Danica stood there stunned for a moment before getting in her car. She never would’ve believed it had she not seen it with her own eyes. Her heartless, controlling, hard-ass ex had actually fallen to his knees and begged through tears. Delia would be floored when she told her, or she might think the very thing Danica had when he first fell to his knees. That it was all a contrived act to convince her he was truly a broken but changed man. Just like all the other times he’d pissed her off and he had to backpedal. Though she had to admit the tears did seem genuine and spontaneous, as did his embarrassed demeanor after the fact. Danica decided she’d wait until she got home tonight to tell Delia about this. She needed time to let the whole thing simmer.
For once, since things had taken a turn between her and Orlando, Danica was actually lost in thought about something else. She thought about it all the way to the shop where she was meeting Orlando to pick up Oreo. Since she’d broken things off with Ted, the first few times he’d called her and begged for a second chance, she hadn’t bought that he was genuinely remorseful about the way he’d treated her. She hadn’t believed for a second that he would actually try and change. Only that he’d say and do anything to change her mind about him. But after today, his apology and sincerity about at least wanting to try and change for the sake of getting her back, and holding on to her, felt truly genuine. Unfortunately for Ted, it was too little too late. Pulling into the shop’s parking lot, Danica smiled at the reminder of just how little and how late Ted’s sincere apology was. By the time she walked into the shop, her heart was all aflutter as it had been since the morning Orlando told her about breaking things off with Felicia. She hadn’t even finished parking, and any thoughts of Ted and his emotional plea were already a very distant second.
Orlando
As usual, the moment Orlando had spotted Dani in the parking lot, he’d been smiling from ear to ear. He’d rushed to wash his hands because he could hardly wait to get them on her. He was done being discreet at work. It wasn’t something she’d asked him to do. They hadn’t even addressed it, but he’d just assumed she might feel a little uncomfortable. Except idiots like Alonso just weren’t getting the fucking hint about her being off limits, so he was taking matters into his own hands and putting it out there. Once it was out there, he wouldn’t have to be so touchy-feely, but they’d know, and his warnings about getting all cute with her would be for an even bigger reason now. He took a quick call at the counter in the lobby, glad Alonso and a few of the other guys were within eyesight of the counter. “Hey.” He smiled as she walked in, and he hung up the phone.
“Hey.” She smiled back, ambling toward the counter where he stood.
“You’re here earlier than I thought you’d be.” He glanced up at the clock on the wall then turned to her as she reached him. “How’d it go?” He lowered his voice a bit. “Did you get the charges reduced?”
“Not yet.” She shook her head. “But my attorney assures me we’re close. My next court date is next month.”
“Good.” Pulling her to him, he saw her eyes widen a bit “It’ll happen.”
Before she could put too much thought into what he was doing right there in the middle of the lobby, he planted a kiss on her so deep he could feel his dick come alive. He knew this would surprise her since he’d yet to even hold her hand at the shop. But the satisfaction of knowing the guys had likely witnessed their public display of affection was fleeting, because as he leaned in to kiss her neck, he stopped cold and pulled back to search her eyes. “Is that men’s cologne I’m smelling? Seeing the obvious panic in her eyes had him widening his. He stared at her as she pulled her blouse to her nose, taking in the obvious lingering stench on herself. She started to shake her head but stopped when her eyes locked with Orlando’s. “I ran into Ted after court.”
Feeling his brows jump, Orlando’s struggled to stay cool. “And now you reek of his cologne? Why was he even there?”
Now Danica shook her head adamantly. “He works at the city offices,” she explained quickly. “They’re right next door to the courthouse and share the same parking lot. I ran into him in the parking lot.”
His head spun with all kinds of questions, but he spat out the most pressing one. “Why the fuck do you smell like him, Dani?”
“He hugged me good-bye.” She shrugged as if trying to make less of it. “And he’s always worn strong cologne.” She tugged her blouse again, taking in the smell of it with a frown. “Yeah, that is pretty strong.”
“He hugged you?” Orlando asked, searching her eyes, still ignoring her last comment.
“O,” Byron said, sticking his head in the door. “Nine needs you—”
“Tell him I’m busy right now,” Orlando said, not bothering to even look his way since he couldn’t take his eyes off Dani.
Byron huffed. “He just—”
“Give me a minute, will you?” He finally pulled his eyes away from Dani to address Byron. “I’m in the middle of something, okay?” Byron nodded without another word and walked back out to the shop. When Orlando turned back to Dani, she was glancing around, a bit confused. “Is that the baby I’m hearing?”
Orlando leaned over the counter and picked up a baby monitor just as they heard another whimper. “I guess he’s up.”
“Where is he?”
“Upstairs.” Instantly, Dani was rushing up the stairs with Orlando right behind her. He still had a million questions, but at the moment this did take priority. They reached the portable crib Orlando had set up in the small front room of the apartment. Seeing Dani smile the moment she saw the baby’s eyes brighten at the sight of them warmed him. But he was still feeling too hot to really appreciate it the way he usually did.
“My Oreo is up!” Swooping him up in her arms, she cuddled him tightly and kissed him all over as he repeated mama, mama, between squeals. A few seconds later he turned to Orlando and reached out for him. “Da,da,da,da.” It was the only thing that lightened the intensity he was still feeling as Orlando took Oreo in his arms and kissed him.
After some baby talk and smooches with Oreo, Orlando glanced down at Danica and got right to it. “Why’s your ex still hugging you?”
“I hadn’t seen or spoken to him in over a month.” She paused for a moment even as Orlando continued to search her eyes and inhaled. “He was a little emotional and—”
“Emotional?” Orlando asked as the annoyance about this continued to mount. “About what?”
She inhaled deeply again before going on. “He wants another chance and begged me to forgive him. Claims he’s changed.”
“Forgive him?” This confused Orlando. “For the ultimatum he gave you?”
Dani closed her eyes for a moment, pressing her lips together tightly. “When I first told you about us breaking up, I left a lot out. Only because nothing had happened between you and me yet, and I was trying to spare you the details. He really was pushing to move the engagement along by getting a ring, and he had begun to threaten with ultimatums, but I knew he’d never follow through. He’d gotten excessively controlling, so I left him one morning when he wasn’t home and moved back in with my sister.”