Dangerous Redemption: A Single Parent Forbidden Romance Novel (Paths To Love Book 4)

by Grahame Claire

  A little gasp escaped her, but she peered around me to see inside the window, looking for her son as if unaffected. I opened the door, and she hopped into the passenger seat.

  “Hi, Mama.”

  She turned and looked through to the back seat. “Hey, baby. How was school?”

  “Good.”

  I went back around and got in to drive Holly and Gabriel home. Their home. For a small moment, a picture of this being my normal—collecting Gabriel and Holly from school and work—flitted through my mind. But I knew I wasn’t happily-ever-after material . . . yet.

  When Gabriel had suggested I marry his mama, my immediate reaction had been joy. But I wasn’t a typical man. I didn’t grow up in America and know what a true family man looked like. I knew manipulation, darkness, murder, the most untold, violent things men could do to others. I saw my dead father in a mirror only a few days ago. Fucked up didn’t cover who I was. But maybe . . . maybe that could change.

  “We've got your chocolate fix,” Gabriel was saying when I closed the car door.

  I picked up the drink from the cup holder and offered it to Holly. “I was told this was your favorite. Sorry, it's a little melted.”

  “I like it better that way.” Her lips closed around the straw, and as she sucked, images I didn't need to be thinking about in front of a child caused me to shift in my seat. Holly collapsed with satisfaction. “That is just what I needed,” she declared, taking another pull on the straw. “That and my boys.” She immediately realized what she'd said, and I fought to keep from grinning. Her face flamed, and she hid behind the milkshake.

  Gabriel proceeded to recap his day, telling her all about his teacher and the new friend. Absently, I reached across the console and put my hand on her thigh in a show of support. She tensed beneath me, then relaxed as she and Gabriel continued their conversation. Once again, he'd leveled me by asking Holly about her day like he was a boy three times his age. Gabriel put others first, and his mama was at the top of that list. A five-year-old and his mother were quickly becoming my heroes.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Holly

  I couldn't believe I'd screwed up so badly by calling Carlos one of my boys. It had been a slip of the tongue.

  But as I watched him give some of his tortilla strips to Gabriel, I knew that was a lie.

  He'd touched me, and instantly, I thought of him as mine. Maybe I wasn't capable of meaningless sex, like I'd believed I was. Except it couldn't be meaningless when I actually had feelings for the man I was becoming intimate with. Although we hadn’t actually had sex, we’d definitely come to a different level in our need for one another. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel once he was inside me. When we made love.

  I was exhausted, but my mind had been working furiously over ways to make that happen. Like tonight. It felt selfish, as if I was betraying Gabriel by wanting to spend time with anyone else for personal satisfaction. That was silly. It was okay for me to do something for myself, but it went against my nature, since Gabriel was the center of my world, and his happiness was first and foremost.

  He seemed as happy as I could ever remember. He was thriving around other people, even if the majority of his time was spent around adults. I was so proud of him for engaging with them and impressed by his bravery. He was the center of attention, and maybe I was misjudging, but everyone had taken to him. I'd feared we'd be a burden, but there was no sign of that whatsoever.

  Carlos finished his soup and set his spoon down. “I'll go run your bath,” he said.

  “You don’t have to do that.” The protest was halfhearted. A long bath was exactly what I needed.

  Gabriel and I cleared the table and did the dishes. A few minutes later, Carlos sauntered back into the kitchen as we were finishing up.

  “Everything's ready for you,” he said quietly before stooping to eye level with Gabriel. “Why don't you and I hang out? Then we'll get everything ready for school tomorrow, and I'll read you a story before bed.”

  “Can we play soccer?”

  “Not in the house,” Carlos said, looking at me for approval to play outside.

  “Thirty minutes,” I said. “And put on your coat and gloves.”

  “Thanks, Mama.” He rushed off to get his outerwear.

  “Beauty?” he said as I stepped around him. “Don't take one of my orgasms.”

  Well, if that didn't make me want to, I wasn't sure what would. “Are you going to stop me?” I tossed over my shoulder as I walked away with a purposeful sway to my hips. He caught up in two steps, catching me by the waist.

  “I'll know if you touch yourself,” he whispered against my ear. “For every orgasm you take yourself, I'll deny you when I have you all night. You don't want that, do you?”

  No, I absolutely did not. The three times I’d come by his hands and tongue were far, far better than any pleasure I'd brought myself. He kissed my neck, then my cheek. He turned my face to his. The kiss was chaste, yet I felt it all the way to my toes. Those feelings had intensified deep inside me to become more than I’d felt before.

  “Your bath is getting cold.” Carlos nudged me toward my bedroom.

  “Mama,” Gabriel shouted, and I immediately tensed, the kisses Carlos had given me forgotten. “I can't find my gloves.” My shoulders sagged with relief. It was so hard for me not to always think the worst.

  “I'll search for them.” Carlos steered me by the shoulders to the bedroom door.

  “Thank you.”

  I stepped into the bathroom and gasped. The candles surrounding the tub provided the only light. The scent of lavender filled the air from bubbles in the bathtub. A glass of red wine was next to the bottle on the ledge by the taps, and sultry Latin music floated down from the built-in speakers I didn't know I had.

  I reached for the wine and noticed he'd put a ponytail holder beside it. There was nothing he hadn't thought of. I still didn’t know anything about his past, but like Gabriel, I’d noticed the shadows behind his eyes. I was fairly certain his life had been hard and somber, and that this, providing so thoughtfully for a woman he barely knew, wasn’t something he’d done much of. Truthfully, it was hard to reconcile that soft, caring man with the alpha, take-no-prisoners domineering male. But I’d look beyond all that now and enjoy the next twenty minutes of bliss. I slipped out of my clothes and sank down into the bubbles until they hit my chin, inhaling the calming lavender as I leaned back. My eyes drifted closed, and all the tension in my body dissolved.

  I was kidding myself if I thought I could keep my emotions from Carlos. He made it too difficult not to feel something. But how could I help it when the things he did made me feel spoiled? It wasn't just this bath. It was the way he treated my son, and how he picked me up from work, and how he held me while I was upset over my brother.

  What I couldn't figure out was why a man like him would be interested in a woman like me. Gabriel was an angel, but he was still a complication most people would shy away from, especially ones who didn't have children of their own. If I were in Carlos's position, I'd think long and hard about being with someone who had a child. But he didn't seem daunted by the prospect of having Gabriel in his life, or that Gabriel would always be my first priority. It was completely different being responsible for another human twenty-four hours a day as opposed to spending a little time with them and handing them back. No one could ever prepare for what that was like, and I wasn't sure Carlos fully understood what that meant.

  Hearing movement beside me, I opened my eyes to find Carlos sitting on the ledge of the tub. “Enjoying your bath?” he asked, and I stretched languidly. He fingered my necklace, holding the cross for a brief second before straightening.

  “Very much. Thank you.”

  “Next time, I'll join you,” he promised. I smiled, tempted to tug him in now.

  “What's the music?” I asked instead.

  “Buena Vista Social Club. 'Silencio.'” One word spoken in his language had me longing for more.

  �
��I needed this,” I told him.

  “I know. Gabriel's bathed and all tucked in. He fell asleep while I was reading to him,” Carlos said, almost apologetically.

  “Soccer wore him out,” I deduced with a lazy smile.

  “He's a natural athlete.” My smile faded. I knew where he’d gotten that, and it wasn't me. “That's not a bad thing, Beauty.” Carlos immediately picked up on my mood.

  I hated any reminders of his father. “I know . . . it's not.”

  “Would it be okay if I took him to the park sometime? Teach him how to play baseball and football?”

  “You don't have to do that.” It was hard for me to distinguish being stubborn from being a burden.

  He cupped my chin and tipped my head up. “I want to do it. You aren't the only one who likes being around Gabriel.”

  “It's hard to know for sure when I'm so biased. He's mine, so naturally I'm inclined to see the best in him, but Gabriel is the most amazing person I've ever known.” Shit, I was going to cry.

  “So you shouldn't be surprised I want to spend more time with both of you.” Carlos took a towel off the rack and held it out. “Unfortunately, that can't be right now.” He checked his watch and frowned. “I was going to tell you a bedtime story too, but it will have to wait.”

  I wrapped my hand around the towel and pulled myself out of the tub. Carlos made a valiant effort to keep his eyes on mine, but in the end, my naked, wet body was too much for him. His gaze traveled down the length of me, leaving a scorching path in its wake as I stepped out of the tub.

  He cleared his throat and dried me off. “I'm this close to saying fuck it, Beauty. You are testing my restraint.”

  “What will you do when you don't have to have any?” I asked seductively, and he stilled, then licked a droplet of water off my shoulder, and I shivered.

  “We'll need to be somewhere soundproof because you will scream.”

  “I'll make sure to save my voice,” I purred as he brushed the towel over my breasts.

  I relished the feel of it over my sensitive nipples. He skated it over my stomach and bent his knee, indicating for me to brace my foot on it so he could dry my leg. He dragged it from my ankle to my thigh, skipping the apex before going back down. After repeating the motion with my other leg, he wiped between my legs, and I held my breath. He leaned forward and licked me. And then he groaned, and I swore I almost came from that. My legs shook, and before I knew it, he was holding my ass cheeks in his hands and burying his tongue into my pussy, licking and sucking until I was a writhing mess.

  “Fuck, I want you. But I need time. And soundproofing. Dios mio, when I get that . . . I won’t stop.” He looked at me with such a pained expression, I knew he hadn’t come to tease me. It was if he couldn’t resist. I would never be able to towel off again without thinking of this. He made the most mundane task sexy.

  “You're all dry.” He wrapped the towel around me, securing it on my chest. “Well, one part of you is still wet.”

  I gasped. He was so dirty. I loved it.

  “I'm disappointed there's no story,” I mock pouted.

  “I'll do my best not to disappoint you again,” he promised. “I have to go,” he said, though his hold on me didn't loosen an inch. “You're making it very hard on me.”

  I pushed my pelvis into him. “I can feel that.” Good Lord, I had turned into a salacious little minx, but what the heck? I wanted him. He wanted me. Why deny it?

  “You will. Inside that pretty little pussy until you beg me to stop.”

  “I thought you had to go. You keep talking like that, and I won't let you leave.”

  “That's what I'm counting on.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Carlos

  “You are now Marcos Alejandro Santiago.”

  Donato Salvatore slid a manila envelope across the table toward me. It felt borderline wrong to be conducting this kind of business in Muriella’s apartment, but it was necessary. I’d learned all I could about the man since Daniel had made the introduction. He was as dangerous as me, maybe more so in some ways, but I had no choice but to rely on him.

  “The photograph on your identification does not match what's in the national database for your own security. If and when you choose to travel using this passport, I'll need to know so we can rectify that. I'm guessing it's safe to assume, if you do any international travel, it won't be through the normal channels anyway, considering that, according to US customs logs, you aren't here now.” Donato scrutinized me from his position. His sharp intelligence probably intimidated most people, but not me. Thankful. That was what I felt toward the man who was sticking out his neck to help me.

  He continued, “The rest of the world believing you're dead is the best course of action, for both you and your sister. We can get that ball rolling right away. Enough time has passed since the explosion that it's plausible to find some of your remains.”

  “Eduardo is ready for that when I say the word.”

  Donato gave a brisk nod. “Daniel has informed me you have direct access to Nicanor Rosca. How you obtained that, added to who your father was, makes me extremely nervous, and I am not a man who gets nervous.”

  This wasn't a pissing contest. It was me doing whatever I had to do to get out from under the life that had shackled me for what felt like an eternity. “It should make you uncomfortable. I'm sure you've heard the rumors of what Rosca has done, and I assure you the reality is worse. As far as my father goes, we are not the same man. The weeks leading up to his death were the best I could do in retribution yet not near enough for him to pay for what he did to my sister.”

  Donato assessed every word all while keeping an impassive expression. I had a reputation. My father had a reputation. And Donato Salvatore had a reputation too. One that he wasn’t to be toyed with.

  “She is the priority.”

  We were in complete agreement.

  “My reputation is one I've worked very carefully to craft, an illusion created to achieve my end goal, which is to destroy everything my father worked for. To say I hated him is a vast understatement. There isn't a word to describe how I feel about what he did, not only to my sister but also to my mother, and all the other people whose lives he destroyed. Going after Rosca now is too great a risk. Whatever you want to know of him, I will tell you, but I need your word my sister will not suffer.” I wasn’t sure I was in a position to negotiate, especially given that Donato had helped me with no questions asked, but Muriella's safety was something I wouldn't compromise. I hoped I hadn't already. Maybe it was selfish and stupid of me to have come to the United States. Anyone could look at the two of us and know we were related.

  “The way to make that happen is for you to lie low. Forget about cutting off the head of the snake. His reach is too far and too great. If he believes you’re dead, he’ll move on,” Donato said reasonably.

  “It will take a lot to replace me. We're not talking about a shipping container of cocaine. I provided him with cargo ships full of the stuff. Pulling that off is all too easy and nearly impossible at the same time. My absence will hurt his business.”

  “When we're in these types of businesses, we always have contingency plans. But I suppose you know that better than most,” Donato said.

  “What do I need to do now?” I asked, and the words sounded odd. I hadn't answered to anyone in a very long time and always knew the best course of action. I didn't want to fuck anything up, and if that meant getting a second or third or fourth opinion, I would.

  “Limit your contact with the man you left to clean up the mess. I'll put eyes on him for his protection. I assume you have no credit cards, cell phones, anything that could be traced?”

  “Nothing. I've only used burner phones to contact Eduardo, and I've never had a credit card.” I sniffed bitterly. Cash and cocaine. Those were the only two commodities I'd ever dealt in. And blood. How could I forget that?

  “Very good.” Donato folded his arms on the table, then paused a moment i
n consideration. “I have a personal favor to ask. You can say no. It will change nothing.”

  “I'm listening.”

  “I recently lost an enforcer to a heart attack, one who handled particularly—how should I phrase it?—delicate matters.”

  “The kind where someone needs to feel exactly what they've done wrong?” I asked, knowing where this was going.

  “Precisely.” His eyes had been kind, but now they were cold. “I have other men who could take care of this for me, but not the way he could if you follow me. One of the reasons you are feared is because of how you handled those who crossed your family.”

  I hesitated. If my sister found out how brutal and ruthless I was, she'd see me as our father. That was something I couldn't handle.

  “I'm not looking for someone permanent, but I have something urgent that, quite frankly, I could use your help with.” Donato held up a hand. “It seems you want to get out of this kind of life, and if that's the case, say the word and we'll never speak of it again.”

  My blood pumped a little faster. The thirst for violence I'd somehow stuffed down now had me salivating. I'd gone from running baths and reading bedtime stories, like a civilized man, to one who twitched to make someone who deserved it suffer. It should have disturbed me Donato could see my need to serve vigilante justice. He could have had any one of his men handle what had to be done. But once through this initial phase, I was going to flounder. I'd already been restless all day without Gabriel or anything else to focus on.

  But they were downstairs in their haven, one I wasn't actually part of, no matter how much I hoped to be. It was very possible I never would be. Holly wasn't going to sway just because I fucked her like no one ever had. What if she didn't let me in? Then what? My sister had her own life, and she wouldn't want me hanging around forever. I didn't want to go back to the way I’d been before, but I didn't know how to be someone else. What Donato was offering had air flowing in and out of my lungs a little easier. It was familiar. Except all the “enforcing” I'd done, I'd had a direct stake in. It was personal. This wouldn't be other than the fact I owed this man a favor. I wanted to be with Holly and Gabriel, but I couldn’t squelch the urges that were ingrained in me. I had to figure out how to have both until I could suppress my violent tendencies. I was being pulled in two directions.