After the Storm (KGI #8)(54)

Sam held up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay, lecture over. We won’t bring it up again. Swear. Just watch your six and know that we’ll be watching it too. Goes without saying that whatever you need, we’ll do.”

Donovan rose from the couch and grinned at his brothers. “I know it’ll be hard for Garrett to keep his mouth shut.”

“Fuck you,” Garrett grumbled.

“Hmm, and now I have blackmail material. You step out of line and I tell Sarah you’re dropping F-bombs again.”

Garrett glared back at Donovan while Sam burst into laughter. Donovan herded his brothers toward the door, anxious for them to be gone. Eve and the others had been asleep for several hours and they’d be hungry soon. He wanted a few moments alone with Eve so that maybe she’d open up to him.

CHAPTER 18

DONOVAN was warming the plates of lasagna and preparing to get a tray together so he could bring everyone food in bed when he looked up and saw Eve standing in the doorway of his kitchen.

He was ridiculously charmed by the image. His T-shirt hanging to her knees, slim legs and bare feet visible. Hair tousled and her eyes droopy with the remnants of sleep, her hand propped on the door frame as she gazed nervously in his direction. He liked her in his space. Like she belonged here. With him. He’d said as much to his brothers, but seeing her right here and now only solidified his feeling of . . . possession. Was this what his brothers had felt when they’d first met their wives? Had they known from the first moment that she was the one? He knew Garrett had been in way over his head from the moment he’d seen Sarah.

And yes, as Garrett had said, Donovan had even warned him off. For all the good it had done him. But now he understood. He got it in a way he hadn’t gotten it then. And he knew, just as Garrett had known, that Eve’s future was inexorably tied up with his. He accepted that. Would accept no other possibility. But he also knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But then it hadn’t been easy for any of his brothers or their team leaders. And well, nothing good was easy.

“Come on in,” he invited, waving her toward the table. He knew she was uncomfortable dressed in only his shirt, but he was determined to act normal, as if she weren’t standing there in just a thin pair of panties and his oversized T-shirt. “I was warming up food to bring you in bed, but if you’re up to it, you can eat with me at the table, and then we’ll wake Travis and Cammie up to eat. Unless they’re awake already?”

He knew she would have gone in and checked on Travis, and he also knew she wouldn’t have left Cammie alone in the bedroom if she was awake. Though he had intended to bring her dinner in bed, he now jumped at the opportunity to have dinner with her—alone—in the kitchen. They needed to get a lot out of the way. And he had to see if she trusted him enough yet to confide in him.

“No, they’re still asleep,” she said in a low voice as she moved toward the table.

Unease was evident in the way she held herself, the hesitance in her eyes as she watched him, standing awkwardly next to a chair still pushed underneath the table. And she was quick to hide her legs behind the table, as if the image of her bare legs weren’t already burned into his memory.

He carried a plate of lasagna, just out of the microwave, and set it down in front of her.

“What would you like to drink? I have sweet tea, lemonade or a variety of sodas.”

As he spoke, he pulled her chair out for her and motioned for her to sit. When she lowered herself, he caught her elbow, making sure she didn’t suffer any effects of the medication he’d administered earlier. She went utterly still at his touch and then glanced up at him underneath her long lashes.

She had to feel it too. This electric connection between them. No way could she be unaware of the current. To reinforce the sensation, he caressed the skin just above her elbow with his fingers. It was a gesture meant to comfort, but the heat from her flesh bled into his hand and up his arm.

“Tea is fine,” she murmured.

“I’ll be right back with a glass and a fork for you to eat with.”

He pushed the plate so it was directly in front of her and then went to collect her drink, forks for both of them and the plate he’d left sitting inside the microwave while he’d brought hers to the table.

A moment later he returned, sliding her glass across the table before taking the seat catty-corner to where she sat at the head.

“Feel up to eating?” he asked when she didn’t dig in right away. “Did the medicine make you queasy? I have medication that will settle your stomach and ease the nausea if you need it.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m fine. I was just enjoying the smell. It looks delicious.”

She picked up her fork and delicately cut into the wedge of lasagna. He watched her eat, watched the fork disappear into her mouth and fantasized about kissing that mouth. Then he shook his head and dug into his own food. He wasn’t the least bit subtle about his perusal of her. He wasn’t scoring any points in his bid to make her trust him by leering at her like some crusty old man wanting to get into her pants.

He gave her a moment to eat, not wanting to potentially upset her and cause her not to finish her meal. By the looks of her, and from what he’d seen of their trailer, he knew she’d missed far too many meals already.

It was only when she slowed and then finally set her fork down with a sigh, only a few bites left, that he put his own fork down and reached over to slide his hand over hers.