Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 (30 page)

“No, actually you can’t. If you’ll excuse us, we need to get our
daughter,”
yes she enunciated that part, “down for a nap so we can get finished and get out of here for the night.” As soon as she was close enough, Campbell wrapped an arm around her and stood up to her parents. Damn it felt good, but the last thing she wanted was him to have to deal with them.

Starling thankfully let out a cry then and he bounced her again.

“Let’s not throw her off schedule just because her grandparents want to be inconvenient.” She shook up the bottle one more time. She’d thankfully grabbed it from the break room and handed it to Campbell. “Why don’t you see if you can get her down? I’ll only be a minute and then we can get cleaned up.” Yep, she glared at her parents.

“You sure?” That was all he asked.

She loved that he asked, and she knew whatever she answered he would be okay with. He trusted her to be honest, which she absolutely was. The dynamic between them wasn’t one that anything he said was law and she had no say. The connection between them was a two-way street she didn’t know could even exist in kink.

“Positive.”

He took the bottle, kissed her, and then glared at her parents on the way out of the front reception area.

“I tried to tell you this was a bad idea,” her mother sniffed as soon as they were alone, her nose going up a couple degrees.

Natalie shook her head. “So you did. And I believe we agreed to disagree then. What’s changed?”

“Things change when the press associates a Grant with arson. Hit-and-runs. Several?” The shock on her father’s face seemed manufactured. So odd.

“I’ve had a busy year so far. What can I say?”

“And that’s the security you hired to protect you? That’s the best your money could buy? I’m not impressed.”

“Feeling’s mutual,” Campbell called from the back.

Natalie barely stopped herself from snickering.

“And the little girl he has with him?”

“What about her?” Natalie asked through gritted teeth.

“We heard through the grapevine about a potential adoption. But that little girl? We heard of her unfortunate circumstances and that will follow her her whole life. As well as you. As well as—”

“Who? You two? Come on. You looked at her like you might catch something from her, Mother. She’s effectively your grandchild and you can’t do anything but wrinkle your nose at her.” Natalie shook her head. “That baby lost everybody and by some twist of fate she found her way to me and that amazing man in there.”

“Amazing?” Her father’s snide laugh grated on every last nerve she had. “I most definitely doubt that.”

“And you would know anything about my life, how?”

“We’ve kept tabs on you, young lady.”

“Spying on me is more like it. And you know what? You wouldn’t have to do any of that if you’d actually wanted to have a relationship with me like a normal family.”

“You weren’t willing to be reasonable.”

“No. I wasn’t willing to be your puppet.” Damn. She’d wanted to say that for years.

“You’re still young enough we can find you a good husband. A good match befitting a Grant. You can have children of your own instead of someone else’s castoffs.”

“Find me a husband? Castoffs? Do you even hear yourselves?” Natalie walked behind the counter to put some physical distance between them. Last thing she wanted was to be brought up on charges of assault on her parents. “I’m pretty sure we’re done here.”

“Not until you hear us out, young lady.” Her father spoke up again and stepped toward the counter.

“I stopped being a young lady a long time ago. Probably when I became a mother for the first time and I let you take him away from me. Well, I’m all grown up now. I don’t need your approval and I certainly don’t think I’ll be taking any advice from you.”

Her mother shook her head. “You were always such a strong-willed child. You could have made an amazing Grant.”

“The last I checked I’m actually still a Grant. Shocking, I know.”

“We’re here to make you an offer. You give up the notion of this clinic, come back to work at Grant Enterprises, and we’ll consider putting you back in the will.”

Natalie laughed hysterically as Campbell walked out from the back and effectively blocked the doorway between the reception area and the front where her parents still stood. “Something funny?” he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

She knew exactly how intimidating he was like that and almost felt sorry for her parents. Almost.

“Hilarious. They were so wrong about everything when I had my son and I was too young, too weak, too dependent on them to do anything about it. I had to take it and do it with grace and a smile. Well you know what, Mother? Father? You were so wrong. About everything. Money doesn’t make love but it sure can warp it. Destroy it.” She shook her head and renewed her vow never to turn out like them no matter what success she had in life. “I read something the other day. That some people are so poor all they have is money. So. Damn. Right. I’ve never been more thankful you denounced me as your daughter.” She glanced at Campbell and he met her gaze. “If you would be so kind as to show them to the door, I’d be eternally grateful.”

“I’d be happy to.” The gleam in his eye as he returned his laser focus to her parents made her father’s eyes go wide.

Didn’t take them much encouragement to move, but they balked and threatened all the way out. “You’ll be begging us to take you back, Natalie. Begging us,” her mother yelled.

Rolling her eyes never felt more appropriate. “Get out of my clinic and the next time you feel the need for a family chat, don’t call me, call my attorney.” And before they could utter a single word in response, Campbell closed the door in their faces.

Best.

Family.

Reunion.

Ever.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Campbell

“That was so fucking awesome,” Campbell told her as he locked the clinic door and killed the lights in the front section.

“What, that they can walk upright on two feet no matter their true species?” The pissy rolled off her in waves and she tossed another folder on the counter. “How can they be such horrible people? They could do so much good. Make such a difference. In this city, the state.” She shook her head and rubbed her temples. “But they just can’t see past their shortsighted vision of perfection.”

“I love your ballsy, take-no-shit attitude.” Moving around the counter, he laid his hand on her neck. She tried to move away from him, as she’d done since he’d made an ass of himself with his botched proposal, but he clamped down, holding her in place.

“What the hell are you doing? And why the hell did you turn the lights off up here? I have things to do.” She dropped her hands and pivoted around. Her fists were propped on her hips before she stopped moving.

He raised an eyebrow as her gaze cut to either side of him, probably looking for an escape route. And he’d made sure she didn’t have one. “You’ve been avoiding my touch ever since I made the mistake of propos—”

“I don’t want to hear it, Campbell. Don’t want to talk about it, rehash it again, discuss it. Nothing. Drop it.”

A half a step forward, he crowded into her space and she leaned against the desk.

Did he use his size to intimidate her intentionally? Not exactly.

Did he use his added height to remind her whom she submitted to at night? Yes, he did. “I love seeing you sink into that state where you’re ready for me.”

“Ready for you?” She swallowed and he watched her heartbeat pulse beneath the skin of her throat. “What about Starling?”

“She’s asleep in your office. We’ll hear her if she wakes up. But I think you need an attitude adjustment.”

Didn’t take her two seconds to go from pliant to pissed off, and she gave him the asshole face. “How dare you?”

Immediately his fist went to her hair, yanking her head back to lick her throat, kiss her flesh, seduce her. Moving the files on the table out of his way, he lifted her onto it and made room for himself between her thighs. “You’re grouchy and have had several really awful days. I’m going to make you feel good. Right here. Right now. Tell me you want me. Tell me you need me to make you feel better.” He wanted to erase the awful things that had happened in the clinic the past forty-eight hours. The attempted arson, the chaos, and her asshole parents.

Bringing a little bit of something dirty and fun to drown out some of the bad was needed. More than she knew.

And he needed it too. Maybe even more than she did. Somewhere along the way he’d fallen in love with this place. With their mission. Their passion. Her fight was now his and she needed to know it.

She swallowed and licked her bottom lip. “I want you.”

“And?” Running his teeth along her jaw, she jerked against him.

“And I need you. So much.”

Nothing else. Just a handful of words and he truly believed she cared about him. About making things right between them. That’s what he needed. A glimmer that the aloofness she’d been throwing in his direction was nothing but another wall to keep her safe.

But that was his job. A job he wanted permanently. And this was the first step to taking her back. Winning her trust. This time he wasn’t playing at it and hoping for a good outcome.

For keeps was the only option. She was his. So was Starling, and he’d fight for the right to be with them.

“Please, Campbell.” Her lower body fought to get closer to him. “I need you.”

Hell.

Yes.

He pulled her shirt over her head and unhooked her bra in less than five seconds. Her tits tumbling free of their underwire prison made him want to howl. “Fuck, you’re hot.”

“Burning up,” she agreed.

“Kick off your shoes.” After she complied he pulled her off the counter and stripped off her jeans, panties, and socks. “Naked. I need you completely naked.”

“But the glass windows up front. People can see in here.”

“Which is why I killed the lights.” He glanced over at the glass panels. “But you’re right.” Whipping his head back around, he pegged her with a gaze that made her bite her bottom lip. “Get on your knees.” He undid his belt, popped open the button, and slid the zipper down carefully over his raging hard-on.

“Where?” she wanted to know as he pulled his cock free.

“Right where you are.”

Looking behind her didn’t take long. “But the post is right behind me.”

“Exactly. It’ll give you something to hold on to while I fuck your throat until you’re ready to come and then I’m going to fuck you so hard you squirt all over the carpet and you forget about all the negative shit lately.”

She smiled. “Have I ever told you how much I love it when you talk dirty to me?”

“Have I ever told you how much I love it when you get dirty with me?”

Her expression softened for a second and then she eased herself down onto her knees.

He fisted his aching dick, pumping it through his hand a few times. “Back up. Put your feet on either side of the post until your ass hits the post. Just like that.”

“Cold. Damn. Cold.”

“Don’t worry, baby. You won’t be cold long.” Aiming the head of his dick toward her mouth, he painted her lips with the pre-cum poised on the tip.

“You’re wet,” she whispered.

“Never before in my life have I gotten wet like I do for you.”

“Evolution,” she told him as she licked his cum from her lips.

“Open up.” He eased himself into her mouth until her eyes closed and she hummed on him. “Why evolution?” He pulled back out so she could answer.

“Maybe it’s survival of the fittest.” She licked the underneath side of his cock before continuing then ran her hands up his thighs. “When the zombies attack and kill everyone, there will be no more people around to run factories and stuff so there will be no more lube. But with you being wet all the time we don’t need lube.”

“That’s so fucking wrong, yet somehow it totally does it for me.” He eased in again, almost to her throat, and then back out. “Oh my fuck, your mouth.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you when the zombies come.”

“They can’t. They’re dead.”

She snickered and leaned back against the pole. Her gaze on him completely made the world disappear all around them.

“Let’s just see what I can do with my evolutionary advantage then, shall we?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Fuck, I like you on your knees. Lace your fingers together behind the post. I need inside you.”

She sighed and did as instructed.

“Look up at me. I want to see your eyes on me as you suck me.”

Her lips closed around the crown of his cock just as her lashes flipped up and her horny stare locked on to his. In and out he fucked himself into her mouth. He never fully withdrew.

He couldn’t. He needed her. This. The warmth of her mouth, the scent of her wet pussy filling his mind. The sight of her on her knees, unable to get away, unable to move her head. Her submission sank inside him, dug claws in, and refused to let go.

And he realized that was just fine. He didn’t want her to let go. Not ever.

He eased farther in and she swallowed against the head of his cock. Her moan vibrated up the length of his shaft and up his spine until it made his head tingle.

He knew she needed this.

Why?

Because he did.

Their connection. Their dynamic. He’d grown to depend on it in the months they’d been together. Being unaffected by the women he was with had been his status quo for so long he’d forgotten how it was to have more than a physical connection.

He worked his shaft in and out of Natalie’s mouth.

Slowly.

Deeply.

And her eyes?

Locked on him.

They never wavered.

Pulling out, he told her, “Take a deep breath.”

Her nostrils flared just a bit and the muscles in her shoulders tightened up as she sucked in oxygen through her nose.

He grabbed new handfuls of her hair, and she flinched when he pinned her against the pole.

Her teeth scraped against the underneath side and he adjusted his grip on her as he sank back inside her mouth and down her throat.

“Fuck.”

She gagged several times as she deep-throated him but she never moved. There was no struggle to get away. Only her sexy attempt to breathe around him.

In.

And out.

He fucked her mouth, pumping inside the tight clasp of her lips and throat until his balls drew up tight to his body.

The need to come became a living breathy fire in his gut.

Her mouth.

Spilling his load deep in her throat had a certain appeal but he needed to be inside her again. In the slick channel of her sex as he made her come on him.

As he pulled free, she coughed and choked as she tried to breathe, but he couldn’t give her enough time to regain her composure.

Not any. Because if he had no control over his emotions and the needs racing through him, she didn’t get any either. She destroyed him when she took him like this.

He lifted her off her knees and moved her over to an open expanse of wall beside the doorway, facing her toward it. “Hold on to the doorjamb.” He moved her hand for her as she sucked in more air while she gripped the edge of the wall.

With a hand between her thighs, he checked to see if she was wet enough to take him. “Holy fuck. You’re dripping down your thighs.”

“Think I might have come.”

“Just from blowing me?”

“From you making me.”

Any control left evaporated on those four words. He grabbed her hips and shoved inside her pussy. Yanking her hips back away from the wall put her at the perfect angle. “You wreck me with how you give yourself to me.”

“Ditto,” she panted as she held on to the wall for dear life.

Her pussy sucked him in as he thrust inside. Deep strokes, shallow, slow, urgent. Taking her was everything and more as he felt her pussy shimmy around him. “I’m. Just. Not. Deep. Enough,” he told her.

“I’m gonna come, Sir. Again. I’m gonna come.”

“On me this time. I want to feel it. Come for me.” He grabbed on to her shoulders, using her body as leverage to stretch her wide, make her feel him, every inch, make her hurt and groan.

He wrapped his hands around her throat as she started to come.

One huff was all she got out before he tightened his hold and cum shot into her.

Filling her, claiming her, taking her bare…holy fuck.

Every other thought and worry left his head as he came inside her. Bliss expanded from each place he touched her until it bloomed throughout every piece of him.

He relaxed his hold on her throat and she jerked on him.

Looking down, he watched her asshole pucker and relax as she came on him. He rubbed the tight hole, gathering some of her juices to use as lube. Not to fuck her. At least not yet. But to give her the best orgasm of her life. Because she’d earned it.

“Best. Girl. Ever,” he mumbled as more of his cum filled her. Lifting her upper body, he stayed inside her and moved her closer to the wall so she could lean against it.

“Fuuckkk,” she whispered.

Brushing her hair to the side, he licked the back of her neck and nibbled on her shoulder. “I love it when you shake like that. The tremors working through your muscles as you process being mine.”

“Yours,” she whispered.

Didn’t sound like a question to him.

Sounded more like an admission. A pledge.

“I could get used to this,” he told her.

“Sex at the clinic?”

“Sex anywhere with you is always a given. But you being completely naked and me, fully dressed. Taking you. Owning you. So fucking hot.”

“Mmm,” was her answer.

He stayed inside her until she stopped convulsing around him. Slipping free, he growled as he watched his seed spill from her pussy to run down her leg. Didn’t take him two seconds to walk around a corner and grab a washcloth. He cleaned her up and helped her dress and then hugged her to him. “I’ve missed you the last couple days. I know I fucked up and I’m sorry I made you lose faith in me. You wreck me and I’ve never wanted more before.”

She hesitated and then wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. “And now?”

“What do you mean now?” he asked.

“You said you’ve never wanted more before. And now?”

He lifted his cheek off her head and tilted her face up. The words sat there on the tip of his tongue but her eyes were still a bit dilated. “Now, I want it all.” He kissed her softly, feeling her sigh down to the marrow in his bones. The big admissions would come when he got her home in their bed.

Asking her to marry him, and right this time. The other afternoon Clay and he had gone to grab food and then they went to get a ring. A diamond ring. He’d had it in his pocket ever since.

He’d tried playing it off with her as something he wanted for convenience and for Starling. Being Starling’s dad did it for him in ways he couldn’t wrap his head around. Being Natalie’s husband and Dominant? He planned to wrap himself around those two things for the rest of his life.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

There was no point in acting like he didn’t know what she was talking about. “Because you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And when I look at you it simply makes me happy. And thankful. And horny.”

She snickered and he hugged her again. “Always honest.”

Completely. Minus one majorly important conversation when he almost messed up the best thing that had ever happened to him. He opened his mouth to confess how bad he’d fucked up when all the lights went out. Again.

Her head fell against his chest and he gave her another hug. “At least it’s in the middle of the afternoon this time and not like last night when you were still trying to file in the back. And we can still see. Sorta.”

“Love the silver lining attitude. Must say, though, I’m thinking about trading it in for an easy button. Better not be the same breaker the electrician fixed this morning. The lights going out gives me a serious case of the willies lately.”