Nice Girl (30 page)

“Luke’s not feeling well, Jamie.  You go ahead.  I’ll check Grace’s room for her.”  Vinnie cut in.

“Okay, thanks Vinnie.  We all need to take care of our Grace.” Jamie squeezed my hand.

At that moment, I promised I’d name my first born Jamie.

I was almost hyperventilating as we all walked into the elevator.  I avoided eye contact with Jamie.  I was nervous his face would be obvious about the little lie he just told to get Vinnie to my room.   I was so thankful that my floor came first.  I just wanted to run out of the elevator before everyone realized the real reason Jamie was pushing Vinnie to my room.

“Sweet dreams, Grace.”  Luke yelled as Vinnie and I walked out. 

I nodded but still didn’t look up.  I rattled with the items in my small clutch bag to give me something to do while I pretended to search for my key card.

“What’s the room number, Grace?”  Vinnie’s husky voice made my pulse jump. 

“Oh, uh, right here.”  We reached my room.

“Too many slasher movies, huh?”  Vinnie chuckled.

“Yeah. Too many where the killer was hiding in the closet.”  I laughed.   My voice was still a little shaky and then realized it was probably playing perfectly with Jamie’s ruse.

“Don’t worry.  Grace, I’m your hero, remember?”  Then he gave me a devious smile.  

Immediately, I felt a surge of arousal.

Time to psych myself up.  Jamie helped get him here.  Now it was up to me to get myself together. 

My fingers trembled as I ran the key card through the door slot. 

“Let me go in first Grace.  I’ll protect you.”  Vinnie laughed.

We walked into my room.  As I put my purse and key card down, Vinnie opened the closet door.

“Don’t forget to check behind the shower curtain.” I tried to joke.  God, I’m so lame.

As he checked the bathroom, I sat on the bed and pulled off my heels.  After eight hours of partying, my feet were starting to feel it.  Vinnie came out and saw me wince.

“Do you want me to massage your feet again?”

“Are you kidding me?  You don’t even have to ask.”  I scooted back against the bed’s headboard a little too excitedly.

He chuckled.  “I’m glad you think I know what I’m doing.  I’ve never massaged a woman’s feet before.”

“Really?  You’re so good at it.”  I tried to relax as he sat at the edge of the bed and took both my legs on his lap.  I felt like a little girl next to his huge body.

He started massaging my feet.  How could he say he has never done this before?  He knew exactly how much pressure to use.  He pressed in deep but with gentle strokes.  As I started to imagine where else those hands could go, I felt my hips unconsciously move. 

Time to distract myself.  Start a conversation.

“Did you have a good time tonight?”  I asked.

“For awhile….until you got knocked down.”

“Yeah, that was an experience I’ll never forget.”  I grumbled at the memory.  “Is everything okay with you and Anthony?”

“I’m kind of mad at him right now.”  He didn’t add anything more.

“I don’t mean to pry.”

  “I don’t mind talking about it with you.   Which is kind of strange for me.  You may have noticed I’m not much of a talker.  Yet, with you somehow it seems easier.”

“I’m glad.”  There was no way he could even fathom how good that did make me feel.  Like maybe I was the only woman who could break those barriers.  Instead of just listening, my nerves made me rattle on.  “I was just concerned.  I know how close you and Anthony are.” 

“He and I seem to be going down different paths.  When we started A and V, we were going to change the direction of our lives together.”

He kept up the massaging but seemed kind of lost in his thoughts.

“But you both did.  A and V is totally successful.”

“Not just professionally but also personally.”  Vinnie had stopped massaging but used his hands to keep my legs on his lap.  I had never been more thankful for the waxing I got at the spa.  He looked up at me intensely and continued “I like the direction I’m headed.  I think Anthony is going backwards.”

“How so?  He did break up with Carmella.”

Vinnie snorted.  “The only reason he broke up with Carmella is because she wouldn’t go as far as he wanted to take her.”

“What do you mean?”  I had a feeling I knew where this was going.  I remember the stories that Anthony had shared with me about all those orgies that went on at Vinnie’s home.   I had often wondered how many times Anthony was invited to join in.  Both of them definitely grew up around a lot of sex.

“He’s started to go to those clubs.  The ones where you can use the whips and chains and shit.  I knew he was into the whole voyeurism experience.  He likes being watched.  So at first, I wasn’t concerned.  I figured this sex club would be good for him.  He had to stop using our office so the club would help get it out of his system.  But then he started telling me of things he was trying to get Carmella to do.  She refused.   I am no fan of Carmella but I had to agree with her on this one.  Anthony is starting to get perverted with what he wants from a woman.”

“My friend Dee, who lives in Chicago, seems to be fascinated by that whole BDSM scene.  She was telling me about how these clubs work.  There’s one in Chicago that has four different floors.  The intensity level has to do with what floor you choose.  I guess Anthony would be on the top floor.”

“No, Anthony would probably be on the roof for what he wants to do to a woman.”

“Why is he acting like this?”

“I don’t know and believe me, I’ve thought about it.  Maybe it’s the stress of running A and V.  He knows I don’t like to deal with the clients directly so he takes on too much.  We don’t need all the cases he agrees to take on.”

“So you think he needs to let loose because of stress?  It sounds like it goes beyond that.”

“He told me he has always felt this way.  He’s tired of hiding it.”  Then Vinnie paused.  He looked nervous.  He took one more breath before he continued.  “He said I’m being a hypocrite criticizing him when I have my own issues when it comes to women.”  Then he looked at me and I swear it was fear I saw in his eyes.

“You would never hurt me.”  I whispered.

He took my legs off his lap and started to get up. 

Here we go again.  He was now shutting down.  I had to do something. 

“I should go, Grace.  It’s getting late.”

“Don’t go yet.”  I know my voice sounded panicked.  I touched his arm.

He was so hard and strong, I swear touching him radiated heat. 

I took my arm into his and pressed my chest into his side.  I laid my head on his shoulder as I wrapped my other arm around his waist.   I’ve been around him for months.  I had been flirtatiously touching him for weeks.  Nothing prepared me for what I felt as I hugged him.  It wasn’t just sexual now.  I was falling in love with him. 

Falling hard.

“Vinnie, I know how you feel about me.”  I didn’t lift my head as I said it.

I felt him stiffen.

“You can do better than me, Grace.”  His voice hardened.  It was the typical angry Vinnie voice.

I lifted my head and looked in his eyes.  “You really believe that Vinnie?  You think another man could take care of me the way that you do?”  I laid my head back on his shoulder.  “I can’t imagine being with anyone else but you.”

He turned into me then and wrapped both his arms around me.  Besides the few times I had actually gotten to kiss him, this felt the most intimate of all.  He just held me.  Both of us didn’t say a word.  He began stroking my back and I felt electricity.  I smelled his familiar after shave and immediately sighed.  I could just melt into this man. 

Finally he spoke.  “I can’t imagine being with anyone else but you either.”

I wonder if he felt my smile since my head was still heavy against his chest. 

Then we heard a soft knock at the door.  I jumped.

I raised my head and looked at him quizzically.  “Jamie?”  I said although I knew it couldn’t be.  Jamie knew enough not to bother us.

Vinnie’s eyes hardened.  “Stay here.  Let me answer that.” 

I felt an immediate loss when he uncurled his arms from me. 

I was infuriated.  It must be someone at the wrong room.  Whomever it was had now interrupted a very special moment.

I started to follow Vinnie to the door.  He turned.  “Stay. There.”  He said all controlling. 

I smiled. 

It still amazed me that strong confident woman gets so easily turned on by her man’s domineering attitude. 

He opened the door. 

I heard an intake of breath and quickly a panicked voice.  “Oh uh sorry.  I must have the wrong room.”

I recognized the male voice but was drawing a blank on the name.

Then Vinnie exploded.  I watched him go through the door so fast that it slammed shut.  I heard a crash.  I cringed at the idea of Vinnie slamming someone into the other side of the wall. 

As I ran to the door to open it again, I heard Vinnie in that venomous voice “Don’t fucking tell me you were looking for Grace.”

“No, it was a mistake.  Get your hands off of me.”  I heard the pleading.

Oh dear god, someone was going to call the police.

I felt like time was suspended as I opened the door to find Vinnie with one hand shoving a man against the wall.  His other arm was placed at the man’s neck effectively choking him.  It was the same stance he used at the A and V open house when he attacked Sal.

This time the man Vinnie was subduing was Jeff.

Jeff?  How did he know my room number?

“Vinnie, please stop.”  I begged.  “I’m sure Jeff wasn’t looking for me.  This is some kind of misunderstanding, right Jeff?”

Jeff barely croaked out “Yes.  A-a mis- mis-understanding.”

“Vinnie, you’re choking him to the point he can’t breathe.  Stop!”  I put my hands on the arm he was using to hold Jeff back. 

Vinnie looked like a different person.  His eyes were dark and boring into Jeff.    I was shaking  and so was Jeff yet Vinnie’s body was in total control.  It actually frightened me how Vinnie could look so calm.  Almost like choking a man to death was no big deal.

“Grace.”  Vinnie said in a voice that lacked all emotion.  “What do you think might have happened if I wasn’t in your room when this asshole came knocking?”

“Nothing.  I would have seen him through the peephole and not answered the door.  Now come on.”  I tried tugging on his arm but it was like moving stone.  “Please, Vinnie.  You’re scaring me.”

That must have finally done it.  I knew how much he cared for me.  Playing the you-are-scaring-me card seemed to snap him out of it.

He let go of Jeff.  “Don’t go near her again.”

Jeff smartly didn’t say a word.  He ran towards the elevators at top speed. 

For some strange reason, the latch to double lock the door was pushed out when I ran out in the hall.  It stopped my hotel door from closing.  I was relieved we didn’t get locked out.  The idea that we might have had to share an elevator with Jeff would have been quite uncomfortable. 

I noticed that Vinnie did not come back completely in my room.  He stood by the door.

“Vinnie, please come in.”

“Grace, I can’t.  Did you see how I lost it?  This is what I’m talking about.“  Then his voice dropped to a whisper.  “I wanted to hurt him more than you can ever know.”

“He was an idiot to knock on a woman’s door uninvited.  You just reacted.”  I kept trying to get him out of the doorway.  He wouldn’t move. 

“No Grace.  That wasn’t when I wanted to hurt him.  It was when he was dancing with you.”

“What do you mean?”   I think my heart broke.  The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt him by that stupid dance with Jeff.

“It means…..”  He said more forcefully “….that you bring out feelings in me that make me lose control.  No one has ever done this to me.  Watching that fucker dance with you.  Watching him put his hands on you.  I wanted to kill him.  I can’t handle these feelings.  I’m sorry, Grace.  I just can’t.”

He turned around and stormed out.  

I stood there staring at the closed door.  Not able to move.  Not able to think. 

It took me a few minutes to even realize that there were tears streaming down my face.

Chapter 34

Why was I surprised?

Vinnie avoided intimacy at all costs. 

Scared-of-men- no- experience Grace wasn’t going to change any of that.

Seeing first hand his hurt and anguish was like a blade piercing my heart.  I had never seen Vinnie weak.  He was hurting because of me. 

And now he was gone and I couldn’t do anything about it.

What would I have done?

I would have continued laying my head on his shoulder with our arms wrapped around each other.  Just reliving that moment was like my dream come true.

My magical night of romance and passion was not going to happen. 

If there was ever a moment where I needed to prove to myself that I was strong, it was now.  I’m not going to throw myself on the bed and sob.  I’m not going to wallow in self pity.  Vinnie was hurting and all I could think about was his pain.  He said I made him feel.  It obviously frightened him more than it did me. 

When I saw the relationship starting to grow from friendship between us, the last thought that crossed my mind was that he would be more scared off from a relationship than me.  After all, he was the one with all the sexual experience.  He was so big and tough and powerful. 

There was one area where his physical strength didn’t matter.

I was going to overcome my fears and my weaknesses by being there for him.  Even though my desire for him was killing me, I would be patient.  I was just now realizing that something very real was happening between us.  This was no sexual fling.  I cared about this man too much now. 

My tears stopped as soon as I decided that I would be the strong one. 

I started to get ready for bed.  I took off my new dress and hung it carefully in the closet.  The closet that Vinnie needed to check to make sure no intruder was lurking there.  I smiled to myself thinking of such a far-fetched story.  Jamie and Luke were pretty clever with that deceptive maneuver.