Breakfast with a Side of Danger

What is in Your Soul

When they reached the porch Sébastien dropped the umbrella by the door, smirked at Angela over his shoulder, and disappeared into the house leaving a stunned Angela standing in the doorway gaping outside at the rain.

Angela startled when felt a warm cloud like towel drape over her head in shoulders. She looked at Sébastien who returned with a towel of his own draped around his shoulders and no shirt. Her breath caught as she notice the definition of his muscular form that his clothing only hinted at. She turned her head when she noticed him watching her ogling him.

Sébastien chuckled softly when she swiftly looked away and gulped earning him a sideways glare from Angela. He grabbed her shoulders turning her toward him and started drying her hair. She was doing everything she could not to look at him. “Will you settle down. Your hair will be a matted mess if you keep moving like that.”

“That’s okay I can do it. I am more than capable of drying my own hair.” Angela felt a spark of electricity run through her finger tips when they touched his hand causing her to pull her hand back and hover over his and look up at him. Her breath quickened as he moved closer bending down to so he was inches from her face.

“I know, that’s what makes it so nice to do for you.” Sébastien eyes left hers while he returned to toweling her hair. His hand brushing her cheek.

Angela took half a step back pressing herself into the door jam to try to add space between them. She looked at his plump kissable lips, she remembered the feel of them on hers. He smelled like lush rich forest and spring rain and it was making her drunk on him. Feeling his body heat radiating through her soaked clothes she was afraid she was going to act upon all the thoughts and feelings she has had about him since high school. “Umm. Bast…”She thought she heard him growl at the name she’d called him since they were kids. The sound of it made her pause, closing her eyes and see images of him sliding into her, her legs wrapped around him as his body covered hers and he moved slowly tenderly in and out as he brought them to the brink of ecstasy. She licked her lips bringing her bottom lip in and biting it to bring her back to reality. She clenched her legs together to stop the slow ache that was building there for him. She released her lip and let out a deep breath. She opened her eyes to see Sébastien had stilled, eyes shining a deep green with gold flecks watching her, his breath shaking. “I umm…” She licked her lips again and his were on hers instantly.

The kiss was rough and gentle at the same time. It was all consuming like he was devouring her like she was the only thing that was keeping him alive. It was the kind of kiss that consumed ones soul leaving nothing but a shell. It was a kiss filled with promises of wild nights of passion and lazy days by a fire.

Sébastien’s hand came up to hold her head and caress her cheek. Angela moaned and he couldn’t stop the answering possessive growl that ripped through his chest and into her. Her tongue meeting his and then her mouth as he pulled back. He rested his forehead against hers, both of them breathing heavy. He pulled back searching her eyes for answers he desperately wanted to know, but was too scared to ask, his thumb rubbing her cheek, his fingers lightly brushing her neck as he pulled is hand away and to run his thumb across her lips and chin. “Sorry. I umm shouldn’t have done that.” He gulped. “I’ll go get you some dry clothes.”

Sébastien let go of Angela turning and taking his warmth with him, leaving her cold and confused. It was the second time he kissed her and both times he left her weak and wanting more. “What the hell Angela.” She gritted out closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the door jam. “You’re not some damn teenage kid with a crush anymore...”

Sébastien cleared his throat pulling her from Angela thoughts. “Here’s some dry clothes.” He said pushing the clothes into her arms and looking anywhere, but at her. “You can use the shower in the room at the end of the hall to warm up.”

Angela stepped out of the shower to find a delicious smell filling the house, enticing her to dress quickly and leave the confines of the bathroom. She found Sébastien in the kitchen cooking the offender of that mouth watering scent, bacon and steak. She found he had already had a large bowl in the center of the table with a simple salad and two small bowls next to plates with what smelled deceptively like her favorite soup.

“Pull up a chair, the steak will be done in a moment. I assume you still like vegetable soup?” Sébastien asked pulling the bacon out of the pan to place it on some paper towels and drizzling the left over grease across the top of the steak.

“Um, yeah.” Angela smirked. “You cook?”

“Of course I cook. Don’t you?”

“Yes I cook, but not like this. It’s more like toast and canned foods. You know things I can pop in the microwave when I have a moment. If I don’t forget and end up just drinking coffee all day.” Angela shrugged.

“I see.” Sébastien laughed placing a slice of medium rare steak the size of her plate in front of her and the larger slice on his plate. He sprinkled crumbled up bacon over the salad before placing some on a small plate for her and tearing up some garlic bread and placing it beside her steak. “You good? You need any dressing or anything?”

“I’m good.” She squeaked.

“What’s wrong?” Sébastien asked when she didn’t move to eat.

“I’m just trying to figure out where I want to start it all looks so delicious, and it smells even better.”

Sébastien laughed. And spoke light heartedly over their lunch. When they finished Angela helped Sébastien clean up and they sat on the couch in the living room. “Why do you write crime romances?”

Angela looked down into her coffee cup. “Because life is beautiful, and it is scary. You can be madly in love one day and the next not come home because someone decided that your life was meaningless.” She shuddered. “There was this woman a a few years back who had met a man from work for drinks. They had worked together for a few years and he had asked her out a couple times, but she always had a boyfriend. So one day after they broke up she invited him over for dinner. As they finished eating he killed her. Stabbed her from behind 13 times, before he took off his tie and wrapped it around her neck cutting off her airway.”

Sébastien sat back listening intently letting Angela weave the tale of the murder that he knew haunted her dreams.

Angela took another shaky breath. “She survived the stabbing, but was bleeding out and couldn’t scream because he nicked her lung the first time the knife went in. She would have died, but it was going to be slow and painful as she struggled to breath. Her lungs were filling with blood. She was drowning in her own blood, but it was taking too long and he didn’t want to wait any longer for her so he took off his tie and used it to make it quicker.”

Sébastien wanted to comfort her, but he knew if he touched her now she would recoil and if he said anything she would fall apart. She was seeing it and living it as if she was there. It was her gift and her curse being able to feel emotions so intensely, and so fully. It was what made her such a wonderful writer.

Angela swallowed hard and took another deep breath before continuing. “After he took her upstairs to her bedroom, undressed her, and acted as if she were alive and consenting, while he relived in his mind the act taking her life. He put his tie around her neck while he did what he wanted with her.” Angela shook her head as if trying to remove the images from her mind. “When they caught him they asked why he did it, and you know what he said?”

Sébastien shook his head. “I am afraid I do not.”

“He said it was because he loved her. He did all that horrific stuff to her because he loved her.” Angela was crying now. “But there is the other side to life too. There are plenty of women that take chances on men and even other women and never experience such a fate. Some even come out better for it, finding someone they want to be with. When they think of the future that person is always with them. That is why I write what I do. I want women to be aware of the dangers, but I also want them to still take chances on love and know that if something bad happens it is not their fault. It is the fault of the person that did it not them. They are not responsible for the other person not being able to control themselves. They are not responsible for them hurting them. What the other person does is because of the other person. I want them to be cautious, but not fearful.”