, but underwear also. The last time…they'd been so quick to one another's bodies he wouldn't have noticed had she been wearing an animal costume.

"You don't…" he choked out, his erection leaping in tandem with the thrill he felt being with this woman.

"Never," she smiled.

Her jeans flew across the room, and she laughed in unrestrained delight.

* * * * *

Laurent tapped his fingers on the dashboard of his hired car and waited. He knew precisely where his target was, and he had a fair idea of what she was doing, but still, he hated to wait. If only she was alone, he would have hurried this along and taken her now…with an irritated huff he continued to scour the area, watching for witnesses and escape routes.