Free When Solomon Sings by Kendra Norman-Bellamy Page A

abstain in spite of her fleshly desires. Not because she had found some great secret to celibacy between the time she dated Emmett and now, but because between then and now, she had found Christ. She had to believe that the Holy Spirit would be her keeper and would bring her flesh under subjection, but there was no mistaking that the Holy Spirit had His work cut out for Him.
    Neil was handsome, and his sexiness wasn’t limited to his physical makeup. Even the way he walked, talked, ate, and breathed were sexy. He had a level of coolness that probably only came with age and experience. Shaylynn had never even considered dating an older man prior to him. A man in his mid-forties could never have gotten her attention a couple of years ago, but now she wondered, if things didn’t work out between her and Neil, if a man without graying temples would even get the courtesy of a second look from her. There was something about the way Neil talked to her ... and looked at her ... and treated her. No man her age had ever compared. Emmett loved her, no doubt about it, but chivalry wasn’t a subject in which he excelled. Neil, on the other hand, majored in it. If that PhD he held didn’t license him to teach a class on it, it should. Opening doors for her, helping her put on and remove her coat in the colder months, draping his suit jacket across her shoulders if she caught a draft inside a restaurant or movie theatre in the warmer months, pulling out her chair for her whenever they dined together, even standing up whenever she had to leave the table to visit the ladies’ room.
    At first, Shaylynn thought it was a regional thing since she’d never seen it before moving to the South and meeting Neil. But now, after living in Atlanta for nearly three years, she realized that it wasn’t where he was raised, but rather when he was raised. Shaylynn had yet to see even one guy in her generation do all of those things. How he was raised probably had a lot to do with it too. At Neil’s family reunion, she noted that all of his brothers did the same with the women in their lives. It made Shaylynn sad that she’d never gotten to meet the man Neil fondly called Pop. She felt like she owed him a thank you, a hug, and a box of chocolates. He had trained his sons well.
    â€œHey, Ma!”
    Speaking of sons, Shaylynn’s wrenched her from her thoughts as he ran down the steps and into her awaiting arms. She barely had time to stand up before he reached her. “Hi, Chase.” She kissed his forehead and detected the scent of Irish Spring soap. “How was school? Did you have homework? Did you get a chance to do it?”
    He loosed his arms from her waist and said, “Yes, ma’am. I’m all done, and Dr. Taylor checked over it.”
    â€œGood. That’s good.” Shaylynn smiled and sat, pulling him onto the space beside her. She noticed his casual outfit: jeans and a pullover hoodie with the Kingdom Builders Academy emblem on the front. Her self-consciousness returned, and she wished she could go home, change clothes, and be back before Neil came down to join them. “What else did you do today?” She figured the small talk might help take her mind off her inappropriate attire ... at least for a while.
    â€œMe and Dr. Taylor played football while Ms. Ella Mae was cooking.”
    â€œYou did?” Shaylynn widened her eyes like she didn’t already know. She plucked a particle of lint from the front of his hoodie. “Who won?”
    â€œHe let me win.” Chase grinned wide. “He always lets me win.”
    â€œI did not let you win. You won fair and square.”
    Shaylynn looked up at the sound of Neil’s voice, and for a moment, she felt suffocated by her own breath. Her earlier concerns disappeared in midair at the sight of him. Using calculated steps, he descended the stairwell dressed in a chocolate brown suit accented by a dress shirt and shoes that