"So how do you know your dad and Jacob won't be back soon?"

"Because they went to Chief Swan's to watch some sports thing on TV. It'll be an all day event, like always."

"Billy's good friends with Charlie Swan?"

I nodded. "They have been for years." I led him into the kitchen and reached past him for the first aid kit in the cabinet. "Did you just sniff my hair?"

He laughed. "Ouch that hurts." He held his side and grimaced from the pain.

"You didn't answer my question."

He leaned forward, his nose just above my ear, and inhaled deeply. "Guilty. It smells like...coconut...and you."

Now I laughed. "Me? What do I smell like?"

"Sweet. Like the total opposite of what you really are."

"Hey!"

"I'm joking! You know you're sweet, Rachel. At least you are to me."

I smiled at him. He's really cute when he's not hitting on me or being a smartass. "Take your shirt off."

His eyes opened wide. "Wow already? Can you buy me dinner first?"

And there's the smartass. "I bought your breakfast."

He nodded and slipped his t-shirt over his head. I checked the cuts and bruises on his body, my brow furrowed with concern. I cleaned and bandaged a few of the deeper cuts. It's bad. I can't even imagine how badly this hurt. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

He shrugged, refusing to make eye contact with me. "Not much to say. My dad is an angry bastard. He's never gotten over his divorce from my mom and he drinks...a lot."

I sighed. I hated thinking about this. I put the first aid kit away and grabbed a bag of peas from the freezer. "Put this on your eye, it looks bad."

He put it on his face and winced. I took the bag back and wrapped it in a kitchen towel. "Better?" I asked, holding it to his face.

He nodded and yawned. "Sorry. I was up most of the night."

"Come on."

He followed me to my room and I closed the door behind us. "What are we doing?" he asked.

"You should rest," I told him, nodding toward my bed.

"I can't do that."

"Why not?" I yawned and climbed onto my bed. "There's plenty of room."

He glanced around nervously. "Probably not a good idea."

Sometimes I forgot how young he really is. Or maybe I just wanted to forget. "It's not sex. Just a nap, no funny business."

"I've had sex before."

"Have you ever just slept with a girl? Like sleeping and that's all?"

He shook his head. "No, never."

"I promise I'll behave," I teased.

He laughed and held his sides. He set the towel wrapped peas on my desk and kicked off his boots. He still looked unsure so I patted the bed encouragingly. "Not gonna bite."

"Well damn, then what's the point?" he smirked.

My smart ass was back! He must have felt better. I smiled when he sat on the bed. I touched his shoulder. "Come on. I'm exhausted too. I had to get up at four this morning to open the diner."

He turned toward me, his expression apprehensive. I gave him plenty of space, but he pulled me to his chest. I wasn't counting on that. "Be careful," I warned, afraid I'll hurt him.

He either felt better or he was pretending for my sake, because my head on his chest doesn't seem to hurt him. He tightened his hold on me and I sighed. It feelt better than our hug before. I looked up at his face and wondered what it would be like to kiss him.

Then I realized he was already asleep.

~♡~♡~♡~♡~

When I finally woke up, my first thought was that I'm late for work. Then I remembered that I already worked this morning. I reached for Paul and he wasn't there. I jumped up to check my window. Dad's truck was still gone. It was almost six. Jesus, we slept all day.

I nearly ran Paul down as he came out of the bathroom. "Sorry! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

"I was just wondering where you went."

He pointed his thumb over his shoulder and smiled. "Bathroom."

I rolled my eyes. "Duh...sorry. I'm just a little out of it. I slept really hard."

"Me too. I only woke up a few minutes before you did. Actually, I was wondering if you had something for my head...I got a killer headache."

I nodded and squeezed past him. "I got something in here." I found some Tylenol in the medicine cabinet and passed it to him. He opened the bottle and I filled up a glass of water for him. Yikes. I noticed my reflection in the mirror. I grabbed a makeup wipe and cleaned up my eyes. "I look scary."

He watched me in the mirror and laughed. "That's not what I was thinking."

He ran his fingers through my hair and I tried not to react. God, I loved how that felt. I tried to concentrate on fixing my face and not how his hands felt on my scalp. Shit. He was killing me. I swiped on some tinted lip oil and pressed my lips together. I knew I was breathing too fast. I didn't want him to know how his touch affected me. "Better?" I asked, pulling his hands from my hair. I couldn't take it anymore. He won.

"You're panting," he smirked.

"No, I'm not," I fibbed.

He just smirked at me like an idiot. "You are."

I shrugged. "So you found my weakness...big deal. Doesn't mean anything." I pushed past him and sighed.

He followed me back to my room and leaned on the doorframe as I absently straightened up my desk. "So I really need to go home," he finally said.

"Why?"

"I don't have any clothes or money," he patted his pockets. "Hell, I don't even have my wallet."

I held a stack of clothes I collected from the back of my chair and frowned. "You said you couldn't go home."

"He should be gone now...happy hour and all."

I deposited the clothes in the hamper and approached him. "Well, I'll go with you."

"No, I can't let you do that."

"Who said you were letting me?"

He blocked the door and gave me a serious look. "I guess there's no changing your mind, huh?"

"Nope."

"Come on," he murmured, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"Did you really think I'd let you go by yourself?"

I looked up to see my father and Jacob staring at me. Shit. His arm was still holding me and his shirt was...where? It was in the kitchen. Oh God, Jacob looked like he was gonna explode. "Hi, Dad."

I left Paul to grab his shirt and Jacob shook his head at me. I heard Paul introduce himself to my dad and I returned, shoving his shirt at him. "Paul got in a fight today, Dad. I was taking care of him."

"I bet you were," Jacob groused.

"Knock it off, son. Your sister's a big girl. I trust her decisions."

"Well I don't trust him," Jacob fumed, shoving Paul on his way to his room.

"Jacob!" I scolded, but he already slammed his bedroom door.

"I brought home some steaks and potatoes from Charlie's. I thought we could cook out tonight?" Dad asks hopefully. "And Paul can join us."

"Oh I don't know, I was about to go home."

"Nonsense. You'll stay and eat with us. And then we can get better acquainted with Rachel's new friend." It wasn't a question. Paul agreed and it seemed like he doesn't want to disappoint my dad.

~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡

I watched Paul talking with my dad and tried to figure out if it's going well or not. They seemed like they're getting along. Of course, my father wasn't the threatening type. I felt like he may know that Paul's father was abusive. Dad seemed to know about everyone on the reservation. I just didn't want anyone hurting him more than he already has been.

"Rachel!"

"What?"

"Quil is trying to talk to you," Jacob huffed.

I rubbed my bare arms and shivered a little. Even the backyard bonfire wasn't keeping me warm tonight. "Sorry, Quil. What were you saying?"

"Dinner was really good. Thanks for having us over." He winked at me and I smiled weakly.

"Don't bother, Quil. Can't you see that she's only got eyes for Lahote now?" Embry replied, smirking.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Jacob mumbled.

"Oh, what's the big deal, Jake? He's been nice to Rach so far...and when he's not, we'll take care of him," Embry announced proudly. Quil and Jacob nodded in agreement and fist bumped each other.

"Dream on, you dorks. Paul could take all of you on...no problem."

"No way, Rachel! Look at these guns!" Embry jumped in front of me, stripping off his shirt and flexing his so called muscles.

I nearly fell off the log from laughing. "Your arms look like toothpicks, Embry!"

He looked hurt and he scowled at me. Then he looked past me and returned to his seat. Paul must have given him a funny look when he was walking back to us. "Everything okay?" I asked.

Paul nodded. "Your dad said goodnight. He asked if Jacob could help him get to bed."

Jacob frowned. "Come on, guys. Let's see if there's any Cheetos left."

Quil waved at me and Embry threw a few pretend punches my way until Paul glared at him. "Sorry, lovebirds. Have fun!"

Paul sighed as he slipped his jacket off and wrapped me up in it. "You're so cold, Rachel. Why didn't you go in and change?"

"I don't know. I guess I was too busy keeping an eye on you," I admitted shyly.

Paul smiled and I rolled my eyes. I hated having to admit I cared about him. I haven't let myself care about anyone in such a long time. When Paul wrapped his arm around me, I felt like I wanted to let him in. There's just something about him. I knew he was young and this was ridiculous. How could I be having these feelings for him?

"What are you thinking?" he asked as I stared at the fire, my head swirling with questions I can't answer.

I considered lying. But I didn't. "I'm thinking about you, Paul. More specifically...I'm thinking about us."

......
A/N: so? What do you guys think so far?