Finding Us (3 page)

“Up here baby.” He says in a husky tone.

The song ends and another begins. As my eyes meet his again, he starts to lean in like he’s going to kiss me. Before I know it he’s spinning me again, placing his hands back on my hips, rocking side to side again. I can feel his hardness against my lower back and while it should be such a huge turn off, it’s the most erotic thing that has ever happened to me. Shit like this has happened before and its seconds before I’m stepping away from them but with this this guy its different, so different. The song is almost over but I’m not ready for it to end. I have this tingling feeling in the pit of my stomach and my whole body feels like it’s on fire.

“Thanks for the dance.” He whispers huskily into my ears. Just those four words have my body blazing. I want to get one last peek at him but he’s gone.

I need to find Summer to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I don’t spot her anywhere so I scan up towards our table. She’s there and she’s leaning up against the railing, smiling down at me.

I make my way back up and order another drink. Rex and Summer take a seat at our table, both smirking.

“What?” I ask the both of them.

Summer shakes her head and Rex chuckles, “I see you met Knox.”

I eye the shot that was full before I left, it’s empty.

Fuck. Me.

There she is, out on the dance floor with her friend, who I assume is Summer, since Rex said that’s who he was bringing.

I make my way over to Rex. “Hey man.”

He stands and leans in to clap me on my back. “Nice to finally have you back.”

I nod. “So is that her?”

Rex leans up against the railing, “Yup, her and Summer.”

We don’t say anything more. We stand there for a few minutes and watch the girls before I start to make my way towards them.

I can’t believe this shit. She practically landed in my lap. Once Rex started talking about these two girls he met and started telling me all about them I knew it was her. Call it karma or whatever the hell you want to call it but she was put in my life for a reason and that is more than enough for me to get revenge on her fucked up family.

Rex hadn’t put two and two together that Jasmine was
the Jasmine Jennings
that ripped our lives apart. He tried to tell me I was mistaken but I knew I wasn’t.

I knew she took off after graduation but I had no idea where she went. It was like she fell off the face of the Earth. I’m sure her fucking parents are thrilled that their
daughter
is laid out in the Big Apple. They seem to control her life so I’m not actually surprised that New York is where she ended up.

I took a few days to tie up my loose ends in California before I hopped on a flight to New York. I had to check this out for myself. It was just too good to be true. Rex didn’t agree with me that someone needed to pay for what happened but I wasn’t letting anyone stop me. I lost more than just my parents that day.

Maybe once I get some kind of justice I can move on.

Nearing noon the next morning I hear murmuring from the other room. I’ve been awake for about a half hour, just sitting and reading. Thankfully today’s Sunday; my declared lazy day. I do all my laundry, catch up on some reading and cleaning since every day during the week is filled with something. Lying here I drift back to last night.
Knox.
I wonder where he had gone off to after our dance. I never did see him again. Out of all the people at the club, why did it have to be him? I know I’m going to face him at some point, but why did it have to be Rex’s brother?

Knox can dance like no one else I’ve ever danced with, we were in sync with each other instantly. The way he moved with my hips was downright hot. His voice, when he spoke to me, was gruff and sexy. I’m sure he has all the girls eating out of the palm of his hand. I wanted to dance with him again that night but knew I wouldn’t and also because he never came over to our table. He was there all night and I felt him watching me. Rex said that he was busy and he did look busy with the club as packed as it was.

“Hello, Earth to Jasmine!” Summer snaps her fingers in front of my face, bringing me back to reality.

“What?” I put my Kindle on my nightstand and stretch my arms above my head.

“Where’d you go?” Summer asks. “I was asking you a question and you didn’t even notice that I was talking at all.”

I shrug, “Nowhere.”

Summer rolls her eyes, “Rex said that Knox invited us over for dinner tonight. Do you want to go?”

“Um, no, I’ve got a shit load of laundry to do.” I get up from my bed and walk towards a pile of dirty clothes on the floor. There are only about two loads which will take all of a few hours but Summer doesn’t need to know that. “Thank Knox for the offer though, will ya?”

“If you don’t want to go just say it, don’t lie to me.” Summer deadpans. I should know better than to lie to her, she knows me better than I know myself.

Sighing, I sit back down on my bed, “I’m sorry.” I pull my puppy dog face on her. This normally works when I’ve done something to piss her off, which rarely ever happens.

Bingo!

Summer starts laughing, “I guess Knox got your attention, huh?”

Did he ever!

I squeeze my pointer finger and thumb together, “Just a little bit.”

“Jas, you should have seen you two on the dance floor, that shit was hot! I would have had an orgasm right then and there.” Summer says, fanning herself.

Groaning, I throw myself back on my bed, “Eww Summer!” I roll over and face her. “No one ever affects me just like that Summer, not even Max.”

With a shit-eating grin she says, “I think you met your match, babe.”

I’m screwed, big time.

Monday morning is always crazy at the coffee shop, everyone is hustling and bustling trying to get their coffee and get to work on time. I’m sitting in the back office after things have slowed down when Dianna comes walking in. She drops a note on my desk and walks out.

My name is scribbled across the front of the envelope.
Who the hell could this be from?

I stick my index finger along the seal, breaking it open, and pull the note out.

Jasmine,

Sorry you couldn’t make it last night. Have dinner with me tonight at 6? I’ll meet you here at the coffee shop.

Knox

Yeah, I’m sure he’s sorry I couldn’t make it last night.
Ha!
How did he even know where I worked? It’s not like Summer would just give up information on me. And who does he think he is just stopping by my work and having an employee hand me a note from him? He couldn’t deliver it himself? Or even ask me to dinner in person? I place the card back in the envelope and throw it in the trashcan under the desk. I go back to working on the inventory I was doing before the interruption.

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.