She began to sense she was being followed.
Her sudden apprehension was obvious in the way she stiffened, paused and looked around her just like a wary little kitten. He followed, perversely enjoying the thrill of the chase, quickening his strides, intent on his pursuit of her.
He slipped into position behind her.
~~~~~~~
She sagged against him. Holding her weight, he loosens his hard grip around her waist and enjoys the feel of her soft body. The fruity smell of her hair, the delicate perfume emitting from the sides of her neck was intoxicating and it was the most refreshing scent he had ever come across.
A loud exhale of relief passed his lips, closing his eyes. Had he not seen her run passed the doors exiting towards the parking lot, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to catch her amongst the stampede of men and woman.
He did not know if it were something, someone or it was just a sixth sense, a gut instinct, a sign, a message delivered to him calling to keep going and search. It directed his body as if knowing where to go without having to think, luring him towards her.
Stefan lowered his head and whispered against her ear. "Relax, it's only me."
Lessening the pressure against her muffled mouth, he listened to her ragged breaths as a little whimper escapes her lips.
Camelia tenses then collapsed against him in relief. The sharp prickle of his unshaven beard made her want to press back against him even more. Grabbing his hand and pushing it away from her face, she took gulps of much needed air thanking her lucky stars it was only Kent. He nearly made her heart stop.
She should have noticed the smell of his cologne now that she laid her head against his hard chest. Shifting her head into the crook of his neck she inhaled deeply in relief. He kept his arm wrapped around her waist as he kissed the top of her head tenderly.
Camelia turned in his arms and jumped, wrapping her legs around his waist and circling her slim arms behind his neck. Kent was so surprised, he staggered back a few steps to catch his ground. She hid her face in the crook of his neck and hugged him like her life depended on it.
He stiffened for a moment, feeling the caress of her warm breath against his skin but he quickly relaxed and wrapped both strong arms around her back and crushed her against his chest.
"Thank you." She said simply. Although the words were muffled against his neck, Stefan heard her well and smiled.
He turned around, pressed her back gently against the concrete wall, molding his himself against her. His hands gripped her backside and tightened securing her against the wall, lifting her twined thighs around him.
Camelia felt breathless at the hands intimately touching her and the hard warmth of him between her thighs.
He kissed the tip of her nose.
Gone was her hatred, gone was her fear, gone was her anger, the only thing she felt at the moment was safe. His arms were her security, her refuge, her safe haven as his touch gave her a sense of peace. Where he was, nothing could harm her. No man or woman would be able to hurt her.
"Happy to see me?" He asked with a smile evident in his tone seeming to sense what she was thinking.
Camelia lifted her head to look at him. Her hands stroked the hair against his neck and it gave him the greatest pleasure to feel her touch.
It was Stefan that was happy to see her. This girl had him wrapped around every one of her fingers, if only she knew...
"Yes." She answered with an unwavering gaze.
Their faces were barely a few inches apart. Stefan's eyes traveled over her features noticing the way she looked at him with adoration, the exotic eye make-up contrasting against the deep shade of blue in her eyes. His eyes zeroed in on her beautiful plump mouth. His deepest desire was to lower his lips to hers in a slow savoring kiss and lose himself in her innocence.
Out of nowhere, she kisses his cheek, catching him completely off guard. A zap of pleasure rushes through his bodyâthe tingle of her lips stayed tattooed to his skin. Stefan closes his eyes and shifts his head only a few centimeters away from her lips.
He couldn't help himself. He needed her.
"Kent, we need to go." Camelia declared as she blushed a rosy pink. Her breath washed over his lips making him blink and pull his head back slightly.
Soon after, more screams echoed against the concrete walls of the parking structure. They both whipped their heads towards the screaming. Camelia stiffened in his arms and unhooked her legs from around his waist. She was tightly pressed against every line of his body until he gently lowered her to her feet and they came apart in embarrassment.
"Kent! We need to leave right now!" Camelia repeats again, grabbing her bags not looking him in the eye.
Stefan stopped her movements, clutching her hands in his and looking her straight in the eyes. "Care to tell me what's going on here? What were you thinking?" His voice harsh with concern. "After the way I behavedâI thought I'd lost you." He admits.
His confession sounded like a apology.
"Don't be mad...but, but..." She pauses before continuing looking behind her shoulder worriedly. "I had to leave." She just couldn't admit to him how hurt she was by his actions.
His lips press into a hardline. "You have absolutely no regard for your personal safety!" Taking her by the shoulders and shaking her slightly. His hands felt like iron cuffs, his touch wasn't aggressive but tender.
"Please Kent...Please!" She begged turning red in the face.
Kent did not look convinced. He narrowed his eyes but nodded reluctantly. It was obvious he put things together. She could see he already knew the chaos raging inside the mall had something to do with her. The way she nervously kept glancing back in alarm should have been enough for anyone to figure out.
Grabbing her hand unconsciously, he leads her to their parking spot which was clear across the parking structure. They were half-walking, half-sprinting for a few minutes, Kent's tight grip was warm and felt soothing and safe.
When Camelia spotted his Raven black car she exhaled in relief. He delves into his pocket to retrieve his keys and unlocks the alarm and opens the back door to his Audi. He reached for her bags placing them in the back seat, swung open the passenger door, and ushers her inside. After closing the door he went around to the driver's side.
Not until they were clearly away from the mall did he turn to her. "Why did you leave without telling me?" He asked once he paused at a streetlight, his intense gaze holding hers.
Camelia gulped nervously. Her stomach churned with apprehension as she pondered the recent events. She didn't know where she should start or where to end. It was the fear he would go back and do something to Jason and get hurt in the process that stopped her from revealing what happened while they stood in the parking lot. Who knew if Jason's associates were waiting for them to return.
"I didn't want to get in the way of your conversation.  You looked like you were enjoying yourself, I needed room to breathe so I gave us what we both needed which was space."  She told him with a shrug, looking away. Camelia started to bite her lip remembering the jealousy she felt watching him laugh with Barbie.
He gave the side of her face a flat look, catching it from the corner of her eye.
"Where did you go? I called you at least twenty times and you never answered."
Camelia didn't know how to respond when she turned back to look at him. He chose to ignore her remarks. She wondered why.
"Were you planning on running away?" He continues. "Or perhaps you wanted to get kidnapped, I've never taken you for the type to not care about her life."
"The light turned green."  She informed him quietly, nodding ahead as the traffic commenced. Laying her head on the head rest she closed her eyes. Now that she could think straight Camelia reflected about the real reason she left.
It was more about the thrill, the rush, doing something wrong and not calculated. She wanted to break the rules and be rebellious. The good girl inside her wanted to break free and go wild, and do things in her nature that she normally never tried.
The biggest reason isâshe wanted to see what he would do, how hard he would try to bring her back. She realized although she did everything in her power to avoid him, Camelia really wanted to challenge his affections.  The effort, the determination it would take to track her down showed her how much he really did care under the facade.
He cared not like a bodyguard but a man infatuated.
Camelia expected him to be angry with her, not look like he was almost going to kiss her. She recalled how is eyes glazed over and his expression of need. Zeroing in on her lips after she kissed him on the cheek, Camelia had no doubt he was about to close the small distance between them and kiss her.
Actions speak louder than words, and Kent's actions were a far cry from his claim of being gay. One minute he was pushing her away and in the next he was doing the opposite. It made no sense.
Camelia cleared her throat, here goes nothing.
"I wasn't running away. I was coming back after I shopped but someone stopped me on the way and invited me to accompany him to Starbucks..." Kent took his gaze briefly off the road and frowned at her. "His name was Jason...and turns out he's the son of Nathan Diam, the man that's after me." She admitted in one breath.
The silence in the car turned dangerously quiet.
Kent took a deep breath. Camelia watched his nostrils flare. His grip on the steering wheel tightened. Before Camelia could react, Kent swerved to the side of the road and parked on the side of the highway making his vehicle come to a rough halt. The tires screeched in protest as Camelia's body pushed forward from the force of the stop.
"What did you just say?" He asked, taking his glasses off. He unbuckled his seatbelt and shifted in his seat to look at her.
His voice changed again. Gone was the reserved sounding Kent, the tough sounding Kent emerged, there was an edge to his tone that warned her. He also looked considerably different with his glasses off. Again. Camelia shivered against the chill seeping into her body.
The man sitting next to her had two faces, and two different personalities.
"He caught me off guard after bumping in to me 'accidentally'...I agreed to go with him willingly..."Â Just to avoid you...she wanted to add but Camelia gulped heavily after witnessing Kent's features turn deadly.
He crushed his glasses with the palm of his hand in anger.
"What happened?" He nearly barked with uncontrollably rage. "Don't leave a single detail out."
Camelia's eyes rounded into saucers continuing to retell him what happened all the while twisting her fingers in her lap. When she came to the part that set everything in motion she paused afraid to carry on.
"Go on." Kent prompted between clenched teeth.
"Once I heard my name pass his lips, I panicked and accused him of holding a gun in a loud voice so everyone could hear me and all hell broke lose, one of the baristas stood between us, and splashed a hot cup of coffee in his face."
"What happened to the bastard after he got burnt by the coffee?" Kent's features were transforming with every second that passed.
"A rather large man kicked him in the ribs, took a chair placed it over him and sat on it while telling the barista to call the police." She rushed out, feeling her face pale. "I ran out of Starbucks and you found me afterwards."
The look on Kent's face made her entire body quiver with fear. Kent punched the steering wheel with such force Camelia jumped in her seat.
"How could you...!" Kent started in an outraged tone. He covered his mouth with a closed fist, not being able to continue speaking and stared straight ahead. The muscle in his jaw was twitching and Camelia had the urge to flee the vehicle and be far away from his growing temper.
She didn't know what to do or what to say.
"You could have been taken!  He could have pulled out the gun he most likely was carrying against your body without anyone noticing and pulled you out of there taking you to God knows where! How the hell could you be so reckless? I warned you something like this would happen!" He yelled.
Camelia squirmed and covered her ears.
Before she could lift her head, she heard the door to the car close with a hard jerk. Looking up she saw Kent's back turned. He looked like a raging bull ready to attack. The muscles underneath his shirt pulsed with anger. The set of his shoulders tensed while his hands fisted to his sides.
He was beyond angry, he was furious. Burning much like a uncontrollable raging fire that was hard to put out.
She deserved it. Camelia was well aware of the dangers that lurked in every corner, knew the risks, but selfishly put her safety on the line and the safety of others as well.
Camelia heard the curses leaving his mouth as he strode away from his vehicle. They were muffled by the closed windows but she heard them well. She didn't know what to do fearing whatever she may say might just add fuel to that fire.
Kent leaned against his trunk with his arms outstretched, his head bent downward. Staring at his figure, Camelia places a hand over her mouth, regretting her actions and feeling the burden reflect heavily over her shoulders.
He was silent the whole car ride. Not once did he acknowledge her and she stayed rigid in her seat. Opening her mouth multiple times to speak, she couldn't find the words, instead she followed him mutely inside the house, taking her belongings and making a straight beeline up the stairs leaving Kent behind in the grand foyer.
***
Stefan quirks an eyebrow observing the way she bolts up the stairs, taking two steps at a time until she quickly vanishes around the corner. It took everything in his power not to take her aggressively by the shoulders and shake her senseless for risking her life. It was the last thing she needed after the ordeal she went through.
Camelia was the type that needed to be comfortedâneeded attention. He knew she was terrified but Stefan was more afraid of himself if he held her and offered what she needed.
If he touched her in their weakened state he would kiss her, and if he kissed her she would chip away all his resolve, allowing his hands to freely roam over her body and take her clothes off. If her clothes were off. . . it was a open invitation to love her body.
He couldn't fight it.
With the burning rage barely diffused within him, he turns away to find privacy in Julien's studyâkeeping the door wide open.
What he really wanted to do was go to the gym and work out his frustrations on a punching bag until it split down the middle. His fury was as controllable as a firework.
Stefan still could not believe what Camelia revealed in the car. She was so close to getting caught it made him grind his teeth. Luck was on her side. Had she not acted fast on her feet who knew where she would be right now.
A tremors of unease prickled down his spine imagining the horrible things they would have done to her...rape, torture...kill. It made him so intensely furious, it was difficult not to shudder as his body worked on regaining control of his emotions.
She was definitely testing his limits. She was more than a handful now and becoming even more stubborn. In the course of almost three months, Camelia changed. Once conservative in her actions and reserved. The shy young woman he knew transformed into a shockingly bold, risk taking, fierce individual who was not in the least afraid to get her hands dirty. If she attempted to get away from him without his detection, the next time she was upset, he knew she'd try again. Recklessly.
The people after her were getting closer and bolder with their attempts. They must have been followed but Stefan made sure to always check his surroundings as he drove. Since he never dispatched his surveillance team, who got food poisoning from take out food they all shared just two days ago, he and Camelia were vulnerable.
And the enemy took advantage.
It was impossible for him to go back and investigate what happened to Jason Diamâif that was his real name. For Stefan to launch a one-man war against a gang of ruthless abductors was near impossible with him solely responsible for Camelia at the house alone. Stefan was sure the man caging him under the chair didn't hold too long for the police to get there.
How the hell did the file about Nathan Diam never hold any information about his son?
"Dammit!" He said, raking a hand through his dark hair.
All of a sudden he was hit with the knowledge of the situation. With so much on his mind Stefan didn't even think much about it. His worry for Camelia silenced his subconscious. He felt stupid for not seeing it sooner.
It was all a setâup.
The team getting food poisoning was done on purpose. It was embarrassingly obvious. They eliminated a very thick barrier keeping them from accessing Camelia. Their plan worked. They waited for a loophole and watched and waited until they were out in the open.
And they walked right into a trap.
"Son of a bitch!"
Stefan sensed his judgment was clouded, his feelings getting in the way. He'd overlook many things just to make her happy and give her what she asked although it may not be safe. He needed someone more reliable than him to be his extra pair of hands, eyes and ears. Someone who wasn't emotionally attached. Stefan wouldn't trust anyone else with his life but Liam Barleen, one of his most trusted friends and former spy.
He was the perfect shadow nobody would be able to detect and the only man who would be able to find more in-depth information about Nathan's family from his contacts in government.
Just when he began pulling his phone out of this pocket to dial, a set of alarms goes off in the house. Stefan stiffens for a second. But it wasn't the security systems. It was the sounds of smoke alarms.
Mona, the family's cook is heard shrieking.
Stefan strides directly out of the den and into the large lit foyer, narrowing his eyes at the dark haired, slim woman waving a spatula in one hand and the other holding what looked like a towel. She was nearly half way up the marble staircase when she stops and runs back down. The rich smell of various foods enriches the air, Stefan's nose couldn't help but inhale exotic foreign spices hovering around him.
"Is something burning?"
"Oh my! It's the tray of Keftah cooking in the oven!! It is beginning to burn! Camelia is taking a shower and rang for a towel! I must go, please make sure she receives this." Mona nearly throws the plush white bath towel into his face and scurries down the stairs to check on her food.
He catches just in time before it falls to the floor.
******
Stefan knocked twice, finding the bathroom door ajar, and listens to the sounds of water beating down like rain pellets. He hesitated before entering, not wanting to invade her privacy. He knocks again and waits patiently. Still no answer.
Stefan instantly thinks the worst. Tucking the towel beneath his arm the other is laid flat against the door and slowly swings the door wide open, searching for any hint of a threat.
His eyes glazed over, staring down at the remnants of her clothing piled in the middle of the floor.
A mist of steam encompasses him, moistening the skin of his face and bare arms. As the fog clears, his gaze swung towards the milky white shower, her silhouette easily seen behind the clear, heavily fogged glass.
He freezes.
Stefan's nostrils flare as he stares unblinkingly in shock and partial surprise. He could not recall how many seconds passed before turning away to preserve whatever privacy she had left. But he had seen enough. The slim, elegant curves of her figure was nearly see-through the lightly fogged glass.
He clenches his teeth at the intensity of the raw desire coursing through his blood. However brief, he noticed enough, far more than his greedy eyes could handle. Stefan bites his fist, as if it would dissipate the desire.
The perkiness of her breasts were high and pointed, large and proud, big enough to overflow in his hands. The areola shrouding the nìpple were the prettiest shade of pink he'd ever seen. Her hair was a long dark tumbling mess behind her arched back and procuring, artistically molded sweet derriere. Trailing his gaze down her body he viewed her killer, shaped thighs and legs.
He bit his fist harder and squeezed his eyes shut feeling his arousal tighten with need, struggling to maintain restraint.
God, give me strength.
She was one of the sexiest woman he had ever come across. More achingly irresistible than all the gold the world offeredâand she was completely naked.
Reluctantly and quiet painfully, Stefan moves before she notices and places the towel quietly on the vanity, his gaze never wavering back to the shower. She'd have to take a few steps to retrieve it but he had no choice.
The sound of something heavy and large drops and crashes in the shower. A startled Stefan stops, directing his gaze toward the noise.
She accidentally drops the shampoo in her hands and bends to pick it up.
Stefan's arousal bounces in reaction to her bent figure, and dangling breasts.  The inside of his mouth watered in the next instant as if he were a starved man deprived of water.  His fists automatically opened imagining the weight of those large, heavy, bare brèasts in his palms.
He clenches his jaw so hard his teeth were grinding together.
It felt as though she was deliberately tormenting him. There had been moments, desperate moments when he wanted this girl so much and that very moment his endurance was failing. His dirty mind began imagining opening the glass door, grasp her by the waist and have her wrap her beautiful legs around his waist as he pushes her against the wall and have his way with her slick body.
He watched her rise and felt his loins pulse and his heart hammer in his chest. Stefan felt his whole body fall under her seductive power much like a siren calling out to him. His very hands burned with the need to touch her.
Needing to leave, he shakes out of the trance before he made his fantasy a reality, his eyes seeking a quicker exit than the door he walked in through. If he left from where he came from she's be able to see him for sure now that she was facing the bedroom door.
Stefan spurts into motion finding the adjacent walk-in-closet open. He releases a sigh of relief once he steps in, slowly closing it slightly. It would lead him directly into her bedroom.
Just as he was turning to leave, he eyes catches a figure in the corner and freezes mid-way. Stefan moves towards it and finds the same mannequin he spied the last time he was in there. He was still curious as to what was hidden underneath. The color peeking out of the bottom was keenly familiar. His legs tugged him forward and before he knew it he was standing in front of it.
His fists tighten at his sides.
What he should be doing was leaving but something about the silent way the mannequin stood there pulling him in, whispering to him to come closer was too appealing to pass.
Stefan hesitates for a moment then pulls the sheet. His eyes widen as the color of deep blood red fills his vision. He furrows his brow, glanced at the wall behind the mannequin, then froze with a dawning look of recognition.
"She's....." He whispers as though the breath had been knocked from him.
The lady in red.
âââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââ
Hope you liked the chapter!
For those of you that haven't read His Duchess, please do give it a read. Many readers have loved it especially when they get deeper into the storyline.
You'll be able to see the distinct differences between Annie and Camelia quiet well and will understand why sometimes Camelia is the way she is.
Please vote, comment, and share.
-Shaz