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.