Morgan
“You committed the church tothirty-thousanddollars?” Daddy says.
I grimace, ashamed. I twirl my fork, wrapping the spaghetti around it. The dining room is cavernous. Gold trim lines the ceiling. The mahogany table seats twelve but only three places are ever used. Mother sits beside him. White silk blouse. Matching slacks. Not a wrinkle anywhere.
“I know,” I reply. “That guy you warned me was there. He used the livestream to pressure me to donate. I had no choice.”
He leans back in his chair and thumbs the end-of-day scruff along his jaw. It’s peppered, like his hair. The chandelier reflects in his cufflinks. Mother keeps her spine straight. Hands folded near her plate. She listens, never interrupts.
“You are nineteen. Still young, but an adult. You need to be ready for snakes in the grass. Next time, insist you will speak with the church board to get it approved.”
Mother nods along like she’s heard it all before.
Subtly, I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye before it can run down my cheek. I don’t want him to see me cry. I can’t be weak or he’ll trust me even less because emotion is a weakness in this house.
This mess-up wasn’t fair, though. Jack was a monster. A heathen.
A clever heathen.
A hot clever heathen.
He was tall with dark hair that fell near his eyes. The shadow cast by the strands was stark against his laser blue eyes. Nothing gentle lived behind them. Their color was pure in their gleam, but his words were as wicked as the devil’s.
And Lord, I am so ashamed because the confrontation should’ve ended much sooner. I just stood there, soaking in every second with him. My body reacted before my mind could catch up.
But why?
Sure, those tattooed arms drew my attention. Thick lines of black and deep red wrapped around his forearms, bold and unapologetic. The ink looked alive against his skin, the shapes sharp and uniform. The designs slid down to his fingers, spilling letters and figures over his knuckles, but I didn’t have time to decipher them.
Oh, and those biceps poking out from his cotton tee-shirt were more pronounced than I’d like to admit. Not toforget the way his heavy frame caged me in so fearlessly. His cologne, rich with a mix of Amberwood and spices, ignited my senses. It was too intoxicating.
Hewas too intoxicating.
That man is everything a girl could want, and everything she shouldn’t.
Thankfully, I eventually snapped out of it. I am grounded enough to deny sin-fueled temptation when it counts. Not like Ingrid, who has been fooled by men more times than I can count. It was annoying how she talked about Jack’s sex appeal the whole car ride after.
Not me.
I clear my throat.
“Eugene mailed the check. That’s the last time we have to deal with the Killbornes. I’ll be more careful in the future.”
“Rightly so,” Dad agrees. “We can’t be making huge donations right now. The land for the new church is three million. We close in two weeks and can’t have anything go wrong.”
I nod. “I won’t let you down again.”
But inside, I am nervous. Tomorrow, I have to face Gabe — and I can’t afford another mistake. I can’t compromise my family by getting physical. My body’s desires aren’t worth the risk.
Suddenly, a memory resurfaces. Jack’s breath as warm and real as if his knuckle were dragging down the swoop of my neck. His voice, so deep and taunting.
I shudder and set down my fork, irritated, because my body burns with need. It’s been betraying me the last three days since I met Jack.
Deep down, I can’t deny the truth. That man awakened something in me. Desire I can’t seem to keep at bay. I think my curiosity is getting worse. I am a virgin, after all. Is that so wrong? Why did God make me flesh if I wasn’t supposed to be tempted? As long as I abstain, my body’s reaction is no fault of my own.
“Dad. How do you know the Killbornes?” I ask.
“I knew their parents. They died five years ago in a car wreck. It was terrible. Then the eldest son—”
