Buried Obsession: Book 1 of the Obsession Trilogy Page 2

  “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 Two

  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 was 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. Much of the gossip centered around Samuel Kane being a notorious rake who preyed on women and had more exes than you could count on one hand. This little bit of info had given Camila some apprehension before the interview, 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—his voice wasn’t quite expressionless, it was more like you couldn’t tell what he felt from just looking at his face and hearing him talk. He was 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 was 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 glanced 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 she was 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, and another small room where they did their laundry. They had separate bedrooms, but had to share a bathroom.

  They both had enough privacy 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.

  In her bedroom, Camila locked the door behind her. 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. 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. But, his words from earlier were totally true, there was barely anything about him that she could find online, not even 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 was too nervous to eat anything.

  “I’m coming,” she called out, closing 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.

  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 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.

  “It is to do with work, sort of.” She stopped herself before saying it might be more personal in the future. Talk about the cart before the horse, she chastised herself. But she was just so fascinated by the incongruous puzzle that was Samuel Kane.

  “Shoot,” her mom said, taking a bite of her food as she gave Camila some attention.

  “I went out this morning to do an interview of this man. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of him since you don’t listen to sensationalized news, but he’s someone pretty high up, really rich. I read a bit of info on him online, and it painted a picture completely different from the man I met. And I’m supposed to meet up with him again in the next week or so, but I don’t know what kind of man he is, so I’m wondering if I should listen to all the news out there, or try to find out for myself.”

  She bit her lip when she felt she had said more than enough, only giving her mom the details she needed to understand the situation, but making it all sound about work. She waited eagerly for her mom’s opinion, though she did not to appear all that concerned herself, finishing the bite of food in her mouth, then facing Camila with a serious expression.

  “If you want my advice? Avoid him.”

  Camila blinked. “What?”

  “You heard me,” her mom said. “Avoid him. Rich philanderers never bring anything good to people like you or me. One interview should be enough for what you need, right? Then why set up another one? Your part of the job is done, so that should be the end of it.”

  With that, she went back to eating calmly. It took Camila a while before she could do the same, and the two of them ate in complete silence.

  Camila didn’t look down on her mom’s advice. She even agreed with her, or at least she would have. But the thing was, her mom didn’t have the facts. Also, her mom was overprotective, and could sometimes be a bit controlling, especially since they got reunited, so Camila decided she’d take the words with a grain of salt.

  In the end, when she went back in her room, she still hadn't made up her mind. Just then, her phone which she’d left on her desk, vibrated. It cut off quickly and didn’t resume, so she guessed it was a text message and picked it up to read.

  It was from Samuel. Even though he’d said he would, she was still surprised he actually messaged. The text was pretty simple, asking her to let him know about that coffee. Camila thought for a moment, then sent a quick text back that she was agreeing. His reply came quickly.

  My place?

  Camila widened her eyes, surprised once more. Samuel was inviting her for coffee…at his private home? As far as she knew, he definitely lived in his family home with his younger siblings. They barely knew each other, and it was okay with him? Then again, if they went out into the city, he might be recognized by someone, and if any pictures leaked out, it could lead to a scandal.

  She hesitated again, but sent back her reply.

  All right. Let me know when?

  She set the phone down, and with a heavy sigh fell into her chair, resting her head on her desk.

  “What exactly am I doing?” she murmured to herself, because she wasn’t sure she knew just what she was undertaking, getting further involved with a man like Samuel Kane.

  Chapter Three

  Camila left her house a bit early on the day she was supposed to go to Samuel’s place to meet him for coffee. She still didn’t have any directions, but she knew where his family house was, so she figured if she could get a taxi to send her there, she could call him while she was outside and wait for him to get her. Only, things didn’t go the way she expected.

  When she made it out of her apartment building, it was to find a black Mercedes parked on the curb with a man standing beside it. It was a surprise, but she’d been prepared to pay it no attention, until the driver asked if she was the guest Samuel Kane sent him to pick up. Samuel actually sent a driver for her.

  It made her feel a little giddy. No guy had ever done that for her before, and maybe it made her easy, but she already felt dazzled.

  The back door was opened for her and she slipped inside. There was a partition behind the seats in
the front, and it was up, so once the driver got in the car and it started to move, it was as if she was completely alone. It was a new experience for her, and she turned down the window to have a clearer view outside, since the windows were tinted dark. People-watching, or just looking outside at passing scenery while she was in a car, was a hobby of hers. With everyone having cell phones and access to the internet these days, it was more common to find people engrossed in their devices instead of watching the world pass them by, but Camila wasn’t like that.

  She only felt sad that she had to leave her camera today, since it was more something casual than an official meeting. She didn’t want to think of it as a date, since Samuel didn’t outright say it was a date, and she didn’t want to get ahead of herself only to be disappointed later.

  Maybe Mom had it right and I should have stayed away. It would be bad if I got the wrong idea and embarrassed myself.

  Camila had dressed nice again, and now that she was in the car on the way to his place, she regretted wearing the peach colored dress to the interview, since it was one of her better dresses. She got lucky and managed to find something in the back of her closet, a simple, black dress with a modest neckline that was fitted around the top and flared out from the waist, reaching to just below her knees. Paired with silver, strappy sandals, some silver jewelry and a gold clutch she had, she thought she looked okay. She’d also tried something with her hair, putting it up in a loose ponytail, letting a few wisps come out of the hold to frame her face. She thought the style suited the dress and jewelry well, but it had taken her about an hour to get ready this morning.

  She sighed to herself and leaned back in the seat. She really was taking this too seriously, but it was hard not to. Even without any deeper meaning, getting any sort of invitation from Samuel was something amazing.