The smile that curved Seth's full lips was as unsettling as the mere presence of him. He was a tall, slender man, with broad shoulders and a thin waist, that gave him a graceful and athletic appearance. He wore his dark brown hair, the color of mahogany in some places, longer than I remembered and tied in a ponytail, that made him look a bit... roughish, for the lack of a better word. He made me think of the guy in "Highlander", as silly as that may sound. His cheekbones were high, but not as sharp as Mason Blackwood's, and he had the most thrilling eyes: a miss-matched pair that still managed to give me chills, every time his gaze met mine. His left eyes was blue, pale blue the color of a husky's eyes, and the right one was gray like the clouds on a rainy day. It was unnerving to meet his sharp gaze. Unsettling. Seth always looked like he knew more than he was saying, as though he was privy to a joke that no one else beside him could hear or get. The sway of him, the confidence that poured out of him, the devilish sparkles in those amazing eyes of his... They made focusing on anything beside him extremely hard, when Seth was in the room! The way his shoulders filled his dark blue sweater, the tight jeans he wore, the silver amulet he never took off, carved in the form of a raven holding a crescent moon in its beak (a symbol of the Goddess known as the Morrigan), the silver rings on his index fingers... It all made me reminisce of days gone by, of times when those index fingers would play with my hair, and those lips would...
I caught myself, before the thought could fully form and manifest itself, but it was too late. Something of what was going through my mind must have shown on my face, because Seth's smile changed to something more... masculine and challenging, then it had been a moment before. He leaned forward and I had a sudden urge to ask him if his tongue was still pierced, as it had been the last time we were together...
"It is", Seth replied unexpectedly, as though he'd read my mind, and caught his tongue-piercing with his front teeth to show me. Miss Picksby, who was still here and seemed in no hurry to leave, took in a sharp breath, then made a disapproving sound with her mouth. "Tz-tz". Seth played with the piercing for a few seconds, then winked at her, making her exhale abruptly. I chuckled, even though I'd have liked to stay impassive, and he grinned at me. My heart ached for a moment. I remembered that boyish, happy-go-lucky grin of hiss all too well for comfort. I remembered too many things about him too well to not feel uncomfortable in his presence. Like how he could read me like an open book. "You seem at a shock to see me", Seth noticed and took a long sip of his coffee. Black and with no milk. He always drank it that way. Always. "It's been a long time, Sam!" His eyes narrowed and my breath caught. "Too long..."
I didn't say anything for a while, trying to put some sort of a semblance in my scattered thoughts, to absorb what was happening. Seth was here. My Seth. And I had no idea how to act around him, now that I was a married woman. He was to me the only thing that Michael never could be. My first true love. My first lover. The only man to ever shatter my heart into smithereens, when he walked out of that door so many years ago, telling me that he needed to find himself, before he could truly "belong" with me. Or anyone else. I'd hated him for the better part of a decade, thought I never wanted to see his face again. But, o dear... Now that his handsome face was before me again, and he smiled at me with that Devil-may-care smile, that had gotten him in so many troubles when we were younger, I realized that I'd only been fooling myself, by thinking that I never wanted to see him again. There was history between us. Things unsaid, feelings unsettled. There was still something, I could say that with certainty... And it scared me to the core of my being!
Seth took out a packet of Regal cigarettes, picked one of the bunch, and raised an eyebrow at me. "Can I smoke here?"
"Sure", I replied uncertainly, then fussed about for two minutes, till I found him an ashtray he could use. Miss Picksby and Miss Munro had similar (disapproving) expressions on their faces, while Mason... His face didn't tell me almost anything. I put the ashtray in front of Seth, who lighted the cig with a Zippo lighter and took a long drag on it, then said. "You still smoke the same brand..."
"And you've quit them, I figure" He winked at me, one of his typical mannerisms, and chuckled. "Who'd have guessed, huh?"
"People change", I replied, then smiled against myself. "Mr. Mortington, is it now?"
"Seth Mortington, bestselling New York Times author of the "Rubicon" series", he said half-jokingly, half-proudly. "The name has a much better ring to it then Seth Coulby, don't you think?"
"I always thought that Coulby is a cute surname", I blurted out, before I could stop myself. My face heated, while Seth's grin widened to a smirk. I'd forgotten what a d...
"You've changed your surname as well", he said, interrupting my thoughts. Those hawk-like eyebrows of his lifted up again. "Married, I assume?"
"Happily", I said, with a bit more haste, then I'd have liked. "The name's Halliwell now."
"Like those TV sisters", Seth chuckled and took another drag on the cig. He always looked good, while smoking. And that alone was something I shouldn't have thought. He smiled, as if he'd read my mind again. "So, you'll be my new editor. That's... exciting!"
"Not the word I'd have used..."
Seth smiled and chewed on his cigarette for a bit. He looked around the living room, then said. "Nice house..."
"O, dear", Miss Picksby snorted and tilted her head to the side. "It may be nice if someone..." She pointedly looked at me. "...would do the right thing a get a cleaner to help her!"
"Samantha was never much of a housekeeper" Seth, the traitor, chuckled in agreement. That won him brownie points with Miss Picksby. He put his cigarette out and added. "Then again, the artistic type never are..."
And that statement alone won him brownie points with me.
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