I work her clit with my middle finger, circling it when I pull out and pressing exactly where I know she likes it each time I sink back inside. Something I’m learning quickly about Elsie – she’s soft and sweet, but she likes it rough. Not every time, but in moments like this, she’s right there with me, matching every thrust with a moan or a whimper.
And oh, does she love when I make it hurt just a little bit. I move my hand from hers and slide it into her wild mane of hair, wrapping some of it around my fist and pulling slightly.
“Declan,” she cries out. It’s exactly what she needed.
I pick up the pace and so does her breathing, letting me know she’s close to falling apart. When I hear her breathy“Oh”and feel her clench around me, I give myself permission to tip over that edge with her. I bury my cock to the hilt one last time and try to stifle my groan against her hair as I come. My hips jerk forward of their own accord and I lean over Elsie, her body still quivering beneath me with the aftershocks of her own orgasm. I keep a steady pressure on that bundle of nerves between her thighs, and only when she sags against the back of the pew do I finally stop.
“You’re going to be a mess,” I whisper against the bare skin of her shoulder. I slide out of her and step back, my eyes trained on her slick pussy as some of my cum drips out of her. She must feel it, but she just grins over her shoulder at me and slides her panties backinto place. Her dress falls down around her knees as she climbs off the bench, unsteady on her heels before she finds her footing.
“God, that was hot.” She grins up at me while I fix my own clothing, tucking everything back where it should be.
“I swear, I didn’t run after you with the intention of fucking you in a chapel,” I assure her. “Speaking of –” I glance around, expecting to see… I don’t even know. The ghost of Jesus Christ, come to smite us for sinning?
“I think we might be going to hell.”
Elsie shrugs and a tiny smile tugs at the corners of her lips. But then her brow furrows and she takes a step back, and I have a sinking feeling that she’s putting more than just physical space between us again.
“I should head back in there,” she tells me.
“Elsie.” Her name comes out like a desperate plea, which is exactly what it is. “Don’t. Please talk to me.”
She shakes her head and turns toward the door. “Later, okay? We’ll talk later.”
“Let’s talk now.”
Elsie sighs, but she doesn’t step any closer toward the door. When she turns back to me, the thinly-veiled panic she’d managed to mask for the last fifteen minutes or so is back, the emotions she’s been trying so desperately to hide from me swirling in the depths of her hazel eyes.
“What is it that you want to hear, Declan? It’s not enough for me to play the part of your therapist; you want to be mine, too?” The words are sharp as a whip in the empty chapel. I know she’s deflecting, but I still flinch.
“That’s not fair,” I tell her, my voice low and even. I can see the immediate regret wash over her face, but she makes no apology for her harsh words.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she says quietly. The words land like a physical blow, threatening to take me out at the knees.
“Do what, exactly?” I ask carefully.
“This,” she cries. “Us.” The words she’s been holding back burst out of her like a dam collapsing. “When I was in the bathroom, I overheard these two women talking about us. They couldn’t believe you would ever be with someone like me. All people do in this small town is talk, and once again, I’m stuck in the center of it.”
“What does that mean?” I take a step toward her, then another. “What do you mean, once again?”
“I was almost engaged once,” she says, stopping me in my tracks. She’s never told me anything about her past relationships. I’d been curious, sure, but she always skirted the subject, and I never pried.
She knows everything about my past. There was a string of random hookups and casual flings throughout the years, and then there was her.
Only her.
“Okay, so you were almost engaged once,” I repeat. The words don’t taste right coming out of my mouth. “What happened?”
“He left,” she says simply, though I get the sense it’s anything butsimple. “We started dating our junior year of high school and stayed together throughout college. We went to the same school nearby. But when graduation came around, Nathan didn’t want to stick around like I did. He knew that I had no intention of leaving – or at least he should have; I had told him countless times – but he still proposed.”
“And you said no?”
“I said no,” she confirms. “But not right away, and Ialmostsaid yes. Despite the fact that the thought of leaving this town absolutely gutted me, despite knowing, deep down, that I had been falling out of love with him for a while – I almost said yes. Because it’s what wasexpected of me. Because everyone in this town had watched us fall in love as teenagers, and they were rooting for us as adults. Because I wanted him to be happy, and I wanted to be the person who could make that happen.
“Thankfully, Olivia and Grace talked some sense into me,” she continues quietly. “And then I had to deal with the fallout. He went off to law school and never looked back, and I stayed here, where I had to answer all the questions about what happened, and see the accusatory looks from his parents every time I ran into them somewhere around town. I haven’t dated anyone seriously since, because it was too much. I didn’t want to go through that again. Idon’twant to go through that again.”
“So, what?” I ask, trying to wrap my head around it all. “You’re going to ruin a good thing because you don’t like people gossiping about you?”
“It’s not that simple,” she argues. “God, Declan. I know it doesn’t make sense, okay? But I’ve already been part of a relationship where the pressure for everything to work out perfectly and to make everybody happy was so overwhelming, I almost went through with it and said yes. I was almost Mrs. Elsie Lewis, all because I was too fucking scared to disappoint anyone and be honest with myself about what I wanted.”
