He raises his eye brows, “Says you. Every time one of us looks your way Knox wants to rip our heads off.”

“Fuck off ass**le.” Knox growls from behind me. He’s standing at the top of the steps. I don’t know how long he’s been there but he doesn’t look happy and I’m not sure why.

“See.” Cade says.

I push past Cade and find Summer fast asleep on Rex’s lap in the living room. I point to the beach, letting Rex know where I am going in case Summer wants to come down when she wakes up. I’m not paying attention to where I’m walking and run right into a very hard chest.

“Shit! Sorry.” I apologize.

A deep chuckle comes from Jeremy. “No reason to be sorry baby. You’ll never hear me complain when your body is pressed up against mine.”

A snarl comes from behind me and I know that it’s Knox. Jeremy laughs and opens the sliding glass door, allowing me to step out. The summer heat engulfs me and the salt water in the air makes my skin sticky.

I head down to find a spot on the nearly filled beach. After I’ve got my towel laid out I set down my Kindle and strip out of my shorts. I take a look around and I notice a few guys looking my way. I don’t want their attention. I lie down on my stomach and open the book that I started on the way down here. At least an hour has passed and there’s still no sign of Summer. I guess her Irish ass is trying to not turn crispy. Speaking of crispy, I turn over on my back to ensure I get an even tan. I set my book aside and close my eyes and listen to all the sounds around me.

I hear a bunch of little kids laughing and yelling and a few guys are playing football nearby. The sounds of the waves crashing in the distance start to lull me to sleep. I didn’t get the best sleep last night in the tub because after a while it was pretty cold and hard.

I startle awake some time later. I don’t open my eyes right away as I listen to the sounds around me. When my heart settles after being jolted awake I start to slowly open my eyes and sit up.

A few new groups are scattered around and I notice three familiar looking bodies surrounded by a cluster of girls. I shake my head; this doesn’t surprise me at all. All three boys are a sight to see.

A shadow casts over me. I put my hand up to block the sun from my eyes and a guy that looks exactly like a Ken doll. He’s got the perfect tan, perfect hair, perfect blue eyes and a surfer’s body.

“Hey,” He starts off.

“Hey,”

He bends down on one knee so we are almost eye level, “You by yourself?”

I nod. The guy is nervous I can tell. I smile thinking to myself how uncomfortable he is. I’m thankful that I’m a girl and don’t have to worry about really hitting on a guy.

“I’m Ken by the way.”

My eyes go wide, “You’re joking right?”

He shakes his head.

I start laughing, I can’t help it. “You poor thing.”

This gets a laugh from Ken and some of his nervousness fades away.

“Tell me about it. It’s the only thing that breaks the ice with the girls though.” He explains. “So are you from around here?”

Before I can answer another shadow descends upon me, I look up to see that it’s Cade. I let out a loud sigh knowing that Cade is going to mess with this guy.

“Hey baby.” Cade croons in a sexy voice.

There is no saving Ken at this point so I just play along with Cade and his c**k blocking. “Hey honey.”

That response earns me a smile and a wink. Ken stands up and brushes the sand from his knee. “I’ll talk to you later.” Ken says before he turns on his heel and leaves.

After he’s out of ear shot, Cade sits on at the end of the towel where my feet were. I quickly had to spread my legs to accommodate his presence or he would have sat on my feet. “Well that was easier than I thought it was going to be.” Cade tells me.

“Yeah well you probably scared the shit out of him. You’re freakishly tall, have huge muscles and you’re covered in tattoos.”

“That’s not all I have going for me.” Cade waggles his eyebrows.

“Cade,” I whine. “I don’t want to hear about that shit.”

Cade shifts to the side and pulls out a bottle of sunscreen from his back pocket. He hands it to me, “Be useful and put some of this on me.”

I scuffle, “Really? You couldn’t get one of your groupies down there to do it?”

“Jealous?”

“Nope.”

“Why are you over here anyway? Did Knox send you?”

Cade raises an eyebrow, “You really think it would have ended that nice if Knox had come over?”

Good point.

Cade laughs, “Hurry up and put that on me. I can feel my skin burning and I hate that feeling.”

I flip the lid open and pour some of the sun screen in my hands and then start rubbing it into Cade’s back. I skim over to Knox and he’s still surrounded by the same group of girls. I notice one girl who is scowling at Knox and she has her arms folded across her chest while her friends are ogling Knox and Jeremy.

“What’s the deal with her?” I inquire.

Cade looks over to the group and shrugs a shoulder. “She got scorned by Knox and she’s bitter about it.”

My hands freeze on his back.

“It was years ago, JJ. It was before…” Cade trails off.

“Before what?” I probe.

He shakes his head, “Never mind. It was a long time ago, that’s all.” Cade climbs to his feet and holds out a hand for me.

I eye the hand for a second before taking it. He pulls me to my feet with ease.

“Let’s go cool off.”

I reach down and cover my Kindle with my shorts and follow Cade down to the water. He hasn’t turned around to see if I followed or not but when he does his eyes go wide in surprise.

“Fuck, how did I miss those before?” Cade asks as he’s looking at my hip piercings.

I giggle and push his shoulder, “Stop looking at me like that, freak.”

A wave comes up and splashes up my legs and I break out in goose bumps from the cold water hitting my hot skin. I pause, letting my body adjust to the cool temperature of the water before I slowly ease myself further into the ocean. Cade takes a few steps and dives right in the water. I’m not that brave to follow his lead.

I can feel Knox before I see him. My heartbeat picks up a beat, waiting for him to make a move. After a few moments I feel him take a step so he’s standing right behind me. He’s so close I can feel the heat of his body.