Guardian's Hope Read Online Free

She
moved her head to his shoulder. “What’s your name?”
    “Hope,” she said and smiled sadly. “Hope you
don’t grow any bigger. Hope you can find a man bigger than you are.
Hope he’s rich so he can feed you. Hope you don’t turn out like
your mother. Hope, Hope, Hope. That’s me, Hope against Hope.” He
thought she might start crying again, but she giggled. “Hope they
all go to you-know-where. I should put a quarter in the potty mouth
jar for that, but I won’t. I’m feeling rebellious.” She giggled
again. “Everything is spinning, spinning, spinning. I must be
sick.”
    Something hard knotted in his stomach and his
grip tightened as he held her closer to his chest. Who said those
things to her or are they things she said to herself? It wasn’t his
concern. “Close your eyes and see if the spinning stops. You’re not
sick. You’re drunk.”
    “I’m not drunk. I can’t be drunk. I don’t
drink.” She pointed a wavering finger at him. “Lips that touch wine
will never touch mine.” Her head fell back and she looked up at
him. “My lips have never touched wine. Have yours?”
    “I’m afraid they have.”
    “That’s too bad. You have very nice lips.”
Her eyes widened. “Did I say that out loud?”
    Nico laughed. “Yes, but I choose to ignore
it. You won’t remember it tomorrow anyway.” He set her on her feet
while he unlocked and opened the door, then settled her into the
seat and buckled the belt. “Tell me where you live.”
    He watched her from the corner of his eye as
he made the short drive to her house. Her eyes were closed and her
head was thrown back against the seat. She was smiling, a far away,
dreamy kind of smile. She was younger than he first thought. It was
the clothes that disguised her age. Her skin was the color and
texture of cream, her lashes dark against the flush of her cheeks.
He wondered what her hair would be like uncoiled and free of the
pins.
    “You’re home,” he said gently when he turned
off the car. “Come on; let’s get you into the house.”
    When they reached the door, her hand slid
into the neck of her sweater and emerged with a key dangling on the
end of a shoelace. He laughed and shook his head at her school girl
security measure.
    The house was in need of a paint job but the
inside was neat as the proverbial pin. He settled her in a
comfortable chair and turned on a lamp across the room where a
phonebook was open to the yellow section and under Bars &
Grills. All those up to Bloodsuckers were crossed out with pen.
    “Thank you,” Hope said, her voice still
slurred. “You’ve been so kind and I don’t even know your name.” She
brought her fingers to her temples. “I’ve never felt like this
before.”“The name’s Nico and you’ve never felt like this before
because you’ve never been drunk before.”
    Hope pouted in concentration and shook her
head in denial. “I told you, I don’t drink. I’ve never tasted
alcohol in any form. Father wouldn’t allow it. All I drank in that
awful place was iced tea; plain old Long Island iced tea. So
there.” Her head bobbed to emphasize her point.
    Nico threw back his head and laughed. “How
many of those plain old iced teas did you drink?”
    She frowned. “Two, three, four? No. Three. I
think.”
    He shook his head at her innocence and still
laughing, ticked off the list, “Vodka, rum, tequila, gin, triple
sec and cola with a dash of lemon. Long Island Iced Tea is a mixed
drink. You practically ran the bar with your first sip. Where do
you keep your aspirin? You’re going to need it in the morning.”
    “Oh no,” she said, laughing. “I’ve already
sinned enough for one night; drinking liquor, consorting with
sinners, bringing home a gorgeous stranger… oops, I didn’t mean to
say that, well, the stranger part was okay, but not the gorgeous
part. That would be forward and while I may be a lot of things, I’m
a respectable young woman. So to answer your question…” She