Hey everyone! Sorry it took me almost a week to get this chapter out. My internet's been down since Wednesday and after two and half hours on the phone with my provider today it's finally up and running again. Thank you all for reading, for your reviews, and adds. I hope you all like this chapter. Please let me know what you think! PLEASE READ: There are some mild adult situations in this chapter, but nothing terribly descriptive.

Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with the Twilight series.

Chapter 14

It was the Fourth of July and Jason was spending the day with a few people that he had met in Forks, but I had a feeling he was seeing a girl. He'd taken forever in the bathroom that morning before he finally let me use it and when he came out he was wearing a brand new t-shirt and jeans. I noticed that he had even gotten his hair cut. He'd left shortly after he got dressed but not before he kissed me on the side of the head before he told me to have a nice time with Kim, Emily, and everyone else. I had been a little put off, but I really didn't have a reason to be since it was about time that Jason got a life since I was finally getting one of my own.

Paul was coming to pick me up to take me to Sam and Emily's at one, and since Jason had held himself hostage in the bathroom all morning I had to hurry. I showered and shaved before I walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a large towel and gliding a second one over my wet hair as I walked into my bedroom. Resting on my bed was my bathing suit and a pair of jean shorts and tank top. The weather couldn't have been better for the American summer holiday, and what had me gnawing at my bottom lip was the bathing suit that rested next to my clothes.

I hadn't been in a bathing suit since I was twelve, and the simple emerald colored high cut one piece was brand new. I had Kim and a quick shopping trip to Port Angeles to thank for that. She had wanted me to buy a two piece, but I would never be caught dead in a two piece bathing suit in public. The scar on my face was enough to share with the world. They didn't need to see the scars that rested on my stomach as well. I debated on whether or not I should actually wear my bathing suit since the water was probably a bit too chilly to actually go into. However, if I didn't wear it, Kim would have my head if she didn't see it under my tank top. Sighing quietly to myself I sat the towel I used to dry my hair on the nightstand before I walked over to my dresser and put on my lotion while I glared at the offending suit. I'd wear it, if only to humor Kim.

Twenty minutes later, I heard Paul's truck pull up to the house. I made quick work of the elastic tie at the end of the braid I had pulled my loose curls into and slid on my flip flops as I tucked my phone and wallet into the back pockets of my jean shorts. I walked through the living room, grabbed my keys from the table by the door, and opened the front door to see Paul already standing on the porch, resting his shoulder against the post with his hands in the pockets of the jeans he wore, and his cocky grin on his face. The grin didn't remain for long as his eyes roamed down my body sending heat to my cheeks as I blushed.

"My eyes are up here, buddy," I said when his eyes lingered on my legs for a bit too long. His dark orbs were quick to snap back to my face as he stood from his leaning position and cleared his throat while he took his hands out of his pockets. I chuckled under my breath before I grabbed my already prepared bag from where I left it on the floor by the door, and walked out onto the porch, closing the door behind me before I locked it tightly.

"Ready?" he questioned as I turned around and I smiled at him.

"Yeah," I said. "Thanks for coming all the way out here to pick me up only to go back to where you came from." I walked closer to him and he took my hand into his before he raised his free hand to my face and ran the back of his knuckles down my right cheek. I couldn't look away from his eyes as a slow smile spread across his face.

"Coming to get you means that I actually get you to myself for a little while," he said as he lowered his hand to his side. "We'll be lucky if we'll get a minute all day." I moved closer to him and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

"We'll manage to find a few minutes here or there. When it comes to you I can be pretty sneaky when I want to," I said and he laughed before kissed me again, a little firmer than I had kissed him.

"Come on, let's get going," he said and the two of us started walking down the porch stairs to his truck.

"You know, Jason was in such a rush to leave the house this morning. I think he's seeing someone since he hasn't been home for dinner very often lately and he took longer getting ready today than I did. Has he mentioned anything to you?"

"Not to me, but he has been whistling a lot when we're on site," Paul said with a thoughtful frown when we reached his truck and he opened the passenger door for me.

"Thanks," I said as I let go of his hand and climbed into the truck. He was quickly sitting next to me and smiled as he started the truck. We'd been driving for nearly five minutes before my thoughts were finally getting the better of me. "Why do you think he hasn't mentioned anything to me?"

"Who?" Paul asked with a frown as he glanced at me and then returned his eyes to road.

"Jason," I said. "Why wouldn't he want me to know he was seeing anyone?"

"Harper, we're seeing each other and we haven't told him yet," Paul reasoned and I rolled my eyes.

"That's different because he knows you already, and with everything that's happened I really don't think that he would take kindly to me dating."

"He's going to have to know eventually."

"I know," I said quickly and dismissively, "but the subject of this conversation is not you and me; it's Jason." Paul scoffed quietly, but I ignored it and pressed on. "Why wouldn't he want me to meet the girl he was dating?"

"Our relationship developed quickly because of the imprinting bond, Harper," he said slowly and after a quite minute. "Other relationships that don't have that advantage take time, and since it's obviously new he's just not ready for her to meet you yet. You've been the most important person in his life for the last three years, and I'm going to guess he hasn't been on a date in that long."

"He hasn't," I threw in, which made Paul smile as he drove.

"He probably wants to make sure that the relationship is going to go somewhere before he brings her into your life." I huffed quietly as I turned my eyes away from him and looked out the windshield with a small frown. "What's with the frown?"

"You're right," I said. He laughed and I looked at him. "What?"

"You're frowning because I'm right?" he asked and I smirked.

"It's a rarity," I teased and he snorted.

"Careful now," he said.

"What are you going to do to me if I'm not?" I asked as the truck came to a stop. I hadn't realized we had reached the beach where we were all of us were going to be spending the day and evening together. He put the truck into park and turned off the ignition before he looked at me, his cocky grin back in place. I raised an eyebrow at him and watched him as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Now, what would be the fun in telling you?" he asked slowly before he climbed out of the truck. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat and blushed at the smile he shot at me through the window. "You coming?" he asked and I let out a heavy breath before I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the truck. I walked to the front of the truck where Paul was quick to take my hand as we walked towards the beach and where everyone was waiting.

We were greeted by a chorus of 'hello' and 'hey' when we reached them and I smiled when I saw Emily sitting on a blanket under the shade of the umbrella with Sam at her side. I knew DJ was with Emily's sister, Abigail, who volunteered to babysit the two and a half week old with her husband while Claire came to the beach with Sam and Emily. Claire was building a sand castle with Quil while the other guys, including Jared, had moved a bit further down the beach to play a game of football. Paul looked down at me and I laughed as I gently pushed at him.

"Go on," I said and he smiled. He leaned down and kissed me before he slipped away to join the guys. I laughed and shook my head as I sat down next to Kim.

"Were you deserted too?" she asked and I smiled and shrugged before I pulled my braid over my shoulder and played with the end of it for a second before Emily, Sam, Kim, and I started talking about completely random things and what the day held in store.

We'd been on the beach for well over four hours and everyone had eaten and the guys had started up another football game, this time with Sam and Quil joining them. Claire was taking a nap on the blanket next to Emily who was reading and glancing at the guys every now and then. I was settled under the shade of the umbrella with Emily and Claire since I the sun was starting to be too much for me. Kim was settled next to me, but sitting in the sun. She let out a sigh before she turned slightly and looked behind us. Suddenly she grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet.

"Come on, we're going in the water," she said and I frowned.

"What? Now?" I asked and she laughed as she nodded and pulled off her t-shirt to reveal the top of her yellow and white striped bikini.

"Yes, now," she said before she started to pull off her jeans. I slowly looked towards the guys, but thankfully they weren't looking our way, and I took a deep breath before I took off my tank top and folded it, placing it nest to Kim's t-shirt that she had tossed on the log.

"Come on," she said again with a laugh and I sighed heavily.

"All right, all right," I said before I took off my flip flops and shimmied out of my jean shorts. I felt far too exposed, but Kim wasn't going to allow me a second to be self-conscious.

She grabbed my hand and let out a laugh before she pulled me towards the water. I couldn't help but laugh as she pulled me along and when we hit the water, I let out a scream as the cool water crashed against my body. Kim just laughed and splashed at me and I was quick to retaliate. We had a small war going until an unexpected wave crashed against us, sending us both under. I came up spluttering as I pushed some of the loose strands of hair that plastered to my face. Kim was laughing and I splashed at her again, which only made her laugh harder.

"That's not funny!" I called, but I couldn't stop the laugh that erupted from my lips. Another wave hit us, but that time we were ready for it and we started our splashing war again.

"Hey!" a deep voice shouted and we looked towards the beach to see Jared and Paul standing at the water's edge with their hands on their waists and smiles on their lips. "What are you two doing?" asked Jared and Kim laughed as she turned fully to face her husband.

"Well, you two deserted us again to play with the guys, so, we're having some fun of our own," she said. We were about twelve feet from the shore and when I saw Jared and Paul glance at each other, I knew it was only going to be a second before Kim and I were no longer horsing around by ourselves. I wasn't disappointed when after a blink of an eye; Paul's arms were around my waist and pulling me under the water with him.

Thanks to the surprise of the attack, I came up spluttering again and smacked at his chest as I coughed up the bit of salt water I swallowed and he chuckled. We'd moved a bit further away from the shore and somehow ended up further away from Kim and Jared who looked to be talking quietly as Kim had her arms wrapped around Jared's neck and Jared held her close. Paul was holding me in a similar fashion and I looked up at him before I rested my hands on his broad shoulders. The water had been a bit chilly, but the heat emanating from Paul's body once again warmed away the chill from my body.

"Trying to drown me?" I asked once I caught my breath and he shook his head negatively.

"No," he said with a smile as his right hand slid up my back while his left remained wrapped around my waist. His fingers brushed against my bareback and I involuntarily shivered and he pressed me closer to him obviously thinking I was cold while his right hand rested on the back of my neck, under my still braided hair. "So, are you having a nice time?" he asked and I shrugged as I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart.

"Yeah," I said softly. "Kim was bored so she dragged me off into the water with her."

"I didn't know you were wearing a suit under your clothes, otherwise I would have dragged you into the water a while ago," he said as his right hand gently rubbed the back of my neck. I stifled a groan at the feel of his strong fingers and swallowed the lump in my throat. "Green's a great color on you," he whispered before he leaned into me and kissed me as he pressed my body flush against his.

Instinct seemed to take over as the kiss deepened and I found myself wrapping my legs around his waist as my hands found their way to the back of his head and into his hair. His breathed heavily out his nose before his tongue gently slid across my lower lip and I opened my mouth to his without question. My heart was pounding and my stomach tightened as my entire being screamed for Paul. His left hand cupped my backside under the water, and squeezed the soft flesh in his hand.

My hips seemed to grind against his on their own accord and a shock wave ripped through me at the feel of him through his rough jeans against me. Paul growled as he ripped his lips from mine and found my neck as he forced my hips even tighter against his with his left hand that remained on my backside. My hands left his hair and gripped his shoulders tightly, my nails digging into his flesh but not breaking the skin, as the shock wave came back. My left hand remained on his shoulder while my right found the back of his head again as I tilted my head to the side so his lips had better access to my neck as he continued his assault there.

"Paul," I whimpered as my body started to feel like it was on fire from friction his body was making against mine. His lips left my neck and found mine again in time to stifle the cry that nearly escaped my lips as he dug his hips even harder into mine. My eyes were closed but I was blinded by an unseen light as my body was overwhelmed by the now familiar shock waves and shook against his. When the world stopped spinning and I stopped shaking, my limbs felt like jelly and I was thankful that Paul was holding onto me because I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from drowning. Paul slowly broke our kiss, and when he did we both were panting and trying to catch our breath.

"Harper?" he questioned in a whisper, but his voice was rough. I opened my eyes, still panting slightly, to see him looking at me with a strange and satisfied looking smile on his face. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I breathed before I slowly started to smile back. However, I tensed when I realized what it was that we had just done and what I had just experienced. "Oh," I said before I quickly turned my head to where I knew the others were. Kim and Jared weren't in the water anymore, and they had joined the others on the beach. It didn't look like they had seen what had happened, but I wasn't so sure about that fact. Just because they weren't looking our way at that moment didn't mean they hadn't.

"They didn't see anything," Paul whispered into my ear and I quickly turned my eyes back to his, blushing deeply as I licked my lips.

"You sure?" I asked and he smiled.

"Yeah," he said. "The rocks provided us some cover." He gestured with his head and it was then that I noticed the large rocks along the shoreline that partially blocked where we stood in the water. It was hard for me to believe that not long ago I was pushing Paul's hand away from my breast because I had basically just dry humped him with our friends not twenty feet from where were stood in the water.

"I can't believe we just did that," I said as I rested my forehead against his shoulder. My lower half was still pressed tightly to his and I could feel him still straining against his jeans.

"Honestly, I can't either," he said as he finally removed his hand from my backside. As I relaxed, I felt his body tense and I knew what he was about to say before he even said it. "Harper, I didn't mean . . .," he trailed off and I shook my head as I raised it from his shoulder.

"Don't. I know you would have stopped if I told you to, and I didn't," I said and he sighed. "You have nothing to be sorry for. If anyone should be sorry, I should be." He frowned at those words, but I continued before he could say anything else. "I can tell that I'm the only one that really got anything from that." I blushed at what I said, but I knew it was the truth. He smiled then and slid both his hands up and down my back.

"No you aren't," he said as he shook his head. "I'm going to enjoy reliving those sounds you were making and the look on your face later tonight." My blush only deepened as he leaned in and kissed me chastely. I laughed against his lips when his fingers gently tickled my side. I threw my arms around his shoulders and deepened the kiss as he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me slightly from the water, never breaking our kiss.

"Harper!" a voice bellowed and I stiffened as I ripped my lips from Paul's and turned to look at the beach to see Jason standing there, letting go of the hand of a blonde woman, and even from the distance we were from the shore I could see the murder in his eyes.

"Fuck," Paul whispered and I couldn't have agreed more.