Love's Broken Vow Page 12

  * * *

  “It serves him right.” Royce laughed softly and pulled the covers up to her chin. She rolled over onto her belly, very much amused.

  Father Gregory had been pounding on her door for five minutes now. He’d called the phone in her room several times, and she’d allowed it to ring off the hook without answering it. Her cell phone battery had died over an hour ago, but it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t have taken his call anyway. It was his idea for them to have separate rooms, and the celibacy rule was all his too. She was giving him just what he wanted: love minus sex. It was kind of weird, but clearly the nature of men. As long as they were doing the rejecting, it wasn’t such a big deal. But now that he was on the receiving end of a snub, he couldn’t handle it.

  The pounding stopped. Royce got up and tiptoed to the door. She looked through the peephole and giggled softly with her hand covering her mouth. Father Gregory was standing in the hallway, staring at the door. He looked frustrated. There was a bag in his hand. He had gone to the convenience store and bought her some personal items after all. Royce had known he would. He was such a gentleman, but he was also a tease. He wanted his cake, but he wanted to eat it, too. Royce wouldn’t allow it.

  It wasn’t that she wanted him to abandon the priesthood and enter into a full-fledged affair with her. She simply wanted him to be fair and realistic about their relationship. Plainly put, she wanted him to continue being a priest while giving himself completely to her at the same time. He wouldn’t be the first Catholic priest to live a secret double life. People all over the world were aware of the countless scandals involving the sexual misconduct of priests. Those cases had brought shame to the Roman Catholic Church. Millions of dollars had been paid in legal settlements to the alleged victims, and the church had lost thousands of members as a result.

  No embarrassing scandal would ever arise from a long-term affair between her and Father Gregory. Royce would do everything within her power to keep that from happening. They would practice the utmost discretion at all times. No one, not even Tyler, would have any knowledge of their romance. It wasn’t anyone else’s business. Besides, God was the only one who could judge their sins, and Royce knew He would. But she was willing to put her soul in jeopardy for the man she loved, even if he wasn’t ready to do the same for her just yet.

  Sudden movement got Royce’s attention as she continued watching Father Gregory through the peephole. He searched through one pocket of his bomber and reached into the other. He pulled out a key card and was about to insert it in the scanner.

  Royce turned and ran fast to the bed. She dove on the mattress as the door opened and covered her naked body, head and all. The beat of her heart was out of control. She could hear it thumping in her ears. She held her breath as Father Gregory approached the bed. He stood above her for several seconds, breathing so deeply that she could hear his every intake of air. Royce lay perfectly still, determined to wait him out even if it meant she would have to pretend to be asleep until sunrise.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  As soon as the door slammed shut, Royce sat up in the bed.

  “I knew you weren’t asleep,” Father Gregory rumbled dryly, glaring at her through the darkness. She could tell that he was upset. “What kind of game are you playing, Royce? Did it ever occur to you that I’d become worried after you didn’t answer either phone or come to the door? I knocked on the damn door a million times! What is wrong with you?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He flung the bag onto the bed. “You should be. I bought some toiletries I thought you would need. I came to give them to you, but you were too busy playing hide and seek. I don’t have time for your childishness. A thirty-one-year-old woman should know better than to pretend to be asleep in a hotel room in some strange city when her . . . her, um . . .”

  “Say it! Who the hell are you to me? Are you my man? Do you consider yourself my boyfriend?” Royce yanked the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around her body. She jumped up and stormed toward Father Gregory with tears streaming down her face. “You can’t introduce me to your family and friends as anyone other than one of your parishioners, so don’t you dare get salty with me!”

  “Wait a minute, Royce. You said you understood my dilemma and that you could handle it. What happened between dinner at Shoney’s and now, huh? Are you having second thoughts?”

  “I’m not a light switch, Nicholas! You can’t turn me on and off at your convenience! Either you’re with me, or you’re not. I can handle the secrecy, the infrequent meetings, and you ignoring me in public, but the mixed signals are driving me crazy!”

  “What mixed signals are you talking about, Royce?”

  “You can’t kiss me or touch me and expect my body not to respond. I’m human. I have feelings and desires. I’m committed to living my life on your terms without sex, but it won’t be easy.”

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” He reached out to take her in his arms.

  Royce backed away from him, shaking her head. “I’m wife material, but marriage is an abandoned dream. My father will never walk me down a church aisle in front of my family and friends to exchange vows with you or any other man. I will never carry a baby in my womb and give birth to him or her. No little boy or girl will ever call me Nana or Granny. I’m giving all of that up for you!”

  “What do you want from me, Royce? Please tell me exactly what you want me to do.”

  “Give me you.” She sniffled and wiped her tears. “I want your heart. You can still be a priest, but I need you to love me and be committed to me too. You don’t have to choose. You can love me, God, and the Catholic Church.”

  This time Royce allowed Father Gregory to take her in his arms and hold her. He was glad she didn’t resist his affection. He loved her more than he thought was possible. His feelings for her ran deep. It was the kind of love she deserved minus the commitment that should’ve come along with it, but it was the best he could offer.

  “Royce, I love you so much,” he whispered softly before he kissed her lips.

  “Make love to me. I need you to love me tonight.” She wiggled free from the bedsheet, allowing it to fall to the floor.

  Father Gregory pulled her soft, naked body closer to his. He caressed her back and waist as he sucked her tongue. He massaged her butt and pulled her even closer into his muscular frame. His spiritual conscience spoke to him as clear as day, warning him against the sin he was about to commit, but his body would not submit. It was on fire and hard, especially his penis. The feel of Royce’s gentle touches on his shoulders and back made him weaker than Sampson after Delilah had cut off his long locks of hair. Her tongue tasted so sweet, and her passionate moans of pleasure stimulated him, blowing his mind. His erection grew stiffer and bigger. The pain in his loins became unbearable. Warm blood swooshing through his veins made his entire body overly sensitive. He inhaled the womanly scent of her desire, and it pushed him to the point of no return.

  Royce’s hands underneath his sweater and T-shirt teased his nipples. Her tongue mingled with his, twirling and tasting it. Father Gregory was horny and helpless, drowning in a sea of sizzling seduction without a lifeline. He hummed when he felt Royce’s hand ease inside of his boxers, stroking his hard penis with the perfect amount of pressure and in a tempo that matched his ragged breathing. She had unfastened the button and zipper on his jeans so quickly and smoothly that he didn’t notice her handiwork until he felt her stimulating his sensitive penis, caressing the rigid length of it. She ended the kiss abruptly but only long enough to pull his sweater and T-shirt over his head and drop them to the floor. Then they were at it again, sharing hot and juicy kisses with their tongues mating feverishly.

  Royce started walking backward toward the bed, pulling Father Gregory along with her. She tugged his jeans and boxers lower to his knees and continued sliding her closed palm up and down his penis until they fell back on the bed. On instinct, she spread her legs apart. Father Gregory was still holding and kissing her
and moaning in her mouth. He was wedged between her thighs with his hardness at the opening of her warm wetness. Royce rolled her hips and lifted them, welcoming him in. Seconds passed as his body lay perfectly still on top of hers. His breathing was choppy and labored. He was conscious but with limitation. His body had impaired his brain’s ability to think clearly. Father Kyle’s warning got lost somewhere between the aroma of sex floating in the air and the sparkle of desire in Royce’s eyes slashing through the darkness. To love her or not to love her was the question that hung over him like a cloud.

  Royce reached up, framed his face with her palms, and pulled it down to meet hers. “I love you,” she whispered on a faint breath.

  “I love you too.”

  Their mutual affirmation of love was the reintroduction to the beautiful harmony of two bodies joining together as one. It was an easy entry and a flawless fit. Father Gregory filled Royce’s snug, wet walls to capacity. The reunion was gratifying just like returning to home sweet home. Each of his powerful strokes was met with a strong thrust. Royce rotated her hips and gripped his butt, pulling him in deeper. Father Gregory moaned and whispered a promise to love her forever each time his firm shaft slid in and out of her hot, drenched vagina. Royce tightened her inner muscles around his hardness, taking all of him in to the hilt. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he gritted his teeth.

  “That’s my spot, baby! Wooo, baby, that’s my spot. Stay right there.”

  Father Gregory willed his body to slow down. He wanted Royce to climax first, but he felt a wave of sensations stirring within. He threw his head back and belted out her name. She rocked her hips fast and pressed her fingertips deep into the flesh on his butt. The bed squeaked and jolted back and forth. If there was an occupant on the other side of the wall, he or she was receiving more than an earful.

  Royce purred and screamed her appreciation for all the good loving she was enjoying seconds before she fell apart. Her body writhed and wiggled underneath Father Gregory’s. She clasped her fingers together at the back of his neck and met his gaze. The love he saw in her eyes for him and the way she worked her body catapulted him into an explosive orgasm that made him see bright stars and hear sweet music.

  Waterloo, Sierra Leone

  West Africa

  “Where the hell could she be this time of morning?” Zora slammed the outdated cordless phone into its cradle on her desk.

  “Is there something wrong, Mrs. Benson?”

  Zora plastered a fake smile on her face and turned to stare at Fataba, her medical assistant. “I’m a little annoyed because I can’t reach my sister. I’ve been calling her since last night, but she hasn’t answered either of her phones. My son doesn’t even know where she is.”

  “Is your sister married, ma’am?”

  “No. Royce is very much single.”

  Fataba smiled, displaying the wide gap between her two front teeth. “Maybe she is with a man.”

  That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. Zora shivered at the thought. According to Royce, she was no longer seeing Brandon, the cute lawyer. And she hadn’t mentioned meeting anyone other than the pro baseball player she had all but dismissed at a nightclub a few weeks ago. If she was with a man and they had spent the entire night together, he was someone new. Or maybe not.

  Zora picked up the phone again and dialed Royce’s cell phone first. Her unanswered call rolled over to voicemail after the first ring, but she wasn’t able to leave a message. The fifteen-plus messages she had left last night and this morning had jammed up the recording space. Royce’s house phone rang several times without an answer before her outgoing message filled Zora’s ear. She ended the call and mentally replayed her last conversation with Tyler. He’d specifically said that Royce would be home all weekend reading and relaxing with a couple of bottles of wine. That’s what she had told the boy. She’d never mentioned the possibility of going out or having a guest over.

  “Something strange is going on with my sister, Fataba.”

  “What do you mean by strange, ma’am?”

  “I think she has a secret lover, and I have an idea who he is.”

  “I hope he is a very nice man who loves her. Maybe they will marry and live happily ever after with lots and lots of beautiful babies.”

  Zora shook her head and sucked her teeth. “It will never happen with this man.”

  “Oh, no! Is he a playboy? That is what we call a man who beds many women with no intention of marrying any of them. Is the man you believe your sister is involved with a playboy, Mrs. Benson?”

  “No. He’s a hell of a lot worse. He’s a priest.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “Let me help you.”

  “Thanks,” Royce said softly and allowed Father Gregory to remove the towel from her hands. She closed her eyes as he dried the back of her body.

  His hands were magical. Royce savored the moment. She could definitely get used to showering with Father Gregory and having him dry her back in the morning after a night of Olympic-style lovemaking. Every muscle in her body had been stretched, twisted, and flexed to the max last night. She was sore, but she had no regrets. And she hoped Father Gregory felt the same way.

  He tossed the towel on the bed. “You’re dry. We’ll eat breakfast here before we head back. Do you have a taste for anything in particular?”

  It was a loaded question, but Royce decided to behave. “We could go back to Shoney’s. They have a breakfast buffet.”

  “Shoney’s it is.”

  Father Gregory untied the towel covering his lower body and walked across the room to the chair in the corner that he’d draped his clothes over. He began to get dressed. “What’s on your agenda once we return to Atlanta?”

  “Nothing. What do you have to do other than preach at the noonday mass?”

  “I need to study and polish up my sermon right away. I don’t want to fumble in the pulpit. I could drop by and check on you later tonight. I’m sure that wine is good and cold now. I would love a glass or two.”

  “Okay, it’s a date.”

  “Hurry up and get dressed. I need to be back at the parsonage by ten.”

  * * *

  “Like I said, sir, Ms. Phillips doesn’t work at either location on the weekends unless there’s a special event or an emergency. I’ll let her know first thing Monday morning you stopped by, Mr. um . . .” Tabatha stretched her eyes.

  “It’s Burrell.” He licked his lips and flashed a decent smile. “Actually, it’s Dr. Burrell. But I want you to tell Ms. Phillips that Marlon paid her a visit. She’ll know exactly who you’re talking about. Nobody knows me better than my Royce. We’ve got history. Anyway, please give her these for me, too. They’re her favorite.” He handed Tabatha a bouquet of fresh assorted flowers in vibrant colors.

  She twisted her lips and took the bouquet. The sweet scent of the flowers’ petals reminded Tabatha of springtime. They were gorgeous, but they weren’t Royce’s choice of flowers. She adored roses, red ones in particular. “I’ll put them in a vase of water and place them on Ms. Phillips’s desk. Is there anything else, sir?”

  “That will be all for now, sweetie. I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you in the future.”

  “How will that be possible, Dr. Burrell? Do you plan to take advantage of one of our membership plans here at Royalty Health and Fitness Center and Spa? Allow me to suggest the Platinum Plus plan. It guarantees you full access to all areas of our fitness facility and a personal trainer as well as a nutrition consultant. You’ll be eligible for unlimited spa treatments, including services provided by our team of highly skilled masseuses, estheticians, hairstylists, and nail technicians. Would you like to sign up today?” Tabatha smiled sarcastically and watched the cocky doctor’s ego deflate before her very eyes.

  His scowl, although meant to insult her, was quite amusing. “Do I look like I need to join a damn gym, girl?” He smoothed his expensive cashmere sweater over his lower body and stuck out his chest.

  He
wasn’t a fat man by most women’s standards, but Tabatha could’ve very well pointed out his love handles and the beginning of a belly bump. However, she was too professional and polite. “It’s not up to me to determine that, sir. I think you and your mirror should make that decision. I just assumed you were interested in a membership here based on your statement about seeing me in the future. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

  “Well, you did, and I’ll be sure to tell Royce how you threw shade at me. You better give her my message and those expensive flowers, too. If I don’t hear from her by Tuesday, I’ll know you tried to sabotage me.”

  Tabatha motioned for Mr. Jeff, the head janitor at the facility, the moment the infamous Marlon Burrell turned to leave.

  “Yes, ma’am,” the older gentleman sang in his Jamaican accent. “What kin me do fer ya?”

  She shoved the pretty flowers in his direction. “Put these in your trash bin for me, please.”

  “May I keep tem fer me wife, ma’am, eh? She likes flowers.”

  “Sure. Take them home to Ms. Della. She’ll appreciate them more than Royce ever will.”

  “Tank ya, ma’am.”

  Tabatha picked up the phone and dialed her boss’s home number.

  * * *

  “So, you’re going out again, Father?”

  Father Gregory eyed Father Schmidt quietly for a few seconds. He slid his arms inside the sleeves of his leather bomber and nodded. “Yes, I’m going for a ride on my bike. It gives me time to think, clear my head, and commune with the Almighty. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Oh, no, Father, there is no problem at all,” the middle-aged priest answered, shaking his head. “I just thought the weather was a bit too nippy for a bike ride. Anyway, Father Rivera and I are going to take in a movie tonight and perhaps play pool afterward at a bar in midtown. We were going to invite you to come along with us.”