Sweetest Sin: A Forbidden Priest Romance by Sosie Frost Read Free Book Online Page A

you a good recommendation after you finish this last semester.”
    I doubted that.
    Father Raphael
folded his hands in his lap. I wished I hadn’t stared at where they dropped.
“I’ll make it fun, Honor. Promise.”
    I didn’t trust
what I thought was fun with him. Stolen conversations. Nighttime confessions.
    Dark and twisted
and wonderful fantasies.
    Alyssa answered
for me. “She’ll do it. She’ll be there anyway. She’s singing in the choir with
us, Father. We convinced her to try out for the Battle of the Choirs group.”
    Father Raphael’s
smile turned victorious. “Wonderful. I’m so glad you’re that…persuasive.”
    This was a bad
idea, made worse by the shiver of excitement that threaded through my mind. The
wicked seed sprouted from a forlorn hope that maybe, somehow, I’d find a way to
speak with him again. I could be near him once more, and I’d indulge that
craving to be close with him.
    I stayed silent as
the other announcements were read, and Father Raphael offered an opening prayer
and blessing. My fingers quivered as I crossed myself, but nothing eased me.
    Especially the
bible verse chosen for our meeting.
    Father Raphael
read it, commanding and warm. His attention focused on me, not even reading
from his Bible. I wished I hadn’t ached for the attention.
    “ For all have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God ,” he said. “Romans 3:23. This is true of every man, every
woman…every priest.”
    I held my breath, though the room
quieted, ready for Father Raphael to lead the study.
    Mom stood instead.
    “Mm, mm . This is too true.”
She wagged a soulful finger. “Now I know a lot about sinning…probably more than
most of you here.”
    This was the first time Mom
probably overestimated her past, especially in comparison to the sins I had
just committed. I tugged on her sleeve, but she shrugged me away.
    Judy folded her hands and forced a shrug.
“How…illuminating.”
    “I’ve done too many bad things to
too many good people,” Mom said. “The drugs and the drinking…you don’t know sin
until your husband wakes you up, half-naked at a truck-stop after you took the
car with an expired license to get cigarettes.”
    This wasn’t happening. I faked a
chuckle and called to her. “Mom, we should keep reading the verse—”
    “When my little girl was fifteen?
Her grandma sent her a cross, little thing with a real diamond in the middle.”
Mom gazed down at me. I didn’t have time to prepare for this truth bomb. “I’m
sorry, baby. I pawned it and bought a bottle of Oxy instead.”
    My heart sunk.
    I remembered that moment. It wasn’t
just any cross. It was the necklace Granddad bought to propose to
Grandma. She was crushed when I said I’d never received it.
    That was the day an eighty-year-old
woman cried in her granddaughter’s arms.
    And now was when I realized it
wasn’t for the lost necklace. She had cried over her lost daughter.
    If only she lived a while longer.
Now Mom was sober, healthy, and reliving her past with shattered pride and
humility.
    Except I wasn’t ready to share in
that moment. My stomach turned, and the memory shattered too much inside me.
The group looked to Father Raphael to steal back the spotlight.
    Judy hummed. “Right. Sins
like…those. They’re all forgiven, right, Father?”
    I couldn’t handle their stares or
Mom’s pinching grip on my hand. I stood, murmuring enough to convince people I
needed to use the restroom.
    Father Raphael watched me go, his
voice low and graveled with sincerity.
    “Yes. All is forgiven.”

Chapter Four – Raphael
     
    My angel believed
she’d fallen from grace.
    But I knew she had
been sent to grant that grace to me.
    It was my place to
attend the bible study, guiding the women of my parish as they debated and
researched their role in the church and community. Usually, I served them well.
Tonight, my thoughts drifted.
    Dark. Dangerous.
    Sinful.
    Honor looked
beautiful.
    I no longer focused
on the Bible