Chapter 18

PRESENT

A few hours later, we are both lying on the floor with our backs against on the couch, eating the salad he made three hours ago, almost half-naked. The television is on at a low volume and it slowly hums in the background. Cassiel palms my breast accidentally while taking away a string of pasta sticking to the curve of my collar bone. The action shoots a pang of electricity in my entire upper body, travelling to the nerve endings and I inadvertently shudder. Then he moves his mouth to lick the bread crumbs still sticking on my chin.

“Do you know I always had a thing for bread?"

“Maybe you should travel to Germany. Do you know what they have in there?” I try to make myself sound more enthusiastic. "Germans love their breads more than French do, apparently."

"Huh?" He shakes his head innocently at my statement. “What is there for me to see in Germany?"

“A bread that resembles a vagina."

“You’re shitting me, aren't you?” He shuffles his feet slowly on the carpet and leans right n