In no time we made it to the beach and were quickly greeted by the gang and Emily who was setting out lunch for the group. I swear that girl was always laden with food.
"Hey, look who finally decided to show up!" Quil said his face smiling brightly as he came to give me a hug.
I received many hugs and lots of joshing about my tardiness.
"So where have you guys been, you always struck me as a pretty on time person Lilah?" Emily said smiling sweetly.
We were at least an hour late, so I couldn't blame them for the questions.
"Ahhh yes I slept through my alarm and woke up to Jake shaking me awake. I nearly blinded him with my nakedness and after some quick rushing we finally managed to get down her." I joked not really sure why I was telling everyone.
"Awww lucky him, you couldn't blinded him only with beauty I'm sure." Embry said shoving me suggestively. I laughed at that, and was surprised when I caught an angry stare that Jake exchanged with Embry.
How could he care, he was almost acting protective or jealous? I thought to myself, but my thoughts were soon interrupted as I noticed that I had unfortunately missed the sandwiches in my train of thought.
I felt a soft nudge to my left on the par benches that we were sitting at and smiled when I looked into Jakes eyes.
He was already stuffing his mouth with a pastrami sandwich but offered his plate to me, which bore 4 others just like it.
I smiled and grabbed one munching on it happily.
Soon everyone had finished and each decided it was time for a dip in the freezing ocean.
I loved cold water but knew that this one would not be holding me for long.
I stripped of my shorts and blushed as some of the guys cheered and whistled.
I simply stuck my tongue out at them and moved over to Emily chatting with her as we readied ourselves for the ocean.
I could see Jakes eyes on me, traveling down my frame raking my figure and causing me to burn up inside.
Looking over at him I almost gasped as he pulled of the jeans he had been wearing to reveal loose fitting black swim trunks reaching his knees. He looked delicious…divine, I cant even believe I'm thinking such scandalous things but this boy was just torturing me with his appearance.
"Oh good lord." I said without thinking, finally shaking myself out of my thoughts as Emily burst out laughing.
My cheeks quickly changed to a shade of angry red, as she finally looked up at me from her buckled position her eyes still laughing.
"Oh boy, I'm sorry it's just been a while since I have seen that reaction. Don't worry dear, I totally understand. I was the same way with Sam you know I always felt like I was on fire…in a good way of course.
Sometimes I got so angry for how incredibly good-looking he was I would just stay mad at him. It wouldn't stay for long of course but still, your expression on your face was just priceless." She said still giggling.
I shoved her lightly and tried to cool my cheeks down with my hands.
We made out way to the water Sam joining us and poking fun at me, noticing why Emily was laughing. I shoved him before running to the water as the other guys came along side me.
I yelped when the waves hit me, they were freezing but I didn't care. I kept running into the waves forcing my way through the water and laughing the whole time.
I yelled and howled as I kept moving until I was finally swimming in the water my feet unable to reach the bottom.
Turning around I noticed the guys were right behind me shoving each other and tackling each other in the water.
"Dam girl, you have some balls aren't you cold." Quil said with a big toothy grin.
"Yeah, I have some huge cajones!" I yelled laughing as they each doubled over in fits of laughter.
I looked at my arms and noticed they were already turning blue the veins contrasting greatly to the whiteness of my skin.
To warm myself up I ducked under the water and swam forward.
Thankfully there were no rocks as I swam forward coming up for air a little ways from the guys who swam over to me.
"Geez, most people can't handle this water. I mean it doesn't bother us cause we run so hot." Embry said winking at his last statement.
"Pshhh…I think you're a little off the mark there kiddo. I don't mind it I guess it makes me feel alive." I said teasingly to him, he gave me a hurt expression and moved over to try and tackle Seth who wrestled back.
Sam was swimming towards us Emily shivering a bit before he pulled her close to him, no doubt warming her perfectly with his temperature.
I smiled at the sight; it was so sweet to see them interact.
I almost jumped as Jake's head suddenly broke the surface next to me.
"Ahhh you scared me, meany." I said splashing him as he smiled and splashed me back.
His laugh was toxic, his smile made me want to smile. It was hard to imagine that a month ago I was just a hollow shell, unsure of why I was living each day.
"So are you guys fast when you aren't running, like can you swim fast?" I asked curious.
"Nah, we are pretty much normal in the water, we are really only fast when we phase." Jake said next to me, I felt the warmth that seemed to radiate from him from his close proximity in the water.
"Well, now that I know that, how about a friendly race over to that rock over there?" I said looking at the guys. They all grinned and readied themselves.
The rock wasn't too far away, and Sam yelled Go as we all set off throwing the water around us frantically as we swam.
I was at the end, Jake swimming next to me.
I pushed and pushed and before I knew it he and I were way in the lead, the other boys suddenly involved in a dumb brawl over someone kicking the other.
We laughed as we swam; I kept trying to splash water at him as we neared the rock.
Just as I was about to touch it I felt his strong arm, like a solid tree trunk reach around my stomach and haul me backwards.
I yelped and kicked widely laughing and smiling as I tried to free myself in order to win.
I could feel his laugh behind me as he held him to me and touched the rock with his strong hand.
My back connected with his stomach and my body fluttered, as his laugh continued sending incredible vibrations through me, taking my breath away.
His strong hands turned me around to face him as he held onto the rock face in order to keep us both a float.
"You little cheater!" I said my eyes wide as I smacked him playfully.
"Awww I couldn't help it, its just to easy." He said giving a look very akin to a small puppy's that I simply had to laugh.
I suddenly became quite aware of how I was held against him, his strong arm around me and holding me to his floating form.
One of my arms was around his neck, and my other one was flat against his chest just bellow his collarbone. I felt tingles run through my arm as the warmth of his body swept through the chill in my hands.
Looking into his eyes, the cold of the water and the wash of the waves seemed to disappear. I felt caught in his dark brown eyes, I felt like I was melting against him almost molding into him.
His eyes kept their kind gaze, and I was relieved that he didn't seem frightened or sad, instead he seemed truly happy.
I truly hoped that I wasn't the only one feeling this, that would really make things awkward.
His arm loosened suddenly as we were broken out of our trance when the guys came swimming up to us. I gasped slightly as I sank beneath the surface for a moment.
My cheeks felt hot agains the icy water, and I made my feet move to pull myself from underneath the water.
"Wow, you okay, you suddenly disappeared there for a minute?" Embry said laughing at my expression.
"Yeah, just thrown off guard is all." I said laughing as I tread water looking at Jacob curiously.
"Sorry." He said quietly as we all swam our way back to the shore.
I shook my head, and laughed, there was really no need for apology.
The swim back was way longer than I had thought. I felt my body fight more and more against the waves my breath coming harder as I tried to stifle them thinking that the guys would find me weak or something.
The other guys were far ahead of me, and Jake swam beside me, no doubt very slowly compared to his normal speed.
Sheesh these guys just don't get tired, I thought as I kept pushing myself forward.
I noticed that as I moved, even though I wasn't moving much at all, my back was starting to throb slowly. I cursed myself silently for putting so much stress on it. Such a dumb idea. but I hate being so weak and unable to do things now that I actually want to.
Jake must have noticed the pained expression that was forming on my face, even though I tried to hide it.
He moved in front of me quickly and smiled grabbing my arms and throwing them around his neck so he was pulling me along as he swam.
"Thanks, I guess I didn't really think about getting back. Kind of forgot about my back, dumb me. Now that I actually want to do things it's a real annoyance that I have to watch out with it." I said chuckling still out of breath.
He moved quite quickly with powerful strokes, using only his arms as he moved through the water so his legs wouldn't accidentally kick mine.
I really did felt like he was a dog in a sense dragging me to shore.
"It's okay, you should really be careful though. Just relax now." He said laughing, not at all out of breath.
I relished having a chance to feel his muscles beneath me pull and shove the water around us. It was incredible the strength that he was capable of, and his skin was exactly as soft as I had imagined it, if not softer.
I sighed mentally; I was falling so quickly for a guy that I barely knew. He is gorgeous and incredibly sweet guy, but a guy that was heartbroken.
I should be scared by his strength and worried about his lack of control over his temper, but I wasn't.
The last thing I wanted if he did like me though, was to be sloppy seconds.
I needed to be his friend, to let a good amount of time pass before I could really think about the prospects of a relationship.
I mean hell I don't even know if he likes me, he may be one of those guys who just doesn't know he's flirting when he does it.
Before I knew it I was shook out of my thoughts as I felt my feet catch sand beneath me.