People are complex.
Love a double-edged sword.
And when it comes to a broken heart, there are no rules, only time…
For the past eight years, Julien Thornton has been living with a secret. One that only a handful of people know about.
To the outside world, he has it all.
A thriving career. A loving husband. And a face that the American public fell for by the millions, on a reality show that inadvertently saved his life.
But behind the shine of celebrity, behind the easygoing nature, a crippling truth fills Julien with pain and self-loathing. It’s a truth that he fights to overcome daily with the help of his husband, Joel Priestley, and now their boyfriend, Robbie Bianchi.
But unlike Priest, Robbie doesn’t know what he’s helping Julien to fight. He doesn’t know what Julien did all those years ago. And with the anniversary of his sister’s death fast approaching, the time for explanations is running out.
And thus the question: will the princess be able to forgive the prick as the priest once did?
Only time will tell.
Chapter One
CONFESSION
Those who are meant to be yours
will always find you.
“WE MEET again, Mr. Thornton.”
A shiver of awareness raced up Julien Thornton’s spine as he stood in the jail cell of a downtown L.A. police station where he’d been thrown around an hour ago for public intoxication.
He didn’t need to turn to know who was on the opposite side of those steel bars. That voice was the one he’d been hoping to hear when he’d made his “one call” and left a message after a generic voicemail. That voice? It had been on his mind since the last time he’d heard it, nearly two weeks earlier when he’d met—and attempted to steal the car of—a man who called himself Priest.
Julien pivoted on his heels, and when he did, he realized that he’d grossly underestimated the impact that Joel Priestley had had on him the first time around.
Oui, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him, that was true, and oui, he might’ve purposely provoked the police officer tonight hoping he’d end up needing a lawyer. But Dieu, he’d forgotten the way Priest made his body respond. Like an inferno was licking through his veins.
With auburn hair, stormy eyes, and a presence that Julien gravitated toward like a magnetic force, he didn’t think anything could prepare a person for the powerful energy Priest exuded. Not to mention that cool, judgmental stare of his.
But Julien had no one to blame for that judgment but himself. Maybe if they didn’t always meet at the end of one of his week-long benders, he could have the upper hand with this man for once. And wouldn’t that be délicieux, he thought, as he looked at the lawyer who’d dropped him home two weeks before, instead of at the police station like he’d originally threatened.
Priest was as put together now, at three in the morning, as he had been that afternoon in the alley. Suited up in a tailored navy number that framed his broad shoulders and emphasized the rich color of his hair, he looked sharp, controlled, and dangerous to Julien’s already unstable state of mind as he stood there sizing him up with an unreadable expression.
“I’m curious,” Priest finally said, as he clasped his hands behind his back and took a step closer to the cell where Julien had spent most of the night sobering up. “Did you not understand me the last time we spoke?”
Julien clenched his jaw and wondered if Priest realized how condescending he sounded when he spoke—or just how much it turned Julien on. “Non. I understood just fine.”
“Then what part of ‘I won’t be so lenient next time’ made you think that calling me to bail you out of here was a good idea?”
Julien was still trying to work that out himself, but thought it might have something to do with the fact that he was drawn to this man. There was something about Priest that made him feel alive, when all he’d felt for months now was dead inside.
When Julien didn’t respond, Priest cocked his head, studying him closely, the disapproval rolling off him in waves. “Are you that hard up for a date that this was the only way you could think to get one?”
Putain, the man was arrogant. But for reasons Julien couldn’t explain, that seemed to make him all the more appealing. “You’re the one who gave me your card the last time we met. Perhaps it’s you who are hard up for a date, monsieur. Giving your number out to—”
“Criminals?” Priest frowned. “No. That’s called smart business acumen, considering I’m a criminal attorney.”
Julien scoffed. “I’m hardly a criminal.”
“Really?” Priest said, and took his time examining the six-by-eight space Julien currently stood in. He then leaned forward and said in a lowered voice, “Your current situation tells a different kind of story.”
Despite his “current situation,” and the reason he’d gotten himself into it, Julien felt his lips curve, and he realized exactly why he was drawn to Priest. He possessed the one thing that Julien had been looking for—the ability to take his mind off the black hole his life had become. “Maybe it’s le destin.”
“And what does that mean? Destiny?” Priest straightened and brought his arm around to check the time. “I doubt destiny has anything to do with it. A more likely scenario is that I was your only option.”
“Even if that’s true,” Julien said as he wrapped his fingers around the bars, “you came anyway.”
“As I said before, it’s my job.”
“At three in the morning?”
“At any hour of the morning,” Priest said, and then looked down the hallway that was devoid of anything other than dreary off-white tiles and horribly bright fluorescent lighting. “I’m going to go and see if I can get you out, and then you and I are going to have a talk.”
Something about the way Priest said you and I made Julien’s pulse race, and as Priest went to walk away, Julien whispered, “J’ai vraiment hâte,” and the ever-so-serious lawyer stopped in his tracks and looked back.
This time when those eyes roamed over Julien, his breath caught. There was nothing cool about that stare now. There was heat, interest, and an intensity that made Julien’s fingers tighten around the bars before Priest cut the connection and walked away.
Julien watched him go until he disappeared around the end of the hall, and then he released his breath on a rush. Merde. He’d never been so attracted to someone in all his life, and as he stood there waiting for Priest to save him yet again, Julien knew he needed to stop what he was thinking.
There was no way in hell he deserved someone like that. Non, no way at all. That didn’t, however, stop him from counting down the minutes until Priest returned to him…
My review:
Confession: Two is always better than one. And three? That is even better.
I am completely, totally, and irrevocably in love with Robbie, Julien, and Joel – better known as the princess, the prick and the priest. In fact, despite having read Book 1 – ‘Confessions: Robbie’ I bought the audio and listened to it in preparation for reading this book. Narrator Charlie David speaking French? Yum.
As I said in my review of Book 1, I am fluently bilingual. Do you need to understand French to enjoy the book? No, but it is more fun if you do. Of course, your French is pretty much guaranteed to improve simply because Robbie is eager to learn Julien’s native tongue. He listens, learns, and googles. While explaining the meaning of putain, Julien says:
And one of my favourite things to do and say in any language is…fuck – putain.
Book 1 left off with Robbie turning up at Julien and Priest’s home in the middle of the night – suitcases in tow. Only, unbeknownst to him, he has arrived mid-crisis in the lives of his married lovers. The question he asks himself – the self-doubt he has – is whether he will always be the third wheel, the easily disposed of toy when they tire of him – or find a new, shinier toy.
When he arrives, Joel Priestly has just received a distressing phone call. Based on that, I thought Book 2 would be his. Julien’s past was lurking, though, so when his name – and image – appeared on the book, I was salivating.
The story of how Julien and Joel met was a memorable scene from the first book and is continued in the excerpt above. I finally got an explanation for how Julien wound up on the national cooking competition that propelled him into the world of reality television – and fame. This backstory explains how he wound up back in Joel’s life and how, once he was on the show, he first appeared on Robbie’s radar screen.
Confession: Sometimes the best way to forget the past is to lose yourself in the present. But even then, the past often has a way of finding you.
In Book 1, we started to uncover Julien and Joel’s secrets in their separate pasts. Secrets that could destroy the beautiful life they have created together, the life they have begun to build with Robbie. They also wanted to make certain their baggage wouldn’t extinguish the light and sunny disposition of their beautiful princesse.
Robbie, though, proves he is more than just a pretty face with fabulous make-up and a smoking hot ass encased in bright fashion-forward colours.
We learned in Book 1 that Julien had a sister who died and that he held himself responsible, but the circumstances and details were held close-to-the-vest by the married couple.
By inviting Robbie in, Julien is exposing his vulnerable underbelly to someone he has come to care for. Someone whose disdain and disgust would destroy him.
My heart broke as Julien’s relationship with his twin sister Jacquelin was revealed. That kind of bond spoke to the depth of his love for his ‘petit poulin’. Witnessing the self-flagellation was painful, but seeing the two other men stand beside Julien – and even hold him up – made me believe real love might just be possible for these men.
In the end, Robbie proves what kind of man he really is. And the apron scene is the perfect encompassment of this triad relationship.
Confession: What I want to do to our princesse will definitely require a priest.
Oh, and the sex?
Hot. Hot. Hot.
And, for the record, I will never look at an expensive suit jacket the same way again.
There is to be a third book, of course. Priest’s history has been hinted at, but his past slams into his present when ghosts threaten. One of the last confessions is as follows:
Confession: I used to be scared of the storm. Until I realized with a storm you have warning. Now, it’s the calm I fear.
I can’t wait.
My Rating:
10/10 Points of Gold (100% Recommended) – Compares to 5/5 Stars
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