A Hope and a Chance(76)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“Seriously? When have you ever worn one of those? Did you steal that from my father’s laundry basket?” She asked, frustrated.

When we got to her next course, which happened to be chemistry, she tried to distract me. She unzipped her sweat jacket revealing only a bra underneath. “It is really hot in here today.” She said as she fanned herself. “I feel like I can’t breathe. Maybe it’s best if I strip down to my underwear.”

I stared into the book and refused to look at her. Finally, after a few minutes she focused her attention on me only being one shirt away from a naked chest.

Hope must have enjoyed Chemistry class because she did well on my quiz the first time around. I stood up and acted like a sexy male stripper, as I removed my undershirt.

Before I could turn around, I heard catcalls coming from Hope’s chair. I sat down on the couch, like it never happened. The key to this study session was keeping my ground. If I gave her an inch, she’d take a mile and we’d end up in my bed.

“There should be a rule that states you can’t act all sexy when removing your clothes. That is so not fair!” She wasn’t angry. I knew that look she was giving me. It had nothing to do with emotions. Hope was hungry for attention, and I refused to give it to her until we completed every course.

I held the next textbook high enough that Hope could not see me smiling from behind it. I love when she got frustrated. Her face became red and she gritted her teeth when she spoke.

Her next course was psychology. She did horrible on the first quiz, so I decided to take a break for lunch. I headed into the kitchen to make us something to eat. When I felt Hope’s arms wrapping around me, I welcomed them in, but realized immediately what was happening. I grabbed her hands and removed them. “Hold up. Just because we’re breaking for a bit doesn’t mean you can sample the merchandise.”

“But, Chance, I want you,” she said with a pouty face. “We’re all alone.”

“Get back in there and go over your notes. We still have two subjects to pass before you can have some of this goodness,” I teased.

“You suck,” she said as she strolled back into the living room.

“That’s you later!” I yelled back.

I made us both a sandwich and took them into the living room. Hope grabbed the plate and started eating, while she gave me dirty looks. I knew this was all her game to try and sway me from letting her off the hook from studying.

When we finished eating I dove right back in. Eventually I taught her a jingle to enable her to remember her questions easier. After the third attempt, she passed. I didn’t hesitate when I removed my jeans and let them fall to the floor.

Hope sat back and watched me. She bit down on her lip and it took everything in me not to march over to her, pick her up, and carry her to my bedroom.

The last subject was a business management class she was taking. She managed to enroll in the class late to gain an extra credit for the semester. Hope seemed focused and within thirty minutes had answered almost every question correctly. She did a silent clap with her hands and pointed to my boxers. I gave her a big smile as I grabbed the elastic band on them and played with it. I pulled them down just enough so that she still couldn’t see anything that was hiding inside of them.

“I don’t know. Maybe I should have made that last test harder,” I teased.

Her body language was effortlessly letting me know that we were done with this game I’d been playing. Hope wanted to get down to business, and I wasn’t about to stop her.

44

I was determined to ace that last test, not only because I couldn’t wait any longer to see Chance without clothes, but also because I’d never studied that much in my entire life. It was already three in the afternoon and it felt like Chance and I hadn’t had alone time, even though we’d been together all day. Chance gave me a big smile before leading me into the bedroom. He was never forceful with me, and I appreciated it since my history with Trevor had been so violent.

His gentle touch gave me butterflies, each and every time. I enjoyed being with him and feeling him so close. His arms wrapped around me even before he took off his boxers.

“I think I just need one hug before you seduce me.” He tantalized me with his sense of humor.

“Let’s stop beating around the bush, Chance. Drop em!” I demanded.

“I plan on beating around your bush for the next couple of hours.” His cackle was deep.

“Seriously, I don’t even have a bush.”

“You know what I meant.” Chance sat me down on the bed and he knelt between my legs. “Actually, I need to talk to you about something important, Hope,” he said in a serious tone.

I studied his face and all of the humor was gone from it. He put his hands on both of my knees and looked directly into my eyes.

“Whatever it is, you can say it.” I trusted this man. There was nothing he could say that would make me think otherwise.

“Has Buffy talked to you about any of her friends?” He asked.

I had no idea what he was getting at. “No. Well not really. She said some of their names and talked about fun things that she did when she was my age, but nothing in particular. Why? What’s wrong with her friends?” I asked.

Chance’s face was indescribable. I couldn’t read him like I normally could. “There’s something that you need to know before they start getting here for the wedding; something that I need to fill you in about.”

“Why does it seem like this is really serious all of the sudden? You’re scaring me.” Chance stood up and started pacing around the room. “You’re making me nervous, Chance. Just spill. I can’t take this weirdness with you. We just had a fun day, and all of a sudden you look like you just saw a ghost.” It bothered me.

“Buffy has this friend named Susan. They did everything together when they were younger, but things changed and they grew apart, I guess.”

“You aren’t making any sense. Susan is in Buffy’s wedding. Why are you telling me they grew apart?” I asked.

He put his hands up to his face. “Ugh! This is harder than I thought it would be,” he admitted.

“What is? Dammit, Chance, just tell me.”

“Susan and I had a thing,” he confessed.

I froze. Not because it shocked me that he was with another woman. That was obviously something I knew about, but I was shocked that, number one, I didn’t know, and number two it was Buffy’s so-called best friend. Before I could say anything, Chance interrupted me.