Page 104 of The Sinner and the Gunslinger
I’m proud of myself. I don’t mention any of this but hold his intense brown gaze.
“Sorry. Just leaving.” I spin on my heels and walk out of the sacristy. As I leave, I turn to read the carved words in the wooden door but find them patched over and stop. I glance back in the room and see him tugging his white collar off, kneeling on the one-person pew. His broad shoulders hunch over as he fingers his rosary and closes his eyes. A deep divot appears between his brows as he mumbles his prayers. I glance down at his fingers and see his blood glistening on the beads.
“Father.” I step forward.
He opens a single eye and looks at me. “When the collar is off, it’s just Cisco.”
“Cisco.” I take another step. “Are you okay?”
He goes very still.
“Do you want to talk? I mean, you looked troubled. I spilled my guts to you, but I’m also a good listener.”
Both eyes open. I squirm under his attention and feel like he’s about to reprimand me for the intrusion. But he slides his gaze back to the front and closes his eyes, dismissing me with a sigh.
“Thank you, but my penance is for me alone. You may go.”
“I mean. It doesn’t have to be listening.” I crack my knuckles. Maybe someone hurt him.
He shakes his head, lips twitching before he scowls again. “Mercy, you may go.”
The way he says my name.Chills down my spine.
“Right.” I admire his profile for another hot second and then leave the church.
As I get to the door, I smash my hand into the holy water basin, pirouette, and make the sign of the cross at the crucifix over the altar. I give Christ a saucy wink. Maybe my penance won’t be so bad after all. But I’m still pissed off about being lied to.
My bitches have some explaining to do.
Thirty-Eight
Leila
“What are you making?”
Zeke’s voice behind me is a welcome sound as I crack an egg and separate the yolk. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Yes. Yes, I would. That’s why I asked.” His hands slide over my hips, around my stomach, and he drops his chin on my shoulder.
“How’s your leg?”
“Better than new.”
I straighten and twist to see him. He’s no longer in his cast and grinning at me from ear to ear.
“Don’t get used to Thea healing you every time you hurt yourself.” I don’t want him to think he’s invincible and then go and run off a cliff again.
He sees the worry in my eyes, and his smile drops. “I won’t. Promise.”
I scoff and turn back to my bowl. He returns his hands to my hips and drops his chin on my head.
“Don’t believe me?” he murmurs.
“Maybe I’m making a horse manure pie, just in case.”
His laugh is deep and rattles my spine. My body reacts to his closeness—my nipples peak and my skin gets tight and hot. We haven’t been intimate since the cabin in Romania before he broke his leg. A full-body shiver runs through me when he drops his lips to the tendon running from my neck to my shoulder.
“Mmm,” he mumbles against my skin, inhaling deeply, sliding his lips toward my ear. “You just washed your hair.”
