ROMANCING THE MOB BOSS (10 page)

Among other things, but mainly restaurants, yes.

What else you wanna know?”

“Why didn’t you go into the restaurant

business? It would be a lot easier than trying to

run a hotel and casino. Why not go into

business with your father?”

business with your father?”

Trina looked at him, to study his reaction

to her question. As usual, a cloudy look

crossed his eyes.

“I was in business with my father,” he

said and Trina’s heart dropped. Did he just tel

her that he used to be a mob boss, or was he

talking about a legitimate restaurant business?

“So, you’re saying you used to run his

restaurants?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Reno said. “But

let’s talk about that later, al right? Right now,”

he said, moving her to where her butt was

facing him, “I don’t wanna think about anything

but you.”

“I’m just trying to get to know you, Reno,”

Trina said. “It sometimes feel like you’re

holding something back.”

“I know it does, sweetheart,” Reno said,

entering her from the back. “And I’l tel you al

you ever wanted to know about me, boring parts

and al . I promise you that. But not now.”

Trina lay there as he slowly slid in and

out of her, and she felt as if he was playing for

time. But she felt relieved too. Because he

spoke of being involved in his father’s business

in the past tense. Which meant he wasn’t

anymore. And he said it was the restaurant

business that he was involved with, which was a

good thing, too. Besides, she was used to bad

boys. Every man she had ever fal en in love with

would be considered a bad boy, so bad boys

were nothing new to her. But the mob, she

thought, was a different kind of bad.

She sighed as his penis penetrated

deeper and deeper within her. She knew she

was rationalizing. She knew she should just flat

out ask him about his father. But she was fal ing

in love with this man. And she needed him to

tel her about it. She needed him to let her know

that he wouldn’t keep something like that from

her.

So she held her tongue, held it as his

thick rod kept rotating inside of her. Held it as

he pul ed her closer to him, fondling her breasts,

as he banged her. Time would tel , and in time

she’d know for sure if he was going to man up

and level with her, or punk out and keep her in

the dark. But she wanted to be strategic. She

wanted to use what she knew to test the

strength of their relationship. She didn’t want to

be like some big mouth female who never had

any ace up her sleeve, who blabbed everything

she knew. Knowledge was power. She

needed to play this smart. She needed him to

be the one to bring it up.

Later that next morning, however, when

Reno was dressing to leave and she was stil

naked in bed, the subject of his past wasn’t

brought up at al . She had hoped he would

discuss it, but he had become distracted,

obsessed even, by his absolute belief that she

needed to get herself a set of wheels.

Reno looked at her, at her gorgeous

brown body half-covered, revealing every curve

he loved to touch, every crevice he knew so

wel , and he was fighting within himself to not

snatch back off his clothes and fuck her again.

But he tried to stay focused. She

needed a car, period. She started work at the

PaLargio this coming Monday, and she wasn’t

catching any buses to get to work there, not his

woman. The only reason he didn’t suggest she

not take the job in the first place, given the level

of their relationship now, was twofold: she

wouldn’t like it and therefore wouldn’t go for it,

number one. And he could keep an eye on her,

would at least know she was safe every day,

number two. But to have her working there

without wheels of her own, was taking it too far.

But they kept talking past each other.

He kept talking about the urgency of the matter,

the necessity of it, she kept talking about how

she was saving for a car, and would buy one as

soon as she was able.

“How much you saved so far?” he asked

her as he continued to dress.

“Almost a thousand dol ars,” she said.

Reno stared at her. “You joking right? A

thousand bucks, Trina? That wouldn’t get you

the engine of a decent car.”

“I’m not buying a Bentley, Reno. I just

want a good, reliable, dependable car.”

“What are you, Fred Sanford? The

salvage girl? You ain’t driving around in no

thousand dol ar car. My woman ain’t driving

thousand dol ar car. My woman ain’t driving

around in a car that cost less than one of my

suits!”

“That’s what I can afford, Reno,” she

said. “I know this is a foreign concept to the

owner of the PaLargio, but there are more

people like me in this world than people like

you. We’re just working stiffs who can only

afford what we can afford. And I can only afford

a thousand dol ar car. I don’t want any monthly

payments.”

Reno looked at her and his heart went

out to her. She probably had been struggling al

of her life, and here he was acting as if she was

poor on purpose.

He sat on the edge of her bed, his shirt

stil in his hand. “I don’t mean to sound like I

don’t get it. I get it. But answer me this: you’re

my woman or you’re not my woman?”

Trina smiled this time. He was perhaps

the most genuine person she’d ever met. “I’m

your woman, Reno,” she said.

“How would it look if my woman was

driving around in a Pinto, while I’m driving

around in a Bentley? Tel me how would that

look?”

“It’l look like you had a woman who was

her own woman, who handled her own

business, who took care of her own self. It’l

look like you had me, Reno.”

Reno couldn’t help but smile. He had to

hand it to her. “Okay, you got me there. But at

least get a car now. If I have to put some cash

with it to get a reliable car, let me do that.”

“No, 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 frustration, and then he thought

about it. He stil hadn’t told Trina the nuts and

bolts of his life, his family, al of it, but a little

matter of her sexy body, of his fear that she

might not accept it, kept getting in the way.

Now, he figured, he could show her better than

he could tel her.

He put the phone back to his ear. “I’m

on my way,” he said, and then hung up the

phone.

“What’s the matter?” she asked him.

“Family issues,” he said. Then looked at

her. “Wanna meet my family?”

“Sure.” But he continued to stare at her.

“What?
Now
?”

“Now.”

“But it’s after midnight, Reno.”

“Yeah, so?”

Trina stared at him. “Are you tel ing me

it’s normal for you to bring a girl home at one

a.m. to meet the family?”

“I’m tel ing you it’s my family. We ain’t

the Brady Bunch, okay? Al rules are thrown out

the window when you’re dealing with us.” Then

he pul ed her into his arms, smiling. “Don’t look

so terrified,” he said. “We ain’t the Addams

Family, either.”

Trina laughed. “Wel at least that,” she

said, although just the thought of this meeting, at

this time of morning, sent chil s through every

pore of her body. A body, her naked body, that

Reno was now staring at.

And before she knew it, he was between

her legs, kissing her, licking her, and she was

on elbows, enjoying his unmatchable skil .

He turned her onto her stomach, kissing

her buttocks, licking her buttocks, and then he

was entering her from the back. He moved in

easy, with finesse, lying on top of the back of

her as he did. And the penetration was so deep

that it felt like a sharp rod scraping the sides of

her, prodding every inch of her womanhood,

and the feeling was so different and so intense

that Trina felt a kind of serene, intoxicating