Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor (20 page)

Tommy knew Liz believed that.
 
She, like many of his previous women, didn’t
understand the attraction and probably never would.
 
They were beautiful and desirable.
 
What else could a man want?
 
But Tommy wanted more.
 
In Grace, he had everything he wanted because
Grace was beautiful and desirable too, and so much more.

“I want Grace.
 
She’s who I want.
 
Whether you like it or not, whether you
understand it or not, where you accept it or not, I don’t give a fuck.
 
She’s the one I want.”
 
Then he exhaled.
 
He was done.
 
“Goodbye, Liz.”

Liz was done too.
 
She knew she’d lost somebody special.
 
But she also knew that nobody, not even a
great lover like Tommy Gabrini, a man whose dick she still craved even as she
stood there, was going to stand in her way as she made her mark in this
world.
 
His business was thriving.
 
Hers was getting there.
 
Maybe one day, when she was up there with him
businesswise, she’d give him a shout out.
 
Maybe by then he’d see the fallacy in falling for a woman with nothing
more to offer him than her body for his babies, and her cooking skills.

Liz grabbed her pocketbook, and
headed for the exit.
 
She was calling her
office, to book her a flight back to Syria, as she walked out of the door.
      

Grace was naked and in his bed when
Tommy made it home late that night.
 
They
had already agreed that she and Destiny would spend the night, so that they
could hop his plane to Vegas early the next morning, and he was pleased to find
her there.
 
He removed his clothes,
showered quickly, and then threw the covers off of her sleek, brown body.
 
He wanted to fuck her so badly he could taste
it.
 
And he did.

She was lying on her stomach, still
asleep, when he pulled her legs apart, moved in between them, and began licking
her there.
 
Tommy’s big, bright eyes
became hooded as he licked her.
 
He
rubbed her tight ass and groaned as he loved her taste, and for several minutes
he didn’t want anything more than to lay there and enjoy her.

Although Grace began to stir as soon
as he began licking her, and was slowly waking up as her body reacted to his
masterful tongue, her body didn’t become fully awake until he turned her onto
her back, opened her vagina, smothered her clit with his mouth, and then began
to eat her.
 
He ate the shit out of
her.
 
Grace was lifting and squeezing the
sheets, and moaning and groaning as he ate her.
 
Nobody ate like Tommy and he was enjoying it as if he was starved for
her.
 
He was feasting on her.
 
And she was loving every second of the
feast.
 
She was squirming, not because of
its intensity, although it was highly intense, but because of the joy she felt
when he began biting as he ate.

But if she thought he was bringing
the best he had to give to her that night, she was sorely mistaken.
 
Tommy moved his mouth from her pussy to her
breasts, feasting on them too, and then, as he began kissing her with a combination
of her and him that made her drunk with passion, he put it in her.
 
And when he put it in her, when his fully
erected penis made contact with her fully aroused vagina once again, she
thought she was going to pass out from the feelings.

He laid on top of her, holding her
tenderly in his arms, and fucked her like there was no tomorrow.
 
He put it on Grace with every ounce of
testosterone he had in his body.
 
His ass
pumped into her, pushing deeper and deeper with every thrust, until he was
lifting her legs for even deeper access.

“This is it!
 
This is it!
 
This is it!” He strained and groaned as that access came and she was
tightening around his rod to that point of no return.
 
The friction was electric.

Grace was groaning too.
 
But it was all about fucking her.
 
She wanted him to keep doing what he was
doing.
 
She didn’t want him to stop!

“I won’t,” Tommy promised, as if she
hadn’t seen anything yet.
 
“I won’t!”

And he put it on her even harder.

They wrapped themselves into each
other’s arms and enjoyed the night.
 
Tomorrow they would be facing the family.
 
Tomorrow they would face maybe even a hostile
crowd.
 
But it didn’t matter
tonight.
 
Because they had each other.
 
And they had a kind of incredible sex that
didn’t make them forget their problems, but made them realize just how small
their problems were compared to their love.
 
There was no comparison.
 
As Tommy
made passionate love to Grace, as he fucked her until she had tears of joy
streaming down her face, they knew there was absolutely nothing, not famine,
not pestilence, not doubtful family and friends, that could ever compare to
what they now had together.
    

But later, when they were still awake
and lying face to face, Tommy studied her.
 
For several minutes not a word was spoken.
 
But he knew she had a right to know.
 
“Liz came to see me today,” he said.

Grace’s heart squeezed.
 
There was a time that she would have been
afraid that Liz would come back and take him away from her.
 
But that time was gone.
 
Grace felt completely confident in her
position in Tommy’s heart.
 
They would
not be together if their bond wasn’t unbreakably strong.
 
Liz, nor any other woman, was taking him away
from her.
 
“How did it go?” she asked
him.

“It was a rough scene,” Tommy
said.
 
“She even threw up my past, and
the sexual abuse I suffered at the hands of my father, to prove her point.”

Grace nearly sat up in bed.
 
“Why that bitch!
 
Why would she say such a thing?
 
You were a child!”

“I know.
 
She was hurt, I guess, and was lashing out.”

“So that’s what she wanted?
 
To hurt you?”

“She said she wanted to see if I was
interested in giving it another try.”

Grace laid back down.
 
“With her?”

Tommy nodded.
 
“Yup.
 
But I think the real reason she came was because she heard I was back
with you and she wanted to test my resolve.”

“To see how serious you were about
being with me?” Grace asked.

“That’s how I read it,” Tommy
said.
 
“I’ve had many of my former ladies
try that too.”

Grace looked at him.
 
He hadn’t mentioned any of the others.
 
“Really?”

“Oh, yes.
 
But you have to understand where they’re
coming from.
 
They only know me as the
guy who didn’t commit and wasn’t going to always be around.
 
When I committed to Liz, they weren’t
convinced, but they gave me my space.
 
When Liz and I broke up, they figured a leopard can’t change its
spots.
 
They figured commitment wasn’t in
my DNA.”

Then he placed a hand on the side of
Grace’s face.
 
“But they’re wrong.
 
I am totally devoted to you, Grace.
 
I am committed to you and you alone.”

Grace smiled, and placed a hand on
his face too.
 
“I’m committed to you too,
Tommy.
 
I left before.
 
The heat was on and I took off.
 
But I promise I’ll never leave you again.”

“Good,” he said.
 
“That’s why I’m going there.”

Grace was confused.
 
“Going there?
 
Going where?”

Tommy, completely naked, got out of
bed and onto his knees.
 
Grace’s heart
was pounding by the time he reached over and took her hands.
 
“Grace Gabrini,” he said, although they both
knew that was not her name, “will you become Grace Gabrini officially
again?
 
Will you marry me, sweetheart?”

Grace’s heart hammered.
 
And tears appeared in her eyes.
 
She never thought it would happen. She
thought, after she divorced him and realized her horrific mistake, that she
would never walk in this level of happiness ever again.
 
“Yes,” she said.
 
“Yes!
 
I will be so happy to be Mrs. Gabrini once again.”

 
It was heartfelt for both of them.
 
Tommy kissed her on her lips, as if he was
sealing it with a kiss, and pulled her, once again, into his grateful arms.

The room was as large as a ballroom,
but it felt smaller than a box.
 
Tommy
and Grace stood before the Gabrini family, hand in hand, as everybody digested
the news.
 
Tommy’s kid brother Sal was
there, alongside his wife Gemma.
 
Tommy’s
first cousin and best friend Reno was there, alongside his wife Katrina.
 
Reno’s grown son Jimmy Mack was there, as was
his wife Val, but Val was in the backyard watching the children play.
 
You could hear a pin drop in that room.

All eyes turned to Sal, who was
affected the most by the divorce to begin with.
 
He was shocked by it.
 
And
particularly angry at Grace for breaking Tommy’s heart.
 
He had his arm around Gemma, and his legs
crossed.
 
He didn’t get it.
 
“When you say you’re back together,” he asked
with a puzzled look on his face, “what do you mean by that, Tommy?
 
Help me understand what that means because
she divorced you.
 
She dumped you.
 
Why would you want her back?”

Tommy removed his hand from Grace and
placed it around her waist.
 
Of all of
the family, they knew the most resistance would come from Sal.
 
“Because I love her unlike I have ever loved
another woman,” Tommy said with all sincerity.
 
“And I always will.
 
Because she
does for me what no other woman can.”

“You mean in bed?” Sal asked, and
Gemma elbowed him.

Sal frowned.
 
“What did I do?” he asked his wife.

“Don’t ask impertinent questions,”
Gemma responded.

“But you know what I mean,” Sal
said.
 
“I’m trying to understand this
here.
 
I want to know what he mean about
her being different than all his other women.”

“I mean in every way, Sal,” Tommy
said.
 
“We’re back together because we
love each other and want to be a family again.”

“But why her?” Sal asked.
 
“Why go backwards?”

“Uncle Sal!” Jimmy admonished.
 
“Wanting Aunt Grace doesn’t mean he wants to
go backwards. Don’t say that!”

Sal was defensive.
 
“I didn’t mean it like that, okay?
 
I mean no disrespect, Grace.
 
You know I don’t.
 
You’re Destiny’s mother and I’ll never
disrespect you like that.
 
But you and
Tommy have got to help me understand this.
 
Tommy has got to tell me why, of all these women out here, he wants his
ex-wife back.
 
His ex-wife!”

“Because she’s the one I want,” Tommy
said.

“But she divorced you!
 
Why her?”

“Because, Sal,” Tommy said.

“Because why?”

“Because, because, because, because,
because,” Reno jumped in and said.
 
“What
is this?
 
The fucking Wizard of Oz?
 
They’re back together because they want to be
back together.
 
What is that our
business?”

“That’s my brother, Reno!”

“That’s my best friend, Sal!”

“Brother trumps friend any day of the
week!”

“Not the relationship I have with
Tommy, don’t you even try that!”

“Sal is right,” Grace said quickly,
before the two titans got out of hand.
 
Everybody, including Tommy, looked at her.

“So you figure he’s closer to Tommy
than I am?”
 
Reno asked her.

“I’m sure she’s not talking about
that, Reno,” Trina said.
 
“Go on, Grace,”
she added.

“Thank you, Trina,” Grace
responded.
 
Trina was the matriarch of
the Gabrini family, and everybody respected her role.
 
Fran was the only family member who had
issues with Trina, and she was no longer with them.

“What do you mean, babe? Tommy asked
her

“I’m talking about Sal questioning
our decision,” Grace said.
 
“He’s
absolutely right to question it.
 
I left
you and Sal is afraid I’ll do it again.”

“You broke his heart,” Reno said
bluntly.
 
“Let’s not sugar coat it.
 
You broke his heart.
 
But if he’s forgiven you, and you’ve forgiven
him for his part in it because there’s two sides to every story, what are we
doing?
 
We don’t have shit to say about
it.”

“We know that,” Tommy said.
 
“But I need the family to understand how I
feel about Grace, and how I will not tolerate anybody, including you, Sal, my
beloved brother, mistreating her.”

“I’ll never mistreat her,” Sal
said.
 
“What are you talking?”

“Mistreating her,” Tommy said, “or
doing anything to make her feel any ill will.
 
We got a divorce because we wanted to get a divorce.
 
She didn’t get one by herself.
 
We’re back together because we want to be
back together.
 
This isn’t just her
doing, or my doing.
 
It’s our doing.
 
I need everybody in this room, my family, to
understand that.”

“What’s the end game?” Gemma asked
Tommy.
 
“Are the two of you committed for
life, or just for right now?”

Sal was proud of the question his
wife, who was an attorney, asked.
 
It cut
to the heart of the matter, as far as he was concerned.

Tommy was glad to answer her.
 
“Good question, Gemma,” he said.
 
“But we are in this for life.
 
We are going to remarry as soon as we can make
the arrangements.”

Gemma smiled, and Trina stood
up.
 
That was what the ladies wanted to
hear!
 
“Well alright now!” Trina said
happily and walked over to Grace.
 
“Welcome back, Grace,” she said with the warmest smile, and she and
Grace embraced.
 
And that moment alone
took the tension out of the air, and everybody, including Sal, exhaled.

But if Grace thought her
re-admittance into the Gabrini clan would begin and end with one warm embrace,
she was mistaken.
 
The men stood around
talking together about her, while the women talked with her.
 
But every conversation centered on that
relationship.

For the women, it was all about
preparation.
 
“The wedding is going to be
at the PaLargio in the ballroom,” Trina said.
 
“No doubt about that.”

“Wait a minute now, Tree,” Gemma
said.
 
“It’s Grace’s decision.”

“Surely you want to have it at the
PaLargio too,” Trina said to Grace.
 
“Don’t you?”

“I appreciate the offer,” Grace
said.
 
“I truly do.
 
But I want our marriage to take place in a
church.
 
And in Seattle.
 
That’s very important to me.”

Trina knew how important Grace’s
faith was to her.
 
“I apologize for
overstepping,” she said.
 
Then she
smiled. “Tommy said you’ve changed.
 
But
I have to admit, Grace, you have
really
changed.”

“For the better, I hope,” Grace said
with a smile.

“Oh, yeah,” Trina said.
 
“Definitely for the better.”
 
And all three women laughed.

The men, however, had a different
discussion.
 
About crossing that line.

“What would it take for you, Reno?”
Sal asked.
 
“What’s the one thing that
would make you leave Tree?
 
What’s the
one thing she could do that would be unforgiveable to you?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Reno said
confidently.
 
“But since it’s never going
to happen, what difference does it make?”

Sal rolled his eyes.
 
“You’re a piece of work, you know that?”

“Fuck you,” Reno said.

“Just answer the question, Reno, for
once in your life,” an irritated Sal said.
 
“Just answer the question.
 
What’s
the one thing?”

“If Tree let another man touch her,
it’s over.
 
Alright?
 
Did I answer your little question?”

Sal frowned.
 
“If another man touch her?
 
Get the fuck out of here!”

“You asked me!”

“If another man touches her,
Reno?
 
How many women have touched your
slick ass?
 
Give me a break!
 
There’s no way I’ll leave Gemma over something
that ridiculous!”

“Yeah, right, Sal,” Reno said.
 
“So a man can touch your wife, and that’s
okay with you?”

“Hell no it’s not okay.
 
But I’m not ending my marriage over it!”

“Yeah, well, you ain’t me.
 
Nobody’s touching Trina but me.
 
No ands, ifs or buts about it.
 
And she knows it.
 
I’d murder a motherfucker who touches my wife,
and then I’d beat her ass.”

“And still leave her?” Sal asked.

“And still leaver her, damn right,”
Reno said.

But Sal and Tommy looked at each
other and shook their heads.
 
“Reno’s
full of shit,” Tommy said, and Sal laughed.
 
Even Reno had to smile at that one.

“I knew when you and Grace walked
into this house,” Reno said, “that y’all were going to announce your
engagement.”

“Sure you did, Reno,” Sal said.
 
“And how did you figure that?”

“Because as soon as I saw Grace, I
said oh, snap!
 
They’re fucking.
 
They are absolutely fucking again.
 
And Grace is not going to let Tommy fuck her
unless he put a ring on it.
 
I know her.
 
She’s a lady.
 
She demands respect.”

Tommy looked at Reno with shock.
 
“What in the world are you talking about?”

“I’m talking you and Grace.”

“But how could you just look at them
and figure they’ve been fucking?” Sal asked.
 
“How you figure that, Reno?”

“Because Grace is glowing,” Reno
said.
 
“I know that glow.
 
It’s the same one Trina gets every time I put
it on her.”

Tommy laughed.

“Tommy’s been fucking the shit out of
Grace!
 
And she’s walking funny too.
 
Yeah, he’s been having his way with that
female.”

Sal looked at his brother and laughed
too.
 
“Leave it to Reno,” he said, “to
think like that!”

But before the day was through, it
was Sal who asked to speak privately with Grace.
 
Tommy was at first a little reluctant.
 
He knew how crude Sal could be.
 
But he also believed Grace could handle
him.
 
He stayed out of it.

They went into Sal’s downstairs
study.
 
Sal asked Grace to have a seat in
front of the desk, and he sat on the edge of the desk.

“I’ve been your harshest critic,” Sal
said to Grace.
 
“I’m sure you know that.”

Grace nodded.
 
“I do.”

Sal looked sincere.
 
“But I need you to understand why.
 
It wasn’t because of what you did in your
marriage, or what he did.
 
It was because
of my love for my brother.”

Sal had to hesitate, as the emotion
could be heard in his voice.
 
He was a
man who did not enjoy public displays of affection.
 
But he knew he had to set the record
straight.
 
“I love my brother and I
cannot bear to see anybody hurt him.”

Grace’s heart went out to Sal.
 
She moved to the edge of her seat, and took
his hand.
  
He squeezed her hand.
 
“I understand,” she said.
 
“I know how close you and Tommy are.”

“He’s been through so much.”
 
Sal frowned when he made that statement.
  
“From our childhood and all through his
life, he’s been through a lot, Grace.
 
When he married you, I thought there was hope for his happiness at
last.
 
I thought finally he’d found the
right one.
 
Then you couldn’t take the
heat, and left him.
 
I was
devastated.
 
And angry as hell.
 
I wanted to pop a cap in your ass, yes, I
did!
 
I’m laying my cards on the
table.
 
I was that furious.
 
But I couldn’t do that to Destiny.
 
Nor you.
 
You had a right to leave him.
 
But
I’m telling you now: you don’t have a right to break his heart again.
 
He couldn’t take it.
 
And I’m not going to stand by and let my
brother go through that kind of pain ever again.
 
Anybody hurt him like that, and that includes
you, will have to answer to me.
 
And
Reno.
 
And Jimmy Mack.
 
And Dommi.
 
And all of the Sinatras because they love Tommy too.
 
In other words, you fuck this up, Grace, you
wouldn’t stand a chance.”