“Why the fuck is the garage open?” he asked.
I shrugged. “It’s been broken for about six weeks. We’ve all called to complain, but nothing has happened.”
“That’s bullshit,” he seethed.
I didn’t get a chance to respond because we’d gotten far enough into the garage that I saw Allie, Vaughn, and Cara Lee standing in the back next to my car. Even from that far away, I could see that the damage was extensive.
“Shit,” I muttered. “My parents are going to flip.”
“Is it their car?” he asked.
I shook my head as he parked behind a shiny black Maserati that I assumed was Vaughn’s, considering that it was double parked.
“It’s my car, but this is their condo. When they retired five years ago, Allie and I decided to leave the shitty apartment we were in and move here. It’s a win-win for everyone—we get a nice place and my parents have an investment property that costs them nothing. They love this building, and my mom is convinced living here keeps me safe. This isn’t going to sit well.”
“It isn’t sitting well with me either,” he replied, his voice low.
* * *
After I changed into real clothes, I’d called the police to report what happened to my car. I spent ninety minutes in the garage, first waiting for the police to arrive, followed with giving my report, and then taking a ton of photos for insurance. Once that was over, I had the car towed to a body shop recommended by one of the officers. I knew auto body professionals could make anything look good, but it was hard to imagine that my little Mini Cooper would ever look normal again.
Pretty much the entire time we were dealing with things in the garage, Gage was pacing, grinding his teeth, or generally looking like he was about to explode. Since Vaughn was doing the same, I figured it was a guy thing.
When we finished up in the garage and went up to the condo, both men wasted no time in voicing their displeasure.
“I can’t believe that garage was wide fucking open,” Vaughn grumbled.
“Or that not one of the goddamn cameras down there is actually working,” Gage seethed. “What the fuck is that about? It’s LA, for fuck’s sake. Cameras are a necessity.”
Allie and I exchanged looks because we both agreed. The majority of the condo building did as well. It was an ongoing argument with the company that purchased the building last year. We all paid an association fee, and security features were supposedly included, but since the building had gotten new owners, things had gone downhill fast.
“You aren’t staying here,” both men announced in unison.
Gage said this while staring at me. Vaughn was busy staring at Allie.
“I’m sure it’ll be—”
“No,” Gage said firmly, cutting me off. “Your safety isn’t guaranteed here, and that’s nonnegotiable for me.”
“For me too,” Vaughn grumbled. “No one with a speck of honor would leave you here. Both of you,” he added after a second. I honestly thought he might have forgotten that I was even there since he was so locked onto Allie.
“He’s right,” Gage said. “You can’t stay here.”
“Fine,” Allie sighed. “We’ll go to my parents’ house.”
“No!”
Again, both men spoke at the same time.
“You’re staying with me,” Gage announced.
“And you’re staying with me,” Vaughn told Allie.
As surprised as I was by the fact that Gage wanted me to stay at his house, I was stunned by how adamant Vaughn was about Allie going home with him. I wasn’t surprised by the fact that she grabbed his arm and took him down the hall to her bedroom to talk. Alone with Gage, I cocked my head.
“Are you sure about this? Steady dating is a big step for you to begin with. Moving in together, however briefly, might be too much for you to—”
He held up a hand. “You belong with me, Morgan. If you think for one second that I don’t want you to pack your shit and come home with me, you’re wrong.”
His tone was firm, but still, I hesitated. Things were so good with us. I was afraid if we took on too much, too soon, he’d feel trapped.
“Pack, beautiful. Just take the clothes you’ll need for the next few days. I’d say take more, but you have to hurry.”
“Hurry?” I asked, confused.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Gotta get you to the El Capitan for Kimmel.”
I squeaked as my eyes flew to the clock, and I realized that I needed to pick an outfit and haul ass. As I hurried down the hall to my room, I decided that packing just the essentials and a few days’ worth of clothes was better than rolling into Gage’s house with a ton of luggage anyway. I figured it wouldn’t take long to know if he felt crowded by having me there. If that happened, I’d make other arrangements and move on as quickly as possible.
Twenty-Five
Gage
“Um, Gage. What is that?”
I slammed the trunk of my Rolls shut and set Morgan’s bag on the ground, looking up at her to see what she was asking about. She was pointing at the cherry red car parked in front of my house. “A Mini Cooper.”
“Gee, thanks, Mr. Obvious.” She rolled her eyes before walking toward the car and trailing her fingers over the white racing stripes on the hood. “Seeing as how I drive one, I know what kind of car it is. What I don’t know is why there’s a brand spanking new Mini in your driveway?”
I was tempted to correct her by calling it our driveway since she was living with me at the moment, but I didn’t think Morgan would find it funny. She’d made a few comments throughout the day that’d made me think she was still worried about how I was going to handle her staying with me. I’d let the remarks slide because it wouldn’t have been cool to get into it while she was in the middle of all the post-Oscar win frenzy. I also figured the best way to prove to her that I was completely okay with having her in my space was by showing her, and I had no problem doing that. Starting with making sure she had everything she needed. “Since you’re currently without wheels, I asked Shawn to call the dealership and have a car delivered so you’d be able to get around if our schedules don’t mesh.”
Her hand lifted off the car like she’d gotten burned, and she whipped her head around to stare at me with wide eyes. “You bought me a new car?”
“I would’ve just loaned you one of my other cars, but everything except for the Rolls is stick and I noticed that yours was an automatic,” I explained as I moved to her side to pull open the driver’s side door on the Mini and double-check to make sure they’d gotten it right before adding, “And so is this one.”
Her gaze darted over to the Rolls and filled with speculation. “Maybe you should return the Mini, and I’ll drive that instead.”
Although I owned four other cars, I hardly ever used them since I got the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead because it was my favorite. I’d special ordered it from the dealership, and nobody but me had ever driven it. The fact that I was even considering letting Morgan get behind the wheel of my baby said a fuck of a lot about the depth of my feelings for her. But that didn’t mean I was going to make it easy on her just because she was uncomfortable with the idea of me buying a car for her to drive. “If that’s what you want . . . but you do realize the Mini was under forty grand, and the Rolls cost about ten times that when I bought it six months ago.”
“You have a four-hundred-thousand-dollar car?” she gasped, shaking her head.
“This is Hollywood,” I reminded her. “My Rolls was cheap compared to the Bugatti Tom Cruise owns or the Hennessey Steven Tyler dropped more than a cool million on.”
“Yeah, but I’m not dating one of them.” She pointed at the Rolls. “And now that I know how much your Rolls costs, there’s no way I’m driving it.”
I flashed her a smug grin. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I got you the Mini. Now you don’t have to. Problem solved.”
“Or I could just rent a car,” she argued. “My insurance will cover it and
everything, so you really didn’t need to buy me one.”
“It’s not a big deal, beautiful. You’re used to driving a Mini, and there’s one right here for you to use.”
She bit her bottom lip and looked back at the cherry red car again. “I don’t know. It doesn’t seem right, letting you do something like this for me.”
I yanked her against my chest. “We already established that I’m your boyfriend last night, right?”
“Yeah, which you very well know because the whole world is talking about it.” She wrapped her arms around my waist. “You were with me all day and heard how many times I was asked about our relationship. I tossed the B word around like confetti during my interviews.”
She wasn’t exaggerating. If the number of times the words “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” had come up in conversation today had been a drinking game, we would’ve been drunk off our asses and in the hospital having our stomachs pumped. “I might be new to this whole relationship thing, but as far as I’m aware, boyfriends are allowed to buy gifts for their girlfriends.”
“A brand new car isn’t a gift. It’s—it’s—” she sputtered. “I don’t even know what it is! But it’s way too expensive to be an appropriate gift for me to accept.”
“According to my accountant, I make an average of five hundred thousand dollars a day.” I chuckled when her jaw dropped open and used my index finger to push it closed. “The cost of the Mini barely made a dent in what I earned while hanging out with you today.”
“Well, crap,” she laughed. “I guess when you put it that way, you buying me a car is about the same as a regular guy taking his girlfriend out to dinner.”
“It’s exactly the same,” I agreed, letting go of her to lean into the car and snag the keys from the cup holder. Pressing them into her palm, I added, “Except that I reserve the right to feed you dinner, too. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
Her stomach chose that moment to growl, making us both laugh. I picked up her bag while she shut and locked the Mini. Then I led her inside, making a quick pit stop in my room to drop her bag off before heading into the kitchen. Pulling the fridge door open, I turned to where she was sitting on a stool at the counter and asked, “What’re you in the mood for? I’ve got tequila lime chicken breast with fire roasted vegetables and wild rice, spinach and fontina stuffed chicken breasts with red potatoes and vegetable medley, and grilled salmon with green beans and sun-dried tomato and spinach farro.”
She whistled. “That’s one heck of a selection for a guy who wasn’t even supposed to be in town.”
“Shawn arranged for the chef service I use to restock the kitchen with plenty of options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I prefer having them deliver meals that I can reheat versus having a chef come in each day,” I explained. “The guy who owns the place is damn good at what he does. He hasn’t sent over anything I didn’t like, and I’ve been using him for more than two years now. But if none of the dinner stuff sound good, we can pick from the lunches or just order in.”
“The fontina stuffed chicken breasts sound amazing. What do we need to do to heat them up?” she asked, sliding off her seat and rounding the counter to take both of the packages I pulled out of the fridge.
“Peel the paper label off and pop them in for fifteen minutes,” I answered as I hit the button to preheat the oven to three-hundred and fifty degrees. We spent the next twenty minutes making a salad, picking something out of the freezer for dessert, and choosing a bottle of wine to go with our meal. Once the chicken was ready to eat, everything was spread out on the breakfast nook table. There hadn’t been much time to eat today, so we both dived right into our meals without talking much until our plates were practically licked clean.
“Wow,” Morgan sighed, leaning back in her seat to rub her stomach. “Dinner was incredible.”
“I have plenty more where that came from,” I promised, making a mental note to ask Shawn to include this particular dish again in my next order since Morgan liked it so much.
“You better be careful of spoiling me, or else I might never want to leave.” Her tone was teasing, but I suspected there was a hint of truth behind the warning. At least this time I could finally respond how I wanted without having to worry about anyone overhearing our conversation and running to the paparazzi with a story about there already being trouble in paradise one day after we came out as a couple.
“I know you’re worried about how I’m going to handle having you here, and I get it. I really do.” Stretching my arm out, I laced my fingers through hers and stared into her eyes because I wanted her to see how sincere I was being when I added, “Relationships are new to me, and I’m sure I’ll fuck up from time to time. I know it’s still early going with us and I was in another state for the bulk of the time we’ve been together so far, but I’m one-hundred percent certain that I want you here with me. You can’t stay at your place, and I don’t like the idea of you at a hotel when whoever did that shit to your car is still out there. It’d be too easy to get close to you if they escalate beyond petty destruction.”
She searched my eyes and seemed to find whatever it was that she needed there. Her lips curved up in a small smile before she said, “Okay, I believe you.”
“No more verbal jabs about how I’m going to handle you living here?” I pressed.
After nodding, she pretended to zip her lips and throw away the key. “I promise.”
“Thank you.” I leaned over the table to capture her lips in a quick kiss.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered back.
We stared into each other’s eyes, the chemistry between us starting to heat like it always did when we were near. My thumb stroked her palm, and I loved how she shivered in reaction to my touch. “Did you happen to toss a swimsuit into your bag?”
“No, why? Did you want to go swimming?”
I shook my head. “I was thinking that you could probably use a dip in my hot tub to help loosen up your muscles.”
“Oh, my God. Yes,” she moaned.
My cock jerked at the sound, and my voice was raspy with need when I suggested, “You’ll be fine without a suit. My fence back there is ten feet tall, and there’s privacy screening on the other side of the hot tub, so nobody will be able to see us. Go up and toss on one of my shirts while I clean this up, and then we can head out there.”
She jumped up from her seat, pausing to brush her lips over mine before murmuring, “You’re racking up major brownie points today.”
I watched the sway of her hips as she walked away, and I had to adjust myself when I got up to clear the table. It only took me a few minutes to toss the containers the meals had come in and put the plates, wine glasses, and silverware into the dishwasher. Heading toward the front of the house to reset the alarm so the zone surrounding the hot tub was turned off, I glanced out the sidelight window nearest me.
“Motherfucker,” I bit out when I spotted a dark shadow moving around. Without thinking about the possibility of alerting them to my presence, I flipped on the front flood lights, and they dashed down the driveway. I was tempted to give chase, but I didn’t want to leave Morgan alone in the house in case they circled back. Instead, I padded toward the stairs and called out, “Hey, Morgan! I need you.”
I groaned in frustration when she strolled down the stairs in one of my T-shirts that hit her mid-thigh. I caught glimpses of her pink lace panties with each step she took, and it made me even more pissed at whoever had been outside. All I wanted to do was toss her over my shoulder, carry her out to the hot tub, strip her out of those clothes, and have my way with her delectable body. The only thing stopping me was the need to go out front and check to make sure everything was okay.
“What’s up?” she asked, looking worried when she saw my expression.
“Someone was in the driveway. I need you to grab your cell phone and stand right here at the door with 9-1-1 up and ready to call while I go out there and try to figure out what they were up to,” I
explained.
“Maybe we should just call the police and let them check,” she suggested.
“We will if I find anything,” I promised. “But I want to make sure it’s not just a case of me being on edge with what happened to your car before we call them.”
“Okay,” she agreed.
I waited while she ran back upstairs to grab her phone before I yanked open my front door and stomped down the steps. With the lights on, it only took a quick glance around for me to discover what they’d been doing. Seeing the Mini I’d bought Morgan destroyed in much the same way hers had been, I was beyond pissed off as I swiftly turned to head back inside.
“That was quick.” She gave me a hopeful look, and I shook my head as I pulled her phone from her hand and hit the button to connect the call.
When the operator answered, I gave her the details of what I’d found in my driveway and my address. She promised to send the cops over right away. After I hung up, I sent Mario a text about the situation since it was a sure bet that my call would hit the papers at some point. Then I sent one to Shawn asking him to arrange for a tow truck and another new Mini to be dropped off tomorrow, plus a security company to come out to review my system and add to it now that I had Morgan living with me. Once that was all done, I wiped the tears from Morgan’s face and promised, “We’re going to find who did this to you and make them pay, beautiful.”
Twenty-Six
Gage
I clenched my fists, frustrated beyond measure at the lack of progress in the hunt for Morgan’s stalker. “It’s been seven weeks, and you’re still no closer to figuring out who destroyed Morgan’s cars than you were when I first hired you.”
“We’re doing everything we can to track them down, Mr. Ryan,” Brax Holden assured me. He was former military and the owner of Holden Security, which was supposed to be the best private security firm in Hollywood. The company who’d installed the system on my house had recommended them when they’d come out to overhaul my design. Mario had another client who’d used them before, and he’d pulled some strings to get Brax to personally take the case.
Gage: A Love Under the Lights Novel Page 14