Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Rune takes my bundle but never takes his eyes off me. “Hello, Farrah.”
Slow heat runs like oil down my spine. “Hello, Father McDaniel.”
The white square shifts with his swallow. “I wanted to speak with you before we go inside and meet with the monsignor.” He scrutinizes me. “I won’t allow you to be pressured into anything. If you need money, I’ll see that you get it. Without…what’s to come.”
“But how will you retain your collar unless we do as he asks?”
He considers my question, in a way that I can tell he’s already thought of the answer. “I could plead my case to the cardinal. There’s a chance he’d condemn me, but I find I would rather risk losing my collar than have you in discomfort.”
I’ll be in greater discomfort if you don’t touch me. The fact that he’s so concerned about me, so selfless, only makes me more eager to feel his warmth against mine. And sure, the virgin inside me is trembling a little over the unknown, but I’m not letting this man be kicked out of the priesthood because of my actions. No, I can’t let that happen. “I don’t feel any pressure,” I say softly. “And I don’t want to accept the money without doing as I promised.”
“Tempting me.”
Those two rasped words make my nipples throb. “Yes.”
“I don’t want to be the kind of man who gives in to temptation, Farrah,” he says, raking five fingers through his hair. “I’ve always aspired to be a man of conviction. A man of principle who looks out for the less fortunate. I was raised with the opposite values, and I’ve seen firsthand what becomes of a man who lets himself…indulge too deeply and freely of flesh, forsaking everything else. The broken shame of driving your loved ones away for empty, temporary pleasure.”
I wet my lips. “Who set this bad example for you?”
“My father.” He hesitates to say more, glancing back over his shoulder before capturing my gaze once more. “We both know the truth of what almost happened in the field.” We regard each other for a long moment, taking measured breaths. “I…worry I have the same lust inside of me. Same as him. I can’t give in to it, though. If I’m anything like the man, sex will rule me after one taste.”
An image of this man on top of me, face screwed up in pain as he slakes his urges almost makes me moan. Out loud. Then and there.
Goodness. Am I going to catch fire as soon as I set foot in this church, or what?
“I understand, Father.”
He steps closer, his hand lifting to cradle my face, but I only encounter the ghost of his palm, before he determinedly drops his hand. “Don’t let me give in, Farrah.”
“I’ll try not to,” I whisper, swaying toward him. Drowsy from an almost touch. “But if you’re feeling…desire for a woman now, won’t you continue to feel it again and again?”
Seconds tick by. Then he steps closer to speak an inch away from my temple, shooting tingles down the length of my neck. “I’ve encountered women of all ages, shapes and sizes throughout my work here. For years. I’ve never once felt need for any of them. It’s just you. I need to overcome…you. That’s it.”
My legs are so liquefied by that revelation, I’m surprised I don’t spontaneously sprawl out at his feet. “Okay,” I murmur breathily. “Overcome me, then.”
A rumble stirs in his chest, and I can feel him wanting to pull me flush to his body. Feel it with every fiber of my being. “Did you bandage your elbow, sweetheart?”
His concern is the next best thing to an actual embrace. “Yes,” I whisper.
“Good.” I can feel that his eyes are fastened to my mouth. “What did you tell your aunt about where you were going?”
“I told her I got a job cleaning the rectory.” I smile to myself, remembering her delighted reaction to me being hired, even though her exclamation of happiness sent her into a coughing fit shortly thereafter. “She’s happy that I’ll get a few days away from the shelter. It can get a little claustro—”
“Shelter?”
“Yes.”
Even in the rapidly fading sunset, I can see his face has lost some of its color. “There is a man who comes to confession…”
I wait for him to keep going. “Yes?”
“Every week it’s the same confession. He…” The priest’s right eye ticks. “He has impure thoughts about a girl who lives in the local shelter.”
“Is his name Mr. Tandy?”
All he does is stare down at me, haunted. Unblinking.
“It’s okay, I already knew.” I give him a smile, hoping to break the sudden tension. “The money I earn here should keep me out of his clutches a while longer.”
That phrasing makes him wince. “He’s offered to pay you…to lie with him?”