Page 19 of Sal Gabrini: Man on Fire

And it was only when Sal spoke up did she finally realize what was driving his energy. And it wasn’t entirely passionate.

“Don’t you ever let another man kiss you,” Sal whispered in her ear as he continued doing her, “unless that man is me.” Then he slapped one cheek as hard as he had ever slapped it, and squeezed the other cheek as hard as he had ever squeezed it, and then added: “Capeesh?” as if he wanted to make himself perfectly clear.

His licks did that already for Gemma. And she knew she could object and fight him back. But after she had met up with Mason, and after she had left him to go to her deposition, she realized how out of line he was to kiss her the way he did. They had been lovers once upon a time, but those times were long over. And he knew it. Sal was right to be upset.

But Jimmy was dead wrong to tell Sal her business! He was just like Reno.

“Yes,” she said instead. “I understand.”

And when she didn’t fight him, or try to justify Curry’s actions, Sal relaxed again. And started enjoying doing her again. And within minutes, he was cumming too.

Sal never came in seconds. It took many minutes for him to pour into Gemma. It took so long that Gemma started cumming again. And by the time her orgasm was complete, Sal was still at it. But then he finally eased up, and was poured out.

He slid out of Gemma, which seemed to take forever too, and then she moved off of him. He continued to lay on his back completely satisfied and completely drained. And once he regulated his breathing, he turned onto his side. Gemma turned onto her side too. They were face to face.

She thought he was going to go on and on about Mason, which wasn’t necessary since she got his point and had the pinches and handprints to prove it. But Sal had a weightier matter on his mind.

“I didn’t mean for you to see that,” he said.

Gemma knew what he meant, but she felt he needed to verbalize it. “See what?” she asked him.

“Me in animal mode,” he said with a small smile that was not at all reflected in his eyes.

“You did what you had to do, Sal.”

A look came over Sal’s face that Gemma had never seen before. A kind of defeated look. “I’m getting tired, Gem,” he said.

Gemma’s heart went out to Sal and she began rubbing the side of his face. “What can you do about it? Could you turn over your responsibilities to Robby?”

Sal was shaking his head. “No way. Robby’s great, but that’ll expose my family. If anybody in the underworld knew I was stepping back or trying to retire or any shit like that then they’d be all over us. It’s the game of life. You get your ass in it, you’re in it for life. Why do you think Uncle Mick’s still doing this shit? He’s one of the richest men in the world. He can sail the seven seas and forget this shit. But there’s no getting out even for him. Because no matter where we go, our enemies going too.”

Gemma knew it too. It was a hellish thing to have to live with. But nobody put a gun to her head. She signed up all of her own free will. Which meant Sal’s lifestyle would never be the reason why she’d leave him.

She pulled Sal into her arms, and held him like he was her child.

“You’re the right woman for me, Gem,” Sal said to her.

Gemma looked at him. “What does that mean?”

“You give me just what I need. When I need you to be understanding, you give me understanding. When I need you to be tender with me, you give me tenderness. When I need you to fight like hell for me, you fight for me.” He looked at her again. “You’re the right woman for me, Gemma.”

Gemma was touched. “Thank you, Sal. I appreciate that, I truly do.”

But Sal waited. When it wasn’t reciprocated with words, he looked at her. “Am I the right man for you?” he asked her.

“I don’t know about all that,” she said jokingly. But when he looked concerned, as if he was crushed, she laughed. “Of course you are boy!” she said, and he smiled too. And she held him tighter. And he fell asleep in her arms.

CHAPTER NINE

Mason’s heart dropped through his shoe. He looked at Elsie as if this had to be a joke. “Shewhat?” he said.

“They’re downstairs now,” Elsie said. “With the warrant.”

“But that can’t be right. How is that right? She wasn’t supposed to . . . How could this have happened, Elsie?”

“Just go on downstairs or they will have to come up to get you. They promised no handcuffs if you go on down.”

They were still in Vegas, in a suite at Caesar’s Palace, and the police was waiting downstairs.

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