Hope's Chance (34 page)

“There should be a rule that states you can’t act all sexy when removing your clothes. That is so not fair!”
She
said.

I held the next
textbook
high enough that Hope could not see me smiling from behind it. I love when she got frustrated. Her face became red and she gritted her teeth when she spoke.

Her next course was psychology. She did horrible on the first quiz, so I decided to take a break for lunch. I headed into the kitchen to make us something to eat. When I felt Hope
’
s arms wrapping around me, I welcomed them in, but realized immediately what was happening. I grabbed her hands and removed them. “Hold up. Just because we are breaking for lunch does not mean you can sample the merchandise.”

“But Chance, I want you.” She said with a pouty face.

“Get back in there and go over your notes. We still have two subjects to pass before you can have some of this goodness.” I joked.

“You suck Chance.” She said as she walked back into the living room.

“I love you too!” I yelled back.

I made us both a sandwich and took them into the living room. Hope grabbed the plate and started eating, while she gave me dirty looks. I knew this was all her game to try and sway me from letting her off the hook from studying. 

When we finished
eating,
I dove right back in. Eventually I taught Hope a jingle to enable her to remember her questions easier. After the third attempt, she passed. I did not hesitate when I removed my jeans and let them fall to the floor.

Hope sat back and watched me. She bit down on her lip and it took everything in me, not to walk over to her, pick her up, and carry her to my bedroom.

The last subject was a business management class she was taking.
She managed to enroll in the class late to gain an extra credit for the semester.
Hope seemed focused and within thirty minutes had answered almost every question correctly. She did a silent clap with her hands and pointed to my boxers. I gave her a big smile as I grabbed the elastic band on them and played with it. I pulled them down just enough so that she still couldn’t see anything that was hiding inside of them.

“I don’t know. Maybe I should have made that last test harder.” I joked.

Chapter 42

Hope

I was determined to ace that last test, not only because I
couldn’t
wait any longer to see Chance without clothes, but because I had never studied that much in my entire life. It was already three in the afternoon and it felt like Chance and I hadn’t had alone time, even though we had been together all day. Chance gave me a big smile before leading me into the bedroom. He was never forceful with me and I appreciated it so much. His gentle touch gave me butterflies, each and every time he touched me.

I loved being with him and feeling him so close to me. His arms wrapped around me even before he took off those boxers.

“I think I just need one hug before you seduce me.” He joked.

“I don’t think I want to waste anymore time Chance. Drop your drawers!” I demanded.

Chance sat me down on the bed and he knelt between my legs. “I need to talk to you about something important Hope.” He said in a serious tone.

I studied his face and all of the joking was gone from it. He put his hands on both of my knees and looked into my eyes.

“Chance, whatever it is, you can say it.” I declared.

“Has Buffy talked to you about any of her friends?” He asked.

I had no idea what he was getting at. “No. Well not really. She said some of their names and talked about fun things that she did when she was my age, but nothing in particular. Why? What is wrong with her friends?” I asked.

Chance’s face was
indescribable
. I couldn’t read him like I normally could. “There is something that you need to know before they start getting here for the wedding; something that I need to talk to you about.”

“Why does it seem like this is really serious all of the sudden?” I asked.

Chance stood up and started pacing around the room. “You are making me nervous Chance. Just spill. I can’t take this weirdness with you.” I reiterated.

“Buffy has this friend named Susan. They did everything together when they were younger, but things changed and they grew apart I guess.”

“Chance you aren’t making any sense. Susan is in Buffy’s wedding. Why are you telling me they grew apart?” I asked.

He put his face into his hands. “Ugh! This is harder than I thought it would be.” He admitted.

“What is?
Dammit
Chance just tell me.”

“Susan and I had a thing.” He confessed.

I froze. Not because it shocked me that he was with another woman in his past. That was obviously
something I knew about, but I was shocked that number one, I didn’t know, and number
two;
it was Buffy’s
so-called
best friend. Before I could
say
anything
,
Chance interrupted me.

“Hope, Susan and I had a weird kind of relationship. We never were in an exclusive relationship. It was more of a mutual agreement. We would hook up every once in a while, but that is all it was, just a hook up for me.” He explained.

I could hear the words coming out of his mouth, but I just couldn’t believe he was telling me it. I never imagined him being that type of person; the kind that had a fuck buddy, per se.

“Chance, do you have feeling
s
for her?” I asked.

“No! Of course not Hope, but when things went wrong in Pennsylvania, she was there for me. It only stopped when we moved here. I hadn’t spoke to her in over a month before I met you and I haven’t talked to her since. I swear.”

“I still don’t understand Chance. Are you telling me this because you think she might still want you?” I asked.

He sat down beside me and took my hand into his. His eyes turned to me and I could see the worry in his eyes right away. “I am telling you this because we are hiding our relationship. When Susan gets
here,
she will just assume I am single. Hope, I can’t tell her about us, unless you want your father to know. I am not saying that I know for sure she would tell, but I know that she would be jealous that I am in love with you. I never loved her. I am just really concerned that things could get awkward while she is here. I just don’t want you to ever doubt how devoted I am to us. I love you.” He confessed.

I wanted to scream or cry, or maybe kill Buffy for having such a
crappy
friend, but I knew it would just seem like I was being a jealous and immature girlfriend. I wanted Chance to know that I trusted him. It was just so much harder than I assumed it would be. I couldn’t imagine seeing him with another woman. It would tear me apart inside.

I
squeezed
his hand. “Thanks for telling me Chance. You are right about not telling her. As much as I want everyone to know about us, I can’t do it before the wedding. I don’t want to risk our family going into turmoil, because of something we have been doing behind all of their backs.”

“Hope, I promise you that I have no interest in being with her ever again.”

“Okay, I believe you. Now are you going to take off your pants or do I have to beg?” I said trying to change the subject.

As Chance began to take off his boxers, I thought about how much I hated someone I hadn’t even met yet. He may think that everything was okay, but I was
definitely
worried.

Chance

I had finally told her about Susan. She didn’t need me to go into any specific
details;
it would have just made her more upset. I just knew that I had to tell her. Susan was going to come here and assume I was free to hook up with, and I had no way of telling her anything different.

She was a free spirited girl who did not like taking no for an answer. That mixed with the simple fact that we already had history together was a bad thing. The first thing she was going to want to do was get me alone.

I dropped my boxers and climbed into bed with Hope, who was already removing her clothes. I loved the way that her
sweat suit
fit her body, but when she took it off, I liked her new appearance even better.

I pulled Hope on top of me and all of my current worries went away. She had that effect on me. The way her hands touched me, or the way her body connected with mine, made every other sexual partner weak in comparison.

I had never kissed
someone and felt the passion that I did with Hope. She had this electrifying demeanor with everything she set out to do. She left me in awe and I always craved being near her. Hope had given me a second chance, and I would never want to be with anyone else again.

I lay next to her and stroked her hair. “I love you so much. Do you know that?”

Hope giggled. “Of course I do you big dummy. Why do you think I am laying here naked in your bed?”

I traced my fingers across her lips. “I just don’t want you to ever forget what you mean to me. Without
you,
my life would be meaningless. You make me want to be a better person.”

“Chance, I love you too, and I promise you that I won’t forget, but I can’t lay here and not want to touch every inch of your body. Now would you please make love to me, before I
burst?
”

“Burst? Hell yeah! I wouldn’t want you bursting.” I joked.

For the next half
hour,
I kissed every inch of Hope’s body. I started slowly below her knees and then worked my way up to her neck. When I got to her most tender spots, I took my time and used my tongue to savor her sweet scent.

Hope’s body jerked in
ecstasy
as I slid my head between her legs and pleasured her until she screamed my name out loud. Just as I had finished, she pulled my face up to hers and kissed me deeply. She
always
knew how crazy it made me when she did that.

Hope positioned herself on top of me and when our bodies became one, she took control of the
movements
. I took her hands into mine and she rocked back and forth on top of me. I wanted to grab at her hips, but I couldn’t make myself let go of her hands. Things were perfect and our bodies seemed in sync with one another.

For the second time, Hope began to pick up the pace and finally called out my name as she collapsed over me. I rubbed her back and played with her hair while she remained on top of my sweaty body
. “
How do you do that?” I asked.

“Do what?” She asked while laying across my chest.

“You make every time just as good as the first time, maybe even better.” I admitted.

I felt Hope shrug her shoulders. “You are just being nice because I gave you some.” She joked.

“Nope, it is the truth Hope. You are so damn
irresistible
. All I want to do is be with you.”

Hope began rubbing the top of my chest with her fingers. “Chance, can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can. Ask me anything baby."

“Did she love you?”

Except that. Damn! “I don’t know Hope. I don’t want to know.”

“How long did it go on? I mean, how many times?” She asked.

I didn’t count
how many times. Hope was fishing for answers and she really didn’t need to know details like that. Hell, I didn’t even want to think about them. Doing that with Susan made me feel sneaky, and I almost always felt like I was doing something wrong.

“Hope, can we please not talk about it? I am not trying to be mean or hurt your feelings, and I surely didn’t tell you that to make you feel insecure. I just wanted you to know the truth, so that if she said anything you would not get the wrong idea about us. Please can we just lay here together?” I begged.

“I’m sorry. You’re right.” She said as she wrapped her arms around me.

“I want you to sleep here tonight. Do you think you can sneak out later?” I asked.

I could feel Hope smiling as she lay against my chest.  Her head began to nod up and down. “Of course I can.”

“Hope?”

“Yes?”

“What do you want for Christmas? I mean, you haven’t told me anything.” I asked.

“Surprise me. I will love whatever you choose. My necklace is my most prized possession.” She admitted.

“I smiled, knowing exactly what I wanted to get her. She would love it, I was certain.”

Chapter 43

Hope

I woke up in Chance’s arm
s
early the next morning. Sneaking out hadn’t been a problem the night before. My dad and Buffy came in from shopping around nine and went right to be
d
as a result of exhaustion from shopping all day.