Disclaimer - This is based off of the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. She created the characters and the basic plot, and this is my spin on it. These are my words about her world. Stephenie Meyer has all of the rights to her characters and the parts that were taken from her plot.

The Mechanics of Love – a One-Shot

As Bella knocked timidly on the Blacks' front door, little pieces of the chipping red paint fluttered free and floated to the ground. Bella scuffed her toe against the wet concrete of their front porch, her hesitating hand still clenched into a fist, ready to whack again. She bit her lip, straining to hear some sort of movement inside the house, but all was silent. She leaned back a little and wiggled the doorknob, hoping it had magically unlocked. Of course it hadn't, and the Blacks were officially not home.

Not like she hadn't known they weren't home the second she'd pulled into their driveway to find Jacob's car gone from its usual spot.

Bella let the screen door squeak closed behind her and leaned against the railing, defeated. She bent forward to rest her elbows, pressing her chin into her palms. Of course Jacob would pick now to not be home when she really needed him. Her eyes drifted over to her truck, red and rusty and old but still her favorite method of transportation. It wasn't her truck's fault its engine had started making a rattling noise every time she put it in reverse – it was irony's.

Bella sighed. She made one comment about how well her truck had been behaving lately and boom. Three days later she's got a headache and a clatter.

She stared out into the Blacks' small front yard, indecisive. Should she hang around and see if Jacob gets back soon? Or should she just leave a message on his answering machine and take off?

The sun was completely hidden by clouds, casting a gray, depressing shadow, making it seem like the evening had progressed farther along than it actually had. Every now and then a bit of the grey sky would peek through. Rain drizzled lightly around her, probably adding unwanted frizz to her hair, and the clouds were in constant motion. As her eyes drifted farther and farther into the distance, synchronizing the weather that was to come, they turned less fluffy and more depressing, darker and more threatening. A heavy storm was coming, and Bella did not want to get caught up in it. She waited for another few minutes, watching the road that expanded away from the house with squinting eyes, hoping the Rabbit would pop up from the horizon and save the day, but she tapped her hands on the railing in a little rhythm as each moment passed with no sign of Jacob.

The drizzle shifted into a full-fledged rain shower, and she decided getting drenched wasn't worth it. Her truck was probably okay to drive – an explosion wasn't very likely – so she turned towards it, sitting by itself in the Blacks' driveway and found that she wasn't as alone as she'd thought she was.

About ten feet away from her, standing right in the middle of Jacob's yard, stood Paul Lahote in all his shirtless glory. His choppy brown hair was soaked and sticking to his forehead, like he'd been out in the rain for a while. His giant biceps flexed as he crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes twinkling as he stared her down. His cargo shorts clung loosely to his hips and his tennis shoes were beaten and battered, used and old. His body language oozed strength and dominance, but it was more than that. Deeper than that. Power seemed to hover around him, his own personal atmosphere full of authority and control. The clouds that loomed, darkening more each second, only exaggerated the dark intensity of his personality.

Bella jumped, startled by his presence. Her hand threw to her heart in surprise, her heart immediately speeding up its pace. Paul had always made her nervous, especially with the way his eyes scanned over her entire body, like he was wishing he could see underneath her sweatshirt or through her jeans. She cleared her throat once she'd processed his sudden appearance. "Paul, hey," she squeaked. "I-I didn't hear you – um –" She waved her hands uselessly in the direction she suspected he would have come from – the woods that surrounded the Blacks' tiny cabin, making it seem like it had grown from the ground itself, homey, safe. She bit her lip. "You . . . uh, what are you – why are you –"

"You looking for Jake?" The darkness that usually clouded his voice when he communicated with the pack, for some reason, always disappeared when he was talking to Bella. He didn't look at her with the angry glare that he gave Sam and the other members of the pack – instead he squinted at her, like she was a question he needed an answer to. She was a soft spot for him, whether or not he'd like to admit it.

Bella wiggled her fingers at her sides. "Yeah, I –" She looked abruptly back at the door as if Jacob would just appear out of nowhere and save her from her inability to form a coherent sentence around this man. But he wasn't there, so she had to turn back to Paul and make eye contact. "My truck is . . . um, making a weird noise." Suddenly hand gestures were the only way she could communicate coherently, so she pointed her index finger at the rusty vehicle sitting on the gravel driveway.

Paul raised an eyebrow, waiting for more explanation. Then Bella realized that her truck's behavior issues didn't exactly explain why she was creeping on Jacob's front porch. "I was hoping Jake could fix it," she added, shrugging her shoulders up to her ears.

Paul looked over to her truck, cocking his head to the side. He uncrossed his arms and dropped his hands to his sides, flexing his fingers to relieve the tension. After a few seconds of him staring intently, he said, "I'll take a look at it."

Bella's jaw dropped. "You will?" Never in all the time that she'd known him had Bella ever heard Paul offer to help someone with no promise of a reward.

He paused, thrown off by the surprise in her voice. "I'm perfectly capable of troubleshooting a car engine, Bella."

The way he said her name shot a shiver up her spine. She blinked. "Oh, no, I wasn't implying – I mean –" She cleared her throat. "Thank you. That would be really helpful." She hesitantly came down off the porch steps.

Then she caught herself staring at the muscles of his arms as he lifted the hood and locked it in place. All of the boys in the pack were beyond healthy and fit, but something about Paul was just that much more attractive to her. She bit her lip, standing a few feet off to the side so she wouldn't be in his way. He analyzed the contents that were usually hidden from view and huffed. "Alright," he said quietly, "I can fix this. It's just a bad part – Jake has a replacement in his garage." He lowered the hood and patted his back pocket. "I think I have a key. It'll take me twenty minutes max."

"Thanks," Bella murmured. She didn't know how he could tell what the problem was without turning the engine on first, but she didn't question him.

He looked at her. "Can I have your keys?"

Bella jolted. "Oh! Yeah, of course." She dug her fingers into her pockets until she felt the cool metal. She didn't trust herself to toss them to him, so she stumbled forward until she could place them in his hand, even though he could probably catch even the worst throw.

When their fingers touched, Bella's heart fluttered. She felt a blush warm her cheeks and looked down at her toes, wiggling them in the sandals she'd recently taken to wearing after her favorite broken-in pair of converse were ruined by a mud puddle. The nail polish on her big toe was chipped, and she knew Emily Young-Uley would not hesitate to fix it the next time she saw her.

Paul gave her a small grin as he easily hoisted himself up into the driver's seat, leaning his elbow casually outside the lowered window. He started the truck and Bella wrinkled her nose at how loud her engine actually was. "It doesn't sound so . . . angry when I'm inside the truck," she called over its screeching.

Paul shook his head. "Once I replace this valve, it should be a little quieter."

Bella nodded and tucked her hands patiently behind her back. After he sat there for a moment and stared at her like he was waiting for something, she realized she was meant to get in the passenger seat. She hurried around and hopped up in a far less graceful move than he'd pulled off.

He carefully backed the truck into Jake's garage, a very impressive talent. Jacob's garage was full of the common, run-of-the-mill items – lawnmower, weed whacker, his motorcycle, and the other random junk that didn't have a place inside the house – but his tools made it seem abnormally small. Bella would never be able to maneuver her truck inside without hitting something or otherwise doing damage.

Paul got to work silently, his eyebrows pulled together in concentration. He pulled a little table with wheels on the bottom over to where he was standing and gathered a few tools, lining them up neatly. He wasn't exactly gentle with them, and they smacked roughly against the hard metal of the table. The sound echoed off of the cement walls of the garage and hurt Bella's ears.

They stood in a silence that was obviously bothering Bella more than it was bothering him. He didn't seem to notice that she was desperately trying to find something meaningful to say, something other than mindless chit-chat. Finally, she decided to stick to a topic she knew he had some knowledge of. "So, I heard you're going to be Sam's best man in his wedding."

Paul squinted down at whatever he was doing with his hands and chuckled. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, it's not like I was gonna say no."

Bella smiled. "Jake knew he was going to ask one of you from the pack. He guessed either you or Jared, but I wasn't sure why."

Paul reached up to wipe sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand. His fingers were already covered in grease. "For about a year, we were the only three members of the pack. We got really close, I guess." He shrugged. "We had to run more patrols back then, what with there being fewer wolves to split shifts with. There were a lot of times when all three of us would be phased at the same time. You learn a lot about a person when you have a completely unfiltered look into their mind and can hear their unedited thoughts."

Bella bit her lip. "Is it hard? Sharing your thoughts like that?"

Paul finally looked up at her with his tense, brooding eyes. The lightness that had been in them just a minute earlier was gone, replaced with a serious shade. "It's more than just our thoughts. It's our inner emotions, too. When you're used to keeping specific emotions hidden and suddenly you can't control which of your friends know about them, it's . . . nerve-racking. Any one of them could mention them at any time, just to spite me. In front of –" He stopped abruptly and stared at Bella for a moment. "In front of . . . anyone. And that drives me crazy. But things got better, less awkward when Embry phased and we could split things up."

"What specific emotions would you rather hide?" The question was out of her mouth before she really thought about how rude that was after he'd just said they were emotions he didn't like sharing. "Um – I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that. You clearly don't want to talk about them."

He narrowed his eyes at her for a second before he turned back to the truck. "Emotions I haven't felt in a long time," he answered anyway. He let a wrench hit the table with a loud clang. "You don't have to stand so far away, you know," he said, dragging his eyes over the few feet that separated them. "I won't bite. Probably."

Bella smiled. "I know – I just . . . don't want to be in your way."

He cleared his throat. "You could never be in my way, Bella."

She blinked. "What?"

Paul just shook his head, pressing his lips together in a grim line. He twisted a few more bolts to loosen them and retrieved an oddly shaped, newly-disconnected greasy part. He got part of the same size and shape out of a drawer in the cabinets to his left and started installing it.

Bella realized that she was just standing there watching him and turned her attention to the pictures Jacob had hung on the walls. There were a few of him and his father, one of him with his two sisters at Rachel's high school graduation, and one of him holding a baby that she knew was Rebecca's first born daughter. The rest were of members of the pack, most of them having been taken in the very garage that they were now displayed in. Most of them were of Jake, Embry, and Quil, their hair pulled back in messy ponytails. They'd obviously been taken before any of them had started to phase. The ones that featured Jared, Seth, Brady, and Collin all showed them sporting the short and choppy do-it-themselves haircuts they all wore in the present day. Bella's eyes searched almost automatically for Paul, suddenly wanting to see a genuine smile on his face, but he wasn't in any of the photos, along with Sam. "Do you and Sam not hang out here very much?" she asked him.

She turned just in time to see him shake his head. "Nah – when they hang out here, it's less of a pack thing and more of a teenager thing." He cracked his neck without using his hands, tilting it roughly from side to side. "Sam and I are a little out of that age group."

This stirred an emotion in Bella that she hadn't anticipated: excitement. But before her heart rate could increase, a pang of disappointment flickered in her stomach. He was out of high school, obviously. He had to be in his early twenties. And that meant he was experienced in things that Bella was not – love. Or, more specifically, love-making. With a body like his, he was surely not celibate. And Bella was very much a virgin. "How old are you?" she asked timidly, hoping to avoid giving him a hint at the topic of her thoughts through the tone of her voice.

"Twenty-two," he answered with a grunt as he tightened a bolt.

"I'm eighteen," she said, even though he hadn't asked. Maybe he already knew, but Bella wanted to be sure, for some reason, that he knew she was of legal age.

He nodded.

Bella paused, giving him a chance to bring up his own topic of conversation. When he only stared intently down at his work, she added, "What brought you here, then? If you don't hang out here and you knew Jacob wasn't home?"

Paul stayed bent at the waist as he worked but looked up at her under his long, dark eyelashes. For a moment, he said nothing and studied her. Bella felt a blush creep over her entire body as his eyes swept over her. She saw them darken momentarily. He opened his mouth to speak, but then seemed to change his mind about what he was going to say. He nudged his head in the direction of the woods. "I was on my way home from patrols. Cutting through Jacob's yard gets me home quicker. My house is about a three-minute walk up the road."

"Really?"

He nodded and straightened, eyes scanning the engine again. "I think that should do it for you," he said, "but let's turn the engine on to make sure."

"Did you come by my house today?" Jacob's voice sounded even deeper than it actually was when he was speaking over the phone.

Bella balanced the kitchen phone between her ear and her shoulder as she prepared the spaghetti Charlie had requested for dinner. "Yeah," she said. "How'd you know?"

"Your scent was still hanging around when we got home."

"Oh," she breathed. It was easy for her to forget about his werewolf status when she wasn't standing in front of him. His voice was the one thing about him that hadn't changed.

"What'd you need?" he asked when she didn't offer an explanation.

Bella tapped the spoon on the side of the pan and dropped it into the sink. "My truck was acting up again," she told him, "and I wanted to see if you could take a look at it."

"Oh. Well, I don't have to patrol tomorrow until four," he said. "Why don't you bring it down around noon?"

Bella blinked, realizing she'd left out the most important part of her explanation. "You don't have to look at it. Paul was there, and he fixed it for me. He used a part that was in your garage – I guess I should have left you a note or something."

"Paul?" he repeated. The friendly tone in his voice immediately disappeared. "He fixed your car?"

"Yeah," she mumbled. "He was walking by on his way home from patrolling and he saw me and offered to help."

"What did you give him in return?" he demanded. "You didn't go home with him, did you?"

"What?" Bella laughed. "Why would I? I don't know him that well to hang out with him at his house, Jake." She started humming a little song to herself, and then suddenly she realized exactly what Jacob had been implying. Before he could speak again, Bella continued with a gasp. "Wait a minute! Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" she snapped at him. "You can't honestly think I'd agree to sleep with him in return for him fixing my car!"

"I didn't –"

"How dare you, Jacob Black!" she hollered at him. "I am not some hussy, and let me tell you that the installation of that little ugly box that's sitting in my truck right now was definitely not urgent enough for me to give him my body in return for setting it up!" She slammed her hand against the kitchen counter, infuriated that he would even think for a second she would trade sex for anything. "Is that honestly what you think of me? That I'm so easy? Loose? Slutty?"

"No, Bella, stop it," he finally interrupted. "No! That's not what – I mean –" He growled. "I didn't mean to say that you'd have sex with him."

"Then what did you mean?" she retorted dryly. When he didn't have a response, Bella clicked her tongue. "Exactly. I can't believe you. Goodbye."

"No, don't hang up," he insisted. "Please, Bella. Don't be mad – I wasn't saying anything about you. I just – I know Paul, and I know that he's capable of getting women to do a lot of things for him that they wouldn't normally do." He paused. "Or, I guess I should say he was capable. Now there's just you."

"What do you mean, was capable?"

Jacob sighed. "He's . . . changed recently."

"Changed?"

"Yeah," was all he offered.

Bella waited. "Am I missing something here? What are you hiding from me, Jake?"

"I'm not hiding anything," he insisted. "There are just . . . a few things you don't know about yet."

"What else could I possibly have to learn about, Jacob?" she wined. "What more is there? Werewolves and vampires. Are there zombies? Witches and warlocks?"

"Be serious, Bella," he mumbled.

"Nothing is serious anymore!" And then something he'd said before, something that had slid right under her radar, registered in her mind.

Now there's just you.

She flashed back to a conversation she'd had with Emily two months earlier, just after finding out about the things that go bump in the night in La Push. Emily had offered to explain things from a woman's perspective, trying to help Bella understand.

"So, Sam's your boyfriend, then," Bella had stated stupidly.

Emily had laughed. "To the general public of the state of Washington and otherwise, yes, he's my boyfriend. But within the pack, our relationship is a lot deeper – more meaningful." The confusion must have been obvious on Bella's face because Emily had offered a small smile and continued. "When a wolf finds his soulmate, it's called imprinting. He looks into her eyes and just knows. She becomes the center of his world. There won't ever be anyone for a wolf after he finds his imprint – there's just her."

Bella sank into a chair and leaned weakly against the kitchen table, feeling all of the blood draining from her body. "Jake."

"Yeah?"

"You said you could smell my scent hanging around your house when you came home?"

"Uh-huh," he confirmed. "The rain makes it stronger. Hell, I could probably go out to the trees outside right now and smell you."

He nudged his head in the direction of the woods. "I was on my way home from patrols."

Bella's mouth dropped open at the shock of her realization. "Jacob," she whispered into the phone, "where exactly does Paul live?"

The drive over to Paul's house was pleasantly quiet thanks to his handy work underneath her truck's hood. Of course, her breaks still squealed when she pressed down on them, but that was a job for another day. Her wipers swiped at the rain that landed on her windshield and Bella hoped it wouldn't pick up anytime soon. The sun was setting and Charlie would worry if he knew she was driving home in the dark and the rain – not like he'd even notice she wasn't there. He always stayed late at the station on Tuesdays.

When she spied the number seven written on a mailbox to her left, she turned and traveled quickly up the gravel driveway that lead her into the woods. Paul's house, like those of all the other wolves, was completely surrounded by woods but wasn't far enough away from the town to give the impression that it wasn't in civilization. When Bella climbed down from her truck, she could hear the couple cars that were traveling on the main road – dedicated employees just coming home from work, police officers making their usual rounds.

The house was medium-sized and made of beautiful red bricks. Bella would bet anything that Paul had built it himself, perhaps with Sam's help soon after he'd first phased. It looked fairly wolf-proof and sturdy. A clean wooden porch stretched across the entire front, drawing attention to the front door. There would be plenty of room for some outdoor furniture – maybe a patio table or a wooden swing set – but it was barren and empty. Of course, Paul wouldn't have a need for outdoor furniture. Bachelors didn't care about enjoying the fresh morning air or having a pretty place to sit when friends visited for a meal.

Bella surveyed the land around the home, too. There were plenty of places for color to be added – flowers planted around the base of the house, a flag posted in the ground near the steps. She knew she could turn this little brick house into a lovely home for them to share.

But first thing first – find Paul.

The front door opened before her knuckles could knock. Bella jumped back, startled, and prepared for the breath to be sucked out of her lungs when she looked at his face.

But it wasn't Paul's face that appeared in the door.

It was a young woman – a very pretty blonde woman wearing a tight black dress that had to have been designed with clubbing and partying in mind. She was carrying her red high-heels and had very smudged ruby lipstick. Her mascara was runny under her eyes, like she'd been sweating.

When the woman looked down and saw Bella, her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh," she said. Her voice was high-pitched and breathy. "Hey. You here to see Paul?"

Bella stood for a moment, frozen with shock, and stared at her blankly. When she found her voice, she stuttered, "Um – I – you know what, I'll talk to him another day." Bella backed up as the woman stepped out onto the porch and let the screen door close behind her. Bella couldn't stomach going in that house after he'd so obviously just had sex with this woman.

"He's just inside," the woman insisted. She dropped her shoes onto the porch gracelessly and stepped into them. She'd been a good three inches taller than Bella without the heels; with them, she towered over Bella's five-feet-six inches. This girl was probably a lot closer to Paul's height than Bella was, Bella realized in dismay. "I think he's in the kitchen." She tucked her purse over her arm and flicked her hair over her shoulder. She had a slender body with curves in all the right places – places that Bella didn't have them and never would.

Bella couldn't find her voice, so she just stood there and clasped her hands in front of her.

When the woman was satisfied with herself, she looked down at Bella and gave a smile. "It was nice meeting you," she said, teetering down the steps. A barely necessary politeness – they hadn't even exchanged their first names, and Bella didn't want to.

Bella's stomach churned. Had she been wrong to assume that Paul had imprinted on her? Clearly he'd just hooked up with this girl. Bella could tell by more than the messed-up makeup; she was walking funny, too.

Bella felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest and stomped on. For a minute, she watched the stranger girl as she walked down the driveway. Bella had assumed the woman lived on the Reservation based on the beautiful tan she sported, but she hadn't guessed this booty call would live within walking distance. But there wasn't a car in the driveway, so what had Bella expected upon seeing her?

Finally, she decided it was pointless for her to stand on Paul's front porch like an idiot, so she turned to go back to her truck, trying to ignore the misery and heartbreak that had flooded her. But apparently she'd stuck around too long, because Paul appeared in the doorway and squinted at her through the screen door.

Then his eyes widened in alarm. "Bella?"

She didn't turn to look at him and even picked up her pace when she heard the door squeak open behind her. She kept her gaze on her truck as she walked, biting her lip while she tried to keep the tears at bay. She didn't want to cry until she was safely alone in her bedroom.

A few tears slipped, however, when warm fingers closed around hers and yanked her to a stop. Bella gasped and immediately pulled back, trying to get free from his grasp, glaring at Paul with all she had. "Don't touch me," she yelled, "don't you dare touch me!"

His eyes widened in shock and his hand dropped mechanically to his side. His mouth went slack for a second before he found his voice. "Wait, Bella, stop," he begged.

She continued on her path to her truck, keeping her face turned carefully away from his to hide her tears. His footsteps crackled the gravel as he followed her closely but did not touch her again.

"Bella," he tried again. "Please – let me explain."

She yanked on the door to her truck. "There's nothing to explain," she snapped. "I shouldn't have just shown up here." She threw herself upwards onto the seat and leaned over to pull the door shut, but Paul was quicker. He put himself right in the way of the door, preventing her from closing it.

His eyes were wide and panicked. His hands were shaking at his sides, so he pressed them against the soft cushion of her seat, his fingers brushing against her thigh.

Bella gasped as an electric sensation shot through her body. In the same heartbeat, she leaned away as far as she could, yelling, "Don't touch me! Don't you dare touch me!"

Startled, Paul immediately pulled his hands back, his mouth dropping open. "But –"

"No!" Bella interrupted him. "Don't you dare touch me after you've just had your hands all over that – that woman!" She jabbed a finger in the general direction the blonde had walked off in. A harsher, insulting name was on the tip of her tongue, but she decided that it wasn't the woman's fault that Bella had gotten her heart broken. It's not like Bella was Paul's girlfriend.

"It didn't mean anything," he insisted breathlessly. His eyes were black with pain. "She doesn't mean anything!"

Bella laughed humorlessly. "Oh, right. Because no man has ever said that before." She reached up to squeeze her hands around the steering wheel and locked her eyes on the windshield. "Get away from me and close my truck door."

He didn't move for a second, like he was waiting for her to change her mind. Maybe he expected her to start giggling and throw herself into his arms and beg him to make love to her.

As far as Bella was concerned, she never wanted to speak to him again.

When Bella didn't move a muscle, he shifted his weight and swallowed loudly. "Please, just let me explain the situation. You don't understand –"

"I understand perfectly," Bella whispered. Her hard shell had finally broken and the anguish leaked through in her voice. "I understand that when a wolf imprints, she's supposed to be his soulmate. And he's supposed to love her unconditionally. And he's supposed to be –" She blinked away tears. "– faithful to her." Paul didn't say anything or move a muscle. She could feel his eyes on her face, so she met his gaze. "Did you or did you not imprint on me?"

He blinked twice, slowly. His eyebrows pulled together in remorse. After a long pause, he finally nodded solemnly.

Bella felt like another knife had just been lodged into her heart. She let the tears flow freely down her cheeks now. "Get away from me," she repeated, sniffling. "Just get away."

Seeing how upset she was, Paul backed off. As soon as she could, she slammed the truck door and started the engine. She tried her hardest not to look back at him through her rearview mirror, but she couldn't resist. When she did, she saw him doubled over with his hand pressed over his heart, gasping at the ground. Bella bit her lip and decided that she was never going to make it home without being blinded by her tears, so she headed for Jacob's house.

Jacob was furious when she explained what she'd stumbled upon just up the road. Bella had to reach out and latch onto his arm after he tried to take off towards him.

"It doesn't make any sense!" he hollered. "I know he imprinted. I saw it in his head!"

Bella shrugged dejectedly and stared blankly at the television screen, seeing but not really seeing. She'd expected that talking to Jacob would make her feel better about the situation, but having him confirm that the imprint really did exist had only made her feel worse.

"He's an asshole, Bella," he swore. "I'm going to –"

"No, Jacob," she sighed. "Don't do anything. It's fine."

"It most certainly is not fine," he snapped. He paced back and forth, carefully dodging the small coffee table that sat in the middle of the living room. "He's supposed to be faithful, Bella!"

She sniffled. "It's not a big deal, Jake. It's not like we're dating or anything."

"That doesn't matter," Jacob insisted. "A wolf doesn't just cheat on his imprint like that, whether he's in a relationship with her or not. It just doesn't happen."

"Maybe he didn't imprint, then," Bella sighed.

"Oh, he imprinted," Jacob chuckled humorlessly. "Trust me, he imprinted. He's been –" He stopped abruptly and bit down on his lip.

Bella sat up straighter. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Nuh-uh," she scolded him. "Tell me. He's been what?"

Jacob sighed as if he were exhausted by the conversation. "He's been . . . hanging out around your house a lot. Like – at night. He runs a perimeter around your yard all night long."

Bella blinked. "Because that's not creepy at all."

"No, it's actually not." Jacob shook his head. "It's actually pretty common for imprinted wolves. He's, like, drawn to you. To protect you and stuff."

"That still sounds creepy to me."

He rolled his eyes. "It's not supposed to be, Bella. He's not some forty-year-old stalker, he's your soulmate."

"Oh, yeah?" Bella laughed. "He wasn't my soulmate an hour ago when he was hooking up with some blonde slut."

"I didn't say he's perfect, Bella. I said he's your soulmate."

Bella twiddled her thumbs. "I guess he just doesn't want me, then."

Jacob, apparently, didn't have anything else to say.

Bella did as she always did when she was upset.

She read.

The only time Bella was able to forget the troubles of the world around her was when she had a book in her hands. Her eyes traveled over the words effortlessly – probably because she'd read Wuthering Heights at least twenty times. The pages were torn and wrinkled, curling up at the edges from being placed crookedly on her bookshelf, shoved inside purses, and dropped in the rain. The front cover was faded to the point that someone who couldn't recognize it by its condition would have to open to the title page to read the title. But it was a classic, and one of Bella's favorites. When she started reading it again, she could never put it down.

It was pitch-black outside by then. Bella sat, curled up on one end of the couch, right next to a heating duct. Warm air blew upwards and surrounded her while at the same time wafting up between the couch cushions. If she stuffed her feet between them, she could feel the heat warming her toes. Snuggled underneath the blanket, she always felt safe, and comfortable, and warm.

Only now, even though she sat just as she always had, she felt cold.

Incomplete.

Something was missing.

No, she though. Not something. Someone.

No, not someone. Paul. She needed him in her life to feel warm – to feel complete. Her heart just wasn't whole without him.

At this realization, Bella felt tears prickle her eyes. Around Jacob, she hadn't wanted to show any sort of emotion. If being indifferent about the situation would keep her best friend from assaulting another werewolf who could quite frankly beat him to a pulp, that's how she would act – even though the heartbreak felt like it was going to snap her in half.

The rejection was worse, and knowing that Paul spent every night defending her house from the creatures that go bump in the night didn't help because that meant he was only doing that because she was his imprint. He was acting because of the imprint, not because he honestly cared for Bella and Charlie's safety. The magic of the imprint made him care about her, and obviously his feelings did not extend farther than that.

Bella's own soulmate didn't want her.

She covered her mouth in a sob, suddenly overwhelmed by emotion. She glanced at the clock – seven thirty. Charlie would be home in twenty minutes, so she could allot herself fifteen to give herself over to her heartache and get some of that emotion out. She would never make it through dinner without bursting into tears, so she had to take this opportunity now.

She wasn't expecting the knock to resonate from the front door.

She sniffled and quickly wiped at her eyes, setting her novel on the small table beside the couch. When she stood, she tripped over the blanket that was wrapped tightly around her ankle. "Shoot," she grumbled, bracing herself on the coffee table.

She was still trying to rid the moisture from her eyes when she finally stumbled over to the door and got it open. When she looked up and met an intense, concerned pair of dark brown eyes, she gasped.

Paul's hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his cargo shorts, and his shoulders were pressed up to his ears. The toe of his worn-out tennis shoes scuffed against the cement of the Swans' front porch. He wore no shirt, showing off the muscular six-pack that was displayed prominently on his torso.

Bella immediately felt her heartrate increase just at the sight of him and tried to forget that he'd just had sex with some random girl a few hours ago.

He licked his lips. "I talked to Jacob."

Bella's mouth dropped open. "Seriously – after what I saw this afternoon, that's the first thing you say to me?" She tried not to sound wounded, but she couldn't quite help it.

His eyes widened at the hurt in her tone. "Bella –"

"I really don't want to hear about how she means nothing to you," she interrupted. "I don't care."

His shoulders slumped. Paul always seemed to have complete control over everything around him. Even if he really didn't, he still made it seem that way. When he moved, he not only stirred the air but sent electric shocks through it, telling everyone that he was in action and demanding their attention because of it. But standing in front of her in that moment, Bella saw something she'd never noticed before; being around her made him different – not weak, but . . . gentle. Still dominant, but tender at the same time.

"Alright," he said softly. "I won't say that. Instead, I'll say this." He took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut for a second, flexing his fingers at his sides. When he reopened them, he met her hesitant gaze evenly. "I've never been big on commitment, Bella. Since I was a kid, I never wanted to get close to anyone. Not because of any particular childhood experience or anything – I'm not volleying for your sympathy. Romance and connections just . . . weren't my thing. I've always been content with just sex – no emotions, no dating, no birthday presents or meeting the family or anything like that." He shrugged. "What happened in the bedroom stayed in the bedroom, and I preferred it that way." Then his eyes softened and he took a few steps closer. "And then I imprinted."

"When?" she whispered.

A small grin graced his lips at the memory. "The day you came with Jacob to the bonfire – do you remember?" When she nodded, he continued. "He introduced you to the group and sat you right down next to him like you belonged there – and he thought you did, not because you're an imprint, but because you're his best friend."

She swallowed. "Billy invited me to come hear the legends because he thought I deserved to know them – because he thinks of me as his third daughter or something."

Paul grinned despite the situation. "As long as that makes you Jacob's sister, that's great for me." Then he sobered and put all teasing aside. "He told me you think . . . you think that I don't want you."

Bella shrugged. "It doesn't matter." But it mattered a lot.

Paul shook his head. "No, Bella. It does matter because I do want you. I thought you wouldn't want me."

Bella frowned. "Excuse me?"

"I'm a screw up, Bella," he groaned. "I barely graduated high school. I've got a mediocre job as a freakin' construction worker on the Rez. I've already told you I never had a serious relationship – and I doubt I'm even capable of having one." He sighed, and his eyes lifted towards the sky in remorse. "Bella, I'm not good enough for you."

"You're right," Bella said. His eyes popped open in surprise – and maybe even hurt, but Bella wasn't finished. "You're definitely not my type. I like literature, and I'm not athletic at all, and I'm about six inches shorter than you with pale skin." She tapped her toe on the ground impatiently. "But I like you, Paul."

His eyes widened. "You do?"

She scowled at him. "But then you hooked up with some slut and broke my heart."

He sucked in a breath. "Bella –"

"Don't say it," she croaked. "Don't you dare."

His mouth snapped closed.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Bella watched as the light of a television screen flickered in the window of the Wright family's house across the street. The streetlights made the lines on the road just barely visible through the darkness.

Finally, Paul spoke. "God, Bella – this morning, when I caught your scent near Jake's house, I suddenly couldn't leave you alone. I went over to you thinking – I had to see you. I just had to see you, and get a little close to you, and I'd be fine. And then you needed my help, and I would have taken any excuse to stay as close to you as I possibly could for as long as I possibly could." He shook his head. "When I got back to my house, Halie was there."

"Halie is the blonde?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes. She lives in Seattle, but her mother lives in Forks. She was on her way back from visiting her, and . . . I guess she decided to stop by."

"She's done that before?"

Another nod. "We went to high school at the same time. Not the same school, obviously, because she went to Forks High and I stayed on the Rez." Bella shuttered, annoyed to have anything in common with that woman, even something as insignificant and stupid as the same high school. "We used to hook up a lot," he continued quietly, like he was ashamed of himself. "Not so much anymore . . . but every now and then –"

"Please stop," Bella whispered brokenly.

He stood and stared at her for a second before dropping to his knees. He peered up at Bella until she met his gaze. "She wanted to hook up. We made out for a little while, but I couldn't – er . . ." His brow furrowed and a blush crept up his neck.

Bella's eyes widened in understanding. He hadn't been aroused. "Oh, my God," she giggled, ridiculously pleased at the new information.

He grinned sheepishly. "Yeah – it's the first time I've seen her since I imprinted, and . . . it just wasn't happening." He paused. "There's only you now." Bella's heart softened, but he wasn't done talking yet. "And then you were on my front porch, and at first I was ecstatic to that you were there. But when I realized you'd seen her, and you knew that we'd . . . God, I felt so sick. I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. The look on your face –" He begged her for forgiveness with his eyes. "I'll never be able to get your expression out of my mind. I'll hate myself forever."

Bella didn't know what to say to that.

Another silence, this one not quite as uncomfortable as the first, and then:

"I want to be with you."

Bella looked up at him.

"I want to be with you," he repeated, more confident that time. "I want to be able to call you mine. I want to hold you in my arms and kiss you and –"

"I want to be with you, too," Bella interrupted quietly.

His face brightened in excitement, but fell when he read her solemn expression. "You have to make changes, Paul. If you want it to work. If you want us to work." Bella had always been told that women can't change men – men have to change themselves. This would have to be Paul's decision.

He nodded eagerly. "I can change. I will. Bella, I'll do anything to be with you. Now that I know I've got a chance with you, I can't stop thinking about it."

His eyes were so sincere Bella couldn't imagine sending him away. And oh, he was handsome. She leaned against the doorframe and sighed. "Charlie will be home any minute. I know it's late, but – would you want to stay for a nighttime dinner?"

A lock of his brown hair fell down onto his forehead as his head jerked up in surprise. Hope blossomed in his expression. "I would love to."

Bella opened the door wider in invitation, and Paul hastily stood and entered. As he passed, their shoulder's brushed. It was the first physical contact they'd had since he'd shown up, and it sent a spark through Bella's entire body. Paul must have felt it too because he stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at her. With the door hanging wide open, he went with his impulse and leaned down to press his lips against hers.

It was everything their first kiss should have been – gentle yet passionate and packed full of love. It wasn't anything more than a chaste peck; he must have known Bella wasn't ready for anything more to happen between them.

Bella pressed her hands against his chest when he pulled back. She bit her lip and admired his perfect face. "So, no more Halie?" she checked.

He shook his head, completely serious. "No more Halie. No more anyone who's not you."

"We have to take this slow," she told him. "And this does not mean you have my trust. You have to earn it."

"And I will," he promised, pressing his hands to her cheeks to caress her face.

And they lived happily ever after. For the most part, because Paul will always have his temper.

Thank you so much for reading! Reviews are certainly welcome and greatly appreciated.

This is strictly a one-shot, but if you're craving more, check out my story Temptation's Reputation. It pairs Bella with Sam, and I'm extremely happy with it. Plus, stay tuned to my profile for my new stories that will coming after Temptation's Reputation is completed.

Also, I am looking for someone to create banners for my chapter stories as well as my one-shots. PM me if you're interested!

Thank you again, and I hope you'll join me again in the future.