All characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer

JACOB POV

CHAPTER EIGHT

The next few hours sitting down with most of my family finally together should have been great, but it was like torture. Bella curled up close beside me on the sofa like she always did, but this time it was different. This time, every time we touched it felt like electrical pulses were passing between us; the sexual tension between us was ridiculous. I couldn't understand how no one else in the room had noticed it, unless they had and just didn't comment. But that didn't seem likely with my sister; if she had noticed she wouldn't have let it go without teasing me.

Bella wasn't helping the situation. I had no doubt that she was experiencing the same feelings as me, but she didn't have to deal with an erection. Every time she squirmed against me, I had to scrape the bottom of my barrel of self-control to look normal. I'm sure she was trying to kill me.

As soon as the end credits began on the film we had watched, well what they had watched while I tried to control my dick, I made some sort of excuse about an early night and dragged Bella off to my room. As soon as I shut the door I turned back and pushed her against it.

"Do you want to stay here, or do you want to go for a walk? 'Cause I am seriously struggling to keep it together right now." I told her quickly, using all my will power not to rub my hands on her body.

"I know I'm the same, I think we should take a walk to cool down."

"Perfect" I said, grabbing her hand and tugging her to the window. I climbed through first, then held out my arms for her to climb down.

We walked in silence back to the beach, seeing that everyone had left the bonfire before we began whatever was coming. I walked her over to our tree, sitting down on it and pulling her into my lap. After a few minutes of silence, I spoke up first.

"Look Bells, you know how I feel and nothing can change that. So I'm not going to pressure you into anything. I want you to take your time and understand what your feelings are before we act on them. I want you to be ready to love me."

We sat in another comfortable silence for a while, staring out to sea, before she turned her head round to face me.

"I am ready, Jake. I have been for a while." I stared at her in shock for a while before I managed to speak again.

"Ready for what, Bella?" No matter what I was silently wishing Bella would say, I was definitely not expecting the next three words to come out of her mouth.

"I love you, Jacob Black."

I kissed her quickly; on the lips, chin, nose, cheeks, forehead. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that, honey."

She smiled at me then, the brightest smile I had seen in a long time. "I love it when you call me honey."

"Well then I will definitely call you honey more often," I laughed, kissing her hair and inhaling her delicious scent. I had never felt happier; the love of my life finally acknowledged that she loved me back.

We remained sat on the tree until it was really late, just gazing at each other and kissing each other tenderly. A new sense of calm had filled me, I now felt complete. Eventually Bella fell asleep in my arms, so I carried her back to my bed. All of my anger towards Paul had gone, after all he had imprinted on my sister and not Bella. I just wished that I could imprint on her to give her that security she needed after the leech had broken her.

BELLA POV

I woke up in Jacob's bed the morning after the funeral, not remembering how I got there. The last thing I could remember was sitting in Jacob's lap on the beach, on our tree. I turned my head to look at his sleeping form; he always looked so peaceful when he was asleep. He had a slight smile on his face, which made me happy.

A lot had happened yesterday. Harry's funeral had been really sad, but that was only the start of my eventful day. I never had chance to speak to Paul, because it turned out that he had imprinted on Rachel Black. Then at the beach, I had admitted my true feelings to Jacob. Thinking of how happy he had been when I finally told him I love him made me giggle; his brilliant smile had been irresistible.

Kissing Paul had finally made me see that I could move on from Edward, and I could be very happy without him. I didn't have any deeper feelings for Paul; he was just really sweet, and sexy. But kissing him and being able to feel passion had made me start to think of Jacob in different ways. I was a little sad that Paul's feelings towards me would now change, but his imprinting had triggered mine and Jake's kiss last night so I had no regrets.

When Jake had walked into the kitchen after his shower yesterday I really thought I was going to 'jump him', as Emily had described it. Watching the beads of water roll slowly down his perfectly defined chest and abs was too much to ignore, and obviously he noticed me looking. I was practically drooling over him.

I looked over him now, half naked as always, and felt those same feelings sweep over me. I needed to touch him. I reached my fingertips out to stroke his stomach gently, carefully. The heat that travelled through my body when our skin came into contact was delicious. I rubbed slow circles into his side, then looked to his face to see the smile had broadened into a huge grin.

"Are you awake, you jerk?" I tried to sound angry but couldn't help the laughter slipping through.

He opened his eyes, still grinning, and looked at me. "I didn't want to open my eyes, I thought I was dreaming."

I snorted and withdrew my hand from his body, but he quickly caught hold of it and pulled me closer to him. When I was no more than an inch from him he raised his head slightly to kiss my lips. "Morning Bells" he said in his sexy husky voice.

"Morning Jake" I smiled against his lips.

"So…" he began to say, but seemed to lose his nerve.

"So?" I prompted him, raising an eyebrow. He let out a sigh, before continuing.

"Any regrets?" he asked, barely meeting my eyes.

"About what?" I asked innocently, trying my best not to smirk.

"Everything that happened yesterday; us… and Paul…"

"Nope, no regrets." I told him with a smile, and his face lit up. "You?"

"Of course not. If it hadn't been Harry's funeral, and Paul hadn't imprinted on my sister, yesterday would have been the best day of my life."

"Yeah, we sure did pick a great moment didn't we." I muttered, but I still couldn't regret kissing Jake and finally admitting my feelings.

"So… what happens now?" Jake asked quietly, looking nervous again.

"I'll make pancakes, as usual." I teased, making him frown at me.

"You know what I mean Bells."

"Well, you tell me! I kind of wanted to make our relationship more official, but if you want to keep it casual…"

"Of course I don't want to keep it casual!" he answered quickly. "I want everything with you Bella, I just don't want to freak you out or rush you into anything."

"Good. Because I love you, and I think I would struggle a lot to go back to just being your friend after yesterday. I don't think friends are supposed to be thinking about jumping each other every moment they're together."

"Why not? That's how I've felt for months." Jake laughed, kissing me sweetly. "I love you too, Bells."

We got out of bed before either of us gave into the temptation of taking our physical relationship any further, and I went straight to the kitchen to cook our breakfast. Billy was already sitting in the kitchen reading the paper, and I could hear that Rachel was in the shower.

"I'm gonna phase for a minute to see what's going on after yesterday." Jake said as he passed me, kissing my hair before disappearing out of the back door.

"What happened yesterday?" Billy called after him, but he was already gone. I wasn't sure if I should tell him, but as the chief of the tribe and Rachel's dad I knew he would find out sooner or later and I didn't want to be left in awkwardness until Jake returned.

"Paul imprinted." I told him, and he raised his eyebrows, seeming very shocked. He thought about it for a moment, then smiled.

"That should be good for him. Is she from the reservation?"

"He imprinted on Rachel." I told him, wincing at the instant change in his expression. He looked horrified. "She doesn't know yet."

Billy looked as though he wanted to say several different things, before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm surprised Jacob is so calm about this; I'm sure he must not have wanted this for his sister."

"He's pretty angry about it, but apparently Rachel didn't exactly fall head over heels for Paul. I think she thought he had some sort of brain damage."

He chuckled at that. "That's my girl, she will definitely not take it easy on Paul. I cannot question the gods' decision, but Paul would definitely not be my first choice as a son-in-law."

"He's not as bad as his reputation makes him seem, Billy. He's actually a really great guy, I think him and Rachel will be good for each other."

We settled into a silence then, clearly agreeing to disagree. I made the pancakes quickly and had just finished dishing them up when Jake came back through the door.

"So, Paul and Rachel?" Billy asked as soon as he saw his son. Jake glanced at me, and I panicked.

"Sorry Jake I told him, I thought it would be ok with him being the chief of the tribe and everything?"

"It's fine Bells, you saved me a job." He told me with a reassuring smile. I relaxed when I couldn't see any sign of anger in his eyes. "Yeah, dad." He finally answered, looking at Billy. "Crazy, huh?"

"Yeah, crazy." Billy replied. "When will Rachel be told?"

"Pack meeting tonight at Emily's place, that's what I went to find out."

Just then I heard the shower stop running, and Jake and Billy abruptly stopped talking as I placed their plates in front of them. The three of us sat and ate in silence until Rachel appeared in the doorway. She walked into the room and glanced around at us, so I smiled at her when she caught my eye.

"Ok, why is it so quiet in here? I never used to be able to get a word in at meal times."

"Just enjoying the peace." Billy answered without looking up, and Jake smirked knowingly. No doubt there wouldn't be much peace in this house once Rachel found out about the imprint, and everything that came along with it.

"There's pancakes for you on the stove." I told her, trying to act normal. She didn't look convinced by her dad's answer, but picked up the plate and joined us at the table.

"Thanks Bella." She said, before digging in. "Wow, I haven't had pancakes this good since mum was alive." She told me after her first bite, looking at Jake with a smile.

"I know, right? Bells is an amazing cook." He told her, grinning at me as I blushed.

"So what's going on today, can I hang out with my baby brother or do you have plans with all the freakishly massive boys round here?" Rachel asked after we had all finished our food in silence.

"I'm um… going for a run for a bit, but we've been invited to a get together at Emily's house tonight if you want to go?" Jake asked, nearly slipping up and telling her that he had to go and patrol.

"Yeah ok, it's not like there's anything better to do round here than hang around with a bunch of overgrown teenage boys. Are you going for a run with him, Bella?" she asked me.

"No, I'm not exactly into exercise." I laughed, before turning to Jake. "I take it I'm needed at Emily's house to help with the food?"

"Think so." He replied, looking apologetic. Rachel looked a little disappointed, so I decided to invite her along.

"You can come with me if you want? I mean, if you've not got anything you'd rather do for the day."

"I can't really cook." She replied, looking a little embarrassed.

"That's ok; Jared's girlfriend Kim can't cook either. We'll just hang out together while the boys are running."

"Well in that case, I could do with some girl talk. And I want to get to know you better, you and Jake are obviously close."

"Yeah we are." I smiled, sharing a look with Jake and then quickly looking away, not wanting his dad and sister to notice the sexual tension that had suddenly become a problem for us. When I looked back at Rachel though, she was grinning knowingly. "So, what time are you going for your run?" I asked Jake conversationally, in an attempt to sound casual.

"Half an hour." He told me, glancing at the clock. I'll walk you to Emily's, that's where I'm meeting Sam."

"Ok, I'm going to take a quick shower first." I told him, getting up from my chair. I almost let myself kiss his cheek as I passed him, but luckily I remembered my place before Rachel noticed how close I got. I had no idea how we would keep so many things from Rachel today; she didn't know about the wolves, or vampires, or me and Jake, or Paul's feelings for her. It was going to be a long day.