Free With Vengeance by Brooklyn Ann Page B

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,