Hope Against Hope: The Hope Brothers Series

by Honey Palomino

  Could I not do both? What the hell was wrong with me?

  Maybe it was just that my feelings for Georgia were that strong. And how the hell did that even happen? They hit me out of nowhere, with the force of ten horses running from a pack of hyenas.

  I could only hope it would ease up with time. Unfortunately, time was the one thing I was running out of.

  Tomorrow was the biggest competition of my career, and if I didn’t find a way to focus, it could also be the last.

  My phone rang when I was getting in my truck. I smiled when I saw it was Georgia calling.

  “Hello, beautiful,” I answered.

  “Hey,” she replied, her voice out of breath.

  “What’s going on? Are you okay?” Alarm shot through me.

  “I’m fine. I just got back to your place. I took Cherokee for a ride, over to Olly’s, and well…I went inside. I know I shouldn’t have, but I did. The back door was open. And someone was there, Beau. I just caught a quick glimpse, and then I saw a bunch of beer bottles. It looks like someone’s camping out there.”

  “Did they see you?”

  “Yes, I’m pretty sure. Just as I was leaving, I heard a huge crash but I high-tailed it out of there fast as a jack-rabbit, jumped on Cherokee and took off.”

  “Did anyone follow you?” I already had the truck turned on and in gear.

  “No, not at all. I’m perfectly fine.”

  “Lock the doors, Georgia. I’ll be right there.” I hung up the phone, and sped out of the parking lot.

  If anything happened to Georgia, I don’t know what I’d do. I couldn’t handle losing someone else.

  In the back of my mind, I was wondering who could be staying at Olly’s place.

  The fact that it was probably Lee didn’t escape me.

  ***

  By the time I got back to my house, my heart was racing a mile a minute. I ran into the house and stopped short when I saw Georgia standing barefoot in my kitchen, wearing nothing but a tank top and a pair of cut-off blue jean shorts, singing to the Waylon Jennings song playing on the stereo.

  “Hey, baby, I made you a sandwich,” she said, her long black hair cascading down her back. Indeed, she had. Layered about six inches high, it looked as if she had put the contents of my entire refrigerator into the sandwich.

  She picked up the plate and held it out to me, her green eyes smiling proudly. I walked over to her, took the plate, and sat it back down on the counter.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” she asked, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, standing there, barefoot and smiling like she stood in my kitchen like that every day.

  I grinned, reached down and picked her up under that fine ass of hers and sat her on the counter next to the sandwich. A little yelp escaped from her pretty little lips. I slid my hands away from her ass, down her thighs to her knees, pushing them apart gently, and stood between them.

  She watched me silently, her eyes shining with delight as she put her arms around my neck.

  “Hi,” she said, her eyes peering into mine.

  “Thank you for the sandwich,” I said.

  “You’re not hungry, I take it?” she asked, her smile teasing me.

  “Yes, I am,” I said, nodding. “Matter of fact, I’m starved.” After the brutal practice I had, I was indeed famished. But seeing her standing there like that, in my lonely ass kitchen, lighting up my whole house with her presence, like she belonged there, like she had been there all along? Well, that vision made me hungry for something else.

  I looked at her lips, marveling at the fullness of them, the perfect pinkness of them. My eyes trailed down her body, gazing at her chin, her sleek neck, the swell of her breasts under her black tank top, and falling to the curve of her stomach, her hips, her thighs. I was mesmerized by the very essence of her, and now that I knew she was okay, that she was safe, the fear had fallen away, leaving nothing but pure, raw desire in its place.

  Our eyes met again and I felt my soul fill with fire.

  Last night had been different; last night had fulfilled a need that was fueled by pain and sorrow. But looking at Georgia now, I felt a different need. A need to know her. To feel what every inch of her felt like. To see her. To see her without confusion, without doubt. To see her open and raw, in the afternoon sunlight of a warm June day, naked and mine.

  I kissed her. Softly, sweetly, at first, tasting her goodness because I couldn’t bear to keep my lips off of her skin a second longer. She melted under me, the softness of her spirit creating a stark hardness between us. She reached down, her warm hand embracing me boldly, and I groaned in exquisite pain. I reached down and removed her hand, intertwining my fingers with hers. I brought her fingers up to my lips and kissed them, looking up at her face, her beautiful face that would have brought the toughest cowboy to his knees, and I realized that this was it.

  This moment.

  This was what my whole life had led up to.

  My rebellious teens, the accident, Marisa, every damn bull I had ever ridden that had miraculously decided to spare my life…all of it had led me here. To this beauty that stood so casually in my kitchen, as if it was something that happened every day. As if it was meaningless.

  All this time she had been right there in front of me.

  “Georgia, I have two regrets, darlin’,” I whispered, kissing her fingers again.

  “Tell me,” she said, grinning curiously.

  “One. That I didn’t realize sooner how perfect you were for me.” I let go of her hand, and put my arms around her, pulling her close as I stood between her perfect, bare thighs.

  “And?” she drawled, raising an eyebrow teasingly.

  “And the other thing I regret,” I said, taking a deep breath, before the words that would change my life tumbled out of my mouth. “Is that your father isn’t here for me to ask his permission.”

  “Permission for what?” she asked, her green eyes wide.

  “Permission to ask for your hand, Georgia. Will you marry me?”

  Her eyes widened in surprise, and then she squealed in delight.

  “Yes!” she cried.

  I kissed her again, with all the passion, all the love, all the hope that I held inside of me for her, for us, for our future, and even our shared past.

  I picked her up again, never taking my mouth from hers, and carried her to our bed. I laid her down, and slowly kissed her, softly, deeply, her moans only heightening the pleasure I felt as she lay below me, her body pushing up at me, begging me to do everything I wanted to do.

  Harder, I kissed her as my passion began to grow, along with the hardness of my cock between us. She pressed into me, and I felt myself throbbing against her bare thigh.

  I stood up and pulled off my clothes, standing in front of her in all my glory, the warm rays of sun falling across my skin as I towered over her. I watched with a growing hunger as she peeled off her clothes, and as she lay there, naked and raw, full of light - I felt my heart break open, the light of her sweet soul shining in, washing over the dark places inside of me that had been locked away for so long, forgotten and dying.

  Until now.

  Until this very minute.

  This beautiful, heartbreaking, perfect moment in time.

  I joined her on the bed, my lips tasting every inch of her, memorizing her every mole, every scar, every perfect flaw that made her into the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with, the woman I couldn’t live without.

  My lips found her neck, and she moaned. I kissed her collar bone, and she leaned her shoulder into me, sighing with delight. My mouth engulfed her hard nipple, and she shivered. Twirling my tongue around it, she groaned, her fingers finding the back of my head and pressing me closer into her perfect mounds.

  Her hips writhed and bucked against me as I trailed kisses along her stomach, slowing down when I reached her abdomen, inching lower and lower until she was wantonly pressing her hips up, an insistent dance of yearning for more. I smiled at her eagerness, and as I
too, was eager to please her, to taste her, to devour her, I did just that. My mouth engulfed her sex, my tongue snaking out and twirling around her clit before licking every inch of her sweet velvety center. My lips enveloped her clit, sucking and pulling and licking until she was writhing above me, her thighs wrapping around my head and pulling me in closer. I slid a finger into her warmth, and then another, and another, until I was thrusting into her and riding the waves of her pleasure with her, her hips rocking against me, her nectar flowing over my fingers like a river.

  She bucked and quivered as her soft pussy clenched around my fingers, her body slamming up into me, her hands clenching at my shoulders, her ecstatic cries echoing through the house. When she quieted, I slowed my pace, lightening my touch, until my tongue was sliding over her skin so lightly, so softly, that she whimpered.

  My mouth trailed kisses back up her body, and I smiled when I saw her eyes. Tears trailed down her face and I kissed the salt away, one tear at a time, until she was smiling.

  “I love you,” she whispered, her thighs wrapping around my hips as my hardness smoothly slid into her tight center. I groaned, struggling to control myself, determined to take this slow, to make this perfect moment last as long as it possibly could.

  She felt like fire. Flames of pleasure licked at my cock, her spasming sex releasing and clenching with the perfect rhythm of my thrusts, slowly, deeply, I pushed into her, each time with precision, intention, and passion. Over and over, I found heaven - with each moan that escaped from her lips, every time my name formed on her tongue, every quiver of her exquisitely tight sex around my throbbing cock - every sensation felt better than the last and every feeling built a foundation inside of me that I knew would never crumble.

  My cock swelled, the pressure building, the pain and pleasure mixing together into a perfect storm of passion and need, as I thrust inside Georgia harder and faster, until I found the magic I was looking for.

  My eyes flew open, connecting with the shimmering green eyes of my beautiful soulmate, as my body plunged over the edge, exploding into a million little pieces inside of her, and somehow, with the caress of her hand on my face, she put me back together.

  ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

  You could have cut the tension with a knife. The finals of the bull riding competition of the rodeo was the very last event; it was also the most anticipated and the most attended. I was pretty sure every person in Houston was seated in the bleachers, if not somewhere else in the arena either competing or working.

  It was hot as hell, too. Didn’t matter that it was already dark out, the relentless heat of the sun had decided to stick around. My clothes stuck to my skin, and the tight jeans I was wearing felt like a denim cage.

  I sat in my usual spot with Ruby, both of us more nervous than we could ever remember being. Crit and Beau were the last two competitors, with fifteen total men vying for the championship title. The scoring was the same as last time, and the judges sat alone in a little box seat directly behind the chutes.

  The crowd laughed as the rodeo clowns did their best to keep them entertained, but neither me nor Ruby was in any mood to laugh.

  I was bubbling from excitement, and I wanted to tell everyone my news, but both Beau and I had both decided to keep our engagement quiet until after the competition. Neither one of us expected Crit or Seth to take it very well, and the last thing we wanted was to cause any more grief for Crit before the finals.

  I had run into Jesse when I went back home to get some clothes, though, and since he was the only one that didn’t seem to be so worked up about me seeing Beau, I had given in and told him. I swore him to secrecy first, and then I told him that Beau had proposed. He was a little shocked, but who wouldn’t be? He didn’t seem upset, though. In fact, he didn’t seem much of anything at all. He went back to his room, promising he wouldn’t say anything to the other two until after I had told them myself.

  I was dying to tell Ruby, but I knew she’d stand up and announce it to the world right there in front of God and everyone, and this day was not about me. It was about the rodeo.

  “And now, for the event you’ve all been waiting for, the Bull Riding Championships for the great state of Texas! It’s man versus beast today, folks!”

  The crowd exploded, and with a few announcements, the competition started with an explosive exit from the first bull and rider. At four seconds, the bull was able to throw the rider to the dirt, and he scrambled out of the arena with a disappointed gait. The next two managed to stay on for the full eight seconds, both of them getting great scores, a ninety and ninety-two, respectively. The fourth one was disqualified, because his hand touched the bull during the ride. He stomped out of the arena looking like he was going to kill someone. The rest of the competition flew by in a blur, with nobody beating the score of the third competitor.

  When it came time for Crit, I spotted him in the back of the chutes, talking to Dustin and putting on his kevlar vest. When I was a little girl, my father and his friends didn’t have to wear those, but now, they were a requirement, saving the riders from the intense damage that a two thousand pound bull could do if he fell on you, or decided to gore you.

  I saw Beau just a ways away, and my heart skipped a beat. That handsome cowboy had asked me to marry him. Marriage! I was giddy with excitement, and truth be told, I was ready for this day to be over, so we could find some semblance of normality.

  Everything had been so upside down lately, nothing really seemed to make any sense.

  Beau looked up and caught my eye, winking at me and grinning before turning back to focus on getting ready. I was so nervous for him, and I couldn’t wait for this to all be over.

  The fact that he was competing against my brother wasn’t lost on me. I decided I would cheer for them both, and whatever happened happened. What went on in that arena was out of my control.

  Crit entered the chute, the bull he had drawn was one he was familiar with, and I knew he would have the advantage because of it. Beau was riding a bull he had never been on before, and I hoped like hell what was going on with us wasn’t too much of a distraction for him.

  Crit’s allotted sixty seconds in the chute passed slowly, and Ruby squeezed my hand as we waited. Seth had joined us to watch, and three of us stood and held our breath together. When Crit finally nodded his head, and the chute flew open, we watched, mesmerized and suspended in time. The bucking bull was huge - a monstrous beast that flung Crit around violently. The bull began bucking in a circle and I felt Seth tense up beside me.

  “He’s a spinner,” he murmured. After that, all time seemed to stop. We watched with horror as the bull spun in tighter circles with each rotation, pulling Crit down the side of the bull into the motion’s vortex.

  “He’s down in the well!” Seth said, his voice filled with fear.

  Crit struggled to regain control of his body, but the force of the spins and the bucking bull made it impossible once he had lost it. The buzzer sounded, and Crit was still attached to the side of the bucking bull, unable to free his hand from the rope.

  “Oh, god, oh god, oh god!” Ruby cried beside me.

  Crit’s body flung helplessly in the air as the bull continued bucking over and over, pulling his mangled body through the arena. Finally, he managed to get his free hand up to pull his gloved hand free and he fell to the ground. The bull failed to go in the opposite direction, and instead, kept bucking, trampling over Crit’s body, his hooves landing right in the center of his back, as he lay still and unconscious in the dirt.

  The clowns managed to distract the bull, getting its attention and then jumping into their barrel right before the bull attempted to hook them.

  Scores of medics descended on Crit.

  Ruby screamed, jarring me from my shocked trance, and we began running down the stairs. A crowd had already formed near the gate, and we jumped up and down, pushing our way through to the front. Crit was already on a stretcher, bloody and unconscious as the medics pushed through the cro
wd, rushing him to the waiting ambulance outside.

  I searched the crowd for Beau, but I couldn’t see him. Finally, I spotted Seth, running after the stretcher and medics. Ruby and I followed him, and I called his name.

  He turned to me briefly before jumping into the ambulance with Crit.

  “He’s going to be okay, sis! Find Jesse and meet us at the hospital!” The ambulance doors closed, and in a flash of lights and wailing sirens, they were gone, leaving Ruby and I standing alone in the parking lot, with tears streaming down our faces.

  “I have to find Jesse,” I murmured, turning to Ruby. She looked more devastated than me, her eyes swollen and red. She dug in her bag for her car keys, and hugged me.

  “Find Jesse. I’m going to the hospital. I’ll see you there,” she said, leaving me standing alone, fear ripping my heart in two, as I spun around and headed back to the arena.

  I was almost to the entrance when my cell phone rang.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Georgia, it’s Randy.”

  “Randy?” Why in the world is the fire chief calling me, I wondered, the deep pit of fear in my stomach growing bigger with each second.

  “There’s been another fire. At your place. We got another anonymous call. We’re on our way now, I thought you and your brothers would want to know.”

  “I’m on my way,” I said, hanging up the phone. I spotted Finn staring at me by the doorway and headed straight towards him.

  ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

  I had a perfect ride. When the buzzer sounded, I let go effortlessly, the momentum of the bucking bull throwing me behind it. I landed in the dirt with an easy thud, jumped up and retrieved my hat, waving to the crowd as they applauded thunderously.