Free ROMANCING THE MOB BOSS by Mallory Monroe Page B

Reno--”
    “And you can pay me back as soon as
    you start getting your paychecks from your new
    job. Please, Tree.”
    They went around the mulberry bush on
    it more than a few times, but she final y,
    ultimately agreed.
    And now, this Saturday morning, they
    were pul ing up to a car lot of Trina’s choosing,
    a car lot with a big sign: Buy Here, Pay Here.
    “Buy here, pay here?” Reno asked,
    sitting behind his big steering wheel and staring
    at the sign. “What, they got a bank up in this
    joint, too?” he wanted to know.
    Trina laughed. “Just come on,” she said
    and he got out of the car, too.
    As soon as they stepped out of the
    Bentley, however, three different salesmen
    came running, literal y running toward them,
    each trying to outrun the other to get there first
    and thereby get whatever commission they may
    be due. Trina found it cute. Reno found it
    ridiculous.
    “Hel o, folks, I’m Rodney.” He was first,
    a young black man with a bright white smile.
    “You’re fast,” Reno said with a smile of
    his own. He had on sunglasses and was
    dressed in a way that made him look, it seemed
    to Trina, like a rock star.
    “Have to be quick around this place,”
    Rodney said. “How can I help you?”
    Trina told him about the Honda Civic
    she’d been eyeing, a car that was about ten
    years old, and the salesman took her to where it
    was stil parked.
    Reno went along with it, he even went
    along with the price, paying the difference
    without batting an eye. But as soon as the car
    was delivered to them, al washed and cleaned,
    he handed Trina the keys to his Bentley.
    Trina looked at the keys, then looked at
    Reno. “What?” she wanted to know.
    “You’re driving the Bentley, I’m driving
    the Civic.”
    “You?” Trina said with a laugh. “Why?”
    “Because I wanna drive my girlfriend’s
    car. This stil wil be your car. And you’l be
    driving mine.” Then he smiled. “I think it’s sexy
    to have your woman driving your car.”
    Trina was no fool. She knew this was his
    way to elevate her to the level he wanted her to
    be without infringing on her right to elevate
    herself. But it was sweet of him, too. She
    smiled.
    “Since you’re just dying to drive my
    Honda,” she said, accepting his keys, “I’l do it
    this time. But you can’t have my car now,” she
    warned.
    Reno laughed. “You’re breaking my
    heart over here,” he said, got into the Civic, and
    they drove off.
    After leaving the Civic at Trina’s
    After leaving the Civic at Trina’s
    apartment, they stayed together that entire
    Saturday, enjoying every minute of their day.
    And that night, when they arrived back at her
    apartment, they went to bed and, although both
    were naked, they slept without making love.
    It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, they had
    planned to, but Reno fel asleep. They had
    showered together, but he had gotten out
    quickly, to answer a cel phone cal . By the time
    she was out and dried off and getting into bed,
    he was asleep. She was disappointed at first,
    she thought they would actual y have their talk
    tonight, but she was happy too. Their
    relationship had hit a milestone. They were
    getting completely familiar with each other. She
    stared at him, rubbed his soft hair out of his
    face, marveled at his ribbed abs, as he slept.
    Until, nearly an hour later, she was asleep too.
    They would have stayed that way for
    hours more, but Reno’s cel phone began
    ringing again. He woke up before she did and
    had to reach over her naked body to retrieve his
    phone from his pants on the bedroom floor. He
    glanced at the cal er ID. It was Joey.
    “This better be good,” he said as he
    answered the phone, his body stil partial y on
    top of Trina’s.
    “Pop’s in trouble, Reno,” Joey said into
    the phone. “You gotta come home.”
    “What kind of trouble?”
    “He’s in trouble. I’m not saying over the
    phone. But he’s in trouble.”
    Reno removed the phone from his ear in
    a moment of