Beautiful Obsession: A Dark Captive Romance (Dark Obsession Prequel) Read online

  Kane was tight-lipped, and it took a bit of coaxing, before he finally opened his mouth and said what she was looking for.

  “There really isn’t that much,” he started. “I’m assuming you’ve done some research on me, but other than business, I don’t let details of my life outside the office leak out into the media. I’m not sure what you would like…”

  “Anything,” Camila said quickly. He looked so uncomfortable, like he would change his mind if she didn’t strike while the iron was hot, so she was eager to get something from him. Even something small would be more than anyone else had managed to get. “Maybe your family background, or even where you went to school. What you did before you ventured into business and such.”

  “Ah,” he nodded. “Well. Family background, huh… I won’t mention what school I went to, but I can start by saying that I enlisted a couple years after high school. Uh, I did go to college within that time, but I had to cut my studies short, in the end.”

  “You were in the army?” she said, surprised.

  “Yes, I was. For a number of years. Of course, I can't give you details on what happened while I served in the army. On the family side…my parents weren’t entirely happy with my enlistment, but they went along with whatever I wanted to do. Sadly, they passed away several years ago, and I had two siblings to look after, so I came back. A younger brother and sister.”

  “They must have been devastated,” she murmured. “As I’m sure you were, too.”

  “It was a hard time for all of us…”

  Camila watched him in rapt attention as he spoke a little more about his family situation, and his time in the army. Even though she reacted to the words he said in all the appropriate ways, speaking up where needed, she wasn’t listening, at least not entirely. She was only taking in his words on the surface, but her mind was completely different.

  So glad I chose to go with the tape recorder! If I’d trusted my mind, or tried written notes, I would have tanked this interview…

  Camila knew she should act more professional, but she couldn’t help it. Maybe because she’d spent so long staring at his picture, that seeing him in real life made her even more fixated on this man. Samuel Kane was too attractive for his own good, or hers, and if this hadn't been an official meeting, she might have even tried…flirting a little bit.

  It had been a while since Camila tried flirting with anybody.

  Still, her body unconsciously gave her away. She would tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, her fingers lingering at her throat. She would cross her legs one way, then the other, causing her dress and the coat on her lap to raise up a bit and flash some thigh. Even when she noticed she kept doing it, she didn’t stop, her heart beating nervously the entire time.

  Only, it ended in disappointment for her, because while he kept his eyes on hers as he talked, occasionally looking away or getting lost in thought, he didn’t once look at the rest of her. Camila sighed as she picked up her camera, once she was out of questions for him and Kane had run out of things to say.

  “Now that the spoken part of it is over, may I please take a few photos?”

  “How do you want me?” he asked.

  Camila froze for a second, all sorts of thoughts going through her mind, before she metaphorically shook them all off.

  “Um, just act natural. You can look at me, or look at the camera. Even away is good.”

  Kane leaned back on the bench, throwing his arm on the back of it. With his legs crossed, and him looking right at her with his other arm folded in his lap, he looked delectably relaxed. Camila sighed as she took several shots, even as her heart skipped a few beats.

  “Okay, now if you could please…” she continued to direct, asking him to shift in different poses so she could get several angle shots, each one practically stabbing her in the chest because it was so perfect.

  Anyway, what was I expecting? That someone like that would be anything but disinterested in me?

  Camila knew she was somewhat attractive. She didn’t turn many heads, but she’d been told plenty of times by men that she cleaned up pretty well when she paid attention to her looks. Still, it was probably too fantastical to expect Samuel Kane to look twice at her with anything resembling attraction, or even the slightest interest.

  “Thank you, Mr. Kane, I think I have enough,” she said after a few minutes. She looked at the camera’s screen, scrolling through some of the photos. They all looked pretty much perfect, and she couldn’t wait to get back to her computer so she could look at them all properly. “I’d like to thank you for cooperating with me on this interview. I hope I didn’t inconvenience you with the time, or make you uncomfortable with any of the questions.”

  “It’s all completely fine,” he said reassuringly. “I have no prior engagements for today, and as for the questions, I can only hope I gave you something useful?”

  “Very useful, thank you.”

  She shot him a smile, then let go of her camera, as she moved closer to the bench once more to pick up her coat and her purse.

  “Well, I guess this is it. I need to go back and write the article. Someone will be in contact with you before it’s published so you and your people can take a look at the content, and nothing will be going up on the blog without your express approval.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Kane said, standing up. “Though, I would really appreciate it if you would call me Samuel, Miss Blake. I’m afraid, even after all this time, hearing Mr. Kane reminds me too much of my late father.”

  “Oh,” she breathed out. “I’m sorry. Samuel.”

  “No worries. The loss of my parents is something I can't escape, after all.”

  Camila stood with her things in her arms, feeling a little awkward as she thought of how to back out of this. Just say goodbye and leave? Or would that be rude? This wasn’t the first interview she’d ever done, and usually she knew what she was doing, but she didn’t get to meet men this attractive so easily, either.

  “U-uh,” she floundered for something to say, only to pause when Kane…uh, Samuel held his hand out to her. Guessing he wanted a handshake, she slid her hand into his. His larger, warm palm enveloping hers made her breath catch in her throat for a sec, and that was when she knew she just had to leave before she gave herself away.

  Before she could say anything, though, Samuel did, and it left her surprised.

  “Would you like to have coffee with me?”

  Camila blinked up at him. “… What?”

  It wasn’t the most eloquent, but it was the best she could manage.

  Samuel cleared his throat as he dropped her hand, then put both of his into his pants pocket. His expression was still flat as he watched her, but she thought he’d softened a bit from when she first saw him a little over an hour ago.

  “You don’t need to say anything right now,” Samuel said. “Would you give me your phone number? I’ll text you so you have mine, and you can let me know later. I have a good memory, so just read it to me?”

  Camila found herself nodding, and she read her number out to him. Samuel looked serious, and when she said the last number, he nodded his head once. She assumed he’d gotten it. He said goodbye, then turned around and walked away.

  For the longest time, Camila could only watch his back until he disappeared. And when he was out of her sight, she sat back down on the bench, feeling dazed.

  Did… that really just happen?

  Chapter Three

  Camila wasn’t sure how long she stayed at the park, before she felt more herself and got up to leave. By the time she managed to get a cab to head back home, though, she felt hungry.

  At least I don’t have to go to the office, she thought with a sigh.

  The photoblog actually did have an office where they handled everything, since it wasn’t just something casual. It was a pretty small office, but the blog had about ten people working for it, so it wasn’t as if they needed much space. It was also pretty relaxed, in that the employees
didn’t have to show up at the office and stay there all day, as long as you had a project to do, you headed out, aside from the few people who were responsible for putting up the articles and photos on the blog.

  On the ride, she remembered to text in that the interview had gone without a hitch. Because it was someone so high profile, everyone had been worried about how it would go. Not to mention, some of her coworkers had been envious of her getting this project, and Camila felt pretty lucky herself, since it practically just fell in her lap. With the message sent, she looked outside. She figured she might as well buy some groceries on her way back, because there wasn't much left at home.

  “Right here, please,” she said to the driver, a block away from her apartment building.

  She made the payment and jumped out of the car, then walked into the store and made a quick purchase. She wouldn’t be getting paid for another week or so, so she managed on a small budget, and walked out a few minutes later.

  It was the middle of the day so the sidewalk wasn’t as crowded as it usually was, since she was out early in the morning and back late in the evening on most days. The day was surprisingly still warm, even with the breeze, and she took a leisurely walk, her thoughts swirling around her mind the whole way.

  Her thoughts were, of course, on Samuel Kane. No…it was just Samuel now, though it felt odd to be on first name basis with someone so out of her league.

  Let’s see, she mused internally. The info I gathered on him online…

  Like any other high profile person in New York, there was a lot of information about Samuel going around on the news, in the papers, and online. Most of the research she and the guys at the office had done had mostly been what they could find online, and most of it was gossip. Like how there was a lot of gossip around that Samuel Kane was this notorious rake that preyed on women and had more exes than you could count on one hand. This little bit of info had given Camila some apprehension, but now, she was wondering if it was really true.

  The man that I met…a notorious rake?

  When she thought about it now, he definitely carried himself like an ex-soldier. Even when they sat down, besides when she had him posing for photos, he’d kept his spine straight and his posture was very formal. Even the way he spoke, and his voice wasn’t quite expressionless, though it was more like you couldn’t tell what he felt from just looking at his face and hearing his voice. He was someone hard to read.

  He definitely did not look, or act, like any of the playboys she’d ever heard of before, though at thirty-six years old, calling him a playboy was a bit much. And now she was wondering if there must have been some misunderstanding in all that info she managed to find before, and the bit that she was given.

  I’ll need to look into it again, she thought decisively.

  Camila looked up to realize she was already at her building, and she could have passed it if she hadn't paid enough attention. She readjusted the bag of groceries in her arms and headed up the steps. Her apartment was on the third floor, which made going up and down a serious annoyance, but it was a nice apartment, spacious, a little old, but she was happy to have the space to herself.

  Well, for herself and her mom.

  “I’m home,” she called out as she walked inside, knocking lightly on the door to alert her mom.

  There was no sound, but that probably just meant her mom was asleep, busy in her room, or out. She didn’t go out often, though, so probably locked up in her bedroom. Camila debated going to check on her for a moment, then sighed and headed to her bedroom instead. The apartment was just comfortable enough for two people, with a mid-sized living room and kitchen, they had separate bedrooms, but had to share a bathroom, and another small room where they did their laundry.

  They both had enough privacy to themselves that Camila didn’t feel awkward at all about living with her mom at twenty three. Their relationship was also okay and they knew to respect each other’s boundaries, so she actually enjoyed having someone else around.

  With her mom occupied, she headed back to her bedroom and let herself in, then locked the door. When she worked, she didn’t like to be disturbed by anyone or anything, and locking herself up in her room was her way of closing the rest of the world out to get the work done. She put her coat away, moved to her desk, set down the camera and her purse, and then sat down. She pulled up the lid of her laptop and turned it on, then picked up her camera as she waited for it to log her on.

  She’d scrolled through the pictures on her camera, all the ones of Samuel, and the random ones she’d taken of the park, too. They were all good pictures. Of course, the ones of Samuel, she couldn’t do anything with them if they weren’t going on the blog besides saving them on her computer.

  But… I kinda don’t feel like sharing this with anyone, she thought to herself with a small smile.

  Once her computer came on, she shut off her camera and pulled out the memory stick, then connected that to her computer and opened the images to save them in her drive.

  Now, all I need to do is work on that damn article, and send it in with the photos. Other people can worry about the design and positioning…

  But, she still had time to do the article. Besides, she’d have to listen to the recording of the interview and make a bunch of notes, then create the article from that. It wasn’t like what she wrote would be the final draft, anyway, and she didn’t need to bother about it beyond that point.

  Right then, there was something that was on her mind more than just this. After a short hesitation, she minimized all the windows she already had open, and pulled up her browser. She could sort the photos later.

  “Okay,” she mused out loud, rubbing her hands together as a new tab opened on the browser. “What to look for, exactly…”

  Finding information on the internet was a simple thing, but sometimes, what you found in the end could depend on the wording you used in your search. Sometimes, information wasn’t that hard to find, but considering all the posts she knew must exist that included Samuel Kane in the content, she couldn’t just look for something general.

  After a short hesitation, she made searches on his family and background. To try and understand someone, you had to know where they came from first, after all. But, his words from earlier were totally true, there was barely all that much about him that she could find online with those searches.

  “There has got to be something,” she muttered. “Unless he’s somehow paying people to keep his news out of the papers or whatever, someone would have posted some stray piece of news. I just need… to find…”

  Feeling like she needed to sort out all the info she was getting somehow, she pulled open one of the drawers on her desk and picked a notebook and pen from it. It was where she wrote down all her notes, and she had several such filled notebooks in a different drawer so she wouldn’t get confused. She went through a bunch of searches, noting a few things down here and there, because it was more useful than using bookmarks when she probably wouldn’t be looking into this again. He’d invited her out for coffee, but that wasn’t any guarantee that anything would happen between them, either, and she couldn’t use work as an excuse to stalk him online.

  There is definitely something weird here, she thought after a while, leaning back into her chair.

  It was all over the place, only she’d managed to find some in more detail. She couldn’t even call it a discovery since rumors were all over the place, but now there was evidence and true statements summing up that Samuel was a somewhat infamous, womanizing billionaire. Still, even with the comments, most of them verified, Camila wasn’t buying it.

  “Absolutely impossible,” she murmured out loud.

  She couldn’t dispute the billionaire part, even though he’d been dressed pretty modestly when they met. But, it wasn’t as if she could tell the cost of clothes at a single glance. And he definitely had the looks, but he didn’t seem to have the charm for this kind of reputation.

  When he asked me out for coffee
I couldn’t even tell if he was interested, or if he just wanted someone to sit down with him and drink coffee. A guy like that could really be a womanizer?

  Camila sighed and dropped the matter for the moment. She might as well start up on work then figure everything else out later. They hadn't agreed on when the coffee date would be, so she at least had time to determine whether or not she should be wary of this guy.

  “Camila! I have lunch ready, come out, okay? You can go on with work after!”

  At the mention of lunch, she perked up, and her stomach growled, and she remembered that she was hungry. Also, that she’d skipped breakfast that morning because she felt too nervous to eat anything.

  “I’m coming,” she called out, closing down everything on her computer, then shutting it down.

  Some time to think things over might be good for her, not to mention having some advice from her mom might be good. She closed her computer lid and got up to leave her room.

  Once she got the door open, she could smell the food her mom must have cooked at some point. How long had she spent in her room? And how focused had she been to miss her mom moving around and cooking.

  “What’s for lunch?” she said happily, walking into the kitchen, where her mom already had plates set on the small dining table to one side of the room.

  “It’s just simple pasta with homemade sauce and a side of fried minced beef.”

  “One of my favorites then.”

  She helped finish setting up the table, then sat down. Her mom waited for Camila to serve first, then served herself. Camila took a few bites of the food, but she was too distracted and ended up poking at the food with her fork. She was thinking about Samuel Kane, and how to bring up the topic with her mother.

  “What is it?” her mom asked, making her look up. “You have this look on your face like you’re a million miles away. Is it something to do with work?”

  Camila figured it was the best time as any to launch into the subject, and she put her fork down and met her mom’s eyes.