geee as i have too many curious readers and i want to sustain their attention to my ff, i've decided to write chapter 2
enjoy😳😳😳
RECAP
Standing silently in the arched opening between the kitchen and the living room, looking no more friendly than he had a few minutes earlier, was the devil himself_ ASAD AHMED KHAN.
CHAPTER 2
She hoped he put her little choke of dismay down to the hot tea that had spilled onto her fingers. What are you doing in here?' she demanded, switching hands to shake off the burning droplets, disgusted to hear that her voice was high and breathless rather than cool and clipped.
The door was open,' he said, jerking his head in the direction of the verandah. I took it to mean that you were expect ing me to follow you...'
It's open because the house is hot and stuffy,' she snapped. She knew she should play it cool, but the sarcastic words came spilling from her lips before she could stop them: What the hell do you want?'
His dark eyes glinted. He placed a small plastic container down on the Formica table, centring it with a mocking preci sion. I brought you the sugar you said you needed.'
Oh.' zoya hugged her tea defensively to her chest as she wrestled with her conscience. Thank you,' she said begrudg ingly, knowing full well that his meekness was a sham.
Sure enough, as soon as she had humbled herself, he unsheathed his sword.
So, tell me: are you going to leave when you find out you're wasting your time here? Or is it going to take men in white coats and a restraining order to get rid of you?
Are you stalking me?'
STALKING you?' zoya widened her eyes in amused disbelief. You do fancy yourself, don't you?'
Her teasing tone made asad's mouth thin. Stop playing games, zoya,' he growled. How did you find me?'
She sipped her tea and mused on the question. I've always found you to be borderline paranoiac, and now it looks like you've inched over the line. Maybe the men in white coats should be coming for you...'
Very witty"and very evasive.'
She might have known that he'd notice. Words were his business, his strength and his talent...interpreting nuances and assigning subtle layers of meaning to every line of dialogue and paragraph of prose. He would tie her up in verbal knots if she let him. Her best chance was to make simple statements that could be neither proved nor disproved, and then just stick to her guns. Or better still, say nothing at all.
You're surely not going to claim that it's just pure coin cidence that you turned up on my doorstep?' he accused, taking an aggressive stance, legs astride, hands fisting on his hips, a poster-boy for one of his disaffected heroes. What's going on, zoya?'
A tremor of weakness shimmered through her bones. Oh, if only you knew! She looked into his moody countenance and felt the familiar, powerfully seductive tug of physical attraction that was the source of all her current turmoil. She still found it amazing that such a bold, passionate and charismatic man had reacted with such intensity to her ordinary, unremarkable self. That it had also taken him by surprise was evident from his hy persensitivity to any hint of possessiveness, and his thinly veiled restlessness whenever they had been together for any length of time. Sophistication had been the name of the game, and for a while she had actually carried it off.
She caught herself up before she could begin to wallow in bittersweet memories, her determination hardening. Oh, no, she wasn't going to let herself fall back into that trap! She was no longer that woman"willing to pander to his genius at the expense of her own needs and goals.
What's going on is that I'm taking a long-overdue holiday,' she said firmly. I've accrued so much extra leave over the past two years that my boss was forced to point out a clause in my contract that says I have until next month to use it or lose it"'
Ayan?' he interrupted sharply, latching onto the notion that his publisher was involved. His eyes kindled with fury at the treachery. he sent you to find me?'
Nobody sent me to find you"ayan has no idea where I am,' she insisted with perfect truth. Her reputation as a dedicated employee who could always be relied upon to work above and beyond the call of duty to support good client liaisons had taken a knock with her abrupt decision to take all the accumulated weeks owing on such short notice, and it had dived even further when she had rejected ayan's belated offer of a compensatory bonus if she sacrificed the accrual.
I told you, I'm on a holiday. That's when normal people take a break from their workaday lives to rest, travel or zonk out on a beach somewhere.'
And you expect me to believe that of all the holiday homes in all the beach resorts in all the world, you walk into this one?' he demanded, his deep, velvet-smooth voice steeped in sarcasm.
Coincidences do happen,' she pointed out, relaxing deliberately back against the bench and taking another sip of her tea.
For once she almost felt in control of the relationship as she watched him vibrate with frustration. She was aware of a repressed violence in his nature, but for all his physicality she had never felt threatened by his considerable strength. At thirty-three, he had the maturity and experience to handle his inner demons. Whenever he exploded, it was with clever words rather than crude muscle.
The strange truth being that less than four weeks after I leave New york you "just happen" to choose The Beach for a sudden holiday and then you "just happen" to rent the place next door to mine?'
Well, gee, I don't usually bother to check out the owner ship of neighbouring properties wherever I go, to make sure I'm not inadvertently going to intrude on your precious privacy,' she said, matching him for sarcasm.
His eyes narrowed as he pounced on the perceived slip. Then how do you know I'm the owner?'
The rabid territorialism you're displaying is a dead give away,' she said drily. Given your reclusive writing habits and erratic timetable, I doubt that you'd feel comfortable working anywhere but your own space. Someplace where you can come and go at will without attracting notice. And it's not as if there's a big choice of long-term rentals if you want some thing right on the beach...or so the travel agent told me,' she added swiftly.
So how did you find out about this one?' He jerked his beard-roughened jaw at their surroundings. Internet? News paper ad?'
She almost agreed before she saw the potential trap. For all she knew the rental had never been actively advertised.
Serendipity?'She smiled limpidly. I read a magazine story about some people who camp at The Beach every Christmas, and then asked around. I am a researcher, you know.'
His jaw tightened. And something of an actress, too. You didn't even show a blink of surprise when I opened my door; almost as if you were expecting to see me. Yet you appeared not to recognise me.'
I was shocked,' she said truthfully. The little electric pulses that zipped through her veins every time she saw him had in tensified rather than faded with time. Her hyper-awareness was simultaneously exciting and inhibiting.
So you just went ahead and trotted out your cheerful little spiel as blandly as if I was someone you'd never met before rather than the man you've been sleeping with for the past two years.'
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