“I’m so sorry.”I hurry toward him with exaggerated urgency.“I’ve never been here before...”
“No worries.”His eyes never leave mine, sharp and assessing.“You’re with the Castellos, correct?I saw you arrive with Cora.”
I nod like a clueless doll.The dumber I look, the better.
His smile holds, but it’s not enough to mask the line that furrows between his brows now.What vacant eyes for a supposed man of God.“Ah.Well.We appreciate you showing up to help out.We do our best to give back to the community in whatever way we can.”
“Of course.I enjoy doing this kind of stuff!”
“That’s lovely to hear.Hopefully, you will be kept around long enough to keep on helping...”
Ha.Nice dig.“I hope so, too.”
In a gesture that somehow feels both harmless and quietly threatening, he places a hand at the center of my back and nudges me forward, then points across the cathedral to the hall on the opposite side.“The bathroom is that way.”
“Th-thank you,” I stutter for effect, then scurry off like a good little ditz.
Inside the restroom, I lean against the counter and wait out enough minutes to make the lie believable.As I do, my phone buzzes with a text.
Gio:Need a gym buddy this evening.You available?
Me:Today’s weight training for me, so yep.
Gio:Cool.Let’s meet at seven.
An hour later, after we’ve left the cathedral and are cruising back to the villa, voice light and casual, I ask Cora, “Hey, what do you think about the priest?”
“Vale?”Cora sniffs disapprovingly.“I’ve never liked him.He has bad energy.And he dislikes women, I think.So whenever he visits the house, I make myself scarce and refuse to serve him.I do Grace Day for the people, not him.”
“Really?What makes you think he dislikes women?”
“Observation.”She shakes her head, her voice firm.“There’s just something...off.Something bad and sinister in the way he looks at women.I would take a pervert over that man.At least a pervert appreciates the female form.But Vale?”She shudders audibly, shoulders shaking.“I see nothing but veiled hatred when he speaks to women.”She frowns at me then.“Why do you ask?”
I shrug.“Because I don’t like him either.But I wasn’t sure if hating a priest is a sin.”
Cora throws her head back and laughs, warm and full.She takes my hand in hers.“Hate the bastard.We will go to hell together.”
~
“YOU DON’T NEEDto show off for me, you know,” I call across the gym.“Muscles like that could only come from heavy lifting.”
Shirtless, glistening with sweat, and lifting heavier than usual, Gio grins mid-rep.“Of course I do.How else am I supposed to make you fall for me?Gotta peacock for you.”
I roll my eyes.“You’re ridiculous.”
And yet...I can’t stop staring at the way his chest flexes under the weight.He knows it, too.The smug, sexy bastard winks at me in the mirror, and I look away, cheeks warming.
After finishing a brutal set of hammer curls, he drops the weights and turns to watch me crank out a round of military push-ups.
“You think Mamma Michel would like me, pretty eyes?”he asks.“What’s the secret to winning her over?”
Rocking back on my knees, I swipe the sweat from my brow.“It’s my dad you should worry about.”
“Oh yeah?How bad is he?”
I snort.“Ask me what happened to my first love.”
“What—” He pauses as it seems to dawn on him, then his eyebrows jump.“No.No way.He didn’t.”
