He snorted. “You know that. You were there. I guess it makes me nervous to imagine preaching in front of you. I will eventually. Maybe not this first one though.”
“It’s stupid. I’m the woman you claim to be so… what? Enamored with? Does that word work for you?” Her tone was snotty, angry, and exasperated.
“It actually works quite well.”
“Well, good, I don’t want to be too specific or get emotional. You think you can’t preach with me around because of the anxiety that I cause inside you? It’s sweet in a strange way, but also insulting! If I’m that special person for you, you should be asking me to come.”
“Just this time! Kayla, every single person who sees us will realize what I feel about you if we’re together. Give me some more time to find the answer and the balls to admit it publicly. I’ll get there. I promise I will. Just not this Sunday.”
She blew out a gust of air. “I suppose that makes sense. I just wish you’d find the balls to tell me what you’re freaking afraid the others will see.”
He took her hand. He wasn’t ready yet and she couldn’t extract something from him that even he wasn’t sure about. Taking her hand in his, it felt small and silky. He rubbed it before kissing her knuckles. The gesture earned him a half smile and a glare. “You’re so infuriating.”
“You’re so beautiful.”
She tilted her head curiously. “That isn’t something you’ve ever said to me before.”
“I’m above it most of the time. As a man of God, I see your soul and all that. Mortal exteriors aren’t what attracts me.”
She snorted. “That’s a load of—”
“Kayla. Church. Come on.”
“Fine, then, malarkey.” She made a face and he guessed it wasn’t a word she ever used before. “You do too. You notice it and act on it because you’re just a guy.”
“Yes. And I think you are beautiful. Accept the truth and my thanks. For tonight.”
She tilted her head. “You’re welcome. For tonight. But you owe me a sermon. And it had better be your very best one.”
“It will be the sum of my greatest words and wisdom.”
“You’re such an ass.”
He grabbed her and lowered his head to kiss her. When he released her, she blinked up at him in surprise. “I didn’t expect that here, Pastor Jim.”
He smiled as the flow of something warm went through him. Something very bubbly burst out, a laugh. In this room. Without Kayla, that never could happen. “When anyone else says Pastor Jim, it sounds cheery and nice, respectful and interested. From you? It always sounds dirty.” He waggled his eyebrows. He was flirting with this woman, in his church, the scene of a shooting and death. It was crazy. But without her, Jim couldn’t stand there and manage to replace all the terrible trauma with something sweet. A little bit naughty, and slightly wrong for the room they were in, but it definitely changed the atmosphere.
“Because every time I say it, I mean for it to sound dirty. Pastor Jim.” Her salacious tone and the tip of her tongue when she licked her bottom lip suggestively were so sexy and lustful that he knew she wanted to get a rise out of him.
He grabbed her arms and put them behind her back, holding her wrists together tightly like a pair of handcuffs. “You are misbehaving in church, Ms. Randall. As your spiritual guide and leader, I’m afraid I have to punish you for that…”
She smirked. “You are not my leader. In any way, shape, or form, Pastor Jim.”
“Oh? But I still must punish you, Ms. Randall…”
“Are you being inappropriate with me in church? I’m shocked, Pastor Jim, what would everyone say?”
He pulled her against him, still gripping her wrists tightly as she glared up at him. He pressed her closer and kissed her silly, until she was quiet again. Letting out a little squeak of defeat, she stopped fighting him and melted into an amorous pool of eager submission. He released her and she almost stumbled onto the ground. She glared up while thinking of the wonderful fun he had with her right there in the church, at the murder scene.
“Damn it! You’re way too good at that.”
“What?”
“Kissing. It’s lethal and wrong. It ruined all my great zingers for you. In fact, it always does!”
“Wanna stop? Go back to how we used to be?”
She gave him a knowing smile. “Oh, you know we can’t go back. Neither of us can now.”
He took heart when she put her hands on her hips to scold him and his use of the word us. It seemed like it. She also worried him because he had no clue where they were headed.
“Okay, enough of the creepy church in the dark of night. Let’s go.”
Go meant to his place. They grabbed some take-out on the way and ate it on his couch. Kayla playfully mocked his sad apartment for his deficient decorating and lack of housekeeping.
“Don’t all the little old ladies bring you dinners and try to convince you to marry and raise two perfect kids in a quaint, little house with a picket fence and a lawn?”
“Times have changed. Come on, Kayla.”
“Well… do you get invited to dinners often?”
He smiled. “I do, actually. That hasn’t changed much.”
“Do you go?”
“Quite often. Only decent meals I get to eat. I’m not good at food prep. Or grocery shopping, or even remembering to eat.”
“You need a full-time keeper. I hear Eric plans to fire his nurse, maybe you could hire her.”
Jim set aside his drink and simply crawled over the top of her before pressing her into his couch with a leering smile. “I prefer her sister.” He nibbled on her neck and she sighed. Maybe she would forgive him for making her feel so weird? She always got pissy when talk of Kathy and him came up.
They still had so much to figure out.
Except this. Erotically speaking, they were perfect together.
Chapter 10
WALKING INTO THE
