She tried to collect her thoughts and act normal, but she didn’t seem to be able to do that as long as their eyes were engaged. It took every ounce of strength she possessed to finally drag her gaze away. She inhaled deeply, and tried to act as if the sight of him was not absolutely turning her body and mind upside down.
Strangely, after the initial shock of seeing him, she didn’t feel fear, though in an abstract way she was aware that she was in a dangerous situation. It was a very odd feeling. She still felt a bit guarded, not knowing what he could possibly want from her, or how long he had been standing there looking at her. There was something about his eyes that dazzled her so that she had to look away from his face, until his soft, beautiful voice filled her ears and made her look at him again.
“I’m sorry,” he said, still in French. “It looks as if I have startled you and that was not my intention. I live here a great part of the year and I have never seen you on this beach.”
He was startled with the sudden passion that surged through every muscle in his body as his gaze examined Arielle’s undeniable appeal. She was absolutely gorgeous. Tall and lean with beautiful long legs, an intoxicating body in that barely-there, little blue bikini, and that amazing face. She was the absolute definition of his perfect woman. Her lips were alluring, sensual, luscious, and the sight of them was dangerously arousing to him. He drew a deep breath and locked his gaze on hers.
Arielle blinked, swallowed hard, and forced herself to look away, averting her gaze down to her feet, unable to speak. What in the world was happening to her? She was acting like a complete moron! And then she realized she hadn’t been able to make out a single word he had said after the words “I’m sorry…”
As she started to regain her composure she looked up to make sure that he was still there. It only took a second as their eyes engaged one more time; then she lost control of herself again. She felt like she was suffocating and she couldn’t utter a single word. In a flash she realized that he had some kind of power in his eyes that was affecting her in a very strange way.
She drew a deep breath and with a great force of determination, yanked her eyes away from his mouth-watering body and his gorgeous face. She was sure that every time she looked into his emerald eyes she wouldn’t be able to act like a normal human being.
Then she heard his beautiful voice again. And she thought she also heard a faint chuckle. “Did you just move here or are you here on holiday?” he asked. He was still speaking in French, but Arielle was fluent in the language, so she completely understood every word he was saying. She was sure he would notice how nervous she was, but she didn’t care at this point.
“My parents have a summer home not far from this beach. We have spent our summer holidays here ever since I was born,” she said in English.
“You’re English!” he said, in perfect English, excitement in his voice. She nodded quietly.
“You said you have been coming here ever since you were born, how long is that?” he asked with amusement in his voice.
“Twenty years” she said with a soft smile.
“I wonder how I never noticed you before,” he said. “You are very beautiful!” Then his lips curved appreciatively.
She wanted to tell him that she had never thought of herself as very beautiful, but she just smiled shyly and said, “I come to the beach quite often.”
He didn’t seem to be one of the people who belonged to that special place in her head as she had absolutely no idea what he was thinking or what he wanted from her.
“What’s your name?” he asked in his soft, velvety voice.
“Arielle,” she replied. She knew her voice was breaking, and she was sure he noticed, since he smiled, never taking his eyes off of her.
“Well, I really must be going,” she said, as she began to move away from him so that she could shake the beach towel in the opposite direction. That is when she lost her balance and started to fall. She never saw him move toward her, but suddenly his arms were wrapped tightly around her, and their bodies softly collided against each other as he caught her. How could he have moved so fast?
But she dismissed the question as soon as she felt his warm, perfect body against hers. Her heartbeat accelerated, and her pulse hammered in her veins as her mind focused on the closeness of his body to hers. It was an emotion unlike any she had ever experienced before in her whole life. She closed her eyes for a moment and she suddenly felt she wanted to stay like that, in his arms forever. He didn’t seem in a hurry to let her go, and she didn’t make a move to leave his arms.
When she opened her eyes again his beautiful face was only inches away from hers. She began to fall apart again as their eyes locked, and she would have dropped to the sand if he weren’t holding her tight. Every bit of her existence wanted to stay in his arms for the rest of her life. His face was magical. His lips were partly open with that fantastic smile, and all she wanted to do was lean into his embrace and sink into a passionate kiss.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded, smiling, and whispered softly, “Thank you, I’m fine.” She made sure that she had her balance back before pulling away from him and started to walk back down the beach toward her car.
“Can I walk with you?” he asked.
“Sure,” she said quietly. Was any of this really happening?
Later she couldn’t remember at all what they had talked about, and soon they had reached her car.
“Do you come to the beach often?” he asked, as he reached out and held the car door open for her. His voice was so soft, so gentle, and so seductive.
“Yes, I try to come here every day,” she said.
“Well, maybe I’ll see you again, then,” he said. His voice was mesmerizing and had the effect of setting off waves of passion in her every time he spoke.
“Maybe…” she said, thinking, What in the world is wrong with me? Why can’t I just tell him that I’m dying to see him again?” But she didn’t.
How she wished that he had asked her to stay! But he just stood there and watched her get into her car and drive away. She looked in her rearview mirror, thinking that this had to be a dream. No real person could be as beautiful as he was, but he was still standing there, watching her until she couldn’t see him any longer.
“Oh my God!” she said aloud, suddenly. She had forgotten to ask his name! She was pretty disappointed about that. All she knew was the vision of his beautiful existence, but she had no name to call him by.
Arielle had the strong feeling that she had found the man of her dreams. She wanted him so much, she felt she would give anything to keep him for the rest of her life. He was her private magical vision, her desire like none other, the man she had been waiting for! How could someone so beautiful, so unbelievably gorgeous, exist in real life? She tried to control her thoughts, and felt that she was not really herself any longer, but someone living in a dream.
She went to bed that night barely able to sleep and kept looking at the clock, waiting for morning to arrive so that she could run down to the beach and hopefully see him again. Finally she fell asleep, but her dreams were nothing like she thought they should have been. She dreamed about him, but instead of dreaming about the desire to be with him in her dreams, she was afraid – in fact, nearly petrified – by his existence. She was trying to run away from him. She wasn’t able to move while he was gaining on her, and she was terrified.
She woke up trembling, her heart was racing, and her camisole was drenched in sweat. She sat up in bed and tried to remember the details of her dream, but she couldn’t. She felt fear and shivered all over while a cold feeling ran through her body. How strange it all was!
She shook her head as she lay back down and stared at the ceiling. “How strange,” she mumbled again. Why in the world would she have such a dreadful dream following the magical time she had had with the most beautiful person she had ever seen? Eventually she drifted back to sleep, and when she opened her eyes her room was full of sunlight
.
Chapter 9
NOW THAT SHE WAS AWAKE all she wanted to do was to be close to him. She picked up a croissant on her way out the door, and drove to the same spot where she had parked the day before. She was praying that he would be there. Sure enough, when she opened the door of her car, there he stood, waiting for her, lips curved into a mesmerizing smile. Could this be real?
He looked glorious! He looked so beautiful she wanted to touch him to make sure he was not a mirage. She smiled and remembering her reaction from the previous day, she avoided looking directly into his eyes. His beautiful lips were once again curved into that magnificent smile of his. Heat surged through her veins, and it was as if, for Arielle, the whole rest of the world disappeared.
“Good morning,” he said in that soft, mind-blowing voice. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes,” she lied. “I slept quite well, thank you. And what about you?”
“No, not so well,” he replied.
They walked together down to the same cove where they had first met. This time he sat next to her on her beach towel.
“I thought about you all night,” he said. Then he added, “I can’t believe that after all these years and after all the time I’ve spent on this beach and in this town, this is the first time I’ve laid eyes on you. What a waste of time!”
She smiled, pleased, and thought of how embarrassing it would be to tell him how she had felt in the short time she had spent with him the day before.
They fell to talking easily. But she had to find out his name before she forgot to ask again. Just at the moment she was thinking this, she was completely startled to hear him say, “My name is Sebastian, Sebastian Gaulle.”
It sounded precisely as if he were answering the question in her mind; but how would he know what her question even was? Sebastian! What a beautiful name, she thought to herself.
By now she was wondering if there was anything about Sebastian that she wouldn’t like. She wanted to find out a few things about him, and she had to do it before the day was over. She didn’t want to leave him again without knowing anything more about him.
“I think you said you are here a large part of the year,” she said. “Is this your holiday place as well?”
“I live here most of the time, but not always,” he replied.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-seven,” he said with a muffled chuckle, “And no, I’m not married,” he added.
She looked startled.
“I sensed this would have been your next question, am I right?” He was smiling again, his smile lighting up his beautiful face.
“No, I don’t think I was going to…” she started to say. Then suddenly she realized that he was right. That was going to be her very next question. All of a sudden her heart began to race. Was he able to read her mind? No, that can’t be possible, she thought to herself. She smiled, thinking it had to be just a lucky guess on his part.
“So, you are twenty years old?” he asked in his mesmerizing voice.
“Yes,” she replied. “But I’m going to be twenty-one in a couple of months.”
“Are you in school?”
“Yes, I attend the University of Brighton. I’ve one semester left of my junior year, and I’m really looking forward to next year.”
“Try to enjoy your time in the university,” he said thoughtfully. “I think life becomes a little more complicated once you’re out of school.”
“Well, I’ve one more year to go before I’m out of school,” she laughed happily.
He laughed along with her and added, “I’m sure you’ll be excited when you get to the end of the road.”
“Well, I guess I’m anxious to find out what the future holds for me once I’m out of school,” she said. “But right now all I can think of is getting back and finishing the last semester of this year.”
Sebastian seemed to be enjoying the conversation. He kept smiling and nodding, wanting her to go on and on.
“Is Brighton home, or is it just the location of your school?” he asked.
“We live in Brighton.”
He was quiet for a few minutes and then he said, “I’ll not be happy to see you go. Now that I’ve found you I’d really like to get to know you better.” He sighed, a rueful grin on his gorgeous face.
It was getting late and she had to get back home. She didn’t want the day to end but she tried to look calm and cool as she stood up, picked up her beach towel, and started to walk towards her car. He walked with her as he had the day before.
“Will you be here tomorrow?” he asked as he held her car door open for her.
“Yes,” she answered as she slipped into the driver’s seat.
“I’ll see you then,” he said. His voice was warm.
“Okay,” she replied, trying to keep a jubilant smile from taking over her face. What pleasure, to know that this beautiful man wanted to see her again! She looked in her rearview mirror again as she drove off and he had not moved an inch. As before, he stood there watching her until she couldn’t see him anymore.
Back at home, she couldn’t stop thinking of him, not even for a moment. Sebastian was simply the most amazing person she had ever met. She couldn’t wait for the next morning to come so she could run down to the beach and see him again. That night she drifted off to sleep in utter bliss.
The next morning she woke up early and ran downstairs to have breakfast with her parents. She told them she would be spending the day at the beach with friends, and that she might be a little late coming home. She jumped into her car, unable to stand the excitement of what this day would hold for her.
As she arrived at the beach she could see that he was there waiting for her, looking like the most beautiful human being she had ever seen. Once again they walked together to her favorite cove and shared her beach towel.
Their conversation drifted to various subjects, but there was only one thing she wanted to know, and she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She wanted to ask him if he had anyone special in his life. She was a little embarrassed to ask, so she kept silent, thinking that it would probably come up sooner or later.
Finally he reached over, put his finger under her chin and lifted her head up to face him. His touch was warm and inviting. He stared into her eyes, and it happened all over again. Her body grew hot, her breath halted in her throat, her heart raced, and she stopped breathing. She wondered if she would ever get used to this type of reaction. His lips curved up into a wonderful smile that filled her body with a strange desire.
“So, what were you going to ask me?” he said. “You look like you want to ask me something.”
She was trying to catch her breath. Finally she just came out with it. “You told me that you aren’t married, but I was wondering if you have someone special in your life,” she murmured shyly.
“No, I don’t have anyone special in my life,” he said. “And that has been entirely my choice.”
“What do you mean, entirely your choice?”
He gazed deep into her eyes without dazzling her this time and he took a deep breath before he answered.
“I’ve been looking for that special someone for a very long time,” he said. Then he added, “I want to feel just as Darcy did when he found his special someone in Liz Bennet.”
Arielle was thunderstruck. She couldn’t believe she had heard him right. She pursed her lips and repressed a shocked sound that was ready to burst out of her mouth as she looked back at him, stunned. This was just too coincidental, and it was the second such incident in two days’ time.
She started to get very nervous. If he could read her mind, then he already knew that she was crazy about him. He knew that she thought it was love at first sight. Oh God, she thought to herself, please don’t let it be true. If he can see inside my head he will know that right now I feel so embarrassed that I would rather die than have him know my thoughts. Her face must have appeared exactly as she felt because she heard him take a deep breath again and she
saw a slight smile on his lips.
Her eyes narrowed, her jaw clenched, and she prepared herself to manage his dazzling gaze before she peered deep into his eyes warily.
His brows slowly rose, inquiringly. “What?” he said, the smile never leaving his face.
“How…why…” she stammered, thoroughly confused.
“How…why…what?” he repeated, that smile now permanently fixed on his magnificent face.
Her eyes narrowed as she gazed at him again. She was still in doubt, but she was almost sure that he could read her mind.
“What made you refer to Darcy and Liz Bennet just now?”
“Why do you ask?” he replied.
Her voice came out firmly now. “Sebastian, I want to know why it is that you brought up Liz Bennet.”
“Well that’s pretty simple to explain,” he said. “It’s because Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite love stories. Someone like Liz Bennet would be the perfect partner for me.”
She stared at him with her eyes stretched wide open, utterly stunned as he continued.
“I want to feel exactly like Darcy did about the girl that I will spend the rest of my life with. Are you familiar with the story?” he asked.
“Am I familiar!” she exclaimed, clapping her hand over her mouth, still in shock. “Sebastian! That is my most favorite story. I’ve read it over and over again. I want to feel the same way Elizabeth did about Darcy. I have turned down numerous requests for dates, because I’ve always been looking for Darcy. I know that’s a bit crazy, but, well, that’s just me.” She laughed, not sure why she was saying all those things to him.
Arielle Immortal Awakening (The Immortal Rapture Series Book 1) Page 9