Preacher Man Read online

  “What’s the other reason?” I ask breathlessly, my nipples turning to tight peaks at the endearment.

  Joseph grows short of breath watching it happen. “Apart from you being a teenager?” He skims his palm up my inner thigh, tracing the edge of my panties with his middle fingers. “I’m a very bad man underneath this starched Sunday shirt, Mila. I’ve managed to lay low and adopt this new way of life. But one taste of your mouth and the man I’ve been hiding is already trying to break free.”

  “Maybe I am a bad seed, then,” I whisper, my lower lip shaking.

  “No, Mila. No, you just call the real man inside me, like nothing else in this town. Like nothing else anywhere on this damn earth.” He dips his head and breathes harshly against my mouth. “Unfortunately that real man is a bastard. And you’ve woken up his jealousy, lust and violence. It’s not your fault, little girl. It’s fate. I don’t know how long I can pretend to be a holy man when I’ve given in and taken what’s mine. I’m going to be like a dog with a fucking bone.”

  I tip my face up, begging without words for him to kiss me. “Will you tell me who you really are, preacher?”

  “Yes.” He traces my cheeks, forehead and lips with his open mouth, his eyes pinched shut. “Yes, I’ll bare my soul to you, Mila. No one else.”

  Oh no. With Joseph touching me, the ache down in my core is worse than ever. There’s a string inside me pulled tighter than fishing wire and I’m wet, so wet that my thighs are turning slippery and I don’t know what it means. I don’t know where it leads. “Will you help me figure out what’s wrong with me?” I gasp, my whole body trembling head to toe as Joseph runs a knuckle down the center of my secret place. “I’m so restless a-and hot,” I heave, twisting in my bonds. “Nothing I do makes the horrible throb go away.”

  His dark brows snap together. “You haven’t come before, Mila?”

  I shake my head miserably.

  “God, Mila. I can’t stand knowing that.” With a vile, muffled curse, Joseph releases the top button of his shirt and pulls at his collar. It’s the first time I’ve seen his throat and I swear I glimpse a swirl of ink beneath a layer of sweat, but I’m burning with a wild fire and can’t be sure it isn’t my fevered mind playing tricks on me. “There’s nothing wrong with you. What did I tell you at the church? Your body needs mine, little girl. I’m your cure. And you’re mine.” He reaches above my head. “I’m going to make it all better, but I can’t stand to see you tied up anymore.”

  “Will you please leave me tied?” I blurt, before I know my own mind. “I can’t explain why it’s different having you here and…not being able to get free. Only that it feels so good to trust you. I want to bare my soul to you, too,” I finish in a whisper.

  Joseph leans down and captures my mouth in a hard, seeking kiss. “You were made for me, Mila,” he grates when he pulls away. My chest shudders up and down as Joseph stands and moves to the end of the bed. He leans down and hooks his finger in the waistband of my panties, tugging them down my thighs, knees, calves, ankles…before dropping them to the floor. I’ll never be able to explain this moment. Having Joseph look at my bare womanhood and not being able to hide myself, even if I wanted to. The lack of power is wonderful and sends a feminine thrill rushing through my body. What’s he going to do with me?

  Anything he wants.

  More moisture coats my thighs under Joseph’s watchful blue eyes and he groans, falling to his knees on the floor, lunging forward on his elbows to lick me straight up the center. A scream catches in my throat, my vision wavering. H-he licked me. There. A sensation I’ve never known gathers in my middle, a storm full of thunderheads preparing to break. And that’s before Joseph finds that secret nub at the very top of my flesh—I never thought to look that high—batting it with his tongue, before lightly sucking. Then he’s alternating between the gentle suction and rolling the flat of his tongue over me, side to side, teasing it with quick, little flickers.

  “Oh my God,” I scream, my head thrashing side to side on the pillow, wrists yanking at the bonds. “My God, my God, my God.”

  “Sounds like you’re doing a great job in there, preacher,” my mother calls from the other side of the door. “She’s already calling out to her maker. You’ll get the devil out of her yet.”

  Joseph doesn’t seem to care that my mother is listening on the other side of the door, because he presses my knees wide on the bed, the pink folds of my femininity blooming open for his blessed tongue. His expression is almost feral as he licks the gloss off my thighs, savoring it like communion, his nostrils flaring, fingers tightening on my knees like he can’t help it. And then he goes back in for more, tucking his tongue inside my opening and wiggling it around until my back arches off the bed. “I’ll do anything,” I holler, not even sure what I’m asking for. “Please, please. I’ll do anything.”

  “Pray!” My mother calls from the hallway. “Pray for your life.”

  “Jesus save me. Jesus,” I babble, my legs wrapping around Joseph’s head, hips twisting to combat the unbearable pressure between my thighs. “Oh, please. I can’t take it anymore.”

  Joseph moans into a thorough lick, the pupils of his eyes having bled into the blue irises, making them totally black. Sweat dots his brow, his big shoulders heaving. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it’s the preacher licking me in my most private place. And now he’s using the V of his fingers to open me up even more, pressing until I can see the pink bud from my position on the pillow, can see his tongue taptaptap it, then lave it like a fiend, his expression nothing short of beastly. It’s the last straw. My body explodes like an atom bomb, my senses shooting out in five directions, that wire inside me snapping, finally finally snapping.

  My scream brings pain to my own ears, but I can’t stop. I can’t stop rubbing my convulsing flesh all over Joseph’s tongue, can’t stop my legs from trying to gather him closer. All the while, he’s snarling and lapping at me, the lower half of his face covered in my essence.

  The door opens to my left and my mother gapes at the scene we create, her hands flying up to clutch at her throat. “Oh dear lord. Preacher. Look what she’s done to you.”

  He looks over at my mother and slowly drags his tongue through my folds. Still watching her, he lays a kiss on either one of my knees, then stands. “She’s cured for now,” he rasps, using his sleeve to wipe his damp jaw. “But she’s going to need another healing session soon. As early as this afternoon.”

  Turning his back on my mother, he releases me from the ropes and my hands fall limply at my sides. Joseph rubs his thumb along my lower lip, his touch traveling lower to fondle my breasts through the white slip.

  “I’ll be keeping her with me for close observation.”

  “Keeping her? For how long?”

  “Forever,” Joseph growls. The look he sends my mother would make grown men weep. My mother backs up into the hallway, her back hitting the opposite wall hard. “You’re lucky I’m letting you live after tying up this sweet girl. Feeding her lies about herself. After taking her from me.” His voice turns silent, almost thoughtful. “On second thought, maybe I won’t let you live.”

  The blood drains from her face. “Please. I was just trying to do what’s best. I’m a God-fearing woman.”

  “Now you fear me. Do you understand?” Joseph brushes his fingertips over my belly before crossing to my closet, opening it. He takes out my purple Sunday dress and shuts the door once again. “We fell in love after today’s baptism and I took Mila home to make her my bride. God shined his light when I held her beneath the water. You couldn’t be happier about the match. That’s the story you will tell people.” He sends me a hungry glance. “The truth is I’ve been in love with her far longer than that.”

  “I’ve loved you, too,” I whisper, sitting up, itching to throw my arms around him. I’ve never been so euphoric and that light, bubbly feeling is evident in my voice. “Are you really going to make me your bride, Joseph?”

  “As soon as
humanly possible, Mila.”

  I collapse back on the bed with a dreamy sigh and Joseph chuckles softly. “That reminds me,” he says, taking out his wallet and handing my mother some money. “That should cover a new paint job outside her window.”

  The man of my dreams scoops me up and carries me out of the house.

  Neither one of us looks back.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Joseph

  I practically rip the hinges off the passenger side door and gather Mila in my arms, kicking the door shut behind me and storming the courthouse. After watching her change out of her damp, white slip and into the purple dress while driving, I’m erect and leaking in my pants. I’ve got the taste of her sweet pussy on my lips and the beast in me is pacing back and forth, demanding to know why I haven’t marked her as mine yet. Why I haven’t buried my cock between her thighs and filled her to the brim with my come. My brain is wondering the same goddamn thing. I’ve never been a man given to tradition, but after finding out my girl has been living with a mad woman and being treated like shit, you can bet the farm I’m going to prove to her she’s worth the world.

  And worth another hour wait.

  Tops.

  I’m fucking dying here.

  Too bad. I’m the man who unknowingly left her unsatisfied for a year. The reality of that makes me want to tear my skin off. If I’d known Mila wasn’t getting off, I would have kicked in her bedroom window and drowned her in orgasms.

  Poor little girl. I lean down and kiss her nose, satisfied when she snuggles closer to my chest, blushing prettily.

  Christ, I’ve never experienced anything like her. The way she mindlessly rubbed her innocent cunt all over my mouth, not knowing what was going to happen, but trusting me to make her better? Her confidence in me is the key to a kingdom and I want to rule there forever. I’m never, ever, ever, ever letting her go.

  A man passes us on the way into the courthouse and his gaze slides over Mila. I lunge at him and snap my teeth, sending him running. It’s happening already. I knew if I took Mila for my own, I wouldn’t be able to maintain the air of a man of God. My misconception that Mila would be turned off or scared by the depth of my need—and depravity—managed to keep me away from her. Now that I know she’s just as eager to explore sexually, I can’t stop myself from taking her.

  And so begins the slow creeping in of my past self. Only instead of channeling my violence into my profession, it’s going toward guarding Mila. Keeping her all to myself. The jig is going to be up someday soon. People will notice the change in me and start to ask questions.

  Questions that will lead to me being found.

  Am I putting Mila in danger by claiming her?

  As if the mere thought of danger has called it forth, I feel a prickle on the back of my neck. With one foot inside the courthouse, I turn and glance back toward the road, narrowing my eyes at a passing vehicle. Late model, black sedan. Tinted windows. Not common around these parts. Has danger found me already?

  The notion causes me to misstep as I advance into the lobby and Mila looks up at me, adorable in her concern. “Are you okay, Joseph?” She rolls her lips together. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

  “God, no, Mila.” I find an open bench and sit down, cradling her close, laying kisses on her forehead. “I love you. I’ve never loved anyone in my life but you,” I murmur against her ear, inhaling her sunflower scent. “Being together is still new, but you’ll realize very soon that I’d crush any obstacle that stood between us. I’d crush any person, for that matter.” I shake my head. “I’ve spent so long worrying I might scare you off. It’s hard to believe you’re worried about the same.”

  “Why did you think you’d scare me off?” She says quietly, reaching up to twist a piece of my hair around her finger. “Because you’re not who I thought you are?”

  “Yes,” I rasp, pressing my mouth to her wrist so I can feel her pulse. “But there’s more, Mila. Something took shape inside me the first time I looked at you. I want your body like hell. So much that I can barely concentrate. But there’s more to it than that. I can’t stop thinking about to bringing you home and spoiling you.” I study her face closely to gauge her reaction. “The way a little girl deserves.”

  Her swollen lips pop open on a gasp and time suspends as I wait for her to speak. After a few seconds, she crooks a finger at me, beckoning me closer so she can whisper in my ear. “I call you Daddy when I’m by myself in the dark, preacher. Is…a-are you telling me that isn’t bad?”

  My cock turns into a fountain, gurgling come from its tip and I moan, twisting my fist in her dark hair. “No, Mila. It’s very good.” I tilt her head back and kiss her fluttering pulse. “It means you’re a very good girl.”

  “I want to go home now,” she breathes, squirming in my lap with glazed eyes and peaked tits, driving me to distraction. “Please?”

  The flesh pressing against my zipper throbs with such fullness, it hurts to stand, but I do it nonetheless, carrying Mila toward the marriage license counter. “I’m going to make you my queen first, Mila. And when we get home, I’ll make you my little princess.”

  The woman behind the marriage license desk gives us a curious once over but I merely stare back until she flinches and hurries to do her job. I set Mila down, keeping her tucked into my side while I fill out the paperwork and slide it back across the counter. “We’d like to be married immediately.”

  “S-sir, there’s a forty-eight hour waiting period.”

  My smile is icy. “I said, immediately.”

  A hush falls in the office. Fingers stop typing on keyboards and the woman holding our application backs away. “Let me just make sure the justice is available.”

  Surprise, surprise. He’s available.

  I take Mila’s hand and guide her into the sparsely furnished chamber, hating that she isn’t having a huge, extravagant wedding like she deserves. I appease myself by vowing that someday I’ll give her every damn thing she wants.

  “Where is the one place you want to go?” I ask, as we take our places in front of the justice. “Anywhere in the world.”

  Her eyes light up. “The ocean.”

  Goddamn, she’s such a sweetheart. I’m the luckiest bastard alive. These hands have strangled the life out of men and yet they’re being given the privilege of touching this angel. I’m never going to look upon her with anything but wonder.

  Keeping my eyes locked on hers, I take two gold bands out of my pocket and hold them out. “I bought these the day you turned eighteen. I couldn’t help it. You’ve been my dream since you walked into the church. I’ll take you to the ocean, Mila. I’ll love you the whole way there and every damn day afterward. That’s my promise.”

  She takes a single step forward, opening her mouth to say something—before simply throwing herself into my arms. “You’re even better than I dreamed, Joseph Stark and I love you more than all the stars in the sky.”

  Thankfully the justice starts speaking at that moment and I’m saved from having to respond, because I’m not sure I could around the lump in my throat. We stand an inch apart as we repeat our vows and slide rings onto each other’s fingers. I was already desperate to be inside Mila, but seeing her with my gold band on her finger dries out my mouth and brings my cock to painful attention.

  Mate her.

  Mate your wife.

  And Mila is an innocent, but the way she’s looking at me and shifting her hips tells me she’s ripe for Daddy’s seed. I’d like to hike her skirt up and fuck her right there in front of the justice, but she’s a virgin and I’m making our first time special, even if I die of anticipation in the process. There’s so much she needs to learn and I garner my patience now, prepared to teach her. To make her mine completely and irrevocably the first time.

  That being said, I drive home like a bat out of hell. Mila is turned sideways in the passenger seat watching me with stars in her eyes. And I make my own vow that I’ll do something every day to earn that w
orshipful expression on her face when she looks at me. That’s my last noble thought as we pull into my driveway and I throw the car into park, exiting the driver’s side, crossing to Mila’s door and scooping her out into my arms.

  “This is where you live?” Mila murmurs against my shoulder, her eyes wide on my white, two story colonial. “It’s so beautiful. Right up against the forest.”

  “That’s so I can draw my enemy out into the woods if necessary. I’d have the advantage of knowing the landscape.”

  “Do you have a lot of enemies, Joseph?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.” I kiss her forehead as we step over the threshold into our house. I check the near-invisible line of chalk I always leave in front of the door, breathing a sigh of relief when I see it’s undisturbed. There is no other way into the house without a wrecking ball—I’ve made sure of it. “You’re safe with me, Mila. Tell me you believe that.”

  “Of course I do.”

  “This is your home now.” I incline my head toward the entry way and staircase beyond. “You’re safe inside here. I would die making sure that stays true.”

  Her eyes gloss over. “Don’t say things like that.”

  “I’m sorry.” I lean down and kiss her sweet mouth, groaning when her lips part, allowing me to deliver a deep stroke with my tongue. Her tits press against my chest and she makes an adorable mewling noise that makes semen drip from the head of my erection. “I’ll tell you everything, Mila. Just let me get my cock inside you first.”

  “I want that, too,” she says huskily, biting her lip. “Teach me about pleasure, Joseph. I want to learn everything.”

  I’m halfway up the stairs before she finishes speaking, blood pounding in my ears. Upon entering our bedroom, I take a seat on the foot of the bed, leaving Mila turned sideways and perched on my knee. I’ve pictured her in my room wearing the purple dress so many times, it almost doesn’t feel real, but the sound of her pounding heart saves me from believing this is all a dream.