Free Faded Cotton (Erotic Romance) by Lara Sweety Page B

beautiful girl
like Ellie Tanner having trouble with the intimate side of her
marriage? She knew Daniel was a wonderful husband to her. A pang of
jealously stabbed her, followed by longing.
    Jahn. Thoughts of him always wrecked her
emotional state when she realized she was lonely. She closed her
eyes to see him. She felt like a cheat, wanting the love of a man
when he was gone just barely a year. Time to go home .
    Laurel opened her eyes.
    He was the wrong color to be Jahn, so she
hadn’t died, and gone to Heaven. The handsome man now standing in
front of her had features much like her dead husband. Square jaw,
broad shoulders, tall, handsome. She shook her head like a young
horse trying to spit out a bit. He took his hands from the pockets
of his obviously expensive suit and clasped them together with a
nervous energy, ending his patient stance.
    “Laurel, is it?” He started.
    “Yesssirrr.”
    “I couldn’t help but overhear your
conversations earlier.” He looked apprehensive.
    “Well, Mr. ...uh....”
    “Jones. Reverend Darren Jones.”
    Laurel blushed a little, wondering just how
much the Reverend had heard. She supposed she was going to get
quite a verbal Bible thumping. She perked up with a twisted grin,
ready for battle.
    “How. Can. I. Help. You?” She said
defensively, pushing each word, ready to verbally joust.
    “May I sit down?” He gestured to the open
space in her booth.
    “Sure...why not?” Laurel retorted. It was
more of a statement than a question. He scooted in, keeping a
comfortable space between them, and leaned his long arms on the
solid oak tabletop.
    “Laurel, you seem to have quite a dilemma,”
he began.
    She shook her head. Was he really going to
drill her?
    “Please, let me explain, I know this is a
little odd.”
    Darren Jones had heard most of her
conversations with Addy, and Ellie, from his secluded position to
the left of the opening where their booths sat back to back. The
semi-circle seating was one of the design ideas she and Addy had
loved when building City Creek. He hadn’t meant to eaves drop while
finishing his glass of wine, but had needed time to think. The
restaurant had been too quiet.
    “The argument I heard earlier, with those
men—that was you?” Laurel queried searching for details. She
remembered hearing his voice in heated discussion behind her.
    “Yes, I’m sorry.”
    It had drawn a lot of attention. The
conversation had grown loud with the four other smartly suited men
he was seated with. “Do something or we will have no other
choice but to remove you!” She had heard.
    Darren Jones proceeded to tell her what
seemed like a short-version life story, with the emphasis on his
son. Derrick Jones was nineteen and involved in some sort of a rich
kids’ gang. His mother had passed when he was only ten. She’d had
brain cancer and it had taken two years for it to take her
life.
    Derrick had been devastated. He had rebelled
against his father, who he’d found in the arms of a woman a year
later. His friends at school had given him a feeling of control
over his life, his father had thought. His initiation at sixteen
had been to beat up a fellow church member and friend. Things had
gone from bad to worse. The next step, he’d heard, was gang rape.
Reverend Jones had been meeting with the deacons of his church who
had gotten wind of the gang’s plan.
    “I have to do something. I’ve tried
everything I know. I know he can be saved from this. He’s a good
man on the inside somewhere. I honestly believe he’d never do that
to a woman, but he is still hurting and I just can’t reach him.”
Darren Jones’ eyes misted as the concern for his son surfaced. He
ducked his head into his hands.
    “And here I thought I was going to be
chastised for the topic of my conversation.” Laurel mused. He
chuckled a little nervously in response.
    “Believe it or not, I share your belief that
we are meant to be enjoyed fully, with love and tenderness. As a
pastor, I