Chapter 19: Chapter 18- His Achilles Heel

"The winner is Sammy!"  Camelia shouts holding a gold trophy filled with a assortment of various colored Jordan almonds.

Everybody claps and cheers.  Sammy was bowing gratefully, a wide, proud grin spreading across his face.  Out of all the contestants he was the better choice.  Although he looked ridiculous, his toilet paper made toga looked the best and Camelia knew it was all his doing.

"Thanks girlfriend."  He says taking the gold trophy cup from her hands while fanning his overheated face.  "Holy Jesus, I'm starting to sparkle."

"What?"  Camelia asks in confusion, eyeing him closely.

Sammy rips a piece of toilet paper from over his arm and begins dabbing his forehead and patting his cheeks.  "It means I'm starting to sweat!"  He shrieks in exasperation searching for anyone that heard him.  "How could you make me say that out loud?"  He begins ripping the toilet paper off his body.  "Girl, I'm sweating in places I didn't know existed!"  He whispers behind a big ball of toilet paper.  "Those hoe's didn't know what the hell they were doing!"

Camelia laughed and laughed, so hard that tears pooled in her eyes.  Leave it to Sammy, he was always a joy to be around.  He kept huffing and puffing with a string of curses leaving his lips, ripping the toilet paper off.  She wipes a tear from the corner of her eye and adjusts her posture, trying desperately to keep the bubbling laughter that threatened to escape her lips and helped Sammy rid himself of many, many layers he was covered in.

Gloriana approaches in a orange and gold gown, her hair perched high with multiple braids twisted in between, holding a big white garbage bag ready to help collect the debris.

"Sammy you made for a gorgeous God."  She compliments him, she too trying not to laugh at his jerky and frustrated movements.

"Bitch please.  I'm a goddess.  Sassy and classy wrapped into one, and don't you forget it!"  He placed his face directly into Gloriana's giving her a pointed serious stare.  He said it with so much sass Camelia couldn't help herself and laughed once again.

They continue to talk but Camelia was not listening, too distracted by her own thoughts of Stefan and Kent.

The resemblance was uncanny.

She saw Stefan in Kent.  It wasn't identical but close enough where she could clearly see it. Was it a coincidence...the similarities? Was this fate trying to tell her something?

But the voice.  The hair.  The glasses.

She knew there was no way it was Stefan.  No way.

When Kent wished her a happy birthday the same way Stefan wrote in his message, that was purely coincidental.  She was reading too much into it.  Yet, she was unsure.

The doubt, the questions, her muddled brain couldn't seem to sort out.  She was acutely afraid of her personal conflicting emotions.  A mental facility would deem her fit to join their institution.  It was obvious she was in no position to make a clear judgment of any sort.

She felt like she was going crazy.    It was the stress she reasoned. It had to be.  Because nothing could explain what she was thinking or seeing.

Is that why she liked Kent so much? Is it because he looked a lot like Stefan?

She connected with the both of them.  Almost at the same level.

As much as she wanted to block Stefan from her mind, it was of no avail.  Could she place Stefan like a trophy, untouched and valuable in her heart forever?  She asks herself.

She was all mixed up, feeling cornered and rushed.   Deep down she didn't want to fall in love again.  Love showed her it had the cutting edge of a sharp ragged knife.

This time she didn't want to be the first one to fall. It was killing her another was squeezing himself into her heart.

Does Kent think of her when he's all alone?

Does he catch his breath when she looks at him?

If she allowed Kent that power over her would he hide?

She was running out of time.  Is it real or just another crush?

*******

"Happy birthday to you...Happy birthday to you....Happy birthday to Camelia, happy birthday to you!!!!!"

The light blue four tier cake came rolling in on a table with one big sparkler on the top spurting out like a firework and was flanked by many other smaller candles. The Sparks reflected in her eyes as the table stopped. Her mother, father and siblings grouped at her sides, holding her by the waist.

Once the singing stopped, Camelia leaned forward, closed her eyes and wished for an unconditional love one day that would surpass her expectations. Before she opened her eyes and blew out the candle she wished Jasmine a soul mate, a man who one day would sweep her off her feet and love her for the daring, beautiful individual she was.

Camelia blows out the candle with the help of Zayn and Jasmine, the two of them flanking her sides. A photographer captures the moment.

"Happy Birthday Mia!" They said in sync.

Another picture was taken when both her siblings turn and kiss her cheeks. It was a Kodak moment Camelia knew she'd would never forget feeling the love radiating from every direction. Her mother scoots by her children and embraces Camelia, squeezing her tightly. "Happy Birthday, baby." She whispers against her ear.

"Thank you, Mom. Thank you for all this." Camelia murmurs back and breaths in her mother's precious Jasmine smelling perfume—a signature scent she'd applied since the day she was born.

Annie pulls back and gives her youngest daughter a look that reflected in her eyes. "Anything for my precious."

"Happy Birthday, love." Julien said coming to stand by his wife. He slips his arm around Annie's waist and the other around Camelia's crushing them against him with his strength. He kisses his daughter's forehead lovingly and switches to his wife doing the same.

Zayn and Jasmine wrap their arms around them all in a group hug as the photographer snaps more pictures of the intimate moment. They unravel apart as a waiter stands patiently carrying a piece of cake.

Annie takes it from him and lifts the fork with a bit of cake on the end waiting to be eaten. "It's customary to take the first bite."

Camelia's open her mouth as he mother feeds her, closing her eyes at the lightweight taste of cake, cream, and strawberries. Flash after flash lite behind her eyelids as more pictures are taken. Feeling something smeared on the tip of her nose, she lifts open her eyes in confusion.

"Your grandmother did it to me once. It's a passing tradition." Her mother explains with merriment. The small crowd laughed at her expression of disgust.

Camelia's eyes crossed, narrowing at the smudge of cream at the end of her nose. "Mom!"

Another picture is taken.

Annie grabs a napkin quickly and carefully dabs the cream. "I'm sorry my love but I had to do it. You looked adorable! Besides it's not everyday my baby turns twenty-one. Cherish the moment."

"Did you remember me when you made your wish?" Jasmine whispers in her ear.

"Yes, I did." Camelia takes another napkin, making sure all the cream came off. "Now, is there anything left on my nose?" Camelia asks.

Jasmine squeals in delight. "Perfect! No it came all off. Now let's go dance!" Jasmine pulls Camelia by the wrist and pushes through the countless bodies.

After dancing, Camelia excuses herself in need to use the powder room. She turns the corner past the kitchen which was buzzing with the caterers and swiftly closes the door and leans against the vanity releasing a long exhale. It was a long exhausting night with all the dancing, the laughter and the mingling she had to do with her guests.

Washing her hands she snatched paper towels, dried her hands and blotted her over heated face carefully, mindful of her make-up. After drinking another small amount of champagne while she danced, she could feel it mix with the other glass she previously drowned.

It courses freely through her veins making her feel lightheaded and carefree. It managed to desensitize and loosen her limbs. She felt like she could float on air leaving her heart racing like a butterfly's wings. Her eyes appeared glazed over and full of life. A big smile was stretched across her face. For once in her life she felt good about herself.

Two glasses managed to sway her, she wondered if she had another what it would do.

She could conquer the world perhaps? Camelia giggled at the thought then unexpectedly hiccuped, covering her mouth with a hand. Who would have ever thought getting older was fun?

Her vision began blurring, and her surroundings started to sway. She needed to sit and calm down before she went back out there and made a fool herself. Opening the door she slowly stepped out and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.  It was difficult to walk straight feeling the floor tilt.

Soon enough she found herself in a secluded part of their vast home in the dark and private family room. She quickly sat on the nearest cushioned chair and laid her head back.

The world was spinning round and round.  Breathing in and breathing out through her nose Camelia tried to regulate the pounding of her heart rate and closed her eyes.

The music was blasted so loud it could be easily heard from the distance. A rendition of Prince's song, The most beautiful girl in the world was playing. The soft melodramatic rhythm of the violin wafted in her ears and she began to hum to the lyrics with a hand in the air much like a composer of a symphony.

Camelia opens her heavy eyelids at the sounds of shuffling behind her.

"It's all right guys, I've found her, go back to your positions."

It was Kent. Camelia straightens, lifts her body, her arms supporting her weight against the arms of the chair and stands. She sways slightly but realigns her balance.

Her breath froze in her lungs as she spotted him standing, half in shadow, unmoving, his hard angled chiseled face expressionless. The only source of light was coming from the hallway behind him.  But she could see well enough—waiting and regarding her with hooded eyes, silently beckoning her to him without words.

Her big bad wolf.

Once her gaze clashed with his from across the room, her body had a say of it's own when she went to him.  The look in his eyes was quickly changing, the color turning as dark as the Pacific Ocean, taking his gaze leisurely over her causing heat to burn through her everywhere his eyes touched.

"May I have this dance?"  He asks stretching out his hand. The invitation wasn't only in his words but his eyes.

Come to me, they said.

She went nearly weak in the knees, her heart pounding. Camelia glanced away slightly unsure. She looked from under her lashes, very tempted.

Camelia wanted to dance with him all night long.  Dying, was more of an accurate description.  It wasn't appropriate nor customary for a bodyguard to dance with someone he was supposed to protect.

But they were alone.  It was only him and her.

"I've been waiting for you to ask me all night."

The timid shy Camelia in her head hung her mouth open. It was bold she knew and immediately places the blame on the alcohol.

Kent watched her with a expression of quiet intensity as he drew her into his arms. They swayed silently to the soft music, his cheek softly brushing against her hair. His arms were wrapped around her waist intimately, while her hands encircled his shoulders. She closed her eyes at the shocking recognition, feeling the heat radiating off him through his suit.

Camelia lays her head on his shoulder fantasizing she was in the arms a man who cherished her.  She heard the soft sound of his sigh above her as he tightened his hold, marveling how natural, how right it felt to be held intimately by him.

It was Stefan holding her, yet it was Kent's intense stare piercing into her soul.   Stefan's presence was heavy in the air like a thick fog.  Yet Kent held her, in the warm strength of his arms– consuming and penetrating.

It felt like a dream.

Although she was under the influence of alcohol her thoughts stayed the same. An old love was still present and a new one blossomed when she least expected. At that very moment she finally admitted two different, irresistible men owned her heart.

One was Stefan.

The other Kent.

As lightheaded as she felt she wanted both. So badly it ached. Never in her wildest dreams would she have seen herself falling hard for two completely opposite men.

It was bizarre.

The heart knows no time, has no boundaries. The heart wants what it wants. It was the sweetest taboo.

If loving was a crime she would be sentenced the hardest time.

"You look beautiful tonight." Kent murmured close to her ear.

He was always so sweet managing to make her feel like the center of attention. Feeding her his confidence...always showing her she was worth it even when she didn't believe it.

She felt his large, warm, gentle hands slowly caress up the length of her back from her waist making her toes curl and her stomach clench. It was the most deliciously dizzyingly sensation she had ever experienced. She could have sworn she felt his lips graze the skin under her ear but before she could refocus his heated breath tickled her there.

Her world almost tilted.

Her skin felt impossibly sensitive. She was weightless, lost, his caresses leaving her hot and urgent. Camelia almost reached up to touch his dark hair wanting to desperately feel the velvet softness beneath her fingertips.    Little remained of her self-control.   Unable to resist she nearly pulled him closer but wherever the small ounce of control she had left helped her hold herself back.

The alcohol was making her lose her senses.

"Thank you. You don't look too bad in a suit yourself." She replied finally finding her voice.  It sounded slightly breathless to her ears. "I noticed how you trimmed your beard too, looks better."

Kent pulled his head back and laughed. It radiated throughout his body, feeling it against her fingertips and the contact of their bodies pressing together every inch down the length of them both.

A shock of pleasure rushes through her.

"As much as I hate being confined to a suit, it's worth the occasion. So thank you, for thinking so." He said with a wink. "And I figured you'd appreciate the closer shave."

The cute smile curving his mouth made a deep blush coat her cheekbones.  Right then, she found herself aching to know what those lips would feel like pressed against hers.  Would he want her with a passion that matched her own?

"Your smile looks very different."  She says without thinking.  Why did she say that?

Trying to hide her trembling, confusion, desire and need she ducked her head.

He was having none of it, taking hold of her chin, he nudged it up looking deeply into her eyes. His gaze was unrelenting as his hold on her. For a long moment he gazed at her with a distant, shadowed flicker in his eyes. It caused her heart to flutter. The connection brewing between them was undeniable and sizzling, ready to combust.

She tensed at the familiar hungry gleam that lite his eyes and stood as still as possible waiting until he made his move–hanging by a moment.

Stefan caressed her face, tracing her high cheekbones and skimming down until he reached her lips.  The tender emotions emitting from her delicate features made his heart lurch unsteadily in his chest. His eyes dropped to her lusciously full pout. The pad of his thumb lightly traced the plump pair, bending his head. All he wanted was to brush his lips over hers to taste...to feel their inviting softness.

He hungered for her.

The muscles through his suit tensed as his chest expanded. The temptation was overwhelming. He craved all of her not just a kiss.

My God she is so sweet.

The way she eyed him was bewitching. He was entranced.

She didn't realize just how appetizing she looked. Camelia was too attractive and tempting to be resisted. It was true she was beautiful in his eyes but not the type of girls in the magazines.  She was beautiful for the way she thought, beautiful for the ability to smile when she was sad and frustrated.  That sparkle in her eye when she spoke about something she loved.  But what truly captured his attention was the beauty of her soul and her innocent pure heart.

For it captured his heart.

It opened his eyes.

In the beginning, he expected a little girl but ended receiving a fully grown woman instead.  It was a perfect unexpected surprise.

Stefan attempted to tell himself he didn't love her all throughout the night as he watched over her.  He tried to pretend, but it was driving him mad.  He kept asking himself, wondering how and when it happened but he would be lying to himself for it was as clear as day.

He loved her. He loved everything about her. He loved her as a man loved a woman.

There was a silent strength coursing through her.  Camelia was everything a man could ever ask for in a woman— brave, had steel in her and not at all delicate as she appeared. And here she was in his arms open and waiting.

A hungry growl nearly erupted from his throat as he imagined roaming his hands down her back and gripping her buttocks, pulling her hotly against his hardening length.

He wanted to slowly zip down her dress and expose what his starving eyes craved.  He wanted to take advantage of her and spread kisses over every inch of her skin.  He wanted her thrashing underneath him in uncontrollable passion where it would shatter her world and she'd be left screaming his name.

Every time he closed his eyes, it was impossible not to imagine all the indecent things he wanted to do to her body.  Things that would probably surpass all her virginal fantasies.

His previous obsession with the lady in red disentangled from his thoughts.

The time he spent with his Camelia were more miraculous and rewarding than a woman he barely knew. The pull toward the mysterious lady was very true and powerful but never had time to sink in and develop fully.  Being with Camelia for the last two months out weighed a simple infatuation.  His feelings for both women were just as different as night and day.

Stefan found what he was finally searching for.  A woman who woke his senses, his mind, his heart.

Stefan longed to be near her as himself. To be able to protect her as himself. Each time she looked at him and rewarded him with a affectionate smile he wished he wasn't Kent but Stefan. He wanted those looks only for the real him.

Stefan couldn't bring himself to move, watching her, his jaw clenched, struggling to hold himself back.  He shuddered trying to regain some control and looked away before he became too lost by the magnificent innocence of her beauty. He couldn't risk losing control, her touch, her proximity alone was distracting.

Taking a deep breath he struggled to steady his emotions when he felt her fingers curl around the nape of his neck.  Stefan was close to making his fantasizing a reality but a unknown force stopped him.  Something shifted.

A sudden flash of insight anchored him, finally he came to his senses, remembering one thing that stood in his way and stopped him from making her his.

The lie.

He was somebody else.  Not Stefan but Kent.

The lie he's twisted had progressed for two months already, going on three soon enough.  She would never forgive him if he continued to allow her to believe the man in disguise.

The man who's sole purpose was trying to protect her and his own notorious identity from outsiders. It would destroy him if she was harmed by his own doing. Her safety was the only thing he should be concerned about.  It was his priority.

The guilt started eating his insides.

Stefan closed his eyes. The image of Camelia dead because of his recklessness seared permanently in his brain. Desperation seized hold of him.

He couldn't lose her too. It would destroy him. He would not be the reason something happened to her.

The risks were too high if he didn't extinguish the attraction forming between the both of them. No matter how much it killed him to do so.

Stefan refused to betray her trust any further.  He hated living like this, hated the uncertainty of both their futures.  The only choice he had was love her from afar.

He had to break their connection.  It must happen. It was a temporary sacrifice. He had to let her go.

Stefan clenches his teeth, knowing his next words will drive a wedge between them and push her far enough where he could maintain a professional distance.

Where nothing could destroy him, she was his ultimate demise.

Without a shadow of a doubt, she became his weakness.

His only one.

His Achilles heel.

_______________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading!  Intense chapter, I promise more to come in the next update.  This one was extremely hard for me to write for some reason.  Hope it made sense.

Please, vote, comment and share!

-Shaz