“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.
“I wouldn’t say he was my type, no,” Grace said.
Tommy took another puff. She wasn’t going to give him a direct answer, he now realized. He had to go out on that limb all by his lonesome and then find out for himself if she was interested.
“When we talked at Jilly’s dinner party,” he began, “you mentioned some of the things that you wanted.” He looked at her. “You remember that, don’t you?”
“I remembered, yes.”
“If I understood you correctly, being a wife and mother was at the top of your list.”
Grace’s heart began to pound. “That’s right,” she said.
Tommy stared at her. She was astounded by the intense seriousness in his big, blue eyes. “I want that too,” he said.
She almost joked about it. She almost joked, you want to be a wife and mother, too? But she couldn’t go there. She couldn’t even smile. This was too important to her. “You do?” she asked him.
Tommy nodded. “Yes. I want marriage, and I want children, too.”
Grace’s heart began to soar. “How many?” she asked with a smile.
Tommy smiled too. “As many as that sweet vagina of yours can pop out.”
Grace laughed. Tommy remained serious.
“It was a dream I thought was never going to come true for me,” he said. “And, who knows, it still may not. But I thought, since we want the same things, that we might hook up and see w
here it goes. I won’t rush you into any marriage, that’s not my style. We’ve still got to get to know each other. But if, at the end of the day, we haven’t murdered each other, then I say we should go for it.”
Then he paused, staring deep into her eyes. “What say you, Miss McKinsey?” he asked her. His heart was hammering when he did.
Grace wanted to say yes immediately. But she remembered what Nayla had said. And what he had said about his relationship preference. “What about all of your friends with benefits? Will I have a man working on building a relationship, and a life with me, or will I have a man working on a relationship with me while fooling around with a truckload of other females?”
Tommy smiled at her truckload reference. He tossed his cigarette to the ground and smashed it underfoot.
Grace looked at his expensive shoes as he smashed his cigarette. She looked at his tailored trousers, at that diamond ring and Rolex that sparkled against his white skin. This man owned Diamante’s, and the largest share of Trammel, and she didn’t even know what else. This man that she was about to go down the road to her dreams with was in a league she’d never even played in. Jillian was wealthy. Her own father had been upper middle class successful. But Tommy was rich. This was going to take some getting used to for her. It was as thrilling as it was daunting. But she wasn’t about to decide anything until he answered her question.
He walked up to her, placed his hands on the side of her arms. “I assure you,” he said, “there will be no benefits given to anyone but you. I want you, Grace. You. I want to see if I can make it work with you.”
Grace nodded her head. She was as terrified as he was. She’d been hurt, too.
“I say we go for it,” he said.
Grace thought about it. She thought long and hard. Then she smiled. “Okay, Tommy Gabrini,” she said. “I would love to for you to be my boyfriend.”
Tommy’s heart soared at the thought of a man-of-the-world like him being somebody’s boyfriend.
“But,” she added. “Just so that we’re clear. I’m not interested in just having somebody. I want somebody who wants to see it through to the end.”
Tommy smiled. “Understood.”
“I know many guys would say and have said anything to get into my panties.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Oh, yes. But since you’ve already been in my panties,” Grace added and Tommy laughed, “then I don’t think I need to worry about that part.”
Tommy pulled her closer, placing his arms around her waist. “You won’t be sorry,” he said. “I promise you that. I don’t know what you heard about me, but I keep my promises.”
“I did hear a lot about you, though.”
“Yeah?” Tommy asked and looked at her. “Like what?”
“I’ve heard that you’re an asshole and a womanizer.”
“Ouch,” Tommy said with a smile.
Grace was serious this time. “So it’s true then?”
Tommy turned serious, too. A grim look appeared on his face. “I’m no saint, Grace. You aren’t hooking up with any choirboy. I’ve done things in my life that I’m not proud of, but I handle my business. And if that means I have to be an asshole to do it, then that’s what I am. But as for the womanizing, that’s over.”
“It’s not going to be easy. I know females. And I’ve experienced your dick.” Tommy laughed. “I’m just keeping it real,” Grace continued. “They are not going to like the fact that that piece of plumbing of yours is out of commission. I’m telling you they are not going to take that well. Are you going to be able to handle that business?”
Tommy pulled her closer still. “Yes,” he said, kissing her on the lips. “I’ll think of them, and I’ll think of you. It’ll be a piece of cake I assure you.”
Grace smiled. This man really did know how to handle his business.
“Now you take your pretty little ass,” he said as he looked around first and then squeezed it to her pleasure, “and tell your date and your friend goodbye. You’re going with me.”
“Yes, sir,” she said as she turned to leave.
“And Grace,” he said and she turned back around.
“Yes?”
“If going forward you even think about having a date with any man other than me, then that sweet little tight ass of yours is gonna be grass, and my dick is gonna be the lawnmower.”
Grace shook her head. “That is so lame,” she said with a laugh, and went back into the club.
Jamie and Ray both saw how intimate she had been with Tommy. Although they couldn’t hear a word of their conversation, they could tell it was intense. They could also see how Tommy had kissed her and had squeezed her ass. Jamie realized at that moment just how much he had underestimated Grace’s feelings for the man.
When she arrived at their table, Ray was ready to pounce. “What’s going on, Grace? If Nayla hadn’t stopped me, I would have been out there all over that brother. Squeezing your ass like that. What’s the deal? I thought you were my date?
“I thought so too,” Grace said as she grabbed her purse and jacket. “But I was mistaken. I’m leaving with my boyfriend,” she said proudly.
Jamie looked at her with stretched eyes. “With your what?”
Grace smiled. “With my boyfriend,” she said to her good friend. “He asked if he could be my boyfriend. That’s why he came.”
Jamie looked concerned. “But you remember what Nay said about his, for lack of a better word, reputation?”
“I remember. We’re working on that.” Grace reached down and kissed Jamie on the cheek. “I’ll call you later,” she said. “Bye, Teron, bye Ray. I’m sorry but. . .”
“But shit happens, right?” Teron asked.
“Right,” Grace said with a smile.
“Wrong,” Ray said. Grace and Jamie looked at him.
“Don’t be difficult, Ray,” Jamie said.
“I don’t get this,” Ray said, looking at Grace. “Why you letting that white cracker make you leave?”
“He’s not making me do anything.”
“Then sit down and finish your drink with us. Why you all of sudden got to go just because he showed up? It’s because he said you’ve got to go, that’s why, and you yessur, massa and get to stepping?”
“That’s nonsense, Ray,” Jamie said and Grace, refusing to even dignify it with a response, turned to leave.
Ray, however, wouldn’t let up. “He’s an abuser, you know that, right?”
Grace looked at Ray. “What?”
“He’s an abuser. He’s one of those guys who love to date young girls so he can boss them around.”
“Well, then, he’s out of luck this time because I’m hardly a girl.”
“First time he beats you, don’t come running back to me.”
The first time he beats me? Grace looked as if she couldn’t believe his nerve. “Don’t worry,” she said, said goodbye to Jamie again, and left.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The drive to Tommy’s home was filled with a kind of quiet acceptance. Grace had many mixed feelings, although the most dominant feeling was joy. She was happy to give a relationship with Tommy a shot. He was high maintenance, she knew that to be true. Nobody who drove a Ferrari and had the style Tommy Gabrini had couldn’t be anything but high maintenance. But he maintained himself, and was now asking to maintain her, too.
She looked over at him as he turned another dark corner and drove them down another dark road. She knew hooking up with a man like him was risky. He was one of those men who wasn’t about to let his woman dictate to him. He was going to be the boss in this relationship. He would be the one to determine their fate as a couple. She saw how he handled Jillian. Nobody handled Jillian, yet he did so with ease.
She stared at his profile as he drove. She could lose herself in him. She saw it that night, when he made love to her, and she saw it even clearer now. She could fall so hard for this man that she might forget where the bottom really was. She might keep moving the goal post,
keep moving the line, keep allowing him to control every aspect of her life until she wouldn’t know where he ended and she began. And because of her love for him, and devotion to him, he could have all of the power. He could take advantage of her on every turn, and irreparably break her heart.
Maybe that was the beating Ray was talking about.
But she couldn’t let it happen. She had to walk down this new road slowly. And the first false move he made, especially if that move involved a female and anything that could harm her self-respect, she had to be strong enough to walk away right away. She couldn’t hang in there like she did with Cam. Because if she stayed this time, with this man, she might not be able to ever leave him.
Tommy could tell she was growing more apprehensive the further away from Moors, and thus her comfort zone, they traveled. He wasn’t exactly a ball of confidence, either. He just agreed to exclusivity with this woman. He just agreed to work on this relationship to see if it could lead to marriage. To marriage! And he still was reeling. He still couldn’t believe he just agreed to any of it. But he had. There was something about Grace that made him want her above all others.
And he made up his mind so easily too. That was the amazing part to Tommy. All he had to do was see her again and then start thinking about another man touching her, being with her, lying in bed with her, and he was ready. He was ready to see this through.
He stopped at a red light and looked over at her. She’d been taking numerous peeps at him during the entire drive, but now she was looking out of the side window. And her concern, her fear, her terror was as real in that car as the steering wheel he clutched. He reached over and took her hand. Not just to steady her, but to steady both of them. Because he was baffled too. What in this world was it about this particular woman that had him ready to give her his all?
But when he took her hand, and she looked at him with those large brown eyes that showed so much humanity, and vulnerability, and sweetness, that he somehow knew what it was about her. He couldn’t verbalize it for a million bucks, but somehow he knew.
“Don’t worry,” he said to her. “I won’t break your heart.”
Tears welled up in her eyes when he said that, and began to trickle down her face. She needed that reassurance. She understood that he could just be saying it to make her feel better. Those could be just hollow words. But she was pleased to hear him say those words.
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