trying not to make a face. “It’s a . . .” He pointed at the pancake on his plate. “It’s a little raw in the middle still.”
“Is it?” she said, looking noticeably disappointed. “You don’t have to eat it, Orlando.”
“No, no.” He shook his head, determined to finish the damn plate now. “Some parts are cooked all the way.” He smiled as he speared a black sausage and brought it to his mouth, smiling even bigger as he chewed it. “Nice and crispy.” The grateful and very sweet smile alone was worth the sand-like texture floating around in his mouth. They got off the subject of her food, as she told him about her morning with the baby.
“I need to get him sunhats,” she said as she picked away at her pancakes, looking for cooked parts. “It’s such a beautiful day today and I like him getting sun, but his skin is so fair and delicate for direct sun. We ended up under a tree today because, even though I slathered him with baby sunblock, he still started to blotch.”
Watching her as she picked away at her pancakes, Orlando was back to wondering if this was the key to the inexplicable lure he felt to her. He’d thought it was her eyes before, but even this sexually innocuous comment had him nearly hard. That she’d be that genuinely uncompromising and concerned about his boy’s safety after less than of week of getting acquainted with them was just another one of the things he found so endearing about her. It felt as genuine as when she spoke so affectionately of her siblings. “Tell you what,” he said, finishing the last of the few cooked through pieces of pancake on his plate. “When he wakes up, since you said you had nothing else going on today, you wanna hit the swap meet? I’m sure they have a ton of baby clothes and sunhats there. You’re probably better than me at picking out that sort of stuff.”
Her bright eyes widened, making Orlando smile instantly. “We could do that, and they have some good food there too.” Her smile waned a bit as she glanced down at her plate. Unlike Orlando, who’d braved the charred sausage, she hadn’t even touched the two on her plate and most of her pancakes were still there as well. “I mean, by then, we’ll be hungry again, right?”
“Yep,” Orlando nodded. “And I did promise you lunch.”
She reached for his plate, smiling even bigger. “You’re done, yes?”
Orlando nodded, feeling too damn excited about the prospect of spending yet another day with her. He inhaled deeply, reminding himself she was engaged and any time he spent with her was all for the sake of the baby. Nothing more. But hot damn if his head wasn’t already working on what to do or say next to be indulged with another one of those bright and excited wide-eyed smiles.
Danica
After almost two weeks of working at Bad Boys and watching the baby, Danica had managed not to blow her cover. But she’d been close when Orlando had first expressed his annoyance about having missed out on the baby’s birth and first few weeks. She’d been too close to blurting out how sorry she was. It was only her fear of being thrown out on her ass and never seeing the baby again that kept her from doing so. Danica still didn’t understand it. Why it was so hard to lie to him. Lying about still being in a relationship was different. It felt harmless and necessary. She’d be damned if she’d get her time with the baby taken away because of an insecure girlfriend. It wasn’t as if her fake relationship adversely affected Orlando or her two new jobs. Other than it assured Danica that his girlfriend wouldn’t cause any trouble for her, there wasn’t any fear of getting in trouble for the white lie. Not like the fear of the other two much bigger things she was lying about by omission coming to light. Not since Nine had joked about her being a felon had that subject been raised, and her gut balled up at the thought of it ever coming up again, especially if was Orlando doing the asking.
After just two weeks around him, Danica had inevitably developed a major crush on the guy. She should’ve known she would. How could she not? He was so incredibly hot. He had this respectable and commanding way about him when it came to