Tommy Gabrini 3: Grace Under Fire (The Gabrini Men Series) Page 4

  Tommy’s heart squeezed with joy as soon as he saw his wife. That pretty brown face. That slender but curvaceous frame. Those full flung breasts that he wouldn’t mind sucking right now. He could tell she was upset, and he hated seeing her that way, but he always loved seeing her.

  His secretary, a pinch-faced woman with an equally pinched disposition, killed the mood. She was loaded with attitude, as if Grace’s mere presence was an affront to her. “I told her you were in a meeting, sir,” she said emphatically. “I told her you didn’t want to be disturbed, sir.”

  “You don’t tell her anything,” Tommy shot back, equally affronted. “She’s my wife. She tells you. Understand?”

  The secretary was easily displeased. She didn’t like things out of order and she felt Grace was out of order. But she also knew she was still coming to grips with the fact that Grace wasn’t just another girlfriend, but was now this man’s wife. She had overstepped her bounds. “Yes, sir,” she said with tight lips.

  “Now get back to work.”

  She attempted to smile and nod at Grace, a gesture Grace accepted, as the woman walked back out the door, closing it behind her. The businessmen glanced at each other. They’d heard for years about how Tommy had a thing for black women, and dated them almost exclusively, but they had no idea he had married one.

  “Get one of my assistants to take you downstairs to the cafeteria,” Tommy said to the men. “I’ll send for you as soon as I’m done here.”

  Although they had once been on the top of the heap in their own right, and at one time were major businessmen too, they needed Tommy’s help. Tommy was in control now. So they agreed to his suggestion, spoke to Grace, and left.

  As soon as the door closed, Grace let him have it. “You hired a CFO for my company?”

  But Tommy didn’t take her bait. “Good morning,” he said calmly.

  Grace knew she was coming on like gangbusters, compared to Tommy’s coolness, but she felt cornered. She knew she should be eternally grateful to have a man like him in her life. She knew everybody was convinced of her unworthiness, and how she didn’t deserve a man as special as Tommy. She’d certainly heard it many times before. But she wasn’t about to lose herself just to stay in his good graces. She wasn’t about to tread so lightly that she couldn’t recognize her own footprints. “Good morning,” she said. “Why did you hire a CFO without consulting me first?”

  Tommy exhaled. He was tired, his plate was already too full, and the last thing on his mind was little Trammel Trucking. “You’ve met him?”

  She frowned. “What difference does that make, Tommy? Yes, I’ve met him. But why did you hire him? Why did you do something like that?”

  “What do you mean why did I do it? I’m chairman of the board. I hired an incredibly talented man I didn’t want to get away. I was going to mention it to you.”

  “Mention it? That’s all? I get no say whatsoever?”

  “Of course you get a say.”

  “But he’s hired, right? I can get a say, but what you say is what goes. Is that how it works?”

  “I’m looking out for the company. You need a CFO and you’ve been in need of one for months. I took care of that need.”

  “But it’s my company, Tommy! You’ve got to let me handle that. I’m the majority shareholder. Yes, you put me in that position, you did that for me. But I’m in that position now and I will not cede my authority to you or anybody else. It was my job to hire the person who would be number three in the chain of command.”

  “Just check him out. You won’t find anyone better situated for Trammel.”

  “That’s not the point!”

  “Then what the hell is the point, Grace?” His temper flared. “You needed a chief financial officer. Now you have one.”

  “The one you chose. Not the one I wanted. The one you chose.”

  “That’s what the chairman does. Make the tough calls.”

  “When you were the chairman and the majority shareholder, you had a right to make the calls. But you turned your shares over to me, making me the majority holder. I make the final calls now.”

  “Brad is hired. And that’s final. I know a hellava lot more about this business than you do.”

  But Grace wouldn’t concede that either. Tommy was older than she was, and he was right. He was a major businessman when she was still in school. But that didn’t give him the right to disregard her business acumen completely. “I’ve been working for Trammel since I got out of college, so don’t even try that, Tommy. Yes, I was an assistant there, and wasn’t the head person. But I’m the head person now. And you have got to let me run it the way I want to run it!”

  Tommy stood up from his leaned position. “I’m not going to argue with you,” he said, walking behind his desk. “Brad is the new CFO. End of discussion.”

  “Oh, really now. That’s the end of the discussion? Says who?”

  “Says me. The chairman.”

  “Then you’re fired. You’re no longer the chairman.”

  Tommy could not believe she had just said that. “What did you say?”

  “I said you’re fired. As majority shareholder, no board member can serve without my blessing. You serve at the pleasure of the owner. I have no more pleasure in your service to Trammel. At least not if you’re going to continue to refuse to let me do my job. So you’re done. You’re no longer chairman.”

  Grace turned to leave, knowing that she had stood up to Tommy in a way that was jaw dropping. But she knew she had to stick to her decision. He wasn’t going to take her concerns seriously no other way.

  But just as she made it to the door and opened it, Tommy had made his way to that same door and grabbed her from behind, turning her around and slamming the door back shut. His assistants outside of his office were amazed by the display. But he didn’t care. He looked at Grace with earnest eyes that were a cross between anger and disappointment.

  “Who do you think you’re talking to that way?” he asked her.

  And that question alone made her understand who. Tommy. The man she loved and respected above any human being alive. But he wasn’t getting it. No matter how hard she tried to get him to understand, he wasn’t getting it. “We can’t keep going on like this,” she said in a defeated tone.

  Tommy kept looking at her. He knew she’d had her issues with his business style, but he had been too busy to figure out how to remedy it. “We can’t go on like what?”

  “Like this. Like the way you treat me professionally.”

  “I treat you as if you were more precious than life itself, Grace, what are you talking about?”

  “You treat me like your child, Tommy, not like your life partner. That’s what I’m talking about! Ever since our marriage it’s been as if you have to be in charge of every aspect of my life.”

  “I’m looking out for you. What’s so wrong with that?”

  “You’re suffocating me,” Grace finally admitted. Tommy stared at her. “I know you mean well, but it’s suffocation. You won’t give me room to grow. You want me to remain this innocent flower that never grows or changes. I see how Reno treats Trina, and how Sal treats Gemma. They let them fall into the river sometimes, to see if they can swim. But you won’t even let me anywhere near the river!”

  “Because you’re my baby. I swim for both of us. I don’t need you falling into any rivers to prove anything to anybody. I need you to be who you are, Grace. You will not see the horrors Trina and Gemma have to see. You’re not them, and you will not become them.” Then he frowned, thinking about his deceased father and how she had to learn about his father’s abusiveness, and had to witness his father’s horrific death. “You’ve already seen too much.”

  “I understand your concern, Tommy. Really I do. But you’re letting it spill over into every part of my life. I told Henry the other day that I wanted him to draw up plans to renovate the kitchen. Our kitchen. He told me he had to check with you first.”

  “He was wrong to say that, and I�
�ll make certain he understands that.”

  “But that’s how everybody treats me! And it starts at the top. They see you babying me, so that treat me like some baby. It’s ridiculous, Tommy. I have employees. I run an entire company. I can’t allow my employees to see me in that kind of light. But when you hire a CFO, without even discussing it with me, they won’t see me in any other light. I’m Tommy’s girl. In their eyes, that’s all I’ll ever be. You made me majority shareholder. You made me CEO. I’m nothing without you. That’s how they will always see me.”

  Tommy stood there, and for the first time in their marriage Grace felt as if she was getting through to him. He opened his suit coat and placed both hands on his hips. “Protectiveness gone amuck,” he said with a smile that barely reached his eyes.

  Grace strained out a smile too. “Completely amuck,” she replied. “All I want is to be your partner. Not your child. I want you to trust that I can handle it.”

  But Tommy looked at her. “I know you can handle it,” he said. “But I don’t want to see you hurt, or make the same mistakes I made.”

  “I understand that.”

  “And you need to also understand that at the end of the day, what I say goes. Not just for myself, but for both of us. And that includes every aspect of your life, Grace. I’m older than you, I’ve been a Gabrini far longer than you ever will be, I know what’s behind those corners you’re about to walk around. Reno and Sal may want their women to discover it for themselves, to jump out in that lake and see what’s out there, but I’m not them. You aren’t discovering that craziness at all if I can help it. I’m keeping you out of it.”

  Then he exhaled. “But when it comes to Trammel, you’re right. I have to let you make those decisions. And I will.”

  Grace felt hopeful. “Including having final say on CFO?”

  Tommy nodded. “Including that, yes. I’ll let Brad know you have final approval. I only ask that you at least give him equal consideration, even if he’s my personal choice.”

  Tommy didn’t really want to cede even that much ground, and she knew it. “I’ll definitely consider Mr. Michelin,” she promised. Then she smiled. “And thank-you. You’ve just made me very happy.”

  Tommy wrapped his arms around her slender waist. She didn’t know how much it meant to him to know that she was happy. “I’m looking out for you, darling,” he said to her. “Sometimes I overdo it, I know I do, but I don’t want you to ever feel the burden of being a Gabrini. You saw how Trina had to go through the fire. I don’t ever want that to happen to you.”

  Grace understood what he meant. Reno’s wife, Katrina Gabrini, had been through so much because of her husband’s mob connections and enemies. Tommy wanted to keep her from hurt, harm, and danger. She understood that. But she was no fool. Being a Gabrini was no cakewalk for anybody, why did Tommy think it could ever be for her?

  He moved his face closer to hers. “I love you, Grace,” he said. “Don’t you ever forget that.”

  “I love you too,” she said, as he began kissing her. “Even though they say I don’t deserve you.” She lifted her chin, so that he could kiss her neck too.

  “Even though,” he said, kissing her neck, “I’m the one who is undeserving. I’m the one who don’t deserve you.” He found her lips again and began kissing her so hard that her back hit the door. Nobody made her feel the way Tommy did. Sex was his strength. That was why all those women wanted to be with him so badly. Not just because he was eye candy, but because he was even better bed candy.

  “I don’t deserve your love,” he said as he began unbuttoning her blouse. “I don’t deserve your sex,” he said as he began lifting her bra. “But I’m going to have you anyway.”

  Grace smiled through the growing sensual feelings. “There you go again,” she said. “Still possessive.”

  “That’s because,” he said, as he slid her body up the door enough for his mouth to reach her breasts, “these are mine.” He began sucking them hard. “The day you married me,” he said between sucks, “they became mine.” He was becoming more of a breast man every day. Made no bones about it. And he was sucking hers raw.

  She leaned her head back as Tommy kept fondling them, sucking them, kissing and biting them.

  “You own them,” she was saying.

  “Every inch of them,” he said back.

  And to prove his point he sucked and bit them so hard she had to hold onto his hair to keep from screaming out.

  As he continued to suck her, he slid her skirt up and tore her panties at the seat. And began to massage her. She ran her fingers through his silky hair and closed her eyes to the enormity of the sensations.

  As his own sensations increased, urgency overtook him. He wanted entry and he wanted it now. Forget that they had made love last night. Forget that he had sucked her pussy almost raw this morning. He wanted her again. He wanted her now. He unzipped, pulled out his already fully aroused penis, and pushed it inside of her with an achingly sweet thrust.

  He started fucking her right away, with that odd kind of control Tommy was known for. With urgency, but never with desperation. With great passion, but never with brutality. He pushed deeper and deeper inside of her until he hit her familiar spot and found his rhythm. And he fucked her with superior strokes. He took her there.

  She held on, as her body was rocking from his pounding, until they both came. She loved when they came together. She wrapped her arms around him, panting, as he continued to fuck her hard. She held on as he poured out deep inside of her. He poured until he had nothing left to pour out. And slowly, very slowly, their euphoria began to ebb, and they were only able to remain standing by leaning onto each other.

  Sex with Tommy. There were no words to describe it. There was no feeling like it. But that was becoming the scary part for Grace. Because she knew what she had. She knew how he made her feel. How any woman could experience Tommy the way she was experiencing him, and give that up without a fight to the death, was the mystery of mysteries to her.

  FOUR

  After removing her torn underwear and cleaning her up, Tommy walked his wife out of his office. Grace felt as if every one of his assistants knew exactly what they had been doing, by the way they were staring at them, but she was still feeling the effects of what he did to her to care what they thought. Tommy placed her arm through his arm and proudly walked with her to the elevator.

  Walking with Tommy always made her feel as if she was walking with some superstar, by the double-takes women always gave him. But Tommy pulled her closer, as if he was just as proud walking with her, and the way he made her feel warmed her. It almost made her hate arguing with him to begin with.

  They took the elevator downstairs, to the huge lobby of the Gabrini Corporation. Almost every junior executive they passed knew them and spoke, and Grace was amused that their entire walk through the lobby was a rhythm of one step, then a greeting, one step, another greeting. By the time they walked out of the revolving lobby doors and across the sidewalk, where Grace’s Audi RS5 was parked at the curb, she felt exhausted.

  “You need a new car,” Tommy said as he opened the driver’s side door.

  Grace couldn’t believe it. “New? You just brought me this car a year ago, Tommy. This car is new!” When she realized he was joking, she pushed him.

  He smiled. “I just want the best for you,” he said as she got in behind the wheel.

  “Not possible,” she said. “I already have the best. And it sure as hell ain’t a car.”

  Tommy laughed. “I love you, lady,” he said. They kissed, and then she was gone.

  Tommy watched her leave, and became upset that she had sped off and wasn’t exactly driving cautiously. Then he caught himself. If it were up to him, she would always drive as if she was driving Miss Daisy everywhere she went. “She knows what she’s doing,” he said aloud, reminding himself, and then headed back into his building.

  In Paris, Alexandria Dawse sat in Deena Driscoll’s office and rolled her eyes.
She didn’t want to hear it. Not any of it. “I know he’s your old friend,” she said. “I know you and Tommy go back a long, long way. You never fail to tell me so.”

  Deena smiled. She owned one of the most renowned model management firms in the world, and was once herself a supermodel of great renown, but little Miss Alex always got under her skin. She was her favorite model by far, but she still was a pain in the ass. “I also tell you often,” Deena said, her native French accent heavy, “that you’re wasting your time with him. He’s married now.”

  Alex frowned. “So! That means nothing to me! She’s nothing to me!”

  “Beau left you. It’s terrible, but it doesn’t mean you can now have Tommy again. That’s not how it works. Cut your losses and move on, Alex. Tommy has moved on. That is my advice to you.”

  “Bad advice,” Alex said as she stood up. “Is there anything else you wanted?”

  Deena smiled. “Why do you young girls have so little sense?”

  “I’m going to have Tommy, Deena, whether you like it or not. You can stop giving me jobs, you can try to blackball me, I do not care. I’m going to have Tommy. Now is there anything else you wanted?”

  “You have a photo shoot this afternoon.”

  “I already know that.”

  “Be on time.”

  “I always am.”

  Deena stared at her. “Why do you do it?” she asked her.

  Alex looked at her. “Why do I do what?”

  “Want the unobtainable? Want what you cannot have?”

  “The same reason you want me,” Alex said. “I want the best.”

  Deena smiled. Looked down Alex’s long, thin body. “I’m the best,” she said.

  “Once upon a time you were. But no more. You’re old now. Who would want you?”