AllFreeNovel
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“I’m sorry,” I say. “Can you repeat that?”
“I was thinking of swapping ‘In Christ Alone’ with ‘Oh Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.’” He sets his guitar on a stand at the edge of the stage. “It’s a banger of a hymn.”
I nod, trying to maintain a placid expression. “Sure, that sounds good. We’ll try it at rehearsal.”
Gurshan looks at me for a moment longer before heading out of the church sanctuary. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, trying to shake fantasies of Mariana from my senses.
I haven’t jacked off thinking about her. Not once since this strange lust for her began to stir within me.
That’s the one thing I have.
I make my way to the back of the church. “Hey, do you have a minute?”
She turns around, her dark hair swinging over her shoulder. Her brown eyes meet mine, and my stomach does a little turn.
“Sure, what’s up?”
I clear my throat, trying to ignore the wash of her sweet floral scent over me. “I just wanted to check in and make sure everything’s okay. You seemed upset last night.”
She waves a hand. “I was more irritated than anything. I didn’t want to snap at my dad.”
I lower my chin. “I had a talk with him after you left. I didn’t like the way he treated you.”
Her eyes grow wide at first—as if she’s surprised—but then that mischievous smile tugs at her lips. “My big strong protector. I should start callingyouDaddy.”
My whole body ignites into flames.Yes, you should, naughty girl. Get on your knees and thank me.
Oh fuck.
Fucking fuck. This isn’t good.
I glance at the corkboard, searching for a change of subject. “What are you doing?”
Her smile fades. “I’m rearranging the prayer requests. I hope you don’t mind.”
I take a breath to calm my racing pulse. “Why would you do that?”
Her eyes spark. “I decided to categorize them by topic. Loss of a loved one is this big section right here.” She points to the middle of the board. “I subdivided it by pets and people. These right here are family struggles, but I put breakups and divorce in their own category up there. And these are miscellaneous.”
The warmth blooming in my chest is calming my raging lust. I’m thankful for it. Mariana’s excitement fizzes out of her like champagne bubbles. I always found it adorable and infectious, long before I started seeing her differently.
I smile. “What was your rationale for rearranging them?”
She licks the corner of her mouth, drawing my attention to that full bottom lip. “I figured people who are going through some kind of trial probably want to pray for people going through a similar thing. This way, they can easily find it.”
I tilt my head. “Is this for the benefit of the one praying or the prayee, so to speak?”
She shrugs. “Both, probably. It’ll help the person praying sort through their own troubles, for one thing, and don’t pastors usually encourage people to pray with specificity?”
I smile. “We do, but why would an atheist care about this?”
A notch pulls between her dark brows. “I respect all the rituals, even if I don’t believe in them.”
“I never doubted it.” I take a step forward, as if pulled by a force from outside of me. You’re very kind and thoughtful.”
She tilts her head up to look at me, and a molten liquid heat floods my gut. Those lips are full and slightly pouted. The temptation to lean in and kiss her is overwhelming.
Fuck.
