Getting Lucky (15 page)

Crazy.

Hope put Delaney’s other foot in Tucker’s lap and then guided his thumb to the same spot she’d been pressing on. “Press firmly but gently for about thirty seconds, then knead deeply. At least two minutes.”

Tucker followed her instructions exactly and they all watched Delaney turn into a wet noodle in front of their eyes.

Hope moved behind Tucker’s chair and put her hands on his ears.

TJ’s lips twitched at the look of sudden uncertainty on his brother’s face. Tucker’s eyes widened even farther as Hope began rubbing his ears, stroking down and pulling on his lobes, then repeating the pattern.

“It’s silly now as I look back,” Hope continued, as if rubbing a stranger’s ears was completely normal. “I mean, I saw the things she did work for people. But there wasn’t a lot of science and proof, and I went through a phase where I questioned everything she taught me, doubting and rebelling. But I couldn’t ignore that I felt compelled to help people, to somehow make things better around me. Nursing seemed like the perfect fit.”

“But now you don’t think so?” Delaney asked. Even her voice sounded more relaxed, and she didn’t seem to have a problem with another woman rubbing Tucker’s ears.

TJ took another look at Tucker’s face and found that his brother seemed to have no problem with it either. Tucker looked positively blissful.

Hope shook her head. “Actually, I think I have a unique opportunity to combine the two worlds I know. I understand and respect the science behind our Western medicine, but I also know that it doesn’t always work. I think there’s a place for the things my mother used too. That’s part of my journey now. I’d hoped to do it with her, but now I’m on a quest to really figure out where she was coming from, learn what she knew, live it myself.”

“So the oils and herbs and yoga are all new?” Tucker asked. His head had fallen forward and his voice was muffled slightly. “You don’t really understand it?”

Delaney nudged him with her foot. “Tucker.”

Hope laughed. “It’s okay. I’m used to people doubting. I doubted for a long time. No,” she said, addressing Tucker directly. “I do understand it. I’ve been around it all my life. But it was so commonplace that I didn’t really think about it. I used ginger when I had an upset stomach and peppermint for headaches. I meditated. I did yoga. We never had white sugar in the house. That was all just my life, our usual routine and habit, so I never really
learned
it. Now I’m working on that. And working on seeing things the way my mom did.”

TJ pulled his eyes from Hope somehow. She was glowing, talking about all of it. There was a touch of sadness around her eyes when she talked about her mom, but there was excitement in her tone as she told them how she was going to combine her knowledge and help people going forward.

Tucker had turned into a lump of Jell-O in the chair, but Delaney was watching her with the same wonder TJ felt. As if she didn’t quite believe Hope was real and saying these things, but like she kind of wanted her words to be true.

Magical.

That damn word popped into his head again.

Then Hope shocked him by taking her hands off Tucker and moving to sit on TJ’s lap. True, Tucker was occupying her chair and his empty chair was clear on the other side of the table. But it seemed she’d given it no thought. As if she’d sat in his lap a million times before.

She was a good actress.

Even so, TJ didn’t hesitate to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her back against his chest. He could play the part too. And if he looked pleased and turned-on when she rested her hands on his arm that crossed protectively in front of her, that was even better for their story.

“Want to have coffee tomorrow?” Delaney asked.

TJ shifted Hope so he could see her face. And so she wasn’t pressing quite so firmly against his cock.

She looked surprised but pleased by Delaney’s invitation. “I don’t drink coffee.”

Having apparently gathered his composure from her ear massage, Tucker asked, “And you don’t eat food?” He looked down at Hope’s still mostly full plate.

She gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m…a vegetarian.”

Of course she was. TJ resisted an eye roll.

“Ah, my mom will be…thrilled,” Tucker said.

“Yeah.” She looked a little apologetic with that. “How’s your head?” she asked Tucker.

“Great. Headache is totally gone.” He peered at her. “How did you know I had a headache?”

“You’re the new dad of four boys,” she said, lifting a shoulder. “And your body language and expressions while watching Delaney told me that you’re very concerned with
her
being happy. I’m guessing tension headaches are common. Plus, you had a tightness around your eyes and your shoulders were practically up at your ears.”

Tucker seemed unable to argue with any of that.

Delaney moved her foot from his leg and leaned in. She took his hand and lifted it to her mouth. She pressed a kiss on Tucker’s hand and said, “I’ll learn how to rub your ears.”

He gave her a smile. “Deal.”

Again, there was that sense that Delaney and Tucker had momentarily forgotten anyone else was in the room with them.

“You didn’t eat the carrots or potatoes either?” TJ asked Hope.

She glanced at him and it was clear she didn’t want to answer. “I’m actually vegan. And only eat organic produce.”

TJ sighed. Of course she was. Just when he’d started thinking this might all be okay. No one was going to actually believe he was in love with a vegan.

“The mashed potatoes were made with milk,” he acknowledged. Which meant she wouldn’t eat them either. “But it doesn’t get more organic than my mother’s garden,” he said.

“She grew the carrots?” Hope asked, her eyes lighting up.

Well, yeah, she was probably hungry. He hadn’t seen her eat anything all day.

“Yes. The garden is her pride and joy. Even above the four of us boys,” Tucker said.

Hope reached out and stabbed a carrot on her plate with her fork and bit into it. She groaned.

Her moan of pleasure shot straight through TJ to his groin and he had to shift on the chair as his cock pressed against his fly.

Hope pulled her plate closer to where she now sat.

“So how about tea tomorrow then?” Delaney asked. “At the bakery in town. I have a couple of friends who I think would love to learn about essential oils and stuff. They have kids too and are working moms. We all have the typical fatigue and stress and stuff.”

“I’d love to,” Hope said around bites of the vegetables that she was suddenly eating with enthusiasm.

TJ had the stupid urge to go get her some lettuce and tomatoes. Hell, he could get them out of his own garden except he wasn’t sure what was growing out there. He hadn’t been able to tend to it with his shoulder, and with all the things that needed done on the farm, his vegetable patch was pretty far down the priority list.

Then he frowned as he replayed Delaney’s invitation. Hope was going to meet Adrianne and Phoebe and Lauren and Kate? Because he knew those were the women that would be included in their little tea party.

“I don’t know if Hope will have time,” he said. He surreptitiously shifted his remaining carrots onto her plate.

Hope looked from the carrots to his face with a small smile. Yeah, yeah, so he was taking care of her again. Whatever. They were carrots.

She popped one of his carrots into her mouth. “Really? What am I going to be doing?”

He actually did suddenly have a few ideas. But they were all really bad, considering they would both be naked and his dick would be in charge. That was never a good thing.

Delaney and Tucker both looked at him with interest as well.

Fuck.

“I… He sighed in defeat. “I guess you could go have tea.”

What could that hurt? She was going to talk about yoga and oil. That was harmless.

Besides, she was clearly a very good liar. No one would catch on to anything over a teatime chat about meditation. But that thought immediately made him cringe internally. Again, the lie was his invention. And the only thing she’d said to Delaney that didn’t seem completely true was that they’d met online. The rest had seemed completely sincere.

Yoga. Meditation. Oils. Vegan. Acupressure for orgasms. Everything.

“You know what though?” Hope said, suddenly bouncing up from his lap. “I have something I can give you tonight to try,” she told Delaney as she started for the door.

“Where are you going?” TJ asked.

“To the camper. I’ll be right back.”

Chapter Five

The back door thumped shut behind her and absolute silence filled the kitchen. The lack of noise was especially noticeable now that even Hope’s jingling bracelets were gone.

“What in the
hell
is going on?” Delaney finally asked.

TJ grimaced and faced his friend. “What?”

“An online girlfriend who shows up here out of the blue acting like she’s psychic and talking about essential oils and stuff?” Delaney asked.

TJ sighed. “She didn’t say she’s psychic. And essential oils are a real thing.” Of course, that was the extent of his knowledge about the topic—that they were real.

Tucker shook his head. “Hey, she’s very…interesting. And damn, my headache really is totally gone. She can rub my ears anytime,” he said in typical Tucker fashion. He simply chuckled when Delaney nudged him with her foot. He looked at TJ. “But what are
you
doing with her? She’s gotta be driving you nuts.”

Yeah, she should be. She was. Kind of. But it wasn’t how nosy she’d been about his personal life or how she’d snubbed his mother’s pork chops or her crazy talk about
knowing
him that he thought about. Instead, it was her bright smile and the way she’d immediately been concerned about his shoulder and that she was a nurse who had been traveling and working in underserved areas that came to mind. And how she was willing to put up with all of this craziness to protect Dan and his family from the repercussions of her sudden appearance in their lives. And the way she’d taken Delaney’s hand and talked about how Delaney felt and what she needed when she had also just lost someone she loved very much.

Damn. She wasn’t driving him nuts so much as she was…driving him nuts. Getting under his skin. Wrapping him up, distracting him and making him want to spend twenty-four-seven with her just talking and kissing and…talking some more.

TJ didn’t talk. And that was about all he’d done since Hope had shown up.

But even if he hadn’t been a bit
fascinated
himself, one look at Delaney’s face would have convinced him that Hope Daniels was more than something. She was special.

Delaney and Tucker were definitely fascinated. So maybe TJ’s fascination was okay. Unavoidable even.

“I think she’s amazing and interesting,” Delaney said. “She’d got this…
something.
” Delaney looked at TJ. “You know what I mean?”

The something that was impossible to ignore and even more impossible to explain? Yeah, he knew what she meant. “She’s definitely something.”

“Like completely opposite from your usual type,” Tucker said. “But that’s probably not a bad thing,” he added with a shrug.

TJ wanted to laugh at that understatement. “I don’t know her that well. She just showed up today. And this is a temporary stop. Just a visit.”

Delaney was watching him closely, so TJ carefully kept his expression bland.

“And you’re sure she’s not a nut job?” Tucker asked. “All this hocus-pocus herb talk doesn’t make you worry she might pull out a dead chicken for some ritual or something?”

TJ lifted an eyebrow. “Mom pulls out dead chickens for dinner twice a week.”

“You know what I mean,” Tucker said. “And maybe it’s a
live
chicken for rituals.”

Delaney frowned at him. “Stop it.” Then to TJ she said, “You trust her?”

Somehow, when faced with that very direct question, he knew his answer was yes.

“I do. I’m not worried about being here with her anyway.”

“She could be a serial killer. She could have escaped from a mental institution. She could be casting a spell over your house right now,” Tucker said. His tone didn’t indicate he was truly concerned about any of that though.

She was blond and had rubbed his earlobes. Tucker was a fan of Hope’s no matter what she did with chickens.

Hope was casting a spell all right.

“Don’t be stupid,” TJ told Tucker. “She’s different. That doesn’t mean she’s dangerous.”

“You don’t think she’s a little crazy?” Tucker asked, twirling his finger near his temple.

TJ started to reply but realized he had no answer. He had thought that convincing everyone that Hope was obsessed with him and had shown up out of the blue was a good plan. That it would throw them off the scent of the real reason for her presence in Sapphire Falls, and she could covertly meet Dan and go from there. And it would give TJ a reason to keep touching and kissing her—at least when other people were around.

Touching her and kissing her when they were alone was a bad idea. Once his cock got involved, all bets were off as to how well he would handle anything about Hope being here. Once he was inside of that soft, sweet-smelling, tight body—