CHAPTER NINETEEN

Paul's POV

Everyone spent the rest of the day relaxing at Sam's while I quietly planned where I was going to take Embry on a date. We had one dinner date before and I thought dinner again and then a movie. I wondered what the chances of me borrowing Sam's truck would be, so we could go and park up somewhere after, but as I thought about how to ask him, knowing he would guess what I was up to, he made an announcement. He was taking Emily into Port Angeles the next day to go shopping and see a show she was interested in. She was in the bathroom at the time and he talked quietly, telling the rest of us to keep our mouths shut so it would be a surprise for her.

"Aww, she'll love it," Embry said, beaming.

"Trying to be romantic, Sam?" I teased, even though I was planning to make an effort to do the same myself. I wasn't sure how good I'd be at it, romance was hardly my thing, but I wanted to do something special for Embry after the amount of drama we had all been through over the past few weeks.

"Shut up, Paul. And listen, guys, we're staying in a hotel for the night so I don't want any wild parties going on. Emily will skin me if we get back and find the house trashed."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Jared said. "Actually, I won't even be here, Mom asked me to bring Kim home for dinner, her sister's visiting for a couple of days."

"We won't be here either," added Jake. "I'm taking my Imprint on our first date."

Seth beamed from ear to ear at this and blushed furiously. I bit my lip to stop myself smirking. The house would be empty. I couldn't have planned things better myself. Everyone else was doing it for me. I felt a flutter of excitement coupled with nerves and hoped I wouldn't mess things up. My first proper time alone with Embry and now we were both ready for it, I wanted to make sure it was perfect.

I didn't think I would get much sleep that night, but exhaustion kicked in eventually and I barely moved until morning, dead to the world with my arms wrapped around Embry as usual. Emily cooked her customary large breakfast for all of us and then Sam sprang the surprise on her, telling her to pack an overnight bag with a 'going out' outfit and hurry up about it. She did her best to get some information out of him as to where they were going, but he wouldn't give anything away and in less than an hour, they were driving off in Sam's Mom's car, Sam smirking and Emily looking as pleased as punch. Sam had told me I could use the truck in their absence without me even having to ask and I couldn't wait to finish sorting out the date.

Jared went off to Kim's not long after, Quil went home and Jake went to the Clearwaters', leaving only Embry and me at the house.

"So what are we doing today?" Embry asked as soon as the last person had closed the door behind them.

"I have a couple ideas," I said with a grin.

"Oh, tell me!" He threw himself on the sofa beside me and snuggled against me.

"Nope! It's a surprise."

"Spoilsport. Well, I hope it involves food, I'm starving," Embry said, despite having just eaten enough to feed a family, as all the wolves had.

"Yeah, it involves food, but that's all I'm saying."

"Ok, well I'm going to get a shower," he said, drawing away from me again. "You could always join me. Since no one's here." He avoided my eyes and reddened, smiling shyly.

"Let's wait for tonight to do that," I said reluctantly. "Just in case one of the others comes back for some reason." I would have given anything to get in the shower with him, but I guessed it would be the only chance I would have to call and book a table at the restaurant I had in mind, if it wasn't already too late. There was a new Thai restaurant in Forks and I thought Embry would probably like it.

"Oh...ok...sorry." His face fell and coloured up even more.

"Hey." I pulled him closer to me again and gave him a light kiss. "Believe me, I can't wait to get my hands on you, but I have stuff planned for us and that comes later. I love you."

"I love you too." His smile returned and a minute later he got up and headed for the bathroom.

He left the door open, so I went into the bedroom and shut myself in to make the call. I was lucky - there was only one table left in the restaurant for six o'clock and it was a corner table for two. I heaved a sigh of relief and booked it, then put the phone down and checked the drawer in the bed table for about the tenth time to make sure the hings I had in there hadn't been disturbed. It was my sock drawer and I doubted Embry would go snooping through my socks unless he needed to borrow some, but I was still convinced I would get caught out.

I'd had a number of embarrassing episodes over the past few weeks when I'd managed to grab some time on my own and had cursed the fact that I had nobody to ask advice of more than once. Still, the internet was always a good source of information and I'd been really careful to delete my search history in case anybody decided to use my laptop and have 'gay sex' pop up in front of them. My face burned once again at the thought, but if I hadn't done some reading, it never would have crossed my mind to buy lube for one thing. That had been even more fucking embarrassing than reading about it. I ripped the box of condoms open and emptied the contents loose into the bottom of the drawer to make for less fumbling around later, then quickly slipped out of the room as I heard the water in the bathroom stop running.

We spent a couple hours watching television and cuddling on the sofa. I was so excited and nervous that I was sure Embry would see right through me, but he didn't seem to notice anything different. He asked a few times what we were supposed to be doing and it wasn't until just after two o'clock that I told him we were going somewhere special and suggested he go home and get changed into something other than cut-offs which we all practically lived in.

"Oh, can't you give me even a little clue?" he begged.

"No." I planted a light kiss on his mouth. "Get out of here."

As soon as he was gone I was in the shower, scrubbing myself from head to foot, drying myself vigorously and actually shaving. I preferred stubble, but I knew Embry liked my face soft and smooth, so I removed the bristles, slapped on cologne and got dressed in black jeans and a white shirt. Embry returned not long after, wearing charcoal pants and a dark blue shirt and smelling mouthwatering.

"Hey, gorgeous," I said, grabbing him in a hug immediately he stepped in the door. He giggled and slid his arms around my neck.

"You look hot," he said.

"Well, I was going to take you out for dinner, but maybe we should just stay here and nibble on each other," I smirked, brushing my lips against his ear and then biting gently. I could quite happily have dragged him straight into the bedroom, but at the same time I couldn't wait to spoil him. I let him go reluctantly, grabbed the truck keys and the house keys and shoved my wallet into my pocket.

I drove the truck into Forks and parked up in the lot behind the 7-11, then grasped Embry's hand, unconcerned about anybody we might come across on the way to the restaurant. Amusingly enough it was Mark and Stu we ran into on the main street, both of them with girls hanging onto them. They seemed surprised to see us and paused, staring as I marched past them, my nose in the air and a grin on my face, gripping Embry's hand tight in mine and wondering if the pair would dare say anything.

"Fags," I heard one of them mutter quietly just after we had passed them and before I could even open my mouth, Embry twisted his head around and snapped, "Fuck off!"

"Leave it, will you?" Stu's voice said, apparently to Mark, and that was that.

I glanced back and they were all walking away. I grinned at Embry in amusement. "I'm getting to be a bad influence on you."

"No, it's the wolf in me." He growled under his breath in a surprisingly sexy way and I wondered how I was going to survive all night with him behaving like this. I halted outside the door of the Thai restaurant now and held it open for him.

"We're going here? Seriously? Oh, cool!" he exclaimed, walking in ahead of me.

A waiter came to take us to our table and as we walked down the long dimly lit room I grinned to myself as I saw Jake and Set sitting in a small alcove, each holding a menu and neither of them looking at it as they gazed into each other's eyes instead.

When we sat down and were given the menus, I ordered two cokes to be going on with. I didn't know anything about Thai food, but Embry somehow did and had been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to try out the restaurant since it had been advertised. I was pleased that I had made the right choice and let him make suggestions of what we should try, although I actually did the ordering. We had a platter of starters to share and then a green chicken curry for me and Embry had a shrimp dish although we shared those too. We finished with icecream, feeding each other spoonfuls and then lingering over coffee, smooching in the corner and earning giggles from Seth as he walked past us to the restrooms.

"You can laugh," I teased. "We saw you when we came in, all loved up."

"Sshh!" hissed Seth, his blush obvious even in the low lighting. He walked off quickly and Embry elbowed me.

"Don't tease him, he's shy. Like me."

"Shy? Bull," I grinned. "What was that about the shower earlier?"

Embry grinned. "Yeah, but there was no one to hear us."

I smiled and leaned closer again to give him another kiss. "You know how much I love you?" I whispered.

"About as much as I love you?"

I gave him another soft kiss and then drew back reluctantly and gulped the last of my coffee, glancing at my wristwatch. "We better get out of here or we'll be late." I summoned the waiter and asked for the check, hoping it wasn't going to completely empty my wallet.

"Late for what?" Embry asked.

"Movie." I handed over a bunch of notes to the waiter, relieved that I still had plenty left.

"Oh, cool, what are we seeing?"

"Your choice. There's a bunch of things on," I said. "The Da Vinci Code, Poseidon, Lucky Number Slevin, if they'll let us in. It's an R rating, but we easily look old enough since the wolf growth," I grinned.

"Let's go for that, I've seen the trailer and it looks great," Embry said at once.

We walked down the street to the movie theatre and I went to buy tickets. The guy on the desk barely even looked at me when I asked to see Lucky Number Slevin and minutes later we were in the back row watching the commercials before the trailers started. The movie was great, right up to the part where Slevin warned Yitzchok that he was supposed to kill him and then I was too distracted by Embry to notice whether he actually did kill him or not. I leaned over to give him a kiss and our lips clung, seemingly endlessly. Finally I had him to myself without the rest of the pack or the threat of vampires or any other crap getting in our way and we only managed to pull ourselves apart when The Boss and The Rabbi were tied to their chairs suffocating near the end of the movie.

We left hand in hand as the credits rolled and walked slowly back down the street to find the truck. My heart was pounding with excitement and my pants way too tight from the prolonged kissing and I couldn't wait to get back to the house. I drove one-handed, happy the truck had automatic transmission because it left my other arm free to wrap around Embry and hold him close to my side as we travelled back to the reservation.

It was pitch dark by the time we reached the house and I parked up behind it and let us in through the rear door, shoved it closed after us and then leaned on it, pulling Embry close to me. Our lips met again and his body pressed against mine. I could feel his heart hammering in his chest, rapid and uneven just as mine was and I wondered if he had the same thing in mind that I did. He was certainly as aroused as I was and the feel of him only excited me more. I pushed him away from me slightly, grasped his hand and led him to my room, telling myself to stop being so damned nervous. Tough guy Paul worried about having sex? It was hardly like Embry and I hadn't done anything at all, but I supposed my main worry was that I might hurt him.

However, by the time we were in my room with the door closed, the only light coming from the glow of the half moon shining in the corner of the window, I stopped thinking so much and went with instinct. Embry melted into my arms, we sank onto the bed, kissing breathlessly and gradually removing each other's clothes, stroked our hands over each other's bodies, teasing each other into a rapid loss of control, panting and laughing and grabbing for one of the towels which seemed to have taken up residence in the room just lately.

We lay holding each other and talking softly, breathing in each other's scent until excitement took over and I began to kiss Embry again, devouring him and finally putting into practise what I'd been reading about. I was as gentle as I could be, spending time teasing him, preparing him and when we made love he made no sign that I hurt him at all. As I looked down into his eyes it was almost like Imprinting all over again. Everything around us faded out and there was only Embry, wrapped around me, telling me he loved me, gazing back at me as if he were almost drowning the same way I was.

Later we did take that shower together Embry had taunted me with and it was the early hours of the morning before we finally got into bed and lay down with the intention of sleeping. As usual, Embry curled up with his back to me and I folded my arms around him, pressing my face into his neck, drifting into sleep feeling his heartbeat under my palm and thinking about how different I was since I had arrived in La Push less than a year ago. Yeah, I was a wolf inside, but it wasn't that; I'd arrived an outcast - hated in my old town for being Native and hated here for being my usual self with my foul temper and readiness with my fists. Now I belonged - to the pack and to Embry; I had found my soul mate and my whole reason for living.

Embry's POV

As I lay in Paul's arms, my eyes too heavy to stay open any longer, I thought back over the evening, unable to keep the smile off of my lips. He had gone to so much effort to give me a wonderful romantic evening and when we made love it had been perfect. I had known it would be; we had waited so long, but it had been so worth it and it was only the beginning. We were part of each other and I knew it would have been that way with or without the Imprints. He was my life and I knew he would never let me go. His breathing slowed and his arm grew heavy around me as he fell asleep and I stopped thinking and let myself slip away to join him.