She put her phone down on the dresser in the master bedroom and then put the baby down in the crib. Orlando wasn’t quite past this revelation that Ted was still very much keeping in touch with Dani when her phone rattled on the dresser. She may’ve turned the sound down, but the vibrate was still on.
Dani didn’t bother to even look up. She continued making sure the baby was comfortable then kissed him. When she was done, Orlando bent over to kiss the baby good night too. The baby reached his hand up to his face, and Orlando kissed it. Purposely staying there a bit longer, he waited for Dani to make her way back to her phone and read whatever was sent to her. Despite his not wanting to sound controlling, Orlando reasoned that his not being thrilled that her asshole ex was still texting her was normal, right? Still bent over the crib, he asked, “Is that him again?”
She didn’t answer immediately. “Yeah.” Orlando looked up at her, unable to hide his annoyance about this. “It’s mostly group texts, Orlando. But I never respond to any of them.”
“Mostly?” He’d since picked up on and appreciated the fact that, if he asked her straight out about anything, she was honest, no matter how fucking annoying her answers might be. “The guy begged you back and got down on his knees in public, first chance he got, Dani. So, when it’s not a group text, what’s he texting you?” He motioned to her phone. “Is this a group text or something else?”
She stared at him for a moment as he walked toward her, searching those beautiful but apprehensive eyes. “He’s asking for us to get together. But it’s not the first time,” she added quickly. “And I never respond.”
“Why don’t you just block his ass?” Orlando asked, feeling beyond incensed about this shit now.
“I know it’s hard for you to understand.” She touched his face the moment he was close enough. “It’s been over two months since the incident at my sister’s, and he hasn’t showed up again or tried to find me. I just feel like if I give him the satisfaction of knowing he can at least still message me, regardless of whether he hears back from me or not, he won’t be confrontational. He can be obsessive, baby. I don’t want to cut him off and have him showing up at the shop or God forbid here.”
“Oh, I’d love for that fucker to show up at the shop or here.”
“But that’s why I won’t cut him off. I don’t want things getting ugly, and his texts are harmless. I just ignore them.”
“Like you did tonight when you got caught up in the video he sent?”
Orlando didn’t want to sound like a dick, but it burned him to think she might still be curious about this asshole’s texts. Only reason he’d even read Felicia’s text today was because he’d seen Dani’s name in it.
“I had just hit play when you walked in.”
“Does he know you’re mine now?” He sucked in a breath, regretting his word choice, but she had to know this was how he felt. She was his now.
Thankfully, she smiled, kissing his lips softly. “No, because I don’t share anything personal about my life with him.” Tilting her head, she pulled off his beanie and ran her fingers through his hair. “I’m telling you, Orlando, I don’t even respond to his texts, much less share what’s going on in my life. It’s none of his business. Whether I’m single or not, I want nothing to do with him now, and I’ve made that perfectly clear numerous times now.”
“Numerous times?” Orlando pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her, despite the irritation of hearing she’d had to tell this guy more than once now to back the fuck off.
“He’s persistent.” She wrapped her arms around his neck with a playful smirk. “I’ll give him that. But it’s not gonna do him any good. My life is just too perfect now. I won’t allow him to ruin it. I promise you.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that,” he said, kissing her deeply then lifting her up in his arms. “I love you.” Her wide eyes immediately welled up as she stared at him in bewilderment, and he set her down on his bed. “I do. I’m sorry if it’s too soon. I’m sorry if it scares you. Scares the shit outta me. But it’s what I’ve been feeling for—”
Her hand to his mouth made him stop talking. “I love you, too.” Her brows pinched as she stared at him. “So much.”
The moment she moved her hand away from his mouth he kissed her, lying over her gently. One glance at Oreo, Orlando could see he was already fading as his fluttering little eye lids nearly went out. Bringing his hand down the front of Dani’s pants and panties, he slipped his hand in, groaning when he felt the warm moisture. He easily slipped his finger into her, and hearing her moan only made him harder. He’d hoped to hold out a little longer, but his cock was so ready to be buried in her. Moving fast, he pulled her pants down her thighs as she helped until they were completely off. Pulling it out of his pants, he was already dripping as he continued to devour her mouth. “I love you,” he said against her lips as he spread her legs beneath him. “I fucking love you, Dani. My Dani. My Dani,” he said through clenched teeth as he thrust into her again and again, harder and deeper until they were both crying out and moaning in ecstasy.
Chapter 24
Danica
Blaine’s name popped up on Danica’s car dash screen as her phone rang. She answered, hopeful that he might have some good news. He’d already explained to her weeks ago that the current hard-ass district attorney handling her case had suddenly announced his retirement soon. He was hopeful anyone taking his place might be more lenient and she might have this felony reduced to a misdemeanor sooner than they’d first anticipated. Just a few days ago, he’d informed her the district attorney had officially retired and they were just waiting on the final word on who’d be replacing him. Orlando had told her to think positive, and she was doing just that, even as she winced and answered the phone.
“Danica?”
“Yes?” she said, already smiling because he sounded excited.
“Great news and even better news.”
Her heart raced as she reached a stop. “Okay?”
“I got the word of who the newly appointed district attorney is for your case a few days ago: a former prosecutor, David Verlinden. Didn’t mean much to me because I knew little about him. But since you told me I could share with my dad about your case, I mentioned it to him last night when we had dinner, and you’re not gonna believe this.”
He paused for a moment, so she had to ask. “What?”
“He knows the guy. Not only were they in the same fraternity in college, they were good friends.”
He paused again as if waiting for reaction from her, but she wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “Okay?”
“Even better, Danica. My dad said he hadn’t kept in touch with him in years, but the guy reached out just a few months ago when he heard my dad was running for county supervisor. They have the same political views, and he’s backing my dad, even donating to his campaign, but he also put in a few requests of what he’d like to see changed once my dad is in office. You know how that goes. Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.”
Danica had heard about this stuff. It irked her sister, who said all politicians were crooked and it was all about money and who you knew. Only Danica wasn’t sure how this was good news for her.
As if reading her mind, Blaine went on. “My dad’s gonna put in a call today to him and see if we can get this felony charge withdrawn by your very next court date. He might even get the motion to expunge the charges altogether expedited and removed entirely from your record much sooner than we anticipated. Like maybe in just a few months.”
Danica gasped, suddenly feeling choked up. “You’re kidding me.” It was only then that she realized the honking she’d been hearing was for her sake. The red light she’d been sitting at, had since turned green and just turned yellow again, and she hadn’t moved. It took her a second to decide what to do, and when she finally hit the accelerator the light was already red. The honking went even crazier as she moved through the big intersection, and cars coming at her on either side had to slow to
miss T-boning her.
“Everything okay?” Blaine asked.
“Yeah, yeah, just a lot of traffic.”
“Okay, so I’ll get back to you when I know more. Next court date is still the same, but this is good, Danica. Stay positive.”
“I will,” she said, feeling giddy before hanging up. She smiled the rest of the way to Orlando’s. Last night had been one of the few nights out of the week now that she’d gone home. It was mostly for the sake of seeing and spending time with Dominic, but she’d needed to pick up more clothes too. She’d picked up enough to be at Orlando’s for a few days again. Today was one of her days at the shop, and she was picking Orlando up. They’d be dropping Oreo off at his mother’s together because Orlando was bringing home one of the old cars they were restoring to work on at home. Despite it being over two months since she’d been watching Oreo and over a month being in a relationship with Orlando, this was the first time she’d be meeting his mother in person, and she was nervous.
To her surprise, Orlando walked out as soon as she pulled into the driveway, so she got out quickly. He had the baby in the car carrier that doubled as a car seat in one hand and the baby bag in the other. He rushed down the walkway to her car. “Construction crew just arrived at the shop, and parts are in for some of the bigger projects we got going on.” He reached the back door, and she opened it for him. He kissed her deeply and a bit long, despite his apparent hurry. “Busy day today,” he said with a smile as he pulled away. After allowing Danica to greet the baby with tons of kisses, Orlando proceeded to slide the carrier into the car seat dock that was permanently in her car now. They each had one in their vehicles, and the carrier locked in and slipped out easily. She didn’t use the car seat much since she mostly only ever ventured out with the baby to the park and for strolls around the neighborhood. But Orlando had purchased the extra dock to put in her car for times like these when they might need to go somewhere in it instead of his. As soon as the carrier was locked safely, Orlando closed the door and pulled Danica to him with a groan, kissing her again. “I missed you last night,” he said, hugging her tightly and burying his face in her neck.
Danica smiled, wrapping her arms around him, beyond grateful for how this day was starting out. Once in the car and behind the wheel, Danica couldn’t help blurting out her good news. “Looks like the new district attorney might not be as stringent as the one who just retired.” She happily went on to explain what Blaine had said about this possibly being over and done with a lot sooner than expected. Of course, she left out the main reason why: because Ted—her attorney’s father—would be trying to pull some strings. So far, he’d been the biggest sore subject Orlando and Danica had tackled, and she didn’t want to ruin their day by getting into it about him again. It wasn’t as if she’d asked Ted to do this. He’d volunteered all on his own. Even if Ted couldn’t do anything for her, Blaine had made it sound like a new district attorney handling the case was already a positive thing. This was before he knew anything about his father being acquainted with the man. So, she was hopeful, regardless.
As usual, Orlando told her to just stay positive and everything would fall into place. She’d been avoiding looking his way with the perfect excuse of having to keep her eyes on the road so she wouldn’t start blurting out the whole truth about this too. She just didn’t see the point of getting him all worked up for nothing. When they arrived at his mother’s place, she finally turned to him, surprised to see him clutching his chest with one hand and holding on for dear life to the handle on the door with the other.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing,” he said with a pained smirk. “My heart just almost stopped a few dozen times there. Absolutely sure now that accident you were in had nothing to do with you being under the influence.”
“I am not that bad.” She frowned as she prepared to parallel park in front of his mother’s townhome. A few minutes later and after hitting the curb for the third time and not being anywhere close to getting the car parked, she had to giggle. “Okay, I’ll admit I stink at parallel parking, but my driving isn’t that bad. That accident I got my DUI for is the only one I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been driving for years.” She stopped to bring her finger to her mouth and thought for a minute. “Wait, does hitting parked cars count? Because those fender benders weren’t my fault.”
Orlando lifted a brow. “It was the parked cars’ fault?”
“Well, they were parked really bad and—”
“Speaking of bad parking skills,”—he opened the door, shaking his head—“I gotta get to the shop, baby. I don’t have all morning. Let me park the car so we can get out of here.”
She put the car in park, pressing her lips together, and got out. “I almost had it,” she said as she got out. Orlando’s eyes widened, but he said nothing. He jumped in the driver’s side and had it parked in the next minute. “Show off,” she muttered, crossing her arms as she watched him jump out. They grabbed the baby’s things and the baby and headed to the front door of his mother’s house. Danica dusted off her pants as she waited nervously for his mother to come to the door.
Nadia was surprisingly younger than Danica expected: late forties, early fifties if that. “Good morning,” she said, smiling big as she opened the door for them to walk in.
“Mom, this is Dani,” Orlando said, kissing his mom on the forehead as he walked past her, carrying the baby in his carrier. “Dani, this is my mom.”
“Nadia,” his mother said, holding out her hand to Danica.
Dani shook it. “Nice to meet you.”
“Orlando’s told me a lot about The Baby Whisperer.” She smiled even bigger. “Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard him say he hit it out of the ballpark with his sitter.”
Before Danica could respond, Orlando corrected his mother. “She’s a lot more than just my sitter now, but we don’t have time to get into all that right now.”
Feeling her face flush, Danica smiled with a shrug when his mother glanced back at Danica after turning to Orlando, who was setting the baby’s carrier on the sofa. “Oh? As in . . .?”
“As in she’s practically living with me now, and she’s not sleeping in either of the spare bedrooms either.”
Lifting a brow, his mother turned to him then back to Danica. “I thought you were engaged?”
“She was never actually engaged to the asshole,” Orlando said, taking the baby bag from Danica. “But he’s out and I’m in now.”
Nadia turned to Danica again, still looking a bit stunned. “I’d just mentioned to Felicia, the girl Orlando was seeing when I first came to work for him, that we—well, mostly my ex—had talked about marriage,” Danica offered. “But we were never engaged, and then things just didn’t work out between us.”
“With her at the shop a couple days out of the week and the rest of the time at my place, things just clicked.” Orlando kissed his mom’s forehead again. “One thing led to another and here we are. We’ll have dinner or lunch soon, and I’ll tell you more, but we gotta go now.”
Just like that, after letting Nadia know it was nice to finally meet her in person, they were rushing out to her car.
“You still have my keys,” she said.
“I know because I’m driving.” Feeling her brows furrow, she turned to him in question. Orlando smiled, kissing her before he opened the passenger’s side for her. “No offense, babe. But I’d like to get to the shop in one piece and without going into cardiac arrest.” He kissed her again when she playfully frowned at his comment. “Matter of fact, I think I’ll drive from here on and might even look into getting you a helmet.”
“Ha, ha,” she said as she got in the car. He closed her door and rushed around it. “Seriously,” he said as he got in and started up the car. “Your cooking skills are up there with Gordon Ramsey’s compared to your driving skills.” He chuckled as he pulled out effortlessly from the tight parking space, which probably would’ve taken Danica forever to get out of. “Maybe you leave
any outings that require driving when you’re at my house with the baby for when I get home.”
He teased her the rest of the way to the shop. But she preferred they stay on that lighthearted subject than go back to talking about her court case. Now that she didn’t have an excuse not to look into his intense eyes when he asked her anything about it, she might start blurting out the whole truth about Blaine.
The shop was a madhouse when they got there. Construction crews were going in and out, and it seemed everyone was scheduled today because of the parts that had come in for the big projects Orlando mentioned. Near the end of her shift, Danica got the text from Ted. She was only glad Orlando stayed so busy so she could read it without him noticing her unease about it and questioning it. She read it quickly before deleting it.
I know you don’t want me calling you, but I just wanted to share a few things about this new district attorney and what he said when I spoke with him today. Call me when you get the chance.
She didn’t dare call until after she left the shop and only did then because of the subject matter. She hated to have to need Ted like this. It felt rotten to give into talking to him only because it was convenient for her, but she needed this so bad. She would finally be free of one of the biggest mistakes she’d made in her life.
Bracing herself as she hit the call button when she came to a stop, she waited for him to answer. “Danica, how are you?”
“Better now that this mess might finally be over. Blaine explained about you knowing the DA. Thanks for offering to put in a word for me.”
Orlando: Boyle Heights #4 Page 26