Fresh Temptation: Barboza Brothers, Book One (19 page)

“I repeat. Like mother,
like daughter.” Marcy burst into hysterics.

Cara gave Isaac another
look, thankful he had distracted himself by staring out the window.
Hopefully he wouldn’t be repeating, “Like mother, like daughter,”
for the rest of the night.

* * *

“Hold my calls,” Victor
said to Gary, then shut his office door to speak to Cara privately.
During their brief phone call the night before, she seemed distant.
This morning, he cleared his schedule to meet with her to hopefully
find out why her mood toward him had changed so much.

The answer was simple:
Alexis.

Cara was obviously shaken
up, and he couldn’t blame her. The person he blamed was himself,
for not seeing Alexis for who she truly was all along.

He took a seat beside Cara
and rolled his chair forward until he was close enough to place his
hand on hers. “I’m deeply sorry for what happened yesterday. I had
no idea she would invade your privacy like that. Would it help if I
had someone escort you through the parking garage from now
on?”

She pulled her hand away
from his. “No. It’s more than that. She had a man taking pictures
of you with my son. Do you know how creepy that makes me
feel?”

“Cara, sweetheart, I’m so
sorry—”

“How do I know what else
she’s capable of? She’s rich and probably crazy and I have a child
to protect—”

“Cara!” He leaned forward
in his chair, his eyes fixed on hers. “I’ll handle Alexis. I’ll
make sure she never bothers you again.”

She folded her hands in
her lap as she stared at the wall, dazed. “Did you cheat on
her?”

“What? Why in the world
would you think that?”

“That’s what she told me
yesterday.”

“Oh my God.” Instantly,
Victor seethed with rage. He cracked one knuckle and took a deep
breath before answering. “No. I absolutely did
not
cheat on her.”

“Then, what happened?
Why’d you break up?” Cara’s eyebrows furrowed. “You know, I don’t
think I’ll ever understand why you were with someone like her in
the first place. Did you not realize what an evil brat she
was?”

He grabbed the arm of
Cara’s chair and spun her around, forcing her to face him. “I asked
myself that same question for a long time after we broke up. How
did I not see how immature and selfish she was? How did I not know
she was screwing Esteban, her personal trainer, behind my
back?”

Cara winced.
“Oh…”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “She’s
the one who cheated. And you’re the first person I’ve ever told
about it, so I’m going to trust you not to repeat it.”

“What do you mean? Why
haven’t you told anyone? She could be lying to others about
you.”

“I have too much respect
for her family to drag their name through the mud because of her
indiscretion. Her father is a valuable mentor of mine. The
honorable thing to do was simply break off the engagement and
forget about her. Move on like I never knew her.” He sighed. “But
she won’t let me forget.”

“How long were you
engaged?”

“Longer than I care to
admit.” Victor held up his hand to halt her response. “I know what
you’re gonna say. How did I let her make such a fool out of me? The
answer is, I was too busy building my career to get to know her
like I should have. I won’t make that mistake again. She was
obviously someone I didn’t know at all. But I learned my lesson. I
know what’s really important now. I see so many things in you that
she’ll never have.”

“You do?”

“Yes. You’re hardworking.
Humble. Nurturing.” His palm grazed her cheek, his voice gentle.
“And you’re beautiful. Please, let me get to know you, Cara. Don’t
let her scare you away from me.”

Entranced by his
sweetness, Cara could only gaze into his eyes, unable to form a
response.

Victor rose from his
chair, bending forward to pull her into a kiss.

Nothing in Cara wanted to
resist him. The last of her worries disappeared, drawn away by the
heat of his lips and replaced by memories of yesterday, of how
incredible it felt to let him take her. The memories rushed back,
along with her desire to be taken again.

He kissed her until he
found himself dying to part her thighs. He forced himself to pull
away. “I’m sorry,
querida
,” he whispered. “I need to
stop or I’ll spend the next hour pleasuring you and there’s a
meeting I must attend.”

“Oh, Cara.” He kissed her
ear. “I’m never gonna get any work done with you
around.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I was
working too much anyway.” He smiled and gave her a soft peck on the
lips. “But I do have a meeting. I’ll see you soon. Lunch,
okay?”

“Yes. I can’t
wait.”

Cara left Victor’s office,
blushing when Gary gave her a wink out in the hall.

“Well, it’s taken long
enough. You better have some amazing news for me.” Alexis paced the
grand hallway in her parents’ house, holding her phone to her ear.
Four days had passed since she approached Cara Green in the parking
garage at Monarch Enterprises. Her new private investigator, Lindy,
came highly recommended. But so far, Alexis was disappointed. There
were more pictures of Victor playing with Cara’s sickeningly-cute
kid, and little else. Alexis had to be more careful now. Victor’s
attorney had filed a restraining order against Alexis on behalf of
Cara. It included a section about the use of investigators. If
there was proof that Alexis, or anyone hired by Alexis, came within
seventy-five yards of the Green family, they would be in violation
of the order.

Alexis lost no sleep over
the fact that her former flame had taken legal action against her.
She was certain Victor would eventually come to his senses and they
could pick up where they left off, leaving all of this ugliness
behind them.

Lindy said,
“
Remember that connection I told you about
at the hospital?
”

“Yes.”

“She finally got back to
me. I have a full copy of little Isaac Green’s
file.
”

“Okay.” Alexis stopped
pacing, her heart beating with anticipation. “And there’s something
helpful in it?” She had wished all along they could find the boy’s
father and possibly give Cara a reason to break up with
Victor.

“I believe so. All of my
research so far has told me Cara never knew who the father was. She
says she got pregnant from a one night stand in college and never
saw the guy again. There’s no father listed on the birth
certificate.”
She paused for a breath.
“
However, there’s a family medical history
form here with some info about the father. It says his blood type
is B positive and there was a history of diabetes and cancer in his
family.
”

“Really?
Interesting…”

“Yes. So, unless she’s
lying on the form, and I doubt she is, it sounds to me like she
knows the father. Blood type and family illnesses aren’t something
most college kids talk about on a one night
stand.
”

“Does it have his
name?”

“No, they didn’t ask for
it.
”

“And you really think it
means something? Maybe she did her own research after she found out
she was pregnant.”

“It’s possible, but from
my experience, unless they’re hiding something, single women always
want that name on the birth certificate. It helps their chances of
getting child support. If she knows the father’s medical history, I
bet she knows who he is. She was struggling financially before
Victor hired her. Don’t you think she would’ve wanted some help
from her baby’s father? To me, this says she’s hiding
something.
”

“What do you think she’s
hiding?”

“Not sure. She’s ashamed
of the father, maybe? Doesn’t want any connection to him. Could’ve
been a really bad break up. Want me to track him
down?
”

Alexis gasped. “Do you
think you can?”

“I’m already on
it
.”

* * *

Two weeks later, Cara sat
next to Victor, cuddling up to him on the park bench next to the
playground. They both watched Isaac climb to the top of a slide
where he stood up and yelled, “Bictow! Watch me,
Bictow!”

“I’m watching!” Victor
yelled back at him.

Isaac quickly slid down to
the bottom. When his feet hit the ground, Cara and Victor applauded
and cheered, making Isaac smile before he ran off to a swing set
where a friend from the neighborhood waited to give him a
push.

“I wish I had that much
energy.” Victor chuckled. His arm was draped around her shoulders,
his hand rubbing her arm. “So, Patty’s meeting Tom’s family
today?”

She chuckled with a hint
of sarcasm. “Yes. It’s their big two week anniversary. He surprised
her this morning by asking her to an early dinner. That’s why I
lost my babysitter for the afternoon.”

“So, she’s spending the
night at his place?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and kissed the
top of her head. “I hope that means I can spend the night at
your
place,
then.”

“I suppose.” She giggled.
“You know, when I asked for the afternoon off, I had no idea you
would leave the office and come to the playground with
me.”

Victor sighed. “I know. I
have to stop putting work before everything else. Besides, I hadn’t
seen Isaac in a few days. I don’t want him to forget who I
am.”

“I wouldn’t worry about
that. He talks about you all the time.”

“Really?” He smiled.
“That’s good.” He paused, gentling his voice. “Does that still make
you nervous?”

Cara took a hesitant
breath. “Not as much. But yes.”

He nodded. “I understand.
I know it must be hard. My mother was the same way. She always said
me and my brothers were the reason she didn’t date. Didn’t want us
getting attached.” He grinned as he watched Isaac playing on the
swing. “So…uh…you ever think about having more?”

“More?”

“Yes.” Victor cleared his
throat and added, “More children.”

Cara was startled by his
question. Occasionally, Victor sneaked a question into their casual
conversations that indicated he already saw a future with her, even
though they had only known each other a matter of weeks. This was
definitely one of those questions, and once again, she was caught
off guard. “Um…maybe. I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“If you met the right
person, perhaps?” His arm tightened, pulling her a bit
closer.

Her heart pounded a fierce
beat. She looked at Victor’s face, but his eyes were fixed on
Isaac. For the first time, she felt her fear slowly begin to slip
away in response to his sincerity. She momentarily thought of
exploring the idea and asking how many children he wanted, and how
soon. Instead, her logic took over, and she decided against it.
That was a conversation for later.
Much
later. For now, she closed her
eyes and relaxed against Victor’s chest with the knowledge that if
she wasn’t watching Isaac on the playground, Victor was.

An hour later they walked
the three blocks back to Cara’s house. Isaac babbled excitedly with
Victor, continuing as they walked through the front
door.

Cara bent down to pick up
the letters that had been shoved inside their mail slot while they
were gone.

Along with a utility bill
and some junk mail was a greeting card for Cara. It came in a
bright yellow envelope with no return address, no stamp, no
postmark.

Since her birthday was
three months away, Cara opened it with a strange curiosity as she
listened to Isaac tell Victor about his favorite fast food
restaurant, where he was absolutely dying to eat
tonight.

The card was pretty on the
outside, with bright yellow roses and the word,
“Greetings.”

But the message written
inside made Cara’s skin crawl.

“I know what you’re hiding
about his father. Will you tell V before I do?”

That witch!
Cara knew this had to be the work of Alexis, who
had most likely been waiting for just the right time to drop off a
message like this. The restraining order had been in effect for two
weeks now, and Cara thought Alexis had given up. She took a deep
breath to calm down. Not only had Alexis not given up, but she
seemed to be back with ammunition.

Briefly, Cara wanted to
get Victor’s attention and show him the message. Get Alexis in
trouble. Even though she didn’t sign it, any reasonable person
would know who wrote it.

But right then, she saw
Victor get on his knees on the living room floor. He was engrossed
in Isaac’s story of how he obtained his latest toy—a large red
plastic race car—by behaving good all of Saturday afternoon. Cara
almost teared up. Isaac was the kind of toddler who made friends
everywhere he went, and yet he had never taken to anyone as quickly
as he had taken to Victor. Maybe it was good for Isaac to have a
good male role model in his life. Would Victor someday be Isaac’s
stepfather? She had no clue. And, in spite of her fear and logic,
she had started to like the idea.