Hope Is Love

by Hubbard, Sylvia

  "You say it like that is a bad thing," James said sourly, but amusement leaping around those startling green eyes. "I can accommodate you in a few minutes if you desire," he promised with a kiss to her lips.

  Every part of her wanted to scream yes, but it was wrong. Pushing him away slightly she shook her head. "I want you to stop trying to seduce me and answer my question."

  James gently cupped her face and started with those wonderful kisses she couldn't ignore. Jona indulged him knowing they'd have more time tonight to explore how he did this to her, but right now, she wanted to enjoy James just a little bit more.

  Chapter 23

  Somehow James had gotten her to his bedroom and extravagant lay out that she thought was about as big as the entire church she had gotten food at, but decorated perfectly like a furniture store display.

  Afternoon Delight.

  That's what James called what they were doing.

  From looking at the balcony windows when they'd finally taken a break after a shower together to actually eat on the bed, she was able to see that the time was going on two o'clock in the afternoon.

  When James returned with the tray of food from the nook, she asked, "Why does this room look unused?"

  He frowned briefly, "I don't think anyone's ever noticed that... I don't think I remember anyone." He took a bit of the sausage on the platter. "I'm a work-aholic. I know that much about myself. Usually I don't sleep at this house. I'm sleeping on the job - literally. Probably why I never really could have a real woman in my life, because who'd want to spend the night on a construction site - and that's if I took the trailer. Otherwise I made due in the back of my truck on a blanket on a warm summer night."

  "Weren't you worried about security or being robbed?"

  He shook his head. "Most times for larger jobs we hire our own security. Smaller ones, my presence was enough." Frowning again, he said, "I just remembered I have a CCW. Isn't it strange that if I had a gun, why wasn't I carrying it on me that day?"

  Jona knew this was really not directed at her and she shoved a piece of sausage to occupy her mouth and facial features so he wouldn't know what she was thinking.

  "Anyway," he said continuing. "I think that's why I was prone to married women, because they offered little to no commitment on my part and they wouldn't complain about me being away from home all the time."

  "I think I can understand your point of view, but you had this big house and all these comforts while others would love to be here you choose not to. That's what I can't understand."

  "Having comforts don't mean you really want them, Hope," he said sourly. "Or maybe I just didn't have anyone to share them with."

  Jona avoided eye contact knowing what he meant and changing the subject. "Shouldn't we be getting back to get ready for the dinner party?"

  He rolled his eyes annoyingly. "Unfortunately I was thinking the same thing, but there is one thing I want to ask you about while we're alone."

  Her gut told her to be wary of what he was going to ask, but she wanted to know. "What is it?"

  "The silver large box bolted to the floor at the place you stayed-"

  "You were there? Today?" she asked in a panic. "What did you do to the box?" she demanded.

  Her upset made him not want to let her know he, his brother and friends had looked inside of the box. "It's safe. I made them unbolt it and put it in the truck's rear. I wanted to keep the box safe for you."

  She calmed down immensely. "Thank you."

  "Can you tell me why you would have such an expensive box?"

  Guilt racked her face and she looked away. James knew then this woman had more secrets that she had never told anyone. He wondered what else could she hide behind those deceptively sensual brown innocent eyes?

  Jona knew her past would come to the surface eventually but she didn't have to tell him everything. "It's my dad's. When he made the choice to leave his life, he put everything in that box and swore to my mother he would never open it and crave the life he came from."

  "What life, Hope, did your father have?"

  She shrugged really not knowing. "I just know he made something that made him some money, but when he found out my mother was pregnant, she made him choose whether he would be in a home or out on the streets with her."

  He looked appalled. "And he left everything?!"

  "Yes!"

  "I'm sorry, Hope, to keep asking, but I find that hard to believe. He must have really loved your mother and you to let everything go and live on the street. But if he was a smart man which I don’t doubt, why didn’t he teach you how to read or give you the understanding that school was important no matter what?”

  “My mother’s wishes,” she said simply. “My mother insisted that I would be not exposed to education because she believed that education made people lose sight of what was real in this world and how to really live. After my father died and I found a couple of the people who knew my mother with the help of a friend, I found out that she wasn't wrapped too tight and my father was an enabler, but I guess love does that to a person."

  "Love doesn't do that to people. Ignorance is not bliss." He kissed her cheek despite his harsh words to show he wasn't trying to hurt her. "Who was this friend? You've never called anyone a friend."

  She blushed slightly and looked away for a moment debating on if she should let him know. "Remember when you asked me if I had a crush on someone?"

  "Yes."

  "I kinda lied. I mean when I first saw Shadow; it was as if the world had completely stopped including my heart, but then I realized she was girl, but dressed heavily like a boy. Whatever infatuation I had quickly went away, but the awe in me never disappeared. We became friends. Shadow liked helping girls on the street and oddly she was younger than anyone I've known, but she ran away from her home in Chicago when she was just fourteen and just knows a little about everything." She couldn't help to look sad for a moment as she sad, "We met shortly after my dad died and I was wondering around confused. She helped me get myself together and tough out one of Detroit's worse winters. And then she taught me how to take over a house and make it livable enough to keep others and critters away. She helped me find that house I was at, but she went away for a while. Said she had some trouble with a brother and left for a long while before coming back.”

  “Is Shadow her real name?”

  “Actually no. It’s…” Jona had to really think about it. “Zee or something like that. All I do know is that she hates it and she says it’s what her name stands for.”

  “I’d sure like to meet her.”

  Jona shook her head sadly. “She doesn’t want to be known. She likes not being known, because she can’t be known. That’s why she came to Detroit. She said she wanted to make sure her mother never found her and she needed to stay away from her powerful father who could find a needle in the haystack.” Jona shrugged her shoulder a little confused. “Whatever that means, but since he is the best, Shadow says the best way to hide from anyone is right under their nose.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Her father is here in Detroit. This is the last place he’d even think of looking for her and it’s the last place her mother would ever come.”

  “Why is she so adamant against her parents?”

  “Her mother wants to use her to get her father back. Shadow said her mother has a habit of falling for hard to love guys and gets mad when they don’t fall for her the same so she never tells them about the kids she’s had by them.”

  “That’s pretty odd.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I said.”

  “Shadow said she didn’t want to be used by her mother like her brother is going to be used and the minute she knew of her plans, she got out from under that controlling woman’s thumb. Her words, not mine.”

  “Understandable,” he agreed.

  “Shadow helped me a lot and after the rape that’s who I ran to and when I told her what happened, she was pissed as hell and taught me how to fig
ht.”

  “Then I owe this Shadow a debt of gratitude as well. You saved my life again. When are you going to let me save yours?”

  “I don’t need saving James. I’m fine.”

  “But you need to be safe. Let me do that for you. No strings attached, Hope,” he implored.

  Knowing what she planned to do tonight, Jona didn’t want to make more promises to him. “James just promise if you remember everything you’ll see the big picture before you go off half cocked on someone.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I may not be the smartest person, but I know people tend to go off and do their own thing without seeing everything or everyone involved. Even though I heard two people tried to kill you, how do you know it wasn’t a bigger plan?”

  “Like what?”

  She shrugged. “Like I said I’m not the smartest person, but my daddy always said see the bigger picture.”

  “Speaking of your dad, did you think that maybe his invention could be lucrative and you could be living in a house?”

  “So what? I don’t know how to live inside James. I’m not used to being indoors.”

  “Hell, you could be rich enough to build a glass house.”

  Jona couldn’t help laughing and she did – very loudly to the point of snorting. Covering her mouth in embarrassment, she used her other hand to wipe the tears out of her eyes. James laughed with her and they both realized how much they really enjoyed each other’s company.

  Placing her hand on his bare thigh caught his full attention. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Anything,” he said.

  She almost lost her nerve to press the question. “That thing you do with your mouth, can you teach me to do the same to you?”

  “You mean reciprocate?” he questioned.

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  He leaned over and kissed her and at the same time pulled her hand to gently grip his shaft and Jona gasped to feel his thickness increase in her palm. Briefly he rubbed his thumb over her lip and smiled tenderly. “First thing you need to know, Hope, is that you arouse me.” His green eyes seem to burn intensely into hers and Jona could feel her soul shiver warmly as he still held her hand around his shaft and had began to move her palm from the base to the tip. She could feel him increase in size in every slow stroke. “Every look, breath and touch makes me warm all over.”

  The power just in her hands pleased Jona more than anything she had ever done. “So how do I use my mouth?”

  His thumb was still near her mouth and he moved the tip across her bottom lip as if contemplating kissing her. When his finger stopped in the middle of her bottom lip and came upward to move between her lips, instinctively Jona’s lips parted and let his thumb slowly slide over her tongue.

  “Grip your lips around and swallow,” he ordered softly.

  When she did so, he groaned and she could tell he was on the brink of something powerful, but he pulled his thumb slowly from her mouth until the tip was almost out, before pushing back in. “Don’t use your teeth,” he lightly warned as her lips came down around the base of his thumb again. When he pulled out this time, he dipped his thumb in the cream and repeated the motion. Without being told, she sucked the cream off of his finger and even held his wrist to prevent him from pulling away so she could get every drop off. This time his groan was louder and then he asked, “Are you ready?”

  Jona smiled eagerly and shyly asked, “How do you know I’m ready?”

  “Your mouth tells me,” he said leaning over to give her a kiss and laid back on the bed after putting the tray of food on the floor. The robe opened and Jona could view his phallus fully and saw he stood at full attention, but her fingers were barely able to touch and she only held the base of him while there still seemed like there was five more inches that weren’t touched. Without asking him, she put her other palm over the top of her hand gripping him, loving how she could feel his heartbeat right in her hands.

  “This is your thumb,” she surmised.

  He chuckled. “It’s a little bit bigger than my thumb.”

  Exuberantly, she said, “Oh much bigger,”

  “But just the same concept,” he told her.

  “How do I get it all in my mouth?”

  The question had made him pulse more and grow slightly larger. “I think this is going to be more interesting than I’ve ever thought Hope. Thank you?”

  “Are you being sarcastic or really pleased?”

  “Really pleased.”

  Jona genuinely smiled and knew she would enjoy the act just as much he would.

  Chapter 24

  She didn't feel upset until she was in the truck next to him heading home. Pressing a hand to her stomach to still her nervousness, she glanced to the back of the truck as he drove.

  "Stop being nervous," he said and she became a little frightened that he had read her thoughts.

  Tenderly he kissed her hand and said, "Your box is safe back there, but we could turn around and I could secure the box in my house."

  She shook her head breathing a sigh of relief. "No, I'm fine," she said.

  Before getting in the truck, he showed her the box he had retrieved from her home. It was securely locked and when he asked if she had a key to the box, she only shook her head. Jona was glad he didn't press the matter.

  He didn't want her to know Ethan had given him the house with all her other stuff as well, because he worried she'd try to run away and go back there, get her items and go away. "I'm sorry we couldn't save the other items, but when they pointed this out to me, I knew it looked important."

  "Thank you," she said, but her thoughts of worry about tonight far outweighed the junk in the basement that her father made her promise on everything holy to keep up with.

  "Have you ever seen what's in that box?"

  She shook her head. This was another lie, but almost the truth. When she had gone in the box and looked around, her inability to read made it difficult for her to understand anything. Jona only knew that her father told her to keep it safe and never let anyone of his people ever take it from her.

  "You will keep it safe though?"

  "No doubt," he said without hesitation. "Would you know why your father held the box in such high regards? The box was specifically built for security with a unique kind of steel to make it light and easy to carry."

  Again she shook her head, but this was the truth wholeheartedly this time. "I just know he told me to keep it away from his relatives and it was all he took when he decided to join my mother where she lived. I know he would put important papers in there, but other than that, that's about it."

  "And he never left instructions?"

  "He died suddenly. He probably planned to do leave instructions later for me." She remembered as her father pressed the key in her hand before the police took him away to jail, with a look full of regret unable to speak from the guilt of failure. "He probably planned to do a lot of things, but time is never on people side when they choose a life on the streets."

  "You won't be on the streets anymore," he promised. "I want to give you an opportunity not to return and live a better life, Hope."

  She smiled for him, but her heart was wrenching knowing tonight she would be back on the streets and this time in deeper hiding. The box would be safe with him and she knew without a doubt he would never let anything happen to the items inside. This was best.

  Everything she was going to do would be for the best for herself ... and James.

  "Have you ever met your father's relatives?" he questioned.

  "Once. After he died, I cleaned myself up and went over to the address he had spoken about. It was easy to find. Two houses off Chicago and The Lodge with blue stones on the walkway. He said that's where he grew up at and his grandmother painted the stones blue when he was a little boy, but when I went there, the stones were more light blue." These memories made her smile more. "His sister met me at the door and I could tell she was immediat
ely wary of me and then after that, they did everything in their power to tell me that I was no relation to my father until it was just too much, so I just left."

  "They did blood tests?"

  "They said they had nothing to go on." She shrugged. "I was stupid enough to believe anything they said and I was too tired to fight things like lying and deceit."

  "But Hope you should have," he said adamantly. "You have to fight for what is right."

  "No, I don't James," she said as they pulled in front of his brother's house. "I can just go back to the streets again. Hide away there and ignore the ugliness in the world because on the streets at least I can see the evil."

  "Is that what drove your mother to the streets?"

  She looked away from him and he knew this was something most likely true. James decided he would have to find out about her past because this was preventing her from accepting a different future. Before dinner, he would ask for Nicole's help.

  "We'd better get in," she said changing the subject on purpose. "Your brother is probably thinking we ran away again."

  "I'm tempted." He came around and opened her door. They walked in together and Ethan came in the foyer looking very angry.

  "You two were supposed to be back hours ago," he raged.

  Nicole came up beside him and whispered in her husband's ear. Ethan flushed and then walked away.

  "What did you say to him?" James asked his sister in law.

  "I told him it was rude to make the two of you feel guilty for enjoying an afternoon delight, when he clearly loves those," Nicole answered.

  Jona blushed furiously.

  "And how'd you know what we've been doing?" James questioned suspiciously. "Did he install cameras in my house?"

  "No," Nicole responded. "You've got this girl glowing like a light bulb, James. It's clearly obvious." She took Jona's hands and led her up to the room Jona had slept in last night with James.