by Lori Ryan
He’d never seen a sexier sight in his life. In fact, he’d thought for a minute he could stand there watching her forever, but then he’d realized if he had to watch one more minute, listen to one more of those tiny whimpers coming from her kissable little mouth, he would have stripped her out of that bikini in a heartbeat.
He’d spent half his run trying to forget those sounds, and the other half trying to figure out who she might have been dreaming of. Jimmy Mondo? That made sense. She’d been reminded of her history with Jimmy just that morning. Maybe all this had triggered sensuous memories.
But no, that didn’t make sense. The look on her face when she’d talked about Jimmy had been one of revulsion, not attraction. Gabe grimaced as he toweled off and drew his jeans up over his hips. Though he looked forward to more time with her, he was in for one hell of an uncomfortable night out with PJ. Every minute with her was torture. He probably shouldn’t have invited her along for this trip.
Because you care about her, asshole, and she was hurting. It was as simple as that. What it really came down to was that he cared about her. Gabe grabbed his phone and pulled up the software Chad had installed. What the hell?
Dozens of texts going to PJ’s number.
You fucking whore, you can’t do this to me.
I’ll destroy you.
Gabe saw red as he continued to read.
You think you can get away with this? We had an agreement, bitch.
The texts went on and on, threatening PJ and using some language even Gabe wasn’t comfortable with—and that said a lot.
He threw open the door to his room and crossed to PJ’s door before he realized what he was doing. If he went in there and demanded answers the way he wanted to, he’d have to explain how he knew she was getting those texts. Gabe fisted his hands in his hair and whirled away from her door.
His office. Chad. He needed to get Chad on this.
When he’d closed the door, he dialed Chad’s number.
“’Lo?” came Chad’s voice.
“She’s getting some insanely threatening texts, Chad. Any chance you can trace them?”
“Well, hello to you too, Gabe,” Chad said cheerfully, but Gabe could hear Chad’s fingers on the keyboard and knew Chad wasn’t taking this lightly.
Gabe waited until Chad spoke again.
“Is the number blocked or can you see it?”
Gabe pulled his phone away from his ear and pulled up the texts that had gone to PJ’s phone. He jotted down the number and put the phone back to his ear before rattling the numbers off to Chad.
“Huh. This guy must not be worried about being traced,” Chad said.
“That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if it’s the guy who has her journal,” Gabe said.
He heard the sound of more typing and then a grunt from Chad. “That’s because it’s Jimmy Mondo.”
“Mondo can’t be the person who leaked those parts of her journal, so that must mean she’s got two big problems to deal with here,” Gabe said, not liking the fact that PJ was keeping all of this so quiet.
Sure, it’s not like he was her best friend, but damn, he thought she knew she could come to him for help.
“Have any other texts come through?” Chad asked.
“Not since you installed the software. If the guy who’s got the journal has contacted her, it hasn’t been since last night.”
“Call when you get something and I’ll see if I can trace it. If they block the number, there’s a possibility I can still get an ID. It all depends on the carrier they use. But, let me know and I’ll try,” Chad said.
“Thanks, Chad. I owe you,” Gabe said. Chad just laughed and hung up the phone.
When Gabe came out of the office, PJ stood at the kitchen island filling a kettle, then placing it on the stove to heat.
“Sorry. I hope you don’t mind,” she said gesturing to the mug and teapot by the stove.
“Not at all,” Gabe said. “Help yourself to anything while you’re here. I have the caretakers keep the place pretty heavily stocked.” He slid onto a stool across from her and looked at her.
Her eyes still looked tired even though her hair was mussed from bed. She looked like she might have taken a short nap, but didn’t get the sleep she needed. Chances were, she wasn’t sleeping very well.
“Have you heard from Jimmy Mondo about all this?” he asked, and she damn near jumped out of her skin.
“Um,” she started, fidgeting with the handle of her mug.
“If you lie to me, I can’t help you,” Gabe said quietly. Her round eyes found his and she flushed.
“I don’t think there’s anything you can do to help me,” she whispered, and he wondered why she took on all this by herself.
“What if all I want to do is listen?” he asked though he wanted to tear the guy to pieces. He also wanted to know what had her so scared. And what had Jimmy Mondo so angry? Could there be more?
What could be in the journal that hadn’t already been leaked?
PJ’s eyes seemed locked to his as if she couldn’t pull herself away, and he hoped she’d see that all he wanted to do was help. If she’d just open up to him....
The sound of her phone chiming broke the moment and PJ froze, eyeing her phone on the counter as if it were a snake. Gabe’s fingers itched to pull out his phone to read the text, but that obviously wasn’t an option.
He waited as PJ slowly reached out and read the text, then raised her eyes to his.
“Care to share, Pru?” he asked, and was a bit surprised when she slid the phone across the granite counter to him, her hand shaking the slightest bit. He kept his eyes on hers for just a minute before lifting the phone.
Jimmy doesn’t seem at all repentant. How about you, Pretty Pru? Are you ready to repent for your sins?
Ice cold hit Gabe’s veins followed by the heat of anger. Burning hot rage because someone was holding something over PJ. And, dammit, she’d been hiding this threat from him the entire time. That needed to change. Now.
Gabe stood, took her hand and pulled PJ over to the living room and settled them onto the couch. Then he faced her. She looked about ready to cry, but he also saw that look of determination beneath the tears that welled in her eyes – like she was gearing up her defenses. He pushed one of her russet curls behind her ear.
“Please, Pru. Let me help. Even if it’s just to listen,” he said and rubbed a thumb over her cheek where a tear had fallen. “I know you don’t want to go to your parents, but you have to have someone on your side through this.”
She shook her head. “If I tell you, it will change the way you look at me, how you think about me,” she whispered, and he watched as she struggled to control the shaking of her chin, to keep the tears from falling.
“Oh, babe,” he leaned his forehead against hers and threaded his fingers through her hair. “Nothing you tell me will ever change the way I see you, or how much I care about you. I promise.”
She curled in toward him and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close until she almost sat in his lap. It took a long time, but when she began to talk, the words tumbled out of her as if she’d waited years to tell someone her story.
“I didn’t spend eight months in rehab,” she said against his chest, and Gabe had to make a conscious effort not to stiffen. “I spent two months in rehab. When I checked in, I was two months pregnant.”
Well, hell. It was a lot harder not to stiffen for that one, but he steadied his breathing and kept holding her, all the while planning Jimmy Mondo’s death in gruesome and excruciating detail in his head.
He’d need to talk to Chad about how to hide a body—he was pretty sure Chad knew that sort of thing. It was good to have friends who would help you bury the bodies.
“Where were you the rest of the time?” he asked. It was widely believed PJ had spent eight months in rehab back when she was fifteen.
“I stayed with my aunt and uncle and my parents. The only time I ever left the house was to go t
o the doctor.”
“And, the baby?” he asked, having a feeling he knew the answer already.
“My cousin, Matthew––” she started, and Gabe finished for her.
“Isn’t your cousin.”
“No,” she said, still not looking up at him.
Gabe tilted her chin to him, bringing her eyes up so he could see them, then dried her tears. He leaned in slowly and kissed her gently on the lips. Such a small kiss, but it seared right through him, just as any contact with her did.
He kissed the tip of her nose, her eyelids and then her lips again before pulling her back down into his arms. She laid her head on his chest and he held her.
“Do you believe you did the right thing? For him? For you?” he asked her.
She pulled back and looked at him. “Yes, I do.”
“Do you regret the decision?” he asked.
“Not one bit,” she said. “He’s loved, truly loved by my Aunt Susie and Uncle Brian. And he has a good life. Just look at the life Jill and Andrew will give those twins. Those babies will be cherished and loved every minute of their lives. I knew my baby would have that when I decided I wasn’t the one who should raise him.”
“Then, you did the right thing, Pru. And nobody has the right to tell you otherwise.”
“Do you really think I did the right thing? I mean, not because I think it’s right. I mean, do you think it was right?” she asked.
“Yes, I really do.”
She lay in his arms, no longer crying, and he held her, feeling her chest rise and fall with each breath until he felt her breaths even out. She fell asleep there, and he held her for a long time, knowing she needed to sleep. She needed to recharge if they were going to deal with this.
Gabe thought about the times he’d seen pictures of her with her cousin, Matthew. She was close to him. That much was clear. He wondered if the boy knew. Maybe he didn’t even know he was adopted. If he did, had he ever suspected PJ was his birth mother?
Gabe would call Chad as soon as she woke up and get him started trying to track down whoever had her journal, and held this twisted grudge against Pru for her decision to put the baby up for adoption. Because lying here with her in his arms, Gabe realized, he was through trying to resist PJ, through trying to convince himself this wasn’t the right time for whatever was happening between them.
Yes. It might be the very worst possible time for her to start a relationship, but he didn’t care. She’d been alone long enough. And, he had a feeling she’d punished herself long enough for the decisions she’d made as a fifteen-year-old. It was time PJ allowed herself to be happy. And he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to be a part of that.
Chapter 12
It took Gabe a while to convince PJ that getting Chad involved in the search for the person who had her journal was a safe move. She wouldn’t talk to the police, and he didn’t blame her. If they went to the police, someone, somewhere along the way would leak the story to the press. If they got the police involved, too many people along the chain of command could slip up, and the information could find its way to the wrong set of ears.
Officers working the case might have every intention of maintaining her privacy…. But that wouldn’t stop the guy who delivers the mail, or someone else, from overhearing details of the case and calling his girlfriend to tell her he’d seen PJ Cantrell at the police station—and so on and so on. That wasn’t the way to go.
Besides, Chad didn’t need to follow any procedures or obtain any warrants, so he’d have more freedom to go after this guy.
Of course, he hadn’t told PJ he’d already involved Chad. And, he didn’t plan to. He’d just delete the software from his phone, and not let on that he knew about the texts before she showed him any of them.
When he finally convinced her it was safe to involve Chad and one of his tech staff, Samantha, they headed out to walk to Chad’s house.
Gabe took PJ’s hand as they started up the beach.
“I’m really glad you came with me this week, Pru,” he said and was rewarded with that bright easy smile she’d had since she woke up from her impromptu nap this afternoon.
She looked happier than he’d seen her look all week, despite the fact that she still had the weight of the missing journal and Jimmy Mondo’s threats on her shoulders.
“Pru, why didn’t your parents report Jimmy all those years ago?” he asked but squeezed her hand gently to soften the question.
She blew out a burst of air before answering. “I think they knew it would have crushed me to have this made public.” She looked up at him, and suddenly she looked a lot younger than twenty-nine. “I really thought he loved me. It was stupid, but I believed I was really special. To have the world know I had been so foolish….” She shook her head before she continued.
“But, there was also the baby. Jimmy had demanded I get an abortion. I didn’t want that. In the end, my family decided it would be better to break all ties with Jimmy. My parents told him they wouldn’t report him if he let me out of my contract without any penalties. He never asked about the baby, and we never told him. I didn’t fill in any name for the father on the birth certificate. It was probably the wrong thing to do, but I just didn’t want him having anything to do with Matthew. I didn’t want Jimmy to be able to touch him, to taint his world in any way. Although, looking back, I suppose we could have gotten his signature on the adoption papers by promising not to press charges against him.”
“You didn’t want him to know you hadn’t aborted the baby, though,” he said. Under the circumstances, he couldn’t blame her.
“Yeah. I just didn’t want him anywhere near the baby, you know? Not after the way....” She didn’t finish her thought, but she didn’t have to. He got it.
He stopped them at the gate to Chad’s backyard and pulled her to him, wrapping her up in his arms. She tilted her head up at him and smiled that smile again, and it cut right through him.
Gabe leaned in and brushed her lips softly at first, then harder. The kiss took on a life of its own. She wrapped her arms around him and he loved the feel of that, the feel of her trusting him, touching him, kissing him back with everything she had.
God, he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any woman. He almost laughed. Who was he kidding? No other woman had come remotely close to the pull she had on him, the intensity of what he felt when he was with her. He broke away and looked at her.
He needed to keep himself together long enough to get Chad and Samantha—Chad’s computer guru—on the case and give them the info they needed. Then, he could take PJ home and make love to her. They had three more days until she had to go back on tour. He planned to spend as much of that time exploring her mind and body as he could.
“Ready for this?” he asked but her eyes were glassy.
“Huh?” she asked, drawing a laugh from him.
“Ready to go see Chad and Sam?” he asked again.
“Oh! Um, yes,” she said, and he laughed even more at the adorable blush creeping into her cheeks. She was sexy as hell when she was flustered. And, he wanted to see just how much more flustered he could make her. But, that would be later.
For now, he tugged her up onto the lawn, and they cut across Chad’s backyard until they came to the stone wall that surrounded the house. They rang the bell and a little buzzer sounded.
The mechanical sound of the gate clicking free told Gabe Chad had unlocked it remotely. They walked through and found him waiting on the back patio for them.
“Thanks, Chad,” Gabe said as they approached.
“You guys need to come see this,” Chad said, skipping any greeting. The grim look on his face sent cold rushing through Gabe again. They followed Chad into the living room where Samantha was set up with a laptop in front of her.
The television was playing and a newscaster was talking about Jimmy Mondo.
“He died in a hospital in Los Angeles about an hour ago,” Chad said quietly, and Gabe heard PJ’s gasp beside him. He put
his arm around her and drew her in closer as Chad continued.
“It was a car accident. They’re saying it may have been alcohol related. Apparently he was seen at several clubs last night. There are conflicting accounts, so the cause of the accident isn’t clear yet. Some people swear he was sober when they saw him, but others say he was completely wasted.”
The small floating box behind the newscaster alternated between showing a headshot of Jimmy Mondo smiling his greasy smile at the camera, and showing a wrecked car in flames on the side of a highway somewhere.
PJ’s face showed the horror she was feeling as she gaped at the screen.
Gabe wanted to draw her away.
“Check your phone, PJ,” Gabe said, wondering if her blackmailer had something to do with this.
PJ was pale as she drew it out of her pocket. “I turned it off,” she said. Her hands shook as she held the top button down and the phone booted to life, chiming seconds later to indicate a text was waiting.
Gabe watched as her face crumpled, and he caught her in his arms when she likely would have fallen to the floor. He scooped her up and brought her to the couch. Samantha hovered in the background—always more comfortable with computers than people—but Chad came and sat near them.
Gabe took the phone from PJ and read the text before passing it to Chad. Chad slipped away to where Sam sat with her computer and the two of them bent their heads over the screen murmuring quietly as they worked. The words of the most recent text echoed in his head.
Jimmy paid. Are you ready to pay, Pretty Pru?
No way in hell he would let PJ go back out on tour now. At least, not without going with her.
Gabe pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and sent a quick text to his assistant so he could arrange coverage for all his meetings, and move dates of anything that couldn’t be covered by someone else.
He cleared two weeks and he’d clear more if he needed to.
His next text was to Jesse’s fiancé, Zach Harris, who owned a private security company. When he’d met PJ at Jack’s party, he hadn’t batted an eye when PJ was introduced. Zach and his company were very used to handling high-profile clientele and doing so discretely and effectively.