Page 39 of Property of The Grump

He grips my waist and pulls me into the crook of his body, his flaccid cock pressing against my ass as he holds me close, still kissing my shoulder, my neck, the back of my head. “You’re mine, little lamb, and there’s no way around that now.”

My body aches for him. My thighs, my core, my heart, and I’m afraid I want something I know deep down I can never have.

Chapter Thirteen

Kade

Seven Years Ago

She’s asleep in my arms, her hair spread wildly, her hand resting haphazardly, her breath shallow and soft as she exhales warm, little puffs against my chest.

I hold my hand still where it’s been all night, my fingers cramping, my wrist locking, my elbows screaming for relief, but I don’t move. I can’t because I don’t want to wake her… because I don’t want this moment to end. That said, I can’t stop thinking about what a fucking asshole I am.

I’ve devoted twenty years to the church. Twenty years of my life, and it’s been days since God has said a word to me. I can’t blame him. I’ve not been acting right. Between the shit I did to Michael at dinner yesterday and the many indiscretions I’ve had with Wren, I think God and I might be on the rocks.

Lord in heaven, I pray. I don’t know what I’ve done. I need guidance. I need a path to follow.

I’ve tried prayer. I’ve tried physical activity. I’ve broken my vows in hopes that I’d recoup my sensibilities and turn them back to the cloth, but instead I’m here, in this bed with this sweet woman, and I only want more.

I need to protect her. I need to hold her close. I need to be free to love her the way she deserves to be loved.

Usually, this is where I’d hear the voice of God, but again, I hear nothing.

“You okay?” Wren’s voice is soft with sleep, and my chest warms at the mere sound of it. “Are you praying?”

“I’ve been praying for an answer on and off for days. I don’t hear anything.”

“Is that bad?”

“I don’t know,” I groan, staring toward the portrait of Jesus that’s hung in this room for decades. “I’ve spent so much of my life living a certain way. I don’t know how to reconcile this feeling I have for you. It’s out of the blue, life-altering, and everything I never knew I needed. All night long I kept imagining you next to the lake in a wedding dress. I kept imagining our kids playing. I kept trying to think of a name you’d like better than Christopher.”

She laughs and kisses my chest before she leans up from the bed, the blood returning to my fingertips slowly. “There’s nothing I want more than for this to work out. Trust me, I’ve spent my whole life dreaming about a guy like you, but you’ve spent so long being a priest. You’ve given your whole heart to the congregation, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel selfish taking you from all that.”

I stare at her as my phone buzzes on the table beside the bed. “I’ll find a different way to support the community. I’ll do something to win their trust back.”

My phone buzzes again and again, enough times that I glance down to make sure there’s no emergency.

“Is everything okay?” Wren asks, her hair a wild mess from sleeping.

“Yeah. I’ve got to step outside for a minute. Can you stay here?”

“What?” She steps forward, panic drawn across her face in two thin lines. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Leanne. She’s outside the church, and Zane is asking for you.” I tug on my jeans as I speak. “I need you to stay here, okay? He won’t be as brave with another grown man.”

“You don’t know him like I do. You don’t know what he’s capable of. Let me go with him and calm him down. It’s okay.”

“You’re not going with him,” I groan as I tug on my T-shirt. “You said it yourself. He won’t cause a scene here. I’ll see what he wants, and I’ll ask him to leave the property.”

She nods once as I head through the rectory and toward the side door of the church where Leanne said the asshole was waiting. I have no idea what this fuck wants, but I can’t imagine he’s going to react well to hearing Wren won’t be jumping to his every whim.

Harsh light shines in as I push open the door of the little church I grew up in. Leanne is on the steps, laughing far too loudly at whatever the asshole has just said.

This woman will flirt with anyone.

“Father Anderson! I keep telling this guy that Wren isn’t here, but he’s insisting he’s tracking her phone, and she’s been here for days.”

Of course he’s tracking her phone. I’m an idiot for not thinking of that sooner.