“Like hell it is!”
Tommy laughed. “Alright already! If your insurance company refuses to pay, we’ll arrange something between the two of us. How’s that?”
Liz smiled. “Better,” she said. Then she reached down for her shoes again and winced. But she continued to try to put them on, and buckle her shoes.
Tommy saw that she was struggling, and he knew she would hate it, but he squatted down and put the shoes on for her. Liz didn’t argue with him. She was too exhausted. She leaned back and let him. She leaned back and realized that, with the flick of a pen, Tommy Gabrini was no longer her one-night stand. He came all this way to see her. He paid her hospital bill. This was more than a man just being nice to her. Way more.
CHAPTER TEN
The cab turned onto the long, winding driveway that led to a beautiful, multi-leveled Tudor-styled home with a driveway that drove in straight and ended circular. The cab stopped at the steps.
Tommy, who sat in the backseat with Liz, smiled. “All this for one person,” he said.
Liz smiled. “Yours is twice this size, what are you talking about?”
But as soon as Liz made that comment, Tommy realized an uncomfortable truth. Not only had he been curious enough to check up on her, she had been curious enough to check up on him.
“It’s the only thing I splurged on,” Liz continued. But when she saw that odd expression on Tommy’s face, she smiled. “But don’t worry,” she added, reading him wrong, “it’s paid for. I made sure of that.”
The driver opened Liz’s door, and they both got out of the cab. Tommy paid the cabbie and he retrieved her luggage from out of his trunk. Liz walked over to her plants that lined the side of her steps. Her gardener, in her two-week absence from Dubai to Iraq, had done his job well.
“Very nice,” Tommy said as the cab drove away and he walked up, her suitcase in hand. “Your handiwork?”
“My gardener’s, who also happens to be my pool man, my handyman. All three in one.”
“All three for the price of one,” Tommy added.
Liz laughed. “You’ve got that right,” she admitted. “Other than the purchase of this house, I’m very thrifty now.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Tommy said doubtfully.
“I am!” Liz said.
He saw her dress style. There was nothing cheap, or thrifty, about this woman. “Since you’re so thrifty,” he said, “what kind of car do you drive?”
But Liz turned the tables. “What kind do you drive?”
“A Kia Sephia,” Tommy responded.
Liz had not expected that response. Not from a man who owned his own plane! “Oh,” she said. “Well, I don’t drive a Kia,” she added. “I drive a Lexus.”
Tommy smiled.
“It’s not like you think,” Liz quickly said. “It’s the lowest level, cheapest Lexus money can buy. And it’s paid for too.” She considered him. “And you drive a Kia. Which is fine. I just don’t believe you.”
Tommy laughed. “Don’t,” he said. “I was just trying to get a reaction out of you.”
Liz smiled. “No you didn’t!” she said, and pushed him.
But then she winced. The energy sap her body had endured was back. Tommy saw the change and immediately placed his arm around her waist. “Let’s get you inside,” he told her.
“You’ll get no argument from me,” she agreed.
Liz sat on the edge of the bed inside her master bedroom. Tommy, in the adjacent bathroom, ran her bath. He asked her what she wanted when they first entered her home, and she told him: a long, hot bath. Although she showered every day while she was hospitalized, it wasn’t the same. Those were birdbaths as far as she was concerned. She wanted the real thing.
She began to slowly remove her clothes, with many starts and stops the way she did to put on those clothes at the hospital, and she looked at Tommy as she undressed. She still couldn’t fully wrap her brain around him. Everything she read about his personal life seemed so negative. Professionally, his sheet was good. He began his career as a cop, following in his father’s footsteps, ultimately rising to police captain. The security firm he founded, partnering with his brother, rose to become the anchor of a major corporation that included, not only security, but investments foreign and domestic and primarily overseen by Tommy. And his company was as healthy as they came. Professionally, he was in great shape.
But his personal life, Liz thought as she finally removed her blouse, was what gave her pause. In three words: too many women. He was married only once, and was divorced, and he had a little girl. But the women he’d been linked to could fill a small town phone book. From models to movie stars to even porn stars, the Tommy Gabrini brand was well known in female circles. And although there were women of all races and nationalities in his arsenal of females, he had a definite preference for black women. No doubt about it. And dark-skinned black women at that. She wondered if that was why he was so generous to her. Did he have a black fetish the way some old white men had an Asian one?
But a mere fetish wouldn’t explain his level of generosity, and that was the thing that Liz couldn’t get over. The sheer level of his generosity. From flying her and Chelsey all the way to Dubai when he didn’t have to. From checking up on her, finding out she’d been injured, and then flying all the way to Chicago to see about her. To whipping out his checkbook and paying off her thirty thousand dollar debt as if she was somebody near and dear to him when he barely knew her. That wasn’t what men who merely had a sexual attraction did. At least not any man she’d ever known! This, she had to say again, was more than nice.
“Need help?” Tommy asked her as he stood in the bathroom’s doorway and realized she had removed only her blouse.
“I’m good,” she said, and proceeded to attempt to remove her bra. Tommy could see that she was struggling, starting and stopping as if she was taking off a coat of arms, and he wanted to help her. But he knew she wouldn’t want that kind of help.
“I’ll be downstairs,” he said as he pushed his body from the doorframe and began heading out of the bedroom.
“Thanks for running my bath,” Liz said.
“You’re welcomed,” Tommy said with a smile, and headed downstairs.
Liz’s exquisite taste could be seen all over her home, he noticed, as he made his way toward the wet bar. From her artwork to her furnishings, all the way down to the arrangement of the pieces, she was a woman of very refined taste. He grabbed a glass from beneath the counter and poured himself a glass of wine. He saw a half opened copy of Kutana magazine lying on the countertop, and he began to flip through it. It was as advertised: story after story on various conflicts around the world and all manner of international politics. He continued to thumb through it.
The home phone rang as he continued, and then, as if Liz had no intentions of ever answering it, it went to Voicemail within only a few rings. Tommy continued to flip through the magazine and sip his wine, but when he heard a male’s voice, he listened more attentive than he otherwise would have.
“It’s me,” the male caller said. “You won’t answer your cell phone so I’m calling you at home. Return my call, Liz. I told you that girl doesn’t mean shit to me, why are you behaving like this? You’ve moved on, I know that. But what about me? You can at least hear me out. Call me. Please.”
Then there was a pause, and then he hung up. A man in love if ever Tommy heard one. He sipped his wine. Other men wanted her. Surprise, surprise. He couldn’t think of a single woman he’d fucked who wasn’t desired by other men. But with all the others, he didn’t care. He welcomed other guys to have at it. But with Liz, and this was the kicker for him, he didn’t think he would like it at all.
Figuring her to be safely ensconced in the tub, he poured another glass of wine, grabbed his glass along with the second glass, and headed back upstairs. She could use a stiff one. But when he made his way to her bedroom, and heard what sounded like sobs, he placed the glasses on the dresser and made his way into her
bathroom. She was in the tub, she had finally manage to fully undress and get in the tub, but she was sobbing uncontrollably.
“Liz,” he said as he hurried to her side.
She looked up at him, the tears like pools of blood in her eyes. His heart dropped. He squatted down beside her. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?” he asked her. “What’s wrong?”
“Those young soldiers,” she said. “They were so young. And I saw them die, Tommy. I saw them die!”
Tommy pulled her into his arms. She continued to sob so heart-wrenchingly that he placed his arms beneath her arms and thighs and lifted her out of the tub. He grabbed a towel, sat in the chair, and began drying her.
“I’m sorry,” she was saying. “I don’t know what got into me.”
“Empathy got into you,” Tommy said as he dried her. “You felt for those boys. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
But Liz hated crying like some baby. And the fact that Tommy had to dry her off as if she was some invalid didn’t help. But she welcomed his attention. She needed him at this moment in her life. She was glad he was there.
After drying her, he carried her to the bed, pulled back her covers, and laid her down. He stepped out of his shoes, removed his suitcoat, and got in bed beside her. He was about to lift her on top of him, but he didn’t have to bother. She got on top of him. He covered them both, and held her tightly as she continued to sob. He held her all night. She was finally dropping the tough girl façade and admitting she’d seen hell. Now, he knew, she could begin to heal.
The next morning, Liz was still on top of Tommy. Both were asleep, resting wonderfully, until the phone on the nightstand began to ring. It awakened both of them. But when Liz let it ring, and didn’t answer it, Tommy looked at her.
“It’s okay,” she said, as the call went to Voicemail.
It’s Liz, leave a message.
“Pick up the phone, Liz.” It was the same male’s voice from last night. “You can’t avoid me forever. Liz?”
Then he hung up with what felt even to Tommy like an angry hang.
“Who is he?” Tommy asked.
“Nobody,” Liz said. “A big, fat zero.”
“Ex-boyfriend?”
“It didn’t even rise that high.”
“Ex-lover then?”
“It had potential, and I thought we might get there, and then the usual happened.”
Tommy looked at her. “The usual?”
“The bottom fell out. And the women fell in. And I got out of there, never to return again.” She smiled. “That rhymed.”
“Never to return despite his pleas?” Tommy asked.
“Despite his anything. I’m done with that.” Then she leaned up and looked at Tommy. Her look was serious. He realized the change.
“What are you thinking?” he asked her.
“The truth?” she asked him.
“Always.”
“Are you a potential,” she asked, “or a passing fancy?”
Tommy’s jaw tightened. “What do you say?”
“I say passing fancy. Although . . .”
“Although what?”
She frowned. It was puzzling her. “It has been my experience that most passing fancies would not have come all the way to Chicago just to check on me. They might have phoned, but they never would have come.”
Tommy stared at her. He wanted to say, then maybe I’m not as passing a fancy as you think, but he couldn’t pull himself to say it. Mainly because he didn’t want to lead her on. But also because he didn’t know if it was true himself.
“Anyway,” she said with a smile, and ruffled his gorgeous thick hair. “You’re too cute, you know that?”
He smiled. “You’re apparently feeling better.”
“Oh I am,” she said, heartfelt. “Thanks to you.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“Absolutely nothing,” she said, and then turned serious. “Which is exactly what I needed you to do.”
Tommy was touched by that.
Liz felt a surge of emotion too. “I’m starved,” she said, and began to get out of bed. “I’ll fix breakfast.”
As soon as she left his arms and began heading for the bathroom, he immediately felt her absence. The sweet smell of her. The feel of her curvaceous body. He looked at her naked form, at her beautiful dark ass as it shook when she walked. He was throbbing. But he wasn’t going to rush her. She just got out of the hospital for Pete’s sake! He wasn’t ever going to be that hard up.
Liz took the last of her bacon out of the pan and placed it on the napkin-lined platter. She heard Tommy on the stairs, and then she saw him enter her kitchen. She smiled when she saw him. He was in the same suit he had worn last night, but incredibly, it still looked pristine.
“You’re up!” she said cheerfully.
“Yep.” Although was fully dressed and ready to go, Liz was still naked, he knew, beneath her bathrobe. “You’re bounding with energy.”
Liz nodded. “Compared with yesterday, right? I think it was those hospitals. I hate hospitals!”
It was what she experienced in that Humvee in Iraq too, he also knew, but he was learning Liz Logan. She compartmentalized to survive, and she was a survivor.
“Hungry?” she asked him.
He glanced down the length of her, at her shapely legs. “Yes,” he admitted, “but I’ve got to get back. I have a board meeting this afternoon.”
“Oh.” He could see the disappointment in her eyes. “I’ll put on some clothes and drive you to the airport.”
“Thanks, but I took care of it. The car’s already arrived.”
Liz smiled. “You think of everything,” she said, wiped her hands on the dish towel, and walked toward him. “I’ll walk you out,” she said.
But when she got close to Tommy, and brushed past him, he took her by the arm and pulled her back. They were within an inch of each other.
Liz saw that Tommy’s eyes were now hooded. He wanted some before he left.
“Are you going to take the rest of the week off?” he asked her.
Liz smiled. “What do you think?”
Tommy placed both arms around her. “I think, as soon as I walk out that door, you’re going to put on your wings and fly your ass straight to your office.”
Liz laughed. “Good thought,” she said.
Tommy stared at her lips. They were the perfect size for kissing. Then he looked into her eyes. He pulled her closer. His own eyes darkened. “If I was a gentle man,” he said, “I wouldn’t consider touching you the way I want to touch you. Not after your ordeal.”
Liz was fine physically. Completely fine. But she stared at him. She wanted to know more about how he ticked. “Are you a gentle man, Tommy Gabrini?” she asked him.
“Right now?” Tommy asked her.
“No better time to know than now.”
Their lips were now touching. Tommy pressed her against his erection. “Right now I’m as gentle as a roaring lion.”
She smiled. “My kind of gentle,” she said, and he captured her mouth just as she finished.
They kissed with passionate released. Tommy wanted her so badly he knew he couldn’t possibly go all the way with her without hurting her. But he needed something.
He lifted her into his arms, carried her back upstairs to her bedroom, and laid her on the bed. When he opened her robe and saw her naked body, he had force himself not to pull out his cock and do her anyway. He, instead, knelt down, opened her legs, and mouth-fucked her.
It was everything and more for him. It brought back memories of their first time. It was so enchanting for him that he unzipped his pants, pulled out his cock, and began jerking as he ate her. Liz was jerking too. Her entire body was arching under the direction of Tommy’s tongue. He twisted around her clit. He licked between her folds. And he placed his entire mouth over her vagina, bit down deep inside of her, as if he was eating steak. She arched and squirmed and loved the way he did her.
But she remembered what his
cock did to her the last time they were together, a cock she had been craving ever since that night. And although she loved his oral, and could easily have an orgasm on his oral alone, she wanted his dick again. She wanted to feel that fullness she felt when he fucked her on his plane.
She grabbed him by the catch of his thick hair and lifted his gorgeous head. He looked at her.
“I want more,” she said. “Put it in. I want it in.”
“You can’t take that yet.”
“I can. Tommy, I can. Do it.”
Tommy was already so aroused, and he wanted in too, that he weakened under her request. He shouldn’t have. He should have been a better man. But looking at her body, looking at her face weakened him beyond any turning back. He laid on his back, put her on top, and they both were so weak and so in need of the other’s sex that he entered her, and she let him enter her, raw.
And he fucked her. He gave them both exactly what they wanted. He sucked her breasts as they beat him in the face, and fucked the shit out of her. She held onto him, with her head leaned back, as he pounded into her the way she needed it most. And the rawness of it. She couldn’t believe she was allowing it. Talk about taking risks she never took before. Not ever! But Tommy was doing her. And, in truth, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Tommy, too, was in uncharted territory. Not since his separation well over two years ago had he entered any woman raw. That was his fast and hard rule. He wasn’t getting anybody pregnant, he wasn’t spreading or getting anybody’s diseases. But with Liz, with this woman that was now lying on top of him and he was wrapping her into his arms, he threw every rule out he’d ever lived by. He was fucking her raw and loving every second of it. He didn’t think he could want a woman’s sex as badly as he wanted hers. And to feel every ridge of her pussy. To push in further and further and feel her muscles tighten around his shaft was a turn-on that made him push even harder. He was having the fuck of his life.
And as soon as Liz began to orgasm, as soon as her vaginal muscles began to clench and she climaxed, Tommy went over too. He came right along with her. He let out a grunt so loud and so hard that it stretched every muscle in his body, and he poured into her. Liz felt his warm cum saturate her vagina with so much juice that she couldn’t stop cumming herself. It was as if she was having orgasm after orgasm as he did her. And he continued to pound into her as he filled her and poured out of her. She didn’t have to squirt this time because Tommy was doing it for her. He was taking her to the heights again. His hot, white cum was all over her thighs, trailing down her legs, before they even began to come back down.
Tommy Gabrini 4: Dapper Tom Begin Again Page 11
