Son of a Preacher Man - By Arianna Hart Page 0,42

swing by Mary Ellen’s,” he said to Nadya.

“Sure.”

And as if it was the most natural thing in the world, he leaned in and kissed her in front of God and everybody. A collective gasp rang out around the playground as he strode back to his patrol car.

If anyone planned on making Nadya’s life difficult now, they’d have to deal with him.

Chapter Ten

Nadya felt a flush creep up her cheeks as every woman on the playground stared at her. There was absolute silence, and she had no idea how to fill it.

“Lordy, I wouldn’t mind a bit if he used those handcuffs on me,” Opal said.

“Opal Miller, you’re a married woman!” Mary Ellen replied.

“But she’s not dead,” Jemma said. “I don’t know how you’re sitting there cool as a cucumber, Nadya. When he swooped in and planted one on you, it got my panties wet all the way over here. It’s been years since Rob kissed me like that. I may have to remind him tonight how it’s done.”

She was so embarrassed she wanted to crawl in a hole and die. Next thing you know, they’d start calling her gypsy whore.

“I can’t believe he just did that in front of everyone.” She put her face in her hands.

“Honey, that man just claimed you as his in front of three of the worst gossips in Dale.” Mary Ellen gestured to where Lydia and her friends stood in a cluster, their mouths practically hanging open. “He might as well have hung a sign on your neck that said Property of J.T. McBride. He was trying to protect you, not embarrass you.”

“He can protect me any time,” Jemma said with a hoot of laughter.

Nadya couldn’t believe it. This definitely wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting. Had she been so blinded by what happened with the Campbells that last day in Dale that she’d let it paint all the people of Dale negatively? Was she really that narrow minded?

“Is his body as good as it seems under that uniform? I was passing by the bathroom at work one day—you know, I’m the department secretary, at least part-time secretary, right?” Opal paused while Nadya shook her head. “Anyway, I had to bring something to the chief and was going right by the men’s washroom when someone walked out. J.T. was changing his shirt, and I caught a two-second glimpse of his chest. Made me glad to be a woman so I could appreciate it.”

Nadya thought about the way his muscles had rippled as he drove into her last night, the feel of his iron-hard body under her hands as she held on to him, and couldn’t control the shiver of delight that tingled over her. She closed her eyes as a bolt of heat shot straight to her core.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Opal said, fanning herself. “I think Junior’s getting lucky tonight.”

“I can’t believe I’m sitting at a park with kids all around talking about sex. Shouldn’t you be discussing, I don’t know, parenting strategies or something?” Nadya asked.

Mary Ellen snorted. “Sure. And when we’re not talking about nap time, we’re discussing the bake sale and how to get stains out of our husbands’ shirts. Get real. This is the twenty-first century, not the 1950s. Opal even had a sex-toy party a while back.”

“What?” Nadya couldn’t stop the image of an orgy slash barbeque from popping into her head.

“Not using them, buying them. There’s a catalogue that has everything from porn to vibrators to lubricants in it. I got me some of that tingling lube. It was hot,” Mary Ellen said with a wink.

“Please stop. I really don’t want to think about you and Bill having sex.”

Peals of laughter rang out, and Nadya found herself joining in. Jemma got up to stop her boy Luke from eating sand, and Mary Ellen gave Hunter a sippy cup of water. It was all so normal and yet not at all what she’d expected.

When they’d first gotten to the park and the other women had moved away, Nadya had been pissed, but it was what she’d expected. Then J.T. had come and forced her to confront them. Instead of being met with universal scorn, she’d been welcomed by at least some of the women. Sure, Lydia and her group had gone off and ignored her, but so what? Lydia and Pansy were best friends, so her behavior wasn’t unusual for their ilk.

Had Dale changed that much, or had she just remembered only the bad things?

“Mama, can we