Page 23 of Save Me
Relieved I had something to keep myself occupied with, I ran to my house to grab the supplies I’d purchased. Back in the guys’ kitchen, I started with making the cake and getting it in the oven. Next, I made my mom’s chocolate buttercream frosting and put it in the fridge to keep cold as the cake cooled down after it was done baking. Knowing the cake needed time, I jumped to decorating. I refused to pause between tasks or to think of anything other than what had to be done. If I did, that might allow my mind to wander. I didn’t even slow down when my hair started getting in the way. Using two pens I found, I twisted my hair up the best I could without a mirror. Small tendrils of red hair I still wasn’t used to seeing escaped as I worked and I either tucked them behind my ears or swatted them out of my face.
I had chosen the colors of black, maroon, and metallic gold. I had managed to almost completely decorate the dining room. I went overboard with the amount of foil swirls, paper pom-poms, and streamers I taped to the ceiling, but it looked amazing. All that was missing were the balloons. The pump was too loud to blow them up.
I moved to decorate the kitchen next. I had just finished taping up one side of a Happy Birthday banner over the kitchen island when I heard, “Shiloh.”
I jumped a little and glanced down. Knox was standing by the dining room table, staring up at me with tired eyes.
I winced. “Did I wake you?”
“What the hell are you doing standing on the counter?”
I looked down at the second half of the banner in my hand that needed to be taped up. “Decorating for Keelan’s party.”
“It’s four in the morning.”
I stepped to the opposite side of the island. “I couldn’t sleep.” As I reached toward the ceiling to hang the rest of the banner, the height made me a little dizzy and I wobbled a tiny bit. “Whoa.”
Knox dashed for me. “Damn it, you’re going to get yourself hurt.” He put his hands up in front of him as if to catch me. “Get down, now.”
“Not before I tape this up,” I said, reaching for the ceiling again.
Knox cursed and grabbed my bare thighs just above my knees. The feel of his warm hands distracted me a little as I pushed up on my tiptoes and finished getting the banner hung.
Knox’s fingers dug into my skin. I looked down at him. He was glaring at my left thigh where the hem of Creed’s shirt ended, and his jaw was clenched.
I patted the top of his head. “What’s the matter?”
His angry eyes jumped to meet mine. “You’re not wearing any underwear.”
Gasping, I jerked to get away from him so he couldn’t see. He didn’t release his tight hold on my legs and I ended up falling backward. Knox tried to catch me by the back of my calves. It didn’t work. My legs bent and I ended up clamping his hands between the backs of my thighs and calves as I went down. My butt slammed onto the island, making a very loud thump. I caught myself with my hands before falling the rest of the way onto my back.
“Ow.” I closed my eyes, wincing at my now-sore tailbone.
Knox’s grip tightened to the point it toed the line of painful. My eyes shot open and I found him with his gaze glued between my slightly parted legs. Creed’s shirt was bunched around my hips and my bottom half was on full display.
Mortified, I went to snap my legs shut. The intense look he held stopped me. His eyes had darkened, and his brow was pinched, giving him a mixed look of agony and want.
I couldn’t tear my eyes from his, not when they made me feel…desired. Did he want me? Did I want him to want me? Yes, I did, and that terrified me. I brought my knees together and began pushing my shirt down to cover up. “Knox, I—”
“Well, this was not what I was expecting to see when woken by a loud noise,” a voice I knew belonged to Keelan said.
Knox ripped his hands from my legs like they were on fire and moved back until he bumped into the fridge. We both looked toward the voice and found not only Keelan, but Colt and Creed standing in the dining room.
“Same here,” Creed said, frowning at Knox.
Colt and Keelan didn’t appear to be upset, but kept looking from me to Knox and back repeatedly.
“It’s not what it looked like,” Knox said.
“That doesn’t make you sound guilty at all,” Keelan said caustically.
“He’s telling the truth. I fell and Knox tried to catch me.” I pulled Creed’s shirt down as far as it would go. “Unfortunately, I ended up exposing myself.”
Creed let out a frustrated noise and Colt ran his fingers through his hair with a heavy sigh. Keelan was staring at Knox with a smug look that seemed to piss Knox off more.
“Well, actually, I ended up flashing him before I fell.” I was blushing badly. I cleared my throat and looked at Knox. “In my defense, this all could have been avoided if you hadn’t made a fuss over me hanging the banner.”
He frowned at me. “You were going to fall.”