Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 (5 page)

“Really?” She seemed genuinely surprised.

“You can’t see it?”

Angela stared at Wyatt’s little chubby cheeks. “No. Just Clay. He’s all I see.”

Another pang of wistfulness struck Natalie in the chest. The way Angela’s eyes sparkled and her cheeks flushed when she thought of Clay reminded Natalie of what love was supposed to look like. “There’s definitely a lot of you in him. His ears are yours. His toes. The way he snores.”

“How dare you.” Angela’s mouth fell open and she tried not to smile through her fake outrage. Then a tiny snore filled the space between them.

Both women laughed and Natalie rubbed his little back.

“I love seeing you with kids. With Wyatt. At the clinic. Love it.”

“Love them. Love holding them, comforting them. It makes me happy even on hard days. You’re going to make the best mom one of these days.”

Sadness and longing expanded inside her, but she tamped it down. Shoving it inside a closet, she forced the door closed and took a deep breath. “Who knows what I have in my future?”

“Do you really believe that? Do you really and truly think your future doesn’t include children?”

Natalie shrugged and rocked baby Wyatt slowly back and forth. “Some days I’m just not certain what my future holds. Other days it’s been a bit scarier lately.”

“Which you should have told me about months ago, and I’m still mad at you about it in case you wondered.”

“You had enough on your plate,” Natalie countered.

“What a bunch of poop.”

“Well yes that too.”

“Ha ha ha,” Angela fake laughed and sat down in a chair on the other side of Campbell’s desk. “Be serious.”

“I am being serious.” Natalie turned a bit to face her but kept up the slow back and forth. “You’ve had a huge amount on your plate.”

“And you haven’t?”

“Sure I’ve been busy but nothing like you.”

“Bullshit,” Angela sneezed the word out and then smiled at her cleverness. “You run the clinic with very few other staff members. The hours you work are insane. Turning anyone away isn’t in your nature. And now you’re battling grant cuts so that’s even more dropped on your very full plate.”

Natalie tried to jump in but Angela squinted at her.

“And you’ve had nutso hit-and-run guy trying to hurt you. I’d say you have more on your plate than I do at the moment.”

When she said it all like that, it was kind of hard to argue but she hated being a burden to anyone to the sole pits of her being. If she couldn’t do it herself, then she didn’t want to do it.

“It’s been a little busy lately.”

“And if I’d had someone trying to mow me down and decided not to tell anyone about it? How would you feel?”

“Pissed.” It was true.

“My point exactly. You and I, we’re family. You’re like a sister from another mister.”

Natalie snickered. “You come up with that all on your own?”

“Don’t you love it?” Angela winked at her. “All I’m saying is, you have people all around you who love you. Who want to help you. And I’m sorry if you thought I was too busy to help. But I’m also incredibly glad you finally went to Clay and told him what was going on.”

“I didn’t want to.” That was so true. The last thing she needed was some public scandal where her damn family decided they needed to get involved and tell her again what a disappointment she was to them.

She’d had enough of that to last a lifetime.

“Hey.”

She looked at Angela, who wore a worried expression.

“You know the guys are going to catch this douche canoe, right?”

Natalie smiled and tried not to laugh too hard. “Douche canoe? Oh my gawd, how do you come up with this stuff?”

“I read.”

“What? The Smut Gazette?”

“No. But if that were a real thing I totally would.”

“Seriously?” Another laugh threatened to bubble out but she tried to hold it in. Her mouth hurt by the time she could speak again. “You really read that stuff?”

“A little bit each night if I can.”

“Why?”

“Research.” Angela bobbed her eyebrows at Natalie and then smiled. “I don’t ever want to lose my connection with Clay. That part of us is ours forever. Wyatt,” she nodded at her son. “He’s going to grow up and become an amazing person and then go out into the world to make his stamp on it. But Clay? He’s my always. I don’t want to ever lose that perspective. No matter how much I adore being a mom or a friend or a business owner. He’s my forever. And I want him to know how much I love him. So I tell him all the time. And a lot of the time it’s not even with words.”

Natalie stared at her best friend, a little bit heartsick for wanting what she had. And a lot heart happy for knowing Angela deserved every moment of her happiness with Clay. They’d earned it many times over.

She hoped one day a man loved her the way Clay loved Angela.

A sexy man. One who made her insides quiver and her thighs tingle with anticipation from nothing more than a look.

As if conjured from her thoughts a knock stole her attention. “It’s Campbell.”

Her heart sped up and her pussy fluttered.

Shaking her head didn’t keep her mouth from going dry and it didn’t squash the need to nibble her bottom lip when he opened the door.

Lord help her from wishing for something more.

Chapter Five

Campbell

Yeah, it’s true. He didn’t wait to open the door. There was no pause for the “oh so ready for you to barge in” announcement.

Nope.

Not a word was spoken before he did the open-and-walk-through routine.

Why did every ounce of Southern breeding instilled in him by his mama go right out the window?

Because it had been approximately sixty-three minutes since he’d been alone with Natalie, which was apparently sixty-two minutes too long.

“Hey.” Yup, that was all he had to offer since his entire body including his brain relaxed at being in the same space with her again.

Angela could have been breast-feeding and he didn’t even think of it until he stepped through the open doorway and caught sight of Natalie holding the baby. Being certain Angela would have preferred he not ogle her while she fed her son didn’t make any difference.

He knew Wyatt had a job to do and there was no doubt how much more info could be gleaned from a fresh witness.

Tossing theories back and forth while his statement was taken totally made sense.

It did.

Yet he didn’t care at all.

All he wanted to do was make sure she was okay.

“Hey,” Natalie offered back as she cuddled the sleepy infant.

Natalie worked and owned a clinic specifically designed for pregnant and nursing women. She was around babies all the time and he’d seen her hold children for hours at a time.

So seeing her hold baby Wyatt and cuddle him was nothing new.

He scrunched his eyebrows down a bit though when a realization wrapped around his leg and licked the head of his cock.

This time was different.

Holding the baby and patting his back affected Campbell completely unlike any other of the several dozen times he’d seen her do it.

His entire impression of her was slightly unusual.

Because of the kiss?

Eyeing her mouth, he remembered the feel of his lips on hers, the weight of her body on top of his. The pulse in her neck throbbing erratically as he brought his mouth up to take hers.

No.

Not because of the kiss.

He eyed her mouth again.

Oh hell.

Wiping a hand down his face sounded like a good idea so he went with that. Clearing his head needed to be his first order of business.

Not kissing his client again.

Not kissing her at all.

“Have you seriously missed everything I just said, Campbell?” Angela’s slightly amused tone brought him back to the here and horny. “If I didn’t know you better I’d think you were smitten.”

“Whoa, whoa, what?”

Natalie rolled her eyes at him.

He growled. Animalistic? Possibly. He preferred to think of it as more an advantageous skill set allowing him to effectively do his job to the fullest.

Bullshit? Sure. But whatever.

Baby Wyatt went from sleeping to holy terror in about 2.7 seconds, allowing Campbell a couple more seconds of staring at Natalie sort of undetected.

“You’ve gone from talking shit about her to eyeing her like a side of beef in less than several hours.” Clay had come up behind him, and thankfully the trash talk was only loud enough for Campbell to hear since the mini-man across the office was raising hell.

“I do not look at her any differently,” Campbell argued.

“Oh hell. Maybe I need to run to my office and get boots on ’cause shit is getting deep in here.”

“Keep your voice down. I’m simply attuned to her in a different way because she’s my client.”

Natalie handed baby Wyatt off to Angela and they discussed baby stuff over the din of his upset.

“You’ve had more than a dozen very good-looking, seriously attractive females for clients and you’ve never looked at any of them the way you are looking at Natalie now. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I’m just telling you to be careful. I got your back but just remember what the objective is.”

“I won’t forget.”

Clay raised an eyebrow at him and finally moved past him toward his wife. “Baby, it’s late. Let’s get munchkin home, fed, bathed, and to bed so we can catch some shut-eye too. It’s been a long day for all of us and Campbell still has some logistics to work out with Natalie before they can stamp this day done.” Clay took Wyatt from her and put him up on his shoulder, which actually seemed to hit the pause button on his crying. Patting his back, Clay kissed his wife just as she was no doubt going to argue.

“But maybe Natalie would like to come stay with us for a couple days. You know, ’til things calm down.”

Natalie started it. “No, thank you.”

“Hell, no.” Campbell’s answer was a little less on the friendly scale.

And Clay capped it right off. “I don’t think so.”

Angela laughed. “Wow. Talk about being outvoted.”

Natalie tugged her close and hugged her. “I love that you would offer. Adore you for wanting to protect me, but no one for any reason or any threat is running me out of my house. Not gonna happen.” She eyed Campbell. It was a borderline glare but he decided to upsell their working relationship if that helped him sleep at night.

Damn.

Maybe he was turning into a girl since being all in touch with his feelings was coming more naturally.

Natalie looked back at Angela with a super-fake smile plastered on her face. “Campbell and I are going to stick around just a little bit longer to hammer a few things out and then I’ll be safe at my place.”

Angela gave her the pleading face. “But I’m worried about you and I don’t like you being all alone at your place. You don’t even have cameras there.”

“And I don’t want cameras there. Too creepy.”

“Come on, Angela.” Clay patted her back, and baby Wyatt whimpered as if he were gonna let his tears flow again. “Let’s head out of here and maybe we can find some time tomorrow to go to the clinic for a little bit before that fitting you have with…some chick whose name I’ll never remember.”

“Ruskta Bogenskya,” Angela offered up.

“The figure skater?” Campbell asked.

“Yep. She’s getting married, which is all hush-hush, so she hired me to make her wedding gown. She hinted I might have to let it out a little in the middle if you catch my drift.” As if on cue, Angela yawned.

“I’ll be fine. I promise. Nobody is taking me out,” Natalie told her with one more hug.

“Not on my watch,” Campbell finished for her. Angela came over and hugged him fiercely. She was like a sister to him. Made him miss his own sister and he reminded himself again to call her and check up on her and the kids.

Angela walked out and Clay clapped Campbell on the back as he stepped through the doorway. “We’re a phone call away if you need anything.”

Campbell called to his back. “Will you reset the alarm system when you leave so I’ll be notified if anything weird happens while we chat?”

Clay stepped to the box next to the door and input his code to arm the system. “Done.”

Angela waved and they were gone.

Campbell grabbed his office door and shut it.

“Did we need privacy from the rest of the nonexistent tenants? Or are you trying to make sure I can’t escape?”

“Definitely the escape part. You’re flighty and we have some things to cover.”

Electricity sparked the air as soon as they were alone. It arced between them, throwing Campbell for a loop.

Being affected by a woman wasn’t out of the ordinary, but this? What raced beneath his skin? Nothing had ever propelled him toward someone so strongly before nor held him back.

“Sooo…” she started, but she didn’t follow it up with anything other than a nibble to that delicious bottom lip of hers.

Which he could still taste. Like coconut. Her lips tasted like coconut. Deserted on some secluded side of a remote beach sounded pretty good to him at the moment. He took a step forward and her eyes went a bit wide. Stopping, he crossed his arms over his chest as if that could keep him in place.

“This is what we’re going to do.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him but thankfully she didn’t roll her eyes. Nothing made his spanking hand twitch like attitude from the woman he wanted beneath him. On her knees.

Focus
.

“Your schedule is going to have to change so we keep whomever is after you off your back. At least until we can get feelers out there to glean some more information.”

“You said ‘glean’.”

Without anything else forthcoming he shook his head. “And?”

“No and. You just surprised me.”

It was almost like a compliment but with her uncanny ability to turn it into a shiv found in a prison rec room.

“What exactly about my schedule is going to have to alter? I have set hours at the clinic I cover—”

“Change them.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“You have a full staff there, do you not?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Then change them.”

Squinting at him, she crossed her arms, matching his position, but in her case it plumped her breasts up enough he could see a good amount of cleavage he wanted to gather up and—

“Eyes up here, Campbell.” She bent down into his line of sight and sneered at him.

“Sorry. You’re gorgeous and you’re distracting the shit out of me after that kiss earlier.” Great. Bringing up the pink elephant in the room was totally going to keep the convo on track. What were they talking about?

“Uhh… Was that a compliment or not? Sometimes I feel like you’re giving me some kind of tribute but it’s with an edge.”

Campbell snickered. “I was just thinking the same thing about you. Okay, back to the schedule that you’re going to change. What is your schedule now?” Pulling a small pad and pen from his back pocket, he readied himself to take notes. “Days of the week, times, etcetera.”

She stared at the pad and then at him. Then at the ceiling where it looked as if she were contemplating some mathematical equation. “Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday I work eight to six. Wednesday I’m supposed to be off at five and then Friday off at five too.”

Writing it all down, he caught up with her. “Supposedly?”

“I’m normally there fifteen minutes early to get everything open at eight o’clock sharp and I tend to stay later.”

“How much later?”

“’Til everything is done.”

“Gimme a ballpark. And shrugging doesn’t actually count as an answer.”

“Six forty-five. Seven. Depends on how busy we are.”

“Any days later than that?”

“Some, but I really try to get out of there by seven.”

“Why not try to get out of there at six? Especially if you have other people there you pay to be there ’til the clinic closes.” Wasn’t exactly relevant to what they needed to adjust but he was honestly interested.

Composing her thoughts, she rubbed her lips together. “We stay so busy there is almost always someone else to help. Someone else who needs a shoulder to cry on or just someone to talk to for a second who understands how freaked out they are. I can’t just bum rush someone out the door because I need to get home to my dog. Not to mention the shit-tons of paperwork we have to fill out due to our government subsidies on top of the reams of crap we have to file being a medical facility.”

She stopped talking but there was something else. “What aren’t you saying?”

When she opened her mouth, nothing came out and she tried again a few seconds later. “I love the clinic. It makes me immeasurably happy. I love what I’m doing, love the people I work with, and seeing the patients grow and change and blossom does it for me in ways I can’t explain. And I’m extremely goal oriented. I use the time I have judiciously and I can get huge amounts done in a day. Don’t sleep much, that’s true. But I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“And let me guess. If you tell someone you’re going to do something, then you have to do it. No if, ands, or buts about it. You stay late and get it done. Right?”

“Yes, something like that. Why? Going to give me a hard time about it, hot shot?” She puffed up as if he were dragging her to some heckling party.

“Not unless I want to be a hypocrite. I do the same thing. Been like it all my life. Seriously since I was small. Don’t meet a lot of people who think the same way. Work ethic and all these days. I lucked out when Clay and I were stationed together. He gets it too. And Angela. Interesting how we all ended up in this big small town together.”

“Oh.” She kind of deflated, but in a thoughtful way.

Next he’d be writing her fucking sonnets about birds singing and shit. “So. Schedule. Can you change the hours of the clinic?”

She looked like he’d slapped her.

“I’ll take that face as a resounding no. We’ll take it day by day for right now and adjust your schedule on the fly. You do have someone else there with you for open hours, correct?”

“Well yes, but—”

“Natalie, listen to me. This person who’s after you isn’t messing around. I know you know how serious this is so the last thing I’m going to do is preach at you about being safe.”

“Smart of you.”

“But,” he emphasized, as he took a step closer. “You hired us for a reason, because you trusted us to keep you safe.”

“No. I hired you because I know you. You’re a known factor and I believe you can find this guy. Trusting you has nothing to do with it.”

Yowza. Can you say trigger, boys and girls?

He wondered if her bite was as sharp as her bark.

“The reasoning behind hiring us still boils down to the same thing. You hired me to keep you safe and find the jackass trying to hurt you.” He was a step closer again and didn’t remember moving toward her. What the hell?

“I do think you can find him. I truly believe you can.”

“Then you have to believe I know what I’m doing here. This isn’t my first case. Not even one of my first dozen. I’ve taken on high-profile clients for quite a number of years and I haven’t lost one of them yet.”

“Good track record, but—”

“That’s just it. No buts, Natalie. None. You have to do what needs to be done. And I’m not fucking with your life for shits and grins. I do not get off on making you miserable. It’s not my kink. At all. Which brings up the next point.”

“What your kink is?”