Tommy Gabrini 3: Grace Under Fire (The Gabrini Men Series) (9 page)

“Make
sure you’re okay?”

“I
have to make sure I’ve mastered being a great husband first.
 
If I’m not a good husband to you, and in many
ways I’m not yet, then I as hell won’t be a good father either.
 
Once you give me the green light, once I
master pleasing you, then we’ll get started.”

“You
have mastered pleasing me, Tommy,” Grace said, shocked that he didn’t think so.

“In
the bed, yes.
 
But I have a ways to go in
every other area.
 
I’m the man that
babies you, remember?”

Grace
smiled.
 
“Oh that.”

“Oh
that,” Tommy said.
 
“So I’m working on
it.
 
But in the meantime,” he said,
unzipping her dress and then lifting it and removing it completely over her
head, “I’ve got to play to my strengths.”

Grace
laughed, as she helped Tommy unbutton his shirt and remove it along with his
suit coat.
 
His sinewy arms, and ripped
abs, and tanned, muscular chest made Grace tingle between her legs.
 
She knew what he was going to do to her and
she could hardly wait.

But
Tommy was a smooth operator.
 
He wasn’t
about to rush it, even given where they were doing it.
 
He removed her bra and pulled her into his
embrace.
 
And just held her, with her
breasts pressing against his chest.
 
Then
he kissed her.
 
Long and lovingly,
holding his hand on the back of her head.
 
He slipped his tongue into her mouth in such a way that made her feel so
intense that it felt as if his dick was entering her mouth.
 
Then he moved further down and began
breast-fucking her.
 

His
mouth made love to her breasts.
 
Grace
leaned her head back and moaned with that wonderful feeling.
 
He reached one hand into her panties, and
began massaging her, as he fondled her breast with the other hand.
 
She unzipped him, pulled out his rod, and
began to massage him too.
 
He leaned his
head back as she did him too, but not for long.
 
His mouth returned to her lips, and then to her breasts, and then he
stopped.
 
And tore the seat of her
panties.
 

She
knew what that meant.
 
She guided his
dick to her slit and he thrust it in.
 
Gentle at first, and then with a shove.
 
Her vaginal juices welcomed him with tight passage friction, but
well-slicked passage too.
 

Tommy’s
stomach muscles began to tighten as he felt her juices cover his penis, and his
strokes became rhythmic.
 
He fucked
her.
 
He fucked her long and hard.
 
He pulled her body against his, wrapping her
tightly into his arms, and made love to her with masterly expertise.
 
Tommy was big, and thick, and it was never
painless when he first entered her.
 
But
the pain became fantastic joy for Grace by the time he was in his groove.
 

She
laid her head on his shoulder and got into her own groove too.
 
She moved back and forward along his rod the
way he liked her to do it, until he would squeeze her ass and hold her in
place.
 
He was in the sweet spot
now.
 
That spot that they both
enjoyed.
 
And his gyrations increased.
 
They had to.
 
What had been a slow, prodding, underlying intense fuck, was now an
urgent one.
 
Their feelings were raw and
ripping them apart.
 
Tommy pounded into
her.
 

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 looked 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.”