But Jillian was still focused on her own issues with Tommy. “So we’re going to his office,” she said in a calmer tone, “and we will listen to what he has to say. Then you and I together are going to have to convince him that he needs to back off and let me do what I do. You bat your big eyes and cross your long legs and I’ll do the same, even though I assure you he won’t be looking at mine.”
“Mine either, Jillian,” Grace said, disgusted by her boss’s foolish belief that batting eyes and crossing legs could get her anywhere. “I don’t know why you think these men are that gullible.”
“Because, when it comes to a pretty face, they are,” Jillian said. She saw how Tommy couldn’t take his eyes off of Grace during her dinner party. And Jillian was no fool. If Tommy wanted a lady bad enough, he usually got her. And an innocent like Grace? They probably slept together that same night. Jillian was willing to bet on it.
But she didn’t go there.
“I think you sell men too short,” Grace said. “Especially a successful businessman like Tommy Gabrini.”
“Ah, Tommy’s no better than anybody else! He’s as gullible as the next guy. Trust me, he is,” Jillian added and looked Grace dead in the eye. “And you know why he’s so gullible, Grace? Because sex sales, that’s why, and Tommy loves sex. So we have to simply provide that illusion that we’re willing to sell it. Once we get what we want, which is for Tommy to let me run my business my way, then he’ll realize we weren’t selling a thing. But until then, we bat eyes and cross legs until we can’t bat and cross any longer!”
Grace saw an out, and decided to take it. “You may as well leave me here, Jilly,” she said, “because I’m not going down that road.”
“You never do,” Jillian replied with some bitterness in her voice. “You show up at my dinner parties and behave as if you’re above it all time and time again. I ask you to simply be charming, and you won’t even do that. You smile, you’re polite, but you’re above it all. I don’t know why I even bother.”
“I don’t either. That’s why you should just leave me here.”
“You’re going,” Jillian said firmly. “And the fact that you’re pretty doesn’t hurt. Because I will tell you, darling, Tommy Gabrini holds all of the cards right now. He’s in the catbird seat in this organization, make no mistake about it. And the asshole knows it. And until you’re willing to entrust your ten shares to me, so that I can reclaim majority ownership, he will remain in that seat. So don’t talk to me about leaving you anywhere. Until you’re willing to play ball, and throw your shares behind mine and Cam’s, you’re going and going until you can’t go anymore. The survival of my company is at stake.”
Then Jillian cranked up, and drove off.
Grace sat quietly as they made the trek across town. She was more convinced now than ever that all Cameron ever wanted from her, and all Jillian still wanted, was those ten shares in Trammel that she inherited from her father. Her shares, coupled with theirs, would give Jillian a fifty-two percent stake. Nobody, not even Tommy, would be able to unseat her as majority owner. But that part really wasn’t what was bothering Grace, because her shares were off the table. She wasn’t about to give Jillian, or Cam, anything.
But what bothered her more was Tommy. She hadn’t heard from him since the night he made love to her, and she was okay with that. The fact that he’d been out of the country was nice to know, but it really didn’t matter. He had made clear before he took her to bed that he preferred open relationships, and she had made clear that she didn’t. So he spared her any grief, and she spared him any waste of his time, and they went their separate ways.
But to suddenly be about to see him again was unnerving. The idea that he’d seen her naked, and that his dick had been inside of her, and that she now had to smile and shake his hand and pretend they were nothing more than mere acquaintances, was something she always avoided having to deal with. But thanks to Jillian she had to deal with it now. Right before her very eyes. The mouth that once licked her pussy was about to say hello to her again. How in the world, she still wondered, could people approach something as monumental as that in any kind of casual way? Grace had so-called casual sex once in her entire life, when she slept with Tommy without any hope of a relationship thereafter, and she was still reeling from that decision.
But there was also a part of her that wanted to see him again. That was the pitiful part. She never admitted it out loud, but she thought about him, even dreamed about him, long after that one night stand. And it wasn’t just because he was great in bed, although she’d never had better. But he was good company too. He made her laugh and think and she thought they could really hit it off.
But he didn’t think so. He got what he wanted and took the hell off. Which was what he had said he was going to do.
But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
Salvatore Luciano Gabrini, better known as Sal Luca Gabrini, sat in Tommy’s office in front of Tommy’s massive desk. Tommy sat behind the desk, leaned back, his hands behind his head, his leg crossed over his thigh. He wore a double-breasted Armani suit and a pair of hand woven Italian shoes. Sal Luca, his younger brother, was dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt. He was sipping coffee and trying to stay awake, after yet another sleepless night in jail. And as perfectly groomed as Tommy was, Sal Luca was a mess. Their cousin Reno always referred to Sal as Tommy’s shadow, as a man who idolized his big brother to the point of emulation. But Tommy never saw it that way. Sal didn’t want to be like him. Because if he did, he wouldn’t continue to allow himself to be so compromised. Over and over again.
“But you aren’t seeing my side of this here situation, Tommy,” Sal Luca tried once again to explain it to his brother. “You just got back in the country. You forgot what I have to deal with day in and day out.”
“Spare me, Sal.”
“But I’m for real here,” Sal insisted. “It wasn’t my fault this time. I was just there, minding my own business, then these fuckers come at me. What was I supposed to do? Let them talk all that smack right in front of my lady? Let them call my woman a whore and a bitch and I just sit there? Hell yeah I kicked their asses. You would have kicked’em too if they were disrespecting one of your females.”
“There are ways to handle your business,” Tommy said, “without jeopardizing your freedom. You don’t fight another man on his own turf. You let him talk. Let him have his fun. And then you get your people to follow him, and to bring him to you. To your turf. And then you handle your business. You used to be a cop for crying out loud, Sal! You should know better.”
Sal looked at Tommy as he sipped his coffee. Tommy was what their old man used to call a backdoor asshole. He was patient. He knew how to pick his moments. But his punishment was always harsher. Sal might hit the guy over the head with a liquor bottle in the heat of the moment, all up front and in front of the bar crowd. But Tommy would see the dude later, out of eyeshot of everyone, and permanently disfigure him.
Sal was a front door asshole, the type who had to set the bully straight in front of the crowd so that they could see his victory, and could see that he didn’t let anybody make a fool out of him. Tommy didn’t need anybody’s approval. He didn’t give a damn what they saw. He just wanted revenge. And when he finished with the bully he’d have it. Far more devastatingly than Sal’s impulsive responses ever would. The crowd wouldn’t know of his triumph, but unlike Sal, Tommy wouldn’t care. The fact of the triumph itself was all that ever mattered to Tommy.
“All of that waiting and scheming don’t work for me,” Sal said. “That’s how you handle your business. It ain’t how I handle mine. Fucker mess with me, he gets what’s coming to him right then and right there.”
“And you end up in jail,” Tommy pointed out. “You end up at the mercy of some judge who might hate these Italian mafia types like your ass and want to send a message.”
“I’m no mafia.”
“I didn’t say you were. But those judges who are up for reelection a
round here, they don’t know that. That’s why you have to be smart, Salvatore. You never put your freedom at risk.”
Tommy’s desk intercom buzzed. He pressed it. “Yes?”
“Your nine o clock is here, sir,” the female’s voice said.
“Bring her up, Anne,” Tommy ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Anne replied and Tommy clicked off.
“Who’s coming up?” Sal asked.
“Jilly.”
Sal rolled his eyes. “Not her,” he said with some distress.
“What’s your problem with Jilly?”
“That old bitch had the nerve to come on to me.”
Tommy looked at his brother. “What did you do?”
“I told her to kiss my ass, what you think? She’s old enough to be my mother!”
“She’s not that old,” Tommy said.
“Well, she look it. She ain’t my type, anyway.”
“Say what you want about Jilly,” Tommy said, “but at least she has something going for her. At least she’s a decent, settled woman. Which is exactly what you need.”
“And you don’t?” Sal asked his big brother. “You’re always on my case about getting married and settling down, but what about you? You’re still playing the field, even after Shanks dumped your ass. You’re still out there same as me. I like white meat, you like dark, but we’re both still in the meat market. Like last night. I’m rotting in jail so I call my big brother. He’s finally back in the country so I figure he’d be more than happy to help me out. But he’s too busy fucking some female to even answer my call.”
“You don’t know what I was doing.”
“You was fucking,” Sal Luca said with great assurance. “If your cell phone was off, that meant you was fucking. You don’t turn that phone off for any other reason.”
It wasn’t true. Tommy hadn’t been with another woman during the entire time he was abroad. And even after he returned yesterday morning, he didn’t bother to take anyone to his bed last night. But he wasn’t about to tell Sal anything like that.
The desk intercom buzzed again. Tommy pressed the button again.
“Miss Birch has arrived, sir,” his secretary announced.
“Send her in,” Tommy ordered.
Sal Luca stood up. “I’m outta here before I have to tell that old witch a thing or two.”
“Watch your tongue,” Tommy said.
“She’s an old bat,” Sal said as he began heading for the door. “How is that my fault? It is what it is.” Then Sal smiled. “I’ll be in my office.”
Just as he opened the door, however, Jillian, with Grace behind her, walked in.
“Sal!” Jillian said with a grand smile.
“How you doing, Jilly?”
“I’m doing fab,” Jillian said as she air-kissed both his cheeks. Grace could see him cringe. But she couldn’t even pretend to concentrate on him or Jillian. Her eyes immediately roamed further into the office, to the man behind the desk.
Tommy looked up just as she looked over, and as soon as he saw that it was Grace, as soon as he saw that it was the one woman who had haunted his dreams night after night for the last several weeks, the pen that he had just picked up to sign yet another document awaiting his signature, fell weightlessly from his hand.
CHAPTER NINE
Tommy’s heart hammered against his chest when he saw who had just entered his office with Jillian. This was only his second day back from Europe, and already he was staring into the eyes of the one woman he had been determined to avoid. Grace. He always knew, given his stake in Trammel, that they would eventually meet again. But to see her this soon, just out of the blue like this, stunned him.
But he knew he had to keep it together. He was more skillful at playing it cool than anybody he knew. He therefore summoned every ounce of that skill when he saw Grace.
“Who’s your friend?” Sal was asking Jillian as Tommy and Grace tried with all they had not to show just how shook up they suddenly were.
A twinge of jealousy shot through Jillian when she saw Sal’s eyes immediately move away from her, but that was the very reason she brought Grace along. In Jillian’s way of doing business, even the slightest advantage, no matter how ridiculously superficial, was better than none.
“This is Grace,” she said to Sal. “She’s my chief of staff.”
Sal smiled at Grace. He wondered if Tommy had ever tapped into that. “You could be my chief any night of the week,” he said brazenly, and Tommy immediately flew to his feet.
“Sal!” he yelled angrily at his younger brother and Sal and Jillian both looked at him. Grace was already looking.
“What?” Sal asked, confused by Tommy’s tone. Jillian was taken aback, too.
“You’d better get to your office. I’ll talk to you later.”
“What did I do?”
“Did I say you did anything?”
“You didn’t have to say it. You was too busy screaming to say it. All I was doing was---”
“I said I’ll talk to you later,” Tommy said bluntly. “Jillian and I have business to discuss. We’ll talk later.”
Sal hesitated, he hated when his brother handled him that way. But then he looked at Grace and smiled. Who was he kidding? Tommy had probably already tapped that black ass of hers and was feeling territorial about it. He didn’t even want little brother to so much as flirt with his black beauty.
“Whatever you say,” he said. “I was just trying to show my brotherly love toward your guests.” He extended his hand to Grace. “I’m Sal by the way. Tommy’s younger brother. He might have mentioned me when the two of you were, how do I say it?”
“Sal!” Tommy warned again.
Sal held up his hands. “Alright already, I’m leaving, I’m leaving. Geez.”
To Grace’s relief, he left and closed the door.
Also to Grace’s relief, Jillian then took over. She headed toward Tommy’s desk, with Grace following behind her, talking as she went. “Tommy, darling,” she said. “It’s so wonderful to see you again. It’s been ages. How are you this beautiful morning?”
“I’ll be great if you have what I asked you to bring.”
“But I brought Grace instead,” she said with a smile.
Grace could have drop-kicked Jillian at that very moment. But Jillian kept going, as if she, like Tommy’s brother, just knew there had to have been something more than a hello-goodbye history between Grace and Tommy. “You do remember Grace, don’t you?”
Tommy knew Jillian’s games, which were always blatant and self-evident to him. Which also meant, he was pleased to discover, that she was making assumptions that weren’t founded in any facts that she had. She was assuming, because he had showed interest in Grace during her dinner party a couple of months ago, that he had probably slept with Grace. She didn’t know that to be a fact. But she assumed it was. It was his job to keep it as a mere assumption. At least during this meeting.
“I remember Grace,” Tommy said without any outsized emotion. “Hello Grace, how are you?”
Grace attempted to smile, but she knew it was a shaky attempt. “I’m good. And you?”
“I would certainly be better if your boss here did what I told her to do. Sit down, ladies.”
Tommy remained standing as Grace and Jillian took seats in front of his desk. Then he sat down too, pleased to be off of his feet again. He’d slept with many females in his past and then ran into them at some social or business event some time later. But he never had this kind of unnerving reaction to any of them. Not ever.
Jillian handed Grace her briefcase. “Get that report for me, dear,” she ordered.
Grace didn’t know what report she was referencing, but she was too pleased to have something to do other than staring at Tommy. She began searching through the briefcase.
“It’s beautiful outside today,” Jillian said and began a lot of small talk while Grace searched. Tommy couldn’t help it. His eyes immediately moved from Jillian and her ranting about the w
eather, to Grace.
She was dressed beautifully, he thought, in a blue pant suit with a low-cut yellow blouse, and a blue and yellow scarf tossed elegantly around her thin neck. It wasn’t an expensive look, and he probably would have told her to lose the scarf if he had any say in the matter, but she wore it as well as it could be worn.
He’d missed her. He kept thinking about giving her a call for weeks after their encounter that night. Even when he was in Europe, he constantly wanted to phone her. Early on it was a remarkably strong desire he had to get back in touch with her. An incredibly strong desire.
But every time he picked up that phone he thought about what going down that road with her truly meant, and would therefore hang the phone back up. Was he really ready to give up the freedom his lifestyle accorded him? Was he really ready to commit to one woman and one woman only? But even that grand consideration wasn’t what weighed heaviest on his mind. He believed Grace had what it took to satisfy him forever. And not just sexually, either. They could really be good together, a good team.
But that was the problem. Because in Grace he saw everything he thought he wanted. She had wife and mother written all over her and he couldn’t imagine a better lover in his bed. But he knew he’d fall in love with her, and fall hard. And that would expose him again. That would open him up again. And she could go to town on him. She could break his heart so devastatingly that no manner of man could ever put him back together. He could fall just that hard for her. And taking that kind of risk, when he could just as easily forget about her and go on with his life as it was, disturbed him mightily. Especially when he already couldn’t get her off of his mind, or out of his dreams. Being with her could hurt, and not being with her could hurt, too. It was a quandary he didn’t know how to solve.
And that was why, when he left her bed, he didn’t get into another woman’s bed since.
And what about her, he thought. What did he really have to offer her? She was nearly nine years his junior. He was jaded and had seen too much in this life and was always out of town, or out of the entire country on business. And then there was his cousin Reno and his mob connections. He would have to expose her to that side of his life, too. What would she get out of the bargain except some aging playboy who still wasn’t certain? That was also why he didn’t phone her. He had too many reasons not to.
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