by Lucy Score
Donovan: “After the fire. You really should have a security code on it.”
Eva laughed.
Eva: “Thanks for clarifying. I couldn’t remember you being in my pants.”
She bit her lip and waited. Had she gone too far flirting with Sheriff Do Right? Donovan had pushed the limits by adding himself as a contact in her phone, but he hadn’t gone as far as she would have by giving himself a cutesy nickname. And now she’d pushed them into full-on sexting.
Her screen dimmed and then turned off. Another ten seconds passed before her text alert dinged.
“Guess I’ll have to make sure to be extra memorable next time.”
Eva blew out a breath and then kicked her feet against the floor in delight. He was flirting with her! Did that mean… Wait, what did that mean? Did he flirt with everyone? Or was there a slim chance that Donovan Cardona, god among men, was interested in actually getting into her pants?
Donovan: “Good night, Evangelina.”
Eva squealed in giddy, feminine delight. The popular boy liked her. Maybe.
Eva: “Good night, Sheriff.”
She thought back on her recent dating failures. None of them had made her feel this heady rush from just a text. None of them had made her feel much of anything.
She turned back to her screen, energized and let her fingers fly over the keys.
When her phone dinged again, she was still smiling. Until she looked at the screen and saw the text from an unknown number.
Unknown: “I think it’s time we have another talk.”
Anger flashed white hot. “Not this time,” Eva whispered to herself.
She blocked the number and deleted the text without responding.
“Not here. Not ever again.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Eva dragged her ass into Gia’s yoga studio at the ungodly hour of nine. She’d been up most of the night writing, feeling butterflies about Donovan, and worrying about the text. It hadn’t led to any real sleep when she’d finally crawled into bed at four.
“You look like hell,” Emma, in shorts and a cropped tank top, observed.
Eva hadn’t bothered with makeup and had dragged on the first workout clothes she could find. “Why are you dressed for summer? Damn it! Did you con me into hot power yoga again?”
“There’s my other favorite sister!” Gia danced over, all grace and smiles.
“I hate you guys.”
“Come on. It’ll be good for you. It’ll help your coordination.” Gia tsked when she looked at Eva’s bruised face. “I didn’t notice this with your hair down last night. Car door?” she asked.
“Kitchen cabinet.” They all turned at the sound of Donovan’s amused voice.
“Tattle tale,” Eva grumbled.
“Eva, you’re going to sweat to death if you take class in that,” Gia interrupted, eyeing up Eva’s loose sweatpants and long sleeve tee.
“You’re right, I probably shouldn’t take class—”
She shut up when she saw Donovan roll out a mat and strip out of his sweatpants.
“You were saying,” Gia grinned.
“Gah. Shut up. What?”
“Don’t start without us!” Summer—dragging Jax and Joey’s foster daughter, Reva, behind her—bounced into the studio. “Sorry! The twins… Well, that’s it. I have twins.”
“You’re going to be using that excuse for the next eighteen or so years,” Joey rolled her eyes.
“We’ve got a minute before we start,” Gia promised. “You three set up while I get Eva some sweat appropriate gear.”
Before Eva could come up with a good excuse to go home and go back to bed, Gia had her shoved into a pair of tiny shorts and a two-sizes-too-small crop top that Eva’s boobs were trying to explode out of.
There were twelve of them all together, which was impressive considering Gia’s power class was a vicious, sweat fest that challenged even the most seasoned athletes. Including the gorgeous Taneisha who had rolled out her pretty purple mat next to Donovan and begun stretching her dancer-like body.
Eva tip-toed between them and noticed when Donovan’s gaze fastened onto her explosive cleavage. She set up in the back row next to Joey and Reva.
“Freaking Summer said this was the lazy class,” Joey muttered.
“It’s going to be fine,” Reva promised with Joey-neutralizing optimism. She was slim and sweet. And since Jax and Joey had filed for legal guardianship, she’d really come out of her shell. Freckles danced over the bridge of her nose. Her long brown hair was tied back in a braid. At nearly eighteen, she was as pretty as girl-next-door got.
Summer’s head popped up from her hamstring stretch. “Quit whining. Brunch after. My treat.”
“I’m getting extra bacon,” Joey announced. “Nice rack, by the way, Eva. Couldn’t you find a smaller shirt?”
“Hey, don’t turn on a fellow captive. We have to stick together.”
“Sorry, I’m weak with hunger, and it makes me angry.”
Eva grinned and folded forward over her thighs and felt her skin burn. She peeked, knowing she shouldn’t, and found Donovan watching her. Great. Not only was she about to humiliate herself in yoga class, she was going to do it in front of Sheriff Sexy.
“Okay, guys. Let’s get those juices flowing,” Gia announced, launching into an hour of torture.
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“Let me die in peace,” Eva groaned, holding a towel over her face. She didn’t know whose towel it was, nor did she care. Someone was slapping her in the shoulder.
“Water,” Joey rasped next to her. “Gimmie.”
Eva pulled the towel off her face and rolled her water bottle over to Joey’s mat. A foot appeared in her line of vision. It was attached to a hairy, muscled leg. She could see up those blue gym shorts. Oh, my. She hadn’t been wrong about the undercover equipment.
Donovan grinned down at her. “Morning,” he said, cheerfully. Droplets of sweat clung to his chest. When he’d stripped out of his shirt mid-class, Eva had been so distracted she’d fallen out of her attempt at crow pose, knocking into Joey and sending them both sprawling.
“Morning,” Eva returned, pretending that she wasn’t laying on her back in a puddle of her own sweat.
He reached down and hauled her to her feet. When her head spun, she wasn’t sure if it was the dehydration or the magnificent torso in front of her. His abs had abs.
“What are you doing tonight?”
“Huh?” Great, response Eva. You’re a real sweaty intellectual.
“Have dinner with me?”
“You want to have dinner?”
“Did you hit your head again this morning?” he teased.
Eva shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs. “Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
His quick smirk was filled with dark promises. “Good. Neither did I. And I figured, since our first date was a coincidence and you asked me out for a second date, it’s my turn.”
“Dates? We’re dating?” Her voice was a squeak that hurt her own ears.
“Not only dating, but we’ve made it to the third date.” Donovan winked. “I’ll pick you up at seven. You can wear that if you want.”
He ambled out, leaving half a dozen women staring after him.
“What. Was. That?” Summer demanded, slapping Eva’s shoulder with every word.
“Oh, my God. I don’t know! Did he just ask me out?”
“Yes!” Gia said, grabbing her by the arms and jumping up and down.
“Holy shit. So, I’m not hallucinating?”
“Nice job, Tits McGee,” Joey chimed in.
“What did I say? Oh, my God. Am I going? Am I dating Donovan Cardona?”
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In light of the new development, brunch plans were abandoned and everyone followed Eva home. Gia raided the fridge in the main house and returned with bacon, eggs, Aurora, and Lydia. Eva started a fresh pot of coffee while Aurora poured herself a bo
wl of fruity-o’s into one of Eva’s mixing bowls.
“Your mom is going to freak,” Eva whispered to her niece.
The little redheaded pixie grinned. “She’s distracted. I’ll eat half before she even notices.” To prove her point, Aurora carted her bowl off to the little sunroom next to the living room.
Emma and Summer, the born organizers, shuffled everyone into stations. Eva was relegated to drink pouring when no one wanted to let her near a knife or the stove. She was a good cook. Really good. But accidents did have a tendency to happen. And for every perfect London broil she served, she had a bandage covering a cut or a burn.
Seeing as she’d had the foresight to stock her fridge with orange juice and the bottle of champagne she usually saved for completing a manuscript, Eva decided the occasion called for mimosas. She doled out plastic cups to everyone and enjoyed the sounds of female companionship. In all her moves, she’d made dozens of acquaintances but few lasting friendships. Here in Blue Moon, she had family and friends always willing to drink mimosas and talk about men.
Summer, an absolute failure in the kitchen, called Lydia-sitting duty and crawled after the baby on her adventurous trek around Eva’s living room. The little girl’s belly laugh drew “awhs” from everyone present.
A bark sounded at the front door, and Joey opened it. Diesel, Gia and Beckett’s huge “puppy,” stumbled inside. He had a silver coat, blue eyes, and feet that were still too big for his body. His tail wagged hard enough that it swiped the mail off the entry table and onto the floor.
“Hey, buddy,” Eva said, squishing his doggie cheeks in her hands. Diesel liked to keep her company during the day when his family was out. He gave her a sloppy kiss and ran into the living room to slobber on the green-eyed Lydia under the coffee table.
“Sometimes I can’t believe this is my life,” Gia said, a little misty-eyed, next to Eva at the kitchen island.
“Just think back two or three years,” Eva sighed. Gia had been a down-on-her-luck and newly divorced single mom.
“What if this is the beginning of your story?” Gia asked, squeezing Eva’s hand.
Eva felt her heart stumble. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s a date, not a marriage proposal.”
“What would you say if Sheriff Hot Bod came in here right now and begged you to marry him?” Joey asked, expertly flipping an omelet in Eva’s pan.
“Uh, hello. You saw him without his shirt on at class. Who says no to that?” Eva joked.
“Just remember there’s more to a relationship than looks,” Reva said, steadily slicing strawberries on a cutting board.
Joey tugged Reva’s hair with affection. “Do you guys see what a good job I’m doing with this whole parenting thing?”
“To be fair, Jax was the one who told me to stay away from hot guys,” Reva corrected her.
“Yeah, but that’s just so you don’t run out and have sex with a hot guy who doesn’t treat you right.”
“Jeez, Joey!” Eva laughed.
“Please. Don’t go all prudish on me. Our husbands were raised by John and Phoebe Pierce. Experts in ‘the talk.’”
“It’s true,” Gia piped up. “Beckett nailed it with Evan, and Phoebe gave me pointers on tackling it with Little Miss Nudist Colony in there.”
“Reva, give ‘em the highlights,” Joey ordered.
Reva started adding strawberry slices to each plate. “Sex is awesome as long as you do it with a good person that you care about and is more worried about making you feel good than getting his—or her—rocks off.”
“Condoms?”
“Always. No excuses ever,” Reva recited.
“If you’re not feeling it?”
“Never feel guilty about saying no.”
“What if someone gives you a hard time about saying no?”
“Then I text Jax, and he murders the guy.”
“Boom!” Joey said, high-fiving Reva.
“Holy hell! That took me like ten years of sex-having to figure out on my own,” Emma said, continuing the high-five train.
“I am totally using this when Meadow and Jonathan are older,” Summer said, bouncing Lydia on her hip. “It’s very progressive of you guys. We should think about doing this as a piece for Thrive,” she told Gia.
“Should we tell them the secret rule?” Reva asked Joey with a small smile.
Joey nodded sagely. “It’s the right thing to do. They’re all going to need it in the future.”
“When I do decide to have sex, never ever ever tell Jax.”
They laughed loud enough that Diesel tried to hide under the barstools against the island. He’d knocked two of them over before Eva rescued him from himself.
“What’s so funny, guys?” Aurora demanded from the doorway of the sunroom.
“Aurora! What’s in that mixing bowl?” Gia asked, hands on hips.
Over omelets and coffee, they dissected every text and interaction between Eva and Donovan. The verdict: Eva was dating Blue Moon’s sheriff.
“I can’t for the life of me figure out why he’s interested?” They had nothing in common as far as she could tell.
“I can think of two reasons that he got an eyeful of in yoga,” Joey quipped, pointing at Eva’s chest.
“I’m sure he likes you for more than just your chest,” Reva said sympathetically.
“Of course he does,” Emma said, tucking an arm around Eva. “You’re smart, you’re beautiful, you’re the best damn technical writer the world has ever seen.”
Eva pushed the twinge of guilt aside. She’d tell them. Soon. “Why are you pep-talking me?”
“Because I don’t want any of your Mom-baggage holding you back like it did me. I could have ended up in Niko’s bed—life,” she corrected with a glance at Aurora, “a lot sooner had I not been so hung up on protecting myself.”
Eva saw it when Reva’s smile faltered. The girl’s own mother had abandoned her and her younger brother, Caleb, and hadn’t been heard from since summer. Eva patted Reva on the hand.
“I think you’re projecting,” Eva told Emma lightly.
Emma shook her head. “Trust me, little sister. We all carry the scars. I was afraid of anything that wasn’t one-hundred percent secure. Gia over there is obsessive about her kids to make up for Mom ducking out on us.”
“Am not!” Gia argued. She was squeezing Lydia and Aurora on her lap, making both kids squirm.
“Are too!” Aurora wheezed, trying to slip free under the table.
“I haven’t figured out what your damage is yet.” Emma pointed her fork at Eva. “But when it rears its sticky, ugly, complicated head, you can count on us.”
Eva smiled despite herself. For the first time in her adult life, she was putting down roots. She was surrounded by family and friends, by dogs and kids. Her career was climbing, and she had a date with a man so sexy he could have walked off the pages of one of her books. Her sisters were happy. Her father was happy.
She wasn’t going to let anything ruin it.
“Okay. Thank you, Emma, for airing our family’s dirty laundry in front of these innocent victims. Now, enough about me, please. What’s going on with everyone else?”
Reva’s eyes never left her plate. “I have a date for Homecoming,” she said casually.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Donovan arrived promptly at 6:58 with a bouquet of orange and pink spray roses and eucalyptus. Liz at the flower shop called it “Colorful Chaos,” and he couldn’t think of a more appropriate gift for Eva.
He knocked on the cottage’s front door, and through an open window, he heard footsteps hurrying across the upstairs floor. The footsteps hit the stairs too fast and something that sounded like a body hit a wall. He heard her curse, loudly, colorfully, and then she came into view sauntering down the stairs and crossing the kitchen to open the door.
“Hi.”
Donovan felt like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. Eva was standing there look
ing up at him, beaming. Her hazel eyes bright with anticipation, her full rosy lips parted in a heart-rattling smile.
He didn’t even notice what she was wearing. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the fact that he was inconveniently, irretrievably, nonsensically head over heels.
Still reeling from the face-first skid into realization, Donovan wordlessly held up the flowers.
“Wow. You are nailing the old-school date moves,” Eva sighed, accepting the bouquet and bringing it to her face. “Come in, and I’ll put these in water.”
He followed her inside, rubbing a hand over the heart that seemed to have grown uncomfortably full in his chest.
“Would you like a drink?” Eva offered. “Or are you on call?”
“Colby and Layla have it covered tonight.”
“Beer?” she offered.
He wished for something a little stronger, something that would take the edge off the realization that his life was never going to be the same. “Beer’s good.”
She opened a bottle for him and slid it across the island. When she reached for the glass vase above the sink, he was there pulling it down for her. He put the vase in the sink but stopped her when she reached for the faucet.
“Hang on a second. I just want to make it crystal clear that this is a date,” he told her, his thumb tracing the edge of her jaw. They were so close in the confined space, he swore he could hear the beat of her heart. “You seemed a little confused last night and this morning. So just so there’s no misunderstandings…”
She stole his damn move. He was getting ready to close in on her, to kiss her until she melted against him. But it was Eva who gripped him by the shirt and dragged him down to her hungry mouth.
If his thoughts had been of love a moment ago, they were now violently approaching lust. Her lips were so soft, so busy, against his. His skin burned beneath his clothes everywhere she touched him. He wanted to slow it down, to take his time and taste her.
