Tommy Gabrini 3: Grace Under Fire (The Gabrini Men Series) Page 7

He couldn’t play it cool when these kind of feelings were being unleashed. He had to unleash his dick in response. And he whipped Grace’s pussy with lashes she would never forget. He whipped the shit out of her. He whipped her so hard, and made her cum with such a thundering cum, that she screamed. Preston heard them, but she couldn’t help it. She screamed again. The driver, in fact, knew to slow it down even further, when it got to that point.

  It was fully at that point, as Tommy couldn’t contain his joy either. All of his cool and smooth operating was gone. He was cumming and cumming hard. He was leaving it all inside of her. He kept pushing into Grace, even as he came, where a lesser man would not have been able to take the intensity. But he took it. He took it and he took it. He took it so long that by the time he had poured out, and the feelings were just beginning to ebb, he realized he had been fucking Grace, at such a high level of intensity, for nearly an hour. By the time he pulled out, his dick was whipped, and her pussy was practically raw.

  He kissed her, and held her, and they both breathe in and out, hyperventilating still from the sheer fierceness of their lovemaking, but slowly easing back into regulation.

  SIX

  That next day, Tommy was gone. By the time Grace got home from work, after a grueling day of meetings and more meetings regarding her decision to fire and replace her entire Logistics Department, she realized just how much she already missed him. The house was too quiet again. Tommy filled every room, and that presence was gone. She missed him terribly.

  That was why, when her close friend Jamie Rogers phoned to invite her out for drinks and maybe a movie if they could agree on what to see, she jumped at the chance.

  But by the time she was showered and dressed and walking downstairs, she could hear noises just outside her front door. When she opened her door, she was treated to an entourage of people getting out of, not one, but two stretch limousines. They were young and thin and beautiful. They were gathering up luggage, talking on their I-phones, and typing on their I-Pads. Right on Grace’s property. Henry was standing outside, at the top of the steps, as if he were the Doorman. A beautiful white woman began heading up the steps.

  “Good evening,” she said as she approached Grace.

  “Good evening.”

  “You must be Grace.” They were now face to face. She, in fact, looked Grace up and down. “Unimpressed,” she boldly proclaimed.

  Grace found her comment astonishing, but she kept her cool. “You are?”

  “This is Deena Driscoll, ma’am,” Henry proudly proclaimed.

  Grace knew the name. Former supermodel and now model manager Deena Driscoll. Was once a blonde bombshell. Her name was once mentioned in the same breath as Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Driscoll. How may I help you?”

  “You may not help me,” she said, with what sounded like an exaggerated European accent. “You can help yourself by getting out of my way, but you can’t possibly help me.”

  But Grace wasn’t about to be intimidated by this woman, and especially not on her own property. “My husband is not here. You’re here to see my husband?”

  “Or not,” Deena said. Then she raised her voice purposely. “I’m still waiting for Herman to bring me my I-Pad!”

  Herman, who apparently had forgotten, broke away from the other young people and hurried up the steps with I-Pad in hand.

  “Better,” Deena said as Herman made his way up to her.

  “He’s still not here,” Grace said.

  Deena frowned as she took the I-Pad in hand. “Who’s not here?”

  “My husband. He’s not here.”

  “And where is the rascal? How dare he not be here!”

  Herman grinned. Grace got the feeling that the woman was toying with her.

  “He’s out of town on business,” Grace said, failing to see the humor.

  “Out of town where?”

  Grace exhaled. She wasn’t going around and around with this woman. “May I give him a message?” she asked.

  She looked Grace over as if she was looking at a disgusting creature. “I’m in Seattle for a few days and I simply do not do hotels. As per usual, I’ll be staying here. Henry, take my luggage to my room.”

  Henry was about to head down the steps, to retrieve her luggage, but Grace stopped his progression. Why did these women behave as if Tommy’s marriage didn’t mean shit to them? Well it meant everything to Grace. “I told you my husband is not here,” she said to Deena. “You may not wish to do hotels, but you will be doing one if staying here is your only alternative.”

  Again, Deena looked at Grace as if she was looking at trash. And she smiled the most unfriendly smile Grace had ever seen. “Look, little girl, I don’t think you understand,” she said. “I’m Deena Driscoll. I am not Suzy from up the block. I am Deena Driscoll. And I will be staying here during my stay in Seattle. It is my tradition. It is what I do when I come to this forsaken land. Do I make myself clear?”

  But if she thought her directness would cower Grace, she was mistaken. Grace simply became direct too. “You are Deena Driscoll,” Grace said. “Not Suzy up anybody’s block, that is for sure. But I’m Grace Gabrini. The lady of this house. And you will not be staying here. That’s my tradition. Do I make myself clear?”

  Deena could not believe this level of treatment. Not since she was a model in the old days did she have to be subjected to anybody’s rudeness. Her mouth became tight, revealing lines her plastic surgery did not catch, and suddenly she looked older than Grace had thought she was.

  She stared at Grace. “You know what you are to me? Nothing. Nothing more, and nothing less. So you need to step aside and step aside now.”

  When Grace didn’t move so much as a muscle, Deena could not believe it. She was not about to allow this to stand. She pulled out her cell phone, and immediately got Tommy on the line. She made her case, that she was in town and needed to stay at his place for a couple days the way she always had done in the past, but that his wife was not cooperating. “Just the opposite in fact,” she said to Tommy. Tommy asked to speak with Grace.

  Deena handed the phone to Herman. Herman walked across the porch and handed the phone to Grace.

  Grace didn’t want to even go there, but she knew Tommy was on the line and he would be even more pissed if she didn’t take his call. “Yes?” she said into the phone.

  “She’s one of my oldest and dearest friends, darling. I know it can be taxing, but she never calls first. She comes. But I’ll explain the situation to her, and this will be the last time she drops in like this.”

  Grace turned her back to the others. “But why should you have to explain any situation to her? You’re married now. She knows that. That should be enough explanation.”

  “Let her stay there tonight. When I get back tomorrow, I’ll talk to her.”

  “But she’s rude and disrespectful, Tommy. I shouldn’t have to put up with that in my own home.”

  “And you won’t put up with it. But she’s there now, I’m in the middle of a meeting here, I’ll deal with it when I get back in town. Okay?”

  “Not okay,” Grace said firmly. “I don’t want her here.”

  “I’m not asking you what you want. I’m telling you what you’re going to do. You will allow her to stay there tonight, Grace. Tomorrow, when I’m back in town, I’ll deal with it.”

  Grace could have caved. Especially since Tommy was so adamant about it. But for Grace to allow that woman to stay in her house was tantamount to a slap in the face. Tommy wasn’t going to like it, and she understood that he was loyal to his old friends, but this was going too far. She disconnected the call and handed the phone back to Herman.

  Deena, with a smirk on her face, began to head toward the entrance. But Grace stood in her way. “I don’t care who you are, or how dear a friend you are to Tommy. But you will not be staying here. So get your raggedy ass off of my property, and get off now.”

  Grace then looke
d at Henry, who seemed stunned by her display. “If she comes back here while I’m gone,” Grace said, “call Security to escort her off.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Henry said. “But, begging your pardon ma’am, you do understand that she’s Deena Driscoll?”

  Grace looked at Henry. Not him too. “I don’t care if she’s Pee Wee Herman,” Grace said, “she’s not staying here.”

  Henry nodded his understanding. And Grace, with all eyes on her, walked down the steps, got into her Audi, and sped off. She was fuming. Less at Deena. More at Tommy. She slammed her palm against the steering wheel as she drove.

  “Hey, sweetie,” Jamie said after Grace hurried into Taste of Southern restaurant and took a seat at his booth. “What’s wrong? Other than the fact that you’re on time for a change?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, just a busy day so far. How are you?” She stood back up and leaned over to him, hugging his neck. They’d been close friends for years.

  “I’m okay,” he said as she sat back down. “Business is a little slow, but it’ll pick back up.”

  “Any new exhibits?”

  “A few, but nothing blockbuster right now when blockbuster is what I need.”

  “But isn’t that the ebb and flow of owning an art gallery? Some days are fantastic, and some days are not? Feast and famine, that sort of thing?”

  “Yes, yes, and yes,” Jamie agreed. “It’s no fun in the valley, but I’ll survive it. And if I don’t, I will call my best friend and she will get that super-rich hubby of hers to hook me up.”

  “He’s not super-rich,” Grace pointed out.

  “He owns this restaurant.”

  “That’s true.”

  “He owns Diamond’s restaurant.”

  “That’s true.”

  “He owns the Gabrini Corporation.”

  “What I mean is,” she said as Jamie began to laugh, “is that he’s a hardworking businessman. He has to work for all he has.”

  “A hardworking businessman who’s out of town on business right now, I’m willing to bet.”

  “That would be a good bet.”

  “So what else is bothering you? Other than your Logistics department, that is.”

  “Don’t mention that nightmare.”

  “You did the right thing, girl.”

  “Damn right I did. But I’ve got to replace them, and that’s not going to be easy. But I still did what I had to do.”

  “So what else is on your mind? Or is it hubby as usual?”

  Grace hesitated. She didn’t want to talk about it, but she felt as if Jamie was the only person she could talk about it to. Sal would listen, but in the end he’d be too protective of Tommy and figure that Tommy knew best and Grace should just go along with whatever Tommy said. Jamie would be more objective.

  “I had a visitor just before I came here. An old, old, old friend of Tommy’s.”

  Jamie laughed. “Girl, it’s funny how you emphasized old.”

  “He has so many longtime friends that he just cherishes, which is fine. But do almost all of them have to be females?”

  “He was a player of players before he met you now.”

  “I know that.”

  “A leopard can’t change his spots.”

  “Jamie!”

  “I don’t mean he cheats. But he holds on to those women he used to be very familiar with, for old times’ sake. Just in case.”

  Grace frowned. “Just in case what?”

  “Just in case he gets the urge,” Jamie said and ducked because he knew Grace was going to throw something. She did. A small sugar packet from the tray on the table.

  “Anywho,” Jamie said, as he sat back upright, “tell me what happened. One of his females – oops, one of his old friends came to the house this evening?”

  “Yes. Demanding to stay there for a couple days.”

  “To stay at your house? Oh no she didn’t! Are you serious?”

  “She doesn’t do hotels, you see.”

  “I hope you told her what she could do with what she don’t do.”

  Grace smiled. “I told her.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “She calls Tommy, and Tommy tells me how they go way back and how I have to let her stay there.”

  “Oh no he didn’t!”

  “Oh yes he did!”

  “And you let her stay?”

  “Like hell to the no. I kicked her ass out anyway.”

  “Good,” Jamie said with certainty. “Wonder what was Tommy’s problem? He’s usually more sensible than that.”

  “He loves her. They go back a long way, maybe even before she became THE Deena Driscoll.”

  Jamie’s eyes stretched wide. “Deena Driscoll? THE Deena Driscoll?”

  “Now here you go!”

  “And you kicked her out?”

  “Yes, Jamie, so what?”

  “So what? But she’s Deena Driscoll, Grace! You can’t kick out Deena Driscoll!”

  “I could, and I did. She was very rude and disrespectful. Calling me little girl like I’m some child. I’m not taking that, I don’t care what Tommy says.”

  “Wow. So she’s one of his ex’s?”

  “She’s a friend. I’m not sure about the ex part.”

  Jamie smiled. “Because she’s white?”

  “She’s very beautiful,” Grace made clear. “Outside, that is.”

  Jamie shook his head. “I don’t know, Grace. Being Tommy’s wife has its privileges. Big time. But boy do they have drawbacks too.”

  Grace looked at her best friend. “Women?”

  Jamie nodded his head. “Women,” he said.

  SEVEN

  Tommy’s plane touched down in Seattle and he stepped off and made his way across the tarmac. His limo was waiting, and the drive home was a quick one. This wasn’t his original plan. His plan had been to remain in Chicago at least a day longer, to make certain his people had the security his firm was contracted to provide well in hand, but he needed to check on this situation with Deena. So he turned over all decision making to Ross Fontaine, his security chief, and hopped the plane and came back. It was late, almost eleven at night, but at least he was home.

  As the limo stopped at the steps, he noticed his wife’s car wasn’t parked along the circular driveway. Since she never bothered to put it in the garage, he knew she was undoubtedly working late yet again. He often got on her case about working so late, but she’d get on his case about the same thing, and that would be the end of that. They lived busy lives. There was no getting around it. But he pulled out his cell phone and called her just the same.

  His call went straight to Voice Mail. Which didn’t surprise him at all either. Whenever she was upset with him, and that seemed to be often lately, she never took his calls.

  He hopped out of the limo, took the steps two at a time, and entered his home unsure what to expect. Instead, the house was eerily quiet, Deena was in the living room thumbing through a Marie Claire magazine. There was no sign of Grace.

  “Tommy!” Deena said cheerfully when he arrived. She tossed the magazine on the coffee table, jumped from the sofa where she’d been sitting, and hurried to embrace him. “Oh, how I have missed you so!”

  Tommy smiled as they hugged, he’d known this woman for such a long time, but his mind was on Grace. Before they could completely stop embracing, he was asking about her. “Where’s my wife?”

  “You mean that Grace person?”

  Tommy looked at his friend. “I told you to behave, Deena.”

  Deena smiled. “I am behaving.”

  “Where’s my wife?”

  “How should I know? She seems young, but she doesn’t seem that fast. Don’t tell me you can’t keep up with her already?” She smiled and took his arm. “She left. I cannot say where she went. But come, sit,” she said. “We have so much catching up to do.”

  Tommy walked with her to the sofa, and they sat down side by side. “Has Henry taken good care of you?”

  “Of cour
se,” she said. “Henry knows my sensibilities.”

  “Sorry about earlier.”

  “The dust-up with your wife?” Deena dismissed it. “Don’t consider it.”

  “How’s business?”

  “It’s good. Alex is driving me crazy, and it’s all about you, but other than that, business is good.”

  “Good. Good to hear it.”

  “She thinks you love her, you see.”

  Tommy frowned. “Who thinks that?”

  “Alexandria. She thinks you still love her. I told her she’s wasting her time, no?”

  “I told her the same thing.”

  “She won’t listen. She’s obsessed with you.”

  “And you’re obsessed with her.”

  Deena didn’t deny it, nor acknowledge it. “She won’t listen,” she said again. “But such is life.”

  Henry came into the room from the kitchen. He had been hanging back, waiting for the proper time to interrupt. Now was as good a time as any, he decided. “Welcome back, sir,” he said.

  “Thank-you, Henry.”

  “What would you like to drink? Or eat?”

  “Nothing for me, thank-you. Did Mrs. Gabrini phone and let you know she was going to be late tonight?”

  “Phone? No, sir. She went out earlier, but she returned, got her suitcase, and left.”

  Tommy frowned. “She got her suitcase? What are you talking about?”

  Henry glanced at Deena, as if he had assumed she would have told him. “She left, sir. She disagreed with the fact that you overruled her regarding Ms. Driscoll’s invitation to stay here, so she packed a suitcase and left.”

  Tommy stood up. “Did she say where she was going?”

  “No, sir.”

  He looked at Deena. “Why didn’t you tell me my wife had been here?”

  But Deena still didn’t see where it was a big deal. “What’s there to tell? After you gave the okay, Henry let me in, and my people. We had a lovely dinner, then I was exhausted so I dismissed them all. When your wife arrived back this evening, and saw that I was here, and I explained that it was with direct permission from you, she looked as if she was most definitely, how do you say? Pissed. Next thing I know she had her little suitcase, and then she was gone. She was behaving like some petulant child. She was behaving as if this was her home.”