Page 67 of Hotter 'N Hell

“Oh, no. Father Jude isn’t out yet,” she said, then leaned forward. “Sibby requested a confessional after Mass. Who does that?” she whispered.

Damn. So, she was here. Confessing her sins to Jude. I wondered what kind of things she confessed to him. She’d never tell him anything real. She wouldn’t want him to know her real sins.

Crow caught my eye again, and he motioned his head slightly for me to come there.

“Yeah, rude,” I agreed with Mary, but I had no idea if it was or not. I just knew Jude’s regular hours for confessional because they were posted inside and on the church’s website. “I, uh…I’ll be back.” I told her and made my way over to Crow.

He was standing over by the firepit. He watched me approach and didn’t even try to hide his obvious interest.

“Hello, Crow.” I had to tilt my head back to look up at him, and then I glanced at the fire. “I hope this doesn’t mean we are roasting weenies for dinner.”

“S’mores for dessert,” he replied.

That I could get on board with.

“I wondered if you were ever coming back,” he drawled.

I cut my eyes at him. “Miss me?”

The curl to his lips was wicked, and he knew it.

“You sure make the view a helluva lot better.”

“You trying to make me blush?”

His eyes crinkled at the corners. The tough, sexy, rugged thing he had going was nice. I wasn’t feeling it that way or anything, but I kind of wished I were. Seemed my body only got hot and bothered by one man these days. The off-limits man. The one who belonged to God. Ugh.

“No, but my guess is, it takes a little more to make you blush. You’re used to men telling you how fucking hot you are.”

Fucking hot. Huh.

Crow was laying it on thick tonight.

“I don’t think we can say”—I lowered my voice to a whisper, leaning in close—“fuckinghere.”

He chuckled. “Maybe not, but it was worth the sin, getting to hear you say it.”

“Saylor,” Jude said from behind us.

I turned to see him walking up. His gaze flicking from mine to Crow, then back. “Good to see you back.”

“My arm was twisted,” I replied with an innocent smile.

The flare in his eyes made me want to laugh as he shifted his eyes to Crow. “Hello, Crow. Good week?”

“It’s looking up, Father,” he replied.

Did Jude just tense up?

“That’s good to hear.”

“Father Jude,” Sibby called out. “Do you want me to make your plate?”

Jude’s gaze went back to me, and then he smiled his friendly priest smile before nodding his head and walking to the table of food and Sibby.

“I think the fact that he’s a priest is lost on her,” I said, looking at Crow so I didn’t watch Jude.

“He handles it well. Probably used to women throwing themselves at him by now. Besides, with the way he looks, the fact that he’s unavailable is an aphrodisiac for some women.”

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