Page 20 of At Her Will

Rev had opened the door for Vera, but he turned at Cyn’s comment. “She’ll be safe with me,” he told her. His attention lifted, taking in the women on the upper level. “I promise.”

“You’ll be held to that promise,” Cyn said.

A familiar hardness crossed his expression, the resolve she’d seen when his cousin and aunt hadn’t wanted him to go off with Vera after church.

“I wouldn’t make it, unless I was going to hold myself to it,” he said.

When they reached her car, she leaned against it, watching him drop to a knee to thread the charms onto the laces of hersneakers. They sparkled in the sunlight. It was a thoughtful gift from a lover.

“So why would a man get pleasure out of being hurt by a woman?” he asked, his head bowed over the task.

“There are a lot of reasons, on the emotional side. But flogging or spanking, impact play, it can also stimulate the body, arouse it.”

He lifted his head, his attention sliding over her thighs, waist and breasts. When he reached her face, he had to take a breath, and his hand had curled over her foot. “Is that something you like doing to a man?”

“If it fits the man.” She cocked her head. “You don’t get embarrassed when you don’t know something.”

At his curious look, she clarified. “Not knowing what ‘masochist’ meant.”

A trace of a smile went through his gold-touched eyes. “Lots of things people don’t know, every one of us. I’d rather ask and learn, rather than pretend I know. The teachers at the school tell the kids they should be like that.”

He returned his attention to the lace adjustments. “Moses couldn’t string two sentences together without God’s help, and he fought God’s Will over it. He thought God was making a mistake. Some of it was the natural kind of worry, not wanting to be thrust out in front like that. Not wanting people to think he was dumb, and God chose wrong. But that the wrong kind of pride, thinking he knew better than God what kind of person is right for the job.”

Finished, he left his large hand on the top of her foot, and looked back up at her. “You came across my path for a reason. I just glad for it. Don’t need to think more about it than that.”

When he rose, she laid her hand on his biceps, holding him in front of her. “I have a very strong desire to kiss you, Rev. Full body against body, mouth taking over yours, and letting youinside mine. I’m not going to do it yet, but I just wanted you to know.”

Putting his hands on her waist, he gripped firmly. Though he didn’t draw her to him, she felt the desire there. “Good thing I don’t drive. You putting that in my head might end us up in a ditch.”

She smiled. “Where are we going?”

As he opened her car door so she could settle into the driver’s seat, he plucked out her seat belt and got it started. She took it from his hand and threaded it across herself, watching his gaze following its track between her breasts. She could feel the ready tension in his muscles, that erotic promise, so close with him leaning over her.

They might end up in a ditch after all.

When he saw she’d noticed his gaze, he shifted it. She touched his jaw. “You can look, Rev. I want you to look. I’ll tell you when you can’t. Same with touching. Understand?”

“Yes. When you use that tone, I want to call you Mistress, if that still okay.”

“That sounds fine with me. Why do you use Veracity instead of Vera, when you speak my name?”

“It bother you?”

“No. But I’d like to know.”

“Veracity means truth. I like that reminder. I like calling you that.” A faint shadow crossed his eyes. “And hoping what this is, between us, is a true and lasting path.”

Only time could confirm that, so she didn’t think he expected her to respond. Proving it, the shadows cleared with the next blink of his long-lashed eyes and he left her to get into the car’s passenger side. She hadn’t adjusted it since he’d been in it, so it still accommodated his long legs. He gave her the address for one of the state parks outside of New Orleans. The man liked his natural areas.

As she navigated through the congested inner-city traffic, he touched the car’s dashboard. “First car like this I seen in New Orleans. What made you choose it?”

“I like James Bond. Aston Martin is one of his preferred rides. Do you have a favorite Bond?”

“My aunt didn’t let me watch too much TV. It makes me…unsettled. But I watch movies in the player at school after hours. I seen the one that had the actor fromCowboys and Aliens. And Scrooge.”

“Daniel Craig and Albert Finney. You sawSkyfall.”

“Yeah, that was the name of it.” They were at a stoplight, and Rev had been studying her profile. He reached out, pausing over her ear, waiting for her nod. When he had it, he touched the rings along the shell, a caress that sent sensation rippling down her neck and over her breasts. “Who your favorite Bond?” he asked.

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