Page 63 of For I Have Sinned

“And let you get caught?” he says with a worry I wasn’t expecting. “Not going to happen. Let’s go before Father Keaton decides to come to his office.”

He sticks his head out of the door, glancing down the hall to see if anyone is heading this way. I take this opportunity, while he is distracted, to keep looking through the desk drawers. One by one, there is nothing of importance in them. I let out a sigh of defeat, but then the bottom right drawer doesn’t open.

My eyes lift to where Father Alexander is standing, who is now staring at me.

“It’s locked.”

“Then leave it be,” he pleads.

“What could he possibly be hiding in here that he’d need to lock it?” I drop my eyes to the surface of the desk, eyeing a letter opener. I swipe it from the desk, along with a paper clip, and begin picking the lock.

“Are you seriously about to break into his desk? In front of me?” Father Alexander asks in shock.

“Aren’t you a little curious as to what else he is hiding?” I maneuver the objects in the keyhole until I hear a click. “Ah ha!”

I place the letter opener and paper clip back on the desk, then slide the drawer open. My eyes scan the contents inside, and I can feel my face turn pale.

“Did you find what you hoped for?” Father Alexander asks.

I stare at the object for another minute before glancing at Father Alexander. “It’s a gun.”

Father Alexanders stares at me in a daze of disbelief. “What?”

“There is a gun in the drawer.” As if he doesn’t believe me, Father Alexander rounds the desk and looks into the drawer. “Why would he need this?”

“I don’t know,” he says more to himself than to me. “Close the drawer, Celine. We need to get out of here.”

With a nod, I shut the drawer and give it a good tug. Thank God Father Keaton invested in a desk with auto-locking drawers. We leave the office and head down the hall in silence. It isn’t until we are near the library that I speak up.

“I’m sorry for putting you in that position.” I apologize sincerely.

It would have been bad for him if we had been caught and he had just been standing there watching me break into Father Keaton’s desk.

He blows out a long breath and rubs his hand over his mouth. “Just promise me that you won’t go in there again to snoop more.”

“I promise.” I hold up my pinky. Father Alexander stares at it for a moment and then brings his eyes to mine. “A pinky promise? Ever heard of it?”

“Of course I’ve heard of a pinky promise.”

“Well, just so you know, I don’t break my pinky promises.” I wiggle the finger for him to link his with.

With a shake of his head, he hooks his pinky with mine, and I notice how his chest rises and falls at a quick rate from the mere connection. Holding back my smile, I do him a favor and unhook my finger from his.

“What are you going to do with the information that Father Keaton has—” I peek around him to make sure no one is around us and lower my voice—“a gun in his office?”

“I’m going to forget it’s in there.”

“But—”

“It’s most likely for protection,” he cuts me off, closing the distance between us. Father Alexander is much taller than I am, so I have to bend my neck to meet his gaze. “For your own protection, Celine, I suggest you forget about what you found, okay? You don’t need to be getting into any trouble.”

It feels like my heart has grown wings, fluttering in my chest. Him being this close reminds me of that night in the library. At the thought, I allow my eyes to fall to his lips.

Wetting my own, I say, “It’s nice that you care if I get in trouble or not.”

His voice drops an octave. “Someone has to keep you in line.”

My thighs clench together at the sultry tone of his voice. I want nothing more than for him to close this distance between us completely, but I watch the battle that he is fighting in his eyes—the battle between right and wrong. The same one I saw that night.