“You can come visit,” she said as her entire body trembled. “When I get off work, during the evenings.”
“That’s all I ask,” I said.
“Under one condition,” she said as she looked up at me.
“Anything.”
“Please don’t take my daughter away from me.”
In that very moment, the fear she had been holding back trickled down her entire body. She shivered, goosebumps raced up her arms, and tears started down her cheeks. I moved toward her, backing her into the fridge and pinning her into my body.
Then, I scooped her up into my arms and held her close.
“Never am I ever going to separate my daughter from her mother,” I said into her ear. “You have my word. Look at me.”
Her eyes, bathed in her tears of fear, slowly panned up to me, and I felt my chest fill with the same warmth I’d felt all those years ago. Even as she sniffled and tried to control her sobbing chest, she was the perfect vision of beauty. Even in her sadness, her big, bold eyes and her beautiful, black hair boasted of a kindred innocence she shared with my daughter.
I hooked my gaze onto her as I leaned against her kitchen counter.
“I am never taking Ana from you,” I said. “I want what’s best for all of us. For me. For you. For Cassie and Kevin. All I’m asking for is a chance to prove it to you.”
I held my breath as I searched her face for a reaction and relief coursed through my pulsing veins when she smiled.
“Okay,” she said breathlessly.
I hugged her close as I slowly set her down onto her feet. She leaned her cheek against my chest and allowed her hands to slide down my stomach. I had to take deep breaths to try and calm my body, because just her warmth was intoxicating. I ran my hand through her hair and rubbed her back soothingly, finally feeling her relax from the weight of all I had brought upon her tonight.
“The next time we meet up, there’s someone I’d like you to meet,” I said.
“Oh?” she asked. “Who’s that?”
“You’ll see,” I said as my hands stroked her arms. “For now, all I want to do is help you in any way I can. Is there anything else you have to do tonight?”
“Well,” she said as she looked down at her hand. “I suppose I have to figure out what to do with this.”
She lifted the green wad of cash up to her face and smiled a devious little smile. I couldn’t help but lose myself in her playfulness, the way she’d opened herself up to me without any regard to how I might hurt her. I felt my softness come into play as my hand reached out to cup her cheek, my thumb tracing over the pouty lower lip I’d suckled on back at the diner.
She puckered her lips to kiss the pad of my thumb, and I felt my entire body heat up underneath the small little touch.
What this strong woman did to me was unmistakable and I knew in that very instant I’d never let her go.
Not even if she wanted me to.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – ROSE
Work was long, and I still had four more hours to go. I’d taken the lunch and the dinner shift back to back, wanting the morning with Ana and Kevin before Camillo came back over tonight. I was nervous about having him over. Last night had felt more like a dream than it had reality and when I woke up this morning and was getting everyone ready for their days, I had almost convinced myself it hadn’t taken place.
It wasn’t until Kevin asked when Camillo was coming back that I realized I hadn’t dreamt anything.
My prince had shown up on my doorstep. He’d walked in from the cold with snow on his shoulders and sat down right in front of me. He’d taken me into his arms and pulled my wrists back tightly, exposing my body to him just like he had that night. He sat there right on one of my stools in my place of work and brought me to an ecstasy I thought was long gone with the memory of him from three years ago.
And in this little diner in the middle of the Poconos, my fallen angel had found me once again.
In a way, revenge had been my biggest secret that night. It wasn’t Ana or how my parents died. It wasn’t the fact that I’d given up my dreams or sacrificed my life for theirs. It was the fact that I wanted to show that life couldn’t beat me down. I wanted to rise from the ashes, no matter how battered and bruised I was and spit in the face of life while it laughed at my sorrows. I kept myself busy during the days, and then I laid my head down at night, vowing revenge to an entity that didn’t exist. Vowing revenge on whatever entity was responsible for the way my life had turned out.