The Stubborn Suitor, Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire In Love BBW Romance) (10 page)

C
ami was
able to hold back her emotions—though just barely—until she was safely in her car. Still in the parking lot, wedged between two cars that each probably cost twice as much as her entire net worth, Cami finally let out a sob. That sob was followed by another until she was heaving as the tears rained down her face.

It wasn’t fair that, with Ken’s wealth, he could get whatever he wanted, whether or not he deserved it. He might gain primary custody of Madison simply because he had more resources and connections than she did. Cami didn’t have the money for a long, drawn-out court battle. And Ken’s family knew many of the judges in town—there was always a chance they would get appointed a judge that owed the Bellamy family a favor.

For the first time, Cami really began to fear that she’d lose Madison. Madison, whom
she
had raised, not Ken. Ken could barely be depended upon four days a month. She’d been there for Madison through middle of the night feedings and diaper changes, through teething and potty training. Where was Ken when Madison had a fever? Or when she’d had a bad dream and needed to be consoled and rocked back to sleep?

It wasn’t just the principle; it wasn’t even the fear of feeling like a failure as a mother—her whole life revolved around her daughter. Madison was Cami’s everything, and she just couldn’t lose her daughter.

And it wasn’t only for selfish reasons that Cami feared a change in custody. She honestly didn’t believe that Madison was safe with Ken and Natalie. They might have the money to take care of a child, but they definitely didn’t have the maturity, commitment, or love—no matter what kind of display they were putting on this morning. Cami
knew
Ken and she knew that he wasn’t man enough to raise their daughter.

“It’s not going to happen,” Cami said to her dashboard, willing herself to calm down. “It’s not going to happen! I won’t let it happen. No matter what, Ken isn’t going to win!”

Cami took a few more deep breaths and focused on calming her mind. She thought about the mischievous smile, strawberry-blonde hair, and adorable freckles on her daughter’s face—the daughter she would be able to go pick up from her mother’s apartment as soon as she was calm enough to do so.

She reached into her purse and pulled out her phone, needing to look at the picture of Madison that she kept as her lock screen. It was strategically placed there to bring a smile to her face, and now it was a life-line. But, no sooner than she had the phone in her hand, it began to ring.

“Speak of the devil,” she said, glaring down at Ken’s name. She debated whether or not to answer, but he might be calling to apologize. Perhaps he
had
realized that he wasn’t responsible enough to raise Madison himself.

“Hello, Ken,” Cami said tentatively once she’d accepted the call.

“Cami, hey,” Ken said warmly. His tone threw her off, especially considering the icy silence between the two of them during the meeting. “How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” she said, though she was trying to school her voice into a confident tone.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Sorry about that. Today sucked.”

“Yes. Yes, it did,” she agreed. “What do you want, Ken?”

“I just…I hate this…us sitting across the table, as if we’re strangers. We were married for years, for God’s sake.”

Cami heaved a sigh of relief—the first real relief she’d felt in weeks. Ken was backing down. She had called his bluff, and now he was coming to his senses. This would all be over soon.

“Yeah…” Cami replied after a moment, her voice warming up. “It was weird. So, what do you suggest?”

She bit her lip, waiting for Ken to admit he was wrong—that he wasn’t ready for primary custody. She was even willing to offer another weekend a month, if he really thought he was up for it. She could afford to be generous now that she knew this nightmare was over.

“Listen, Cami, we both know you don’t have the resources for a long, blown-out courtroom drama.”

“Yeah,” Cami responded, willing him to get to the point—to get to the apology.

“I would just hate to see you waste any of your time or money on this.”

“Me, either.”

“That’s why I really think we should all just be adults about this.”

“I totally agree,” she said, a smile spreading across her face.

“Good,” he said. “I’m glad to hear that. I’m happy you came to your senses.”

“What?” Cami nearly dropped the phone in confusion. “What do you mean ‘come to
my
senses’?”

“Cami, you’re not going to be able to afford this if it goes to court. You know I can win this.”

“What are you saying?” Cami demanded, fear slowly creeping back into her chest.

“I’m just suggesting that you be reasonable—that we handle this like adults. Madison is better off with me.”

“Fuck, no!” Cami replied, utterly unable to be mature at the moment. “You’re the one being completely unreasonable. Madison would
not
be better off with you. You can barely deal with the custody as it is now.”

“That’s not true. And, with Natalie being home, Madison won’t have to be carted around at all hours of the night. Plus, we can afford in-house help if we need it.”

“Madison doesn’t need a nanny,” Cami shouted into the phone. “She needs her family. And that does
NOT
include Natalie!”

“Cami,” Ken said, sounding exasperated but not nearly as upset as Cami felt. “Be reasonable. Let’s be adults about this.”

That was the last straw. She could not handle him telling her to be reasonable or mature one more time.

“You’re right,” she growled through clenched teeth. “I
do
need to be more reasonable and adult-like about this. Which is why I shouldn’t be talking to you.
You
shouldn’t have called me at all. And it will not happen again. Next time you have something to say to me, have your lawyer contact mine.”

With that, Cami hung up the phone. She let it drop into her lap as she took deep, calming breaths. The breathing exercises were not working, however, and soon turned to panic. She now felt worse than she had before the phone call—even more hopeless and desperate. If Ken thought he could simply call her and harass her into giving up custody of her daughter, he must really think she had no case.

Her panic was interrupted by the ringing of her phone in her lap. Without a second thought she accepted the call and brought the phone to her ear.

“Listen up, you bastard,” she snarled, “I am through with your shit. I do not want to hear from you again. If you have anything to say, do it through our lawyers. Do you understand me, Ken?”

The line was silent for a moment. She assumed she’d thrown Ken off with her vehement statement. He wasn’t used to not getting his way.

“Um…” came a very different voice than she was expecting. “Actually, this is Drew.”

Cami grimaced, suddenly extremely embarrassed. Just when she thought her day couldn’t get any worse.

“What do you want?” she snapped, unable to muster up a polite response.

“Oh…um…I just—”

“You just left this morning—extremely early, I might add, as I was up by 6:30 and your side of the bed was already cold. Couldn’t even leave a note either. That’s fine. I’m over it. I know I’m a lot to deal with—especially right now. I’m a single mother—not really an ideal casual fling.”

“And what makes you think I want a casual fling?” Drew replied, humor in his voice.

This made Cami even angrier. She’d had enough conversations with cocky men today.

“Because, as I just stated, you fled my house, practically in the middle of the night, without even leaving a note. Do I really need to explain what that implies? Or can you pick up the context clues?”

“It wasn’t the middle of the night,” he said, still sounding amused. “It was around five-thirty. And I’m sorry about the lack of a note. I was in a hurry. I hadn’t planned on staying the night at all—I had a business breakfast I had to get to at seven. I had to go home and shower and get ready.”

Cami bit her lip, suddenly feeling a little bad for laying into Drew so harshly. Maybe he really didn’t flee this morning; maybe he really
did
have a reason for leaving so early. Still, it was classic Drew behavior—hot then cold, interested then indifferent, there then…gone. She was sick of riding on that particular roller coaster, no matter how hot the sex was.

“Be that as it may,” Cami replied, “but I just don’t have time at the moment to play games. I’m not looking for anything casual and I get the impression that you’re not interested in anything serious. So I say we just call it a draw, remember the night we shared fondly, and go our separate ways.”

The line was silent again for a few moments. Cami figured that the conversation was not going the way Drew intended.
Good
, she thought. At least she got the better of one man today.

“And if I don’t want that?” he asked, causing Cami to pause in her gloating.

“What do you want, Drew?” she asked exasperatedly.

“I…I don’t know. But I like you and I want to see you again.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why?”

“I’ve already explained why,” she said, growing more and more frustrated. “I don’t want anything casual, and you don’t know what you want. I can’t deal with that—not right now. I have too many other things going on. I don’t need this back-and-forth with you.”

“One more chance. Please, Cami. Go out with me again tomorrow night. No sex, just dinner. After tomorrow night, if I’m still not what you want, I promise, I’ll leave you alone.”

Cami thought about it long and hard. What she was telling him was true—she wasn’t just trying to bust his balls. Between raising her daughter, working full-time, and gearing up for this horrendous custody battle, she didn’t have time to play games. She didn’t have time to invest in anything that wasn’t going to go somewhere. And Drew admitted that he didn’t even know what he wanted. More likely than not, she’d end up with another broken heart, her life in even more chaos than it already was.

But, on the other hand, she
did
need a way to let off a little steam. Life was excruciatingly intense at the moment, and if she didn’t have a little fun here and there, she was worried that her head might explode. Plus, their chemistry was undeniable and the sex was extremely hot. As long as she didn’t let herself get too involved or attached, it might be a good thing.

“Fine,” she said after a moment, trying not to sound too excited at the prospect. It was good to keep him on his toes, after all.

“Really? That’s a ‘yes’?” Drew was obviously not trying to dampen his excitement.

“Yes,” she confirmed, allowing a small smile to stretch across her lips.

“Awesome. Tomorrow night. Seven o’clock. I’ll pick you up.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll have to drop Madison off anyway. Text me an address, and I’ll meet you there.”

She didn’t mention that, if he did pick her up and drop her off, she’d be too tempted to ask him back into the house later. So instead she said goodbye and hung up before she could change her mind. She still felt like she was making a mistake, but she deserved some fun…especially after today.

“Just don’t get attached,” she told herself as she started her car.

C
ami’s mom
agreed to babysit on Saturday night, so that Cami could spend time with Drew, but Madison was not happy about that. Cami had been working all week, and Madison had already spent almost fifty hours with her grandmother. Cami could see how that could be upsetting—Saturday was usually their time. But Cami really needed this—especially after the previous day’s disastrous meeting.

Madison clung to Cami and cried as they were leaving the house, begging not to be left at Grandma’s. It broke Cami’s heart, and she almost considered canceling her plans to spend more time with her daughter. But she’d already agreed to the date and she didn’t want to appear inconsistent, since it was a trait she already resented in Drew.

I owe it to myself to see where this goes,
she thought as she buckled her daughter into the car seat and attempted to soothe her with a kiss on the forehead. Besides, Cami had been under so much stress that she was worried she would unconsciously take it out on her daughter if she didn’t allow herself time to unwind and decompress. She needed a little fun—it would benefit both of them. She knew that she would be a much nicer mommy if she was not constantly stressed about the custody battle. She reminded herself of all this as she drove towards her mother’s house.

Unfortunately, her mother wasn’t quite so understanding.

“Everything okay?” her mom asked as Cami carried a sniveling Madison into the apartment.

“It’s fine,” Cami replied after putting her daughter down in front of the TV, which was playing her favorite Disney movie in the background. “She’s fine…just a little tired. We were at the park for a long time today, and she didn’t get a long enough nap. She’ll be asleep within the next hour.”

“Are you sure you really want to be dropping Madison off for even more time away from you right now?” her mother asked, hands on her hips.

“You said you would do this for me,” Cami replied exasperatedly.

“I did. I don’t mind. I just mean…with all of the custody issues and the accusations Ken is making, are you sure now is a good time to be going out with your friends?”

Cami sucked in her breath and debated whether or not to tell her mother about the date. On one hand, it would make her mom ecstatic. On the other, she would never stop nagging Cami for more information. She decided to go the honest route.

“I’m not going out with friends,” she finally admitted. “I have a date.”

“In that outfit?” her mother asked after scrutinizing her for a moment.

Cami took a deep breath, willing herself not to allow her mother’s words to bother her.

“Yes, Mom, in this outfit,” she replied, looking herself over in the mirror.

She wasn’t dressed poorly, she just hadn’t gotten all made up. She wore a pair of nice jeans and a blouse, with her hair back in a ponytail, and very little makeup on. She still looked pretty, she thought—just not like she was trying too hard.

She’d had to deal with a fussy Madison all evening. Plus, she didn’t want to give Drew the wrong impression. She was definitely not going to sleep with him tonight. If he couldn’t deal with her in her natural state, the relationship didn’t need to go forward. Tonight was a test in so many ways.

“I just think that there are better options. You know that dresses better flatter your figure, since you won’t lose weight. Those jeans just accentuate your hips and butt, you know.”

“I love my hips and butt,” Cami replied angrily.

She didn’t add that Drew had already seen her body completely naked and also seemed to love her curves. Instead, she turned and marched towards the door.

“I won’t be back late,” she promised as she shut the door behind her, not giving her mother a chance to reply.

She really did love her body, but that didn’t make her mother’s words sting any less, and she was in a bad mood by the time she made it to the restaurant, which happened to be much fancier than she was expecting, and she began questioning her casual appearance.

Drew didn’t seem to mind, smiling warmly at her as he met her in the lobby of the restaurant.

“You look lovely,” he whispered into her ear as he leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Our table isn’t ready yet,” he said a little louder, glaring at the hostess, who was within hearing distance.

“That’s fine,” Cami replied, both to Drew and the hostess. She was trying her best not to start the date off in a bad mood.

“Your table will be ready in just a moment,” the hostess replied with a polite smile.

“I had reserved a specific table,” Drew told Cami, still loud enough to be heard. “But due to some slight
incompetence
—” he emphasized the word with a glare towards the hostess stand—“it was given to someone else. They are taking forever to get another one ready.”

Cami, who had waited tables in college and understood what it was like, cringed. She offered the hostess an apologetic smile and didn’t reply to Drew’s biting words. It wasn’t the poor girl’s fault, after all, and Drew taking it out on her was embarrassing—and slightly out of character for him. She’d never seen him be outright rude to anyone.

But, she reminded herself, she had seen him laugh at the elitist jokes she’d overheard at the Emerson’s beach party. She had never heard him say anything condescending or rude himself, but the comments and jokes of others hadn’t seemed to offend him either. She’d thought he was a stuck-up snob at the time. Perhaps her first impression had been correct. He obviously thought he was better than the poor girl working at the restaurant. Maybe she should have just stayed home with Madison.

Before she had the opportunity to turn and flee, however, the hostess was approaching them.

“Your table is ready,” the girl said with a smile, leading them towards the back of the restaurant.

“I asked for a table by the window,” Drew growled as the hostess stopped at a table in a corner.

“I’m sorry, sir. This is what we have available.”

Drew opened his mouth to argue, but Cami stepped in front of him and smiled at the girl.

“This will be fine,” she said. “Perfect, in fact. Very private and romantic; right, Drew?” She turned towards Drew with her eyebrow raised.

“If you like it, that’s all that matters,” he replied, pulling out a seat for her.

Cami sat in silence for a while, staring at the wine list.

“See anything you like?” Drew asked in a more gentle tone.

“I’m not really much of a wine connoisseur,” Cami replied curtly.

“How about I just order a bottle for both of us?”

“Fine, whatever,” Cami answered.

She knew she should try a little harder to be polite or the entire date was going to be miserable, but she just couldn’t help herself. She was too upset over the way he’d treated the hostess. In that moment, he’d reminded her a lot of Ken—just another spoiled rich guy who thought he was so much better than the working class.

Cami buried her head in the menu and barely paid attention as Drew ordered their wine from the server. She did note, however, that he was much more polite to the server than he had been to the hostess. He’d probably picked up on her distaste and was trying to get back into her good graces. But she didn’t want him to treat people well just because of her…she wanted him to do it because it was the right thing to do.

If this date really was a test, he’d already failed.

The waiter brought the wine, and Cami had to fight the urge to chug the glass in front of her. She and Drew sat in tense, awkward silence for a few minutes, each sipping their wine. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and it was quickly going to her head. When the waiter returned a few minutes later to take her order, she had finished her first glass and was halfway through her second.

“Ready to order?” the man asked with a smile.

“Give us a minute,” Cami replied, feeling bold. Once the server had left, she leaned forward and continued speaking to Drew. “Listen—maybe we should just leave. I can pay for the wine and have the rest corked to go. We can just call it a night and go our separate ways.”

“What?” Drew replied, surprised. “No! Why?”

“This is awkward, and we both seem miserable,” she stated.

Drew took a large sip of his own wine, practically finishing off the glass, before he replied.

“Look…I’m sorry. We got off to a bad start. But I like you a lot and I want this to work.”

“It doesn’t seem that way right now. Why did you even ask me out? We’re just sitting here in silence.”

“I asked you out because I like you…a lot. And then the stuff with Claudia made it all awkward and weird. I’m sorry…let’s start over. I like you. I like you a lot.”

There were a lot of confusing things about that statement, so Cami decided to take them one at a time.

“Why?” she asked.

“Why?” Drew repeated, obviously confused.

“Why do you like me?” Cami clarified. “Because sometimes, it seems like you like me, but other times, you seem pretty apathetic. You’re hot and cold. It’s confusing. So I want to know why you think you like me.”

“I don’t just think I like you. I know I do,” Drew assured her while finishing off his second glass of wine. He topped them off before continuing. “Listen, I don’t really date often. No…that’s not true. I never date. Not anymore. In fact, I haven’t dated anyone since my divorce.”

“You were married?” Cami asked. This was news to her.

“Yeah. It’s been about four years now, since the divorce.”

“Why didn’t you say anything, when I was talking about my ex?”

“I didn’t want to impose on your problems. And…I just don’t like talking about it.”

“Why? What happened?”

Drew winced and finished off his third glass of wine. The server was hovering in the corner, waiting to take their order, so Cami ushered him over in order to give Drew a moment to organize his thoughts. Drew also ordered another bottle of wine, which Cami was totally okay with. They were going to be there a while—they’d have plenty of time to sober up. Drew was so much more open when he was buzzed.

“So…” Cami prompted once the server was gone.

“I really did think we were in love,” Drew admitted, staring down at his napkin. “We began dating right after my company started making money. That should have been the first clue. She said she wanted kids—that she wanted to start a family with me. But after we were married, it became apparent that she really only wanted to spend my money. She didn’t even like children, as it turned out. And children were something I couldn’t imagine my life without. We started arguing and, eventually, we split up. It was pretty ugly there at the end. It was so weird. You think you know someone—love someone—then they just become this whole other person.”

“Sometimes, I think they were always that person,” Cami said, “and we were just too blinded by love to see it.”

“Yeah,” he said with a sad smile. “You’re right. I mean, take Claudia, for example…the hostess.”

“You know the hostess?” Cami asked, confused again.

“Yeah…she’s my ex’s best friend. She was really rude to me before you came in. She purposefully “lost” my reservation and sat us back here in the corner out of spite. And I don’t even know why… Gwen—my ex—came out on top in our divorce. I thought Claudia and I were friends. Who knows what Gwen has said about me? I really don’t see any of our old friends anymore.”

Cami thought about the altercation with the hostess in a new light now, grimacing at the way she seemed to have stuck up for the woman that was treating Drew poorly. Reaching out, she squeezed Drew’s hand.

“I don’t really talk to anyone from my old life with Ken,” she admitted. “But I’m okay with that. I’ve made new friends. I didn’t really get any money in the divorce, which was okay—I got Madison. But our mutual friends didn’t really have much to do with me after I was no longer on their income level.”

Now it was Drew who was squeezing her hand.

“That, to answer your question, is the reason why I like you. One of them, anyhow.”

“What is?” Cami asked.

“That you don’t care about money. I don’t get the sense that you’re only after me for my money. I mean, I haven’t really talked about my business with you, and you haven’t asked. I’m sure you know a little bit from Maggie, but you haven’t been trying to impress me or anything. You’re never anything but completely yourself and I really appreciate that about you.”

Cami felt the smile spread across her face at those words. She still had some doubts—this didn’t explain his erratic, hot-and-cold personality—but he definitely seemed sincere in the moment.

The food arrived before they could say much more, and they ate in comfortable silence.

“So,” Drew said after a while, “how did the meeting go yesterday?”

All of the calm and contentment Cami had evaporated at once as her mind went back to the distressing reality of her life. She let out a little sigh.

“Awful,” she replied after a moment. “Just awful.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Drew said, voice soft and gentle. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Cami wasn’t sure she did, but the mood had already been ruined, and she wasn’t going to be able to get it out of her head now anyway, so she nodded.

“It was so weird, sitting across from Ken and his new fiancée. It’s like we were talking about before—you think you know someone so completely, then you find yourself sitting across from a stranger.” Drew nodded in understanding, so Cami continued. “You know what was really awful?”

“What?” Drew asked.

“He was holding Natalie’s hand—that’s his new fiancée. She was there, and he was being so sweet and comforting towards her. He’d never been like that for me. And I can’t help but wonder if it was me…if he was capable of love and compassion, just not with me, you know? And it didn’t help that Natalie is younger and thinner and taller and all around more perfect.”

“You’re perfect,” Drew replied.

Cami was about to tell him to quit flattering her because it wasn’t helping, but when she looked up, the utter sincerity and passion in his eyes cut her off short. So she only smiled and looked away again.

“So, what happened? What was decided?”

“Absolutely nothing was resolved,” Cami said with a sigh. “Which means we’ll have to go to court. Which will waste a lot of time and money, and he’ll have the upper hand. Ugh…and that isn’t even the worst part.”