didn’t catch the hint of a grin he quickly doused.
“You’re right,” she continued. “I do have confidence in myself. To the point that I’m arrogant and self-centered and refuse to acknowledge when I’ve screwed up. I don’t make excuses because I don’t hold myself accountable to anyone. I saw the lust charm as an excuse for me to do what I really wanted to do anyways. And I didn’t care how it affected you or what the consequence was. I was only concerned with getting what I wanted. I guess what I’m trying to say, Marc, is that while I do love you, I loved myself more. I was being selfish and I… Marc?”
His white knuckles wrapped around her hands so hard, he feared he’d break her fingers. “What did you just say?”
“I was being selfish?” Her eyebrows arched.
“Before that. You said… You said that you love me?”
She pulled back meekly, shrugging. “I thought you knew.”
Marc leapt up and began to pace with more professional acumen than a lecturing parent. “You know I… I can’t ever be… It doesn’t matter that…”
He could see a tear in the corner of her eye grow into a dollop, and hear her voice break. “I don’t expect anything, Marc. I know I’m beneath you, that I’m not worthy. I know that someone with a history like mine could never hope to…”
But she never got to say what she could never hope to. He had her pressed to his lips and in his arms before another syllable was possible. His heart pounding in his ears sounded like it was auditioning for the percussion section of the Boston Pops. Its cadence gave him a steady marching rhythm to walk Riona backward, through the door he hoped led to her bedroom.
“Fuck, you’re worthy,” he breathed between kisses, turning his attention from her lips to her neck. She hissed when he ripped at her collar to expose her neck before biting at the flesh where it planed out into the delicate curve of her collarbone. “God, Riona, you’re worth every bit of hellfire.”
When they reached the bed, Riona grabbed him by the lapels and brought his body down over hers. A momentary shot of guilt ran through him when, between tastes of her mouth, he spotted his clerical collar being thrown into the corner. Let it go, he told himself. He was aware enough to know this was the end; he would never preach another sermon again. He was giving in, giving up. He was exchanging the purity of Heaven for the bliss of sin. He was going to make love to this woman, come hell or high water.
So it surprised him when Riona ran her fingers through his hair and pulled his head up, meeting his curious expression.
“No!” she gasped through heavy breaths. Her lips were so swollen and wet, he found it difficult to focus on her words.
He pulled back, gasping. “What? Why?”
“You’ll be damned, and it will be all my fault. I can’t carry that on my shoulders.”
His teeth ground, his blood pressure spiked. “Damn Him!” Marc cried as his brow fell on Riona’s chest. “How can God make someone like you and put you in my path, only to deny me the right to love you properly? And in return, ask me to fight His battles on Earth against evil? How could he ask so much of one man, expect all the fucking pain and give none of the pleasure?”
“It’s no sin to love me, Marc.” Riona’s fingers brought comfort as they stroked his hair. “We just can’t… you know… go all the way.”
That was bloody it, wasn’t it? “Riona, you’re brilliant!”
“I know that, but why do you think so?”
Meeting her lips again, he teased her with minute pecks. “We can’t ‘go all the way.’ It’s a mortal sin. It will damn me, and maybe you. But as long as we don’t… um, consummate, I think we’re safe.”
She glared at him askew. “Are you sure? Can you control yourself that much?”
“You don’t understand how much I’ve been controlling myself since the day we met.” He nodded and laughed. “I’m a priest. I know these definitions pretty damned well. I can’t make love to you, Riona. God, believe me though, I want to. But I can do a lot just short of that.”
Riona grinned as she rolled him unto his back. “As long as we don’t go too far, then?” She began undoing the buttons of his starched, pressed shirt. “Okay, agreed. We stop before