Page 7 of Lust

Ethan leans back into his chair, running a hand through his already somewhat disheveled hair. “I think I need to nap for a couple hours before I pull my all-nighter. Can you wake me up before you go to bed?”

I take a sip of my beer. “Sure thing. I put those blackout shades in the guest room just for you.”

He smiles faintly, and I can’t help but read a little pity in his expression. He’s caught on to my loneliness these past few weeks.

Just as he makes it to the slider door, he turns to me. “Was Sofia at church tonight?

I plant a smile on my face. “She was.”

Ethan shakes his head. “I can’t believe you still haven’t even kissed her. She’s a bombshell.”

My smile threatens to falter. I can’t believe I don’t have the desire to kiss her pretty mouth either. He’s right that she’s a beautiful woman, and she has that naïve sweetness that would have called to the wickedness within me years ago. By now, I would have faked warmth and sincerity, using my velvety voice to coax her into my bed ten times over. I’d be ready to find my next conquest.

I was a bastard before God transformed me.

“I’m just being careful,” I say. “The Hernandezes are too important to me to be flippant about this. If I hurt her, it could get ugly.”

He smirks. “Hector would kill you.”

I grunt. “Yes, he would.”

And I would lose the only family I have other than Ethan.

He leans up against the glass door, his eyes narrowing. “Do you think maybe you want to get married so badly because you want to have what Hector has? The big family barbecues and the kids running around.”

I take a sip of my beer. “Who says I want to get marriedbadly?”

He shoots me a skeptical look that makes my face heat.

“If I were going to get serious with Sofia,” I say, “which Hector seems to want, I need to give her time. She’s still hung up on her ex-fiancé. Well…Mariana implied it tonight after the service.”

His eyes widen. “Mari was at church?”

I nod. “She comes sometimes. With Sofia and or her friend Livvy.”

He smiles, shaking his head. “She’s who I would go after. Sofia is obviously gorgeous, but Mari… She’s something else.”

Heat washes over my skin, and my teeth clench of their own will. Where is this irritation with Ethan coming from? Sure, I’m protective of both Mariana and Sofia. But this is my little brother. He’s not a threat.

Fuck.

God, please say lust isn’t fucking with my head again.

“She’s going to start working at the church,” I say. “Sofia volunteered her to fill in for Daisy.”

Ethan frowns. “Mari? Why would she do that? She doesn’t seem like she’s that into church.”

“I think Hector might have asked Sofia to volunteer her. It all felt a little staged when she brought it up tonight.”

He shakes his head. “Why are they so pushy with her? When Hector was trying to minister to you, he went out to the bars with you. He was around when you were getting drunk and taking women home. He met you where you were. He wasn’t pushy at all.”

I shrug. “I’m not his daughter. It’s different when fear is involved. He even asked me to talk to her.”

“Well, you’re good at that. You could actually make her see how good God is.”

“No,” I say sharply. “I don’t want to do that. Christianity isn’t for everyone.”

Ethan stays quiet for a while. He doesn’t agree with me on this topic, I know, but he’s too much in awe of my position in the church and my education to argue with me.

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