How We Began

by Sandra Corton

  "Trust me; you are going to absolutely love this." He assured her, as he slid his arms around her.

  "No, not happening. Just take me wherever you want to go, and I promise to close my eyes when we get nearby." She threw the blindfold at him that he had tried to hand her, and sent him a stern look.

  "You are so ridiculously bossy." He pouted.

  "And you love it." She replied quickly.

  "Yeah, I do," he said on a slow grin. "I guess you intend to win this one?" He arched a brow at her.

  "You guessed right." She nodded firmly, and he sighed dramatically.

  "Fine, but you owe me." He sent her a look that was so smoking hot that she felt her knees go weak.

  "Fine." She whispered in agreement, and his grin turned wicked making her wonder what he could possibly have in mind.

  "Let's go." He pointed out the door of their little cottage, and Kayla headed to the car.

  It astounded her to think about her life sometimes. To think shy Hat Girl who hardly said anything to anyone had been a part of her past seemed almost surreal now. She had too many friends to count nowadays with her shyness rarely showing its face. In fact, she found it easy to converse with almost anyone.

  It was all thanks to Isaac, of course. She was grateful for every day of their life together. He was her light that brightened the darkness, and the very joy that kept her happy.

  "I told you that you'd never convince her that a blindfold was a good idea," Mitchell's humour filled voice drifted into her thoughts, and she smiled at her brother who was getting out of his car.

  "One must try these things, Mitch, you never know." Isaac said with a roll of his eyes towards Mitchell.

  "Have a good night, you two. Don't get up to too much mischief." Mitchell wiggled his eyebrows, as he went to ruffle his sister's hair.

  "Hey, no touching, the do." Kayla pointed to her hair that she now took much better care of than when she was younger, and covered everything with a hat.

  She sighed, knowing that living with Mitchell was starting to rub off on her. When they were choosing school's to continue their education, Kayla had applied to one that was close to her brothers. The school had a great architecture course.

  After a nervous wait, Kayla's acceptance came through. Isaac hadn't decided what he wanted to do, but had applied to the same university. His immediate acceptance into their football team, with education seeming less important had frustrated Kayla a bit.

  With being so close to Mitchell, they had decided that sharing resources was probably the best plan. Mitchell moved out of his cramped flat, and they all rented a cottage together. Both their parents had wanted to approve of their accommodations, and had been pleased with their choice.

  It was strange to see Mitchell so early in the day; he had a part time job at a huge fabric shop in the town closest to them. At night, he was constantly working on new clothes that he was designing, which he liked to model on Kayla. She was in fact wearing his new style of jeans today along with a flirty fun top that he had made just yesterday.

  "I never thought I'd see the day when my daggy sister cared about her hair." Mitchell teased, before heading into the house. She grinned before turning back to Isaac with a frown.

  "I can't believe you discussed whatever you have planned with Mitchell," she scolded him.

  "Oh, I have more than one plan, don't you worry," he grinned that mischievous grin of his again, and she couldn't wait to find out what he had planned.

  "Let's get started, I still have tests to study for." She told him firmly, as she swished a hand at him.

  "Ever my studious girl." He said, as he wrapped his arms around her, and backed her against the car.

  "I mean it, Isaac." She attempted to look at him firmly, but he just lowered his head, until his lips were next to her ear.

  "Sure you do." He whispered, as he kissed the spot beneath her ear that he knew drove her crazy.

  "Isaac." She wanted her voice to be full of protest, but instead it came out all breathy.

  "C'mon, Chickpea, stop worrying about tests for one afternoon." He murmured, as he kissed down along her throat.

  "Um, maybe." She tucked her fingers into the pocket of his jeans, and pulled him closer, making him chuckle at her weak protest.

  "You sure it’s only a maybe?" He skimmed his fingers down her sides, and back up again.

  "I said I'd go." She told him, as she leaned up to kiss his lips that beckoned.

  "I know," he pressed her back into the heated metal of the car, and kissed her fiercely, until she was mindless with need. "Are you ready to go now?"

  He stepped back, and Kayla felt a bit dazed. It took her a moment to realise that some of her dizziness was simply from not being able to see too well. Sometime during the kiss, he had managed to remove her glasses, leaving her with nothing, but blurry images in front of her.

  "Give them back, Isaac." She demanded, as she gripped at his shirt, before he could move away.

  "Nope, not happening. You didn't want to wear the blindfold, so this is the only option you gave me." Isaac said smugly.

  "Ugh, you are so annoying." She huffed at him, but that only made him laugh.

  "And you secretly love it." He left the briefest of kisses on her lips, and she went up in tiptoe wanting more, but he pulled from her grasp.

  "No, actually, I really don't." She crossed her arms defiantly.

  "C'mon, get in, and I swear that you'll forgive me when we get there." He coaxed, and she just narrowed her eyes at him, trying to see anything beyond the blur.

  "Maybe if I could see the door then I could." She replied dryly, only to find Isaac's hand on her arm guiding her.

  She smiled ruefully, as they drove along. Isaac always had such a knack for getting his own way with everything. She loved him deeply, but sometimes he drove her absolutely crazy. They had days where they fought so loudly that Kayla wondered that their neighbours didn't complain. She had decided a while ago that no argument was as bad as sleeping in their bed alone at night, so they always managed to work through their disagreements.

  "Are you ready for this?" Isaac's voice teased her awake from the doze that she chose to have, when she couldn't actually see anything as he drove along.

  "I don't know what 'this' even is yet," she reminded him.

  "Stay still," he whispered a kiss against her cheek, before he slipped her glasses onto her face.

  She blinked, and then grinned at what lay before her. A carnival, looking much like the one from their first date appeared in front of her. She turned a smiling face to Isaac who grinned back at her.

  "I thought our first date needed another chance. I figure you're okay with skipping study now?” He asked cheekily.

  "You could have just told me." She answered with delight evident in her voice.

  "Then I would have missed that awesome expression you just had on your face." He teased and she sent him a look, as she crossed her arms and faced him. "Let's go and have some fun."

  He ran around to her door, and opened it for her. She loved these moments. When he did the little things that didn't seem to mean much on the outside, but actually meant everything to her. Opening her door was just something he did for her that she never demanded, but always appreciated.

  "Where do you want to go first?" He asked excitedly.

  "I think I deserve a prize first." She grinned at him.

  "I guess it's 'whack a mole' then?" His eyes gleamed at her.

  "No way! You left me practically blind, so you have to win me the prize." She told him and he pouted.

  "But I like it when you play too." He sent her a seductive smile and as usual, a blush climbed her face. He could be so suggestive sometimes, which she secretly loved, but it always left her red faced.

  "Not today, buster!" She poked him in the ribs.

  "I tell you what, we go on the Ferris wheel first, and then I will win you the best prize here." He promised, and she squeezed their fingers together.

  "I say,
yes, to that one." She leaned up to kiss him, only to hear a sarcastic laugh from behind them.

  "Of all the people to see," they both turned to find a woman that appeared vaguely familiar, but rather gaunt and pale.

  "Melissa?" Isaacs’s voice sounded flabbergasted, as he wrapped an arm around Kayla's waist and pulled her closer to him.

  "I can't believe that you stayed with Hat Girl." Melissa sneered.

  "Hell, yeah, she's my girl." Isaac replied evenly, while Kayla felt speechless.

  "You know high school relationships never last for long." Melissa sent Kayla an all-knowing look, and Kayla burst into laughter at her.

  "If that's all you've got to say, then we've got better things to do." Kayla said, as she slipped her fingers into the back pocket of Isaacs’s jeans and turned around.

  "She looks like hell." Isaac commented, as they walked toward the Ferris wheel.

  "Obviously growing up isn't something Melissa's aware of. Hayley said she'd seen her the other day too." Kayla told him.

  "I can't believe my lil sis. Look out world, here comes Hayley." Isaac laughed to himself.

  "You know it is true what she said, high school relationships normally don't last." Kayla mused, making Isaac frown.

  "Really? Are you going to take relationship advice from 'I drugged myself to get attention' Melissa?" Isaac asked affronted.

  "No, I know that relationships take a lot of work, I was just commenting," Kayla told him, before pulling him into the line for the Ferris wheel. "To make it up to you, I promise you a kiss." She dangled the bait and waited.

  "It had better be up there." He pointed to the top of the ride.

  "Yep." She sent him a saucy little grin.

  "You know I can just kiss you anytime that I like." He said, as his voice dropped low and shivered across her nerve endings.

  "True, but that's you kissing me. I'm promising to kiss you." She watched, as his eyes darkened to that stormy blue colour, and her grin broadened.

  "This line is way too long, just kiss me now already." He demanded, but she shook her head, and sent him a demure look.

  "Patience," she reached up a hand to stroke along his cheek, and he grumbled. "Seeing her has made me think of Steve." She sighed and felt saddened.

  Steve hadn't done so well since he was expelled from school. At first, he had seemed to be doing all the right things, but then he fell into the drug scene again. He had dropped into a dark spiral. He had even tried to commit suicide earlier in the year. Kayla had found out everything from her Mum with his admission to the hospital.

  "You can't do anything to help him, Chickpea. He has to want to help himself first." Isaacs’s words had her nodding.

  "I know." She said quietly, as she cuddled closer to him.

  "C'mon, I've been promised a kiss." Isaac tugged on her hand, as they made it to the beginning of the line.

  She let out a small laugh, as she thought back to her Hat Girl days. She had been so nervous on their first date, which of course led to her making a complete fool out of herself. Still, it was something that she would never forget.

  She sat on the cold metal seat, and slid up against Isaac, which shy Hat Girl would have never done. He threw an arm around her, only making her snuggle closer. Sitting here and lifting into the air made her realise how much she had changed since her high school days.

  Hats were no longer a necessary accompaniment to everything she wore. Her clothes, mostly Mitchell's doing, now fit her. That seemed to make Isaac equally happy, as it did full of angst. He said it was because he didn't like other guys looking at her, and that thrilled her secretly.

  She found out exactly whom Kayla McCrae was, and that confidence only kept building. Isaac was always her most staunch supporter, but he could also be her critic when she thought she needed one.

  "Pay up, Miss McCrae," his teasing voice interrupted her thoughts, and she glanced his way. He was tapping those delicious looking lips of his, as he grinned rather wickedly at her.

  "We're not at the top, yet," she sent him an innocent flutter of her lashes, and he growled.

  "Kayla." He drew out her name in a long drawl, which only amped the anticipation higher.

  "Okay, now we can consider being officially at the top." She told him innocently.

  "I'm still waiting." He tapped his lips again, and she giggled.

  "So impatient." She said, as she moved into his space.

  She gently sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, before biting it. He let out a groan, as he tried to pull her closer. She refused to rush, as she left tiny biting kisses along his lip. His hands delved into her hair, encouraging her to deepen the kiss.

  Instead, she turned her attention to his top lip and gave it the same caress. She was driving him crazy, and she knew it, but that never made her speed up at all. She continued her lazy, soft and seductive, but very brief kisses.

  "Kayla." Her name this time was almost a whimper, and she smiled.

  "Will you look at that? It's time to get off." Kayla said cheerily, as she pulled away. Isaac let out some inventive curse words beneath his breath.

  "What do you call that?" He asked once they were off the ride.

  "Payback for blinding me." She told him smartly, before letting out a laugh and scurrying away.

  He raced after her through the crowd, liking this little game of hers more and more. As soon as he caught up to her, she was going to get his version of payback. With the thrill of the chase riding high, he couldn't wait for that moment.

  He lost her strangely enough outside a photo booth. He stood there looking through the people milling about, but couldn't spot her. A hand yanked on his, and before he knew it, he had stumbled into the darkened booth.

  He never had time to say a word, as a pair of lips crushed against his. This time she didn't hold back. Her tongue licked across his lips, only to dance with his own wildly. A light flickered, but he took no notice, as he returned her kiss with a fiery one of his own.

  "Hmmm, I think you've paid your dues," Kayla's voice drifted over him, but he was nowhere near done yet.

  "Don't go anywhere, you little minx," Isaac hauled her back against him, as his hands slid under her shirt. He pressed her against him, and she turned those soft, passion-filled eyes on him.

  "I think somebody else wants to use the booth." She said, as she stretched against him.

  "I think that somebody else can wait." He ground out the words.

  "No, come on," she moved out of the booth swiftly, and grabbed the photos that the machine had taken. She laughed, as she looked at them before reaching back for his hand. "This is seriously turning into the best date ever." She grinned at him.

  "If you would let me kiss you, then maybe I'd agree with you." He protested, but she just tugged on his hands again.

  "Fine, I know where to go." She told him with that saucy little smile of hers.

  "I've got a much better idea."

  "Nope, you'll like this, I promise." She taunted him with his earlier words, as she led him to the Tunnel of Love.

  "Okay, I'm so not protesting now." He leaned in, and dragged a swift kiss across her mouth.

  "I knew you wouldn't."

  "Actually, as tacky as this may be, it could be the perfect place." Isaacs’s words had Kayla looking at him curiously.

  "Perfect place for what?" She asked, but Isaac just smiled secretively at her.

  "I'll decide if I'm going to tell you when we're in there." He said smugly, making her frown.

  "Okay, so what's the big secret?" She enquired when they sat down, and the ride was underway.

  "Actually, no, I think I'll save that for dinner." He told her, as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her wildly.

  His kisses scalded across her skin, as his hands roamed under her shirt yet again. She felt fired up for more of him even when the ride ended. Her teasing it seemed had awoken a much more impatient side of Isaac. He drew back from her slowly with a wild, heated look in those dark blue eyes of hi
s.

  "Now, our dinner reservations are soon, so we had better go." He told her hastily, as they got off the ride.

  "What dinner reservations?" She asked hazily.

  "Never you mind." He tapped her nose.

  He led her out of the carnival, and she could only wonder what he had in mind next. When he ushered her into the car, and drove towards the beach, she felt quite excited. She had always loved going to the beach.

  "Where are we going?" She asked once again, but he only kept his mysterious smile in place.

  "It's a secret." He sent her a cheeky look.

  "It won't be for much longer I guess." She said wryly.

  "Hey, this is something that I want you to remember as special." He blurted out, before smacking a hand to his head.

  "Now that titbit is a keeper." She sent him a triumphant look.

  He pulled into an empty car park of a very expensive looking restaurant that overlooked the ocean. She frowned, as she peered between the restaurant and Isaac, still not sure what to think.

  "Isaac, I'm not exactly dressed to go into a place like that." She looked down at her casual, but cool outfit.

  "That doesn't matter right now." He said, as he got out of the car to open her door for her.

  "I'm pretty sure it does. A place like this has a dress code, and can we even afford to eat here?" Her voice rose as she got out of the car.

  "Trust me, Chickpea." He sent her an encouraging smile.

  "I do, but..." She sent a worried frown to the front of the restaurant.

  "Trust means no questioning." He told her firmly, and she shut her mouth with a snap. "That's much better."

  He held out his hands to her, and she slid her hand into his, no questions asked. As they approached the restaurant, her frown only deepened. All the lights were out and it appeared closed. When a neatly dressed man appeared in the doorway to usher them in, Kayla became even more baffled.

  The dimness of the interior made sense when she walked through the door. A panorama view of the ocean through the restaurant glowed with the setting of the sun. Pinks and purples lit the sky with the water reflecting every colour into diamond shades of sparkling beauty.