Oz sat up, with her on his lap. “I’ll shower with you,” he said, and carried her into the bathroom. While she got into the shower, he tossed his used condom into the toilet, and put on another one. And then he got in too.
But as soon as he got in with her, he was fucking her again.
Gloria held onto the shower wall as he held her from behind and pounded her. Her small body was moving forward and back with every pound. Her ass was turning red with every pound. She leaned back, and closed her eyes, loving every second of Oz’s skills.
They eventually showered and then got dressed. And while Gloria spruced up her hair, Oz made his way back up front where his crew glanced at each other and smiled. She seemed different than all of Oz’s other ladies. There was no way, some of the crewmembers, thought she’d give in to Oz’s charms. But she had. They could tell by the serene look on Oz’s face. That woman had satisfied him better than they could ever recall him being satisfied. Some won the bet because they saw through Gloria’s classiness. Others lost the bet because they didn’t’ think Gloria had it in her.
They also knew that Oz had better not find out about any bets on her.
Oz stood up and began getting her overnight bag and briefcase from the overhead compartment by the time Gloria was coming out of the bedroom. And when he saw her again, coming back toward him with her ponytail smoothed down and her face no longer filled with the anguish that defined it before they made love, but was a happy face now, he smiled too. And he realized, right then and there, that he was fooling himself. Getting a release with just any woman might be off the table for now. He always needed a release, that was the nature of his sex drive, but he also realized, as he watched Gloria happily come back to him, that he just might, never again, get one without her.
But just as Gloria was coming his way, he saw something out of the corner of his eye that caught his attention and made him do a double take. When it looked like he was seeing what he was seeing, he quickly put on his prescription glasses that he rarely ever wore and looked out of his plane’s window. And that was when he saw what he thought was the face of someone he recognized.
“What is it?” Gloria asked as she saw Oz leaning over to get a better look.
When he realized his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, he removed his glasses and looked at Gloria. “Is that your ride?” he asked her.
Gloria looked out of the window and saw Teddy leaned against his Corvette, his legs crossed at the ankles, his arms folded. “Yeah, that’s my ride. I called him when you got off of the plane in Apple Valley to talk to those guys. I told him my flight was canceled, but that I was catching a ride on a friend’s plane. We weren’t exactly friends at that time, but that I wasn’t going into that with him.”
“But that’s Teddy Sinatra,” Oz said, staring at her.
“Yes, I know.”
“You know who he is?”
Gloria smiled. “I should know, yes. He’s my brother.”
Oz was shocked. “Your brother?”
“Don’t worry, I get that all the time. Just because he’s all-white and I look all-black doesn’t mean--”
Oz interrupted her, because he was still in a state of shock. “How can he be your brother, Gloria? That’s Mick Sinatra’s son.”
“So, you’ve heard of my father?”
Oz was floored. “Your father? Mick Sinatra is your father?”
Gloria didn’t understand his reaction. “Yes. So what?”
“But you said your name was Gloria Gabrini.”
Gloria laughed. “Gloria Gabrini? I never said any such thing! Because you knew I was related to Reno Gabrini, you apparently assumed I was a Gabrini too. But I’m not. The Gabrinis are related to my father, that’s the connection. I told you, in my family, powerful men are called Uncle as a title of respect, no matter what our real relationship is. That’s why he’s Uncle Reno to me.”
But Oz couldn’t stop staring at her.
“You didn’t know the Gabrinis were related to the Sinatras?” Gloria asked him.
It seemed like something Oz should have known, and maybe if he had been putting two and two together, he would have remembered that little fact. But there was no reason for him to be putting anything together!
When he didn’t answer her, Gloria continued. “I only ask,” she said, “because you seem to know my family.”
“Reno’s a friend of my brother’s,” said Oz. “That’s the extent that I know them.”
“So, you don’t know my brother like that?” she asked him.
“No.”
“Then how did you know he was Teddy Sinatra?”
“He’s well-known in certain circles. I’ve seen him before.”
“And you don’t know my father either?”
“No. I know of him,” said Oz with distress in his voice. He couldn’t believe his bad luck!
“What does that mean you know of him?”
“I know him by reputation.”
“But you’ve never met him?”
“I don’t think so, no,” said Oz.
But as Gloria looked at Oz, an idea occurred to her. She would love to get Teddy’s opinion of him, too, because her opinion of Oz was all over the place. On the one hand, she just knew he was a bad-tempered, womanizing cad who couldn’t be trusted with her heart even if her life depended on it. But, on the other hand, he seemed like such a wonderful, caring man who held her all the way to Philly, and helped her with her vendor problem, and seemed to know her deepest emotions without her having to tell him a thing. And the way he made love to her! He could be totally trusted with her heart, she felt, on the other hand. But both of those feelings couldn’t possibly be true at the same time, and she knew it. Which she knew made her an unreliable witness to Oz Drakos’s character.
But Teddy was once a womanizer himself, who met a good woman and was trying to change his ways. He’d be able to size up Oz far better than she could. “Wanna meet him?” she asked Oz. “My brother, I mean?”
But Oz was still reeling, and whenever he was not in control of a situation, his anger took hold. “Why would I want to meet your brother?” he asked her, and he asked it with an edge in his voice.
Gloria heard the anger in his tone. Was he upset with her again for absolutely nothing? What was wrong with him? “What did I do this time?” she asked him.
“Did I say you did something?” Oz frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your tone.”
But then she realized what his tone implied. He was a major league businessman who had a reputation to uphold. It was one thing to be around a relative of Reno Gabrini’s, a man who was primarily known as the owner of The PaLargio Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip, despite rumors of mob ties. It was something entirely different, at least in Oz’s mind, she supposed, to pal around with the daughter of Mick Sinatra, a man reputed to be the most powerful mob boss in America. That was a horse of a different color. Gloria got it. And it was a sad realization to get.
“Thanks for the ride,” she said to him, extending her hand.
Oz was still reeling, but he was able to shake her hand. And a sadness, she noticed, was in his eyes too. There was no way they could be together, his eyes seemed to say. But hope was a mighty aphrodisiac. She was beginning to have some hope that she might have found somebody special, in a crazy kind of way. Now that was all dashed. She was still going to be all alone, as usual.