Page 7 of Mass Sins

I put the plate down before letting her take my hand. She pulled me toward the living room where two of her men were talking to the priest whose name I had already forgotten.

We stopped in front of them, and I waited for Sin to speak.

“Guys, would you mind if I steal Joska from you for a moment?”

Yaws-kah.

Interesting name.

“You go ahead,” Tabor said in his usual dark voice. He left with Archer, and Joska turned his attention to us.

“Joska, this is Bennie. Bennie, this is Joska.”

With his brown eyes, he studied my face closely before holding out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Bennie.”

I shook his hand while holding his gaze. “Nice to meet you too.”

“Lovely name you got there,” he said, his eyes soft, and his smile kind. Just like a priest’s expression had to be.

“Thanks, it’s actually Benedetta, but Bennie’s just fine.”

“Benedetta. Are you Italian?”

“Half. My Mom’s Italian, so she insisted on giving me an Italian name. It meansblessed.”

“It’s pretty,” he told me, never losing that smile.

“I like yours too. Sounds European as well.”

“It is. Hungarian, actually.”

“Oh, so are you from there?” I asked. He did look European. And, again, he looked way too handsome to be a priest.

Ignore his looks. That’s not why you’re talking to him.

“My parents are from there. I was born and raised here. But I did visit my country a couple times. It’s lovely.”

Sin cleared her throat, and the smirk on her face told me that she had accomplished her goal. “I’ll let you two talk.” She left, and while I wasn’t into the idea of talking to a guy I just met, I decided not to panic and let this happen.

In the end, Sin’s goal wasn’t to be our matchmaker. Her intention was to get me to talk to a priest about my faith. So, that’s where I was going to steer this conversation toward.

“So uh…Sin told me you’re a priest.”

“I am. Do you need to confess?” Although he sounded serious, there was an amused gleam in his eyes.

I couldn’t hold back a laugh. “No, not really. But I’m having a bit of a faith crisis and I guess Sin saw an opportunity here. I’m not so sure you want to talk about religion at a birthday party though.”

Joska’s smiled softened again. “I wouldn’t mind, but a quieter place might be more suitable for a conversation like that.”

I agreed. This wasn’t the right place. Still, I was suddenly feeling a strong urge to tell him all about my issues. “How about we go sit outside?”

He thought about it, but only for a moment. “Sure. You go ahead, and I’ll get us another drink. What would you like?”

“Oh, a Coke would be great. Thank you.”

He gave me a nod, and while he went to get us drinks, I headed outside the back where there was a small terrace with a couple of chairs and lounges. I decided to sit down on the bigger lounge, so we wouldn’t have to sit too far apart, and while I waited for him to join me, I talked myself into not sharing too much with him.

Even if he was a priest, I hadn’t really thought this through yet.

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