Page 78 of Crossed

His lips tip in the corner, so boyish and innocent it almost feels out of place.

I decide I like the way it looks on him, and I want to see it again. “So you were raised in an orphanage, no friends, no family?”

“That’s right.” He nods.

“What made you become a priest?”

He tsks, shaking his head. “I’ve answered your question. Now you answer mine.”

I cringe. “Do I have to?”

“Oui. This is just a tête- à- tête.”

Swallowing around my suddenly parched throat, I give in.

“My mom was…troubled.”

“Troubled how?” he questions.

“She had me young.” I shrug. “And I think sometimes when that happens, you don’t get a chance to grow up yourself before you’re expected to raise someone else. I think I fucked her up in a lot of ways. Made her bitter and angry.”

Cade’s face darkens. “Did she hurt you?”

I smile at him, emotion clogging my throat. “Depends on your definition of hurt.”

“Where is she now?”

I laugh, running a hand through my hair, wincing when it gets tangled in a knot. I take the end and start twisting it between my fingers instead. “Your guess is as good as mine. As far as I’m concerned, she’s dead.”

“Where’s Quin’s father?”

Sucking on my teeth, I lift a shoulder. “I’m not sure she even knew who it was. At least she never told me, but she never told me aboutmyfather either.”

“Tell me something else about her,” he pushes.

My heart pinches. “She had bad taste in men.”

“Something that seems to run in the family, no?”

Scoffing, I reach out and smack him in the chest without a second thought, a wide grin splitting across my face. “You talking about you or Parker?”

He chuckles, grabbing my hand and holding it against him. I can feel the warmth of his skin through his clothes. Can almost make out the defined pecs, hard as a rock beneath my fingers.

“Unfortunately, mon trésor, I’m speaking of both. Parker is…”

I wave him off, jerking my hand back and ignoring the way my stomach drops when I do. “You don’t have to tell me what Parker is. I already know.”

He nods, his fingers brushing along his jaw.

“This is nice,” I admit. “This whole friends thing. Is every one- on- one session gonna be like this? Not really the tutoring I expected, I’ll be honest.”

“Why are you marrying him?” he asks suddenly.

My mouth pops open. Out of everything he could ask, I hadn’t prepared for that one. Silly, really. The answer should be primed and ready to glide off my tongue like an oil slick. I haven’t told him about the investigation, that I’m a person of interest, and I’m terrified of it turning into something more. And the authorities have done an amazing job of keeping it out of the news, although I suspect Parker has a hand in that as well. I meet Cade’s eyes. “Because I can.”

Someone knocks on the door.

My stomach sinks at the interruption, and it drops all the way to the floor when Cade says to come in and Parker waltzes into the room.