Hope Falls: Wildest Dreams (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

  Chapter Four

  Wow, was Alesha’s immediate thought. Kissing Reece had been on her mind pretty much all day but the reality of it was so much better! She wasn’t sure exactly what she said or did to make him react like this, but boy was she glad she did it!

  Then, rather than analyzing it, she simply pressed up as close as she could to him and enjoyed it.

  Reece’s lips were so soft and his work-roughened hands felt gloriously scratchy against her skin. His tongue teased hers and Alesha felt herself go a little weak at the knees. He towered over her petite frame and simply surrounded her and it was the greatest feeling in the world. Slowly her arms wound up around his shoulders just as his hands skimmed down her body to rest on her hips.

  Yes!

  Slowly Reece softened the kiss until he was gently sipping from her lips. When he lifted his head, Alesha saw he looked just as dazed as she felt. “Wow,” she whispered.

  He rested his forehead against hers. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Wow.”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him what had inspired such a kiss, but he was one step ahead of her.

  “All day,” he said, his voice a little gruff. “Pretty much since I saw you in the park this morning I wanted to do that. And I was perfectly fine with waiting—or at least I thought I was.” He took a step back and ran a hand along the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to come on so strong. It’s just that I…”

  “It’s okay,” she quickly interrupted and then blushed. “I…I kind of felt the same way.” She paused. “Maybe it’s not the smartest idea for us to stay in. Maybe we should go to JT’s or bowling or something.”

  The lopsided grin on Reece’s face was probably just as sexy as his kiss, Alesha thought.

  Reaching for her hand, he gave it a gentle squeeze. “If that’s what you really want to do, we’ll do it, but I think we can control ourselves for the rest of the night.” Then he winked. “If that’s what you really want.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh and all of the tension seemed to leave her body. Keeping her hand in his, she led him though the house toward the kitchen. “It won’t be gourmet, but I’m sure we can throw something together. Besides, I’m interested to hear more about what you’ve been doing for the last twenty years. We spent the whole day talking about my life, so now it’s your turn.”

  A small groan came from Reece and Alesha gave him a sassy grin. “Time for you to be under the microscope for a little while.”

  “Will I get to kiss you again if I answer all your questions?” he asked.

  Heat crept up into Alesha’s cheeks at the thought of it. Would answering “hell yes” be so bad? Probably. She pretended to be thinking about it for a minute and couldn’t help but smile at the look on his face. Finally she said, “I guess so.”

  And with that, Reece walked over to the refrigerator and pulled the door open. “In that case, fire away.”

  ****

  It was later. Much, much later.

  For a minute, Reece wasn’t sure where he was. The room was dimly lit and Alesha was curled up against him.

  Not a bad situation to find himself in.

  The television was softly playing in the background and that’s when he realized they were in Alesha’s living room. They had been talking while watching Good Will Hunting—a movie they both admitted to being slightly addicted to. A quick look at his watch showed that it was after two in the morning. Beside him, Alesha began to stir. When those big whiskey colored eyes looked at him, his heart kicked in his chest.

  She was beautiful.

  After they’d put together a dinner of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, they’d sat around and talked for hours before moving to the living room. There they had moved on from Reece’s life to talk of books—one of Alesha’s favorite topics— and movies. They had a playfully-heated debate about what they thought to be the greatest movie ever and that’s when they discovered their mutual love of Good Will Hunting. Alesha had curled up beside him as the opening credits began and Reece felt like life was damn near perfect.

  And then they’d fallen asleep.

  “Hey,” she said quietly.

  “Hi,” he replied, reaching up to gently caress her cheek. “We dozed off.”

  She nodded. “Sorry about that.”

  Reece shook his head before placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Nothing to be sorry about. We both did it.”

  Alesha studied his face for a long moment and Reece had to wonder at what she was thinking. He was just about to ask when her hand came up and raked up into his hair as she guided his face closer to hers. “I believe there was some talk about kissing me again after we got through your life story.” Her tone was teasing, but her expression was serious.

  All Reece could do was nod.

  Stuff like this didn’t happen to him. He’d never felt such a strong connection to a woman, had never felt so consumed with need for one. And yet here it was—less than twenty-four hours with Alesha and he couldn’t seem to think of anything or anyone but her.

  And he didn’t want to.

  “Reece?” she asked softly.

  “Hmm?”

  “Kiss me.”

  And he did. There wasn’t even a possibility of saying no. Together they shifted and seemed to wrap around one another until he was stretched out on top of her. The purring sound she made was enough to make him instantly hard.

  He kissed her.

  He touched her.

  He fantasized about how incredible it would be to strip her down and make love to her.

  But tonight wasn’t the night for that. With his mind made up, Reece simply enjoyed the moment—the feel of her, the sounds she made and knew he probably wasn’t going to get any more sleep once he left her and said goodnight.

  Alesha’s nails raked through his hair as one leg came up and wrapped around his waist and all he could think of was how this moment was worth losing a full-night’s sleep.

  ****

  She was dragging. There was no other way to describe it. As Alesha leaned on the kitchen counter watching her coffee cup fill from the one-cup maker, she yawned loudly.

  It had been after three when Reece left and she had tossed and turned in her bed for the rest of the night.

  Totally worth it.

  Taking the cup and adding cream and sugar, she turned and sat down at the small kitchen table. Her behavior last night had been completely out of character—she wasn’t the type of woman who simply threw herself at a guy. Any guy. And yet something about Reece made it seem like it was completely acceptable to do. He wasn’t a stranger, he was someone who had played a big part in her young life and was simply back in it.

  She smiled because she really liked the sound of that. And for all intents and purposes, Reece seemed to feel the same way. When they had finally said goodnight, neither seemed particularly inclined to end the night—instead they stood and gazed at one another until Reece finally leaned in and kissed her one last time and then said, “I think this is good, Alesha. Really good.”

  She knew exactly what he meant.

  Their plan for today was to meet up at the bookstore and do some more work on the upstairs. Her father had put the word out that the store was going to be closed at some point for renovations and yesterday had been the official first day of that. It was going to be far too hectic for her to try to run the store while the work was going on.

  This morning the engineer was supposed to come and give both Alesha and the Brooks a report on whether or not these small second-story spaces could be converted into usable space. She wasn’t completely convinced it was a must-have on her renovation plan, but it was nice to have the option. Either way, it was a good thing to have the space cleaned out at least.

  During their time together the previous day, Reece had mentioned that his crew would also be available to her for any carpentry work she was looking to do. She had almost kissed him right then and there in the dusty storage room at his offer. It was a relief to kno
w that someone she trusted was going to be working on the project with her.

  Maybe this move back to Hope Falls was really the right thing for her—she just wished it hadn’t come about due to her father’s poor health. She only hoped that he’d be back and working beside her before too long.

  ****

  The sun was going down Thursday and for three days straight Reece had been dividing his time between Two Scoops and Read Between the Lines. It wasn’t hard to do—especially since he had crashed the door down between the two spaces—but as he stood in that doorway and looked between the two spaces he could see all of the progress that had been made.

  After much discussion, it had been decided that both spaces could be used but not practically. The cost to do the designs both his parents and Alesha had mentioned would be too high so they had compromised on simply refreshing the spaces so they could be used if needed. It should have taken a lot off of his plate, but it hadn’t.

  His mother was suddenly all about doing new counters and seating areas in the main dining area of the shop along with new lighting, floors and plumbing—and all without closing the shop to business. That meant his crews were going to have to work overnight. It wouldn’t be the first time it was required but it certainly wasn’t favorable.

  When Alesha had found out about the option, Reece had been certain that she’d jump on the bandwagon and do the same so she wouldn’t have to close the bookstore, but she hadn’t. She was busy working on refreshing the inventory and finding the right décor—a task she said required her to keep the store closed for business so she could do a big reveal when it was done.

  He took that to mean that she didn’t want anyone’s input during the process.

  He was fine with her decision—sort of. That meant he had to divide his crew on the days when Alesha needed carpentry work done. So far it had been minimal, fixing the staircase to the upstairs and repairing the cracks in the walls and ceilings, but he was certain there was going to be more.

  “Reece?”

  He heard Alesha’s voice and smiled. She knew he was up here and after a quick glance at his watch he knew she was probably ready to leave for the day. They had gotten into the habit of leaving together and grabbing a bite to eat to talk about the day’s progress.

  After their first date on Monday, they had opted to branch out so Alesha could see more of the town. Tuesday they had gone bowling and last night they had gone to JT’s for a drink and a couple of games of pool. They laughed at how completely out of her element she felt, but he thought she was completely adorable. And everywhere they went, they met up with more people he knew that he was able to introduce to Alesha.

  There was a smile on his face as he walked down the stairs to the bookstore and met her. “Hey, beautiful,” he said, kissing her lightly. “You ready to go?”

  Alesha nodded but wouldn’t meet his gaze.

  “Where should we go tonight? Any requests?”

  “Um…actually,” she began hesitantly, “I think I’m just gonna go home tonight. I’m a little tired and I don’t think I’d be very good company.”

  “What’s going on?” He took her hand and led her over to one of the small sofas that were scattered around the store and gently pulled her down beside him.

  She sighed. “It’s just…I talked to my dad today. He’s settling in and met with his doctors and he starts his treatments on Monday but he sounded…lonely.”

  Reece wrapped his arm around her and tucked her in close, kissing the top of her head. “I’m sure it’s pretty scary for him. Who’s there with him?”

  “My uncle—Dad’s brother John—is who he’s staying with. So I know he’s not completely alone but…”

  “You miss him,” Reece finished for her.

  “I know it’s crazy,” she said quickly. “It’s not like we’ve spent a lot of time together since he and my mom divorced but…” She shrugged. “It got me thinking about all of the time we lost and now I’m here and he’s there and we still don’t have time together.”

  They were silent for a moment when inspiration hit him. “How about this—tomorrow we play hooky and take a road trip?”

  Alesha looked at him as if he were crazy. “What? We can’t…there’s so much to do! I can’t just leave the store while work is going on, Reece. That’s crazy!”

  He smiled patiently at her. “First of all, the store is closed and even though we had planned on doing the painting ourselves tomorrow, I can have one of my guys do it. My foreman can oversee the stuff being done on Two Scoops for the weekend so there’s no reason why we can’t go. We can leave after breakfast in the morning. I’d like to stop at my place in Tahoe if that’s all right and just check on a few things and then we can head on to San Francisco from there.”

  She sagged against him. “I don’t expect you to give up your weekend for me, Reece. Besides, I could just as easily drive there myself and visit with Dad.”

  Tucking a finger under her chin, he gently forced her to look up at him. “Would you rather go alone?” he asked quietly. “I don’t want to intrude on your time with your father.”

  “No! That’s not it at all!” she cried. “I just feel like I’ve kind of been monopolizing your time all week and thought you might…you know…want a break.”

  Was she kidding him? A break? They spent all day every day together until he had to go home and every time he kissed her goodnight, he hated the thought of being apart from her.

  He was seriously in deep.

  Chapter Five

  It was a little before lunch on Friday when they pulled into Reece’s driveway. He owned a townhouse and Alesha was more than a little intimidated by it—brick, three stories, two-car garage—it was massive.

  “You live here alone?” she asked with a nervous chuckle.

  He looked at her oddly. “Yeah. Why?”

  “It’s just kind of big for one person.”

  They climbed from his truck and Reece grabbed the lunch bag that Marlene had packed for them. He was chuckling as he opened the door.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I was just thinking about my mom and how ridiculous I feel having her pack up food for us. Like I’m not capable of remembering to eat without her help.”

  “She just cares. That’s all,” Alesha said with a smile.

  Together they walked into the house and up the stairs to the main level. “Make yourself at home,” Reece said, sounding somewhat nervous. “I just want to grab some things that I had forgotten to pack and bring to my parents place and then we’ll eat—if you’re ready to, I mean.”

  Unable to stop smiling, Alesha walked up to him and looped her arms around his shoulders as she went up on her tiptoes and kissed him. She only meant for it to be a quick kiss but Reece’s arms instantly banded around her as he took it deeper. She was readily on board. The man certainly knew how to kiss and she wasn’t going to ask him to stop!

  A small squeal of surprise escaped her throat when he scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the sofa. Reece kept her cradled in his arms as he sat, never once breaking the kiss. She squirmed for a moment and then reluctantly lifted her head. “Wow.”

  He chuckled. “I kind of like that I keep getting that response from you.”

  “I’m normally much more prolific with words but whenever you kiss me, I can’t seem to remember any.”

  His smile deepened. “Now I definitely like that.”

  Alesha rested her head on his shoulder. “Thank you for doing this.”

  “Kissing you?”

  She playfully smacked him in the chest. “No, not kissing me—although now that you mention it, I should thank you for it because it was wonderful.” She paused and kissed him on the cheek. Just as he was about to turn his head to kiss her again, she pulled back. “However,” she began quickly, “I was referring to you taking the time off to come with me this weekend. It’s not close by and it’s not going to be a whole lot of fun for you but…I’m glad you’re going to be w
ith me.”

  Alesha had made arrangements to stay at her uncle’s house so she could be near her dad and Reece had made reservations at a nearby hotel. When she first thought of the plan, it seemed like a good thing. But now that she was wrapped in his arms and she realized all the possibilities, she suddenly wasn’t so sure.

  This felt good.

  Very good.

  Reece cleared his throat and shifted slightly beneath her. “Um…why don’t you go and set up lunch while I go pack?”

  A small part of her was thrilled because she knew he was just as affected by her as she was by him. The evidence was pressing impressively against her hip.

  There had been so many firsts this week where she and Reece were concerned that she didn’t give it a second thought when—rather than doing as he suggested—she curled into him and began kissing his throat.

  “Um…Alesha?” he asked, his voice slightly shaky.

  “Hmm?”

  “What…” He cleared his throat again. “What are you doing?”

  “I thought it was fairly obvious,” she murmured, her lips barely leaving his skin.

  “Well…um…yeah, it is. But…I thought we needed to get back on the road and…God that feels good…so we can get to the city in time for…” He gasped as she gently bit him.

  And then he was done questioning her. His lips claimed hers like they never had before— there was heat and urgency and Alesha loved being swept away by it all. He flipped them around so she was on her back on the cushions and stretched out on top of her—his hands wandering and touching her seemingly everywhere.

  Then just as quickly as it started, it stopped and Reece was standing next to the sofa.

  “Reece?”

  He raked a hand through his hair as he began to pace. “I’m sorry. I got carried away,” he said gruffly.

  She blinked up at him. “I wanted you to get carried away. That was the plan.”

  He stopped instantly and looked at her as if she were crazy.

  Alesha nodded and then stood and faced him. “Here’s the thing—for some crazy reason, this all feels right. We’ve known each other since forever and even though most of that time was spent apart, I still know you.” She stepped closer. “When you crashed through that door and I opened my eyes and found you looking at me, it was as if I had been waiting for you and you had finally shown up.” She shrugged bashfully. “And when we’re together, I feel a peace that I’ve never known.”