One Thursday Morning: Inspirational Christian Romance (Diamond Lake Series Book 1) by T.K. Chapin

wanted to live in that moment forever. Our passion continued as our breaths grew heavier and our skin hotter. Each touch of his lips on my skin drove me crazier. As he ran his lips along my neck, warmth tickled my chest and traveled down my body.
    Then he stopped.
    Charlie gave me a look like he wanted every part of me and said, “Another kiss of your lips might kill me.”
    I smiled as he was about to get out and asked, “Could you come over? Stay with me?”
    He raised a suspicious eyebrow. “Umm . . .”
    “Not like that. I’m just . . . scared right now.”
    Nodding, he said, “Yeah, I’ll come over. Let me drive my car there.”
    “Okay.”
    He leaned over the armrest and gently cupped my face, making sure to avoid the bruises. Softly, he kissed my lips and said, “Guess I didn’t die.” He smiled as he continued, “See you in a few.”
     

     
    When I arrived home, I stayed out on the porch waiting for Charlie to show up. I made sure to be holding a knife just in case John decided to show up too. After a few minutes went by, I figured Charlie must have run out of gas or something and needed to stop. After an hour went by, I became worried. He wasn’t picking up his cellphone when I tried to call. Becoming frustrated, I went out to my car and got in. My cellphone rang—it was Jody. Since it was after ten o’clock, I didn’t know what to expect.
    “Serenah. I need you to get in your car and come up to the hospital.”
    “What happened?”
    “Charlie has been in an accident. He said he couldn’t stop when he came to a red light, and he barreled right through it when a truck coming through the intersection hit him.” Jody’s voice was under complete control and poise as she spoke. My heart, on the other hand, had zero control. Tears streamed down my cheeks as my throat clenched.
    “It was John Wollocks,” I said with absolute confidence.
    “What?” Jody asked.
    “John Wollocks cut the brake lines in his car.”
    “No, he didn’t,” Jody replied. “John’s been at the hospital all day.”
    “Whatever. I’ll be there in a minute,” I said curtly. Hanging up my phone, I threw it into my passenger seat and peeled out of my driveway. I knew it was John. Praying as I drove, I asked for God’s wisdom. Why? Why does this have to happen to me, God? To Charlie? It was one thing to put myself in danger when it came to John, but it was entirely another thing to put someone else in the midst of it. I already lost my daughter because of John. I refused to lose Charlie too.
     

     
    When I walked into the ER, I expected to find Charlie in a bed with machines hooked up to him, but he wasn’t. He was sitting on the edge of a hospital bed laughing with a doctor about forgetting a semicolon in a line of computer code and spending hours attempting to diagnose the problem—computer talk I didn’t understand. His arm was in a sling, but everything else looked like minor scrapes and bruises.
    “Wow,” I said, walking in and setting my purse on the chair that sat against the wall. The doctor placed papers on the bed beside Charlie and excused himself from the room. As he rounded the corner out the doorway, I continued, “I thought you were messed up from the wreck.”
    He shrugged. “Just a broken arm. I told Jody to tell you to come up here, but make sure you weren’t alarmed.”
    “It’s always hard to know how serious something is with her. She is monotone most of the time.”
    He nodded. “That is true.” Glancing at the doorway for a moment, he paused and then looked back at me as he lowered his voice. “Think John did this?”
    “I can’t see who else would,” I replied.
    Rubbing the stubble of his jaw line, he smiled at me. “You’d better be worth all this trouble, Serenah.”
    Smirking, I shrugged.
    “Come here,” he said. I stepped over to him, and he pulled me in for a kiss with his good arm. “I know you are worth every bit of it. We’ve just got to get him out of