Falling From Grace: Intimate Scenes

Chapter 27

[RECAP: Leonie told Harry that she likes someone who's off-limits. Harry, not knowing who it is, has encouraged her to go for it]

A few days later, having agonised over what to do, Leonie had decided to take action. Her feelings for Father Gabriel were consuming far too much of her time. They were distracting her from her schoolwork. She ended up daydreaming at random moments and missing what people said.

If she told him, perhaps it would get it out of her system. She imagined him being embarrassed but sympathetic. He would gently tell her that it wasn't possible, ever, but that he was flattered. He would tell her that it was normal, and that women often conceived unrequitable passions for their priest. She would feel silly, and they would hopefully be able to laugh about it and move on.

It would be the hardest thing she had ever done but life was nothing if you weren't brave. Right now it was festering and bubbling and getting harder to suppress. Once it was all out in the open it would be cleansed and start to fade.

After all he must know. He had heard her confession. She couldn't remember exactly what she had said, but surely it had been obvious.

Leonie sat on the wall by the school steps gathering her thoughts and mustering her courage. Then she saw Father Stephen walking out from the chapel towards the school. If Father Gabriel was in the chapel, and she couldn't think where else he would be, it was now or never.

Entering the vestry, she found him stacking up a pile of prayer books. He was startled to see her. "Leonie. Is everything alright?"

She swallowed. She went up to him, so she was about a metre away. It wasn't the kind of thing she wanted to say across a room. "The other day in the wood. I thought that maybe you... nearly kissed me." It hadn't been what she planned to start with, it just came out.

"What?" Gabriel felt cold shock run through him.

"And I wanted you to kiss me."

"Leonie, I'm a priest!" He indicated his vestments.

She bit her lip. "I know. But I still wanted... I thought that you wanted..." She trailed off.

Gabriel rubbed his eyes. He half hoped that this was a dream. Or a nightmare. But when he looked up again she was still there. The most alluring and dangerous thing he had ever seen, because of what she represented.

Leonie was sure he had felt it too. The tension. The wanting.

"Could we just kiss, once?" At that moment she felt it was the only way she could get it out of her system. To break that tension. She thought she might die if she didn't just once in her lifetime feel his lips on hers.

The fear and the desire in Gabriel were fusing into a kind of rage. Rage at himself for his weakness. Rage at his circumstances. Rage at this girl for toying with him, using him as something to fill in the time with until she saw her boyfriend again.

"What the hell do you think you are playing at?"

He lent closer to her, fury on his face. His features rigid like steel.

And then it overcame him. He gripped her by her shoulders, pressed his mouth on hers. Hungry, hard. Forcing her to open to him, exploring her, tasting her.

Five years of drought and desert and she was an oasis.

He broke off. "Is this what you wanted?" He was glaring at her, his eyes narrowed with lust and anger.

"No, I..." Before she could finish responding his lips were on hers again. He pushed her hard against the wall, crushing her against him. His mouth moved over her cheek, her jaw, her neck. He forced her legs apart with his knee and rammed it up between them. He felt her gasp as he did so.

Leonie was in a terrifying kind of heaven. Every cell and fibre of her body wanted him. She ached for his touch. She wanted him to crush her, hold her, devour her. Yet his wild rage scared her. That she could have unleashed this in him.

She felt his right hand slip between them, moving over her breast. Moulding it so firmly that it was almost uncomfortable. His thumb brushing over her, making her tauten through her school uniform. She shuddered, and the cry in her throat was stifled before it began as his mouth found hers again.

Her arms were around him, feeling the muscles of his back through his clothing. Never had she wanted someone so much.

Then he turned her around. Pushed her so she was bent over one of the desks. His hand went under her skirt and she felt him try to tug her underwear down. She knew what he wanted, and she wanted it too, but not like this. Not the first time. Her first time.

"Stop!" She wrestled to get away from him. He stepped back from her. "I can't... I haven't done his before," she told him.

She looked terrified. Gabriel was appalled. He had practically tried to force himself on a girl who was not only inexperienced but his student. He could say nothing to defend himself. The desire and the rage ebbed out of him as quickly as it had flared up. He couldn't speak, he was so horror-struck by what he had done.

They stared at one another, Leonie pale and stricken, her hair and clothes dishevelled and her lips bruised from his kisses. Gabriel finally broke the silence.

"I don't know what to say to you. Or even where to start."

Leonie couldn't even speak. She had expected him to be even more furious when she stopped him, but instead his face was sorrowful.

"I'm sorry," she managed.

"You're sorry?" He was incredulous. "Leonie, it's not you that needs to apologise." He needed time. He couldn't even think straight.

Before either of them could speak again they heard someone enter the chapel. They both froze. Then Leonie managed to recover herself and slipped out of the vestry door, and fled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To get back to Chapter 27 in the main book, click External Link.

Sorry this is a bit fiddly, but it's the only way to prevent the main book getting blocked or filtered on Wattpad.