Reader discretion is advised. Mature readers only. This story features periodic unwarranted foul language, hard drug abuse, consumption of alcohol, sexually-oriented nudity, promiscuous sex, familial struggles, sociopathic tendencies, gratuitous angst and depression- involving teens. If you're easily offended by young adults' unrestrained behavior toward substance abuse and sex, I recommend you to read my other stories. Thank you.

Copyright ©2012 by champagne kisses. All rights reserved.

Finding Paradise

Chapter 1

Tiara Reinhart stared at her own reflection in the mirror. She had on a cute, vintage Emilio Pucci dress that pulled taut against her petite, slender frame and clung just above her knees. Her long reddish brown hair was pulled into half-do and she barely wore makeup on, only a little mascara and a swipe of rosy blush on each cheek. Her friends in school used to mock her mercilessly every time she tried to put eyeliner on. But she thought she looked all right now, decent at least. She was no America's Next Top Model material, but she thought she looked okay.

Still, anxiety stirred inside her as if there was an elephant stomping around in the pit of her stomach. This was going to be her first date, the first time ever in her life. She was seventeen and never had a boyfriend before. At school, boys barely noticed her because she always had her nose on books wherever she went and spent vast majority of her time in library which pegged her as the biggest loser of the year, until Bobby Van Der Hoff, the school's football team middle linebacker and one of the hottest guys in school asked her out on a date. They were in Chemistry class together, she caught him staring at her few times, she even thought she had been imagining things up to the time when she was looking through the boiling sodium hydrogen sulphate and he asked for her number.

It wasn't often that good-looking guys looked at her way, let alone asked her out on a date. She had absolutely no idea what Bobby saw in her. There was a huge contrast between them. She was as plain as she can be, while he was the school's chronically-single hottie who could have as many girls as he desired- the pretty, tall and skinny girls, but still he'd chose her, the school's biggest dork.

Because of her naught experience on boys, Tiara was desperate for another dating advice from her best friend, Olivia Jenssen, who lives next door. Like Bobby, Olivia and Tiara differ strikingly in terms of their appearance. Olivia was blessed with perfect skin, long legs and strawberry blonde hair that shimmered golden under the sunlight. As if they were all just powerfully irresistible images, Olivia was smart too. She and Tiara both shared their passions for books, but Olivia was more interested in romance novel, which can only infer why she was more experienced when it comes to boys.

Tiara dabbed the cherry lip gloss on her lips. Olivia bought it for her yesterday and blithely told her that there was always going to be a kiss at the end of the date, expected or not. Tiara had never been kissed before- and she didn't even know whether she was anticipating it or not. Olivia fed her a lot of kissing tips and it was almost like she was telling her that guys really dig girls who can kiss. Moreover, it was no doubt and highly predicted that Bobby Van Der Hoff was going to be her first kiss and she wanted her first kiss to be magical.

Distressed, she put on her favorite jacket and ballet flats and hurried off to the Jenssen's.

The moment she was about to ring the doorbell, the door opened abruptly and Mrs. Jenssen was bursting out almost running over Tiara in passing.

"Oh, Tiara!" Mrs. Jenssen put a hand over her heart. "I'm so sorry, dear. I'm in a rush. Are you looking for Olivia? She's got some errands to do and will be back soon."

"It's okay," Tiara said, taking a step backward. "I think this is a bad time..."

"Oh, no, sweetie," Mrs. Jenssen protested, jostling Tiara into the house. "You can wait inside. I'm sure she'll be back in few minutes. Besides, Noah is home," she said hastily, looking at her watch. "I'm sorry but I have a meeting to go now. Noah is in his room if you need him."

Great, Tiara pursed her lips. Noah is Olivia's eighteen-year-old brother and the most intimidating person she'd ever met. He had been mentally bullying her since elementary school and she had nothing but bitter and unpleasant memories with him. But he seemed to cool off a bit since he started dating Jenna White, the school's Queen Bee. Being the football team's Quarterback, everybody at school venerated and deified him, but Tiara felt sorry for him. She felt sorry that he was thrown into a horrible herd in the school's social caste.

If it wasn't all the bullying and harassing, Tiara might have found him to be an extremely attractive guy with dark brown hair, almost black, and the most intriguing shade of blue-green eyes she'd ever seen. Still, she gave Noah a chance and he could've been nicer to her.

Then, a thought struck her. Noah is a guy. He surely has a lot of experiences with girls and maybe he can share a thing or two.

With only tiny bits of hesitation, Tiara walked up the stairs and headed to Noah's room. It surprised her that her heart pounded a little faster than usual. After all, it was just Noah Jenssen, the guy who spent most of his childhood mind-torturing her.

Noah's door was closed shut. She knocked on it and heard his faint call "Come in", and then she pushed the door open and stepped in.

And she almost jumped when she saw him. She wished she hadn't come in. Noah was completely bare to the waist, wearing only a pair of jeans which hung low on his hips, exposing the waistband of his underwear. Tiara was able to indicate that he just stepped out of shower since his hair was slightly wet and a damp towel was hanging on one of his shoulders.

"Oh, I'm so sorry..." her breath hitched in her throat, unable to stop herself from sneaking a peek at his gorgeously well-muscled body. She knew she shouldn't be surprised at all because he was the football team's QB, of course he had a nice, athletic body, but now that she had seen him up-close and personal, she shouldn't ogle much or she would faint. "I-I didn't know..." she stuttered, "sorry, I should go now."

His trademark lazy grin spread slowly across his face. "Don't be such an innocent puppy, Tia. Just come in and close the door."

Strangely enough, as if she was hypnotized by his words, she closed the door behind her like he told her so and just stood there, clasping her hands together. Her eyes stay locked with his. His gaze, surely as hot as the scorching afternoon sun, easily intimidated her. She was suddenly embarrassed and she didn't know why, maybe it was the dress she was wearing. She'd never felt so vulnerable before, her cheeks grew warm and she knew she'd started blushing. There was just something, in his gaze, that seemed oddly enough, tugged at her heart.

She drew a deep breath and met his hot stare with a fiery one of her own.

Noah was being outrageously impertinent. With absolutely no shame or whatsoever, he gave Tiara a slow, thorough inspection. He didn't know why she was wearing that tight sheath. It pulled snug beneath her breasts and hugged her small, delicate frame perfectly- just at the right place, and looking at her this way gave him a sudden rush of pleasure. She was delicate looking, yet she couldn't possibly know how provocative and alluring she can be to him. His gaze lingered on her breasts, her waist, her hips and her exposed legs and had that darn smirk-on again, secretly appreciating her attractively dainty shape.

"Stop looking at me like that!" Tiara exclaimed.

"Like what?" Noah was smirking now.

"Like I'm standing here without a stitch of clothing on!" she said frustratingly.

This was why she hated him. This was one of his antics that she absolutely despised, staring at her as if he was undressing her with his eyes. She knew he'd only meant to tease her with his earthy lustful look, but still her heart was pounding such a wild beat and it was beyond her comprehension. She wanted to discourage this handsome devil, yet she was horribly confused by her reaction to him.

Noah felt pleased on how she was reacting to his near nakedness and it sort of amused him that she seemed to try so hard keeping her gaze fixed on his face and not from the neck below.

"So, did you dress up like that just to see me?" he teased her again.

"No, I was looking for Olivia, but she's not home yet. And the reason I'm wearing this stupid dress is because I have a date with Bobby Van Der Hoff in about an hour," she replied smugly.

Gone was the smoky look his face held earlier, replaced now by a look of complete mixture of annoyance and boredom. "So you're going out with Booby Van Der Hoff now?"

Wow. Talk about changing gears. One minute, she thought the look he gave dripped with lust. The next, total disinterest.

"It's Bobby. How can you not pronounce your own teammate's name correctly?" she uttered, looking slightly appalled. "It's not official yet. This is our first date and if everything works well tonight, I might see him again for quite some time," she said.

"Then tell me this: Why are you here?" he wanted to know, plopping himself down on his bed.

"I told you I was looking for Olivia, you ignorant bastard," she said, miffed. "You know what, never mind. I should probably go now..."

But she was stopped by strong set of fingers wrapped around her slim wrist.

"I've been welcoming great pain allowing you to be in my room, I'm not gonna let you off easily." At six foot one, he towered over her. He could sense the distress in her beautiful blue eyes as he was staring down at her with thorough intenseness. A shiver of sensation raced through his blood at the feel of her soft skin beneath his palm and fingers.

Tiara returned his hot gaze with one of her own, showing streak of defiance. "What are you gonna do about it?"

While his hand slid down to lace their fingers together, the other was splayed against the small of her back, tugging her closer to him and blocking the possibility of a step back. He groaned inwardly at the feel of her soft breasts against his bare chest. The feel of his hot skin beneath her dress and the fresh, clean scent of him was making her slightly light-headed it evoked the urge to run her hands all over his toned chest and washboard abs, but she resisted as long as her sanity ruled over her subconscious mind.

"What are you doing?" she asked in a voice that didn't even leave room for an argument.

"I'm going to kiss you before that loser put his stinking mouth over yours," he let go off her hand and cupped the side of her face.

Before Tiara could catch her breath, Noah claimed her mouth. Neither his body nor his mind would allow another minute to pass without fulfilling his urge. He kissed her the way he'd imagined he would from the moment he saw her sitting alone on a boulder near a ravine two years ago, by that time, he didn't know why all of a sudden he was bombed by a surge of feelings just by watching her. She gasped when she felt his tongue traced her bottom lip, and slowly sucked on each with gentle nibbles. He loved the cherry taste of her and gently coaxed her into submission to taste her more and deeply.

Tiara didn't know what she was going to do, but the sensation and rush of something pleasant inside ruled over her coherent thoughts and she found herself liking what Noah was doing to her, she was powerless to stop him. This was much better than she thought it'd be. She began to relax with his tender assault and wound her arms around his neck while his hand moved to her chin, then she felt the pressure that conceded her to open her mouth for him. As soon as she gave in to the demand that was building inside her, he thrust his tongue inside her mouth deeply and completely.

Tiara was startled and she tried to pull back but he wouldn't even let her move. His mouth was hot and hungry over hers, tongue slid in and out, over and over again, tasting her sweetness until his body was straining for more of her. Holding her and kissing her like this made him shake with desire. She tore her mouth free from him, he growled and dipped his mouth to her neck instead. It was hard for her to breathe now, she became weak and most likely to lose her consciousness from every little kisses he gave.

"S-stop..." she murmured with ragged breath.

Noah didn't even give her time to protest, he kept her fully occupied with his tender assaults back on her mouth again while he lifted her into his arms and moved to his bed. She didn't offer true resistance until she was lying on his bed with his body covered every inch of hers. She tried to roll away but she was too weak and her body didn't respond the way her mind commanded her to do. He was intoxicated and aroused by her sweet flowery scent and the feel of her soft body- fits perfectly in his arms. His mouth moved to the side of her neck, pressing kisses against her skin and moved his hand over her stomach just below her breasts, slowly down, easing over her dress and beneath her skirt. His kisses grew frantic as he skimmed the smooth flesh of her thigh.

"Tiara..." he silently chanted her name, his hot ragged breathing felt like a caress against her skin. "You're so soft...so sweet..." he licked the soft spot below her earlobe and let out a low groan of ecstasy. Everything about her was pure deliciousness.

"Why are you doing this?" her voice came out in a weak whisper.

Noah lifted his head so he could look down into her face, his blue-green eyes darkened, filled with passion and desperation, lingered on her ocean blue eyes that he secretly admired so much- to her sweet lips that were still swollen red from their kiss. Again, he lowered his head and claimed her mouth for another hot, wet and openly carnal kiss.

"Because I don't want to see you with another guy," he uttered in grating voice, his breathing was heavy with passion.

Her heart started to thump quickly again- at his words. She knew he wasn't casting a spell on her, but she had a feeling she was going to have a change of heart from now on.

...

Thanks for reading :)

~champagne kisses~