“She’s beautiful, just like her mama.”
I blush and can’t bring myself to look at him until the heat leaves my face. “There’s nothing as important and wonderful as being a mother.”
“I can’t imagine the responsibility of raising another human—and to do it alone, too. You’re an amazing woman, Rebel Bishop.”
I give him a small smile, not feeling amazing in any way.
I’ve fucked up plenty in my thirty years on this earth.
I’ve had more bad than good, but Adaline is the best part of me and my life.
“The burden is heavy, but the rewards are great.”
He’s about to say something when his ass rings. He reaches back, fishing out his phone. “Hey,” he says, holding up a finger to me before he walks away.
I take this as my cue to grab Adaline along with our bags, preparing to settle in for however long we’re going to be here. But before I can open my trunk, a hand touches mine and gently pushes me away.
“I can do—”
Carmello shakes his head and ignores me. He grabs the two bags, phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear, and continues to talk to the person on the other end.
I stand there, watching his back as he heads toward the cabin, carrying the small number of things I have left to my name. He is one of the good guys, and he doesn’t even try to be; he just is.
There’s a muted squeal, and I’m quickly brought back to the reality in front of me. I’m not here to lust over a man for the simple reason that he carried my bags and has a fine backside.
I am here to live.
To survive.
To start anew.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” I say, opening the car door to Adaline staring up at me with her big blue eyes.
“Mommy,” she whispers, full of sweetness. She’s in my arms a second later, resting on my hip with her head on my shoulder.
My gaze flickers upward as Carmello comes out of the cabin, the door slamming behind him. “Sorry about that,” he says, not looking up until his boots touch the dirt at the bottom of the steps. He freezes as his eyes sweep over Adaline’s sleepy face. “She okay?”
I nod. “She’s just waking up,” I reassure him, but I suddenly feel guilty about this whole thing. “It was wrong of me not to tell you about her. I hope you don’t—”
He lifts his hand. “Rebel, you don’t owe me any explanation.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Or an apology.” He shakes his head, dropping his arm back to his side.
“Sorry,” I repeat automatically, and I immediately cringe when he raises an eyebrow. “Fuck. It’s habit.”
Adaline gasps and stares at me with wide eyes, touching my cheek. “Bad word,” she tells me.
The kid is like the gestapo when it comes to profanity. Something she picked up in day care.
Carmello laughs and continues toward us. “She’s a cutie pie.”
“She’s totally irresistible.” I roll my eyes, adjusting her against my side. “You’re more than welcome to stay and babysit.”
He stops his forward motion, almost recoiling. “While the offer sounds tempting, I have to get back to the city.”
I can’t stop myself from chuckling. The city. I know Carmello and Rocco’s hometown, and nothing about it is even remotely city.
“Are you really going to be okay out here alone with her?” he asks again, clearly not confident in my abilities.
“Totally fine,” I tell him before following him toward the cabin.
“I’ll text you the number to the gun safe. Can’t be too careful these days,” he says like we’re talking about the milk he might have left behind and not a cache of weapons.
“I don’t think I’ll need it.”
I don’t even know where I’d start. It has been years since I fired a weapon, way before I had Adaline. While some things are rote, my ability to be locked and loaded is not one of them.
He spins around to face me as soon as we’re inside, his hand to his chest. “I’ll feel better if I know you have access to everything here. There’s no one for miles, and if you need to protect yourself or Adaline…” His eyes move to her, and his face softens. “You don’t have to open it, but I want you to have the code. It’ll put my mind at ease. Plus, there’re bears up here.”
Fuck. I’d forgotten why I hated Florida so much. There’s always the possibility of wildlife lurking around every corner and crevice, ready to pounce and kill. Bear, gator, panther, and human…everything is a hunter.
“Okay. Okay. You can send it to me, but unless someone’s busting down the door or a bear’s trying to get inside, I won’t be opening the safe.”
“Thank you.” He smiles, and my insides melt from the beauty of him.
Damn the Caldos and their good looks. They were able to land any girl they wanted, and from what Carrie had told me, the number was large back in the day. I have no doubts it is still the case, especially since he doesn’t have a ring on his finger.
Not that I am looking, but…
I glance around instead of gawking at him. The cabin has been totally rehabbed on the inside, looking much different than it had when I was here before.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” I adjust Adaline on my hip to get rid of my nervous energy from being this close to someone who reminds me so much of Rocco.
“Why are you really here?”
“I…” I pause, wondering how much I should tell him. I hate sharing my problems, and Beau is solely mine and no one else’s. “I needed to start over. My life wasn’t going how I wanted it to.”
“How so?”
“How so what?”
“How was your life not going how you wanted?”
He’s a nosy one, and normally, I’d tell him to mind his own goddamn business, but this is Carmello and he is doing me a favor.
I owe it to him, if no one else, to be at least a little open about my reality.
“Had a kid, got married, became unmarried, and then there was…”
His eyebrows furrow when I pause. “There was what?”
“Just a jerk I was dating. I cut ties and left before things got really bad, because he wasn’t good for me or Addy.”
He studies me and takes a step forward, closing the space between us. “How bad are we talking?”
“Pretty bad,” I rasp.
His jaw ticks before he scrubs his fingers across his chin, staring at me. “Did he touch you?”
I peer down at Adaline as she fiddles with my hair. “I don’t really want to…” I glance back in his direction, hoping he’ll understand.
“I don’t need all the details. I just want to know, did he touch you?”
The knot in my stomach tightens. The one that’s always there, never uncoiling.
I hate talking about what happened, and saying the words out loud makes me feel like a bigger fool.
“Just one time.”
“Fuck,” Carmello hisses, tipping his face toward the ceiling.
“But I left right after. I wasn’t going to raise Adaline in a house like that, and I’ve never been anyone’s doormat. I’m not about to start now, no matter how hard life might be again without someone.”