Hustle Read online

  Vinnie wraps an arm around my waist, resting his hand on my hip as he ushers me through the ballroom. “Smile,” he tells me, but I hadn’t realized I wasn’t.

  I do as he says. As we approach my abuela’s table, her face lights up like she knows the secret we’re keeping.

  “Sit,” she commands, motioning toward the two empty chairs next to her. The wrinkles around her eyes deepen. “Make an old woman happy.”

  Vinnie pulls out the chair closest to Abuela, and I sit down. His hands are on my shoulders as he leans forward and whispers, “I’ll get us some drinks while you get yourself together.”

  I nod as I stare straight ahead, like I’m in some post-orgasmic trance. He’s not even a few feet away when my abuela takes my hand in hers, giving it a little squeeze.

  “It’s scary at first when it happens, sweetheart. Don’t let your head get in the way of what’s meant to be.”

  “When what happens?”

  She laughs softly. “When you start to fall.”

  “I’m not,” I begin to argue, but she shushes me.

  “I see the way that man looks at you and how you stare at him. I may be old and my eyes may be failing me, but some things, even the blindest person can see.” She pats my hand. “Don’t let fear stop you from happiness. Broken hearts just propel us down our destined path until our souls find where they’re meant to be.”

  14

  Vinnie

  “I’m on my way, Ma. I’m just running a few minutes late.”

  “Busy night last night?” she asks on the other end of the phone as I step into the hallway to lock my door.

  Bianca’s standing in front of her door with her back to me, but she glances over her shoulder for a moment.

  “Hey, baby,” I say, loving the way her yoga pants hug her every curve.

  “Who are you talking to?” Ma asks, but I ignore her.

  “Hey.” She smiles and turns back around.

  “Staying in today?” I’m totally checking out her ass, and it’s banging in those pants.

  She turns again, catching me checking out her ass. “I have a chapter to write today. I’m chained to the keyboard yet again.” She sighs. “The words just aren’t coming like they usually do.”

  “Vinnie, who are you talking to?” Ma asks again, but this time, she’s louder, almost yelling at me on the other end.

  “My girl, Ma. Bianca. She’s my neighbor.”

  Bianca blushes. “Don’t tell her that,” she whispers, but there’s still a hint of a smile on her face as if she likes the way that sounded.

  “Bring her to dinner.”

  “Ma, I don’t think—” I start to say, but Ma cuts me off.

  “We want to meet your girl. Bring her, Vinnie. No exceptions or excuses.” Then she hangs up.

  I pull the phone away from my ear and stare at the screen. My mother never hangs up on me. Never. Maybe on my brothers and sister, but not on her little boy and pride and joy.

  Bianca turns to face me finally. “What’s wrong?”

  “She said I have to bring you to dinner, and then she hung up.”

  “I can’t go. I’m a mess. I just worked out, and I’m gross.”

  I take a step toward her, moving my eyes down her body. “You’re beautiful. Just like you were in the closet last night.”

  Her cheeks turn pink, and she glances down at the floor. “You have to stop telling people I’m your girl. You fulfilled your end of the deal.”

  I touch her chin, forcing her eyes to mine. I don’t know what she doesn’t understand about this, but bargain or no bargain, I want her. “Do you like me?”

  She swallows hard, staring at me with those big brown eyes. “I do, but…”

  “No buts. I like you, Bianca, and I already said you’re my girl. I don’t say those words easily or often. So, get in there and do whatever you have to do, but you’re coming with me to family dinner.”

  “But my work…”

  “It’ll be there later. Maybe I’ll even give you a little inspiration when we get back.” I smirk.

  I love helping her with her work, especially when it ends with her in my lap, riding me like I’m her favorite stud.

  She eyes me for a second before sighing. “Meeting your parents is a big step. It’s a little soon for that, Vinnie.”

  “I met your entire family last night.”

  She narrows her eyes because she knows I’m right and she’s grasping at straws. I’m not leaving this hallway until she’s at my side. There’s no way I’ll walk into my mother’s without Bianca, because my mother would lose her shit. And a mad Betty isn’t fun.

  “I need ten minutes.”

  “Take as long as you want. I’ll wait.” I turn her body toward her door when she doesn’t move, just stands there, blinking at me. “I’ll just read while I wait.”

  She mumbles under her breath as she unlocks the door, but I can’t make out exactly what she says. She drops her keys on the kitchen counter, still talking to herself, before she disappears into the bedroom.

  I grab a book off the coffee table before relaxing into her couch. The very place she came in my lap only a few days ago. The sounds and smells of that night come flooding back as I crack open the paperback somewhere in the middle to kill some time.

  I read the first sentence on some random page, finishing the entire page quickly. I glance toward Bianca’s bedroom before flipping the book closed, keeping my finger inside it to hold my page, and stare at the cover. The book looks innocent enough, but what’s inside is anything but.

  Is this what Bianca’s into? Does she have some secret fantasy about being kidnapped and used? I think it’s every man’s fantasy. I don’t know a guy alive who wouldn’t mind being held captive and made to repeatedly fuck people until they orgasm. But never in a million fucking years did I think Bianca was into this kind of thing.

  I open the book again and continue, wondering if the book should be turning me on as much as it is. I’m adjusting my cock, so totally immersed in the scene, I don’t even hear Bianca walk back into the living room.

  “What are you reading?” She tries to take the book from my hands, but I hold on tight.

  I don’t look up, just stare at the page, having to know how the scene ends. “Shush. It’s getting good.”

  “Is it? I haven’t read it yet. A friend sent it to me and said it was dark.”

  “Uh-huh. I feel dirty liking it.”

  She giggles and ruffles my hair. “Ah, it’s a mindfuck book.”

  I tip my head back, staring up at her and seeing nothing but tits above my face, which does fuck-all to help the situation in my pants. “A what?”

  “Something that fucks with your head. You know you shouldn’t like it, but you do. And for that, you feel so dirty and wrong.”

  “I’m there, baby. So there. Take your time. But if you take too long, we’re not making it out of the house without you putting your tits in my face while I read this book.”

  She giggles again, and my cock twitches, begging for something…anything. It takes all my resistance not to chase after her when she jiggles her tits above me before running back to her bedroom.

  “Tease!” I yell out.

  “Am not!”

  She’s not a tease, but fuck, the girl hasn’t even laid a hand on my cock, let alone let me slide between her sweet thighs. She’s had two amazing orgasms—whether or not she wants to admit to that, I know for sure it’s true. While I had one in my pants just from the friction of her beautiful cunt and my sweat pants.

  I can’t stop turning the pages, my mouth hanging open. I don’t know how much time passes before she steps back into the living room and clears her throat.

  “I’m ready. Are we going?”

  I hold up a finger, finishing the last words on the page. “One sec.”

  She pulls the book from my hand, and I groan, needing to know what’s going to happen next. “Take the book home and finish it,” she tells me with a smirk. “I didn’t know y
ou liked to read so much.”

  “Fuck. I didn’t either.” I motion for her to give the book back. “But I want to finish it and yours too.”

  “Is Vinnie Gallo a secret romance lover?”

  “Shut your mouth. Don’t you dare tell anyone.”

  She places her hands on her hips and smiles. “What do I get to keep my mouth shut?”

  “All the orgasms you want.” It’s a win-win for me.

  Her orgasms will probably lead to mine. At least, I hope to fuck, someday they will.

  She moves her head from side to side like she has to think about what I’m offering as I stalk toward her. “That could work.”

  I pull her against me, letting her feel my cock that’s begging for her. “Baby, you know you love the way I make you come, and I haven’t even buried my cock so deep inside you that you can’t breathe.”

  “I…”

  “Shh.” I place my finger against her lips. “Imagine the kind of pleasure I can deliver when using my entire arsenal. Let that sink in.”

  Her lips part behind my fingers, and she lets out a long, shaky breath with her eyes locked on mine. “We better go,” she whispers.

  “If my mother weren’t waiting, I’d…” I can’t even finish the sentence. It’s too dirty, and my cock’s too hard.

  She shakes her head and closes her eyes. “Don’t say it, or I won’t want to leave.”

  From her lips to God’s ears. I already don’t want to leave, and it’s my family we’re going to see. I drop my eyes to her breasts. Even covered by a T-shirt, they’re begging for my touch, my lips. “I want you tonight. I’m sick of waiting.”

  “I need to work,” she reminds me, using it as an excuse.

  “I’ll be your inspiration. Call it research.”

  A small smile spreads across her face.

  I’ve got this one in the bag. No one meets my family and doesn’t fall immediately in love with them.

  15

  Bianca

  “This is my brother Lucio, his wife Delilah, my sister Daphne, her husband Leo, my oldest brother Angelo, and his fiancée Tilly.”

  I stand in stunned silence as Vinnie points to each sibling and their respective partner as we stand in the living room. It’s like I’ve walked into the twilight zone where everyone’s beautiful and muscular. The genes in this family run deep and strong.

  Vinnie pulls me closer. “This is my girl, Bianca.”

  I’m not the only one gawking. They’re looking at me like I’m an act in a sideshow. I almost wonder if I have something on my face because their eyes are hard and fixed on me.

  “You brought a girl to dinner?” Daphne, his sister, asks like she’s in shock.

  “Not just any girl, Daphne. My girl.”

  He keeps calling me that, along with baby. Over and over again, he drives the point home, even though we haven’t had a conversation where we’ve solidified our relationship status.

  Angelo nods slowly as a smile spreads across his face. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

  I lean over, their eyes still on me, and whisper in Vinnie’s ear. “Why are they looking at me like that?”

  He looks down with a small smirk and his hand firmly on my hip. “Because I never bring anyone to dinner.”

  “Never?”

  Vinnie shakes his head.

  “Why me?” I ask as my belly flips.

  “Because, baby, I told you…” He pauses and ticks his head toward his siblings. “You’re my girl.”

  He’s already said that, but it doesn’t help explain anything.

  “We’re happy to have you here, Bianca,” Lucio says as he bounces a tiny baby in his arms. “It’s not every day Vinnie brings home a girlfriend.” Lucio makes a funny face as he says the last word, as if it’s foreign on his tongue.

  “It’s never happened.” Daphne steps around Lucio and Angelo and holds out her hand to me. “It’s wonderful to meet you.” Her eyes go to her brother. “It’s nice to see my brother is settling down.”

  I know what she’s saying without her actually saying the words. Vinnie’s a player. I knew the type in high school and college. The big man on campus with so many girls fawning over him and vying for his attention it was bound to go to his head. I can’t even fathom the number of women Vinnie’s been with, and the very thought makes my stomach twist into a tight knot.

  “Is Vinnie here?” a woman calls out from the next room.

  “He is, and he brought a girlfriend!” Daphne yells back.

  The woman runs out of the kitchen, wearing an apron and wielding a spatula like it’s a sword, and she comes straight toward us. Her beautiful red hair bounces near her shoulders when she stops right in front of us. She grabs Vinnie’s face, smashing his cheeks in her palms like he’s a little kid. “Baby,” she says and kisses his cheeks near her hands. “You look good.” She studies him for a second, thankfully, ignoring me. “You look happy.”

  “I am, Ma,” he says, but his words are garbled. “This is Bianca.”

  His mother releases her hold on him and takes a step back to look at me. Her eyes sweep from my face down and then back up. “Well, aren’t you a looker.” She smiles and moves closer. “High cheekbones, beautiful golden skin, hips perfect for baby-making.”

  I give Vinnie the side-eye. I’ve never had anyone describe my hips as perfect baby-makers. I’m not a twig, never have been and never will be. But baby-maker?

  “Hi,” I say nervously and fidget with my hands because I don’t know what else to do.

  His siblings are in shock that I’m here, and his mother, much like my grandmother, already has us starting a family.

  Awkward.

  “You’re absolutely stunning.” His mother smiles before reaching out, handing Angelo the spatula and grabbing me into a bear hug. Vinnie’s hands disappear from my hips, giving me over to his mother without hesitation.

  “She’s a writer, Ma,” Vinnie says proudly. “A good one too.”

  She pulls her head back, looking at me in awe but still holding me so tightly, I can barely breathe. “A smart girl. Santino!” she yells over her shoulder. “Get your ass in here and meet Vinnie’s girl.” She smiles at me. “Sorry, he’s watching the Sox in the den.”

  “Well, at least it’s not the Cubs.” I laugh.

  A handsome older man, not as built as the younger ones, steps into the living room. He’s mumbling to himself as he walks toward me, but as soon as he looks at me, his eyes light up. “Bianca,” he says like he knows exactly who I am. “Vinnie’s told me a lot about you.”

  More heat creeps up my neck, filling my cheeks, which I didn’t think was possible because I’m already completely embarrassed by the greeting his family is giving me.

  “He has?” I turn and eye Vinnie, wondering what he’s been saying about me.

  Vinnie pulls me back to his side. “Was I right, Pop?”

  “You were right, son. Beautiful and smart. I’m Santino,” he tells me as he grabs my hand and brings it to his lips. “But you can call me Tino.” He sweeps his lips across the top of my hand ever so lightly.

  The men in this family have charm, looks, and more muscles than human beings should be allowed to have. It’s ridiculous. It’s like I stepped into one of my books. But it’s not fantasy; it’s reality.

  “Tino,” Vinnie’s mother says, pushing him away from me. “Stop pawing the poor girl.” She hooks her arm through mine and ushers me toward the kitchen with Vinnie still attached to me. “We’re eating in ten.”

  I fully expect the rest of the family to go back to what they were doing before we arrived, but they don’t. They follow us and take seats around the large table as Vinnie pulls out a chair for me.

  To say this is overwhelming is an understatement. “You should’ve warned me,” I say as he kisses my cheek, but I keep my voice low enough so no one else can hear over their own chatter.

  “So, Bianca, what do you write?” Daphne holds a bottle of wine in the air, tipping it toward me.


  I nod because even though it’s barely noon, I could use a drink. “I write novels.”

  “Romance novels,” Vinnie adds. “Hot as hell ones, too.”

  Daphne’s face lights up, and she glances at Tilly and Delilah. “We love a hot read. Maybe we’ve read you. What’s your writing name?”

  “Bianca May.”

  “Oh. My. God. No way.”

  “Way,” I say with a smile, assuming she’s read a book or at least heard of me somewhere.

  “We have two celebrities sitting at the table,” Tilly says with a small chuckle. “A superstar quarterback and a big-time romance author.”

  “I don’t know about all that.”

  “Don’t be modest, sweetheart,” Tilly says. “Take credit where credit is due.”

  “I love your books,” Daphne says, “and I agree with Tilly. You’re a rock star.”

  Mrs. Gallo comes to stand at the edge of the table, again wielding the spatula she had in her hand when we first arrived. “Should I read them?”

  “No. Don’t.” My answer is quick and confident. The last thing I want is my guy’s mom reading my books.

  My guy?

  Oh sweet Jesus.

  Now I’m starting to sound like Vinnie. Where did that come from? I’m still in my don’t-have-time-for-a-man-or-the-distraction hiatus, or at least, that’s what I keep telling myself.

  In the last ten days, I’ve spent more time with Vinnie than I did with some of my past boyfriends I’d dated for months.

  “Ma, they’re right up your alley,” Delilah tells her as I fidget with my hands in my lap, trying to stop myself from running out of here in sheer panic.

  “How dirty?” Mrs. Gallo asks.

  “Dirty with a capital D.” Daphne laughs.

  “Must be great to date a romance writer.” Lucio smirks.

  Vinnie rubs the back of his neck because he’s seen the reality that is an author’s life. Romance or not, I’m a hot mess, locked away in my apartment and sometimes not smelling or looking my best.