I’m going to remember my brother walking into his home and finding his wife underneath his best friend. And my other brother who pined for the same unavailable woman for years until the whiskey and heartbreak did him in.
After a quick trip to our makeshift barracks, I salute the soldier standing guard at the entrance to the convent and stride inside, my pulse hammering in my temples at the knowledge I’ll be seeing Sister Mercy soon. I’m about to begin the several stairways’ climb to the tower when Mother Superior comes around the corner and waylays me with a hand on my elbow.
“I trust you’re behaving yourself, Private Griffin?”
Thinking of how badly I needed to fuck my beautiful auburn-haired nun on the bus—and abstaining—I feel no guilt when I nod. “I am, Sister.”
She fans herself with relief. “Praise the Lord that there is a man on this earth who can control his lust and keep her pure. She is very valuable to us.”
“Valuable?” It’s an off choice of words and it makes me frown. “What do you mean she’s valuable?”
Redness suffuses Mother Superior’s cheeks. “I-I only mean that…” she sputters. “Why, every soul is valuable in the eyes of the Lord.”
“Yes,” I say slowly, though suspicion is prodding me in the side. “If you’ll excuse me.” I hold up my toolbox. “I’m going to inspect the tower for weaknesses.”
And try not to give in to my own.
A few minutes later, I’m standing outside of Sister Mercy’s door, prepared to knock when I hear heavy breathing on the other side. Not only that, I hear…a slapping sound. Sex. One of the other soldiers found her. They’re taking her against her will. Red violence bleeds into my vision and I kick the door open—
To find Sister Mercy playing…hopscotch.
She screams and stumbles in the final square, hands flying to her mouth.
I throw my toolbox down, my pulse still roaring in my ears. “What in the hell are you doing?”
“I-I…” She gestures to the squares she’s scrawled on the stone floor with white chalk. “I’m not allowed outside for exercise until your regiment leaves and I was going crazy just sitting here when it’s so sunny outside.” She sucks in a shaky breath, obviously still frightened over my entrance. “Do you not care for hopscotch?”
“I thought you were…” I swallow hard, no closer to finding my composure than I was a moment ago. “Never mind.”
Sister Mercy hurries to cover her game with a rolled up rug. “Don’t tell Mother Superior, okay? She thinks I’m praying.”
Kneeling on the floor as she is, adjusting the rug and gazing up at me with her huge, golden eyes, I am already battling rampant waves of lust. My dick is almost vibrating with the need to be sprung. “Why aren’t you praying?”
She shrugs, the corners of her mouth turning down in a way I don’t like. She should always be smiling. “I guess I feel a little like a fraud talking to the big guy after what happened…”
“I take responsibility for that, Sister Mercy. You could never be a fraud.”
Jesus Christ, the smile she gives me. I would crawl across a battlefield of broken glass for it. “Thank you, Private,” she murmurs. “Can we still be friends?”
With a grunt, I root around in my pocket and draw out a handful of change, walking forward to leave it in the center of her bed. “Rounded up some coins for you.”
Gasping, she leaps to her feet. “Oh, you didn’t!” She dives on the bed like an eager child, bending over the pile on hands and knees. Youthful exuberance or not, I can’t help but want to climb onto the bed behind her and unzip my pants. “Where did you get so much?”
“A few sleeping soldiers.” I shrug. “If they wanted to hang on to their money, they shouldn’t have left it lying around.”
She widens her eyes at me. “I won’t tell.”
A drop of come leaks from my cock and rolls down the inside of my leg. My God, she is temptation beyond belief, on her hands and knees, telling me she’ll keep a secret. What other secrets would she never tell a soul?
You aren’t going to find out.
Women are poison to men, remember?
And this one isn’t even available to you. She’ll only bring misery.
My heart rebels at the implication, leaving me torn. My mind is telling me she’d be trouble. My heart, however, assures me she’s nothing but perfect, honest goodness and light.
“Are you here to make the tower safe?”
“Yes,” I say hoarsely. “First I’ll check the windows and—”
“Oh!” She leaps to her feet on the bed with a gold coin pinched between her finger and thumb. “I found it. The anniversary coin.”
Before I can register her intention, my little nun jumps off the bed, right into my arms. She throws her arms around my neck with an excited squeal, her thighs wrapping tightly around my hips—and I groan loudly, my composure sapped. Just like that. I turn on a heel and carry her to the closest wall, pinning her against it. “I’ve been going mad thinking of you in that bed,” I breathe an inch from her mouth. “It’s not fit to cradle you. You deserve a bed like a princess.”