Delilah. Shelia M. Goss

from her purse with a huge grin on her face. “Hello.”

      “Are you making any progress?” William asked.

      Delilah rolled her eyes. “Just give me some time.”

      “Time is money. I need that land to build my shopping center, so I need to see some results. He still won’t take my calls.”

      “I’m working on it. I have a trump card I haven’t played yet. He’ll do whatever I want when I play it.”

      “Well, what are you waiting on? Give me the results I want or you’ll be jobless.”

      William disconnected the call without waiting on Delilah’s response. “Are you okay?” Keisha asked.

      “Yeah,” Delilah responded, as she slipped her cell phone back in her purse. “Just my boss getting on my nerves.”

      “You need to find you another job.”

      “Where else am I going to work and make twenty dollars an hour in this city? Plus, I’m getting a bonus for this special assignment,” Delilah said. Delilah, feeling distress, had shared with Keisha details of her special assignment.

      “You can find something. I can get you a job on the riverboat with me. Girl, with my tips, I easily pull in a thousand dollars every week.”

      “I know nothing about a crap table or blackjack.”

      “You don’t have to. There’s a training class you go through.”

      “Well, if this doesn’t work out, I’ll think about it.”

      “You have options,” Keisha said.

      “If Samson marries that woman, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

      Keisha stopped eating. “Do I need to slap some sense into you? You’re delusional if you think he’s going to drop Ms. Prim and Proper for an ex-hooker.”

      “I was an exotic dancer. Big difference.” Delilah looked around the room to make sure no one was listening. “Besides, you don’t have to tell the world my business.”

      “I just want you to see how ridiculous all this looks. You slept with him. The sex was good. Now move on.”

      “You just don’t understand. I’m a better person because of Samson.”

      “I’ve seen him on TV and yes, he’s sexy, but he’s not the only man in Shreveport.”

      To Delilah, he might as well have been because Samson was the only man she wanted, and she’d stop at nothing to get him.

      Chapter 10

      “Samson, you haven’t heard a word I said,” Julia said. She might as well have been talking to herself because Samson’s mind was on Delilah and the countless number of text messages she had sent him since Monday morning.

      He had avoided her all week, but he was sure his luck would be changing soon since it was now Wednesday night and Delilah rarely missed Wednesday night Bible Study. He looked at his beautiful bride-to-be. His insides fluttered as he thought about how much he loved her. He recalled the first time he realized he was in love with Julia.

      They had known each other since childhood because both of their fathers were prominent men of the cloth; however, it wasn’t until after they both graduated from college and they ran into each other at a church conference that his feelings changed from admiration to love. That was more than two years ago. Julia was soon to be his queen, and he couldn’t let anyone stand in the way of making it happen. Delilah had to be dealt with, but there was no one he could trust, or was there?

      “I don’t know where your head is tonight, but I hope you get it together before you go in there trying to teach your congregation,” Julia said.

      “Michael’s teaching tonight.”

      “Good, because you are not yourself.”

      Samson took Julia’s hand in his. “Come on, let’s go before we’re late.”

      “Aww, how sweet,” Delilah said when she ran into them in the hallway.

      “Just keep moving,” Samson told Julia.

      “Is something going on I should know about?” Julia looked back and forth between Samson and Delilah.

      Samson was caught off guard with her question. “No,” he lied.

      “That’s all I needed to know.”

      Samson sighed as they walked into the sanctuary and took their seats on the front pew.

      He could feel someone watching him, and when he turned around, Delilah’s smiling face was staring back at him. He jerked his body back around and did his best to concentrate on Michael’s discussion on the eighteenth chapter of Matthew.

      “Pastor Judges, would you like to add anything to what I said about leading others to sin,” Michael said, staring at him from the podium.

      “Uh, no. Minister Monroe, you’ve done an excellent job explaining.” Samson wiped his sweaty hands on his pants leg. He heard Delilah snicker. He glanced at Julia from the corner of his eyes. His attempt to reach for her hand resulted in her crossing her arms. The rest of the time, Samson blocked out everything else and looked directly at Michael.

      “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot earlier,” Michael said later in the pastor’s study.

      “Man, I’m just nervous about Saturday.”

      “I’m surprised you’re here tonight. I was a nervous wreck when I was about to get married.”

      “Julia and I are going to be gone all next week, so we wanted to be here.”

      “Well, if there’s anything you want me to do, let me know.”

      “My mom and Julia have it all covered. All I need to do is show up.”

      Michael looked over Samson’s shoulder. “Looks like you got company,” Michael said as Delilah walked into his office.

      “I hope I’m not interrupting anything. Pastor, I wanted to ask you something.” Delilah batted her eyes.

      “Pastor, I’ll catch you later,” Michael said.

      “No, don’t go. There’s something else I wanted to discuss with you,” Samson said.

      Michael didn’t read in between the lines that Samson didn’t want to be left alone with Delilah. “Call me on my cell when you finish.” He smiled in Delilah’s direction. “Delilah, nice seeing you.”

      Delilah licked her lips. “Same here. Tell that wife of yours she’s a lucky woman.”

      “I’ll be sure to tell her that.”

      Once Michael was gone, Delilah closed the door.

      “What are you doing?” Samson rushed to the door to open it.

      Delilah jumped in front of it. They were now face-to-face. He could smell the cherry blossom lip gloss on her lips. “Your fiancée is in the restroom. Why haven’t you returned my calls?”

      “I’m beginning to sound like a broken record—because I’m busy. I am getting married in a few days.”

      “I know. That’s all anybody is talking about.”

      Samson moved and left Delilah standing with her back to the door. “I hate to rush you, but I need to go.”

      “Okay, but I wanted to drop off something with you.” Delilah reached into her purse and pulled out a disk. She handed it to him but wouldn’t let go of the case. “If I were you, I would watch this in private.”

      Samson needed Delilah gone before Julia came to his office, but he was curious to know what was on the disk. He looked at both sides of the disk, but there was no writing.