“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.”
“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 witnes
s.
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.
Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 Page 5
