Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 (16 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Natalie

It felt like the walls were closing in on her.

But Campbell kept them away. He kept her grounded, safe, while she tried to process through the shock.

“What happened with Braden, Natalie?”

The shame she felt nearly consumed her. “I was so naïve. I fell in love or so I thought. He was older by almost a decade. An associate of my father’s.” She shook her head at the mistakes she’d made when she was so young and stupid. Having to relive it in front of Campbell was bad enough, but Wyatt and Eric wrecked her. “He seduced me, I think, but I’d had a crush on him for what seemed like forever. He was older, sophisticated, knew what he was doing.” Or so she thought.

She wandered away from Campbell, needing some distance to continue. “He got me pregnant accidentally during our brief six-month affair.”

“How old were you?” Campbell asked. His hands were in tight fists, and she almost didn’t want to answer. He’d find out anyway, and she decided telling him was better than the alternative.

“Seventeen.”

“That’s statutory rape. Why didn’t your parents press charges?”

“The scandal. Are you kidding me? I got pregnant out of wedlock and by a guy who worked for my father’s company. They wanted it to go away, not bring full media attention to it.”

With his fists clenched tight, he asked, “What happened after you got pregnant?”

“It was like you see in bad movies. I was whisked away to California and a private birthing facility. They shipped me off until I had the baby. And got rid of it.” Wrapping her arms around herself, she remembered how alone she’d felt. How isolated. Sad. Desperate to get away from everything. Everyone.

Wyatt spoke up for the first time. “If you got pregnant at seventeen, you were probably eighteen when you had the baby. Legally an adult. Why did you give it up for adoption? Doesn’t sound like you wanted to.”

“You don’t go against my family. I had no money of my own until I turned twenty-one and they wouldn’t let me work while I was in school, so I had literally no means to support myself or a child.”

“Did you tell your parents you wanted to keep the child?”

“It was a little boy. He was perfect.” She wiped tears from her cheeks with no recollection of crying and walked out of her office to stare at a picture hung in the hallway. But all she saw was her reflection in the glass. “Yes I told them.” A humorless laugh filled the hallway. “I was told not to come home until I’d gotten rid of the problem. He was their grandchild and they saw it as nothing but a problem.” Shaking her head, she spoke over her shoulder. “So I had the baby and gave him up for adoption. Not because it was what I wanted to do but because he needed a better life than what I could provide for him. Two parents. A dog.” Shrugging, she tried to find something else to say but that was it. She was a coward and made decisions that not only affected the rest of her life but the rest of her son’s life as well.

Because she couldn’t find the balls to stand up to her family

She stiffened when Campbell approached her from behind. His reflection bored into her as he came up to her. Ready for his judgment, she turned and lowered her arms. Whatever he had to say she deserved. Whatever he was going to tell her she’d already told herself hundreds of time.

He tipped her chin up to face him and kissed her.

Kissing her again, he then pulled her into his arms and held her.

Bursting into tears was a real possibility that she was in no mood to share with the world so she took a deep breath and backed up.

Not having a clue what to do with his affection, she moved around him and back into her office.

Wyatt had that detective look on his face. “What part did Braden play in the adoption or custody of your son?”

“None at all. He’d already signed over the rights to have anything to do with our son before he was even born.”

“I didn’t think that was possible.” It was Eric who spoke. “There are rules in place making sure all parents can’t sign their rights away until after a child is born.”

“Rules have no place with my parents. Not unless they want them to. They have enough money that anyone can be bought. No law is above them. If they want something to happen, they make it happen. And money talks no matter which state your minor daughter is sent to, to have a secret baby.”

“That’s not right.” Eric shook his head.

“Welcome to my world.”

“So you had your son. You gave him up for adoption and then what? You came home?” Wyatt’s tone was gentle. Inquisitive but not judging. It still made her sweat and want to hide.

“I came back here. To NYC. Recuperated. Finished my high school diploma with private tutors because all of my friends were told I’d gotten a scholarship to study abroad.”

Wyatt shook his head and so did Campbell as he spoke. “Your parents are a piece of work.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Who else knows about him?” Wyatt enquired.

“My parents are all I know of.”

“You never told anyone else? Ever?” Again Wyatt didn’t sound accusatory, merely shocked, which she completely understood.

“No one. I’m sure it’s in my medical records or something in Cali at the clinic I used there, but that’s all I know of.”

Wyatt cocked his head to the side. “You said something earlier about coming here to the clinic. How is that when you were shipped to California to have the baby?”

“This is the clinic I came to to have the pregnancy test run before I told anyone. Then I was flown across the country. When I came back to the city I came here. Don’t know why.” She shrugged. “Guess I felt safe here. Like they understood what I was going through.”

“But you weren’t a patient?”

“Nope. Volunteer when I came back. I used my parents’ money to go to college. I majored in business and sociology. I knew what I wanted to do after only working here for a few weeks. I wanted to own a place like this. Make a difference. Give girls options I didn’t have. Facilitate more than just their physical care if they would let me. This is also the clinic where I met Angela. We’ve been kindred sisters of sorts ever since. Amazing what friendships can be forged under harrowing circumstances.” She glanced at Campbell and then down at her feet. “So when I graduated with my master’s degree I started working here full-time. Not long after, the then-owners decided to retire and I offered to buy the clinic. Had to take a hell of a loan to do it but I’ve made it a success, even with the fire. Thank goodness for insurance.”

“Wait,” Campbell stopped. “Why didn’t you just buy it? You were over twenty-one at that point and should have inherited quite a bit, I would assume.”

“Oh yeah. That. I left out the part where my parents effectively disinherited me when I told them what I wanted to do. That I wanted this to be my life’s mission.”

“Fuck. They really are assholes. Remind me to punch your father in the face if I’m ever unlucky enough to meet him.”

Natalie smiled at Wyatt’s imagery. “I’m gonna hold you to that.” She shook her head. “What pissed me off the most when all of that went down is a big part of my inheritance wasn’t under their control. Never was. Well, it shouldn’t have been. It was supposed to be straight from my grandmother. My mother’s mother. We were so close. She was the only one who came to visit with me in California. She was with me when I had my son. I’ll never forget her.”

“She died?” Wyatt asked.

Nodding still made her heart squeeze tight. “While I was in college. Massive stroke. I was devastated.”
Still am
, she wanted to say but she kept that to herself.

Wyatt’s eyebrows drew down into a look of complete confusion. “So why didn’t that money come to you? I can only imagine what you could do with this place and how many more like it you could build with that kind of funds beneath you.”

“Remember that earlier statement about the regular rules not applying to my family?”

“You’re shitting me?”

“No, Campbell, but I wish I were.”

“Have you fought them for it?”

“Me and what army would go against the Grants in a legal battle?”

“You are a Grant,” Campbell growled.

“True.” She nodded and rubbed her eyes. “But not the right kind of Grant.”

Campbell made some kind of noise that was a cross between a curse and a harrumph. He stared at the laptop for a few seconds. “Who else had access to your office in the last few weeks?”

“Everyone. Yes I know that’s not the answer you were hoping for, but it’s the truthful answer nonetheless. We don’t keep buttloads of cash so I’m not worried about stealing. We guard the medicine cabinet but we’ve never been broken into. We have an alarm for the main door and the back door. That’s it.”

“Cameras?” Wyatt asked, as he looked up at the ceiling in her office.

“Nope.”

“That’s gonna change,” Campbell added. “And quickly.” He stared her down as if he were waiting for her to argue but she honestly thought cameras were a good idea.

“Well. We’re as far with this tonight as we’re going to get, and we need to take your computer.”

“Sheesh, Wyatt. Talk about the carrot and the stick there. I finally get to go home but you’re taking my work PC with you?”

“I know it sucks, and you know I’d do it any other way if I could. But this is going to take some time.”

“We could clone it, boss.” Eric turned to Wyatt. “I’ve got a ghost drive here. It’ll take me no more than fifteen minutes to copy the entire system over and I can clone it into another laptop at the shop tomorrow.”

Natalie looked hopefully at Wyatt but didn’t say anything.

“Works for me. Make it so.” He said the last part in his best Jean-Luc Picard voice from
Star Trek: The Next Generation
.

Campbell shook his head and chuckled. “Trekkie.”

“You say it as if it’s a bad thing.”

Fifteen minutes later, Natalie was dead tired but on her way home. Calling it a night with no real answers didn’t give her a warm and fuzzy feeling, especially not with having to deal with a resurgence of her past mistakes.

And for once she wasn’t going home alone. That comforted her a hell of a lot more than she expected it to.

The police at least had some place to start, and maybe they’d get lucky. Not that lady luck had been smiling down on her for the past…while. Could be her luck was about to change. She glanced at Campbell on the way back home and leaned her head against the headrest as she reached over and took his hand in the back of the cab.

He squeezed it and lifted it to kiss the back of her knuckles.

Maybe, just maybe, her luck had already changed and she’d just been too scared to notice.

Chapter Fourteen

Campbell

Stepping inside the condo, they were greeted by the dogs. Hopping like circus animals, they greeted each of them and Campbell sighed. Nothing like coming home to someone who acted as if he’d been gone for years. He picked up Killer and Natalie did the same with Angel.

There were licks all around from the puppies and Campbell laughed.

“What?” Natalie asked as she hung up her purse and tossed her keys on a side table. She kicked off her shoes while he took his first deep breath in hours.

“No matter how shitty a day can be. No matter what crap hits the fan and gets flung all around. Coming home to this always makes me feel better.”

“Me too. Coming home to an empty house after a day like today would totally not do it for me. Let me take them out real quick.”

Natalie stared over at him. “You wouldn’t mind?”

He tried not to sigh at her guarded question. As if she’d owe him for offering to do something for her. The growl he wanted to let rumble free he kept in check. Mostly. “Not at all.” He snagged the leashes, latched them on, and headed back outside. “Be back.”

A few minutes later he stepped back inside. Natalie was right there to take Angel. “Thank you,” she whispered up at him and then unhooked the leashes on both collars to go hang them up.

They worked well together. As in often.

Campbell wondered if hell had frozen over. With a shake of his head he set down Killer, who immediately ran over to Natalie and whined, getting up on his hind legs.

“Think he wants up?” Natalie asked.

“No. I think he wants his girlfriend.” Angel was staring down at him, tongue out, tail wagging.

Natalie set Angel down and Killer licked her and they wandered off together to get in some kind of trouble. “Totally best friends now. Very funny. And Angel’s never really done well with other dogs. Like ever. Wonder what’s different about Killer?”

“He’s awesome.” He took Natalie’s hand and led her over to the couch in the living room.

“You’re biased.” She shook her head and sat down when he gave her a little nudge. Pulling her knees up to her chest to set her cheek on her knees made him want to growl. He hated seeing her withdrawn. Made him want to punch something. Namely a douchebag named Braden.

He had more questions. Like a million of them. He wanted to know what happened when she found out she was pregnant. He wanted to know how her labor was and if she had any contact with her son. From the way the light in her eyes dimmed when she spoke of him, she really didn’t act as if she had a relationship with him.

She acted lost, and the need to pummel the dickheads who hurt her boiled inside him. Her parents being the other two at the top of the list.

“Hungry?” he asked, though her answer was inconsequential since he was going to cook anyways.

“Not really.”

“Excellent. I’ll make soup and sandwiches for us.” He grabbed the remote and turned the television on for her. Some random cooking show looked obnoxious. That would do.

“Okay.” That was her only response, which told him all he needed to know. Not even one grumble out of her when he manhandled her was not the Natalie he knew. As if the dogs knew she needed love too, they got on the couch with her, one on each side. She put her knees down crisscrossed and the dogs laid their heads on her thighs and she petted them absentmindedly.

He kept an eye on her from the alcove leading from the kitchen to the living room. Didn’t take him ten minutes to put grilled cheese together with tomato soup in coffee mugs for both of them. He set the mugs on the coffee table and plated up the sandwiches that he cut in half.

Calling the dogs into the kitchen, he fed them in their bowls so hopefully he and Natalie could eat in peace in the living room.

A different food show was on. They were showing how people make the suckers with gum in the middle. He left it on even though he knew Natalie wasn’t really seeing it.

He set a plate in her lap. “Eat.”

“Still not hungry.”

“Eat anyway.”

“Why?”

“Because it will make me happy and if you eat good I’ll draw you a bath and I’ll wash your hair and fuck you to sleep.”

Tears made her eyes look glossy and she blinked fast trying to clear them. “That sounds nice.”

Holding her chin, he kissed her trembling mouth once. Again. “I know it’s been one shitty day. But you know what’s awesome about shitty days?”

“Is this when you tell me shitty days are great because then we can appreciate the good ones more? Can’t have the peaks without the valleys bullshit?”

He smiled. Couldn’t help it. “Nope. Though that existentialism is great, I was just going to say they’re awesome when they’re over. And stick a fork in it. This one is done. So.” He pointed to her triangle sandwiches and grabbed her coffee cup from the table to hand to her. “Eat some. It’ll make me feel better.”

“Make you feel better?” She took a bite and then a sip of her soup.

“Exactly. And you don’t want me to be upset, do you?” He gave her his best sad puppy-dog face.

Rolling her eyes, she tried to hide a smile behind her cup as she took another sip. “I guess not.”

“Great.” He dipped a triangle in his coffee mug and took a big bite.

Dinner was a pretty silent affair. The dogs finished before they did and they came back in, hunkering down on their now-shared dog bed. The fact there was another one right next to the one they now occupied apparently made no difference.

Natalie ate pretty well, better than he expected actually, and he took the dishes back to the kitchen and cleaned up. Flipping the light off, he went and settled back on the couch.

Slowly Natalie came out of her shell and lifted his arm closest to her so she could snuggle into his side.

“Hi.” He squeezed her gently and kissed the top of her head.

“Hi.” Moving up a bit, she kissed his lips. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Being you, I guess. You really surprise me. I thought I knew who you were, and I’m learning I didn’t have a clue. I normally hate being wrong.”

“And who did you think I was?”

For a few seconds she said nothing and he wondered if she was going to answer. When she started he more than kinda wished he’d never asked.

“Egotistical, pompous, dismissive, rude.”

“Ouch.”

“Can you deny any of them?”

Didn’t take him long to answer. “Nope. Not a one of them.”

“But…”

“But?” His eyebrows went up at the end of the word.

“You’re incredibly kind but fierce. Loyal to the people you care about, and I think it’s more than just surface stuff. You really care about people you’re close with. It’s not just for show and I can see that now. You’ve been up just as long as I have. Well, actually longer since I slept for a bit in Greta’s office. Yet you bring me home, feed me even when there wasn’t anything that sounded appetizing at all, but you found something easy for me to handle. It was delicious by the way. Loved the sour cream in the soup. You took care of the dogs too so I could stare at a wall for a bit and get my bearings.”

“I knew you just needed a little bit to decompress. You had a rough day.” Downplaying all of it wasn’t difficult. “Didn’t feel like I did that much.”

“See, and then there’s this humble side of you that I honestly can’t reconcile with your Domly Dom side I saw last night. I truly expected it to completely be different with you this morning and at work. Kept thinking you were going to be heavy-handed and think you could demand all sorts of stuff. You didn’t do any of that.”

“Domly Dom side. That’s awesome. And no. I know where we stand. I get to control you in the bedroom. That’s it. Well, and anything to do with your safety. Nonnegotiable.”

“And at some point when you were playing with that little girl today I overheard you say something about all of your family being teachers and something about a big card your mom’s students made you when you came home from overseas. I don’t remember what you said but I got the distinct impression they support you no matter what. That they’re incredibly proud of you. The man. The Marine. Always have been, I think.” She shrugged and he really heard what she said instead of just shrugging it off. “Maybe the distance is something only in your head.” She cuddled him again. “I’m starting to think I only know a very small piece of you and I almost want to know more.”

“Almost?”

“Almost,” came out in a whisper as she eyed his mouth.

He felt it like a caress.

Instead of shying away from it, this time she took a deep breath, got up on one knee, and swung the other onto the couch on the other side of his hips.

He ran his hands up her thighs, settling them on her waist. Tucking her pelvis in close to his body as she sat down on him lit a flame inside him he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

It wasn’t trust per se.

At least that’s what he told himself as she leaned in close and kissed him.

Biting her lip, she eyed his shirt at the bottom before lifting it over his head.

He let her.

He hadn’t let any woman he was with initiate sex…ever. Not that he could remember at least.

Staring down at him, she traced his shoulders with her fingers. Then his pecs, abs. “You’re a work of art.”

“I’m just a guy. Nothing spectacular.”

“You are spectacular. No question about it.”

Unable to keep his hands from her any longer, he pulled her shirt up and off, tossing it on the couch beside them. “This. You. These.” He palmed her breast and released the front clasp of her bra, letting her spectacular tits spill into his hand. “Perfection.”

With his fingers making circles on her, she grabbed his hands and pressed them to her flesh. “I think you said something about a bath.”

“Indeed I did, and let it be known I am a man of my word.” He easily stood, hauling her up with him into his arms. “I hope you know by now I’m quite a stickler on quality control.”

She licked his shoulder. His throat. “You are. Does that mean you’re going to need to inspect your work?”

His dick throbbed behind his zipper. ”I will most definitely need to check you very closely to make sure all of your folds and creases are well…cleaned.”

Carrying her to the bedroom, he closed the door on the dogs and set out to fulfill every one of his promises. And for once, when they got to bed, he let her take the lead.