He sprinted around the island and took her fingers gently in his hand. Bringing them up to his lips, he slowly inserted one tip into his mouth at a time before blowing cool air over each wet digit, easing the burning she felt.
“Better?” Concerned eyes met her panicked ones as she slid her fingers from his grasp and nodded her head.
“Yes, thank you.” She turned to walk away, but he snaked a hand around her waist and held her in place.
“What was that all about?” He tilted his head toward the stove top.
Blowing on her fingertips, she looked up at him shyly. “What? Nothing. I lost my grip on the pan. Do you want to eat?”
He shook his head, a sly, knowing grin working its way across his mouth. “It’s just an expression, Hope. A figure of speech.” He placed a curled knuckle under her chin and lifted, forcing her to look him in the eye. “I promise, that wasn’t a proposal for marriage.”
Her brow furrowed, internally smarting that he was so sure that he didn’t want to marry her, yet externally, she knew she should be relieved. “I know that.”
“Uh-huh.” He bent and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Good. Let’s eat then.”
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, the spicy scent of him invading her senses.
“Besides, I always wait at least five days before I ask a girl to marry me.” He chuckled as he watched her eyes fly open wide and ducked when she moved to throw a pot holder at him.
“You are such a jerk!” She stomped her foot when her soft artillery missed its target.
He waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe, but how many jerks do you know that have abs like this?” He looked down and pointed at his stomach.
She laughed and smiled broadly. “You. Just you.” She walked up to him and ran her hands over his stomach and then around his waist to pull him into a hug. She turned her head and placed a kiss on his chest, right above his heart where the Faith tattoo sat, reminding her of the obituary she read moments ago. A wave a sadness washed over her, causing her to squeeze him just a little tighter.
He placed a kiss on top of her head as he wrapped his arms around her. “You okay?”
She pulled back and gave him a smile. “Yep. Let’s eat.”
They worked together to set the table and move the food and coffee over, as well. When they were seated and had begun eating, she asked what he wanted to do for the day. It was another gorgeous day; the sky was crisp blue, the sun reflecting off the waves of the lake.
“I know you mentioned sailing yesterday, but I remember you saying something about a covered bridge? I’d love to get some pictures of that. I bet it’s beautiful with the foliage.”
She smiled brightly and nodded her head. “Sure! There was one bridge in particular I was thinking about, but there are several around here. We can spend the day driving around doing a covered bridge tour if you want?”
“That sounds great, especially with you as my guide.” He gave her a wink, his green eyes twinkling with delight.
She got up and started walking into the kitchen. “Let me grab my phone and check the weather to see if this is supposed to last all day.”
She walked back to him, phone in hand, as she searched the weather site. Her brow furrowed as she read the report, a frown marring her face. “Hmm, today is going to be great. In the high seventies and sunny, but it looks like thunderstorms are rolling back in tomorrow morning.”
He shrugged casually. “That’s good then, right? All clear for today.”
“Well, when were you thinking of leaving?” She put her hand up to indicate she wasn’t finished when she noted the look of concern on his face. “Not that I’m trying to get rid of you!” She walked over and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Not trying to get rid of you at all.”
He yanked her down onto his lap, earning a surprised yelp from her as he did. “Good, ‘cause I like being here with you.”
She was surprised to realize that she was very happy being with him, as well, and smiled in relief that he felt the same way. “It’s just that you said something about needing to be back by Wednesday.”
He had begun trailing small kisses on her neck as she was talking and didn’t pull away as he answered. “Uh-huh, and it’s only Sunday.”
“Mmm, that feels nice.” She was momentarily distracted by his warm lips and pulled his head up so she could kiss him again. After a moment, she pulled her head away. “Listen for one second. Okay?”
His eyes were on her mouth, his tongue slipping out to slide across his bottom lip in hunger as he nodded his head. “I’m listening.”
“I was thinking we could drive back tomorrow, but if you want to stay until Tuesday, we can take the jet, getting you home in time for Wednesday.”
His brows raised up in surprise, all thoughts of kissing her vanishing. “Wait. You have a fucking jet? Exactly how rich are you?”
Her shoulders rose a fraction as a small grimace fell on her lips. “I don’t know. Rich. It’s the company jet. Does it matter?” No way was she going to tell him that it was her father’s plane. Every time she brought up her father buying something for her, he got weird.
“You get that I’m just a regular guy, right? I joined the military because we didn’t have enough money for me to go to college, and I used the skills I learned there to become a photographer. I’m not Ansel Adams.”
She pushed off his lap to stand up and look down at him, her face pinched in anger. “Does it seem like I care about how much money you may or may not have?”
He shook his head, his lips forming a tight line, his eyes turning a bit darker. “No, you don’t. But we aren’t exactly living in the real world right now, so I want to make sure you realize who I really am.”
“And you think how much money you may or may not have defines who you really are?” She could feel her cheeks heating as her anger began to boil at the surface. “Or that it defines what kind of person I am?”
He was quiet for a moment and then shook his head, his frown back. “No, you seem to be an exception to the rule.”
This time, she shook her head and stomped her foot, as well. “Listen, you! I’m not sure what your hang up with money is, but get over it when it comes to me. I like you because you picked me up when my shoes were sinking in the mud, pulled a tree out of the road in a raging storm and still smiled about it, and because you started a fire for me when it was cold. You cooked for us and can kiss like nobody’s business! I couldn’t give a shit how much money you have.”
“But will you feel that way when we’re back in the real world? When you invite me to dinner with your family and I show up on my motorcycle, wearing jeans?”
She turned to him, her eyes narrowing. “You have a motorcycle?” Then shook her head in disbelief, muttering, “Damn, could you be any sexier?”
He smirked and then stood and walked over to her. He grasped her head gently, turning it up so he could look her in the eye. “I want to believe so badly that everything will be as easy for us when we get back to reality, but my gut tells me that it won’t be. We come from two completely different worlds, Angel.”
She pursed her lips in frustration as her brows furrowed. “Why are you worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet? If you’re so sure that we’re wrong for each other, why are you still here?”
His gaze became even more intense as his expression changed, his smile and the crinkles that normally lit up the corners of his eyes both vanishing. “Isn’t it obvious, Hope?”
She raised her eyes up to meet his, uncertain about what he was saying, and stammered out, “I guess not.”
“You are so goddamn stubborn.” He bent down then and smashed his lips over hers in a searing kiss, his hands still clasped around her face. She whimpered in protest for only second before wrapping her hands around his neck to hold him tight.
After several intense moments, he broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers, eyes meeting hers, desire flaming between them both. “I like you, Hope. I fin
d I’m liking you a lot. And even though it’s only been two days, this feels really right. And different.”
She captured the corner of her lower lip between her teeth to try to stifle the wide smile threatening to break across her face. “I really like you, too.” She brought her mouth forward and brushed a chaste kiss across his welcoming lips. “And I like you for everything you are, everything you’ve shown me about yourself while you’ve been here. I don’t care how much money you make, Gage. Please, don’t care about how much I may have either. This, who you see right here, this is who I am.”
“I believe you. I do.” His mouth turned down in a slight frown. “I learned the hard way that, sometimes, life has other plans for who we are or what we want, though.”
She nodded her head slowly. “I know. But let’s not let that ruin what we have right now, okay? Before it even happens.”
“I have always wanted to fly on a private jet.” He grinned slyly.
A slow grin spread across her face. “Good. It’s settled then. We’ll stay ‘til Tuesday.”
Chapter Eleven
With breakfast finished and both of them dressed, Hope packed up a small cooler full of snacks and drinks while Gage gathered his camera equipment. They met in the entryway, supplies in hand.
“Hey, what do you think about taking old blue out today?” Hope asked. “It’s a stick shift, though, which I’m not very good at, so would you mind driving?”
His face lit up with a wide smile. “That would be fantastic. I can handle a stick, no problem, and I can probably get some great classic shots with the truck.”
“That was easy!” She laughed and pointed to a set of hooks behind him. “The keys on are on the blue keychain hanging on that third hook.”
He turned and grabbed the set off the hook before reaching down to grab his camera bag and the cooler from her. “Let’s hit the road then.”
He placed the cooler in the bed of the truck and unlocked and opened the passenger door for her. She turned and gave him a shy smile as he reached to help her up into the truck. “I’m still not used to you opening my door for me like this. It’s nice.”
“Guess you’ll have to keep me around then.” He leaned down and pecked her on the lips before closing her door and making his way over to the driver’s side and hopping in. He put his camera bag down between them and put the key in the ignition to start the truck. One turn and she came to life with a loud purr. He pressed on the gas lightly to rev the engine.
“You weren’t kidding! Walter does do a great job keeping this old girl in shape!”
Hope was smiling widely with pride. “I told you.” She pointed back toward the driveway. “If you follow the driveway to the end, then take a right, we’ll follow Route 2 down into Charlotte. I’ll show you a little covered bridge that’s kind of on the side of the lake down there. It’s pretty in the fall.”
“Okay, sounds good.” He headed out in the direction she had directed him, noticing that Walter had cut up the fallen tree that blocked their path the other night. “Looks like Walter’s been busy.”
“He’s so wonderful to have around. He makes sure this place is always in tip-top shape. We’re lucky to have him.” She reached over and turned the radio on. “Do you care what we listen to?”
He shook his head. “As long as it’s not rap, I’m good.”
“Oh my God! Me too! I can’t stand rap. I call it rap crap. My brother gets so mad at me because it’s all he ever wants to listen to.” She scanned through the stations until she found one that was playing a James Taylor song.
“This is perfect,” he stated and smiled over at her. They chatted easily about everything and nothing during the twenty-five-minute ride to the first covered bridge. As he rounded the corner of the narrow town road they were on, the bridge came in to view.
“Well, look at that! She’s an old beauty!” He pulled the truck into a small turn-off on the side of the road just before the bridge and shut the engine off.
“I told you it was pretty.” She opened her door and jumped out of the truck, meeting Gage as he rounded the front of the vehicle.
“Hey, I would have helped you out of the truck.” He set his camera bag down on the hood and turned to her.
“You don’t have to help me every time we stop. I’m a big girl. I can get in and out of the truck by myself.” She smiled over at him.
He stepped closer to her and, leaning down, cupped her cheek lightly as he brushed a kiss across her lips. “But then I don’t get to do this.” He kissed her again, this time more deeply, both of them stepping into one another’s arms. A car, beeping its horn as it drove by, had them pulling apart quickly, laughter tumbling from both of them. “Oops. I guess we don’t need to give the townsfolk a show, eh?”
Hope’s cheeks were flushed pink, but she was smiling and happy, regardless of being caught in such a passionate moment. “If they want a show, we could give them a flash of those abs of yours.” She grinned mischievously and winked at him.
He shook his head laughing and began opening the camera bag and taking his gear out. He quickly changed the lens, made some adjustments to the settings and started walking over to the bridge. She followed along beside him, watching him take in the bridge, the lake, and the overall scene with a calculating eye. He stopped abruptly, brought the camera up to his eye, and started snapping pictures.
She wandered closer to the lake, leaving him to do his thing. There was a small family of ducks just off to the left of the bridge, so she walked closer to see if she could get a better look. Then she made her way onto the bridge itself and found herself looking at all the old initials that had been carved by past visitors. People had been carving their initials in this bridge for as long as she had been coming here. Some people even carved in little poems or sayings.
“Hey,” he called from the end of the bridge. She turned to find him pointing the camera at her. “Stay just like that.” She obeyed his command and froze, just looking straight ahead at the camera. At some point through his clicking and walking closer to her, she let herself lean up against the side of the bridge, her body relaxing into it.
He finally pulled the camera away from his face and smiled serenely at her. “You are such a breath of fresh air. Do you have any idea how you make the simplest things look beautiful?”
She tilted her head and bit her bottom lip like she always did when she was slightly embarrassed. “Really? I was just reading the carvings.”
He had reached her now and ran a hand gently over her hair before resting it on her shoulder. “You’re so expressive, though. I could almost see what you were thinking as you read certain things—when one made you sad, or when you thought something was sweet. I love that about you.”
Wait? Did he just say he loved something about her? He watched as she clamped onto her lower lip hard enough to draw blood and knew she noticed it, too. Screw it. It is what it is.
He reached over and used his thumb to pluck her lip out from between her teeth and kissed her tenderly. “Show me what you were looking at.”
“Okay,” she answered softly and turned back toward the inside of the bridge. “Look at this one right here. April loves John ’56. This has been here for seventy years. Isn’t that crazy? I wonder if they’re still together?”
She watched as he moved his camera back to his face and took some shots of the carvings before looking back at her again. “Did you ever carve your name here? Or your and some lucky boy’s name?”
She shook her head, laughing lightly. “Nope. Do you believe it? I think my mom told me that her and Dad’s are carved somewhere on this bridge, though.”
“Let’s put ours then.” He said it before he even realized what he was saying and couldn’t help the surprised expression that followed. “I mean, only if you want to.”
She cocked her head, just analyzing him for a moment. “Really? You want to carve our names?”
He nodded his head, absorbing the fact that he really did want to leave hi
s mark with her on this bridge. “Yes. Why the hell not? This has been a weekend to remember.”
Her eyes lit up as a delighted smile broke across her face. “Okay! Let’s do it!” She scrunched her mouth up and looked at him. “We need something to carve with, though. Any ideas?”
He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small Swiss army knife, holding it up, beaming proudly. “Yep. I think I’ve got just what we need.”
“Oh my God.” She shook her head in humorous disbelief. “You seriously have a knife on you.”
He shrugged. “I’m a Marine. Always prepared.” He started walking slowly down the inside of the bridge looking for an empty space to leave their mark. When he found a place he liked, he stopped and looked over at her, raising an eyebrow in silent question.
“Yeah.” She nodded and smiled. “This is the spot.”
He handed her his camera and turned back, pulled open the knife, and began carving. His body was in the way, so she couldn’t get a good look at exactly what he was carving, but she could see little chips falling to the bridge floor. She tried to be creative and sneak some shots of him carving, but she wasn’t certain if she actually got anything good of him.
Every now and then, a car would drive slowly through the bridge, and Gage would stop and pretend to be reading instead. It was silly, actually, because obviously, everyone did this, but it still seemed like they had to do it on the sly.
Finally, he stepped away, and with a wave of his hand and a broad grin on his face, he let her see. “Ta-da!”
Her eyes found his carving, and immediately, her hand came up to cover her mouth as she gave a little gasp of surprised pleasure. Inside a small hollow heart, he had carved Gage + Hope. It was perfect.
She turned back to him slowly and raised her eyes to find him staring at her curiously. “Gage, it’s so…” She threw her hands up in the air, and for a moment, Gage wondered if what he’d carved was too much. But then she shook her head, saying, “It’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me!” There! She’d said it!
Losing Hope Page 9