No Choice (2 page)

I walked into the student union while I waited for Vanessa to get out of class. Van was supposed meet me and give me the details I needed over lunch. Hell, I just needed to know her last name—the rest of the shit I’d get on my own. I was tempted to talk to her regardless of getting the pertinent info. Which was crazy because I wasn’t the one who did the chasing. Putting it mildly, I was considered a catch.

I got to the cafeteria area in the basement and there she was, sitting all alone reading. I stood there at the bottom of the steps, just staring at Natalie like a stalker. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. “Fuck,” I groaned out loud.

Today, her outfit was a cute pair of jeans, a V-neck school shirt, and some scuffed-up gym shoes. Again, nothing about her screamed sex kitten, but my eyes and dick thought otherwise. To me, she was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.
Could she really be that unassuming? Maybe that was her appeal,
I thought. What my heart was doing when I looked at her was freaking me out. I should want to run away, but she gave me no choice.

She did her usual and swept her hair out of her face while she had her nose in a book. If she was studying, I didn’t want to interrupt. I knew it could be hell just getting by like Vanessa was. What if she was really vapid like the bitches at the country club? I hoped not, or she’d be getting some serious study sessions in—all the ones I could schedule. The mother of my children couldn’t be an airhead.
What the hell?
I wasn’t even ready for kids. Then again, you needed to be at least somewhat bright or some sort of athlete to come here.

I took a seat at a table that was far enough away for me not to lose it, snatch her up, and carry her to my hotel room, but I was close enough to admire her slender neck that was revealed when she moved the offending hair. I didn’t know why she didn’t just put it up if it bothered her so much, but I liked it down anyway. I wondered if she knew how hot she was.

At first glance, her general appearance screamed “leave me be,” but when you looked at the way her jeans hugged her legs as she sat at the table or the way her V-neck tee clung tightly to her breasts, it screamed for some attention. Well, for me it did, and she sure as hell had my attention. An older woman approached her and interrupted her studying just to say hi, but moved along. Good—because she was blocking my view.

I couldn’t believe that I was sitting here again, watching her, waiting for a chance to make my move. The thing was, I wasn’t sure what that move was going to be. I was only here in passing, checking on my younger sister for my parents. Vanessa was a freshman in college, and her grades weren’t up to par. I loved my little sister, but she wasn’t the brightest girl around. We were afraid she’d fail, so I came to make sure she was going strong.

She didn’t have to attend college, but she wanted to prove that she could. I guess coming from really successful parents, we both wanted to prove we didn’t need to depend on them. Simon wasn’t concerned about it, though, since he was the first-born and would take over my father’s company, the position he’d been groomed for since birth.

I found out that it was only one class that she was failing, and it was because that fuck of a professor found my sister hot. He’d made unwanted moves on her. When she didn’t comply, he gave her a failing grade for the midterm. The fuck isn’t teaching any longer, and with any luck would be serving hard time for that abuse of power. I was fucking grateful that my sister wasn’t willing to trade her body for a good grade, but how many girls had already fallen for it?

I straightened that shit out on my first day here. There was no reason for me stay another few days. I had a company to run, but I stayed nonetheless, and it was all because of
her
.

She must’ve felt my narrowed gaze on her because she slowly lifted her head to look at me. I gave her a wink, and she ducked her head back down. Before she hid from my view, I could see that she turned red. I wanted to growl, beat my chest, and steal her away before fucking her. My cock took notice of the red stain on her pretty face too and rose to greet her, but now wasn’t the time.

Two long minutes later, Vanessa arrived.
Thank God
. I was about to lose my mind. I never went into a business deal with all the information. This could be the greatest deal of my life. I wanted everything before I made my move.

I stood up and gave my sister a hug before she dropped her bag, and we grabbed some lunch. I wanted to hound her and get answers, but I already knew my sister. She was going to toy with me.

“So tell me what you got,” I asked impatiently as soon as our trays hit the restaurant counter.

“I got the corned beef on rye,” she said as she looked down at her tray. What a shit! I gave her a look that made her cave.

“Fine… Cam. No sense of humor at all,” she said as she shook her head. “Her name is Natalie Cromwell. She and Emmy share a dorm room because Emmy is an RA. They are both seniors, so they graduate in two months, but that’s all I got. Sorry,” she said, twisting her lips.

“Don’t trip, Van. It’s all I need. Did you tell her why you were asking?”

“Nope. It just came up, so I took advantage of it.”

I turned to look at her, and she was looking at me, then back to her friend. Then her friend Emmy turned to look at me too. So she told her friend about me. I turned back to Vanessa, paid for our food, grabbed her waist, and walked us back to the table. I wanted to see her reaction. She looked away, pissed. Good. As soon as we sat down, I grabbed my phone.

“Tim, I need everything you can get me on Natalie Cromwell—she’s in her early twenties and goes to U of I.”

“Okay, how soon?”

“Whatever you can get me in the next hour, get it. The rest can follow,” I said while I continually stared at Miss Cromwell.

“I’ll get right on it. How’s your sister doing?”

“She won’t leave school.”

“Okay,” Tim said. He was my main man and head of my security. He knew my parents wanted Van to come home and that I was supposed to convince her.

“Get me what I need.”

After I hung up, I was still staring at her.

“So you’ve got Tim doing your dirty work for you?”

I gave her a stern glare. “Mind your business.”

My sister was babbling about Mom’s birthday, but I wasn’t paying attention. My eyes and thoughts were on my Natalie.

“Dude, like seriously. You’re pathetic,” she said as she rolled her eyes.

“Shut up. I’m not that bad,” I denied.

“Yes, you are.”

Wanting to change the subject, I replied, “Anyways, Mom’s birthday is a month away. I’ve already talked to Dad. He’s planning a big party at the country club. I’m not going because I’m tired of the scene, but I’ll visit before the party.”

“But what are you getting her?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ve got time.” Just then, I looked at my girl, and she was packing up her things. I knew she had a class after because most of the hall cleared out at the same time. Tomorrow, though, the gloves were off, and I was either running away or snatching her ass up.

My phone rang, and I answered it without taking my eyes off her. She blushed, and her friend looked at me like I was the devil. She hadn’t seen nothing yet.

“Yeah,” I answered.

“The file is being emailed to you right now. There is a lot on her family, but little on her.” I wondered what her parents were like. They would probably grill me for taking an interest in their daughter.

“Thanks.” I hung up, but watched her walk away. The sight from behind was really, really nice. I’d just carried the trays to the trash and emptied them when my phone pinged. Sure enough, it was Tim’s report. He’d been working for me for the last two years. The man was good. A little uptight, but a good guy.

“Okay, I’ve got one more class today. I’ll see you later for dinner?”

“Absolutely, Van.” We said our goodbyes, and I went back to my hotel. The moment I got in my room, I started my laptop. I tapped my fingers on the keyboard in frustration—it was taking too long to get started. I must have been anxious as fuck because my computer was fast as shit. Once it was up, I looked at the paperclip icon, clicked, and smiled.

Although after looking at the file, my smile was gone, and I thought about choking the shit out of her parents. They wouldn’t grill me about Natalie. No, they would try and pawn her off to benefit them.

Kennedy and Allan Cromwell were elite members of the Springfield upper crust. That was until their volatile split. The records stated that they both had had affairs with anyone they could and had lost some friends when it was noted that some of the affairs were with their married friends. Natalie had been twelve at the time and surprisingly had been put in foster care.

Reports showed they’d taken their time reclaiming her because they’d fought for who was going to keep her. Unlike most parents fighting each other for custody, they were fighting for who had to take custody, like she’d been a burden. She’d been left alone most of the time. After a big fight at a party, the cops found out that she’d been left at home by herself. That was when child services had been called.

Despite the neglect, she was the best student growing up. No complaints at school, and her grades were fantastic. Her bastard father actually paid for her tuition here. Rumor was, he paid it because of the tax break. She was graduating in two months, but there wasn’t much else. She worked for a while as a freshman, but stopped.

There was no information on boyfriends or lovers, but I guess that shit wasn’t something that was going to be in a file. I’d find out tomorrow, and this time I wouldn’t let her go without letting her know who she belonged to—me.

“Okay, he’s doing it again,” I whispered to Emmy, my best friend, while staring at the gorgeous, devilishly sensual, rude man. He’d been staring at me the last two days, and it was wearing on me.

My body ached when he looked at me. It was in a way I didn’t expect—purely provocative. I wanted to go over there and say something, but I wasn’t sure what it would be. Part of me wanted to ask him what the fuck his problem was. Yet, a bigger part of me wanted to ask him to do more than just stare.

I was a plain Jane. My looks had never gotten me a good-looking, sophisticated guy like
him
. The only dates I’d gotten were with lame asses trying to score, but I wasn’t that kind of girl.

I lied. Jeff, my last boyfriend, was a decent guy with potential. He was on the football team and was graduating too. He was smart, but didn’t ever look or act sophisticated.

“I know. Who the hell does he think he is? Staring at you for the last two days like he’s ready to bang your brains out, yet he’s always with Vanessa James,” Emmy said as she glared at the handsome stranger. She was always ready to come to my defense. She even cursed out my mother once.

“I just want to tell him to stop, but you know I don’t have the nerve,” I grumbled.

“Please, girl, you got it in you. I do recall someone calling our quarterback a ‘fucking troll-pussy lover,’ do I not?”

“Yeah, but that one over there makes me nervous. When he looks at me, I lose my will to curse him back to hell because you know that’s where he came from; the man’s the devil.”

“You just need to tell tall, dark, and handsome to back off or you’ll tell his girl. Damn, I wanted to say something since she sat next to me. I even mentioned you in class yesterday to get a rise out of her, but she acted like she didn’t notice his gawking.”

“You know what? That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to march right over there and tell him to quit it,” I said as I stared back at him as menacingly as possible, but he only smiled that sinful, smug smile he gave me every day. This man knew he was good looking—and drool worthy. And I hated that I was turned on by him. What did that say about my morals?

His look proved that he took pride in his appearance; he was completely clean-cut, his face was chiseled but always smooth, and his eyes were sinfully blue. His brownish-black hair was perfectly styled, and if he wasn’t looking at me like a starving lion, I would’ve questioned his preference. He was about six two, and fit. He wasn’t overly muscled out like the football players, but more like a really buff baseball player. 

Always in a suit, he had to know he didn’t fit in here. Come on, we’re college students, not in corporate America. There was no need for suits here. Actually, I had a feeling that he wasn’t a student here. He looked older, distinguished, and too manly to be a student here. He could almost be a professor here, if he wasn’t finely dressed in an Armani suit that was tailored to his form and with a watch that looked like it cost a fortune. He was too far away to make out the brand, but I knew expensive when I saw it.