Preacher Man

He’s my Daddy and I’m his little girl. And he makes that right, somehow.

It feels right. More right than anything I’ve ever imagined.

As Joseph comes toward me slowly, I let my gaze track down his body. Over the tattoo of the grim reaper, the coffin, knives and gore. The words Death is Your Only Escape. My husband has a lot to tell me. But no matter what he says, I know I’ve found the other half of my heart. Whatever he did in the past, we share a soul now. We are one, bound together in love and marriage. There’s nothing that could drive me away…

Although I feel a spark of apprehension when I notice the sudden hesitance in his expression. His eyes cut to the side, away from me, even as his hips settle in between my thighs. “It’s time for us to talk, Mila.”

“I know,” I murmur, leaning it to lick condensation off his inked collarbone. “Don’t be scared. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Damn right you’re not,” he rasps, unknotting my towel, peeling it from my body and tossing it away. “You need to understand, Mila. If you ever leave me, I’d dismantle this world, country by country, until I found you and brought you home.”

“You won’t have to do that. Ever.” I settle my hands on his chest. “I promise.”

Joseph’s jaw clenches as he scrutinizes me, but he seems satisfied with whatever he finds and nods. “Come on.” He picks me up off the counter with ease and I eagerly wrap my legs around his waist. “We talk in the bath.”

“Why, Daddy?”

He groans over my use of his title. “I feel unclean when I think of the past,” he mutters, stepping into the white, oversized porcelain tub. “If I get any dirt on you, I want to be able to wash it away.”

Joseph sits and I snuggle close to his chest, giggling when his chest hair tickles my nipples. “You’re talking in metaphors, like you do in church.”

“I’m lucky I was even making sense up there on that stage,” he murmurs, tucking hair behind my ear. “You were the only thing I could think of. There was only Mila in her pretty purple dress.”

I grin into his chest hair. “Even if you didn’t make sense, everyone in this town would just pretend it was the smartest thing they ever heard.” I trace a circle around his nipple. “They think you’re the second coming.”

“I’m not, Mila.”

With a swallow, I look up at him. “Tell me.”

Joseph is silent for a moment. “I left my home in Boston when I was fifteen and another family took me in, only it’s not the kind of family you’re thinking. They’re a family whose sole purpose is to make money through intimidation, illegal gambling, extortion. They collect money from local businesses in exchange for protection—and if those businesses don’t pay up…sometimes they pay with their life.” He wraps his arms around me and pulls me close, burying his face in my hair. “I had no guidance growing up, Mila. Never saw anywhere or anything outside my neighborhood. This was how the world worked. You paid your tribute or else,” he says. “I started working as muscle for this family, intimidating people, collecting money…taking care of rival family members who tried to run an operation on our turf. These hands that dare to touch your skin, Mila…they’ve killed.”

Some part of me knew that. Some part of me suspected. But I can only think of a lost fifteen-year-old boy with nowhere else to go. I can only find sympathy in my heart. “Why did you leave?”

His throat works against my temple. “I have a brother. Younger than me. When I joined the family, my only condition was that my brother be kept out of that lifestyle. He was smart, doing well in school. I didn’t want him anywhere near it.” He shrugs his big shoulders. “They didn’t listen. They thought he knew too much about what I did on their behalf, so they pulled him in. Made him complicit. I told them, Mila. I told them I didn’t want my brother involved—and they didn’t listen. So I took down the boss.”

Even though I know nothing about this world Joseph is describing, I reckon from his tone that killing a boss is a very bad thing. “So you ran?”

“Yeah,” he says, hoarsely. “My brother went one way, I went the other. I’m not sure where he ended up, but he’s smart. They won’t find him.”

“They’re looking for you?”

Joseph nods. “What I did is unheard of. An unforgivable transgression.” He pauses. “They’ll be searching for the rest of my life.” He pulls back, holding me by the shoulders. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Mila. Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” I say, without hesitation. “Of course I do.”

His eyes close with gratitude, then reopen. “I don’t know how long I can keep up this town preacher act. You bring out something in me, Mila. Lust, jealousy. You make me a possessive son of a bitch. I love what you do to me. I’ve never felt more fucking alive. But it’s impossible to hide those things.” He leans in and kisses me. “I’m going to try, but we might have to move on soon.”