CUL-DE-SAC (On The Edge Book 1) (26 page)

CHAPTER 32

Catalina woke up, not even surprised she
was alone in her big bed.

Disappointed? Maybe, but still not really
surprised.

Xan didn’t seem like the kind of a man who
would stay with a woman all night long after passion subsided just to serve her
breakfast in bed in the morning.

She nearly snorted out loud at the idea
because she couldn’t imagine a less likely scenario than this one.

Cat was a romantic at heart so it was
astonishing how at peace she was with his non-sentimental behavior. She
congratulated herself on what she considered a mature attitude on her part.

She didn’t hurry with her shower, allowing
herself extra time today that was supposed to help her collect her thoughts.
But apparently her mind had other ideas, feeling fine with venturing from place
to place.

One glance at the terrace told her Xan had
collected the plates and transferred them to the kitchen. It was as if the
previous evening and night hadn’t happened at all and he had never been there,
even though the soreness of her body told a different story altogether, Cat
thought blushing slightly.

And just like that she lost the silent
battle with herself, permitting the heated images to sprout from her memory and
come to life again.

She jumped up slightly when the front door
opened and closed shut, but there was no time for fear because Xan came into
her view balancing two coffees in one hand and a paper bag with the logo of the
pancake house around the corner in the other.

He threw the keys on the table while his
gaze roved over her from top to bottom, making her realize she had nothing on
except a thin negligee.

“Morning, Kitten.”

He was wearing fresh clothes, which made
her think he must have woken up really early to go to his place to change and
come back with breakfast.
“Good morning,” she muttered.

Yes, Catalina might have been a bit
disappointed he was not there when she woke up, but now she realized some part
of her was relieved as well. Because all of a sudden it became perfectly clear
she had no idea what to say to him or how to behave.

She was used to being around people, and
conversations were always what Cat was good at. It had been her daily routine
from the moment she had learned how to speak properly.

Yet now she was tongue-tied, feeling
self-conscious while facing her lover.

Lover
, she repeated inwardly. Catalina
Bennett had a lover.

The thought thrilled her and when he
unhurriedly walked closer to her, she said the first thing that came to her
mind, “I thought you left.”
“I did. Now I’m back with breakfast. Was it a mistake?” He raised one eyebrow,
looking arrogant as ever.

She glanced at the coffee and paper bag he
placed on the table next to the carelessly thrown keys. It wasn’t close to the
romantic notion of breakfast in bed, but Cat realized she wouldn’t change the
reality even if she could.
“No, I’m glad.” She smiled at him.
“Why don’t you show me how much?” He murmured leaning over and kissing her like
he had every right to touch her as he pleased.

Maybe after last night he did, she thought
dazed. His hot hand sneaked under the thin gown and he groaned, closing it over
her naked buttock.
“You are killing me.” He slid his arm around her waist and nuzzled a kiss to
the creamy slope of her neck.

His cock translated her closeness as an
unverbalised invitation to some action.

If he thought Cat was out of his system
after he finally took her last night, he was in for a surprise. If anything,
his desire for her only escalated, because now he knew exactly how it felt to
be wrapped tightly by her hot little body.

He woke up before the dawn and the
realization he didn’t feel in hurry to leave her spurred him to jump out of the
bed and do exactly that.

But then when he was taking a shower at his
own place, the sudden thought slammed into him that Catalina deserved better
than that after her first time. So he drove all the way back, stopping only to
buy coffee and pastries.

Next thing he would be buying her fucking
flowers, he thought, and everything in him bucked at the mere idea. But it
wasn’t enough to make him step away from the tempting heat of her body.
“You feel very… alive to me,” she said, gazing down at his unruly erection and
he chuckled.
“The question is: how do
you
feel, Cat?” He leaned back to look at her
and couldn’t believe the flush that covered her cheeks. “Is this my answer?” He
wanted to know, raising his fingers to her burning face.
“I’m good, thank you.”

So polite, he thought, wondering if she
realized she became more prim and proper while being flustered. He shouldn’t
have found it so damn charming and attractive, Xan decided and could only sigh.

He would love nothing more than to strip
her right where they stood and take her just because he could, but he didn’t
think she was ready for it quite yet. Besides, he had exactly twenty minutes
before he had to meet up with Kelton for a sparring session.
“Are you good enough to make an appearance at my training?”

She had work to do, Catalina thought. She
hadn’t checked her email since the day before and had yet to respond to one job
offer, but she wanted to spend the day with him. Wanted to see him in what she
considered his natural environment.

One day, she told herself. All her duties
could wait one day while she enjoyed herself for a change.
“Give me ten minutes.” She smiled and went up on her toes to kiss him on the
lips.
“We don’t have ten minutes unless you can drink your coffee on the way,” he
called out after her.

A day, she repeated inwardly once again. It
didn’t seem nearly enough to try and understand if she was falling in love with
Xan… or if she was already more than halfway there.

***

Kelton wasn’t sure what he expected when he
had asked Xan to bring his girl to one of their meets. He only knew that
Catalina Bennett wasn’t it and he didn’t think he had ever been so glad for
being as wrong as he was now.

Fighters were usually attracting beautiful
but empty dolls who liked to be paraded around like some kind of a prize their
men won in the ring.

Catalina was surely very attractive, he
admitted, but not in the obvious, clamorous way. No, she had class, and
intelligence was shining brightly in the blue of her eyes.

He walked to sit on one of the benches next
to her, where she was observing Xan going through the stretching routine that
was meant to prepare him for sparring.
“So the boy tells me you are a photographer?” He asked.

The boy
, she thought and nearly laughed,
imagining how much Xan must hate the nickname.
“I am.” Her stomach clenched painfully at the reminder she decided to play
hooky today.
“So where is your camera?” He wanted to know and she glanced at him from the
corner of her eye.

Kelton Donovan was an older version of Xan
and she assumed the man was somewhere in his late thirties or early forties. He
seemed rough and ragged in the same way Xan did, which spoke volumes about the
kind of life he led.

Her chest tightened painfully when she
remembered the bleak reality of her lover’s past.

Kelton’s hair was dark with a few strands
of silver shining in it and his very dark eyes were regarding her with an equal
curiosity she was measuring him up. He was as tall as Xan and his chest was
covered with ropes of muscles as well, but without all those mouthwatering
tattoos Xan had, she thought and blushed slightly.

Catalina had always enjoyed meeting new
people, loved conversations of every kind, even though she had learned
everything had its price and strings attached, whether it was just small talk
or an in-depth discussion.

But with Xan she was discovering there was
so much more to life and people than she was used to. His friends were
interesting, to say the least. They didn’t know her well enough to have any
kind of expectations from her and all they’d heard about her came from Xan.
With them, she could be her own person… whatever that meant, she thought.

Camera, Cat repeated inwardly, he was
asking her about her camera.

She patted her bag, wondering how Xan was
expecting she would stop herself from using her Canon on him while he was being
so… manly.
“Within reaching distance of course.” She smiled at him while her idle fingers
drummed over her thigh.
“Well?” The arrogant way in which he raised an eyebrow reminded her of Xan as
well and she sighed.

It seemed like she was seeing similarities between
the two men literally everywhere.
“Well… I am waiting until both of you will be engaged out there. Why would I
satisfy myself with one since I can depict two exceptionally handsome men?” She
blinked innocently at him and Kel threw his head back and laughed.
“Maybe because your eyes can see only him?” He teased and saw her straightening
her spine.

Interesting, he thought, he found a
sensitive spot without even searching for it.
“I came here for Alex after all,” she reminded him, and it cost him some effort
to keep his amusement to himself.

She was good, Kel admitted, and didn’t miss
the fact Xan apparently didn’t bristle when she called him
Alex
. The boy
was a goner and Kelton would give a lot to be a fly on the wall when he
realized that himself.

“And it has nothing to do with the fact you
are in love with him?” He probed deeper.
“No.” She looked at him with fear-stricken eyes and this time he only sighed.

Human beings were incessant source of
puzzlement to him. They were capable of acts of great bravery and cruelty both,
sometimes at the same time. They could conquer their biggest fears but not the
one of loving or being loved in return.

The tender emotion made grown people flinch
while they wouldn’t have batted an eye facing mortal danger. Love was one of a
very few things that could turn people into fools. No matter how smart or how
tough they were, most lost their marbles when love took them in its throes.

He didn’t think he would have been better
himself, Kelton was the first one to admit to it, but so far he had
successfully avoided testing the theory on his own skin.

He simply suspected love wasn’t in cards
for him.
“My bad, then.” He winked at her, hoping the two wouldn’t hurt each other too
bad. “How did you two meet?” Kel wanted to know.
“Umm… it was one of those… social gatherings,” Catalina said, and Kelton roared
out with laughter.
“Meaning one of his fights.”
“More or less.” She sent him a sheepish look. “What about you?”
“Xan saved my life,” he stated simply.
“You are going to leave me hanging like that?” She looked incredulously at him.
“Stick around and I might tell you one day.” He winked at her. “Hope you won’t
cry or faint when I kick his ass.” He rose to his full height.
“Hope you won’t either… when he kicks
yours
.” She smiled sweetly at him
and he laughed again.

Oh, he liked her alright, Kelton decided.
“Are you going to flirt with my woman all day or are you going to drag your
mangy hide here?” Xan called out.
“Well, she called me
‘exceptionally handsome’
,” Kel smirked.
“Did she now?”
“I did call
both
of you that to be fair.” She shrugged when Xan sent her
a look promising dire consequences for her lapse of loyalty, but the wicked
gleam in his eye told her clearly his punishment would be of a very intimate
nature and she blushed.
”She is too cute, even if delusional about your grandeur,” Kel said.
“She knows a champion when she sees one,” Xan smirked and Cat laughed, getting
a hold of her camera.

They were quite a pair, she thought,
watching Xan reaching for the hand wraps and methodically covering his wrists
and knuckles in order to protect them.

She didn’t realize she got up from the
bench and started to move around, snapping more and more pictures.
“Your girl looks very serious,” Kelton commented.

She was, Xan thought, for the first time
really noticing how she changed when she let her camera speak for her. She was
utterly focused on her task and he felt a pang of guilt because he hadn’t taken
her photography seriously so far, which was ironic considering the fact they
met because of that.
“Why don’t we give her something to work with, then?” Kel nudged him and Xan
only sighed because it was obvious another one of his friends had fallen under
Cat’s spell.
“Yeah, why don’t we?” He agreed. “What are you thinking?”
“How about rope sparring?” Kel offered with an unholy gleam in his eyes.
“That’s badass,” Xan grinned in response.

He didn’t know many fighters who liked to use
the fighting technique, while it was one of his favorite drills to work on
improving his boxing techniques.

This shit was no joke, Xan thought, and much
harder than it seemed.

He was always ending up with his share of
punches, but he knew it was worth it in the long run because it had already
improved various aspects of his game and techniques from the moment Kelton
implemented the skill into their
Muay Thai
trainings.

This one demanded to be paired up with
someone around a similar skill level because it could only work as an improvement
tool and a real challenge during a fight with someone who could push you.

They tied a short rope to each other making
sure it was tight enough, because the last thing either one of them wanted was
the shit to untie or break when they started to get out of range in order to
avoid getting hit hard.

They started slow by circling each other and
creating angles. The only weak point of the drill according to Xan was being
limited to using hands alone, which narrowed down the options of attack.

Kelton’s head seemed like a perfect target,
but the son of a bitch was sneaky and delivering a punch wasn’t as easy as it
should be, Xan thought, throwing a left hook to his right kidney.

He groaned when Kel’s jab to his liver
reached its goal. Defending himself wasn’t his favorite pastime; he much
preferred to be the one doing attacking, but the drill required him to work on
his long guard and other techniques of defense as well.

They kept going at it, throwing punches
along with jeers and at some point Xan forgot about Catalina’s presence,
stopped noticing flashes of her camera, utterly focused on not having his ass
handed to him.