● AUTHOR'S POV

Xanthos had to practically pry away Kiara from him, she was adamant on finding out who the person was, that Xanthos had decided to open up his heart to, but knowing his sister, he knew she wouldn't be able to tame down her excitement, and would end up telling the people close to her, which wouldn't be a terrible thing, but Xanthos wanted to keep it private and take things at his own pace, for now.

She only left with the assurance, that she would be the first one to know; who is her little brother's romantic interest.

---

Otis and Xanthos now sat in the main serving area of the club, where the atmosphere was filled with sounds of clinking glasses and cheeriness, the place was in full bloom, as orders were being taken and served.

There was a handsome number of people, who enjoyed this club because of it's marvelous services and atmosphere, which Ilaria did her utmost in maintaining, and was pretty skilled at.

"I'd like a Jameson Irish on the rocks, and make it a double." Otis told the waitress, who had come to take their orders for the drinks.

"Soda with fresh lime, thank you." Xanthos said, his eyes wandering around, stopping at a certain someone, and then wandering again, as soon as she'd leave to get to the other clients.

---

The waitress had already left after taking their orders, both were now comfortably adjusted in the expensive leather seats, and going about with whatever Otis was here for.

"The Montgomerys are barely surviving, it's like you're feeding them just enough to not let them die, but the starvation is still very much there. Pretty cruel, but they did try to assassinate you. Still, you're a scary man boss." Otis commented as he stared at Xanthos; whose own eyes kept roaming about his surroundings.

"It's either me being scary, or me getting killed. And, even if not for a hundred years, I'd still like to live for atleast a few more." Xanthos replied, his eyes shifting from the surroundings to Otis.

"Touché." Otis agreed to Xanthos' point, and straightened up to get his whiskey, as their orders were here now.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" the waitress' eyes widened, as in placing down Xanthos' soda, somehow she ended up littering it over his pants, and a little on the bottom of his shirt.

Xanthos immediately stood up, his pants now wet right in the centre, almost making it seem as though he had just relieved himself.

Xanthos exhaled through his lips and stared back at the waitress, whose eyeballs seemed as if would pop out of her skull, anytime now.

"I-I um-- your hand--" the waitress stuttered as she tried explaining, that it wasn't because of her loose grip, but that; her hand collided with Xanthos', when he unexpectedly raised it, and the soda ended up spilling over him.

"My hand? It was my hand that soiled my clothes? Is that what you're trying to say?" Xanthos retorted, and the waitress was left speechless.

Nothing but silence now filled the air.

"After me." Xanthos commanded, breaking the hush descended over the surroundings, as he started to walk away and out of the serving area.

Hearing no footsteps following behind, he turned around and saw the waitress just standing there, dumbstruck.

"Need I repeat myself, Miss Ava Reed?" he announced and Ava immediately shook her head sideways.

She felt a waitress nearby, taking the nearly empty soda glass and the tray from her hands, and Ava hurriedly walked upto him, after offering a quick apology to Otis and just in general, as not all, but a few eyes were on them.

---

Ava fiddled with her fingers as she waited for Xanthos, to come out of the bathroom.

He had brought her to what seemed like a very expensive suite of a 5-star hotel, but it was inside the club, probably made especially for him, which made sense, as it was his club after all.

She replayed the whole scenario in her head, trying to find reasons strong enough to justify herself, she had a firm grasp on the glass, which was true because only the soda spilled out of it, and the glass was still in her hand, she remembered how she had placed the whiskey down, then she went to put down the soda and suddenly Xanthos' hand rose, perhaps for taking his drink, and her hand accidently hit his, the sudden jolt of which, to her steady movement, sent the soda flying out and onto Xanthos' clothes.

She was worried that first it was Paolo, and now she spilled a drink over the actual owner, despite being relatively comfortable with Xanthos than before, she still was an employee of his, and she still did litter her boss' clothes with ice-cold soda.

Her attention immediately shifted to the tall man that came out of the bathroom, the same tall man whose suit she trashed, that must have been some expensive one made in Italy.

Ava mentally damned her fate, for acting like the cliché female lead of a rom-com, who keeps getting into trouble for the slightest inconveniences.

He had his sleeves rolled up to rest just below his elbows, his pants changed but his shirt the same and a little more wet from the bottom, as if he tried wiping it clean, which was peculiar to Ava, she thought that if he was changing the pants, might as well change the shirt with it.

Xanthos did nothing but stare at her, as he walked to stand infront of a closet. She couldn't bear the eye-contact and kept her eyes fixated on her hands, the same hands she thought could never keep her out of trouble, but could always keep her in one.

She could practically hear Ilaria giving her an earful, on how unprofessional she was, despite working at the club for over a month now.

"Oh!" Ava quickly caught the white cloth thrown her way, and stared back at Xanthos, who stood resting his back against the closet door, arms crossed and eyes on her.

"Dry it." he said and Ava stared back at him, confused.

"Dry it? What, dry what?" she couldn't help but question.

Maybe he was asking her to mop dry something in his bathroom, she thought, he did come out of it just now, probably tried cleaning his shirt, and got the tiles of the floor wet in there or something.

"The shirt you spilled soda over. I've wet it enough to let the soda come out, once it gets washed up throughly. But, for now this is all I have, dry it and I'll have my coat cover it if there's an obvious stain." he explained and Ava couldn't believe him.

He could have literally asked one of his men to bring him a new shirt, or even a complete change of clothes, if he had a spare pair of pants he must have had a shirt as well. Plus, there's other quick ways to getting clothes dried up rather than taking a piece of cloth and patting it on to suck the moisture out, so many things didn't make sense here.

"I could take it to the hostess' glamour section, I think they have irons and steamers their. I'll get it all nicely cleaned and pressed, maybe I could even find you another shirt and you'll not have to wait for this one to get cleaned, dried up, and pressed to perfection." Ava reasoned as she slowly realized that there was something else going on here, she couldn't exactly pinpoint it, but she knew that a man as professional as him, wouldn't actually dry his shirts with the least efficient of ways.

It was only for a split second, but the hints of frustration over Xanthos' face did make an appearance.

"Well, alright then." Xanthos replied as he slowly paced towards her, his emerald eyes steadily having a wildness spread in them.

He came to stand right infornt of her, his body towering over hers and the gap between their bodies, scandalous.

"Take it, and get it cleaned." he said, his voice sounding dangerously close to her.

"Absolutely, I'll return with it, ironed and spotless." Ava assured, as she raised the white cloth in hand, for Xanthos to take back, and inwardly thanked God, for her getting out of it quicker than expected.

Xanthos took the piece of cloth and tossed it over to the king-sized bed behind him, his eyes never leaving her face.

"Take it off." he said and Ava just stared back, her mind trying to process his words, as he stood shadowing her comparably petite stature.

"It's only fair. You're the one to trash it, so why should I be doing the work? Take it off, and get it ironed and spotless." Xanthos said, mimicking her words.

"I am, but only helping you mend your mistake." he stated, as if he had the most purest of intentions, and when Ava heard the word 'helping', she knew something was definitely up.

"Ofcourse." Ava smiled and decided to not to fall for his teasing, because she realized that he was indeed trying to annoy her, and she was ready to not please him with this satisfaction.

She raised her hands, and started unbuttoning his shirt, her fingers slowly working their way down.

His sculpted chest had started to peek through and Ava tried keeping her eyes on the buttons, she started feeling a little warmth in her cheeks and something bubbling inside of her stomach.

She kept going despite having the urge to get away and take long breaths, as the room started feeling a bit too hot to handle for her.

"Fuck." Xanthos inaudibly cursed and took hold of Ava's hands, his eyes met hers and she saw an eagerness appear in them.

His aura felt stronger than before, and it appeared as though he was trying to restrain something inside of him.

It was that moment Xanthos realized, he had 'fallen', and he had fallen hard.

Letting go of one of Ava's hands, Xanthos brought his arm to wrap around her waist, his eyes staring deeply at her magnificent features, not sparing an inch.

"I will confess, being this close to you makes it almost impossible." Xanthos said as his face inched closer to hers.

"What?" Ava let out an audible whisper, as she kept standing their, her hand in his and her waist secured by his arm.

She knew Xanthos wasn't a debaucherous man, there were countless times he could have forced himself on her, but he never did.

"Not try to make you mine." he admitted, and Ava's ears couldn't believe it, she would have pushed him away if he had said the same thing roughly a month ago, but presently, Xanthos was a different man in her eyes, as she did get to know him over the time they had spent together, and she did realize, that he wasn't an 'entirely' awful man.

"Your lips seem venomous, not lethal enough to kill, but intoxicating enough to drive a man crazy." he whispered tilting his head closer to her ear, his warm breath against her skin felt hot enough to leave burn marks. "Crazy to the point of no return." Xanthos added, as his grip tightened on her waist, to bring her further in contact with his strong built.

His head inched closer, as his lips came in contact with her ear, witnessing no resistance, he softly bit the tip of it, the soft nibble soon turned into a stream of pecks, that kept coming and coming until he reached all the way down to her slender neck, which, in the past couple of days, he had way too often imagined of marking, thinking how his love bites would complement her fair skin.

This thought alone had many times left him feeling like a wild beast, being tamed to not pounce upon and claim what he so desperately wanted.

Goosebumps covered her body and an electricity kept surging through her skin. It was a foreign feeling, that she somehow, no longer wanted to be unaware of. This sudden urge for familiarity terrified her.

Ava raised her hand upto his chest, and lightly pushed against it to stop him, as she feared if he went any further, she'd lose herself in his devilish charms, and never be able to return.

He was showering her collar bone with slow sensual kisses, lightly sucking everytime his lips made contact with her now flushed skin.

Her body was a canvas; he wanted so desperately to paint, in his version of 'red'.

He felt her hand push against his chest and his jaw twitched, stopping momentarily his eyes raised to look at her.

The devil's emerald eyes had darkness in them, a wild darkness that she feared would devour her one day.

Author's Note
Sooooooo????
(○3○)
You like it?
I hope you do!
Ps: red here means love, he wanted to colour her existence with his love.
Also, hostess glamour section, is where all the dresses, shoes, accessories, even showers for hostesses are present, to get them ready and all.
Vote and comment if you like this chapter.
Thankyou.