Free All for Hope by Olivia Hardin

enough breath to speak again.
    “ Very,” she breathed, staring off into nothing as her thoughts turned to her friend.
    “ Do you love him?”
    Hope nodded. “Mmhm.”
    “ Are you in love with him?”
    She turned her head and looked at him, her expression one of deep scrutiny.
    He had turned completely in her direction, leaning back on one hand, and the way that he was peering at her made her feel naked.
    She felt a chill roll across her arms, and she crossed them to hug herself tight.
    “ No. Maybe. I don’t know really. I probably was, but things are so complicated where our friendship is concerned. When we worked together, there was always a sense of closeness between us. Then something very— something happened to me, and he stuck by me through it all. He didn't like some of the decisions I made, but he never turned me away. I had never had a friend like that.”
    She had the immediate urge to take back the words when she realized they disparaged Brennan’s friendship, but the look on his face said he hadn’t taken offense. He was still staring intently, his eyes urging her to continue.
    “ As more and more time passed, and things slowly started to look up for me, I had time to realize that my feelings for Mark were much deeper than before. We talked openly about our attraction for each other and about the way we felt, but we always made it very clear that nothing could ever come out of it. He’s a married man, Brennan. And neither of us is willing to sacrifice the people who depend on us to satisfy—” She broke off and looked down at the floor.
    “ His wife and I are friends, too. Cindy is a good woman, and in a way, I love the entire family, Mark, Cindy, the kids. I guess I'm envious of all they have. Mark told me he loved me the night I left. I don’t think we’d ever said it to each other before.”
    Her mind embraced the memories and thoughts of her friend, and she realized how much she missed him. She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but eventually she turned to Brennan and smiled.
    “ Did I answer your question?”
    “ What was it that happened to you?” he asked.
    Hope knew what he meant and got up and went to the window again. “I don't want to talk about that.”
    Brennan stood and approached her, putting his hand on her shoulder, squeezing. “I want to hold you, Hope,” he whispered against her ear.
    She felt a tremor ripple down her spine, and then her legs felt weak. She fell back against him as his lips nibbled in soft touches at her neck. When his kisses found the corner of her lips, she wanted to turn to him but couldn’t. She wanted to fight the urge to fall into him and lose herself. Bren gave her no choice; he shifted his own body so that he faced her.
    His hands combed into the hair at the nape of her neck, and he pushed her against the wall with his body. Hope's eyes opened wide, a look of wonder and uncertainty on her face. She shivered when his finger touched her forehead, then traced its way down to make a path around her lips.
    She needed to stop him. Her mind screamed any number of reasons why they shouldn’t do this. This was wrong for them; things just never worked out when they traveled this road. The timing was bad; they had enough to worry about without complicating things. “I have coffee breath.”
    Of all her excuses, that was perhaps the lamest. She wanted to sink into the floor in mortification.
    Brennan only grinned wryly. Just as he leaned down to kiss her, little Michelle released a high-pitched cry.
    Hope reacted quickly, bumping heads with Brennan. She groaned and touched her head, then crawled up to take the baby into her arms. As she changed the child's diaper, she felt Brennan's eyes on her, burning her.
    When she stood to heat a bottle, he took over the chore for her, motioning for her to sit down but not saying a word.
    “ Thank you,” she murmured and took the bottle from his hands.
     

     
    Brennan watched Hope as she fed Michelle, talking