Romancing Sal Gabrini 2: A Woman's Touch (8 page)

“They
won’t hate you.”

“Don’t
give me that!
 
What if they do, Gemma?”

“But
they won’t.”

“What
if they do?”

Gemma
had to think about this.
 
“Then . . .
we’ll just . . . we’ll just have to disagree.”

“Bullshit!”

Gemma
felt as if he’d just slapped her.
 
She
didn’t like his tone at all.

But
Sal wasn’t backing down.
 
“What if they
hate
me, Gemma?
 
I’m not talking dislike and disagree.
 
I’m talking stone cold hate.
 
What if they hate me?
 
Will you still love them and respect them
then?”

“I
don’t . . . I can’t . . .”

“Well
see,” Sal said, “that’s the problem.
 
They’re your wonderful parents.
 
You only get one set.
 
I’m just
the boyfriend.
 
The one they hate.”

This
distressed Gemma because she knew he spoke the truth.
 
“They won’t hate you,” she ultimately said.

“Yeah,
right,” Sal said.

“Stop
saying that,” she snapped.

“What
do you want me to do, Gem?
 
Want me to
play games with you?
 
I’m not exactly
Mister Lovable and you know it.
 
My own
mother didn’t give a fuck about me, so don’t pretend I’m easy to love.”

“Oh,
Sal,” Gemma said heartfelt.
 
She knew
about his past, about his mean, abusive father and absent mother.
 
About his trunk-load of pain.
 
Family was a tough subject for Sal.
 
She knew it.
 
She moved closer to him, and put her arms around him.
 
“It’s okay,” she said.
 
“Maybe you’re right.
 
Maybe it’s still too early in our
relationship.
 
Maybe now isn’t such a
great time.”

He
looked at her.
 
“I don’t want to lose
you,” he admitted.
 
“I don’t want you to
have to choose.”

“You
won’t lose me,” she said, “and I won’t let anybody, not even my parents, get
between us.
 
Maybe later in our
relationship, when you realize you aren’t in love with some punk, you’ll
believe me.”

Sal
smiled, touched her face, her smooth, black skin.
 
“You’re no punk, hun?”

“Not
a punk-ass bone in my body,” Gemma said, causing him to laugh heartily.
 
Then he got out of bed.

“Where
are you going?” she asked him.

“Pee,”
he said.

She
smiled as he walked into the bathroom, his long rod seen swinging between his
legs as he walked away from her.
 
And
just like that she was craving his dick again.
 
She could feel it as if it was still wedged inside of her.
 
And she knew she was going to get some
more.
 
That was the wonderful part about
Sal being in town.
 
He was completely in
tune with her wants and needs, and he made it his business to satisfy those
wants and needs.
 

She
lay on her back, listening to him pee and how insanely normal it sounded.
 
She could get used to having him around, she
thought.
 
Then she realized she was
hearing nothing more from the bathroom, but she was feeling his presence.
 
She looked over and saw him standing there,
leaned against the bathroom doorjamb, staring at her.

“What
is it?” she asked him.

He
folded his arms.
 
She could tell that he
was thinking, considering, deciding.
 
She
looked down, at his flat stomach, at his enormous dick, and then back up into
his face.

“Set
it up,” he said.

Her
heart began to soar.
 
Did he mean what
she thought he meant?
 
“Set what up?” she
asked, to be certain.

“Set
up a meeting with your parents.
 
The
sooner the better.”

She
wanted to scream with joy, but she had to be absolutely certain.
 
She studied him.
 
“Sal, are you sure?”

He
nodded.
 
“I’m sure.
 
Because you’re right.
 
My woman, the only woman I’ve ever allowed to
be called my woman, is nobody’s punk.”

She
smiled, and immediately reached for the telephone.
 
“Love you,” she said with a grin on her
pretty face.

“You’d
better,” he said, inwardly smiling and happy that he could please her.
 
Then he pushed away from the doorjamb and
returned to the bathroom to do those wonderfully normal activities of flushing
the toilet, and washing his hands.

FIVE

Gemma
poured coffee in her coffee mug and then thumbed through her smartphone to read
up on the morning news.
 
This was her
relaxation time.
 
She’d already showered
and brushed her teeth and combed her hair.
 
Now she was in her bathrobe enjoying the calm before the storm of her
usually hectic day.
 
Sal was upstairs,
still asleep, and she could actually hear him snoring all the way
downstairs.
 
But she didn’t mind.
 
The man was bone tired.
 
He deserved a morning off.
 
Besides, she loved the idea of having, not
just a man in her bed, but Sal in her bed.
 
Whenever he came to town, she got that warm, fuzzy, Christmas
feeling.
 
Whenever he left, she kind of
got the blues.
 
She got over it, but for
a day or two, it was a very depressing feeling.

She
stopped reading and thought about that.
 
What if it didn’t work out with Sal?
 
Would she be able to handle it?
 
She knew intellectually she would.
 
But would she emotionally?
 
She’d
been in love before, many times before, but never this deep.
 
And never ever with a man like Sal.
 
If he left her, would she go to pieces?
 
If she had to leave him, would she be able
to?

She
closed her eyes and tried to relax again.
 
Stop with the questions, she inwardly urged herself.
 
That was why she knew she had to take this
slow.
 
She couldn’t allow her life to
become all about him.
 
She couldn’t allow
the things that used to bring her happiness, such as her independence and her
freedom, to get swallowed up in the whirlwind called Sal.
 
She couldn’t allow herself to forget about
how much she loved the fact that she had her own house and her own car and her
own business.
 
She couldn’t suddenly
think that she had nothing, unless she had Sal.

Her
phone began to ring in the midst of her thoughts.
 
When she saw that it was Trina, she answered
immediately.
 
“Hey, girl,” she said,
placing the call on Speaker.

“Where
are you?” Trina asked.
 
“Still home?”

“Yup.
 
But not for long.”

“Sal
with you? In the same room, I mean?”

“No,
he’s upstairs.”

“Good.
 
So how did it go?”

Gemma
smiled.
 
“Now you know good and well I’m
not about to discuss that with you.”

“Not
that!
 
Give me some credit, Miss
Jones!
 
I’m talking about your
parents.
 
Did you bring it up?”

“Oh,
that
.
 
Yes, for your information, I did bring it up.”

“And?
 
Has he finally agreed to meet them?”

“He
has, I’m happy to say.”

“Oh,
good.
 
Reno and I were really worried.”

This interested
Gemma.
 
Reno and Trina, after all, knew
Sal far longer than she did.
 
“Why would
you guys be worried?”

“You’re
still young, Gemma, you’re only twenty-nine, but you’ve been around that block
a time or two.
 
You know how it
goes.
 
A man who doesn’t want to meet the
folks is usually a man not all that into you, and not all that serious about
having a long-term relationship with you.”

Gemma
nodded.
 
That was why she loved Trina and
viewed her as her big sister.
 
She helped
her to keep it real.
 
“Yeah, that’s
usually what it means,” Gemma agreed.
 
And, if she was to further admit the truth, she still wasn’t one hundred
percent certain that it still didn’t mean that with Sal.
 
She knew he was serious, and into her on many
levels, but how serious and just how deep into her he really was, was the
million dollar question.
 

“But
you said he’s agreed to meet your parents, so that’s wonderful,” Trina went
on.
 
“You won’t have to bring it up
again.”

Gemma
smiled.
 
“I didn’t bring it up before,”
she reminded her friend.
 
“It was you who
brought it up.
 
It was you who guessed
it.
 
I just confirmed your guess.”

“But
like I said, we were concerned.
 
We know
Sal Luca.”

“And
what is that supposed to mean?”

“He’s
a good guy, an exceptional guy really.
 
He’ll kill you if you cross him, but he’ll give you his last if he trust
you.
 
He’s a rare breed.”

“He’s
a saint,” Gemma said with a smile.

“I’ll
never tell that lie,” Trina said, and Gemma laughed.
 

Trina
went on.
 
“But he does love the ladies,”
she said.
 
“You and I both know that.”

Gemma
had to nod.
 
She knew it.
 

“And
speaking as a woman married to a man who had to give up all of those females,
too, it is not an easy process for them.
 
There may be stumbles along the way.”

Which,
Gemma inwardly thought, was one of her greatest fears.
 
“I know,” she said.
 
“And I appreciate the fact that you don’t try
to sugarcoat it, Tree, or try to make Sal out to be what he’s not.
 
I know how much you and Reno want this
relationship to work.”

“Oh,
do we.
 
You are so perfect for Sal.
 
And we believe Sal’s perfect for you.”

Gemma
smiled.
 
“Thanks, Tree.
 
It doesn’t hurt to hear that somebody’s
pulling for us.
 
Thanks.”

“You’re
quite welcome.
 
But that’s not why I
called.”

“Change
the subject, Sue.
 
That’s you, Tree.”

“That’s
me,” Trina agreed.
 
“But the reason I’m
calling is to invite you guys out tonight.
 
The PaLargio just opened up this new jazz club and Reno thought it would
be a blast for the four of us to check it out together.”

“Oh,
that sounds great, Tree.
 
I’ll have to
check with Sal before I can confirm, of course, but if he’s game I certainly
am.”

“Great.
 
Call me later with the particulars.”

“And
we still need to get together to discuss the inventory, don’t we?”

“We
can talk about it tonight,” Trina said.
 

“That’ll
work,” Gemma said, they said their goodbyes, and ended the call.

After
the call, Gemma took a few sips of her coffee.
 
But just as she was about to get back to reading the news, her doorbell
rang.
 
She looked at the Cartier Ballon
Bleu wristwatch Sal had given to her a month ago.
  
It was only seven-thirty.

When
she walked into the living room and looked out through her peephole, she saw
two men standing there.
 
Since she didn’t
know them, she didn’t open the door.

“Yes,
may I help you?” she asked as she stood at the door.

“We’re
here to see Sal.”

This
surprised Gemma.
 
“Sal?” she asked.

“Mr.
Gabrini, ma’am.
 
He told us to meet him
here.”

Did
he, Gemma thought.
 
He didn’t tell her
any such thing!
 
“May I ask who’s here to
see him?”

“Chazz
Charski,” said one.
 
Gemma remembered the
name from last night.
 
She also
remembered how utterly displeased Sal was with him.

“And
who else?” she asked.

“Will
Murelli, ma’am.”

Gemma
remembered that name too.
 
“Just a
moment,” she said, sat her coffee on the side table, and then headed upstairs.

Sal
was still in her bed, but he was no longer asleep.

“You’re
awake,” she said with a smile, as she entered the room.

“I
thought I heard the doorbell.”

“You
did.
 
Two men are here to see you.”

Sal
looked at her.
 
“What men?”

“Chazz
Charski and Will Purelli.”

“Murelli.”
 

“They
said you told them they could come.”

Sal
nodded as he threw the covers off of his naked body.
 
“I did.”
 
He sat up, his feet on the floor.

“You
didn’t mention it to me,” Gemma said.

Sal
looked at her puzzled.
 
“Why would I need
to mention it to you?”

It
was an obvious reason, this being her house the most obvious, but not in Sal’s
world.
 
Gemma was fast realizing it
too.
 
She was learning that, in Sal’s
mind, what was hers was his and, she hoped, vice versa.

“Come
here and give me a kiss,” he said as he laid down on his back, his feet still
touching the floor.

That
was the most sensible thing he’d said yet, Gemma thought with a smile as she
walked over to him.
 
He pulled her on top
of him, and pulled her into his arms.

“You
smell good,” he said.

“Thanks.”

He
kissed her.
 

“What
do I do with your friends downstairs?” she asked.

As
soon as she said it, a look of alarm came on his face.
 
“You didn’t let them in?”

“No.
 
Of course not!”

Relief
returned.
 
“Good.
 
You’d better not.
 
You don’t know those people.
 
Just because they say my name don’t mean
shit.”

He
kissed her again.
 

But
he still hadn’t answered her question.
 
“So what am I supposed to do with them?” she asked again.

“Whatta
you think?
 
Let’em in.
 
Make’em some coffee.”

Gemma
smiled and shook her head.
 
That
Sal.
 
“Yes, sir,” was all she could
manage to say.

“But
first,” he said, and kissed her yet again.
 
This time even more passionately.
 
She could feel the press of his member, and the way it was slowly
expanding against her.
 
So much so that
she began to wonder if they were going to do something before she went to
work.
 

As
soon as she thought it, it was as if he had thought it too.

“I
want a real kiss this time,” he said.

Gemma
smiled.
 
“What kiss requires you to lay
down like this?” she asked him.

He
smiled too.
 
“The kind that I have every
intention of giving to you.
 
And only
you.
 
And since I rarely get this
particular kind of kiss nowadays, I have to have it every chance I can.”

And
they tongued kissed long and hard.
 
It
reminded Gemma of his sacrifice to be with her.
 
All those business trips he had to make, landing in all of those
different cities and countries, and how the women had to be accustomed to Big
Sal giving them some.
 
Now he only gave
it to Gemma.
 
That had to be a major
sacrifice for him.

Sal
put his hands on her hips as he kissed her.
 
But just as she suspected, his hands moved further down, underneath her
robe, and he began removing her panties.

Once
the panties were removed, he opened her robe and moved her further up on his
body.
 
Then he slung her onto her back,
turning her on just by the suddenness alone, and moved his own body down and
between her legs.

When
he began to kiss her down there, she smiled and relaxed.
 
“What about your friends waiting outside of
my front door?” she asked in an almost breathless whisper.

“They
can wait.”
 
Sal began to lick her down
there.

“And
what if,” she said, sighing from that wonderful feeling, “they start ringing
the bell again, get no answer, and leave?”