He kissed my forehead, soft and slow. “You know,” he said. “The first time I saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen…but what’s really drawn me in is how damn brave you are.”
I let my hand drift lower, resting over his stomach. “You know,” I whispered, “if we keep talking like this, I’m gonna start crying…and you already made me come three times, so I’m kind of tapped out emotionally.”
Silas laughed, full and warm. “I’ll stop philosophizin’.”
“No, don’t,” I tilted my head to look at him. “I like your voice when you’re talking about things that matter.”
“Good thing I like talkin’ about you then, huh?”
I nestled closer, my body warm against his, heart full. We didn’t say much after that…just drifted in and out of conversation, kissing, laughing, feeding each other ambrosia. When sleep came, it came easy.
And when I finally closed my eyes, I felt it.
Peace.
Right here in this room, in an old parsonage, in a church haunted by grief and shame and fear.
We were writing something new.
Word by word, body by body, breath by breath.
CHAPTER 18
Silas
The folding chairswere crooked again.
I could’ve fixed them myself—hell, Ishould’ve—but June had that look in her eye, the one that said she had a vision and nobody else’s opinion mattered, not even mine. So I kept my mouth shut and adjusted the cross on the pulpit instead, pretending I didn’t feel like my heart was about to give out just from watching her…
…and, of course, trying to ignore the fact that we’d had sex on the altar just a few feet away.
More than once, at this point.
We’d spruced up the fellowship hall for the event, and June was running around to chat with all the volunteers, introducing herself with that winning smile she seemed to put on so easily. She was wearing a white—or, as she’d corrected me earlier,eggshell—wrap dress that fluttered a bit to show too much thigh when she walked fast enough. She was walking fast…so I was seeing a lot of thigh.
And I was wondering if I would survive the afternoon without pulling her into a supply closet.
She leaned over a table to help Francine organize thesilverware baskets, and I caught a flash of that long stretch of leg again—lean and freckled and currently making it impossible to remember how sentences worked. I looked away…looked back. Looked away again and muttered a quiet prayer under my breath, something along the lines ofLord, deliver me from wrap dresses.
“You okay there, big brother?” Beau’s voice cut in from behind me.
I didn’t even turn around. “I’m fine.”
“Funny, because you’re starin’ at June like she’s a pork chop and you ain’t eaten in six days.”
I finally turned then, just enough to glare at him. “I’mhelping.”
“Uh huh.” Beau crossed his arms and looked past me toward the fellowship hall, where June was now standing on tiptoe to reach a box on the top shelf of an ancient hutch. “Sure seems like you’re helpin’. Specifically your blood pressure.”
I sighed and adjusted the little tablecloth on the card table nearest me. “She’s been runnin’ herself ragged all week. I’m just makin’ sure she doesn’t…fall. Or pass out.”
Beau smirked. “You always stare at people’s thighs when you’re concerned about their safety?”
I groaned, giving him a withering glare. “It was bad enough when Whit and Delilah showed up and started ribbing me,” I told him. “Now you’ve gotta hop onboard too?”
“Hey,” Beau said, punching me playfully in the shoulder. “It’s just fun to see my big brother in love—or, I guess,anotherbig brother.”
I raised an eyebrow. “If things keep going this way…I guess you’ll be next on the chopping block, huh?”
