Page 24 of Sal Gabrini: Man on Fire

Now it was the night before the trial. The entire legal team was at Mason’s house preparing him for something as major as his possible testimony, and something as minor as his demeanor in court. But his demeanor, to Gemma, was essential to their success at trial because the jurors would either like him or hate him based on how he comported himself at their defense table.

Gemma had hired a team of experts to work with him for months on that very issue. Now it was time for him to show her and her team what he’d learned. Which was a lot. She felt he was ready. And she’d already gone over her opening statements, with the team as her critics. She knew she was ready too.

Which was probably why, while the rest of the legal team said their goodbyes and left for the night, she and Mason remained relaxed on his sofa. He told her he had private questions to ask of her, and she agreed to stay back.

But what got Mason’s dander up was that Gabrini insisted that two of her bodyguards remain inside the house, in every room she was in with Mason. And they were right there in his living room keeping a hawk’s eye on him. He never had a moment’s privacy with Gemma!

But when the rest of the legal team left, he at least had her undivided attention. And he decided to give it a try. “Can your bodyguards step outside while we discuss private matters?” he asked her.

Gemma would have ordinarily said yes, but he remembered what Sal said to her at that airfield. She remembered how Sal had a bad feeling about Mason that he couldn’t shake. “Sal said they have to stay with me at all times,” she said to Mason. “They’re staying put.”

The bodyguards, who were near the entrance door of the house, glanced at each other.Boss taught her well, their looks said to each other.

But Mason couldn’t understand it. “Sal said? Are you kidding me? It’s always Sal said. This is not the Gemma that I know. The Gemma I used to know didn’t take shit from anybody.”

“And I still don’t,” she said.

“Then why are you letting that character dictate what you have to do?”

“He’s not a character, he’s my husband. He has a say in everything that I do just as I have a say in everything that he does.”

Mason smiled. “I doubt that.”

“You doubt what?”

“You dictating what Sal Gabrini can and can’t do the way he does you.”

“Okay,” said Gemma, getting a little pissed. “I’m not arguing with you about my husband, alright? Let’s drop that subject right now.”

Mason smiled. “Now that’s the Gemma I remember!” he said with a laugh, and Gemma laughed too.

Even the bodyguards noticed how Mason kept taking peeps at Gemma’s shapely legs as she sat slouched down in her skintight dress with her legs crossed. She had a drink in her hand, but they also noticed she never once took a sip. But that was Mrs. G., they thought: always cautious. Mason knew it too, and hated that about her.

But what Mason nor those bodyguards knew was that Gemma wasn’t just relaxing. She was also replaying her trial strategy in her head. That was her relaxation too: Being prepared. And all in all she felt their months-long prep work would render them savvy enough to end up victorious.

Mason wanted victory at trial worse than she did. The fact that his friend ended up at the bottom of the Santa Ana river wasn’t a part of the scheme. She was supposed to accuse him of assault. Which she did. And then recant her story. Which she never got a chance to because she ended up dead. It floored him too!

But he also wanted victory of a different kind. And despite those muscle-headed bodyguards Gabrini’s scared ass had inside his home at his front door, Mason felt as if he could make something happen tonight. Because it was so mellow in his home with soft music playing in the background. Because Gemma was so comfortable, he believed, that she was almost falling asleep on his sofa. Which would have been just fine for him because then he’d have an excuse to put her to bed. In his bed. With him. And even Gabrini’s bodyguards would have to leave his house then.

But then she smiled, saidyou remember when we had that sit-in at the dean’s office, and they were off to the races. Talking on and on about their college days and laughing as if they were teenagers again. For Gemma, it was the kind of relaxation she needed, and it was all wonderful.

Until Mason realized that this was the most relaxed she had been in all their meetings together. And since all the other members of their team had already left, and because her bodyguards couldn’t do anything if he did it, he knew he had to strike now, or he might not get the chance again.

He didn’t put a micky in her drink, although he wanted to, but those bodyguards were looking at him like a hawk when he poured her drink. It was all overkill on Gabrini’s part, but that was the man Gemma chose to marry. But Mason knew how to launch a sneak attack just at the right moment.

First he began wooing her with even more talk of their college days. Even he enjoyed their conversations and laughter, and those overworked bodyguards started paying less and less attention to them. But as they laughed and talked and as she got more and more comfortable with him, she became super-relaxed.

And that was when, during a lull in their laughter, and as Gemma was once again getting sleepy, Mason leaned over, and began kissing Gemma on her lips.

It was so out of the blue that Gemma didn’t quite know what was happening at first. All she knew, at first, was that it felt so damn good. He tasted great. And she found herself mesmerized with how wonderful it felt as he kissed her.

It felt so wonderful to Mason, too, and the fact that she wasn’t resisting made him almost lose control. He began kissing her even more passionately, and he even reached inside of her blouse and was just about to touch her golden breast. A breast he had been dreaming about touching again.

But that movement, that sudden feel of his hand on her chest, woke Gemma out of her slumber and she pushed Mason away from her so hard he nearly fell off the sofa. And she jumped to her feet. “Are you crazy?!” she yelled at him. “We can’t do that!”

It was when she yelled out that the bodyguards, who themselves had been lulled into a near standup sleep, looked over at the couple stunned.What happened, they wondered, and they held their hands to their holsters.

At first, Mason tried to play dumb. “We can’t do what?” he asked Gemma. “It was just a little kiss.”

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