Falling for Hope

by Anne Conley

  “Y-you’re not? I thought-“

  “You thought wrong, Hope. I’m not going anywhere, so stop those thoughts and let’s enjoy dinner. Okay?” One of his hands reached over the console to squeeze her thigh, and Hope nearly melted at the welcome contact. Relief oozed from her pores.

  When they got to her parents' house, Hope knocked on the door before opening it and calling out, "Hello? It's me!" and leading Gabe inside.

  Thoughts that maybe she should have told Gabe more about Melissa surfaced when she saw his eyes widen with surprise at all the pictures on the wall. She watched as he started at one end of the room and eventually reached the other, before looking at her. She grasped his hand, and sent him a vision of Melissa in a hospital bed hooked up to a flat-lining heart monitor and shook her head at him, pleading with her eyes for him not to say anything. He nodded, sadness in his eyes before turning to the man on the recliner.

  "Daddy? It's me, and I've brought a friend. This is Gabriel. He's having dinner with us, remember?" She bent down and kissed his cheek, his arm coming up to pat her back.

  "How could I forget, your mother's been talking about him non-stop ever since you told her he was coming." Her father gave a little grunt, as he released the lever that un-reclined his chair and heaved himself to his feet. "Your mother's made chicken fried steak, your favorite." He lumbered into the kitchen, where Hope heard her mother's squeal of surprise.

  She risked a glance at Gabe, who's head was raised slightly, his nostrils flared. "It smells heavenly in here, Hope. I'd heard your mother was a fantastic cook, but if it tastes half as good as it smells, I'm in trouble." His stomach gave a loud grumble, and he looked down at it in surprise. "What in the world was that?"

  Hope couldn't help but laugh at his confusion and pulled on his arm, leading him to the kitchen, squeezing his biceps just for her own enjoyment. "Haven't you ever been hungry before?"

  He stopped walking with her, and looked her squarely in the eyes. "No. I haven't, Hope." The golden flecks of his irises were sparkling at her, and she resisted the urge to swallow him whole, right here in her parents' living room, in front of all the pictures of Melissa.

  Instead, she took his meaning for what it was. Her man was hungry, and she was going to make sure he was fed.

  She sat him across from her spot at the table, the same spot Damien had sat in two weeks ago, and helped her mother put the platters of food on it. Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole and a salad. As they passed the platters around the table for Hope's dad to fill, Hope was surprised at Gabe's socked foot rubbing her leg under the table. He sent her an image of the two of them, sitting at a table, much like this one, feeding each other ice cream. She could taste the cold creaminess of the desert as she looked across the table at him, his face filled with contentment. She realized the ice cream had no flavor in the image, and set herself a goal to remedy that situation. He needed to know what ice cream tasted like.

  When her dad was filling the plates, Hope said, "Be sure and give Gabe plenty, Dad. He's awful hungry tonight."

  Her mother took that opportunity to start her inquisition. "So, Gabriel, tell us about yourself." Before he could open his mouth, though, she turned to her father, "Be sure and put plenty of salad on Hope's plate, you know how much she likes salad." She threw a sly wink in Hope's direction, and Hope did her best not to roll her eyes.

  His plate in front of him, Gabe began cutting up his food. "I own a global delivery service." He speared a chunk of chicken fried steak and put it in his mouth, eyes widening at Hope, and chewing enthusiastically. "Lord, this is good." Before he'd finished chewing, he had another piece on his fork and ready to go as soon as he swallowed the first.

  Hope giggled into her napkin, watching him eat like a man who's never tasted food before. Then her giggles stopped. He hadn't ever tasted food before. Good lord, he was actually needing food for sustenance. She hadn't realized.

  Hope turned to her mother, who was watching Gabriel eat, with a confused expression on her face. "Mom. Gabe's been working all day. When he works, he doesn't usually have time to eat. He's starving."

  Gabe nodded around another mouthful of food. When he'd finished, she could see his eyes land longingly on the remainder of his steak before raising them to her mother. "She's right. I haven't eaten in two days, actually. Too busy. I apologize tremendously for my atrocious manners. I didn't realize how hungry I would be." He looked chagrined at Hope's mother.

  She leaned across the table and smiled at him, patting his shoulder. "That's alright. I'll hold off asking you things until after you've eaten your fill. Thank goodness I made plenty."

  His foot was still resting on hers, apparently distracted by the food, so Hope sent mental encouragement to him to go ahead and eat while her own foot worked on getting his attention back.

  She slid her shoe off, and slowly ran her toes up his calf, watching his fork hesitate on its way to his mouth. When she'd made it to his thigh, he was chewing the forkful, looking at her warily. She tossed him an innocent smile, before forking some mashed potatoes on top of her chicken fried steak.

  "It's really good, Mom. Thanks for making it for me."

  "Well, I'm just sorry we missed a week. I appreciate you understanding last week when your father was ill."

  Hope nodded good-naturedly, when in fact, last Thursday, she and Gabe had been making out on her couch, neither one of them coming up for air to eat all evening long. Her toes continued roaming around his crotch area, staying clear of the goods, teasing him.

  "No worries, Mom. Gabe came over that night." To eat my face she thought it to herself, but apparently she was broadcasting, because Gabe's fork clattered to the plate, and he snorted laughter.

  "I'm terribly sorry. May I have some more? I've never had chicken fried steak this tasty before."

  "Of course you can, dear."

  He held out his plate obligingly taking seconds of everything, and then tucked in to his second helping. All the while, her foot rubbed his thighs, up and down. She saw him squirm in his seat, but so far, he was ignoring her.

  Hope's mother turned to her. "Dear, the family party is in three weeks. Do you think you and Gabe will be able to make it?"

  Her stomach turned, her foot stilled, and suddenly Hope wasn't hungry anymore. "I don't know. I'll have to talk to Gabe about it in private." She didn't want him to go to that. It was way too depressing.

  He looked up at her in confusion. "I don't see why I won't be able to go. My schedule's flexible."

  "Good. That's settled then. It's at twelve-thirty, at the cemetery. You know how to get there, dear." She patted Hope's hand, and she had to steel herself not to flinch away.

  Gabe flashed her the question. Cemetery?

  He had finished cutting up his food, and with one hand continued to eat, lowering the other beneath the table to rub on her foot, which was still in his lap.

  Later

  He nodded to his plate, and continued eating. Hope tried in vain to eat her steak, but it tasted like cardboard and she couldn't quite swallow it. Talk of the cemetery tended to do that to her.

  Her dad saved her some discomfort and turned his attention to Gabe. "How long have you and Hope been seeing each other?"

  He swallowed, "About a month. I met her at the library, and we hit it off pretty well." He forked another mouthful and chewed while waiting for his next question.

  "So you've met all of her cats?"

  He smiled good-naturedly, and speaking around his mouthful, he said, "Yes." He swallowed. "All five of her gods. And I've seen the fairy collection, and her messes, and I've heard about her butterfly friend. And I love her for all of it." He took another bite and sent her another image. One of the two of them, standing at the altar of a church, Hope dressed in a beautiful ivory gown and he in a stunning tuxedo. Across the table, his eyebrows raised in a question. She could hear an organ playing in the background, a classical piece she wasn't familiar with and her eyes filled wit
h tears. She nodded.

  Gabe turned to her father. "In fact sir, I wanted to tell you of my intentions. I know we haven't known each other very long, but I love your daughter, and I intend to spend the rest of my life with her. I have the means and connections to take care of her well, and I intend to do just that." His hand rubbing her foot under the table squeezed.

  Her father grunted in surprise. "Well…ahem. A month, you say?”

  “I know it seems sudden, but I truly believe I can make her happy. It seems like…” His voice dropped as he looked at Hope with a secret smile. “… divine providence.”

  Her mother was barely controlling herself, squirming and tittering in her seat. “I think it’s lovely that Hope has finally found someone to love her.”

  Hope’s smile to her mother was actually genuine, not that she agreed with the sentiment. She wasn’t that difficult to love. But she’d just been proposed to, psychically, in front of her parents. She couldn’t contain the awesomeness of the experience.

  “Yes, well, it just seems too quick.” Her father murmured.

  “Oh, don’t be so old-fashioned, honey. They’re in love.” Her mother was beaming so wide, Hope wondered if her face was going to crack in half.

  She listened to her parents talking about her and Gabe, but her eyes couldn’t stray from the sight in front of her. The angel was eating. She could see restraint in the way he held his fork tightly, chewed slowly while filling the fork again, and holding it at his mouth until he’d swallowed before taking another bite.

  “As long as you make her happy."

  Hope's mother was bouncing in her seat, undoubtedly making wedding plans already. “Why didn't you tell me?"

  "Well, I didn't know myself until just now." Hope managed to squeak out.

  "It seems as if I'm apologizing a lot tonight. I'm sorry I took you all by surprise." Gabe managed to stuff the last bit from his second plate of food into his mouth and chew contentedly.

  Hope was gobsmacked. He loved her. And he told her parents before he told her.

  After finishing off the remnants of food on the table, offering to help clean up, and being shooed out the door by a positively effervescent mother, Hope and Gabe were back in his car on the way to her apartment. Silent.

  "Say something, Hope."

  "I don't know what to say. I thought this whole night would be your last big obligation before moving on to find somebody else to try the love thing with. I had no idea I would end up engaged. I'm just a little shocked, is all."

  "Are you happy with it?"

  She turned in her seat to face him. "I've loved you all along, Gabe. But are you sure I'm the one?" The last thing she wanted was regret and resentment on his part.

  He pulled into her apartment parking space and turned off the engine. She stifled her shock as his massive frame came across the center console and pinned her against the door, his mouth on hers, hungrily. His teeth nipped and sucked at her lips as his tongue grappled with hers. He pulled away, still holding her hair in his fist. "Yes, I'm sure, Hope. Now get into your apartment, before we break this automobile."

  She hurried, sensing his urgency in his proximity behind her on the stairs, his hands on her hips the entire way, squeezing and kneading them.

  Once inside her apartment, he stooped down and picked her up, eliciting a squeal from her. He carried her into her bedroom and dropped her on the bed. She bounced, legs splayed, as she watched him prowl around the bed, a definite predatory look in his eyes.

  "I've never been hungry before, Hope. I probably would have starved to death, if I hadn't gone to dinner at your parents' house, and never even realized it. I had no idea that's what the cavernous feeling in my gut was. My eyelids feel like they've been turned to sandpaper, and I suspect that means I'll be sleeping tonight. Dreaming. I've never done that, either." He shucked off his jacket and tossed it into the corner. Hope's eyes widened at the massive bulge in his pants. "Yes. There's definitely something else I'm going to do tonight, first."

  "We're not going to talk?" Hope batted her eyelashes at him coquettishly, but her insides were a bundle of fluttering nerves.

  "I just said we’re doing something else first." The growly timber of his voice made Hope warm. She loved his bossy side. He yanked on his tie, pulling it impatiently over his head and started fumbling with his buttons. Hope sat up on the bed, pulling his waistband closer to her, and began mouthing the bulge in his trousers. His hands immediately went to the back of her head.

  "Oh…" He groaned, and her hands started kneading his butt. She was getting his pants all wet, but she didn't care. She suddenly had a mental image of the two of them tangled together, Gabe pounding in and out of her with abandon. She wasn’t sure who the image had come from until he growled at her.

  "Really?" Pushing her back, Gabe climbed on top of Hope as she tore at his shirt. He yanked her sweater over her head and tugged at her bra straps, ripping one, mumbling a brief "sorry" before devouring her breasts with his mouth. He was pushing down her skirt at the same time he was fumbling with his own pants.

  "Let me…" Hope finished squirming out of her skirt and unzipped Gabe's pants, while he worked the fastening on her bra. He ripped the scrap of panties off and lowered himself over her as she wrapped her legs around his torso.

  "Oh god, Gabe. Please…"

  His mouth covered hers at the same instant he plunged inside, filling her completely with a muffled groan. Once he was inside he stilled, his mouth hovering above her lips.

  "Hope…I'd no idea…"

  "What?" Hope was slightly panicked by his stillness. Although, she was a little relieved, as she stretched to fit him. His golden eyes fairly glowed in the darkness, they shined so brightly.

  "That…this would feel…"

  She ground her hips against him, spurring him into action. He pulled out to the tip, leaving a void in Hope that made her cry out, then filled her again. Gabe rocked in and out of Hope, hard thrusts that took her breath away, then returned it with a wave of heat that was undeniable.

  He belonged to her.

  Frantic for release, Hope writhed with Gabe, squeezing his biceps, scratching his back, kneading his butt, urging him to go harder, faster.

  Ever the gentleman, he obliged her.

  When Hope was filled to brimming with desire, she overflowed in a crashing heap of shuddering spasms, leaving Gabe to fall in after her.

  He stayed connected to her, and lay on top of Hope, trying to catch his breath. She twirled her fingers in the hair at the base of his neck.

  "So, does this mean that this is it?"

  He kissed her neck. "Yes, my darling it does. I'm human, and you're mine. Until death do us 'part."

  He couldn't believe how she'd made him feel. Gabe had no idea that anything could feel so glorious, he wanted to do it all over again, just as soon as he could move. He wanted to do it slower, less urgently. But he hadn't been able to control himself with Hope. Everything about her makes him want her now. No patience anywhere to be found. No control.

  When he'd caught his breath, he crept back and sat on his heels on the foot of the bed, looking at Hope. She was stunning. She lay there, dozing, a rapturous flush on her features. Her hair spilled around her wildly, with Perseus on her pillow. She opened her eyes, and the caramelly brown irises glowed with unsatiated desire.

  "Where are you going?"

  Where indeed? Everything he needed was right here. "Nowhere." He laid back down next to her, pulling her warmth next to him. Their bodies fit together perfectly, her softness molding to him like two pieces of a puzzle. God’s plan suddenly made so much sense.

  “Why don’t you believe in fate?” He asked softly, not wanting to break the moment they were sharing, but needing to know.

  He felt the rise and fall of her breaths. “Because of my sister.”

  Gabe remembered the wall of pictures in her parents’ house. “Because she died?” Hope nodded.

  “She was supposed to be the successful one. She was
finishing up her law degree, and was getting ready to go on to great things, setting up an office to help under-privileged people who were being taken advantage of by ‘the system,’ ready to take on huge corporations and insurance companies. She was so gung-ho. So perfect. She was going to make a difference in the world. But she died before she was able to.” Hope’s voice was small, and she turned in his arms, so he could see her face. “She was in a car accident on the way home for Spring Break.”

  “So your views on fate?” He couldn’t see where this had anything to do with the question.

  “She was supposed to fulfill her dreams, and I was going to live happily in her shadow. Instead, she died, and my parents looked to me to do something worthwhile with my life. When I didn’t…” She shrugged.

  “But you work with children in the library, imparting a love of literacy, what’s not worthwhile about that?”

  “In my parents’ eyes, it’s not what Melissa would have done.”

  “So the party in the cemetery?”

  “It’s an annual celebration of her life, is what they call it. In reality, it’s a ‘what could have been’ type thing. It’s extraordinarily depressing. An annual reminder that I don’t measure up. But it’s the only time we are ever allowed to bring up her name.”

  “Everybody grieves differently, Hope.” He stroked her hair, wishing he could make her feel better.

  “I know, and the truth of the matter is, they probably don’t treat me any differently than if she’d lived. I was content to stay in her shadow, and even though she’s dead, that’s where I still am.”

  Choosing to ignore the comment, he asked, “Were you close?”

  “When we were little, yeah. She was older than me, by five and a half years, so when she went off to college, we sort of drifted apart. By the time she died, I resented her accomplishments. A lot. Dealing with the guilt of that has been hard.”

  In silence, Gabe pulled her closer, and inhaled the scent at the top of her head. It was the newly-discovered heady aroma of Hope, a mixture of freshness and whimsy, reminding him of pinwheels spinning in the sunshine. He hadn’t been smelling long, so had little point of reference other than the abstract, but it seemed to suit her.