Tommy said nothing. What Reno didn’t know was that Shawna was incredibly vulnerable, perhaps the most fragile woman Tommy had ever known. But because she was great at concealing it, Reno and everybody else took her as this ice princess. When she was a long way from cold. Especially when she was alone with Tommy, crying on his shoulders, clinging to him as he wrapped her in his arms.
“Anyway,” Tommy said, “I was just checking in. I’m on my way to the office.”
“I hurt your feelings, didn’t I?”
“Of course not, Reno.”
“Look, I love Shanks too, I really do. I respect the hell out of her, that’s why I want her on my team. I just wouldn’t wanna marry her or anything, that’s all I’m saying. And I just don’t understand why you’re so head over heels with that particular girl, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Who says I’m head over heels?”
“You wanted to marry her, Tommy, come on. A man like you wanted to marry a lone wolf like Shanks.”
“She’s not a lone wolf,” Tommy said with a snap in his voice.
“She is a lone wolf, Tommy,” Reno said, not backing down. “I don’t know why you don’t seem to understand that. I remember when you loved that very fact about her. You used to tell me all the time that if all of your women were as completely independent as Shanks, you’d be set. She is a lone wolf. But a loveable wolf, how’s that?”
Tommy smiled. “I don’t appreciate you calling my woman a wolf.”
Reno laughed. “All in good humor, brother.”
“Would it still be humorous to you if I called Trina a dove?”
“Trina ain’t no dove,” Reno shot back. “She’s tough as nails. She just knows how to finesse it, how to be ladylike about it. Shanks is just tough as nails.”
Tommy smiled and then laughed. “Goodbye, Reno,” he said, and killed the call.
By the time he parked his Mercedes and entered the Gabrini, Incorporated office building in downtown Seattle, had walked across the busy lobby filled with associates too new to even realize who they were hustling past, and rode the elevator to the top floor, those words Reno had used to describe Shawna still stuck in his mind. Lone wolf. She was a lone wolf. And, if Reno was to be believed, would always be alone.
When he stepped off of the elevator on the top floor, and entered the suite of offices of the chairman, his offices, it was the restaurant side of his elaborate business that was demanding his attention.
Tommy grabbed the stack of mail from his secretary’s desk and began heading for his office. Irene, his executive secretary, hurried from her desk in the suite of offices and, with pad and pen in hand, hurried behind him.
“Good morning, Mr. Gabrini,” she said, glancing down. Even she was impressed with the dark blue, double-breasted suit he wore this morning.
“Hello, Irene. Any new news?”
“The chef at Diamante’s is threatening to quit again, sir.” Diamante’s was Tommy’s second restaurant, distinguished from Taste of Southern by the fact that it was so elegant, so upscale, so in demand that reservations were booked solid months in advance. By contrast, Taste of Southern did not even allow reservations. First come, first served, and affordable for everyone, was the motto of TOS.
“When did this happen?”
“He phoned this morning. Said he couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Sal?”
“Yes, sir. He says your brother is monitoring the kitchen again and accusing him of using down-market products. Chef denies using any such thing, but Sal Luca won’t listen. Chef wants the cameras out of his kitchen today or he won’t show up tonight, he said.”
“Cameras?” Tommy asked with a frown, as he glanced back at Irene. “What cameras?”
“Chef’s convinced that Sal Luca has hidden cameras around the kitchen.”
Tommy shook his head. He loved his kid brother, a brother who idolized him, but he was a handful. “Okay, I’ll handle it, Irene, thanks.”
“And another thing, sir,” she said just as Tommy’s hand landed on the knob of his office door.
“Novella’s waiting to see you.”
“Novella?”
“Yes, sir. We told her we didn’t know if you were even coming into the office this morning, but she insisted on waiting. And waiting inside your office, sir. I tried to stop her, but . . . she is your friend, sir.”
Irene said friend with a twinge of distaste in her voice. Because she knew Tommy had many friends, all female, and none except Shanks, she believed, deserving of him.
“I’ll handle it,” he said to her again, and watched as she left his side. Only thing was, when Tommy entered the office, greeted the gorgeous model Novella with a warm kiss and embrace, and then sat down on the edge of his desk to let her, as she put it, have her say, he felt as if he had caught this show before.
It always started and ended the same way. She always agreed to an open, no-strings-attached relationship early on. Would be all-in, all amped about it. Would insist it’ll work for her too because she needed her space just as fervently as he needed his. She understood unconditionally that she wasn’t going to change him, and he wasn’t going to change her (or would be interested in changing her).
But as soon as it started getting good; as soon as it became comfortable and exactly the way both parties had envisioned it would be, the demands always came.
First, she wanted more phone calls. Then, she wanted to spend more time with him. Then, more gifts. Until her demands became a torch song. Why, she’d sing, couldn’t he stop this pretense and dedicate his life to her?
Only it was no pretense to Tommy. He walked over to the window of his office and looked out at the cloudy Seattle skyline. Then he turned and looked at the woman who was actually one of his favorites. Although, compared to Shanks, that wasn’t saying much.
“We even look good together,” she went on, her smoky, dark eyes firm. “Even you have to admit that, Tommy. We enjoy each other’s company. And even you said I knew how to please you in bed. So I don’t know why you’re acting like you didn’t see where this was going.”
“I didn’t see it, Vell,” he said, “because there’s nothing to see. You knew going in that this was as good as it was going to get. You knew that.”
“But you said you enjoy my company. Now you’re talking like you can just end it just like that?”
“If you’re insisting that our relationship changes, yes, it will be over just like that. Because it’s not going to change, Vell. You knew that going in.”
Novella had to take a moment, because something was wrong with this picture. Who did he think he was? She was no ordinary woman. She was no piece on the side. She was Novella Fleming, a supermodel known the world over by her first name only. She commanded the attention of men with more money and more power than Tommy Gabrini had to wield. And she was begging him? She closed her eyes because it was true. She was willing to beg him. He was worth it.
She reopened her eyes. Saw compassion in his. She was depending on that compassion. “So what you’re saying to me,” she said, still stunned, “is that I am now and will always be just a booty call to you?”
“Those are your words,” Tommy replied, refusing to play her game. If she only knew how many women had come to him like this, demanding more of him, then she’d understand how resolute he really was. “We discussed our relationship before we had one,” he went on. “You agreed to it, as did I. Nothing’s changed as far as I’m concerned.”
“Well as far as I’m concerned quite a bit has changed, Tommy.”
“Like what?”
“Like my love for you, that’s what!” She had to calm back down. “How could you expect me to think about you every day and every night, spend all of my free time with you, and not fall in love? How could you not fall in love with me, Tommy?”
Tommy exhaled. It wasn’t that simple. She had to know that. “I told you going in---”
“I know what you told me going in!”
His de
sk intercom buzzed, then Irene’s voice. “Excuse me, Mr. Gabrini.”
Tommy pinched his temple. “What is it?”
“You have an important call on line one, sir.”
He frowned. “Who is it?”
Irene hesitated. “Miss Shanks, sir,” she said.
Tommy almost glanced at Novella, to see if she understood the seriousness of that name in his life. But he didn’t even look her way. “All right, I’ll take it, Irene, thanks.”
Novella began walking toward the chair to grab her purse and coat. “I have a plane to catch anyway,” she said.
Tommy followed her to the chair. Helped her into her coat. When she turned around, she fell into his arms.
He held her, and when she stopped embracing him, he held onto her coat lapel. They stared into each other’s eyes. “For the record,” he said, “I don’t want it to end.”
Novella stared at him. “I saw a car on your driveway last night,” she said. “A Lexus. When I rang the doorbell a woman answered. A beautiful woman. She said you were in Portland and she didn’t know if you’d be back tonight. Did I care to come in and wait.” She stared at Tommy. “You said you didn’t give out keys to your home. Remember when I asked and you told me that? Yet this woman gets a key?”
Tommy didn’t respond. He released her coat lapel.
She nodded. “Yeah, I thought so. Goodbye, Tommy,” she said this with sadness in her eyes, and left his office.
Tommy was upset, because he understood how she felt. Like with Shawna, he, too, understood the terms of their relationship going in and tried, when he asked her to marry him, to rewrite those terms. It didn’t work for him, it wasn’t about to work for her. And then he felt an edge of distaste even comparing his long-term, deep relationship with Shawna, to his nothing-but-the-booty relationship with Novella.
He sat behind his desk and grabbed the phone. “Good morning,” he said.
“What’s your problem, Gabrini?” Shawna asked. “Have a girl waiting this long on the line.”
“Sorry about that. I had a . . . client. How are you? Just waking up?”
“Yes, actually,” Shawna said. “Best sleep I’ve had in a long time.”
Tommy smiled, pleased by that. He leaned back in his swivel chair. “Glad to hear it,” he said.
“What’s up for you today?”
“Meetings, mainly. And I need to get over to Diamante’s before Sal runs away the chef.”
Shawna laughed. “If he hasn’t already.”
“Now that’s the truth. And then I’m taking the company jet to Vegas to attend the funeral and retrieve Reno and his wife. Care to tag along?”
“No,” she said as he knew she would.
“So,” he asked, “what are you up to? Where are you?”
“In your study checking my email on your computer, my feet up in your chair, my body clad in your dress shirt.”
Just the thought of her naked body underneath that shirt had him hardening. “Sounds like a sexy sight to see,” he said.
“I doubt that seriously. My hair’s a mess, I haven’t had my bath, I’m about as sexy as this chair I’m sitting in. I look awful.”
You could never look awful to me, he wanted to say, but knew it would be too syrupy and she would hate it. So he held his tongue. “You don’t have any jobs lined up, do you?”
“You mean after Reno’s gig?”
Funny, he never thought of her working for Reno as a job. And just the thought of the fact of that matter, that she would in fact be working for Reno in a matter that was grave and uncertain, gave him some pause. Shawna was tough, and could handle herself, but that didn’t mean he wanted her tossed in dangerous situations. “Yes,” he said. “After Reno.”
“Nothing yet,” she said as if she’d just confirmed it in her email account. “Like I said I dropped the ball on my last assignment. Word gets around. I need the word to die down before I’ll probably be on anybody’s radar screen again.”
“And in the meantime?”
“In the meantime I help out Reno.”
“And then?” he asked and held the phone with both hands.
“And then,” she said, “I’ll hang out with my guy. See once and for all just what is going to become of us.”
Tommy closed his eyes in relief.
“That is,” she added, “if he still considers me his girl.”
Truth was, there was no other woman but Shawna that gave him that possessive, she’s mine kind of feeling. No other woman came close. “He does,” Tommy said without hesitation.
“Good,” Shawna said. “Now get back to work.”
He was about to tell her something equally cute, but Shawna, being Shawna, had already killed the call.
SEVEN
The gates opened to a luxurious estate and the limo carrying Reno, Trina, and Tommy began to lift up the slanted driveway and made its way to the big house.
“Is this your home, Tommy?” Trina asked, looking at the expansive view.
“Not my main home, no. I don’t live here. But it’s mine.” This was a different house along the Seattle countryside, on the outskirts of the city. Tommy rarely came here, except when he seriously needed to get away.
“It’s lovely,” Trina said. “Is this where we’ll be staying?”
“For now, yes,” Reno said, his arm around his wife.
“So you knew about this place?”
“I knew,” he said. “I’ve never been here, either, but I knew about it.”
“Who is that?” Trina asked and Reno and Tommy looked where she was looking. And walking from around the backside of the house, tall and lean in her skin-tight trousers and stiletto heels; in her sleeveless blouse that barely covered the belly button of her flat, ribbed stomach; with her long, stylish hair blowing in the wind and framing a devastatingly gorgeous face, was ShoShawna Shanks. Looking so confident to Reno that she almost looked arrogant. Looking so endearing to Tommy that his heart began to pound.
“That, my dear,” Reno said with a combination of pride and distaste, “is ShoShawna Shanks.”
Trina frowned. “That’s Shanks? That’s the woman you said was going to help us?”
“That’s the one.”
Trina stared at her. Except for the fact that Shawna had a gun holstered on her hip, she was absolutely nothing like Trina had thought she would be. The way Reno talked about the woman Trina was expecting her to be some muscular, body-builder type who’d be standing akimbo at the gate with her hands behind her back, her feet spread eagle, all business all the time.
But this girl, Trina thought, looked almost sad. She was pretty, there was no doubt about that; Reno did get that part right. But he didn’t mention the other, softer side.
But then again, Trina thought as the car door opened and her husband helped her out of the limo, Reno probably never bothered to get to know the other side. She was firepower to him, the woman that was going to help us, and that was all he needed to know.
“She’s gorgeous,” Trina couldn’t help but say when they stepped out and she got an even better look. When Tommy got out and walked over to them, she repeated it.
“She’s gorgeous, Tommy,” she said again.
Tommy nodded, staring at Shawna. “That she is,” he said in a tone so lowered that both Reno and Trina looked at him.
Shawna slowly made her way up the side steps and across the walkway toward the front steps, where the new arrivals were. And she, too, was able to get a full view of the threesome.
Tommy almost made her smile. He stood there, looking amazing in his yellow cardigan sweater, his olive green imported pants, his expensive alligator loafers. What made her want to smile was because she knew that this was supposed to be his casual look, his little-effort look. But even in his casual style he always looked so alluring, as if he had just left a photo shoot, and still had that composed look about him.
Reno, on the other hand, looked to Shawna as if he had just left a murder scene, and was still hyper-vigilant,
still looking around, still suspicious of everything and everyone. Composure for Reno meant that he only had one major calamity to worry about, not several, which often endeared him to Shawna. Like Tommy, he dressed casually too, in a brown polo shirt and a pair of khakis, his thick head of brown hair a rumpled mess because of his habit of always running his hand through it. But unlike Tommy, he looked casual. Then Shawna snorted. He looked casual all right. Like a casually dressed mob boss.
And that wife of his, a woman Shawna had never seen before, wasn’t quite what she had expected either. Reno’s women ran the gambit from those wow factor females to those say what? Reno’s dating that? air-headed, trophy types. But this woman didn’t seem to fit either bill. She was cute, nothing to write home about but cute, yet Reno seemed downright smitten with her.
Tommy had said that Reno had changed and was truly in love with his wife, but Shawna, who knew the playboy Reno as well as anybody, wasn’t buying it. Reno wasn’t in love with anything but the PaLargio as far as she could figure. But her initial impression as she watched him now with this wife of his, made her wonder if she would have to reconfigure.
He seemed so protective of the woman, so in tune with her that it took Shawna by surprise. He had his hand in the small of his wife’s back, was looking so lovingly into her eyes, had her so close against him that Shawna wondered where he ended and she began. Which, for Reno and any of the females she’d ever seen him with before, was something to see. In truth, the only time she used to see Reno with a female was when he was taking her to some bedroom.
As soon as Tommy saw Shawna in full he walked up the steps, two at a time, and met her at the top. Although both wanted to fall into the other’s arms, neither did. Tommy, instead, placed one hand on her arm, and leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
She closed her eyes when he kissed her, she couldn’t help it, and she so wanted him to pull her into his arms. But he, instead, leaned back and began rubbing her arm.
MOB BOSS 3: LOVE AND RETRIBUTION Page 9
