With Vengeance (9 page)

“What?” Kat gasped as the words struck her.
That was the logical explanation, but she usually knew when she was
crushing on a guy. And she’d never become aroused just talking with
one about regular stuff. She’d always needed some flirting, some
foreplay. Plus, this was
Klement
they were talking about. He
was, for all practical purposes, her boss.

“I think I’d know if I did.” A defensive tone
crept in her voice. “I mean, Klement’s cute and smart and has been
very kind, but—”

Kin cut her off. “But you couldn’t stop
talking about him last time and you can’t stop talking about him
now. I mean, you called him a geeky
Viking
.”

“That wasn’t exactly a term of
endearment.”

Kinley snorted. “C’mon. Comparing a guy to a
Viking in any form is saying he’s a hottie.”

“But I’ve liked Cliff forever,” Kat protested
feebly, even as she realized how silly it sounded to argue about
it.

“And now?”

Kat closed her eyes and thought of her last
few days with the singer she’d used to pine for. She felt
absolutely nothing. “There’s zero chemistry between us.” She shook
her head at her own fickle emotions. “I mean, he stole my solo.”
Kinley laughed as Kat continued on, explaining the real source of
her anxiety. “But I was relieved about my infatuation for one of
the band members going away because that guaranteed I’d stay
professional.” And now it seemed she’d become infatuated with one
of the others.

More laughter echoed across the line. “Good
luck with that.”

“It’s not funny.” She thought about Kinley’s
words and then her reaction to Klement. She thought of his smile,
his kindness, his tall, lean body and gorgeous hair. Her heart
clenched and her stomach fluttered in a way she could no longer
deny. “Fuck, Kin. You’re right. I have it for him big-time. What
the hell should I do?”

“How should I know? I’m not exactly an expert
on this sort of thing.”

Kat gritted her teeth. “You ended up working
for your favorite band and had a crush on the lead singer. You’re
with him now, and he’s head over heels in love with you. How does
that not make you an expert?”

Kinley sighed. “Yeah, well, I had no clue
what I was doing. Things just happened. And Quinn was the one who
made the first move.”

“So I should see if Klement makes the first
move?” Doubt curled in Kat’s belly. She didn’t even know if he
liked her that way.

“Again, I have no idea. All I know is that
it’s going to make the job awkward no matter what happens, because
those feelings don’t just go away. I’m also relieved that it’s
Klement you’re attracted to. Cliff didn’t strike me as the sharpest
crayon in the box. And he’s a man-whore. Klement may be kinda crazy
and neurotic, and with the height difference you guys would look
funny together, but he’s definitely the nicest and smartest of the
bunch.”

“Oh, definitely.” Kat agreed heartily. “Did I
tell you that he’s not letting me pay him back for towing my car?
And that he cleaned his house before I came? And he talked me down
from a panic attack although he didn’t know I was starting to have
one, and—”

Kinley cut her off. “Yeah, yeah. He’s a
knight in shining armor. Anyway, I gotta go. We’re on the road to
Portland.”

The sliding glass door opened behind Kat, and
she turned to see the subject of her fixation. Even though he
couldn’t have heard her, her face heated.

“You ready to take a look at your car?”

She closed her eyes, hoping to wipe the dopey
look off her face. “Yeah.”

Following him out to his enormous garage, she
was still in awe at his massive collection of cars and tools. Was
there anything this guy didn’t dabble with?

“The first thing I’m going to do is check
that fuel filter.” He opened a drawer in his gargantuan toolbox and
pulled out a screwdriver. After popping the hood, he removed the
hose clamps from the fuel filter. The sharp smell of gasoline
permeated the shop.

“What the fuck?” Klement whispered as he held
up the filter to the shop light.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s sticky.” He turned the filter in his
hands, smelled it, and wiped his fingers on his jeans. “I think
someone put sugar in your gas tank.”

Kat’s jaw dropped. That was the last thing
she’d expected to hear. “What?”

Instead of answering, Klement walked around
to the back of the car and opened the hatch door. Hefting her flat
tire out of the rear compartment, he examined the rubber with
piercing concentration. “It also looks like they popped this tire
with a knife.”

“What the hell?” Kat said. “Why would someone
do that?”

“No clue.” Klement frowned at the tire before
giving her a sharp look. “Do you have any enemies here?”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t even know
anyone around here, and I’m over a thousand miles from home.” The
only possible enemy she could think of was her ex, and there was no
way he could have followed her here.

Was there?

The concept sounded so ridiculous that she
changed the subject.

“So, what’s it going to take to fix?” Her
throat tightened as she asked the dreaded question. “
Can
she
be fixed?”

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Klement
frowned. “Yeah, but it’ll be a pain in the ass. We’re going to have
to take off your throttle body, flush it out, clean your fuel
lines, and probably drop your gas tank.” He shrugged and brushed a
lock of hair behind his ear. “And we’re definitely going to need to
replace that injector.”

“Oh my God.” He made it sound so simple, but
how the hell was she going to afford it? True, she was getting paid
a lot for this recording job, but she’d planned on giving a big
chunk of that to her mom.

Klement looked at her stricken face, and his
voice softened. “It’s a good thing you have an old car. If it was a
newer model, you’d be screwed. But we can fix this. In the
meantime, you can ride with me to the studio. I’m also going to
call the police and file a report.”

“The police?” Kat’s throat tightened as
memories of a uniformed monster loomed over her with giant
fists.

Klement’s tone turned hard. “Yeah, I don’t
have high hopes, but I want to do everything I can to catch the
bastard who did this.” His brows drew together as he looked at her.
“What’s wrong? You look pale all of a sudden.”

“It’s nothing.” She fought to regain
composure. “I’m just shaken up.”

He reached out and placed a warm, steadying
hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, Katana.”

Tears prickled her eyes at his kindness. It
wasn’t his fault she had an unnatural phobia of cops. He really
wanted to do everything he could to help her. Aside from her
stepdad, no man had ever been that way with her.

Unable to help herself, she threw her arms
around Klement. “Thank you,” she choked out. “Thank you so
much.”

For a moment he stiffened in her embrace.
Then, before she could pull back and apologize for jumping on him,
Klement squeezed her tightly and rested his chin on the top of her
head. His hand lightly caressed her lower back. “It’s going to be
fine,” he assured her again.

A measure of her panic eased in the heat of
his embrace. He felt strong, secure, and he had a nice clean smell,
almost like fresh-baked bread. In his arms, Kat felt safe. If she
hadn’t had a crush on him before, she certainly did now.

Gently, he pulled away, leaving her feeling
bereft and empty. “I hear Rod pulling up with the groceries and
pizza.”

“Uh-huh,” she stammered.

So much for staying professional.

Chapter Eight

Klement turned away from Kat, digging his
nails into his palms. Hopefully the pain would make his raging
erection go away. God, she’d felt so good in his arms. So soft and
sweet-smelling, like honeysuckle. It was all he could do not to
pick her up, lay her across the hood of one of his cars, and tear
her clothes off with his teeth.

The savage urge surprised him and made him
feel guilty. Kat was vulnerable and clearly under a lot of stress.
The last thing she needed was for him to add to it by complicating
their working relationship. He could feel her presence behind him,
a tangible heat that ever tempted him to draw closer.

“You should head on inside. I’ll help Rod
with the groceries.”

She nodded. He had to fight not to watch her
walk away—or worse, follow her.

By the time he met Rod in the driveway, he
had a measure of his lust under control.

“So, what’s the verdict on her car?” the
drummer asked as they unloaded the groceries.

Klement kicked a pinecone. “Sugar in the gas
tank.”

Rod’s brows rose. “No shit?” A million
questions danced in his eyes, but Klement silenced him with a
minute shake of his head.

“Yeah, and her tire wasn’t a normal flat.
It’s got an obvious knife puncture. I’m on my way in to call the
cops.”

“Again?”

“Damn straight.”

He chewed on the inside of his lip. First
Cliff had gotten roadkill delivered to him, and now someone
tampered with Kat’s car at the studio? Had the culprit somehow
mistaken her vehicle for Cliff’s? Looking at the old Subaru wagon,
it was doubtful. Then again, Cliff had been riding with Roderick
because he was too much of a city boy to be able to handle the road
up to Klement’s house. Regardless, Klem was determined to keep a
close eye on both of them for the time being.

Kat would be easy since she was now
relatively safe under his roof and would be riding with him. Cliff
was a different story. He wouldn’t want to stay put here, and
Klement had no inclination to follow him like a babysitter. But at
least he could check out his security camera footage and find out
who’d delivered the dead cat. And Rod could probably help.

“Hey, Rod?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you keep an eye on Cliff when he’s
going out drinking, see if it looks like anyone’s following him or
anything suspicious?”

“Sure thing.” Flicking a toothpick around
with his tongue, the drummer gave Klement a look. “You don’t think
there’s a connection between him and Kat, do you?”

“No,” Klem said vehemently.

Roderick gave him an odd look. “How do you
know?”

Klement couldn’t tell him that he’d been
chatting with her as his alternate identity and thus knew she’d
stayed in both nights. His tech relationship with Kat was his
secret. “Because Cliff would have been bragging about it
non-stop.”

“Oh yeah. It looks like he owes me ten
bucks.” The drummer grinned. “I’d be more cheerful about it, but it
seems like she’s not interested in me either. What about you?”

“What about me?” Klement forced a nonchalant
tone.

“You got to spend some time with her…” Rod
trailed off with a wink.

Klement’s feelings about Kat were none of
anyone’s business. He forced a derisive laugh. “Dude, her car was
broken down.”

“Right.” Roderick paused. “Do you think maybe
she let the word get out that she’s our new recording musician?
Maybe some hardcore fan is pissed and taking it out on her—and on
Cliff, too. Because he’s the front man, they could be blaming him
for your decision to hire her.”

“That might be what’s going on,” Klement
allowed. There had been nothing on Kat and Kinley’s blog about it,
but she might have spilled to the wrong person. Or others might
have. “I’ll ask her about it later tonight.”

Arms laden with shopping bags and steaming
pizza boxes, they headed into the house. While Cliff and Rod put
away the groceries, Klement called the police. Then all of them dug
into the pizza.

Klement couldn’t hold back a smile at Kat’s
blissful expression. Angelo’s made the best.

The gate buzzer sounded just as he finished
his last slice. Klement checked the camera to verify that it was
indeed the cops and not the stalker before he pushed the button to
let them in.

“Mr. Burke, we meet again.”

Officer Shaw, the silver-haired cop he’d met
last night, surveyed Klement with those steely eyes that only
longtime veterans on the job seemed to have, and Klement fought
back a sense of instinctive guilt. His younger troublemaking days
were long since over.

“Yes.” He extended his hand and they shook.
“Thank you for coming so quickly.”

Shaw inclined his head to his colleague, who
looked to be fresh out of the academy. “This is Officer Tyson.”

Tyson didn’t shake hands because he was too
busy gaping at Klement’s garage. Shaw frowned and subtly nudged
him.

“Oh, yes. It is a pleasure to meet you. Where
is the car that was tampered with?”

Klement beckoned Kat and led the group out to
the garage. As he showed them the sticky fuel filter and the
punctured tire, he noticed that Kat was huddled at the edge of the
garage door, looking like she was ready to dart at any moment. When
the police questioned her on possible motives and suspects, her
face was chalk-white and she stuttered a few times.

Why was she so nervous? If he hadn’t seen how
much she valued that old car, he might have wondered if she’d done
it herself.

Officer Shaw also noticed her apprehension.
“Are you all right, Miss James?”

She took a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry, I’m
just terrified at the idea that someone would do this, and I don’t
know who. I’ve never been to Denver before. I don’t know anyone
here. It could be anyone.”

It was all Klement could do not to pull her
into his arms when her voice broke.

Officer Shaw eyed her closely. “Mr. Burke
told me over the phone that he thinks it might be a crazed fan,
upset with your new position with their band. What do you
think?”

Kat nodded. “A ton of people would be pissed
if they knew. Lefty Swanson was one of the greatest guitar players
who ever lived. I’m a nobody. Even worse, I’m a
girl
.”