After the Storm (KGI #8)(48)

Donovan shook his head. “I’m really tired of hearing you don’t understand. What I understand is that you and your brother and sister need help. You need a place to stay. You need food to eat. But what you need most is the knowledge that you’re safe and that no one will harm you. I understand your fears and reservations, Eve. I get it. Believe me. But your answer is no real solution to the problem, and if you stopped and thought for a minute you’d know I’m right.”

He continued on, talking over the protest already forming on her lips.

“You can’t keep running. It’s no way for any of you to live. And the next place you land in won’t have what you have here. People who care about you. People who will protect you.”

“You don’t know me,” Eve whispered. “How could you possibly care about me or Cammie and Travis? What you suggest is crazy! People don’t just move strangers in with them. Nor do they make promises when they have no idea what they’re up against.”

“You’re right. I don’t know. Yet. But you’ll tell me. It’s a conversation you and I are having soon. But right now, my priority is getting you all the care you need and making sure you all rest and recover from your injuries and getting Cammie over her illness. You can’t play around with this, Eve. Cammie is a very sick little girl. You have to think about her and what’s best, not only for Cammie, but for yourself and Travis.”

“She’s all I think about,” Eve said fiercely. “She’s who I think about every minute of the day.”

Donovan moved closer to Eve, reaching for her hand, curling his fingers around hers. Her hand trembled in his and he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, trying to soothe some of the anxiety rolling off her in waves. For a moment she gripped his hand, almost as if she desperately wanted the comfort he offered. He took that as a positive sign that he was finally getting through to her.

“I never thought for a moment that she isn’t uppermost in your thoughts or that she wasn’t your priority. If I implied that, I apologize. All I’m saying is that you need help and I’m going to give it. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Eve stared at him in bewilderment. Then she glanced at Maren, discomfort in her eyes that Maren was privy to this conversation.

“Eve,” Maren began softly. “I don’t want to intrude, nor do I want to step on your toes. But I agree with Donovan. As a doctor and as someone who has a very close connection to KGI and the Kelly family. Cammie is very ill and she needs to be on IV medication. She’s not going to get well overnight. It’s going to take time. And Travis is in no condition to go anywhere but to bed where he can rest and recover. I know you’ve done the best you can, but everyone needs help at some point. I know I certainly did. And KGI came through for me. Just like they can help you. Take it from someone who has been there and done that. On more than one occasion,” she added with a rueful smile. “Donovan—and KGI—is the best. And you need the best. Cammie and Travis deserve the best as well. I would be terribly negligent as a medical professional to condone you going anywhere in your current condition.”

Donovan sent her a grateful look. What Maren had said scored points with Eve. Recognition had settled in Eve’s eyes as Maren had bluntly given her opinion. Recognition that Maren—and Donovan—were right.

Eve’s shoulders sagged and she briefly closed her eyes. When they reopened, they were wet with a sheen of tears. Donovan’s chest tightened. He hated to see any woman in distress, but Eve wasn’t any woman. Not to him. He couldn’t fully explain his reaction to her, but it went a hell of a lot further than her being a woman in need. He’d come across many of them through his years running KGI and he’d never allowed himself this kind of . . . attraction. Emotional and physical. It wasn’t even that he hadn’t allowed it. It simply hadn’t been there. None of the other women had made him feel what he felt for Eve.

He already considered Eve—and her siblings—his. His . . . family.

He could already picture what it would be like to have this precious group of people as his own. He felt a fierce protectiveness for Cammie and Travis that went above his usual reaction to children in trouble. Every mission was personal for him, but this one? This was something else entirely and he refused to let his family walk away into the unknown. Where they could be hurt or killed or God only knew what else. It wasn’t an option.

He’d tie Eve to his bed and sit on her before allowing her to walk away.

And if that wasn’t a hell of a note he didn’t know what was.

He’d ragged on his brothers and his team leaders for their overprotectiveness and fierceness when it came to their women, but here he was, in the same position, feeling exactly as they had felt when it came to the women they loved.

Loved?

Hell, he wasn’t in love with Eve. It was as she said. Donovan knew nothing about her. But he knew enough to realize that she was going to come to mean a hell of a lot to him. She and her siblings already did. But in order for that to happen, she had to remain here. Under his protection so he could see exactly where things would take them.

That wasn’t going away. Not tomorrow or next year. Now he just had to convince them of his position in their lives going forward. And that was going to be no easy task. But he wouldn’t be deterred by her resistance. He was every bit as stubborn as his brothers when it came to something he wanted. Eve would learn that soon enough.