My First - Jason & Katie (3 page)

Suddenly he was back in Mrs. Garcia’s kindergarten classroom.

23 Years Ago

It was the first day of kindergarten FINALLY. Best. Day. Ever.

Putting his backpack in his cubby he felt a brush of something that tickled his arm. When he swatted his arm he felt the softest, silkiest thing he had ever touched.

When he looked up to see what it was, he couldn’t believe his eyes. There she stood, a real-life angel! Rays of sunlight from the window streamed through her long blonde hair, and she was looking down at him with the biggest blue eyes Jason had ever seen in his life.

The earth stopped spinning and everything stood still. Nothing existed except this amazing creature. She slowly reached her hand to her neck and flipped her long blonde hair behind her back as she placed her backpack in her cubby.

Jason could not speak. This was a new phenomenon for Jason, as the spoken word had always been one of his greatest gifts.

Since the time Jason was able to put two words together he always knew just the right thing to say to either get out of trouble, get what he wanted, or just put a smile on the faces of the women in his life. Even before he was old enough to speak, he had exuded a natural born mojo. The first word ever used to describe Jason in the nursery was charming. All of the nurses in the infant care ward would fight over who could hold him. Even as a newborn he had a twinkle in his eye and a little smirk on his lips that the opposite sex just couldn’t get enough of. But in this moment, five year old Jason could not even remember how to say, 'Hi.'

But, luck was on his side, as it usually was. YES! He was assigned to the same table as this heavenly being. Jason could barely sit still next to her. He fidgeted, and couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

She, on the other hand, sat next to him totally composed, completely ignoring him, working on their first assignment, the name paper.

Jason had tried all morning to get her attention somehow, but to no avail. When she finished her paper, she looked so proud of it as she taped it to the back of her seat.

When she sat down again beside him, he had the sudden urge to pinch her, just to see what she would do. Anything to get her attention! He was desperate to have her acknowledge him!

But, reason prevailed, and he realized that pinching her wouldn't be the best course of action. He had to keep thinking. Before another plan could take shape, however, she was out the door to recess.

Finally, genius struck! As he sat in his chair while all the other kids were at recess he decided he would ‘redecorate’ her name paper to give her a nickname. That would be a way he could start to talk to her, an ice breaker of sorts. He knew that would get her attention. And it would be special! If he gave her a special name paper decoration, she would know for SURE how special he thought she was!

He looked at her name page, which so beautifully read 'Katie' and the first thing that came to Jason’s mind was Kit Kat...the best candy bar in the whole world! He quickly changed her paper to read just that.

He had not expected any of the other kids to notice it when they came in from recess, or to think it was funny. It was supposed to be a special, inside secret between him and his blonde angel.

In fact, to be honest, he had completely forgotten that any other kids were even in their class. No one existed in the room for him but Katie.

But after the look on Katie’s face when the other kids were all gathered around her desk in giggles, Jason knew that he had made a huge mistake.

Okay, he had to fix this and quick. The only thing he knew to do was try to relieve some of the tension by stating the obvious. It was part of his charm, Jason was always being accused of saying what everyone was thinking. Instinct kicked in and he simply said “I think this is your seat, Kit Kat”.

He was shocked to see a look of anger and embarrassment that suddenly appeared on Katie’s face. He didn’t know how things had gone so terribly wrong or why his charm and wit had not gotten the smile that always had appeared on the opposite sex's face whenever he spoke. But the one thing he did know was that he had never met anyone else who made him feel the way this girl sitting next to him made him feel.

And he hadn't known it yet at the time, but he never would.

Present Day

The same feeling that had paralyzed him upon seeing her for the first time in Kindergarten class washed over Jason now as he stood in front of Katie. His world stopped spinning and she was the only thing that existed.

Katie had grown into the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. Standing five foot three, with a petite figure that had curves in all the right places, she still had incredible long blonde hair, and the most intoxicating blue eyes in existence.

And when he looked at her, he still saw his angel.

--- ~ ---

Unable to get control of her breathing, Katie closed her eyes. She still felt that she needed to say something to break this awkward silence, but she just wasn't sure she could speak without croaking. Also, she wasn't sure she even remembered what they were talking about.

What were they talking about again?

Oh, yeah.

“No, Jason, YOU always loved that nickname,” Katie retorted, her eyes sparking, “which always surprised me, because – as witty and creative as you claim to be – I would have thought you could come up with something just a little more original.”

She strove to keep her voice light and even, but she could hear the tension in it, as tight as a wire. She concentrated on keeping her breathing steady, on pulling her voice back into a tone that sounded as casual and nonchalant as if she were merely taking note of the weather, and not confronting Jason Sloan on the creation of that hyper-charged nickname.

She decided that this casual demeanor could be better effected if she avoided eye contact with him. One tiny glance in his direction convinced her that she was right. Her cheeks flushed and her breathing threatened to gallop out of control again.

Yep. No eye contact. No eye contact was definitely the way to go.

Sigh.

Katie stared across the street, determined that she absolutely was not going to get trapped. She was going to look anywhere but into those big, sexy, soulful eyes. Those eyes would immediately rip away any artifice and reveal the raw truth, pushing aside any mask that she attempted to wear – and that mask was, as of right now, the only thing hiding the evidence of the intense feelings washing over her, as strong as a tidal wave.

She didn't need him looking directly into the gateway to her soul, thankyouverymuch. She was going to go ahead and keep those “tidal wave” feelings to herself.

Growing up, she had always thought Jason was really cute, sure. In a mischievous boy sort of way. But the specimen that stood before her now was no boy. No sirree. Nope. This was definitely a man. And the sexiest man Katie had ever been in the presence of, at that.

Brad Pitt, eat your heart out.

“Who said I came up with that nickname?” Jason asked with playful innocence coloring his voice. She knew that he knew exactly what he was doing. For some odd reason ruffling
Katie's feathers had always been his favorite pastime and he still knew exactly how to evoke the reaction he craved.

“Come on, seriously? Are you STILL going to deny it? Pathetic,” Katie's voice wavered between irritation and frustration. It was clear that the topic was well-covered ground.

Instantly, Katie's breathing returned to normal and her lightheadedness vanished. Hmmm. Guess you can't be supremely annoyed and have a panic attack simultaneously, she mused. Good to know.

Now that she had indignation flowing through her veins like liquid lightening, she turned and tilted her face up to Jason's, planning to continue her diatribe about his denial of the origin of the nickname, but immediately froze in her tracks.

Big mistake. ABORT!

Her first instinct had been correct. Note to self: avoid eye contact with Jason Sloan at all costs.

Katie realized in that moment that no matter how strong she felt going into it, eye contact with Jason would always be a supremely bad idea for a couple of reasons.

First, she didn't want him to have any inkling of the powerful effect he was having on her body.

Second...well, let's just say she was still feeling more than a little embarrassment and guilt about the way she had behaved the last time she had seen Jason.

It was the night of Nick's funeral.

You know, Katie thought to herself, remember Nick? Your boyfriend? Jason's best friend? Remember how Jason came over that night to check on your freaking wellbeing?

Yeah. She remembered. Oh boy did she remember.

Things had gotten a little out of control. A little...Katie felt a blush creep up her cheeks as she searched for just the right word.

Heated. Yes...heated.

They had gotten interrupted, but Katie had promised to meet him at the Dairy Queen at 8 am the next morning. She hadn't. By the time 8 am rolled around, she had been sitting in her Grandma May's sunny yellow kitchen, over 100 miles away.

Of course, Jason hadn't known that. He'd only known that she didn't show up.

Katie started to tremble as flashes of memory from that night began to assault her. Jason's hands on her skin. His mouth on her neck. Her body filled passion as she willed the pleasure he was giving her to block out the pain...dear God, please...just to block out the pain.

All she wanted was oblivion, but she had never known oblivion could feel so sweet.

Then, new snippets of memory hit her. What had come next. The footsteps on the stairs. The panic that had flooded them, causing them to spring out of bed and begin the frantic dance of pulling on clothes at top speed.

Jason's refusal to leave unless she promised to meet him, and her hurried acquiescence, lest they get caught. His rakish smile as he disappeared out her window.

Katie took a deep breath, steeling herself under the assault of memory. How had she gone for ten years and managed not to think about this? To think about that night...and that smile?

Especially considering it was the last time she had seen his face for ten years.

As soon as her mom and aunt had opened the door – about one millisecond after Jason's head had disappeared from view through the window, thank God – Katie had turned around and, shell shocked, announced that she wanted to go and stay with Grandma May for the rest of the summer.

She had thrown some clothes in a bag, hopped in her cute little used VW bug, and was sleeping in her Grandma's guest room by 1:00 in the morning.

Her mother brought the rest of her clothes the next weekend, and at the end of the summer she went off to college. She had never again set foot in Harper's Crossing...until that afternoon.

She took in a deep breath. Now, here she was. Standing toe to toe with Jason. Trembling and trying to control her rapid heart rate.

Even in her heightened state, the irony was not lost on her that the very person who had sent her running off to Chicago all those years ago, scampering off out of Harper's Crossing like a scared bunny...the very person she had stayed over 2,000 miles away from Harper's Crossing all these years to avoid...
that
was the very first person she saw upon her return all these years later.

Okay, she told herself sternly. Pep talk time! Shake it off, Katie! No more avoiding this. It's time to face your demons...pay the piper...walk the plank...cowboy up. IT'S GO TIME!

Take a deep breath, she reminded herself, and...TALK!

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She snapped it shut. She tried again. Same result. She imagined she looked like a trout on the banks of a river, flapping her mouth open and shut for no apparent reason.

The realization of how silly she must look gave her just the extra edge of courage she needed to jump off the cliff.

“Jason, I...I wanted to...I wanted to tell you that...” she steeled herself for what she knew her physical reaction would be as she forced herself to look up into those gorgeous brown eyes, which resembled nothing so much as pools of warm and melty milk chocolate...

The expression on Jason's face when she raised her eyes brought her up short. She narrowed her eyes.

“Why do you look so smug?” she asked suspiciously.

Rather than answering, he smirked and bent down, putting his mouth right next to her ear. His hot breath assailed her neck and she began to feel light-headed again.

Wait...was this....OH NO! Panic attack #2 might be on the horizon.

Not in front of Jason, PLEASE, not in front of Jason, Katie begged the Universe. It seemed like the Universe must have more important things on its mind, however because - oh, lord. Now the shallow breathing was starting.

Jason's breath on her neck, however, was anything but shallow. It was deep. And heavy. And warm. And full of desire. And...oh, man, that lightheadedness was just getting worse and worse.

Jason had her pinned up against the trunk of her car. Her mind was screaming at her to push him away and RUN as fast and as far as she could. Hey, it had worked in the past. Her body, however, was sending her some very different signals.