Finding Hope (A Chance and a Hope Book 2)

by SJ McCoy

  He nodded, now he felt twice as bad—like he was cheating on Hope. Damn, he was screwed up. He didn’t know what to say.

  Hope smiled. “I wish I could have met her.”

  Wow, that was the last thing he’d expected her to say. “I think you two would have gotten along.” It was weird to think about the two of them coming face-too-face, but he knew they would have liked each other. Chloe had been fun, straightforward, full of life just like Hope was.

  “Probably, we have the same taste in men.”

  He smiled. “I feel bad thinking about her when I’m with you, but I feel bad being with you and not thinking about her.”

  “I think I can understand that, but please don’t feel bad thinking about her. I don’t see her as competition for your attention. It’s like I told you before, she’s a part of you. She made you who you are, and I’m grateful to her.”

  Chance tightened his arm around her and drew her closer. “Thank you.”

  “I’m not saying it for you. I’m saying it because it’s true.”

  He nodded, not knowing what else to say, or even what to think.

  Hope smiled. “Are you going to make me some coffee? If we’re going to get an early start, we’d better get moving.”

  Just like that, she moved things forward. He might have stayed stuck in a conversation about Chloe and how mixed up he was, wanting to explain things to her. Hope was more interested in getting on with this day. In living in the moment. It wasn’t that she didn’t care; he knew she did, but she was realistic. They weren’t going to change anything by talking about it—only time would make a difference. He still didn’t want to let go of Chloe’s memory, but it seemed, as far as Hope was concerned, he didn’t need to. He just needed time to get used to having room for both of them, in his mind and in his heart. Right now, neither of them were really in his life. He smiled and sat up. “Yes, ma’am. One pot of good strong coffee coming up.”

  She leaned over and planted a kiss on his chest. “Thank you; I’ll go take a shower.”

  He raised an eyebrow when she came into the kitchen wearing the same clothes she’d had on yesterday. “Do we need to take you back to get changed?”

  She shrugged. “If we’re heading that way, I’d like to stop in, but if we’re not, I’ll survive. I shouldn’t smell too bad now I’ve had a shower.”

  He laughed. “You know, I would have had you down as a pampered princess, but you’re not, are you?”

  She laughed with him. “Nope, I’ve never been one of those.” Her smile faded. “I think before I met you I was guilty of getting a little too self-absorbed, but I’ve always had to be pretty self-reliant. I come from privilege, I won’t deny that, but I’ve never been pampered.”

  “Aww.” He poured her a mug of coffee and took it to her. “Here, I don’t really know how pampering works, but I made you coffee.”

  She took it and reached up to plant a kiss on his lips. “You’re the sweetest. Thank you.”

  Chance narrowed his eyes at her. “Sweet?”

  She laughed. “Yes, sweet.”

  He looked over his shoulder. “Don’t let anyone hear you say that, will you?”

  “I think they probably already know you’ve got it in you, no matter how hard you try to hide it behind the badass exterior.”

  “So, I’m sweet, but I’m a badass?”

  “I guess so. I think we’re all walking contradictions when you think about it.”

  “I guess we are.” He picked up his coffee. “I’m going to jump in the shower. I won’t be long.”

  ~ ~ ~

  When he’d gone, Hope took her coffee outside onto the back porch and sat down. She loved the early morning in Montana. It was still chilly, the air was crisp, and the sky was blue. She sipped her coffee and looked out at the mountains. They were the same mountains that had provided the backdrop to her childhood. They looked a little different from down here; the ranch was much farther down the valley than the house where she’d grown up. It felt right somehow that she should be back here. Everything was the same, but she was seeing it from a slightly different perspective. She sighed and took another sip of her coffee—that was a little deep for this early in the morning.

  She tensed when she heard footsteps approaching. Hopefully, they were going to the front door, and she’d be able to hide out back here unnoticed. No such luck. The sound of boots on gravel grew louder as they came around the cabin and then stopped.

  That was one big, tall, handsome cowboy!

  “Good morning to you, Miss Hope.” He smiled. It was such a warm, open, friendly smile that she couldn’t help smiling back.

  She wasn’t certain, but she risked a guess. “Good morning to you, Mr. Shane.”

  His smile widened. “How did you know I was me?”

  She laughed at the way he put it. “I didn’t know, but from the way Chance described you, I figured you must be you.”

  Shane grinned and came around to the porch steps. He held his hand out, and she stood to shake it. “Shane Remington. It’s a real pleasure to meet you.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too. Hope Davenport, though you already knew that.”

  “I did. I’m so happy to see you here.”

  “Thank you. I’m happy to be here.”

  The door opened behind her, and she turned to see Chance standing there, his eyes narrowed at Shane.

  “Good morning!” Hope could tell by the way he grinned at Chance that there was a whole conversation going on unspoken between them.

  “Morning, yourself. I see you two have met.”

  “We have. I was just telling Hope how happy I am that she’s here.”

  Chance laughed and turned to Hope. “You should probably know that this guy has been my agony aunt the last couple of days.”

  She smiled and looked at Shane. “Thank you.”

  “The pleasure’s all mine. I would have helped out sooner, but he didn’t want to talk to anyone at all when he first came back from Oregon.” He winked at her, making her chuckle. “You’ll have to watch him; he can be a bit broody and silent sometimes.”

  “I’d noticed that. Do you have any advice on how to handle it?” She looked at Chance, glad to see that his eyes were smiling, even though he was trying to scowl at Shane.

  Shane shrugged. “I haven’t figured it out myself yet. It usually just takes time.”

  “I’m not so bad.” Chance smiled at her.

  She went to stand beside him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “No, you’re not bad at all, except when you’re leaving notes and sneaking out in the middle of the night.”

  Shane laughed out loud. “I don’t think you need any advice from me, Hope. You just call him on his crap, and you should be able to keep him in line, no problem.”

  Chance hugged her closer to him and smiled through pursed lips. “Are you two going to gang up on me, just when I’m trying to open up and trust you?”

  Hope slapped his arm. “Don’t you go twisting it all around and making yourself the victim,” she said with a laugh.

  She was surprised by the serious look he gave Shane. “I’ll try not to. Apparently, it’s a bad habit of mine.”

  Shane shook his head. “It’s not a habit, just something you need to watch out for.”

  Hope liked but didn’t understand the look they exchanged. They were obviously touching on a subject that had come up between them before. Chance seemed grateful to Shane, and Shane seemed to be encouraging him. She already knew she loved the relationship they had.

  “And what are you doing here, anyway?” asked Chance.

  Shane grinned again. “I was going to make up some bull-crap story about needing to talk to you or needing to borrow a cup of sugar or something.” He winked at Hope again. “But we all know I just had to come over here to meet the lovely Hope and to tell you both how happy I am that you’re here.”

  Hope smiled, loving his honesty.

  Chance smiled too and grasped his shoulder. �
��Thanks, though it’s a good thing Hope isn’t the kind to get embarrassed by you doing that.”

  Shane grinned at her. “I doubt she’d be hanging out with you if she were the type to get embarrassed by much of anything.”

  She laughed, and Chance looked at her. “Sorry, but he has kind of got a point.”

  “I suppose.” He turned back to Shane. “Do I need to get you coffee so we can all sit and visit?”

  “No! I’m not going to hold you up, I’m sure the two of you have better things to do with your day, and besides, I need to get to work. I just couldn’t resist coming over to say hi.” He tipped his hat at Hope. “It’s a real pleasure. I’ll look forward to seeing you again soon.”

  “You too.”

  He grinned at Chance before making his way back down the steps. “Have a great day, Chancey.”

  Hope laughed at the look on Chance’s face as Shane disappeared around the side of the cabin. “Chancey?”

  He scowled at her. “It’s what little Ruby calls me.”

  “I like it, but I’ll bet she’s the only one who can get away with it?”

  Chance pursed his lips. “Her and my sister, Missy.”

  Hope couldn’t help but laugh at the look on his face. “I take it you won’t be too happy if I start calling you my sweet Chancey, then?”

  His eyes narrowed, and his arm snaked around her waist pulling her to him. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  She smiled up at him. “Oh, wouldn’t I?”

  He shook his head grimly and lowered his head to gently bite her bottom lip. “You’d better not.”

  “Ooh, that sounds like a threat to me. What are you going to do to stop me?”

  He raised an eyebrow and held her closer, so close she could feel his heart beating in his muscular chest. “Do you really want to find out?”

  She could feel how hard he was as he crushed her against him. She nodded. “I think I do.”

  He shook his head and let her go. “Maybe we should just consider this a warning.”

  She laughed. “We could, or you could go through with it, show me what you want to do about it.” For a moment there, she’d been sure he was going to take her back inside and make love to her.

  “Do you really want to spend the day in bed? It’s a coin toss for me, at this point. I’m trying to be a gentleman, and take you out for the day instead, but if you keep pushing, my resolve’s not going to last much longer.”

  Hope thought about it. She’d love to spend the day in bed with him, but she’d rather spend the time getting to know each other better—as people, not just getting to know each other’s bodies better. She sighed. “Okay, let’s get out of here before my resolve is gone, too.”

  Before they got into Chance’s truck, he shot a look over at the Land Rover. “Do you want to take that back? I can follow you up there if you do.”

  “No.” Hope wanted to head down to the park from here. She didn’t want to waste time going back to up to Oscar’s place or running into Uncle Johnny and Aunt Jean. She wasn’t worried about them seeing her with Chance; quite the opposite, in fact. She was more worried that if they ran into them, they’d have to spend at least some time with them, and she wanted Chance all to herself. She smiled at him. “I’d rather leave it here. That way I can decide for myself when I’m ready to leave. Unless you don’t want it on show here?”

  He smirked. “It’s a bit late for that. I told you last night; they’d all know you were here within five minutes of your arrival. It can stay here forever as far as I’m concerned.”

  Hope sucked in a deep breath. Did he mean that the way it sounded? She looked up to meet his gaze, but he’d left her side and was on his way around to the driver’s door. He climbed in and waited for her to join him.

  She gave him a puzzled look as she fastened her seat belt, but he didn’t meet her gaze. He couldn’t have meant it that way. She was just reading too much into his words. Hell, last night she’d even imagined that he’d said he loved her! She needed to get a grip. Wherever things were going between them, they weren’t going that fast. For both their sakes, they needed to go slowly and tread carefully.

  He gave her a bright smile as he pulled away. “Have you ever had breakfast at Mammoth Hot Springs?”

  “Not for years and years. We used to go down there sometimes when I was little.”

  “Want to go back?”

  “I’d love to.”

  He smiled at her as he pulled out of the driveway. “This is going to be fun.”

  “It is. You surprise me that you’d go down to the park as a tourist.”

  He shrugged. “I love it. Not the touristy parts. I rarely get down there in the summer months, it’s too busy for my taste, but sometimes, I’ll go. Mason, Shane, and I have been known to go camping in the backcountry.”

  “That much I can see, but I don’t picture you stopping in at Mammoth on the way.”

  He turned and narrowed his eyes at her, smiling even though he was trying to look tough. “Okay, spoil it then, why don’t you? I’m trying to impress you here. I asked if you wanted to go to the hotel. I never have. I know the girls like it. They go down there sometimes, just for a fun, fancy breakfast. I was trying to impress you, but it looks like I’ve blown it.”

  She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “No, you haven’t. That’s so sweet of you.” He made a face that had her laughing again. “I’m sorry, but it is!”

  He shrugged and fixed his eyes on the road ahead.

  She prodded his arm. “Are you mad at me?”

  He shook his head. “Nope, I’m just trying to do the badass stare and remind you I’m not a wuss.”

  She laughed. “No one could ever accuse you of that. You should take me calling you sweet as a compliment. I’m not saying you’re a pussy; I’m saying you’re kind-hearted and thoughtful.”

  He turned to look at her. “Yeah?”

  She laughed. “Yes! Sweet doesn’t mean weak in any way. In fact, for a guy, I’d say you have to have a certain kind of strength before you can be sweet.”

  “In that case, I’ll take it.” He smirked to himself as he drove on.

  “You’ll take it, but what?” she asked with a laugh. “I can tell there’s a but.”

  “But I still don’t want you to let anyone else hear you say it.”

  She laughed. “I wouldn’t worry if I were you. Like I told you, I think they already know.”

  Chapter Ten

  Chance was happy to let Hope go ahead of him as they entered the dining room at the hotel. Not only was he pleased to be there with her, as her man, but doing the gentlemanly thing of letting her enter ahead of him gave him a minute to lurk behind her and figure out the lay of the land. She’d been right. This wasn’t his usual scene at all. He didn’t know why people liked to get all dressed up and go out and eat in a place where seeing and being seen was as much a part of the meal as the food. He’d rather stay home and grill out on the back porch, even fry up some bacon and eggs and take them outside to eat in the fresh air with a view of the mountains. He’d rather watch herds of cattle while he ate than herds of humans jostling over a breakfast buffet.

  Hope turned to smile at him when they reached the hostess station.

  “Two of you?” the girl asked.

  Chance stepped forward and took his hat off as he nodded. “Yeah …”

  “Actually, I think we need to hang back,” said Hope with a smile. The girl gave her an enquiring look, as Hope gestured to the couple behind them in line to go by. She smiled. “We’re waiting for people.”

  The girl nodded and smiled to greet her next guests. Chance frowned at Hope, wondering what her problem might be and hoping that she hadn’t spotted someone with a camera pointed in her direction again. He stepped closer, feeling as though he needed to protect her from some unknown threat.

  She slipped her hand into his and tugged him back outside. Chance raised an eyebrow when she finally reached the end of the long line they’d just waited in. “What
’s the problem?”

  She smiled. “None, now.”

  “What was it, though? Why did you say we’re waiting for people?”

  She laughed. “Because we don’t need to be in there. It was sweet of you to think of it, and I can see why the girls would enjoy it, but it’s not your kind of place, is it?”

  He shook his head, feeling bad that he must have made it so obvious. “No, but I could’ve … I would’ve.”

  “Aww.” She stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his lips. “I know, and I love you for it.”

  Chance’s heart stopped beating for a moment. Did she realize what she’d just said? Apparently, not.

  “But we don’t need to spend our time in there on a beautiful day like this, not when only one of us would enjoy it.”

  “I’d enjoy seeing you enjoy it.”

  “I know, but if we stop in the souvenir shop and pick up a sandwich, we can find a nice quiet spot out in the fresh air somewhere and both enjoy it.”

  He pursed his lips.

  “Am I right, or am I right?”

  He smiled grudgingly. “You’re right, just like always.”

  She laughed and slipped her arm through his, leading him away from the restaurant and toward the souvenir shop. “I’m glad you’re a fast learner. The sooner you understand that about me, the better we’ll do!”

  He had to laugh at her audacity. “You reckon that’s how this is going to work, do you?”

  She nodded, trying not to laugh. “Of course. Do you have a problem with that?”

  He shook his head. “Nope, no problem. You can think you’re right all of the time, and I’ll just work around it.”

  “And how do you think you’re going to do that?”

  He grinned and bent down, wrapping his arms around her thighs, and throwing her over his shoulder before she even knew what he was doing. He set off toward the souvenir shop, laughing as she paddled his ass shouting, “Put me down!”

  “Nope.”

  He could feel her laughing as he went. People turned to look at them, but he didn’t care. They were having fun. It surprised him that most of the people who looked their way smiled. One guy met his eye and winked. An older lady with a backpack and hiking boots stopped and grinned at him; then she bent down to address Hope. “Don’t spank him too hard, dear. He might return the favor later.” Chance couldn’t help but laugh as she straightened up and spoke to him. “Or is that the plan?” she asked with a gleam in her eye.