Hope Falls

by Addison Moore

  “Look at this”—I pull her onto my lap—“carved turkey with gravy. Have Thanksgiving any time of the year!”

  “I thought up that tagline.” She does her best to take a bow. “And we thought up the idea.” She presses a heated kiss against my cheek. “Don’t ever shave,” she moans as she scratches my cheek. “Your scruff has the ability to cast a spell of sexual proportions on any and every woman. It’s solely delivered me to your bedroom.” A bubbling laugh evicts from her. “And maybe this, too.” She draws out a heart with her finger right over my chest before dipping into my boxers. “And that light saber may have had something to do with it. And, dear God, are you taking penile growth pellets? Why are you suddenly hung like a horse? I don’t remember being so star-struck.”

  “That’s because you didn’t have anyone to compare me to.” My gut cinches because I just dragged her ex-husband into bed with us, but Misty belts out a laugh that lets me know she appreciated the barb regardless.

  “Touché! And you’re right. Now that I have something to juxtapose you against, I can truly appreciate your not-so-little phallic secret. You’re built like a giant, and that isn’t exactly a hacky sack you’re holding the boys down south hostage with either.”

  A dirty grin flickers on my face. “I hear it’s a mouthful.”

  “That it is.” She wrinkles her nose. “So, you’ve been around town, huh?” Her cheeks deepen with color.

  Oh shit. “No, I was teasing.” Leave it to me to screw things up as quick as I can. A part of me used to believe that I sabotaged all of the good things that money couldn’t buy. Here is my chance to prove myself wrong. “I love you. I swear, you are the only woman I ever want to be with.” My finger lifts to stroke her face, and she turns just enough for me to miss.

  “Don’t worry about it, Knight. You’re still getting laid.”

  “I swear to you, that’s not what this is about.” A vat of acid goes off in my stomach because it’s clear we just took a turn.

  “I get it.” Her eyes illuminate like lanterns as tears pool in them. And God, I’ve hurt her. I couldn’t feel like a bigger ass if I tried. “You’re gorgeous, and you’re a man—double whammy. You have needs—a light saber to keep busy by way of slaying vaginas with.”

  “You’re my home, Misty. Without you in my life, the last four years have been empty—wasted. My soul was crushed to nothing the day you walked out of my life. You took all of the sunshine, all of the happiness, the joy, the oxygen with you when you left. I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

  She lets out a little laugh while blinking back tears. “Believe me, I’m sorry I let you.”

  My lips twitch as my emotions threaten to get the better of me. “Do you think we could have worked things out?”

  “If you would have come after me? If I never left?” She finishes my thoughts for me. That’s something I’ve always appreciated about Misty. Her ability to know me better than I know myself has always been uncanny. “I don’t think so. In the event you haven’t noticed, I can be a bit stubborn.”

  My chest rumbles with a quiet laugh. “In the event you haven’t noticed, I can be a bit bullish.” It’s true. “And you probably weren’t too far off with the God complex either.” I wince, stopping shy of confessing my latest sins. I’m not sure what Misty would think if she knew that I arranged this whole thing with Mattie. Yes, Mattie emailed me—with one of her formidable forwards—only that time I replied, and we started a conversation. I might have mentioned my own bucket list, and Mattie came at me with questions on how to go about one of her own. Hell, I may have suggested she whip one up—that I wouldn’t mind helping her hit a few highlights, but that we should probably ask Misty along for the ride—in a roundabout way, of course. It does feel a little orchestrated, but hell, I was desperate. My body, soul, heart, and aching balls could not stand another minute without this woman. I knew she’d show up for Mattie May’s party, but deep down, I also knew that seeing her for just a few hours would never be enough to get us to where we needed to be.

  “I’ve long suspected you crawled down from Mount Olympus.” She gives a little wink while sliding down the bed, her fingers already pulling my hard-on out of its cotton prison. “I guess it’s time I did a little worship. But first, I’d better lick you and make sure everyone knows you’re mine.”

  Misty’s eyes grow heavy as she does just that, licks me and lets the whole world, more important, my heart know that I belong to her.

  There is no better feeling in the world.

  Misty and I have finally found our way back to one another.

  Not a thing can go wrong.

  But that steadily twisting knot in the pit of my gut says otherwise.

  Four

  Your Kiss is on My List

  Misty

  Ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted to be a bride, wanted to find my Prince Charming, and with Nolan Knight I have found just that.

  After lounging around in bed for those two magical luscious nights, I feel reborn, renewed, as if I’ve been gifted my life anew on a shiny, white Knight-shaped platter.

  It’s the day of Mattie May’s birthday, and Alora and Trinity asked Nolan and me to steal her away for the afternoon while the guests arrive. I think it’s great we get to end our adventure the same way it began—just the three of us.

  “So, where to?” I hop a little when I say it. I’m so thrilled to have Nolan in my life again, and to think it all happened where it ended abruptly all those years ago. Hope Falls will forever hold a special place in my heart for this reason.

  Nolan wraps an arm around both Mattie May and me. “How about I commandeer this last leg of the journey in honor of the birthday princess? You girls up for a surprise?”

  “Surprise away!” I sing. Nolan Knight can truly do no wrong.

  Mattie agrees, and we’re off to what Nolan tells us is the first stop of the day, a little side jaunt to Brewed Awakenings. After a quick cup of joe, we quickly pile back into his truck and drive west to the edge of Hope Falls until we hit King’s pond. Nolan heads into the country store and rents a few poles and chairs before stringing up a worm on a line for us.

  “I figure we’ll get an hour in before we freeze to death.” He flashes that killer smile, and I swear that Mattie just sighed right along with me.

  An hour passes by without incident or fish, but we listen as Mattie May tells us all about her life, about her years with her beloved Harold and their three children—who unbeknownst to her will all be present and accounted for at the party. I couldn’t be more proud of Alora and Trinity for pulling this off in total secrecy.

  Mattie’s line jerks, and she nearly loses a wrist as she struggles to steady it. “A fish! A fish! I got one! Good golly, I got one!” she cries with such excitement you’d think she managed to retrieve her late husband from the afterlife. Now that would add an element of haunting surprise to the party.

  Nolan helps her reel in Moby Dick—albeit shy a few dozen feet and inches—and I clap and scream like a seasoned cheerleader at the sight. No sooner does Nolan hold up the tiny fish for Mattie to see than I latch onto him and we do a little spin, careful not to slap ourselves in the face with the flopping creature.

  “My goodness!” Mattie May’s mouth falls open as she looks to me. “Would you look at that sparkle in your eyes? Oh, honey, if I didn’t know better, I’d guess you were in love.”

  The moment grows serious as I look to Nolan. “I am.” I peck a quick kiss over his lips, and he pulls me right back, offering a longer, stronger show of affection. Something in me loosens as he claims me this way right here in public. Being claimed by Nolan Knight—now that’s something I just crossed off my own bucket list.

  Mattie claps up a storm while Nolan lands the fish in a bucket of water.

  “See there, hon?” She pats Nolan on the back. “It looks like your little scheme worked out just fine. I know you both mentioned you’d be scooting off tomorrow. Why don’t we do the big reveal now?”

&nb
sp; “The big reveal?” both Nolan and I ask in unison.

  Nolan looks white as the snow on the ground, and I’m starting to feel my blood percolating back to life. I’ve spent the last four years angry with this man, and in all honesty, it’s still my go-to response with him.

  “Mattie,” Nolan whispers as he closes his eyes. The regret on his face lets me know this isn’t a cat he wanted let out of the bag.

  “Mattie?” I’m about ready to shake the woman. “Nolan?” A part of me knows he’s not up for telling the truth. He never was to begin with. “What’s going on here?” I try to keep my tone light and cheery as if I were totally okay with whatever scheme it is that Nolan is trying to pull and has apparently worked. “I take it you’re not dying, Mattie.” It comes out more of a reprimand, and now I feel like a monster for admonishing a senior citizen for not racing to kick the bucket.

  “I guess the cat’s out of the bag.” Mattie claps her hands over her mouth. “Oh, golly gee!” Darn, she’s cute when she invokes those countrified expletives. “Did I do something wrong?” Her poor face fills with terror, and on this—her birthday of all days.

  “No.” I shake my head as wild as that poor fish was flopping a second ago. “In fact, why don’t you watch my pole for me? I was hoping to squeeze in a quick walk to the woods with my favorite schemer.” I can’t help but glare at Nolan when I say it, and swear to God, I just saw his proverbial tail tuck between his legs, because whatever he’s done it’s put him in the doghouse.

  “Misty.” His brows knot up in that way that automatically makes him look adorably humble and guilty as hell. That inflection in his voice alone lets me know the apology is already on the verge of vomiting from his mouth. We walk slowly out to the edge of the pond just shy of the forest, well out of earshot of poor Mattie May.

  “What’s going on?” My voice breaks without meaning to. Instinctively, I know this is bad. Maybe it’s because things with Nolan have a history of ending badly. God knows I’ve secretly been waiting for the other shoe to drop this entire trip.

  Nolan swallows audibly, and his lips turn south to a hard frown. “I know that this might look bad, but I just want you to know that I only did it because I love you so damn much.” He swallows again, and now I’m terrified for him to go on. “When I received the invitation to Mattie’s birthday party, I figured Alora and Trinity had invited you as well. Mattie emailed me about a week before I got the invite—one of her forwards.” I avert my eyes because I get them, too. “I didn’t spoil Mattie’s surprise, but I may have emailed her back and suggested that I would be in town and would love to spend her birthday with her—and if…”

  My eyes close as this heart-shaped puzzle comes together, easy as pieces of shattered glass. “You asked her to invite me out. Did you make up this whole bucket list thing?” God, please don’t let him say yes. If he says yes, I’ll—

  “Yes.” Those intense eyes of his never leave mine. And just like that, my heart shatters.

  “You’re still the lying, manipulative, egotistical pig you were four years ago.” It takes everything I’ve got not to slap both of us silly. Instead, I glance at my nonexistent watch and nod. “I think I’d like to go back to the bed and breakfast now.”

  We pack up and get back into his truck with nothing but thick silence to buffer my anger. Mattie sulks in the front seat, feeling bad for putting a damper on things with her loose lips—her words, not mine. Nolan is sure as shit fire sulking, and I’m fuming with rage. Tonight can’t come to an end fast enough. As soon as the party wraps up, I’m packing my things and leaving Hope Falls once and for all. Nolan Knight will be lucky if he sees my taillights. That’s all that manipulative bastard will ever see of me again.

  No sooner do we get back than Alora nearly decapitates me with a platter full of fritters.

  “Holy smokes! What are you doing back so early?” Her eyes nearly propel right past us, and the way they’re bulging they just might.

  “Sorry,” I offer. “We sort of stumbled on an ass and couldn’t get around him.” I make a face at Nolan.

  Nolan frowns slightly. “Sounds like I just received a demotion in the animal kingdom.”

  “Nope. Just the proper placement,” I’m quick to inform him. “You were an ass all along.”

  “Where’s Mattie May?” Alora shoves the platter of deep fried confections into my hands.

  “Chatting with Shelby,” I say while attempting to scarf the entire tray of golden delicious battered goodness. If I’ve been good at one thing in my life, it’s eating away my emotions. And right about now, I feel the feast of ages coming on. I realize a broken heart kills the appetite for most people, but I’m not that lucky. I’m about to do my best impression of a stoner at four twenty-five.

  “Good God.” Alora tears off her apron and tosses it my way. “I’ve got to keep her busy for at least one more hour. The two of you will have to take over in the kitchen.” She races off as I call out to her.

  “What are we doing?”

  “You’re icing the cake!”

  Icing the cake. Perfect. It sounds right up this girl’s carbohydrate addicted alley. I head to the kitchen with Nolan hot on my heels.

  “We got this,” he says, donning an apron, and I can’t help but note how hot that simple action is. Damn. It’s not fair that he looks vexingly sexy in a frilly little kitchen skirt. I don the apron Alora threw at me, a white lacy number that looks more like a negligée, and I’m completely confused as to what Levi and Shelby have cooking in this kitchen.

  Sitting on the granite counter is a three-tiered yellow cake as naked as the day it was pulled from the oven. Next to it lies an oversized mixing bowl filled with powdered sugar and a mound of butter piled on top.

  Nolan glances at me with a forlorn look in his tired eyes. “Good thing I specialize in miracles,” he says it wryly, mostly to himself.

  “You can leave, Zeus.” I do my best to mock the self-proclaimed Greek god before me. “This isn’t my first solo rodeo.” I scowl at him. “I’m talking about frosting a cake in the event you were wondering. Everything isn’t about you, Nolan.” I shove the metal bowl into the stand mixer and turn it on a bit too high, causing the room to explode in a cloud of powdered sugar.

  A dark laugh strums from across the room, and I blink the powder out of my eyes to ensure the hellfire within me can properly shoot out of them.

  “Are you laughing at me?”

  “I didn’t mean to, I swear.” His hands fly up in a flurry. “Please, Misty, just hear me out.”

  “I don’t need to hear you out, and you want to know why?” My voice hikes up without regard to the fact the guests are busy filtering in for the party. “Because everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie!”

  “That’s not true!”

  “No, that’s not true!” I point hard at him while trying to stick him with my circular logic.

  The motor on the stand mixer strains, and I shut it off, pulling the bowl back off the chamber with a hard yank. I pluck a spatula out of the drawer and raise it threateningly toward Nolan.

  “Now get out, so I can get some work done!”

  “No.” He folds his arms across his chest defiantly. Damn, he’s hot when he’s cocky—and considering he’s cocky twenty-four seven, he’s smoking all the damn time. “I’m not leaving until you hear me out. I’m not torturing myself or you for another four years. We’re meant to be together, Misty.” His voice softens for that last part.

  “Oh, we are?” I spike the spatula into the lumpy frosting and take a few sticky jabs at it. “So, how did you come to know this little fate-inspired tidbit? Let me guess. You subjected me to another one of your social litmus tests?” I can’t help but scoff at the thought. “Let’s see…the last exam was pretty standard, pulled straight out of Rich Boy 101. Trick a girl into falling in love with you as a pauper, only to reveal later that you’re really a perverted prince—because God forbid you give it to me straight and find out I’m nothing but a gold dig
ger!”

  Nolan inches back and closes his eyes as if my words had the power of a nuclear detonation.

  “But it gets better!” My voice hikes to its upper register, and I can’t help but note Nolan’s pussy posse is hogging up the door to the kitchen as they listen in. “Gather ’round, girls. You’ll want to hear this. I’m not sure if I officially passed my last examination or not since I didn’t exactly stick around for results. I blew out of town faster than Mattie May blows through Moon Pies.” They all break into titters because they know it’s true. “But this time, Mr. Knight had me come down to Hope Falls under false pretenses just to land me horizontal on that borrowed mattress of his.”

  The room fills with enthusiastic gasps. I’m sure they find the thought of landing horizontal with the naughty Knight quite titillating—it was that and then some, but I’m not here to lay out all of the orgasmic details—thigh quiveringly perfect as they were. And just like that, my heart breaks at the memory of the last two days. It was perfect and beautiful—or at least that was my version.

  “It might have been worth it.” The words come out hoarse. “I might have thought I was in love.” My vision blurs with tears. “But the thought of being manipulated by a man who thinks he needs to vet people on his own terms makes my stomach churn.” I hit the edge of the metal bowl with the spatula, and the frosting splatters into my face.

  The ponytail brigade breaks out into titters. Turncoats.

  Nolan sheds that shit-eating grin of his, and my blood goes toxic. Without putting too much thought into it, I scoop up a nice dollop of lumpy, far too runny frosting and flick it over his hotter than hell, haughty as hell handsome face.

  That smile of his quickly slides off as he looks to me with that snowy white facial I’ve just gifted him. Nolan pulls the bowl over to himself, scoops out a handful, and the peanut gallery squeals as if something of a sexual nature were about to take place. They wish.