A/N: I've added some more information to a few chapters, mainly chapter two, so if you're interested check it out! And as always, R&R please!!

Normally Jaiden wouldn’t even attend church with his parents, much less to a get together, but the possibility of seeing Tasha had him awake way too early, anticipating the day to come. He stayed in bed for awhile, just thinking about her. Jai was surprised at how much he did actually like her. He had originally been attracted to her looks, but was now recognizing that he wanted more than just her body. Tasha fascinated him. Her spirit and energy drew him in, and Jaiden made the sudden realization that he could fall in love with this girl. This new understanding made him spring out of bed. After all, what was he going to wear?! He quickly showered and shaved, and then stood in front of his closet in nothing but a towel. Jai stood undecided for about five minutes before getting irritated at himself for caring. He grabbed a pair of dark denim shorts and a black tee shirt and dressed quickly. After running a hand through his damp hair, he was ready to go.

Jaiden rocked up to the church parking lot, windows down and music blaring, looking ever so cool in a pair of aviator shades. He didn’t miss how Joey nudged Tasha, indicating his presence, and he definitely didn’t miss her smile and slight blush. He locked the car and made his way over.

“Hey pretty lady! How are you today?” Jaiden asked Tasha, giving her an exaggerated once-over.

“Not too shabby, and yourself? You’re lookin’ fine today,” she replied, returning the once-over, all apparent shyness gone. “Good enough to eat.”

Jaiden’s grin turned dangerously seductive, and he ran a finger along her jaw, tipping her face up to meet his gaze. “We could arrange that.”

“Later, baby!” was all she said, before slipping off to find Joey, who had disappeared at some point during the conversation, although Tasha couldn’t say she had noticed when. She wanted Jaiden, and she could tell he wanted her. It was just a matter of time before the sparks between them ignited into full fledged flames.

“Dammit, she has to stop doing that!” Jaiden muttered to himself. He was tired of watching Tasha walk away from him. He decided to give her some space and went to say hello to his parents. Before he got there, he collided with a group of boys, ranging from about five to eleven years old.

“Jaaayyden, will you be our team captain?” one of the smaller boys asked. “Miss Debbie said to ask you.” Jaiden looked up to see his mom grinning at him. “Pleeeease?” some of the boys chorused.

“What am I team captain for?” Jaiden wanted to know.

“The games. There’s a scavenger hunt, and some races, and some different games,” one of the older boys explained. “We have to play against the girls.” At that moment Jaiden noticed Joey and Tasha surrounded by a crowd of girls about the same age as the ones around him.

He grinned and said, “Alright boys, we’re on!”

“Yaaaay!” they all shouted.

“Do the girls have two captains?” he asked. “Because if they do, I think we need another one.”

“Got ya covered man,” Andy said from behind him. “Andy Mitchell, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Joey’s brother. We’ve had a pretty fierce rivalry going on for a few years, so I hope you’re up to the challenge.”

“Definitely!” Jaiden replied. “It looks like we may not have that much competition though. All the girls are little.”

“I dunno, it will be tougher than you think,” was Andy’s cryptic reply before they took their team off to the starting line where the first game was explained. Each team member had to go to the line and back as fast as they could, while holding an egg on a spoon. They then handed off the egg to their next team member until everyone was finished. Pretty straight forward, but then Jaiden saw the spoons that were being handed out. Anyone six years old and under was handed a ladle! There were definitely more girls with ladles than boys, and Jaiden groaned when he realized what Andy had meant before.

The race was off, and the girls had a clear advantage as several of their team members just ran as fast as they could with no risk of losing the egg. Joey and Tasha cheered them on as the last girl crossed the finish line, and then they all jumped up and down in victory before turning and sticking their tongues out at the boys.

“Real mature, Tash!” Jaiden mocked with a smile.

“You’re just jealous because we won!!” her smile was jubilant.

“Maybe. But what do you say we up the stakes?” They were alone now; Andy and Joey had herded the kids off the next game, a water balloon toss.

“Alright, what do you have in mind?” she asked.

“Well, if I win you go out with me Friday night.”

“Ok, and if I win…I get your car for the week,” Tasha said, making Jaiden hope even more that he would win! He wasn’t sure he could live without his car.

“So…shall we kiss on it?” Jaiden inquired, looking far too innocent.

“Ha, in your dreams, mister!” Tasha lightly punched him on the shoulder.

“It is.” Jaiden suddenly turned serious, and rested his forehead on hers, brushing the hair from her face. Her gaze moved to his lips, and she moved forward, almost imperceptibly. Swiftly realizing where they were, Tasha pulled back. They shook on the bet and headed over to cheer in their teams, both wondering what would have happened if the scenario had been different.

“Yes!!” Andy shouted as the last boy crossed the finish line. The boys had won the water balloon toss and the foot race, but the girls had absolutely creamed them at the sack race, so they were tied, 2-2 overall. The scavenger hunt was the last event of the day, tie-breaker. Both teams had the same list of items to find, but the rule was that the girls’ team could only get items from the women of the church and vice versa for the boys. It may have been a little sexist, but that was just the tradition and no one dreamed of changing it.

Joey took their copy of the list and read it off to Tasha. “Three key chains, one yellow notepad, two red pens, a bouncy ball, a shoelace, a flower, two hair ties, a pocket knife, a candy bar, two dollars in change, and a cd. Heck, I’ve got half of this stuff in the car!”

“Everyone ready? Annnd, go!!” shouted the woman in charge, Amy Moran.

Joey and Tasha gathered their team around them and got the shoelace, hair ties, bouncy ball, and some change just from the team members. Joey dashed to her car for a cd and pocket knife and possibly a red pen. Tasha sent two girls off for a flower, and the rest fanned out throughout the women looking for the rest of the items.

The boys’ team was having great luck, as one man happened to be holding his wife’s purse with hair ties in it, and he provided them with a yellow notepad, key chains, and a candy bar as well. The rest of the team had run off in search of items, and most came back quickly, objects in hand. They had everything they needed, except for the pocket knife, within 25 minutes. Then everyone had to split up again, searching for the knife. Amazingly enough though, not one man had a pocket knife on him that day.

In the meantime, the girls were slowly but surely collecting everything they needed. Both teams had assembled their items next to Amy Moran, and she was checking them off as they went. Tasha was just counting the last of their change, getting it to exactly two dollars, when Jaiden realized that he carried a pocket knife! He grabbed it from his pocket and sprinted to Amy, just seconds before Tasha finished counting.

“Yeahhhhh!!” they all screamed, jumping up and down with excitement. “We win! Time for the pies, time for the pies!”

Jaiden turned to Andy in confusion, “What are they talking about pies for?”

“Ha! No one told you? As winning captains we get to smash pies into the girls’ faces! That’s what has kept the competition alive between me and Joey.”

The captains took their places at the front of the crowd for the pie “ceremony.” Andy went first, grabbing his pie and grinding it into Joey’s face amid cheers from the jubilant boys’ team. Somehow he managed to cover most of her head with banana cream. Tasha took that time to plead with Jaiden.

“You know you don’t want to cover this beautiful face with pie do you?!” She batted her eyelashes furiously as she backed away.

“Oh, but I do! I won after all, sweetheart!” Jaiden stalked her until she could go no further, and then proceeded to plaster her with chocolate cream.

She chased after him, saying, “Oh don’t you want to kiss me now?”

“Yes,” was all Jai said before heading into the church building. Tasha grabbed Joey who had wiped off some of the cream onto Andy’s shirt, and they headed inside too.

“Mom we’re just going to clean up, ok?” Tasha shouted to Joey’s mom, Jeanine. Tasha spent so much time with Joey that Jeanine and her husband Alex felt like they had another daughter.

“That’s fine, make sure you get all that off of you!” she replied, obviously unaware that Jaiden was inside as well, because any self respecting parent wouldn’t want her girls alone in a building with, yikes, a teenage guy!