Sunshine and Pine (A Sequel to Everything to me)

Glorious Muscles and the Smell of a Sweater

The smell of cookies wafts into my face as Emily pulls a sheet out of the oven. Seeing my opening, I snag a spoonful of cookie dough out of the bowl while her back is turned. I've been doing this for the past 30 minutes, and apparently my luck has finally run out.

"Lucy!!" She scolds, seeing me from the corner of her eye. I burst into a fit of giggles just as some of the boys walk in.

"Ugh, would you look at his face." Embry mocks, pointing at Paul. "Damn lovesick puppy."

I turn to see Paul admiring my giggles, leaning against the doorway arms crossed, looking at me like they do in all the best cheesy rom coms.

"Not two seconds before we walked in he was bitching about being wet and bored. Where was this Paul for the past 3 hours. I'd like to be on patrol with him next time please." Paul turns around and growls at Embry, shutting him right up.

Paul may have been complaining about the downpour outside, but I certainly wasn't. While Paul is scaring off Embry, my eyes rake up his body. His shirt is clinging to him in a delicious way, the thin material absolutely drenched. Every dip of muscle is on full display. I am all here for this wet t-shirt contest. It's not until Paul clears his throat that I break out of my daze. I'm almost afraid to meet his eyes. Peeking up at his face, he is radiating mischief.

"Smirk any harder Paul and it'll get stuck on your face." I sass, cheeks flaming red at being caught so blatantly staring in a room full of my friends.

"It might be worth it." He says, voice dripping cockiness.

"Hey, we're ALL wet over here! I feel like I should take this as a blow to my self esteem." Quil says, doing a full Vanna White to all of the other rain soaked abs.

Mustering up as much enthusiasm as I can, I twirl towards Quil.

"Wow, I'm so lucky to be in this room with so many breathtaking men." I throw the back of my hand to my forehead and pull out my best southern accent. "All these glorious muscles. I'm absolutely swooning! Emily-" I whip around to her and she's fighting a grin. "have you ever seen such strong, manly men in all your days?" She's giggling at me now, shaking her head at my antics.

"There, was that better?" I turn to Quil.

He holds his chin up high. "Much better. Finally, an appropriate level of awe." And turns and walks into the living room, plopping down on the couch.

Paul is staring at me with puppy dog eyes again, his smile growing once I've turned my attention back to him. I make my way over and snuggle into his waiting arms.

"Hi beautiful." He mumbles into my hair, taking a deep inhale. "Mmmm you always smell so good. Like sunshine." My face scrunches up in amusement.

"I didn't realize sunshine had its own smell." It comes out as more of a question. Paul draws his eyebrows together in mock seriousness.
"Oh of course it does. Smells all happy and warm." I giggle at him, causing an adorable smile to crack through his facade. "Thank you?"

"It's my favorite smell." He smiles down at me, still wrapped up in his arms. "How was your night?"

"It was fun. We had a girls night. Did all the classic girl stuff. Made cookies, talked about the boys we like... you know."

"Oh yeah? You got a crush or something?" He plays along.

"Mmm can't tell you that. That's top secret girl talk." I look up at him. There's definitely a spark of playfulness from our typical back and forth. But something heavy lies in his eyes too.

My mouth morphs into a frown. "How was patrol? You end up getting anywhere near the wedding?"

"Very very close actually." His face drops. "Jake crashed it. We had to step in before he hurt Bella." I pull out of his arms at this, the mention of Jake's sudden reappearance startling me.