Every time I loved someone, or they loved me, they didn’t stick around very long.

  It was my curse, and no one could tell me otherwise.

  But for the first time, I was the one doing the leaving, and that put me in a bad way. Nearly broke, hauling ass for a better life, far away from the hands of a dangerous man.

  The screen door swings open, and my eyes flicker to the very spot, hoping to see Carrie or Rocco, two people I’ve missed and never felt quite whole without.

  “Rebel.” Carmello, Carrie’s old boyfriend, jogs down the front steps with a big smile hanging on his lips. “Damn, girl. You’re lookin’ good. Time’s treated you well.” He says those words as his gaze sweeps up and down my body, his body moving toward me, before finally landing on my face.

  Carmello always was a flirt. Not the type of flirt that made a girl’s skin crawl, but the kind that made a girl blush or swoon, depending on how thick he laid it on.

  My face reddens as he moves closer, his eyes still sweeping over me as mine sweep down him.

  He’s filled out, grown up, no longer looking like the lean young kid I knew before. He is big, bulky, and freaking beautiful, just like his brother.

  “You too,” I tell him. “Not damn girl, but…” I swallow my stupid words before I embarrass myself more than I already have.

  Not another word leaves my lips before he’s in front of me, arms open, wrapping them around me like we’ve done this a million times before.

  And it feels nice.

  More than nice.

  It feels freaking great.

  My arms find their way around his waist as I hug him back, trying to ignore his rock-hard body pressed against me. “Thank you for this,” I whisper.

  The words aren’t really adequate for the favor he is doing for me, but I give them anyway. He is saving my ass big-time.

  Every place I called wanted first month, last month, and security deposit. Money I don’t have or can’t part with without leaving me penniless.

  In a few more days, I probably would’ve had to call my aunt and beg for a roof over our head.

  But then I remembered the cabin, hoping Carmello would rent it out to me without trying to steal the shirt off my back.

  I could’ve called Rocco, but I’d done that in the past, and he’d never taken my calls. Carmello, on the other hand, picked up on the second ring and offered me a place to stay for a ridiculously low rate that fit my meager budget.

  He tightens his arms around me as he brushes his lips over my cheek. “Don’t mention it. Friends help friends, even ones they haven’t seen in a decade.”

  Damn.

  That was a low blow but totally justified.

  My body stiffens in his embrace as guilt floods me. “I’m sorry,” I whisper against his T-shirt. “I should’ve…”

  “Don’t,” he says softly, splaying his hands across my back, the warmth of his touch burning hotter than the sun. “None of us were ready or able to—”

  “I still don’t know if I am,” I say honestly, interrupting him before he can finish his thought. “And Rocco?”

  Carmello pulls his head back, still holding me, until I can see his brown eyes, dotted with honey like his brother’s. “He’s…” A look passes over his face that tells me everything I need to know without him saying a word. “He’s fine,” he lies. “Doing great.”

  “Is he here?” I look over his shoulder, my eyes searching the porch and my stomach fluttering in anticipation of the possibility of seeing him again.

  Please be here. Please. Please. Please.

  Carmello shakes his head, peering down at the ground. “He had to work.”

  Damn.

  “Oh.” The butterflies vanish, replaced by a tightening knot deep in my belly. He doesn’t want to see me, and that stings. “I understand. I was just hoping…” I stop speaking, not bothering with the rest of the statement.

  Carmello moves his hand to his pocket, pausing. “Want me to call him and—”

  “No,” I reply quickly, shaking my head. “We’re fine. Don’t bother him.”

  Carmello’s gaze focuses on my car, squinting. “We’re fine?”

  “My little girl is in the car.” I motion toward the back seat where she’s sleeping in her car seat, oblivious to everything and everyone around her. “Shit. I’m sorry. Our conversation was so fast, I forgot to tell you about her. I hope you’re okay with her being here too.”

  He moves his hand to his neck before he takes a step forward, peeking through the window. “Damn, I didn’t know you had a kid. That’s so awesome.” He smiles, looking at her for a beat before bringing his eyes back to me.

  “Yeah.” I rock back on my heels, looking at the ground. “She’s five and completely exhausting.”

  “And the father?”

  “Out of the picture,” I tell him, dancing around the truth. He is out of the picture and very much dead, but he isn’t the man I’m running from. “I needed somewhere to get back on my feet, away from civilization, and this place was the first one that came to mind.”

  Besides being close to broke, I want an escape. Something far away from everything. Some place to get lost while trying to put my life back together without needing to look over my shoulder.

  Carmello studies me, not speaking as his eyes flicker back and forth between Adaline and me. “Things that bad?”

  “Not really.” I tuck my hands into my pockets, trying to stop myself from fidgeting. “As soon as I find a job, I’ll be out of here, so I won’t take up the entire rental season.”

  “There’s no rush, Reb. Stay as long as you like. I’m sure you want to spend some more time with your little girl instead of hustling constantly. We don’t rent the cabin anymore, so we’re not losing anything.”

  “You’re sweet, Carm, but I don’t have enough money for an endless vacation.”

  “We don’t want your money. Stay as long as you like. Relax a little.” Carmello gives me a tender smile.

  Relax a little.

  I haven’t relaxed since college, and I’m not about to start now. Relaxation is a luxury for those with money, but besides being dead-ass broke, I am hiding.

  “But I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly comfortable leaving you and her up here alone.”

  He is sweet for worrying, a trait I find admirable in the Caldo men but have rarely encountered in other men I’ve met.

  “We’ll be fine. I’ve lived in the country before. I know how to take care of myself and my baby.”

  “This isn’t the country, sweetheart. This is the middle of fucking nowhere.”

  “We’ll make do.”

  He lifts up his hands. “Whatever you say. I’m just telling you how I feel, and how I feel is that this isn’t safe or smart. Maybe I should stay for a few—”

  “No. No. We’ll be okay. You have a life to live, and we don’t need babysitting.” My nose tingles, and I push away the tears that I know are simmering just beneath the surface, ready to fall. “Thank you, though,” I whisper, not trusting my voice to speak any louder.

  He motions toward the car with a tip of his head. “What’s her name?”

  “Adaline.” I turn toward my daughter, taking in her mess of dark-brown curls as she sleeps, and I smile.

  She’s the one good thing in my life.

  No.

  She’s the best thing in my life.

  Something I created that is beautiful and pure. The one person who won’t leave me. I’ll do anything to protect her, making sure she stays breathing and at my side.

  “She’s beautiful, just like her mama.”

  I blush and can’t bring myself to look at him until the heat leaves my face. “There’s nothing as important and wonderful as being a mother.”

  “I can’t imagine the responsibility of raising another human—and to do it alone, too. You’re an amazing woman, Rebel Bishop.”

  I give him a small smile, not feeling amazing in any way.

  I’ve fucked up plenty in my thirty years on this earth.

  I’ve had more bad than good, but Adaline is the best part of me and my life.

  “The burden is heavy, but the rewards are great.”

  He’s about to say something when his ass rings. He reaches back, fishing out his phone. “Hey,” he says, holding up a finger to me before he walks away.

  I take this as my cue to grab Adaline along with our bags, preparing to settle in for however long we’re going to be here. But before I can open my trunk, a hand touches mine and gently pushes me away.

  “I can do—”

  Carmello shakes his head and ignores me. He grabs the two bags, phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear, and continues to talk to the person on the other end.

  I stand there, watching his back as he heads toward the cabin, carrying the small number of things I have left to my name. He is one of the good guys, and he doesn’t even try to be; he just is.

  There’s a muted squeal, and I’m quickly brought back to the reality in front of me. I’m not here to lust over a man for the simple reason that he carried my bags and has a fine backside.

  I am here to live.

  To survive.

  To start anew.

  “Hey, sleepyhead,” I say, opening the car door to Adaline staring up at me with her big blue eyes.

  “Mommy,” she whispers, full of sweetness. She’s in my arms a second later, resting on my hip with her head on my shoulder.

  My gaze flickers upward as Carmello comes out of the cabin, the door slamming behind him. “Sorry about that,” he says, not looking up until his boots touch the dirt at the bottom of the steps. He freezes as his eyes sweep over Adaline’s sleepy face. “She okay?”

  I nod. “She’s just waking up,” I reassure him, but I suddenly feel guilty about this whole thing. “It was wrong of me not to tell you about her. I hope you don’t—”

  He lifts his hand. “Rebel, you don’t owe me any explanation.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Or an apology.” He shakes his head, dropping his arm back to his side.

  “Sorry,” I repeat automatically, and I immediately cringe when he raises an eyebrow. “Fuck. It’s habit.”

  Adaline gasps and stares at me with wide eyes, touching my cheek. “Bad word,” she tells me.

  The kid is like the gestapo when it comes to profanity. Something she picked up in day care.

  Carmello laughs and continues toward us. “She’s a cutie pie.”

  “She’s totally irresistible.” I roll my eyes, adjusting her against my side. “You’re more than welcome to stay and babysit.”

  He stops his forward motion, almost recoiling. “While the offer sounds tempting, I have to get back to the city.”

  I can’t stop myself from chuckling. The city. I know Carmello and Rocco’s hometown, and nothing about it is even remotely city.

  “Are you really going to be okay out here alone with her?” he asks again, clearly not confident in my abilities.

  “Totally fine,” I tell him before following him toward the cabin.

  “I’ll text you the number to the gun safe. Can’t be too careful these days,” he says like we’re talking about the milk he might have left behind and not a cache of weapons.

  “I don’t think I’ll need it.”

  I don’t even know where I’d start. It has been years since I fired a weapon, way before I had Adaline. While some things are rote, my ability to be locked and loaded is not one of them.

  He spins around to face me as soon as we’re inside, his hand to his chest. “I’ll feel better if I know you have access to everything here. There’s no one for miles, and if you need to protect yourself or Adaline…” His eyes move to her, and his face softens. “You don’t have to open it, but I want you to have the code. It’ll put my mind at ease. Plus, there’re bears up here.”

  Fuck. I’d forgotten why I hated Florida so much. There’s always the possibility of wildlife lurking around every corner and crevice, ready to pounce and kill. Bear, gator, panther, and human…everything is a hunter.

  “Okay. Okay. You can send it to me, but unless someone’s busting down the door or a bear’s trying to get inside, I won’t be opening the safe.”

  “Thank you.” He smiles, and my insides melt from the beauty of him.

  Damn the Caldos and their good looks. They were able to land any girl they wanted, and from what Carrie had told me, the number was large back in the day. I have no doubts it is still the case, especially since he doesn’t have a ring on his finger.

  Not that I am looking, but…

  I glance around instead of gawking at him. The cabin has been totally rehabbed on the inside, looking much different than it had when I was here before.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.” I adjust Adaline on my hip to get rid of my nervous energy from being this close to someone who reminds me so much of Rocco.

  “Why are you really here?”

  “I…” I pause, wondering how much I should tell him. I hate sharing my problems, and Beau is solely mine and no one else’s. “I needed to start over. My life wasn’t going how I wanted it to.”

  “How so?”

  “How so what?”

  “How was your life not going how you wanted?”

  He’s a nosy one, and normally, I’d tell him to mind his own goddamn business, but this is Carmello and he is doing me a favor.

  I owe it to him, if no one else, to be at least a little open about my reality.

  “Had a kid, got married, became unmarried, and then there was…”

  His eyebrows furrow when I pause. “There was what?”

  “Just a jerk I was dating. I cut ties and left before things got really bad, because he wasn’t good for me or Addy.”

  He studies me and takes a step forward, closing the space between us. “How bad are we talking?”

  “Pretty bad,” I rasp.

  His jaw ticks before he scrubs his fingers across his chin, staring at me. “Did he touch you?”

  I peer down at Adaline as she fiddles with my hair. “I don’t really want to…” I glance back in his direction, hoping he’ll understand.

  “I don’t need all the details. I just want to know, did he touch you?”

  The knot in my stomach tightens. The one that’s always there, never uncoiling.

  I hate talking about what happened, and saying the words out loud makes me feel like a bigger fool.

  “Just one time.”

  “Fuck,” Carmello hisses, tipping his face toward the ceiling.

  “But I left right after. I wasn’t going to raise Adaline in a house like that, and I’ve never been anyone’s doormat. I’m not about to start now, no matter how hard life might be again without someone.”

  “Think he’s looking for you?” he asks me.

  I shrug. “I haven’t given it much thought.”

  “When did you leave?”

  “A few weeks ago,” I answer honestly. “Moved around a lot, staying in a few hotels, but I had to settle somewhere because I was blowing through cash faster than I could afford.”

  Carmello starts to pace, his hands working against the coarse hair on his jawline. “Is he the type that would look for you?”

  “Maybe,” I say with a wince, hating to admit I ever let myself get tangled up with a guy like that. “I don’t know.”

  The wood floors creak underneath his boots, but he doesn’t stop moving. “You have your cell phone still? The one you had with him?”

  “Of course.”

  “Give it to me.” He holds out his hand and waits, his eyes hard, lips tight.

  I blink, staring at his palm. “Why?”

  “Did you pay for the phone, or did he?”

  “He did.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Bad word,” Adaline chides him without even looking his way.

  I cover her mouth with my hand to stop her from saying anything more.

  “Seriously, give me your phone,” he demands, bringing his piercing dark eyes back to mine.

  “Why?” I ask again, confused.

  “Do you trust me?”

  “I do.”

  “Then don’t ask,” he says like it’s that damn simple.

  One thing I don’t do is trust easy. But Carrie thought highly of Carmello, and I trusted her more than anyone else in the world.

  “Fine,” I say, dropping my hand from Adaline’s lips, and reach into my back pocket, grabbing my phone.

  “Code?” he asks as soon as he has it in his hands.

  “9-2-4-6.”

  He taps away on the screen, grunting to himself what I think is a slew of curse words, but I can’t be sure with how low he’s speaking.

  I watch him as Adaline plays with my hair. She’s been oblivious to the bad things around us. I’ve done my best to shield her from any hurt, something I never had done for me as a child. Although Beau, my ex, never held back from yelling at me in front of her, the one time he laid his hands on me, she wasn’t in the room.

  “Damn it,” Carmello mutters in a low, growly whisper.

  My eyes widen, and my feet move backward. “What?”

  He doesn’t respond before he grips my phone in both hands and snaps the sucker in two. I stare at him, my brain taking a minute to come to terms with what he’s done.

  I finally gasp, jerking my head back, shocked that he could do that, and that he did it without a second thought.

  “Oh my God. Why would you do that?” I whisper, feeling tears starting to sting my eyes.

  I’ve already started counting every dollar I have left to my name, and he takes it upon himself to break my phone without even asking.

  It’ll cost me a small fortune to replace it, too.

  Money I can’t afford to lose.

  Money I don’t really have.

  “You can’t stay here,” is his only answer.

  He says those words so calmly, I’m no longer angry about the phone but pissed at him for thinking he can tell me what to do.

  “What?” I blink, trying to push away the tears before they have a chance to fall. “Why?”

  “GPS, Rebel.” He tosses my busted phone into the trash, kicking the cabinet door closed before stalking my way. “He probably already knows where you are. You can’t stay here.”

  I don’t move, but I keep my eyes on him as he walks toward my bags. “But…”