Page 33 of Second Chance Daddy

Before I can think twice, I’m out of the car, across the street, pushing open the bakery door.

The bell jingles, but I step in quietly, carefully, catching Cassie’s eye across the room. Her cheeks flush, and her mouth hangs open. I see her chest heaving.

And me? Well, I feel fucking hopeful. Like a man chasing the end of a rainbow for a Leprechaun with a pot of gold.

Seeing Cassie and Aria pushes the feeling of nothing to lose into a distant memory now.

They’re mine. Mine to protect.

Aria’s wiping crumbs off a chair, humming to herself, too distracted to notice me.

Good. Because this conversation isn’t for little ears. I walk over to Cassie and whisper. “We need to talk. Somewhere private.”

Cassie goes rigid, knowing it can’t be good.

There are things that we need to address that can’t be ignored any longer. But first things first: her ex—an asshole that won’t stop coming.

9

CASSIE

He’s here.

Dante fucking Romano himself, of all the people in the world.

He’s towering over me like he owns the oxygen in here. His voice is low, careful.We need to talk. Somewhere private.

The look on his face is far from friendly, ‘Hey, can I bum a coffee even though you’re closed?’ vibe. Instead, it’s pure ‘I’ll burn this whole fucking town to the ground if anyone so much as breathes wrong near you’ serious.

He’s here.

For me.

Or worse, for the truth.

I glance over at Aria, who’s still wiping down chairs like a good little helper, oblivious to the hurricane that just blew through our door.

“Not here,” I whisper back.

He nods, his eyes flicking to her, and my pulse does a whole tap dance against my ribs. Can he see it? The resemblance? Is that why he’s here? To ask the inevitable—the thing I’ve been running from for three years?

“Aria, sweetie,” I call, keeping my voice light. “Why don’t you finish up the glitter project in the back room for a bit? Mommy needs to talk to her... friend.”

Friend.

What a goddamn joke. That word doesn’t even touch what Dante Romano is to me. To us. And the way he’s standing there with his jaw clenched like he’s ready to devour me whole doesn’t spell friendly, does it?

“Okay!” Her eyes light up, and she beams from ear to ear as she walks over. I swear my kid would sell her soul for some extra time with glitter.

Aria looks up and gives Dante a big smile that hits me like a sucker punch. “Hi, party man!”

His mouth quirks up. “Hey, sunshine.”

Sweet buttery hell.

Why does it feel like I’m watching two magnets find each other? Those eyes, planted from the same seed.

I need to get her out of here.