Page 16 of Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned…7 Times

My eyes widened at his carefree words and attitude, but I think I was more surprised by how much I liked it and the wanton way my body reacted to them. The warm flush that was buzzing under my skin didn’t help either.

What was wrong with me?

And why did my body react this way to these strange men with even stranger names?

“That’s Envy.” Pastor James–Lust–pointed to the coppery-bronze-looking God next to Pride. The hue of his green died down a little, but there was still a hint of it. “Wrath.” Next was the Ginger who appeared to be in a permanent state of anger. “Sloth.” The platinum blonde offered me a lazy smirk. “And finally, we have Gluttony.” The final man to be introduced was on my right–dark hair and light eyes–observing me with a carnal look in his eyes.

“Well, I guess it’s nice to meet you all,” I murmured. “Does that make all seven of you my kidnappers, or was it just one of you?”

They all made a show of glancing around the table with knowing smirks.

“I guess that’s a group effort then,” I replied dryly and returned my attention to Lust. “I don’t understand how I got here. Did you drug me?”

“There were no drugs involved.”

“Then, did you make me sniff something?”

“Don’t worry, honey. I didn’t make you sniff anything.”

“Then I don’t understand how I got here.”

“We’ll answer your questions over lunch, Miriam. I don’t know about you, but I’m starved,” Lust said, quick to dismiss me. “Gluttony, care to do the honours?”

“With pleasure,” Gluttony grinned and at the click of his fingers, the table was covered with food. It appeared that I was the only one who wasn’t surprised as the men didn’t waste any time digging in, but I had no idea where to start.

I also didn’t know how Gluttony had managed to summon a feast load of food at the snap of his fingers. It was far from normal, and no human I knew could do that.

Sloth leaned forward to whisper, “I’d hurry up if I were you. With Gluttony around, food is never around for long.”

“I heard that,” Gluttony grunted, tucking into his meal without sparing us a glance.

“Am I wrong?”

“I never said you were wrong. Just that I heard you.”

My eyes lingered on Gluttony when he reached for another portion of lasagne. He seemed to really enjoy it with the bread and mashed potatoes, but all I could think about was that I would never be able to consume so many carbs in one day, let alone one meal, and still fit into my jeans.

How could he eat like that and still be in such good shape?

“You should take a picture, sugar. It’ll last longer,” Gluttony chuckled.

My cheeks warmed at being caught red-handed ogling him, and I busied myself with loading up my plate. However, with so many options around me, I didn’t know where to start. And that was not including all the other dishes on the other side of the table that I couldn’t reach.

I could always take a leaf out of Greed’s book and get up and help myself, but the lingering way he looked at me told me an ulterior motive drove him to this side of the table.

“You should get some of the oysters, darling. They’re aphrodisiacs.” He leaned over me to reach for the spaghetti carbonara even though he could have easily done so without getting all up in my personal space.

“I’m not a fan of seafood,” I murmured and channelled all the self-restraint I possessed to keep my eyes on the food and not Greed.

“Miriam won’t need aphrodisiacs when she’s with me,” Sloth grinned lazily.

“I wasn’t insinuating that she needs aphrodisiacs when she’s with me.” Greed’s back stiffened, and his eyes hardened as he glared at Sloth. “I was suggesting that once I’m through with her, she won’t have any energy for the rest of you.”

“That’s mighty kind of you, but why don’t you get back to your seat, Greed?” Gluttony barked, waving a dismissing hand. “Your disgusting sexual prowess is turning me off my food.”

“You know it’s bad when Gluttony gets turned off his food,” Sloth snickered.

Gluttony was greedy when it came to food, and Greed was greedy when it came to everything else. And apparently, that included me.

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