Taken (23 page)

You did what you had to do, Grandma. Now it’s my turn.”

Charlotte gave her a long look. “All right, then I’ll try to help. I’ve been thinking about where the other watches
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might be. The one thing each of the men had in common was that they weren’t close to their families. They trusted their friends more than their relatives. I think that’s why Johnny gave the watch to me and not to one of his sisters or his mother.”

“Okay, that makes sense. What about the other guys?”

“Nate had a lot of women friends. He was very personable, very charming. He hung out at the club with Johnny and Frankie, and the girls were always swarming around.”

“So maybe Nate gave it to one of his girlfriends,”

Kayla said.

“I asked two of them. They both said they don’t have it. I believe them. I don’t think either woman is particularly trustworthy, but one of them reminded me of something important. We were the bad girls. The men also had their good girls. One of them was a girl named Anne Marie Davis. She was younger than us, barely eighteen.

She worked at her family’s flower shop in North Beach.

She was pretty, blond, a perfect white rose, Nate said, the kind of girl a man would marry.”

“Do you have any idea what happened to Anne Marie?”

“I know the flower shop is still there. It’s called the Flower Boutique, and Anne Marie’s daughter, Connie, runs it. I called earlier. I don’t know if Anne Marie is even still alive; the woman who answered the phone was just a part-time worker. I was going to go by myself, but maybe you want to do it.”

“Why were you going to go there? You’ve been telling me to drop this search from the beginning,” Kayla pointed out.

“I had a feeling you weren’t going to listen to me. And
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I don’t want you to get into trouble. I’m an old woman.

No one will bother me.”

“Maybe that’s not true. You know far more about the past than I do. You lived it. Maybe you know something you shouldn’t.”

“If I did, I suspect someone would have come after me a long time ago.”

“I don’t know about that, Grandma. Something obviously changed, made someone want to go after the watches, the coins. They have to be what everyone wants, right?”

“I don’t know
who
you’re referring to,” Charlotte said.

“But missing treasure has a way of bringing out all the fortune hunters. Many people have tried to find the coins over the years. No one has succeeded.”

“All right,” Kayla said, feeling extremely weary. “I guess I should go.”

“Wait. There’s one more thing I need to show you.”

“Really? One more thing?” Kayla asked in disbelief, afraid of what she would hear next.

Her grandmother walked over to a small desk. She pulled out a ring box and opened it.

Kayla expected to see a ring. Instead she saw a tiny key. “What’s that?”

“It was in the watch. There was a compartment within the case. I think whoever searched your house last night was probably looking for this.”

Kayla stared at the small piece of metal, her mind whirling with the implications. “I never saw any hidden compartment.”

“There was a special way to open it.”

“I wonder if Evan knew the watch held a key. What about the inscription? Did the other watches have different inscriptions?”

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Charlotte shrugged. “I think they did, but if I ever knew I can’t remember now. I’m sorry.”

“Is this it, Grandma? Is this all there is to know?”

If Kayla hadn’t been looking so closely, she would have missed the flash of indecision in her grandmother’s eyes, but she saw it, and it made her nervous.

“I’ve told you everything I can,” Charlotte said.

Her words seemed deliberate, as if she were trying to avoid a direct lie. “If you haven’t, I’ll be back,” Kayla warned.

“Come back anyway, Kayla. You’re my granddaughter. I love you. Whatever else you think, I hope you won’t ever forget that.”

Kayla knew she should go home, but she was afraid of what new horror she might find there. She couldn’t go to Nick’s house either. She’d have to rehash everything her grandmother had told her, and the information was too fresh, too raw to be put through the microscope. Nick would have questions. He would want to know everything, the way he always did. He would push her to move forward, and she didn’t have the strength right now to take one more step. Her whole family history had changed in the past hour. She wished she could turn back the clock to the day she’d met Evan, and instead of saying yes to his offer of coffee, she would have said no. She would have walked away, never seen him again.

He probably would still have found a way to get the watch, but it wouldn’t have been so personal, so cruel, and maybe she never would have known that that was all he wanted. Maybe she wouldn’t have had to talk to her grandmother and stir up all the old secrets, the skeletons in the closet.

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No, she couldn’t go home, so she drove and drove until the gas tank was nearly empty and the clock struck midnight. The day was over. She’d made it through. For some reason that seemed important, as if she’d passed a milestone.

When she finally returned to her house, she saw Nick pacing on the porch. He ran up to the car before she’d turned off the engine, and yanked open the door.

“Where the hell have you been? Why didn’t you call me back? I left you a dozen messages.” His angry words spilled out in a rush. His hair was standing on end, as if he’d run his fingers through it a dozen times.

She unhooked her seat belt. It had barely snapped back in place when he grabbed her hand, and she stumbled out of the car. He caught her by the shoulders. “What’s wrong, Kayla? What’s happened? Did you see Evan again? Did he hurt you?”

His questions hit her like bullets from a gun. She didn’t know which one to answer first. She didn’t honestly know if she could answer any of them. Her breath was locked in her chest.

“Dammit, Kayla, talk to me. You’re scaring me. I can see by your face that something is wrong.”

“Give me a second,” she said finally.

He bit back another question, but he didn’t let her go.

“You’re hurting my arms,” she said.

His grip eased slightly. “Start talking. I went to your grandmother’s house. She said you left hours ago. And she looked as bad as you do now.”

Kayla shouldn’t have been surprised he’d gone there.

Nick was always more comfortable taking action than doing nothing, and she had promised to call him. It hadn’t been fair to leave him hanging for hours. Then again, the
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past few days had reminded her that life was never fair.

“What else did my grandmother say?”

“She said I had to ask you. So I’m asking.”

“Let’s go inside. I can’t do this out here. Evan could be watching us.”

Nick followed her up the path. She unlocked the front door and stepped into the hall, relieved to see that the house appeared to be as she’d left it. It was still messy, but not a new mess. She really needed to finish cleaning up. She should have done that instead of driving around town for hours. She should have been more productive.

She picked up her knitting needles, realizing that most of the yarn had come off. She’d have to start over on the sweater she was making. So much of her life she would have to start over.

Nick grabbed her arm when she went to pick up something else. “Leave it,” he said quietly.

She gazed into his green eyes and saw not only impatience but also concern. She wasn’t being fair to him. He deserved to know what she knew. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. I needed time to think.”

“I thought something had happened to you. I even called J.T.”

“Now the FBI is looking for me?”

“No. He said to call back if you didn’t show up by midnight. You made it by two minutes.”

“The clock in my car must be fast. I thought it was already midnight. I thought if I came home and it was a new day, maybe everything would be different.” She blinked back a tear, startled that her eyes were so moist.

She wasn’t going to cry. She really wasn’t. But her lips were trembling, and she couldn’t stop a sniff.

“Kayla, what happened?”

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“Just hold me,” she whispered. “Please.”

Nick hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.

Whenever I touch you, I tend to get carried away.”

“Do it anyway.”

Nick opened his arms, and she slid into his embrace.

She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

For the first time in a long while she felt safe, as if nothing else could go wrong. He seemed to sense her need for security, and his arms tightened around her. For long minutes they just stood there. Then his voice cut into her comfort.

“Kayla. We still need to talk.”

“I can’t. Not now,” she muttered. She lifted her head to look at him. “It’s too much.”

She could see that he wanted to argue, but something made him back down.

“Will you tell me later?” he asked.

She nodded. “I promise. But it will be . . .” Her voice trailed away as she licked her lips, her gaze dropping to his mouth, her mind latching onto a happy, distracting memory.

“It will be what?” he prodded.

She tried to recapture her train of thought. Her mind was shutting down. Her senses were taking over. She was in Nick’s arms. She didn’t have to think anymore. “Much later,” she murmured. “We’ll talk much later.” She tried to kiss him, but he held her away from him.

“Why?” he asked.

“I want you,” she said simply, matter-of-factly.

“You don’t know what you want, Kayla.”

“Maybe not about anything else,” she agreed, “but I don’t have any doubts about this.”

“Don’t you?”

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She placed her hands at the back of his neck, her fingers lacing through the wiry strands of his hair. She gave him a second just in case he wanted to argue, but he didn’t seem to have anything else to say. So she pulled his head down and kissed him, not letting up until he opened his mouth and took her inside, which was just where she wanted to be.

“God, Kayla, you drive me crazy,” Nick murmured against her mouth. “Part of me suspects you’re just stalling so you don’t have to answer my questions. Or maybe you just don’t want to think anymore. You’re using me to distract you.”

“And the other part of you?” she asked, not willing to admit that anything he had just said was true.

“The other part of me doesn’t give a damn why you’re kissing me. I just don’t want you to stop.”

“Let’s go with that part.” She grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the stairs.

“Later you’re going to tell me everything I want to know,” Nick warned as they ran up the stairs.

“First I’m going to do everything you want me to do,”

she said with a reckless laugh as they entered her bedroom.

She stopped in the middle of the room and put up a hand when he started to move closer. “Wait,” she said.

She paused another second, then slowly pulled her sweater over her head and tossed it on a nearby chair.

Then her hand moved to the front clasp of her bra. Nick’s gaze followed her every move. She hesitated again. “No more questions. No more thinking, Nick. Okay?”

“If you take off your bra, that’s pretty much a given.”

She opened the clasp and let the bra slip from her shoulders. Nick stared at her for a long moment, his in-204

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tense gaze making her feel wanted, desired, and very female. She had to fight the urge to cover her breasts with her hands, to give in to self-consciousness.

Nick must have read her mind because he said, “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Stop.”

Her hand dropped to the snap on her jeans. She flicked it open and slowly upzipped. Then she pushed down her pants, taking her panties off at the same time. She heard Nick catch his breath. Good, she liked him breathless and speechless. There were other things she wanted him to do with his mouth that didn’t involve breathing or speaking.

“You’re beautiful, Kayla.”

“You’re too far away.”

“I can change that.” He moved over to her, his hot gaze sweeping her body from head to toe, making every nerve tingle, and he hadn’t even touched her yet. He stopped just inches away from her. She waited for his kiss, his touch, surprised and a little nervous when none came.

“You’re staring,” she said.

“I can’t take my eyes off you.”

She caught her breath at the deep emotion in his voice.

“I feel the same way. But you have too many clothes on.”

“You’re right.” He pulled his T-shirt over his head and tossed it on top of her pile of clothes. She swallowed hard at the sight of his naked, muscled chest. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. She could see the ripple of his ab-dominal muscles. And when he stepped out of his jeans, kicking them away, she was struck by how utterly gorgeous he was — and how utterly aroused.

Instead of reaching for her, he stepped to one side,
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surprising her again. He sat down on the edge of the bed and held out his hand. “Come here.”

She took his hand and he pulled her toward him. His hands cupped her buttocks as he kissed her navel, running his tongue around the edge, driving her mad with the need to have his mouth on every inch of her body. But she didn’t want to lose control. She wanted to do this her way. She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back on the bed.

He fell against the pillows, laid out before her like a feast. And that was what she wanted to do: enjoy, savor, make every second last. “My turn,” she whispered.

His eyes darkened as she cupped him, stroked him, then replaced her hand with her mouth. His groan excited her. The way his hands gripped her head drove her on.

She wanted to take him all the way over the edge, but he moved suddenly, pulling her away.