Taken

Chapter 1

A knock sounds from the front door, and I quickly check myself in the mirror. Hair, on point. Make-up, not smudged. Perfect. I open the door and find the handsomest guy ever standing there, running a hand through his beautiful and silky brown hair. Stormy grey eyes trail over me, and I blush from his scrutiny.
     "Hey, beautiful. Ready for our getaway?" James asks in his husky voice, and I grin.
     "Ready as I'll ever be", I reply cheerfully, grabbing my purse from the couch. I step outside the house and lock it behind me.
     We walk hand in hand towards his white Audi. He, ever the gentleman, opens the door for me and closes it after me. He then enters himself and starts the car.
     "Where would you like to go today?", he asks, eyes trained on me. I shrug and pull the seatbelt on.
     "Wherever you want. This is all for you, after all", I reply. He sighs and pulls his seatbelt on.
     "Don't remind me..." he mumbles under his breath, and I look down at my clasped hands.
     "I'm not hungry yet, so not to a restaurant," I say. James grins and throws me a look.
     "Ok, princess. Whatever you say."
     The rest of the drive goes by in silence. Every once in a while, I peek at James from the corner of my eyes to find him deep in thought.
     His biological mother passed away 9 years ago, from a car accident. His father married another woman a year later brought him a baby boy. The little boy, Kyle, is the cutest thing ever.
     Just a couple of days ago, his stepmother left. She said something about not being able to keep up. She left little Kyle with James and his father. So James is still a little upset that she left. Well, not just a little. Even though she wasn't his stepmother for long, he was close to her, since she kind of filled in the void his mother's death caused.
     At a red light, James faces me and grabs my hand, placing soft kisses on my knuckles. Then he places my hand on his thigh and continues driving.
     I look out of the window and decide to try to dissolve the tension by playing "I spy" with him.
     "Hmmmmm. I spy with my little eye, something that starts with the letter r," I start, and James throws me a look, then smiles. "Four letters," I continue. James squints through the windshield.
     "R, r, r..." he ponders loudly, and I smile. "Roundabout? No... Give me more hints!" I chuckle.
     "It's outside of the car," I say, and he tilts his head.
     "Road!" He crows after a while, and I giggle.
     "Yes! Your turn."
     After several rounds, in which I won most of them, James pulls into a park.
     "A park?" I question, and James nods.
     "But not just any park..."
     "That's where we met!" I say after his pause. James nods again and gets out. After opening the door for me, and grabbing my hand, he pecks me lightly on the lips.
     We make our way to the aging swing set and take a seat.
     "This is my favorite place, where I met my favorite person," James says cheekily, a goofy grin on his beautiful face. I laugh and pinch his cheek. "Let's see who can swing the highest!", he says loudly, and starts to vigorously swing his legs back and forth.
Laughing, I join in and soon, we're both swinging high, the wind wiping my hair all over my face. Our laughs sound loud in the empty playground.
James then leaps off of his swing and lands not-so-gracefully in the sand on all fours. I chuckle at him and slow down a little, then jump. I land shakily on my legs but I don't topple over. Ugh, I hate that feeling I get in the soles of my feet whenever I land on them.
"Oh no. I'm not going to be the only sandy one here!" And so, he pulls my arm and I fall onto him, my dress falling to my thighs. Quickly, I push it down and make myself comfortable on his lap.
James places his arms around me and hugs me to his chest. I let out a contented sigh, and wrap my own arms around his waist.
"Remember that day?", I ask in a low voice, grinning at the memory.
"How can I not? How can I forget the slight angry girl that pushed me off of 'her' swing! I did go home with sand in my hair that day", James replies with a chuckle.
It was a cool day and my parents brought me here for a picnic. I was playing on the swing and had just jumped off when an annoying boy quickly went and sat on my swing, since the other ones were occupied. I got pissed and stomped over to him, telling him, more like ordering him, to get off. He just laughed and started to swing away, and kept swatting my hands whenever I tried to stop him.
I then jumped onto him mid-swing and we both landed in the sand. I purposefully tried to get more sand in his hair, but was more focused on getting to the swing before him, or anyone else for that matter. I did, but not before he grabbed my leg and tried to trip me. He was unsuccessful.
"We were only 12, yet you were so...vengeful and aggressive!", James says. I laugh. "That was truly the best day of my life."
"I gave you from my pizza, so yeah, that meant you were special", I reply, and he laughs and squeezes me.
"Speaking of pizza... You hungry?" I peek up and lean back to look at him.
"What am I gonna do? Say no?" I reply, and James cups my cheek. He leans closer to me, eying my lips. I self consciously lick them, and his eyes darken.
Quick as a snake, he mashes his lips against mine, bringing his other hand to my neck. I open my mouth, welcoming his tongue. Tentatively, we stroke each other, and I revel in his taste and feel.
A couple of beats later, we pull back and, like we always do, place our foreheads against each other. James inhales, then presses his lips against my cheek.
"Thank you for being with me through the thick and thin," he murmurs, and I throw my arms around his neck.

~~~~~

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