The face her Canon had found intriguing before was becoming even more arresting now as he scowled, although the grimace didn’t bode well for her.
Her fingers were itching and begging for the tool of her trade so she could capture the sudden change. Her knuckles clenched on the leather belt of her camera, but she managed to resist the urge.
Barely.
Catalina swallowed hard, looking up at him, not particularly enjoying having his utter focus on herself, but she schooled her face into a polite, cool mask her grandmother would greatly approve of, and she offered him a meaningless smile.
A smile that wobbled a bit under his gaze, which turned pitiless in the blink of an eye, just to fade away completely after he hurled a harshly voiced question her way.
"Are you lost, Doll?"
***
After Xan had caught the sight of the mysterious and potentially dangerous woman, his eyes didn't veer off her once. He kept observing her while she was moving through the crowd freely and nobody seemed to be paying her any attention.
Surprisingly enough, nobody was worried or astonished about her snapping pictures, as if the possibility of seeing their faces printed out somewhere didn't worry them in the least.
Well, it worried him.
He followed her, which wasn't easy considering all those strangers who wanted to congratulate him personally and offer some advice for future reference. People were stopping him wherever he went, wanting to gain his attention, just like when he was walking toward the fight. The difference was that now they were more determined and he had even less patience than before.
Was he happy after the win?
He wasn't sure he knew the meaning of the word 'happy' in the first place. Happiness was not something he was after. First, he wanted money and fame in whatever form or shape it could come to him.
But it was years before when he was this hungry and desperate boy who was trying to outrun himself.
Today... today he was someone else, yet too much of this boy was still a part of him. He was hungry, but not in the literal sense like in the past. His appetites were not sophisticated, but were definitely veering toward refined even though he remained the same at his very core.
Desperation was bred into him and while he was not the hopeless child anymore without a roof above his head, he was cursed to walk hand in hand with disaffection.
Happiness was not in cards for him, but he was satisfied at times and any kind of win was placing him under the spell of this state.
Yet this time it was all tinged with too many other emotions as well.
He wasn't satisfied with the easy way the fight went and then ended.
He wasn't satisfied with kicking somebody who was already down.
Finally, he wasn't satisfied with spotting the woman and the fact she seemed to be focusing her camera more on him than anything or anyone else.
No, he was far from feeling anything close to the state of contentment.
His gaze landed on her one more time, effortlessly picking her out of the crowd even though she was not tall and her dark clothes were merging perfectly into the obscure interior of the club.
Her dark shirt was primly buttoned up without the slightest glimpse of a cleavage.
A glimpse? There was not even a sliver of hope it might happen, he thought.
Her leather jacket encased her too perfectly to be anything else than tailored made and he could bet there was a discreet label of an expensive designer somewhere on it.
What was a woman like that doing in an afterhours club?
"It better be good." He muttered to himself.
Xan was surprised to discover she was shorter than he had originally thought her to be. Probably the audacity with which she was moving around snapping pictures seemed to make her look taller.
She was slightly built and delicate in a way that seemed out of the realm of this underground world. Her hair was blonde and long, but he was unable to estimate the exact length because it was pulled into a ponytail, giving her the air of a teenager rather than a grown woman.
No matter from which angle he was looking at her presence in here tonight, it still didn't add up, didn’t make sense.
Nothing about her did and it annoyed him even more since he was not able to place her under any kind of category of people familiar to him. He felt better knowing who he was dealing with, what people were all about and where they were coming from.
How else could he know what to expect of them?
When he tapped her lightly on the shoulder and she swiveled on her heel to face him, his brow furrowed further. Her features were classically beautiful; her almond shaped blue eyes were wide open and way too guileless for his peace of mind. She seemed classy and untouchable, which for some reason only managed to piss him off further.
He noticed her hand clenching nervously around the belt of her camera and it was a betraying gesture not fitting to the cool, well practiced smile she sent his way.
Perhaps someone else would hesitate while facing a delicate and so out of place creature as her, but it was him who stumbled upon her and now he wanted answers to his questions.
He couldn't forget she nearly cost him the win, which only reinforced the brusqueness of his question.
"Who the fuck are you?" He demanded when she didn't answer his initial question right away.
After all, patience was not one of Xan's virtues if he had any to begin with.
CHAPTER 3
Catalina was used to sophisticated people and sublime things. She didn't bat an eyelash while talking to those holding important offices and wielding considerable power. Yet now she found herself blinking incredulously at the half naked barbarian.
She had exactly zero experience with someone of his ilk.
Since she was in his world now and didn't know what was acceptable and what wasn't, she decided to adapt the rules she knew well.
"Thank you for your concern but I am not lost. I was actually leaving so if you will excuse me..." She decided to act as if he didn't utter the second question at all, giving him a chance to take a proverbial step back and hold a civil conversation.
A chance he ignored.
"Nice try, but not so fast," he protested, taking a hold of her arm.
She sight softly, only slightly disappointed. She was not surprised in the least he didn't give up so easy.
He was a fighter after all, Cat reminded herself.
But it still grated that he was expecting her to explain herself. And all just a moment after she congratulated herself for not raising any suspicion, she mocked herself inwardly.
She wanted to curse, almost able to see with her mind's eyes a frown furrowing the distinguished line of Florence Bennett's brows. It was usually something akin to a red sign for Cat, working as effectively as a warning when all the others had failed her. It worked this time as well, helping Catalina to maintain the unruffled facade and act with dignity.
As if the fact she found herself on the scene of the underground fighting was an everyday occurrence in her life. As if being caught red-handed with her camera pointed at Mister Tall-Dark-and-Irritated didn't faze her in the least.
The truth was it did, but the mass of people flanking them was giving her some sense of security no matter how misleading concept it was.
He let go of her arm as fast as he gripped it, but she didn't delude herself in thinking she was free to go. He was standing before her bigger than life with his arms folded on his muscled chest.
Still bared muscled chest, she noticed in passing.
She could almost see the thoughts running through his head. The silent way in which he was assessing her, judging her, making all kinds of assumptions the way people tended to.
Catalina was not aware that her chin moved slightly up as if she was inaudibly daring him to categorize her.
Categorize and dismiss her as nothing more but a porcelain doll. A doll he had already called her, she remembered with aversion.
The proud
stance was an unconscious act on her part but he read the challenge in her gaze without the slightest problem.
Now she was speaking his language, Xan thought and it didn't matter she didn't say a word. He looked at her more intently, trying to solve the puzzle her presence was to him.
"My name is Catalina." She extended her hand to him but he ignored the gesture like everything else, not taking his eyes off her.
"I'm listening," came his answer.
She breathed out in relief when he took a step back, allowing her to regain some of her personal space. But she refused to feel grateful for something that was her undeniable right. The little movement simply reassured her that he was capable of acting in a civilized manner after all, when a moment earlier she could have sworn he didn't know the meaning of the word alone.
She smiled slightly, with less strain than before but not relaxing an inch, still maintaining the distance she always placed between herself and the rest of the world.
"I thought it was pretty obvious what I was doing here." She laughed quietly pointing at her camera in a self explanatory gesture. "I find the scene irresistible and didn't think there was anything wrong with taking a few snapshots. I had no intentions of offending anyone." She looked at him through the veil of her lashes, wondering what her next step should be because he seemed highly uncooperative.
He didn't allow even the smallest smile to soften the hard line of his lips this whole time.
Xan was wondering what kind of a game she was trying to pull him into and he was surprised she didn't choke on the lie that slipped from her lips so readily. Because it was obvious to him she was lying, sadly for her she wasn't as adept at it as she thought herself to be.
Apparently everyone took him for a fool tonight, he thought angrily. First his boss, now this slip of a woman before him. What the hell was up with that?
If he wasn't so riled up he might have chuckled at her blatant effort to feed him the line about how compelling underground fighting was to her. As it was Xan gnashed his teeth and gazed down at the camera she held in a protective grip.
"No matter how flattering your interest is..." His tone suggested it wasn't at all. "... I didn't give you a permission to take pictures of me."
He kept looking at her as if trying to get inside her head and see every thought passing through her mind. His words assured her he didn't buy a word from her desperate attempt at explaining her presence in this place. But Catalina was determined to stick to her version no matter his doubts and not so subtle ways of placing her somewhere between a fan and a stalker.
She had never been particularly good or comfortable with lies which should be considered a good thing, making life so much the simpler. Unfortunately it usually tended only to further complicate most situations.
"I promise I won't do it again." She tried to pacify him without having high hopes it would work.
It was hard to withstand his penetrating gaze and when he just kept boring into her eyes with his own, she had the sudden urge to admit to everything and be done with it.
"I want them back. Now." He was adamant about it.
"You can't be serious..." She started but Xan's head snapped up and he looked somewhere way above her head.
Cat felt tempted to see for herself what took his sudden attention but she wasn't willing to look away from him, the same way she wouldn’t take her eyes off a rabid animal placed in front of her.
It didn't do her much good because she was completely unprepared when a moment later he grabbed the belt of her camera and used it to pull her closer to his body.
She felt a spike of alarm sneaking up her spine, trying to reduce her thinking capacity.
"Hey!" Cat started to struggle, her cheeks instantly heating up at the inappropriateness of the situation when she was pulled toward his naked chest.
"I am very serious Doll. I don't have time for this bullshit." He informed her.
Before she knew it, he took possession of her camera and she understood that was his intention all along.
Xan was still sweaty and dirty from the fight but he ignored it as everything he didn't want to acknowledge.
He roughly pulled her even closer ignoring her protests until their bodies connected. Perhaps he would have stopped himself from it, but the fact she seemed so pristine pushed him to it, he justified his action.
An instant later he let her go and Cat felt naked and more vulnerable than ever.
"If you want to get your camera back meet me here tomorrow night." He told her, already dismissing her and turning to walk away.
Shock nearly doubled her over but she grabbed his bicep before she could talk herself out of it.
"I will, but not here." She told him and he was a bit surprised at the decisiveness in her tone, but he liked the fact she seemed to have a spine to go along with the pretty face.
He had something she wanted, so it was obvious she had to come to him and she would, Xan thought, judging by the determined look in her eyes. But he decided setting the meeting elsewhere was even better plan.
She didn't need to know that though, and he made sure she understood to what lengths he was going by agreeing to it.
"Fine. You will owe me one. Monsoon Café. Tuesday noon. Better be there." He sent her a chilling look, glancing down at his arm where she grabbed him and Catalina let go instantly.
He decided it was much better plan to meet up elsewhere indeed since he had exactly zero intentions of returning her camera. The probability of him making an appearance in the cafe was doubtful at best as well.
Yet it was another thing the Doll here was unaware of and he felt like chuckling, but Tony gave him a sign he was awaiting him in his office and he had much more pressing things to take care of than the woman before him along with her unclear reasons.
One way or another it didn't matter any longer. Not after he had her camera and whatever the plan she had for the pictures was now null and void.
"See you there." Catalina said, swallowing further objections back since it was obvious she would just waste her breath.
He turned away from her without any additional word, as if everything was said and done and her agreement was not required at all. She was left in the middle of the crowd which was oblivious and indifferent to her anguish.
She just stood there humiliated, helplessly watching him go and holding her camera hostage.
Cat's gaze dropped down and she looked at her leather pump discovering a splash of blood on it. If Xan was a reigning champ of the arena, she felt on the side of defeated tonight as if it were her blood that was drawn.
Finally, she managed to collect the debris of her pride and made her way out of the damn club toward her car. She should have never accepted the job offer in the first place, she thought bitterly.
It had bad luck written all over it from the get-go.
***
Xan's mood improved slightly after retrieving the camera from the woman and possibly averting the potential disaster her pictures could turn into.
What he considered a small victory over tricking her minutes before was just an additional bonus.
Perhaps he should have felt ashamed by using his physical strength against someone so much weaker. Maybe his sense of a fair play would suffer because of that. Maybe, Xan agreed, if only he hadn’t decided a long time ago that fair play was overrated.
But when he was climbing up the stairs to Tony's office, the small quirk to his lips disappeared giving his face a solemn look once more. He was not looking forward to having the second round with his boss about the same thing. It was tiresome and he preferred not to talk about things at all over being lied to.
His knock was perfunctory at best and when he entered Tony's domain, a woman slid off the other man's lap, hastily fixing her short dress.
Xan wasn't surprised in the least.
Women were his boss' drug of choice. They were his obsession at times, addiction always.
Some could say after three divorces the Cul-de-s
ac's owner should have learned his lesson, but at the age of forty eight he remained carelessly unaffected by his earlier failures. Stubbornly reopening the same door and falling in love all over again.
In love, or rather in lust, Xan thought cynically, but it was not his problem, only something to be occasionally amused over.
Tony was an average looking guy. At the first glance, there was nothing specific about him that could distinguish him from any other Joe out there. But first impressions were misleading as often as they were correct, Xan thought. It was enough to look into his dark flinty eyes to understand he meant business and he was known for not taking no for an answer.
"You wanted to see me?" He asked him now, not bothering to apologize for interrupting the tête-à-tête.
If people waited for Tony to be alone without any chick on his arm, nothing would ever get done around here, Xan decided.
"Yes."
"We will continue this... later Tony." The woman purred, sending him a coquettish look over her shoulder, completely ignoring Xan's presence.
"We sure will, Sugar!" Tony agreed with a wide grin and did not speak until she left, closing the door behind herself.
Music from downstairs was cut instantly; only the slightest bass vibrations could be felt in what Tony liked to call his 'den'.
"Great job tonight, but it's hardly surprising."
"Thanks." Xan shrugged.
As much as it was the truth, he knew he wasn't called in here just to hear praise alone. Nothing was as easy as that in life.
Everything had its price.
Everything and everybody and it was something he had learned the hard way.
"I wanted to make sure we are on the same page, Xan."
"Aren't we always?" He folded his arms which reminded him that he had yet to take a shower and pull some clothes on, but something or someone kept interrupting him.
A grin wanted to tug at his lips when he shoved his hand into the pocket of his Martial Arts pants and found the camera there, but he nipped it in the bud, not wanting to explain the whole situation to Tony.
CUL-DE-SAC (On The Edge Book 1) Page 3