“Unless he’s got a microscope to go over every fiber, he won’t notice anything.” The man shook out one of the smocks. “Hung up like this, the creases will vanish. Besides, if you’re going to wear them anyway, they won’t look any different.”
Diane hoped that was the case. She didn’t want to get into trouble because of what just happened. She gave the man a tight smile.
“Thank you for your help.”
“It’s fine. It was my fault, after all.” He gave her a sidelong glance and a slight smile, his eyes drifting over her. “It’s not every day that I bump into a beautiful woman. I should do it more often.”
God, was he flirting with her? For a moment, Diane’s mind went blank. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had flirted with her. This shouldn’t be happening. Clearing her throat, Diane stepped around him and took hold of the rail.
“Please don’t. I’m not keen on picking everything off the floor each time we run into each other.”
“How about we bump into each other, and your hands are free to grab anything else?” He grinned, his eyes twinkling. “I won’t object, I promise.”
“You, sir, are incorrigible,” Diane rebuked him, “if you’re planning on joining our church, you need to be more respectful towards others.”
“Who said anything about joining your church?”
“I’ve never seen you before, and you were cursing earlier. You’re not a member,” Diane started to wheel the rack down the hall, “if you plan on joining us, you need to change your attitude.”
“I’m not here to join.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’m here for the funeral.”
Diane frowned.
“You mean Natasha Maisley’s funeral?”
“Her son works at my company. My mother thought it would be a good idea to come along and support him. I was looking for a bathroom.”
From the way, he said it and the look on his face, that suggested that he didn’t really want to be here. Diane was aware of people who didn’t go to church, and they didn’t particularly care for it, and it was their choice.
But it still felt a little disrespectful. Even if the person in question was gorgeous and that smile was doing something to her insides.
“Oh! Right!” God, why was her voice squeaking? Diane swallowed. “Well, you’d better go in the other direction. This is for the people who work here. The bathroom is on the other side of the building. You can’t miss the signs.”
“Thank you,” his eyes were drifting over her face, as if committing every part of her to memory, “I’m sorry again.”
With one last look at her, he turned and walked away. It was a moment before Diane realized that she was staring after him, and she had been watching his ass as he walked off.
Shaking herself, she spun around and began pushing the rack down the hall, her heart racing. God, she needed to get a grip. Finding a man attractive was one thing, but someone like him who was shamelessly flirting with her?
That was not happening.
*****
Gregory didn’t think he could be more bored if he tried. He sat at the back of the church, everything on the dais at the front barely visible through all of the many heads, and he tried to listen to the pastor, who was droning on and on about the woman who had come to an untimely end.
He should have said that he wanted to stay at the office instead of agreeing to come along. Then again, even if he had said he was going to stay at work, Moira would have dragged him over. He would still be sitting here, getting very bored.
The church was not for him. His parents hadn’t really been religious, and he had been given the choice when he was a kid of what he wanted.
Gregory had chosen not to bother with religion; he respected others who did, but he didn’t want it rammed down his throat. And, right now, it felt like that was happening. Also, as if the pastor was reading his sermon specifically for him. Gregory wasn’t sure, but it was making him uncomfortable.
“Would you stop fidgeting and fussing, Gregory?” Moira hissed, nudging him sharply. “You’re being disrespectful.”
“Sorry, Mom,” Gregory felt like he was six years old again, “I’m not comfortable with the sermon he’s giving.”
“It’s about death and how we should cherish life.”
“It feels like it’s telling another message altogether.”
Moira frowned before shaking her head and looking away, paying attention again to the sermon. At least she was able to show respect. Gregory wished that he could. And he might have done it if he hadn’t literally run into that black beauty earlier.
It wasn’t often that a woman captured Gregory’s attention so quickly, but this had happened so fast that Gregory didn’t know which way was up.
She was just beautiful to look at. Petite in stature and frame, her long hair in one long plait over one shoulder and wearing a black sweater with a long black skirt that showed the soft, delicate curve of her hips, Gregory hadn’t been able to stop himself from staring.
How he had kept his composure and regular flirtatious style around her, he had no idea. This woman had made him behave like an idiot.
She worked at the church; Gregory had deduced that much. And she was not interested in his flirtations. That hadn’t happened since he was in high school, and Gregory was left a little bewildered.
She was part of the Baptist congregation and had strict ideas on life, among other things. She wasn’t someone that Gregory should find attractive, and that she should be given a wide berth. And yet he didn’t think he could. There was something so fresh and delectable about her that Gregory had to know more.
He was very confused about it.
Then Gregory felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. Moira looked over as he fished it out and looked at the screen.
“What now?” she whispered.
“It’s Jessica,” Gregory groaned. “God, not now.”
“Why don’t you just block her?”
“I did. She keeps getting new accounts, so I unblocked her to not be caught off-guard whenever she calls.” Gregory glanced over at the door closest to him. “I’ve got to take this. She’s been calling all morning already.”
Moira looked like she was going to scold him, but Gregory slipped out of the pew before she could. They were the only two in the back pew, and everyone else seemed focused on the middle-aged pastor, who was still droning on.
Getting out into the hall before anyone noticed he was leaving; Gregory breathed a sigh of relief. It was a shame he couldn’t leave right now. But his mother would be calling him disrespectful, and Brent had appeared pleased that he had come. Gregory couldn’t bring himself to leave right now.
Jessica had stopped calling, but now she had started again. God, his ex-girlfriend was insistent. Gregory took himself outside into the chilly January morning before he answered.