Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 (4 page)

“Not on your life.”

Clay pondered something. “Any idea how many people were in the vehicle?”

“One? Twenty? No clue. It all happened so fast I didn’t have any time to recon, only time to react.”

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Angela asked, giving him a visual once-over. From anyone else he’d have thought it was sexual. Not from Angela. From her it was strictly platonic. She might as well have been his sister for how she reacted to him. And how he reacted to her as well. There was just nothing going on below the equator when it came to her. But maybe it was something to do with Clay being like a brother to him. And he would never overstep his friendship with Clay. Not ever. He owed him too much for anything like that to threaten their relationship both personal and professional. They owned C&C Security half and half.

“No, I’m fine. Promise,” he tacked on when she acted as if she didn’t believe him for a heartbeat.

Nothing from her. For her? Just nothing.

But Natalie?

Oh hell.

His cock jerked as if someone had shaken him awake.

Why, Natalie?

“What do you mean, why?” Clay asked. “She’s your new client.”

“Not what I meant, but I understand she’s the new client.” Campbell had no idea he’d said it out loud. He really needed to get laid. Or sleep. Or a combination of the two. The first hopefully with a buddy, and the second one most decidedly alone.

Only way he could sleep. Spread out all over the bed with his own covers and totally commando.

“And this is personal now. Some asshole is trying to hurt one of ours and I’ll be…darned if they’re going to hurt her on my watch.”

“Oorah, brother.” Clay held his fist out and Campbell gladly bumped it.

When the hell he’d figured out he was taking the detail of someone he didn’t like he wasn’t certain. His dick jumped. Rolling his eyes at his own cock probably wasn’t the sanest thing he’d done that day but whatever.

Guess he was running with it.

Glancing at his watch again, he needed something to distract himself from the fact Natalie’d been in with the detective way too long. Much shorter than most interviews but that was beside the point.

Nothing like the present to gather some clues on what he was protecting her from. And nothing like a close friend focused on a baby to give him some of that info. Angela could tell him…

She was giving Clay some uber know-it-all look and inclining her head at—
me!

“Oh, no no no, missy. Get that I-am-cupid look off your face. This is a job and that’s it.”

“That’s what they all say, brother.” Clay at least had the common decency to look a bit sad about it with a shake of his head.

A growl threatened to rumble through the room but he kept it in check. Barely.

“How did you two meet, Angela? And any other info about her that could help me narrow down who I’m looking for?”

“I met her through the clinic so many years ago when I was pregnant with the baby I lost.” Clay touched her shoulder and squeezed. Angela reached up and patted his hand and nuzzled it with her cheek.

The last thing Campbell wanted to do was rehash private shit but he needed to know where to start digging. “The same clinic she owns now?”

“Yes, but it’s in a new location now and she didn’t own it then. She was volunteering there actually. She moved there a few years back. Not certain how long though.”

“Did her family have anything to do with that?”

“With what? Her owning the clinic or having to move?”

“Both.”

“Her last name has little to do with the decisions she makes I think. Well, sometimes I think it has a lot to do with them, but I don’t think she would answer that question the same way. As for the clinic moving? No. Nothing to do with that. Years ago she had an electrical fire and had to relocate after her insurance policy paid out.”

Campbell raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, Mr. Conspiracy Theory. It was faulty wiring found during the fire investigation. That has nothing to do with the—” She glanced down at Wyatt and squinched her lips together. “With the not-nice person after her now.”

“Not nice. Good one,” Campbell teased.

“Anyways,” she continued in an exasperated tone. “She’s always had to deal with some eccentric people. This is New York you know.”

“Don’t I know it.” Campbell shook his head as she continued.

“But she’s such a wonderful person. She helps everyone she can. All of them. Even the ones who don’t think they deserve it. And especially the ones with no other advocate to stand up with them and help them make some of the hardest decisions they’ll ever have to make.”

“You make it sound like she shits rainbows.” Campbell just couldn’t reconcile the person Angela was waxing poetically about and the chick in his office who couldn’t keep her eyes from rolling at the drop of a hat at anything he said. “She’s not some sweet old lady who will watch your cat for you if you go away for a weekend or bring you soup if you’re sick.”

“She’s better than all of that. Many a night she stayed up with me when I was so sick with morning sickness. You know that.”

“Gah. She brought you those fucking pickles. Sorry. Sorry. Language. Got it.”

“Yes she did. And ice cream and she even came to see me in the hospital when I had to have that first C-section so many years ago. Don’t know what I would have done without her. I still owe her more than I can tell with what she was going through at the time.”

“What was happening at the time?”

Something flitted across Angela’s face but she schooled her features quickly. “That was a really rough time with her family.”

He wanted to press but decided to approach from a different angle. “The Grants are in the news a lot. Do you know the nature of any of the emails she’s been receiving? Anything? I know she doesn’t advertise the fact she’s a Grant.”

“Quite the opposite,” Clay added.

“But is the family the target because they put two and two together and came up with some payoff scheme?”

“She’s always been incredibly aware of the impact she can have on her family’s name, and she’s honestly been very guarded with anything that she shares about her past.” There was that same something twisting Angela’s features. “I’ve always respected it. Always. Never questioned it.” Her voice trailed off and she rubbed their baby’s back.

“But?” Campbell prompted.

Looking up, she glanced over at Clay before continuing. “I can’t help but feel incredibly guilty.”

“What in the fu—world do you have to be guilty about? You didn’t even know she was really in trouble until today.”

“But I should have known.”

“How do you figure that?” Clay asked as he stared down at her.

“I’m her best friend. I knew something was going on. Assumed it was about the clinic, which is always having issues with funding. Always. But that assumption could have cost her her life.”

“You’re no more responsible for her crazy person as she could have been responsible for yours.”

“But it sounds like she was having trouble during the same time I was. When I was at the final show and you were both with me, she missed the show. She’d received some kind of threat and had to hunker down and face it alone. I bet you anything that’s what happened. So yeah. I feel guilty.” A squinty-eyed glare went in Clay’s direction.

“What did I do?”

“You’ve known for how long she was having trouble and didn’t tell me.”

Clay kissed her and the top of baby Wyatt’s head. “Natalie made me promise a couple weeks ago not to tell you when she finally filled me in on what was going on. I’ve read the emails, which I’ve already forwarded to Campbell’s account. She has her secrets and we have to respect her privacy.”

Campbell didn’t actually wait for him to finish talking before he pulled his email up on his phone. Scrolling through a few of them brought his growl back full force.

“I
know
all of that. I do. But my heart is hurting for my friend, and I don’t want her hurt anymore. And now I have to worry about that big galoot, too.”

“Me?” Campbell asked as he pocketed his phone to keep from throwing it against the wall. “Nothing to worry about. You can rest your pretty little head.”

The door to his office opened and Natalie stepped out, followed by an exasperated Wyatt.

Straightening his spine, he mumbled under his breath more to himself than anyone else, “I have it all under control.”

Chapter Four

Natalie

Wyatt had been asking her questions for forty-five minutes and she couldn’t seem to calm down. Her limbs kept twitching, her feet wouldn’t stay still.

Not because she had been worried about the detective’s questions. Not even reliving the latest attempt at taking her out had upset her. Or that she couldn’t remember anything helpful about it.

It was a two-inch problem.

The two inches of wood that had been separating her from Campbell.

She hadn’t been able to fully breathe until Wyatt had opened the door. Taking a real deep inhale, she had to convince her body to pay attention. She stared at Campbell. He stared at her. She nibbled her bottom lip. Again. Which she never did.

What the hell had changed?

No.

Nothing had.

Having an adrenaline rush caused it. Nothing more. He happened to have been with her when the latest attempt occurred. That was it. And definitely not because he’d actually saved her life.

Being thankful was one thing. Wanting him with her? Needing him next to her?

That wasn’t acceptable.

Needing someone with her wasn’t something she could ask for. Ever

“…else you can always call me.”

Blinking, she turned to Detective Wyatt. “I’m sorry, what?”

Wyatt gave a half grin and squeezed her arm. “I’m going to talk to Campbell and Clay, get their take on some things since you finally came to the right conclusion that you need protection right now. If you remember anything else, you can always call me. Okay?”

Clay was there?

She glanced over again. Sure was. Standing with Angela, who had the baby in her arms.

How had she missed them being there? Staring at Campbell again, she noticed his nostrils flare as he looked her up and down.

Oh yeah.

That was why.

Trying to block out her need to run to him, she crossed her arms under her boobs and kept her feet firmly planted. “Do I need to be there for you to talk to the guys?”

Wyatt watched the other group. “No. I’ll send Angela in here and if you can hang out for a bit in case I have any follow-up questions.” He rubbed a hand down his face and yawned huge. With a shake of his head he pulled his phone out of his pocket and flipped through something.

“How long have you been working? And I know it’s more than twenty-four hours ’cause falling asleep at your desk for thirty minutes is surprisingly not that helpful when it comes to the REM sleep cycle.”

“A while.” He glanced at a couple more things and put the phone away.

“Sleep does a body good, Detective.”

“Putting bad guys away does lots of bodies good.”

Natalie smiled. “Can’t argue with that logic,” she agreed as the group moved toward them.

“Can I take her home now, Wyatt?” It was Campbell who asked the question. Not knowing if she should be relieved or put out that he assumed he could ask for her kept her locked in silence. Which was a weird place to be.

And rare.

“Not yet. I’m gonna ask you a few things and run a few thoughts by you and Clay and then you can call it a night.”

The sun was setting out the front windows and it dawned on her how tired she was. Tired actually didn’t even touch how bone weary she’d been. But life moved on. As apparently did the conversation when she la-la’d out for a few seconds.

“Shouldn’t take more than fifteen or twenty minutes, and the quicker we get started the quicker we’re done.
Comprende, amigo
?” Wyatt stared at Campbell, who was staring at her.

Campbell didn’t look away and neither did she. As he looked at her she couldn’t figure out what he was trying to figure out.

“You okay or do you need to get home now?”

Home.

It was the second time he’d said it and she melted a bit each time. So she stood a little straighter. Being weak did nothing for her. She nodded. “I’m fine.” Kinda. “Angela and baby Wyatt can keep me company.” It took a lot to pull her gaze from Campbell’s, but she did it and looked up at Wyatt. “You want us in the office or out here?”

“Why don’t you guys take the office again and we’ll stay out here.”

“Works for me. Come on, Angela. Come talk to me about baby stuff and get my mind off assholes.” She turned on her heel and headed back into the office. Feeling someone’s eyes on her, she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder to see who it was. Campbell. That wasn’t who she wanted it to be.

“Right behind you,” Angela called out and she gave Clay a kiss and followed her.

Clay made a face. “Hey, why doesn’t she get called on the carpet for cussing?”

“Some dude tried to run her over today. She’s allowed a little leeway.”

“Hey.” Campbell jumped in. “I was almost run over today so can I cuss too?”

“No,” everyone answered at exactly the same time.

“Oh I see how it’s going to be.”

Natalie made it into the office and held the door handle. As soon as Angela cleared the threshold, she started closing the door but Campbell still stared at her.

It was one of those moments that slowed down.

Time edged to a crawl as she closed off the space between them again. His blue eyes locked on her, some kind of connection drawing tight between them as she gave them some privacy.

As the door snapped into place she exhaled, placing her forehead on the wood.

Gratitude for the separation warred with wanting to throw the door open and run to him.

“You okay?” Angela rubbed her back and pulled her into a hug on the side of her body away from the baby.

“I’ve had better days.” Totally not a lie.

“How are you really doing?”

Natalie separated and thought about it as she stepped over to Campbell’s desk and leaned against the edge. “Honestly?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t have a clue.”

Angela nodded. “I can completely empathize with you.”

“You can, which I hate. If this was anything like what you went through, then I did not give you near enough credit for being so full of grace last year.”

“Grace had nothing to do with it. It was all about putting one foot in front of the other.”

“That. Exactly that.”

“Did Wyatt have any aha moments while he took your statement?”

“Only one. Still made no sense to me but if he can put it all together I guess that’s why they pay him the big bucks.”

“And by big bucks do you mean a crappy wage to run all over kingdom come and get no sleep and drink really bad coffee?”

Natalie grinned and nodded. “Exactly those kinds of big bucks. He asked me lots of the same questions, and we discussed the other attacks in detail again. That’s why it took so long.”

“What was his epiphany?”

“Something about the grill of the car.”

“How so?”

“He asked me if I could ID the attacker so of course I scoffed and said,
Sure. I can pick the grill of the car out of a lineup.
He hopped all over that as great info until I told him I was only joking. Then he started asking specific questions about grills.”

“Do you know a lot about the grills on vehicles?” Angela asked skeptically.

“Not a thing.”

“Me neither. I don’t know anything about them. So how did that translate to an aha?”

“Talking to him reminded me of something I noticed right before Campbell pulled me out of the way. A certain random thought on it looking like a bug face. Just something random.” She shook her head. “He seemed to think that was good. Seemed to me it was a whole lotta nothing.”

Silence stretched between them for a little while though it was a nice silence. “You know they’re going to catch this guy, right?”

Natalie looked at her friend as she patted Wyatt’s back. “Is it horrible to think I wish I’d get hit just enough to get an imprint of the license plate on my leg or something?”

“Uhh, yeah. That’s pretty horrible.”

Natalie smiled and walked over to where Angela stood with the baby. “Thought so. I totally don’t wish for that. At all.”

“I get you wanting it to be over.”

“Another thing I wish you didn’t understand.”

“Life happens. Crazies happen. That’s something I had to finally accept. Sometimes things are out of our control and we may never understand why someone does the things they do. And whether we want it or not we are in the public eye. You even more so than me.”

“I’m not in the public eye. Not for anything that matters.”

“Your last name is reason enough. Your work with the clinic is an even better reason.”

“My last name,” Natalie scoffed with a shake of her head. “It never did me any good. Not after…”

Angela nodded. “I know. But just think. If not for our pasts, we never would have met each other, never would we have crossed paths and been exactly here right now.”

“Bless the broken road and all that, right?” Broken was right. Broken she understood.

“Exactly.” Angela smiled, and Natalie didn’t have the heart to tell her most people didn’t get a second chance with their prince like she did. That most people settled for someone so they didn’t have to be alone and they made the so-so enough to keep themselves from being completely lonely.

“So how do you feel about Campbell being your security detail?” Angela glanced around the office, giving her the impression like she wasn’t dying to know the answer.

“Honestly, I’m so thrown by what happened today I don’t have a clue how I feel. I keep bouncing back and forth between emotions. I think I know exactly what to do and how to act around him and then he throws me a curveball.”

“What kinds of curveballs?” Angela asked, trying not to smile.

“Smug does not look good on you.”

“I know. That’s why I’m trying not to giggle, so keep going and I’ll get it under control.” A little bit of a snicker squeaked out and she tried to cover it with a fake yawn.

Natalie shook her head again and closed her eyes.

What did she see behind her closed eyelids? Campbell’s face.

In a whisper she admitted, “He throws me for a loop. I’m mad at him for something awful he said and then he jokes and throws me off balance because it really is funny. He doesn’t take my all business attitude too seriously, which freaks me out. And he’s hot and I’m constantly horny around him, which pisses me off because I don’t want to be attracted to him.”

“You don’t want to be attracted to anyone.”

“Says who?”

“Uh, you. You haven’t dated anyone in almost two years.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“You’ve been hiding.”

“Ouch.”

“That’s what girlfriends are for. To tell you the hard truths when we want to bury our heads in the sand.”

“I won’t do anything to risk my heart. Not right now. Not when all of this awful is going on. What if my attraction to him has nothing to do with who he is and everything to do with base chemistry?”

“His chemistry is still who he is.”

“Hmm… I guess that’s true. But what if this whatever is between us is nothing more than adrenaline and a by-product of him saving me earlier? Like a hero worship thing?”

Angela raised an eyebrow at her. “And the first time you felt a pull toward him was today when he saved you? The first time he made your panties wet and you pictured him naked when you were getting off was today?”

Took her almost a full minute to answer and all she could get out was, “Not. Exactly.”

“Then it isn’t all the adrenaline and hero worship and circumstances creating an attraction out of nothing. Could it be enhancing it? Sure. Life happens, but this way works in your favor.”

“I will give my heart to no man.” Natalie blurted it out and then wished she could have stopped herself and taken it back.

But thankfully Angela didn’t look at her with pity. Just understanding. “Sometimes it’s not up to you. Sometimes life and fate have a way of working it out for you. Putting the right people in your path at exactly the right time. Your heart might be ready to be loved even if you’re still not certain of it.”

“It’s never been a problem before and I sure as hell am not gonna fall for some guy like Campbell.”

“He’s actually a really great guy. Sweet, loyal, cute.”

“He’s not a golden retriever, Angela. He’s more along the lines of a petri dish of STDs.” Not nice and she knew it, but she’d seen all sorts of awful stuff at the clinic and that was one thing she never wanted to deal with.

“Catty. Put the claws away.”

Natalie smiled and gently lifted one of Wyatt’s limp little hands. “Sorry. That was rude.”

“And untrue. He’s actually completely clean, which I know goes against every HIPAA and uber safe health code whatever-ness. But that kind of info I just happened to see out on his desk the other day really should have been properly filed. What was I to do if I had to grab a pen and caught a peek?”

With her free hand, Angela drew a fake halo around her head as a highlight of her divine nature.

Natalie just snorted and rolled her eyes.

As he stared down at baby Wyatt again, Wyatt Campbell she reminded herself, a pang of wistfulness made her nibble at her bottom lip. “Can I hold him?”

“Of course. He’s already been fed and changed and he wanted to eat again and I’m a sucker for his little whimper so I topped him off.”

“As if he’s a car.” Natalie smiled and lifted Wyatt onto her shoulder, trying hard not to jostle him too quickly so he stayed sleeping.

After a few wiggles accompanied by an eye rub from his tiny fist, he settled against her, fully trusting her to take care of him, to protect him and keep him safe. And she would. His warm weight on her chest, cradled in her arms, his breath on her throat—nothing better in the whole world.

“He’s getting bigger,” she whispered to Angela. Why she thought she needed to whisper now after they’d been talking for a while at full volume she didn’t know. But it felt right. Something about holding a baby just helped her settle inside. That perfect quiet moment with him and his mother. She loved being his godmother, too. What a special honor that she took very seriously.

“Heavens, yes. He’s gonna be tall like Clay I think. He looks just like him.”

“Oh I don’t think so. I can see a lot of you in him, too.”