Steele Hearts Redemption (9 page)

“I need to go back to your office today,” I
informed Gabriel.

“Okay, do you think you might find something
that’ll help us figure out who took the photos?” he asked.

“We’ll take a look at the security videos
from yesterday, although I’m guessing these photos were not taken
where there are cameras. Also I have a photographic memory so if
the security videos prove worthless we’ll retrace our steps and
I’ll work from memory.”

Four hours later, after confirming the
security cameras would be useless and I discretely retraced our
steps from yesterday, shortly stopping at the spots where the
photos were taken, I had a description of the person who took the
photos. Only problem was, after I gave Gabe the general description
he had no idea who the person I described to him was.

“Fucking hell, how could I not know who he
is?” he screamed for the fifth time as he drove us back to the
house.

Seeing his frustration, I reach out my hand
to him and gently rubbed his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

“Remember what I told you before, he’s
non-descript, he likes being in the shadows. You wouldn’t know him
if he came up to you on the streets any more than you would know a
stranger on the streets babe.”

“So what do we do now Ally, how do we find
out who he is without pushing him into doing something dumb.”

“I already have something in mind Gabe. I
know what to do,” I reassured him, hoping he had enough confidence
in me to allow do my job.

As if reading my mind he took his eyes off
the road for a second to reassure me.

“I trust you baby. I know you’ll get him. I
just want this to be over with.”

“It will be over soon. I promise you. But
there is something we have to consider. We both know he’s stalking
you but if we push and confront him now, we have no substantial
evidence for any form of prosecution. Other than taking photos and
sending them to you, he hasn’t done anything illegal. It’ll just
look like the actions of an overzealous fan and because you didn’t
file a report before any defense attorney would claim you didn’t
view any of his actions as a threat. The most you might get is a
restraining order. However, he’s getting a little braver by coming
onto your property and for me that’s predictability. His next step
would be to try and gain entry into the house. If we catch him at
that he could go away for some time for breaking and entering.”

“Do you honestly think he’ll try that,” he
asked.

“Yes,” I answered honestly, knowing he hated
the idea of having a stranger invade his privacy.

“So basically it’s a waiting game now,” he
stated, somewhat defeated.

“It doesn’t have to be Gabe. We flush him
out. He’s going to come to you no matter what. You’re his
addiction. If we take that away but dangle it in front of him he’s
going to come to you.”

“I don’t understand Ally.”

I explained my plan to him. It was quite
simple. I needed Gabriel to stay out of sight for a couple days but
let it be known he was working from home. His stalker wouldn’t see
him but knowing he was so close would force him to seek Gabriel
out. He would try without a doubt to see him and if Gabe was stuck
in the house the only way he could accomplish that was to force his
way into the house. Simple plan but effective.

“I could do that. I have my own editing
studio at home so I could get some work done, five percent of the
time I’ll be stuck in there ,” he agreed.

“And what do you intend to do with the other
ninety five percent of your time?”

The look on his face was all the answer I
needed. Definitely looking forward to being sore.

I knew I needed backup to ensure Gabriel’s
safety and was happy he did not object to my call to Connor to
procure said backup. Connor insisted on having his head of security
send four guys but I did not want to arouse anyone’s suspicion with
a lot of activity in the house so I finally convinced him two guys
was enough. One of my concerns was Marianna’s and Jonah’s safety
and Gabriel and I spent the entire afternoon trying to convince
them both to stay at a hotel for a week but we eventually conceded
after they were both adamant about staying and not abandoning
Gabriel. Marianna did have a point when she pointed out changing
their daily routines might tip off Gabe’s stalker. I spent the rest
of the evening sketching the stalker from memory and perusing
Gabe’s employee’s database in search of the stalker while Gabe used
his time to rearrange his schedule and get the word out that he was
going to be working from home for a couple of days. By the time I
had a name to the face it was well after eight and my tummy began
rumbling. After a quick phone call to Sterling, who promised to
find out every possible thing he could find on Gabe’s stalker after
I gave him the basic information I had I went in search of Gabriel
and sustenance.

“Feel like some company?” I ask after I
finally found him standing out on the upper deck, looking out into
the vast ocean, lost in his thought.

He spun around, facing me.

“I feel so helpless Al, leaving all of this
up to you. What if you end up getting hurt. I can’t live with
that.”

The helplessness in his voice was
heartbreaking. I approached him slowly, locking eyes with him and
only when I was standing directly in front of him and my hand was
caressing his face did I try soothing his fears.

“I promise you Gabe, I am going to be safe
and I’m going to keep you safe, as well as Jonah and Marianna. I
know this is difficult for you, not being in control of this
situation but rather than have some psycho dominate your life I
need you to trust that, for this situation, it’s better I have
control of it. I can’t predict what’s going to happen babe but I
sure as hell could try and navigate the situation to where I want
it to be. I need you to trust me baby.”

“I do trust you sweetheart, it’s just hard
for me to adjust too. I always thought I’d be the one protecting
you not the other way around.”

I could be mad at that if I didn’t know it
was how he and his brothers were brought up. They were gentleman
through and through down to the adage of it’s the man’s
responsibility to protect the women.

“I know baby, but we’ll get through this, I
promise okay. And after I save your sweet butt you could do
something gallant and save me. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“So what does a girl have to do to get some
sustenance around here?” I asked, hoping to distract and make him
relax just for a little bit.

His lips slowly approached mine as he
whispered,

“Well, I was kind of hoping I could entice
you with a little desert to start with.”

I liked where he was going with this.

“Say no more…desert is exactly what I was
hoping for.”

His lips crashed down on mine and my entire
body ignited with a blazing fire that I felt was beginning to burn
out of control. He scooped me up in his arms and made his way to
his bedroom. He gently laid me down, following so as not to break
the kiss. My hands groped at his tee shirt and only then he broke
the kiss to tear his shirt off. I took that opportunity to quickly
shed my clothes as well. I couldn’t wait any longer. I looked up
and he was standing there in all his naked glory. I could feel
myself drooling.

He was on top of me. His lips searing mine as
he positioned his throbbing cock at the entrance to my burning
pleasure. This time, other than his scorching kisses, foreplay was
at a minimal as he thrust inside me. This was intense and it was
almost as though he wanted to rid himself of all the demons he had
riding his back as he plunged inside me.

“Let it go babe. Let it all go,” I encouraged
him.

He lost himself completely in the moment and
as I looked deep into his eyes I knew he had, even if it was for a
short time erased his troubles from his mind.

**********

After an intense night filled with
invigorating sex and a wake up call that was filled with positions
every female fantasy was made of Gabe and I finally made our way
down to breakfast sometime after nine. It did not surprise me that
Sterling’s guys had arrived sometime earlier and were now contently
lounging in the kitchen while Marianna pampered then. Sebastian
Cane and Jonathan Dell were two of Sterling’s top guys and from the
dossiers Sterling emailed me yesterday, I knew they were forces to
be reckoned with. I knew them from New York and was relieved
Sterling sent two guys I was comfortable with. As both Gabe and I
entered the kitchen, they immediately jumped up to greet us.

“Cane, Dell, thank you guys for coming,” Gabe
said as he shook both their hands, surprising me with his
familiarity with the guys.

“Still getting into trouble I see,” Cane said
pointedly at Gabe.

Laughing, Gabe turned to me.

“Cane and Dell have had the pleasure of
escorting me on numerous occasions to events that warranted a tad
bit of crowd control so this is not their first rodeo watching my
back.”

“Good to know.” Turning to then I addressed
them both, “this time it’s a little different though guys.”

“We know, Sterling debriefed us before we
left New York. You’re lead on this Ally so whatever you need, we’re
here for you,” Dell replied.

Over breakfast Gabe and I related everything
we had on the situation at hand and the plan we had in place to
hopefully catch Gabriel’s little stalker. They were on board and
took their assignment seriously. Only difference this time from
when they previously worked with Gabe was that now they were
protecting him inside his own home instead of out in public.

The rest of the morning flew by quickly with
Gabe retreating to his editing studio to pre-view already edited
scenes for his movie and me commandeering his study to call Connor
and Sterling for updates, check my emails and review everything I
had on this case even though I already had everything committed to
memory. Cane and Dell spent a couple of hours discretely reviewing
the security measures in and around the house and not long after
Cane informed me he was turning in to get some rest so he would be
fresh and alert for night watch.

Around two I finally found the courage to
make a call I’ve put off since arriving in California. Hearing her
voice over the phone I took a deep breath and tried to sound as
normal as possible in order to keep up the ruse.

“It’s about bloody time you called,” Tess
shouted at me over the phone, without so much as a hello.

“Tess, you do not need to be shouting in your
position,” I replied soothingly.

“I’m pregnant not dying Alexandria Riley, and
I would not be shouting if you didn’t give me reason to worry.”

“I’m sorry Tess, I got caught up in stuff
here and every time I thought about calling you it was late on your
end.”

“Well it doesn’t matter what time it is, you
think about calling me then you call, okay.”

“Okay sis. So how are you feeling?”

“Fat and hungry.”

I laughed, knowing she wasn’t exaggerating,
well on the hungry part that is.

“I’m sure you look as beautiful as you always
do sis.”

“Stop trying to pacify me Ally. I’m fat. End
of story. But it’s all worth it because of the little peanut
growing inside me. Before I forget Mrs. M. tried calling you but
seeing as you refused to answer your phone she said to tell you if
I spoke to you before she did when you get back to New York she’s
going to wring your neck for leaving and not telling her.”

That was a threat I did not take lightly.

“I’ll call her today Tess.”

“Make sure you do. So did you run into anyone
we know out there?”

“Anyone we know like who Tess?”

“Ammm…..Gabe?”

Hmmm….time to deflect.

“I highly doubt Gabe and I run in the same
circles out here sis. Besides I’ve been so busy I hadn’t even
thought about seeing him while I was out here.”

“Maybe you should Al. Call him and invite him
out to dinner or something. He’ll be happy if you reach out to him
while you’re out there,” Tessa snickered.

“I’ll think about it Tess but as I said I’m
really busy. Anything new in New York.”

“Nope. Not really. Other than still trying to
find Lucas a girlfriend, things are pretty much the same as you
left it a couple days ago. Oh, Tyler’s here for a couple of
days.”

Poor Lucas, the subject of Tessa’s
matchmaking capabilities over the last few months. Thankfully it
eased up on the her focus of me.

“Tess, leave the poor guy alone. He has his
hands filled with trying to keep up with you he doesn’t need any
distractions.”

“He needs a woman in his life Ally, so do
you.”

“I’m straight, so why do I need a woman in my
life Tess?”

“Screw you Ally, you know what I mean. You
need a MAN. Is that better?”

“Thanks for clarifying.”

“Whatever Ally, and I’ll have you know Lucas
appreciates my matchmaking.”