Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

Taking a deep breath in, I paused and looked up at the cross in front and above me. My pulse picked up its speed. It felt like it had only been days, not years, since I’d knelt in front of the cross with my father at my side. Each time, he’d whispered words of wisdom into my ear; wisdom I’d carry with me for the rest of my life.

“You can’t change yesterday, but you can move mountains tomorrow. Never lose hope, son.”

His words had become the foundation of my life: each one acting like a stepping stone to understanding human nature and behavior. That wisdom had built over the years and proved to be more crucial for my job than I could have guessed.

I’d come to this church to move mountains. I’d come here to make right of what had been wronged, to find justice for my father’s torture, and to keep my family safe. In the process, I met a gorgeous woman who kept eluding my questions because I was a priest. I thought priests were supposed to be easy to talk to? Yet during the past four weeks, she’d been the one who helped me open up about my father. I missed him greatly. I missed my entire family. Despite what many thought about my father, he was one of the most faithful men I’d ever known. He was the one I’d always look up to.

I lowered my head, resuming my prayer.

It’s been way too long since I confessed. I’m sorry. They were the only words I could muster at this moment. I wished that I could bear my soul. I wished I could remove the burden I was carrying from my shoulders, but as the eldest in my family, I knew they were counting on me. What was the point of confessing now if I’d sin again? Temptation was always near.

All it took was one look. A simple glance at Kate’s legs and I was sinning in my mind like a man who’d carried blue balls for decades and finally found his release.

And it wasn’t only her body; it was every little detail that I noticed about her. The way she attended to each kid, with individuality, or brought Father John warm tea first thing in the morning to cure what was turning out to be a perpetual cold. The way she held her breath when she saw me shirtless last month. I watched her reflection in a glass portrait on the wall as she stood against her office door, wondering whether her pebbled nipples could contract any further.

A woman wasn’t supposed to look at a priest the way she looked at me that day. She wasn’t supposed lust over me, and then fan herself cool. When I wasn’t looking, I felt like Kate was a completely different woman. Every so often, a spark of her frivolous nature lit her golden eyes on fire, as if she were awakening from a deep sleep. I would be willing to pay for my sins a thousand times over if I could only know the real Kate. Counting the number of sins accumulating under my name, that meant my soul would be an eternal slave.

Keep her safe, these townsfolk safe, and please help me find the woman who stole my father’s heart. Help me avenge him. Amen.

I made the sign of the cross and went back to my office, momentarily stopping by Kate’s door. She didn’t work on Saturdays, though from what I’d seen, she liked to pop in even then to check on the parishioners.

The phone rang as soon as I closed the door behind me, and the familiar number brought a smile to my face.

“Hey, Brook,” I said to my brother. “Did you find her?”

“No hello? That’s pretty rude for a priest.”

“Fuck you.” Swearing was a habit I’d had the most difficulty breaking since coming to Pace. That, and thinking about Kate’s long legs. I turned around to ensure that no one was looming on the other side of the frosted glass door, and lowered my voice, repeating. “Did you find her?”

“Our sources tell us that she’s in the southwest.”

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with that information?”

“We’re working on it, Cam. All while you’re relaxing.”

“Again, fuck you. That guesstimate leaves us like, what? One hundred and fifty million to sift through? That’s too many, and we don’t have time. I’m still not sure how she managed to stay under the radar with all that money.”

“Anything new on your side?” he asked.

“There are piles of unsorted and uncategorized papers. Coming to their home town was definitely the right way to go. I’m hiding in plain sight. It’s the last place they’d think of looking, but I have to say, it won’t be easy to find the records.”

“Don’t worry, Cam. We’ll get her before year end, and then you’ll come home. If all goes well, we may even come out ahead on this one.”

“How so?”

“So here’s what I found. The word on the street is that Cortez hid fifty million in that town.”

I laughed, but my brother remained silent.

“Oh, you’re serious?”

“Of course I’m serious. They denied the claims and left town to hide, but if you manage to find that money, that would be great leverage. It could get them off our back.”

“If we don’t find her, I’m a dead man.”

“You know we’ll never allow that to happen, don’t you?”

“I’m hoping to find Cortez first. There are as many rumors of hidden treasures here, as stories about those who sought it ending up dead in the middle of the desert. Finding the girl is my best bet. You’re my only hope, Brook.”

“Hey, I ain’t Obi-Wan Kenobi, so stop talking as if your grave was dug. Remember our motto: Madden men don’t get mad; they get even.”

“Right.”

“Cam, we’ll find her. I can feel it in my bones.”

“You better, because you said the same thing about that Jessica Rabbit impersonator. You felt it in your bone, screwed her – and then I got screwed.”

“It won’t happen. That bone, or lack of it, is on a sabbatical. I’m never thinking with my dick again.”

Said the man who always thought with his dick.

If there was anything Brook had ever done right, was conceiving my beautiful niece, Sophie.

“How’s Mom doing?” I asked.

“As bright as ever, but barely making any appearances.”

That worried me. My mother, at the ripe age of sixty, still turned heads. And it wasn’t because of the way she looked; it was the way she carried herself. Her confidence and determination reminded me a lot of Kate’s, and now because of me, the former Mrs. Madden was forced into temporary hiding.

“She should stay out of the spotlight for as long as possible. Hell, she should retire.” I sighed. Our mother had worked sixteen-hour days her entire life and had enough money to fill the giant swimming pool in her private New York condo with gold bars. But forcing her to quit her lucrative enterprise — I was afraid that wouldn’t happen in our lifetime.

Brook laughed on the other end of the phone. It felt good to hear him that happy.

“If Mother retired, who would take over her business?”

Right. Unfortunately the queen of manipulation would fall dead before she left her work. It was her life.

“We’ll have to deal with her when all this is over. We’ll talk soon. Stay well, Brook. Unless you find the girl, we’ll chat in a few weeks.”

“You too, Cam.”

I hung up the phone and rested back in my chair to look up on the calendar on my wall. The past thirty days flew by, and I hadn’t been able to find a lead on Cortez. Something wasn’t working. I grabbed the dry-erase marker and began crossing off the long to-do list on my board. I was used to following my instinct, not a list of instructions, and my instinct was urging me to change my course.

Was my brother right? Was it easier to find fifty million dollars in this small town than one girl in all of the United States? She could have left the country. Heck if we knew.

I stood up and pushed away from the desk. When I looked out the window, time stopped. There she was, splayed out in the sun in her tiny bathing suit, tanning in her backyard next to the church, with temptation radiating off her glowing caramel skin. The edges of her bikini bottoms scrunched inward, revealing the beautiful under curves of her ass, and the center caved into the crack.

Immediate tightness in my pants reminded me of who I was and where I was, and I stepped away from the window and did nothing. Half an hour later, I looked out the glass pane again, and she was still there. Kate hadn’t moved, and her behind was turning a beautifully bright red.

“Damn it, Kate!”

I stopped my fist from punching through the window and splayed my palm over the glass watching her shoulder blades rise and fall with each breath. When she still didn’t move I grabbed a moisturizing lotion from my bathroom cabinet and two minutes later opened the side gate between the church and her back yard. She startled at the sound of my steps and quickly sat up. The top of her bikini dropped to the ground, exposing her perky breasts. She covered them with her hands. Her beautiful mouth opened slightly with a delightful gasp.

“I’m sorry, Kate. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Her gaze skidded from my face to the tube of cream in my hand.

“I thought you might need this. You’re getting a sunburn.” Had she cut her hair as well? The short bop suited her.

“Thank you.”

I ignored her inquisitive look and took a moment to take in her new hairstyle. She appeared… delicious. Kate knelt on the towel, resting her behind on her heels. She was cupping her hands where mine itched to be. The sun cast her shadow forward. A small triangle of fabric, with a slight dip in the middle that extended into a plump crease, covered her front, and that familiar rush as my pulse carried my blood to my crotch.

I should have known that stepping into her yard when she was half-naked – actually, make that ninety percent naked – was a mistake. I’d had a difficult time remaining in control around her before, but now, it seemed that all bets were off as my testosterone-infused body was beginning to show signs of arousal.

“Here.” Turning my head the other way I picked her spare towel off the ground and passed it to her. “Again, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

I waited for the all-clear as she fumbled with the towel.

“I like your tattoo,” I finally said.

“Oh, thank you. It’s my mom’s favorite quote.”

“What is it?” I asked. “I couldn’t make out the letters, just the font curvature looked…”

Sexy.

“…Nice.”

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow,” she replied.

Thinking how we both had tattooed hope on our bodies made me smile. That little gasp almost four weeks ago when she saw my marking now made perfect sense.

“You can turn around now. I’m covered.”

When I looked at her this time, still kneeling in front of me with her face perfectly aligned half way down my body, I bit the inside of my cheek. The temptation was burning through my skin like hell’s fire. If she called a tightly wrapped towel around her body covered, then I hoped she’d remain covered for the rest of her life. Now she appeared as if she were completely naked underneath.

Control. Keep it cool, Cam.

As Kate would often remind me, I was a priest, and I had come to Pace on a job. This town and this church were the only lead we had, and I couldn’t throw that away because of distractions. But her golden eyes that captured sun’s constant light kept my attention when I saw a spark of desire. Was it for me? The urge to pull down my zipper grew stronger. I wanted to give in. I didn’t want to resist her any longer, but that nagging voice of intuition snapped inside of me, reminding me why I was here.

“I think I’m going to pay for this tonight.” Kate looked to the side, to her red shoulder.

“You should moisturize it. Like right now, and continue doing so every hour until night time.”

“I can’t believe I burned myself. I wasn’t planning on falling asleep.”

“It happens to all of us.”

“No, this only happens to me.” She sighed as if the entire world was collapsing around her. I wondered what was troubling her. “I’ve been making stupid decisions lately. I can’t imagine someone responsible like you being this reckless.” She gently touched her finger to her shoulder and immediately pulled it away, as if the temperature of her skin burned.

I wished I could tell her about the time when, as a twenty-two year old, I had thought it was a good idea to sunbathe in my birthday suit. I paid for that one big time when it was time to piss. But such over-sharing would have been inappropriate for a priest, and so I kept my mouth shut. Besides, I’d already told her too much about myself and my family.

“Ahm, this may sound like an odd request, but would you mind helping me?” Her gaze once again flew from her shoulder to my hand, her eyes begging me.

What? I stared her perfect body as she lay back down and removed the towel, and all sense of my responsibility disappeared.

“I shouldn’t, Kate,” I said to her. She rolled to her side, her hip thrusting higher, creating a larger dip in her waistline. Her smile faded, replaced by concern.

“Yes, you’re right. It’d be inappropriate, wouldn’t it? You’re a—”

“Priest,” I finished, a little annoyed with myself that I wanted to roll my eyes. “But I’m also a friend,” I added.

Nothing more.

Even lying to myself seemed easier. Her smile returned, and I immediately felt better. I was doing a good deed. That was it. Nothing more. I wouldn’t think otherwise until I was in bed, alone at night, able to ease the sense of urgency growing in my pants.

I poured a blob of aloe moisturizer into my palm and knelt at her waist, gently touching her burnt shoulders.

“Tsss…” she hissed under her breath.

“Kate, this is going to get worse by evening. You should go inside when I’m done.”

“Thank you. I will. I feel so stupid, falling asleep while tanning.”

As I gently swept my hand over her back, I wished I could have put more pressure into the rub, but that would have hurt her. The tender skin-to-skin touch would have to suffice. “You must have been tired to pass out like this in the middle of the day.”

“I was working late last night. Just trying to organize some of the paperwork for Father John. Your light was still on when I went home, though. Did you have a hard time falling asleep?”

I moved my hand lower to the small dip in her back and spread the gel from above her bikini bottoms up to the string mid-way.

“Yes, I usually do.”

Was it better to lie? Should I just have told her that I’d been praying? It was what I should have said, but I didn’t.

“Anything you want to talk about? You know, since we’re friends and all.”

I should have stood up and walked away right then, but her partially burned skin was so delicate and felt so good to my touch that I had a difficult time pulling away. Her sides weren’t done yet.

“Priests aren’t perfect, Kate.”

She turned her head to the side and smiled at me. As I finished with her left side, swiping over that tattoo that curved around her ribcage, I wished I could gently pull on that string on her hip. I imagined the fabric falling over her pear-shaped ass. Unfortunately, the gentlest of skin to skin touches would have to suffice. The sun adored her skin almost as much as I did.

“Of course not. We’re all human.”

Right.

“What I’m trying to say is that I blame myself for mistakes that shouldn’t have been made in the first place. Like rubbing this cream on you, Kate.”

“You think you’re making a mistake?”

If she could only feel how stiff I was, kneeling beside her, she’d agree with me.

“I’m trying to help a friend who doesn’t know how seductive she is.” Although now I was beginning to understand why many priests chose to be secluded.

“You’re helping me avoid what could have been a second-degree burn. What you’re doing now, is within reason, even for a priest. You’re a very reasonable man. That’s all there’s to it.”

Did she just wiggle her behind?

I swear, she was a vixen and didn’t even know it. I wondered whether Kate saw me in a different light than I truly wanted her to. I didn’t want her to think of me as this perfect being who wore a collar around his neck to represent the good in this world. I wanted her to see me for me because anything other than that was a lie.

“I haven’t told this to anyone, Kate, but sometimes I question whether I’d made the right choice by taking this job,” I sighed.

“You’re so good at it, though.”

She twisted again, and sat up, her legs criss-crossed in front of me. I rested my aloe-infused hands on my knees and sat back on my heels. Seeing her this vulnerable stirred feelings inside of me I couldn’t quite understand. It wasn’t just lust or a need for her, because those were present at all times. It was something completely new and unfamiliar.

“Don’t talk like you’re going to leave tomorrow. Father John needs you. The kids, they love you; they need you here as well. I need you.”

How I wished I could take her words truly into my heart, but I couldn’t. “Thank you, Kate. I should go now. Stay out of the sun.”

The best decision at the moment was to avoid her. I could barely walk straight back to the church. My shower took longer as I fantasized about us. Instead of doing my job, my mind was filled with her. If I didn’t get a grasp of this Kate situation, I’d fail before I even got started.

I’d remember the morning of that early summer day as simple; and a simple lust after a beautiful woman was nothing to be ashamed of. By the afternoon, after I spoke with Kate, it became more difficult to understand what she meant to me, and I never expected that by the next morning, I’d see her naked.