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helps me stay true to my promises.”
    “Wasn’t becoming a priest a part of your penance?”
    “Yes, but this was about never drinking, driving or doing the drugs that caused the accident. It’s about being a better person and refraining from using unnecessary violence, or for taking people for granted. It’s about loving them even in death, just as I did in life, and remembering them enough to live a life they’d be proud of.”
    “Do you think they’d be proud of what you just did with me?”
    I chuckle and pull her a little closer, thinking about the way my father would have reacted if I told him about this. “In this moment? Perhaps my father would be a little disappointed in the whole priest versus a married woman part of it, but I think he’d understand once I told him how much I love you.”
    “And your brother?”
    A smile curves up the side of my mouth as I run my fingers up and down the soft skin along her side. “My brother would have taken one look at you and made a comment about how smoking hot you are then told me to go for it.”
    “He sounds like he was a bit of a character,” she murmurs, turning her head to press a kiss to my chest. I return it by kissing the top of her head.
    “Yes, he was. I wish he was still around so you could meet him.”
    “Me too. I wish I had met you before.”
    “The best things in life are rarely easy. That’s why we fight for them, so we appreciate them more,” I say, pulling her tightly against me as my eyes drift down over her naked body, taking in every mark and bruise that are a painful reminder that she isn’t mine. There’s even a bite mark at her breast – who the hell bites someone?
    “I don’t think we’re going to win, Braden. I want to win, but I don’t know how we will.”
    “You have to trust me, Emma, I will get you out of there,” I assure her, knowing that there has to be something we can do to force Gabe to leave her alone. Then I move my left hand to take hers in mine, touching her wedding ring with my fingers while I look at the ring that represents the promise I just broke to God. “Although, until after you’re separated, and I’ve resigned, we should probably refrain from more afternoons like these.”
    “Don’t leave the priesthood for me, Braden,” she says, turning in my arms so she’s able to look up at me. “The church needs good men like you, and I think you can do a lot as a priest. I mean, just look at how this youth center is coming along – that’s all because of you. I don’t want you to leave it, especially when we don’t know what will happen with Gabe.”
    Frowning, I move and sit up. “I’ve already broken my vows, Emma, and besides, I won’t be any good to anyone if I can’t be with you. I love you in the most intense way possible, it consumes me, and I can’t serve God when you’re the only person I can think about. However, I’m not going to leave before you’re free from your marriage and safe from harm. I can promise you that.”
    “You love me in the most intense way possible?” she asks, a slight grin curling up the sides of her beautiful full lips.
    “Yes, Emma, I do,” I whisper, bringing my mouth to hers as my body grows hard, and I’m ready to show her all over again. 
     

Chapter 7

     

Emma
    “Someone’s at the door!” I hiss, sitting bolt upright from where I was lying, draped across Braden’s glorious chest, the both of us completely naked after breaking both his vows to the church and my wedding vows twice more. I suppose we were being greedy, but the opportunity was here, and well, he’s completely irresistible and he makes me feel the same way.
    Glancing at his watching, Braden stands and quickly pulls his pants back on while I grab my panties and slip on my bra so I’m not completely exposed. “Shit, it’s been three hours already. It’s the pool contractor,” he whispers, moving toward the open door cautiously.
    “You locked the door didn’t you?” I ask in