Finding Us (Finding #1)(10)
Author: Megan Smith

He reaches up and rubs the back of his neck, “I’m pretty sure I can behave myself but can you?”

“You’re not my type stud.” I say with a wink.

Knox walks out of the room laughing.

Summer flops back on the bed, “I’m so sorry I dragged you down here Jas. I needed to get away but I thought this would have been fun for us. Now I feel like I trapped you.”

I lie back on the bed next to Summer and grab her hand, “Don’t worry about it. I know you didn’t do this on purpose. It’s fine, we’re supposed to be down here relaxing.”

She turns her head in my direction, “Are you really going to be ok with this?”

I muster a smile, “I’ll be fine.”

I really wasn’t sure if I would be but I wasn’t going to add this on top of everything else she has going on lately. I talked myself into going on this vacation so there is no one else to blame but myself.

Rex has been quiet the whole time, I sit up and he’s looking at me. “What the hell have you done with Jasmine?”

I reach around and grab a pillow off the bed and throw it at him. “Asshole,”

He catches it, and snuggles it to his chest while laughing.

Knox ran out to the store to pick up burgers for the grill, he insists on cooking when all of us told him to just order a pizza. He drove ten hours today, one would think he’s exhausted but he says he’s fine.

The couple I met earlier is Tanner and Rhea. They’ve known Knox and Rex since they were all in diapers. Tanner is Knox’s age, twenty-six, and Rhea is my age, twenty-two. Tanner is the only guy in their small knit group that has a girlfriend and he takes a lot of shit from the guys about it. Rhea just sits back and laughs at them all, she’s really laid back and doesn’t seem to have a care in the world, and Tanner is just the same.

While Knox is out at the store and Summer and Rex are up in his room I take a stroll down to the beach to watch the sunset. It’s absolutely breathtaking. It’s peaceful, no city noises, no awful subway smells. The only noises are the seagulls squawking and the waves crashing. I take a seat in the warm sand and bury my feet. The sun is just touching starting to touch the ocean. I close my eyes and take everything in but my peace is disturbed by Cade minutes later.

“Yo JJ,” He yells.

Sighing, I turn towards his voice, and yell, “Yeah?”

“Knox is back, he said to get your fine ass in the kitchen where you belong.” He’s laughing and I know he’s only joking around.

I stand, brush the sand off and make my way back, missing the ending of a perfect sunset.

Knox is out on the huge deck that’s off the kitchen, standing shirtless at the grill. My mouth goes dry. Yeah, there is no way that I can sleep in his room, it just can’t happen.

“You need help?” I ask.

He smiles, “Yeah. Come over here.”

I go over to where he is standing, he puts down the lid on the grill, turns towards me and starts to lean in. I’m stunned, my feet rooted to the deck. My brain is screaming at me to take a step back. He places a kiss on my cheek, very softly. Actually, I’m not even sure you can call it a kiss, more like his lips brushed my cheek.

He whispers in my ear, “You can’t wear those shorts again.”

I’m dumbfounded.

He pulls back and intently looks into my eyes, “That perfect ass of yours is out on display and it’s going to cause a lot of trouble around here.”

Huh? I look over my shoulder towards Cade who is licking his lips and staring at my ass.

“My ass is covered.” I protest. I know for a fact that it’s covered, I’m not one of those girls that walks around with their ass cheeks hanging out.

He chuckles, “I know baby but the way your ass looks in them wants me to rip them from your body with my teeth.”

My breath catches. I’m shocked and surprised by what he just said.

I’m not really sure how to respond and I’m not really sure that I could even if I wanted to. I glance back at him before sliding the glass door open and stepping into the empty kitchen. I’m glad it’s empty; I need a few minutes to myself.

Thankfully I’ve had a minute to collect myself before Rex comes into the kitchen. He walks into the fridge and grabs a beer.

I hand him to bottle opener that is sitting on the counter next to me. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

Rex narrows his eyes at me. “Why are you in here by yourself?”

I feel my cheek flush. “Oh nothing just waiting for dinner.”

Rex lets out a laugh, “Knox hitting on your again?”

I fiddle with my fingers, “No.”

“Yeah I’m sure he’s not.” Rex throws his arm around my shoulder “He likes you Jas.”

I scoff, “You’re shitting me?”

Rex drops his arm from around my shoulder, “Such a smart ass.”

“Always.”

Rex walks outside to go see what his brother is up to while I continue to stand here and figure out how I’m going to make it through this weekend without wanting to hang myself.

Knox walks in a little bit later and sits the burgers down in the center of the table, then goes about grabbing everything else that he plans on serving us for dinner. Once everything is set, he grabs his phone and a few minutes later everyone suddenly appears for dinner.

I try to ignore the looks that Knox is giving me and concentrate on what’s going on around the table. Cade is growing on me slowly but surely. He seems like the wild one of the group but as the stories start flying around the table I’m beginning to think this isn’t true because I haven’t met Jeremy yet.

“I lost that ass**le last night and I haven’t been able to find him.” Cade laughs, “I left him with some girl giving him a b**w j*b outside the bar.”

“Classy,” I mutter under my breath. Rhea and Summer who are both seated next to me start laughing.

The conversations carry on, I glimpse at the clock and notice it’s nearing midnight and I still haven’t got my bags from Knox’s car and I’m getting sleepy.

Summer catches on to me and fakes a yawn, “I don’t know about you guys but I’m calling it a night. I’m going to go grab my bag from the car.”

I’m so glad she can read me like a book.

Rex and Knox follow suit. The four of us leave the others to clean up dinner. I haven’t even seen Knox’s room to figure out where I can sleep at this point. I’m really hoping there is a couch, or hell even a chair at this point, to sleep on. I haven’t said much to him since his comment back out on the deck and it’s becoming a little awkward.