And they felt it still, when they were well spent and lying in each other’s arms. They looked out at the sea around them. The calmness. The peace. The ship had been righted, and all felt right with the world again.
“If you should ever find someone new
I know he’d better be good to you
Because if he doesn’t
I’ll be there!"
And they fell into a wondrously, refreshing sleep.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
They spent the night on Tommy’s yacht and then, on Sunday, they took a slow drive to Oregon to pick up their daughter. When Destiny found out that they would be spending the night at her father’s house, she was happy to hear it. Tommy and Grace both knew that Destiny was more at home at his house than anywhere else, and they were pleased to know that her first home was still her real home to her.
Later that evening, while Tommy and Destiny sat at the center island coloring with a mechanical coloring book, Grace was at the stove cooking them a big Sunday dinner, complete with collard greens, mac and cheese, and ham that looked to Tommy to be dripping with so much flavor that he was salivating at the thought of devouring it. Nothing tasted better to him that Grace’s cooking. Unless he counted Grace herself, and that juiciness he loved between her legs.
He watched her as she cooked. She wore a pair of sweat pants, a tight Seahawks t-shirt, and had her hair in a thick ponytail. Yet she looked more beautiful to him in that moment than Miss Universe ever could. She was an amazing woman to him. It was something about Grace in her bareness that reminded him of gracefulness itself, and elegance and class. She didn’t have to flaunt it because she was it. She didn’t have to shout it out. And when she looked at him as if she could sense his stares, it was he who wanted to shout it out. She’s mine, he wanted to proclaim.
“I think it’s time,” he said when she smiled and turned back to stirring her pot, “that you meet the family again.”
Grace hesitated, and turned toward him. “You mean Reno and Trina, and Sal and Gemma?”
Tommy smiled. “Yup.”
This was a tough thing for Grace. She remembered how difficult it was for them during the divorce. She broke Tommy’s heart, and they were unforgiving Gabrinis through and through. Reno and Trina were especially hurt, and Jimmy Mack too, but they eventually came around. Sal, whom everyone knew was Tommy’s protector, never did. “You don’t think it’s too soon?” she asked him.
“It would be,” Tommy said, “if you were some new lady I was introducing to them. But they know your ass.”
Grace laughed.
“And you know them. I think it’s more of a re-introduction than anything else.” Then Tommy exhaled. “So no,” he said, “I don’t think it’s too soon at all. I think it’s long overdue.”
Grace still felt a sense of dread. The Gabrinis could be some tough nuts to crack. Especially Sal when it came to Tommy or Gemma. But Tommy was right. It was overdue. “When?” she asked.
Tommy started to give a date as early as next week, but he pulled back. “When both of us are ready,” he said. “That could be in several days, or several weeks, or even several months. No pressure.”
“Oh,” Grace said. She was expecting him to have made the decision for both of them. She liked this new Tommy. “Okay. Sounds good.”
“That way,” Tommy said, “you will have time if you decide to change your mind.”
Grace smiled. “My mind is made up,” she said. “You’re stuck with me, buster. But thank you.”
“What about your mother?” Tommy asked. “We’ve got to tell her.”
“She already knows.”
Tommy was pleasantly surprised. “You told her?”
“Didn’t have to. That night we spent the night with you, when Ed was still lurking out there, was all she needed to know.”
“She’s not pleased about it I’m sure.”
“She liked Ed. She loved the idea of her daughter with this handsome black surgeon. But she’ll come around.”
Tommy nodded. “That’s what I say about my family too. They’ll come around. And if they don’t, then tough. Then Tommy actually sang a song. “I’ll love is here to stay!”
Destiny looked at her father as if he had lost his mind. Grace and Tommy laughed and looked at each other. Tommy did a playful shake of his shoulder.
Grace turned back to the stove, but playfully shook her ass. She smiled as she looked over her shoulder to see if Tommy saw her. He saw her. He couldn’t stop watching that tight, cute ass. And suddenly he needed some. Just like that.
He stood up. “Destiny, stay here for just a moment,” he said. “I need to show mommy something.”
Grace, knowing exactly what he was about to show her, turned down her pot of greens, took his hand, and allowed him to hurry her out of the kitchen, down the hall, and into one of the downstairs guest bedrooms. He closed the door, tossed her onto the bed, and was unzipping and pulling out his penis even as he opened her legs.
But he didn’t remove her panties. They knew they didn’t have that kind of time. He, instead, moved the seat of her panties to the side and slid his big cock into her narrow fold.
“Oooh,” he said softly when penis met pussy, and then he began to fuck her. “Ah, Grace, aaah!” He fucked her with her ass on the edge of the bed and his dick pumping her hard. He lifted her blouse and her bra, leaned down and began sucking her breasts, as he fucked her. And the feeling was overwhelming. It felt so good! Grace even had an orgasm, as he did her. But he couldn’t get her tight, shaking ass out of his mind.
After she had cum, and was in the ebb of her sensations, he pulled out, turned her over, pulled down her panties this time, and entered her from behind. He wanted to squeeze her tight brown ass and hold it as he fucked her. And he did.
Grace was enjoying it too. This was going to be a quickie, because it had to be, but there was nothing missing from Tommy’s technique. And when he came, when he poured into her with an ejaculation that left him straining it out, she had another orgasm too. She came right along with him. It seemed only fitting. The wonderful way things had been going for them, made it seem only right.
After they came, Tommy went to the bathroom across the hall, wet a cloth, and returned to the bedroom. Grace was on her back again when he opened her legs and wiped her down. He wiped himself down, pulled up her panties and zipped up his pants. They made it back into the kitchen in record time, just as Destiny was asking about a fruit.
“Daddy, which color?” she asked as he sat back beside her.
“Blue,” Tommy said as Grace washed her hands and checked on her pot.
Destiny thought about what he had said, but then she frowned. “But it can’t be blue!”
“Sure it can,” Tommy said, looking at Grace and smiling as if they had a secret. He felt like a kid again!
But Destiny was unconvinced. “Mommy, is Daddy right? Is an apple blue?”
Tommy and Grace both looked at their child. Tommy finally took the time to look at the coloring page. And he and Grace both laughed. “No, baby,” Grace said. “An apple is not blue.”
“But Daddy said---”
“Daddy had things on his mind, sweetheart,” Tommy said with a grin.
Grace, knowing exactly the “things” he was speaking of, laughed too and shook her head. “Yeah, I’m sure you did,” she said to him.
The intercom buzzed as he laughed. It was the front gate, announcing the arrival of Mr. Nagarta.
Grace was a little surprised by such an announcement, but she didn’t hesitate. “Let him through,” she said into the intercom, pressed the button that would unlock her front door, and then looked at Tommy. Tommy immediately told Destiny to take her coloring book and go into the playroom. He would be there shortly.
After Destiny did as she was told and left the kitchen, he looked at Grace. “What would Barry want on a Sunday evening?”
“I have no idea,” Grace responded as she walked over to the center island. Her greens wer
e still cooking, and she had just stirred them. “But it has to be important or he wouldn’t be here.”
Tommy had reached the same conclusion too. And it was important. Barry arrived, said his hellos, and took a seat across from Tommy at the center island. Grace stood beside him.
“It’s the board,” Barry said without hesitation. “That’s the only reason I’m disturbing you on the weekend. It couldn’t wait.”
“What’s happened?” Grace asked.
“Sonny Lockett has agreed to vote with the snakes,” he said.
Grace’s heart dropped. Tommy stared at her. “How do you know that, Bare?”
“A couple of their staffers inadvertently let it leak,” Barry said. “They have no clue that I am totally devoted to you. And you, too, Tommy, since you planted me there. I mean, put me there.”
Tommy looked at Grace. He knew she had long ago figured it out. “You can’t hold water, can you, Bare?”
“Not even,” Barry admitted. “But yeah,” he said to Grace, “the staffers talked to the wrong person. They think I’m just your boring accountant who wouldn’t dream of spilling the beans. But like Tommy said, I can’t hold water.”
“But how did they get Sonny to flip?” Grace asked.
“They played dirty like they always play. They promised to give him a bonus, to the tune of an additional three percent of the profits after Trammel is sold, if he threw them his support. They know they aren’t supposed to make side deals. They know it goes against the bylaws and every other law in every way. But that’s what they did. They don’t make deals. They deal in dirt!”
“When do they plan to call the vote?” Grace asked.
“Tomorrow morning,” Barry said. “Bright and early. They plan to let you in on it when you arrive at work. With Sonny’s seven votes, they will have forty-nine votes, you will have your forty-eight votes. They will win.”
“What about Flex-Martin? They were still undecided as early as Friday. Their CEO said they had not yet decided.”
“They decided to abstain from what I’m hearing. So they aren’t voting against you.”
“Oh, please,” Grace said. “They may as well vote against me if they abstain! By abstaining they give the board the majority vote.”
“That’s true,” Barry said.
“They’re asses aren’t doing me any favors,” Grace added, and Barry agreed with that assessment too.
Then Grace leaned over the counter, thinking with a look of deep concentration on her face. Tommy studied her and stared at her. Did she have the mental toughness, he wondered. This was business. Would she make the shrewd business decision, one that was obvious to him, or would she go along with the hand she’d been dealt? He liked the way she sold off shares to keep her business afloat. That was the right move. They weren’t together at that time, but he was pleased by her decision. But would she make the right decision this time?
Finally she looked up. Both men were staring at her. “They don’t play by the rules,” she said. “So why should I?” She looked at Tommy. “I need your help, Tommy,” she said.
Tommy’s heart soared. The old Grace would have never went down this road. She would have lost her company, but at least she would have lost it honorably. But there was no honor in losing, as far as Tommy was concerned, when the fuckers playing with you were rigging the game. Grace understood that now. “Tell me what you need,” he said to her.
“They have Sonny Lockett,” she said. “I’ve got to have Flex-Martin.”
And early that Monday morning, when she walked into that hastily arranged board meeting, she understood just how accurate Barry’s intel was. Because it wasn’t a standard board meeting as the phone call had suggested. “They want to iron out a few details,” the vice chairman’s secretary phoned and told Grace’s secretary. Grace was chairman of the board, and her secretary, rightly, asked why she needed to attend the meeting if it was just to iron out minor matters. When the secretary said that Grace would nonetheless be needed, she knew Barry was right on. It was the day of the hostile takeover. The bylaws suggested that all shareholders had to be present, or at least their views represented, before any votes could be cast.
Grace sat at the head of the table. The vice-chairman, Roy Fitzpatrick, sat at the other head. And he did all of the talking. “We are going to vote today,” he said, “on whether or not we should sell Trammel to the highest bidder, and split the profits from that sale accordingly.”
Everybody in the room looked at Grace expecting a serious objection. Most of them never liked her at the helm anyway, since she was never in the blue-blood class like they were. They were all too happy to see her defeated. They expected her to raise a stink that morning. Some even joked that they were going to wear bullet-proof vests to the meeting just in case Grace came out firing. But, to their complete and utter surprise, Grace didn’t object at all. She didn’t raise so much as her hand. And the vote was taken.
“As you can see,” Roy said with glee in his eyes. “We have forty-nine percent of the vote. You, Grace, unfortunately, have your forty-eight percent. Since Flex-Martin will abstain, the motion to sell Trammel has carried. We are going to sell Trammel to the highest bidder. Which means, we’ve won. Which means, you’ve lost.”
“There are three votes outstanding,” Grace said. “And as chairman of this board, they must be represented.”
“They are,” Roy said. “I told you. Danny Martin, chairman and CEO of Flex-Martin, has represented to me, by proxy, that his company will be abstaining from the vote today.”
Grace pressed a button. “Send him in, please,” she said into the intercom. Then she looked at Roy again. “The bylaws make clear that voting, or abstaining to vote by proxy, cannot supersede voting in person.”
The door to the board room opened, and Tommy walked in.
When Tommy walked in, there was a collective look of shock, some awe. Tommy Gabrini once ran the Trammel board. Everybody on that board knew that Tommy Gabrini didn’t play games. If he was there, he was there to make sure whatever game they were playing, would failed.
“I’m sure you all know my husband, Tommy Gabrini,” Grace said. She meant to correct herself, and add the ex to it, but a board member jumped in before she had the chance to correct the record.
“Don’t you mean your ex-husband?” the female board member pointed out, with a very nice-nasty smile.
“She meant what she said,” Tommy said, and the lady’s smile left. “I’m here for one reason only. And I’ll be very brief. I’ve purchased the Flex-Martin shares.” He tossed the paperwork onto the table. “And I am casting my vote against the sale of Trammel. I am also officially giving my shares to my wife,” he added with emphasis, looking at the female who had objected, “Grace Gabrini.” He tossed additional paperwork onto the table to show the transfer.
“Which means,” Grace said, looking at a devastated Roy, “that the motion to sell Trammel has failed. Which also means,” Grace added, “that I am now in possession of fifty-one percent of the Trammel stock.”
Grace stood up. “I am once again majority stakeholder. And I assure you, I will never be in the minority again.”
Grace left the board room. She didn’t feel victorious. She just didn’t like to be double-crossed. But it was a victory for Tommy. Because he could rest assured knowing that Grace now fully understood how to handle a double-cross, and that she had to beat them at their own game. It was a tough lesson, but he was pleased she learned it. He smiled as he walked out.
And over the next several months, Tommy and Grace remained all smiles. They dated each other and loved one another’s company. They informed Destiny that they were on again, and she was as thrilled as they were. She didn’t understand the ramifications, just that she would see her father more often. But that was all she wanted to know.
All remained well with them until one day, the day before their trip to Vegas to re-introduce Grace to the Gabrini family, Liz Logan walked into the Gabrini Corporation in downto
wn Seattle, and asked to see the chairman.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Tommy was in his office, sitting at his conference table with two of his assistants, when his secretary walked in.
“Place a moratorium on overseas travel until those expense logs are current,” Tommy was saying to one of his assistants. “If any member of my senior staff has a problem with it, you tell them to come see me.”
“Will the moratorium include the Vegas office, sir?”
“No. My brother handles Vegas. But I don’t want another travel dime leaving this office until it’s handled.”
“I’ll get right on it, sir,” the assistant said as she stood up, gathered up her IPad, and began leaving.
“What about the Miami merger, sir?” his second assistant asked. “The finance department says their numbers are sound.”
“Get a team to study that proposal. I’m not sold. Tell them I want a report on my desk when I return on Monday. If I end up merging with a company that’s cooking the books and creating false positives, that company won’t be the only ones with hell to pay. I’ll fire every asshole on that team.”
“Yes, sir,” his second assistant said, stood with her stack of folders, and left the office too.
It was only then did Tommy look at his secretary. “Whoever’s out there, tell them I’m busy.”
“I did, sir,” the secretary informed him. “But she insists.”
“She?” Tommy asked. “Who?”
“Miss Logan. Miss Liz Logan.”
Tommy was surprised. What in the world would she want? He hadn’t seen her since he left Syria nearly nine months ago. “Where is she?”
“In the waiting room, sir.”
“Bring her in.”
“Yes, sir.”
When his secretary walked out, Tommy leaned back in his chair. His legs were crossed, his suit coat was off. He was relaxed. And even when Liz walked through his door, he remained relaxed. He saw her the way he saw all of his ex-lovers: as his ex.
Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor Page 14
