Everything to me (A Paul Lahote imprint story)

Enchanted

The doorbell rings a little before 7, sending me into a frenzy.

"I'M NOT READY YET!" I shout at my aunt, hoping she'll get the door. I'm just finishing my makeup, but my hair is set in soft waves, half of it pulled into a bun while the other half cascades down my back. When I'd texted Paul to ask what to wear, he'd replied with a Dress casual... but cute ;). So I opted for a flowy off-the-shoulder top and jeans.

I make my way down the hallway towards the living room where I hear chattering. Coming into the living room Paul has his back to me, making Aunt Sue laugh with whatever he's said.

"Oh Luce don't you look cute!" She beams at me, making Paul turn around.

"Well those were my orders." I inform her with a grin. Paul's eyes are raking up my body and my face heats up. I take the opportunity to do the same. He's just wearing nicer shorts and a Henley t-shirt, but he looks exceptionally good in them. Our eyes meet and he's grinning at me.

"You certainly rose to the challenge. You look beautiful." He says, and I try to ignore my Aunt who's watching in the corner, a giddy giggle escaping her lips. Sending her a look, I pull Paul out of the house.

He opens his truck door for me and helps me down. He leads me through a trail in the woods for a while until we're deep in the forest.

"Is this that part of the date where I find out you're actually a serial killer?" I ask.

"No, that's later. This is the part where you realize I'm super romantic." He retorts just as a small clearing in the trees reveals a large picnic blanket. I'm taken aback by the thoughtfulness and the beauty of the set up. A large red blanket is laid across the forest floor, fairy lights strung through the trees around it, making it look enchanted. A large basket of food sits in the corner and a bottle of champagne is sitting beside it. Paul bends down and picks up a bouquet of purple flowers and hands them to me.

"Promise number one completed." He says jokingly, making a grin break across my face.

"This is really sweet Paul. I love it." I reply, nestling into his outstretched arm and giving his body a squeeze.

We sit and eat and chat until the sun goes down, and we're left in the soft golden glow of the fairy lights. My enhanced eyes allow me to still see everything in the forest surrounding us but I'm only looking at Paul anyways.

"So," I ask, steering the conversation in a new direction. "Can I ask why we're in the middle of the forest?" He smiles, looking me right in the eye.

"Because this is the only place we can truly be ourselves. We're safe to be who we are in here. We protect these lands and they protect us too. I think that's sort of beautiful." His reply stuns me into silence. And it suddenly completely makes sense why he walked me all the way out here. This is where we can be what our ancestors made us to be. We can run in our wolf forms, free of fear of discovery. The woods conceal us and keep us safe, and I find myself also thinking they're sort of beautiful.

Paul brushes my long waves over my shoulder and moves towards me, his hand now resting on the side of my neck. My breath hitches in my throat when he starts leaning toward me. He's so close now I could count every eyelash. That is if I could tear my eyes away from his sweet lips. He's waiting for me to close the distance, to tell him I'm ready to take this step with him. I smile softly and move that final inch and our lips come together.

No other kiss I've ever experienced has ever felt like this. This kiss ignites my soul. A warmth spreads all the way down to my toes as Paul's lips move softly against my own. I feel like something I've been missing has just been victoriously found. I can almost feel our imprint bond doubling in size as our relationship enters this new territory.  My hands move around his neck and my fingers get tangled in his hair.

Paul pulls back as he feels the kiss becoming something more, in the interest of keeping our first date sweet, and not r- rated. Neither of us have ever been praised for our control after all.

"That was..." I trail off.

"Mhmm." Paul nods. He pulls back further to look into my eyes, running his thumb along my jaw. "You are everything to me Lucy."

My heart absolutely melts at his words and I take a deep breath to steady the butterflies in my stomach. My head turns to the side and leans into his hand, planting a kiss on his open palm.

"Promise number two complete." I whisper.

Paul's grin is infectious as he laughs out loud. "Did I make you swoon? I'm sorry it's unintentional sometimes. I can't control my charm." He teases.

"You really should learn to control that. Think of those poor innocent girls at school. You're just breaking their hearts."  My voice is dripping with sass.

"Well better than you breaking their noses!" He chuckles out.

"What can I say, you're mine." I wink at him.

Paul visibly swallows and nods along, not trusting his voice right now.

We pull into my driveway a little after 11pm. But I make no move to get out of the truck, not wanting this night to end.

"So, were you blown away? How did that rate on your scale of dates?" He asks, a teasing glint in his eye.

"It definitely rates higher than the guy who threw up on me in the movie theater..." Paul's face wrinkles in disgust as I continue. "But my date with Tommy Schots, he kissed me like 3 times, so..." Paul shocks me by letting out a growl at this news, he grabs my waist and pulls me across the bench seat until my face is flush with his. Our lips come crashing together in a hungry kiss. It's much more eager than before. This one is needy, rushed and well... sexy. Paul reaches down to make his seat slide backwards, and he pulls me into his lap. This new position proves useful and I deepen the kiss, my hips moving reflexively into his. The groan Paul let's out deep and it brings a heat to my belly. His teeth come down on my lip, drawing out a mewl from me. I adjust and my back accidentally hits the car horn, making us both jump at the loud sound. Effectively cutting through the sexual tension in the car like a damn samurai sword.

I let my head fall to his chest and laugh. My hand is on my chest, like it's somehow going to keep my sporadic heartbeat from pounding through my ribcage.

"You should probably go inside... Your whole family knows you're here now." He says, poking fun at my blunder. I give him a quick kiss and climb off his lap.

"I think you just slid into the all time best date slot." I say with a wink as I climb out of the truck. "Goodnight Paul" Paul gives me a wicked smirk.

"Goodnight baby. Dream of me."

"Oh I always do."