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

by Monroe, Mallory

  They all gladly voiced their understanding. They were overjoyed with understanding. Because they knew not to push it. They all knew Sal all too well. He was a fair man, nobody would disagree with that, but he could be the asshole of assholes if they went too far. So they were happy, and relieved to have a break from Tommy’s hectic schedules, but they were cautious too.

  The plane lifted off and it was only then, in flight, that Grace let the cat out of the bag. Tommy was seated beside her as he watched Seattle fade into the clouds.

  “We’re going to Paris,” she said to him.

  It was odd to Tommy, since he’d been in Paris just a couple months ago, but he saw how Grace lit up just telling him the news. He wasn’t about to burst her bubble, not by the way she always stood by him, and believed in him despite the madness around them. He took her hand. “I certainly didn’t expect,” he said, “that my wife would be taking me to Paris when she got out of my arms this morning.”

  “But?” Grace looked at him, gauging his response.

  Tommy smiled. “Why not?” he said joyously, and Grace smiled too. “And why? What made you want to do this?”

  “I was concerned about you. We’ve had a very bumpy start to our marriage, to say the least, and our courtship wasn’t smooth sailing either. And then that merger deal fell through and I just thought you needed a break.”

  “We needed a break,” Tommy corrected her.

  “Right,” Grace agreed. “So I contacted Sal, told him what I was thinking about doing, and he was all for it. He loves you so much, Tommy.”

  Tommy nodded. “Yeah, he does. Used to be a time when I was his protector, not the other way around.”

  “You are still his protector. And mine. We’re grateful to have you. You’re our leader and we need our leader well rested and vibrant again.”

  Tommy smiled, with those lines of age beginning to appear. He squeezed Grace’s hand. “As far as trips go, yes, you picked well, my love. This should do the trick.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Grace proclaimed as they both smiled and looked back out of the window, their heads in the clouds.

  They arrived, at the Hotel Fouquet’s Barriere in Paris, that next morning. Tommy was determined to make the most of this unexpected vacation, and Grace was more excited the happier Tommy became. She never, in her wildest dreams, thought she could do anything for a man like him, a man, in her estimation, who had everything. But by the time they arrived at the hotel, and showered and dressed like two teenagers on their senior trip, she knew she had found his weak spot. He came alive in Paris, even before they began any touring. Even after the disaster of their very first stop, he still seemed vivacious.

  Their first stop was at an outdoor café. Tommy had hired a private driver, and he waited in the car while they sat at the small, round table and sipped their wine. Grace was mapping out what they were to see today. They both wore shades and were casually dressed in jeans, tennis shoes, and tucked-in shirts. Tommy was leaned back on two legs of the chair, had his own legs crossed, and was staring at his wife. When she looked up, and saw him looking at her, she smiled. “Yes?”

  “You look pretty.”

  Grace took a look at her handsome husband. “So do you.”

  “I’m happy. Every time I come to Paris, I come to work. This is my first time here where I’m not including work. I like it.”

  “Good.”

  Tommy’s expression turned serious. “You’re the only person who has ever done something like this for me, Grace. Thank-you.”

  Grace reached over the table and squeezed his hand. He reached over and kissed her on the lips. When they leaned away, Alexandria Dawse was standing there as if she had been invited over.

  Grace looked at her. But she was staring at Tommy. Grace could tell he wasn’t pleased to see her in any way.

  “Hello Alex,” he said. She was obviously of mixed race descent, African and maybe French, because she had a decidedly French accent. But what struck Grace most was how young she appeared. Twenty-five if she was a day. Surprisingly young, she thought, considering Tommy’s usual taste.

  “I thought you had left,” Alex said with a smile. “You’re back already?”

  “It would appear.”

  “You came to see me, yes?”

  “Of course not!”

  “Then why are you back?”

  “That’s none of your business, Alex. What do you want?”

  But Alex didn’t respond. She, instead, looked at Grace. Her look was now decidedly dry and humorless. “Why is she here?” She spoke in a tone that surprised Grace. She wasn’t even trying to feign civility anymore.

  Tommy frowned. “You don’t know who she is.”

  “I know who that . . . person is,” Alex said, revealing her poutiness.

  “No, you don’t,” Tommy replied. “You cannot possibly know who she is. Because this is my wife, and nobody speaks to my wife that way.”

  “Friend of yours, honey?” Grace decided to ask him.

  As she suspected, Alex didn’t like it. She looked at Grace as if she was looking at a pest. “Friend? No, I am not his friend! I’m his lover, for your information, and will always be.”

  Tommy’s anger rose. “You are not my lover, and you will be wise to refrain from telling that lie to my wife!”

  Alex was astounded. “Oh, so what are you saying, Tommy? Are you trying to say that you never slept with me before?”

  “That’s exactly what he’s saying,” Grace said. “My husband would never sleep with somebody like you. He gets lonely on these business trips, and maybe even desperate, but he’ll never get that desperate!”

  Alex couldn’t believe it. She was as angry as she was upset. She turned on her heels, and stomped off.

  Tommy was relieved that she was gone, but he also didn’t want Grace to misunderstand. He looked at her. “Just so we’re clear,” he said, “and I hate to admit it, but she was, before I met you, someone with whom I had a relationship. A sexual relationship.”

  “I know,” Grace said. “I just didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that I know.”

  Tommy reared his head back with laughter. Then he pointed at his wife. “You’re ruthless,” he said.

  “And don’t you forget that,” she said, with a smile of her.

  After visiting shops along the Champs-Elysees, near their hotel, they took a slow, lingering stroll along the gardens of the Jardin des Tuileries, with Tommy pleased by Grace’s response to such beauty. That was what it was about for him. Grace. She was the reason he found it all so pleasurable. After the gardens, they toured the Musee de l’Orangerie museum, where Grace was able to see, for the first time, Claude Monet’s famous water lily paintings. They walked the park like two teenage lovers, hand in hand, taking pictures of sculptures and the fountains. It was, for both of them, the best beginning of the week they’d had in a very long time.

  And thus began their week long trek across Paris. Over the course of the week, they toured the Cathedral of Notre-Dame on the Ile de la Cite. They saw the Portal of the Virgin, the high-vaulted nave, learned the history behind the country’s largest organ. They climbed nearly three-hundred steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, with Grace recalling a movie she once saw of the same name with Anthony Hopkins. Arch of Triumph. She beamed, Tommy thought, while she was there. And Tommy felt possessive of her during their entire journey, as he kept his arm around her waist seemingly the entire time. This was his woman, and he seemed to want the world to know.

  They saw the Pantheon, the Saint-Chapelle, Napoleon’s Tomb at the Eglise du Dome Church at the Hotel des Invalides. They journeyed to the Eiffel Tower by night, admired the Mona Lisa at the Musee du Louvre by day, and was in awe at the basilica of the Sacre-Coeur.

  And on their last night there, when they took a private yacht along the Seine river, Tommy felt as if he could stay there forever. He was leaned back on the back of the stern, and Grace was seated between his legs leaned against him.
/>   “Can we stay?” he asked his wife.

  Grace smiled. “I have a business to run and you have an international corporation to run. What do you think?”

  “Let’s sell them,” Tommy said jokingly, “and come back here to stay.”

  “The day you sell the Gabrini Corporation will not be a day at all. And you know why?”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’ll never happen. The Gabrini Corporation, and all of its seemingly endless business ventures, will live on forever.”

  Tommy laughed. Grace had never seen him laugh so much. Then he wrapped his arms around her. She looked up at him over her shoulder.

  And when Tommy saw those big, brown eyes of hers, his usual control broke. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Grace,” he said to her.

  Grace’s heart soared. “Oh, Tommy, how sweet!”

  “You believe in me. Even when those females tried to convince you otherwise. Even when a man I thought was a friend of mine tried to tarnish my reputation.”

  “Tommy Gabrini preferring men? Come on. Nobody’s going to believe that.”

  “But you believed in me,” Tommy said. “Through it all. I’ll never forget that, Grace. Not ever. I made the right decision marrying you. You’re the one. I probably knew it from the moment we met. You’ve made me the kind of man I never thought I was capable of being.”

  Tears were in Grace’s eyes. “What kind of man is that?”

  “A committed man. I’m committed to you.”

  Grace turned around and faced her husband. And he kissed her. And that did it. For both of them. They tried to wait for the nightly fireworks display. They tried to hang in there. But that kiss, and the feelings it ignited in them, made it impossible.

  He stood up and took her by the hand. And they went below deck to the private cabin. Above them was the glass roof, with the skies of Paris all around them, below them was a bed just big enough for the two of them.

  Once the door was closed, and they were naked in that bed, Grace straddled Tommy backwards. He was lying on his back, and was rubbing her lovely tight ass, as she bent over, took his penis in her hands, and began licking it.

  He groaned as she gave him the kind of head that always aroused him. He was stiff within seconds. And when she put it in her mouth, and took it in full, he stretched out his legs and tightened his butt as the intensity took him there.

  “Oh, love,” he kept saying, as she kept licking and jerking and doing him. He placed his fingers between her legs, and massaged her clit, and Grace felt the tingle even as she felt the exhilaration of making her man hard.

  And Tommy was getting harder and harder. So hard that his veins were showing. It felt good to both of them. But just as Grace wanted dick, Tommy wanted pussy. Hers. He parted her and moved her ass closer to his face, and he ate her liberally. He licked her clit, and sucked her juices, and caused her to spasm within minutes. Tommy had great control, and hang time, but Grace didn’t. And he knew she didn’t.

  That was why, when she was beginning to arch and was obviously on the verge of cum, he sat her up, and then laid her down on top of him, with her back lying down on his chest. He opened her legs, guided his dick to her slit, and thrust into her. They both sighed as that grand entry, in this grand city, captivated them.

  And they made long, slow love on the river Seine. Tommy held onto Grace as he fucked her, and Grace lifted her arms and placed them over his head as her small body rocked and rolled to the flow of the river and the masterly gyrations of Tommy Gabrini.

  For nearly two hours they made love. It was the most relaxing fuck either of them had ever had. Tommy kept the rhythm slow. He kept the feelings on the edge of cum the entire time. He was so in control that he controlled both of them.

  He smoothed his hands along her wet, glistening brown body as he pushed deeper into her, until he was hitting her spot. But even then he kept it slow. He stroked her with deliberation. She was on her back, on top of him, and she was his. He didn’t want anybody else. Grace gave him everything he wanted.

  He moved his hands up to her breasts, and squeezed them hard, as he fucked her. And when they were ready to go over, they went over together. Just when the fireworks began to fill the skies of Paris, they went over. Through the glass roof of their cabin they could see the sparkle. And they smiled. And Tommy’s gyrations increased. And soon he was pounding her, and rocking her body pound for pound, until they were completely on the other side.

  They were in Paris.

  They were in love.

  They were achingly, wondrously, deliriously happy.

  THIRTEEN

  Back in Seattle, it was back to business as usual. Back to work. But they both felt refreshed.

  They got out of bed, showered together and dressed together, ate toast and drank coffee, and left the house at the same time. Tommy walked her to her Audi, opened the door for her. When she got into the car and pressed down the window, he smiled.

  “Do we have to?” he said.

  She laughed. “Yes, we have to!”

  “Hopefully Sal hasn’t been too hard on them.”

  “Harder than you? Not a chance.”

  “What do you mean? I’m a softie.”

  “Yeah, right,” Grace said with laughter. “Believe that if you want!”

  Tommy laughed too. “Have a good day.”

  “You too, baby,” Grace said. He kissed her, and then watched her back up and drive away.

  Tommy got into his Ferrari, and pulled out too, but he wasn’t on the road a good couple minutes before his cell phone was ringing. When he realized who it was, he frowned. But he answered it. “Yes?” he said.

  “I was thinking about you. Thought I’d give you a call.”

  Tommy didn’t respond.

  “So how are you?”

  “What do you want, Alex?”

  “I told you what I wanted! When, not if, but when you cheat on that so-called wife of yours, I want you to call me first. Or, better still, why don’t we hook up later today?”

  “I’m not in Paris anymore, and even if I was you’d be the last soul on earth I would want to hook up with.”

  “As luck would have it, I’m right here in Seattle.” She spoke as if Tommy had not just dissed her. “So, you see, you can come over and get what you used to crave and you can get it with little or no effort. Right now. All you have to do is come to me.”

  Tommy shook his head. This woman was delusional. “I’d rather go to a man-eating shark. Now leave me the hell alone, Alex, and especially leave my wife alone!” And Tommy ended the call.

  Alex Dawse, sitting in her SUV, looked at her cell phone and then threw it onto the passenger seat. “I gave you a chance,” she said, cranking up. “You can’t say I didn’t. I gave you a chance!” Then she placed the shift into gear, and sped away.

  Just as Tommy was ending his call with Alex, Grace was starting hers with Jamie. She was on her way to Trammel, and was checking in with her best friend.

  “Nothing to report,” he reported. “It was as if time stood still while you were gone.”

  Grace smiled. “Not where I was, however.”

  “You had a ball, girl?”

  “Oh, yes. It was wonderful, Jamie. Just wonderful. And Tommy, I’ve never seen him more relaxed and happy.”

  “He was with his baby, why wouldn’t he be happy?”

  Grace smiled. “What can I say?”

  Jamie laughed.

  “Anyway, let me go,” he said. “I’ll call you back. I’ve got customers. Unlike some of us, I actually have to do real work for a living.”

  “Forget you,” Grace said with a smile, they said their goodbyes, and then hung up.

  Just as she was about to make another turn, her phone rang. When she saw that it was Tommy, she smiled. “Hello there!”

  “I miss you.”

  Grace laughed. “You just saw me, Tommy. You cannot possibly be that horny already.”

  “I miss you. Your goodie
s too,” he said to laughter from her, “but mainly you. Let’s go dancing tonight.”

  Grace smiled. “Dancing?”

  “Why not?”

  Grace had to nod her head. “Yeah,” she said. “Why not? Although, as I’m sure you already know, I’m a pretty good---”

  As Grace’s Audi turned a corner, an SUV she didn’t realize had been following her suddenly dashed from behind her, and sped up beside her. When she looked over and saw that it was that same woman from Paris, that Alex Dawse behind the wheel, smiling at her, her heart raced. She was in Seattle? That was her first thought. But before she could even formulate a second thought, the SUV sped up even faster and swerved, slamming the front end of Grace’s car, and sending it into an out-of-control tailspin.

  Tommy heard the loud slam. “What was that?” he asked, but Grace couldn’t respond. Because her car was now spinning wildly, and she was trying to correct, but she was overcorrecting.

  And then her car wheel slammed against a curb, lost traction, and became airborne. “Tommy!” she screamed. “Tommy!”

  His heart nearly stopped. “Grace?” he yelled. “Grace? Grace!”

  But there was no response as the Audi careened down a steep embankment, flipping over and over and over again, until it crashed landed near a ravine. Gasoline began to leak.

  Tommy’s heart was pounding, but he kept his wits about him. He pressed off the GPS coordinates he had for his Ferrari, and pressed on the coordinates he kept for his wife’s Audi. He had it installed for her protection, but he had hoped he would never have to use it. But she had stopped responding to his yells. He pulled it up, pinpointed where she was, and took off. He was five minutes away, but given the way he was driving, going nearly a hundred miles per hour, he got there in less than one.

  A young patrolman had already arrived, and was just getting out of his vehicle. He was talking into the radio on his shoulder, calling for backup and the fire department, when Tommy jumped from his Ferrari. When he saw his wife’s Audi, smashed at the bottom of the embankment, his heart raced with fear. And he began to head down the trail.