ELEVEN

KAINE

Such a huge rush of people came up to greet me after my speech, you would have thought I was Jesus himself. 

Plenty of other classes and church activities were scheduled but I was swarmed the minute I descended the stage. I shook hands, gave gracious thank-you’s, and tried my best to remember names of newcomers. 

Now that I could no longer see over everyone’s heads, I could only hope that Maggie and her family crept out the front door as soon as the sermon was over. 

Of course, no such luck.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the three of them waiting patiently to speak to me through the throng of people. 

My pulse accelerated as I plastered on my best I’ve-never-seen-you-before-in-my-life smile. 

It was too late to make myself scarce now and I could only pray that Maggie would go along with the charade. 

"Hello!" I exclaimed, clasping her father's hand in mine first. "God bless and welcome to Holy Waters. I'm Pastor Cross. It's lovely to have you in our house of worship." 

"Great to meet you, pastor," her father replied. "I'm Ben Mays and this is my wife, Lila." 

As I reached out to shake Maggie's mother's hand, I noticed she unbuttoned her cardigan and her blouse was even more low-cut and revealing than Maggie's. 

"It's a pleasure, Lila," I greeted, snapping my eyes back up to her face.

"Oh no, Pastor Cross!" she answered with a girlish giggle, clutching my fingers long after our handshake ended. "The pleasure is completely and utterly mine." 

In my peripheral vision, I saw Maggie's eyes roll back, not unlike how they did in my dream. Unfortunately, it was a reaction to her mother's desperate flirtation rather than her own pleasure. 

I smiled politely until she finally released my hand. Poor Ben seemed absolutely clueless at his wife's blatant disrespect right in front of him. 

"And this is our daughter, Magdalene," he said, gesturing toward Maggie. 

"A pleasure to meet you, Mag... dalene." I nearly caught myself saying Maggie instead of her full name.

She caught it too.

"Call me Maggie," she said with a wily smirk, accepting my handshake but letting go of me entirely too soon. 

"We were quite taken by your talk," her mother said breathily, squeezing her breasts in with her arms. "We've been looking for a good church that fits us, especially with Maggie."

Lila placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder and gave her a wistful look, which Maggie returned with an expression of pure venom. 

"My daughter has a wonderful soul but she needs more positive, wholesome guidance in her life. And well, I think you'll be seeing a lot more of us."

"I'm happy to hear it," I said, ignoring the tension between Maggie and her mother, plus the clear innuendo she threw at me. "We have activities and programs for all ages. If you talk to anyone on the leadership team, I'm sure they'll be able to help you out."

"Oh, thank you, pastor!" 

Without warning, Lila flung her arms around my neck. Her tits pressed into my chest as she squeezed me into a hug. 

Over her shoulder, I watched as Maggie groaned and pressed her palm to her forehead in embarrassment. Her father was conveniently looking somewhere else. 

Awkwardly, I patted Lila's back a few times before untangling myself from her. 

"It was great to meet you all," I said, plastering on my smile again and putting a good three feet of distance between myself and Maggie's mother. "Enjoy the rest of the service. Now if you'll excuse me." 

I walked as quickly as I could to the men's room to get my bearings. Thankfully I didn't have to hide a boner. Maggie's mom did a fine job of deflating that bad boy like air from a balloon.

I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on my face. Even that icy water was nothing like the shock to my system that seeing Maggie gave me. 

I thought she was out of my system, quite literally. My body still felt woozy from that intense orgasm in the shower yesterday. It was the first one I had in months and all because of her. 

This holy place, my holy duty, was supposed to cleanse any lingering temptation, to let her fade away into a sin of the past. Instead, seeing her in person again brought my desire back stronger than ever. 

At the same time, my heart ached with sympathy for her. Just the glimpse of her home life I saw through the brief interaction with her parents told me so much. 

Her mother, pretending to be devout while trying too hard to act half her age. She resented her daughter and saw her as competition, despite being a married woman. 

And her father. I couldn't tell if he was legitimately clueless of his wife's blatant disrespect or if he purposely turned a blind eye. Either way, it didn't do any favors for Maggie. 

It didn't seem like the worst home life, but it was truly saddening. I wondered if Maggie had any other family to spend time with or if she was stuck with those two. 

A spark of protectiveness simmered my blood as I shut off the water and dried my face. 

No, Kaine. You'll do more harm than good to the girl, I thought to my reflection.

But she already spent the night in my bed. She got drunk. She got naked. And I never touched her. I already proved that I'd never take advantage of her. What was wrong with just being friends if that was what she needed?  

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. 

That quote wasn't from the Bible but it rang through my brain like a bell.

When I exited the men's room, I was startled but not entirely surprised at running straight into the object of my torment. 

"Jesus, Maggie!" 

I turned the corner and practically crashed into her. 

"Wonderful sermon, pastor," she said by way of greeting. "Forgive me if I don't shove my tits in your face like my mother. I have some tact and would prefer to do so in private."

I sucked in a quick breath as my eyes darted around. The hallway was thankfully clear, as my cock chose that moment to stiffen like a board again. 

"Why did you come here?" I demanded in a hushed whisper. "Did you know this was my church?" 

"No. Honestly I didn’t. " Her jaw squared as her eyes looked straight into mine and I knew she was being truthful. "Trust me, I'd never come to any church voluntarily."

"I believe that," I said with more affection in my voice than I intended. For a half second, my gaze roamed over her body shamelessly. It had been less than two days since she came over and I found myself missing her.

"Look, Maggie," I said, clearing my throat. "If you keep coming here, it would be best if we continue acting like we don't know each other." 

Her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared.

"Why?" 

"Do I have to explain why?" I returned her stare incredulously. "It's inappropriate, what we did at my place. I'm on shaky ground in this community because of my divorce and I'm trying to rebuild my reputation here."

"We didn't do anything." She placed her hands on her hips. "And even if we did, we're two consenting adults, aren't we?"

I sighed. "Yes, Maggie. But that's not what it looks like to these people. I'm a pastor. I can't be known for having teenage girls drinking at my apartment and spending the night."

She huffed out a biting laugh before turning on her heel to walk away from me. "Alright, fine. But maybe you should take your own advice."

"What do you mean?" I called after her, staying rooted to my spot. 

She paused and cast a glance at me over her shoulder. 

"Sounds like you're taking the easy way out, Pastor Kaine."