Page 55 of Reckless Harmony

She turned and smiled at Abraham, who had left her father to join them. “Hi!”

“What are you doing?” he repeated. “You’ve been standing here like a lump for the last five minutes, and I saw you let those two women pass you without saying anything to them.”

“What was I supposed to say?” she asked.

He sighed, impatience creeping into his voice. “I don’t have time for your nonsense today, Nola. This protest is important to both me and your father.”

She kept the smile on her face with sheer willpower. “Sorry. I’ll do better.”

“Thank you,” he said.

She hesitated before setting down her sign and sliding her arms around his waist. He stiffened and glanced behind him before breaking her hold and stepping back. “You know how I feel about public displays of affection, Nola. It’s especially inappropriate here.”

“I haven’t seen you for two days, and I’ve missed you.” She gave him a teasing smile. “Plus, I’m cold, and you’re a pretty handsome heater.”

The compliment didn’t mollify him. “You knew it would be cold tonight. Why aren’t you wearing a hat and scarf?”

“I forgot them,” she said.

He tucked his scarf a little closer to his throat. “Well, consider this God’s punishment for being forgetful.”

“Right,” she said.

He looked pointedly at her sign, and she picked it up again, earning her a strained smile of satisfaction. When he turned to leave, she caught his hand. “Stay here with me?”

“I can’t,” he said. “Your father needs me.”

He walked away, and Nola turned to face Josephine. The young woman smiled at her. “You’re so lucky to have Abraham as a boyfriend.”

“I am,” Nola said, hoping her smile didn’t look as unnatural as it felt. More cars were pulling into the community center parking lot, and she studied the nearly two dozen church members holding signs at the edge of the parking lot, staring with blatant hostility at the people trying to enter the community hall.

Was this really God’s love? It didn’t feel like it to her, although lately, nothing at the church she’d grown up in felt like God’s love. And if it was, then she didn’t want anything to do with that God.

“I hope I find someone as godly and perfect as Abraham someday,” Josephine said with a soft sigh.

Nola hunched her shoulders, trying to warm both her neck and her ears. It was a dismal way to spend a Friday evening, and she really wished she hadn’t forgotten her hat and scarf. It was just getting colder and darker, and she’d probably have frostbite by the time her father let them leave.

“Come on, Josephine,” Nola said. “We should join the others.”

She took a step back and made a startled yelp when her foot slipped on some ice beneath the snow. She dropped her sign and tried to catch her balance, but her foot was still sliding, and she was definitely about to fall on her ass. Her body tensed, preparing itself for a hard impact that never arrived.

Instead, two leather-clad arms slid around her and caught her neatly. Her back pressed against a hard chest, and she made an embarrassing grunt of surprise before staring up at the man who’d caught her.

Her eyes widened, her pulse went into overdrive, and her cold body immediately set itself on fire.

“You okay?” Nix’s deep voice sounded as tasty as honey to her.

She breathed deeply of his now familiar scent as she nodded dumbly. His big hands were clasped loosely around her hips, and she stared at the tattoos on them before staring up at his face again.

“I slipped on the ice,” she finally said.

She ignored her disappointment when he let go of her hips and stepped away. She turned to face him, her smile jittery and nervous. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“It seems like you’re always, um, saving me.”

He just shrugged, and her pulse still thumping and bumping, she said, “What are you doing here?”

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