The Broken Road
Page 9
Eve dimpled. “Let me guess. Leaf?”
“Unless he stole someone else’s name tag.”
“Six feet or so of utter gorgeous?”
“That’d be the one. No, stop that, stay there.” Donovan hopped, crabwise and awkward, over the slight rise and fall of the boat’s side and attempted to steady it while he helped Eve step down. “Careful. I don’t want to think of what Tanner would do to me if I let you and Junior go for a swim. Does he even know you’re here?”
“Yes, he knows, and ugh, you’re as bad as him. I’ve been sailing since I was younger than this one.” Eve tugged her son’s tiny knit hat further down to shade his eyes, and let hers twinkle at Donovan. “So. Leaf, hmm?”
“Leaf, hmm,” Donovan said, bland as porridge. “Seems like an…interesting sort of guy.”
“Isn’t he just? Still, I don’t know too much about him,” Eve said as she led the way across the deck. “Just that he took the maintenance man position a few months ago, and he’s very, very pretty.” She frowned in deliberation. “I’m not sure he’s got a lot on the ball, though.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well…” Eve crinkled her button nose. “He’s sort of flighty, isn’t he? Like he never quite grew up. Like he chose not to. Which is okay when you’re just starting out, sure, but I get the feeling he’d be happy to bop around without a care for the rest of his life.”
Donovan had no trouble believing her. He watched Leaf coil up the power washer and remove his cap to pat his forehead with the bandana that had been tied around his neck. Finished with that, he stretched those long arms toward the crystal sky and arched his back.
“Damn,” Donovan said under his breath.
“Ooh.” Eve absently covered the little man’s eyes with one hand as she drew up short. “If I wolf-whistled, do you think he’d hear me?”
“Probably. And what are you doing, ogling? You’re a married woman.”
“Please. Tanner ogles Leaf,” Eve said in blithe dismissal. “Who wouldn’t? Even if Leaf’s a little flaky, you’ve got to admit he’s a beautiful, beautiful man.”
Isn’t he just? And weirdly nice. And apparently very good with his hands. And not burdened with near-sightedness or astigmatism. He must have sensed Donovan staring, but even now it didn’t seem to bother him. Rather, he waved and grinned at Donovan across the distance.
Flighty? That’d be one word for it, Donovan supposed…
“Donovan?”
While Donovan was distracted, Eve had opened a sliding door that led into the heart of the boat and stepped inside. She peeked her head back out and giggled at Donovan as if reading every last one of his dirty, dirty thoughts. Marriage and motherhood hadn’t exactly changed her.
“I think I have a deckchair if you’d like to watch the show. On the other hand, if we take too long the little man might wake up, and he wakes up hungry. Which means I’d have to feed him, and…”
Donovan scrambled inside on the double, Eve’s girlish laughter following him all the way.
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About the Author
Anna Lee graduated from the University of California Riverside with a Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing. Living with a disability, she has overcome many challenges and puts her passion for life and love into her writing. She lives with her family and dogs and enjoys writing late into the night. When she isn't writing Anna enjoys chasing after her nieces and nephew or chatting with her friends about her favorite books and TV shows.
Email: annalee509@gmail.com
Anna Lee loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.totallybound.com.
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