Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) by Mallory Monroe

right handling her business.
    “You’re
out of line, Reno,” she said forcefully.   “Who we hire to do our books at Champagne’s has nothing to do with
you.   You have no right to tell me who I
can and cannot hire.”
    “Well
guess what?   I’m telling you,” Reno
said.   “Jody Parks will not be doing the
books for Champagne’s.   End of
discussion.”   Then Reno looked at
Jody.   “Get the fuck away from my wife
and stay the fuck away from her!” He said this and then slammed the car door
shut.
    It
was obvious that Jody didn’t like it.   The way he stared at Reno now, without so much as giving Trina a second
look, made that clear.  
    “What
says you, Tree?” Jody asked her, although he was still staring at Reno.   “Nobody respects a puppet.   Are you your husband’s puppet?”
    Jimmy
looked at Trina.   She was nobody’s
puppet, but Reno ruled their nest.   He
ruled their family.   There was no doubt
about that.
    Trina
stared at Reno.   He never did anything
unless there was a darn good reason for it, although she couldn’t see the
reason here.   But she knew Reno.
    She
looked at Jody.   “Thanks for what you’ve
done so far, Joe,” she said.   “But we can
take it from here.”
    And
those words alone slapped the smile off of Jody’s face.   He had expected fireworks from Trina.   She didn’t let anybody handle her.   But she wasn’t going along.
    “Have
a good day,” she said to him.
    “Have
a good one yourself,” he said to her and then, as if to prove some point, put
his car in gear and drove off in a jerk, putting an extra spin on his tires as
he did.
    Reno
looked at Trina with such anger that he could hardly contain himself.   She looked at him with such anger that she
could hardly contain herself.   But they
were at the front door of the boutique and customers were coming out and going
in.   This was not the place.   But Trina knew, by Reno’s look alone, that he
was all but telling her that if she didn’t want a scene that she’d better get
them to a private place, and to get them there right now.
    She
led him into the high-end boutique without saying a word.   Jimmy followed behind them, keeping his
distance from them on purpose.   He knew
his parents.   He knew when it was going
to be all-out war.
    Gemma
Jones, who co-owned the boutique along with Trina and Liz Mertan, another
friend, was near the back of the store assisting a customer.   She looked up when Reno and Tree entered, but
neither of them looked her way.   They,
instead, headed toward the side stairs that led to the upstairs office.   Jimmy, however, headed toward her.
    “Hey,
Jimmy, how you doing?” Gemma asked him.
    “I’m
doing good.   And you?”
    “I’m
okay,” she said as she watched Tree and Reno.    She’d seen the activity outside.   She saw when Jody and Trina arrive in Jody’s Maserati, and she could
tell, by Reno’s body language alone, how displeased he was.   As an attorney in town, Gemma occasionally
did legal work for Reno.   She knew
him.   “They okay?” she asked Jimmy.
    “Yeah,
sure,” he said.   “They just need to talk,
that’s all.”
    Gemma
appreciated Jimmy’s loyalty to his parents, but she was nobody’s fool.   Reno was hot.   She knew him.   Trina was hot.   She knew her.   And that was why she didn’t bother to say hello, or to say anything to
either one of them, as they headed upstairs.
    The
upstairs was mainly the storage unit for the store, with an office in the far
back.   Trina and Reno made their way to
that office.   Trina was walking steadily,
with Reno just behind her. And even though he was so angry with her he could
strangle her, he was unable to stop himself from checking her out as they
walked. She had, in Reno’s estimation, one of the finest figures he’d ever
seen.   Everything was the way he wanted
it to be.   Her shoulders were small, her
waist was narrow, her ass was round and firm.   And her brown legs