Getting His Hopes Up
Erin Nicholas
part of the Melanie Shawn Hope Falls Kindle World
Out now!
copyright 2016 Erin Nicholas
Chapter One
“I
love you so much!”
Jason
Gilmore wasn’t expecting the gorgeous girl who had been sitting at the end of
the bar for the better part of the last hour to declare her love for him so
early in their relationship. He also
hadn’t been expecting her to actually
throw herself at him. But he was a very intelligent guy, and when he found his
arms suddenly full of soft, sweet-smelling woman—whether he knew her name or
not— he thought fast.
And
kissed her.
Which
she seemed totally fine with, if the way she kissed him back was anything to go
by.
She
might have intended it to be only a hug, but amazing opportunities were meant
to be grabbed. Not that he was grabbing her. Exactly. But his hands did fit
very nicely over the curve of her ass.
And
she definitely wasn’t protesting. He felt her little sigh, he felt her run her
hands into his hair, and he definitely felt her open her mouth under his and
meet the stroke of his tongue with hers.
She
smelled like buttercream frosting. He’d swear it. And he wanted to lick her
from head to toe. And those two things were, actually, not related. He would
have wanted to lick her from head to toe no matter what she smelled like. The
kiss was that good.
Damn,
he loved this town.
Nothing
bad had ever happened to him in Hope Falls, California. Not one thing. Because
of that, and because he’d found his passion for his life’s work here, Hope
Falls held a special place in his heart.
Gorgeous
women who smelled good and felt even better? Now Hope Falls was for sure his
favorite place in the world.
Jason
was still sitting on his barstool, but she’d stepped between his knees as if
she’d been there before. She’d wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her
body to his as if she really was madly in love with him. And she was now
kissing him as if maybe she’d forgotten she had never done more than smile at
him across a bar.
She
seemed to remember a moment later.
She
pulled back abruptly and stared up at him. “Holy crap,” she breathed.
Jason
grinned. A reaction like that could fuel a guy’s ego for a while for sure.
“Tara?”
A big guy with more tattoos than hair moved in behind her, a scowl on his face.
She
looked into Jason’s eyes, licked her lips and whispered, “I’ll owe you.”
Tara.
Blue
eyes.
Soft
brown hair to her shoulder blades.
Buttercream
frosting.
Denim-covered
ass that fit perfectly in his hands.
Yeah,
he could handle her owing him.
He
gave her a wink.
With
a little inhale and a smile, she turned. “Oh, hey Curt.”
She
was still standing between Jason’s knees and he decided that whatever he was
playing along with required his hands to stay on her hips.
She
seemed to agree. She leaned back slightly, settling that sweet ass against his
groin.
He
coughed and shifted slightly. Damn. She was cute and kissed like a wet dream
and he was two beers in and in a great mood, but he was still surprised by how
quickly all the blood in his body rerouted to the area behind his zipper.
“Hey.”
Curt’s eyes went to Jason.
Tara
pressed back more firmly and Jason’s body answered with a counter pressure that
was less intentional.
He
shifted again on the bar stool while also moving her slightly to the right. She
put her hand on his thigh, resisting moving even an inch and making their pose
look even more intimate.
“I
didn’t know you were back in town,” she said to the other guy.
Jason
didn’t even know her and he could hear the tension in her voice.
“Just
rolled in,” Curt replied. “I came looking for you first thing.”
Now
Jason felt the tension in her body.
“Why
is that?”
She
flipped her hair back, no doubt in an attempt to look casual, and the air
around Jason stirred with the scent of sugary frosting.
Curt’s
eyes narrowed. “Because I’d hoped you’d be waiting for me.”
Tara’s
fingers tightened on Jason’s thigh. “I don’t know why you’d think that. We went
on one date and it was a year ago.”
Ah,
an ex. Kind of. A spurned lover. Or a spurned lover-wannabe. Jason got it now.
“The
only reason we didn’t have a second was because I got arrested.”
A
spurned-lover-wannabe felon. Great.
What had he gotten into here?
“That
wasn’t the only reason,” Tara told him coolly. “But yeah, that didn’t help.”
“It
was just a misunderstanding. You know that.”
“You
stole my car, Curt.”
Jason
felt his eyes widen. Okay this was…interesting.
It wasn’t assault or arson or a bank robbery. Could be worse. Still, he
was a little less pleased now about her choosing him as her pretend-whatever to
avoid Curt the Con.
Curt
shook his head. “I borrowed your car.
Without asking first. That’s why it was only a misdemeanor and why I’m out
already.”
Tara
took a deep breath. “Are you seriously trying to tell me—”
Jason
pinched her hip. No reason to piss off the guy off. Who knew what he’d learned
in prison?
“Cupcake,”
he said calmly. “How about I buy Curt a drink and we all forgive and forget? He’s
out and starting a new life and you have me.”
Tara
stiffened, no doubt in surprise—though whether it was over the pinch, his term
of endearment, or the suggestion in general, he wasn’t sure.
But
she turned and smiled up at him. “That’s a great idea. I’m going to go to the
bathroom. Be right back.”
And
she slipped out of his arms.
Oh,
no. She wasn’t leaving him here with her ex, the criminal. Who was clearly not
happy that Jason was with Tara. Hell, for all Jason knew, she was a criminal too and this was a set-up to get something out
of him.
He
snagged her wrist, hoping like hell she wasn’t a criminal. “Maybe I’ll buy Curt
a drink and then meet you back there.”
He
said it suggestively. Very suggestively. So suggestively that everyone who
heard it knew exactly what he meant. He might as well have said, “How about a
quickie in the ladies’ room while Curt nurses his free beer and contemplates
his poor life choices?”
“You
two are together?” Curt asked, before Tara could say anything.
“We
are,” Jason said, not taking his eyes off of her face. “Seems like since I
first set eyes on her, she’s all I can think about, and from the moment I first
kissed her, I can’t keep my hands to myself.”
Her
eyes widened slightly and he saw the hint of a smile curl one corner of her
mouth.
Well,
it was all true.
He’d
noticed her right away. He’d already eaten his burger and was making his way
through a half pint of his favorite beer—one that he couldn’t find back home
and only one of the things he’d missed like crazy since he’d last been in Hope
Falls—when she’d taken the seat at the other end of the bar.
She
was beautiful and had a sweet smile and, well, that ass in those jeans, so he’d
made note of her immediately. But then she’d ordered the same beer, and over
the course of the next hour had put Thomas Rhett on the jukebox—four times—and
had laughed at the same jokes from the bartender that Jason had. All of that
combined for Jason into “a little smitten”.
The
bartender, Levi Dorsey, who owned the bar with his wife Shelby, had been
chatting with them both over the course of the hour in between serving others
who came up to the bar. It was a weeknight, but JT’s Roadhouse was the only bar
in Hope Falls, so it was still busy enough that Levi was jumping from one order
to another. But he’d get a few minutes breather every so often and he would
chat with Jason or Tara, the only two permanently seated at the bar rather than
the wooden four-top tables throughout the room.
Jason
remembered the Roadhouse fondly from his previous time in Hope Falls. The
burgers were great, the beer always cold and the company was comfortable.
Tonight,
more than ever, he appreciated the way everyone seemed like old friends even if
they’d just met. Over the past hour, listening in on Levi’s conversation with
Tara, Jason had learned she was an elementary teacher, liked fried pickles,
loved chili cheese fries, had lost money on her fantasy football team and had
hated the recent Ben Affleck movie.
Jason
assumed she was from here. She and Levi knew a lot of people in common, anyway.
He supposed she could have moved to town in the year since he’d been here. Or possibly before that. He’d only
moonlighted in the Hope Falls clinic. He had officially been in the family
practice residency that required he share his time between the hospital in
Sacramento as well as an outpatient clinic, a nursing home and two free
clinics. But it was hard to imagine he wouldn’t have run into her. It wasn’t a
huge town. He could have crossed paths with her at Sue Ann’s Café or Two
Scoops, the old fashioned ice cream shop. He could have seen her at the post
office. Or here at the Roadhouse. And if he had, he would have noticed her.
Definitely.
It
made more sense, somehow, that she was relatively new to town. She could have
gotten to know Levi and Shelby and met most of the town by now. It was possible.
A lot had happened in the past several months in Hope Falls.
For
just a moment, Jason’s heart squeezed as he recalled why he was here. He’d
never been to a reading of a will before.
“I’ll
take a Sam Adams,” Curt said, climbing onto the barstool next to Jason and
jerking his attention back to the current situation.
Curt
was going to take Jason up on the offer of a beer. Okay. But they weren’t going
to bond over that beer—or over their shared infatuation with Tara.
Jason
lifted a hand to Levi. “Sam Adams,” he said, pointing to Curt. “On my tab.”
Then he swiveled his stool toward Tara, who he still held by the wrist. “Let’s
go.”
He
wasn’t really going to accompany her to the bathroom. But he was going to use
her as an excuse to escape Curt’s company. He wasn’t one to judge. He saw all
kinds of people in all kinds of situations as a doctor. Many of those
situations were unflattering and people were not at their best. But he knew he
and Curt had exactly two things in common—they each had a Y chromosome and they
both had a thing for Tara.
No
need for them to further their association beyond those things.
Heading
to the restrooms might have been Tara’s idea, but Jason took charge as he
stretched to his feet and started toward the back of the bar. He kept his hand
on her until they were safely around the corner from where Curt was sitting and
tucked into an alcove where they could be as alone as possible inside the bar.
But
as he swung around to face her, he was hit by those big blue eyes and those
soft lips and, dammit, that sugary-sweet smell that made him want to eat her
up.
“Thanks,”
she said before he could speak.
His
first instinct was to say my pleasure
and it wasn’t out of simple politeness. He certainly hadn’t minded being the
one she’d chosen to lock lips with.
“You
tried to ditch me back there with him,” Jason said. “Not cool. After everything
I’ve done for you.”
That
hint of a smile teased her lips again. “Everything you’ve done? You mean not
outing me to Curt as a girl you just met?”
“That,”
he said with a nod. “And the kiss.”
“You
did that for me?” she asked.
He
shrugged. “I’m assuming you’re a lonely spinster. Maybe even a virgin. Who
hasn’t been kissed in a long time.”
Her
eyebrows shot up, but he could tell she was still fighting a smile. “Quite an
assumption.”
“Educated
guess.”
“Do
tell…what makes you so sure I’m one, lonely, two, a spinster—and do you even
know what a spinster really is?—three, a virgin, and four, not up on my current
kissing?”
He
liked her.
It
hit him suddenly. He was attracted to her, loved kissing her, loved smelling her, and now he liked her too.
Even
if she did date criminals.
He
gave her a slow grin. “Well, you don’t have a boyfriend, or he’d be in here
with you and you wouldn’t be kissing strangers to avoid exes, and that
kiss…well, that was the kiss of someone starving for it.”
He
was teasing her. He didn’t even know her. How did he feel comfortable teasing
her?
Her
eyebrows rose even higher on her forehead. “Starving for it? I wasn’t the only
one in that kiss, buddy. That kiss was very two-sided. And, if you hadn’t glued
your hands to my ass, I might not have…” She trailed off and her cheeks got
pink.
He
chuckled. “Might not have what?”
She
seemed to be considering her words for a moment. Then she said, “Kissed you
like I was starving for it.”
He
laughed louder that time and drew the attention of the few people standing
closest. He took her by the shoulders and turned her so her back was against
the door marked “storage” and he could cage her in. And block out the rest of
the room. He suddenly wanted a few private minutes.
Or
hours.
“Sorry
about my hands on your ass.” He wasn’t. At all.
He
could tell she knew that.
She
smiled; a full smile this time. “I forgive you. Completely.”
“So…no
boyfriend? I was right about that part?”
“You
were,” she conceded with a single nod.
He
was very happy to hear that. He loved being right.
“How
about the spinster part?”
“You
think I’m past the age where I should be married?”
“Is
that what a spinster is?”
She
pursed her lips, wrinkled her nose and nodded in the cutest expression he’d
ever seen. And cute was not a word Jason Gilmore used on a regular basis
outside of puppies and penguins. Even newborn babies, contrary to popular
opinion, were not cute. But he really liked penguins.
“So
that’s a no then,” he said. “That leaves only one assumption not cleared up.”
“Ah
yes, what was that again?” she asked.
God please don’t let her be a virgin.
Because suddenly he wanted to see what else she was starving for. And he didn’t
really want to be the first.
“The
virgin thing,” he said.
“Right.
The virgin thing,” she repeated. Her eyes were twinkling.
Had
he ever actually seen twinkling eyes
before?
“Right.”
“No.”
He
let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Lesbian.”
He
froze. The L word. And not the four-letter L word, but the seven-letter one
that was almost as bad when it came to wanting a hot fling with a girl.
“Dammit,”
he breathed out, taking in everything from the silky look of her hair to the
length of her lashes to the way her top lip dipped in slightly in the middle.
“Recent discovery, I assume? And you’re totally sure?”
There
was a heartbeat of hesitation and then she laughed.
And
he knew instantly that she’d been messing with him.
“If
I wasn’t totally sure, you’d be
willing to help me try the cock option one more time?”
The
cock option. Jesus. Even hearing her say the word cock had his pressing
insistently against the back of his zipper.
He
growled and crowded close. “If you don’t want me to kiss you again, all you
have to do is say so,” he told her. “No need for horrible lies.”
Instead
of pushing him back, she ran her palm over his left pec, her attention focused
on her hand. There was a layer of cotton between her skin and his but he felt
the heat and friction all the way to the soles of his feet.
“Being
a lesbian is horrible?” she asked.
“I’m
sure for the lesbians it’s awesome. For me, not so much.”
She
looked up at him and Jason wanted to run the pad of his finger over the tips of
her lashes. That was a hell of a thing to want.
“Well,
I hate lying. Horrible, white and everything in between. So you can trust that
I mean it when I say I would really like you to kiss me again.”
Heat
and want grabbed him down low. “You have a thing for bad boys though. And I’m a
really good guy.”
He
was. It wasn’t just that he’d been told that over and over…and over. And over.
All his life he’d been a good guy. But he liked it. He liked being the nice
guy, the trustworthy guy, the heroic guy.
“Bad
boys?” She frowned. Then her forehead smoothed and she gave a light laugh. “You
mean Curt?”
“Your
ex-con ex,” Jason said with a nod.
“One
date,” she said firmly. “It was a dating-site thing. It was awful even before
he stole my car.”
For
some really stupid reason, Jason hated the idea that she was on a dating site.
Not that he had anything against dating sites. But because he hated the idea
that there were a bunch of guys out there looking at her photo, learning things
about her, asking her out.
He
didn’t want anyone taking her out.
And
what the fuck was that?
“So
you just attract creeps,” he said lightly.
She
laughed softly. “As a matter of fact…”
He
snorted.
“But
you don’t seem creepy,” she said.
“And
I’m definitely attracted.”
“It
was the Thomas Rhett, wasn’t it?”
He
chuckled. “Yes. But the fact that you laughed at a joke that started out ‘a
nun, a rabbi and the Pope walked into a bar’ sealed the deal.”
They
stood grinning stupidly at each other.
Finally
Jason said, “But this still might not be a great idea.” It really probably
wasn’t. He was in town only until Sunday. He was here for the reading of a will for God’s sake. A one-night stand
hadn’t been part of the plan. “I mean, you
could be the creepy one,” he said lightly. “I don’t know that I won’t end up
tied up in your trunk or something.”
Though
putting this woman and rope together in the same thought didn’t go down the
ransom-note pathway but veered immediately toward the satin-sheet-and-slow-jazz
pathway.
She
seemed to be pondering his comment. She gave a serious nod and said, “Then I
guess we’re just going to have to stay here so you feel safe.”
Before
he could figure out what she meant exactly, she reached behind her, turned the
knob on the door she was leaning against, and pulled him into the storage
closet.
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