Storm (Georgia Smoke #4)

• Three •

“I am not calling you if I am bored.”

Briar

Standing back, I watched as Storm showed Dovie her new rooms. He was giving her an entire floor to herself. I didn’t need her to respond to know she was excited. Seeing the pure joy in her expression eased some of the anxiety about this decision. In the four years I’d had Dovie, never had I seen her like this. Smiles from her had been few and far between for so long. I just hoped I wasn’t making a mistake. This would be hard to run from if the time came. Dovie had never been spoiled like this. The nice apartments I’d been able to put us in over the years didn’t compare to this. Storm had just given a fairy tale to a teenage girl who had lived through more nightmares than most humans in her short life.

If I wasn’t already in love with him, I would have fallen in this moment.

Dovie turned to me after she spun in a circle in the massive bedroom, complete with a chandelier and her own private balcony overlooking the backyard. She was beaming so brightly, and I felt my eyes prick from the emotion of this moment.

“Anything you want to change, including furniture, we can go shopping. I want this to be yours and to be exactly what you want,” Storm told her, standing just inside the door with his arms crossed over his chest, looking real damn pleased with himself.

“It’s perfect,” she signed, then walked over to the French doors that opened to her personal balcony.

“She said it’s perfect,” I told him.

He narrowed his eyes. “There has to be something she wants to change.”

I shook my head. “This is more than anything she could have dreamed up in her wildest imagination.”

His arms dropped to his sides, and he moved toward me. “And you? What about you?”

I shrugged. “It’ll do,” I teased.

One of his large hands grabbed me just below my waist and tugged me against him. “It’ll do?”

I nodded, smiling up at him. “I’ll manage.”

His eyes dropped to my mouth. “I guess I’ll just have to try harder. Tell me what it is you want. We’ll go get it now. Change whatever the fuck you want to.”

The man was serious.

I reached up and placed my palm on his stubbly jawline. “It’s perfect.”

His nostrils flared, and he let out an almost-silent groan, then dropped his hand from my waist and stepped away just as Dovie walked back into the room. Her eyes met mine, and she gave me a smirk, having caught us embracing. I’d never let her around the men in my life. None of them could be trusted. This was new for both of us. I was trusting Storm with so much. Not just with me, but with Dovie too.

“Your things will be brought in soon. Why don’t you make me a grocery list of things you both want to eat, and I’ll get those ordered?” Storm said to both of us.

“Order them? I can go to the grocery store for us. It’ll be cheaper,” I told him.

He shook his head. “No. Until I have some things handled, I don’t want you out in public.”

Right. Jameson and whoever had shot at us. How could he handle that when he didn’t even know who he was looking for?

“My parents are out of town at the moment, so I was thinking we’d go over to their house for a swim. I’ve called Mrs. Beck, their cook and main housekeeper. She’s making us something for dinner. Nailyah is headed to Atlanta to stay with my other sister, Lela, for a couple of days. We’ll have it all to ourselves.”

I placed a hand on my hip and looked at him. “I can cook,” I informed him.

His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at me. “I’m sure you can. But today’s been a lot. I want you to relax and enjoy life.”

Today had been a roller coaster, but that didn’t mean I had to be pampered. I’d had worse days. Much worse. Days that he couldn’t imagine.

“Fine. But if we are going to live here, then we aren’t going to be spoiled princesses. I can cook, and Dovie and I both can clean.”

His smile tightened. “You’re not cleaning.”

Like hell. I started to argue, but saw the uncertainty on Dovie’s face and stopped. This was a conversation that we’d have without her around to listen. She had no gauge for how homes—stable, safe homes—worked. I didn’t want her to be scared of Storm because we argued.

I returned his tight smile and just nodded.

It took three days before my anxiety started to set in. I was sure it would have happened sooner if Storm hadn’t kept me distracted.

We had gone for a walk over their property, and he showed Dovie and me the land that would be his sisters one day. They didn’t have peach trees on theirs, but they did have pecan trees. We went to the Shephards’ stables, and I rode Noor again. I was growing attached to her. It had been as if we were in our own little bubble. Reality had ceased to exist for a little while.

He’d had to leave this morning to handle work, and I hadn’t asked for details because his line of work was something I doubted he would share. Without him here, I had time to let this all sink in. Digest everything he’d done so far, and the realization that he’d done more for me—no, us—than anyone ever had made me want to throw up my guard. I no longer felt in control, and I wasn’t sure how to navigate that.

Storm was slowly taking decisions away from me.

I stood in the living room, my gaze on the backyard with my hands tucked in the back pockets of my cutoff jeans. As magical as the past few days had felt, looking back over it, I now saw it differently. It was terrifying.

I had always been the playmaker. The problems were mine to fix. Sure, I’d used wealthy men for money, but not once had I ever given them any real power. I let them think they had it, but they never did. I chose when to leave. I decided when it was over. And I never let them inside my walls. When they’d claimed to love me, I had always smiled and kissed them. But I never said the words back. Not trusting anyone with my heart had been my ultimate weapon.

With Storm, I didn’t have that in my arsenal. What we were doing here was foreign to me. It was so out of my comfort zone. Not only had I fallen in love with a man, but I’d done so with the most dangerous one I’d ever met. It wasn’t like I could take Dovie and run from him. He’d find me.

I didn’t want to run.

If I ever needed to leave him, it would wreck me.

I no longer recognized myself.

The phone in my pocket began to ring, and I slid it out to see Storm’s name. My chest instantly eased, and I knew that, too, was something I should worry about. The influence he had over my emotions. I feared it was something I had no control over. Add it to the list of things I was losing my grip on.

“Hello?” I said into the phone.

“You doing okay?” he asked with concern etched in his tone.

I frowned, wondering why he was asking me that. “Yes. Just waiting on Dovie to wake up and come downstairs.”

He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry you have to stay in the house today. I should be home around four. There’s a celebration party over at Stellan’s. The Shephards’ house tonight. One of our horses won the Belmont Stakes.”

I had no clue about horse racing, but I smiled, happy for him. “That’s wonderful.”

“It’s a formal thing. There will be two women coming by at one o’clock. They’ll have dresses for you both to choose from, and they’ll do your hair and makeup.”

That wasn’t something I’d ever experienced.

“I have two formal dresses that are nice. I could wear one, and I have a sewing kit, so I can alter the other one so that Dovie can use it. As for hair and makeup, we can do our own. You don’t need to send someone over here for that.”

Thankfully, I’d held on to two of the designer dresses I’d been given in the past. They were my favorites, and I was not willing to part with them just yet.

“Get rid of those. I don’t want you wearing something another man bought for you.” His tone was clipped.

Scowling at the wall, I tried not to lose my temper on him and remain calm. “How do you know I didn’t buy the dresses?”

“Did you?” he drawled in a way that told me he already knew the answer.

“No,” I said through clenched teeth. Hating that he was calling me out on this.

He let out a heavy sigh. “I want to dress you. Everything that touches your body, I want to have paid for it. The idea of you wearing something another man paid for makes me feel unhinged.”

Closing my eyes, I shook my head. Men. “Okay. Fine. Send the fancy folks over here to fix us up if you must.”

“I must,” he replied in an amused voice.

Dovie wouldn’t know what to think about all this. She would probably love it. She’d never gotten to go to any events with me that men had taken me to before. Having him include her as if it was a given that she would go, too, was just another reason I feared this man would own my soul.

“Thank you. For including Dovie,” I told him.

“She’s important to you,” he said.

“Yes,” I agreed.

“Call me if you need me.”

“I will,” I assured him.

“Even if you’re bored,” he said.

I laughed. “I am not calling you if I am bored.”

“Ah, come on now, baby. You know you like to hear my voice.”

I bit my bottom lip and smiled at the glass doors leading outside. Even over the phone, he could give me stomach flutters.

“Yes, I do.”

There was a pause, and then he let out a groan. “I need to go.”

“Bye, Storm,” I teased, then ended the call.

Feeling better after talking to him and no longer stressing over the change in our life, I decided to go wake up Dovie. I didn’t want to eat breakfast alone, and I was excited about telling her about tonight’s plans.