Page 142 of Already At Risk
It was all I wanted for Natalie—peace. Happiness. Some fucking rest.
I needed to pick whichever path gave her the most of that. Because right now, all I could do was replay the panic in her voice, the guilt, the worry.
I knew it was multifaceted. Worry for me, worry for Chloe, worry for whatever Korey might do next. Jealousy was a dangerous emotion, and she knew him better than anyone—knew what he might be capable of.
Fuck, I didn’t want her to worry. I’d never meant to complicate things for her, and that was exactly what I’d done. I needed touncomplicate it, needed to detangle the web. But it felt impossible when I was so unbelievably tied up in her.
Lying flat on my back, I stared up at the ceiling, Natalie’s soft sighs in my ear.
I thought about Korey—the man responsible for all of this.
Natalie clearly didn’twantto break things off between us. But she probably thought that if we did, I could continue as her lawyer.
It wasn’t like Korey would know we broke it off, though. It wasn’t like he’d somehow be satisfied by the change in our relationship if he didn’t know it happened. He didn’t knowanythinghad happened, but I could tell he was stuck on it. Wouldstaystuck on it. Chloe might report that I was around less if he saw her again, but I certainly wasn’t going to count on that or involve a nine-year-old in this. Protecting Chloe from his manipulation was what this was all about in the first place.
Korey was losing, and he knew it. That much was evident by the way they’d tried to draft a new custody agreement. And a losing man fought harder than a winning man.
Shit. I hated to admit it, but it was possible that the best strategy in this was to make Korey feel like he was winning.
Which meant doing the thing I should have done from the very beginning but I was too selfish to consider. The thing my ego hadn’t let me even think about.
Of all the things I could lose, though, my pride was what I cared least about at the moment.
Closing my eyes, I let Natalie’s deep breathing wash over me.
She said she missed me, and it had taken everything in me not to sprint to her.
She said she missed me, and I realized I couldn’t live without her. I realized that there was now someone—no,twosomeones—in this world I just couldn’t even think about giving up.
No matter the cost.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
natalie
CAMERON STOOD WHEN I walked into his office the next day, flashing me a professional smile. There was a hard-to-miss twinkle in his eyes that calmed my overwrought nerves.
“Ah, Dr. London, thank you so much for coming in.”
I shut the door behind me before sinking into one of the chairs across from his desk and raising a brow, giving him a once-over. He wore his usual clean-cut suit, tailored so perfectly to his fit physique, and it was really hard not to have a hot flash in reaction to his presence.
God, I missed him, and it had only been thirty-six hours or so.
“Dr. London?” I echoed, clearing my throat.
Cameron’s eyes shone brighter, but he shrugged. “I’m just practicing.”
“Practicing?”
“Acting like I’ve never been inside you before.”
I nearly choked on my own tongue. “Cameron.”
On instinct, I looked over my shoulder, double-checking that the door was firmly closed and no one could overhear us. It was, but the small window lining the door taunted me, reminding me that we weren’t entirely alone. That anyone could walk by andlook into his office. When I turned back around, Cameron was standing in front of his desk, leaning back against it.
He was so close, barely two feet away. And my body was vibrating with the need to get even closer. It felt weird walking into a room where he was andnotsliding straight into his arms.
How the hell were we going to do this?
