Getting Lucky (13 page)

“How are we going to explain me knowing you if you’re from Arizona?”

“Online dating.”

He looked at her. “What?”

“We could have met on an online dating site. We got to chatting, we hit it off, I found out you had shoulder surgery and I wanted to come and take care of you.”

TJ blinked at her. Wow, that fully formed, even slightly plausible story had just rolled right out. Maybe she had more in common with the girls he was used to after all. Michelle had been able to keep track of an astonishing number of details in her lies.

He shook his head. That wasn’t fair.
He’d
started this lie, and Hope was just following his lead as he’d asked. He nodded. “Okay, fine. That will work. We can tell them we haven’t been talking to each other long—which is true—and don’t know much about each other—also true. And that’s why I haven’t mentioned you.”

“So if we haven’t been talking long, why would I just pack up and come to stay for the summer without an invitation?”

He couldn’t help the grin he felt curling his lips. “Crazy, remember?”

Her eyes narrowed again and she studied him in that way that made him certain she was reading him perfectly. Then her expression relaxed and she nodded. “You know, you might be on to something there.”

Uh oh. There was a definite twinge of trepidation in his gut at that. “What do you mean?”

“I’m thinking being a little crazy could be very freeing. And fun.”

He was thinking she was right. And that this suddenly wasn’t such a great idea.

“Maybe—”

She’d already twirled and was heading for the house.

“Hope!” he called after her.

She stopped on the top step to his porch and looked back.

“So you’re going to…”

He hoped she’d fill in the blanks.

She didn’t. She winked.

And his body reacted as if she’d stroked his cock.

Damn.

“And the kiss…”

“Was amazing.”

Since when was he unable to complete a full sentence?

She was messing with him. This wasn’t good.

But it had been just a kiss. And it
had
been amazing. “Yeah?”

Her smile changed. Just slightly. Hardly at all. But something in
this
smile didn’t make him smile back—it made him want her even more.

“Yeah,” she said softly.

Okay. Good. Maybe even very good. He started after her, realizing that he was already planning how to get rid of Delaney and Tucker. Quickly.

“So how did you two meet?” was the very first question out of Delaney’s mouth when they were all seated around TJ’s table.

Delaney and Tucker had already eaten so were enjoying coffee and dessert—the package of Double Stuf Oreo cookies that was a staple in TJ’s kitchen—while he and Delaney ate baked pork chops on top of mashed potatoes and roasted carrots fresh from his mother’s garden.

Or while
he
did, and while Hope pushed the food around her plate with her fork and gazed at him with a dopey smile.

“I believe the universe brought us together,” Hope said. Her tone was not dopey.

And TJ kind of wished it was. She sounded sincere, and he really hated that he couldn’t tell if this was part of her act or not. She might have agreed to go with the coo-coo story, but he knew there really was a little true coo-coo in there somewhere. What if she actually believed that fate had somehow brought her here?

He was also secretly grateful. It was a technicality, but if he wasn’t the one voicing the lies to his brother and a woman who he considered a very close friend, he felt better.

“The universe?” Tucker asked, meeting TJ’s eyes. There was humor there. Lots and lots of humor.

“Fate. Destiny,” Hope filled in. “I was meant to meet TJ.”

See, like that. That sounded so…true.

“You just threw a dart at a map and drove until you got here?” Tucker asked.

TJ lifted his glass of tea to hide his smile. His brother was definitely buying the crazy thing, judging by the look on his face. Of course, he was finding it all very amusing. And intriguing. Tucker had hardly taken his eyes off of Hope.

She seemed to have that effect on people.

“Oh, no, we started talking online.”

Delaney stopped with her cookie halfway to her mouth. “Online?” she repeated.

Hope had a huge grin on her face as she nodded. Thankfully, Delaney and Tucker didn’t know her well enough to know that her grin was more amused than kooky. TJ frowned. How did
he
know that? He hadn’t known her long enough, or well enough, to know the differences in her smiles.

But, still, he could tell she thought this was funny.

“In a chat room on
Perfect Pick
,” Hope added.

“
Perfect Pick
?” Tucker asked. “The online dating site?”

TJ was surprised. “How do you know what
Perfect Pick
is?” She was using the name of a
real
site? A site where they could go look for his profile? And TJ knew Tucker. He’d definitely look for TJ’s profile. He’d invite Travis and a bunch of their friends over and make it a party.

“I’ve seen the commercials. I had no idea you were signed up with a site like that,” he said to TJ.

Yeah, that didn’t sound like him. At all.

“Well, he’s not anymore, of course,” Hope said, putting her hand on his thigh.

They were sitting next to one another across the table from Delaney and Tucker. TJ was regretting that choice already. Not only could he smell her fresh, flowery scent, but he was acutely aware of everything from the way she sat with one foot tucked underneath her on the chair to the fact that the six earrings that adorned her ear were made up of two stars, a moon, a butterfly, a pink gem and a tiny cross. In that order, from top to bottom.

And she’d meant the touchy-feely thing. She’d put her hand on his shoulder, brushed over the top of his hand, run her hand up and down his back and now had it resting on his thigh. And they’d been inside for no more than ten minutes.

He was wound up and ready to go, completely aware that
going
anywhere with Hope was a bad idea, and on the verge of saying to hell with it anyway.

Old, bad patterns died hard.

“He’s not on the site anymore?” Delaney asked.

“Well, we’ve found our perfect picks,” Hope said, inching her hand higher on his thigh. “No need for us to still be looking.”

She’d instantly solved the issue of Tucker and Delaney trying to find their profiles online, but he could barely spare the brain cells to really appreciate that, considering her hand was getting ever closer to his cock. His cock was straining to be closer to her hand, too.

And none of her stroking his thigh was for show. Tucker and Delaney couldn’t even see her hand from their side of the table.

But he also couldn’t remove her hand or move away from her because Tucker and Delaney would see
that
.

Great.

“And now you’re here,” Delaney said, her smile clearly forced. “How nice. It must be…serious.”

Hope turned to gaze up at TJ. “Well, once I knew TJ was hurting and needed help, there was nowhere else I could imagine being.”

There was another one of those statements he could take seriously if he wanted to. Which he didn’t, of course. But even though she’d just found out about his shoulder, she
had
seemed concerned.

“Then you’ll be staying for a while,” Tucker said.

“As long as needed,” Hope answered.

“Well, you should know that TJ has a lot of people around here to help him,” Delaney said, a note of protectiveness in her tone.

TJ had to fight another smile. Delaney was the best. Even if her protectiveness was misplaced.

“I’m sure,” Hope said. “But no one can help him like I can.”

TJ’s imagination definitely took
that
for a ride until he reined it in. Tucker’s too, it seemed, as his brother choked on his iced tea and covered with a cough.

“And TJ is saving me too.” Hope moved her hand from his thigh and looped her arm through his, leaning into his side affectionately. “We need each other. Where else would I be but right by his side?”

TJ missed her touch on his leg but was placated by the feel of her breast against his biceps.

“He’s saving you too?” Delaney asked, glancing at TJ.

He tried not to show how interested
he
was in Hope explaining that statement further as well.

“Ever since my mom passed away, I’ve been looking for…something. And I think I might just have found it here in Sapphire Falls.”

For just a flash, he thought he should be appalled that she was using her dead mother to get Tucker and Delaney’s sympathy and further the lie. But before that thought was even fully formed, he knew that wasn’t the case. How he knew that so easily and so certainly, he didn’t really want to examine, but he knew that Hope meant what she said in this case.

That also stupidly made a whole lot of protective instincts rear their heads.

The next thought that flashed through his mind was that Hope would know that. She had already pegged him as a protector. She had to know that a comment like that would make him all too ready to jump in to help her find whatever it was she was looking for. He didn’t like being so easy to read.

But he was already working on reconnecting her with her dad. That was what she meant, he was sure.

He was pretty sure anyway.

But what if there was more?

TJ gripped his tea glass and worked on taking a deep breath.

She meant her dad. That was all she meant. That was all he was going to help her with. That was complicated enough.

“Your mom passed away?”

Immediately, any skepticism Delaney might have felt in regards to Hope, and any thoughts she’d had of protecting him
from
Hope, clearly evaporated.

Delaney reached out and took Hope’s hand. “I’m so sorry.”

A look of sadness passed over Hope’s face, and it felt like she’d punched him in the gut. TJ had to clear his throat and consciously stay put to keep from pulling her into his lap.

“I just lost my sister and brother-in-law a few months ago,” Delaney told Hope softly. “If you need anyone to talk to, I’m here.”

Hope gave her a sincere, sweet smile, and TJ felt
that
like a punch to his gut as well.

“I’m so sorry about your loss, too,” Hope said, curling her fingers around Delaney’s.

TJ looked from one woman to the other, then at his brother. Tucker was clearly battling the same urges to comfort and shelter. Tucker’s jaw was tight, his eyes trained on Delaney, his hand rubbing her back. It was amazing seeing his brother in love, and he knew that Tucker hurt when Delaney hurt.

TJ followed Tucker’s example, moving his arm around Hope and hugging her against him.

If she thought it was strange, she didn’t show it. She didn’t hesitate to press against him as if that was where she belonged.

Of course, that could all be a part of the act too.

He was hating this whole situation more and more. It was one thing to tell a white lie to protect a couple of people’s privacy. It was another for this thing to get
his
thoughts and feelings all twisted up, and for him to not know what was real and what wasn’t. That was just too familiar. Because there was no way out here either. Hope needed an ally in town while she sorted through her stuff.

TJ knew on some level that he could turn her over to Delaney or Adrianne or any of the other women. His friend Phoebe knew Dan and she was something of a schemer. She could no doubt come up with a way of getting Hope and Dan together while preserving the confidentiality of the situation.

But he wasn’t turning this over.

He knew that with a certainty that also concerned him. But there it was.

He was officially involved with another crazy girl.

“Do you have other family?” Hope asked Delaney.

“My mom and dad, but we’re not close at all. How about you?”

Hope shook her head. “Grandparents I barely know. My mom was raised to be very independent, to figure things out on her own. When she was eighteen, she left home and started traveling.” A faint smile touched Hope’s lips and TJ found himself mesmerized and wanting to know more. Wanting to know everything.

It was strange, actually. He’d only ever been seriously involved with women he’d known his whole life. He’d already known all about them and their pasts. It was simply impossible to have a history of any kind that wasn’t common knowledge in Sapphire Falls.

The notion of getting to know this woman, of hearing her stories, asking her questions, telling her his…it was all strangely…tempting. Michelle had also known him, or had thought she did, and had never asked him a question other than asking him to come get her or asking him to help with something.

Hope shook her head and it pulled TJ away from the swirling thoughts of the past.