Hope Falls: Wildest Dreams (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Samantha Chase

  She nodded. “Completely. Because it’s how I felt too.” Taking a step backwards and out of his arms, she laughed nervously. “How is it even possible? It’s so fast! So soon! Shouldn’t it have taken more than…than…a look to feel this strongly? Are we over-romanticizing the past?”

  “We were a little young to even think of it like that, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I know that every time I thought of you, it was with a sense of awe. Like I said, you were my hero.”

  He knew exactly what she meant because all of his thoughts of her throughout the years were similarly filled with awe. There was never anyone in his mind who was as sweet as Alesha Reed, or as beautiful. And seeing her now as an adult, he knew he was right.

  Lifting his hand, he stroked her cheek again. “If you think we’re moving too fast, then we’ll slow down. I don’t want you to feel pressured.” He leaned in and kissed her. It was meant to be just a gentle kiss—more like a quick peck sort of thing—but Alesha reached out and wrapped her arms around him again.

  When they lifted their heads, she smiled shyly. “I don’t think we’re moving too fast. I don’t want to slow down and I don’t feel pressured.”

  He swallowed hard. “How do you feel?”

  “I feel like I want to close these drapes, turn down the lights and crawl into that bed with you and spend the night making love with you. All night.” She blushed furiously. “Oh…that was a little forward of me. Again,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “Sorry.”

  “You never have to apologize. Not to me,” he assured her.

  Reece turned and closed the drapes. Then he took Alesha by the hand and led her over to the bed before he kissed her again. Thoroughly.

  “All night, huh?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  He gave her a sexy grin and repeated her earlier words back to her. “Deal.”

  Chapter Seven

  When they arrived back in Hope Falls Sunday night, Alesha was feeling a little apprehensive. They hadn’t really talked about it but to her it was like the elephant in the room—or in the truck—with them. On the long drive back from San Francisco they had talked about so many things but not about how this new turn in their relationship was going to play out now that they were home.

  Reece pulled his truck into the driveway at her father’s house and together they got out. Alesha grabbed her purse while Reece grabbed her suitcase. Silently they walked up to the door and into the house. She made it all of two feet in the door before she blurted it all out.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to spend the night!”

  Reece looked at her with wide eyes. “Um…what?”

  She shook her head, slightly mortified by her outburst. “We’ve spent the last two nights together and it was great because we were away from home but…this is Hope Falls. And everyone seems to know everyone else’s business and I’m not sure I’m ready to have people…you know…in my business.”

  Laughter was not the response she was expecting, but that’s exactly what Reece did.

  He laughed.

  Loudly.

  “I don’t think this is particularly funny, Reece,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

  “Sweetheart, believe me. It is.”

  Now she was annoyed because he was making fun of her. “No. It’s not.”

  Shutting the door behind him, Reece stepped further into the house and pulled her close and kissed her soundly, completely ignoring her folded arms and the fact that she was standing stiff as a board.

  “Look,” he began, taking a step away from her. “I understand what you’re saying. I do. But whether you like it or not—or whether I stay here tonight or not—people are going to talk. That’s all part and parcel of living in a small town. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t move back here after college. I liked having my privacy and Tahoe is close enough that I can come home and visit, but far enough away that I can do what I want without people running back and reporting to my parents.”

  And that’s when it hit her—Reece was here but he wasn’t here. This was all temporary. He was here helping his parents with the renovations on Two Scoops and once that was done, he had a life outside of Hope Falls.

  Well damn.

  Now Alesha was torn between being mad about Reece’s laughter, embarrassed by her outburst and sad about Reece’s life being someplace else.

  Yeah. Damn.

  “I won’t spend the night if it makes you that uncomfortable,” he said, clearly oblivious to the myriad of emotions she felt. “But everyone already knows how much time we’ve been spending together. And,” he went on, stepping in close again, “I don’t care if they do know. We are together and I want to spend time with you—as much time as possible. I know we’re going to see each other every day at the store because of the work but it’s not the same. I’m going to leave this one up to you though. I’ll go home—or back to my parents’ place—tonight if you want me to.” Then he gave her a sheepish grin. “But I’d rather be here with you.”

  Hell, who was she kidding? That’s what she wanted too.

  Unable to help herself, Alesha relaxed. Their time together may be short, especially with the work on the store going so smoothly. When it was time for Reece to leave, they may only get to see each other on the weekends. So why waste the time they had now worrying about what other people were thinking?

  She gave him a sheepish grin of her own. “Well, you should probably know that the bed in the guest room is only a full-size.”

  His grin grew to a full-blown smile. “I guess that means we’ll just have to stay real close to each other all night.”

  Taking his hand in hers, Alesha gently pulled him along toward the bedroom. “I guess we will.”

  ****

  For the next three weeks, they kept a similar schedule—working on the renovations at both Two Scoops and Read Between the Lines during the week, and driving to San Francisco on the weekends to visit with Martin. His treatments were going well but he was tired and slept a lot while they were there.

  Alesha would show him pictures of the progress on the store and on their last visit, she had even managed to put together a video of all of his friends in Hope Falls wishing him a speedy recovery. It was an amazing time for her, to see how close knit everyone was and how they all genuinely cared about her father. It was sort of the last affirmation she needed to know that this was the right move for her and the place where she wanted to build her life.

  Even if Reece’s life was in Tahoe.

  It seemed like she was meeting new people every day—and even some whom she remembered from school when she was younger—and everyone was just so damn nice that it sometimes left her feeling a little emotional. Everyone asked about her father and people were praising her for the work she was doing on the store. Overall, Alesha felt happier than she could ever remember.

  The last of the new bookcases was in place and two of the guys from Reece’s crew were busily cleaning up. Tomorrow she was expecting a large shipment of books and she had hired two high school students to come in after school to help her unpack and set them up. It was going to make for a long day but she was beyond excited to finally open the store back up full-time and get things going.

  On the other side of the wall, Reece was almost finished with the work on Two Scoops. His crew was working nights so Harry and Marlene could stay open for business during the day. And if everything went as planned, on Monday they were going to celebrate together and cross-promote one another to show off the new spaces.

  After Reece had crashed through the upstairs doorway to get to Alesha on that fateful day, they had decided to put a set of French doors in the space that would make the entire upstairs open for people to use for meeting space or just for reading or visiting with friends. And best of all, her father had loved the idea.

  Everything was going well.

  Well…almost.

  Ever since their first weekend
away, Reece had been spending almost all of his nights with her, and she was certainly not complaining about that. What kept niggling at her was how they seemed to be completely focused on the here and now and neither had mentioned what was going to happen come Monday when all of the work was completed.

  Alesha knew he had jobs lined up in Tahoe because he talked about them a lot, but he never talked about how his moving back to his place full-time was going to affect them. And she was too chicken to bring it up because she was afraid of the answer.

  “Hey, beautiful.”

  Looking up, she smiled as Reece walked across the store toward her. It didn’t matter if she saw him five minutes or five hours ago, her heart always skipped a beat at the sight of him.

  “Hey, yourself,” she replied. “How are things going next door? Is the crew getting ready for another long night?”

  Reece raked a hand through his hair and sighed. “It’s starting to wear on all of them I think. I’m sure they’ll all be happy when this particular job is over. Not that it’s been hard work but the overnight hours get old quick.”

  She nodded. “A few more days and their lives can return to normal. I’m sure your folks are equally anxious for all the work to be done too.”

  “I know my dad’s anxious,” he chuckled. “I want to get my guys out of there before mom thinks of anything else she’d like to change. She’s making everyone crazy with her ideas.”

  She and Reece had talked about that several times—Marlene’s attempt at drawing up plans and how most of them weren’t plausible in any way, shape or form. “I’m sure once everything is in its place and people come through and ooh and aah over it all, she’ll be cured for a while.”

  “Let’s hope so.” He stepped around the counter to where she was sitting and kissed her soundly. “What’s the plan for tonight? Do you want to go out to eat? Want me to pick something up? I know you’ve been busy around here all day so…”

  This was just one of the things she loved about him—he genuinely wanted to take care of her. “Actually, I have some stew simmering in the crockpot at home,” she informed him proudly. “It’s gotten cold here all of a sudden and I was in the mood for some comfort food.”

  “I think there’s even some snow in the forecast this weekend,” he said carefully, as if afraid of her reaction. “You know that could mean…”

  Alesha quickly nodded. “It means we might not get down to see Dad.” She sighed. “I know. I talked to him this morning and we talked about it and if that’s the case, he’s fine with it. I kind of got the impression that he was almost relieved by the thought.”

  “How come?”

  “This week’s been rough on him. He’s been sick for days and he said he really wasn’t up for company. I hate that for him.”

  Reece studied her for a minute. “Okay, so we’ll let him rest this week and see how he’s doing next week.” He paused. “But…” he began, “what if we just got away for the weekend anyway and spent it at my place?”

  The first thing to go through Alesha’s mind was ‘Here we go—he’s starting the transition,’ but she forced herself to stay calm and optimistic. “What about the snow? If it snows here, it’s going to snow there and then I might not get back here in time to open on Monday.”

  The disappointment he felt was obvious. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  And now she felt guilty. “Tell you what, let’s play it by ear and see what the weather is going to be. I already know that tomorrow is going to be wild here so it might be nice to get out of town for a few days and unwind.” She smiled up at him. “And the thought of doing that at your place sounds just about perfect.”

  He stepped in close again, placing his hands on her waist as he rested his forehead against hers. “And private too.”

  “Things are…kind of private here,” she teased.

  “Uh-uh…you said it yourself. People here are nosy. And even staying at the hotel when we go see your dad, there’s still too many people around. I want you all to myself for the weekend.” With that he lowered his head so he could nuzzle her neck. The stubble on his jaw felt so good against her skin and if it weren’t for the eight foot wall of glass beside them, she’d be in his arms with her legs wrapped around his waist already.

  “I know exactly what you’re thinking,” he murmured against her throat as he bent and picked her up.

  “Reece!” she cried. “Everyone can see this!”

  But he wasn’t listening. He was walking to the front door and locking it and then walking back toward the small office area. Once they were inside, he placed Alesha on the edge of the desk before kicking the door closed. His lips were on hers before she had time to catch her breath.

  “I’ve been thinking about this all day,” he said between kisses. “All. Day.”

  Who was she kidding? She’d been harboring this fantasy for weeks. And then in a move that was becoming her ‘thing,’ Alesha leaned back and pulled her sweater over her head and gave Reece a sexy smile. “Was this part of what you were thinking?”

  His hands came up and cupped her breasts, his breath ragged, but his eyes were on hers. “This is better.”

  And as he lowered his head so his lips could take over where his hands had left off, Alesha’s head fell back with a very satisfied sigh.

  Yes. This was infinitely better.

  Chapter Eight

  “I still don’t see what the big deal is.”

  “Oh come on. Don’t be like that.”

  “I was expecting…I don’t know…something…more.”

  Reece put Alesha’s suitcase down in his bedroom with a low chuckle. “They predicted snow and technically, it’s snowing.”

  “Barely,” she said with a pout.

  “Hey,” he said, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. “Weren’t you the one who was worried about the snow and how it was going to hinder our weekend away?”

  “Yeah, I know. Everything got done at the bookstore so it’s all ready for Monday and I had all kinds of…plans for getting snowed in with you.”

  “Ooh…plans? Like sexy plans? Because we can close the blinds and just pretend that there’s a blizzard out there. I’m all for that.”

  Alesha chuckled. “I’m being ridiculous, I know. Sorry.” She turned in his arms and kissed him.

  “I know you get snow up in Oregon,” he said. “So what’s the fascination with snow here?”

  “Believe it or not, I just really enjoy the snow and the cold weather.” She shrugged. “And like I said, the thought of being snowed in with you was kind of on my mind.”

  “We could have stayed back in Hope Falls. We could have been snowed in there. I’m sure they’re getting more of it there than here.”

  Alesha moved away from him and sat down on the bed. “It wouldn’t have been the same.”

  He was confused. Sitting down beside her, he told her as much.

  “Don’t get me wrong—I’m grateful that I have my dad’s house to be staying in. I’m saving money on rent and all that. But…it’s not my own place. I feel like a guest there. And even though we spend our nights there, it still…” She paused and sighed. “It still makes me feel a little uncomfortable.”

  Reece took her hand in his and squeezed it. “It’s not so bad. It would definitely be awkward if your father was there, but…”

  “No, I know,” she quickly interrupted. “But…I’m going to start looking for a house.”

  “What?” he asked, unable to hide his surprise. “Are you sure you’re ready for that? I know we’ve been talking about it but it was more in a general sense. I didn’t realize you meant you were going to do it now.”

  She nodded. “I am. I’ve been saving up for a long time, long before I knew I’d be moving back to Hope Falls. And now that I’m somewhat settled with the bookstore and with my dad, I feel like the time is right. I plan on calling Lauren and maybe setting up a time to go look at houses next weekend.”

  “What about going
to see your dad? We always leave on Fridays.”

  “I know and it’s been great. But after talking to him the other day, I called my uncle and talked with him for a little bit too. We agreed that maybe I’d skip a week or two to let Dad rest. He always wants to be up when we’re there and it takes a lot out of him. So I figured next weekend would be the best time to start the search. Then, maybe by the next time I go to see Dad, I’ll be able to get his feedback on the houses I’ve seen.”

  Several things bothered him about what she was saying. First, this was clearly a big decision for her and she hadn’t shared with him that she was ready to make it right now. And secondly, she was starting to say “I” instead of “we” when she talked about the future.

  He was more confused than ever. How could she be standing here—or sitting as she was now—and telling him about how much she was looking forward to being snowed in with him while she was seeming to cut him out of some major parts of her life? Was it possible that something changed? Did he do something wrong?

  “Alesha…”

  “I know it seems like I’m acting hastily,” she said, not letting him finish his thought. “I just think it’s time. I’m not feeling so overwhelmed about the bookstore and I’m really getting antsy about having my own space again. All of my stuff is in storage and I feel like I’m finally fitting in. I want to have people over to my house—not Dad’s. Is that so wrong?”

  “No,” he said, his voice gruffer than he intended. “Not at all. Why didn’t you tell me you were thinking about this?” He hated how needy he sounded but it couldn’t be helped. All this time he saw them building a future together and as much as it would pain him, Reece needed to know if Alesha’s future included him.

  When she didn’t meet his gaze, an overwhelming sense of dread washed over him. Carefully, he pulled his hand from hers and stood. “We don’t need to talk about this right now,” he said quickly. “I’m going to go light a fire downstairs and see if there’s anything here for dinner.”