The Only Shark In The Sea (The Date Shark Series Book 3) Read online

  “Thank you for trusting me,” he replied.

  The tapping stopped. “I have it on good authority that trusting you is worth the risk.”

  She didn’t give him a chance to respond. The line went dead immediately after her last word, leaving Vance shocked all over again and wondering where on earth that had come from.

  ***

  They had discussed Natalie’s job on several occasions. Those brief mentions had not prepared Vance for his arrival outside her office. Her general terror at interacting with others and the way she claimed to have almost no interaction with the general workforce contradicted the real office—not the cubicle he had been expecting—and brass nameplate next to her door identifying her as a senior auditor.

  Given that the information Guy had collected from her for his assessment pegged her at only twenty-five years old, she had somehow managed to move into a very respected position in the company despite her social disabilities. Three years out of college and she was already doing very well for herself, as far as her career was concerned. Perhaps that was part of why she now wanted to address her personal life.

  Vance knocked on the door and waited. The blinds were closed, which didn’t surprise him. The sound of a lock sliding open probably shouldn’t have surprised him either, but it did. It was no secret that Natalie constantly felt threatened, but he didn’t realize she felt the need to barricade herself inside her office all day. Or was it just today? He wondered what had caused her comment about it being a rough morning as the door cracked open a few inches.

  Sighing in relief, Natalie’s strained expression softened. “Thank goodness. I was worried it was someone else.”

  “Anyone in particular?” Vance asked.

  Natalie shook her head. “I just don’t want to be bothered after this morning.”

  Gesturing at the door, Vance asked, “Would you like to let me in, or would you be more comfortable in the open?” He was concerned about her privacy, but he knew being in an enclosed space with him would be difficult. Or perhaps she meant to have this discussion through the door? That honestly wouldn’t have surprised him.

  The force with which Natalie bit her bottom lip was nearly enough to draw blood. The only thing that kept her hand from trembling was the fierce grip she had on the door. “Not in the open,” she whispered. “Too many people eat lunch in the break room.” Her eyes darted toward the interior of her office. “Come in, please.”

  Even with her invitation, it took her a few seconds to step back and open the door wide enough for Vance to enter. She hid behind the door as he stepped through, waiting until he was several feet away from her before quickly pushing the door closed and flipping the dead bolt.

  “Do all the offices have deadbolt locks?” Vance asked. He took a seat in the only available chair aside from the one behind Natalie’s desk. The stiffness of its cushion suggested it wasn’t used often.

  “Yes,” Natalie whispered. She had her back against the door, eyes closed against seeing Vance inside her office. “The information…it’s sensitive…upcoming projects that…they could be stolen…sold to another company.”

  Vance’s fingers tightened around the arms of his chair as he recognized the warnings signs of hyperventilation. Knowing addressing her fear would only make it worse, he opted for distraction instead. “I hadn’t considered that you would have to deal with theft of that nature. That must add a whole other level of stress to your job.”

  “I guess…it could.” Natalie squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could. “I’ve never had an issue.”

  “I suppose that’s one way your social difficulties help you in your job,” Vance said. He paused, waiting for her reaction. He got it when her breathing slowed but her eyes remained closed.

  A good ten seconds passed in silence before she asked, “How?”

  “Well,” Vance said slowly, “if anyone was going to try to weasel information out of someone in the company, you’d probably be the last person they’d go after, right?”

  The barest hint of a smile turned the corners of Natalie’s mouth up. A few seconds later she even managed to open her eyes. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  Vance didn’t say anything else. He waited for Natalie to collect herself and cautiously make her way to her chair. Thankfully, her office was large enough to give her the space she needed. When she finally reached her chair, she pulled it back from the desk before sitting down. It was obvious that she was still very uncomfortable with this arrangement, but she was handling it better than Vance had hoped.

  Pushing her just a little bit further out of her comfort zone, Vance asked, “Would you mind if I asked a question this time?” When her face lit up with panic, he continued. “I know this goes against our agreement, but I only wanted to ask about your morning. Is everything okay?”

  Her shoulders dropped in relief. “That’s fine. That’s okay.”

  “Thank you.” He didn’t press her to answer the question.

  After a while, Natalie said, “As usual, if I were someone else, it would have been nothing.”

  “No,” Vance corrected, “not if you were someone else. There’s nothing wrong with who you are. If you had better coping skills, this morning may not have bothered you as much. That’s all.”

  It was a message Vance tried to relay to many of his patients trying to overcome traumatic events. Whatever they experienced, it didn’t define them. It was never an easy lesson for his patients to learn, but Vance was caught off guard by the tears that sprung to Natalie’s eyes at his words.

  “Do you mean that?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion.

  Not entirely sure why his words had affected her so much, he said, “Of course I do. Natalie, the fears you have are a result of what you’ve experienced in life. They aren’t you. Beneath your fears is a beautiful young woman who is kind and intelligent, and clearly very good at assessing risks, judging by your office. Your fears are a barrier you’ve put up to protect yourself. Nothing more. Eventually, you won’t need them anymore.”

  “Nobody has ever seen me the way you do,” Natalie whispered. Her words affected him deeply and it became a struggle not to show it.

  “What do you mean?” Vance eventually asked. He suspected whatever trauma she had suffered was in her childhood judging by the severity and how well she had already trained herself to get through day to day life despite her limitations. Even still, he struggled with the idea that she had never in her life felt like she was a person valued for who she was and not judged by her disability. It made him want to be the person who could truly make her believe that about herself more than ever, to the point he began to wonder if Natalie remaining his patient was the best thing for either of them.

  Every time he thought about what she’d said that night to Sabine, he ached to reach across the distance between them and give her a hug just so she knew being touched wouldn’t break her and that kindness was something she deserved. Vance pressed his hands to the arm rests.

  Natalie wiped away a tear as it rolled across the ridge of her cheekbone, swift and well-practiced. “Being me has never been enough. For anyone.”

  It took tremendous effort not to follow up that comment with delving questions aimed at discovering her secrets. He knew without a doubt that doing so would cause her to retreat and put up more walls. Her trust in him was growing, but still so fragile he dared not test its strength just yet. Tucking away her words, reactions, and emotions for a later conversation, he forced himself to return to the original subject.

  “What happened this morning to upset you?”

  Raising her eyes from her lap, Natalie met his gaze with more confidence than he had ever seen her possess. It was still quite tenuous, but it was something. “Recently,” Natalie said, “I recommended against a project that was proposed. The concept was bound to attract investors, but if it failed, it would do so quite spectacularly. There was potential for a great deal of money being lost. I didn’t blacklist the idea entirely, but I sugges
ted they needed more research, more planning, and something more substantial to shore it up against failure.”

  “I take it your recommendation wasn’t taken well,” Vance said.

  “My boss agreed with me,” Natalie said. She crossed her arms over her chest, though, barring herself against whatever she was going to say next. “The team leader who proposed the idea, he was clearly upset after the meeting, but seemed to accept the decision to hold off. I thought it was over.”

  Tensing, Vance had to take a minute to calm his voice and restrain the anxiety and concern he was feeling. “It wasn’t?”

  Natalie shook her head, her arms tightening around her slender frame. She looked as if she were trying to shrink into nothing. Her breathing picked up noticeably. “No.” That was all she could manage to say.

  Fearing her control was slipping, Vance put aside his own worries and spoke firmly. “Natalie, I need you to breathe. In for five, out for five. Keeping breathing until I tell you to stop.”

  She listened, though it was obviously difficult for her to concentrate on his instructions. Five full minutes later, Vance finally felt she was calm enough to resume. He knew bringing the subject back up might send her into a panic again, but he couldn’t back down from this. Natalie felt threatened by everyone, but this instance could very well be dangerous, and he had no doubt that Natalie would fail to take it seriously enough if she thought she was overreacting or felt someone else would think her childish for drawing attention to it.

  “Natalie, what happened this morning with the man from the meeting?”

  Immediately, Natalie’s eyes pinched shut. Her head started shaking, but she said, “I got an email late last night saying the project had been put on hold long-term. Samuel got the same email. He was waiting by my office when I got to work. He grabbed my arm when I tried to turn around. He scared me so badly, I tried to pull my arm away, but he pulled back and I hit the wall. That was it. I started crying and he let go, then I ran away and hid in the restroom for almost an hour.”

  “He grabbed your arm and pushed you into the wall?” Vance asked. The steel in his voice snapped Natalie’s eyes open. He could see from her expression that she thought he was angry with her. Vance was angry, but not with her. “Natalie, he had no right to do that. No matter what grievance he had against you, there is no excuse for him touching you without your permission or using force against you. This needs to be reported.”

  Natalie’s eyes doubled in size. “What?”

  Her strangled voice matched the expression on her face, but Vance wouldn’t back down. Not only had this guy crossed a line, Vance feared that if Natalie didn’t do something about it right away, he would do it again. Natalie was a perfect target for that kind of behavior. No doubt every bully in the office knew it too.

  “I can’t,” Natalie said. “It will only make him angrier.”

  “Not reporting it will tell him you’re okay with him treating you like this. He may try to do it again,” Vance said.

  That got her attention. The hyperventilating hit so fast there was no hope of Vance talking her down from her panic in time. Luckily, Natalie seemed to be familiar enough with this routine that she fumbled to get both hands loosely over her mouth and nose to capture the carbon dioxide she was exhaling too rapidly to compensate for the large amount of oxygen she was breathing in. People not familiar with panic attacks and hyperventilation might try finding a paper bag for her to breathe into. Natalie was clearly well acquainted with the most current recommendations, and soon her breathing began to calm, even if her fears were still in full swing.

  “I can’t file a report.” She said it as a statement, but her voice was pleading.

  “Yes, you can. Right now. I’ll stay until it’s taken care of.”

  Shaking her head, Natalie said, “But, you have patients to get back to.”

  “Not for a while,” Vance reassured her. “I had my receptionist reschedule my next two patients when you mentioned that you’d had a difficult morning. I suspected you might need me to stay for longer than usual.”

  Stunned, Natalie stared at him for several seconds before managing to respond. “You really did that? Why?”

  To be perfectly honest, Vance wasn’t sure. Yes, his next two patients scheduled for that afternoon were doing very well and had been with him for years. Missing one appointment wouldn’t set them back. Still, this wasn’t something he would normally do. There was something about Natalie that begged for help, and that was a call Vance had never been able to resist. It was difficult to pinpoint why, but he suspected that whatever Natalie didn’t want to talk about was going to rise to the surface more quickly than she wanted, and when it did, she would need someone. Vance already knew he would answer that call, no matter when it came.

  Somehow, this woman had become part of him in a way he never would have expected. Yes, he and Stephanie both considered her a friend now, but there was more to it. He wanted Natalie to have a full life, a happy life. It was becoming more difficult to see that happening independent of their friendship. It was a realization that scared him, but not enough to convince him to back off.

  “You said someone told you trusting me was worth the risk,” Vance said, still curious about that claim. “I’m just trying to make sure you believe that.”

  He wanted Natalie to trust him, and she very desperately needed someone to trust. The peculiarity of his desire to help this woman nagged at him, but in the end, Natalie made the call to her boss and Vance spent the next hour in silent support as she discussed the altercation.

  Chapter 9

  The Wish

  Stephanie carried two plates over to the kitchen table, unaware of Vance’s arrival. Hanging his coat on the hook by the front door, Vance smiled as he breathed in the scent of lemon and garlic salmon. It was Steph’s favorite dish, her form of comfort food. Which most likely meant she’d had a rough day. Abandoning the rest of his things on the table by the door, he walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist.

  “Mmm, I didn’t hear you come in,” she said as she melted against him. “How was your day?”

  “How was yours?” He would tell her what he could about meeting with Natalie later. At the moment he was more concerned about how exhausted she looked. “Did your meeting not go well?”

  Stephanie sighed and pulled out of his arms to return to the kitchen for drinks. “It could have gone better.”

  She set down only one glass of wine—which made Vance pause. Clearly, she’d had a long day. While Stephanie rarely drank, days like these were the few times she usually made an exception. Memories of her vicious father being lost in alcohol for days on end held her back any other time. Dropping into her seat at the table, Stephanie gestured for Vance to join her.

  “It’s always tough to tell a parent you think their child has developmental problems. I really think this kid needs more help than I can give him, but his parents didn’t appreciate my suggestions at all.” She shook her head. It was difficult to tell if she was more upset by the unpleasant meeting or the idea that her student wouldn’t get the full services he needed.

  “Maybe they just need some time to think about it and let what you told them sink in,” Vance suggested.

  Stephanie shrugged. “I hope so. He’ll just keep falling behind if he doesn’t get additional help.”

  The topic died down as Stephanie dug into her salmon. The tension dropped away with each bite. Vance smiled at her reaction. Steph loved food. She had different meals for different types of days. Her own father wasn’t much for domestic chores, and the various live-in girlfriends and wives were there and gone too quickly to leave much of an impression other than the trauma they inflicted upon Stephanie. Cooking became Stephanie’s job as soon as she was tall enough to turn on the oven, and eventually it became her one comfort.

  Both plates were largely empty before Steph was ready to talk again. Not about her own day, but about Vance’s. “How did it go with Natalie? I got your text that yo
u were going to meet her at her office, but I never got a chance to respond.”

  That had actually caused Vance a bit of concern, not hearing from her for the rest of the afternoon. He supposed she was just busy, but part of him did worry she was upset with the change. Her interest without any sign of irritation let him breathe a sigh of relief. “It went better than expected,” Vance said. “It wasn’t easy for her, and there was a severe panic attack, but she actually let me ask her questions today.”

  “She did?” Steph set down her fork in surprise and leaned forward.

  “Just about a problem she’d had this morning, but it’s progress.”

  Stephanie smiled. “That’s great, Vance. She’s such a nice person. I really hope she’ll figure out how to trust you enough to help her.”

  “Thank you for trusting me to do this,” Vance said. He pushed his dishes to the side and reached across the table for Steph’s hand. “I know it hasn’t been easy.”

  Frowning, she shrugged. “She really needs help and I know you can help her like you’ve helped me, but that’s what scares me sometimes.”

  When Stephanie shrugged again, Vance pressed a little more. “What do you mean?”

  “I know you think I’ll eventually get over my marriage and kids fears, but I won’t.” She frowned, her bottom lip quivering a little. “What happens when you realize that and find someone else to fix, or someone who doesn’t even need to be fixed?” There were tears in her eyes now and she was struggling to hold them back.

  More hurt by her words than he was willing to admit, Vance could only say, “Do you really think I only started dating you and stayed with you because I want to fix you? Or that I’d leave you because I found a new challenge?” He shook his head. “I’m with you because I love you. If I didn’t, I would have left a long time ago. Yes, I want marriage and children, but you’re too important to me to just walk away from.” He thought she understood that and felt the same way about his issues.