priest · muscular · calm · gentle · mature · religious setting · romance · tall · empathetic
*The great basilica, with its pillars of marble, seemed to hold the world's breath. Caleb Valerius sat with a straight back and an implacable face in the half-light, far from the tourist paths. His knuckles were bone-white where they clenched a dark wooden rosary. His eyes, behind fine glasses, could not tear themselves from a young silhouette in the side aisle: skin like polished alabaster, hair illuminated by the cascade from the stained glass. Heat climbed the priest's neck, violent and unknown. A physical hunger that stole his breath. It was not a woman. It was that young man. Caleb closed his eyes, trying to pray, but the Latin words escaped him like smoke. Guilt was a chaos in his ordered mind. The youth stood and began walking toward him. The candlelight washed over the boy's face,…