Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86841 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86841 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
He covered up a laugh with a cough, as if he needed to clear his throat.
Caught ya, Father. She’s annoying as fuck, and you know it.
I raised my eyebrows as I smirked.
The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. His lips were delicious any day of the week, but when he went without shaving for a few days and he had that thick, scruffy thing happening? Whew. I wanted to put my hands on his face. Feel it under my fingertips. See if those lips felt as soft as they looked.
“Yes, well, her talking didn’t fill your void. I hope you’ll return,” he told me.
Don’t do that, Father. Don’t make me want to come see you again. It’s just a torturous tease.
“Perhaps,” I replied because I was hoping for the strength not to go back.
He nodded his head once, but the glint of disappointment in his eyes didn’t go unnoticed. Was he that worried about helping me?
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” he replied. Then, he glanced over at Gathe. “It was nice meeting you, Gathe. I’ll leave you both to your lunch.”
“Yeah, you too,” Gathe replied.
“Bye,” I said, and his eyes lingered on me for a moment longer before he walked away.
I watched him, wondering if he had meant to look at me as if he was memorizing my face.
“You’re gonna split the gates of hell wide open. Like a fucking explosion,” Gathe said.
I jerked my eyes off Father Jude’s backside and turned to Gathe.
He held up his hands with his fingertips pressed together before making them fly open like a bomb was going off, mouthing the word, Boom, as his eyes danced with amusement.
“Shut up,” I snarled.
“They might find a place worse for you. Somewhere hotter ’n’ hell.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” I told him. Unless masturbating while fantasizing about a priest was wrong because, yeah, I’d done that a few times or more.
“Seriously, Saylor. Come on. That man is so fucking hot for you. He might have to go back to his office and jerk one off after this.”
I shifted in my seat. Not an image I needed, Gathe. I was already struggling.
“Priests don’t do that. He is a Catholic priest, and they have to take a vow of celibacy.”
Gathe looked at me as if that was ludicrous. “How the hell do you know? You’re not Catholic. You’re not even a fucking Christian.”
I picked up my water. “I googled it.”
He covered his mouth to smother his laughter.
“I am five seconds away from throwing my water in your face,” I warned.
Why had I admitted that to him? He’d never let me live it down.
“I’m sorry. But you googled if that man could fuck or not?” He gave me a side-eye. “You know what you’re doing. Don’t lie. You’re flashing them dimples, batting those pretty blues at the man, and showing him leg and cleavage. Working his ass up, making him so damn horny that he can’t remember who the Lord is.”
My nails bit into my palms as I fisted my hands in my lap. I didn’t need to hear this. The thought that Father Jude could be attracted to me, that I made him hard, that he might possibly jerk off to thoughts of me…was getting to me.
I had to get that out of my head. Focus on something else. Threads of Love and Hope—I would focus on it. On what I was going to do to make my life have a point. A purpose. I wasn’t going to lust after a priest.
Seven
Jude
What was he? Some model for a surfboard company? Had he even gone to college? Why was I obsessing over this?
I tossed the to-go box into the trash and drank the rest of my sweet tea. I had barely tasted my fettuccini. I didn’t remember eating it. My fixation on that girl and the guy sitting with her, who she’d called her friend, was ridiculous. I did not care. I barely knew her.
Yes, she had been the cause of countless cold showers the past two weeks. There had been days that I had needed three of them. I hated cold water. But keeping my hand off my dick when I started thinking about her was almost impossible. The few times I had given in and pumped it just a little and almost given myself blue balls were my weakest moments. Those had required much longer cold showers and some ice thrown in.
Staring out the window as I sat in the leather chair behind the desk in my office, I could see Vapiano. They hadn’t left yet. How long did it take to eat? How interesting could a conversation with Surfer Ken be? He’d even had that cocky, full-of-himself smirk.
I had to stop. I didn’t know the guy. She had said he was her friend, and she needed one of those right now. She was dealing with a world of pain and hurt. I just didn’t see how that dude was going to help her. I could though. I was a priest. I had been trained in this.