Buried Obsession: Book 1 of the Obsession Trilogy

by Sinclaire, Roxy

  “I’m coming!” she called out, jumping to her feet and tidying her things up.

  Her phone vibrated, but she only gave it a glance to be sure it wasn’t Samuel or her boss, and otherwise ignored it. There wasn’t anyone else she needed, or wanted to speak to right then besides those two.

  She was humming as she left her room. Heck, if it wasn’t so childish, she would be skipping through the house.

  Of course, her mom didn’t miss her sudden good mood.

  “What happened to you suddenly?” she asked with an amused curve to her lips. “Or are you just really happy to help your mother cook?”

  Camila grinned then moved behind her mom, giving her a back hug that startled the other woman. But then she chuckled and patted Camila’s arm where it was around her.

  “I’m just really happy,” Camila answered honestly.

  “Well, go on?” her mom prompted. “What has you so happy? Did you get a bonus at work?”

  Camila wrinkled her nose at that and snorted, pulling away from her mom to stand beside her and help with cutting up the veggies that would go into their dinner. She took the knife from her mom and shooed her away to start cooking while Camila finished with the cutting.

  “As if that would ever happen,” she said dismissively. “My boss isn’t the kind of guy to give out a bonus unless it’s Christmas and he’s trying to convince us to work through part of the holiday instead of taking a week off until after New Year’s. But I do have some funds so if you’d like to eat something fancy, let me know and I’ll fit it into the budget.”

  Her mom sighed. “I would never ask you for that. Who needs fancy food, anyway? Besides, to me, just the fact that I can cook for myself is pretty fancy, you know?”

  Camila heard her mom’s words and couldn’t help her mood falling just a little as she remembered.

  “Yeah,” she murmured. “I guess.”

  Her mom sighed again, but more exasperated this time. “I didn’t say that to get you depressed, so what’s with the attitude? Weren’t you ready to break out dancing just a little while ago?”

  Camila gasped at that. “I was not!” she denied, then broke out in a laugh. “I can't dance if there’s no music anyway, no matter how happy I am.”

  “I can fix that,” her mom said, looking like she was about to go and do it right then.

  Camila stopped cutting momentarily to keep her mom from leaving her post at the stove. Soon, they went back to cooking, and half an hour later, sat down at the table to eat.

  “So?” her mom asked, arching an eyebrow, her expression curious. “Am I actually going to get to know why you’re this happy, or will you really make me guess?”

  “No need to guess,” Camila said with affected nonchalance, shrugging her shoulders. “Remember that guy, Samuel Kane? I have a date with him.”

  Camila looked surreptitiously at her mom to see her reaction. Her mom had been against her seeing Samuel in the first place, and she hadn't been all that happy to hear about Adrien, either. And Camila hadn't told her much about what happened between them, so when her mom looked confused, she expected it.

  When her mom showed a disgruntled expression a second later, though, she expected that, too.

  “Weren’t you dating the twin brother just recently?” she asked. “Adrien, right?”

  Camila nodded with pursed lips. “I did, and I kinda regret it. I still wanna see Samuel, though.” Her nose scrunched at the change in her mom’s expression. “I know it doesn’t say much about me that I keep switching between them, but trust me, Samuel is the good twin. I was wrong before and Adrien is just a really good actor.”

  Her mom still looked confused, but her expression had already fallen. She had her lips pressed together in a flat, grim line. But behind it, Camila could see the concern for her in her mom’s eyes.

  “Is this really going to be okay?” her mom asked after a bit. “I looked into this man after you told me about him last time. Isn’t he reputed to be a total asshole? I couldn’t count how many people had bad things to say about him on the internet! If you regret going out with his brother, why are you suddenly so eager for this?”

  Camila frowned. “Mom, don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Trust me, it’s all wrong when it comes to the Kane brothers.”

  Her mom frowned right back at her. “What do you mean?”

  “Whatever you read, it was probably out of a general search, right? Of course I got those reports when I interviewed him for the blog, and I really thought it was true. But then, after dating Adrien for a while…it still took Samuel explaining it to me for it to make sense.”

  Her mom’s frown deepened. “What happened with Adrien? He didn’t hurt you or anything, did he?”

  Camila winced at the question. There was no way she could tell her mom the truth of all that happened. She would worry. And maybe, try to find Adrien herself so she could beat his face in with a bat or something. She didn’t even doubt that her mom would do it.

  “The thing is,” she said, deflecting the question. “Every report out there is on Samuel Kane. I was surprised he even had a twin brother, remember? There’s pretty much nothing on Adrien. But after spending time with him and seeing how he treated other people…if it was before that and Samuel told me, I might not have believed him, but it was definitely all his brother. Samuel is very protective of his family, so when he gets the blame for Adrien’s actions, he doesn’t do anything. From what I’ve seen, I think he’s been forced to cover for him to create less drama for their family.”

  The expression on her mom’s face was skeptical. “Really?”

  She sounded unsure, but Camila didn’t blame her. As she just said, if she hadn't experienced Adrien for herself, she might not have believed it, either. But she knew better now.

  “Did I tell you that his parents passed away and he has a younger sister that he’s also taking care of?” Camila said. “She’s…a bit fragile. I’m sure he’s doing it more for her than to keep his brother out of trouble. There’s no news out there about her, either, which means she must be pretty sheltered. Imagine if the media started going after her then, though.”

  Her mom looked reluctant, but also like she was willing to believe this, and Camila sighed out in relief. Hopefully, her mom wouldn’t give her grief about dating Samuel.

  “Can I meet him soon?”

  Camila had gone back to eating happily, and the question was so sudden and outrageous, that she choked. She poured herself a glass of water as she coughed, then looked at her mom with wide eyes.

  “Mom?” she said, her voice coming out a bit hoarse. “I technically haven’t even started dating this man. Could you please not try to scare him off?”

  Her mom scowled. “Excuse me? And why on earth would I scare him off? With your track record with men, of course I’d be worried about you and want to meet the man you’re seeing. Can't I?”

  Camila opened her mouth to say that no, she could not, but the words got stuck in her throat at her mom’s scowl. Slowly, she closed her mouth and slumped her shoulders. She couldn’t say no to her mom in the end.

  Dammit.

  She didn’t say anything, but her mom continued eating, like she knew she’d already won. Dinner resumed with awkwardness, on Camila’s part, at least, as she wondered how she was going to bring this up with Samuel when she saw him.

  Chapter Twelve

  The day of their date, Camila woke up early because she was too excited. She hadn't had any dreams about Samuel lately, which was a good thing, because she didn’t know how she would have faced him after those dreams.

  Surprisingly, her mom was up early as well and ready to make breakfast.

  “I know you,” she explained at her daughter’s confused look. “You tend to work yourself up a lot. You guys won’t be meeting up until dinner, right? Around six or seven? In the evening? Honey, its six a.m. right now.”

  Camila blushed. “I can't help that I’m excited, Mom!” she complained. “And bes
ides, it’s not like I’ll be idle the whole day. I do still have work.”

  It was still early, but she went to help her mom get breakfast ready. She didn’t eat much with her nervous stomach, and she went back to her room. She managed to crawl out for lunch, but only took a few bites.

  She wanted this date to go well so badly. She didn’t know what impression Samuel must have of her after what she did, and she felt like she needed to repair it. So even though it was still really early, in the middle of the afternoon, she stopped working to start looking through her clothes. She felt even more pressure than when she’d been going out with Adrien.

  By the time it was ready to leave, she had worked herself up into a tizzy, all excited and nervous, her stomach so full of butterflies that she wondered if she’d be able to eat anything. When she got a text from Samuel just before she left that he was already waiting for her, it only made her even more nervous that she promptly tripped on her feet and nearly broke her heels, not to mention her leg.

  Her mom saw, but just shook her head in exasperation and said nothing.

  “Go,” her mom said, sounding exhausted. “But don’t come back too late tonight, and if he tries anything with you, kick him in the crotch and run.”

  Camila rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, Mom. See you later!”

  She rushed out of the apartment, being more careful this time. She made her way outside without meeting any of her neighbors, only to stop once she got to the curb.

  “Hello,” Samuel said, standing a few feet in front of her.

  Camila gaped at him in surprise. Not that he was there, but with the way he was dressed. He was in a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket over it. He had his hands in his pockets. She couldn’t even call it casual, because though the clothes he was wearing were probably expensive, he still looked very much like he fit in the neighborhood. She even felt slightly overdressed now in her dress and heels.

  “Hi,” she breathed out. “Sorry, did I make you wait?”

  He shook his head. “Not really. The taxi dropped me off just a couple minutes ago.”

  “Taxi?” she repeated. He didn’t even bring his car?

  Samuel just nodded. “Why not? This is New York. Roads are almost always congested, especially at this time on a Friday evening. I left home an hour ago and only just made it here. I would use public transport more often, to be honest, if I wasn’t such a public figure.”

  “Ah,” she murmured, making a tentative smile. “My, uh, article I wrote for the blog probably wasn’t much help to you, huh?”

  He returned the small smile with one of his own. It was really just a slight tilt up of the corner of his mouth, but it still made her feel warm.

  “No, it didn’t,” he said bluntly, waking her up from her momentary daze.

  She ducked her head, feeling a little bad. One of the parts of being a reporter she didn’t like was how some part of her job involved invading someone else’s privacy, with their permission or not.

  “Oh,” she breathed out, startled into looking up.

  She hadn't noticed when he raised his hand, but she did feel it when he tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. His fingertips lightly grazed her ear.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked, holding his arm out for hers.

  She took his arm silently, lost for words, and led the way to the restaurant. It actually got pretty busy on Friday evenings, with a lot of couples going out for date night then. It also wasn’t the kind of place that took reservations, but because she and her mom had been going by pretty often, ordering out from there, they were a bit friendly with the owner and the staff. She had asked for them to save her a table no matter what.

  Luckily, when they made it there, a table was waiting for them, and the restaurant didn’t even have to hold it. Samuel pulled her seat out for her like a total gentleman, pushing it in as she sat down, then took his own seat. A waiter passed by and dropped a menu for them.

  “I don’t know if the food here would be too your liking,” she said nervously. This was one of the things she’d worried about, but he hadn't looked like he minded.

  “I’ll eat just about anything so no need to worry,” Samuel said, picking up his menu with another smile. “What would you like?”

  Camila didn’t even bother picking up her own menu and just watched him. He read the menu just like he did everything else, seriously and with his full concentration. When the waiter came back around, they both gave their orders. Camila had been there enough times to know what she wanted without checking the menu.

  “Do you come here often?” he asked.

  “Uh, you could say that. I’ve been coming here with my mom for a while, whenever we don’t feel like making dinner at home. Sometimes we just come and order some food to go. Everything they make is pretty good.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  They chatted lightly about inconsequential things, like their tastes in food that moved to drinks, then art. They were both engrossed by the time the food made it to the table. They just continued to chat, and focused on eating when there was a lull in the conversation.

  It was…nice. Camila couldn’t remember the last time she just sat down with a guy and talked. It was surprisingly low-key, but it was sweet, and she felt so much more comfortable at the familiar family restaurant instead of somewhere fancier. Samuel didn’t seem any more awkward, either. Not to mention, Samuel seemed to relax once he was away from his brother.

  They were getting to know each other, little by little, and she thought it was a bit sad that it felt like such a new experience.

  “Camila?” Samuel said, during one of the lulls.

  She looked up, expectant, because she’d heard the hesitance in his voice. “Hmm?”

  “About…my brother. I talked to him and told him not to bother you from now on. So you no longer need to worry about him. I still feel like I should be apologizing to you.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said with a shrug, though her lips tightened a bit. “You’re not the one that needs to apologize, and I would feel guilty if you did. He’s probably caused you a lot of trouble, right?”

  Samuel sighed. “You have no idea. I don’t even know how to deal with it anymore. And it’s not just the family, he’s brought a lot of pain to us and to his lovers, and most of them tend to take it out on me, but when I think of how he must have treated them, I couldn’t say anything and just took it. It’s a bit too late to try and change him now.”

  “That isn’t your job, though,” she pointed out. “He is also an adult, isn’t he? And…” she hesitated, but in the end admitted it. “To be honest with you, the only reason I started dating him, was because he seemed to like me and you didn’t. I mean, I was pretty happy when you asked me out for coffee, and the whole time you were being short with your brother and not much better with me…”

  “Ah,” he grimaced as if he too was remembering that day. “I’m sorry for how I behaved that night. I never got to say it. I’ve been told I can be a bit…emotionally guarded, but it’s become a habit for me around my brother. And I didn’t want him to take interest in you, either. Of course, that backfired. But Camila,” he said, his expression serious as he watched her intently. “I am very much interested in you, and starting something with you. I wouldn’t have asked you out for coffee if I didn’t want to get to know you better.”

  “Even after…I went out with your brother?” she asked tentatively.

  She was happy knowing he liked her, of course, but this was her main worry.

  “I can't say that I don’t mind,” he said, and her expression dropped. But then he quickly added, “But that won’t stop me from pursuing you, if you want it too. Would you like to give dating another try? With me?”

  Camila felt a bit choked up. She hadn't expected him to ask so directly, but she supposed it matched with his personality. Holding his gaze, she nodded, because she didn’t think she could get a word past her throat.


  Samuel rewarded her with that same tiny smile, and she gave him a smile back.

  “Good,” he murmured.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Camila rolled over and hit the alarm on her clock. She’d set it the night before, wanting to get up early because Samuel was taking her out for the day. She had no idea what he had planned, but he’d told her to dress comfortable. Stretching, she rose from her bed and shuffled into the bathroom. She stripped and jumped into a warm shower, washing her hair with her favorite shampoo.

  That done, Camila dried off and pulled out her hair dryer and styled her hair to fall in waves over her shoulders. She took her time applying her makeup, nothing too fancy, just the basics. She curled her lashes and nodded at herself in the mirror, approving the natural look she’d achieved. Glancing at the clock, she realized it was nearly ten and Samuel would be there in just a few minutes. Quickly she donned her undergarments, the dark wash jeans, red cable knit sweater and knee-high black boots that she’d set out the night before.

  Grabbing her coat and purse, she left her room. “Bye, Mom! I’m going out,” she called as she passed through the living room.

  Her mom didn’t reply, but that wasn’t unusual. She was probably still asleep. Deciding she’d better leave a note, she went into the kitchen and quickly wrote that she was going out and would be back later that night. Finished, she went out her door, locking it behind her. With a spring in her step, she bounced down the cement stairs to the sidewalk. She didn’t have to wait long before a black Mercedes pulled up in front of her and parked.

  “You look lovely,” Samuel commented as he greeted her. He held his arms open and she moved into them. “You didn’t have to wait out here, I would have come up to get you.”

  Camila blushed. “I know, but I was ready and Mom is still sleeping, so I thought this might be better.”

  Samuel smiled. “You are a thoughtful daughter.” He pulled open the passenger door and helped her in. “All in?”

  Camilla nodded. “Yes.”