Tommy Gabrini 3: Grace Under Fire (The Gabrini Men Series) Read online

  He entered her with a push-in that went so far in it almost took her breath away. It was early morning, they both had to get up to go run their respective companies, but right now Tommy was waking her up as only he could. He was lying behind her, both on their sides, as he pushed further and further in. Once fully in, he placed his hands on her hips and started screwing her hard. He stroked her and stroked her. He was groaning and she was moaning as the feeling was intense from the very beginning of their intercourse.

  Tommy couldn’t stop sighing as his dick kept expanding inside of her, creating the kind of friction and tight passages that kept him on the edge of cum. He’d never wanted anyone the way he wanted Grace. Because he loved this woman completely, and that made the difference. He reached up and massaged her breasts, and rested his lips against the side of her face, as he fucked her.

  Grace couldn’t stop moving her hips and her ass as he did her. It was a rhythm that made her feel as drowsy as she felt sensual. Her eyes were hooded, his big hands on her breasts were like fire in her nipples, and the intensity kept growing.

  “It’s time, Tommy,” she started saying.

  “Do it,” he said. “I want to fuck you harder so you can cum hard.”

  “But I couldn’t bear it,” she said, as he began fucking her harder. “I can’t, Tommy! I can’t bear . . . I can’t . . .”

  What she couldn’t do was continue speaking. Because she was cumming and cumming hard. Because Tommy was breathing heavily into her ear and pounding her insides with a dick so full it made her feel as if she was inflamed with pulsations. She couldn’t contain it. She started screaming out.

  “Let it out,” Tommy was saying as he pounded her. “Show me how you love it! Show me!”

  She showed him. She showed him so well that his own control broke, and he showed her.

  He poured into her. He leaned against her, squeezing her breasts so hard it hurt, until he flooded her with his cum. Her vagina, and her breasts, were fire red by the time Tommy finished with her.

  It had been nearly a week since Marie’s little stunt, they had not heard a peep out of anybody else, so life was good. But as she and Tommy came down from their morning fuck high, somehow they knew they had to take happiness whenever it came, and to embrace it fully, before their peace would, inevitably, be breached.

  And the breach did come. Later that same evening.

  It started after work. Grace had received a phone call from one of her neighbors about loud music and arguments coming from her apartment the night before. When she arrived at the apartment, and confronted her, Tamara denied it all. She denied so much as turning on a radio.

  “And what loud arguments?” she asked. “I haven’t even had anybody here.”

  They were in the living room. Grace was seated on the sofa and Tam was seated, Indian-style, beside her. “Nobody was here?” Grace asked her.

  “Nobody! Not anybody. So I don’t know what that lady talking about.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Tam,” Grace said. “My neighbor isn’t making this up. She heard what she heard.”

  “And I know what I didn’t do. I know you don’t play that. Why would I have somebody here?”

  “Are you talking to Bobby again?”

  Tam hesitated.

  “Well are you?”

  “On the phone, yeah,” Tam admitted. “But I’m working now. I don’t have time for that player.”

  It was a good thing she had gotten a job. But this report from the neighbor bothered Grace. “Have you argued with him on the phone?”

  “Sometimes. Yeah. So what?”

  “Maybe that’s what my neighbor heard.”

  Grace watched Tamara. “Yeah,” she said, quick to agree. “That’s what it was!”

  Grace shook her head. “You’re full of shit, Tam. You had that joker here and you know it.”

  Tamara gave in. “He didn’t spend the night or anything, aw’ight? I wouldn’t let him. But we did argue.”

  “Why would you let him come here at all, Tam? I told you I didn’t want anybody in here.”

  “He just came over to talk. That’s all. To talk.”

  “And party?”

  Tamara didn’t deny that any longer either.

  Grace shook her head. “Why are you going back? You’re doing good now. You’ve got yourself a little job. You’re saving your money. Things are going good for you for a change. Don’t mess this up. My husband already isn’t crazy about this arrangement. If I tell him about any problems going on here he’ll make me kick you out of here, I hope you realize that.”

  “And I hope you realize you ain’t got no business letting a man make you do anything. You’re a grown woman and this is your apartment. Why he got to make you do anything? Slavery’s over. He don’t own you!”

  “Yeah, okay,” Grace said. “Keep talking that shit. Keep making all of your little bold pronouncements. And see don’t I kick you to that curb. Keep bringing Bobby over here, keep thinking my husband has no sway in my life, and you’ll be up out of here in no time flat.”

  Tam attempted to smile. “I was just playing around, all right? I know how important Tommy is in your life, I was just messing with you. And I told you Bobby isn’t coming here again. And there won’t be any more loud music, I promise you that. I appreciate what you’re doing. I really do, Grace.”

  Grace looked at her. She was probably still full of it, but she wasn’t ready to give up on her just yet. “I’m going out on a limb for you, Tam. Don’t push your luck.”

  Tamara nodded. “I won’t. I messed up, but I won’t again.”

  The apartment’s doorbell rang. Grace looked at her sister. “I thought you said nobody comes here?”

  “They don’t!”

  “Except when Bobby came.”

  “Right.”

  “And other people you haven’t mentioned.”

  “Right. I mean, wrong. No! Nobody comes here!”

  Not that it would have mattered if it were some friends she’d met. But Grace knew her sister. She was all about men, and Bobby was the one she wanted right now. That was why Grace walked over to the door cautiously, just as the bell rang again. She opened it. When she realized it was a woman she didn’t know, she at first assumed it was indeed some new friend Tamara had met. But when she took a closer look and saw that this woman was gorgeous, was tall, was African American, and was far too old to be Tam’s friend, she instinctively knew what this was about. This was going to be all about Tommy.

  “Yes? May I help you?”

  The woman, Deslyn, stared at Grace. Grace wasn’t as homely as she’d been led to believe. Grace, in fact, was rather attractive to Des. But she was still not in Des’s league, and Des knew it.

  “Are you Grace McKinsey?” she asked.

  Grace was now certain of the woman’s motive. “I’m Grace Gabrini, how may I help you?”

  Tamara, suddenly curious herself, came and stood beside Grace.

  Deslyn ignored her. She had a job to do, a job Marie had apparently failed miserably at doing, and she was going to stick to it. She couldn’t wait for Tommy to show up at her place and try to read her the riot act. She was going to answer the door naked. Tommy could never resist her nakedness. “He’s still in love with me,” she said.

  “Who’s still in love with you?” Tamara asked. But Grace only stared at the woman.

  Deslyn didn’t quite expect silence. But she forged ahead. “He still wants me,” she said. “He told me so himself.”

  Continued radio silence from Grace.

  And continued boasting from Deslyn. “He’s always favored me. For years. He finds my kind of woman the only kind of woman that can turn him on. I’m his ideal woman. He’s told me many times before.”

  Still nothing from Grace. Deslyn decided to pounce. “But as for you? No. No ma’am. There’s nothing ideal about you.”

  “Excuse you,” Tamara said.

  “He wants me,” Deslyn said, completely ignoring Tam. “He loves me. You may no
t believe it, but I would never expect you to believe it. You think you’re his one and only, which is absurd. You? Over me? Please. But I’m telling the truth. And I’m not the only one he’s pursuing either.”

  Grace stared at her, but she didn’t feel any surge of emotion whatsoever. It felt like child’s play to Grace. It reeked of desperation and calculation and just plain pitifulness. She folded her arms. She felt so superior to this beautifully misguided woman that it wasn’t even funny. “It’s so obvious,” she said.

  Deslyn looked at her. “What’s so obvious?”

  “You must really want my husband very badly for you to take time out of your busy schedule, drive all the way over here, and tell your lies.”

  “I’m not lying!”

  “You’re a liar,” Grace said firmly. “You’re lying your desperate head off.”

  “Say anything you like. But ask Tommy about me. He’ll tell you how much he loves me. He’ll tell you. My advice to you is that you should get out now, while you can.”

  Grace laugh, prompting Tamara to laugh too. “Get out?” Grace asked. “That’s your advice? That I should get out while I can? And why, I wonder? So you can get in? Yeah, right. Get real!”

  And then Grace, tired of this entire conversation, slammed the door in Deslyn’s face.

  Tamara was astonished. She’d never seen Grace quite this animated.

  “Now back to your situation,” Grace said.

  “My situation? But . . .”

  Grace exhaled. “But what, Tam?”

  “You’re worried about my situation? What about yours? That woman said Tommy’s cheating on you. And she said she’s not the only one either. You don’t believe her?”

  “No,” Grace replied firmly.

  But Tamara looked at her doubtfully. “The wife is always the last to know,” Tam said.

  “Not this wife,” Grace said, and she said it with a certainty she actually did feel.

  But two days later, when she made it home from work, her certainty began to crumble. Henry met her at the door and handed her an envelope that had come by courier, specifically addressed to her. “Since it was addressed to you,” he said, “I didn’t pass it along to Mr. Gabrini. It feels as if it contains photographs, ma’am.”

  Grace knew exactly what Henry was implying. This wasn’t going to be an envelope filled with good news. This was going to be an envelope filled with more bullshit.

  And he was right. She pulled out the photos and looked at them. And her heart sank. She looked at Henry. “Where is he?”

  “On the patio, ma’am.” Henry looked especially sympathetic, which didn’t help.

  “Thank you,” Grace said, and headed in that direction.

  Tommy leaned back on the lounger and listened to Vic Damone as he crooned away on the surround sound stereo. The backyard was quiet in the night, with only the music to compete with the sounds of birds and crickets, when Grace came outside.

  Tommy smiled when he saw her. “You’re home before midnight.”

  “You’re home before midnight,” she said, too, as she sat at his feet on the edge of the lounger. He could tell by that sincere look in her eyes that something was wrong.

  “What is it?” he asked her. He didn’t realize she had a small stack of photos in her hand until she handed them to him. “What are these?” he asked as he accepted them.

  Grace said nothing as he thumbed through them. They were all Tommy, naked, and fondling some naked woman, and the woman fondling him. She could see his embarrassment, and flashes of anger, but what she was looking for was regret.

  She doubted if those photos were doctored, given Tommy’s reputation with the ladies, but she had to ask it anyway. “Do you know her?”

  But Tommy was more focused on Grace’s feelings, than her question. “This was a long time ago, darling.”

  “Do you know her?”

  Tommy exhaled. “Vaguely,” he responded.

  Grace frowned. That was not the answer she was expecting. “What do you mean vaguely? You were intimate with her, Tommy!”

  “Yes, I was. So?”

  “So how could you claim not to know her?”

  “I fucked her. Probably several times. But that doesn’t mean I know her.”

  “Well you left a lasting impression on her apparently.”

  “Apparently,” Tommy said soberly, as he looked at those photos again. And it was only then did Grace see it. She now saw regret in his big, colorful eyes.

  He looked at her. “She was probably a jump-off, Grace,” he said. “That was the nature of many of my relationships back then, I’m sorry to say. I wasn’t a man looking for any long term relationships or any commitments of any kind. I was a man looking for sex. And if this woman is trying to imply that this was some recent hookup, she’s not telling the truth.”

  “Whoever she is?”

  “I don’t remember her name, if that’s what you mean.” He was ashamed of himself. “But these photos pre-date our relationship. That’s the truth of it.”

  “I don’t think the truth matters to them anymore,” Grace said. “They think I’m so green that all they have to do is remind me of your stable count and I’d leave you. One told me so herself a couple days ago.”

  Tommy looked at her. “Somebody called you?”

  “Somebody came by my apartment. I was there with Tam.”

  “Did she give a name?”

  “Nope. And I didn’t ask for one. She was undoubtedly one of your girls. Tall, super-beautiful, super-obnoxious. She said if I knew what was good for me I’d get out while the getting was good. I should leave you, she said.”

  Tommy stared at her. “Any self-respecting woman of your caliber would.”

  “Not if that self-respecting woman loves her husband, she wouldn’t. Not if she knew he was the king of the open relationship before they married. I’m not going anywhere,” she added.

  Tommy’s heart soared. He threw those photos aside and pulled her onto his lap, hugging her tightly. “I love you so much, Grace,” he said with great feeling. “I don’t deserve it, but I’m so happy to have you in my life. I love you.”

  “And I love you,” Grace said. Then she looked at him and smiled. “What, in the world, are they going to do about that?”

  “Everything they can imagine,” Tommy said. “But it’ll signify nothing in the end.”

  Grace couldn’t agree more. In the end it would all signify nothing. But getting to that end, she knew, would be the challenge. She snuggled closer against him, to feel his warmth, and his protection.

  ELEVEN

  Three weeks later, Grace and Jamie entered a small boutique in downtown Seattle talking about pets. He wanted one, a Yorkshire Terrier if he had his choice, or a Labrador if he didn’t. She wanted to someday be a pet owner too, but not now. She was too busy trying to be a wife.

  “Beats having kids,” Jamie said.

  “Speak for yourself,” Grace said. “I plan to have plenty of children.”

  “So what are you waiting on? You aren’t exactly young anymore. And Tommy’s practically ancient. Gorgeous, but ancient.”

  “Oh, please,” Grace said, taking a blue blouse from the clothing rack and inspecting it. “I’m only thirty and Tommy’s . . . not old either.”

  “He’s not young either either,” Jamie said with a laugh. “That’s why you hesitated.”

  “Either either? Like really Jamie? Wasn’t that a tad superfluous?”

  “But it’s the truth,” Jamie said as Grace put the blouse back on the rack and kept looking. “You guys need to get with the program. Either get a dog, or get on with getting a kid.”

  Grace put yet another blouse up against her. “Like or love?”

  “Hate,” Jamie said.

  Grace put the blouse back up. And they kept looking.

  “You know I’m telling the truth,” Jamie said. “You need to get on with it. What is Tommy waiting on?”

  Grace put another blouse up against her. “You like?�
�

  “Like. Don’t love. But like.”

  “Agreed,” Grace said and put that blouse up too.

  “Am I being too busy-body?” Jamie asked. “Is that why you are avoiding answering my question?”

  “No, it’s not that at all.”

  “Then what’s the holdup? And don’t tell me anything about any low sperm count. Not in that stud of a man.”

  “It’s nothing like that,” Grace said. “He just feels he needs to perfect being a good husband first, before he can think about being anybody’s father.”

  “Oh,” Jamie said. “I never thought of it that way.”

  “Not so crazy after all, hun?”

  “Not really, no,” Jamie admitted. “You know Tommy is always full of surprises. When I first met him at Moors, I would have declared he had one thing and one thing only on his mind.”

  “He did.”

  “He had that on his mind, but it wasn’t the only thing. The man truly loves you I think. And for him to want to be the best husband he can be before he launches into fatherhood is a plus in my view. Some of these men out here could learn a thing or two from a man like him. Because anybody can be a sperm donor.”

  “Amen to that,” Grace said. “I like this one,” she added, as she inspected yet another blouse. Then she headed for the checkout counter.

  “You didn’t ask if I liked it,” Jamie said, following her.

  “Do you like it, Jamie?”

  “Love it,” he said without even looking at it.

  “You are such a phony,” Grace said, and he laughed. The saleslady behind the counter took the blouse and began ringing it up. A small television set was behind the counter, and the local news was on.

  “But for real,” Jamie said, “it’s nice to know that he takes his marriage seriously. That’s a great thing. But you still have to be assertive, girl. You still have to tell him he can’t wait forever. He married a woman younger than himself, but that doesn’t mean she’s some spring chicken.”

  Grace slapped him upside his head, causing him to laugh even harder. Then she heard the name Gabrini. They both looked at the television set. A reporter was standing in front of the Gabrini corporate headquarters building.