Perception (Club Destiny #6)(3)
Author: Nicole Edwards

Aside from making it look like a prison, it didn’t hold any appeal whatsoever.

But Xander wasn’t going to say anything. He didn’t give a shit if the place were surrounded by land mines. The price was right, and if the building wasn’t going to fall in on itself, he knew it’d be a damn good investment.

And at this point that was all that mattered.

~~*~~*~~

Mercedes pulled into one of the partially striped parking spots right near the front doors of the vacant building. She was doing her best to focus on the road and not on the intimidating man crammed in her car.

She had struggled to hold in her laugh when he somehow managed to squeeze his gigantic body into her small car. And then again when he somehow managed to get the seatbelt on. No wonder he’d offered to follow her. Then again, he had been a good sport because if she’d been in his shoes, she wouldn’t have attempted to fold herself into such a small space. As it was, his neck was at an odd angle.

Definitely a good sport.

But, despite his discomfort, they had made it. Thank God. She was about to get a chance to breathe fresh air, rather than the subtle, sultry scent of what she could only assume was expensive cologne. The man smelled amazing, but she damn sure didn’t want him to know she thought so.

Xander Boone was everything Shane had described him as being. Tall, confident, straight-forward. And blunt, as she’d learned by his less than discreet reference to the dilapidated building she currently worked out of. Too bad Shane hadn’t bothered to add that Xander was also ruggedly handsome and a tad on the intimidating side.

Not that she was going to let the last bother her. She could hold her own.

Climbing out of the car, she headed to the glass doors. Using the key she’d had to pick up that morning, she gained entrance and held the door open for Xander. To her surprise, he merely glared at her, placing his hand above her head and holding the door open.

“Ladies first,” he told her with a grin that gave her a glimpse of straight white teeth.

“Thank you,” she answered, trying not to smile back at him and failing.

Once inside, Mercedes did her best to stay out of his way. There wasn’t much she could show him, and he wouldn’t have to go far to see everything. The warehouse was huge, without a lot of walls. Not to mention in desperate need of some cosmetic surgery.

That was an easy fix, and if what Shane had told her was true, Xander wouldn’t be bothered by a few blemishes.

So, she stood back, watching him move around the warehouse.

She was drawn to him, just as she had been when he’d stepped through her office door. But she realized after just one glimpse that she shouldn’t be drawn to him. They were too much alike.

Just that morning, while she had waited for Xander to arrive, she’d dared to ask Shane a little more about the mystery client who was coming to see her.

“He’s a Dom,” Shane had told her.

Interesting. “Does he belong to the same club you do?” she had inquired, hoping to sound casual. Shane had informed her that he was a member of Kink, an opulent BDSM club she’d heard about, but had never visited.

Mercedes belonged to a club, but she hadn’t bothered to mention that to Shane. She’d been surprised to find out Shane was a Dom in the first place, and still hadn’t produced the nerve to question him more even though she was intrigued.

“Yeah. He’s the one who got me in there.”

Yep, that’s about all she learned about Xander Boone. Well, other than what the Google search had offered her. He wasn’t just a Dom. He was a rich Dom. A very successful, rich, Dom.

Which meant he was off limits.

And that was a good thing because the man’s charisma was palpable, and when he turned those sexy, moss green eyes on her, had she been any other woman, she might’ve swooned.

She wasn’t the swooning type.

“I want to know how serious the owner is to sell,” Xander stated firmly as he made his way toward her. “There’re quite a few things that have to be done to this place to get it up to code.”

Ok, so the man definitely wasn’t new to this.

“I can ask.”

“I prefer to tell,” he told her as he approached. “I’ll list out the issues because I do want to make an offer. I assure you, it’ll be fair.”

Mercedes nodded her head as she watched him. Yes, she certainly could see his dominating personality. It was prominent, yet somehow not terribly overbearing. If that were even the right word to use to describe a man who stood at least six and a half feet tall and was built like the defensive line of a football team. The whole freaking line.

“So what do you say? We’ll go back to your office and get things started?”