Page 46 of Holding on to Chaos
She was still in her tank and pajama pants, looking entirely too enchanting. Her hair was loose and wild, framing her bare face.
“It should be illegal,” he decided.
“What?” she asked, handing over a mug of coffee.
“You looking like that after you wake up.”
“You know what else should be illegal?”
“What?”
“You being you. Charming, heroic,andsexy as hell? It’s just not fair to the rest of the male population.” She batted her lashes at him.
She plated two breakfast sandwiches and directed him to the table.
He sat, sipping the coffee.
“You wanna talk about why you still look like you’re worried?” she asked him.
Donovan sighed. “Are all writers as annoyingly observant?”
She grinned over the rim of her mug. “Probably.”
“I hate letting people down,” he admitted.
“Who did you let down?” She was asking out of curiosity and not to call him out on something, Donovan realized. She wanted to understand, and he liked that.
“When I woke up, I thought I’d destroyed an entire town with my selfish need for sleep.”
She nudged his plate toward him. “And now that those fears have been laid to rest, you still look guilty.”
“Jax and Beckett came to see me yesterday. Well, all of the Pierces and Niko came by.”
“What did they want?” Eva asked, biting into her sandwich.
Donovan took her cue and did the same. “We’ve been trying to track down Sheila Flinchy so Beckett can convince her to sign over her parental rights to Reva and Caleb. And I dropped the ball. I had a hit on her a week and a half ago, but with everything happening, I didn’t dig any deeper.”
Eva laid a hand on his arm. “You’ve been a little busy,” she reminded him.
“I know, but the Pierces are my best friends from birth. I should have made time.”
“Donovan,” she sighed. “You gave me a swift kick in the ass when I needed it. Now it’s my turn. You don’t have to do all this on your own. Your mom didn’t do it by herself. You have deputies and Minnie and your friends and me. You can lean on us. We don’t have to always be the ones leaning on you.”
“I like being in charge.”
“We’ll see about that once I get you naked,” Eva teased.
And just like that his blood left his head.
“But in the meantime,” she continued, “trust us to pick up the slack. When you run yourself into the ground you’re not helping anyone.”
“My mom dealt with this with one part-time deputy,” he argued.
“That was 1987. I bet the town has almost doubled in population since then. You’re not failing, and you’re not letting anyone down. Asking for help isn’t going to dull the shine on that armor.”
He grunted. “When did you get to be so wise?”
“When it’s someone else’s problem,” she laughed. “How about we make a deal. I’ll solve your problems if you solve mine?”
