Preacher's Daughter - Flora Ferrari Page 0,8
make sure you had an eye kept on you,” is all I tell her for now, grinning like a maniac as she keeps blushing and shifting on her feet until Fitz announces he’s saved the day.
Her air conditioner is working again.
I figured it was a fuse though.
I could’ve fixed it in a second.
As quick as she was to apologize and get him upstairs, Faith wastes no time in finding the check her Dad left for him and bundles him straight back out of the house.
“I’ll be sure and tell your Dad I met your friend, as well,” he says quietly to her before she closes the door in his face.
She gives a smile before she starts to gnaw at her lip again.
She’s as anxious as I am, I’m sure of it.
Anxious about the fact we might not have as much time in this house alone as we’d both like.
Chapter Five
Faith
Nobody’s ever seen me naked.
I don’t even like seeing myself naked,
The thought of a man like Noah, spending not just a second but a whole night, watching me shower and then sleep on top of my sheets without a stitch on.
It terrifies me on one hand, but on the other, it makes me so wet that I almost want to show him everything all over again, right here in the hallway.
Judging by the size of that tent pole he has stuffed down the front of his jeans, I’m guessing he likes what he saw.
I mean, he has to have, right?
My damned lip. I’m gonna chew right through the whole thing if I don’t watch it.
There’ll be nothing left for Noah to kiss. Nothing left for me to wrap around his huge, fat-
“Faith?” Noah asks, his brows raised, motioning his head towards the sound of the phone ringing.
Snapped from my fantasies yet again, I stumble to the kitchen, grabbing the phone as I try to even begin to consider my next move with Noah.
If there was ever a real-life, cartoon puff of smoke with a ‘poof’ sound, it’s right over my head when I answer that damned phone.
“Faith? What’s going on? I just had Fitz call me, he’s all worked up, saying you have a strange man in the house. Do I need to send Sheriff Brodie over, and why didn’t you call me? I was trying your cell half of last night and all this morning...”
If Dad does one thing, beyond anything else exceptionally well, it’s preaching.
Whether to his flock or to his daughter, to the guy pumping gas, or to the folks trying to win an argument, he can ask a million questions in one go and always leave you feeling guilty.
No matter what you’ve been doing, and so far. As far as I can tell. I haven’t done anything with Noah.
Not a single thing.
Except maybe lean up against him a little…
I take a breath to answer, but he’s still going.
When he’s at home when he has me in his sights and knows everything’s fine, he’s an angel. But when Dad has to leave me alone, or if he’s someplace he knows he can’t get to me, he worries like nothing else and like today of all days, I just know he’s gonna be a pain in the ass.
“I knew I should’ve gotten out of this conference, but how could I? It’s only to apply for funding in next year’s budget…”
Closing my eyes for a moment, I only open them once I sense Noah’s heavy step in the kitchen.
My heart leaps in my chest as if my Dad can actually see down the phone, knowing he’s right in the room with me.
“It’s fine, Daddy.” I hear myself tell him, the same tone I always used when calling him from college.
I know he worries, and it’s only because he cares.
“Noah’s not a strange man,” I continue, suddenly sounding defensive as I try to answer all of Dad’s questions in one go.
“Oh, Noah is it?” he exclaims, and I can tell I’ve only upset him even more.
As if sensing my bind, Noah takes the phone from me and giving me a short little smile, takes charge as he talks to my Dad himself.
I feel my stomach drop, I have to cover my mouth to stop the croaking sound from being broadcast across thirteen states.
“Pastor Holding? I’m Noah Templeton…”
This is it, this is what the end of my life feels like. My fantasy man has climbed down from the tree, come into my house and now he’s talking to my Dad. Brilliant!
“…Well I