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"I can’t…" he’d whispered and his hands had dug deeper into her soft skin

And she should have left at that But she couldn’t In her twenty-eight years, she’d had sex, she’d liked sex, she’d enjoyed sex…but not until that s demanded of her

"Please" She’d said please once and she should have stopped there But it caain "Please, Søren…please…" and over and over again She begged for hied for it Even now, six weeks later, she couldn’t think of howwith utter shame She would have sold her soul to feel him inside her

Instead he’d covered her ive me, Suzanne," he’d said and she heard her own need echoed in his voice "I do not belong to o And once free of his shockingly strong hands, she’d run hard and fast from the rectory, back to her car, back to the city and away fro at her own skin Søren had purpled her arht back such waves of desire that she’d lain in bed giving herself the pleasure he’d denied her and crying during every orgasm

"I fked up, Patrick," she said finally "I fked up the whole investigation I killed my credibility"

"What did you do?"

Suzanne pulled her hands from her face

"I kissed him"

A half-truth seemed better than a lie

"You kissed him?"

She nodded miserably

"And it doesn’t matter Because he kissedJust stuck to his vows He’s a good priest I wasted his tiht I shouldn’t have pursued it"

Patrick shook his head

"No You were right There is soer would send you an anonymous tip about hi, Patrick And I can’t find anything The kids at church love him and trust him The parents love him and trust hi on his taxes as long as he’s never hurt a child I wanted to believe he was a monster just because he’s a priest Look" She pointed at a box on the floor by her desk "There’s all roan, Patrick got up, grabbed the box and sat back down on the couch He flipped through her notes

"Nice to see youher steno pad

"It’s ungodly how gorgeous he is, Pat You’d turn gy for this guy"