His First Lady (5 page)

“You’re devious,” Leon said pressing his mouth to hers.

She grinned closing her eyes and falling into the kiss. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Leon smiled. “You do, huh?”

“I do.” Ariel grinned as Leon quickly pressed his lips to hers.

“What do we do about that?”

“I don’t know.” She grinned flirtatiously as Leon began kissing her all over her face and neck.

“How about having my baby?”

Ariel stopped smiling and looked into Leon’s eyes. “What?”

“You heard me,” Leon said looking down at her. “I want you to have my baby.”

“What are you talking about?” Ariel asked seeming slightly confused at Leon’s serious tone.

“I just told you,” Leon said.

“You play so many games. That’s not even funny,” She replied with a slight chuckle.

“When have you known me to ever play games?”

Ariel smiled staring into Leon’s eyes for a second looking for a hint of humor but found none. She took her palms, pushed him off of her and scooted from beneath him. Shaken by his words, she sat up. “What are you doing?”

Leon reached over and touched her face. “I’m telling you what I want.”

“Are you delirious? I’m not having your baby!” She said snatching his hand from her face and getting out of the bed.

“Why not?”

Ariel’s leg shook nervously as she stood before him with her arms around her body. “Is this your version of a sick joke because I don’t find this funny at all?”

“It’s not a joke,” Leon said.

She stared blankly at him. “Why are you doing this? I’m married. You’re married, Pastor.”

Leon turned away from her and threw back the bed covers. “Take a pregnancy test.”

“We’ve been using protection, Leon.”

“I stopped using protection, Ariel.”

She stared at Leon in disbelief as he walked to the bathroom.

“What do you mean?” The woman asked astonishingly wide eyed.

Leon laughed looking back at her before he entered the bathroom. “I mean that I haven’t been using protection with you. You never noticed?”

She paused as if wondering how she could have missed that. “Just because you’re bored with your wife doesn’t give you the right to play games with people’s lives!” Ariel yelled as she snatched her clothes from the back of the hotel chair and began putting her pants on.

Leon walked back into the hotel bedroom. “Girl, calm down!” He demanded.

She stopped and pointed her finger at Leon. “You may talk to your wife like that but not me!”

Leon sighed. “Lower your voice.”

“I can’t believe that you put my entire life on the line like this. I am married and I love my husband and my children.” Tears welled up in the woman’s eyes.

Leon shrugged his shoulders. “You love them so much but you’re lying about a dead uncle to be out of town with me.”

“Don’t you judge me!” She pointed her finger at him. “You destroy people just to get what you want. You are so selfish!” Ariel screamed.

“Me?” Leon laughed. “You’ve been sleeping with me for handbags and coats. You’re no different from me. I just upped the ante,” Leon said with a smirk on his face.

“This is psycho! You’re psycho!” Ariel screamed grabbing her hair with both hands in frustration as she paced the hotel floor. “You are not going to destroy my marriage.” Ariel cried as she continued putting on the rest of her clothes. “You don’t know what you’ve done. I can’t be pregnant because Rick had a vasectomy!”

Ignoring her, Leon threw his suitcase on the bed, opened it and carefully removed a white t-shirt and slacks. “Can you order me something to eat while I take a shower? I’m starving.”

She cursed. “Order your own food.” She stomped out of the bedroom into the room’s living area.

Leon laughed. “Take a test and let me know the results!” He shouted into the next room.

Leon heard her curse him again in response before hearing the hotel room’s heavy door closing behind her. He placed his clothes neatly on the bed and walked to start his shower.

“Ugh!” Evan grunted pushing away from her desk, sick and tired of her computer acting up on her. She turned her chair away from her desk and toward her office window. Evan’s church office was in direct view of the church’s garden in the back and it was one reason why she had chosen this spot for her office. It was serene and she was a starer. That’s what her mother had always called her seeing that she loved staring out of any window she could find. Leon always hated when she did it because he thought she was ignoring him. But it was just a way for her to look at the world and find peace.

She leaned back in her chair and stared out at the peacefulness of the churches garden. Wow, the tomatoes were really growing fast and strong. They were huge on their stems. The peppers and cabbage were also growing nicely and the carrots looked as if they were ready for picking. The garden was so large and they were definitely going to be able to feed lots of people this season. It was always a great time when they held the picking party and giveaway. The community always came out strong and people from all walks of life benefited.

A quick and loud knock on her open door caused her to awaken out of her daze. Greg peeked his head in and smiled. “Good afternoon, First lady.”

Evan jumped at the sound of his voice before turning around in her swivel chair to face him. He was just in time to help her with her computer.

“Is everything okay?”

“Why?” Evan asked curiously. “I mean, don’t I look okay?”

Greg thought a moment then smiled. “It just looked like you had something on your mind.”

Evan’s eyes widened. “Actually, my computer is acting up again.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that,” Greg responded still standing at the door as if knowing he would be asked to assist her.

Evan smiled. “Are you busy?”

Greg grinned. Evan squinted realizing that she was asking Greg a dumb question. Everybody in the church knew that Greg was always busy, he kept himself that way. But everyone on the church staff knew that Greg could do almost anything in the church and he always came quicker than anyone on the IT staff ever did. Evan stood up from her chair.

“I know this isn’t your job but this thing keeps freezing up on me.”

“I’ll be happy to look at it for you.” Greg walked in toward her desk. Evan and Greg scooted by each other, slightly bumping each other.

Greg placed his papers that were in his hand on the desk and started typing on the keyboard. Evan eyed Greg as he pecked at the keyboard. Evan had always thought he was as handsome as they came so she couldn’t understand why he was still single. At 38, his smooth brown skin, dimpled cheeks, and his strong physique easily allowed him to pass for a much younger man.

Greg was still very mysterious to her even after knowing him a few years. She knew that his wife had died shortly after he retired from the police force which was about a year before she and Leon arrived. They had talked some but he didn’t talk much about his wife and she never pressed the issue.

However, Greg wasn’t shy in sharing that he missed the force only retiring after being shot in the hip by a robbery suspect. He had a slight limp which was unrecognizable unless one paid close attention to him but he always said that the bullet he took was God’s way of putting him where he belonged; in fulltime ministry. Evan thought he was very intriguing although secretive. But it was clear that he still had the ways of a cop; clean shaven and disciplined but he was always so gentle and meek.

“So, you got the pastor off safely?”

Evan nodded being knocked from her thoughts by Greg’s question. “He almost missed his flight but he made it.”

“Good. Knowing Leon, he’d have made them bring the plane back for him if he’d miss it.” Greg looked up from the computer screen at Evan with his attractive smile which she thought had to be one of the reasons why the women in the church fought for his attention.

They both laughed because they both knew Greg was telling the truth. “That’s my husband,” Evan said.

“I admire you two; you two make such a great team.”

Evan didn’t know how to respond to Greg’s statement. The way something appeared on the outside could be so different from the inside.

“Have you ever thought about getting remarried?” Evan asked watching Greg scrunch his forehead while staring at the computer screen as if baffled.

Greg quickly looked up at Evan. His look caused Evan to immediately regret asking the question. Although she had been curious since it had been almost six years since his wife had died in a car accident; she didn’t know how he felt talking about it since he never did; at least not that she knew of.

Evan placed her hand over her mouth. “I apologize, Greg. That was so out of line.”

Greg shook his head and seemed to force a smile. “Don’t apologize. I won’t rule it out.”

Evan’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Good,” Evan said.

“I guess my standards are too high since I can’t seem to find a woman that can compare to Cara although I know that’s a little unfair.”

“A lot unfair,” Evan said.

There was silence between the two as Greg went back to pecking on the keyboard. Evan had gotten her answer and she knew of so many women in the church who loved the Lord and would have loved to also have a chance with Greg. She had tried more than once to get him to ask Mimi out on the sly but he never took the bait. Then again Mimi was a little more woman than he might have wanted seeing she didn’t have much of a filter.

“I pray you find that.”

Greg smiled. “I’m concentrating on Jesus. It sounds cliché but it’s true. He’s got a plan and his is much better than mine, First lady. But I do pray to one day have that boldness like Paul that your husband has,” Greg said as he continued typing on the keyboard.

Evan’s eyes opened curiously. She had never thought Leon’s cockiness could be compared to Paul.

Greg stopped typing and rebooted Evan’s computer. “I’m going to let this reboot and then you should be good to go.”

“Thank you.” Evan sat down in the chair in front of her desk as Greg continued sitting at her desk. As she waited, she noticed the papers on her desk that Greg had in his hand. She tried not to be obvious as she looked a little closer to see that it was papers about property that the church was interested in. Greg looked over at her and saw her looking down at the papers.

“What do you think about the property that the church is looking into buying?”

Evan shrugged; Greg had it wrong. It wasn’t the church looking into buying it, it was Leon.

“Leon has big plans. You?”

The computer beeped. “Oh, there you go. You’re up and running.” Greg stood up. “I think you’re good to go, First lady.”

“Please call me Evan.” Evan stood.

“Alright First lady,” Greg said almost as if not hearing her at all. He stopped and looked at Evan. “I did it again, didn’t I?” They both laughed as if on cue at his mistake. The more Greg laughed, the more Evan found herself laughing.

“I’ll do better. But it won’t be easy.” Greg managed to get out with a chuckle.

Evan looked up at Greg and they shared a smile. Greg immediately looked away. He cleared his throat looking uncomfortable before Mimi’s hard knock caused them both to look towards Evan’s office door.

“Hey,” Mimi walked in with a surprised smile on her face as both Evan and Greg looked over at her.

“How are you Mimi?” Greg asked as he gathered the papers he walked in with.

“I’m fine,” Mimi responded with a slick smile. “and you?”

“I’m great.” He looked over at Evan. “I think you’ll be fine. Let me know if I can do anything else to help.”

Evan nodded. “Thank you very much, I really appreciate it,”

Greg nodded then walked out of the office.

“Let me get my purse,” Evan said to Mimi before fumbling through her desk drawer for her purse. Mimi closed the door and crossed her arms. When Evan looked up Mimi was glaring at her.

“What was that about?” Mimi asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t act crazy? Did you see the way that man was looking at you?”

A shocked expression came over Evan’s face. “What?” A seemingly confused Evan questioned as she searched through her purse for her keys. “Don’t be ridiculous. He was working on my computer.”

“It looks like he was trying to do more than that. I know how a man looks at a woman he’s interested in.”

“He’s a godly man.”

Mimi put her hands on her hip. “What? Godly men don’t fall in love?”

“Not with other men’s wives.”

Mimi grunted. “Oh, okay.”

Evan placed her purse strap on her shoulder and looked at Mimi clearly not amused. “I think he’d be the perfect man for you. He loves the Lord and is real easy on the eyes. I’m sure you wouldn’t be opposed to a nice evening with dinner and a movie. What more can a woman want?”

“That he is but he’s certainly not interested in me. I can see that.” Mimi winked. “That man couldn’t see anything but you in this room.”

“Don’t talk crazy. Someone may hear that foolishness.” Evan shook her head and walked to her door and opened it.

Mimi rubbed her hands together devilishly. “Say what you will but there’s nothing like some juicy church gossip to stir things up.”

“You’re disgusting; he’s not like that in the least. Let’s go eat.” Evan swung her bag over her shoulder and walked out, Mimi snickering behind.

The smell of cooked Italian sausage in the stuffed peppers lingered throughout the house as Evan stared at the clock. She had made one of Leon’s favorite dishes along with a large bowl of salad and buttered yeast rolls. She had gotten over not going to the pastor’s conference; she had missed him and she wanted him to know it.

She called Leon at the church and on his cell phone several times just to see what time she should expect him but she still hadn’t been able to reach him. Calling the church again wasn’t an option since Leanne, the church receptionist said that she had been there all day and that Leon had left hours ago. Evan embarrassingly pretended to forget that she was aware of Leon’s schedule to leave the church early today.