Beautifully Ruined

Chapter 3

Grace POV

Monday morning I woke up with a frown. I wasn't mad at Nathaniel or my father or at God or Calvary Creek or the universe's sense of humor but at myself.

Because I spent Sunday night thinking about a man I'm supposed to be over. I had men fawning over me, men who would give me their life savings just to have a taste of me and now one Sunday service put me right back to when I was twenty-three yet, my anger doesn't quench the heat between my legs.

I get dressed and go downstairs and my father is already at the kitchen table with his coffee and his Bible and that particular look on his face that means he's about to say something I won't like.

"Father Cross is coming by this afternoon," he says and I stop mid-step because hearing his name sends electricity up my spine.

"What? Why?" I was supposed to be angry, so why am I getting excited?

"I asked him to check on you and make sure you're settling in." He doesn't look up from his Bible. "He's a good man and I believe it would do you good to talk to someone grounded in faith while you're home."

I pour coffee and don't say what I'm thinking, which is that Nathaniel Cross is the last person on earth who should be checking on my spiritual wellbeing.

"What time?" I ask instead.

"Two. I'll be at physical therapy but you have to be here. Don't screw this."

“Of course I will,” I mumble but he doesn't hear me. I spent the morning cleaning things that don't need cleaning in a bid to keep my hands busy and my brain off the fact that Nathaniel is coming here. I can't believe I am horny over a man that dumped me. Not just any man, a priest.

I'm loading the dishwasher when I hear the knock. I look back at the clock to realize that it's exactly two o'clock.

Why was I even surprised when he has never been late to anything in his life.

I dry my hands and check my reflection in the hallway mirror. I'm in jeans and a t-shirt with my hair up and no makeup.

I opened the door to see him in black pants and a black button-down. I noticed he didn't wear his signature collar today while his sleeves were rolled to his elbows.

When he looked at me,it was as if a jolt of electricity passed between us.

"Grace."

"Father Cross." I don't move from the doorway. "My father's at therapy."

"I know, he told me." Then paused. "I came to see you."

Instead of closing the door in his face and telling him to get lost, I Iet him. Big mistake.

He stands in the middle of the living room acting like he's not sure what to do with his hands which is weird because I've never seen Nathaniel uncertain about anything. It's almost satisfying.

"Coffee?" I ask.

"Sure."

"Your father said you're doing well,"

"Yes I am"

I handed him the coffee and our fingers brushed in the process that we both felt it.

"Define well," I tilt my head in a thinking pose.

He doesn't answer, just looks at me with those eyes that used to know every part of me.

"Grace…" he finally calls out

"Just stop."

"But I haven't done anything yet."

"I know what you want to say, but please just drop it. It's been three years already, move on."

"You don't know what I was going to say."

"Yes I do." I lean against the counter and cross my arms. "You were going to apologize, or try to explain, or maybe even say something about how complicated this is and I don't want to hear any of it."

His jaw tightens. "Then what do you want to hear?"

"Nothing. I want you to leave."

"I don't believe you."

"Excuse me?"

He sets his coffee down and takes one step closer. "You could've told your father you weren't home, yet you let me in."

"That's because I am no scumbag. I can't say the same for you." I rolled my eyes.

"That’s bullshit."

I let out a sound because never in a thousand years did I imagine that I would hear him swear yet the shock of it does something to my pulse.

"You don't get to show up here and…"

"And what?" He took another step and I swallowed. "Say what we're both thinking? You've been in my head for three years, Grace. Three years of trying to forget you. You don't get to walk into my church on a Sunday morning looking like that and expect me to pretend I don't…"

"Don't what?" I breathed and watched as his eyes dropped to my lips and that made everything in the room go very still.

"Nathaniel I…" I don't get to finish when his lips are suddenly on mine. At first I didn't move but my body has a mind of its own because I found myself kissing him back.

My hands are in his hair and his are on my waist and we're pressed together against the counter and it feels like falling and flying at the same time.

His hands know exactly where to touch me like those three years never happened.

I manage to break the kiss. "We can't…" I tried to catch my breath.

"I know."

"Then stop."

"Why don't you make me?"

I pull him closer.

This time when we meet, his hands slide under my shirt and are warm against my skin. I arch into him and he groans into my mouth and that sound does something to me I'm not prepared for.

"Grace…" His voice is wrecked. "Tell me to leave."

"No."

"Tell me to stop."

"Don't stop."

His hands move up to cup my breasts through my bra. When he squeezed them, I gasped and he swallowed the sound.

"I've thought about this," he said against my mouth as he unhooks my bra with one hand without breaking the kiss and slides his palms over my bare skin. He finds my n*****s and rolls them between his fingers until I'm making sounds I can't control.

"My Dad would soon be home," I breathed

"I don't mind, now tell me, which one's yours?" he sucks on one n****e and my mind goes blank.

"Up... upstairs, first... door."

We barely make it as we're kissing on the stairs and in the hallway. He presses me against the wall outside my room and his hand slides into my jeans and finds me already wet.

"f**k," he breathes."Grace, I…"

"Don't stop."

He strokes me through my underwear in slow circles that make my knees weak. I'm panting against his neck and trying to stay quiet even though there's no one home to hear us.

We stumble into my bedroom and he kicks the door shut and then we're pulling at our clothes.I wrap my hand around him and he's already so hard and leaking.

"I haven't…" He can't finish the sentence. "Three years Grace. I haven't…"

"I know." I stroke him once and his hips jerk forward.

I used my tongue to go round the tip twice before I let go of him and he practically shoves me backward onto the mattress. His mouth is on my neck, then my breasts before he starts moving down.

He pulls my bra off completely, takes one n****e in his mouth and sucks until I am arching off the bed.

"Nathaniel…" I moan as his hands are between my legs and his fingers slide through my wetness.

"f**k, you are so wet," he says against my breast. "Did you think about this last night?"

Before I could reply, he slid one finger inside me and that made me an incoherent mess.

"What else?" He adds a second finger and I'm already so close I could come just from this.

"You know, we shouldn't be doing this," he says even as his thumb finds my c**t. "This is…" He circles my c**t and I buck against his hand. "I'm supposed to…"

"Shut up Nathaniel and f**k me" I should be ashamed of myself but whatever has possessed me is doing a good job.

“You are still so impatient,” he chuckled and stripped me of my remaining clothes. In no time,he is stark naked. He hasn't changed much unlike me. His body is more firm and all my favorite muscles of his are now so well defined. Who would ever think their priest is this hot.

His c**k is pressed against my entrance but he hesitates to put it in. "Grace…"

"Don't ask if I'm sure, just f**k me."

He pushes inside in one stroke and we both make sounds.

He's bigger than I remember and since I haven't done this in a while, it burns in the best way possible. He stays still for a moment, letting me adjust as his forehead is pressed to mine.

"Are you okay?" he asks and I manage to nod which makes him pull almost all the way out and slams back in. I cry out and dig my nails into his back.

"Argh, argh, please don't stop." I shamelessly moan as he sets a fast pace that almost makes me see stars. The bed is hitting the wall but we're both too far gone to care.

"You feel…" He can't finish because I wrap my legs around him, pulling him deeper.

"f**k, I'm coming"

"I know baby, I know…" his hand slides between us and finds my c**t and that's it.

“Fuccck,” I cry as I come hard, clenching around him.

“I never want to leave this p***y,” he groans into my neck as he keeps pumping me, pushing deep and deeper until I feel something hot inside me.

We are still tangled in each other when we hear a knock on the door.

“Gracie dear, are you home? My therapist had to leave early, did Pastor Cross come over? Why is the front door unlocked” My father called out behind my door. Oh s**t.