Surrender (7 page)

He made love to her with his fingers and mouth, touching her gently, tasting her and driving her over the edge. Netherland’s breathing came faster as tension and sensations built within her. When she came apart in his arms—when the waves of fulfillment raced through her body, he continued to kiss her, tasting each one of her moans, tremors.

Afterward, he held her tight in his arms and, pulling her down beside him, he held her tenderly as they slept.

The next morning, Netherland came awake and glanced around the room. She blinked once, twice, wondering if perhaps she had dreamed the entire thing. But then she glanced at the nightstand next to the bed, which provided proof of Ashton’s midnight visit.

He had left his headband so that she wouldn’t have any doubt that what she shared last night with him had been real. He hadn’t made love to her, at least not in the traditional sense, but love her he had. Her body was still tingling from the aftereffects.

She took a deep inhaling breath. She had no defenses against Ashton. He was determined to
breech through any wall she erected. She wasn’t safe from him even in her own home. But then, last night, she hadn’t wanted to be safe from him. She had wanted everything he had given her and then some.

Netherland knew he would not give up until he had her just where he wanted her, and she couldn’t help wondering what his next move would be.

“Did you get the information I asked you to get, Billy?”

Billy Roberts looked at his cousin through the glass partition. Anthony Roberts, known to family and friends as Tony, was not in a good mood. “Tony, why don’t you just let it go?” he said, trying to keep his voice low. There were prison guards all around them. “Jada doesn’t want you anymore. She divorced you, man.”

Tony Roberts’s hands tightened to fists at his side. His face got hard as stone. “She’s going to pay for doing that, right along with that hotshot attorney of hers. Now tell me what you found out.”

Billy shook his head. He hated spying on Jada as Tony had instructed him to do but everyone in the family knew that Tony had a mean streak. The last thing Billy wanted was to make his cousin angry and give him a reason to come looking for him, just as Tony intended to go looking for Jada, once he got out of the slammer.

“Jada’s working at this restaurant, man. It’s a real nice place. She’s been working there for over two weeks.”

Tony frowned. “Who owns the place?”

Billy raised eyes to the ceiling. “How would I know and what difference does it make, Tony?”

“It makes a lot of difference to me. No one should have given her a job. I take care of what’s mine. No one takes care of Jada but me.”

“And just how were you supposed to take care of her locked up in here?”

Tony’s features darkened. “I wouldn’t be in here if it wasn’t for that hotshot attorney getting into my and Jada’s business, but her day is coming.” His eyes became chilling. “I plan to take care of her when I get out of this stinking place.” The look in his eyes was as cold as ice. “I want to know where Jada’s living, and I expect you to let me know if she begins messing around with anybody. She’s mine and will always be mine. And as soon as I get out of here I’m going to make sure she never forgets that fact again.”

T
he baby shower for Corinthians Avery Grant, given by Caitlin Madaris and Corinthians’s best friend, Brenna Jordache, was a lot of fun. Netherland watched Corinthians open one gift after another. According to Corinthians this was her fourth and final shower. The pressure she’d been feeling in the lower part of her stomach indicated it wouldn’t be too much longer before she and Trevor became parents.

“So, Nettie…” Syneda Madaris, who was sitting next to her on a love seat, leaned in close and whispered beneath the hum of “oooohs” and “ahhhhhs” going around the room with each gift Corinthians opened. “What’s going on with you and Ashton Sinclair?”

Netherland took a slow sip of her wine and met
Syneda’s curious gaze. Syneda was known to be direct and straight to the point. “What makes you think something is going on?”

A smile twitched at Syneda’s lips. “I have eyes, Nettie. Even a blind person would be able to detect there’s something going on between the two of you. It’s so obvious.”

Netherland frowned. “In what way?”

Syneda gave a rueful smile. “In the way he looks at you. I couldn’t help noticing the way Ashton’s face lit up when you arrived here today. And the way he hesitated to leave when the guys suggested they become scarce and go to my place for drinks. The man acted like he didn’t want you out of his sight.”

Muffling a sigh, Netherland said softly, “I don’t know what I’m going to do with him.”

Syneda chuckled. “Do you actually need some ideas?”

Netherland couldn’t help but find amusement in what she’d just said, too. “I know that any woman would be gloating if they were the center of Ashton Sinclair’s attention.”

“But not you?”

“No, not me.”

Syneda’s smile faded. “This sounds serious.” She reached for her cup of milk. “Come with me for a minute. We need to talk.”

Moments later Netherland found herself alone with Syneda in Caitlin’s kitchen and opening up and telling the other woman why she and Ashton could never
have a future together. Syneda hadn’t said anything but had attentively listened to her every word.

“Did you know I almost lost Clayton because of something similar?” Syneda said, her voice dropping as she remembered that time. “Because of my childhood I didn’t want to fall in love and get close to a man. In fact I had broken things off with Clayton.”

“But the two of you got back together.”

“Yes, because a very wise woman, who ended up being my mother-in-law, had a long talk with me and made me aware of one important thing.”

“And what was that?”

Syneda smiled. “That when you love someone, truly love someone, nothing else matters because together the two of you can work out anything.”

Netherland sighed deeply. “I’d never ask Ashton to give up military life for me.”

“Then there has to be another way, Nettie. It has to be a way that the both of you are comfortable with. But first you have to decide if what you feel for him is worth it.”

“And what makes you think I feel anything for him?”

Syneda tilted her glass of milk to her lips and took a leisurely sip before saying, “Woman’s intuition along with what I’m seeing with my own eyes. I noticed Ashton’s reaction to you but I noticed your reaction to him, as well.”

“What you saw was sexual attraction.”

Syneda chuckled. “Yeah, I know all about that,
too. Trust me. That’s something Clayton and I still have plenty of. I didn’t get pregnant because we didn’t have anything better to do at the time.” Her smile widened. “The biggest question in our minds is not when I got pregnant but where I got pregnant. We think it was the time in the elevator.”

Netherland placed her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. “You and Clayton are simply scandalous.”

Syneda shared Netherland’s amusement. “No, we’re in love first and scandalous second. Clayton is the type of man who needs a woman who keeps him on his toes…and his back. He needs excitement in his life, and I make it a point to give him all the excitement he can handle and then some. I can see us still making out in an elevator when we’re in our eighties.”

Netherland shook her head as she pinched tears of laughter from her eyes. Knowing Clayton and Syneda, she could see it, too. They were perfect for each other in every way.

A few moments of silence passed before Syneda said, “I’m curious, Nettie, on just how you plan to handle next week.”

Netherland raised a brow. “Next week?”

“Yes. The Brothers Auction. Ashton is the headliner, and you know women will be bidding on him right and left. Do you plan to bid on him?”

“Why would I?”

“Because if you don’t, some other woman will be
spending a weekend in New Orleans with your man. Do you want that?”

Netherland didn’t say anything for the longest time before she finally admitted, “No.” The thought of another woman spending time with Ashton didn’t sit well with her. Although she knew the two of them didn’t necessarily have to become intimate, a weekend was a weekend. A lot could happen in two days.

“Then I think you should come up with a plan to do something about it,” Syneda whispered. “If that was Clayton being bidden on, the only woman he would be spending a weekend with is me. I’d make sure of it,” Syneda said, smiling tenderly. “And maybe that’s just what you and Ashton need.”

“What?”

“Time alone somewhere. To talk and come up with some solution to your problems.”

Netherland looked at Syneda thoughtfully. Maybe she was right.

The men sat around Clayton’s living room talking. Trent Jordache, the man who recently married Corinthians’s best friend, Brenna, was telling them how he had met and fallen in love with Brenna when she had taken a three-week cruise to Africa aboard the cruise ship he owned.

Ashton sat listening attentively as all the other men then recalled how they had met their wives and subsequently gotten them to the altar. He was glad to know that none of them had had it easy. All of them
had faced some kind of challenge from their spouses during the courtship. He sighed with relief, knowing that at least he wasn’t the Lone Ranger. Netherland wasn’t the only stubborn woman in the world.

“Excuse me, but can we change the subject? All this talk about love and happiness is boring me to tears,” Alex Maxwell said, frowning before he took another swallow of beer. At twenty-nine he was the youngest among them and evidently the least likely to be hauled to the altar anytime soon.

“Don’t mind him,” Trask Maxwell said in defense of his brother. “He’s pissed because there’s a good chance Angela Meadows is going to snatch him up the night of the Brothers Auction. Rumor has it that she has enough money to bid on two men this year.”

Alex glared at his brother. He then turned his glare on Clayton. “I can’t believe I let your wife talk me into doing it.”

“Chill, man,” Clayton said, grinning. “Don’t get mad at me. You can’t turn Syneda down any more than I can, especially after she turns those beguiling sea-green eyes on you. Admit it.”

Alex reluctantly smiled. “Yeah, okay, I admit it. But I don’t have to like it.” He then turned his attention to Ashton. “You’re pretty calm about all of this, and you’re being billed as top dog. Why aren’t you sweating at the possibility of spending a weekend in New Orleans with Angela the Man Hater?”

Ashton took a swig of his beer, then said, “It won’t happen. I’ve got a backup plan.”

Alex raised a dark curious brow. “What sort of backup plan?”

Ashton smiled. “I’m going to plant someone in the audience who will be given instructions to top the highest bid no matter what it is, using my money, of course. Then I will present the winning bid to the woman I want. Netherland.”

Dex Madaris chuckled. “I hope the person you’re planting in the audience is a woman. It would definitely raise a few brows if another man came forward and bid on you.”

Ashton grinned. “I’ve taken that under consideration.”

“Hey, what about me?” Alex said to the other men. “Maybe I should come up with some sort of plan just in case.”

Trask Maxwell smiled at his brother. “That may not be a bad idea. Is there any particular woman that you want to bid on you and win?”

Alex thought of all the single women he knew. Like most men he appreciated women. However, he also knew his priorities. His busy schedule as a private investigator did not allow a lot of free time, which didn’t bother him in the least. Maxwell Security and Investigators was the most important thing to him right now. An involvement with a woman was low on his totem pole. “No, not really. And although it’s dinner for just one night, I’m leery as to whom I may end up with. Any of you got any bright ideas? I prefer not suffering through any meal with a woman I don’t know.”

Trevor shrugged. “You know Gina, and she would do it in a heartbeat to help you out. Unfortunately, she’ll be out of town that night.” Gina was Trevor’s twenty-eight-year-old sister.

Alex nodded. He would have felt comfortable with Gina since they were friends and had been for years.

“What about Christy?” Justin Madaris asked, smiling. “She’ll be there that night. Why not let her bid on you?”

Alex raised a brow. Christy was the Madaris brothers’ twenty-year-old sister who would be celebrating her twenty-first birthday in a few months. He saw her rather infrequently these days since she was away attending college at Howard University in D.C. But he had seen a recent picture of her a few months ago in her uncle Jake’s office. She was no longer the gangly kid he remembered. “Do you think she would do it?”

Dex Madaris grinned. “I don’t see why not. She’ll be getting a free meal out of it. Besides, she won’t be spending her money to do the bidding but yours.”

Alex nodded. “I would feel a lot better if I was taking a person out to dinner that I knew.”

Clayton chuckled. “Well, you do know Christy. You’ve known her since the day she was born. She’ll do it if we were to ask her.”

Alex looked at the three Madaris brothers. He knew how overprotective they were of their kid sister. “And my taking her out won’t bother the three of you?”

Dex shrugged. “Why should it? It’s not like you’ll be taking her out on a real date.”

Alex nodded. “You’re right. It won’t be like a real date.”

Ashton, who’d been following the conversation, leaned back in his chair and covered his jaw with the palm of his hand. He wondered if he’d imagined things or if he had seen a flicker of apprehension in Alex Maxwell’s eyes just now. Or was it interest?

“And that, ladies, is how I met Trent and fell in love,” Brenna Jordache said, winding up her conversation. The baby shower had officially ended half an hour ago and everyone who’d remained had gathered in Caitlin’s kitchen to eat more cake and sip more wine.

“Trent was living in Chicago, and you were living in Austin. Weren’t you concerned about where the two of you would be staying?” Netherland couldn’t help but ask. To her that would have made a monumental difference in whether or not things would have worked out.

Brenna smiled. “No, not really. I travel around a lot with my job, so technically I can live anywhere, which in a way is exactly what we’ll be doing. Trent has a number of business interests in Chicago, Jacksonville, Florida, and Atlanta. He even takes periodic cruises on his ship to make sure things are running smoothly. When I’m not traveling on business, I plan to travel with him. I love traveling and now I look forward to doing so with my husband. I’ll make
whatever sacrifices I need to make to be with him.” Her smile widened. “It will be worth it.”

“I agree with Brenna,” Caitlin Madaris piped in as she walked around the kitchen, returning things to their proper places. She smiled when she turned and looked at the women sitting at her kitchen table. “When I first met Dex I was only twenty-one, and had just finished college and was looking forward to going back to school in the fall to work on my master’s degree. He was thirty-two, and on his way to spend two years at work in the oil fields of Australia. But when I fell for him, I fell so hard it didn’t matter to me where he was headed. I had decided to give up everything to go wherever he went. I loved him just that much.”

Netherland took another sip of her wine, thinking that evidently her mother had felt the same way about her father. During the thirty-five years her father was in the army, her mother had traveled wherever he went and not once had Netherland heard her complain. She couldn’t help but wonder how her mother had handled it during the times her father was away, sometimes as long as six months at a time. Her father, now retired from the military, had moved his wife to his birthplace, Columbus, Ohio, and they were living the easy life of retirees.

“More fruit punch, Netherland?” Syneda asked, bringing Netherland out of her thoughts.

“No, I’ve had enough. In fact I think I’ll call it a night. I want to go home and get to bed early so I can attend early-morning service at church tomorrow.”

Syneda nodded. “I hope you don’t feel I was getting all into your business earlier tonight when we had our little talk.”

Netherland shook her head. “No. I enjoyed our conversation. It gives me a lot to think about. A whole lot.”