Hold Your Breath

Chapter 14

My kayak hit the water with a splash, sending little minnows in search of shelter. I grabbed my paddle and slowly stepped into the small boat, trying to keep my balance. Once I got settled in, John carefully pushed me away from the shore, and followed closely behind as we paddled towards the deep water.

"Follow me," I smiled at him, and headed off towards a beach across the lake.

"Where are we going?" He called, easily catching up to me.

"You'll see," I called back. 

Five minutes later we were pulling our kayaks up onto shore, and stripping off our life jackets. I had come to this beach a lot with Amanda in the last few years; The sand was beautiful and the water was clearer on this side of the lake.

"Where exactly are we?" He asked.

"Its a private beach," I admitted,"But the people who own the house are only here for like a week tops each year. We used to come over here all the time last summer."

"We?" He cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Oh," I said,"Just me and a friend."

"Gotcha," He replied. I hated lying about Amanda, but I just could never find the right time to talk about it. I mean, is there ever really a right time to talk about something like that?

"You have to check out their house," I said quickly changing the subject,"Their garage is like the size of your cottage."

We laughed as I led him up the stone path to the huge, brick house. It was perched on the very top of a hill, overlooking the lake. There were at least four stories, each with huge glass windows and beautiful balcony on the very top floor. I rounded the corner of the house and stopped dead in my tracks, quickly being pulled back into hiding by John.

"Only here one week, huh?" He asked as we watched the man unload bags from his SUV. Luckily he hadn't seen us, but before we could sneak back to the water, a little girl came running out of the front door.

"Daddy! Daddy!" She was probably only five years old, and was wearing the cutest little polka-dot sundress.

"What is it pumpkin?" The man asked, kneeling down to pick up his daughter as she ran towards him.

"Daddy!," She continued,"There's two tiny boats by the water! I think people are here again!"

I looked at John as the man walked inside with his daughter. As soon as they were gone, we took off running down the slope as fast as possible, lungs burning the whole way. Halfway down, I tripped on a stone and went flying, landing hard on my knee. John turned around to help me up, and we heard the man come out the back door.

"Hey!" He screamed,"Get out of here!"

We quickly sprinted the rest of the way and jumped back into the kayaks, nearly tipping mine over. We paddled as fast as we could, parallel to shore, so that we could get behind the tree's where he couldn't see us.

Once we were out of earshot, and we had caught our breath, John yelled,"Are you insane?"

I just stared at him for a moment, still in shock, before I burst out laughing. After a second, he joined in, and I was laughing so hard I was nearly in tears.

"I can't believe that just happened," I said in between gasps for air.

"Me either," He said," I'm never following you again."

We kayaked back to his cottage, taking the long way around, and pulled our kayaks up on the sandy shore.

"Your bleeding," John was looking at my knee, which had a huge gash in it. I actually hadn't noticed until now, but it did look pretty bad.

"It's nothing," I said, looking back up at John. He wasn't looking at my knee though, I don't think he even heard me; he seemed distracted.

"You know," He said, as he took a step closer, wrapping his arm around my waist,"You really are beautiful."

I didn't say anything as he used his free hand to move a piece of hair out of my face, giving me goosebumps where his hand brushed my cheek. He pulled me closer, and slowly leaned his face towards mine, looking at me with those deep blue eyes. His lips lightly brushed mine, and he quickly closed the space, pressing his lips against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, forgetting everything else.

His lips tasted like spearmint, and were soft against mine. He kissed me gently and I kissed him back, following his lead. I could feel his warm hands running up and down my spine through my thin tank top, and my whole body felt like it was on fire.

After a minute, he pulled away, resting his forehead on mine, but not loosening his grip around my waist. I opened my eyes and met his gaze, and a smile spread across his face. Could this day get any better?

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Finally they kiss! Let me know what you guys think!!

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-Miranda<3