Chapter 16
Silas
I wasn’t sure how I was still breathing…because June Fontenot had said yes.
Not just a nod or a murmur or a maybe, but a yes that rang through me like a bell.
A yes with her whole body. A yes with her soul.
And now here she was—spread out on the altar like an answered prayer, like something sacred I’d been too afraid to ask for. Her lips were red and swollen with lust, her breath uneven…and she was looking at me like I was the goddamn miracle and like she wasn’t an angel.
I didn’t know how I was gonna carry that.
But I would try.
I held her in my arms and kissed her as she wrapped her legs around me, as her hands moved down the buttons on my shirt to undo them one by one.
I kissed her like I was sayin’ my vows right here in this church—like a man who’d wandered the desert and just found water.
And when her hands slipped under my shirt to find my bare chest, I ground against her and—fuck—we made the same sound, soft and desperate and divine.
“Tell me if you wanna stop,” I wrenched out, even though I thought it might just kill me if we didn’t keep going.
June let out a breathy laugh. “Stop asking if I want to stop. I want this, Silas. I want you.”
And that was all I needed.
I kept kissing her as I shrugged out of my shirt, tossing it onto the floor with her underwear—as I moved to unbuckle my belt.
Her hands were already there, already working the button, the zipper, reaching for me.
Her tongue was on my lips, mine in her mouth, swallowing her moans—and her fingers were wrapped around my cock, oh fuck—
I groaned, loud and helpless, forehead pressed to hers as she stroked me—slow, steady, like she knew exactly how I liked to be touched. And maybe she did, because I was already shaking, already on the edge of ruin just from the feel of her palm and the look in her eyes.
“June,” I whispered, voice rough and ragged. “Fuck.”
Her smile was wicked and soft all at once. “Is it sacrilege to say I can’t wait for you to fuck me on this altar?”
I tried to laugh, failing completely, moaning as she pulled me free instead.
I had to stop—I would come in her hand if she kept going—so I nudged her away and braced my hands on either side of her hips.
She slid closer, looping her arms around my neck, her brow furrowing as I dragged my cock up her wet pussy.
“You on birth control?” I asked, voice rough.
She nodded. “Yeah…just…please—”
I didn’t waste another second.
And with a groan, I pushed inside her.
She gasped, nails biting into my shoulders, legs tightening around me as I eased deeper—inch by inch, until I was buried to the hilt.
There wasn’t a single part of me that couldn’t feel her…
and damn it, I couldn’t fucking move. I took shallow, gasping breaths against her shoulder, one hand splayed across her upper back, the other on her ass to pull her closer.
I needed to breathe.
Needed to fuck her all night…not to come fast and hard like a goddamn horny teenager.
But then June tilted her hips, a little sigh slipping past her lips. “Silas…please—”
And I was a fuckin’ goner.
I started moving. Slow at first, gentle…the kind of rhythm meant for memorizing, for feeling, for saying without words: I see you. I want you. I will never forget the way you look right now. The way you say my name, the way you move, the way the light makes you glow like a fuckin’ angel.
June moaned, her breath catching every time my hips met hers—as I rocked in, out, in again…each movement an exercise in self-control. Her hands roamed my back, nails scratching little lines on my skin, written like scripture.
She tilted her head back, eyes fluttering, lips parted, and I watched her like a man watches the sun rise, knowing he might never see anything more beautiful.
“Eyes on me,” I whispered, voice rough.
She obeyed, opening those big blue eyes…and God, the way she looked at me.
It split me open, all the way down to my bones. She didn’t look away as I fucked her slow and deep, as I whispered her name over and over again. There was no shame in her face, no hesitation—just that fire, that honesty, that resolute steel I’d come to love so fast.
I shifted my weight, angled my hips—and she gasped, clenching around me, her heels digging into my back.
“There?” I rasped.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Right there. Don’t stop.”
I didn’t.
Couldn’t.
I kept moving, giving her everything I had, learning her body. Our pace increased; she was gasping, aching, fluttering, arching. Jesus, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, blooming in the most unexpected of places.
And when she started to fall apart around me, her cries soft and broken, her body shuddering, I knew this wouldn’t last much longer.
“Come with me,” she said, breathless, pleading.
One more thrust. One more breath. One more look into those wild, celestial eyes…and I was gone, buried in her, hands clutching, heart wide open and spilling everything I had into the only woman who’d ever made me believe I deserved a second chance.
The aftershocks left us both trembling.
I pulled her into my arms, letting her rest against me even as I questioned if my legs were gonna hold me up anymore.
June’s legs stayed wrapped around me, my face buried in her neck, her fingers tracing patterns on my back.
I could feel her heart beating against my chest, could feel mine slowing to match it…
and I wanted nothing more than to finish undressing her so I could really feel her, skin to skin.
It should’ve been perfect.
And in so many ways, it was…but after a few minutes, June shifted beneath me and winced—just slightly, just enough that it made me pull back, press a kiss to her temple, and murmur, “Come on. Let’s get you off this altar.”
She laughed, quiet and warm. “Holy work complete?”
I kissed the corner of her mouth. “Sanctified.”
She tucked her face against my chest as I helped her sit up, then eased her legs around me, letting me carry her bridal-style back down the hall. It felt funny—like a strange joke, some half-blasphemous parody of a wedding night—but it also felt deeply, deliciously right.
Until I crossed the threshold into the parsonage again.
I paused just inside the door, arms tightening around her instinctively. I could feel June’s energy change as well…the way she locked up a bit, curling her left hand toward her chest, uttering a soft prayer.
“Hey,” I said, pressing my lips to her temple. “We don’t have to stay in here.”
She was quiet for a beat.
Then she whispered, “No. I want to.”
I put her down on her bare feet, slow and gentle. “We can stay out here…sleep on the couch.”
She shook her head. “Take me to the bedroom.”
I tensed—because that was where it happened, where the snake had waited…where I almost lost her. If she’d been bitten somewhere else, if I’d waited even a second longer to get her to the clinic…
She reached up to cup my face, and I found her looking at me, clear-eyed.
“We don’t invite this energy to stay,” she said. “We aren’t scared.”
I huffed out a bitter laugh. “What the hell are you talkin’ about? I’m scared as shit.”
She smiled, but she wasn’t backing down. “We left something behind in that room,” she said. “And I want to burn it out.”
I swallowed hard. “You sure?”
June nodded once. “We’re going to exorcise that shit right fucking now.”
God help me…she was absolutely right. And she was brave.
I’d spent the last few weeks walking around with ghosts, and here she was—half-naked, gloriously mussed, legs still shaking—and she was the one standing steady. June Fontenot, who had every right to be afraid, was looking me dead in the eye and saying, Not today, Satan.
So I took her hand…and I let her lead me from the door to the bedroom.
She walked in first like a goddamn badass, sweeping her gaze across the room like she could burn out any trace of the ill intentions that had been brought here…
that may have been living here ever since the Trents left, all those years I’d lingered here, alone.
Then she turned toward me, met my eyes…and pulled her dress off one shoulder, then the other.
My throat seized up, my chest tight. Memories of that night warred with my desire for her, my cock already rising back to attention, eager to give her anything and everything she asked for.
I took a hesitant step toward her and she reached out to grasp my hand as her dress fell to the floor, pooling around her feet.
She raised her left hand, the one with the snakebite and the rosary, her eyes flitting from her hand to me.
“Kiss me here,” she breathed.
I delicately took her hand…still bruised, with those two healing puncture marks.
I did as she asked.
Kissed her there, lips brushing the wooden beads of the rosary.
“You down with some weirdness?” she asked, her lips curving into a half-smile.
I cocked an eyebrow. “Have you met me?”
She laughed, then looked up and around like she was searching for something hiding in the corners. I followed her gaze—because I half-expected there to be some scaly, slithering shape, haunting us.
“If there are any ghosts here who aren’t down to see something real raunchy, you might want to leave the room!” she shouted.
I laughed out loud, unable to stop myself. June grinned like she’d just pulled the pin on a holy hand grenade.
“Not kidding,” she added. “This place…there’s been a lot of fear here, not just from that night, but from this church. And we’re gonna change how this place feels, one orgasm at a time.”
“You are somethin’ else,” I said with an incredulous laugh.
“You’re not wrong,” she laughed. Her hands were on my hips now, thumbs hooking in my boxers and my jeans, pulling them down my thighs. I couldn’t say I’d ever experienced anything quite like this…and it just made me love her more.
I’d tell her when this was over.
And I wouldn’t stop telling her for the rest of my life.
“So we’re gonna fuck the ghosts out of this place?” I asked.