Page 39 of The Preacher's Pet

“Okay. You can buy me a coffee. But on one condition.”

“And that is?”

“That we get to drink it outside.”

A genuine smile lifts his mouth this time, and his whole face changes, his green eyes lighting like sun through a leaf.

“That’s a condition I can deal with. Meet me near the old stable block in ten minutes. I’ll bring the coffee.”

He doesn’t wait for a reply but releases my arm and strolls off. I find myself watching him go, his easy gait, his shoulders rolled back. He’s someone who seems completely confident and comfortable in who he is, even though he’s also strange and freaky. He doesn’t need to try to fit in.

A flash of my dream comes back to me, how he’d been standing in the shadows, his hand on his cock as he watched me come. I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head, trying to dislodge the image. Even now, the dream still feels so weirdly real, it’s like it actually happened.

Am I making a mistake by meeting with him? We’re both here at the college, so it’s not as though I can avoid him forever.

I find the old stable block and stand there, my back rested against the wall, warmed by the sun. I wait for him and wonderif perhaps he’s not going to show, but then he rounds the corner, two takeout cups of coffee in his hands. It strikes me that it’s quiet here, and I could be in danger, but there are plenty of people around inside the college at this time of day who could be looking out of the windows on this side. Roman would be foolhardy to try to hurt me here, if that’s what he wanted.

“Let’s walk,” he says, handing me one.

We move at a comfortable pace, side by side.

“I heard you and Malachi have gotten closer,” he says.

Oh, no. Is he going to snarl at me and warn me away again?

I shrug. “Not really. We met in the bar the other night, but I haven’t seen him since. It was no big deal.”

“Everything Malachi does is a big deal.” Roman rakes his hand through his jaw-length hair. “He doesn’t get into things lightly. None of us do.”

“Am I the thing you’re referring to?”

I’m trying to act nonchalant, but my heart is beating a mile a minute The heat of the coffee warms my hands, and I take a sip, hoping I don’t burn my tongue. It’s sweet and bitter, all at the same time.

“Since you arrived at Verona Falls, things have been different between us. There’s been a new…tension. We’re supposed to be focusing on more important things.”

I stop walking and narrow my eyes. “Is this where you warn me off again, only this time off of Malachi instead of Cain?”

He doesn’t answer my question but instead diverts the subject. “Cain says you were missing for a number of years. What happened to you while you were gone?”

“I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”

“I’m just trying to get to know you, Ophelia. Find out what makes you tick.”

“Why? So you can manipulate me into getting what you want?”

He gives a slow nod. “You’re smart.”

“I’ve spent most of my life around manipulative men. You’re not that hard to spot.”

He goes to the base of a huge oak tree and sinks to the ground. He sits cross-legged—a strangely agile position for such a tall man—and pats the spot beside him. I hesitate, unsure if I should keep walking, but something about him has intrigued me. He’s so intense. It’s like every word that comes out of his mouth has been considered carefully before releasing it into the world. It makes me wonder how his mind works. It’s clear he is the leader of the Preachers, and I’m starting to understand why.

I take my spot on the ground, mimicking his seating position and keeping my coffee clutched between my hands as a distraction.

“You knew Cain as a child, right?” he says.

“That’s right.”

“So, you know what kind of home he came from. How his father beat him so badly, he still has the scars, and the nightmares.”

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