Chapter 18 Hope
Hope
When Bellamy wakes me up, it’s because she can smell breakfast being cooked downstairs. “Mommy,” she whispers. “Pancakes, Mommy.”
“I don’t know if it’s pancakes, baby,” I mumble. “But we’ll find you something.”
I take time to wash my face and do something with my hair, because I can hear Zane down in the kitchen. I know it’s him, and I’m all fluttery thinking of seeing him again after last night.
He made the worst news in the world something I could handle. He said he would protect my baby. And then he kissed me.
Well, I kissed him. I could fly, that’s how powerful that made me feel. And he did that! He held me in his arms and promised me he wouldn’t rush me, and then he…worked magic. And he made me want to kiss him.
He kissed me back, though. Once I asked, he kissed me until my head spun.
I touch my upper lip, where I can still feel his moustache.
“Mommy!” Bellamy tugs on my borrowed flannel pants.
“I’m coming, hang on.” Mommy just has to find a way to hide her feelings off her face.
Downstairs, thankfully Zane is alone in the kitchen. He’s wearing jeans that fit him like a glove, and a long-sleeved shirt, rolled up to his elbows.
When I hover at the threshold, he glances up and gives me a slow, sexy look that could melt ice. “Good morning,” he murmurs. “You’re up early.”
“Maybe the ranch is making me a morning person after all?”
Bellamy pushes past my legs, no longer shy with Zane. She runs up to him. “Are you making pancakes?”
He crouches down. “I sure am. You have a very smart nose, don’t you? They’re in the oven.”
“The oven?” I move closer, too. Both Waterford girls swirling around Zane like he’s our magnetic north pole.
He grins and catches my hand for a second, steering me to the coffee. “If I can find a way to bake something, I will. And a tray pancake is super easy. Can you have coffee? Would you rather decaf?”
I shake my head firmly. “Bite your tongue.”
He laughs under his breath. “Consider it bitten, mama.”
Heat races through me and I jerk my gaze up to meet his face. He holds my eyes, our shared secret look slow and sweet until the oven timer goes off.
“There are Miss Bella’s pancakes,” he says, holding my gaze even as he steps away.
I fill a coffee mug for myself. “Do you have one?”
“Not yet. I was focused on getting breakfast made. Speaking of which, my brother Ridge is going to come blowing through in a few minutes. I think it’s time you meet him.”
I take a deep breath. “Okay.”
“I would normally say his bark is worse than his bite, but he sat outside this house while I was gone last night, and he would have bitten the head off anyone who came close, so I’ll just say, he growls a lot but he’d never bite you.”
Bellamy laughs.
I glance down and she bares her teeth at me. “I should warn you she hears everything.”
Zane taps his forehead in a little salute to Bellamy. “Noted. Ridge will never bite you. But if you ever want him to fight a monster, he’ll do it no questions asked.”
As he slices the big baked pancake into squares, there are light footsteps in the hallway.
Zane holds my gaze as Luna comes in, like he can read my mind.
Yes, I’m thinking about hiding behind my coffee mug until she leaves again.
We’ll tell them it’s mine.
The only way that plan makes sense is if I let Luna see that I’m attracted to her son, which terrifies me.
“Coffee?” I ask her. It comes out a little high pitched and nervous.
“Always.”
I grab a cup for her, then hand it over so she can doctor it herself.
“You were out late,” she says to Zane. “What time did you get home?”
“Midnight.” His gaze slides back to me. “Hope was still up. She made sure I got in all right.”
“Oh?” Luna looks back and forth between us.
I can’t read her expression.
The back door swings open and Ridge strides in. He comes to an abrupt halt when he sees me and Bellamy still in our PJs.
“Good morning,” he says slowly. Tersely.
Luna shifts her scrutinizing gaze to her oldest son, then back to his brother. And then, again, to me.
“Have you met Hope and Bellamy yet?” she finally asks.
He shakes his head.
I should extend my hand. He won’t bite us.
He is fierce, though. His face looks like he’s scowled for twenty years, and now the lines around his mouth might crack if he tried to smile.
“I’ve invited them to stay longer,” Luna says.
Ridge snaps his head up. “What?”
“And they’ve agreed,” Zane says levelly. “For the summer, in fact.”
I’m not sure I actually did agree to that plan, specifically, but the way he says it, there’s no room for disagreement.
And I’m pretty sure that if I tried to run now, he’d just track me down and carry me back on his shoulder.
Ridge opens his mouth, but before he can argue or growl or whatever he was about to do, Bellamy races around the kitchen island and bares her teeth at him.
He stares down at her. “What are you doing?”
“You won’t bite me,” she says with all the confidence of a three year old who has been promised a fact by someone as trustworthy as Zane Kincaid.
He rocks back on the heels of his cowboy boots. “How do you know that?”
She points at Zane. “He said you’ll only bite monsters.”
He nods slowly. “Probably true.”
“Do you like pancakes?”
“Not really.”
She frowns, suddenly suspicious.
He shrugs. “More for you?”
“More for me to bite,” she says solemnly.
“Okay,” I intervene, finally finding my voice and holding out my hand. “Hi. Sorry about my daughter. Nice to finally meet you.”
Like his brother, his grip is firm and warm, calloused from work on the ranch. Unlike his brother, his touch doesn’t turn me inside out and upside down. “Welcome to Kincaid’s Refuge.”
I glance at Zane, who busies himself with giving everyone breakfast. Ridge fills his Thermos with coffee, then heads out. Luna eats one square of pancakes, then heads back to her studio.
“Call upstairs when you’re ready to go the greenhouses,” she tosses over her shoulder.
And then we’re alone again, just the three of us.
Zane gets Bellamy set up with breakfast, then he tugs me into the hallway.
“Good morning,” he says quietly before covering my mouth with his.
I press up into his kiss, clinging to him as I slide my tongue against his in a stolen, breathless greeting.
He rubs his knuckles against my cheek as he smiles at me. “Did you sleep?”
I nod.
“Any nightmares?”
I shake my head.
“Good. I talked to Cash last night. He’s going to find out where that asshole is, and we’ll go from there for protecting you two.
I’ll find you as soon as we have some information.
I bought some trail cameras yesterday while I was in the city, and I’ll be setting these up around the perimeter of the ranch today.
Do you need anything else before I head out? ”
I stare at him in wonder. “I can’t think of anything.”
He ghosts his hand over my side. “You feel okay?”
“A little nauseous, but it’s not bad,” I say.
His eyes light up. “I meant the bruise, but really? You have some symptoms?”
I smile shyly. “Yeah.”
“That’s amazing.” He pulls his lower lip between his teeth and squeezes my hips. “God, I want to hold you all morning. But we’ve both got work to do.”
“That’s ranch life,” I quip.
He kisses my nose. “It is. But we’ll find time for this, too.”
That’s a promise he makes good on. When I’m in the house with Bellamy in the afternoon for her nap, he comes in and we sit at the top of the stairs, my legs draped over his, while he tells me about the trail cams he’s set up.
“I’ve put them where I think a city boy might try to access the ranch. I can’t rig the entire perimeter, but it’s a start. And I’m looking into other options, too.”
“It’s a bitter coincidence that he had cameras everywhere, and now we need cameras to watch out for him. I don’t like that, I’ll be honest.”
He rubs my knuckles. “That’s fair. We don’t want to be in a constant state of surveillance, either. There’s a balance between having information and living free.”
I take a deep breath and nod.
Downstairs, Luna comes into the house, humming.
Zane winks at me and pulls me up the stairs. We duck into Dax’s unused room, and he wraps me in his arms, holding me for a hug that goes on and on. A hug that says I’ll keep all your secrets, and keep you safe, and wait until you’re ready for more.
Once Luna has made her way up to her studio, he kisses me silently before I slide back into my bedroom and he heads back to his afternoon chores.