Authors: Audrey Carlan
Fate took that moment to intervene. As Nate pulled away leaving me stunned stupid, a deep chuckle filled the air. I closed my eyes and hoped it wasn’t who I thought it was. Nate turned his head, smiled a very cat that ate the canary grin, and gripped me by the shoulders hauling me against his side.
“Morning mate,” Nate said to Mr. Jensen.
“I see that it is just that. Mornin’ sweetie. Everything peachy?”
God, take me now.
I nodded and tried my best to wrestle out of Nate’s arms. He was having none of it. He squeezed me tighter, molding me to his side.
“Pick up my fancy coffee?” Mr. Jensen asked, his Southern drawl strong and amused
“Yes, absolutely, Mr. Jensen.” I turned and scooted away from Nate. I pulled out Hank’s pure black Sumatra blend coffee and handed it to him.
“How’s Aspen? Did she tell you we had a bite together late last week?” Nate asked.
“She did.” Hank’s gaze shifted to me as his head tilted to the side, assessing me. I hated when people scrutinized me. Ignoring both men I pulled up the start program and logged in, bringing up his schedule for the day.
“My wife is doing just great. Glowin’ and taking great care of our daughter to be,” he said.
“Brilliant! Love to hear things are so well. I just came by to wish my girl here a great morning.” Nate nodded to me and I could sense a blush flutter along my cheeks.
“Your girl?” Hank had no qualms about zeroing right in on the comment. This couldn’t possibly get any worse. My personal life was spilling into my professional life like a pancake coated in too much syrup, too thick and sickeningly sweet, the kind you couldn’t stomach. I didn’t know how to deal with this change in my world.
“If she’ll have me…” Nate’s words smoothed the jagged edges of my heart like calamine over poison ivy filling the wounds with a healing balm. I couldn’t help but smile through my nerves.
“Mr. Walker was just leaving. Right?” I prayed he’d take the hint. Nate looked at his watch. “I should shove off. Due in court within the hour. May I see your phone, Camille?”
Without thinking, I pulled my pay as you go flip phone out of my purse. His eyes narrowed and flipped it front to back as if it came from outer space. He pressed buttons, his eyes hyper-focused on the task. Then all of a sudden a sweet chiming sound filled the room. He pulled out his own phone from his breast coat pocket and hit a button.
“Now I have your number.” He grinned.
Sneaky
. “Until Sunday then. Expect a ring from me this evening.”
I opened my mouth but didn’t know how to deny him in front of my boss. With a wink and a smile, Nate turned and held out his hand to Hank. “Good seeing you, mate.”
“You as well, partner.”
Without even a glance back Nate took his long, lengthy muscled body out the door and out of the office.
“So, you and Nate, eh?” Hank waggled his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
***
Today by far was the best day I’d had in what seemed like forever. Starting my morning off with the sweet taste of my Camille’s lips left me feeling like a million bucks. And I knew exactly what a million dollars felt like…abso-fucking-lutely brilliant!
Court went smashing and consisted of putting a daft bastard away for embezzlement, getting another client out of tax trouble, and settling a battle against a suppler who’d sent faulty equipment to the Jensen job. Overall, I jumped tall buildings in a single bound. I was on top of the world and there was only one reason.
Camille Johnston.
I could hardly wait to get home. I pulled my 2014 BMW 7 Series into the carport, took the elevator to my floor, tossed my keys and money clip into the ceramic bowl by the door with little concern, and settled into my flat. I changed into loose cotton pajama bottoms, poured three fingers of an eighteen year old Macallan, and stared out over the cityscape. The caramel honeyed notes from the scotch slid along my taste buds warming me from the inside out. It was lovely at this time of night. All the lights of the cars trailed one another in a game of follow the leader. The copious numbers of yellow cabs weaved through sleek sports utility vehicles like little ducks waddling after one another.
The itch to ring Camille was strong laced with a heaviness I wasn’t familiar with. Women were always a means to an end. My career and the success of my career had always been forefront in my mind. Watching Collier fall for a woman, do everything to make her happy and fail taught me a great lesson. Women can hurt you in more ways than one.
When Collier suggested five years ago that we take a leap across the pond to the States, I jumped at the chance. I was twenty three and working myself to the bone alongside my elder brother. We built something magnificent, and it had been successful beyond our wildest dreams.
We were both multi-millionaires with great flats. Our Mum and Dad’s house has been paid off. We owned a stick of apartments in a swanky building in New York and business was booming.
Only now things were different between Collier and me.
A few months ago, I watched Collier almost die. Then I watched him find love again. This time he fell for a woman who was more afraid of love than a cat was of water. He changed because of her in the best possible way.
I missed that it was no longer me and my brother fighting battles and kicking arse. We still worked together, ran our empire as a solid unit, but it wasn’t the same. He wasn’t, and I wasn’t. The past year, I no longer looked forward to going out at the end of a dastardly work week to find a willing bird to bed. It was very hollow and unsavory in the light of day, and I was tired of it.
And now, there was
Camille
.
I thought of our time together, though all too brief. The woman’s pointed small nose, high cheekbones, pink kissable lips, and emerald eyes that were surrounded by a halo of golden brown hair did things to me. Sod all; the woman brought me to my knees to worship at her feet, all to capture her sweet smile. That tiny tip of her lips, and I was a gone. Lost forever.
It surprised me that this woman, Hank’s receptionist, had such control; a control she didn’t know she had. When I wasn’t with her, I thought about her. Today was one of those days where I sorted it out by just showing up at her work. My Camille had quick feet that preferred running to standing still in my presence. Today though, she proved just how taken she was with me. I ate up every second.
I remembered her lowered gaze, that pink little tongue licking her lips, her gasps, and, during our kiss, the little sound she made at the back of her throat. It was a combination of a moan and a growl. I’d go to great lengths to hear that sound again and again. I planned on doing just that this weekend. Sunday.
Bollocks. Why a Sunday? It didn’t make sense, but I’d do whatever it took to spend the day with her. I sat down in the high back chair facing the city and dialed her number.
After four rings I thought for sure I’d be leaving a message but a small, little voice answered. “Hello?”
I pulled the phone away from my hand and checked the display. No, it said ‘Precious Camille’ in bright white font on the screen.
“Hello, who is this?” I asked softly.
“Tanner,” a soft whisper answered.
“Tanner, my name is Nate.”
“Hiya, Nate! You talk funny.” The little voice giggled in a way that could only be conveyed by a child’s innocence.
“You think so? How old are you?”
“Four,” was practically screamed into my ear, piercing my close to thirty-year-old eardrum painfully.
“Wow, that’s a big boy. Can you tell me Tanner…is there an adult there?”
“Yep,” was all I got. Nice and direct. I liked this kid.
“And what are their names, sport?”
“Mommy and Auntie.”
Ah, now I get it. This must be her roommate’s child. Funny, she never brought up the fact that her roommate had a son. We had so much to learn about each other. I looked forward to digging into every facet that was my sweet innocent girl.
“Tan Man, who are you calling?” I could hear the lovely lilting voice of my Camille in the background.
“I didn’t call. I swear. He called me!” His little voice sounded downright indignant. I chucked in response.
After a rustling noise a winded Camille spoke. “Who is this?”
“Good evening, Precious.”
The phone went completely silent. I had to check that it was still connected. Then I heard what sounded like movement a door opening and closing loudly.
“Um, Hi Nate,” Camille finally said.
“Is this a bad time?”
“No, not exactly.”
I carried on without bother. “I just spoke to a lovely little boy. How is it that you didn’t mention your roommate had a child?”
I heard Camille take a deep breath. “Uh…well, it’s complicated, Nate.” Camille’s life just kept getting more interesting, opening up like peeling layer after layer from an onion.
“How can a child be complicated?”
“It just is. Anyway, how was your day?” She changed the subject. Camille was an expert at that, but I didn’t mind. I just wanted to talk to her. Let her voice carry over the length of my day, releasing the tension. If I was a prissy chap, I’d consider a long soak in the tub whilst I spoke with the beautiful woman. But I wasn’t, and I wouldn’t. I preferred to gaze at the busy streets of New York, and sip my whiskey.
“Not as good as my morning,” I said, innuendo heavy between the words.
She giggled. My Camille let out a laugh and a giggle, and it was heavenly. Everything about her entertained and enthralled me. “Mine too,” she said softly.
“I’m counting the days until I get to do it again.”
“Kiss me?” she asked.
“Yes. And more…” I let the rest of what I was thinking sink in.
“You scare me, Nate.” Her voice trembled, and I didn’t care for it. The last thing I wanted was for her to be afraid of me.
“Because I think you’re a beautiful woman? One whom I enjoy kissing and want to kiss other parts of her?”
“Yes, all of those things. I’m not very experienced,” she admitted on a sigh.
What did that mean? “Experienced?” “Explain that to me. Not experienced sexually or with men?”
“Both, either. I mean…”
“Doesn’t matter, love.” I cut her off. I would not stand for her thinking down about herself. “I’ll pick you up Sunday, we’ll have a lovely brunch, and take it from there. Sound good?”
Before she could answer, a loud banging noise rang through the phone. “Mommy. Auntie!” I heard.
“Uh yeah. Perfect. I have to go.” She hung up before I could say good day.
Even with the abruptness of her ringing off, I smiled wider than I think I ever had before. I shot back the remainder of my drink. The whiskey burned a fiery trail down my throat to settle warmly in my gut. In less than a week I’d see my sweet Camille again.
Before she rang off, I could have sworn I heard two different little voices calling her. Was that possible? I shook my head. That would mean there were two children living with her and one of them called her “Mommy.” Camille didn’t have children. She was far too young and that was something I’d have found out immediately from her or my private investigator.
That reminded me, I hadn’t received the full report on Camille from Johnny Sparks yet. I’d have to check in to make sure he was paying up on that favor.
Chapter 8
Throughout the week, I received daily texts and a nightly call from Nate. He figured out quickly that it was best to call around nine, though he didn’t know it was because that’s when the boys were sound asleep. It was getting harder every day to keep Tanner a secret from him. At this point, I didn’t even know where to start or how to broach the conversation. After two weeks of purposely avoiding any topic remotely related to children, I felt stuck. So much so that now I feared admitting the truth would be a huge issue. Something that could potentially make him lose interest in me.
Daily, I was at war with the fact that I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted Nate to move on. I enjoyed the time we’d spent together, looked forward to our date this afternoon, but I still didn’t believe he could fit into my day to day life. Wealthy, stunningly handsome attorneys didn’t up and change their lifestyles for a receptionist, single mother who stripped part-time. They just didn’t. Jin thought I was crazy to worry. She talked me off of the cliff multiple times when confessing how I didn’t see this thing between Nate and me going anywhere. She encouraged me to give it time, but also to tell him about Tanner. For some reason, I just couldn’t get the words out. It was as if I’d open my mouth to tell him, and it would fill with cotton, the words not able to push through the dense, fibrous material, choking off every syllable.
Having a man call and text me regularly, made me feel desired and wanted. The feeling was foreign to me, and I was afraid if he knew the truth it would end. Maybe that was selfish, but I wasn’t ready to lose him. He made me feel beautiful. Unlike Tyler and the gentleman at the club, he treated me with respect. Those men looked at me as if I was a piece of meat. And for all intents and purposes, that’s what I was. I shook my hips suggestively, bared my breasts, and took their cash without remorse, and planned to do it again and again to provide my son with the life he deserved.
Thinking of the life Tanner deserved, on top of the daily text and calls from Nate I looked forward to, I received several more from my new friend, Oliver. He was bound and determined to get me to sue Tyler for child support. Oliver was convinced I would be living the high-life with the amount of money and back child support Tyler would owe, even taking into consideration the ten thousand he gave me to “get rid of it.” He didn’t understand. I didn’t want anything from Tyler. I’d done just fine on my own, and Tanner didn’t need to know who that man is or what kind of person he came from. If I sued for support, Tyler could turn around and sue for custody, and claim I disappeared with his child. I had read a lot about the subject, and I
would
up and disappear if that despicable excuse for a human being was given access to my child.