Breaking their kiss, she grinned. “Mmm…that definitely lived up to the fantasy.”
Smirking, he set her down. “I am reserving judgment until we try it a dozen more times, at least.”
Laughing, they finished their shower. Clem, decked only in a towel, checked the front porch and found a bag that Stuart had left for him. Back in the bedroom, Clem and Katelyn dressed for the day, in casual attire that was perfect for a visit to the farmer’s market.
They grabbed lunch from a food truck and then, walking hand in hand, they browsed all of the booths. The brothers who flirted with her on previous visits were subdued today, most likely due to the fact that Clem was sending out the vibes of a very possessive man, letting the other men know that Katelyn belonged to him. As an independent woman, she knew she should have been furious, but she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed it.
Back at Clem’s apartment, they worked together, slicing the vegetables and grilling some steaks for dinner. Afterwards, they relaxed on his balcony, enjoying what remained of the warmth of the day. Their conversations flowed easily as they talked about everything and nothing at all. Her feet laid in his lap, which he alternately rubbed as they talked.
Clem’s phone vibrated regularly, but he ignored it until it beeped in a particular sequence. Picking it up, he grinned and showed her the picture message he’d just received. “This is my nephew, Landon. He just turned four.” The little boy with a sticky face in the picture had a smile that could brighten anyone’s day.
Smiling, she looked up at Clem and was taken aback by the sheer adoration on his face. “Do you spoil him rotten?”
He nodded, grinning. “Oh, absolutely. He’s the coolest kid ever. He’s so funny and brilliant.” Looking down at the picture, he quietly confessed. “I’d do anything for him.”
She reached out and caressed the hair at the nape of his neck. “He’s very lucky to have an uncle like you.”
Clem smiled up at her. “I’d love for you to meet him. He’d have you wrapped around his finger in nothing flat.”
Quietly, she replied. “I’d love that. If he’s anything like his uncle, I’m sure he’s very charming.”
Studying her face for a moment, Clem paused, weighing the moment before he continued. “Do you want children?”
Halting her motions, she was speechless for a beat. She resumed playing with his hair and took a few more seconds to think. “Honestly, I’ve never thought about it. I do like kids. I’ve just never allowed myself to imagine that I could have that white picket fence, two-point-five kids, and a slobbery mutt picture-perfect life. How about you?”
“I’ve always thought it would be fun to have a big family. Five kids, maybe?”
Shocked, she sat up straight. “Five kids!?!” She sat back and then nervously laughed. “Well, I guess you have the resources to support a family that size.”
Chuckling, he agreed. “I guess I do.”
His cell phone rang, and when he checked the number, his shoulders slumped. “This is one of my project managers. I have to take it.”
She gestured for him to take the call. She started to stand up, but he halted her motions, keeping her feet in his lap.
“This is Clem….Are we ready for Austin?...Fantastic. How about Indianapolis?...Great. I also have installations coming up in Portland and we’re almost ready to sign the contract in Memphis. Do you have anything else for me?...Okay, keep up the good work.”
As Katelyn listened to his conversation, she heard him speak of all the work coming his way and she knew he’d be busy jet setting across the country for months at a time keeping his business going. He hadn’t mentioned anything about trying to maintain a long distance relationship. Even if they did try to make a go of it, did she want to spend more time alone than together? Suddenly she felt exhausted, the weight of her emotions bringing her down. When he hung up, she smiled weakly at him. “It has been a really long day.”
With a question on his face, he looked at her. “We can move this into the bedroom if you want.”
Looking away, she spoke quietly. “I should probably head home. I have to be at the office in the morning.”
Frustrated, he stood and walked to the railing. Turning, he looked down at her. “What’s going on? I thought we were passed all of this.”
Standing, she slipped on her shoes and went to him, walking into his open arms. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and hugged her tight. She relished the feel of being in his arms, which only made her feel more somber as she thought about how hard it would be to not have this with him all of the time. “I had a great night. I love spending time with you. I just need to get home and get ready for the week.”
Feeling his assessing gaze on her, she couldn’t meet his eyes. He sighed heavily, and then walked her back inside. Wordlessly they rode the elevator down together and he walked her to her car.
Wrapping his arms around her, he didn’t want to let her go. “Katelyn, I…”. He had been planning on saying it all night, but with her abrupt change in attitude, he didn’t want to scare her away again. She stared at him with her wide eyes, fear written all across her face. Caressing her cheek, he softly asked, “Baby, what are you afraid of?” A lone tear rolled down her cheek, but she shook her head and pursed her lips, refusing to answer.
“I wish I could ease your fears. You have to know how I feel about you. I…I love you, angel.”
Hearing those words come from him lips took her breath away. But she just wasn’t ready to put her heart out there. She needed a little more time to figure it out. “Clem, I…”
When she continued to hesitate, he saved her from herself. “It’s okay, baby. I understand you. I love you, and nothing could change that.”
With a final kiss goodbye, she climbed inside and pulled away, leaving Clem standing in the garage with his hands in his pockets and a look of melancholy mixed with determination on his face.
Chapter 21
Katelyn grabbed her coffee and headed out for the start of another workweek. Climbing into her car with Clem front and center on her mind, she couldn’t help but close her eyes and smile at the memory of the wonderful weekend they’d had together. Her smile faltered as she thought to herself how inevitable pain was coming her way when he left town. She was happy that his company was so successful, but knowing he would be leaving for another project soon was breaking her heart into pieces. Trying to distract herself, she looked down at her phone and saw she had received a few text messages. Her pulse picked up when she realized the messages were from Clem.
** My bed was extremely lonely without you this morning, angel. Meet me for lunch? **
** Or better yet, how about you call in sick and we’ll spend the day together in bed? **
Katelyn smiled, her insides clenching at the idea of more alone time with Clem. Discipline won out, and she replied.
** I’m afraid I have meetings all day. You may have heard about the huge project we have going on. **
She couldn’t help but laugh out loud when his response came through seconds later.
** I’ve got a HUGE project for you right here. It needs your immediate attention. **
Just as she began to answer, another message came through. Assuming it was Clem, she was surprised to see it was from Marc.
** You left your wrap in my car. Want to drop by and get it? I’m working from home today. **
Marc’s home was just ahead. It seemed strange that he would not be going into the office since he rarely missed work. Katelyn hoped he wasn’t embarrassed about what happened at the party. She hated to think that their relationship would be awkward from this point on.
** Sure. I’ll be there in two minutes. **
Pulling into a parking spot in front of Marc’s home, Katelyn went up his front steps and rang the doorbell. Standing there for a few moments, she checked her watch and started to leave when a gloved hand came from behind and held a cloth up to her face. Recognition, followed quickly by fear, dawned on her. Too late, s
he cursed herself for inhaling, and then just as rapidly, the effects of the inhalant took over, causing her to lose consciousness.
* * * *
Clem stared at his phone, waiting for Katelyn to respond. Fearing that she found his innuendo childish, he pulled into the parking garage and went directly to her office. Margaret sat at her desk, scrutinizing the computer monitor through her bifocals and furiously tapping random keys on her keyboard.
“Margaret, is Katelyn in yet?” Clem walked past her to Katelyn’s office, but the light was still off, making it apparent that Katelyn hadn’t made it there.
“No, dear. Katelyn texted and let me know that she was working from home today. There must be something going around, because one of the ladies from the business office said Mr. Marc was under the weather and working from home today as well.”
Clem was out of the office and heading back to his car without hearing the end of Margaret’s sentence. With dread, he called Stuart and interrupted his greeting. “Stuart, check in with Katelyn’s security. “
“Already ahead of you, Clem. Her phone dropped off the GPS map.”
“Where is the team tailing her?”
After a brief hesitation, Stuart exhaled. “They lost her.”
Anger coursed through him. No, this can’t be happening. I just got her back! Slamming his fist onto the roof of his car, his voice, despite being laced with pain, grew louder. “How the hell did that happen?”
“They followed her until she got close to the hospital, assuming she wasn’t going to make any more stops. They-,“ Stuart hesitated for the briefest of moments. “They pulled into a drive-thru for some breakfast.”
Clenching his jaw so tight, he could barely get the words out. “Fire them.”
“Clem, let’s be reasonable –“.
“Reasonable? I’d say I’m being pretty damn reasonable right now. I’d like to do way worse than fire them, in the form of brutal torture. I hired them to do a job, and they failed. The woman I love is missing. Fire. Them.”
“If she’s really missing, we need them to help us locate her. Believe me, they feel awful about this. They want to make it right.”
Clem leaned against his car, an internal battle with fear and rage wreaking havoc on his ability to remain upright. With his head resting on his forearm, he breathed in and out to calm himself down, though his voice broke when he spoke. “We’ve got to find her, Stuart. I-I can’t lose her again. I haven’t made up for all of the lost time yet. I need her to know. She has to know that I love her.”
“Clem, don’t go anywhere. I have located her car. I’m on my way to get you. Stay put. We will find her, I promise.”
Chapter 22
The ride to Marc’s was agonizing. In the time it took to travel from the hospital, Clem had already come up with fifty different scenarios of what had happened that would make Katelyn not answer his calls, each one more frightening than the last. Angel, you have to be there. Devastation didn’t even begin to describe how his existence would be without her.
Pulling up to Marc’s home, Clem jumped out before Stuart could come to a complete stop and raced to where her car was parked on the street. Stuart joined him in moments, checking over the vehicle. “Damn, her purse is in the front seat.”
Clem ran his hands through his hair and looked wildly at Stuart, and then the car, and then back at Stuart. “Wh-what does that mean?”
Stuart hesitated, looking away from his boss before he continued. “I placed tracking devices in her car and her purse. As of this moment, her phone is powered off. We can’t track her, Clem.”
Pacing back and forth in Marc’s yard, Clem tried to maintain his composure, failing miserably. Finally, he stopped and pinned Stuart with a glare. “What do we do now? You are the damn expert. Tell me what we have got to do.” When Stuart just looked at him with dread in his eyes, Clem lost it in a combination of yelling and sobbing. “Don’t look at me like that! Don’t you fucking look at me like that!” Grabbing Stuart by the lapels of his jacket, Clem yanked him forward, staring him directly in the eyes. “I will not lose her. Do you understand me? I don’t care how much it costs. I don’t care what we have to do. We have technology and manpower and whatever the hell else I can buy at our disposal. Find. Her.”
Forcing Clem to release his jacket, Stuart stepped back. “First, you’re going to have to calm down. I don’t want anything to happen to Katelyn either. But we don’t know what situation we’re facing or who we’re up against, and if you lose your shit that won’t help her either. Let’s check over Marc’s place and then go to hers. Call your geek squad in Jersey and see if he can dig up any dirt on Marc.”
Taking several deep breaths, Clem finally whipped out his phone and dialed Nate while Stuart circled the house with his gun drawn.
The phone rang just once before Nate answered, speaking rapidly. “Boss, I was just getting ready to call you. I knew something was fishy with those credit balances. I checked through the programming and it all looked like it was on the up and up. But when I reviewed actual scanned documents I found a pattern. Apparently, Mercy Heart scans all correspondence, including envelopes. The envelopes with refund checks in them all have different names, but they have all been going to the same address. 2532 East Birmingham, there in Fayetteville. Does that mean anything to you? Is that some kind of group home or halfway house?
Exasperated with Nate drawing focus away from Katelyn, it took Clem a few moments to catch up. Exhaling, he ran his hand through his hair. “What? 2532 East Birmingham? How the hell should I know what that is?”
Hearing Clem’s side of the conversation, Stuart looked down the street, and then walked to the neighboring house, checking out the front door. “Hey Clem, did you say 2532 East Birmingham?”
Confused, Clem walked over to Stuart with Nate still yacking in his ear. “Yeah, why?”
“Because we are on East Birmingham. And this house here next door to Crawford’s is 2532.”
Clem stood dumbfounded for a few beats, and then, remembering he had Nate on the line, he spoke once more. “Nate, did you hear that? The house next door to Marc Crawford is the house those checks are being sent to.”
Speaking to Stuart, he continued. “He is having them sent to his neighbor’s house and then cashing in on the errors.” Speaking again to Nate, he went on. “How is he doing this? Get me everything you can on this guy.”
“Sure thing, boss.” With the click-clack of computer keys going in the background, Nate spoke. “No social network accounts. Triathlon competitor. Police database shows this guy is a model citizen. Not even a parking ticket on his record. Never been married, no children. Grew up outside of Dallas. Parents are both deceased. No siblings. Degree in accounting and an MBA, both from the University of Texas. He rents that house on Birmingham, which seems odd for a professional guy. Maybe he wants to be able to skip town easily.” Nate grew silent for a moment, with just the sounds of typing coming across the line. “He does own a cabin, about an hour away. Give me a little more time and I’ll look into his financials.”
“Text me the address. Let me know when you find out how he has been pulling this off.” Ending the call, Clem held his phone out, anticipating Nate’s text and ready to call whatever reinforcements they could drum up. “Nate says Marc owns a cabin, about an hour from here. He is sending me the information.”
* * * *
Katelyn heard a noise she couldn’t distinguish. It sounded far away, and then closer, and closer still. The sound was familiar, almost comforting. In her still fuzzy state, she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. Willing her eyes to open, the afternoon sunlight streaming into the room made her head hurt even more. Lifting her hand to block the sun out, she realized her wrists were bound with rope. She closed her eyes once more before getting up the strength to open them and take in her surroundings.
She lay on a soft bed that was covered in a down comforter. The room, though sparsely decorated, was well kept and free of dust and clutter.
Sitting up, she winced as the exertion caused pain to radiate through her skull. She started to stand, but her legs weren’t quite able to hold her just yet. Out the window, only trees were visible from her position on the bed. She tried to remember what had happened before she passed out. She remembered driving to work, and she could recall texting with Clem. Oh, Clem! Did he even realize she was missing? He must be worried sick. He told her this would happen, that someone might hurt her. She grimaced at herself, wishing she had listened to Clem and allowed him to protect her. Now, she didn’t know if she’d ever see him again, or if she’d even make it out of this situation alive. It’s possible no one even knew she was gone. She’d have to try to make it out on her own, and fight for her own survival.
When she could get up the strength, she stood gingerly, holding the bedpost until she could steady herself. Going to the window, she was devastated to see that the house was built into the side of a mountain. It was a steep drop out the window. There would be no way for her to escape this way.
Looking down at her wrists, she knew she’d have to get the bindings off in order to have a better chance of escape. Crossing to the dresser, she opened each drawer, looking for something to cut the rope. In one of the top drawers, she found a picture frame that had been placed upside down on some clothing. She pulled it out, turning it over to see a portrait of a man with a teenage boy who was holding a fishing pole, dangling a large fish at the end of the line. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the individuals in the photo had to be related, and that the boy in the photo was a young Marc Crawford. In shock, she brought her hand to her mouth as she remembered she’d been at Marc’s home when she was attacked. How could she have been so wrong? Clem told her Marc could be the one behind the accounting issues and his attack. Never in a million years would she have believed it. Tears welled in her eyes as she tried to wrap her head around this betrayal.
Once More (Mercy Heart #1) Page 14
