Chapter 6
SIX
Levi
I need the trip to Munich this weekend. I’m texting Rowan the second I get out of this shower on the backup burner I have stashed away.
It’s an emergency. Anything to get off this island and away from those big, blue, needy eyes staring at me like I’m the best thing she’s ever seen.
I can’t take much more of it. Not in my current state.
The fact that I’m standing with my hand wrapped around my cock in this tiny convent dorm room shower where I have to duck to even get my hair under the water to wash it, seriously considering jacking off to thoughts of a nun, tells me my time here needs to come to a close.
A vacation from it at least. I’ve exceeded my tolerance for a lack of vice, and now my dick is settling for whatever vanilla fucking fantasy it can conjure up.
One where she’s in her white cotton granny panties and T-shirt bra, asking if there’s any possible way she can thank me for saving her life.
I tighten my grip and take one long stroke of my fist, grinding my teeth at the way it lights up all my nerve endings.
I’m dying for the real thing though—for the warmth of her thighs straddling my lap while I listen to her breathe fast and heavy.
A chance to listen to her voice tell me how good my cock feels while she grinds over it.
Watching that perfect little body of hers chase an orgasm. I could give her that much, couldn’t I?
“Fuck,” I curse, tearing my hand away from my dick.
I’m not giving in. Not until I can imagine someone else in her place. I don’t need that tacked on to the ever-growing list of embarrassing shit I’ve done on this work trip. I’m better than this.
If I wasn’t just back from the brink of hypothermia, I’d douse myself in the icy water that’s always readily available from these faucets.
In lieu of that, I rush to finish my shower and put on a fresh set of clothes.
I snatch my glasses off the table and clean them one more time.
I’d shoved them in my buttoned shirt pocket before jumping in after her, and managed not to lose them in the water, but they’re still ice-cold and fogged up.
I’ll check on her, say my goodnights, and starting tomorrow, I’m going to begin treating her like a mark again.
I shove my glasses back onto my face, adjusting the temple tips on my ears.
They’re slightly bent and a little worse for wear.
Just like me. Exactly the reason why I have to get back to brass tacks.
No cutesy conversations about her favorite things or watching her dance to her favorite songs in the middle of the night.
From now on, it’s business. Nothing more, nothing less.
Twenty minutes later, I’m headed to her room one last time.
I just want to make sure she hasn’t frozen to death and check her ankle isn’t swelling.
I tell myself I’m not worried about her.
It’s just that the last thing I need is for her to be booked off to a hospital where I don’t have access to her.
I have to wrap this job up quickly, get what I need from the archives, see if she’s a dead end, or has something we can use, locate a relic if there is one, and get the fuck back to Colorado.
I rap my knuckles lightly on her door, not wanting to make enough noise to wake her neighbors. We don’t need suspicious eyes on us at this hour of the night. She’s right about that much. I don’t even know how we’d explain it either, since the truth seems almost as implausible as a lie.
“Hi.” She answers the door quietly, cracking it open.
“Just wanted to check on you and make sure you’re all right. Warmed up?” I give her my best priestly look of concern.
“Yes, come in.” She opens the door and steps aside, urging me in as she eyes the hallway suspiciously.
I get a better look at her little dorm room now that I’m not worried about stripping her out of cold clothes and avoiding hypothermia.
It’s small, with bare stone walls and a few alcoves for religious items. There are no photos, no mementos, nothing that might give me more clues about her.
The small lamp in the corner bathes the room in a yellow-orange glow, and her bed is still neatly made, not a wrinkle to be seen, like she hasn’t even sat down yet.
“Can I get you some tea? It’s really helping me warm up,” she offers, nodding to her own glass.
I don’t really want tea, but Father Levi would probably take what he was offered.
Accepting Christian charity and all that, like the abbess was always going on about.
I can't speak German for shit, but the time I’ve spent on the island has me understanding a lot more than I did in college.
Even if half of it is Bavarian. I could thank the abbess for that.
“Sure. Sounds good.” I nod, and she immediately sets to work getting me my own cup.
“Coming right up.” She glances back and gives me a small half smile for my cooperation in this awkward dance we’re doing. It turns out that a missed forbidden kiss and a near drowning don’t have much of a playbook to follow.
“How are you feeling? Still cold?” I ask as I sit gingerly down on the edge of her bed and watch her pour herself another cup of tea at her desk.
It’s littered with ceremonial items she appears to be cleaning, some I recognize, some I don’t.
All of it glittering in low light and casting prisms on the ceiling and walls.
“I fear it’s going to take a little bit to get the chill off completely, but the shower and tea helped.
Are you cold?” She’s bundled up with a wool blanket draped over her shoulders as she walks toward me with the tea.
Thank fuck. The last thing I need is to see her in some sort of nightgown.
I’m getting to the point I might find her bare ankle enough. Speaking of…
“Understandable. How’s the ankle?” I ask as I take a few small sips of the tea to test the temperature.
“Sore, but I don’t think it’s broken or anything. Maybe a little sprained.” She presses her lips together and looks at it doubtfully.
“Good. Those branches are dangerous. Biting when you least expect them.” I try my best awkward humor, attempting to play the role I’m assigned instead of slipping into the real version of myself.
I’m tired, bone-deep exhausted really, and it’s hard to stay in character right now.
I take another long sip of the tea, hoping it’s caffeinated, and it’ll help keep me awake a little while longer.
“As is the lake, apparently. I’m so sorry that happened.
I’m so clumsy, and I just wasn’t thinking out there.
I should have been more careful. You’re a hero for going in after me.
I’ll be sure to tell everyone that tomorrow.
” She gives me a soft smile, and my eyes are drawn to her lips again.
They’re so beautiful. A perfect shade of rosy pink; the cupid’s bow like the arches of two stained glass windows side by side, kissing each other just as they meet in the middle.
Like we might have. The urge to kiss her returns.
I have to close my eyes to shut it out. I take another swallow of the tea to buy myself time before I set it aside on the small nightstand.
“You don’t have to do that.” I try to reassure her. I’d rather not give the rest of the nuns fodder for gossip about us. It’ll hurt my mission. “I’m sure you’d rather not tell them details any—” A yawn breaks my explanation.
A wave of tiredness comes over me with the weight of a tsunami. I have to struggle to keep my eyes open, and I blink rapidly to try to clear it, yawning wide again and pressing my fist to my mouth to cover it.
“It was a long day.” She gives me a worried look. “Did you want some more tea?” She holds up the thermos in her hand.
“Yes. I can’t believe how tired I am. It's hitting me out of nowhere.” I’m annoyed with myself.
Tonight is the perfect chance to have a heart-to-heart with her.
We’re completely alone in a way we rarely ever are, and she’s vulnerable.
Grateful too. I want to press some of the questions I’ve been meaning to ask about her past before the convent.
I just need to be awake enough to ask them without making it feel like a sloppy interrogation.
“In case you want more.” She pours me another cupful and sets the thermos beside it.
I don’t notice the nervous tremble of her hand and the careful way she studies my face until I’ve already downed the second cup.
“You’re cleverer than I took you for,” I manage to mumble before everything goes black.