Page 35 of Almost Priest

She shook her head sadly. “He wouldn’t know the difference if I stayed or left. You all are reading way too far into our relationship.”

A beat of silence. “Look at me.”

She hesitantly did as he asked and turned to face him, wrinkled t-shirt still in hand. His gaze searched her face.

All she knew in that moment was that the touch of his skin to hers, no matter how casual a grip he held on her arm, it somehow managed to send more of a shock to her core than anything else ever had. Why? Why this man?

“Do you love him?” he finally asked.

She pressed her lips together in irritation. “I told you I don’t. We’re friends.”

“But I saw you kissing him.”

“You sawhimkissing me,” she corrected. “And people kiss all the time. It doesn’t mean they’re in love.”

He looked as though he wanted to say a hundred things in that moment, but all he said was, “I can’t, Sammy.”

“Can’t what?”

“This…the way you make me feel. He’s my brother and I’ll be a priest in less than two months.”

She wanted to kick him. How dare he assume that she was giving him an invitation to turn down? She knew what he was! She wasn’t some Mary Magdalene trollop hoping to throw him off his path to God. She resented the fact that he thought she could be so uncaring about his commitment.

“I never asked you to be anything more than his brother, Colin.”

He dropped her arm and took a step back. His Adam’s apple moved under the shadow of his jaw as he gave a tight smile, but his eyes remained unmoved.

“My mistake,” he said gruffly. “Anyway, please stay. I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable, but there’s no need to go. I’m leaving in the morning.”

She imagined the entire family sitting around questioning each other why Colin left when he was supposed to be there for the summer. They’d eventually figure something out. He didn’t lie, she assumed, and feared he would confess it had something to do with her. Being held accountable for his leaving would be utterly humiliating.

She was angry that he’d put her in that position. Getting home to some Ben and Jerry’s sounded all together great. “Don’t bother,” she snapped and turned to continue packing.

She gasped when he reached for her again, this time with more force, and spun her around. His soft lips landed on hers and she squeaked in surprise. He held her just below her shoulders and she wasn’t sure what to do. Surely he’d come to his senses in a minute.

She stood there, eyes open, and waited. His mouth never opened, only pressed to hers dryly, lips to lips.

When he pulled away he was visibly shaking. He shook his head and attempted to say something, but no words came out. He turned, but then faced her again as if he wasn’t sure what to do. The palm of his hand gripped the back of his neck in a show of irritation. She hadn’t a clue what to say. He wasn’t looking at her and she knew he was having some sort of internal argument with himself.

“I can do better than that.”

When he reached for her the second time she was again shocked.

Her hands went to his chest and he wrapped his arms around her torso arching her back. He was practically holding all of her weight, pulling them pelvis to pelvis and lifting her to her toes.

His mouth coasted over hers and at the first touch of his tongue she felt some sort of pent up release deep within her belly and her panties suddenly flooded with desire. Never in her life had she had that sort of reaction to another person.

“Kiss me, Sammy. Show me how to kiss a woman.”

Her mouth slowly opened and he found his way inside. If he was any sort of novice there was no telling from his kiss. Slowly, his tongue tickled hers and her hands glided up his chest, across his warm and stubbly neck and into his soft dark hair. He pulled her close so that her belly pressed to his and it was perhaps the most sexual position she had ever been in with a man.

He moaned into her mouth and slanted his lips over hers, taking control of the kiss. A storm of fluttering tickles unleashed in her lower abdomen. She met him with every lick, nibble, and caress.

“God, you taste good.”

The mention of God had her cowering in shame. She gave him one final stroke with her tongue then carefully extricated herself from his embrace. On shaky legs she moved across the room so that the bed separated them. She couldn’t help but admire the waist of his shorts and notice his erection pressing against the back of his zipper.

She was a horrible, horrible person.

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