36 | Cardinal Sin

**Third Person POV**

His eyes, the colour of the winter sea, swept over her. The rasp of his deep voice demanded her words, her needs, and her wants. His five o’clock shadow scratched against her soft cheeks, inciting all the illicit feelings she could muster.
Hell, she was wet. It was one of the charms of Father Gabriel Sullivan who could arouse his penitent just with his voice and his dominant commands. The way he crowded her space in a telling fashion, it was evident that she could not escape.
“Undress me, please.” It was more of a desire than a loud ask for help. With her injured ribs and several bruises, lifting her hands was not an option.
Gabriel straightened, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips as he slowly, deliberately rounded the wooden stool and positioned himself directly behind her. Soon, a pair of strong, muscular arms rested on her hips and hitched up the loose tee-shirt she was wearing.
Sienna could feel the heat of his touch against her waist. Just the brush of his skin sent tingles through her. Wanting more of him, she leaned back and threw her head against his chest.
“Lift your arms, just a little,” he schooled.
Sienna complied, completely entranced by his voice and touch as Gabriel rid her off the tee without making her wince or twist in pain. Underneath, she was bare. A bra would have hurt her skin, so she completely skipped the undergarment and opted for the loose tee.
Instantaneously, her skin was crowded with goosebumps. Her hands came up mechanically, crossing over her nakedness as Gabriel stepped in front of her.
He did not say a word, merely glazed his eyes over her exposed skin and the nasty bruises from the fall. His frown deepened as he noted the deep brown and yellowish scars marred her flawless body. He slowly went down on his knees on the bathroom floor; his intense gaze met hers first and then lowered his mouth over the ribs.
Gabriel peppered her bruised skin with kisses as if anointing her with the grace of his love and affection—just like the sacrament of anointing of the sick.
“Gabe…” She moaned, mewling like a soft kitten in his arms.
Not a word passed between them. Gabriel, silently, reached for the waistband of her yoga pants and her panties and pulled them down, and took his own sweet time in freeing her legs. In a matter of minutes, she was buck naked, sitting on a wooden stool in the bathroom.
‘*God help me*,’ his mind begged.
He had spent numerous nights imagining what she would be underneath that prim school uniform, and while he had already taken a peek of her delicious cunt, Gabriel was yet to be acquainted with her raw skin.
And now he did.
Sienna Emerson was gorgeous personified. She was more tempting than the delicious red apple of the garden of Eden, and Gabriel could not fathom the extent of his sins. The unqualified truth was, he wanted her. He wanted her more than the next breath, more than anything he had ever asked for in life, but he did not how.
With both hands, his fingers trailed over her slender shoulders, down her arms and then traced the curves of her womanly figure. Gabriel liked—loved—what he saw. His affinity was never towards women with skin and bones but healthy curves. One he could hold and squeeze, watch the bubbly ass jiggle under the force of his spanks and then colour bloom on the cheeks.
And Sienna Emerson met every one of those criteria.
Gabriel rose to his feet, towering over her body as she trembled under his gaze. Not knowing what to do with her arms, she tightened them across her breasts.
“Remove your hands, Sienna. I want to see you. All of you.”
She had never felt so conscious of herself before, but his commands meant something to her. At a snail’s pace, she lowered her arms and dropped her gaze in order to avoid his censure.
Gabriel could not help but reach for her puckered nipples. They were cold and hard and pink.
“You are gorgeous, Sienna,” he breathed his compliment. His palms rested just below her boobs, weighing and cupping them gently.
And the heat rushed directly between her groin. Once again, she tried to squeeze her thighs in response, except Gabriel read her quickly. Too quickly, perhaps.
He wedged one of his knees between hers and separated her legs, his eyes travelling south and skimming over her trimmed bush. Lush and glorious.
“All of you, Sienna,” he reminded her, a little too demandingly this time and reached down to touch the soft hairs. Purposefully, a finger edged closer to the clit, and Sienna gasped but somehow held still.
Silently, she tried to cant her hips upwards and grimaced in slight pain.
“Such a naughty girl,” he tsked. He slowly withdrew his touch, letting her know that it was not her decision to seek the pleasure.
Take it or not, Gabriel was still a dominant on his terms. His unqualified, savage needs could make any submissive dance on his tunes, and Sienna Emerson was just an amateur in the world of submissives.
“Please…” she begged desperately, heat singing in her veins.
“All in good time,” he teased.
For a moment, he drew his attention back to her hair, dislodging the loose bun and let her hair cascade over her shoulders. With great pleasure, he ran his fingers through her tresses, combing and untangling.
“I have always wanted to do this. Mess up your hair and feel them in my fingers,” he drawled. His fantasies ran far too deep than messy curls and sweaty skin.
He wanted to take her, consume her, ravage her.
Sienna was drowning in his touch and wanton teases, but she had harboured her own fantasy. Instead of seeking permission, she braved to touch the hard manhood over his pants that made him suck a quick breath.
“Do you touch yourself? I mean, are you allowed?” She ventured as sultrily as she could.
“Lust of flesh is a sin for every Catholic priest. It is…*forbidden*,” he rasped, almost moaning in her touch.
For six years, his cock hasn’t felt a touch other than his, and suddenly he was tasting the most forbidden fruit of the garden.
Sienna cupped his balls, making him yank on her hair so bad she felt the ache through her bones. “So, you don’t touch yourself?” She provoked. “In the darkness of your room, thinking about the things that turn you on…”
“What do you think turns me on, Miss Emerson?” He growled, half in anger, half in arousal.
“You like the naughty girls, Father. You like to bend them over and cane their bare ass. It turns you on. I turn you on.”
“You do.”
A shuddering exhale left his body as his lips came crashing against her mouth with an inexorable force—as if it was an act of God. Gabriel’s hands cupped her face, his mouth greedy to devour every inch of her as he felt her breasts pressing against his sternum. And finally—*finally*, when he did break the kiss, satisfied with the way her lips plumped up from the savage kiss, he looked into her dreamy eyes.
“*Sinner*,” she whispered with a smile.
“Oh, little girl…you have no idea of the sins I have committed or the ones I intend to do with you,” he said, biting her lips. “But let’s not forget the purpose of your nakedness. You wanted to have a shower, didn’t you?”
*Pfft. She wanted to get dirty with him*.
“Oh, yeah. Right, the shower,” she sighed with a crushing feeling. “I will…just pass me the soap and—”
“Did I say that I will let you shower alone?”
Sienna paused, licking her lips from where he had just kissed her a moment ago. “You don’t mean to—*wash me*, right? This is crazy, Gabriel, I mean—”
“Get used to the crazy, then, Miss Emerson,” he said, reaching for the shelf to grab the bottle of body wash he has brought over from her belongings. “I am not letting you do the chores alone, after the degree of bruises I have seen.”
“Yeah, they aren’t pretty,” she agreed.
“Fuck pretty. I want to strangle whoever is responsible for this,” he muttered, mindlessly grabbing the sponge and barely dealing with the rising temper.
The way he went from passionate to loving and then angry made her smile. She has seen every shade of him—his lust, affection and anger, and it was all for her.
He looked up and caught that abrupt smile. “What’s so funny?”
“It’s nothing but cliche.” Her grin got wider. “You look sexy when you are angry.”
“Is that why you rile me up every time?” he asked, arching up a brow.
“No, that is just your chauvinistic asshole behaviour.”
Gabriel smirked discreet, grabbing the handheld shower and turned on the jet. “Just because I am being nice, Miss Emerson, but that does not mean you can get away with your snarky comments.”
With that, he sprayed every inch of her skin with the showerhead and then took great care in soaping up her body. His lathered fingers began their journey from the column of her neck, glided over her plump breasts and then down the delicate skin over her ribs. And Sienna could only moan into the pleasurable sensation of being cared for the first time in her life.
It was such a tender moment in her life, one she wanted to etch into her memory like a tattoo so that she would know what it felt like to be cared for and cherished.
For Gabriel, it was a *first*, too. Even in his previous life, he could not remember getting involved at such an intimate level. Admittedly, he fucked many a woman and made them scream out his name in pleasure, but he had never tended more than the usual aftercare.
Sienna slowly hummed as he moved on to wash the suds off her skin, letting his fingers travel everywhere. He took great care in drying her off, soaking every drop of water with the fluffy towel so as not to hurt her many bruises.
Taking care of Sienna was like *worshipping his God*. He did it *diligently, sincerely and reverently*.
Once done, he attired her into one of his loose shirts that he brought with him and then changed out of his soaked clothes. By now, Sienna was weary of her emotions. She knew there were only so many lines he could cross, but God forgive her, she wanted more.
She wanted Gabriel Sullivan, a celibate priest in every unchaste way in the very sacred building where he recited his homily and worshipped his God.
When he had her settled on the bed and pulled the covers over her body, Sienna blindly reached out for his arm. And bravely so, she sought him out.
*“Gabriel? Will you stay with me tonight?*”
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**Dear readers, I hope you are enjoying ‘The Sinner’. This is my official entry to the ‘Forbidden Love’ contest, and I hope you will support me in sharing and promoting my work.
Please let me know whether I am rushing the storyline or the character development because I want Gabriel and Sienna to be perfect.
Love and hugs. XOXO**