Page 57 of The Princess, the Prick & the Priest (Confessions 4)

Oui, he’d been married for many years. But Priest had been the one who’d proposed, and it had been so special. Every element of that night had been carefully thought out and designed to sweep Julien off his feet, and tonight they were hoping to do the same for Robbie.

Priest stepped through the trees first in a suit that looked totally out of place, but added to the overall ambience they were going for this evening. They’d been trying to decide how to play this whole scenario out, and had finally agreed in the end to put forward the version of themselves that Robbie had first fallen for—the prick and the priest.

As Priest walked toward him, Julien took in the powerful frame under his tailored jacket, the tie knotted at the base of his throat, and his long legs as they ate up the distance between them like he was in a hurry to get closer.

Priest’s eyes were zeroed in on him, and as he drew near, Julien caught sight of Robbie walking beside him.

His eyes were wide as he took in the scene all around him, and as they walked up the stairs, Julien finally had a chance to drink in the sight of Robbie.

Still dressed from work, Robbie wore his black tailored pants, burgundy shirt, and black vest, and when he finally spotted Julien and saw what he was wearing, Robbie’s mouth fell open. He looked to Priest and said, “Am I dreaming?”

When Priest said nothing, Robbie turned back to Julien and said, “If I am, please don’t wake me up.”

SOMEWHERE AROUND PRIEST telling him that they wanted everything, to now, as Robbie stood in front of Julien, who was decked out in his Chef Master uniform, with Julien “the Prick” Thornton stitched above the pocket—Robbie’s emotions had been in a tailspin.

At first, he’d been furious at Priest for freaking him out. But when his nerves had finally calmed and his brain had decided to show up to the party, Robbie’s heart had begun to race for a very different reason.

He recognized this place. He wasn’t sure how, because he’d never been there before. But from the moment Priest had led him off the path, and they’d come out of the forest into this clearing, Robbie had had an immediate flash of recognition.

There was a little cottage with a dozen or so lanterns illuminating a path up to the stairs, where there was a wraparound porch covered in ivy and twinkle lights that gave the place a magical feel.

It had a charming quality that was otherworldly in the dark seclusion of the night—and as the three of them now stood on the porch with one another, Robbie realized that they really were secluded. There was nothing on either side of them but trees, and off in the distance, you could hear the sound of…water, maybe?

“Bonsoir, princesse,” Julien said, in that smooth, sensual cadence that wrapped around every fiber of Robbie’s being and pulled him back to the present. “You seem to have gotten yourself into a little bind.”

Julien took Robbie’s cuffed hands and leaned down to press a kiss to the back of them, and when he raised his eyes, a shiver raced up Robbie’s spine.

The expression in Julien’s eyes was the same one he’d seen in Priest’s a second ago. The one that had made Robbie’s heart skip a few beats, and then begin to thump extraordinarily fast.

Something was going on here tonight. Something big.

“I wasn’t sure you’d make it back alive, mon amour,” Julien said, as he glanced at Priest. “But now it makes more sense.”

Priest slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out the key Officer Bailey had given him.

“I was lucky,” Priest said, as he handed it to Julien. “But I thought I’d leave him shackled until we made it back to you for safety reasons. Plus, you were my accomplice. If he’s going to strangle us, it should be together.”

As Julien reached for the key, Priest’s words registered with Robbie, and he tried to work out what exactly Julien was guilty of.

“The flour in the back of your car, princesse.” Julien winked as he pulled Robbie in. “I told you I was a thief that night at CRUSH. And tonight, we wanted to steal you away from the rest of the world.”

Robbie took in a shaky breath as the cuffs around his wrists loosened, and Priest said in his ear, “But your heart? Your heart, we want to steal forever.”

Priest then moved to stand alongside his husband, and as Robbie took in the handsome picture they made, he worried that his legs might give out from under him.

His lawyer and his chef. Robbie couldn’t have imagined a more perfect fit for him than these two men, and when they both moved down to one knee and looked up at him, Robbie’s hands flew to his mouth.

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