Constantly ♡ (Paul Lahote)

27 - Screwing Up

I held up my fist and smiled. "Just this." I reared back and punched him right in the gut. I didn't give him the full force of my punch, because as a trained boxer, I could have really hurt him. But I did manage to knock the wind out of him and send him to the ground, doubled over in pain.

I leaned down and sneered, "I went easy on you this time. Next time won't be so pretty."

Embry lifted his leg and attempted to kick me. I laughed in response. Jacob and Quil came running down the ramp, pushing past me to check on Embry.

"Paul! What did you do?" Quil accused.

"Ask him what he did."

Jacob looked at me and shook his head, as he and Quil got Embry to his feet. "Jesus, Paul. Did you have to be so rough on him?" Jacob scowled.

I laughed again. "His ass is lucky that's all I did to him. He needs to go home."

Quil argued, "He was gonna stay the night."

"Now he's not." I shot Jacob a look to let him know I wasn't kidding.

Jacob nodded. "Let's walk him home, Quil."

"Don't forget what I said, Embry," I called out as they disappeared into the darkness.

I jogged back into the house, needing to make sure Rachel was okay. I approached her bed carefully, noticing that she was curled on her side, facing away from me, and sleeping soundly.

I ran my hand through her hair, trying to push the errant strands away. I leaned in to press a kiss to her temple, when she reached back for my hand. I smiled when she pulled me down to snuggle against her. I kicked off my boots and slid in behind her.

I pulled her body as close as I could to my own and buried my face in her hair. I missed this. She must have missed it too, because even in her sleepy state, she wanted me here.

~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~

When I awoke the next morning, I stretched and felt strangely content. Well that was until I opened my eyes and saw Rachel staring at me. "Good morning, beautiful."

Her brow furrowed as her gaze drifted to my bare chest and her surroundings. She nibbled her lip and whispered, "Did you...did we...umm...?"

I noticed how nervous she looked and I finally realized what she meant. She thought we had sex. "Oh, honey, no. I would never...I couldn't do that without your permission." I was rambling like an idiot.

Sensing maybe she didn't believe me, I jumped up and showed her the rest of me. "See I've got my jeans on." I looked around for my shirt and scowled. "I have a shirt somewhere...but I must have gotten hot and taken it off."

"Sorry...I just don't remember coming home last night."

I shrugged. "You told me you hadn't eaten yesterday and then you kind of fainted. I brought you home and put you to bed."

Rachel nodded and sat up against the wall behind her. "Did you get me dressed for bed too?"

I rubbed the back of my neck and nodded. "You're not mad, are you? I just wanted you to be comfortable."

"You took off my bra."

I could feel myself blushing. "Yeah I did."

She looked a little more sure of herself and I noticed her eyes roaming over my body and it thrilled me. "Is everything okay?"

She pressed her lips together and nodded. "You look...really good."

I couldn't hide my smile when she complimented me. "Yeah, I've been working really hard," I replied, turning my arms in to show her the definition of my muscles.