A man who was suddenly so hard it hurt.
He reached back and fisted in my hair, yanking my head down until my mouth was at his neck. The pulse under his skin beat wild and fast. I opened my mouth to protest, but instead wound up grazing my teeth over his throat. He arched into it, a low purring sound vibrating through his chest.
I bit down. Not hard enough to break skin but enough to make him gasp.
He went still. I'd surprised him. Good.
God forgive me, I liked it.
He ground his ass back against me harder and my hands shot to his hips, fingers digging in through fabric. I yanked him against me, suddenly starved for more. Everywhere we touched burned.
I'd kept my vows for years without ever once being tempted to break them, and now I was dry humping a murderer on a dance floor in hell.
"Is this what you wanted?" He rolled his hips in a slow, deliberate motion. "When you followed me down here?"
His head fell back against my shoulder and I couldn’t stop staring at the column of his throat.
"Go on. Put your hands around my throat. Choke me."
My hand wrapped around his throat. I couldn't let go.
Blood from my stigmata soaked through the bandages, dripping between our bodies.
His pulse hammered against my palm and he pushed back into my grip, into my body, grinding against my cock with a rhythm that was going to either kill me or make me come.
I was so lost in the sensation I almost didn’t notice the way his hand crawled into his pocket.
I slammed him back against the column. His head cracked against the wood and he gasped, but his eyes stayed locked on mine.
"Azevedo was a good man," I said. Each word was broken glass in my throat. "He saved me when I was seventeen, pulled me back from the edge when I had nothing left."
"Then ask yourself why he had to die." Lorenzo's hand came up to cover mine on his throat. "Ask yourself what he was hiding."
"Stop lying."
"Why would I lie?" His thumb stroked across my knuckles. "I get paid either way. But someone thought Azevedo was enough of a bad guy that they went through all the trouble of hiring me to take him out. In my experience, good people are rarely targets for assassins."
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I growled, but my hands were shaking. What if he was right? There had to be a reason someone wanted Azevedo dead. People didn’t just pay assassins to murder cardinals for no reason.
I shook my head. No. He was just trying to distract me. I’d been charged with a holy mission to eliminate Lorenzo, to avenge Azevedo’sdeath. It didn’t matter why Azevedo had a contract on his life in the first place…did it?
He pulled away and turned his back on me like I was nothing, like this whole night had been a game and he'd already won.
My feet moved before my brain caught up. I grabbed his shoulder, spun him around. "You don't get to walk away."
"Don't I?" His smile was infuriating. "What are you going to do about it, Father? Kill me in front of witnesses? Or just follow me around Rome getting hard—"
I don't know why I kissed him. Maybe it was to shut him up or to wipe that smile off his face. Once I did, it didn't matter why.
Our teeth clashed. I forced my tongue into his mouth and tasted whiskey, tasted him. He tried to pull away but I dragged him back by his throat and squeezed until I could feel his pulse hammering against my palm. His lip split under my teeth and the taste of blood coated my tongue. I swallowed it down like communion wine, like I could consume his sin and make it mine.
This is for you, Azevedo. I'll make him suffer.
Lorenzo fisted my cassock and groaned into my mouth, pulling me closer. We were devouring each other.
But it wasn’t enough. I needed to hurt him or else I was going to lose my will completely.
I yanked my blade free and broke the kiss. "This is for Azevedo," I said and plunged it into his side.
