It was too easy to put myself in her shoes and imagine that it could’ve been me, so she was coming home. And she would come home safe. I shook away those thoughts and hit enter as I finished setting up Tabitha on our pay system. When Tabitha left to go back to Dr. Velasquez’s practice, I would start looking for a new tech and a veterinary partner.
I hung my lab coat on the golden hook on the back of my door, grabbed my bags, set the alarm, and left, locking the office doors behind me. I hiked my heavy bag higher on my shoulder and kept my face down as the wind in the parking lot kicked up. It was late, but there was still daylight from the late summer sun. I glanced up as I approached my car. It was the only one left in the lot. The locks clicked as I unlocked it, and I set down my bags in the back seat. Sitting on my driver’s seat was an envelope. I glanced around me, my heart starting to pound.
The wind kicked up again. I yelped as the chain link fence alongside the neighboring property creaked with the force of the wind. I slid into my seat, shut the door, and engaged the locks on the car. The envelope was sealed, but there wasn’t writing on the outside.
My car had been locked. I was sure of it. It was locked, so how in the hell did this get inside my car? My hands shook as I ripped open the envelope. My throat was dry, and it was getting harder to breathe as my anxiety and fear clung to me.
I pulled out three things: a thick piece of cardstock with a typed message and two pictures.
You won’t get rid of me that easily. I’ll always find you.
I didn’t want to see the pictures, but I knew I had to. Slowly I lifted the cardstock and laid my eyes on the first black-and-white picture. It had been taken from above, from the corner of a room. I knew exactly where, because I’d selected that spot for the security cameras inside the office.
I was reading through a chart on a tablet. My finger was poised over the screen, ready to scroll down as I stood in front of an examination room door.
I went to the next picture. Again, it was me, but this time I was looking up, like I had accidentally turned on selfie mode on the tablet in my hands. There’d been a faint line between my brows as I read the screen, and the camera on the device, unknown to me, had taken my photo. This person really could find me everywhere. First my home, then my business, and finally laying the evidence of how far they would go in my locked car.
13 Kiernan
“I want it wired from top to bottom. Every add-on we have available, I want it. We need to make it a damn fortress, Emilio.”
“You got it, boss. I’ll gather all the equipment. Who do I send the invoice to?”
I lifted my hand from the steering wheel, brushing it through my hair. “Hold off on that. I’ll handle it.” I knew Caroline would want an upgraded security system, but she had no idea what I had in mind for her house. And it was going to be a chunk of change. She’d never let me pay for it, I knew that, so I was going to make sure her invoice had the basics and the rest came from me. Secretly.
“Will do,” Emilio said and disconnected the call. I hit the END button on the screen in my center console. Music filtered through the speakers when the call ended. I turned it down, taking a right at the stop sign. I was almost there. My chest had been tight since Caroline had called to let me know what had happened when she’d left work. I’d been clear across Austin, working on another case, and with the damn traffic in this city, it had taken me way too long to get here. I had to see her with my own eyes to know she was okay.
She’s a client, I reminded myself for the thousandth time. I’d want to know that any of my clients was fine after an ordeal like what she’d experienced that afternoon, but I sure as damn hell didn’t want to wrap up all my clients in my arms and hold them until all the danger disappeared.
No, it was only Caroline. She was under my skin, rooting herself there one smile at a time, and I hadn’t even tasted her lips yet. Yet.
I swiped my hand over my face. I was fucked. It was only a matter of time before I couldn’t hold myself back anymore and blasted through all the rules. I had to know what it was like to kiss her.
I swung into the driveway of the small bungalow and cut the engine, hopping out of the truck before it was even fully off. My long strides ate up the space on the lawn, and I jogged up the steps to knock on the door. The blonde from the bar answered the door and smirked, leaning against the frame. I’d told Caroline, on the phone, to stay with a friend and was happy she had listened to my advice, shooting me
