Page 22 of Stormy Knight

Seeing Whiskey, Stormy smiled. “Good morning.” It took her no time to walk across the floor and take the baby from Whiskey.

“How’s my sweet girl doing this morning?” Stormy cooed over the baby as she walked around, giving her a little bounce. Everyone in the room faded away as she held her goddaughter. “I need to take you shopping for some pretty clothes.”

“There won’t be any shopping. No leaving the ranch. Not even to go to the restaurant unless Marco and Dale are with you or one of us.” Reeves watched Stormy, and she was ignoring him. “Stormy, did you hear me?”

“Yeah, I heard you.” Kissing the baby, she danced around the room talking to just Effie. “Your Uncle Reeves is a mean, mean man not letting us go shopping. That’s okay, Auntie Stormy has a credit card and a computer. We can shop online all day long.”

Reeves went from staring at Stormy to glaring at Whiskey. “She’s as pigheaded as you were.”

Holding out her hands Whiskey was appalled that he said she was pig-headed. The one thing she did agree with in his comment was the word ‘were’, “I’m not that way anymore.”

“That’s because you learned your lesson.” Reeves stared at Whiskey shocked at his own comment. His words came outwrong and by the look on his sister- in- law’s face they hurt. “That’s not what I meant, Whiskey.”

Whiskey tried to hide her hurt. It was hard to always feel like everyone still tiptoed around her when anything surrounding the past came up. She wasn’t that shy, scared girl anymore. She had to learn quickly how to be in the Salvador family, how to be the wife of a mafia boss, and how to be the wife of a rancher. All of it still overwhelmed her. Not to mention navigating being a survivor along with postpartum blues and writer’s block. She was a hot mess. “Reeves, I know what you meant and what you didn’t mean. It’s about time all of you stopped worrying about upsetting me.”

“Thanks.”

Stormy stopped playing with Effie long enough to notice the mood in the room had changed. “What did I miss?”

“I burned the toast,” Whiskey said quickly, before signaling for Stormy to hand the baby over. “It’s time for the princess to take her morning nap. I’ll meet you two in the kitchen shortly.”

Reeves watched his sister-in-law trying to not look at him. Chuckling, he tried gaining her attention, which she acknowledged but didn’t look at him. “Whiskey.”

Whiskey forced her eyes to stay on Stormy and the baby even if it was rude to not look at someone talking to her. “Yes.”

“Why did you come barging in here?” Reeves asked, curious if she wanted to talk to Stormy or was there some other reason she was there.

Whiskey rolled her eyes, thinking she should have started with that when she barged in. “Oh, that. Jackson and Monroe need to see you in the kitchen.”

Reeves looked at Whiskey. Why would he need to be seen in the kitchen? “Not the office or the library?”

“No. The kitchen.” Whiskey risked a glance at her brother-in-law. “Something about you being a better cook than both of them.”

Shrugging, he walked across the room, and into his dressing room to find dry clothes. Once dressed, he left the two women and one princess alone in his bedroom. Thinking about how Jackson would react once he found out his blushing bride had seen him basically naked. “Fucking hell.”

12

He should have thought it through before asking Stormy to stay with him in his suite. Neither of them had managed to get much work done. The past few weeks she’d spent fifty percent of her time using his personal space as an office, which threw his normal strict routine into chaos. He couldn’t blame her; Effie was suffering with colic. Jackson and Whiskey had brought his niece to the doctor constantly. Being new parents seemed draining.

Worried about their safety Reeves had driven with them on more than one occasion. All he could imagine was them being ambushed and killed in a hail of bullets. It wasn’t as if that hadn’t happened to Jackson in the past.

Walking through the house, he headed down the short hall into a small sitting room. Closing the door behind him, he took a seat furthest away from the windows closest to the bookshelves. The room had been a small library for his mother. He missed her every day. At the same time, he knew she’d been disappointed in his decision to leave school.

Reeves often sat in the room pondering over that decision. And the one to become the consiglierefor the family. Hisposition was supposed to be an advisor to the boss. A trusted friend and confidant, the right-hand man.

By the very nature of the job, a consigliere was one of the few in the family who could argue with the boss and was often tasked with challenging the boss when needed to ensure subsequent plans are what’s best for the family. As consigliere of the Salvador family and the Garduna, he took a more hands-on approach to things.

Jackson was what Reeves called a new-gen don. His brother did things his way, not the old way. Typical of a cowboy, just like their old man.

While in Dallas, he had realized he hadn’t been living a life. He had been only surviving. He was tired of dealing with fools who would never understand their place. Mario Serrano was one of those individuals. The man thought he was more powerful than he was. Reeves knew it would be him or one of the soldiers that would have to ultimately deal with him. Up to then, Reeves had been the one with blood on his hands. He chose to be the one so no one would have damning evidence against the Salvador family.

His other reason for not living his life to the fullest, he blamed on his feelings for Stormy. His heart belonged to the raven-haired beauty, and it kept him up at night. After finding out she’d been in an abusive relationship, he’d been agitated. But then he found out she was being stalked by the ex. He went into full-blown possessive mode. Now she was sharing his suite. Sleeping with him. Steepling his hands beneath his chin, he thought about all of it.

Reeves realized some things weren’t important. The whys of Stormy ending up with her ex that was not important. How would she want him to deal with the man? Not something he needed to know. Why? Because it didn’t matter what she said orthought about it. He would handle Paul Delacour however he felt was necessary. Still, that relationship nagged at him.

“Reeves,” Jackson said softly where he wouldn’t get shot by scaring his younger brother.

Coming out of his thoughts, Reeves saw Jackson standing right inside the room. “Sorry, I was headed to the kitchen and changed direction, needing a minute to myself.

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