A Matter of Trust: A Christian Romance (BlackThorpe Security Book 3)

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  Tell him.

  Tell him.

  Tell him.

  Tell him.

  Did he really need to know? Surely there were things he wouldn’t tell her about his past. Like things involving his ex-wife. Becoming a couple now didn’t mean they had to share everything, did it? Her past had already tainted her life in so many ways. She didn’t want it to tarnish what she was building with Tyler. It would be different if it affected her like it did Jenni, but while she obviously had things in place in her life because of the abduction, she didn’t have the emotional ups and downs her friend did.

  Tell him.

  Tell him.

  Tell him.

  Tell him.

  Melanie upped her pace, her feet pounding on the treadmill. No. She wasn’t going to tell him. Most days she didn’t even think about it anymore. It wasn’t important enough to mention. Besides, she couldn’t forget the expression on Tyler’s face when she’d told him about Jenni. She never wanted him to look at her that way.

  She just wanted to be with him like a normal person. She didn’t want him to worry about her having a meltdown like Jenni at some point. Maybe just the possibility of that would send him running. She knew that would never happen, but would he believe her if she told him that?

  Blocking out the thoughts that kept telling her she was making a bad decision, Melanie managed to finish up her workout. She took a shower and then crawled into bed. Though it was late, she tapped out a quick message to Tyler.

  Thank you again for a great evening! Hope the rest of your week goes well. Have a good night.

  She didn’t get an immediate reply, but she wasn’t really expecting it since it was already late. However, the next morning there was a text waiting when she woke up. His sweet, good morning message helped start her day with a smile. And that night when she texted him good night, he replied right away so they ended up sending a few messages back and forth about their day before ending the conversation.

  It took Melanie awhile to decide what to wear on Sunday morning. She usually just picked out one of her work outfits when she went to her parents’ church. Hopefully, that would be appropriate for Tyler’s as well.

  She input the address for the church into her truck’s GPS then headed off, trying to fight the nerves that insisted on taking up residence in her stomach. When she finally found the church, she discovered that it was much larger than she had anticipated.

  Thankfully, she’d arrived a little sooner than she’d planned, so after she found a parking spot a ways from the church, Melanie sat in her truck for a few minutes. She hoped she was ready for this. Though she had attended church sporadically over the years, it wasn’t until recently that she had thought much about how it applied to her day-to-day life.

  Her life basically fell in line with the “rules” the church her parents attended had seemed to set out for its members, but it had nothing to do with wanting to please God. She didn’t do stuff like drink, do drugs or smoke because any of those things could impair her body’s ability to react as she needed it to.

  And sex? Well, that had been a non-issue since she hadn’t been dating. And even though she found Tyler physically attractive, the talks her youth group had had with the young people before her abduction had emphasized the lines that shouldn’t be crossed when in a boy-girl relationship. She was fairly certain Tyler was aware of those lines. The fact that he hadn’t kissed her when he’d dropped her off after their date told her that he wasn’t going to be pushing the physical side of things. Just one more reason why she…

  Her phone’s text alert went, interrupting her thoughts. She glanced at the screen and saw a message from Tyler.

  You here?

  She let out a quick breath and sent a message back to let him know she was just on her way inside. After turning off the ringer on her phone, Melanie grabbed her purse and got out of the truck into the gray, dreary fall day that seemed to promise rain but had not, as yet, delivered. However, a sudden gust of wind sent a shiver down her spine.

  Keeping her eyes on the uneven asphalt surface of the parking lot, she made her way toward the entrance of the church. Before she reached the door, a pair of black loafers came into view, and she lifted her head to see Tyler standing there waiting for her. When their gazes met, he smiled.

  Melanie couldn’t keep from smiling in return. “Good morning.”

  “It definitely is now,” Tyler said as he took a step toward her and took her hand. “Did you have any trouble finding the church?”

  “Nope. Ms. GPS led me straight here.”

  He looked down at her, his smile crinkling the skin at the corners of his eyes. “I’m glad.”

  They walked up the steps together then he reached for the door and held it so she could precede him inside. He continued to hold it for two older women who thanked him with appreciative smiles.

  “Your mom raised you right,” Melanie said when he joined her.

  “She tried,” he said with a grin as he reached for her hand again. “Most of it stuck.”

  They weaved their way through clusters of people in the foyer then walked through open doors into the sanctuary where greeters waited to give them a bulletin. There was music playing though she could still hear murmurs of conversation as Tyler led her to a pew midway down the sanctuary on the right side.

  When they reached the pew, he stepped aside to let her go first. Her gaze fell on a familiar face and she smiled as some of her nervousness faded.

  “Good morning, Ryan,” Melanie said as she scooted toward him on the seat. “Fancy meeting you here.”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “You can’t truly be surprised to see me.”

  She chuckled. “No, not really. And it gives me a chance to thank you for giving up your ticket to the game last Thursday night.”

  Ryan shrugged. “Well, to be honest, I’m more of a hockey man so it wasn’t that big of a sacrifice.”

  Tyler’s arm slid along the pew as he leaned toward her. “See, I told you he was fine with it.”

  “Makes sense he’s more into hockey since he’s from that place where it’s winter all the time.”

  Ryan laughed. “It’s really not that different from here. But hockey was a big thing in our family, even before Kenton went pro. My dad—Kenton and Gabe’s dad—used to flood a piece of the land around our house in winter so we’d have our own ice rink. There were six of us boys so we had three on three games a lot.”

  “But Kenton was the only one who went professional?” Melanie still had a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that Ryan was related to a major league hockey player.

  “Yeah. He was the most passionate about it. And you always wanted to be on his team because if you weren’t, he would mow you down without a second thought.”

  “Your mother must have loved that.”

  Ryan grinned. “Mom stayed far away when we had those games, but she’d take care of any injuries that came about because of our roughhousing. Of course, she did mutter threats under her breath.”

  Melanie found herself smiling at the image. It sounded like Ryan had great parents who had been involved in his childhood the way Tyler’s mom had with him.

  “Hey, Ryan. Tyler.”

  Melanie looked beyond Ryan as he turned around to greet the group of people who were filing into their pew from the end. She felt Tyler’s chest press against her shoulder as he leaned forward to talk to the man seated beside Ryan. The guy looked at her with curiosity in his eyes, but before Tyler could introduce her, the service began.

  Though the service was similar in many ways to her parents’ church, there were differences too. The most noticeable one was the pastor. He appeared to be a little younger than the man who had been pastor at her old church for as long as Melanie could remember. Sometimes she’d felt as if the man was a little out of touch with the issues faced by the younger generation.

  This pastor, however, seemed very tuned into current-day issues even though he wouldn’t be considered po
litically correct. He touched on the topic of bad things happening to good people. Timely for her as it was something that had once again been brought to the forefront because of Jenni’s meltdown.

  “People want free will to do as they please, but then they get upset when someone else’s free will interferes with their life or hurts them. It wasn’t God’s will for evil to prevail, but once sin came into the world, people wanted the right to choose. And now we have sinful choices wreaking havoc on our world. Innocents are dying because religious extremists are exercising their free will to attack those who believe differently from them. Unborn babies are dying because people are exercising their free will and saying it’s their right to do as they please with the child in their womb.

  “Yes, the innocent will suffer in a way God never intended. But instead of washing His hands of us, God still offers us His peace as we deal with these consequences of choosing our own will over His. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been amazed and moved by people extending their forgiveness to the person who has wronged their family. Why would they do that? Why would someone forgive their attacker? Why would a family forgive someone who murdered their loved one?

  “They would do it because they know that peace cannot co-exist with anger, hatred or unforgiveness. Anger and bitterness will eat at your soul. God wants you to have peace. His peace. This means being willing to forgive.”

  Melanie shifted on her seat. She had peace in her life. Didn’t she? Her thoughts went to her obsessive exercise and only slightly less obsessive focus on healthy eating. And then there was no denying the excessive focus she had on weapons and self-defense. Her life revolved around all those things because of someone’s act of free will almost fourteen years ago. Did that mean she didn’t have peace in her life?

  She’d come to Tyler’s church because she’d wanted to be able to discuss things with him, but there was no way she could discuss how personal this particular sermon was for her. Holding herself rigid, she listened as the pastor closed the service, challenging the people in the pews to search their hearts for any unforgiveness they might be harboring toward another—big or small.

  Melanie bowed her head when everyone else did, but her eyes remained opened as she stared down at her clenched hands. Knowing she needed to put this aside for now, Melanie concentrated on Tyler sitting next to her, his hands dangling clasped between his knees, his head bent. Had he forgiven whoever it was that had planted the bomb that had taken his legs? Had he forgiven his ex-wife for walking out on him?

  She gave herself a mental shake. That was not helping her to push aside the thoughts of the sermon for now. She could think more about it later. When she was alone and didn’t need to hide how she was feeling.

  Once the service had ended, people surged to their feet all around them. Tyler, however, remained seated, so Melanie did as well. She watched as people headed toward the back of the sanctuary, not too many lingering behind to talk.

  “You going to join us at the buffet, Ty?”

  Melanie looked over to see that the guy sitting next to Ryan was turned in their direction, his arm braced on the pew in front of them.

  “I’ll see what Melanie feels like doing,” Tyler responded as he gave her a quick look with a smile.

  “We’d love to have you both there,” the man said. The statuesque woman standing behind him nodded her agreement. “You coming, Ryan?”

  “Yep. I’ll be there.”

  Melanie wasn’t sure what kind of answer to give Tyler. On one hand, it would be nice to get to know his friends. But on the other, she didn’t want to intrude on Tyler’s time with his friends. They’d only had one official date, after all.

  When Tyler got to his feet, Melanie stood as well. The rush of people had thinned so they had no problem exiting the pew. Tyler kept his hand on her lower back as they made their way out of the sanctuary. Once in the foyer, Tyler guided her off to the side where they were out of the way of people still milling around.

  “Do you want to go for lunch with my friends? There’s a group of about ten of us that get together after church on Sunday.” He paused. “But if you don’t want to go, that’s fine.”

  “I had planned to just go home,” Melanie said, feeling a bit uncertain about how this kind of thing was supposed to work.

  She didn’t want Tyler to feel like she was trying to barge into every part of his life. It had never crossed her mind that he might have a group of friends he did stuff with after church like this. Oh, she knew about the basketball games on Saturday nights and the Bible study on Sunday evenings, but stupidly it had never occurred to her that it might be more than that.

  “If that’s really what you want to do, I won’t pressure you to come with us, but I’d really like it if you would.”

  She stared at him for a moment and realized there was no way she could resist the expectant look on his face. “Okay. I’d like that.”

  A smile spread across his face. “That’s great. Let me just tell Ryan I’ll be riding with you.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  TYLER PULLED out his phone and quickly sent a text before sliding it back into the pocket of his jacket. When he reached for her hand, Melanie once again relished the strength and firmness of his grasp. He greeted a few people as he led them through the doors and out into the chilly day.

  “By the way,” Tyler began as they made their way through the parking lot to where her truck was parked, “you look beautiful.”

  Melanie felt a rush of heat in her cheeks as she looked down at herself then up at Tyler. “Thank you.”

  In the past, she’d never considered what a man might think when she was deciding what to wear, but she had to admit that she had thought of Tyler when she’d been trying to choose her outfit for church.

  “You always look beautiful. I just haven’t felt comfortable saying it until now.”

  Yes, that might have made things awkward or perhaps it would have been the catalyst to move things to this point more quickly. Too late now to entertain that notion.

  She pulled her keys from her purse and held them out to Tyler. “Probably easier if you drive since you know where we’re going.”

  “Sure thing.” He took the keys and unlocked the truck as they approached it.

  As he drove the short distance to the restaurant, Tyler talked about the time he’d spent with Simon the previous day.

  “It appears you let them take the scissors to your hair as well,” Melanie commented with a smile.

  Tyler grinned as he shrugged. “Yeah. I figured I was there anyway, and it had been awhile.”

  “Well, I’m glad you didn’t let them cut too much. I like your curls though it is a bit odd to think that your hair is longer than mine.”

  “Have you ever had long hair?” Tyler asked.

  “A long time ago. When I was a teenager.” She paused, aware this was treading into territory she’d rather avoid. “With my busy schedule of school and work at the Center, it was easier to keep it short. Growing it out would be a pain, so I’ve just kept it that way.”

  “It suits you like this,” Tyler said. “Of course, I’ve not known you any other way.”

  She, on the other hand, had known him with much shorter hair. When he’d first come to the Center, his hair had been recently shaved off. He’d told her it was at his request since he didn’t want to have to fuss with it while going through physical therapy.

  Tyler turned the truck into the parking lot of a strip mall and quickly found an empty space. “Um, just one thing before we go into the restaurant…”

  Melanie looked at him as he killed the engine and turned toward her. She undid her seatbelt but made no move to get out, waiting for him to speak.

  “There’s a woman—her name is Betsy—and she might make some comments or be a bit standoff-ish with you. I’m hoping not, but…” He shrugged one shoulder.

  “She someone who wanted you for herself?” Melanie said as she lifted an eyebrow.

  “Pretty m
uch.” Tyler’s tanned cheeks turned slightly pink. “I have no idea how she’ll really react since I’ve never brought a woman around. I’ve never encouraged her, but she’s really not the sort to need encouragement. Anyway, just wanted to warn you. Hopefully, she’ll just turn her attention to one of the other single guys in the group.”

  “I’m sure it will be fine, but thanks for giving me a heads-up.”

  Tyler got out of the truck and came around to open her door. Once again, he offered her his hand as she slid from the truck then kept it in his as they walked to the restaurant.

  They got in line and paid for their meal and then found where the rest of the group were sitting. Ryan stood as they approached and motioned to the chairs next to him. “Saved ‘em for you.”

  Grateful for one familiar face, Melanie sat down next to him. “You got here fast.”

  Ryan grinned. “I have a feeling Tyler took you the scenic route so he had you to himself for a few extra minutes.”

  Melanie looked over at Tyler as he relaxed into his seat, his hand resting on the back of her chair. He didn’t deny what Ryan said as he smiled at her. She couldn’t figure out why the truth of Ryan’s words warmed her so much, but she couldn’t keep from smiling back at him.

  “You going to introduce us, Ty?” The man who had spoken with Tyler and Ryan at the church held a chair for the woman he was with, only settling into the seat beside her when she was seated.

  Tyler straightened and said, “Melanie, this is my friend, Jeff and his lovely wife, Rena.” He rested his hand on her back, just below her neck. “This is Melanie Thorpe.”

  Though he didn’t add anything about them being in a relationship, no doubt the way he touched her spoke that loud and clear.

  Rena tilted her head, her thin dark brows drawing together. “Thorpe? As in BlackThorpe?”

  Melanie nodded. “My brother, Alex, is one of the founders of the company.”

  “And you work there, too?” Rena asked. Her blue gaze was friendly and curious.