19 Heating Up

I decided to tidy up the kitchen after the delicious meal before I succumbed to a food coma. It had been just the right food to fortify her after the information about her parents' murder by the "Dark Triad". I dried the last plate as Sergei stalked into the room. It was at that moment that I first fully took notice of how handsome he was.

Normally, I tended to be attracted to darker men, especially those with light eyes--at that thought, an image of Olivier flashed through my mind. They had certainly had some kind of all-encompassing connection when they first had bumped into one another in the administration building. But as Olivier's gorgeous visage drifted back out of my mind, I noticed Sergei eyeing me in much the same way I was admiring him.

He was very tall and formidably muscular, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He was wearing a heather grey t-shirt and fitted blue jeans--and the shirt was pulled taught across his shoulders and strained just a bit in all the right places. He smiled a crooked, charming smile at her as he stalked toward her across the kitchen. His face was pleasantly relaxed and his smile was contagious. I felt a small smile creeping over my own face in response.

"Thank you for cleaning up," he said as his chiseled face broke into a full smile, "that was very thoughtful of you." With that, he began to walk toward me and I felt an unmistakable shiver climb my spine.

I kept myself occupied, wiping down the cabinet as my nerves set me on edge. I didn't have much experience with men so I wasn't sure what I was going to do. He came up directly behind me and reached out softly to touch my waist. I was surprised by the reaction of my body. His touch had ignited goosebumps over every inch of my skin. I was more surprised by how everything in that moment felt so right and for the first time in my life I felt like throwing caution to the wind and opening up to the handsome, protective man, even if he was a virtual stranger.

He stood directly behind me and wrapped his other arm around my waist, his first hand gently touching my hip. He whispered my name softly into my hair as he pulled my body against his firm chest. I couldn't believe that I was not pushing him away. All of the craziness of the last days though, had left her longing to be comforted, to be touched. Normally I hated being touched, especially by unfamiliar men, but this was different. It felt like being close to Sergei enveloped me in his strength and every ounce of my body ached for him to keep me in his arms-- for his touch to never end.

Slowly, he turned me to face him and we gazed into each other's eyes. His hands went to my jaw, softly stroking the line of my chin. Under his touch and gaze, all of my inhibitions disappeared. Surprising myself, I pulled myself to my tiptoes and placed my lips softly on his. With a muffled groan, of what I hoped was a good groan, he used his hands in my hair to pull me more roughly into his embrace. After just moments of our soft, warm lips on each other, he pulled himself back and seemed to regain some control over his desire.

"Ohh... I'm sorry Erin, I shouldn't have done that..." he whispered sheepishly, "but I couldn't help myself. You're so beautiful and your heart is so purse, I couldn't stop."

"Sergei, it's OK. I kissed you first if you've forgotten," I replied with a smile. "Besides, I didn't want you to stop."

Sergei pulled himself back to his full height and stepped back, seemingly miserable at breaking away from my touch. I didn't understand why he was suddenly so regretful.

"You've had a shock, I cannot let myself do the things I want to do to you right now, it wouldn't be fair. You're too vulnerable," he hesitated as he told her.

"I know what I'm doing, Sergei, I'm not a helpless little girl, I'm a woman," I said sternly as I stood firm and reached out for his arm. "But, you're right that I shouldn't do anything reckless just yet. Just don't get weird, OK. You're the only person that knows what I'm going through right now, and I can't bear for it to be awkward."

"Ok, no awkward," he quipped and took my hand to lead me back to the living room so we could talk more about everything I'd learned and so he could fill me in on what he knew about it all.