Hustle Him (Bank Shot Romance #2)

Hustle Him

(A Bankshot Romance Series)

By: Jennifer Foor

©Jennifer Foor – All Rights Reserved

Cover Art By : Wicked Cool Designs – Robin Harper

            
 
This book is a written act of fiction. Any places, characters, or similarities are purely coincidence. If certain places or characters are referenced it is for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This book is not allowed to be offered for sale, discounted, or free on any sites other than Kobo, IBook’s, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This book may only be distributed by Jennifer Foor, the owner and Author of this series.

Check out the other books by Jennifer Foor

(Contemporary Romance)

Letting Go - A Mitchell Family Series Book One

Folding Hearts – A Mitchell Family Series Book Two

Raging Love – A Mitchell Family Series Book Three

Risking Fate – A Mitchell Family Series Book Four

Wrapping Up – A Mitchell Family Series Novella 4.5

Wanting More – A Mitchell Series Book Five

Saving Us – A Mitchell Family
Series Book Six

Hope’s Chance (Contemporary Romance)

Hustle Me (A Bank Shot Romance Book 1)

The
Somnian Series (YA Paranormal)

Books 1-5

I would like to thank everyone that continues to support me through the good times and the bad. Without you, I would never stay so determined. I never realized how rough things would be when I started to follow my dream of writing. There have been so many nights of microwave dinners and ignoring my family to make these books what they are today.

Beta Readers

Jennifer Lafon, Amy Haigler, Karrie Stewart, Jennifer Harried, Erica Willis,  Sarah Thompson, Mechelle Lovell Jackson, Kim Eckley, Kim Person, Milasy Mugnolo, Heather Gunter and Stephanie Horning

Web Design and Marketing by: Amy
Haigler

Thanks to all of my new friends on my FB, Twitter and Goodreads.

Author: Amanda Bennett, Author: Elizabeth Buchanan

Author: Emily Snow Author: Michelle Valentine: Michelle Leighton

Thank you for spreading the word and all of the support you give.

Thanks to all of my other Independent Author Friends. (you know who you are)

Thank you to all the book bloggers out there spreading the word for me and others who write.

Maryse Book Blog, Into the night Reviews, Book Bitches, Word, Rockstars of Romance, Kindlehooked, Shh Mom’s reading, Totally Booked, Word, Reading is my time out, Stick Girl Book Reviews, Wolfels World of Books

Book Broads, Book Studs, Books
Books Books, Reality Bites Books, Naughty Mafia Vegas, Smutty Book Whores,

What to read after fifty shades

Special Thanks to:

And everyone who has made this series the success that it is. I am forever grateful. Thanks to my family and my faith. With them, all things are possible

Chapter 1

Ramsey

“I can’t believe it’s snowing. Doesn’t mother nature know that spring started four days ago?”

“Jules, we can’t control the weather, babe. You know that. Did you have fun tonight? The Gunderson’s seem like good people.” My wife hated that I had taken the position and relocated us four months ago. I’d been a cop for ten years now and after working in the
city for the last nine of them, we just wanted a slower kind of life.

I liked being on the force and putting away criminals, but where we lived before just wasn’t a place to raise a little girl.

“Daddy, when will we be home? Can I have a snack before bed?” My daughter, Katie, usually went to bed at eight. We were nearing eleven and she wasn’t exactly her cheerful self.

“About five minutes, sweetheart.” I peeked in the rearview mirror at my daughter. She hugged her teddy bear.

My wife, Jules, reached over and put her hand on my thigh. “They were nice people. I think you found the nicest people in the whole town on purpose, so that I would like this place even more.”

I looked over at her and smiled. “So, you do like it?”

She shrugged and looked out at the snow. “It’s beautiful here. Who wouldn’t want a goodnight’s sleep without fire trucks and police sirens every five minutes? The smells of the farms are a little hard to get used to, but it is nice.”

I put my hand over hers. “I know you miss your parents.”

“It would have been easier if they could have come too,” she admitted.

“As soon as they sell of
f the property they said they would. The market just isn’t moving that fast right now. Besides, you need to seek out the biggest bible thumpers so your mom can fit right in.” Sure, I was teasing her. My wife’s mother wasn’t that bad, but since her kids had all moved out, she became obsessed with the bible channel. The woman literally watched it the entire time she was awake and in her house.

I never had a problem with being a Christian. It was the way I was raised, but this woman drank her rum and Coke at ten in the morning and snuck cigarettes on the back porch, while gossiping to her church friends about what liars the rest of the congregation was. It was
extremely disturbing.

Jules could talk about her mother constantly, but the moment I said anything negative she would go ballistic and it would start a huge argument. She claimed that I worshipped my non-drinking mother, but degraded hers. Since I hated arguing with my wife, it was best that I kept my opinions to myself.

We’d been together since we were sixteen years old. She was with me when I decided to go into the police academy. After being on the force for three years, she got pregnant with Katie. Even though times were tough, she stayed in college and got her teaching degree. Since we’d moved, she no longer had to work and could spend all of her time being a mother instead. Julia had a gift for making beautiful cakes and now that she had the time, she started making them for other people. The money wasn’t fantastic, but it gave her something to be proud of.

Our new kitchen was the perfect size for her to work in.
We’d bought a house that was a hundred years old. The kitchen had been gutted out and was now all done in Amish Mission style cabinetry and granite countertops. I think that Jules was more excited about the kitchen then she was at our wedding.

It wasn’t the big bedroom, or the large soaking tub that sold her on the
house. It wasn’t even the wrap around porch with swing, or the large great room with the stone fireplace. No, my wife was madly in love with our kitchen.

“Mom said she talked to the Conner’s the last time they visited. She says that they may make an offer on that rancher down the road.”

“The one with the large detached garage? Your dad will love that.” Her father loved to tinker. He could make anything.

“Yeah. Mom doesn’t seem too thrilled, but I think she just wants to get down here and be close to Katie, so she doesn’t really care what house they move to. You know she’s leaving the only house they ever lived in? It’s going to be emotional for her.” I think it was also hard for Jules to say goodbye to the
house she grew up in.

“Daddy, can we build a snowman when we get home?”

“No!” Jules and I said at the same time.

“Sweetheart, it’s way past your bedtime. We can build one in the morning.” I knew she would have us up as soon as the sun was rising.

“Do we have a carrot?” She asked.

I looked at Jules and scrunched up my face. She shook her head and started to laugh. “For the nose, silly.”

“Oh! I don’t know, but even if we don’t, I’m sure we can figure out something else to use. Maybe our snowman could have a pickle nose instead.”

“Eww! No way! It can’t have a pickle nose.”

Jules turned around and laughed with Katie. “Daddy has silly ideas, doesn’t he?”

I looked back in the rearview mirror and saw my daughter laughing.
“Why can’t it have a pickle nose? Maybe it might get hungry?”

I loved seeing her smile. It was my reason for life.
From the moment that child took her first breath I knew I would never love anything more. She made any bad day forgettable and my heart was always the fullest when she was in my arms. Every time Katie and Jules laughed at my jokes, I felt overwhelmed with self-worth. We’d had tough times through the years, sometimes even fighting to stay together. At the end of the day, I knew that I could never want to be anywhere else.

“Snowmen don’t eat pickles, Daddy. They eat snow.” Katie laughed even more.

“So they eat their own hands? That’s gross!” I teased.

“Daddy!” She continued to giggle.

I looked back at my daughter and then over to Jules. One of my hands still sat over hers. “I love our life, babe. We’re going to be so happy here. I promi…”

“DADDY WATCH OUT!”

It was too late.

I turned to look at the dark road and saw the tractor trailer on
its side, sliding right toward us. Out of instinct I slammed on my brakes, causing us to go into an uncontrolled spin. I heard my girls screaming and I started screaming too. The roads were too slick to be able to retain control. I knew it was just a matter of seconds, but for me, it seemed like it played out in slow motion. I tried to turn and look at Jules. Her eyes were huge with fear.

The impact was sudden a
nd I hardly remembered what it felt like that exact moment. The sound of the metal making contact was piercing. I was suddenly cold and looking around to see glass everywhere. My shoulder was stuck to my seat by a large piece of shrapnel that had come off of the truck. I tried to jerk myself free except the pain was excruciating.

Realizing that I wouldn’t be able to free myself without help, I turned to ask Jules, but there was another large piece of metal in between us.
The first thing I noticed was that I didn’t hear either of my girls. I called out into the cold air, seeing the truck driver running in the direction of my car.

“Jules? Jules are you okay, babe? Katie? Katie answer Daddy. Just tell me what hurts, sweetheart.”

Nothing.

I screamed their names, even when the driver came and opened my door.
“Get them! Just help them!”

The old man, who looked to be in his sixties, peeked inside of my wrecked car. He pulled off his hat and shook his head, but looked right at my face. “Oh, God, I am so so sorry. Help is on the way, sir. I’ve already called.”

“Just get them out! Why can’t I hear them? Are they conscious?” I had to know. I had to know they were okay. I had to hear my little Katie’s voice. She had to be okay. We were two minutes from home.

The old man just stood there shaking his head and trying his best not to look toward the opposite side of my car.

While he just stood there, I called out for them, over and over again, with not a single sound in return.

I don’t know how long it was before help arrived. The emergency workers started on my side and I couldn’t understand why. I yelled for them over and over again to help the girls. Hell, I knew half of the guys there. Maybe they had gotten out of the car already and they were just on the side of the road getting looked at?

It wasn’t until they brought out the Jaws of Life and started cutting me out of my car that I realized the extent of the accident. As my body was pulled away from the wreckage I looked back and saw why nobody would give me an answer. The entire passenger side of my car was crushed against the steel walls of the truck. As they strapped me down to the gurney, I screamed out for my girls, over and over. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be a dream. It had to be…

“Sheriff, can you hear me?” Sheriff
Towers?”

I looked up from my desk and realized that I’d been daydreaming again. It happened every single day since the accident last year. When I lost my girls, I lost all of my reasons for living. I didn’t want to survive that accident.
I shouldn’t have.

This was my punishment.

I closed myself off from the rest of our family, unable to live with the burden of being the driver that night. I’d killed my girls and I would never be able to forgive myself.