by Jillian Neal
He sucked two of his fingers quickly and then began to stroke over her fully bloomed clit as she rode him hard and fast.
“Oh … yes …mmm,” were the only sounds she was capable of as he thrust up into her, following the rhythm she’d set. She was in control, but he seemed to know precisely what she craved.
“Say my name, darlin’. Scream it for me when you come. You’re all mine. Say it.”
She complied without question. “Brock,” spilled from her lips as she collapsed against him. Her heart flew against his. Her breaths remained elusive as he gripped her waist, buried himself past his hilt, and gained his own explosive release. The ecstasy consumed them both.
When they’d regained the ability to move and breathe normally, she extracted herself from his waist and fell beside him in the bed.
He turned to cradle her on his chest. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure one lifetime of that just isn’t gonna cut it for me.”
“Well, being in your arms, in your bed, eventually wearing the ring you give me is my definition of heaven, so maybe we’ll just stay like this forever.” Forever. Hope considered that word. Where did forever exist for them?
“You want something for supper, sweetie, or do you just want to sleep?”
She grinned. “We ate all of that food up at your aunt’s, and flying made me tired, and then you wore me out.”
“Well, freaking out for several hours will have that effect, and I don’t think we’ve quite recovered from everything that happened. Go to sleep, darlin’. I’ve got you.”
Nodding against him, she didn’t have enough in her to fight sleep. Her eyes closed, and her breaths steadied as he held her in his arms.
The sun was high in the sky when Hope’s eyes fluttered open hesitantly the next morning. The wind was still lifting the curtains in the room, but she blinked several times, certain that what she thought she saw couldn’t possibly be. Sitting up in bed, she stared at the rather large brown cow that had her head in the window of the bedroom. The cow had taken it upon herself to climb up the wide steps on the porch and munch on the flowers Jessie had left on the windowsill. She was chewing and staring at Hope curiously.
“Brock,” Hope called frantically. She scrambled from the bed and threw on a nightgown since she’d slept naked in his arms the night before. Turning back to the cow, she watched her down a daisy in one bite. Hope quickly checked the bathroom off of their bedroom, but Brock was nowhere to be found.
“Okay, uh, you just stay there, I guess, and I’ll find someone that knows what to do with you.” Realizing that she was attempting to carry on a conversation with a cow, she scooted quickly from the bedroom. She needed coffee, but first she needed Brock to remove the livestock from their bedroom.
“Brock!” she called again as she frantically searched upstairs and then throughout the house. Where was he?
Suddenly, she heard soft voices coming from the side porch off of the kitchen. Heading that way, she stopped short when she heard the words, “Half this land is yours, son, and I’d like you to have it.”
She froze. The wind. Where was the wind? It had just been blowing through the windows. Now it was oddly still. It couldn’t possibly be that obvious, could it?
“It’s not mine, Uncle Ev. You know it belongs to Pop.” Brock sounded disgusted by his own admission. Hope’s brow furrowed. She scooted closer to the open kitchen windows. The white lace tea curtains ceased their incessant billowy dance.
“Technically, it’s mine. And you know your granddaddy gave it all to me when your good-for nothing daddy, my brother, proved what an ass he could be and took you away from here. But I ain’t offering it to him. I’m offering it to you. Luke wants to go back to school. Wants to be a vet. I can’t manage all this land anymore. I could use your help. I don’t want to sell off family land.”
“Uncle Ev, I’d love to. You have no idea how bad I’d love to run this ranch with you. I’d move back here in a heartbeat if I could, but I can’t take Hope away from Gypsy Beach. She has her store there. Her whole life is there. She’s never known anything else. She had a really rough childhood. Both of her parents were killed in a car accident. She’s still afraid of everything.”
“I do understand that, Brock, I really do, but maybe just talk to her about it. You just told me you want to give her a ring. Once that happens, you can’t make life decisions on your own anymore, and I’ll tell you this, when she’s with you she isn’t afraid.”
“Yeah, I know, and I almost blew it. I don’t want to keep anything from her ever again, but I also don’t want her agreeing to moving up here just because she knows I want to. She’s everything to me, Uncle Ev. She always has been. My life was so fucked up for so long. I feel like I get this one chance to do it right, and she’s all I’ve ever wanted. I just can’t ask her to give up everything she knows and everything she’s worked so hard for, no matter how bad I want to come back home.”
Hope clutched her chest. Tears welled in her eyes. How could anyone love her like that?
“All right, just think about it for me while you’re here this week. Will ya?” Ev continued.
“Yes, sir, I promise.”
“And son, the whole reading mess, if I’da known, I would have gotten you the help you needed. I’m sorry I let you down. I feel terrible.”
“Uncle Ev, I was never your responsibility. You were already raising me along with all of your kids. You didn’t do anything wrong. I did.”
“Yeah, I know you knew better when you signed on for that mess, but let me tell you something. Every single day of my life I regret never going to the sheriff about what my brother was doing to you when he drank. I kept calling Darryl Shelton out at the courthouse, begging him to help me get custody of you, but I felt so sorry for your mama. Darryl said to do that the state have’ta get involved. He couldn’t guarantee you’d stay here with us. But every time you showed up over here with another bruise, it killed me. Here’s what I finally figured out. If we go through this life letting our shame and guilt rule us, we ain’t no good to nobody. Take the opportunity God gave ya, and make a life you’re proud of, son. And always know how proud your Aunt Jess and I are of ya. Let me help you, whether you ever move back up here or not. And stop blaming yourself for my brother’s mistakes, kiddo. Take responsibility for your own, but don’t heap other’s guilt on yourself. I’m gonna head back to the house. I think your aunt’s going into town today, if you and Hope want to tag along.”
“I’ll see what Hope wants to do when she wakes up.”
Before Uncle Ev stepped off of the porch, Hope opened the back door. “Brock,” she tried to choke back the emotion from her chest. She had to talk to him about the ranch, but she had to think about what to say first. The familiar desire to research overwhelmed her. “Um … there’s a cow in our bedroom”
“What?” Brock’s eyes goggled as he and Ev raced back into the house.
“I swear, that’s the last time I buy stock outta South Dakota. They’re dumber than stumps.” Ev huffed as he and Brock encouraged the cow to return to her friends in the nearby pastures.
While Hope showered, she let Ev’s offer to Brock tumble through her mind over and over again. Aunt Jessie had asked Hope if she’d like to go into town with her and Natalie. Hope had readily agreed. She wanted to get a good inspection of the tiny town of Pleasant Grove and get to know Jessie and Natalie better before she made her decision. She encouraged Brock to stay at the ranch with his uncle and cousins.
*******
“Come on, man. Let’s go riding for a little while. You aren’t that hurt,” Austin goaded Brock yet again.
“Hope’ll kill me,” Brock vowed readily to his cousins.
“But she ain’t here,” Luke joined in the persuasion.
“You’re terrible,” Brock gruffed.
“I’d never encourage you to do anything too awful bad, but I know you want to ride.” Austin never took no for an answer.
“Yeah, all, right but nothing too crazy.” T
ruthfully, it hadn’t taken much to get him to fold. Riding the ranch was just too tempting.
“When have we ever been too crazy?” Grant laughed.
Three hours later, just as Brock had Cinder leap over a low pile of logs and landed her beautifully, his eyes landed on something entirely different. Hope was standing beside his Aunt Jesse’s Suburban with her hands on her hips, glaring at him.
“Whoops,” Luke cringed as he slowed Willow to a slow trot beside Cinder.
“Yeah, I’m about to get my ass chewed.”
“She looks too sweet to be rough on ya,” Luke laughed. “Wish I could find some girl that looked at me the way she’s always looking at you.”
“Oh yeah? Well, give it time. Took me fourteen fucking years to finally get her.”
“Yeah, well, you had several rather complicated complications. Here, I’ll go apologize. Tell her it was all mine and Austin’s idea.”
Brock leapt off of Cinder as soon as he neared the Suburban. “Go on with it.” He bowed his head in mocked shame.
“Brock Nathaniel Camden! Your shoulder isn’t healed yet.”
“All three names. That can’t be good,” Luke laughed. “I’m sorry, Hope. Austin and I wouldn’t let up ‘til he agreed to ride with us. It’s our fault.”
“Um hmm, I figured that was it.” Aunt Jesse’s stance matched Hope’s.
“I’m fine. Totally fine.” Brock held up both arms to prove his point.
“For now,” Hope challenged. His cousins all laughed uproariously at Brock being threatened.
He sauntered towards Hope. “If you’re gonna hit me, could you not hit my shoulder?” he teased.
“Very funny.”
“Come on, sugar. I need a shower, and you can yell at me all the way back to the cottage.” He took her hand and guided her away from his aunt and cousins, preferring to be scolded out of their earshot.
Eventually, Brock apologized enough times and agreed that Hope had every reason to be upset with him and that he shouldn’t have been riding so aggressively that she forgave him. He joined her on the back porch and handed her a mug of coffee as a peace offering.
Grinning at him, she laughed and shook her head at him, righting every wrong in his heart. “Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”
Something had been tumbling around that massive brain of hers ever since she’d gotten back from town. “I was kind of hoping you’d want to talk to me for the rest of our lives, sweetie. What happened? Did Nat say something rude to you? She’s a little gruff, but she doesn’t mean to be, I swear.”
Hope shook her head. “Natalie was very sweet. We had fun today. I love your whole family, Brock.”
“Okay, so what’s got you spinning like a rope then?”
Her grin broadened at his expression. “I think we should move to the ranch, and you should take over your half.”
“How did you …?”
“I overheard you and your uncle talking this morning. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. The cow in the window woke me up, and I came to find you. I’ve decided to name her Daisy, by the way.”
“Oh, God, sugar, don’t name the cows. Never ever name them or … get … terribly attached to any of them,” he pled.
She grinned up at him. “Okay, so I have a lot to learn, but I still want us to move here.”
“Hope, I can’t let you do that for me.”
“Brock, I really want to. I love it here, too. I mean, I don’t exactly know what to do with all of the cows just yet or how a ranch works exactly, but I love being here with you. I feel at home here, as much as that scares me,” she admitted.
“Hope, baby, I don’t think you know what you’re saying. This life, it just isn’t like life on Gypsy Beach. It’s getting up long before the sun, working cattle all day, rarely taking a vacation, staying out here in five feet of snow in the winter and in the blistering heat during the summer, no matter what. Your life is tied to the land, good or bad. The work can be excruciating and exhausting.”
“Yeah, I know. I asked Jessie and Natalie all about it. They love it, and I know you do.”
“What about your shop? You worked so hard for that?”
“I’ve been thinking about that all day. Actually, I stopped in at the adorable little library in town. They’re hiring for a lead librarian position, and I accepted a position starting after Christmas.”
“What?!”
“Brock, I know this is where you want to be. This is where you need to be, and I remembered something else Daddy used to tell me and Skye.”
“Something else?”
“Yeah, he’s who told me that love would bring you back to me, and he also used to say that the only home worth having had a heartbeat. Don’t you see Brock, you’re the only home I’ll ever want. I’ll sell the store. Honestly, I’ll be relieved to be out from underneath it. I want to move out here with you. If the only reason I have to not do something is that I’m afraid because I’ve never done it before, that’s just not a reason at all. I have to stop being afraid to live. That is yet another thing that you taught me.”
Brock’s mouth hung open for a split second before, “How did you get a job in one day?” gasped from him.
“Well, there are 98 people living in this town, honey. Apparently, it might hit 100 when the Duncan’s twins arrive. They’re due any moment now. Oh that reminds me, the town is actually planning …”
“A parade.” He gave her a sexy, albeit mischievous grin.
“Yeah, but how did you know that?”
“Born and raised here, darlin’. Every time population nears 100 people, they plan a parade.”
“Well, it’s tentative because …”
“Some old codger’s about to die,” Brock supplied.
“Yes, but this is less fun for me if you fill in all the blanks.”
Laughing, Brock nodded his understanding. “Sorry.”
“Mr. Atkins isn’t doing well. It’s his liver.” She wrinkled her adorable nose. “Might be the still he swears he doesn’t have out in what was once the old outhouse. Mrs. Duffy feels certain that’s it. She would talk to the Sheriff about it again, but he’s taken up with Kaylee Shepherd, and Mrs. Duffy and Kaylee’s mother have had a falling out over a casserole dish at the last covered dish supper.”
Brock smirked. “I love you,” he vowed.
Laughing, she continued. “Anyway, I didn’t get the impression that any of the 98 people living here were interested in taking over the library when sweet, Mrs. Hamlin retires. I have experience and an English Lit. degree. They were thrilled.”
“Mrs. Hamlin is still alive!?”
“She’s 97 and still going strong; oh, and she said to tell you that if we’re moving back here, she would appreciate you and Luke not stealing the bullfrogs from her pond anymore. They help her sleep, apparently. I did try to assure her that you were no longer eight. I’m not sure she understood me, though.”
Brock was doubled over laughing by this point. A moment later, he stood and stared at her. The shock, and more importantly, the hope was apparent in those Gypsy eyes of his. “Hope, this life … it’s just … it’s tough. I can’t let you do this for me. I just can’t. What about your aunt?”
“This life is a real life, Brock. It’s really living, unafraid, and that’s what I’ve wanted since I was a little girl. I’ll talk to Aunt Cora when we get back. She can’t stop me, and I think it would be good for her to see me experiencing life and surviving. Always choosing the safest option isn’t really living, either. Even if she doesn’t understand, I have to stop letting her try to live my life for me.”
“So, we’re really moving back out here? That’s what you’re saying to me.” Emotion strangled his plea. Hope threw her arms around him.
“Yes, we’re really moving out here, as long as you promise to go to all of your physical therapy sessions and to finish the Davis classes back home before we move.”
“You’ve got it. My God, Hope I can’t believe you want to do this. Are you sur
e?”
“I’m sure. I know our forever exists here.” Hope turned and stared up at the wide open sky and the fields that stretched on for miles and miles around her. Everything was bigger there, just like her father had explained, and in Brock’s arms she felt her heart expand as well. He vanquished all of her fear, and together they brought each other … home.
Not quite ready for Brock and Hope’s story to be over? There is one additional chapter. You can read all about Brock and Hope’s adventures while camping at Lake McConaughy.
Visit my website at http://www.jillianneal.com and sign up for the mailing list to access this additional chapter.
Want even more? Brock and Hope are launching a new series full of studly cowboys, smart and sassy cowgirls, ranch life insanity, and of course lots of hot sexy love. Read all about Hope’s introduction to Camden Ranch. If she thought a cow in the bedroom was bad, she hasn’t seen anything yet. Pre-order Coincidental Cowgirl: A Camden Ranch Novella
More Info About Adult Illiteracy
I hope you enjoyed reading Brock and Hope’s story in Gypsy Hope. Here is some information on adult illiteracy, the resources mentioned in this book, and how you can help.
Around the world, 757 million adults over the age of 15 cannot read or write a simple sentence.
One in four children in America grow up without learning to read proficiently.
19% of American high school graduates cannot read.
15% of American adults are dyslexic although being dyslexic and being illiterate do not always go together.
Together, we can all help stamp out this global crisis.
Visit http://proliteracy.org to make a donation today.
The Dyslexie font (that Hope used to type ‘I love you,’ for Brock) is available from http://www.dyslexiefont.com/
The Quick Brown Fox
Jumps Over the Lazy Dog.
Palatino (Standard Print Font)