The words hung in the air between us, strange and electric. I felt my cheeks flush, unsure if I'd been insulted or complimented.
“I… don’t think I am,” I managed, closing my book. My eyes drifted to his torso — the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
“No?” Judah leaned forward slightly, his cologne reaching me — the familiar scent of cedarwood, and… vanilla. An aphrodisiac. “And what do you think you are?”
The small apartment seemed to shrink further, the air thickening with each breath. He removed his arm from the back of the couch and placed it between us, drawing my eyes to the dark ink of his tattoos. Biblical verses wrapped in thorns. Symbols of pain and devotion.
I said nothing, but he heard it anyway.
“Prove it then,” he said.
His challenge hung in the air like the humid heat pressing against my windows. I stared at him, his light eyes holding mine, daring me to break first.
I set the book aside, stood, and got in his lap, straddling him.
His hands came up immediately to steady me, gripping my waist with those preacher's fingers. The touch burned through my thin cotton dress. I could feel the rough calluses on his palms even through the fabric. Those werenotthe hands of a pastor.
Judah's eyes darkened, pupils expanding.
I placed my hands on his shoulders, feeling the solid muscle beneath his shirt. I felt his thumbs on my hipbones, drawing circles. And felt something else besides. There, where the thin fabric of my panties met his crotch.
“How can I satisfy you?” I asked.
He laughed, a low sound that vibrated through me where our bodies connected. “Is that what you think this is about? Satisfaction?”
His hands slid lower, gathering the fabric of my dress, bunching it at my thighs. I could feel the heat of his palms through the thin material.
“You don't know what you're asking,” he whispered, his breath hot against my neck. His lips hovered there, not quite touching. “You think you understand the nature of desire — but you’re just a novice learning the language.”
I shifted in his lap, feeling him grow harder beneath me. The movement drew a sharp breath from him, his fingers digging into my flesh.
“Then teach me,” I said, surprising myself with my boldness.
His eyes met mine, something dangerous simmering in their depths. “Eve asked for knowledge... She wanted a taste,” he murmured, his mouth so very close to mine. “And when thewoman saw that the tree was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes —” his thumb traced my jaw, slowly — “and a tree to be desired…” He let the silence finish the verse.
I kissed him. Greedily.
He devoured me in return, his mouth insistent and demanding against mine. This was no chaste pastoral kiss. His tongue slipped between my lips, tasting me in a way that made heat pool low in my belly.
My hands moved to his hair, fingers threading through the dark strands as his palms slid beneath my dress, finding bare skin. His touch was electric, raising goosebumps along my thighs as he explored higher, thumbs grazing the sensitive skin of my inner thighs.
“What will the congregation think?” I gasped against his mouth, a sudden clarity striking me — my father’s voice telling usbothoff.
“They don't think,” he murmured, teeth grazing my lower lip. “They follow.” His hands gripped my hips, pulling me harder against him. “Like you will.”
I moaned as he rolled his hips upward, the hard length of him pressing against my center through our clothes. The friction was maddening, not enough and too much all at once.
His hands found the zipper at the back of my dress; the sound of metal teeth parting filled the quiet room. I gasped as the fresh breeze from the window hit my skin, goosebumps rising along my spine as he pushed the fabric from my shoulders.
My bra was simple cotton, nothing meant to seduce, but the way his eyes locked on it made me feel like I was wrapped in the finest silk. His thumb traced the edge of the cup, barely skimming the swell of my breast.
“This isn't—” I started, but he silenced me with another kiss, deeper this time, more commanding.
“Don't lie,” he murmured against my lips. “Not here. Not now.”
He removed my bra.
“If… If I give myself to you—”
