Page 5 of Losing Hope

“What the hell are you doing?” They had to yell each time they spoke so they could be heard above the wind and therain.

“My heels keep sinking in themud!”

He just shook his head, and before she could say another word, he scooped her up and carried her over to the passenger side of the Rover.

“Hey! What are you doing?” She grasped onto his shoulders, clinging tightly, noticing how firm the muscles that lay under the wet shirt were, and tried not to enjoy how he was holdingher.

“This is faster. Just go with it.” Opening the door with one hand, he placed her in the seat. “Besides, I need to drive for this part so I can pull the tree out of theway.”

Before she could object, he shut the door, ran around, and jumped into the driver’s seat. He flipped a switch on the dash, and she heard a motor turn on and saw the tree jerk. He shifted into reverse and slowly started backing up, pulling the tree with him out of the road. When the tree was out of the way enough for them to be able to drive around it, he put it back in park. He flipped another switch on the dash, and she heard the motor turn on again. She looked at him questioningly.

“Loosening the wire. Be right back.” He jumped out, and she watched as he removed the wire from around the tree. She heard some clanging and then saw him lean up over the hood and smile at her through the rain and wind. Her heart did a little flip. What kind of guy could smile after being stuck on the side of the road for hours, with no food, and then moving a tree in a rain storm?

He jumped back in and turned, still smiling. “Bet you’re glad you picked me up now, aren’t you?” He flipped the switch to the motor one more time to reel the wire backin.

She nodded gratefully. “More than you know. Can we call this karma? A good deed coming back around?”

“Maybe.” He put the Rover back in drive and maneuvered around the tree, continuing the rest of the way down theroad.

A minute later, the house came into view, and Hope breathed a huge sigh of relief. She pointed to a spot next to an old pickup truck already parked against the side of the house.

“You can park right over there.” He pulled into the place she indicated and shut off the engine.

“Home sweet home?” he asked curiously.

“Weekend home sweet home. I live in New York. This is where I come when I want to escape the craziness for a while.”

They opened their doors, both of them grabbing their own bags, and then ran up onto the covered porch out of therain.

“The red key on the ring is for the deadbolt.” She pointed to the keys that were in his hand. He pulled open the screen door and then, putting the key in the lock, turned and opened the door. He held the door for Hope to go in first. She walked in and flipped the switches to the right of the door, but nothing happened. She flipped them on and off again, expecting different results, but of course, nothing.

“Shit. No power.” He walked in and shut the door behind him. He was dripping wet and shivering again.

“Candles?” he askedher.

“Yes, we have oil lamps. It’s not unusual to lose power during storms up here.” She pulled her jacket off and slipped out of her muddy shoes before hanging the jacket on one of a row of hooks stationed behind the frontdoor.

“Stay right here. I’m going to light a lamp and get you a towel.”

“Okay, staying put.” He held up his hands in surrender, like he was afraid to get anything else of hers wet. She padded off down thehall.

Even though it was dark in the house, Hope knew it like the back of her hand and had no problem moving about to get a lamp lit. She walked through the kitchen to the attached pantry and, feeling with her fingers, found a lamp on the top shelf. She carried it to the counter next to the stove, opened one of the drawers, and pulled out a long wooden match. Lifting the glass shade of the lamp enough to get the match in, she struck the match against the slate on the counter, igniting it, and then held it against the wick. It caught, and light immediately flooded from the lamp, so she closed the shade and turned the flame up to brightenit.

Holding the lamp, she went quickly to one of the upstairs bathrooms and grabbed a couple towels for Gage. When she walked back down and into the hallway, he was pacing back and forth.

“We have light!” She handed him the towels, which he took gratefully.

“If you want to take those wet clothes off and leave them there, I can find you something of my brother’s to wear. Does that soundgood?”

He nodded his head. “That sounds amazing. I’m freezing, and the only thing in my bags is a suit and some cameras.”

“Okay, hold tight. I’ll go find something for you.” She turned and walked off and was about to walk back upstairs when she realized she left him in the dark again, so she went back to the kitchen and pulled several more oil lamps from the shelf in the pantry. She lit two, leaving one on the kitchen counter and then, carrying two lamps now, headed back to the hallway. Hope rounded the corner, lights blaring, to find Gage bent over, bare ass in the air, trying to pull his wet jeans off the bottom half of his body. His shirt was already off, so she couldn’t help but notice the muscles rippling across his back from the effort of trying to get his soaked jeans off. She could also see he had several tattoos, but before she could look further, she cleared her throat to let him know she was there.

“Um, sorry.” She bent down, placed the lamp on the floor, and started backing away, making sure to keep looking down. “I’m just going to leave this here foryou.”

Gage jerkedhis head up in surprise when he heard her clear her throat, quickly pulling one of the towels off the floor to try to cover his ass. He turned in time to see her setting down one of the lamps then slinking away and wondered how much shesaw.

As if she had read his mind, she yelled out, “Don’t worry! I didn’t see a thing! Too dark!” Then he heard her footsteps as she ran up the stairs.

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