Page 59 of The Sinner and the Priest: Part 1

In Italian, he answers, voice deep, “If my disrobing will bring you to a place of greater peace, little shadow, then I accept.”

Ombrina…

“Little shadow?” I ask, staying in Italian. “Because she follows you around?”

His eyes sparkle at me from over his shoulder.

“Someone has to make sure he’s honest.” Raven points her dagger at me, then at the back of his head—the branded cross—and then back at me.

Maybe she expected something other than the disbelief in my eyes because she quickly refocuses on Dominic.

“You could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” she mutters into his ear, on tiptoes.

I move to stand beside Tawny by the door and whisper behind my hand, “We’re not really going through with this, are we?”

All I receive is a perplexed look in return.

“Come on.” Raven prods Dom’s lower back with her finger. “We don’t have all day.”

He hands his head and mutters a furious Italian prayer, but then starts unbuttoning.

This is a tactic, right?

This is all to make him feel uncomfortable, so that he gives in and blurts out whatever secrets he holds … but honestly … I think I’m getting turned on.

Button after button is released with slow, methodical action. Dominic peels his shirt off his broad, ripped shoulders, revealing smooth, hairless skin everywhere. Back muscles rippling. Lats perfectly oblique as he twists and tosses his shirt onto his cot.

Jesus Christ, those abs.

Fucking Adonis belt pointing down, down, down to where he’s now undoing his belt and half facing us, frowning at Raven’s lips.

I think she is still talking. Something angry because she’s waving her dagger in his face. None of it registers because Dominic drags his hands down his hips, exposing his tight trunks--and I see the outline of his cock.

My mouth goes dry. “Fuck me.”

“Me too,” Tawny adds quietly.

“For your sake, Rave,” I mumble, “he’d better be a shower, not a grower.”

“Agreed,” Tawny hums. “That thing would rip⁠—”

Raven’s dagger suddenly embeds in the door between Tawny’s and my head, hilt juddering.

“Shut the fuck up,” she snarls, then switches to Mexican because he won’t understand. “He can understand English well enough. Saying things like that isn’t helping the cause.”

“Okay.” I show my palms.

“Sorry,” Tawny mumbles, then mouths to me behind Raven’s back, “She’s scary today.”

“Make yourselves useful,” Raven barks, “and hold him down for the cavity search.”

Wait. Is she really going through with this?

Tawny and I shuffle over, wearing identical looks of trepidation. Dominic, still half turned, sees it and starts to really worry. Raven gives him her back and winks at us. Her bitch-face mask is back on by the time she completes a full pivot.

Relief hits me hard. The game is still afoot.

Twenty-One