The living room was loud, full of the usual chaos: boys shouting over a game, Embry wrestling with Seth in the hallway, and someone’s music blasting from the kitchen. You were curled up on the worn couch, hoodie pulled over your head, flipping through your notebook with a deep sigh.

Midterms were frying your brain. You hadn’t eaten since lunch. And you couldn’t even find your charger.

Then, as if summoned by the gods of timing—or imprinting—you felt him before you saw him.

Paul dropped something onto the coffee table with a soft thud.

You blinked.

A takeout container. Still hot. From your favorite spot in town.

You looked up.

He didn’t say anything right away, just crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the doorway, like he wasn’t standing there intentionally waiting for your reaction.

“Did you go all the way into Forks for this?” you asked, voice halfway between shock and confusion.

He shrugged like it was nothing, but his jaw was tight. “You didn’t eat all day. I could tell.”

You looked down at the food. Your exact order. Even the weird sauce combination you never told anyone else about.

“And my charger’s plugged in behind you,” he added. “The cable was half-chewed so I replaced it.”

Your heart did something. That stupid flutter thing it always did when Paul Lahote showed that he paid attention. Quietly. Fiercely.

Your hoodie slipped off your head as you stared at him. “You didn’t have to—”

“I wanted to.”

He didn’t even flinch. Didn’t look away. He said it like it was obvious. Like he couldn’t not do it.

Then he pushed off the doorway, stepping closer until he was in your space, like always.

“I don’t do that for anyone else,” he added, voice lower now, serious. “Just so we’re clear.”

Your stomach flipped, and it had nothing to do with the food. You swallowed hard.

He smirked, just slightly, like he knew. “Eat. You look like you’re about to keel over.”

“And if I don’t?”

He leaned in, close enough for you to feel the heat from his chest. “Then I’ll feed you myself.”

And honestly? You believed he would.