Got the package back. Ready for the exchange. T&P?
The sender of the text was listed as Money.
Carson grinned. He was reminded of the famous Louis Pasteur quote: “Fortune favors the prepared mind.”
One of the reasons he had been the absolute best at his job was his tendency to worry about every contingency, every possibility, and every outcome. Of course, he still missed things, but he worked to consider each situation. The fact that his opponents were often too stupid, too arrogant, or too careless to do the same had worked in his favor many times, and it might just be happening again.
The shower grew silent and, in a minute, Katie emerged from the bathroom completely naked save for the towel she was using to dry her hair. Carson glanced up at her. He noticed how her petite nipples hardened in the relatively cool air of the bedroom, as well as the enticing smile just above them, but did not react. His mind was now working through different ways to use the newly-discovered information, and he could not be distracted by carnal thoughts. He lowered his head and focused on the phone.
Katie stopped. “Well, I realize I’m not exactly a swimsuit model, but that’s the least enthusiastic reaction I’ve ever gotten from a man as I walk naked into a room,” she fussed. “You could at least fake some interest.”
Carson barely heard her. “I think I might have something here.” With those words, Katie grabbed a second towel and wrapped it around herself before sitting next to him on the bed, intently interested in hearing more.
Chapter 13
Couples Therapy
“So, you know the script, right?” Carson asked.
Katie rolled her eyes. She was as nervous about this as he was, but he wasn’t making things any easier. “Yes, Carson! How many times are you going to ask me?”
“Sorry,” he replied sheepishly. “We just can’t afford any screw ups.”
“I know that! Jeez, if you were this nervous with your men, I’m surprised they didn’t kill you with friendly fire.”
“Oh, that’s funny. Well, since you’re so confident, go ahead whenever you want.” He placed one of the phones he’d taken when he’d rescued Katie and placed it on the small desk. She selected the number that had sent the pickup text and turned on the speaker. The first ring hadn’t even ended when a nasally, Boston blue-blood accent came through the line. “Biggs? Where tha fuck arh ya?”
Katie’s eyes narrowed at the sound of the voice, but she able to keep her voice as soft as a narrator reading a nursery rhyme when she responded. “No, not Biggs, and no, I’m not going to tell you where I am, darling.”
There was a pause, and Katie could almost see Brendan as he pulled the phone away from his ear to look at it questioningly. “Katie?”
“Hi, honey. I’m flattered you remembered. How are you?”
“What tha fuck is going on?”
“You know, you always did have a foul mouth. I wish you’d learn to curb your language.”
Brendan’s voice rose an octave. “Fuck my language! Where arh you?”
Katie giggled mirthlessly. “You really think I’m going to tell you that? You may be a chauvinist and a douchebag, but I know you’re not stupid.”
“Then why tha fuck arh you callin’ me?”
“Simple.” Carson leaned towards the phone eagerly, probably to see how well she delivered the line. “I got away from you and your men this time, but I don’t want to be running from you for the rest of my life, wondering if you’re about to jump out from behind every bush I walk by. That’s not how I want to live.”
“Then you shouldn’t have left me!”
“Look, that’s over and done. I had to get away. You were treating me like a hired hand, trying to control me. I was not your employee. I deserved to be treated better, and I deserved to be allowed to be myself, personally and professionally. You wouldn’t let me.”
“That’s not true,” Brendan protested. “I wasn’t trying to control you. I was trying to set something up with your father. If you’d have just gone along with it, we’d both be set for life! It would have been perfect for both of us. I never treated you like an employee.”
Katie looked up at Carson, confirming with a single look that this was exactly what she’d expected from him, and he nodded. Her hands balled up into fists as she forcibly buried what she wanted to say under the softer words of the script. “I’m sure you didn’t mean to, and maybe I didn’t respond with as much understanding as I could have, but this – kidnapping me – isn’t the answer.”
“Don’t you fuckin’ tell me what to do, goddammit!”
Katie shook her head. He’d never change. She was putting out an olive branch – a fake one, but Brendan didn’t know that – and all he could do was bluster and demand to be in charge. She saw Carson shake his head in disgust, and that reminded her why he was so much better for her.
“Well, you better listen to this. I saw your text about having me, and I can blow your whole ‘exchange’ to hell and back, or we can talk and work something out. Your call.”
The line went silent for a moment. Carson looked at her. “Did he hang up?” he mouthed, and Katie shook her head. Brendan was prone to eruptions to establish his dominance, but when the real meat of the matter came up, he would always take a second to reign in his anger before proceeding. This time was no different.
“OK, so what’s your idea?”
“Not on the phone,” she said.
“You want to meet up? Isn’t that kinda risky for you?”
“Probably,” she admitted, “but I need to see your eyes to know I can trust you.”
“We’re married,” he said, his voice mellow and sincere. “You can always trust me.”
“Only because you haven’t signed the papers,” she corrected
