Practically everyone came to their feet after that, thunderous applause filling the room and startling Saffi. Flushed with pleasure at the way her speech was received, she had been able to momentarily forget about everything that happened in the past…until she came face to face with Staffan, who was waiting for her backstage.
Up close, he was even more overwhelmingly handsome, a prince in the flesh, easily standing out with his gleaming white tux while everyone else blended blandly into the darkness. Outside, she heard the lights shutting off one by one as their host gave his final speech. A party song played right after, followed by the cheers of the crowd.
All of those felt like it was happening in another dimension, though.
Right now, it was just Staffan and her again.
It felt so right that it had to be wrong.
“Congratulations, Saffi,” he said quietly, his eyes shining with something like pride. “You were magnificent back there.”
Saffi stepped back quickly just as Staffan reached out for her. She made her lips form a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, pretending she didn’t see the flash of hurt in Staffan’s gaze at the way she had avoided his touch.
“Thank you.” She took a deep breath. “I really appreciate you coming here. I am still your biggest…fan.” Somehow, she couldn’t make herself say she was a fangirl, feeling like she didn’t deserve to call herself that. She lowered her voice, making sure that only Staffan could hear her as she said, “But I think it’s better if you go now.”
He stiffened.
She stiffened, too, wondering if she had pushed him too far. His pride meant a lot to him, after all.
And then he stunned her by speaking in a voice that was neither loud nor soft but just enough for everyone to hear if they wanted to – and of course they wanted to.
“I’d give you anything you want in the world, Saffi, but I’m not letting you go without a fight this time.”
Somewhere behind her, a girl shrieked, as if carried away by the fierceness in Staffan’s tone.
Saffi could only empathize. Her own heart was beating so madly it was a miracle she could hear anything beyond it. She shook her head in confusion. “Staffan---why are you doing this? Can’t you see it’s not going to work?”
“It will if you give it a try---”
“I did give us a try,” she cut him off tonelessly. “And you responded by practically ha**ng s*x with another woman in front of me.”
Staffan whitened. “I was a f**king ass. I’d kill myself a hundred times if it means taking away the hurt that caused you – but I can’t. All I can tell you right now was I was a fool. I hadn’t trusted you. I let my bitterness about Chloe color my perception. All I can do now is to prove to you that I will love you every f**king day of my life---devote every f**king minute of it to making you happy.”
The words were so exquisitely beautiful it broke Saffi’s heart to ignore them. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I just can’t do this with you anymore.” She ran away then, and she ran even faster when she heard Staffan calling for her before taking after her.
Moon-walking mudskipper!
“Saffi!”
She was gasping loudly now, trying to catch her breath as she did her best to run away from Staffan in her ball gown and high heels. Thank God the crowd had forgotten all about restraint, crowding towards him and begging for autographs and having their picture taken with him.
“Goddammit, Saffi!”
He was still after her? How could he have gotten past those man-hungry vamps so quickly?
A familiar-looking guy suddenly popped in front of her. He was decent looking even though his hair was combed so flatly it stuck to his scalp. “H-hi, Sapphire. I just wanted to tell you congratulations for a job well done.” His voice was sincerely admiring as he added, “I still can’t imagine how you were able to write a new research study every week for the school year.”
“Saffi!”
Staffan’s voice made her swallow, but she managed not to look over her shoulder as she told the guy, “It’s just really because I’m the biggest nerd.” She jumped when Staffan called for her again, this time sounding too close. Physically, emotionally, mentally – he was just too close for comfort.
“Saf---”
She panicked. “Umm, Mike, right?”
His shoulders slumped. “Actually, I’m---”
She cut him off. “Care to dance?” Not bothering to wait for an answer, she pulled him to the middle of the dance floor and threw her arms around him. There. That should stop Staffan. He had always prided himself for being cool. He had always been possessive and jealous, but his pride would never allow him to actually fight another man over a woman.
Not after what Chloe did to him.
Staffan broke into a stop at the edge of the dance floor, recent exertions making him breathe a little harder than usual. Was she f**king serious? Was she really going to f**king let another man get his dick close to her body in a slow dance just to keep him away? And did she really think that would keep him away?
Ah Saffi March.
As always, she proved to be bad for his ego but good for his heart, with the way she could give him a cardio workout like no other. As for her talent for turning what was supposed to be the most dramatic moment in their lives into a f**king scene worthy of a Golden Globe for Best Sitcom? It was priceless.
But what he probably loved most about Saffi was her propensity not to think things through, proving again and again how she was the opposite of the majority of calculating bitches in the world.
Had Saffi forgotten she was on a f**king dance floor?
This was his world, not hers.
He went to the DJ, quietly said what he needed, and waited.
~~~
Saffi stiffened when Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake’s collaboration for Suit & Tie was cut mid-song and she stiffened even more when it was replaced by the first few notes of a song that was hypnotically seductive…and terribly familiar.
Poison.
The song that launched Staffan into stardom, the song that Staffan crooned as he introduced her to the wonders of his unique brand of hand selection---twisting tonguefish! It was the kind of déjà vu Saffi didn’t need right now.
And then she heard Staffan singing. Live.
She whirled around.
Staffan didn’t make any move to walk to her, as if giving her a chance to continue dancing with Mike, Mark---whatever his name was, giving her a chance to shame him the way Chloe had in the past. Then his humiliation had been private, a matter between the two of them. But now he was giving her the upper hand, a chance to demolish him in front of everyone.