Chapter 36

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The kiss was hot and brutal, all razzle dazzle. Her head spun and her knees weakened from how much she had missed him, needed him and how much she currently wanted him. Fire descended over her very swiftly like a newly anointed and appointed man of God, possessing quite all of her, every fiber in her body, her essence, down to her very being as he plundered the depths of her sweet wet mouth. His tongue snaked into her mouth and she grew dizzy that instant, giddy, punch drunk. 

Passion, torrid and violent exploded in her. He explored her mouth hastily, urgently, to the utmost extremity, ravishing every bit of her. she nearly lost breath kissing him back, trying vehemently to match his pace, stroke for stroke, smack for smack, suckle for suckle.

Heat and delight, sweet and candid raced through her body, chasing one another. She arched into his mouth, into him, against his body. He wound one arm around her neck and the other around her waist, pressing her to him and still unable to get enough. His hands wandered round her body, studying her form, appreciating it.

'Chloe,' he murmured against her lips, having ended the fierce kiss. 'I want you so much,' he told her. 'Please be mine, marry me,' he ended on a pleading tone. The words were a jolt from the blue for her. She tore out of his arms swiftly, backwards, surprising even him.

'No!' she said, 'No I cannot do that.' Her protest was weak yet clear.

'Why can't you?' he asked her. She stared at him. She still had passion soused eyes.

'I should marry you, like this?' she asked him indicating with her right hand which she waved up and down along her body.

'Yes, or is there any problem with that?' he asked her, slightly confused.

'Clement, you have no idea of what you are asking me to do. I am hideous!' she stressed. Now, it was his turn to look surprised. What the hell was she spewing from her mouth?

'No you are not,' he countered her.

'Well I am. It is the truth. Let us face it because it is the very thing that bothers me. You told me to tell it to you. I am doing so now!' she told him in a loud voice. 'I am hideous Clement, I am. I am, with all this lines and tissues on my face and scabs on my body. By God, you wouldn't want me if you get to see the rest. You'll leave me, like the rest before you.' he was beginning to understand her. She was scared.

'The rest, are those men from your past?' he asked her. She hesitated but finally nodded. 'They hurt you,' he stated. She began to cry again. He went closer to her and wiped her tears away with his thumb. 'Don't cry, they do not deserve you my sweet,' he concluded.

'I don't know,' she mumbled in a low voice that made him wonder where the confident woman on the pole dancing stage had gone, Samantha. But, he realized she never went anywhere. She was still Chloe, just a part of her, inside of her. He needed to find her out, give her courage and strength. He also needed to build her self esteem for she was lacking one and it was all thanks to those horrible bastards.

'Chloe, let me see it then,' he uttered.

'Let me prove to you that I am not one of those men, the ones who saw the markings on your beautiful skin and abandoned you, skedaddling away. Cowards they are, running with their tails in between their legs. It's good that they never had you for giving you to them are like casting pearls before filthy swine. They would not know the value of what they possess. They would have mistreated you my sweet. Vous devez tres belle mon Coeur,' he told her. 'Please believe me.'

'I do not know what to believe anymore Clement,' she said truthfully.

'Look at me Chinwem,' he commanded. She did as he had instructed her. 'What left you like this, scarred, physically, emotionally, mentally?' he asked her. For a moment, he thought she would not tell him, but then she started talking.

'It was my father,' were the only words that came out of her mouth before a different type of tears overcame her, one of rehashed pain.