“Hunting?”

I felt my mouth fall to the floor, dropped Mary’s hand, and shot off the couch. I quickly glanced across the room toward the front door, but Brook was standing there, blocking it. His arms were crossed over his chest and he looked pissed off. Lola sat on a chair in the hall and watched him, completely unconcerned, popping her bubble gum.

Cameron is hunting me?

“You stole my father’s heart!” he screamed, and I jumped up.

“Cameron,” Mr. Madden said, in a warning tone.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered.

“I was there the night you blew up the truck. I was there the night that whole warehouse went up in flames.”

I gasped. He saw me? No, he couldn’t have. I wore a mask. But Brook had connected me to the accident, and I’d just poured my heart out to this family. I told people whom I thought I trusted the biggest secret I’d ever held. I risked not only my life but also my mother’s. When I looked at Mary and Jack, I still felt that I could trust them, but when I saw Cameron’s face, that feeling disappeared.

“That heart was meant for my mother. It’s not my fault my house burnt down and the stupid insurance company didn’t pay us,” I said defensively.

“You blew up a truck worth millions in narcotics and quite possibly my father’s heart, if you didn’t steal that very one, and Cortez blamed me for the disaster! You ruined my family!”

I didn’t know about that part. I also didn’t know that Cameron, the man whom I’d thought was a priest for the past with months, was a bounty hunter, just like his brothers. I didn’t know he was anywhere near the warehouse, and I’d never thought that he was involved in the accident.

Cameron pointed to his father. “He was supposed to get a heart that night.”

“Cameron!” Jack belted out once more, and I swear I felt the vibrations of his voice travel through the room. “That’s enough. I got my new heart, and I’m doing much better.”

“Yeah, but if you’d received the original one, we could have saved time. Your recovery would have been quicker. And if she hadn’t blown up that truck, Cortez wouldn’t be breathing down our necks.” He then turned back toward me. “You’re like a fucking disease, spreading your virus everywhere! I will never forgive her for forcing us apart and putting my family in danger.”

Jack cleared his throat. “Could have, would have, but didn’t. Her mother saved your life, Cameron. I would have given her my own heart if she asked me to. I better not hear you talking to Hope with so much disrespect again.”

I felt love swell in my chest. Cameron’s father was showing me the kind of respect I once thought Father Cameron felt. But this was not Father Cameron. The man I met six months ago and fell head over heels for wasn’t the same furious beast standing in front of me, screaming his head off. This man was cruel and mean and he didn’t belong to this family at all. He wasn’t compassionate or understanding. I hadn’t expected to be punished the moment I lowered my guard and told the truth, especially not by him. And here he was, looking at me with pure hate in his eyes. All I’d wanted to do was save my mother’s life. I never meant to hurt anyone else, especially not this nice family. I never meant to hurt him this much.

“I wasted the past six months of my life pretending to be a priest, trying to stop a cartel from hunting us down and slicing our necks open. What the fuck am I supposed to do now?”

“Why don’t you try not pretending to be a priest for a while? It’s certainly going well for you right now, you asshole!”

“Well, you’re certainly not the Virgin Mary yourself. Damn it, Kate. Can’t you see why I’m so mad? Can’t you see why this hurts so much, and why I feel so betrayed?”

“I don’t know, Cam. Why don’t you enlighten me?”

“It’s because I’m in love with you.”

What?

“What?” everyone else in the room echoed.

He was in love with me? My head hurt. My heart was hammering so quickly in my chest I was afraid it would rip right out. As I looked around the somber room, I realized that everyone was staring at me.

“I… I can’t do this,” I said. I didn’t want to see him or hear him. I wanted to forget that he existed at all, although I immediately knew that it would be impossible, mostly because of those three words he’d just said. Maybe this was my penance? Perhaps having him hate me and love me and not being able to do anything about it was the punishment God had chosen for me for sleeping with a man whom I’d thought was a priest. “I can’t deal with this right now. I… I have to leave.”

Except I didn’t head to the front door. I went back to the bedroom, fell onto the bed, and cried. I cried until I couldn’t cry anymore. I didn’t want to be strong any longer. I didn’t think I could be. All the hope I’d ever had evaporated, and it was all his fault. I didn’t even know what to hope for anymore. I didn’t want to hide out on my own, away from my mother and in constant fear of being chased, but I no longer saw myself on the run either. I didn’t want to be alone, and though I’d never given up, with my world crashing down around me, it was beginning to feel like admitting defeat was my only option.

It was hours later when I heard the bedroom door open, and I sat up. It was dark outside, my hair felt crumpled, and I realized I must have fallen asleep. I sat up in the same clothes I’d been wearing since this morning. Cameron sat down on the bed’s edge.

“Where is everybody?” I asked.

“They left a few hours ago.” His voice was low and tender. I wanted to believe he was genuine, but it wasn’t easy.

“They said we’re old enough to handle life.” He shrugged with annoyance.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. “What do you want?”

Cameron scooted closer to me, and I froze. His proximity was doing funny things to my body, and I found it difficult to keep my distance. I needed distance.

He lowered his gaze and sighed before looking at me again.

“I felt stupid and duped. I’ve been looking for the woman who blew up the truck and burned down the warehouse, and you were right under my nose the entire time. I know the incident wasn’t your fault. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I was harsh and… well, basically what I’m trying to say is that I was an asshole. And it doesn’t matter that Brook told me to say so because I really was an asshole. I’m sorry, Hope. I’m truly sorry from the bottom of my heart.”

Did he mean it, or was this just another one of his games? Was this a trick? Would he sell me out to get a bounty even though he loved me?

He loved me.

“It’s Kate,” I whispered.

I saw his mouth lift at one corner and felt mine do the same. He reached over to my foot, touching it gently.

“Please forgive me,” he begged, and I saw a spark of the same man I met at a bar over six months ago. The one whom I trusted and bared my soul to. The one who made my heart go pitter-patter; the one who, despite holding my hair while I puked into the toilet, accepted me and never judged me. He was there at my side when I found my mother’s connection to Pace, and he was there in that crypt, discovering my roots right along with me. Was he still that man, or was he someone different?

He shifted even closer, gently tugging at my ankle so that I’d stretch out my legs. As I extended them, his fingertips remained on my skin, traveling upward until he reached my thigh. His touch felt incredible. As upset as I’d been at him earlier, I now wished he’d continue the upward path, but he stopped.

“Cameron…” I breathed. The room was spinning. His presence here was confusing me.

“Do you forgive me, Kate?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not sure what to believe anymore.” My breaths became heavier. I didn’t notice when he came even closer and was sitting right at my side. His hand remained on my thigh, the enticing pressure of his fingers igniting my skin.

“You’re really not a priest?” I asked.

He shook his head, and I felt a sense of relief. A fresh smirk appeared on his face. I wondered what he was thinking and that wonder took me to hopeful places again.

“What’s going to happen now?” I moved my feet to the side of the bed and hopped off.

“You’re nervous,” he said.

“I’m cautious. Can you blame me? Everything I believed is one big lie. I tried to save my mother, and in the process I managed to ruin all your lives.” I turned around so that he wouldn’t see my face and made a beeline for the bathroom door, hoping to have a moment to myself. Besides, I’d cried so much and sweated so much that I needed another shower. Of course I was nervous. Cameron was not a priest. He was a man. A very attractive man who had fooled me and lied to me, but that of course didn’t stop the way my body was reacting to him. It didn’t stop my heart from beating hard and my stomach from flipping three times over.

Cameron followed me into the bathroom. I turned on the faucet and washed my face, then took the toothbrush Lola had given me and proceeded to brush my teeth while he sat on the corner of an enormous bath tub.

“It’s okay if you’re nervous, Kate. I understand.”

With the toothbrush in my mouth, I once again mumbled that I wasn’t nervous, and he chuckled. I leaned lower to the sink so that I could rinse my mouth, and when I looked up again, he was standing behind me. Actually, I felt him first, because his hands were on my hips and his front pressed into my ass. It felt good. Too good. Maybe when I’d thought about taking a shower, I should have locked the door.

“Cameron…”

“Kate…”

“Do you think this is wise? I mean, I don’t know you. Obviously you don’t know me either since you just found out that I pretty much ruined your life.”

“I’m sorry. I never meant for it to come out that way.”

I knew that. Still, he deserved to suffer for the way he broke my heart earlier. I wanted him to squirm in uncertainty, the way I had. That hate in his eyes wasn’t easy to forget.

“Have you thought about me, Kate? Have you thought how it would be if we were together again?”

Of course I’d thought about him. I thought about him every hour of every day. It didn’t mean that I should have, though – not after the way he’d lied to me. I turned around to face him. The space between us became deliciously uncomfortable.

“I confessed to Father John about you!” I punched him in the arm. It was hard and my knuckles hurt, but he didn’t even flinch. “Oh, my God, I confessed to my own father that I fucked a priest.”

“Wait, what? I thought you never got a chance.”

“Of course I did. Didn’t you hear me that morning, before I confessed to you that I loved you? It’s been two hours since my last confession?” I reminded him

“I tried to block out your voice. I really tried hard not to listen to your sins, and to be honest, you didn’t make it easy, but I’m grateful that you went to Father John.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you see it, Kate? The last thing I wanted was for you to live with that sin. The last thing I wanted was for you to doubt your faith. I should have never let that evening happen. I’m sorry.”

“So, now you have regrets.”

“No. Damn it, Kate!”

He turned around and pulled his fingers through his hair. That gesture alone made me want to forget my sour mood. It made me want to forget the rest of the world, so that he could hold me in his arms. He paced back to the bathtub, and then returned to me, frustration seeping out of him.

“I will never regret what happened. Never. I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you at the bar, but I didn’t want to lie to you.”

“But you wanted to sin with me?”

“Kate, look at you.” He pointed. “You could easily seduce a Pope with those hips and that mouth.”

“Oh, that’s really pushing it.”

“It was pushing it when I took you over that table as a priest, and I’m sorry for that. Even though I don’t regret it, I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. I’ve gone under cover so many times in my life that it was just another job for me, and I overstepped a boundary.”

He appeared genuine, and that dimple in his cheek, that smile and the comfort I saw in his eyes, they all softened my heart towards him.

“Did you really have to be a priest?” I asked.

Cameron lifted my chin with his finger. “At the time, I thought it was the right decision. In hindsight, I should have found a different approach, but I was desperate to find Aaron Cortez.”

I stepped to the side.

Cortez.

It was all that bastard’s fault. The sound of his name made my skin crawl. I braced my arms against the bathroom counter and lowered my head.

“Well, you succeeded, because he came back to Pace.”

The question was, what would Cameron do with the information? Would he sell me out? I didn’t think so, but would he risk his life to bury Cortez? Possibly, and the thought made me nauseous because I didn’t want Cameron to risk his life.

Cameron gently touched my shoulders, brining my attention back to the care in his eyes. “I found him and I feel like I lost you.”

His tender whisper did something funny to me, and this time when he drew his hands down my arms and to my hips, I didn’t push him away.

“You didn’t lose me.” I looked up. “I was upset because I felt as duped as you did. I felt like the past half year of my life has been one big lie.

“Please don’t say that. I promise you that not everything was a lie. The man you met in Pace is real; except he’s not a priest. What I feel for you is as real as it gets.”

I saw that love in his eyes. I’d seen it in the past few months that I spent with him, and I couldn’t stop believing in him. Not now; not ever.

“So, I guess we could call it even?” I asked.

“I don’t want to be even. I want to make it up to you in every way possible.” He pushed the fabric of my shirt away, off my shoulder, and lowered his mouth to my skin, setting it on fire. “Please let me make it up to you.”

His warm breath hovered over my shoulder, teasing me, before traveling downward. It spread the need he breathed all the way down, until my toes curled.

Jesus!

He may as well have kissed me between my legs. I wanted him to kiss me between my legs. I wanted him to kiss me everywhere, and so I gave him the only answer I knew he wanted to hear right now. I gave him the only answer I truly wanted.

“Yes.”