Sal Gabrini 4: I'll Take You There (The Gabrini Men Series Book 7) (2 page)

But
it was early still.
 
He had asked her to
marry him only a week ago.
 
They hadn’t
notified her folks yet.
 
There was still
time, he thought sadly as he left the room, for her to change her mind.
 
There was still time, he continued to think
as he headed down the stairs, for her to break his heart, and save her own.

CHAPTER TWO

Gemma
Jones stood at the window inside her law office and stared at the rock on her
finger.
 
It must have been the thousandth
time she’d put it on and stared at it.
 
She was still amazed.
 
A week ago
Sal asked her to marry him, and she said yes.
 
She was soon to be Mrs. Salvatore Luciano Gabrini.
 
Mrs. Gemma Jones-Gabrini.
 
It had a nice
ring
to it, she thought with a smile, as she stared, once again, at
that ring.

Then
she stopped all of the smiling and started thinking about Sal.
 
He was a man who came with some serious
baggage.
 
There was no way around that
reality.
 
But even with his issues, there
was no turning back for her.
 
No cold
feet; no hesitation whatsoever.
 
She
couldn’t wait to be Sal’s wife!
 
Just
thinking about that man not only made her feel happy, it made her feel
sensual.
 
And desirable.
 
Like the most beautiful girl in the
world.
 
Thinking about Sal made a
no-nonsense woman like Gemma Jones feel giddy and romantic.
 
Sometimes, late at night, when he wasn’t with
her, she’d still smell his wonderful scent.
 
Or sense his presence.
 
Or she’d
still feel his dick wedged inside of her.
 
Just sitting there, the way he did it sometimes.
 
And then she’d see his blue eyes smiling at
her, and feel his big arms around her, and she’d miss that man in ways she’d
never thought possible.
 

She
was no emotional female.
 
She wasn’t the
type to ride or die, or let some man dictate her life purpose.
 
But when it came to Sal, she was becoming a
different woman.
 
She was becoming
that girl
.
 
He made her feel like a kid again.
 
He made her feel that it wasn’t a sign of
weakness when you choose to put your total trust in somebody else, but a sign
of unconditional love.
 
And she loved and
trusted Sal.
 
She trusted him with her
life.

It
was Sal who was taking it slow.
 
It was
Sal who forbad her to tell anybody about their engagement until they had a
chance to sit down and tell her parents first.
 
It was Sal who left nearly a week ago on a business trip, and hadn’t
bothered to give her a call.

Not
that he ever called her on any daily basis before.
 
He didn’t.
 
Many times she wouldn’t hear from him for days on end.
 
It was just his way.
 
It was as if he didn’t want her to suddenly
become needy and clingy like most of his girlfriends of the past.
 
He loved her strength and independence and
even told her, after he proposed to her, that she’d better not change.

But
something in her was changing.
 
She did
feel she needed Sal.
 
And although she
wouldn’t say she was clingy, she certainly wanted to be with him all the time!
 
They had things to work out, and a wedding to
plan.
 
And what about the super-major
matter of their living situation?
 
She
lived in Vegas and he lived and ran several businesses out of Seattle.
 
They hadn’t even discussed how they were
going to manage that.
 

It
was mainly because of their busy schedules.
 
She returned to Vegas the day after his proposal, not because she wanted
to.
 
She had to appear in court with some
of her clients, and he had his own businesses to run.
 
Then something apparently went down in
Baltimore that demanded his attention.
 
And
he’d been away handling that situation for the past week.

The
door of her office opened and Curtis Kane, her secretary, walked in.
 
Gemma slowly eased her hand to her side, to
shield her ring from view, and turned toward the door.

“Yes,
Curtis?”

“Mrs.
Katrina Gabrini is here to see you, boss.”

Oh, great
, Gemma thought.
 
Trina
!
 
The woman with the golden eye for anything
diamond.
 
“Send her in,” she said and
walked over to her desk.
 
She stood
behind the desk and calmly, but quickly removed her ring and slipped it into
her desk drawer.
 
And not a moment too
soon as Trina Gabrini walked in.
 
She was
a gorgeous woman with a curvaceous shape, long hair, and an awesome combination
of dark-brown skin and cute, hazel eyes.
 
She was removing her gloves and talking, all at the same time.

“I
told Curtis he could work for me at Champagne’s.
 
He has the personality for it.
 
But he turned me down cold.
 
No way is he leaving Jones Law Firm, he
said.
 
‘Law Firm,’ I said.
 
‘So it’s firm now?’
 
Used to barely be an office.
 
But you go girl!”
 
Then Trina shook her head with a smile.
 
“I’m just messing with you.”

“It’s
after five, Tree,” Gemma said as she sat down behind her own desk.
 
“How did you know I’d still be here?
 
I thought you said you were coming at three.”

“I
couldn’t get away at three.”
 
Trina sat
down in front of the desk.
 
“Business is
actually picking up.
 
You should try
working in the store yourself sometimes.”

“I’ve
been in court on cases all this week.
 
You know that.”

“Speaking
of court,” Trina said.
 
“I also want a
divorce and need your expert advice.
 
Reno is driving me nuts!”

Gemma
smiled.
 
Reno Gabrini, who happened to be
Trina’s husband, was Sal’s cousin.
 
“I’m
an attorney,” she said, “but I’m not a divorce attorney on any day of the
week.”

“You
ought to be!
 
That’s where the money is,
honey.
 
I’ll divorce his butt and take
him for every dime he’s worth.
 
And he’s
worth a lot of dimes.
 
I’ll take him for
every one.”

“Yeah,”
Gemma said.
 
“I don’t believe that.”

“I
don’t either,” Trina said.
 
“But it sounds
good, doesn’t it?”

Gemma
leaned back.
 
“It must be bad.
 
For you to come to my office.
 
For you to refuse to discuss it while you
were still at Champagne’s.
 
It must be
bad.”

Trina
nodded and stopped with the joking around.
 
“It’s bad.
 
It’s Liz.”

“Liz
again?”

“Liz
again, girl.
 
It’s not working out.
 
She keeps pulling this shit, and we can’t
keep standing back and letting it happen.
 
Do you realize that woman had one of our customers in tears yesterday?”

Gemma
frowned.
 
“In tears?
 
What happened?”

“The
woman was looking at some of our sexy lingerie, right?
 
Minding her own business.
 
Doing what a customer does.
 
But Miss Liz Mertan, that heifer, tells the
woman that maybe she should go down the street, to the plus-size shop.”

Gemma
was floored.
 
“Oh, Tree!
 
She didn’t!”

“Oh,
yes, she did!
 
She did!
 
That’s the what?
 
The third time she’s embarrassed our
customers that way?”

“That
we know of.”

“Right!”
Trina agreed.
 
“She thinks her skinny ass
is the norm!”

“But
we have plus-sized lingerie,” Gemma said.
 
“Why wouldn’t she want to sell it to the lady?”

“Because
she would rather embarrass the lady.
 
They had apparently got into some verbal kerfuffle that day, mainly
because the woman claimed the store smelled like mothballs and Liz claimed she
needed to have her nose examined.
 
Stupid
stuff.”

“Very
stupid,” Gemma agreed.
 
“Liz knows the
customer is always right.
 
Just say sorry
about that, and move the hell on.
 
You
don’t get into any verbal back-and-forth with a customer.”

“Right?
 
But not Liz.
 
She got
 
into it with the
woman.
 
That’s why she wanted to
embarrass her.
 
That’s why she wanted to
put the lady in her place, so to speak.
 
Oh, and did I mention that the customer was black?
 
They all are.
 
The ones she harasses all are.”

Gemma
exhaled.
 
“We can’t have that.
 
We’re a minority-owned business.
 
Liz is white, but she’s only one-third of the
business.
 
You and I are two-thirds.
 
And how can a black-owned business allow
racism and size-ism and whatever other kind of
ism
she’s practicing?”

“I
know!”

“But
the problem,” Gemma said, “is her ownership.
 
We can’t bar her from working in her own store.
 
As long as she co-owns it, she has ownership
rights.”

“I
say we buy her out,” Trina said.
 
“That’s
why I’m here.
 
What say you?”

“Buy
her out?
 
Trina, I can’t afford to buy
that woman out.”

“Oh,
come on, Gem!
 
You own this office
complex.
 
You collect rents on three of
these offices.”

“And
every dime of that rent collection is going to my retirement.
 
I’m not spending it on something frivolous,
like buying Liz out of a high-end clothing store! I can’t afford to do that
right now.”

Trina
shook her head.
 
“You are so special,”
she said.

“And
what is that supposed to mean?”

“Newsflash,
Gemma Jones.
 
Sal Gabrini is your
boyfriend.
 
Hello?”

He
was more than that now, Gemma thought.
 
But Sal had sworn her to secrecy.
 
Trina would be told, but not yet.
 
“He’s my boyfriend,” she said.
 
“So what?”

“I
don’t know if you truly realize it,” Trina said, “but Sal is a very, very, did
I say very, wealthy man, Gem.
 
It’ll be
nothing for him to give you the money.”

But
Gemma was already shaking her head.
 
“Nope,” she said.

“Gemma!”

“No,
Tree.
 
He’s given me more than
enough.
 
He paid off my house, he paid
off my car, and he paid off this building and gave each one of those deeds to me.
 
I’d feel like a moocher, like a freeloading
leech, if I were to go to him and ask him for more money.
 
No way.”

“You
didn’t ask him for any money to begin with,” Trina reminded her.
 
“He paid off each one of those properties
because he wanted to do something special for your birthday.
 
You never asked him for shit.
 
And because you’ve never asked him for
anything, he owes you!”
 
Trina said this
with a smile.
 

Gemma
smiled too.
 
But she was firm.
 
She wasn’t going to put herself in a position
where she was totally dependent upon her man.
 
She loved Sal, and was anxious to be his wife, but she had to be herself
too.
 
Not just his wife.
 
Not just
his
.

Her
cell phone rang.
 
When she lifted it from
her desk and looked at the Caller ID, she smiled.
 
Sal calling her was always a treat for her.

“I
know what that smile means,” Trina said.

Gemma,
embarrassed that Trina witnessed her obvious excitement, toned it down.
 
But quickly answered the call.
 
“Hello?”

Sal
was on his private plane, reading over documents, with his legs crossed.
 
When he heard her voice, he smiled.
 
“Hey babe,” he said.