Hustle Him (Bank Shot Romance #2) (28 page)

She shook her head. “
No way. Can I help out?”

“Of course. I’m going to need help.”

Poor Logan was still staring at the shirt. “It says that you’re going to be a big brother.” They already had a little sister, but since they never saw her, we figured they would get what the shirts meant. Still, Logan just looked confused. “Buddy, your mom is going to have a baby.”

“Do you get to be the Dad?”

“If it’s okay with you.” I realized that I probably shouldn’t have offered a child a chance decline.

“Will it be a boy? Will Mommy get fat? My teacher is fat is she having a baby?”

We all started laughing. “Whatever it is, we’re going to love it.”

I think Vessa finally started to relax after the kids were on board. The old farm house that we lived in had plenty of rooms in it, especially once I was allowed to officially share a room with Vessa. We took things slow, never taking the kids feelings for granted. I didn’t mind as long as they were all happy.

Since Vessa was pregnant, it was important for me to make sure she had the proper medical care and insurance. In order to do that, she had to be married to me. Once their separation wait time was met, she filed the papers for divorce.

With all the trouble he was already in, Gavin didn’t fight
her on it. He probably would have if he knew she was carrying my child, but it wasn’t his business. In some ways, I almost wanted to thank him for treating her so terribly that she had to leave him. It was what led her right to me and I was grateful.

We didn’t do anything fancy to get married. After we had our license, we went up to the court house and did it. Later that day, we were at the bar, painting, like it was just a normal day.

After much consideration about the future of the business, we had decided to convert the bar to a family restaurant with a lounge and billiard area. My job was pretty easy. As long as I had my phone and my truck, I could be anywhere and respond to a call. Since construction was so expensive, we did all the work ourselves. Vessa could only help when it was safe for the baby. I wouldn’t let her carry anything or paint if there was going to be fumes.

We didn’t have a mortgage on either of the properties, so most of our income was put into savings. It was funny how I had worked so hard before to make ends meet and now we had more than either of us could ever ask for.

I was going to continue working as a sheriff until I could retire. Vessa would run the restaurant and we would hire people so that we could spend time being a family.

After several postponements, d
ue to Gavin’s other legal matters, the charges against me were dropped. It seemed that after hearing Gavin on my recording, confessing to everything, he didn’t want to represent him anymore. I think it made it worse that I was in law enforcement myself.

His girlfriend never did testify against him, but it didn’t matter. The drug charges were enough for a judge to never allow him to take the kids from us. Vessa wanted him to still see them. It just wasn’t going to happened until he got help.

The kids talked to him on the phone and even the computer, so it wasn’t like they lost him in their lives. He just had to be straight first, before Vessa was going to give him another chance.

I loved her being pregnant. Not only was she beautiful, but it bonded us closer together. One Sunday, after church, I took the kids outside and told them what happened to my first family. They were sad. I could tell it affected them, seeing me get emotional as I told my story and talked about Katie. I showed them a picture of the three of us and Logan grabbed it and disappeared in the house.

At first I thought the worst. We went into the kitchen to check the trash first. Then we saw him walking out of the living room. “I put them where they go.”

Vessa looked worried. I crouched down. “Where’s that, buddy?”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the living room, then pointed to the mantle. Next to all of our new and old pictures was the picture of me and the girls. I couldn’t hold back my emotions that day. That boy, who was already so special to me, had added my girls to the people he considered family. It wasn’t just special for me to see them up there. It made it all real. They weren’t ever going to let me forget them. They’d be there everyday with me. Logan went running back outside to play with his sister.

Vessa grabbed my hand as I stood there looking at that picture. “I’ve wanted to put that picture up there for weeks, but I was too afraid to ask. I can’t believe he did that.”

“It’s perfect. Thank you so much,” I kissed my beautiful wife and put my hand on her stomach. “For showing me how to love again and giving me a second chance to do it.”

“I got something out of it too, you know.” She kissed me softly, letting her puffy lips linger on mine.

I took her by the hand and led her down the stairs. Mine and Logan’s man cave was coming along. We had sports memorabilia on the walls, a flat screen television and I’d even got him his own pool stick. I handed Vessa a stick and started racking the balls. She chalked the tip and blew on it. “What are we playing for, Mr. Towers?”

“
Well, Mrs. Towers. If you win, you get to pick the name. If I win, I get to pick it.”

She smiled and bent over to break up the balls. “This is going to be easy.”

“How do you know I wasn’t hustling you all this time?” I laughed just saying it.

She made two balls and walked around the table. It was funny. I was so used to seeing her play in tight jeans, or nothing at all. Now she wore a maternity sundress and had bare feet, but she never looked more beautiful to me.

“Does it really matter? I think we both came out winning.”

I watched her shoot at another ball and make the shot. “Yeah, we sure did.”

She missed her shot and walked over to me. “Here’s your chance, hustler.”

I smiled and thought back to when I was playing her to stay with me. “I think you like letting me win.”

She started laughing and shook her head. “Only when it gets me what I want.”

I bent over to shoot and looked up at her. “So, do you have what you want?”

She leaned against the table, letting me look down her shirt. “I have more than I could have ever hoped for.”

I missed the damn shot because I
was too busy peeking at her tits. She stood up and started laughing. “You need to work on being distracted.”

“You need to wear hoodies when we play.”

She reached back and unzipped her dress, letting it fall to the floor. “Oops!”

“I forfeit.” It took me only seconds to make it around to where she was standing. “You don’t play fair.”

“I play to win.” She said as our lips brushed.

We heard the kitchen door slamming and two kids arguing. Vessa reached down and grabbed her dress, while I headed for the steps. “Cheaters never win, you know,” I teased.

“I love it when you’re losing.”

“I love it when you’re naked!” I laughed as I ran up the last couple steps.
I knew she was playing games with me and I loved every second of it. We both loved the game of pool. It had brought us together. She was the only partner that I needed. One day I would beat her fair and square. I had our whole lives to do it.

Chapter 24

Vessa

Our story was far from being romantic
. Some may have said that we rushed into it. Others have said that it was a relationship based on two people rebounding.

We didn’t care.

Our love was real and we were happy.

I didn’t meet R
amsey’s parents until I was seven months along and already his wife. He’d talked to them frequently, but we just had never had time to take a trip to visit. I would have been nervous meeting them as his girlfriend, but meeting them after we’d already married and gotten pregnant wasn’t exactly reassuring. I was so nervous that I threw up the whole way. The kids were excited, realizing that new grandparents meant more Christmas and birthday presents. My husband was the only one who remained calm, smiling the whole way.

We pulled into a small community with only a few houses. Each one looked different and they were surrounded by large pine trees giving each yard complete privacy. His
parent’s house was a large white colonial. It sat off the road and had a long circular driveway. Black shutters were dressed around every window and it was fully landscaped.

I felt like it was more from a movie than and actual place that Ramsey had grown up in. “Don’t let the size fool you. My dad built it and they got the property for next to nothing. It’s the idiots that have moved into the neighborhood after them that are the rich ones.”

I tried to smile, but still felt overwhelmed.  It wasn’t just that I was meeting his parents. I felt like I had to compete with Jules. I felt like they were going to look at me like I was just a replacement. Maybe it was selfish, or possibly my hormones. Ramsey always said I was the only person who thought things like that. He said that Jules and I were very different and he loved me because of that reason.

At any rate, by the time we got to the front door, I was shaking like a leaf. The kids were giddy and standing behind us talking about being at a mansion. It wasn’t close to being a mansion, but I guess it was the biggest house they’d been in.

When he took my hand and opened the front door, I thought he was going to have to carry me in. My feet wouldn’t work. He leaned down and started laughing at me. “Seriously, you act like they’re horrible people. Would you just calm down.”

Reluctantly, I squeezed his hand and proceeded into the foyer. We found his parents sitting in a family
room off of the kitchen. His mother stood up and came rushing over toward us. After hugging her son, she turned all of her attention to me. She grabbed both of my hands and gave me a once over. “I am so happy to finally have you here, Vessa. Talking to you on the phone and seeing pictures just doesn’t even compare to spending time together. You must be exhausted from your long ride. Come sit down and I will get you something to drink.”

“Thank you.
” Ramsey smiled as his mother pulled me into the living room. His father stopped us before I could sit down. He reached his hand out to shake mine, but I hugged him instead. He seemed to get a kick out of it. I noticed that on his arms he had a couple of old military tattoos. I’d worn a cardigan to try to hide what was on my arm. I had no idea what these people would think of me and I wanted to make a good impression. I didn’t have any family, so having them was special.

For the next few hours, I got to know the people that raised Ramsey. His mother broke out photo albums and told stories of when he was a teen. She talked about Jules, but not in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. She even talked about Katie, not that she had to. Her walls were covered in her.

For dinner, his mother Maggie, made a turkey and we ate a feast like it was Thanksgiving. We joked about how Ramsey couldn’t even boil water without burning the house down. He was trying to do better, since we had a restaurant to run.

Ramsey’s father, Joseph, took the kids on a nature walk and told Logan all about being in the war and what it was like to be a soldier. They talked about planes and then they got talking about fishing. Asha followed Maggie around like she was her apprentice.
I enjoyed seeing her bonding with another female and it seemed like Maggie was feeling the way.

Throughout the day and into the evening, Ramsey kept making sure that I was alright. When it was time to go to sleep, he climbed into bed humming. It was strange to hear, since he’d never done it before. “My parents love you. I told you it would be fine.”

“They’re really nice people. I told your mom that they need to come stay with us when the baby is born. The guest room will be ready by then.” Right now it was full of all of Ramsey’s things from the cabin.

He placed his hand on top of my belly. It was something that he did every night. The closer I got to our due date, the more I knew that he was becoming anxious. I knew what he feared, and although I couldn’t predict the future, I was certain that everyone was going to be okay.

Sometimes our life together seemed surreal. I had never imagined being so happy with someone. He loved the kids and they loved him back. He was good for them, always making sure they were never left out, especially when it came to decisions about their baby brother or sister.

Finding out the sex of the baby had been a huge ordeal. Since I was still young and had never had complications with my first two, our insurance onl
y covered two sonograms. We had one at twenty weeks and that poor technician tried her hardest, but couldn’t get a good enough look to make a determination. So we’d been suffering to know ever since.

Ramsey swore it was going to be a boy. Since I already had one of each, it didn’t matter what I had. My main concern was that
it came out healthy.

“My dad wanted to know if you’d be interested in…” Ramsey stopped mid sentence.

I leaned up and looked over at him. “What’s wrong, honey?” He just seemed off.

“They have the cradle that he made for Katie up in their attic. He asked me tonight if I wanted it for the baby.”