Outside The Lines (Love Beyond Reason Book 2) (9 page)

9

“Oh, stop here, David.” Maria reached out and put her hand on David’s arm. Main Street was quiet, the sun was shining, and her childhood church sat tall against the sky. It pulled to her.

His foot came off the brake as he eased over to the curb.

“Do you mind if I just stop in for a minute?”

He shook his head, turned back the key, and got out. Maria watched him cross in front of the car. Then he was at her door, opening it and holding out his hand for her.

She took it and stepped up with a smile. “Thank you.”

His hand was warm in hers, and soft. She really liked holding his hand and wondered what made him do it in the first place. It went against their arrangement.

“I’ll just be a minute.” She hurried up the steps and into the foyer where she blessed herself from the font of holy water. When the door didn’t automatically close behind her, she turned her head and saw David standing just inside.

Back in October, they’d chatted briefly about religion. She’d been too shy, too new at the relationship to dig deeper. He knew she was Catholic. She had no idea if he was even baptized.

David came forward, taking her hand again. “It’s quiet in here—peaceful,” he whispered.

She took him through the pews about half way up and walked toward the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the left. “I’ll light a candle and we can go.”

He lifted a brow, but it was more amusement than criticism or objection.

Squeezing his hand, she let go and lit a candle. For her family. For her sister in the military. For her baby.

And for herself—and David.

It made her feel better, even if it didn’t do anything tangible at the moment. She believed only good came from praying. Sometimes, it just took a while.

When she went to go, David came to her side and put an arm over her shoulder, pulling her against his side. There was an exit there, and they left through it. The sunshine beat against her eyes after being in the dim church. She used her hand as a visor.

“Thank you for letting me do that.”

David looked at her funny. “I don’t
let
you do anything, Maria.”

“Maybe—”

The sound of a horn broke through the cold air. “Maria! I didn’t know you were back in town.” A car had pulled up to the curb, a blonde woman sat in the front seat, leaning over the window frame, a cigarette between her fingers. “And—oh! David. When did you come back?”

“Jennie,” Maria greeted her friend as she and David crossed the sidewalk.

“Hi,” David said with a grin. “How are things with the Neanderthal?”

Jennie snorted a laugh. “You remember,” she said, her eyes bright with humor. “Well, look—” She held up her left hand and flashed the big diamond on her finger. “I decided to keep him.”

Maria grabbed Jennie’s hand. “When did that happen? I’ve only been gone a week and a half.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been flying under the radar for at least a month—friend.” Jennie frowned. “What’s going on with you, anyway? Coral says you’re off the schedule for two more weeks.”

“Well, actually…” Maria glanced over at David. “I went to find David. We got married.”

“What?” Jennie shrieked, as she tore her hand free, opened the door, and pulled Maria into her arms. “I knew it. You guys,” she grinned. “You were so cute last fall. Why didn’t you tell me, girl?”

A funny feeling filled her gut. “Oh, well.” She cleared her throat. “I— I missed him—” She was avoiding the conflict, avoiding the shame, and hated herself for it. “I’m pregnant.”

“What?” Jennie shrieked again, and then lowered her voice. “Oh, my God. Did you tell your parents? What did they do? Are you okay? Holy hell, I can’t believe it. Sister Maria got pregnant.”

Heat rose on Maria’s neck. Her friends called her Sister Maria off and on since high school, when she wouldn’t drink the beer everyone else was drinking, didn’t stay out past curfew like they did, and never once tried cigarettes. She’d earned a reputation for being the good girl.

And she’d never regretted it.

“Sister Maria?” David looked from Jennie to her.

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “It’s a…bad joke, from our school days.”

Jennie grabbed David’s arm, gave it a squeeze. “She never broke the rules…well, not until you anyway.”

“That’s not true!” Maria defended herself, but inside, she knew it was…sorta true. “Okay, it’s a little bit true. But there was the time I cheated on that test.”

“That wasn’t cheating,” Jennie immediately argued. “We were allowed to use outside sources on that test.”

“Shut up, Jennie.”

David broke his silence. “You know what they say about still waters running deep.”

Maria looked up to him surprise…and gratitude. Her smile came from deep inside. He was standing up for her, in his way. And when he took her hand, she melted.

“You want to get going?” he asked, pulling her toward him. As if he knew the conversation was about to get awkward.

“Yes.” She turned to Jennie. “It was good to see you.”

“Hey,” Jennie added. “Congratulations, you two. I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks.”

Jennie hopped back in her car and drove off with a wave.

“The whole town will know within the hour.” Maria leaned into him. “Is that going to bother you?”

“No. I don’t care who knows. I married you, didn’t I?”

“Yes, but she’ll put a spin on it, make it as juicy as possible.”

He lifted his shoulder. “Don’t let it bug you.”

“It doesn’t bug me! I’m used to it. I grew up with these people.”

But it was funny because maybe it did bug her a little. She still wanted people to think they’d married because they were madly in love. She wanted people to believe they had something that would last forever.

And she just wasn’t sure that was true.

~*~

As he drove to Zack’s, David worked hard to bury the lust that bombarded him. It had been easier when they were in Vermont, and he had an office to hide in.

Not hide,
work
.

“You’re quiet,” Ree stated from her side of the vehicle. He’d liked holding her hand in the church. He wasn’t a religious person. But he couldn’t deny the calm he’d experienced in there with her.

Of course, being alone with her in a quiet, dark place… that had been something he’d been thinking about a lot in the last few days. The ache of wanting her was growing, and leaving him frustrated, too. Being back in this place where all these feelings had culminated in the first place, was tough on his determination to remain distant. She was alive here, in her family, in her friends, in her life—church, work. All of it. “Just processing, I guess.”

“Jennie, she’s harmless. I mean, yeah, the whole town will know, but they’d have known anyway, right? Or was it Zack? He didn’t mean to imply that you couldn’t afford a place to stay.” Maria worried her bottom lip. “I’m sure it wasn’t meant as an insult. Besides, no one knows who you really are.”

She’d thought he was offended. Okay, maybe he’d been a little put off. He shrugged. “I’m not worried about Jennie. Also, Zack knows who I am.”

“What? How?”

“He works for a security company out of Sacramento. I’m married to a woman he claims as a sister.” David had no doubt that Zack was well-aware. “He knows.”

“Well, crap,” she said. And laughed. “You’re probably right. Brothers. I swear.”

“I liked your brothers.”

“Liked, as in past tense?”

“Right. I guess now will depend on how many bones they leave unbroken.”

“Oh, dear” She laughed as the color drained from her face. “I’ll protect you.”

He lifted a brow.

“What?” She grinned. “I have my ways.”

They pulled back onto her street, and David noted the empty driveway of her parents’ home. Regret was an unfamiliar emotion but it sat in his chest. He liked her family. Would they ever like him back?

The chat with Jennie revealed something he’d missed all those months ago.
Sister Maria?
Maria had come to him that day in the diner. Even knowing she was from a big, conservative family, he’d never seen her as a goody-two-shoes. She’d been…tempting yet pure, a friend and then more. Shit. “Um, were you really going to become a nun?”

“No! Oh.” Maria gave him a whack on the arm, and it made him grin. She used her hands to talk, and she had a way of showing surprise that was endearing, to say the least. She wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less a grown man. “You said not to let it bug me, now you’re letting it bug you. I was never going to be a nun.”

“Okay.”

“Would it really matter that much?”

At the uncertain tone in her voice, he parked the car at the curb in front of the little house. He sighed. Did it matter? Should it matter? “I don’t know. I’d have gotten between you and any other man, that’s how much I wanted you. God? That’s a different story.”

She studied him.

“What?”

“I was never going to be a nun.”

“Okay.” He believed her. “I guess it doesn’t matter now anyway.”

Maria took his hand. She seemed more comfortable now. At her parents, she’d been drawn and pale, and he worried about the stress on her and the baby.

“You need a nap.”

“No, I don’t,” she said through a yawn. “Okay, maybe a short one. As long as you promise me something.”

“What’s that?” He took her chin with his hand and turned her to face him, taking in the soft, sleepy look in her eyes. Eyes so dark, they were no color at all.

“Don’t do anything while I’m sleeping.”

He grinned, and in a moment of weakness, pressed a kiss to her lips. “Worried about me?”

“Maybe,” she whispered, her gaze falling to his mouth.

Need struck him. He cleared his throat and let go of her. “Let’s get settled. I might run to Sacramento while you sleep and check in on the hotel I purchased last year.”

“Trouble?” she asked, opening her door, getting out, and reaching back in for her purse. When she leaned over and looked up at him with those big brown eyes all he saw was the smooth skin of her cleavage. And the wide, innocent glance of those deep windows to her soul.

Damn.
Definitely trouble.

“Shouldn’t be. They were finishing up some renovating in December. I’d like to check it out. That’s all. Do you mind?”

She shook her head.

“Good,” he said with a smile.

Zack came out on the porch in a pair of cargo short and sandals. A long john shirt covered his torso, his only nod to the chilly weather. His arms were folded over his chest, a chest that suddenly looked bigger than David remembered it.

The former soldier could do a number on him. Maria was loved here, and he had to wonder if what he was willing to give would be enough. Not for Maria, but for the rest of the family.

Zack showed them in. “I haven’t done much to decorate. Without Lena here… Well, it didn’t seem worth it.”

He opened a door in the short hallway off the foyer.

A double bed, a small dresser, and a tiny little three-quarter bathroom with a shower.

“This is fine.” David threw their bags down on the floor next to the bed. “We appreciate it.”

Well, crap.
He’d arranged a hotel room with two beds, and a bar in the restaurant so he could avoid her until dark when he could be relatively certain she’d be asleep. If there was one thing he’d learned about Maria, she slept fast, hard, and deep.

Just like she came.

The thought came unbidden and with a deluge of images from their past—Maria, supple and naked beneath him, above him, around him. Sweat lightly covering the length of her body. Soft hands on his chest. Eager sounds of her desire…

This is what being back in Red Bluff did to him. Made him crazy. David cleared his throat. “I’ll be back.”

He left quickly, giving her a swift, hard kiss first.

~*~

There was nothing to do in Sacramento. The hotel was running smoothly. The renovations had been completed with little mishap. He went through the financial books, lingering when there was no reason to, then he visited the Capitol and walked for a bit before getting back on the road.

Winter months meant an early sunset, and it was just about dark when he got back. He almost passed Quinn’s—a bar just off Main Street—but, at the last minute, pulled into the parking lot.
Just one drink to subdue whatever desire was still thriving inside him.

He went straight to the bartender and ordered a scotch, taking a sweet, long slug before sitting on the stool. He’d been here a time or two back in the fall. It wasn’t a family joint, but it had good vibes. And the din of conversation soothed his nerves.

Yes. David March was nervous to return to his bride.

He drank the last of the amber liquid and set the shot glass on the smooth wood surface when a finger tapped him on the shoulder.