Astonished, he gaped at her.
“OK, three thousand.”
“I – eh … OK.”
Mira climbed up onto the stage and calmly took the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, “sorry to interrupt the, eh … owambe, but I am looking for someone. He’s very tall, six foot four inches, he has em – well, broad shoulders, and he’s a photographer. Has anyone seen him?”
The crowd gaped at her, too stunned to react. She blinked. “Anyone?” she repeated, her eyes roving around expectantly.
“Sho gbo, who be this party-crasher?” A fat woman with a thick Yoruba accent demanded. “Abeg Mr Deejay, collect that microphone from her o jare!” Angry murmurs supported her, and Mira knew when she was beaten.
“Sorry,” she apologised and handed the microphone back to the M.C. Great, so much for running in here like the fairy-tale Cinderella – clearly Dominic wasn’t here. Maybe he’d never come back. Maybe he was still in Paris and had even fallen in love with somebody else. She’d had her chance once and she’d blown it. Why did she think she would get another? People don’t get lucky twice. Her heart heavy, she got down from the stage.
Then an incredulous voice uttered her name from behind: “Mira?”
Her heart stopped beating for a moment, and she halted in her tracks. I would know that voice in my sleep. I could hear it in my dreams, wake up and point him out any day, anywhere. She turned towards the voice and there he was standing beside a table, a silhouette of a tall man dressed in blue-washed jeans and a blue and white shirt with a camera hanging from his neck. Adoration flooded through her and she hurried towards him. “Dominic,” she breathed, her heart feeling like it could burst out of her chest any minute, “I thought I’d never see you again.”
He was staring at her with surprise, not the raw desire she had hoped for, and question marks began popping into her brain. To make matters worse, he made no move to come near her. “W-what are you doing here?” he asked.
In the past she would have rolled her eyes dramatically, but this time Mira told the truth. “I came to see you.”
He looked over her head – the crowd was staring at them, and the music had long stopped. He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry about that,” he said in Yoruba. “I’ll take care of her now.” And he took her hand and led her out of the canopy. They waded through the fine sand, the ocean breeze ruffling their clothes and echoing in their ears. He finally stopped beside some disused raffia sheds and turned to face her, this time with a slightly clenched jaw. “What are you doing here?” he demanded again, his voice little more than a growl.
Her throat went dry. She sank her teeth into her lower lip, her hands fidgeting with her dress; where would she start? She had so much to say, but her pride stopped her from saying what she wanted to. Besides, the look on his face was not encouraging – it was like facing an oncoming storm, naked and without an umbrella. She decided to start with what she had. “Your mother came by my office today,” she began in a casual tone. “S-she’s really beautiful and nice in person.”
“Hmm,” he nodded, clearly not moved by the compliment. “So you met the famous Helen Heinz – I hope you asked for an autograph.”
She ignored the sarcasm. “She even let me take her car …”
“Aww, did she now? How sweet.”
She shut her mouth – this was already going downhill; best to let it topple over. It was humiliating that she had come here dreamy-eyed and hopeful that they would kiss and make up. Well, that was not happening. And those romance movies always made it seem so easy, damn them.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Well, is that it? Was that why you came over, Mira?”
Don’t you dare tell him you love him! her Rational Mind yelled at her. “I-I um,” she swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling stupid. Crap, this was harder than she had thought. “I was in the neighbourhood and I thought —”
“The neighbourhood?” His eyebrows went up and he gave her a slow once-over. “You’re joking, right? This is a beach, Mira; this can’t be the neighbourhood unless you’re a fish, a crustacean or a mermaid. Don’t be ridiculous.”
Her lovey-dovey aura disappeared, and she sent him a dry look. “Do you always have to be so cynical?”
“Do you always have to be so evasive with your feelings?” he threw back.
She snorted. “Who’s being evasive? I always let you know how I felt about you, you jerk! I showed you by my actions, my words, my attitude, my speech, my stupid, spontaneous kiss! That … what we both shared that night at your place … for goodness’ sake, how much more expressive should I get?” She glared at him.
“Yes, I know all that, but did it matter to you? From my point of view that night seemed like it was just raw primal sex to you.”
“How dare you! Don’t you realise all that was hard for me? I had gone for over 3 years without a relationship, without a man in my life, and I was fine! So what – you thought I was just ready to fall straight into bed with you when you came along? Of course I had feelings for you, and that’s why I made love to you!” she exclaimed. “Don’t stand there telling me about evasive feelings when you’re the one who’s always got some … twisted secret!”
He shrugged. “Fine, so I’m the secretive guy … so what? You’re the opinionated smart alec with the feminist ideas and sassy tongue and you don’t see me complaining about that, do you?” He ignored her loud gasp and continued. “And that’s because I love you for that, Mira. I love everything about you, your personality, your bossiness and smart mouth … and I laid the table for you to throw down whatever you wanted, but you didn’t! Mira, I care because I want you to know me. That’s why it’s a relationship – we’ve got to build it together. You can’t expect me to build everything on my own!”
“And you think I never wanted to do that?” she cried. “I wanted to – that’s if you had given me the freaking chance instead of breaking up with me!”
“Let’s just remember—”
She felt tears threaten to fall. “You know what, screw this … I’m done! I was wrong after all. I was so confident that this would work, that we both loved each other enough to give it another chance but you don’t care about —”
She didn’t get a chance to finish. In one long stride Dominic closed the space between them and covered her mouth with his. Blinking, she stared into his face as he passionately kissed her, confusion clouding her brain for a second. But then pleasure kicked in as she felt his tongue meet hers. Closing her eyes, she moaned deeply, her arms around his neck. He drew her into his arms and, oblivious, Mira threw her legs around his waist as she deepened the kiss, a tear escaping and sliding down her cheek. He finally broke off the kiss when he felt the second tear, and when she opened her eyes he was smiling at her as he wiped it off.
“Lesson number one: Never crash a wedding anniversary. Lesson number two: Never cry while kissing. That just takes all the fun out of it,” he chided.
“Y-you caught me off guard!” she replied. “I mean, we were arguing and next thing you’re plundering my lips! How did you expect me to react?”
“Well, the natural thing would be just to kiss me back.”
“OK, o I hear you,” she laughed, and he joined in. Still holding her in his arms, he looked at her for a long time; his eyes clear with his emotions. “I’ve missed that. Your laughter, I’ve missed it so much I had to laugh just to keep myself sane. I’ve missed you so much, Mira, you have no idea.”
“I think I do. Your mother told me everything.”
He groaned. “I hope she left out the details of me locking her and Lauren out of my house?”
“In your dreams,” she laughed. “And she also said you weren’t eating or sleeping. Poor baby, were you that devastated?”
He snorted. “Ha, don’t flatter yourself. I was out clubbing every night … I almost forgot you existed.”
“Yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes and they chortled. She gazed at him, her eyes telling him everything she wanted to
. “I’ve missed you too, Dominic and, the more I missed you, the more I realised how much I loved you. It scared me shitless, but then I couldn’t stop my feelings, and that was why I looked for every reason to put you off me. But these past months have made me realise that I may be strong and independent, but I’m also human. I have feelings. I can fall in love with someone who cares as much for me as I care for him.” She looked deeply into his eyes. “Give me a chance, Dominic. I know I can be a control freak sometimes, but I’m asking for a chance to be with you, to see how far I can go with this … how far we can go. Life’s too short to worry about the perfect relationship; you make yours what it is.”
He kissed her. “I’m in,” he answered. He raised his fist and they fist bumped each other, grinning. Mira hugged him, her heart singing with joy. She did it! She wanted to yell to the blue skies, she wanted to shout it to the world and the birds flying above their heads. She went for the one she loved, and she wasn’t afraid to show it.
See? her Rational Mind said to her. Told you it was that easy.
Mira scowled inwardly at it. Do me a favour – shut up!
Surprisingly, it obeyed her. She looked over at the party venue. “I embarrassed myself in front of those guests … I feel so stupid.”
He laughed. “Don’t sweat it. By the way, I accepted an offer to head my mum’s jewellery franchise but on condition that she opens it here in Lagos. I have too many memories and people I love here to move away from them.”
Mira smiled. “I get that. And I wouldn’t want to be away from you either. I’ve been there and don’t want to do that again.” She sighed, and then her eyes caught something and her face lit up. “Speaking of memories … that’s Cocoa Burn across the street,” she pointed.
He followed the direction of her finger, grinning. “Right back to where it started.” He looked down at her. “Tell me, what would you say if I asked you, right now, on a date?”
“I’d say yes,” she said bashfully. “And can we sit on the balcony? There’s a beautiful view from there.”
He slung his arm across her shoulders as they headed for the café. “We’ll sit wherever you want, babe. I totally love you, Adaora.”
“I love you more, Dominic Xavier Odogwu.”
And, for the first time, she wasn’t surprised that she actually meant it.
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About Amara Nicole Okolo
Amara is a young lawyer living in Abuja. She loves cupcakes, green tea and her tabby kitten, Timber. One of her life-long dreams is to bungee-jump from the Victoria Falls, but for now she is settling for hiking up the hill near her house. Black Sparkle Romance is her first novel.
Copyright
This edition published in 2015 by Ankara Press
© Amara Okolo, 2014
© Cover Print design Vlisco
All rights reserved. The whole of this work is protected by copyright. No parts of this work may be loaded, stored, manipulated, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information, storage and retrieval system without prior written permission from the publisher, on behalf of the copyright owner. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Nigerian National Library.
ISBN: 978-978-53151-1-0
Editor: Anthea Gordon
Production and layout: Jibril Lawal
Cover design art: Onyinye Iwu
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Black Sparkle Romance Page 11