“I was thinking that she didn’t have a car, and it must be damn tough to be a single woman with no vehicle. And since the shop figured it would cost more to repair the crap she was driving than it was worth in insurance, when she came here last week and asked if I would sell her—”
“What!” Matt pulled the phone from his ear and clutched the steering wheel tight to stop from flinging anything anywhere, including his own vehicle in front of hers to act as a guard.
He counted to ten. Twice. Then he spoke. “Hey, you still there?”
“For all of five seconds if you continue to be a shithead.”
Matt collected his hard-won calm and forced it into his voice. “Sorry, that was just a momentary lack of concentration. Let me get this straight. Hope came to you and asked for the hunk of junk that’s been out rusting behind the far barn for years.”
“She did.”
“And you sold it to her?”
“I gave it to her. Well, fine, sold it for a dollar. Just to make it legal.”
Oh God. “Shit, Blake. Still…I mean…”
His brother rumbled back, his own annoyance coming through. “Yeah, I know the truck’s a piece of crap. But she had valid reasons and insisted it would work. She brought over a new battery, a couple of milk crates to secure shit in the back and we used binder twine to lash the front seat in place.”
Matt’s temper raced upward again. “Did you say binder twine? Goddamn, Blake! So, what’s going to happen if she’s in an accident?”
“She said it’s only temporary, but she needs a way to get around.”
“I don’t like it.”
Blake snorted. “Tough shit. I don’t think it’s your choice, is it?”
“Would you let Jaxi ride in there with her?” The silence at the other end of the line was enough to make his point come through loud and clear. Matt knew he had Blake. “Right. That’s what I thought. Good luck convincing me you had nothing but—”
“Does she know you know she has the beast?”
“Since I just took her out for dinner and I’m following her to the ski hill, umm, yeah.”
“What’d she say to you?”
“Nothing.”
Blake sighed. “Not going to tell you your business, but if the DMV approved her, and she got the thing insured, not much you can do.”
Not without coming off like the over-controlling jerk of the century. “I hear you.”
“I promised to keep an eye out for a good deal. Something smaller. You got to admit, that piece of crap is a bloody tank. If she does lose control, she’d win the fight with ninety percent of what’s out there for her to hit.”
“You’re not making this any better, Blake.”
“Sorry.” A high-pitched cry reverberated in the background. “Gotta go. Princess Becca is commanding my presence. Have fun at the hill.”
“Yeah, run and hide behind the babies. I’m still pissed at you.”
Hope made it to the parking lot in one piece, and Matt pulled in beside her, staring at the dash as he went through and discarded different responses.
Blake was right—it was her choice.
She was going to get her neck broken.
If she did get hurt, he was going to kill his brother.
The truck should have been driven straight to the edge of the dump and pushed off years ago.
A light tap on the window pulled him back to discover Hope staring in. She wore an old-fashioned jester cap on her head, complete with bells on the ends of the long, dangling tassels. Neon green and pink, it was hilarious and ridiculous, and made him smile at her total lack of self-consciousness.
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.