“Well, you sure sound like you know what you’re talking about.”
He grins. “I’m saying this on observation, not experience.”
He smiles at me, and this time, I smile back. “Thanks.”
“For?”
I shrug. “For letting me talk about it all. I don’t- well, I don’t have a lot of people to talk about this sort of thing with.”
“You mean arranged marriages.”
I roll my eyes, grinning. “Not what it is, but sure. Yes.”
“You and Chastity don’t have long talks into the night about this?” He chuckles before I can even answer that one, before glancing at his watch. “You know what, I should get you home before the good Pastor Ellis sends out a search party. Let’s go get the last few boxes.”
Back in the storeroom, Rowan drags a mini ladder out and props it up against one of the shelves.
“Last of the paper cups,” he says with a shrug as he starts to steady it.
“Oh, I can get that.”
“Nah, I got it.”
“I’m smaller,” I shrug. “Plus you’re stronger, so you hold the ladder, I’ll climb.”
I slip past him before he can say anything else and start to climb up.
“Whoa, easy,” Rowan mutters, leaning in to steady it. “Careful, this thing is slippery as-”
And just like that, with a shriek, I go skidding right off the step. The world goes still, my heart skips a beat, and the air rushes out of my lungs as gravity yanks me down.
I gasp as I land in his arms. My hands cling to his t-shirt and his arms as I let the air out in a whoosh, every single nerve ending in my body firing at once. I jerk my head up, and our eyes lock.
My heart pounds.
His arms cradle me against him.
My fingertips brush his bare arms.
Whoa.
Rowan clears his throat as he sets me down. “Lets, uh-”
“Yeah, okay,” I say quickly, stepping back from him the second my feet touch the ground and pulling at the hem of my shirt.
“Let’s go ahead and leave that one up there,” he says with a small grin. He grabs the last two cases of soda, and I can feel my face pulsing with heat as I watch him effortless lift those as well and walk out the door.
I follow, my heart still pounding.
I get into the passenger side of the truck as he closes up the back of the truck. His door opens with a creak, and he slides in next to me in the cab and turns the engine on.
“Look, are…” he takes a breath. “I’m not asking you to lie, I’m just asking if you could keep this between you and me.” He shrugs. “The whole big dude with money thing.”
I turn and smile at him, hoping the ridiculous blush is off of my face by now. “Only if you don’t spill about me being a huge klutz back there.”
“Oh, trust me, I’m keeping that one to myself.”
He winks at me before pulling the truck around, and my face goes bright red all over again as we drive away.
Chapter Nine
Evangeline
My heart is pounding by the time Rowan drops me off at the rental house and drives away. Hands shake as I unlock the front door, and my lip catches between my teeth as I climb the stairs to the second floor.
The door to my room closes quietly, only the sound of my telltale heart beating in the dark giving me away.
Giving away the sin I’m holding inside.
Temptation of the flesh.
Rowan Hammond is wicked.
Filthy.
No good.
And I’m trying so hard to drown out the voice inside that screams that I want something no good.
I want bad.
Don’t be silly, I chide myself. It’s a ridiculous thought. This is weakness, is what this is. This is me giving in to temptation — giving in to the sin of lust.
And really, this isn’t me. I don’t think thoughts like this. At least, I never did with Joseph.
So why is it Rowan who’s creeping into my head like this — late at night, alone in my room with my heart pounding, all manner of wicked thoughts coming up from somewhere hidden?
I dress for bed quickly and brush my teeth. I do so as fast as I can, rinsing and washing my face, avoiding making contact with my own eyes the whole time.
I can’t look, because I know what I’ll see on my face.
Want.
Need.
The sin, written large on my face.
Back in my room, I slip under the covers, trying to squeeze my eyes shut and squeeze the impure thoughts of him from my head. The thoughts of those arms, those eyes. Those perfect lips and that wicked tongue.
A heat begins to bloom inside of me, one that I try to stamp out, but it’s too late.
There’s no stopping it.
The heat grows, a fire hungry for more as it slowly consumes me from the inside out. I squeeze my legs together, clenching tight, but it only makes it worse. The heat teases through places it shouldn’t. Wicked, sinful thoughts igniting fires in wicked, sinful places.