Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor by Mallory Monroe Read Free Book Online Page A

traveled fast that he and Liz were no longer an item, and he was back on
the market, but to even his shock he didn’t participate.   He knew he could have any of those women he
wanted.   They were blowing up his phone
mercilessly.   But Liz was right.   In his eyes, none of them were going to match
up against Grace.   She was the one who
got away.   Grace was his measuring
stick.   She was now his gold standard.   Because he didn’t realize what he truly had,
until she was gone.
    What amazed his brother Sal and his
cousin Reno, however, was how he was living his life after Liz.   No sex, no other woman to warm his bed.   They couldn’t believe it.   They thought it was because of Liz.   They thought she broke his heart.   He told them differently, but they didn’t
believe him.   He was always taking the
rap, they felt, when these women mistreated him.
    But Tommy knew better.   He knew that the only reason he hadn’t jumped
into another temporary relationship with yet another gorgeous, but temporary
girl, was because of a gorgeous girl named Grace.   He was a man who was tired of playing the
short game.   He was getting too old for
that shit.   But he wasn’t about to tell
Grace about his feelings.   She was a
married woman trying to make her marriage work.   He would never intrude on that.   But it was a fact he had to stop denying.   Grace still had his heart.   And probably always would.   In time he would play the field again.   He was horny as hell even as he sat in his
Ferrari.   But he wasn’t ready yet.   For some strange reason, and it was super-strange
since he was not committed to anyone at the moment, playing the field would
feel like cheating.
    But then the front door of the
suburban home opened, and his daughter ran out.   Early this morning his negotiating team phoned and urged him to get to Vienna.   Negotiations were breaking down in the
Gabrini Corporation’s merger talks with tech giant Manesco, and they needed
their chairman there to smooth things over.   But nothing was going to keep him from his child’s birthday.   He told them he would fly to Vienna later,
after the conclusion of her birthday party, but not a second before.   Since he was the boss, they had no choice but
to accept his terms.
    Destiny Gabrini was the prettiest
child in the world to Tommy.   He smiled
as soon as he saw her.   She was biracial,
the product of his Italian genes and Grace’s African-American genes, and she
was a sight to behold.   Long, wavy black
hair, smooth brown skin, big, bright eyes, and an elegance about her that
defied her young age.   She reminded him
of her mother so much, even down to the shape of her ears.   People would look at her and declare her a
black child only.   No way was her father
white.   But they would be wrong.   She was his.   Other than skin color, she, in actuality, looked like all the best features
of both her parents.
    “Daddy!   Daddy!” she happily cried as she ran up to
him.
    He got out of his car and gladly
hoisted her into his arms.   “My big
girl,” he said joyfully too, as he lifted her.  
    “It’s my day of birth, Daddy!”
    “It’s your birthday,” Tommy said with
a smile, and closed his car door. “Yes, I’ve heard.”
    “You came to my day of, I mean to my
birthday!”
    “That’s right,” Tommy said as he
carried her back up the steps.   “I
wouldn’t miss it for the world.   You’re
my number one person in this whole wide world, don’t you know?”
    “You’re my number one person too,
Daddy.   You and Mommy.”
    Tommy was pleased to hear it as he
carried her across the porch and into her home.  
    When Tommy entered the home and
looked up, he saw Grace Jefferson coming out of the dining room, which was at
the far end of the large living room area.   And as soon as he saw her, his heart did that double-beat again.
    “There you are!” Grace said to their
daughter and began walking their way.   She
had a