The Vincent Boys - Abbi Glines Page 0,62
dad helped them load their luggage into the trunk and my mother hugged and talked to her sister. Lana waved at me from the passenger seat. My room would be quiet and all mine again . . . but that no longer sounded appealing.
There are some things you don’t expect to see and Beau Vincent sauntering into the church on a Sunday morning is one of them. Finishing my solo hadn’t been easy. My eyes wanted to eat him up sitting alone on the back pew with his jeans on and a snug-fitting navy-blue polo stretched across his broad chest.
Sawyer hadn’t noticed his cousin, since he was on the second row to the front. I’d been sitting on that row since I was a little girl. My parents expected me either on the first or second pew. I couldn’t go back any further. Sawyer never complained. Every Sunday he was right there waiting on me to finish singing in the choir.
My gaze drifted back to meet Beau’s even though I knew it was a bad idea. He was liable to make me forget the words. A slow, titillating grin touched his lips. The sanctuary suddenly felt a hundred degrees. My face flushed and I tore my eyes off him and his delectable mouth. Somehow I managed to finish the words to How Great Thou Art without messing up. The choir began to exit through the side doors of the stage and I normally just made my way down to my pew. Today, however, I needed a breather. I fell in behind Mary Hill and let out a sigh of relief as I stepped into the warm sunshine.
“You leaving?” Jason Tibbs asked, sticking his pimply face out the door and frowning at me. His dad was the associate pastor so he felt our meager relationship gave him the right to question my actions. Instead of insulting him I took a deep breath then forced a smile and glanced back at him.
“No, my head is hurting. I needed to take a quiet break.”
He grinned, showing way too much gum and flashing his crooked overbite. His dad really needed to send the boy to an orthodontist and a dermatologist.
“Okay, I’ll leave the door unlocked then so you don’t have to walk all the way around the building to get back inside.”
I nodded and said an obligatory ‘thanks’.
The door closed quietly behind him and I knew I had limited time before people started noticing me missing from the second row.
“You hiding out here because of me?”
Beau’s voice startled a gasp out of me. His long legs ate up the grass as he closed the distance between us. I couldn’t keep from ogling him. It was just unfair for someone to look that good in a pair of Levi’s.
“No response means yes,” he said with a smirk on his face as he came to a stop mere inches from me. He knew I was lusting and he liked it. Determined to regain some of my dignity I straightened my posture and flipped my hair back over my shoulders while peering up at him.
“I always come out here to get some fresh air before I go sit down for an hour of preaching,” I lied.
Beau chuckled and reached out to trace a line from my ear to my lips. “Why don’t I believe you?” he asked. His voice had deepened as he studied my mouth. All I could manage was a shrug. His thumb was delicately brushing over my bottom lip as if he were asking for admittance, and I was lost. We were standing right outside the church where anyone could walk out and catch us but all I could think about was pressing my lips against his. Beau was becoming a necessity and nothing about such a revelation could be considered positive.
“Beau, what are you doing?” I croaked out.
“Yeah, Beau, I’d like to know the same thing,” said a voice that didn’t belong to Beau.
Several things happened at once. Beau’s thumb stopped its caressing but he didn’t drop his hand. I could feel his body tense at the sound of Sawyer’s voice. What I should have done and what I did do were in two different stratospheres. Because stepping back and putting distance between Beau and me would be the logical, intelligent thing to do. Reaching out and grabbing his arm and squeezing it was my immediate reaction.
“Are either of you going to speak or just continue gawking at each other?”
The hard edge to