Beautiful Sinner: a standalone forbidden romance (Beautiful Series)
Beautiful Sinner: Chapter 17

BUSINESS at the bed and breakfast has picked up. It’s the only thing that keeps me distracted since Callum came back and put more distance between us than when he was a hundred miles away. He doesn’t sleep at the house anymore. The moment he walked in the door, it was like he was pretending that the forbidden touch between us didn’t happen.

No apology for leaving. No response to my text. The level of comfort between us is just gone. He’s been inviting me to church with him, but I can hardly bear to be in the same room as him, let alone go somewhere he is center stage.

Bridget and I have been bonding, staying up with a bottle of wine every night, and it’s nice. It makes me miss my sister a little less, although I’ve been avoiding her calls lately. I don’t know if I can lie to Sunny, and I know she’ll ask about how I’ve been doing on this little soul-search adventure I’m on. The only thing I’ve found is that I don’t know how to fall lightly for a man. I give my heart too easily, and I’ll probably never have enough faith in myself to break that habit.

We’ve been checking in so many older couples and families that I’ve been getting a little bored with the job, but when a group of young Americans comes in a couple weeks after Taron and his friends, I perk up. I need to socialize with someone my own age, and I figure a night out at the pub with guests from back home might lift my spirits.

I’m at the front desk when they arrive. There are three of them, all guys. All handsome with bright smiles and charm in their eyes.

“Welcome to Ennis,” I greet them. The strange glance they give each other as they walk in seems a little strange.

“Thanks,” the blond one says as he walks up to the counter. “We’ve heard great things about this place.”

“Oh yeah,” I answer. “Ennis is beautiful this time of year. Are you guys here for the hiking trails?”

“Uh, yeah. You’re American?”

“Yep. I couldn’t seem to leave.” It’s the line I use on everyone who asks. It’s starting to feel monotonous. Just as I take their IDs and credit cards, going on and on about how I ended up here and stayed, the front door opens and Callum walks in. He’s in his black shirt and collar, and I notice the way he pauses as he takes in the three dashing tourists with my full attention, so I do what any jilted girl would do. I lay into the flirting.

“You guys just missed dinner, but if you’re hungry, I can fix you something from the kitchen.” I lean forward on the counter, pressing my elbows in to boost up my cleavage, which not one man in the room misses—not even Callum. His jaw clenches.

“That would be amazing, Cadence,” says the curly-headed brunette.

“Meet me in the parlor, just around the corner here.” I give them each a bright smile as I turn and disappear into the kitchen. They give Callum a strange look before they go into the front room marveling at the view from the grand window.

Callum follows me. “Let me help you.”

“No thanks. I’ve got it. I know how to feed three hungry boys.” I give a little shake to my hips and smirk as I say it.

“Very funny,” he mumbles. He helps me anyway, and luckily Bridget, who took the rest of the night off to go into town with Fitz, her new accordion-playing boyfriend, left dinner out, so I quickly heat up the beef roast before carrying it out to the parlor with three clean plates. He’s right on my heels with the silverware and napkins.

“Oh wow,” one of the boys says.

“So what do you have planned while you’re here?” I ask, dishing up the food onto each of their plates.

They give each other that mischievous glare again, and I force my smile. I don’t know what I’m missing, but I don’t pry. “Um…we actually heard some pretty good things about the pub down the street.”

“Oh, Yeager’s? Yeah, you have to go there. You should be able to catch some live music tonight, too.”

Each of the guys takes a seat around one of the small breakfast tables by the window, and I lean against the arm of the couch. Callum is behind the bar making a drink, and I notice the brunette boy’s eyes keep drifting back there as if his presence bothers them. I’m sure they’re not used to seeing a hot priest mixing a drink at their hotel. I almost make a remark about it when one of the guys adds in, “According to the reviews, you make a great tour guide, Cadence.”

My cheeks redden. Behind me, glass clinks hard against the bar. Suddenly, I hear my name on his lips again, and I realize that I never told him my name. All I hear is my breath on every slow inhale and exhale before I finally respond.

“Me?” I have to force my smile as it spreads across my cheeks. Inside my head, I’m screaming, Not in front of him. Please don’t hit on me in front of him.

“Yeah,” the brunette adds with a charming grin. “If you’re not too busy, we’d love a tour.”

“Well, I don’t really give tours, but I’d be happy to walk you guys down to Yeager’s.”

They all agree amicably, and I can feel Callum behind me, seething. Suddenly, he’s sitting at the couch he was at the night we played Battleships, when everything between us was at its best, before it was ruined. He’s leaning forward, his elbows on his legs, staring at me like a predator. There is no humor in his eyes, not lust or love. It’s something dark and ugly. It’s jealousy.

“What about after the pub?” one of the boys says, stealing my attention away from Callum. “Where does the tour end?”

Another one of the guys sniggers, and suddenly holding my smile feels impossible, but I manage to keep my face light. “Um…what exactly was in that review?”

They laugh, and I get a somewhat sincere look out of one of them. Inside, something in me is turning cold as I realize exactly what is happening.

Taron must have let the word spread. I am the Ennis Bed & Breakfast whore. An amenity listed on the website, like a complimentary breakfast.

I couldn’t keep my stare off of Callum if I tried, and I do try, but my eyes drift there on their own. It’s like I need his stare for comfort. He’s waiting to see what I will say.

What will I say?

The old Cadence wouldn’t hesitate. A night out with three hot guys, yes. A night in with three hot guys, sure.

I would go along with whatever they wanted because that’s what I did. Who was I to turn down the attention, mistake it for love and let it devour me.

But now, Callum’s hard glare is turning me to ash.

“Let me go get you guys some dessert.”

In a rush, I cross the parlor toward the kitchen. I don’t even see Callum get up, but the moment I’m alone in the kitchen, he’s at my back.

“Tell them no.” He’s so close, I feel his breath on the back of my neck.

“What do you care?” I ignore him as I pull out the dessert plates and dish out three pieces of pie. “Why should I tell them no?”

He roughly grabs my hips and spins me, pinning me between him and the counter. “You know why.”

My heart hammers inside my chest. “No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you fucking do.”

“You’ve barely spoken to me for two weeks, Callum. You left me without a word. Who’s to say you won’t do that again? If you want me, you better get the fuck over it, because you don’t own me. I can fuck whoever I want.”

He snaps, grabbing the hair at the back of my head and pulling down so that my face angles up toward him. It’s a stark contrast to the man with the feather-light touch. I may have had Abel already, but now I’m bringing out the Cain, and I like it.

I push away from him, part of me knowing that I’m only getting more heated. The other part can’t be this close to him. It’s too much, too tempting to fall right back into the routine we had before. One more touch and we’ll fall off a cliff we can’t climb out of, and I refuse to be a problem for him.

But as much as I fight him, I feel like I would die right now if he let me go.

“You know that’s not true, Cadence. I tried to stay away from you. You know as well as I do that I do fucking own you.”

His hand is still in my hair, and he’s so close I feel like I’m drowning in that scent of his I love so much. “I won’t stay celibate for you. I won’t just turn down every man forever because you have a crush and can’t do shit about it.”

“So you’ll let those assholes fuck you instead? Is that what you want to be, Cadence?”

“Unlike you, Callum, I make my own decisions. I say what I do with my body.”

“Not anymore,” he snaps as he crashes his mouth against mine.

“You can’t,” I manage to gasp out before his tongue is in my mouth, and I become water, dripping through his fingers. I catch a glimpse of the white square at the collar of his neck just before I open myself to him, and my fighting hands turn into passionate grabs for his shirt and skin.

My senses are flooded with Callum as he squeezes my hip in one hand, the other still buried in my hair. As our mouths move together, I let myself believe that the world inside this kiss is the only one that matters. No vows. No rules.

His hands are on my legs as he lifts me to set me on the counter, squeezing his body between my knees. Immediately, I feel the hard bulge pressed against me, and I pull him closer. We are going to do this. Finally, he will let down his guard for one night, and I can have this thing that I’ve wanted for so long.

A voice calls from just outside the kitchen near the front desk. “Cadence?”

Callum breaks the kiss, but I hear him growl a low hum of irritation, and I know it’s the way the man called my name like he had any rights to it that pissed Callum off.

“Tell him you’re not going,” Callum whispers against my mouth.

Our eyes meet and I search for any sign that this is real. If I stay with him, will he make me his? Will Callum be another lost cause in my search for love? My heart can’t handle another devastation.

“Tell him.” He squeezes the flesh of my hip so tight it starts to hurt.

My hands find Callum’s stubbled cheeks, and I let them roam the landscape of his face, a face I’ve stared at for over two months, wishing I could kiss it and touch it.

“Then what?”

His features soften. He can’t answer that question. Then what is impossible for him to say at this point.

“Excuse me?” the voice calls again.

“Coming!” I answer, jumping off the counter and pushing past Callum to greet the young man in the lobby.

“The guys are taking our bags upstairs and we were just going to go to that pub for drinks. We’d really love it if you would join us.”

I’ve never walked away from a man I wanted. Never. But tonight, I do it for the future-Cadence who will know the heartache I fear.

“I’m in,” I say with a smile.

Callum doesn’t stop me as I grab my purse from behind the counter and walk with the guys outside. I leave him to clean up the mess and close up the lobby and parlor, but I catch his face in the window as I walk away.

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