. . . . .

Jake's motorcycle tore over the tree-lined road. I held on tight, my arms wrapped around his torso and my knees gripping his thighs. The wind ripped into me despite my leather jacket and helmet, and I buried my face against his back.

I could feel the spatter of rain drops as they beat into us at seventy miles an hour. Jake took one hand off of the handles and wrapped his arm awkwardly behind me, pulling me closer to him and shielding me further from the biting wind.

The rain picked up and I could feel it dripping down the back of my helmet and into the collar of my jacket. We pulled off into a thick grove and Jake hopped off the bike, wheeling it—and me—deeper into the woods where the trees blocked the rain.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I had no idea it was going to rain like this. I wouldn't have dragged you out here if I'd known." He looked worried.

I pulled off my helmet and shook out my hair, combing my fingers between the dry top and the damp, wind-whipped ends. "It's ok. It's warmer now that we've stopped."

Jake dug in the saddle bag and pulled out a rainproof blanket.

"Here," he said, draping it over my shoulders. "It won't do much, but it will help. We'll head back home when the rain slows down and get you into some warmer clothes."

"It's really ok. I'm fine." I hopped off of the bike and tried to put on a brave face. I was freezing.

"Here, it'll be warmer in here." Jacob backed into a thicker grove of trees, a natural wind-block from the breeze that was coursing through the undergrowth.

He opened up his jacket and pulled me inside, tucking me in the incredible warmth of his body. I leaned closer to him, allowing him to envelop me in his coat. One breath of him and my hard-fought resolve broke. I tilted my face up toward his and he brought his lips softly against mine.

I inadvertently groaned and took a step closer. I knew I was letting myself slip too far, but I didn't care.

Jacob took the opportunity. His hands slid up under my jacket, and he fumbled for skin. Pulling up the back of my shirt, his hands covered the small of my back, making my skin instantly hot and giving me goose bumps at the same time. I pressed into him and nibbled on his bottom lip. His breathing became heavier, and his hands shifted lower. Our kissing became frantic and soon we were gasping for breath but not wanting to come up for air.

A crack of thunder sounded like it was coming from all around us and the storm instantly got worse. The rain poured down, drenching us until we could no longer ignore it.

Jacob took off his jacket, put it over my head and ducked out of sight into the trees. He returned and pulled me after him. "There's a hollowed-out tree over here that someone had been camping in, it looks pretty watertight."

I followed him, stepping in a puddle and soaking my left foot to the ankle. The dead tree was huge, with a wide opening that expanded into a cozy, protected room. Someone had covered one corner of the floor with pine needles and had staked out a campfire pit with large rocks in the other corner. A pile of dry wood lined the inside of the makeshift doorway. Jake settled me on the pine needle bed, wrapped me in his jacket and the blanket and told me to sit tight.

He set up several large pieces of wood, filled in the gaps with small pieces, stuffed in some pine needles and lit them with a lighter from his pocket.

"I thought Billy was the fire mastermind. You never told me you were a boy scout, too," I teased, my teeth chattering.

"Hardly," he laughed. "Just thousands of years of evolution, baby. My people have been surviving like this forever."

He made sure the fire was burning evenly but not too big, and then he came over to where I was. I didn't know if I should hope to start up where we'd left off or pretend nothing had happened.

"You're freezing!" Jake wrapped his arm around me and scooted me closer to him. When I didn't resist, he pulled me onto his lap. I could feel the heat from the fire soaking into my front and Jacob's unreal warmth radiating into my back. I snuggled into him and listened to the sounds of his breathing and the rain pouring down outside. The minutes ticked by silently, and I wasn't sure I'd ever been so content.

I kicked off my shoes and dropped the blanket off to our side as the room heated up.

"Hey, this isn't too bad," I smiled. "Much better than driving in the rain."

"Bella, was I wrong to kiss you?" Jacob's question caught me off guard.

"Wrong?" I didn't know how to answer him. Could anything that felt so right ever be wrong? But I knew what he meant. Wrong because of me and Edward. Wrong because of all of the history Jake and I shared. Wrong because of my demands that we were just friends. Wrong because I was supposedly in love with and planning to marry his mortal enemy, the man who was eventually going to turn me into Jacob's natural enemy, too. Wrong because I'd pushed back so hard against this exact thing.

I turned to the side and dangled my legs off to Jake's left. His arms were still wrapped around me. I looked him full in the face. I blushed. "It didn't feel wrong." Then, I didn't mean to say it, but I did: "Nothing ever feels wrong with you."

He moved in for another kiss, and neither of us closed our eyes. It was electric. We became a fury of hands and mouths, gulping and grabbing everything we could get. I lost track of time, wrapped up in our universe of two. His mouth on mine, my hands on his chest, his fingers pulling through my hair. The fire and Jacob's warmth made the small space unbearably hot and sweat dripped off of both of us.

I slid my left leg across Jacob's lap and faced him, my knees on either side of his thighs. He pulled me in by the lapels of my jacket and our mouths crushed together. I leaned back and grabbed the bottom of his tee-shirt, pulling it over his head and kissing down the front of his chest. He exhaled sharply and tipped his head back. My lips felt bruised and raw. He tasted like salt and smoke, and I couldn't get enough.

He eased the jacket off of me, kissing and nibbling at my neck, slowly pulling my sweater over my head, leaving me panting in my camisole. His hands ran over my shoulders, my back, pulling up under the too-tight top. He tasted the skin on my shoulders, my collar bone, just under the top seam of the camisole. Knowing he wouldn't take the initiative without my permission, I peeled off the small white top, throwing it in the growing pile of clothes next to us. Jacob stopped moving and pulled back slightly, staring me in the eyes.

"Bella..."

"Shut up." I put my left hand gently over his mouth, knelt over his lap and pushed him sideways onto the blanket. Leaning over him, my damp hair swirled around his face as our lips met. I fumbled at his belt buckle, and when I was too frustrated to make it work, he deftly unhooked it with one hand, his other hand tucked in the back waistband of my jeans. He kissed down my torso, his hot hands burning the skin along my back and stomach. My hands worked at the button and zipper of his jeans, and he rolled over, pinning me under him and stilling my hands.

"Bella. Please. I just want to be sure this is what you really want. You know how I feel about you, but I need to make sure you feel this way about me. That this isn't a big mistake." His face was serious, insistent. "I couldn't take it if you backed away again. Not after this."

I wrapped my legs around his hips and leaned up to kiss him, knotting my hands in the back of his hair, pulling him back down on top of me.

Thunder cracked and rolled outside as inside we said without words so much that we'd been holding back.

. . . . .