AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Every conversation I thought we were going to have disappears from my brain. This wasn’t what I had anticipated. I thought he was going to scold me about the pet store or tell me how terrible I’d acted last night in front of Mary. I thought he was going to talk to me about literally anything else.
While I really wanted to go with Oli, going with Isaac will be…fun. We’ve never done anything like this, not even as a family before everything fell apart.
Trepidation bleeds into excitement as I picture it. Seeing him away from Divinity Falls, away from the church, nothing more than a regular man, not Preacher Isaac. The vision does stupid things to my heart. Just the idea of him in casual clothes, strolling the hot streets of Savannah while we look at all the artwork has me giddy.
“Just us?” I ask, and he nods again, still looking unsure. “That’s—” My free hand flutters at my side as I search for the words, but nothing eloquent enough comes so I settle for simplicity. Honesty. “Thank you, Isaac.”
His throat bobs as he swallows, his eyes still on mine. Roughly, he clears his throat. “You’re welcome, sweetheart.” His hold tightens on my hand, and I can’t help but smile.
I’ve never seen him like this, but it’s endearing. It reminds me that he’s a real person. That he’s still just Isaac.
My Isaac.
With one last squeeze, he releases me and turns back to his sandwich. My lip twitches, my heart races and my stomach is full of butterflies, but I follow his lead, happy to leave everything else unsaid. For now.
But apparently, he has other plans.
My fingers wrap around the soft, doughy bread and just as I’ve pressed it between my lips, he speaks again, his voice a deep, commanding rasp.
“Oh, and Eve?” I bite down and blink up at him. “The next time you do something as reckless as break the law or foolish as attempt to keep it from me—” He breaks off and the sandwich slips from my fingers.
I swallow thickly at the sheer intensity of the expression on his face. Leaning across the little table, he grips my chin tightly, demanding my full attention.
The butterflies turn to pterodactyls.
“I will not hesitate to put you over my knee and punish you.”
My lips part and his thumb darts up, swiping away the crumbs there.
“Do you understand?” he rumbles. His eyes are on fire, keeping me locked in, unable to look away or blink. Did he just say what I think he did? Oh my God. “Evelyn. I asked you a question.”
“Yes, sir,” I whimper.
His jaw ticks and his fingers tighten, but I’m not afraid. Apparently, I’m also not smart, because instead of backing down against his anger, I taunt him. My tongue darts out, lashing across his thumb and his responding growl sends electricity straight to my clit.
His lids flutter closed and his thumb lingers, pressing down my lip until it's in his grip. Just as I’m about to say fuck everything and suck his digit into my mouth, he yanks his hand away, leaving me to fall heavily into his absence.
“What were you thinking?” he asks, and I let my shoulders rise and fall in a shrug.
“Oli needed me,” I mutter. He nods like he’d been expecting that answer.
“You have to be smart, sweetheart. Just because she wants you to go on these wild adventures doesn’t mean you have to,” he says gently. I take a shuddering breath, the previous excitement about our trip to Savannah fading with each passing second.
I like the wild adventures, I want to say. I want to tell him, despite the anxiety of the evening and knowing he was going to be pissed, I had fun. I felt like I was living.
But I can’t tell him that. He won’t understand.
“Eat,” he growls like he knows what I’m thinking. I can’t miss the disappointment in his tone, but I force myself to ignore it.
“I’ll do better,” I breathe. “I promise.”
“I know, sweetheart,” he sighs. “I know you’ll be good for me.”
A jolt of unexpected pleasure shoots through me and I drop my eyes to my sandwich. How can he do this? Pull on my emotions like a puppet master? He can make me so excited, so horny, so small. But in the end, I’m happy.
I’m happy.
Right?
