Page 44 of Bedding the Baby Daddy

Chapter Twelve

A week after having coffee with Dante, Aurora pulled into her mother’s driveway, Dante jammed into the front seat of her Honda Civic.

She grinned at the way his long legs were folded up in front of him. He made it look like a clown car. But even in that ridiculous position he was devastatingly handsome. He wore dark jeans and a deep blue sweater, the same color as his eyes. He’d also gotten a haircut that week and his hair was as short as it was the first time they’d hooked up. Aurora couldn’t help but shiver as she remembered what it had felt like against her hand as she tried to grip him there. The masculine scrape of his short hair against her palm.

“What?” he asked her, undoing his seatbelt. “I have something on my face?”

“No,” she said, lifting her hand to caress the stubble on his chin. “You look just the way you did that first night we were together, with your hair so short.”

“Oh yeah.” He raked a hand over his hair and smiled at the memory of that night.

“You looked so severe in that suit and short hair. All shadows and sharp angles. Have I ever told you that sometimes you can suck all the air out of a room?”

He cocked his head to one side, trying to get a read on her mood. “Is that a good thing?”

“It’s a you thing. Sometimes you’re just too much man for one room. It’s distracting.”

With that, she slid out of the car and heard him follow suit. She was halfway up the brick walkway toward her mother’s front door when Dante caught her by the arm and spun her around.

“You like me,” he said, a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Excuse me?” She raised an eyebrow.

“All this time, I haven’t been sure. You’re attracted to me, of course.” An arrogant look slid across his features. “But that right there? What just happened. You just gave away your cards. You like me.”

“Well, yeah. I should hope that I like the person I’ve been sleeping with for the last month and a half.”

“No,” he said, waving away her dismissive words and pulling her close, swiping her smooth fall of hair over her shoulder and taking her by the chin. She would have been a bowl of jelly at his feet if not for the teasing, arrogant glint in his eye that had the steel in her spine stiffening. “It’s more than just casual regard. You like me like me.”

“What are we, in the third grade?”

“Am I interrupting?”

They looked up to see Aurora’s mother leaning against the doorjamb of her front house.

“Not at all. You must be Cedalie. I’m Dante Callaghan,” Dante said, lightly releasing Aurora and stepping around toward Cedalie, his hand held out.

* * *

Dante was a bit surprised by the older woman’s appearance. Very attractive, she barely looked over thirty-five except for the few gossamer strands of silver in her hair. She wore a man’s shirt, worn and tucked into old jeans. One of her bare feet was propped up on her knee and Dante could see lots of silver toe rings. Three crystals of various colors hung from her neck.

He held his hand out to her and then paused. “Is it bad luck to shake hands with a witch?” he asked her, only half joking.

Cedalie threw her head back and laughed.

“Yes,” she said, stepping toward Dante and hugging him instead. She pulled back and kissed him square on the mouth. A hard kiss, eyes open.

“Bonjou, Manman,” Aurora said, stepping into her mother’s embrace. “Pa li fe pe.”

Don’t scare him.

Cedalie grinned and opened the door to them. “Byinvini.”

Welcome.

“You speak French, Aurora?” Dante asked in amazement as he followed the two women into the small bungalow. He was so surprised by this new tidbit of information about her that he barely noticed the crystals swinging from wires, the wind chimes, the bundles of grasses and herbs scattered on the kitchen table, the half dealt deck of tarot cards.

“That’s Louisiana Creole, bebe,” Cedalie said, patting the side of his face and pushing out a chair at the kitchen table. “I thought you might bring your little one.”

---