Cowboy Take Me Away (11 page)

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Chase finished his coffee and set the cup on the counter. He watched Hope as she bent down to wipe a smudge of cream cheese off the corner of her son's mouth, dropping a kiss into his hair before standing back up.

“So what's your plan for the day?” he asked, taking both their cups to the sink and rinsing them out. He checked the dishwasher and put them in when he saw it had a dirty load.

“I'm heading into work soon,” she said, nodding to Harrison that he could run off. “I need to go and get the little man ready.”

“Do you have a nanny during the week?”

“He goes to pre-K for a few hours each day. I drop him there in the morning, then he has a nanny in the afternoons. She collects him and has him until I come home.”

“That must be tough,” Chase said, noticing the flicker in her gaze when she talked about her nanny. “You guys seem pretty close.”

“We are.” She busied herself squaring up a pile of magazines, clearly not wanting to make eye contact with him. He knew her too well though, could see straight through it. “I guess I never expected to be a working mom. Not like this, anyway.”

He nodded, taking a few steps back toward her now that there were only the two of them in the room again. “You thought you'd be chilling on your ranch, making homemade lemonade and enjoying a brood of children by now, right?”

She laughed, finally looking at him again. “Maybe not an entire brood, and I always wanted to help run the ranch, but yeah. I didn't expect to be a working single mom with a trail of debt in my wake, that's for sure.” She turned to glance out the window, needing to gather her thoughts. “The dreams I had seemed realistic a few years ago, and now everything's just turned to dust.”

“You ever gonna tell me exactly what happened?”

She shrugged. “One day. Right now I'd rather forget it.”

Chase wanted to push her, but he knew the more he pushed the more she'd pull back, even though it was on the tip of his tongue to just ask her to tell him what the hell had happened and get on with it. Maybe she was afraid he'd go and hunt down her ex-husband. Because he damn well would if he could. Whatever had gone on was bad, he knew that instinctively. Hope had always been so focused and determined, would never let anyone take advantage of her or make her do something she didn't want to do. And yet something about what had happened at home had traumatized her more than she was letting on.

“How about you head over next weekend? Come hang out on our ranch for a bit.”

Her eyebrows shot up, mouth parted as she looked back at him. “Ah…” she murmured, clearly not sure what to say. “I don't like leaving Harrison. I know it sounds crazy, but going out with you last night was the first time I've ever left him with a sitter in the evening. It's bad enough doing it when I have to work.”

He shrugged. “You're a mom, I get it. And a damn good one.”

“Thanks.”

“So just bring him with you. He can bunk down when it gets late. We'll order in pizza or whatever he likes.” Chase smiled. “Hell, if it means seeing you again I'll drive out myself and get him McDonald's. Is it still called a Happy Meal?”

“Yes, they're still called Happy Meals,” she said with a laugh, shaking her head. “But I'm not sure that's such a good idea.”

“What? Coming over or the take-out-food part?”

“Both of us coming over,” she said.

“Is it so strange? I kinda like kids, and he seems pretty cool.” Chase stepped closer to her, reaching out and touching her hand, stroking his fingers over hers until she looked up at him. She stared for so long at their hands interlocked, a big breath making her body shudder. Chase just stayed still, watched her, wished to hell they were in the house alone so he could kiss that damn fine mouth of hers then jump her up onto the bench and finish what they'd started the night before. He was getting hard just thinking about it, wanting to skim his fingers over bare skin, to explore every inch of her again and get it out of his system.

“Chase, I have to get going otherwise I'll be late getting Harrison to…”

He cupped her chin with his fingers, holding her still as he leaned in, mouth hovering over hers, giving her the chance to move away if she wanted to. But she didn't move. Hope's lips parted, her breath warm against his skin.

“We shouldn't,” she whispered.

He grunted and shuffled his body even closer. “I know.”

He didn't give her any longer to think about it, covering her mouth with his, brushing their lips together, cupping the back of her head, her hair silky beneath his touch. Hope moaned, kissing him back, her hand sliding between them and clutching the front of his T-shirt as she locked him in place. Chase slipped a hand around her waist, nudging her pelvis forward so it was slammed against him, his tongue searching out hers.

“Chase,” she whispered against his mouth, palm flat to his chest as she pushed him back. “Stop.”

He groaned, hard as a rock and sure she'd felt it. He wanted her bad, and he wanted her now. “What if I say no?” he muttered.

She sighed and he let go of her, running his hand through her damp hair and down her back.

“You smell great,” he told her, wishing she was stepping into him and not away.

“Chase, we can't do this.”

Not this again. He didn't want to talk about why they couldn't, he wanted to talk about all the reasons why they
could
. “Why not? We already ruined our friendship years ago.”

She stared at him, long and hard. “We're different people now. Things have changed. And it's not just me any longer.”

“And some things are still exactly the same,” he said. “I screwed my way through half a sorority in college, Hope, and you want to know why?” He paused, wondering if he should have shut the hell up, but he'd started now so he might as well just tell her how he felt. “Being around you all the time was torture. Not wanting to fuck up what we had meant I tried to satisfy myself elsewhere, and I can tell you now the best damn night of my life in college was the last one.”

Tears welled in her eyes and he didn't know why. She brushed them away with the back of her hand, turning away from him, but he wasn't going to let her.

“Hope?” He reached for her but she moved just far enough back that they didn't connect. “Baby, what's wrong?”

“Everything's changed, Chase. We're not the same people we were back then.”

“So you're a mom. I don't give a damn.” Well, he had, but after talking to Nate he'd realized how stupid he was being.

“Do you remember why we got on so well in the first place?” she asked.

He chuckled. “Because I was trying so damn hard to impress you that you eventually had to talk to me?”

She smiled as she cleared away some of Harrison's things. “We got talking and we both realized we came from money. You'd been used to girls wanting you because of who you were, and I was just happy to be away from home and be a nobody for a while.”

“I remember,” Chase said. “I liked that there was virtually nothing I had that you didn't already have yourself, so I trusted you.”

“Except for a private jet. And a status as one of Texas's most eligible bachelors.”

They both laughed then and Chase leaned forward, elbows on the counter as he watched her load the dishwasher. “So what're you trying to tell me?”

“I don't even own this place, Chase. By the time I pay my rent and bills, not to mention the nanny, there's hardly anything left over. Not a penny. So when I say I'm not the same girl anymore, I mean it.”

He stared at her. “You need money? Is that it?”

“No!” She slammed the dishwasher shut. “But I'm just a regular person now, Chase. I'm not the heiress from the big ranch. I'm just…”

“You're still just Hope to me,” he said, standing up straight and not taking his eyes off her for a second. “It wasn't the fact that you had money that made us best buddies.”

“I know,” she muttered. “I'm just finding life tough right now. It's been a pretty big adjustment, that's all.”

“Well, for the record, I don't give a damn whether you have a dollar or a million dollars in your bank account,” he told her. “Now are you coming over this weekend or not?”

She glanced at her watch, eyebrows shooting up. “Shit! I have to go, Chase. I'm seriously late.”

“I'll let myself out,” he said, grinning as she grabbed a lunch box and madly started to rifle through the pantry.

“I'll see you on Monday to go over the results,” she told him, voice muffled.

“And I'll let the guys know you'll be joining us for poker night.”

Chase didn't wait around to hear her reply. He walked down the hall and headed for his SUV, grinning at how different it was seeing Hope in
mom
mode. The grin faded when he thought about what she'd said, though, knowing that no matter what he'd just told her, she was right. It did bother him just a bit that she didn't have the ranch to inherit any longer. Whatever had gone down, it had affected her big-time, and it was true he'd always trusted her because he'd known she had no motives for wanting to hang out with him. She hadn't ever wanted anything more from him than his friendship.

He steeled his jaw as he thought about Stacey, wishing to hell he could just wipe her from his memory banks. The one woman he'd let close and she'd been the gold digger from hell. Damn cunning she'd been, fooled the lot of them except for Nate, and ever since then he'd preferred one-nighters. The only women he saw more often were ones who knew it was only ever going to be casual.

But Hope was still Hope. She might not have money any longer, but she had a great career. She'd make something of herself no matter what stood in her way, he was certain of it. Just like he was certain that he could trust her. If he couldn't trust Hope, he couldn't trust anyone.

He jumped into his vehicle and grabbed his phone from the center console, texting his sister-in-law. He loved Chloe—having a woman around the ranch had been the best thing that had happened to all of them, even if they were loath to admit it sometimes.

Hey. I have a fifth for next Saturday night. Thought you might like some female company for once.

He dropped his phone back into place and fired up the engine, reversing and heading for home. It wasn't often he didn't wake up at the ranch at daybreak and head straight out to work, and he was ready to roll his sleeves up and get some dirt beneath his hands. Not to mention move a couple hundred cattle beasts.

Come hell or high water, Hope
would
be joining them next Saturday. He'd fucked it up once with her, and he wasn't going to do it again. So they'd had sex. So what? As far as he was concerned, they could do it again and again until it was out of both their systems. And if it led to something more? He groaned and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

There was no way he wanted to settle down yet, but that didn't mean he'd mind being exclusive if it meant having Hope in his bed. He stared at the road ahead, finding it impossible not to think about her. What he wanted was her hair wrapped around his fist, locking her in place so he could kiss her and tease her, only letting go so he could clamp his hands over her butt and lift her on top of him, to feel the sway of her body as she rocked back and forward.

Fuck!
He pumped the accelerator, the truck sliding up a gear. If he kept thinking like that he wouldn't make it through the day, let alone the trip home.

 

Chapter 6

“Should I ask if you made this?”

Chase laughed and kicked his boots off, walking through the kitchen in his socks and pausing to peer into the dish Nate had just taken the lid off. “Yeah, I knew you were coming home so I slaved over the stove all afternoon.” Chase slapped his brother on the back. “Good to have you home.”

“If I ever lose Mrs. T…”

“You'll die, I know.” Chase pulled a couple of beers from the fridge. “Heads up!” He threw one at Nate and grinned when his brother dropped the pot lid to the floor with a clatter to catch the beer.

“You're fucking asking for it,” Nate said good-naturedly. “You itching for a fight?”

“I'm itching for something, and it ain't a fight.”

Nate grimaced. “You still haven't done the deed, have you?”

“Can we not talk about her like she's just some fucking…”

“Sorry, my bad,” Nate apologized. “Ryder got all testy like this when Chloe had him all rubbed up the wrong way.”

Chase took a long, deep swig of his beer, refusing to take the bait. If Nate was trying to rile him up, then full points to him. “Let's not go there.”

“Why? Make you want to punch me?” Nate waggled his eyebrows.

“Makes me want to slam my fist into your face so hard I'd send you straight into that wall over there.” Chase cracked up. “So yeah, I guess I'm in a bad way.”

Nate held up his beer. “There's something in the water around here, that's all I'm gonna say.” He took a sip and nodded at him. “God help me if I catch the bug.”

“Unless Faith's around,” Chase teased. “You seen her lately?”

Now it was Nate growling, his face darkening as he glowered. “Don't fucking go there. I've told you already that there's nothing going on and there damn well never will be.”

“Touché.” Chase took another swig of beer and laughed at his brother, so het up just from Faith's name being mentioned. If anyone had it bad it was Nate, although he'd never admit it, not when it came to his friend's little sister. The last time Nate had seen her when they'd all been out he'd been in a foul mood for days.

“How about we agree to disagree, huh?” Nate said, clinking his bottle against Chase's as he passed and headed for the sofa.