Page 32 of West Bound

“No one said you had to watch.” He turns the handle for the hot water, and the steam billows out as the rain shower starts up again.

“You couldn’t put me back inside first?”

“Wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give you a chance to peek when I did, would it?”

“You peeked?” I practically squeak the words.

“Did I?” He flashes another devious look in my direction.

“You said you wouldn’t.”

“I thought you didn’t trust me.”

“I don’t, but I thought you were trying to earn it. I at least thought you’d have enough respect for a nun’s innocence.”

“Innocence?” He scoffs, a laugh rumbling out of his chest as his hands hook into his unbuttoned jeans. “I think we both know that’s a word that doesn’t really fit you. You had the list going earlier. What was it again—lying, manipulating, kidnapping? We can add lust to that too.”

“Lust?” I return the scoff in full measure. “Over you?”

“Was there another priest you were fantasizing about in the middle of the night? Father Mark, maybe?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I huff because he knows as well as I do it wasn't one of the aging priests with dentures and gray nose hair.

His mouth twists in amusement, and he closes the distance between us.

“I have my own confession.” His eyes study mine for a minute before they rake down my body, like he’s remembering me naked. I don’t know if I can trust that he didn’t peek now.

“What’s that?” My voice comes out shakier than I intend.

“Before the kidnapping, there was a little light stalking.”

“Light stalking? What does that mean?”

He presses his lips together and tilts his head in faux remorse.

“Truth be told, there was nothing light about it. I watched every single thing you did. Listened to every word you spoke. Followed you everywhere you went.”

“You weren’t at the convent that long, and even when you were, it’s not like you could go all the places I did.” I frown. Guests and men are banned from plenty of the rooms at the abbey.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a phone, tapping it lightly.

“I didn’t have to be.”

“How?” My heart is skipping beats in my chest as the trepidation wraps its tendrils around tighter and tighter with each passing moment. If he had access to my phone, he knows so much more than I could have imagined.

“Spyware. I installed it on your phone. Created a mirror copy on the one I had. I could watch everything you did. Every search you made. Every file you opened.” His eyes lift behind his dark lashes and meet mine. “I could turn your camera and mic on too. Listen to those muffled little cries you’d try to stifle on those long, late nights when you were alone and thinking about your mystery priest. Sometimes I could even watch as your fingers curled around your pillow when you?—”

“Stop,” I plead, closing my eyes because I can’t stand to hold his gaze anymore. He does as I ask, and the silence that lies between us feels heavy enough to crater through the ground. I wish I could follow it down. I knew there was something he was keeping from me, but I didn’t expect it to be that.

“So Iknowyou, little nun.” His fingers brush under my chin. “You don’t have to hide with me.”

“I can’t believe you—” His thumb runs over my lips to silence me, and my eyes open at the same time my brows fall in anger. But he presses his thumb down to keep me silent and shakes his head.

“Stones and glass houses, yeah? You’ve been keeping a lot of secrets from me. A whole husband for starters. That you’re capable of drugging a man and tying him up. You’re not as innocent as you want to be.” He releases me, and I tear my chin from his grasp and take a step back.

“We’re not the same.”

“I think we’re more alike than you want to admit,” he calls back as he walks away.