CUL-DE-SAC (On The Edge Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

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