Finding Us (Finding #1)(5)
Author: Megan Smith

A few hours pass when Summer comes walking in for her afternoon coffee fix. I grab her usual and sit with her at a table she chose in the back corner.

“Thank you.” She says as I set the coffee down in front of her.

“Of course, so you’ll never believe who sent me a note this morning.” I say.

Raising her eyebrows and blowing on her coffee she guesses, “Knox?”

I roll my eyes, “You had to tell him where I worked?” It irritates me that she would do that.

Summer smirks, “I didn’t tell him.”

“So how did he know then? Rex?”

She shakes her head.

What the hell?

Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise, “He already knew. I figured you told him.”

“What do you mean he already knew?”

“We got to talking last night and he knew you worked here, he didn’t go into details about how. I asked Rex after we left if he told him and he said that he didn’t.” She reaches into her purse and pulls out her cell phone and checks for messages.

I tap my nails against the table, “We barely said two words on the dance floor. If I didn’t tell him and you and Rex didn’t either, I wonder who did?”

She put her phone back in her purse, “Is it really a big deal?”

I thought about it for a second. I guess it really isn’t that big of a deal that he knows, although it is a little creepy since he just got back into town, unless… “Do you think he knows my parents?”

Summer shakes her head adamantly. “No. No way. That’s not your dad’s style. If he was coming to look for you, you would know it. He’d come himself. Plus Knox isn’t a private investigator or anything. Rex said he owns a few clubs and a development company, that’s a far cry from doing investigation work.”

I run a finger around the lid of my coffee, “Yeah I guess you’re right. It’s just weird.”

Summer takes a long sip from her coffee, “You going for a run today?”

“Yup.” But I don’t plan on running my normal route just in case it is them trying to conspire against me. Plus I need a longer run than normal since I need to work out all these emotions from Saturday night and I don’t have a class to teach until tomorrow.

Summer fills me in on how dinner went and then went on and on about how hot Knox is and how sizzling we were together at the club. This only fuels my feelings that it was her that told him where I work. She also proceeds to tell me that two girls knocked on his door when they were all eating dinner. He didn’t invite them in but he was laughing at something they were saying while he was talking to them. Summer also made the point crystal clear that he didn’t invite them in, like it matters to me anyway if he did or didn’t.

Summer’s break comes to an end; we say our goodbyes and both go back to work. I’m standing at the register pulling all the large bills out of the drawers when Dianna comes back in with yet another envelope with the same handwriting. I take it and throw it in the trash again without reading it. He’s persistent and determined to get me to go to dinner with him but it’s going to take a lot more than a note that he can’t even deliver.

Marcus, another manager, comes in at four o’clock to take over for me. I finish up the last register and clock out for the night. I gather my things and make my way to the elevator. As I’m waiting a shiver racks my whole body and suddenly I feel overheated. The elevator doors open; I step in along with a few other people who were waiting with me. I keep my head down, scrolling through Facebook on my phone. The doors open again and a few people get off on their floors. When the doors close, and I can’t see any other feet in my peripheral vision, I lift my head. My whole body starts to tingle, I take a deep breath to try and calm myself but that does nothing for me. His clean, citrus, warm musky scent from last night wraps around my body. He’s in my personal space now, body heat penetrating against my back. I take a step forward and he follows. I take another deep breath, preparing to say something, when I feel a hand grasp my hip and my words die off.

“It’s not nice to throw my notes away without reading them.” Knox says in his hot throaty voice.

I snap back trying to keep my desire for him at bay, “It’s not nice that you are having my employees do your dirty work, and how are you getting into the building anyway?”

“Feisty.” He squeezes my hip a little tighter when I try to turn around. “I have my ways.”

“What do you want, Knox?” I huff in irritation.

“You.”

“Not happening.”

“Not yet.”

“Not ever.”

The elevator dings and opens. I take a step, preparing to have to use a little force to get out of his grasp but he lets me go without any resistance. The second our bodies disconnect I feel the loss. A feeling that I can’t explain takes over my body. How could he affect me like this when we just met? The doors ding again and start to close.

“I’ll meet you at six downstairs.”

I turn around, big mistake, his eyes, so blue; I want to pull him off the elevator just so I can stare at them for just a little longer. The magnetic pull is simmering just below the surface. “I don’t think so. I’ve got plans already.”

He smirks, “That’s a shame.”

The doors close and I release the breath I’m holding. What the hell is wrong with me? How can this guy affect me the way he is? He’s the wrong kind of guy to have feelings for. He’s used to getting his way. I need to stay away from him. I should stay away from him, but I don’t know if I really want to.

I open the door to the apartment, kick off my shoes and make my way to my room. Summer wouldn’t be home for another two hours so I throw on a pair of running shorts, a sports bra and my running shoes. I grab my iPod from the kitchen table, tuck my key in on the side of my sports bra and shut the door on the way out.

I take the stairs down to the first floor, wave to Henry, the doorman, put my ear buds in and hit play before he opens the doors for me into the stifling summer heat. I turn the corner and take off in a sprint, needing to feel the burn in my lungs. Running in New York was scary as hell for me at first. I was afraid to wear my headphones because of all the traffic, but now that I’ve been doing it for the last few months it’s a piece of cake. One thing I’ll never get used to is the awful smell when running past the subway entrances, it smells like piss. I do love running past the hot dog, pretzel and peanut vendors on almost every corner. The smell of the fresh cut grass in central park reminds me of back home right after the landscapers mowed the lawn.