sister the truth about the baby more than once now, but she knew her sister would be worried, if not livid about it. If Orlando wanted to, he could press charges since she’d basically kidnapped Oreo those several weeks after Angie passed, knowing full well he had a father. She’d been afraid he might not be up to taking on the responsibility, but still it wasn’t her decision to make on behalf of his son. “In a lot of ways, he’s far more mature than Ted,” Danica said, “even if he is a lot younger than him. He’s owned and run his own highly successful business for several years now.”
“Well, we both know Ted’s a perfect example of older not meaning more mature. Speaking of . . . Delia sat back against the porch’s railing, turning to Danica. “I saw him on TV yesterday.”
Danica rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I did too or rather on my phone. He sent me the clip to the interview.”
“I can’t get over how well-spoken he is for such an asshole.”
Laughing, Danica nodded in agreement, feeling better about having ever gotten sucked into the man. “Yep, he’s a natural when it comes to saying all the things people wanna hear. It’s why I fell for his charm hook, line, and sinker. I’m only glad I was able to see through his bullshit sooner rather than later. But I’ll give him that. He’ll make a hell of a politician.”
“You said he’s forty-seven, right?”
Danica chuckled, remembering how many times Ted had emphasized the irrelevance of age in correlation to a relationship between two adults. Of course, he would, since he was twenty-four years her senior. She wondered, now, if the inference would still stand if he knew about her dating a guy six years older. Her sister yelled out for the kids playing in the yard to be careful then turned back to Danica. “Well, it’s a good thing for Ted he doesn’t look a day past forty. What about this twenty-nine-year-old. He must look like a kid in comparison. But Ted seems so obsessed with everything. I’m sure he was obsessed about staying in shape and trying to look young enough to have a girlfriend your age.”
“Oh, don’t get me started on Ted staying in shape. It was just another thing he was completely fixated on.” Danica smiled, her heart going all aflutter as she brought up the photo of Orlando looking good enough to eat—literally. “This is from his shop’s website.”
Her sister glanced down at Danica’s phone, started to look away when one of the kids squealed, but jerked her head back immediately and took the phone from Danica.
“Oh. My. God. You’re sleeping with this guy?” Danica nodded, smiling softly. “Holy shit, Dani. Like Tia Yesi used to say, Dios mio! Tremendo Mango!” Danica watched as Delia continued to ogle her phone screen.
“I know. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.”
“I’ll bet.” Her sister made a roaring sound that had Danica giggling nervously. “Regardless of Ted’s age, I still thought the guy was good-looking, but he don’t hold a candle to this eye candy. No wonder you got over him so quickly.”
Smiling softly, Danica felt her insides knot up because her sister stared at the photo for a moment longer, eyes wide, jaw slightly open. She knew what Delia must be thinking: that her main attraction to this guy must be his looks. If only she knew. There was no arguing Orlando was beyond good-looking. Danica wouldn’t even try to tone that part of this down. But there was so much more to her connection to him. She could feel herself falling for him hard already.
“Believe it or not, he’s got a lot more to offer than just his looks. He’s a super sweet guy.” She stopped short of telling her sister how Orlando’s obvious adoration for his son what was had really reeled her in. Danica had always gravitated toward older men. When she’d decided to put her plan into play, because she’d been so desperate to be with the baby again, she never imagined things would turn out the way they had. Aside from her admiration, Danica had given little worry to just what a hot bad boy her first impression of Orlando had been. Surely, he could replace her in a heartbeat. Strangely, everything she’d gone through in life had prepared her for the worst, and losing a man to another woman was hardly the worst thing she could endure—even with