Romancing Sal Gabrini 2: A Woman's Touch Read online

  Gemma looked at Trina with equal parts horror and humor. “You heard him?” she asked.

  Trina laughed. “Loud and clear, girl,” she said. “Loud and clear!”

  Sal entered the smoke-filled bar and took a seat in a booth near the front. He pulled out his smartphone. He had phoned Gemma earlier and checked on her, so now he was checking his messages. He had tons. He ordered a beer, received it, and continued checking messages. Hush Puppy, one of the more attractive strippers around the place, came and took a seat across from him.

  “How ya’, Sal,” she said, slinging her long, blonde hair out of her long, narrow face. “Long time no see.”

  Sal didn’t bother to look up. “How you doing, Hush?”

  “I’m doing great now that you’re here.” Sal wanted to roll his eyes. Cliché talking was the stock and trade of joints like this.

  But when he still didn’t bother to look up at her, she placed her long, pink, manicured hand on his. “Surely that itty bitty phone cannot possibly be more important than I am.”

  Sal looked at her. She was right. He was being rude. He sat the phone on the table and folded his arms. “So what’s shaking?” he asked.

  She stood up and started twerking.

  He laughed. “Other than that ass of yours?”

  Hush laughed too. “Speaking of ass,” she said, “I thought I’d give you a little sample for the road. Right in the back there’s a room with our name on it.”

  It was certainly tempting. Sal couldn’t recall a time when he was in Jersey, at Barney’s bar, that he didn’t fuck Hush. With double condoms. But that was before Gemma. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

  “No thanks?” She smiled. “Since when?”

  “What do you mean since when?” Sal asked this in his heavy, New Jersey accent. “Since I just told you no thanks. Since then.”

  “But you know you like it, Sal.”

  “I didn’t say I didn’t like it. But not anymore. I’m not interested.”

  Hush Puppy sat down and stared at him. “What’s this about?” she asked him.

  Sal was growing agitated. It was tough enough just to turn her down. “What are you talking? I’m not interested. Big deal.”

  “But I can take the edge off.”

  “I don’t need you to take any edge off.”

  “Since when?”

  Sal frowned. “What are you with the since when? Since I just said so. Since then!”

  Hush stared at him again. “I heard it, but I didn’t believe it. The black chick? Is that the reason?”

  “Don’t you worry about my reasons.”

  “You used to run around talking about how your brother was always dating these black bitches, never any good Italian girls, and now you’re doing the same thing?”

  “If you don’t get the fuck out of here!” Sal said angrily, dismissing her nonsense.

  “You mean to tell me you’re going to give up all of this,” she said, sweeping her hand down along her huge fake boobs and flat stomach, “for some black bitch?”

  Sal jumped up, causing Hush to jump up too. He pointed at her. “Get the fuck out of my face and get the fuck out now!”

  Barney, the owner, hurried over. The few drunks at the bar looked their way, but turned back around. They were far more interested in their drinks. “What’s this about?” Barney asked, looking angrily at Hush. “What are you bothering Sal for?”

  Hush couldn’t believe it. “Bothering Sal? He was the one coming at me!”

  “Just get your ass backstage and get ready for your next number. If Sal don’t want you, he don’t want you. Don’t you keep bothering him about it!”

  Hush looked at Sal again, as she left.

  Barney smiled. “She don’t mean no harm, you know that, Sal.”

  Sal continued to stand as he took a huge gulp from his mug of beer.

  “She likes you, that’s all,” Barney continued. “You know how to do her. Most men can’t do strippers, their holes are too big. You’re big enough to fill it.”

  “Why did you call me here, Barn?” Sal asked, finding it disgusting to be discussing sex with another man. “My plane is waiting on the tarmac. I’m ready to blow this town yesterday. So what is it?”

  “Patience has never been your strong suit, you know that?”

  “You got two seconds, then I’m out of here.”

  “All right already.” Then Barney looked around. Saw nothing but a few drunks hanging around. “Come with me,” he said, and began heading for the backrooms.

  Sal drank more beer and then followed him.

  When they got to the very last room at the end of the hall, Barney stepped aside and allowed Sal passage in. When Sal walked in and saw a blast from his past, a man he used to know so well, his heart dropped.

  “What the fuck?” he asked.

  Patrick Pacheco, called Patty by his friends, grinned a big, gap-tooth smile. “Surprise!” he said gaily. He was seated behind a small desk. Another chair was empty in front of that desk.

  “What are you doing here?” Sal wanted to know.

  “Is that any way to treat the man who served all those years in prison for your ass? How about a kiss?”

  “How about a kiss my ass?”

  Patty laughed. “Same old Sal. That’s what I always loved about you, Salvatore. You always keep that same evil disposition.”

  “I’ll leave you two gentlemen to it,” Barney said, glad to be the facilitator only, and closed the door as he left.

  “What are you doing here?” Sal asked. “You aren’t due out yet.”

  “You, my friend, go to the head of the class. Of course I’m not due out yet, you dickhead! You think I’d be in this dump if I was due out? You think I’d be anywhere near Jersey if I could go anywhere I wanted to go and be anything I wanted to be?”

  Sal was stunned. “You broke out?”

  Patty laughed, and started nodding his head. “I broke the fuck out!” he said with joy. “It was beautiful, Sal. And you know what’s even more beautiful about it? They don’t even know I’m gone yet!” He started grinning. “They won’t know that until tonight. That’s how easy this shit was. And I’ll be long gone by then.”

  Sal was uncomfortable with this. He knew he owed a big-ass debt to Patty. Sal shot a man, the man fingered Patty before he died, but Patty never snitched. The prosecutors offered Patty a lenient sentence, a couple years tops, if he’d finger Sal. The guy had pulled a gun and was about to blow Patty away from this life, that was why Sal had to shoot him, but the cops wouldn’t have cared about that. He was a Gabrini. His uncle was reputed mob boss Paulo Gabrini at that time. They would have convicted Sal and thrown away the key.

  But Patty didn’t snitch.

  “Why don’t you sit down, Sal,” Patty said. “I don’t bite.”

  Sal sat down in the chair in front of the desk. One time, back in the day, these two men were the best of friends. “So what do you want?” Sal asked. “What does any of this have to do with me?”

  “What do you think? You shot that man, I didn’t. But did I turn you in? No, Sal, I didn’t.”

  “And I looked out for your son, just as we agreed.”

  “Fuck my son! You think that’s enough for what I did for you? All those years rotting in jail and you think that’s enough?”

  “What do you want?”

  “I need to get lost. And I mean the kind of lost even dogs can’t sniff out. Which means I need money to get lost. Your kind of money.”

  Sal stared at his old friend. And he suddenly felt trapped. He thought about Gemma, a woman who was the most upstanding woman he’d ever met, a woman who swore to uphold the laws of the land without flinching. An attorney no less. She would have a fit if she even knew he was having this discussion.

  But then he thought about what Patty had done for him. That was no simple favor. He had saved Patty’s bacon by firing that shot, but Patty had saved his by shutting his trap. He was in a tough spot.

  But it wasn’t like he
had a choice.

  After making that choice, Sal got away from Jersey as fast as he could. It had been a long, hard trip and he couldn’t get away fast enough. And some six hours later, still drained and jet lagged, but excited to see Gemma again, he walked into the lobby of the Clark County Courthouse. And he saw her, upstairs in the atrium, hugging on some tall, good looking, black stud of a man. His heart sank.

  It wasn’t exactly the kind of welcome back he was expecting.

  THREE

  “What in the world are you doing in Vegas?” Gemma and Marsh Denning stopped their friendly embrace. They were in the atrium of the courthouse, with all manner of movement around them, and Marsh had just surprised her with his presence. “The last time I saw you was in Seattle, at the convention.”

  “I’m here on a case,” Marsh replied. “I started out as the consulting attorney, but now they’ve asked me to take over as lead.”

  “Well good for you.”

  “Thanks. But it’s a messy one.”

  “In Vegas, they all are.” Marsh laughed.

  “So look at you,” he said. “I learned so much from that class you taught at that lawyers convention. Think you’ll teach it again next time around?”

  “Hell to the no,” Gemma said, and Marsh laughed again.

  Sal was downstairs, looking up at the twosome and how easily Gemma was making the guy laugh.

  “Besides,” Gemma added, “I doubt if they ask me back. I wasn’t exactly the talk of the convention.”

  “But you were a great teacher, don’t shortchange yourself. You had your facts together. That’s what I love about you, Gem. You take care of business.”

  Gemma studied Marsh. What she remembered most about him wasn’t his competence at all, or his business acumen, but his unfaithfulness to his wife. He was married, supposedly happily married, but he couldn’t stop trying to pick her up. When she turned him down, twice, he searched out other females. He was, in truth, exactly what she despised in men. He was, in truth, the very reason she was taking it slow with her own man.

  “But yeah, it’s so good to see you again,” he said. “I miss that knowledge of yours. Not to mention that rockin’ body.” He said this with a smile and looked down the length of that body. Sal saw him make that look.

  Same old Marsh, Gemma thought. “So how’s your wife?” she asked.

  Marsh smiled. “Oh, so you remember my marital status.”

  Gemma didn’t respond to that. It wasn’t a joke to her.

  Marsh got the point and stopped smiling. “She’s good,” he said. “Thanks for asking.”

  Gemma knew the last thing he wanted to do was thank her for asking about his wife, or to remember he had one.

  “Anyway, I’d better run,” Gemma said, and put out her hand. “Nice seeing you again.”

  Marsh took her hand, but held onto it. He even placed his other hand on top, sandwiching her in. Sal saw that too. There was a time he would have run up those stairs and socked the guy for the imposition alone, but it wasn’t the way the guy was reacting to Gemma that interested him at this phase in their relationship. It was Gemma’s reaction. His greatest fear was that their long distance relationship would draw her into the arms of some great looking, smooth-talking Joe, like the guy upstairs.

  “I wonder if we can get together,” Marsh said.

  “Sorry, no,” Gemma said, removing her hand from the sandwich, and about to leave.

  “All business I promise you,” Marsh said. “I want to hire you as a consulting attorney on the case.”

  This interested Gemma enough to listen. “And what would I be consulting on?”

  “This jurisdiction. I’ve never worked a case here in Vegas and I need to know what to expect. For my client’s sake.”

  “You’re at trial now?”

  “No. Getting ready for voir dire. I could really use some pointers. For my client’s sake. No monkey business, I promise.”

  Gemma smiled at the way he phrased that and then they both turned to the sound of someone dropping a book on the stairs. She thought she saw a familiar face further down those stairs, but she turned back to Marsh, who was still talking.

  “I’ve tried cases in Nevada before. Carson, Reno, places like that. But this is Vegas, baby. The real deal. I need to know the customs, the nuances of the jurors here. Please. If you don’t mind?”

  Then Gemma looked back down those stairs again. And that was when she saw just who that familiar face was. It was Sal! Her heart soared.

  “I’ve got to go,” she said hurriedly and was about to get away.

  Desperation rose up inside of Marsh. “At least give me your office number,” he said just as hurriedly. “I want to hire you. I’ll make an appointment.”

  Gemma looked at him.

  “For my client’s sake,” he added. “I only want to make sure I get this right. I’ll be happy to pay you a more than reasonable consultation fee.”

  There were differences from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Gemma knew he was right about that. And she also knew Vegas and their jury pool like the back of her hand. And she knew she could easily handle Marsh and his ridiculous flirtations. And the money wouldn’t hurt. She therefore reached into her briefcase and pulled out one of her business cards, handing it to him.

  “Thanks, Gem,” Marsh said with a grand smile, accepting the card.

  “Gotta run,” Gemma said, taking off without looking back this time. To her own surprise, she couldn’t get to Sal fast enough.

  But Sal was downstairs watching how fast she was getting to him, and it concerned him. “Take it easy,” he said beneath his breath as she flew breezily down those stairs, her briefcase and purse flying just as freely as her lithe body.

  And what a body, Sal thought as he watched her fly. She was tall and slender, not thin, and with all the right curves. Her hair was short, soft and vibrant, with a bounciness to it Sal loved. And there was no narcissism about her hair either. He could run his hands through it at will, and she never complained.

  And that dark, gorgeous face. Those high cheekbones and full, perfection lips. He was still amazed that he once wondered about her beauty, and whether she was the best-looking woman he’d ever seen, or the ugliest. Now best-looking or beautiful or even gorgeous weren’t strong enough words to describe how he felt about her looks. He even noticed other men giving her approving looks, sometimes double takes, as she hurried down those stairs and across the lobby toward him.

  He also noticed how that stud upstairs was still standing there, staring at her too.

  As soon as Gemma arrived at Sal’s side, that remarkable face of hers was bursting with the most welcoming smile.

  “Hey, Sal,” she said grandly. She wanted to jump into his arms, even in the middle of the courthouse lobby, but there was still an awkwardness about their relationship that kept them both cautious. They’d been dating for a few months now, but they’d only been able to see each other a couple weekends out of those months. And that didn’t include when she left him after she found out he had to retaliate forcefully against some enemies of his. She went back to him, and promised to work through her concerns, but that didn’t end her concerns.

  Their relationship was still, for both of them, a work in progress.

  “How are you?” Sal asked her, equally cautious.

  “I’m great.”

  “Next time don’t run down those stairs so fast. You trip and fall, that’ll be a long tumble down.”

  Gemma was so unaccustomed to somebody concerned about her at that simple level that she almost wanted to laugh. Sal could be so protective! But she didn’t. She was learning more and more about him. And this was no laughing matter for him. “I will be more careful,” she said.

  “Because all it takes is a little trip.”

  “That’s true.”

  Sal studied her. He loved the way she was learning to trust him more, without battling him. But he knew it would take time before they both were one hundred percent on the same page
, and he had promised her he wouldn’t rush it. She left him once before, he didn’t want to ever have to go down that road again.

  But that didn’t mean he didn’t want to hold her. He wanted to feel her in his arms again so badly that he could barely contain himself. He wanted to run his hands through that soft, bouncy hair of hers. But he was, technically, at her place of employment. He didn’t want to embarrass her in front of her peers.

  But when she said, “it’s so good to see you again,” and smiled that smile he still dreamed about, he was a goner. Fuck it, he said to himself, and pulled her into his arms.

  Gemma’s heart leaped with joy when Sal took her into his arms that way. It was that tough, rough, unable to be diplomatic Sal’s way that she loved. And she missed it desperately. She missed that warmth and safety she always felt when he held her. He was a muscular man, and strong, and whenever he held her she felt so vulnerable! But it wasn’t a vulnerability that came from a place of weakness, but a place of affection. She really wanted to trust this guy. She really wanted to love this guy unconditionally. But she’d been hurt so many times in the past by guys who didn’t mean half as much to her as Sal already meant to her. And they managed to hurt her. She could only imagine what Sal, if he messed up, could do to her. And that reality, that she could be giving her heart away for the trampling, frightened her beyond compare.

  Sal wasn’t exactly unconcerned about their relationship either. As he held her, he held his eyes tightly shut. It wasn’t because of the physical part of their relationship. All Gemma had to do was feel his already sizeable boner against her body to know that there was no question about how easily she could turn him on. It was the emotional part that concerned Sal the most. He’d never felt this way about any of his previous girlfriends. He’d never worried about them the way he worried about Gemma. He’d never hated to part from them the way he always hated to part from Gemma. And when he pulled back from her and looked into her bright brown eyes, he’d never wanted to kiss them the way he wanted to kiss her now. And although he knew he might be crossing a line, and she might have to hear about it later from her teasing co-workers, he couldn’t help it. He placed his lips on her lips, his big, blue eyes immediately turning hooded with lust, and he kissed her. Long and sweet. He relished the kiss.