CHAPTER 20 (A SMALL BROKEN HEART)
"You are a trouble Ms. Robinson. A beautiful trouble indeed."
"What?" Scarlett clearly seems confused about what he just said but more taken aback by his statement. Was it a compliment or some accusation? Judging by his face the second option as he has no softness in his eyes but cold stares.
Ezra has become distant from the day she revealed the part which haunted her even though half of it was a lie but there's some parts which are true.
She asks again, this time stepping towards him. "What do you mean by that, Mr. Knight?"
"Mr. Knight!" He mutters bitterly under his breath but she still caught his words.
Is he mad?
Did I do something?
When she expected an answer from him, he only stepped closer to her and stood just an inch apart. In reflex she should have gone a step behind the moment he took that step but with him, even her reflexes failed to be in action.
In short, she knows there's no repulsion from Ezra Knight.
"What are you doing?" She asks with curiosity as he now has put his hands around her back and felt him tug at the knot of the apron she wore as she was cooking.
Still no answer came from him but her breath hitches feeling the close proximity between them. His eyes right on hers but even though she feels it she wouldn't dare meet them. One look at them and the next moment she might find herself in a very compromising position with him. Just for the sake of work ethics she resisted looking at him with questions but shamelessly indulged in the musk scent oozing out of his body. Just this closeness between them is making her body hot, no wonder if he crosses the line, she might melt into his arms like wax.
Ezra now brings his fingers around her neck to loop out the apron from her body while occasionally brushing his fingers with her hot skin. Upon feeling his cold fingers grazing, she found a satisfying tingle coursing through her body making the hairs stand out straight. She had to bite her lip as curiosity and anticipation filled her mind and as well as her soul.
"Come with me." He says turning off the gas knob then taking her hand in his.
He guides her to the living room all the while ignoring her curiosity. She suddenly starts to worry but the comfortness in his hold makes her feel less wary of the situation.
"Sit." He orders and she obliges.
"What is it?" She asks as he sits on the same seated couch as her but in a comfortable distance.
"I heard some rumours." He says looking at the coffee table in front with a hard stare.
She follows his gaze too but then looks back at him, "about whom? You?"
Now, he squints his eyes at her and she thinks she might have offended him by saying that. After all the scandal is going on with him, she's likely to question that right? But the look on his face made her regret that she even uttered it. "That was an easy guess Ms. Robinson but let me tell you something. I wouldn't be coming to you with my problems if I was facing one. Do I have to remind you that you are just a maid working for me?"
Awestruck. She's badly awestruck by his words. Just moments before he said she was beautiful but now he's saying she's just a maid to him? He also said trouble. But it was a compliment right? Right?
"I'm sorry." She mutters but he waves off her kind gesture by his hand as if it's nothing. Mustering up more confidence she asks, "I assume if you are here talking to me then it will be about my name?"
She hates to admit it but that's the only reason that comes up as why would he bother himself coming all the way from his office just to tell some newfound rumours about himself. I wasn't his wife.
Plus, she dreads knowing what kind of rumours he must've found about her. Did he find out who Ricardo is? Did Ferdinand recognize her and told Ezra the truth? Will Ezra give her back to the monsters she came rescuing herself from?
"You're right."
What!
She looks up at him with terror. Her hands tremble while her eyes start to water. Her time has ended, this was a mistake. Coming here was a mistake. "I'm sorry…" she sobs. Joining her hands in front of him she looks down at her lap and begs for forgiveness. "Please forgive me Mr. Knight, please don't send me back to them. I am so sorry for everything I have done to you."
"Shit! Stella, why are you crying?" Ezra panics seeing her crying state and catches her joined hands in front of him immediately and puts them down on her lap. "It's okay, I get it, you have made a big mistake. We all do. Just don't cry like this okay?"
Ezra observes she still hasn't stopped crying but also heard her irrational breathing. "Please… I'm sorry." He heard her saying. If he knew his interrogation would cause her to have a panic attack he would have never started it from the very first.
Her hands became ice cold which he rubs vigorously with his ones to bring back warmth. "Stella. Look at me." He pulls his hands from hers only to cup her face which looks like she's possessed by a ghost.
She must have lost her conscience. He thinks and quickly starts to pat her face softly but nothing works. He rolled his lips and started to think of other possible ways to bring her back from the crying self to the one he came home to.
Forgive me Stella. He mutters before planting his lips on her cold ones. Even then she didn't respond and continued to tremble. He pulls back and takes a deep breath before taking a moment to himself of what he's going to do.
This is not for my pleasure Stella, this is to bring you back baby.
Then he slips his arms around her fragile body. One under her legs to lift and the other to lift her waist and settle her on his lap. He immediately takes off his suit and wraps around her. He enclosed her arms around her body too. Taking heavy breath he enclosed his mouth against hers again and kissed softly against her trembling ones.
Knowing there will be hardly any response he goes deeper opening his mouth and taking in her lips stroking them with his tongue and sucking on them hard to warm them up. "Stella, come back baby." He mutters before dipping his mouth on her again and again. Rubbing her back. Rubbing her legs he keeps on doing until she finally calls out to him.
"Ezra." She says against his lips.
Ezra's sane mind said to back off. Now that she's gotten her conscience. But the moment her lips moved against his, he froze. He froze hearing her moan out his name with equal passion just the moment he was giving his all to her.
Then the miracle happens when her eyes meet his and he couldn't help but mutter again against her lips to get the friction back, the movement of their lips back, "you are back."
She could have just pulled apart and backed off from him but then she said, "I am with you…" she smiles with his lips still in contact with hers, "here."
"I'm sorry." This time he apologises, "for bringing up the topic."
She shakes her head no as tears start to threaten again to come out from her eyes, "please, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for betraying you."
Ezra chuckles as the bitterness tries to come back in his heart but the Divine face of hers is pushing all the negativity back. "You should apologise to Jones's wife, she's the one you both have betrayed. Not me, I'm no one to feel betrayed here Stella." But still he feels. "You didn't do anything wrong to me but you did wrong to her."
"Jones's wife?" She asks out loud in confusion, making Ezra frown. "Why the hell will I apologise to her? What's going on?"
And the confusion gets more complicated when Ezra finds no trace of secrets on her face but only pure curiosity.
What just happened?