Romancing Sal Gabrini 2: A Woman's Touch by Mallory Monroe Read Free Book Online Page A

Gemma.   Gemma was staring at him.   And she could tell that he immediately
regretting revealing so much of the other side of his life to her.
    He
attempted to smile, but couldn’t pull it off.   “It’s ready?” he asked instead.
    Gemma
nodded, and stood up.   Sal began removing
his shirt, tossing it aside, as he headed into the bathroom.   He continued undressing once he got in the
bathroom.
    Gemma
studied him.   She decided that the time
was now.   “What was that about?” she
asked him.
    “Nothing,”
he replied as he unbuckled and unzipped his pants.
    Gemma
knew better than that.   She continued to
look at Sal.
    Sal
realized she wasn’t going to let him off that easily.   “Just stuff,” he said.   “Nothing for you to worry about.”   He began to remove his shoes and step out of
his pants and briefs.
    And
Gemma was torn.   Was this going to be
their life?   Sal involved in whoknowswhat kind of mess and she was
supposed to ignore it?   Was that how
those mob wives behaved?   Then she caught
herself.   Mob wife?   She wasn’t his wife and he wasn’t in any
mob!   He promised her he wasn’t.   But she was nobody’s fool, either.   He was in something.
    “I’m
going to go help out at Champagne’s while you bathe and get some rest.   I should be back in a few hours.”
    Sal,
now naked, looked at her, his tanned, toned body unable to escape her
gaze.   “I thought you said you could get
out of it.”
    “I
can,” she said, trying not to get distracted by his nakedness.   “But it won’t be fair to Trina.   I haven’t been to the store all week.   I told her I would come this evening to
discuss inventory.   It’s the least I can
do.”
    Sal
started nodding his head, and his agitation was returning.   “Yeah, right,” he said.   “It’s the least you can do.”
    “I
haven’t been all week.”
    But
Sal wasn’t going along.   “Stop
bullshitting me, Gemma,” he said.   “You
hear me?   The only reason you all of a
sudden need to leave is because of that conversation you just overheard.   Now suddenly you’re wondering how in the
world did you get hooked up with a joker like me.   You’ve got this nice little suburban life,
you don’t need the aggravation.   That’s
what this got to go shit is about, so
don’t fuck with me.   You tell me the
truth.”
    Gemma
just stood there.   She could see the
disappointment in Sal’s eyes.   “That’s
not it,” she said, but he cut her off.
    “That
is it!” he blared.   “That’s exactly it
and you know it.   I’m a big boy.   I can take it.   Took it all my life.   I can take it.”
    A
weary look came over Gemma’s pretty face, and she sat back down on the side of
the tub.   “You’re right,” she said.   And then she looked up at him.   His heart sank when she looked those pretty,
sad eyes up at him.   “I can’t play the dumb
girlfriend,” she said.   “I can’t hear you
talk about tailing people and getting somebody else to go to New Jersey to keep
an eye on the other guy you hired, I know what that means, Sal.   You say you’re not a mob boss---”
    “I’m
not Mafia.   I’m no mob boss, all right?”
    “Then
what are you?” Gemma asked pointblank.   “If you’re not in the mob, then what are you in?”
    “I’m in
looking out for my friends and family.   And running my businesses.   That’s
all I’m about.”
    “But
having people tailed---”
    “Sometimes
it’s messy.”   He was attempting to avoid
profanity.   “You’d better believe it
is.   And I hate that it comes to that.   But what the fuck . . . I mean, what the heck
do you expect me to do?   Sometimes stuff,
I mean shit, I mean stuff, oh fuck!   Sometimes shit falls into your lap, all right,” he went on in his
natural tongue, “and you have to deal with it.   I deal with it, Gemma.   I have
to.”
    Gemma
continued to stare up at him.   She looked
so vulnerable to him at that moment in time that