Page 58 of Fall Into Temptation
Ellery: “Stop talking!”
She did as she was told and bit her lip until everyone was done reading from their binders.
Bruce spoke first, pulling off his reading glasses. “Well, you and our esteemed sheriff are indeed on our list of approved matches.”
“Oh good,” Eva said, relieved. “Wait. What?”
“Yes, it says here that we were going to tackle you two in the spring. That would give you a little more time to settle in here,” Rainbow said through bites of a pink frosted pastry.
“Spring?”
“And it looks like the main area of concern we’ve identified is your potential abandonment issues caused by your mother leaving the family,” Wilson noted.
“My abandonment issues?” Eva felt like an incredulous parrot.
“Yes, dear,” Gordon, spoke up, wiping crumbs off his vintage Jerry Garcia t-shirt. “Your sister Emma gave us quite a headache with hers.”
“I don’t have abandonment issues,” she squeaked.
The Beautification Committee chuckled as if she’d made a joke, and Eva’s phone buzzed again.
Ellery: “You totally do.”
“My, my. This is an interesting situation. We’ve never had a potential member claim her partner without our help before,” Bruce said, twirling his glasses. “I think we’re going to need to put some stipulations on this.”
“I agree,” Rainbow said, all business.
“Let’s put it to a vote,” Bobby announced. “Eva and Donovan are free to continue dating if she can make headway with her abandonment issues. If she isn’t able to handle it on her own, she and the sheriff must wait until spring when we can give them our full attention.”
“All in favor?” Bruce called out.
They raised their hands unanimously.
“Good. The matter is settled. Eva, you can get to work on your issues right away, and once we start to see a resolution, you’ll be permitted to resume your relationship with Sheriff Cardona.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The exam was one-hundred questions long. All were multiple choice except for two essays at the end. Gia had looked shell-shocked when Bobby led her back into the conference room. But to Eva, the test was still better than facing the inquisition. She felt stripped bare and scrutinized. They’d grilled her on everything from family to birth control to favorite romantic couples of stage, screen, and page.
Eva dove into her test while cursing Ellery under her breath. She was on question forty-two when her phone buzzed on the table.
Donovan: “How’s the meeting? Any bloodshed? Any weird rituals involving chickens?”
Eva: “I need you to steal a fire truck, drive it onto the library’s sidewalk, and raise the ladder to Conference Room 203. I’ll be the redhead hanging out of the window.”
Donovan: “What kind of gratitude can I expect for such dangerous heroics?”
Eva: “Spaghetti dinner complete with antipasto, salad, and dessert.”
Donovan: “Sold. Be there in five. I’ll be the knight on the flashy red steed with sirens.”
He made it so easy to like him, Eva thought. Donovan kept things simple. He liked her—a lot—and he told her so. There was no hiding feelings or keeping secrets, at least, not on his end. She hadn’t realized just how much she wanted all of this to be real. Eva wanted him to like her and she wanted to loosen up and let herself like him back.
Donovan was a genuinely good man. Smart, kind, protective, solid, dependable. Not to mention gorgeous and sixty steps beyond sexy. And she wanted him with a fierceness that scared her.
What if it’s real? What if it’s all real?Eva wondered.And why did that scare her more than the thought that it wasn’t?
She sighed and picked up her pencil again. She needed to get through the next thirty-eight questions and the rest of the meeting and then she could start thinking about the what ifs.
