Chapter 9
Alex
WasI mad that Kat was going through my suitcase? Oddly enough, I wasn’t. I couldn’t think of anything I’d packed in there that was secret. She already knew the worst of me, anyway. I didn’t have a hell of a lot of secrets from Kat.
Besides, I was too distracted by the sight of her in nothing but a bathrobe. She was naked under there, I was sure of it. Her long, black hair was still damp, and her skin was scrubbed clean. The stitch in her ear, the growing bruise on her face, and the splint on her broken fingers reminded me of what had happened to her last night.
She looked guilty at first, and then she looked angry that I’d snuck up on her. That was Kat.
“You were at my apartment?” she snapped, looking at the suitcase I’d put on the floor behind me.
I gave a pointed stare at my own open suitcase. “Are you going to lecture me about violating privacy?”
She looked at my rifled-through clothes and shrugged. “I was looking for clues. Trying to figure you out.”
“I didn’t realize I was so mysterious.”
Kat lowered her dark slashes of brows in a frown. “You’ve got to be kidding. I’m just a bartender who got her ass kicked, Alex. You’re basically Batman.”
The reminder of the assault made my mood darken again. “So, what did you find?” I asked her.
“You didn’t tell me you were supposed to go to Hawaii this morning.”
I walked further into the bedroom, leaving the suitcase behind me. “It was supposed to be a vacation.”
“I gathered that.” She reached into the suitcase and held up the strip of condoms I’d packed. “Unless you usually take these on a business trip.”
Ah, yes. I’d had the idea that maybe I would find a nice woman and pass my time in Hawaii having some satisfying, therapeutic sex. That felt like a million years ago now, and sleeping with anyone except the woman standing in front of me was annoyingly difficult to picture. “I hear there are women in Hawaii,” I said to Kat. “Some of them wear bikinis. It seemed like I’d have a shot at a hookup if I played my cards right.”
“As if you’d ever have a problem,” she mumbled, tossing the condoms back into the suitcase.
She couldn’t possibly be jealous. Still, I liked the idea. “I thought you’d want some of your things,” I said. “Unless you want to wear that black top forever.”
“No, thank you,” Kat said.
“Fine. I packed your suitcase for you.”
“I could have done that myself.”
“No, you couldn’t, because when I got to your place I interrupted the guy who was ransacking your apartment.”
Kat was silent for a second. She raised her gaze to my face, then looked away, locking her expression so she wouldn’t show emotion. She was so damn tough, this woman. She’d even been tough when she was a rich teenager. It was just how she was. It was one of the things about her that I’d fallen in love with.
That, and her black hair and her long legs and her attitude and the way her eyes flashed when she was mad. I hadn’t had a chance at sixteen.
“What was he looking for?” Kat asked. Her voice was quiet, and I knew that this had gotten to her. It was just a crummy apartment with a few belongings in it in a city she hadn’t lived in long, but it was still a violation, and it hurt. I could see it on her face, even though she tried to hide it from me. I would have saved her the pain and not told her, except that she had the right to know.
“He wasn’t looking for anything.” I kept my voice level and calm, kept myself still though I had the urge to step forward and—what? Touch her? Comfort her? She didn’t want that from anyone, and definitely not from me. “He was just throwing things around so that you’d know he’d been there—so that you’d be afraid when you came home. It wasn’t the same guy from the hospital. He wasn’t armed. He was surprised when I showed up instead of you.”
“You confronted him?” Kat turned back to me, alarmed. “What happened?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle. I got a kick in the nuts, but I wasn’t planning on having kids anyway. I punched him a few times and he ran away.”
“Did you find—” Kat stopped herself, shaking her head. “Never mind.”
“Your laptop?” I guessed. “Yes. The screen is broken, but the computer still works. Or were you asking about your backup drive?”
She looked like she was going to argue, and then the fight went out of her. She rubbed her face tiredly. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Your backup drive was in the closet where you left it,” I said. “He didn’t find it. I put it in the suitcase. What’s on it?”
“My photos.” There were dark circles under her eyes, and I knew she hadn’t slept while I was gone. She slumped briefly, and then I watched her take a breath and straighten her spine. “They aren’t important. I don’t use them for anything. But I have every photo I’ve ever taken on there.”
She could have had a career as a photographer if she’d stayed with her rich family and let them bankroll her, just like they’d bankrolled Tyler the idiot. Instead she’d put all of her photos onto a drive the size of a few packs of cigarettes and sold her camera. Something was very wrong with this picture.
“I’m glad he didn’t find it,” I said.
Kat shook her head, frustrated again now. I was watching her strength ebb and rise in real time. “This is so fucking stupid. All of this because I took out the garbage one night. If I’d waited five minutes, none of this would be happening. I don’t even know what was in the duffel bag, and I don’t care. I just want my life back.”
“I saw the room service dishes,” I said. “At least you ate. Do you feel okay?”
“I do not feel okay,” Kat replied, her voice cold. “Some creeps tried to kill me. My fingers are broken. My life is a shambles. And there is no plan.”
This time I gave in and took a step forward, coming close to her. I cupped her face in my hands gently and tilted it up toward me, looking into her eyes. She must have been even more tired than I thought she was, because she let me.
“There is a plan,” I said to her. “You’re going to get some rest, and then we’re going to make a report to the Nashville police, telling them what happened and describing these men. Then we’re going back to Dallas, and you’re going to stay with me.”
“I am?”
“Yes. I have lots of room, and my building has high-level security. It’s the best place for you to be until they catch these guys. Nothing else is going to happen to you, Kat. I’m going to make sure of it.”
She looked up at me, and I could see the war in her eyes. She wanted to tell me that she didn’t need me, that she didn’t need anyone. But she also knew that was wrong. She did need me. At least for a little while, and then she wouldn’t need me anymore. Until that happened, I’d take it.
Because she might not know it, but until she was safe, I wasn’t letting her go.
I wanted to kiss her then. I wanted so badly to feel her mouth on mine, to know the ways in which it felt different and also the same. I wanted to untie that robe and let it drop to the floor. She was so close, and it would be so easy. It always had been with us.
Naked, we could solve anything. It was only with clothes on that we ran into problems.
I could see that Kat was thinking the same thoughts. She still hadn’t pulled away from me, and her eyes had gone dark as she looked at my face. Her pupils were dilated and her breath was shallow.
She licked her lip, her tongue moving along it as I watched. Then she said on a soft breath, “How are we getting to Dallas?”
I frowned. “How do you think? We’re flying.”
“No.”
“No?”
She shook her head, taking a step back, out of my reach. I let my hands drop. “I panic on airplanes.”
I was confused. When I’d known her before, she’d had no problem getting on a plane. “What are you talking about?”
“I panic, Alex,” she said. “I can’t fly. I’d rather drive.”
I ran a hand through my hair. Fine, then. Fear of flying wasn’t all that uncommon, though I didn’t know what had brought this on. Still, Kat had been through enough, and I wasn’t about to force her into a panic situation over something so minor. “All right, we’ll drive,” I said. “The trip is about ten hours or so. No big deal. It’ll be a road trip.”
I watched as Kat’s shoulders relaxed, as some of the tension left her expression. She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled a little, relieved.
“A road trip,” she agreed. “I’ll bring the map.”