“Ten thousand or they’ll slit my throat and let the dogs start eating me before I’m dead.” The horror in her voice left Kaitlyn shuddering at what they must be saying to her and how afraid she must be.
“I’ll send the money.” She knew this wasn’t sustainable, but Kaitlyn felt helpless. What else could she do but send the money and hope the kidnappers would hold true to their words and let Fawn go?
The line went dead and Kaitlyn blinked back tears of hopelessness and fear. A knock at the front door made her jump and left her heart racing painfully. Carter appeared and walked to the front door, offering her a smile and wink as he moved.
She smiled back, struggling to appear normal. He opened the door and a woman’s voice had Kaitlyn perking up and playing attention as she looked down at her phone and the recently ended call.
“What are you doing here?” he asked the woman.
“Wow, no need to be aggressive. I brought you honey from the farmer’s market we were going to visit.” The woman sounded stunned at his anger.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, blocking the doorway with his body. “You know what, never mind. I don’t care. Don’t come here again or I’m going to report you to HR.”
With that, he closed the door and Kaitlyn couldn’t help but wonder if he was covering something up. His reaction seemed rather over the top for someone bringing him honey. Had he made plans with this woman and blown her off to spend time with Kaitlyn? Was she missing something?
“She sounded pretty upset,” she said.
“So did you.”
Confused, she stared at him, not understanding.
He gestured at her phone in her hands. “When you were talking to someone, you sounded upset.”
“You were listening to me?” Kaitlyn couldn’t believe him.
“Not really, I just caught your tone and knew something was up. Are you okay?” He seemed genuine, but Kaitlyn couldn’t help but be afraid. What would happen if he found out what was going on with Fawn? She didn’t even want to consider what he might think about either of them or how upset he might be that she hadn’t told him sooner.
“I’m fine. So, what’s with her?” she asked, jerking her chin toward the door as he made his way to her side. “Is she your girlfriend? Wife? Work wife?”
He shook his head. “None of those things.” Still, the way his lips pressed into a thin line told her there was more he was keeping from her, and she couldn’t help but wonder. “She has a crush on me, but I told her no. She doesn’t seem to be getting the hint, obviously.”
As all the emotions of the day crushed down on her shoulders, Kaitlyn threw herself into his arms and pressed her lips to his, needing comfort, affection, and a good dopamine rush. Not the best reasons to kiss someone, but she didn’t give a damn.
He kissed her back, the innocent gesture quickly turning heated. His hands pulled her shirt up over her head and dropped it aside, her breasts revealed as she pulled him back in for another kiss. He picked her up and carried her to the couch and sat down with her in his lap, kissing her deeply as she felt his hardness pressing against her.
Unable to stop her body, her hips bucked into him, rubbing her most delicate parts on him in a desperate search for release.
Her phone rang from her pocket and he broke the kiss, looking breathless. “Answer it,” he whispered, before pulling her in to kiss her shoulder, her neck, her jaw.
She pulled the phone from her pocket, her heart slamming as he kissed her. Work? Why would work be calling her?
She answered the call, trying not to lose her mind at his touch. As her manager answered, she spoke. “Hello? It’s Kaitlyn, what’s up?” She hoped her voice didn’t give her away, but that thing Carter was doing with his mouth…
She pushed him away with one hand and a smile as her manager spoke.
“Kaitlyn, you’re fired. We’ll mail your last check.” With that, the line went dead and she felt her whole world come crashing down around her.
Carter quit kissing her, as if feeling the change in her mood. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head, mute as she stared at her phone. “I just got fired.”
Chapter10
Carter
Carter could feelKaitlyn deflate as she climbed off him and began to search for her shirt. While he was sad to see her go, he couldn't help but worry for her. She'd been fired. But why? She was good at her job, she was the reason a number of high value clients came into the club, and men liked her.
He couldn't help but wonder if her managers were making a bad business decision or if there was something else they didn't know about at work. Of course, Carter's immediate thought was that Devon had done something to get her fired after kidnapping her. Going in and telling them to fire her would absolutely throw a monkey wrench in her life plan. And if you wanted to make her dependent on him, one good way to do so would be to cut off her finances... by getting her fired.