Orlando nodded, still looking a little bemused. His brows furrowed suddenly as he took a few steps toward her. Slowing as he neared her, he lifted his head up, taking a whiff of the air around them until he leaned into her. “Is that my cologne I’m smelling on you?”
Feeling her face heat, Danica had no choice but to nod sheepishly. “Yeah, um, I hope you don’t mind, but I forgot to bring the body spray I use after I shower, so I borrowed a little of your cologne.”
“A little?” he took an even deeper whiff as he handed her the baby.
“I didn’t realize how strong it was.” She chuckled nervously as she kissed the baby’s forehead. “Might’ve gone a little overboard. Sorry.”
“Don’t be. That’s fine.” He searched her eyes, and Danica had to wonder if he was maybe having second thoughts about leaving the baby in the hands of her crazy ass. “Smells good on you, but I like your usual fragrance better.”
For a moment, she was caught in his intense eyes, and she swallowed hard as his eyes dropped to her lips. “Love Spell.”
“Hmm?”
“It’s the only fragrance I wear,” she explained as his eyes met hers again. “It’s a body mist from Victoria’s Secret.”
Shaking his head, he cleared his throat as he glanced away and walked over to the dresser in his room. “Well, it’s a good one.” He grabbed his phone and wallet. “Listen. I gotta get out of here, but like I said I’ll be back early. There’s breakfast sausage, eggs, and orange juice in the fridge. Help yourself to anything in there and in the pantry. He had some juice, but it was too early for a full-on breakfast.”
“Don’t worry. I’m all over it.” She walked out of the bedroom behind him, shaking her hand through her wet locks, as he told her a little more about the video they were shooting. They reached the front door, and he turned to kiss the baby in her arms. His lips always came so close to her face each time he kissed the baby when she was holding him. It’d begun to make her body tingle, and she nearly held her breath. He walked away and down the stairs in a hurry. She stood at the doorway, waving at him and coaxing the baby to wave with her. The moment he was gone she walked back in, closed the door behind her, and leaned against it, shaking her head. “Why, Oreo?” She kissed his nose then pulled her blouse to her nose, inhaling more of that knee-weakening scent. “Why do these things always happen to me?”
Trudging her way into the kitchen, she set him down on the highchair as she began preparing his bottle. After feeding him, she got him ready for their walk to the park. It was still too early for her to eat. She’d work up an appetite and have breakfast when she got back. Their time at the park went on a little longer than she’d anticipated since it was such a beautiful day. They’d sat by the lake for a good long while as she read to him and they listened to Cri Cri on her phone. Then she took the longer trail in the park she didn’t usually take. But the baby was in a good mood, and she figured why not? By the time they made it back, she was ready to eat. After changing Oreo, she set him down on his highchair again with a baby biscuit to keep him busy.
Searching in the fridge, she found the sausage Orlando had mentioned but frowned at the eggs. She couldn’t fry an egg to save her life and scrambling them always turned into one big sticky mess in the pan. As impressed as Orlando was with her baby skills, she prayed he’d never ask her to cook anything. She was seriously lacking in that department. It’s why Delia happily took on all the cooking at home while Danica got clean-up duty. Even Dominic passed on her cooking and that guy loved eating. “Nope. No eggs today, Oreo.” She kissed him on the head as she walked past him toward the pantry. “Let’s see what we have in here that would cause the least amount of damage. Ooh, hotcakes.” She’d hadn’t tried making hotcakes in a long time, but her stomach growled now, and hotcakes and sausage sounded like a good combo. “Hotcakes and sausage, it is,” she said, turning to Oreo, who was happily going at his biscuit. “This should literally be a piece of cake, right Oreo? We got this.”
Chapter 15
Orlando
Without the distraction of work and the guys trash-talking all morning, Orlando’s thoughts were back to the one thing he could hardly stop thinking about lately—Dani. It hadn’t even been a full week now, and he was already feeling anxious about getting back home to be around her. He kept asking himself what the hell it was about her that he felt so drawn to. Those eyes held the key. Even as she stood there that morning, anxiously trying to hide her embarrassment, sopping wet hair and all, Orlando couldn’t get enough of those animated eyes. He chuckled now, remembering how she’d attempted to cover up the fact that she’d gotten into his cologne. “Mold my ass,” he whispered, shaking his head with a smile as he turned onto his street.
Only it’d excited him too much to know she’d been that curious about trying his cologne. But it’d been too close. Too damn close. If he wasn’t more careful about how much he wanted to taste that mouth now, she was going to catch on and he might ruin everything. Pulling into his driveway, already excited about seeing and spending more time with her again, he started to check his texts because he’d heard the notification when he’d been driving. He did a double take when he glanced up and saw the smoke coming from the open window, and his heart nearly stopped. He jumped out of the car in an instant panic.
Running up the stairs of his porch like a madman, he was reminded this wasn’t the first time that week he’d done so. He rushed in the house, surprised to see Danica doing the same thing he’d caught her doing that morning. Only this time she was in the smoke-filled kitchen with a dish towel. “What’s on fire?” he asked, anxiously looking around.
Danica froze again the way she had that morning. “Nothing is.” She turned to face him with a wince that almost had him smiling. “I was just cooking, and it got a little smoky, so I opened the windows to let some of it out.” Orlando glanced at the blackened sausage and oddly shaped pancakes that were also burnt along the edges on the stove. “I made hotcakes and sausage.” She winced again as she motioned to them. “Probably had the fire on too high.” She shrugged, biting the corner of her lip. “I’ve never been able to make just a small batch of them, so there’s enough for both of us. Are you hungry?”
Clearly, cooking was not her forte, but Orlando didn’t have the heart to pass on her offer. “Yeah, actually, I could go for some pancakes.”
“And sausage,” Danica said, walking toward the stove.
“And sausage,” Orlando repeated as he eyed the charred sausage he’d now be forced to eat as well. “There’s a vent for the smoke.” He turned it on just under the over-the-stove microwave.
“Oh, is that what that is?”
Smiling now, Orlando turned to her. “I take it you don’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen.”
She turned to him, crinkling her nose, and God damn it if even that didn’t have him wanting to take her in his arms and devour that mouth. “My sister does most of the cooking at home. Well . . .” She pulled a plate out of the cupboard. “She does all the cooking. But there are some things I can cook.”