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Her scream was short lived this time. She wondered why he derived joy in startling the daylight out of her. His innocent smile got to her as always and she was tempted to slap him. Now, that was something she didn't normally think about. She only ever got the urge to slap someone whenever she was around him. She spoke so well whenever he was near her, something she couldn't do with other people except family. He was a bad influence and she knew.
She had met him first in November after her second performance in Silver Fire. He had been waiting outside the door. Till date, she wondered how he had known she was Samantha. She normally wore disguising makeup like other dancers, so thick it could have been a plastic face and an eye mask, with wigs that changed her to a different person. He had addressed her with her stage name. She had been shocked to death because she looked nothing like Samantha. She had denied at first and he had let her be, even allowing her to skedaddle away like some rat, guiltily. But, she regretted doing so that day, running. She wished she had spoken in a confident voice and warned him not to bother her again –as if he would have listened. He had returned the night after her fifth dance. She had run into him as usual, startled. He had caught her with that his innocently mischievous smile on his striking face.
'Samantha,' he had said, 'or should I say Chloe?' To say that she was surprised would have been an understatement. She was shocked, flabbergasted, astonished and dazzled all at the same time that she shook.
'How'd you know?' she had asked in a small voice. He had laughed while steadying her, his strong hands curving around her waist.
'I know what I wish my sweet,' he told her.
'Why?' she wasn't sure why she had asked that question or what she had meant to ask instead of that. But he had understood and replied her confused question.
'Why? I want you Chloe that is why.' His answer had left her bedazzled and befuddled, totally, confused. She removed his hands from her waist and stepped back.
'Why?'
'Why do I want you, you mean?' his hands came around her waist again, drawing her to him. 'It's because you are you Samantha or is it Chloe? You are beautiful, enticing, all woman.' Now, she was flummoxed. Why? It was because she wasn't what he felt she was. She wasn't Samantha, wasn't beautiful, enticing or even womanly.
'You do not!' she snapped disengaging from him.
'You do not tell me what I want Chloe. I know what I want my sweet, and it is you,' he said staring into her eyes. He noticed her brown pupils were contact lens.
'You shall not want me, you will not want me and you must not want me because you can't have me!' she told him. She paused to catch her breath and realized then that she had just raised her voice at him, something she had never done before. She was also having a lengthy conversation with someone not family. These were firsts for her. The realization made her quiet for a while.
'I know there is no other my sweet, and I am entitled to my feelings. Allow me to woo you Chloe,' he said in a voice that was more demanding than pleading.
'No!' she snapped. She could feel her heart beating fast. How did he manage to upset her so? She had no idea. She turned away from him to leave. He caught her hand, causing her to turn. 'What do you want?' she demanded.
'You know,' he said with that smile.
'Let go!'
'I will not give up on you Chloe. If you think rebuffing me will keep me away, then you are wrong. I will keep chasing you till I get you for I do not take no for an answer neither do I back down.' He let go of her hand and gave her that his signature smile.
Now, she was staring at that same smile, quite angry. Why in heavens name was he here again? Would he ever stop stalking her? He hi-ed her but she decide that enough was enough. She was going to ignore him, give him her worse silent treatment. He was always getting on her nerves and she refused to put up with him. She inhaled softly and made to walk pass him. He stopped her. She refused to speak or even look him in the eye believing that if she did that he would let her go. Well, he didn't, only chuckling, clearly amused. She tried to shrug his hands off, but his grip was strong on her wrist.
'I won't speak, I won't speak,' she repeated in her head.
'You shall speak,' he said as if he had heard her. She wondered if she had spoken the thought out loud. 'You were amazing today,' he praised like he did sometimes. 'You seem to be going wilder and wilder with each passing day Samantha.' Her eyes flew to his.
'I am not Samantha!' she snapped irritated by him. She saw that mischievous glint in his eyes and realized that she had lost and he had won. He had called her that on purpose to get her to speak to him and she had fallen for the trite ploy. She sighed exasperatedly.
'There you are,' he said with that charmingly innocent smile.
'What do you want this time?' she asked tired of him. He smirked.
'It's just as always, you.'
'Please, let me be. I do not want you,' she finally pleaded. He chuckled.
'You do my sweet. You just do not know it yet,' he said to her. She wondered if it was so, almost tempted to ponder on it but didn't.
'Please,' she told him, 'let me be.'
'I have discovered Chloe that I can't do just that,' he confessed. She stared helplessly at him. He was infatuated. She was sure. It would pass with time. But, she didn't dare to tell him that. Such statements only gingered him, not restricting him. She sighed softly and made to pass by him to avoid his nonsensical babblings. He held fast, the formerly lose grip on her hand tightening so quickly. It was loose enough to not mark her flesh, but tight enough to keep her from moving.
'Don't,' he pleaded.
'No,' she said, 'No. I do not want you. I will never want you! Stay away from me!' she said. Then, she turned and began to walk away from him as he let go of her hands. Suddenly, she was spinned around so quickly that she was slightly dizzy when the spin was halted.
'You will never be able to run away from me Chloe,' he told her, their faces inches apart. Then, from his hands on her shoulders, his left hand travelled to the back of her neck in the speed of lightning, arched her neck back a bit as his lips descended on hers, hot and urgent. She gasped, recoiling in shock.
Who would have thought that a kiss would be enough to melt someone? Well, that was exactly what she received for she melted into a puddle the moment his lips touched hers. The heat of desire coarsed through her as his lips moved against hers. Sensations hurried through her lithe body, here and there, affecting her entire body system in an overwhelming way, threatening to overpower her. It was just much, too much for her to bear, the strange things his kiss did to her. She had never felt anything like it before, never experienced such an arresting power of want mangled with desire. She was frightened by the storm he created in her. She was frenzied with passion, enveloped by a fleshly need so pressing she didn't know such intensity existed. An eccentric fire roused stealthily in her, from embers to full flames. It was hot and exotic, engulfing, subduing, and charring. The intensity of his kiss lessened as if he had moved from eating to savouring then relishing. She was unprepared when he ended the kiss for she nearly fell forward, would have done so if it were not that he was holding unto her. The kiss left her flummoxed, perplexed and totally disoriented. A strange fire burnt all over her, seeming not ready to be extinguished. She recognized it immediately as desire, something she never thought she possessed for this man.
'You are-'
'Do you realize it now?' he told her, a peculiar emotion in his blazing eyes.
'I…no, what on earth did you do to me?!' she demanded.
'I did nothing that you didn't want my sweet,' he told her. '
'What do you mean?' she asked, puzzled.
'I will be back,' he said. He placed a silver bordered topaz blue card in her hand. 'Goodbye Samantha.' She didn't have time to protest -not that she could. He offered her his signature smile, turned his back on her and left. She felt it was odd, and then she realized that it was she who normally did that. She was always the one to turn and leave. She always turned away from him and left him standing where she had seen him. The tables had turned, and that wasn't a good thing. She knew and it was great that she knew.