Page 73 of Priest

“If we can go to Confession.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Of course.”

“With you,” she adds.

I pull the helmets from my saddle bag and my eyes meet hers. “I’ll take you.”

She looks down at the ground. One day — soon, I hope — I won’t have to keep tilting her chin up and reminding her that she doesn’t have to hide from me. Still, that doesn’t stop me from doing just that.

Yeah, I was a jealous asshole tonight and that has to stop.

“Breathe, Bella.”

She does, her words coming out shaky; “I want it to be you… even though I know you’re not Catholic… but you are helping out Father Dan, so it’s sorta the same.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Because of this morning?”

I place the helmet over her head and pull it down, securing the strap for her. I like that she lets me take care of her.

“That’s one reason.”

“What’s another?”

Uh. I can think of at least a hundred reasons why this is a bad idea, but then I see the look in her eyes. She needs this. “I just think… maybe after we’ve been so close… it might be awkward. Confessions are usually of an impure nature…”

Her voice lowers. “Do you think what we did was impure?”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “Of course not. But I…”

She places a finger over my lips to shut me up. “Sometimes you talk too much. Maybe it’s time to listen instead?”

My heart thuds in my chest at her words.

Her confessions.

Her very private thoughts.

The way she feels.

What we did.

I should tell her to talk to Dan. To wait until the morning, but the plead in her eyes makes me want to give her the fucking world if it’ll wipe that frown off her face.

“I’ve never been inside a confessional for years,” I tell her. “And even then, I was a teenager and the one confessin’.”

A smile warms her face. “And I’ll bet you had your share of sins to be cleansed.”

My lips twitch. “You could say that.”

“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done.”

Killed a man.

I touch her nose lightly. “Anyone ever told you that you talk a lot?”

She shakes her head. “Never, but I think I’m coming out of my shell.”

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