Page 13 of The Cost of Corruption

“That’s only because you don’t share your cousin’s tastes,” I told her. “Their fantasies are simple—hot men, readily available. Yours, I have a feeling, are much more complex.”

Her gaze shifted from mine. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never thought about things like that.”

The whole of her face filled with color. The bow of her lips twitched. It was a good thing Chastity Costa had chosen a life of quiet devotion because she would have made a terrible poker player.

“Lying is a sin,” I reminded her.

“So is corrupting an innocent,” she shot back.

I couldn’t help but smile.Again.

Spending my intimate hours with club girls and prostitutes might make for a more straightforward love life, but even I had to admit that those kind of relationships lacked the heated spark this simple back-and-forth conversation lit up in me.

“There’s no corruption here,” I said, even as I moved my hand over hers. She was so small that my palm encompassed itcompletely, but she made no move to pull away. “Just two people talking.”

“Good,” she said with a firm nod. “Because I don’t want you thinking I’m anything like my cousins.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of that,” I assured her.

“I’m not so easily seduced.”

My core tightened again just at the mention of seduction.

“No, I imagine that a man would have to work very hard to seduce someone like you, Sister Chastity,” I said, slowly working my fingers up from the back of her hand to the cuff of her ridiculous habit. “He’d have to be patient. Take his time. Talk to you in just the right way to coax you into letting your guard down. Work his way in from the edges so you wouldn’t be frightened by his touch.”

Her eyes widened as a sense of warning crept into her gaze. “Matteo. Please. We shouldn’t be talking like this.”

“I like it when you say my name, Chastity.”

Her lips trembled again, and I watched her swallow down a lump in her throat. Was it fear? Guilt? Excitement? A mix of all three, if I had to guess.

“And you shouldn’t say things like that,” she said when she’d managed to open her mouth again.

“Why?” I asked, gently curling my fingers around her wrist and guiding her even closer. “It’s the truth, and we’ve already established it’s a sin to lie.”

“But my father?—”

“Would want to kill me,” I finished for her. “Probably. But there are a lot of people who’ve wanted the same thing, and I’m still here. It’s not easy to get rid of a D’Angelo. Besides, he’s not here.”

Not yet, at any rate.

“But…but I’m going to be a nun.” Her voice was no longer adamant, though. Now, she sounded almost sorrowful, like herlife was some kind of tragic prophecy set in stone. Something no one could change. “I take my final vows in two weeks.”

“Is that what you want?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a simple question, Chastity. Do you want to live a cloistered life, locked away from the world? Never touching another soul. Never feeling their bare skin against yours. Never locking eyes with a man as he plunges himself deep?—”

“Stop,” she said, shaking her head before I could go any further. “You don’t understand. My life has been planned out from the moment I was born. What I want doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me,” I told her, leaning in and swallowing up the little space between us. “Right now, it’s the only thing I care about. So, do us both a favor and tell me what you want. Tell me, so I can give it to you.”

Her lips parted, but for a few long seconds, the only sound that came out were trembling breaths. Then finally, “I-I don’t understand.”

“I think you do,” I said, refusing to give her an inch of wiggle room. Not literally or figuratively. “I think someone in your situation has had years to think about what she wants. To sit and fantasize about it. To play one finely tuned scenario after another over and over again in her mind until it almost seems real.Almost.”

“Matteo...”

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