“You lived with this guy?”
She started to wince but recovered quickly. “Yes.” She nodded, looking strangely defeated. “But not for too long. He wasn’t so bad in the beginning, but he got progressively worse as the time passed. It only took a few months for me to realize just how controlling he was, and I left him.”
“And he just let you?”
She took the baby, who was reaching out for her. As soon as he was in her arms, her nose scrunched. Grabbing a diaper and wipes out of the bag next to the crib, she put him down and began to change him as Orlando waited impatiently for her to answer his question.
“Believe it or not, it wasn’t as drawn-out a breakup as you might think given how persistent he could be. It’s actually been surprising that he’s respected my wishes to stay away and stop calling me, but he did show up at my sister’s to try to get me to come back home with him that first day. Only I refused and he left.”
Orlando wondered now how much else she’d left out about their breakup. “And he didn’t come back again?”
“Nope,” she said very matter-of-factly, but Orlando wasn’t buying it.
“Why am I finding that hard to believe, Dani? The guy’s begging you back first time he sees you, but he stayed away all this time?”
She finished with the diaper change and handed Orlando the balled up dirty one. He tossed it in the trash can then turned back to her. She was now holding the baby again, who cooed happily in her arms, cuddling up into her chest. As much as he usually enjoyed watching Little Man’s response to her, Orlando couldn’t take his eyes off her. She closed her eyes for a second before going on. “My sister pulled a gun on him that day. I’m sure that had a lot to do with his staying away. That and my threat to go to the press about him being so controlling and even abusive.”
“Abusive?” The blood thrummed in Orlando’s ears at the very thought. She’d left a whole lot of shit out about this guy. “He abused you?”
“Not really,” she said quickly as if backpedaling after hearing Orlando raise his voice a bit. “He never physically abused me while we were together, but he was furious the morning he got home and saw I’d packed and left without notice. He showed up at my sister’s on fire, accusing me of seeing someone else, and it’s why I’d really left him.” She closed her eyes as she kissed the baby’s head as if the memory was still a tough one. “He just grabbed my arm when I wouldn’t get in the car with him and tried to force me to. It’s why my sister pulled out her gun.”
The visual alone had Orlando feeling ready to kill. “Just grabbed your arm?”
“I mean—”
“Dani, this fucker put his hands on you and attempted to abduct you.”
“Well, when you put it that way”—Dani gasped wide-eyed—“it sounds terrible, but he’d never done anything like that before. I think it was just the shock that I’d actually up and moved out without giving him so much as a warning.”
Orlando took a few steps closer to her, leaning in when he remembered the few females he’d known in his life who’d suffered at the hands of an abusive man. Calming a little, he kissed her softly. “Baby, don’t make excuses for his ass. It is terrible. I’ve been around enough scum in my lifetime to know this. There are two types of men in the world when it comes to this shit. The kind that slap women around and the kind that don’t—no matter what. The kind that don’t wouldn’t have it in them to even be grabbing a woman roughly and trying to force her to do something against her will. If he had it in him to do that, trust me when I say that you got out of his clutches just in time. You said he’d gotten progressively worse. What do you think he would’ve done if you’d tried to leave him and he’d been home?” He clenched his teeth just thinking about it. “Without your sister there pointing a gun at his ass, you would’ve been black and blue. I guarantee it.”
Dani stared at him, still a bit wide-eyed. “It was scary.”
“And now you’re letting him hug you?” The calm Orlando had managed to summon was slipping away again.
“It was awkward, Orlando,” she explained as her shoulders slumped in that odd way he’d seen her do often when she was explaining something to him. “He made this whole show of begging and tearing up. Even got down on his knees for a few seconds there. I just wanted to get the hell out of there and in my car. So, when he asked if he could hug me, I just let him so we could be done with it.”
There was a knock at the door and Orlando frowned, turning to it. “Come in.”
“Don’t kill the messenger,” Byron said, holding up his hand. “But De La Hoya’s here. We thought they’d just deliver his car, but he showed up with it. Beast is on his way now.”
“No shit.” Even for something as exciting as this should be, Orlando couldn’t even crack a smile right then. “Alright, I’ll be right down.” He turned back to Dani, curious about one very important thing. “If I hadn’t smelled the cologne, were you planning on telling me about running into him today?”
Dani chewed the corner of her lip in that nervous way he’d seen her do often. “Probably not.” Orlando clenched his jaw in reaction. “I didn’t see the point,” she added quickly.
“Look,” he said, trying his damnedest to remain calm. “I know you and I haven’t discussed the details about what’s happening between us, and the last thing I want is for you to compare me to that controlling fucker. But fair warning, Dani, hearing about you around this asshole, especially now that I know he put his hands on you like he did is gonna piss me off. Every time. But . . .” He held up a finger, wanting this part to be even clearer. “I’m gonna ask you to please not keep it from me. You keeping it from me will only piss me off even more. So, please don’t, okay?”
Dani nodded, and Orlando leaned in and kissed her softly. “I’d hold you longer like I love doing, but that smell is making me nauseous.”
“I’ll stop by my house on my way to yours and change.”
“Thank you.” He was finally able to crack a very tight smile as he grabbed the baby’s things. “I’ll help you out to the car with all this.” Orlando didn’t miss the way the guys watched them as they made their way out of the shop. Clearly, they’d seen their embrace and him kissing her earlier. When they reached her car after getting the baby in the car seat, Orlando made a point of pulling her to him and kissing her deeply again. He knew the guys would likely still be watching, and he wanted this out there already.
“This is new.” She licked her lips, squeezing his arm and motioning to the window.
Orlando turned to see the guys gawking, including Nine. He turned back to Dani. “Does it make you uncomfortable?”
“Not at all. Just surprised me.”
Shrugging, Orlando smirked. “Yeah, I got to thinking, why the hell should we hide it from anyone? We’re two grown-ass adults and now these fuckers will have to answer to me if they keep trying to throw the moves on you.” Her tinging face made him smile.
“No one’s ever tried to throw the moves on me, Orlando.”