Free Reno Gabrini: For His Lover (The Mob Boss Series Book 14) by Mallory Monroe Page B

seconds after her
last glance.   “He should be here any
minute now, Val,” she said.
    Val looked at Trina as if she was so consumed with her own
thoughts that she had no clue what she was talking about.   “Excuse me?”
    “Your father-in-law?   My husband?   He’s on his way.”
    “Oh that!” Val smiled.   “Dad has never been on time for anything lately.   I’m used to him.”
    Trina could hear a little dismissiveness in her tone, as if
she was more annoyed by Reno’s lateness than she was letting on.   But when Val checked that watch yet again,
Trina became annoyed herself.   “Why do
you keep doing that, Val?” she asked.
    Val looked at her with a puzzled expression on her face.   “Doing what?”
    “Checking your watch,” Jimmy responded, as he ended his phone
call.   “Every two seconds you’re checking
your watch like you’ve got somewhere to be.   I noticed it a long time before Ma did.”
    “I just don’t want to keep the baby out too late, that’s
all.”
    “Neither do we,” Jimmy said, then looked on the side of
Val.   “Dad’s here!”   He could see his father coming toward their
table.   He rose to his feet.   “Finally,” he added.
    Val looked too.   What
surprised Trina wasn’t the fact that Val was looking, but that she didn’t have
that lustful look she used to be unable to conceal whenever Reno showed
up.   But instead of being a comforting
development to Trina, as if Val had finally grown-up and out of her crush on
Reno, it bothered Tree.   Who, she
wondered, had her daughter-in-law’s attention now?
    “Hey, Dad,” Jimmy said gaily on seeing his father, and he and
Reno hugged.   Since Reno promoted Jimmy
to a Senior VP position, they’d been closer than they’d ever been.   Jimmy called Reno constantly for advice.   Reno loved it.
    “Hey, Dad,” Val said, too, as she rose and gave Reno a hug
also.
    Reno removed his shades and then leaned down and kissed Trina
on the lips.   He unbuttoned his
suitcoat.   Val felt a tingle in her
vagina when she saw that bundle between Reno’s legs, and Kapper Cole’s own
bundle crossed her mind.
    “Hey little princess,” Reno said as he sat beside his wife
and leaned down and smiled at his grandbaby.   “Hey Maddie May.”   Then he took
the baby from Trina and placed her into his arms.
    “Where were you?” Trina asked.
    “Something came up,” he said, smiling at his grandchild.   “Sorry I’m late.”
    “Something always does come up in our line of work, Dad,”
Jimmy said as he sat back down too, beside Val.   “Nothing to be sorry about.”
    Trina smiled.   “You
weren’t always so forgiving of your father, Jimmy.   Quite a change.”
    “I learned from you,” Jimmy said with a smile of his
own.   “I could remember the time Dad
hardly ever came home, and the rumors all over Vegas was that he was sleeping with
all of these different women.   But you
kept forgiving him.   You said he was
worth it.   I agree.”
    Reno looked at Jimmy.   What the fuck was he talking about?   He was talking as if Reno was running around Vegas cheating on Trina
with impunity.   As if he didn’t give a
damn about Trina’s feelings.   He was
about to set his son straight, but Trina did it for him.
    “There was nothing to forgive,” she said.   “Reno worked hard to provide for us, and all
those rumors were just talk.”
    “But it was so widespread,” Jimmy said.   “It had to hurt on some level.”
    Reno didn’t interrupt.   He wanted to hear the answer himself.   He continued to bounce the baby, and listen.
    “It hurt on a lot of levels,” Trina said.   “Of course it hurt.   But I knew Reno.   He wouldn’t do me like that.”
    Jimmy smiled, and took Val’s hand.   It was only then did Trina realize he wasn’t
attempting to get into her feelings, but into his own.   She saw it earlier, and decided not to pursue
it.   Now she decided to go there.   “So how long has this been