Page 74 of Broken

It’s wrong.

“I’m not sick.”

Her words have me tensing.

How the?—

“Doesn’t take a genius to figure out what you’re thinking,” she rumbles, sighing some more as she snuggles into the covers, which brings her closer to me again. So close that her breath brushes my chest.

I shudder.

It’s been a long time since someone has beenthisclose to me, and it’s not the kind of temptation I thought I’d face after so many years in a cassock.

The temptation for full skin-to-skin contact, for affection and warmth,intimacy,is almost overpowering.

“Don’t tense up,” she mumbles sleepily.

I sigh at the sound of her tired voice, and I get the feeling that she could rest, but I still need answers.

I know that I’m diving headfirst off a cliff, but I tuck my hand around the back of her head and gently press her into me until her forehead connects with my chest.

At that moment, I’m in a world of confusion.

My back is aching. Normally, I appreciate how it grounds me and makes me feel alive.

But my front is in Heaven. And suddenly, feeling alive isn’t enough for me.

For her to be this near, her softness against all my hardness…

“How have I lived without this for so long?” My words are soft, barely whispered on my breath, but she hears them.

And call me as crazy as she is, but I can’t hide from the belief that she was born to.

“You weren’t ready for me, and I wasn’t ready for you,” she mumbles then pats me like I need comforting. Like her words make complete sense.

Andpar Dieu, maybe they do.

I take a deep breath, process, and then inquire, “What made you realize you were sick?”

“I’ve helped a lot of people?—”

“And not a single one of them could corroborate your story?”

Suddenly, she’s not so sleepy as she barks, “I shouldn’t need my story to be ‘corroborated.’ Honestly, you’d think I was a criminal!”

I wince—she’s right.

“And, no. I either couldn’t get in touch with them or some weird disaster befell them. Charlie fell off his motorcycle. Jasmine’s house got torn up in a tornado. I’d receive emails or texts later on but?—”

“They wanted to think you were damaged.”

“Yes. I would never have been 100% there anyway because you’re here. I need you to get better. Just like you need me. We’re a team.”

“You say that as if we’ve known each other for a lifetime. Andrea, I haven’t even known you a day.”

“Maybe, but a part of you has. Do you know what a twin flame is?”

“The belief that a soul has two halves and they’re separated at birth.” I sigh—I want to say that’s silly, but I go around killing monsters in human skin.

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