Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  “So how's the fundraising going?”

  “Not so great. But we’ve still got a month to get the rest of the funds together.”

  She fiddled with one of her empty creamer containers, the only tell-tale sign she might be feeling a little unsettled. “What kind of plans do you have?”

  “We’ve got a few things up our sleeves. You know about the car wash this weekend.”

  She nodded.

  “We’re also doing a Skate Under the Stars thing at the Ventura tonight.”

  She sat up straighter, and her eyes lit up. “I haven’t been to Ventura roller rink in years, not since high school.”

  After football season ended, that’s where we’d spend our Friday nights. Anyone who was anyone would go down to the roller rink for open skate from seven to ten. Half the time Misty and I would sneak off behind the building to make out. The other half we’d be slow skating.

  “Yeah, me neither. But they offered so the whole team is selling tickets.”

  She cradled her mug in her hands. “I haven’t thought about that place in forever.”

  Those were the good old days. My heart warmed at the memories of me and Misty, her arms clasped around my neck. She was better on skates so she would always be the one going backward, round and round the rink while a slow song played. Depending on who was working the DJ booth, we could tip enough to keep the slow songs playing all night long. And if we weren’t wrapped in each other’s arms skating, we were back behind the building doing things to each other that high school kids had no business doing.

  For a moment I forgot about the heartache, the headaches, and the pain she caused. Warmth filled my limbs. I lifted my hand, about to reach out to her, to tell her I was ready to try again.

  A plate clattered to the table in front of me. “Steak and eggs, there you go.” Patsy filled my mug to the brim. “Anything else I can get you, sugar?”

  Misty shook her head, totally unaware of my moment of weakness. In a flash it all came back to me…how pissed I’d been when she left. How she’d walked away without looking back.

  Damn, I never would have guessed that a platter of steak and eggs might have just saved me from making the second biggest mistake of my life.

  Misty

  The look in Jake’s eyes shifted. He’d been about to say something when Patsy interrupted. The dreamy smile on his lips faded, replaced by a hardness I hadn’t seen before.

  “You sure you don’t want anything, hon?” Patsy asked.

  I gave her a smile as I shook my head. “Just coffee for me, thanks.”

  “Y’all let me know if you need anything else.” Patsy topped off my coffee then whirled back toward the counter.

  “What were you about to say?” I prodded Jake.

  He slid a forkful of egg into his mouth and mumbled around it. “Nothin’.”

  Nothin’ my ass. He looked like he’d been about to soften up to my idea. Why did Patsy have to pick that moment to plop his food in front of him? Now it looked like I’d be battling a platter of steak and eggs for his attention.

  “About the Ventura tonight…You were talking about skating. Remember when we used to spend our Friday nights there?” Surely a gentle reminder of the steamy times we spent wrapped in each other’s arms under a rotating disco ball would jog his memory.

  “Mmm.” He nodded.

  I waited for him to swallow, hoping the nod was just the beginning of the onslaught of memories running through his mind. But then he cut a bite of steak and stabbed it with his fork. Before I could ask another question, he shoved it in his mouth.

  “Those were some good times, weren’t they?” I continued to press, waiting for a reaction.

  He grinned as he chewed.

  “Remember when we used to sneak out back behind the building?” I ran my finger around the rim of my mug, tilted my head, and lifted my eyes to meet his gaze. Flirt mode engaged.

  “Hey, remember that time the garbage company was on strike and they didn’t pick up the dumpster? It smelled so bad.” He raised his eyebrows as he took another bite of his breakfast.

  Fine. If he didn’t want to reminisce about our steamy memories, I’d just have to create some new ones.

  “So the fundraiser tonight is open to the public?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Yeah. It’ll mostly be high school kids. We’re talking it up like a retro night out.”

  “Maybe I’ll stop in.”

  A line appeared between his eyebrows. At least I’d caused some sort of reaction. “Really? I figured you would have hung up your roller skates a long time ago.”

  “What makes you think that?” I unzipped my purse to pull out a few dollars.

  Laughing, Jake leaned back against the booth. “Come on, Misty. I bet you couldn’t even make it around the rink more than once without falling on your ass.”

  “Sounds like you might be up for a wager?” I slid out of the booth and set my money down on the table.

  “I don’t want to take advantage.” Jake folded my money and passed it back to me. “The coffee’s on me today.”

  “Fine. I’ll let you pay for the coffee, but how about whoever stays on their feet longer at the roller rink tonight gets to pick a place for dinner? What do you say?”

  He had the nerve to laugh. “If you insist. Loser pays?”

  “Sounds good to me.” I thrust my hand out. “Should we shake on it?”

  I relished the feel of him wrapping his hand around mine. He squeezed, giving my hand a quick shake, then let go.

  “You got it. But just so you know, when I win, I’m going to want a rib eye from Sal’s.”

  Palms on the table, I leaned toward him. His eyes widened the tiniest bit as I leveled my gaze on his. “And when I win, I’m going to want a filet from that place on the Plaza in Kansas City.”

  Then I blew him a kiss before twirling around and sashaying out the front door of the Lovebird Café. Hopefully Jake didn’t realize it yet, but I couldn’t care less about our little bet. Win or lose, I’d just secured a dinner date.

  Jake

  I stood at the entrance to the Ventura Roller Rink, collecting tickets from the never-ending line of teenagers streaming through the front doors. All-in-all we probably only had about seventy-five kids inside, but it seemed like so many more. I’d always been a fan of loud music, although the constant thumping of the bass through the huge audio system had me wishing for a handful of ibuprofen, or better yet, a couple of beers.

  “How’s it going?” Robbie came up next to me. He’d put himself in charge of monitoring the parking lot. The team was on a no-substance-use rule. If any of them got caught drinking or smoking, even away from school property, they’d be off the roster for the rest of the year.

  “I’m hanging in there.” I’d filled him in on my conversation with Misty this morning. A part of me hoped she wouldn’t show. Another part of me, the frigging horny part, hoped she’d show up in that sexy red halter top, wrap her arms around me like she used to, and treat me to a few loops around the rink in a slow skate.

  “Still no sign of her?” Robbie asked.

  I shook my head. “She probably changed her mind after she thought about it. It’s got to be at least, what, five, six years since any of us have been on skates?”

  Robbie shrugged. “Giving up doesn’t seem like her style.”

  “True.” Before I could laugh it off, the crowd in front of us parted, and there she was. Skin-tight jeans molded to her curves. A set of inline skates dangled from her fingers.

  “Hey.” Her cherry red lips split into a smile.

  “Hi, Misty. Looks like you’re ready to roll.” Robbie clapped me on the back. “I’ll take over here for a while.”

  “But you’re watching the parking lot.” I wasn’t quite ready to take on Misty, not when she had that self-assured smug smirk that meant I was going down.

  “Thanks, Rob. Jake and I have a bet to settle.” Misty linked her arm in mine. “Did you bring your blades?”

/>   I shook my head. “Mom gave those away years ago. I’m surprised you still have yours.”

  “Yep. Thank goodness my mama’s a pack rat and never throws anything away. So I guess you’ll need a pair of loaner skates?” She tugged me through the door where the music grew even louder.

  Skates. That’s right. I’d pretty much challenged her to a skating competition tonight. I hadn’t been thinking. Based on the way she tossed those inline skates around, she was going to wipe the rink with me.

  “You know, it’s not really necessary to go through with this. I don’t want you to get hurt, or worse yet, embarrass yourself.” Maybe she’d give up if I pretended it was all for her to save face.

  “Oh, don’t worry about me. I try to get out at least a couple times a week when it’s warm outside.”

  My jaw started to drop, but I snapped it shut. She’d played me. Before I could give her crap about it, a kid came to the counter and asked for my size.

  “Still a fourteen?” Misty asked. Her gaze drifted down my torso, past my hips, grazing my legs, and settling at my feet.

  “Yeah. Fourteen. They probably don’t even have skates that fit me—”

  “Here you go.” The kid thumped a pair of skates down onto the counter in front of me.

  “Thanks,” I ground out from between clenched teeth.

  “You want to do a few warm up laps before we have an official start?” Misty walked ahead of me, her hips swaying from side to side. If I weren’t so worried about the task ahead, I might have fallen into a trance based on the mesmerizing back and forth of her backside.

  “Nah. It’s like riding a bike, right?”

  “When’s the last time you rode a bike?” She’d stopped at a carpet-covered bench.

  I stopped next to her. “So maybe it’s been a little while.” The smell of lust and sex and wicked wanting rolled off of her. What the hell was that? It was like she’d bathed herself in pheromones.

  “Need help getting your skates on?” She lowered herself to sit on the bench then bent over to slide her strappy sandals off her feet.

  “I’m good.” I caught a glimpse of the front of her bra, all red lace and creamy skin, as she bent over. What was she trying to do to me? The last time I’d had sex, it had been with Misty, and that meant it had been too damn long. For a split second I was back in that moment—the two of us tangled together in a mass of limbs in the back of my pick-up.

  She cleared her throat, jerking me out of the past. “Ready?”

  She’d pulled on her blades and was standing. With skates on, the top of her head came to just under my chin. Whatever that toxic perfume was, it tickled my nose.

  I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. As I swapped my trainers for the cheap rental blades, I tried to psych myself up for a little competition. Whether we were playing volleyball at the lake, trying to shoot a tin can off a stump with my dad’s old shotgun, or engaged in her favorite dance-off video game, we’d always been serious about our wagers. Tonight would be no exception.

  I stood, towering over her with the extra height of my skates. “Ready when you are.”

  “Then let’s get to it.” She glided toward the DJ booth, smooth as a pro figure skater floating over the ice.

  Hell, I was in trouble. As I struggled to catch up to her, I wobbled a little.

  “How long do you want to go tonight?” She bit her lower lip, catching it with her teeth then letting it slide out real slow. Suddenly it didn’t seem like we were talking about skating any more.

  “I can go as long as you want.” My chest puffed out a bit. Even though I knew I was in over my head, whether we were talking about laps or something much more intimate, I couldn’t bring myself to admit it.

  Her finger gently poked the center of my chest. “We’ll see about that.”

  I resisted the urge to wrap my hand around her finger and pull her into me. Getting tangled up with Misty again would only hurt me in the long run. So no matter how much I wanted to call her out on her intentional innuendos, I didn’t.

  “Last one standing wins, isn’t that what we said this morning?” I reminded her.

  “Yep. Whoever can stay off their butt the longest.” She accentuated that point by wiggling her ass.

  Blood rushed to my crotch. Mentally, my head was in the game. Physically? She had me by the balls, always had.

  I chose not to acknowledge the way her body teased me into a hot and bothered mess. “Let’s do it.” I kicked off first, barely missing a couple holding hands.

  Misty’s laugh followed me until she swept past me. She wasn’t kidding, she must have been practicing. Her feet crisscrossed over each other without missing a beat while it took everything I had not to stumble.

  “Hey, Jake.” The team’s backup pitcher skated by.

  I lifted my hand to wave. All of a sudden my right foot veered off, and I awkwardly recovered before I tumbled to the ground.

  Misty lapped me once, then twice, before I made it all the way around. Didn’t matter how many turns she took around the rink, what mattered was who stayed upright the longest. At the rate I was going, I might make it around a few times before they played the last song.

  After an hour, my feet hurt, my leg muscles screamed in protest, and I’d been mocked by the majority of the team for my cautious approach. Finally, the DJ called the last song of the night.

  Misty and I hadn’t talked about what we’d do in the case of a tie. As I looked around, trying to locate her, she skated up next to me.

  “Last song.” She gave me a gentle nudge with her hip.

  “There you are. What do we do in the case of a tie? We didn’t talk about that possibility.”

  She shrugged. “What do you say we put aside the bet for the last skate? It’s a slow song.”

  It was a slow song, one of our favorites from back when we ruled the Ventura every Friday night.

  “Can I have this skate?” She whirled around in front of me and held out her arms.

  Without thinking about the repercussions, I reached for her. Her arms snaked up over my chest, her hands clasping together behind my neck. I settled my hands on her waist. My pulse ratcheted up. There was something so familiar about having her in my arms, my body went on auto-pilot, pulling her closer, nudging my nose into her air.

  As the music wrapped around us, insulating us from the other couples on the floor, I looked into her eyes.

  And I was gone.

  Misty

  Jake’s hands clamped to my waist. I wanted to lean into him, just like we used to when we skated round and round the rink every Friday night. Neither of us had won the silly bet I’d forced him to make, but it had brought us here. Together. Where I could get my fill of his warmth, his scent, and his sheer closeness

  I closed my eyes, letting him navigate us around the rink. Other skaters moved past, but I didn’t pay them any attention. All that mattered was Jake. We were back where we were supposed to be—in each other’s arms. What else did I need to do to make him realize that this was where we belonged?

  His hands shifted, and I took the opportunity to nestle closer, pulling him tighter against me.

  “Misty?” His warm breath tickled my ear.

  “Yes?” I opened my eyes to meet his gaze. The disco ball glittered in the center of the rink, sending dazzling sparkles over the room.

  “What are you trying to do to me?” His feet slowed. We came to a stop under the glittering ball.

  “I’m not trying to do anything to you. I want to be us again.” Couldn’t he see how hard I was trying? How much I wanted to go back to the way things were?

  “We didn’t work the last time we tried. Why can’t you leave it alone?” He turned his head and glanced toward the ground.

  I put a hand on his cheek, gently nudging his gaze back to mine. “This time will be different, I promise.”

  The hurt, fear and hesitation in his eyes gutted me. “You can’t make a promise like that.”

  Before I let myself co
nsider the ramifications, I pulled his head closer and pressed my lips against his. Warmth flooded my system as our lips touched. It had been so long—way too long.

  He hesitated for a moment then slid his hands around to the small of my back and crushed me against him. His tongue teased past the seam of my lips. My knees buckled as he deepened the kiss.

  This was what I’d been missing in my life. I poured my heart and soul into that kiss. Everything faded away until it was just the two of us. My fingers toyed with the hair at the base of his neck then stopped to run over the soft cotton of his T-shirt. His muscles twitched under my palm. What I’d been looking for, it was right here in front of me.

  Jake’s arms tightened around me. His hips nudged forward, making contact. I forgot we were in a roller rink, surrounded by most of the students at our small alma mater. But then someone cleared their throat. We parted. I blinked, dazed by the emotional tidal wave that had rolled over me.

  Robbie stood next to us, still in his street shoes. “Um, easy on the PDA, okay?”

  Jake squinted at his best friend, his arms still holding me close. “Yeah, okay.”

  I clung to him, not ready to let go, afraid that if I did, we wouldn’t find our way back to this kind of closeness. I’d breached the walls of Jake’s defense. What if he didn’t let me back in again?

  He let his hands fall from my waist. “Um, let’s go trade in our skates for shoes, okay?”

  My heart sank at the loss of contact. I reached for his hand, twining my fingers with his. He tolerated my grip but the urgency was gone. As we skated toward the bench where we’d left our shoes, I tried to figure out my next move. No one had won the bet. Unless one of us fell, I wouldn’t have any guarantee of seeing him again. Based on the way Jake had cooled off, like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on him, I wasn’t sure where things would go after tonight.

  So I did the only thing I could. I faked a stumble. Jake held onto my hand as I tumbled toward the floor. My skate twisted on the way down, causing my ankle to roll.