Romancing Tommy Gabrini (10 page)

“Because
I have one particular friend who can’t keep a secret if his life depended on
it.”

Tommy
nodded.
 
“Got it,” he said.

Then
Grace added, rather hesitantly because she knew she was going out on a limb:
“You’re welcome to join us.”

Tommy
hesitated too.
 
He dreaded the idea of
another get together, especially with a group of people probably much younger
than he was and none of which he probably knew.
 
But for some crazy reason he was very anxious to see those big, brown
eyes of hers again.
 
And to hear her
laugh.
 
And, if he was man enough to
admit it, to fuck her.

“When
and where?” he asked her.

Grace
smiled, relieved, and told him what he needed to know.

CHAPTER FIVE

The celebration
at Moors was nearly two hours old by the time Tommy made his way into the
private dining hall.
 
Grace had been
looking for him ever since she and Nayla arrived, and it pained her that he had
already consumed that much of her attention.
 
But she couldn’t help it.
 
She was
anxious to see him again.

She
was the first to see him when he walked through the side door.
 
He was once again dressed to the nines, this
time in a light-brown sports jacket, dark-brown slacks, a blue dress shirt and
a gold and white ascot around his neck instead of a tie, a minor addition that
made him look tantalizingly gorgeous to Grace.
 
She hadn’t planned to display such pleasure when he arrived, but she
couldn’t help it.
 
She was pleased.
 
As soon as he walked in she was making her
way to his side.
 

“I
was just about to give up on your,” she said over the blare of the music and
the loud conversations.
 
“I wasn’t sure
if you were coming.”

“And
miss your not-so-surprising birthday celebration?” Tommy asked as she
approached him.
 
“Not a chance.”

Grace
smiled and extended her hand.
 
Tommy
shook her hand but felt compelled to do more.
 
So he pulled her gently to him and kissed her on the cheek.
 
A kiss that seared her.
 
Grace could only hope that her blush wasn’t
showing.

Tommy
tried not to show his own blush as his lips pressed into her tender,
creamy-chocolate skin, rubbed against it, and then sucked off of her in a
tender kiss that left him wanting more already.
 
Even his cock was beginning to throb just from his close proximity to
her.
 
And by the time they began to pull
apart and he was able to see the golden brown of her sensual eyes as they
drowsily reopened, and could smell her soft, sweet scent, his throbbing was
slowly becoming a full-fledged erection.
 
He knew he wanted to see her again, but not until now had he realized
just how badly.

“Let
me introduce you to my friends,” Grace said and was about to turn away.
 
But Tommy pulled her back toward him, his
hand clasping her elbow.
 

“First
I want to know how
you’re
doing,” he
said.

Grace
looked at him.
 
He was a
first things first
man and she liked
that.
  
“I’m doing great.
 
Thanks for asking.”

“Cam
Birch hasn’t been bothering you again, has he?” he also asked her.
 
He’d already had his man look into that
relationship.
 
Dated for a few years,
became engaged, and then broke up for good after she caught Cam in bed with not
one, but apparently two females.
 
Cam
took the breakup hard and had been trying to get back with her ever since.
 
But Tommy was pleased to learn that not once
since Grace kicked Cameron to the curb did she ever try to pick him back up
again.
 

Grace
was kind of surprised that he would ask about Cameron, and then she realized he
witnessed their little scene last night at Jillian’s.
 
“Cam gets on my nerves,” she said, “but he’s
got more sense than to try to bother me.”

Tommy
smiled.
 
“Good.
 
I’m glad to hear it.”

“What
about you?
 
How have you been doing?”

“Since
last night?”

“And
in general, yes.”

Tommy
exhaled.
 
“I’ve been working,” was about
all he could say about it.

“Yeah,
me too.”
  

“I
can see that.
 
You look tired.”

She
agreed.
 
“I am.
 
But I figure you only get a birthday
celebration once a year, so tired or not, I’m going for it.”

“You
looked tired last night, too.”

Grace
was a little embarrassed to hear that.
 
What woman wanted a man to tell her she didn’t look her best when she
thought she’d looked fine?
 
“I didn’t
realize I looked tired last night.
 
At
least not enough to notice.”
 
She also
noticed how Tommy was actually looking at her, rather than past her.

“Are
you taking care of yourself?” he asked her.

“Probably
not,” she admitted.
 
“Not like I should,
anyway.”

“That’s
going to change,” Tommy said flatly.

His
bluntness seemed to take her by surprise.
 
But he wasn’t taking it back.
 
For
some reason, around her, he had no stomach for beating around the bush.

“I
don’t know what I can do about it now,” Grace said slightly defensively.
 
“The work’s gotta get done, and I’ve gotta
work.”

Tommy
smiled.
 
“Understood.
 
But you have to make time for yourself, too,
Grace, come on.”

“Tell
that to Jillian, will you?
 
I can’t catch
a break with that woman.”

“You’re
her chief of staff, at least that’s what I think she said.
 
That should give you some pull.”

“Yeah,
right.
 
I’m her chief flunky.
 
That’s about it in the pull department.”

This
concerned Tommy.
 
“Why would you stay on
a job if it was that limiting?”

“It’s
complicated.”

“Try
me.”

Grace
thought about it.
 
“My father used to
work there.”

“At
Trammel?”

“Yeah.
 
He was the vice president.
 
I was already working there as Jilly’s
assistant, but after Dad died I guess Jilly promoted me in honor of his legacy
or some such business, but she still views me as just her assistant.
 
So here I am.
 
Chief of staff.
 
Which is a good
job, don’t get me wrong.
 
The department
heads respect me because they know I can at least talk to Jilly when they can
barely get an audience with her.
 
But
it’s grueling work.
 
I feel like I put
out fires all day long.
 
I can’t even
remember the last time I was able to take me a vacation.
 
It’s always some crisis I have to deal with.”

“That’s
no way to live.”

“I
know,” Grace said, looking to see what that sudden burst of laughter across the
room was all about.
 
Tommy took a look
down the length of her as she looked away.
 

“Do
you like massages?” he asked softly when she returned her attention to him.

She
hesitated before answering.
 
She knew it
was probably one of his usual lines to get a woman interested, but Tommy had
such a serious look when he spoke about even unserious things that she wasn’t
too sure.
 
“You mean in general,” she
asked, “or for myself?”

“For
yourself.”

“Yes,”
she said, getting serious too.
 
“I love
massages.”

“When
was the last time you had one?”

“Oh,
my goodness,” Grace said, looking up.
 
Tommy looked at her long, smooth neck when she did.
 
“It’s been a long time.
 
Probably some years,” she admitted as she
looked back at him.

“I’ll
have to give you one.”

The
way he said that caused Grace’s vagina to tingle.
 
But she played it off.
 
“Oh, you will, will you?” she asked with a
smile.

“I
will.”
 
He wasn’t smiling at all.

“I
don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I
know it’s not a good idea, are you kidding?” he asked.
 
“It’s a terrible idea.”
 
Then he smiled.
 
“But what does that have to do with anything?”

Grace
smiled, too, and then she laughed.

What
she didn’t realize was that she had two keen eyewitnesses to her laughter.
 
Nayla Santiago, her best friend, and Jamie
Rogers, another close friend, had been spying them from the moment Grace
hurried to Tommy’s side.
 
And they both
were baffled.
 

 
“Who is he?” Jamie asked as his small dark
eyes trailed up and down Tommy’s impressive physique.

Nayla
shook her head.
 
“I have no idea.
 
I thought you knew.”

“I
don’t know a thing, child.
 
She never
mentioned him?”

“Not
to me she didn’t.”

Jamie
looked him up and down again.
 
“He’s
delicious,” he said with a smile.
 
“I
have to give him his props.
 
White boy
got game.”

“But
who is he?” Nayla wanted to know.
 
“You
saw how happy Grace was to see him, and the way he’s got her laughing now.”

“Ain’t
she happy?” Jamie agreed. “But then again who wouldn’t be with eye candy like
that on her arm?
 
And look at that outfit
he’s wearing, girl.
 
I’ll bet it’s worth
thousands.”

“And
those shoes, check them out.”

“Oh,
your boy got some serious greens, all right.
 
Ain’t nothing fake on that man’s body.
 
Not even that man’s body.”

Nayla
would normally laugh at Jamie’s one liners, but not in this case.
 
She and Jamie were the only two who planned
this surprise party, and neither one of them had invited Mr. America over
there.
 
“But he isn’t exactly her age,
though, is he?” Nayla asked.

“No,”
Jamie agreed, “but so what?
 
The point is
she’s got her somebody substantial.
 
That
has to be the point.”

“Yeah,”
Nayla said, nodding.
 
“Has to be.
 
But why wouldn’t Grace mention him?
 
We rode over here together, and she didn’t
say a word.”

Jamie
stretched his eyebrows.
 
“That is strange
since she tells you everything.
 
But who
knows?
 
Maybe she didn’t want you trying
to take him from her.”

Nayla
looked at Jamie as if he was nuts.
 
“Take
him from her?
 
I don’t roll like that,
what are you talking about?”

“Cam.
 
Hello?”

“I
told you I never touched that fool!”

“That’s
not what I’ve been hearing.”

“Well
you’ve been hearing lies, Jamie.
 
Whoever’s been telling that to you is a liar, and I’ll say it to her
face.
 
I’m just grateful Grace didn’t
believe it.
 
She knows I wouldn’t do that
to her.”

Jamie
looked at Nayla with doubtful eyes.
 
“Whatever, child,” he said.
 

“You
don’t have to believe me,” Nayla said, although what Jamie said was true.
 
She and Cam did hook up once, after Grace
dumped him.
 
But Nayla didn’t see where
Grace needed to know that.
 
“Anywho,” she
continued, “this isn’t about me, anyway.
 
This is about Grace, and who in the world could that hunk of flesh
standing beside her be.”