Romancing Tommy Gabrini (20 page)

CHAPTER TEN

Tommy
stood in front of his fireplace holding a fresh glass of wine and staring at
the burning embers.
 
Like his mood, the
fire was slowly losing steam.
 
And like
that fire, he was distracted, too.
 
He
couldn’t stop thinking about Grace.

Thought I’d try those open
relationships you spoke so highly of
, she’d said.
 
And she
said it after mentioning that she was going on a date with some
hunky guy
she didn’t even know.
 
When she said she was going on a date
tonight, Tommy felt as if he’d been hit in the gut.
 
And then for her to joke about maybe having
casual sex with the guy disturbed him no end.
 
It was still bothering him.
 
The
idea of another man touching her, of even seeing her naked body, made him feel
uneasy.
 
And the longer he stood there,
and thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.

But
why, he wondered.
 
He hadn’t seen her in
two months.
 
She probably had had many
dates since theirs.
 
Just because she
wasn’t actively on the dating scene when he met her, didn’t mean after their
coupling she would automatically get back on that shelf.
 
Especially a woman like Grace, who had so
much to offer any man smart enough to take her.
 

But
why was he so concerned?
 
All it took was
one meeting and he was consumed with her again?
 
He even phoned and asked her out.
 
He had no intention of doing anything like that when he returned from
Europe.
 
But the more he thought about
it, and remembered those beautiful eyes of hers, he urgently needed to see her
again.
 
So he called her up.
 
And she turned him down cold.

He
deserved her rejection.
 
There was no
doubt about that.
 
He should have even
expected it.
 

But
what he didn’t expect was the pain it caused.

His
cell phone began to ring.
 
For a hot
second he hoped it was Grace.
 
He grabbed
it and looked at the caller ID.
 
He exhaled
and answered.

“Hello
there,” he said into the phone.
 
It was
Kara, one of his female friends.
 

“When
did you get back?” she asked him.

“Couple
days ago.”

“And
didn’t bother to phone me?”

“I
thought you were still in L.A..”

“I
was.
 
I just got back myself.
 
I got home, got unpacked, and decided to give
you a call.
 
Why don’t you come over?”

Tommy
stared at the fire.
 
Kara used to be one
of his favorites.
 
But if he was going to
sleep with anyone, he would rather it be Grace.
 
“Not tonight, babe,” he said.

“Oh,
Tommy!
 
Come on over!
 
Don’t you miss me?
 
You know you’ll enjoy yourself.”

“I’m
sure I will, but not tonight.”

There
was a pause.
 
She knew when Tommy was in
one of his moods.
 
“Maybe another time
then,” she said.

“Yeah,
maybe.”

“Party
pooper.
 
But anyway.
 
Talk to you later.”

“Okay,
Kara, take care of yourself.”

“You
too,” she said and hung up.

 
Tommy shut his phone and then began, once
again, thinking about Grace.
 
That
smile.
 
That grin-like laugh.
 
Those eyes.
 
And he became angry with himself.
 
Why was he standing here obsessing over some
woman who probably had another man in her arms right now, when he could be
fucking a beautiful woman like Kara who wasn’t interested in any strings
whatsoever?

“Ah,
to hell with it!” he said aloud, tossed his remaining wine into the fire, and
headed for his front door.

“So
what do you think?” Jamie asked after Grace had excused herself and went to the
restroom.
 
Teron and his brother Ray both
nodded their heads.

“She’s
hot,” Teron said.

“I
don’t know, bro,” Ray said.
 
“She seem a
little snooty to me.”
 
Then he
smiled.
 
“Nothing I can’t handle,
though,” he said with a grin, and Teron laughed, too.
 

“And
you gonna have to handle her, too,” Jamie said.
 
“She need a man after that loser she was dating, but she won’t put up
with anybody’s bullcrap.”

“Like
I said,” Ray said, still smiling, “nothing I can’t handle.”

Jamie
heard him, but he wasn’t at all convinced.
 
He wanted Grace to have somebody, but he was beginning to wonder if Ray
was as good a fit as Teron had claimed he’d be.
  
He looked good, but that was about all he
had going for him.

When
Grace returned, she remained in her friendly but not exactly upbeat mood.
 
She wore a pair of gray slacks, a
crisscrossed purple blouse, and ankle boots.
 
She looked beautiful.
 
But Jamie
kept feeling that she wasn’t connecting to Ray.
 
He was okay in Grace’s eyes, Jamie suspected, but he was a hard sell.

“You
let it all out?” Ray asked with a smile as he stood and helped Grace back to
her seat.

She
smiled.
 
“Yes, I suppose I did,” she said
as she sat down.

And
the conversation continued from there.
 
Ray was nice and funny and he reminded Grace of Cameron.
 
He was lean, but well-built, and his
intentions were very clear: he wanted some.
 
He may have wanted a wife and all of that, too, but tonight he just
wanted some.

And
although Grace liked him, she wasn’t about to give him any.

“Check
him out,” Jamie said and Grace looked at him, and then looked toward the
entrance of the crowded restaurant where he was looking.
 
And coming toward their table, in a pair of
black slacks and a black turtleneck, was Tommy Gabrini.
 
Grace’s heartbeat began to race.

Jamie
looked at her.
 
“What’s he doing here?”
he asked with a smirk on his face.

Grace
shrugged her shoulders. “How should I know?”

“Who’s
he supposed to be?” Ray asked, looking at the white man walking toward them,
too.

“A
friend of Grace’s,” Jamie said.

Tommy
saw the two young men seated at the table with Grace and Jamie, and he wondered
again why he was even doing this.
 
Grace
would have looked good with either one of those men, and either one would have
looked good with her.
 
He suddenly felt
out of his depth.
 
He never, not ever,
crashed a date before in his life.
 
But
as soon as he saw Grace when he arrived at their table, he knew it was worth
it.

“Hello,
Tommy,” Jamie said with a smile.
 
“How
you doing?”

“Doing
good, Jamie,” Tommy replied. “How about you?”

“I’m
great.
 
What brings you to Moors?”

Tommy
felt old and big as he stood over the table filled with beautiful young people.
 
“I’m here to see Grace,” he said then looked
at Grace.
 
“Hey.”

Grace
looked up at him.
 
“Hey.”

His
heart rammed against his chest when he saw her big, brown eyes.
 
Yes, he thought.
 
She was worth it.
 
“May I speak with you?” he asked.

Grace
was still thrown by his appearance, but she began to stand up.
 
“Sure,” she said as she stood.

Ray
stood up, too.

“Excuse
me, guys,” Grace said.

“But
where are you going?” Ray wanted to know.

“I’ll
be right back,” Grace said and then allowed Tommy to escort her out of the
restaurant, his hand on the small of her back.

Ray
wasn’t feeling it.
 
He sat back
down.
 
“Who the hell is that?” he asked
Jamie.

“A
friend of hers, I told you.”

“What
his old ass want?”

“He’s
in his late thirties,” Jamie said.
 
“I
wouldn’t call that old.”

“But
what does he want with Grace?”

“Who
knows?
 
She didn’t even know he would be
here tonight, you saw how surprised she was.”

“I’m
going out there,” Ray said but Jamie pulled him back and sat him down.

“No,”
Jamie said, “you’re not.
 
That’s her
business out there.
 
You’re staying out
of her business.”

“Why
should it matter to you?” Ray wanted to know.

“Because
I brought her here for this blind date.
 
If she likes you, fine, she’ll hang with you.
 
If she doesn’t, that’s going to be fine, too.
 
Feel me?”

Ray
looked at his brother Teron.

“If
she wants him,” Teron said, “then you don’t want her.”

But
Ray still wasn’t feeling it.
 
He leaned
back, and looked out of the window.

Jamie
looked outside, too.
 
He could see Tommy
and Grace standing near the entrance.
 
Tommy had one hand in his pants pocket and Grace had both of her arms
folded.
 
They appeared uncomfortable to
Jamie.
 
And then Tommy pulled out a
cigarette.

Grace
was surprised.
 
“I didn’t know you were a
smoker,” she said.

“I
used to be a smoker.
 
A heavy one.
 
I quit over a decade ago.
 
Now I just take the odd puff.”

“Why?
 
What’s usually the reason that you would risk
getting addicted again?”

“Stress,”
Tommy said.

Grace
smiled.
 
“You’re telling me that coming
here has stressed you out?”

Tommy
took that odd puff.
 
Looked at the way
Grace’s eyes twinkled in the moonlight.
 
“Oh, yes,” he said.

This
surprised Grace.
 
She stared at him.
 
“Why would coming here stress you out?”

Tommy
took another puff.
 
It wasn’t in the coming,
but in the reason why he came.
 
He was
about to make a commitment to her, if she would agree to it.
  
The last time he committed to any woman he
was left dangling like a piñata.
 
And
that was a commitment to a woman he had known for years.
 
He just met Grace.
 

He
knew he couldn’t answer her question.
 
Not yet.
 
“Which one was your
date?” he asked her.
 
“The guy that stood
up?”

Grace
was, at first, surprised by his dodge.
 
She thought of Tommy as a straight shooter.
 
Occasionally smoked.
 
Dodges questions.
 
Both only highlighted how little she really
knew him.
 
“Yes,” she replied.
 
“His name is Ray.”

“He
seems possessive already.”

Grace
smiled and unfolded her arms.
 
Tommy
looked down at how her blouse crisscrossed at her exposed cleavage.
 
“He thinks he’s going to get some, that’s all
that’s about.”

Tommy
smiled too, although the thought of it was killing him.
 

“But
he’s okay,” Grace continued.
 
“He’s
nice.”

“Oh
yeah?
 
So you like the guy?”

“I
just met him, but I don’t dislike him.
 
He’s okay.”

“More
your type than I am?”
 
Tommy couldn’t
believe he asked that question, but he had to know if she had strong feelings
for him.
 
If he was only okay to her, and
likeable enough, then he could pack it up now.
 
He didn’t want another woman who was ambivalent about him.
 
ShoShawna gave him all the ambivalence, all
of the uncertainty, he was ever going to tolerate again in a relationship.