Tiny Dancer(Divine Creek Ranch 13)(71)

Her heart clenched again.

Cody elbowed Heath. “Hey, asswipe, you’re making her feel worse. Cami, what he’s trying to say is that you are special, and you always will be, to us. You made a good choice. Ben and Quinten seem like great guys, and I know they’ll take care of you. We would love to work with you, and we’ll do our best at the job. How long has this trouble you’re having been going on?”

“A couple of weeks.”

They all bristled when she described what had happened to her house and her car, which unfortunately, because it was a four-year-old used vehicle, her insurance company had declared a total loss and given her fair market value for it.

“I was really attached to that car.”

“Crying shame,” Cody growled. Of the three, he was the muscle car buff so he would understand how she felt. “You getting another one like it?”

“Of course. New, this time.”

Heath took a sip from his beer and then asked, “Are there any leads in the case?”

She felt frustrated as she replied, “None so far. Something doesn’t sit right about it, but I haven’t figured out what that is.”

In his usual no-nonsense fashion, Spencer said, “We’ll be on the lookout, starting now.”

“Thank you.”

The tension had dissipated enough that she could speak without tearing up, so she took the opportunity. “There’s a beautiful woman out there, and she needs three big, handsome bears. She’ll walk into your life someday and throw all three of you for a loop.”

Heath grinned at Cody on his right, and Spencer on his left. “She still calls us the bears. I wish this gal would show up. I’m not getting any younger.”

Cody chuckled. “Losing your damned youthful glow.”

Heath raised his bottle and extended his middle finger to Cody as he lifted it to his lips.

Camilla giggled and opened another one for him and placed it in front of him as he thanked her. “For all you know, you may have already met her.”

Spencer shrugged and asked, “So when do we get started, boss lady?”



* * * *



Quinten passed the bedroom in Camilla’s little house and paused in the doorway. She was sitting on her haunches in her closet, sorting through the contents of a box. She sighed, braced her elbow on one of the filled boxes, and tucked her hair behind her ear. Quinten stepped into the mostly empty room and looked in on her.

“You okay?”

“Hmm? Yeah. Just tired.” To Quinten, she seemed just a little beyond tired. She’d awakened during the night, screaming as she struggled in the grips of a nightmare. Her terrified cries had startled both him and Ben from a sound sleep, and she’d had tears in her eyes as they’d comforted her until she’d come fully awake. She’d said she was being chased by someone she couldn’t see and it had taken her a while to settle enough to fall back asleep.

“All this packing can wait, Camilla. I don’t want you burning the candle at both ends. You didn’t sleep well last night, either. And here we are working on our day off.”

She smiled at him and took his hand when he offered to help her up. “I’d rather get this move behind me. I was just wondering about keeping so much when I’ve done without it just fine.”

“We can always take a load to Goodwill for you.” Quinten looked in the box that she’d been going through. “Hey, is that a flogger?” He reached in the box and lifted out what was, indeed, a rabbit fur flogger. Beneath it was another one with numerous strands of dark gray suede. The handles looked like an exotic dark wood, and expensive. He turned to Camilla. “You’re not thinking of getting rid of these, are you? What if you change your mind?”

It was on the tip of his tongue to say he wasn’t sure if Goodwill stores had a BDSM supplies department or not. Her mood called for caring, not humor.

From talking to Ethan and Joseph Hazelle, he had a good understanding what she’d gotten from being a submissive. Joseph had explained that it gave her an outlet for dealing with her abandonment issues and her subsequent need to be in control of her life. It had come as a surprise when Joseph had told them that, to his knowledge, she’d never had a relationship with a full-time, trained Dom. She’d been a member of his club, along with Brandon, and had served him as a sub on occasion but their relationship had been a professional one, and not sexual at all. Quinten had been able to see the affection with which Joseph had spoken of her and had never doubted his word on the issue.

Because of his concern for her, Joseph had shared that information with Ben and Quinten with the hope that if she ever changed her mind they’d want to make sure she got what she needed. Quinten believed that unresolved feelings over Brandon kept her from returning to the lifestyle.