I nodded and dipped my toes in. He was right. It wasn’t scalding or cool. It was just right. I sighed with pleasure and watched as my man stripped and stepped deep into the pool. He disappeared under the water and then reappeared, reaching for my feet, which he immediately began to rub.
“That’s nice,” I murmured in appreciation. I leaned back and my hands touched the soft moss carpet that covered most of the ground here. You really could take a nice nap on the stuff, it was so clean.
Well, other than the bugs. I hadn’t seen any yet, but I knew they were there.
I decided to stick to the towel and sat up again.
“A while back, I promised I would tell you what made me so angry at God that I turned my back on my training.”
I nodded, realizing I was finally going to get a glimpse into the real Preacher, the man who had changed so completely so long ago.
“I may have turned my back on the church, but I never turned my back on God. I faced him, day after day, hour after hour. I never stopped loving him. Drink some water,” he added, and I did. The cool green of this place, the smooth stones, his noble features . . . there was something almost holy about it.
“Growing up in the neighborhood, none of us had very much. Paul grew up on the same block. He was a quiet kid, but we played together. Stick ball. That kind of thing. But he was always closer to her.”
“Her?”
He nodded.
“My little sister, Callie. You might think it was weird for him to be attached to her, but Callie was special. She was very easy to love.”
He shook his head.
“I still think he would have married her. If she hadn’t . . .”
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
“It’s hard to talk about to this day. How stupid it was. How tragic. How it just . . .”
He opened his eyes, and the pain there took my breath away.
“A light went out in the world that day. It was so bright. She was . . .”
A wry smile twisted his features.
“Callie was just starting to look like a woman. She’d been a late bloomer. And Paul was a very serious boy. I wasn’t as interested in hanging around with a kid anymore. I was very intense about my studies. I wanted to talk about God, not dresses or whether Paul would take her to the Prom if she asked. So I left her behind at home that night.”
He exhaled and swam closer, his hands touching my legs. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to give me comfort or take some for himself. Either way, the connection I felt when we touched was palpable. He centered me in a way I hadn’t known I had missed.
And the story he was telling . . . I needed centering to hear it.
“But she followed us. I didn’t know. I think Paul might have, but I can’t be sure. Either way, we walked through a bad part of town. A part of town a pretty little thing like her should not have been in. Not that our part of town was much better. But our little row of blocks was residential. The people were poor, but they did their best to keep their houses neat. There were bars on the main drag. Bars and gambling and pimps and, well, you name it.”
I nodded, trying to picture it. It was before my time, of course. But I knew how rowdy things got when poverty and alcohol were combined.
“I wanted to see the other side of life. I condemned it back then, of course. I was young and arrogant, so sure of myself and my place in the world. I told Paul that these were the people we were meant to save. I had no idea I was about to become one of them.”
He told me to take a sip of the water again and had a bit himself. He dunked himself under the water again, submerging himself in the deepest part of the pool for a moment. I sensed that he needed time. He needed to take a breath before he told me what happened that night. Then he was back, his hands rubbing my feet again.
His eyes were clear, but the raw pain in them took my breath away. Preacher was always so strong. He’d never wavered once in all the time I had known him. He didn’t waver now.
“I was too far away. Ten feet. Fifteen. Maybe more. Everything happened so fast. There was a commotion behind us. I turned and saw some men tussling with a girl. One of the whores, I assumed. But it wasn’t. It was Callie. Paul realized before I did. He screamed her name and went running for her just as one of them tore her blouse open. The horror on her face, Cynthia. I’ll never forget it. She was so ashamed and scared. I was her big brother. I should have protected her. I ran. But it was too late. Paul was pulling them off her and she got free.”
He closed his eyes and opened them again. If I thought his eyes were full of pain before, I was wrong. Preacher’s emotions ran deep. His pain was a huge well of loss inside him. And he was showing me all of it.
“She stepped right into the path of a bus. It wasn’t going slow. It . . . she died instantly.”
“Oh, my God, Preacher,” I breathed.
“I hated those men. Who gave them the right to touch something so beautiful? So precious? Was it the drink? The drugs? As I held my sister’s body in the street, I realized that none of it mattered. Not one thing. I’d failed my sister. Surely, I would fail God as well. I hated myself so much in that moment. I realized that deep down, I was no better than the sinners. So I became one.”
I was quiet on the walk back to the cabin. So was he. But the warm, firm grip he kept on my hand kept me steady.
It felt like the earth had shifted. Everything about him made sense now. The wild recklessness that had a strong base underneath it. His devil may care attitude and loyalty. His kindness and his disillusionment with the rules and social niceties.
Preacher was a good man. I’d known that almost from the start. I hadn’t quite realized he was the best man I’d ever known.
I had known I loved him for a while. I’d fought it. But I hadn’t realized how much I admired him.
He was imperfect. Broken but healed. And there was something incredible about that.
I followed him up the steps to the porch and stepped inside. I swallowed, looking at the man who had just bared his soul to me. He was giving me a somber look.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty?”
“No, but . . .”
“But what?”
“You’re not going to chain me up again, are you?” I joked, eyeing him warily.
“Not in the way you think.”
And then Preacher lowered himself to his knee.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Preacher
“Cynthia,” I started, with the box in my hand as I kneeled. It’s a good thing I don’t have arthritis, I thought. Because my lady deserved the whole shebang, knees and all. I was pretty sure most guys were nervous when they proposed, but I wasn’t. I’d never been so sure of anything in my entire life.
“I didn’t have high expectations for life. I never expected to meet someone like you. I couldn’t have imagined anything so good, or beautiful, or pure as the love I feel for you. A long time ago, I thought God had forsaken me. But I was wrong. I know now that he didn’t give up on me. He sent me to you.”
She smiled tremulously. I cleared my throat, not quite done. I had a lot to say to her before I actually popped the question.
“You have changed me, Cynthia. I’m a better man when I’m with you. I know I’m probably still not good enough, and never will be, but I’ll never stop trying to live up to your example. I want nothing more from life than to cherish and protect you for the rest of my days.”
Her eyes were definitely more than a little misty. I nodded in satisfaction. It was a good thing I had a way with words when I needed them.
Because I needed her to say yes.
“So I have to ask you, once and for all, will you be my wife?”
She stared at me. I stared at her. You could have heard a pin drop in the cabin. Even the birds in the trees outside shut the fuck up.
“Yes, Preacher. I will be your wife,” she said softly. “Now get up off your knees and kiss me.”
Well, I didn’t need to be told twice.
It was the best kiss I’d ever had. There was something special about it. Almost holy. The kiss was a promise and a pledge.
“You’re wrong, you know,” she said as I slid on the ring a few minutes later.
“Wrong? About what?”
“You are good enough. You are more than good enough,” she said, cupping my face. “You are the best man I’ve ever known.”
Well, damn. Now it was my turn to get teary-eyed.
I noticed she’d barely looked at the ring. It was a pretty big rock, though probably not as big as the other ring she’d been offered. I frowned.
“Don’t you like it?”
“It’s perfect,” she said, still staring at me.
“It’s a couple of carats. Clarice helped me pick it out.”
“She knows my style,” she said happily, still not looking at her hand. It was a simple ‘princess-style’ band with a solitaire, not surrounded by diamonds or big enough to reach her knuckle, like Zach’s ring was.
“I can afford something flashier.”
“I don’t want something flashier. I want this ring.”
“But—”
“Preacher, shut the hell up and take me to bed.”
I scooped her up and carried her to the bearskin rug in front of the fireplace instead. I lay her down gently and lit a couple of candles. Then I stripped her down.
“I’ve been wanting to do this since I met you,” I murmured huskily as I pulled off my shirt and kicked my boots off. I left my pants on. I’d get to that later. Right now, I just wanted to look at her, lying there naked against the soft fur.
“My God, woman, how can you be so beautiful?”
She stared at me, her breath coming in little gasps. It humbled me to know she wanted me as much as I wanted her. I could hardly believe the intensity between us. It would have scared me in earlier years.
Maybe everything really does come at the right time, I thought in amazement.
I couldn’t wait another second to touch her. My hands skimmed over her legs and up her thighs. I didn’t lay on top of her, though. Not yet. I needed to worship her for a while first. If this is what God meant when he stole Adam’s rib, he’d been on the right track. I was more than happy to give up a body part for this woman. I’d give her everything I had and more without her having to ask.
But I knew she would never ask. She took what was offered, if it was love and affection, but she would never demand more. She inspired me instead of nagging me. Though she had let me have it a couple of times. But she hadn’t manipulated. She’d just been ready to walk because I needed to do better.
She wasn’t too soft or too hard. No. My baby was just right.
“Fuck, I love you so much, woman,” I whispered as I took an ankle in each hand and pulled her legs apart. “Let me taste that pussy and show you how much.”
She turned bright pink, but she didn’t protest. No, my girl loved the way I took care of her pussy. This time wasn’t nice and neat. I was desperate for her. I needed to get closer, deeper, faster, and harder.
And that was just my tongue.
I used my thumb to brush her clit, and she sighed, lifting her hips. My pace slowed, just like that. She was letting me do what I wanted to. There was no rush. She wasn’t going anywhere. She was mine.
Very soon, she’d even be mine on paper.
“That’s it, sweetheart. Lift them a little higher,” I murmured against her pussy. She did as I asked, and I reached out, dragging a pillow over to put under her scrumptious ass. There. Now her pussy was on display, lifted, spread, and very easy to access. I decided to keep her like this for as long as I could stand it.
I grunted as my tongue delved inside her, slowly exploring her folds. I loved having her open for me like this. I’d have to remember this position for future maximum pussy eating.
“So delicious . . .” I breathed against her, pulling back to use my finger on her clit as I checked out my lady’s lady parts. “So soft. Fuck . . . I want inside you.”
She lifted her hips and let out a whimper of pure need. I grinned and kept at my slow pace. I decided not to let her come right away. By the time I slipped my cock inside her, she’d be out of her mind with lust.
Then, maybe, I’d spend some time playing with that ass later. In fact . . . I licked my finger and slipped it inside her tight bottom. She whimpered even louder. This was pretty much perfect. My face covered in her sweet, sticky pussy juice and my finger getting squeezed by her cute little ass. Fuck, that was hot.
I took my time, not rushing, ignoring her pleas as they became more and more desperate. I didn’t put much pressure or her clit as I teased it, and I didn’t fuck her pussy with my tongue the way I usually did to make her come. I just toyed with her ass and flicked my tongue on her clit now and then. Not enough to make her come.
She was out of her mind by the time I knelt between her golden thighs and pulled my cock free of my jeans. I rubbed it against her, staring hungrily down at her unbelievably sexy body.
“I can’t decide which way to fuck you first.”
She gasped as I decided to tease her a bit longer and go for her ass. She loved it when I took her this way, but it was usually later in the night. It was only starting to get dark outside. There was something extra filthy about doing anal when the sun was out.
I grabbed some lube, conveniently stashed in my jacket pocket, and rubbed it all over my cock. Then I notched the tip inside her, both of us moaning from the pleasure of it. She was so tight and smooth, and her ass felt incredible on my cock. I made sure to tease her clit a little bit more as I eased deeper into her backside.
“I fucking love you, woman,” I breathed as I started to slowly fuck her. “You’re my old lady now.”
She whispered her agreement. For a long time, it was quiet in the cabin. The only sound was our bodies moving together and our breathing as it got more and more ragged. I could feel her getting close and flicked her clit faster. The feeling of Cynthia coming this way was indescribable. Her body moved on me, pulling me deeper as her ass cheeks trembled in my hands.
“So juicy and sweet,” I said. “So tight. So perfect.”
She tried to speak but couldn’t. She was still coming. The pleasure was almost too much, but I wanted to make it last so I slowed down again, moving my hand from her clit to her nipples. With her ass raised like this, I could slide my knees under her thighs and play with her body at will.
It was the best goddamn seat in the house, that was for sure.
In all the houses.
Ever.
I watched in fascination as her pussy jumped, even empty as it was. She told me once what a strange sensation it was, wanting my cock inside her there but loving the feel of it in her ass.
Of course, my woman didn’t say ass. She said behind. Which was fucking adorable.
And she was going to be my wife.
For some reason, that thought, and catching sight of the ring on her slender finger, sent me over the edge. I started to come without warning. Not just come. I starting coming like a freight train.
I bellowed as I came. She was coming again, too. I saw stars as I nearly blacked out, my cock buried inside her as deep as it could go. My balls were working overtime, making more and more of that baby batter.
“Fuck!”
“Preacher . . . oh, God, Preacher!”
Her cries were getting higher and higher as I fucked her into another orgasm, this time using one hand to tug on her nipple and the other to pull on her clit. I had lost all finesse. I was just an animal, fucking and coming and grunting.
It was almost ten minutes before our bodies stopped shaking.
I pressed a quick kiss to her sweaty face and rolled to my feet.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m just going to wash my dick before round two.”
“Round two?” she squeaked, sounding like a little mouse. That had woken her up. “Already?”
“Oh, it’s going to be a long n
ight, sweetheart.”
“It’s not even night yet!”
“Woman, you are going to be well fucked for the rest of your life. That much I can promise you.”
I headed to the bathroom, happy that I’d managed to shock my bride-to-be. I still had a few tricks up my sleeve to show her. But not until I had taken her the good, old-fashioned way at least twice.
And then I was hitting that ass again.
Marriage was going to be amazing. I’d known it from the moment I held her in my arms. But there was something about knowing that I could do this all night, every night from now on that made my blood run extra hot.
I might have started the day worried about losing my woman. Now, I knew I would get to fuck her as much as humanly possible for the rest of my life. With her consent, of course.
Luckily for me, I knew how to get my lady’s engine going. Bikes and women were two things I knew how to manage. I was going to have a grand old time toying with the finely tuned machine that was my woman’s flawless body. I’d never be bored, lonely, or cold again. All I had to do was take care of her, keep her safe and happy, and play her pussy like a fiddle.
I washed my cock and my face and then went back into the living room to do just that.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Cynthia
“I never expected to be here for this long. I never expected to find people who touched my heart and inspired me so much. And I definitely did not expect to meet the love of my life.”
Preacher’s voice rang out strong and true without sounding . . . well, preachy.
“Thank you all for welcoming me when I first came to your community. Thank you for coming to celebrate our very, very short engagement. And thank you, Aunt Julia, for whatever these insanely delicious little things are,” he said before popping a stuffed cherry tomato into his mouth.
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