Page 39 of Rocky Mountain Desire
So unlike Helen, who would have never been caught dead in such an outfit.
Hope didn’t smile back. Instead, there was a tiny furrow between her eyes as she waited. “You coming?”
He nodded then grabbed his gloves and a spare toque from the back. He paused casually next to the rust-bucket mobile under the guise of pulling on his gear. Actually, he used the time to sneak a glance at the licence.
Insured and registered.Dammit.“So. New wheels?”
Hope squirmed, her gaze darting away. “Temporary. It passed inspection, but it’s just until the spring. I’ve got leads on a couple others.”
“Good.” Matt took her hand and headed toward the service desk. That was as much as he could ask for right now. “If you’d like, I don’t mind looking around for you as well.”
Hope slipped ahead of him and slapped down the money for their tickets before he could. She offered a smile. “I would love your help.”
They were on the hill then, and Matt had no more time to strategize how he was going to convince her to leave the deathtrap at home. Like sneaking her taxi fare, or maybe he could just sit at the end of the block and every time she came out to go somewhere he could “accidentally” drive past and offer her a ride.
“Come on, dreamer.” Hope poked him in the chest and Matt concentrated harder. There were people scattered all over the hill. Some were newcomers to town while others he recognized from years back—schoolmates and the like. A few of them gave him questioning looks, their gazes bouncing back and forth between him and Hope.
And so it began. The watchful eyes of the small town were on them. He wondered exactly how long it would take for the entire community of Rocky to know he and Hope were on a date.
They slid their inner tube under the rope tow and crawled on board. Matt found himself cradling her between his legs, and suddenly the cold temperature around them wasn’t going to be nearly enough to keep his body from reacting to the surprisingly intimate position. He’d never thought of sledding as potentially erotic.
“Ready?” She turned toward him, and the limited lights of the hill shone through the darkness and highlighted the flush on her cheeks.
He reached up and grabbed the rope. The tube slipped upward smoothly. Hope wiggled sideways until her chest faced him, clutching him tighter. There might be icy-cold air slipping into his lungs, but with the grip she had on him and the way her long legs slid against his, he was plenty warm.
“When was the last time you went sledding?” she asked.
“Boxing Day. Family tradition.”
“That’s right. I knew that.”
Matt stiffened involuntarily. Hope looked out at the lighted sections of the ski hill, and Matt bit back his frustration. Yeah, she knew that from him taking Helen out year after year with the family. Or at least asking Helen to come, when she did deem it possible.
There was no way to get around it. He and Hope knew way more about each other than the average couple at the start of their dating career.
The comfortable banter they’d enjoyed earlier in the evening vanished, and with every passing second he wished he could turn back the clock. Change his response. He could ignore the awkward moment, but that wasn’t going to make the truth go away. “We will have to deal with this at some point.”
Hope adjusted position again, which brought her hips into contact, her crotch nudging his hip. “Deal with what?”
The erection he was carrying? The one going from a semi to a full faster than he wanted, considering they were going to hurl themselves down the hill in a few minutes. “We can’t pretend that Helen doesn’t exist.”
Hope snorted. “Well, hell, can’t we?”
“You know what I mean.”
They were at the top of the hill, and she rolled, pressing her hands against his chest and pushing her way over him. The move teased as her body weight rested fully on him for a second before she slid off. He let loose the rope and scrambled upright.
They reached for the tube at the same time. Hope deferred to him and grabbed his hand instead.
“Yeah, you’re right. She does exist, but you know, if we’re going to do this…datingthing, then you’ve got to not tense up every time someone mentions her name or you have to talk about something you’ve done with her.” Hope squeezed his fingers. “I’m just saying that the longer we’re around each other, the more likely it is that someone will say something. Or, you know, remind you of her. It’s time to move on. Ether that or we stay at my place and hide out, or we forget about seeing each other altogether—”
“That’s not what I want.” Matt stopped them on the top ridge of the slope, securing the inner tube with a foot as he brought their bodies close together, tucking a loose hair farther under her crazy toque. “I’m not hiding, and yeah, you’re right. People will talk, but I’m a grown man, so I can just get the hell over myself. You have permission to smack me whenever I get stupid. I’m trying.”
Hope grinned, her head tilted to the side as she looked him over. “Smack you? Hmm, sounds fun. You mean like this?”
She leapt forward, and he jerked to attention, catching her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Only with one foot up on the inner tube, his balance was far enough off-center that the force of her momentum tipped them both and she landed on him, squarely on the inner tube.
Their combined weight set them barreling forward, and Hope buried her face in his neck as they bounced down the hill at an increasingly breakneck speed.
