After the Storm (KGI #8)(91)

After a moment, a minute, an hour, she had no idea of how long, she became aware of Donovan’s weight pressing her into the mattress. His heavy breaths against her neck. The loose, sated feeling in her limbs. The blankness in her mind. And the overwhelming sense of rightness.

Peace.

How long had it been since she’d truly felt peace? Her brow furrowed as she tried to muster the mental energy to think back to when she’d ever felt so . . . safe. Cherished. Had she ever?

“What are you shaking your head at, love?”

Donovan’s gentle question brought her focus back to the present and she found him staring down into her eyes, his own thoughtful as he studied her.

She smiled. “Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just being fanciful and a little silly. And who could blame me after . . . that. I don’t even know what to call it. Surely there aren’t enough words in the English language—or any other language, for that matter—to adequately describe what we just had.”

There was a note of wistfulness even she heard. Donovan’s features softened, his eyes going warm and so very tender. He stroked a finger over her cheek, his weight still blanketing her, warm and so very reassuring.

“I think what it was is wonderful,” he said simply.

She nodded her agreement and then he pushed himself up and off her, pulling free of her body. She shivered the moment he left her to discard the condom. She already missed his warmth. His touch. The void left her aching, however short the distance was.

She breathed an audible sigh of relief when he rejoined her, sliding into bed next to her and arranging the covers around them as he pulled her into his arms. She snuggled into his side and pillowed her head on his shoulder.

He kissed the top of her head, an affectionate kiss that made her giddy. They just felt . . . comfortable. Like they’d been lovers for years. They . . . fit. They just fit.

She yawned broadly and let her eyelids flutter closed as he stroked his hand up and down her arm.

“Go to sleep, honey,” he said. “Here in my arms and know you’re safe. If you dream tonight, dream only of me.”

And she did. For the first night in many long years, she slept free of the constant worry and nightmares. There, in Donovan’s arms, she dreamed of the most wonderful of things.

Love.

CHAPTER 27

DONOVAN hadn’t slept the night before despite the fact that he was exceedingly sated and content. Making love to Eve was satisfying on an emotional level he’d never experienced before. And yet he’d remained awake, worried and pensive. In the predawn hours, just before finally sliding into sleep, with her curled into his arms, he’d come up with a plan.

Now all he had to do was act on it. And to do so required the presence of his brothers. Nathan and Joe’s team. He briefly considered calling up Steele and his team, but Steele had enough to worry over with a new wife and child. Besides, it had already been decided that Nathan and Joe’s team would regularly draw missions now. Perhaps even work as the front line with Rio and Steele’s team acting in more of a support role.

Neither team leader would likely be happy with that assessment, but neither would they argue because they had wives and children to focus on now. The rest of their teams? Likely not as content as their team leaders to sit back and allow another team to take up their slack.

There was also the fact that it would take longer to pull the other teams in, and Donovan didn’t have the luxury of time. Not when Eve’s stepfather was already close. He trusted Nathan and Joe’s team and he trusted his brothers. They were more than capable of pulling off what Donovan had in mind.

He rose early, not wanting to disturb Eve. He made his phone calls in the kitchen, quiet so the others wouldn’t hear. And then he made yet another call. The most important. He’d set the bait. Now all he had to do was wait for the target to fall into his lap.

CHAPTER 28

WHEN Eve awoke, Donovan was already gone, but then she’d expected as much. He was an early riser and he didn’t seem the type to lie around in bed all morning. Even if the thought was very appealing to her. A morning spent snuggling in his arms? Heaven.

She stretched, smiling at the slight twinge of discomfort that made itself known in her body. They’d made love twice, the second very much at her initiation. Well, but also the first. She’d been impatient and unwilling to let him torture her slowly as he’d planned. The second hadn’t been any more slow or more patient than the first, and she was feeling the effects this morning.

Not that she’d admit a thing to him. If she so much as hinted that she was tender, as he’d put it, he’d likely not touch her tonight and she was having none of that.

She yawned broadly and lay there a moment longer before finally pushing herself out of bed and toward the shower. She glanced at the bedside clock and moved more quickly toward the bathroom. She and Cammie were supposed to go over to the sisters-in-laws’ today to shop.

A perfectly ordinary occurrence. Certainly nothing to get worked up over, but she found herself looking forward to it. It signaled freedom. Normalcy. And she wanted those things above all else. She also wanted a place within the ranks of the Kelly family. She envied the wives with her every breath for what they had. What she herself wanted.

How wonderful must it be to be a part of such a family? Loyal. Tight-knit. Everyone seemed to like one another. Did they ever fight? Squabble? Get pissy and mad in the heat of the moment?