The Devil's Love

Tempt the Devil: Chapter 18: Sarah

I woke to the smell of breakfast, something that I had not done in years. Living on my own meant that no one cooked breakfast for me, obviously. I had a grin on my face that was a mile wide, I couldn't see him but I could hear the soft movements and careful placement of objects. He was trying to be quiet. How sweet.

Rising from the bed, I padded across the floor and was thoroughly delighted to see that he hadn't dressed. Still in those silky soft black shorts that hung from his narrow hips. Anton was nicely defined, muscles could be seen but not obvious. The ends of his hair would sit on the collar of his shirt if he was wearing one that is. Strands of chocolate brown hair that was a little roughed up at the moment. Not the usual refined and styled Anton. Bed hair was sexy.

"Are you done perving woman?"

"Never."

"I feel objectified."

I giggled and leaned on the bench, watching him as he moved. Muscles contorted and flexed, sending this girl into a fluster. The plates were set out and the food placed on it. A huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, tomato, sausages and hash browns. I would be waddling for the rest of the day if I ate everything on my plate.

The toaster popped and Anton grabbed the bread, tossing one onto each of the plates.

"You don't have a dining table, where do you eat Sarah?"

"On my bed, if I need to. Usually, I eat breakfast while making it and then go to the restaurant and eat lunch and dinner there."

Anton said nothing more as we stood at the bench and ate the breakfast. It did feel rather odd, I looked around the apartment and wondered if I could rearrange things to accommodate a table and two chairs.

The kitchen certainly wasn't large enough to fit anything more, two people in the kitchen made it cramped. My bed was already pushed to the front wall, I suppose if I pulled it back a little and put the television on a set of drawers I could sneak a table in. It was a possibility and once I was done with breakfast, I'd find out.

Once Anton had left to go to the underworld, I quickly dressed, collected the money for the till and set out for the restaurant. Igor and Delano were waiting already, the rest of the wait staff were walking up the road.

"Morning," I said cheerfully.

Delano smiled with a knowing smile, one that made me a little confused.

"Morning." Igor offered. "You are happy today, yes? Yesterday turn shop around."

"It did."

I unlocked the door and turned off the alarm, Delano sauntered in and took up her spot behind the counter.

"Master is a good man, always good. Future is bright, beautiful path ahead."

"Sure."

Igor nodded and wandered into the kitchen. I gave the money to Delano and turned to one of the fellows as he walked into the shop.

"I need you to go into the basement and retrieve a table and two chairs and bring them to my apartment. Oh and there's a small cabinet there as well, bring that too."

He nodded and walked through the kitchen to the back door.

"If you need anything just call me."

"Of course." Delano smiled.

I offered one in return but ours differed substantially. Mine was reserved and a little confused, hers was supreme and wicked.

The fellow had brought the items to the end of the alley, I picked up the chairs and followed him and another man across the road to my apartment.

"Just leave them there thanks," I said as I pushed through the door and gestured to the only space that seemed large enough for the items.

Once they were gone, I set about rearranging the room. At least with a table in the place, I could sit and do the paperwork for the shop rather than stand at the kitchen bench.

With a lot of huffing and puffing, I pushed the cabinet into the corner and put the television on it. I stood and looked at the offending item, narrow and tall it held four rectangle draws. Why it had never occurred to me before I will never know but now I had somewhere to keep the paperwork for the shop.

"Awesome," I said weary but happy, grinning as I looked at it.

Continuing to move things around, I found a new zest for my life. Eager to get this done and ready before Anton came back. He had mentioned going to lunch somewhere outdoors. I could think of so many things to do that involved lunch outside but without any other clues, I had no real idea. The list of possibilities was endless.

Stopping for a break I went to the kitchen for a drink of water, seeing something pinned to the refrigerator. It was a schedule in calendar form. Quickly scanning through it, I realized it was all pretty much the same. Day in, day out it was lunch and dinner together. He would go off of a morning and return in time, the same again in the afternoon.

The only difference was a day which was two and a half weeks from now. The wedding. He said a month, I knew he'd said it was less than that but this was not what I had thought. I groaned, leaning back on the kitchen bench. Time was seeping away faster than I realized, I guess it didn't help that Anton was a little inaccurate with his days.

I dumped the water back into the refrigerator and set out for the shower. It was bad when I could offend myself.

As much as I loved this apartment, I did not like the poky bathroom. In an effort to maximize the usability, they put in a shower and bath combination. I hated it, it lacked space and often drove me a little crazy. But I accepted it as it was and did not complain.

When I stepped over the edge of the tub, I realized that I had left my clothes on my bed. Wrapping the towel around me, I believed I had time. How wrong I was. I could hear the sniggering as I tiptoed across the room.

Anton was sitting at the table, reading a paper with it held high so that he could not see. Except that he probably could see. The edge curled down and his gaze caught me.

"Did you know that I have the ability to burn things?"

A small flame erupted at the corner of my towel. I gasped and patted it out, sending smoke into the air.

"Don't do that!"

"Maybe you need to move faster. I cannot be held responsible if it happens again because you move too slowly."

The flame erupted again, this time a little bigger. I gasped again and smacked at the flame, turning to him with a scowl.

"Clothes Sarah, you are naked beneath that towel and the flames represent the desire I have to see the towel as a pile of ashes at your feet. The slower you go the more they think that you want to be naked before me."

The corner fell back into place, taking his lecherous eyes from me. I scampered to the bed and grabbed my clothes, feeling the heat of the flames. The flaming towel did not burn me, I did not suffer any pain. It was almost like a trick of the eye, that it was a flame but it wasn't really there.

I leaned on the door as it closed, smiling as the towel fell to a pile of ashes at my feet.

"You owe me a new towel," I yelled.

Suddenly I was surrounded, knee deep in the fluffiest towels that I had ever seen. My mouth twitched with derision, he was cheeky.

"I can't move Anton." I sighed "And I do not need this many towels."

They disappeared and a few towels appeared on the shelf beside me.

"That's better."