Ok guys I'm really sorry for not updating for a while. It was just that my cousin stayed for two days and he didn't want to get of the computer! So sorry for that. Oh yea I hear that you can watch HSM2 on demand. And I also heard a song from HSM2, its called GOTTA GO MY OWN WAY. It's so sad because their arguing and stuff. Now that I heard that song I want to watch HSM2 even more. I don't even no if that's possible. Lol. You should check it out on youtube. Oh yea I just wanted you guys to no that if I'm not updating regularly that's because I'm writing another story while trying to type this one at the same time. So I hope you're patient while waiting. One more thing I want to say is that the other people in HSM are not going to be in this story, its just Troy and Gabs. I just wanted to let you'll no that. Anyways enough with me yabbing now here's the chapter you've all been waiting for. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Hours later Troy walked into Rowdy's and glanced around. He immediately saw Gabriella sitting at a table by the window. She was so absorbed in the oceanic view that she hadn't noticed he had arrived. It was just as well since he needed to get his bearings.

For as long ashe could remember, basketball and women had been the only two things that held his attention after he graduated from Grambling College. Then he had opened his company and it had become part of the mix. He enjoyed being footloose and fancy free, (lol. Footloose and fancy free) although he knew his parents and his aunt Judith were hoping he would settle down, get married, and have kids. For some reason they couldn't quite understand that he wasn't in a hurry. There were a lot of things yet for him to experience-places to go, women to do, and he definitely enjoyed doing women. At least he had enjoyed doing women but Gabriella had even ruined that for him. He couldn't seem to think about sleeping with another woman for fear he would find her lacking. In his mind, no other women could hold a candle to Gabriella Montez in anyway. And no matter how many times he had tried convincing himself to move beyond that assumption, he couldn't.

Signing deeply, he began walking toward her and had just reached the table when she lifted a glass of water to her lips. Immediately, his guts clenched when he remembered all the naughty things he'd taught her to do with those lips.

Heated thoughts flooded his mind. Wicked thoughts. Sexually intense thoughts. He felt his erection beginning to rise and harden and thought it was best to sit down as soon as he could.

"Gabriella" he said.

She glanced up. Surprised. "Troy. I wasn't expecting you for another ten minutes or so.

He took the chair across from her. "I finished up with my last appointment early." His heart began beating as he glanced around, trying to look at anything but her. This was crazy. Absolutely nuts. Why in the hell was he feeling this way? The nervousness. The tension. She was just a woman. Someone he used to sleep with. The last women he'd slept with. No big deal.

But when he finally brought his gaze back to her and met her eyes, he knew it was a big deal. There was something about her he couldn't shake. Even after six months.

He shook his head, determined to shake it away or at least try. "Is water the only thing you're drinking?" he decided to ask.

"Yes I have a dinner engagement later, too."

Luckily for him, she shifted her gaze to look back out the window. Otherwise she would've seen the jealousy that flared in his eyes. She would be meeting a man later? For dinner?

To keep his hands from hitting something, he grabbed the menu that sat in a rack on the table. He had to be realistic even if he didn't want to be. It had been six months. Had he really expected her to not get on with her life although for some reason he hadn't been able to get on with his?

He had thrown himself in his work, he had convinced himself that the only reason he hadn't gone back to women was because he'd been too busy. Six months was long time for a man to go without, especially a man who'd been use to getting some on a regular basis.

"How's your aunt?"

Her question interrupted his thoughts and he glanced up from the menu he was pretending to study and met her gaze. Her expression was cool and he wondered how she could sit so calmly across from him and appear so detached. Whenever he thought of her the one word that always came to mind was hot. That was followed by sexy, beautiful, and passionate.

He decided to answer her question. "Aunt Judith is doing well. She asks about you often."

She smiled as she began fiddling with her water glass and all he could do was sit there and stare at that smile while his need for her escalated another notch.

"I always liked your aunt," she said, before taking another sip of water.

He almost said, and she likes you, too, before deciding that wouldn't be a good idea. The last thing he wanted to do was to give her any ideas. Besides, although he loved his aunt dearly, what she liked or didn't like really didn't matter to him, although he had to admit that Gabriella had been the first woman he'd gotten involved with that both his mother and aunt had approved of. That should have been the first warning sign and it would have been if he hadn't been so into getting Gabriella into his bed. And once he had gotten her there, he hadn't been in a hurry to get her out.

Thank goodness a waiter came at that moment to take their order and the only thing the two of them wanted was coffee. He stared at her for a long moment when her cell phone went off and she answered it. Moments later, he sat back relieved. He had listened to enough of her conversation to know the person she would be meeting later for dinner was a girlfriend.

"So what do you want to know about Lewis that could possibly help the investigation?"

Troy drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Although he had been watching her every move he hadn't realized she had ended her conversation and had placed the cell phone back in her purse until she had spoken.

"Does he still work for the IRS?"

"Yes"

Troy nodded. That had been another reason he hadn't been overly eager to make friends with Gabriella's brother-in-law. Although Troy paid his fare share of taxes like other guys, people who worked for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made him nervous.

"Do you know whether or not he's been going out a lot at night lately? More so than usual?"

He watched as a frown marred Gabriella's forehead as she thought about his questions.

"No," she said moments later. "Lewis is a homebody and I can't recall Barbara mentioning that he's started going out at night. In fact, Barbara and I usually talk every night and he's always home in bed already."

"Has he begun taking business trips?"

"No."

Troy nodded.

"That means if he is involved with someone, he's doing it on his lunch hour."

Gabriella brow raised. "His lunch hour? That wouldn't give him enough time, would it?"

His lips curled into a lazy smile. The reason she had probably asked was because whenever they'd made love they would stay in bed for hours. Sixty minutes had not been enough time for them.

"It might. Depending on what he's doing."

He watched as she swallowed hard and saw her lips tremble when she said, "I hope for Barbara's sake that he's not doing anything."

"Well, that's what you've hired me to find out. Starting tomorrow I'll watch how he spends his lunch time."

Gabriella nodded. "Anything else you need to know?"

There was something else he needed to know, and it was something that had nothing to do with business. But it was a question that had been gnawing at him ever he had seen her earlier that day and his mind just wouldn't let it go. It was as if he was driven beyond reason to know the answer, like his very life depended on it.

"Yes, there is one other thing I need to know, Gabriella."

He leaned forward across the table so his next words could not be heard by anyone else. It brought him so close to her, he could clearly see the darkness of her eyes and when she also leaned forward to hear what he had to ask, their mouths almost touched.

When he hesitated, she raised a brow and quietly breathed out her next words through water-damp lips. "What is it, Troy? What else do you want to know?"

(This is the perfect cliff hanger, but I want to tease you guys a bit. Lol. I hope you're not mad at me.)

He swallowed and felt his sexual frustrations come to a head when he again remembered that sex with Gabriella had been absolutely mind-blowing fantastic every single time. He felt a shiver of heated desire go up his spine and the erection straining against his zipper harden even more. And when she tilted her head slightly, which only inched her lips even closer to his, he couldn't hold back his question any longer.

"I need to……."

Cliff hanger. Anyways what do you guys think he wants to ask or maybe do? Ill update ASAP. Please R&R