Inspiration Point (37 page)

“You seem more nervous than I am,” he said.

I ignored that, not wanting to tell Dad why I was
nervous; instead I laughed it off and went to answer the front door.  I'm
sure I was grinning like an idiot when I opened the door, but just the thought
of him waiting there for me had me feeling giddy.

He looked amazing when I opened the door.  He had
red board shorts on and a grey tank top that hugged his chest perfectly. 
His smile lit up his face and made his emerald eyes glow.  It took all my
will power not to throw myself at him there and then.

“Did you miss me?” He said as he swept me into his
arms.  But instead of answering, I kissed him.  I held back a little
with my kiss as I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to stop, plus Dad was
just inside.  Zeke must have noticed because he looked at me curiously and
grabbed my hand.

“Come on, Miss Knox, you are mine for the whole day.”

I felt like I practically skipped to his car as he
opened the door for me.  While he went around to his side, I enjoyed his
scent of the car.  It smelt of his shampoo and aftershave plus a smell of
soft leather from the seats.  I looked around the car and noticed it was
cleaner than I remember seeing it before – he must have tidied up for our
date.  He noticed me appraising it as he got in, and I thought I saw him blush
a little.

“So where are we off to?” I asked when he held my
hand.

He raised his eyebrows as he looked at me. 
“First, did you bring your swimmers?”

“Already wearing them,” I said smugly.  “So where
are we off to?”

“To the lake, but I need to make a pit stop first if
that’s alright,” he said changing the gears without letting go of my hand.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t care where we go as
long as I’m with you,” I said lamely, but it was true, he was all I needed.

I asked him if he heard about Spencer and the henchmen,
and he said Emin had filled him in last night before his date.  After a
few more minutes in the car, I noticed we pulled into the carpark of the
supermarket, and I looked over to see him smiling. 

“I thought you said you didn’t mind where you went as
long as you were with me,” he teased.

“True, but why the supermarket?” I questioned.

“Do you think I would take my brilliant girlfriend
with supernatural culinary skills to the lake and ask her to eat a hot dog at
the Kiosk?” He shrugged shaking his head.  “So I thought we would go
shopping for lunch, and you need to help me. So let’s go.”

He took my hand again as we walked to the shops
talking and laughing together.  I imagined how we must look to other
people, a perfect couple in our own little world, just the two of us.  We
went up and down the aisles picking things we both liked, dropping them into
our basket.  It felt fantastic to be back in the land of the living. 

In one of the aisles I spotted some girls in my grade
at school.  All their jaws dropped simultaneously when they spotted me
with Zeke.  I felt myself blush, and Zeke chuckled pulling me closer as we
walked past them.  We paid for all our things and took them to the car
where Zeke had a chilled cooler ready in the back.  I was slightly impressed
at how organized he was.

I didn’t want to take my eyes off him, so as we drove
out the road to the lake I sat angled towards him.  With the window down
his hair was getting blown around his face.  The sun looked beautiful on
his skin and on the contours of his arms as he held the steering wheel.  I
was lost in how stunning he was when he turned to look at me.  Neither of
us looked away, and the electricity that hummed between us felt nearly
visible.  Eventually he looked back to the road, and I used that moment to
catch my breath.

He drove to a private spot, and we set up beneath a
grove of birch trees.  I hadn’t been to the lake since I was ten and this
was the perfect day for it.  The sun was warm and rich, and there was a
perfect little breeze that danced around us from time to time.  We decided
to take a walk to Cape Falls before lunch.  It wasn’t a large waterfall by
any means, but it wasn’t far, and it was a beautiful walk.  We didn’t let
go of each of once as we made our down and back from the falls.  I thought
he might have planned to have a swim, but there was already a large group of
people gathered so we decided to head back to eat.

We sprawled out on the rug and made each other
lunch.  We talked and laughed and then sometimes just lay together in
silence.  I felt so comfortable with him.  After we had eaten I
propped my head on his lap, and he played with my hair and traced patterns
across my face with his fingers.  I closed my eyes as the breeze blew
across my skin.  There was no more perfect place in the world than right
here with him.  We kissed and played with each other, but I found I was
still a little reserved.  I just wanted him so much that I guess I was a
little embarrassed.  It didn’t take long before he brought it up.

“Is everything okay Hayl’s?” He said lifting my chin
to meet his gaze.  “Have you changed your mind about us?”

That got my attention immediately, and I sat up – that
was the last thing I wanted him to think. “No, not at all, it’s just
that.”  I got stuck there, not knowing how to put into words what I felt.

“You know I wouldn’t pressure you right?  Is that
what this is about?” He said clearly worried about my mood.

“I know you would never pressure me, and believe me
that's not it – in fact it’s the opposite of it,” I said suddenly unable to
hide my embarrassment.

“You’re going to have to help me out Hayl’s, I’m not
following.”

Everything suddenly built up inside of me, and I
blurted it all out at the speed of light.  “It’s just that I want to be
with you, I mean
really
be with you.  And I’m worried that if I get
too carried away kissing you, I mightn’t be able to stop myself.  And,
this is your first time too, and I have no idea if you’re ready or not. 
And then there’s what you would think of me after, it is only our first date.”
He stopped me mid-sentence, placing his finger on my lips.  I took a
breath and looked into his eyes.  He seemed to be trying to figure out
whether I was serious and once he decided I was he burst out laughing.

“You’re laughing at me?” I said, mortified.  I
had just poured my heart out.

“I can’t believe that’s what you were worried about
Hayl’s,” he said as he composed himself and held my face in between his
hands.  “First of all, I have known you practically your whole life, and
nothing could ever, make me think badly of you – do you understand?”

I felt myself starting to calm down the instant he
touched my face, and I looked into his emerald eyes.  He loved me, I could
see it written all over his face.  He surprised me when he spoke this time,
it was him who was speaking at the speed of light.

“And secondly I have never wanted anyone the way I
want you.  Hayln, you take my breath away a hundred times a day.  And
you are so damn sexy, and you don’t even know it - which drives me even crazier
for you, if that’s even possible.  And do you have any idea how hard it
was for me to sleep across the hall from you for over a week and not be able to
come into your room and wrap you in my arms.  It drove me nuts.”

That was all I needed to hear.  I didn’t take my
eyes away from his as I leaned over him and positioned my legs either side of
his body.  Then I kissed him the way I had longed to, with every bit of
passion and desire I had inside me.  He pulled me towards him as he lay
back down and I could feel his body under mine.  His hands felt hot on my
skin as they found their way under my top and I moaned softly as he ran them
down my back.  We suddenly heard giggles from behind one of the trees and
looked up to see some kids spying on us.  We quickly readjusted ourselves
into a more appropriate position with eight year olds watching us.  Then
they ran away leaving us all hot and bothered.

“We're doomed to never have any privacy,” I said as I
threw myself on the rug utterly frustrated.  I watched Zeke as he smiled
at me and jumped up onto his feet.

“How good a swimmer are you?” He said as he pulled his
tank top over his head.  I was suddenly breathless again seeing him in
front of me with his shirt off.  Only this time I knew I didn’t have to
hold back – he wanted me the same way I wanted him.

“Not bad, what did you have in mind?” I questioned as
he helped me to my feet.

He put his arms around my waist and turned me towards
the lake.  “Do you think you could swim to that island?” He said with a
taunting tone to his voice.

It looked a long way away, but I was sure I could make
it.  I unbuttoned my shorts and slid them off and then took off my
tank.  As I undressed, I noticed Zeke watching me the way I watching him a
moment ago.  I grabbed the hair band from around my wrist and pulled my
hair back into a messy pony.

“Ready, when you are,” I said with confidence.

He took my hand and led me towards the water.  It
was cool on my skin as we waded out together.  When we were waist deep, he
asked if I was ready and we started swimming toward the island.  Once I
found my rhythm, it took no time to get there.  I just seemed to move
through the water effortlessly, and I realized I might have just found another
ability of mine.  I walked out of the water and looked around the
island.  It wasn’t very large, about fifty meters across and scattered
with trees that let filtered light fall between the branches.  And most
importantly it was totally deserted.

I turned back to see Zeke still a few meters out – I
had to admit I was remarkably fast.  I pulled the band out of my hair and
shook it to let it dry.  Zeke had started to walk out of the water
laughing.

“You know it’s not fair to use your superpowers,” he
said running his fingers through his hair.

I could have stroked his ego by saying he was still
getting over an injury or made some witty remark, but I couldn’t say anything,
I was speechless.  As he came closer to me, I could see the water beading
off his chest.  His skin was glistening in the sun.  I reached out to
touch his wet hair, it was black and glossy and made his emerald eyes look even
more amazing.  There was nothing to say – I wanted him.

He didn’t say anything either, as he swept down and
lifted me into his arms.  I kissed across his collarbone, along his neck
and up to his ear as he carried me further into the island.  He laid me
down in a circle of soft clover beneath some trees and returned my
kisses. 

His skin felt like heaven under my fingertips as I
explored every inch of his chest, while my mouth tasted it.  His hands
caressed my neck as he gently untied the straps of my bikini.  As he
pulled it away, I felt a shiver across my skin as the breeze touched it. 
And then a rush of heat when his lips found their way across my breasts. 
I could hear him whisper my name as I caught my breath at his touch.  I
reached for the drawstring of his shorts, and he reached for mine.  The
wet clothes clung to our bodies as we struggled to take them off each
other.  And then finally there was nothing left but just the two of
us.  Every part of his body was touching every part of mine. 

We moved effortlessly with each other, each motion
slow, deep and honest.  Our eyes searched each other’s bodies, sometimes
meeting, and when they did the passion would ignite again.  The heat I
felt inside my body now was more like a fire, starting low and bursting through
every part of me with the most spectacular sensation I had ever felt.  I
was in heaven.

As our kisses slowed we stayed in the clover wrapped
in each other bodies.  His fingers traced lines up and down my
thigh.  We didn’t say anything for a long while, we didn’t need to. 
Our moment was perfect already, we didn’t need words.

As reality finally started to draw us back, I looked
around and saw how beautiful this place actually was.  We lay under a
canopy of trees, native flowers and lush vines. 

“This place is beautiful, have you been here before?”
I asked Zeke.  He was playing with my hair and didn’t look up to see the
island.

“My opinion of beauty has changed somewhat in the last
month or so, but it is nice I suppose.”  He smiled and then seemed to
drift away somewhere before returning back to me.  “I have only been here
twice before.  Once when my parents thought they might get a divorce and
the other time was when I realized how I felt about you.  It was a perfect
place to be alone.  Although, I doubt I will ever want to be alone here
ever again.”

He placed little kisses from my neck to my
shoulder.  I could have stayed there forever, but as the sun started to
set we knew it was time to leave.  We slowly got dressed and then swam
together back to the shore.  We dried off, packed up our things and got
back in the car.  I leaned over to kiss him before he started the engine.

“Do I have to go home yet?” I said pouting.

“Not at all, I am taking you to get some dinner
first.  I can’t very well take you home to your father starving now, can
I?”

“Did you have anywhere in mind?” I questioned, knowing
we weren’t really dressed for anything too nice.

“Yes, I’d like to show you my favorite cafe in Main
Street,” he said as he kissed the palm of my hand.