Pure & Sinful (Pure Souls) - By Killian McRae Page 0,13

him a space to meditate, pray, and hang out his tighty-whities to drip dry without embarrassment. Plus, no one ever gave him crooked looks about books on his shelves with titles like A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels and Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.

Luckily, being a floater priest without his own parish, the rectory was only optional. His grandfather left him a small inheritance, just enough to pay the gas, electric and rent each month. His humble salary from the church covered other incidentals. Being a Pure Soul came with many benefits, but they were all of the non-monetary variety.

The worn cotton of his secondhand quilt felt like a mother’s embrace as he collapsed onto the bed. Not his mother, of course, but someone’s mother. It was amazing how a good night’s sleep could erase all the woes, terrors, and turmoil of the day. It occurred to him that maybe he should take off his clothes and shoes, but that would require sitting up, and he just wasn’t going there at the moment.

Relaxation… achieved. A comfy bed delivered better bliss faster than a hot bath and a cold beer on a night like this. Marc almost forgot about the demon brawl that had gone down just a few hours before. He wondered if Dee really had been as scared shitless as he was. Riona looked shaky at first, but came through without a scratch. Just took a little encouragement, and though he failed at toning down his sarcastic snipe, he tried to serve that purpose for her.

It wasn’t as though he wanted to come off as a pompous ass all the time, but keeping up that front was essential. Dee’s fruition had finally led to him dropping the issue. He just didn’t get it. But Marc knew. The second he got too close to being sincere and allowed Riona to see him as a friend, it was going to be too hard to pull back — literally and metaphorically.

Marc remembered her smell as he had leaned in closely to whisper in her ear. Her fragrance… Mmm, spicy, hot, cinnamon and suede, yet completely feminine. The feel of her auburn hair, silky waves and all, brushing against his cheek did unholy things to him. Heat spread across her neck and cheeks when he spoke, and the hue of that flush had caused a reflection of red in his own composure that he thanked merciful heaven she couldn’t see with her eyes pinned on her demon ex. She had been so close, so soft, so…

“Mmm, Riona…”

With a bolt, Marc’s eyes shot open. His body’s Judas actions shocked him. His hand froze in place, the zipper only halfway down, though what lay underneath was completely up. No, he couldn’t do what he was starting to do. That was wrong on so many levels. Not to mention, sinful, according to church doctrine. Giving into this desire was a slippery slope, and this temptation, a monster that all too quickly could take on a life if its own. The infatuation with the witch had to stop.

Riona Dade could never be anything to him.

More importantly, he could never be anything to her.

Chapter 5

Marc’s little divo dance out of Paola’s left Riona with more than just uneaten pizza. Questions about the accusation beneath his words as he stormed out lingered, along with the scent of garlic.

It wasn’t like there was a background screening required when she signed up to become a Pure Soul. No one presented a waiver that let them dig around in her credit record and social calendar. Then again, considering who her new bosses were, FICO scores and fraternal organizations probably didn’t concern them much. And if anything was in a little manila folder in an applicant file somewhere, no doubt Marc took issue with her history of romances. If he had somehow become aware of them. Riona didn’t subscribe to the Pope’s newsletter, but she was pretty sure Vatican II hadn’t changed the church’s perspectives on lady love.

And it wasn’t like she was some flaming activist type who marched in all the Pride Parades and had a rainbow flag bumper sticker on her car. In fact, in the long term, Riona didn’t think she could even be with any woman for a long-term commitment. She could hold feelings for a female whose inner beauty she found appealing, but at the end of the day, she admitted that only a man ever made her feel whole. For her, anyway, that