Page 52 of Holly Jolly Heresy
“You’re not supposed to be here.” Gavin frowned at Molly as she hiked up her wedding dress and climbed the stone steps to St. Anthony’s. He crossed his arms in front of himself as though he were warding off a demon and shook his head. “Uhuh. You’re not supposed to see each other before the wedding. It’s bad luck.”
Molly rolled her eyes and dropped the hem of her dress, the layers of chiffon and lace falling around her turquoise heels. “Caleb doesn’t believe in luck.”
Gavin hesitated, clearly trying to come up with his next objection. Kyla appeared at the base of the steps, cradling her very pregnant belly with one hand and holding her burgundy dress up with the other so the fabric wouldn’t drag on the sidewalk. “Gavin, just let her in. You remember how we were before our wedding.”
Her brother-in-law-to-be blushed, the tips of his ears going red, and Molly knew she’d won. “Thanks, Ky!” she called over her shoulder as Gavin grumbled a half-hearted protest, even though he was already descending the steps to meet his wife.
The front door of St. Anthony’s creaked as Molly entered the church. The lingering scent of frankincense and myrrh mingled with the Christmas greenery as she entered the sanctuary along, a welcome wave of heat hitting her as she crossed the threshold. Her wedding dress wasn’t exactly meant for extended periods of time outdoors in a Rhode Island winter, especially not on a day like today where the air smelled like snow.
It had been almost a year since she’d last been inside a Catholic church, but every so often Caleb would come to a service or just sit in the empty sanctuary and pray. From a pew in the front row, Caleb turned at the sound of Molly’s footsteps echoing in the otherwise empty space. He grinned, then put a hand over his eyes. “Isn’t it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?”
“You sound like your brother.”
He chuckled and dropped his hand. His eyes slowly swept over her, from the short, simple veil pinned into her hair to the deep V neck between her breasts, the dip at her waist before the lacehugged her hips, to the tip of her turquoise shoes peeking out under the hem, and back up again. His eyes sparkled, liquid and deep in a way that raised goosebumps along her arms.
“You look…” He blew out a breath and took another long look.
She spun around, showing him the low cut back, the way the dress was molded to the curve of her backside. “You like it?”
“I love it. I can’t believe I get to marry you.”
How did he still manage to make her heart flutter even after all this time? When he got up early to make her coffee before she headed to work at Aster Bay High, or when he stopped on his way home from work at the Women’s Resource Center to pick up her favorite bananas foster cupcakes from Tessa’s bakery—every day in a thousand little ways, from doing the dishes without being asked to surprising her in the shower with a good morning orgasm, he set her heart racing.
“Sit with me?” He held out his hand to her, helping her arrange the layers of fabric as she joined him on the pew, their clasped hands resting in her lap.
“I thought you would have left for the vineyard by now,” she said. The rest of the bridal party had already assembled at Nuthatch, the vineyard Ethan and Hannah owned on the other side of town, and it wouldn’t be long before the guests started arriving.
Worry pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Am I late?”
“No. We have time.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, Caleb’s eyes trained on the stained glass above the altar and Molly focused on him. She could see the thoughts swirling behind his eyes, the silent prayers he was reciting. At last, he smiled and lifted her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss in the center of her palm.
“Do you know what I prayed for?” he asked. She shook her head. “I prayed that we will always be this in love. When I got here, the words wouldn’t come, and I realized it’s because I don’tneed to pray for us to be happy. I already know we will be.” She squeezed his hand, her stomach doing that swooping thing it so often did when Caleb talked like this, his quiet confidence in their love something she wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to. “So instead I offered up a prayer of gratitude, for you, for us, for the life we have together. So many things to be thankful for. I guess I lost track of time.”
“Can I add one more thing to the list?”
He grinned and nodded, closing his eyes in prayer and waiting for her to speak. Molly brought his hand to her stomach, holding it flat against the curve of her belly. “Thank you,” she murmured.
His eyes flew open, a question poised in them as his gaze darted between her face and her belly. “Are you…”
She bit her lip to hold back her answering smile. “The doctor just called a little while ago. I didn’t want to wait to tell you—”
He pressed his lips to hers, cutting off her words. “You’re pregnant?” he asked between frantic kisses, his free hand cupping her face. “We’re having a baby?”
“Looks like you’re going to be a father again after all, Father West,” she teased.
He laughed and pulled her into his lap, his kisses slowing, deepening, until she could hardly catch her breath. She shifted in his lap, tugging her skirt up around her hips to allow her to straddle him in the pew. He slid his hands up her thighs, caressing her with a reverence she’d never take for granted. His smile turned wicked as his hands climbed higher then skated away again, up and down in a slow slide that set her nerve endings on fire.
“What are you thinking, angel?” he asked, his voice low and teasing.
She glanced around the empty church and rocked her hips against his growing erection. He groaned at the friction, digginghis fingertips into her thighs. “Did you know, for some women, pregnancy increases their sex drive?”
“You don’t say.” He pulled her hips down in a slow wave, over and over, his own hips lifting slightly to grind against her through their clothing. “One more thing to be thankful for.”
He wrapped an arm around her lower back and crushed his mouth to hers as he tumbled them to the floor, the cool marble of the dais a shock against her overheated skin. He pillowed her head on his arm as he dug under her skirt with his other hand. She’d had fantasies like this, finding Caleb alone in the church and giving in to the sexual tension between them, needing each other so badly they couldn’t wait for a more appropriate setting, but she’d thought she’d missed her chance to make the fantasy a reality when he’d left the priesthood. Knowing he’d left for her, that they would be husband and wife in a matter of hours, did nothing to dull the adrenaline rush of the forbidden when his fingers slid inside her panties.
“So ready for me already,” he marveled. He lightly circled her clit, but even that small amount of pressure here, laid out on the dais in the middle of the church, sent shockwaves through her. “So sensitive. Can I make you come, love? Here, before God, in your pretty wedding dress, with my baby in your belly?” Another circle, a sharp gasp spilling from her lips. “Say yes, angel.”
