Page 197 of The Love of Priest

With a smile etchedon his face, Priest handed Britain the bag of take-out Chinese food he picked up on his way back. Glancing up from her laptop, she eyed the food before averting her brown eyes to him.

"Wow, you're spoiling me. You came back early and got me food." She grinned while taking the food from him.

Priest laughed as he took a seat next to her. She had found herself sitting comfortably with a glass of wine and her laptop, finishing some transcriptions for “Humans of New York.” She felt like she had sulked enough about getting the boot fromThe Times,so she was on the verge of figuring out her next step. With the help of Priest, Britain had finally found enough courage to look into starting her own magazine that she could eventually build from the ground up.She dreamed of having her own magazine company, but she let that dream slip away from her since she had grown content with the front-page coverage she had been getting fromThe Times.

There was no better time to start up that dream again than right now. "Yeah, I figured I've been away from you long enough," he teased, receiving a side-eye from her, only for him to laugh a bit more.

Priest leaned in a bit to catch a glimpse of her laptop. "What you in here doing?"

Britain pursed her lips as she turned the laptop a bit so he could get a better view. "My story," he said, recognizing it instantly.

Britain nodded her head. "I started with yours first. I hope you don't mind." Her eyes filled with guilt since she thought she should have spoken to him about it first.

"It's cool, Gioia. I gave it to you with the intent of you sharing it with the world. I expected it,” he assured her, washing away all her nerves.

"You sure?" she asked just for clarification. Priest, who was in the middle of un-bagging his food, nodded his head. "I can change the names and stuff like that if that makes it any better," Britain suggested since she wasn't fully convinced about him granting her permission to exploit it all.

Priest once again shook his head. "Then it wouldn't be my story," he pointed out to Britain. "I trusted you. Now do your due diligence and turn it into greatness." Priest shrugged, causing a smile to surface on her face.

"Awe, P," she cooed as she sat her laptop aside to lean in closer to him. He chuckled as he placed his lips against her puckered ones. Parting from the kiss, he grabbed her hand so they could join in a prayer over their food. He kept the prayer short and simple so they could get to eating.

"How's it going so far?" he asked her, referring to her attempt to put his words into writing.

Britain let out a sigh. "It's going," she shrugged. Priest's story was so complex and long that all the audio was broken into pieces. Priest and Britain couldn't necessarily sit down and have him spill it all like the other people she had written about.

She was sure if their arrangement hadn't blossomed into a full-blown committed relationship, it may have been possible. "One of the audios includes us having sex." Britain shook her head, shaming herself and Priest. "I guess I forgot to hit stop."

Priest laughed in amusement, recalling the time they had transitioned from a confiding moment to an illicit sex session. "It sounded good, didn't it?" He smirked tauntingly.

She laughed while hitting his arm lightly. "I didn't listen to it," she screwed up her face in distaste. "And I don't want to.”

Priest waved her off. "I'll listen to it later," he shrugged.

Together, they ate their food, enjoying some conversation. Britain was glad he had made his way back sooner than she thought he would. She felt a bit stagnant since she didn't have much to do or many people to socialize with. She blamed letting work completely overwhelm her life. Britain had always kept herself busy, whether it was getting out to stack up on interesting “Humans of New York” stories or taking extra hours at her mother’s clinic. She could admit that things came to a decline only because she realized she didn't live it up as much as she should. Priest was changing that for her.

Having had enough of his lo mien, Priest sat it to the side. Britain was enjoying Priest's company as she leaned against his chest while she continued to eat her crab rangoon. "I gotta let you know something," Priest mentioned as he slowly kneaded his thumbs into her waist, causing the tension to melt away from her body.

Britain looked up at him, her brows raised. "What?"

He applied a gentle kiss to her lips before sighing. "I… um—" He cleared his throat, causing Britain to furrow her brows. "I had a meeting with Leila today to get Jamari's case reopened. I brought Paula on board since she has more connections than I do when it comes to all of that."

He vowed to be a hundred percent honest with Britain. Although nothing alarming happened between him and Paula, he still felt obligated to let Britain know. Paula was an issue in their relationship, and he didn't want Britain finding out the wrong way, which would only cause Paula to become more of an issue.

She sat her food aside to turn around so she was face to face with him. "You serious?" she questioned with an intimidating attitude in her tone.

Priest nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I’d rather be the one to tell you, Gioia. It's just business, nothing more nothing less," he explained to her while placing his hands back onto her waist.

Britain screwed up her face as she brushed Priest's hands off her. He could tell she definitely wasn't pleased to hear he had been with Paula today, but she was trying hard to keep her composure instead of lashing out. "Just business, right?" She hitched her brow up at him.

He nodded his head. "Just business. I don't want to associate myself with her, so Kaymen's taking over. I just needed to show my face to seal the deal. Sending Kaymen and Paula alone wouldn't have done shit.”

Growing defensive, Britain quickly built her guard up. "Should I trust you? Can I trust you?" she questioned him through hopeful eyes.

A sigh slipped out of him. "That's not for me to decide, Britain.”

"You make it so hard not to trust you," she huffed absentmindedly.

Priest licked his lips as he gazed into her brown eyes. Britain could see the darkness that usually took over his eyes lighten. "I love you too much to ever lie to you," he professed as he reached out to her.

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