Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) (10 page)

And he
continued to stroke.
 

He
fucked her with a fast but steady pace.
 
He sucked her breasts as he fucked her.
 
She was leaned back on her elbows, her head lobbed all the way back, her
legs now up on Reno’s shoulders, as he fucked her.
 

When
the release came, Reno tried to slow it down.
 
He tried to pace himself.
  
But
the feelings were so intense, and Trina’s vaginal muscles were pulsating around
him so forcefully, that he couldn’t hold on.
 
He spilled into her, his body pushing against her, and he fought with
all he had not to shout it out.
 
And then
Trina came, just as intensely, as she arched up to ease the intensity, but by
arching actually prolonged it.

After
they came, and his dick was still inside of her and they were still locked in a
tight embrace, Reno eventually looked at his wife.
 

“You
know how to put it on me, girl,” he said, and she smiled.

But
Reno’s look turned serious.
 
“But if you
disobey me again, and I find that clown, that Jody Parks, anywhere near you
again, I’m gonna put it on you.
 
And it
won’t be pleasant.
 
Understand me,
Katrina?”

Trina
stared into Reno’s deep, expressive blue eyes.
 
She married one of the most serious, most sincere men she’d ever
met.
 
It used to bother her.
 
She used to want him to let up
sometimes.
  
But after all they’d been
through, especially after that ordeal with Jimmy, she now believed she
understood.
 
He was never wrong when it
came to his family’s well-being.
 
So far,
he was never wrong.

“I
understand you, Reno,” she said.
 

And
for the first time in their marriage, she knew it was true.
 
For the first time in their marriage she felt
as if she finally understood her husband completely.

THREE

Grace
McKenzie drove out of the parking garage at Trammel’s corporate headquarters building
and headed downtown.
 
It was evening rush
hour and the streets of Seattle were nearly gridlocked.
 
With one hand on her cup of Espresso that she
had grabbed from the corner café, and the other on her steering wheel, she
could barely manage when her car phone began ringing.
 
It required some maneuvering, but she was
able to balance her spill-resistant cup as she pressed the button.

“Hello,”
she said.

“Hey,
it’s me.
 
Where are you?”
 
It was Nayla Santiago.
 
Her best friend.
 

“I’m
on my way to Diamante’s.
 
Cam wanted to
meet with me.”

“Cam?
 
Are you joking?
 
Cameron Birch?
 
What the hell for?”

“Hold
on.
 
It’s not about him.
 
It’s about his mother.”

“About
Jillian?
 
What about her?
 
She decided to leave Trammel rather than have
you as her boss.
 
What’s there to talk
about?”

“She
wants to return.
 
Cam is trying to
facilitate her return.”

“She
must be insane.
 
I wouldn’t let her
arrogant ass anywhere near my business.”

“Yeah,
but it was her business.
 
She built that
business. And she still owns a hefty stake in that business. I can’t dismiss
that as easily as you can.”

“But
thanks to Tommy Gabrini it’s your business now.
 
He gave you controlling interest in that company.
 
It’s yours whether she likes it or not.
 
She was your boss, now you’re hers.
 
And as to Cam discussing her return with
you?
 
Please.
 
He may be her son, and he may own five measly
percent of Trammel, but he’s also your ex-boyfriend.
 
An ex-boyfriend that your current boyfriend
already had to get straight for putting his hands on you.
 
I don’t think he’s in a position to
facilitate anybody’s return, Grace.
 
Especially not that witch Jillian.
 
She treated you like a dog when she was in charge.”

But
thanks to Tommy, who gave Grace his forty-one percent shares, coupled with her
own ten percent, she became majority shareholder.
 
Jillian walked out of Trammel and never
returned as soon as she found out.

Now
she wanted back in.
 

“So
where’s this meeting taking place?” Nayla asked Grace.
 
“Please don’t tell me at Jillian’s
house.
 
It’ll be her and Cam against
you.”

“You
know me better than that.
 
I told Cam I’d
meet him at Diamante’s.”

Nayla’s
laughed.
 
“At Tommy’s restaurant?
 
Girl, you’re wrong for that!
 
You’re meeting your ex-boyfriend at your
current boyfriend’s restaurant?”

“It’s
not as dramatic as all that, Nay, keep your shirt on.
 
It’s just that it’s the only place where I’d
feel comfortable meeting Cam.
 
I
certainly didn’t want him at my office, or my home.
 
And I wasn’t going to his home.
 
Diamante’s is the best place.”

“But
why?
 
Tommy’s still out of town, isn’t
he?”

“Yeah,
but Sal Luca’s there,” Grace said.
 
“I
didn’t tell him anything, but I know him.
 
He’ll keep an eye on Cam.
 
You can
believe that.”

“Sal
Luca,” Nayla said with obvious distaste in her voice.
 
“I don’t know how you say two words to that
little racist.”

Grace
laughed and turned into Diamante’s parking lot.
 
“Sal is not a racist, Nay, come on.”

“He
is a racist, I’m not taking it back!
 
He
looks at me like I’m a piece of trash whenever I’m anywhere near him.
 
The only reason he treats you with respect is
because he’s afraid of Tommy.
 
But get
that asshole away from his brother for two seconds and I guarantee you there’s
a white sheet with two holes it in somewhere in his closet.”

Grace
shook her head.
 
“You need to quit,” she
said.
 
“But anyway I’m here now so I’ll
talk with you later.”

“You
know why I called, Grace,” Nayla said.

Grace
hesitated.
 
“Yes, I know,” she said.

“Why
didn’t I get the job?”

Grace
exhaled.
 
Here goes.
 
“Because you weren’t the best person for the job,”
she said.

“I’ve
been with Trammel almost as long as you have.
 
Now that you run things you should be looking out for me.
 
I think it’s wrong that you would give that
job to a complete stranger off the street when I was more than qualified for
it.
 
And I’m your freakin’ best friend!”

She
might have been Grace’s closest friend, but Grace wasn’t about to go down that
road.
 
There was no way on earth she was
promoting Nayla to a senior management position at Trammel.
 
No way.
 
She was barely holding on to her current position, Grace wanted to
say.
 
“I picked the best person for that
particular job,” she said, instead.

“Yeah,
right, whatever,” Nayla said.
 
“It’s like
a stab in the back, but I’ll get over it.
 
I’ll talk to you later,” Nayla then added and brusquely hung up the
phone.

Grace
clicked off too.
 
Ever since she became
the chief executive officer at Trammel, she’d been making enemies.
 
People wanted advantages from her that she
wasn’t willing to give to them.
 
She knew
their work ethic.
 
She was right there
when they were cheating then-boss Jillian.
 
She would be the fool of fools to put them in position to cheat her.

She
drained down the last of her Expresso, placed the empty cup in the cup holder,
and got out of the car just in time for the Valet to come over and retrieve her
keys.

When
Grace walked into the restaurant, Salvatore Luciano Gabrini, better known as
Sal Luca, was standing behind the bar counter reading a newspaper and jostling
around with an old friend.

“Lebron,”
Sal said as he turned the page of the Seattle Times sports section he had
spread out on the countertop.

“Kevin
Durant,” Laxmi, Sal’s friend who was seated at the bar, replied.

“Lebron,”
Sal said again.

“Kevin
Durant,” Laxmi replied.

“Ah,
get lost with your Durant.
 
You’re the only
person on the face of this earth who thinks Durant can be MVP.
 
He’s good for a big man, and he has a monster
game, but LeBron is one of the best all time.
 
LeBron can give Michael Jordan a run for the best basketball player that
ever was.”

“Get
outa here!
 
Bill Russell was the
best.
 
Jordan my ass!”

“How
you doing, Sal?” Grace’s voice could suddenly be heard and both men turned to
the sound.
 
When Sal realized it was
indeed Grace, he smiled.

“Well
hello there.
 
Why didn’t you call and
tell me you were coming?
 
I could have
had a nice table for you.”

“Thanks,
but I’m fine.”

“Come
on, I’ll get you hooked up in the private dining hall.
 
We call it Tommy’s room around here because
he’s the only somebody who ever uses it.”

“I’m
good.
 
I’m meeting somebody.
 
He’s already here, in fact.
 
But thanks,” Grace added with a smile as she
made her way through the crowd.
 
Sal and
Laxmi both checked her out.
 
Lax was
particularly impressed.

“That’s
a good looking woman,” he said.
 
“Who is
she?”

“That’s
Grace.”

“Grace
who?”

“Grace
who.
 
What difference does it make to
you?
 
Grace.
 
That’s all you need to know.
 
That’s Tommy’s girl.”

“She’s
a good looking woman,” Laxmi said again.

“Yeah,
you said that already,” Sal replied, only he said it distractedly.
 
He was too busy checking out the young man
who was seated at the table where Grace just took a seat.
 
A very handsome, blond-haired, surfer dude
type.
 
Tommy had some serious years on
Grace.
 
This guy seemed to be exactly her
age.
 
What was up with this, he wondered.

“Think
she’ll give me her number?” Laxmi asked.
 
But Sal was too busy watching.

“Sal?”
Lax had to say before Sal bothered to look away from Grace’s table and back at
the man in front of him.
 

“What?”

“I
said do you think she’ll give me her number?”

“Do I
think who’ll give you their number?”

“The
pretty black chick.
 
Grace.”

Sal
frowned.
 
“What, are you deaf?
 
Didn’t I tell you she was Tommy’s girl?
 
Didn’t I tell you that was my brother’s
girl?”

“So
what?
 
When is that a big deal?
 
Plenty females around here have been Tommy’s
girl.
  
But that didn’t stop him from
letting them do whatever they wanted to do.
 
I remember kissing a dame he called himself fooling around with, and he
walked right by me like it was nothing.”

“Yeah,
try kissing Grace.
 
I dare you, try
it.
 
When Tommy gets through with you,
you won’t have lips to kiss anybody with.
 
I guarantee it.”

Laxmi
smiled and looked at Grace again.
 
“So
who’s the guy she’s having dinner with then?
 
That ain’t Tommy.”

Sal
looked at Grace too.
  
“Yeah,” he said.
 
“I know.”