Falling For A Donovan (The Donovans Book 14)

by A. C. Arthur

  “I don’t care what you do,” Devlin stated. “I’m giving you a heads up. You should be thankful for that. Either way, if you get in my way I won’t hesitate to make you a victim as well. I don’t give a damn who that DNA test proves you to be.”

  Devlin stared at Dane a few seconds longer before turning and walking away. Bailey knew that he expected her to follow him, but she wasn’t finished. Not yet and a part of her felt like Dane wasn’t either.

  “Why did you call us here?” she asked him when Dane had once again turned to frown at the headstone.

  “Because I wanted you to know that I wasn’t involved with what my mother or Jaydon planned. I never was,” he said.

  “But this was all about you,” she continued. “Everything they did revolved around you and who your father really was. How can you say you weren’t involved?”

  “Because I wasn’t!” he yelled. “I wasn’t there when my mother was sleeping with each one of those men. I didn’t ask to be born and I certainly didn’t ask to be a part of a family that so clearly never wanted me!”

  With every word he spoke Bailey could feel Dane’s pain, she could see the struggle in his face and realized that this was worse on him. It had to have been. His mother was a nut job, his sister was in grooming to become just like her but was now dead and his father didn’t want him. She could only shake her head at the magnitude of those thoughts.

  “My mother is not alone anymore. She hasn’t contacted me about Jaydon because I think somebody else told her what happened at that cabin already,” he said, his voice only a little calmer.

  “Orin?” Bailey asked. “He was the guy that was at the cabin when they were holding me there. Who is he? How does she know him?”

  Dane shook his head. “I’m not sure. I never met the guy. Look, I don’t know how this is all going to go down. I just wanted someone…I wanted you…a Donovan, to know that this is not what I wanted. It’s not how I planned to be introduced to this family and it’s certainly not anything I would approve of being done.”

  “Nobody’s blaming you, Dane,” Bailey said.

  Well, yeah, some of them where. Trent, Ben, Brock, Brandon, Max…they all blamed Dane because they thought he was the one pulling his mother’s strings. Bailey wasn’t sure any of them were going to believe her when she tried to tell them differently.

  “They are,” he said. “I know it and you do too. That’s why I wanted you to hear these things from me. I wanted you to know so that you could tell anyone who wanted to listen. I’m not out for vengeance. I never have been.”

  Bailey nodded her understanding. She wasn’t sure what else to say to this man who had been through so much and now stood here asking her to be the buffer between him and her family. His family.

  “You have to understand where they’re coming from,” Bailey said in defense. “This is all a shock to us. People have been killed. My mother was killed. Houses and marriages destroyed. This has to stop, Dane. Surely you know that.”

  “I do,” he said. “But answer this for me, Bailey. Would you kill a member of your family to get revenge for all that has happened over the years?”

  “I’ll do what’s necessary to bring peace to my family,” she replied evenly. “That’s what real Donovans do. If all you’ve ever wanted was to be accepted by your father and his family, you should think about that.”

  Dev had only appeared to leave Bailey alone with Dane. Regardless of the way his thoughts about the guy were shifting, he still didn’t trust him. However, Dev would have been a fool if he didn’t notice that there was something going on between him and Bailey. This was the second time they’d been face-to-face, that Dev knew of, and each time there’d been a sort of tension that felt as if it were on the brink of exploding. Bailey was emotional and Dane, well, that dude seemed confused. Dev knew that was out of the norm for the wealthy businessman because wealthy businessmen did not get where they were by being confused. No, there was definitely something going on with Dane Donovan, something that Dev was certain centered on the picture he’d found of Dane, Jaydon and Parker Donovan.

  Now, as he drove through the city streets Dev thought about the conversation he and Bailey had in the car on the way to the cemetery. The one that had made him both uncomfortable and sorry at the same time. She was right and she sounded hurt by that fact. Dev knew people. He knew their emotions and could oftentimes tell what their reactions were going to be to a situation based on that alone. As far as Bailey was concerned, Dev had to admit, he was swinging in the dark.

  On the one hand she was strong and focused and ready to kick down doors with him. On the other, she was contemplative, nursing a sadness that he’d never seen in her before, and declaring truths that stung him on a level he’d sworn he would never be on, with anyone. Ever.

  The latter was the reason Dev was pulling into a parking garage several blocks before the one at the hotel where they were staying. It was why he’d made an impromptu decision and refused to let himself change his mind about it.

  “Where are we going?” she asked him when he’d parked the car and released his seat belt. “Are you intent on feeding me again?”

  He liked the sound of her voice. That fine line between sassy and comical. It could be soft and smoky at times—and oh was Dev starting to thoroughly enjoy those times. She could also sound crisp and authoritative, like when she’d spoken to the sheriff back at the hospital in L.A.

  “Eating is good for your health. You’ve been off course for a couple of weeks, regular meals will help you get back into your routine,” he told her when they met at the back of the car.

  She tilted her chin as she stared up at him. They were standing close, but not touching.

  “Or you could just say that you care about my welfare. That you want me to have all my strength back just in case we actually have to get physical with Roslyn, because I already know you’re not going to shoot her when we find her.”

  She’d said “when”, not “if”. In that moment Dev liked Bailey even more.

  He shrugged. “It would be good if I could count on you not to faint at the first sign of trouble.”

  “You know very well I’m no damsel,” Bailey said.

  What Dev knew was that he couldn’t keep his hands off her. He couldn’t keep thoughts of her naked and submissive to his sexual will out of his mind. Her voice out of his head or her scent from invading every pore of his body. He was addicted to Bailey Donovan. Addicted and dangerously close to…

  He touched a finger to her chin, let the softness ride along his and then Dev leaned down and kissed her. It was a quick brush of lips. No tongue and no heat. Just a casual—no, there was nothing at all casual about what was between them—a light kiss. A tease, he thought as his body instantly began to warm.

  She stepped closer to him, clasping her hands around the back of his neck and holding him still.

  “You’re going to have to admit to something, sooner or later,” she whispered, before touching her lips to his.

  Her kiss was warmer as she’d opened her mouth slightly. Not so much that Dev could feel the enticing lick of her tongue, but just enough so that he knew he wanted more.

  “I admit that I’m very attracted to you,” he told her.

  It was taking a great deal of his strength to keep only that one hand on her. He’d moved from touching her chin, to cupping her neck, loving the long sleek line of her as she looked up at him and leaned in closer.

  “Good,” she replied, “Because I’m very attracted to you, as well.”

  Dev kissed her again, this time pushing his tongue past her lips, moaning as they finally made the warm intimate contact. She pulled him down and pressed her body against his. Dev turned her so that he could back her against the car. In seconds he’d lifted her, sitting her on the trunk of the car. He spread her legs. She wrapped them quickly around his waist. He tilted his head, nipping her bottom lip with his teeth. She breathed heavily afterwards as she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth. D
ev moved in closer, pushing her back until she was lying on the car and he was over her. It was less than thirty degrees outside and inside this garage may have only been a degree or two higher. But Dev was hot. He was hungry and he was horny. And Bailey, she was willing. Way too damn willing.

  “Not like this,” he whispered gruffly into her ear after he’d finally found the strength to pull his mouth away from hers. “I won’t take you like this, out here. You deserve so much better than what I can give you. So much more.”

  Dev pulled all the way back then. He stood at the edge of the car looking at the way Bailey was spread and waiting for him, the look of desire in her eyes, the plumpness of her lips. And he cursed. She was a Donovan, dammit! She deserved more than a fuck on the hood of a car in a garage…an open and public garage.

  On a curse he took Bailey by the hand, pulling her gently until she was on her feet again.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, pulling the hood of her coat up and over the riotous curls of her hair. “It won’t happen again.”

  She was putting on her gloves as she fell into step beside Dev.

  “I can make that decision on my own,” she snapped.

  “Yeah,” he said, “you can.”

  And eventually she would.

  He could hear it in her voice when she’d been talking to him earlier in the car. She was ready to walk away, to stop what they’d been doing. It was never going to work. Dev had known that from that first night in the coat closet. There was no forever here. No whispers of love and damn sure no lavish weddings like the one in Miami where they’d first given into their attraction. None of that was written in the cards for his life. But for a woman like Bailey, it should have been. It could be if he’d just walk away.

  But he couldn’t. Dev knew that as surely as he knew his own name.

  “Are you serious?” she asked when they’d made it out onto the street and walked a half a block down Broadway.

  “I’m serious about confronting your statement about me not knowing anything you liked,” he replied and then grabbed her hand as they walked through the doors of the Disney store.

  “This wouldn’t show up in a background check,” Bailey said as she looked from Dev to the wall-to-wall merchandise in a store that was crowded with children and adults at eight o’clock at night. “Trent does background checks on everyone who even breathes in the direction of a Donovan. If you’re anything like him—which I know you are—you would have done one on me by now,” she continued without moving further into the store.

  “You’re right about the fact that this doesn’t show up on a background check,” Dev told her. “When your father was in the hospital Trent had me check out his house to make sure there were no signs that someone had been in there that shouldn’t have been. I went into your old bedroom.”

  He’d actually spent about two hours in Bailey’s childhood room, sitting on the edge of the full-size bed with its frilly yellow and white comforter that matched the gauzy curtains at the picture window. There were bookshelves crowded with books and knickknacks and a collection of Disney themed mugs. For just about every mug, there was a coordinating DVD and to go along with that were books that matched some of the fairy tale stories. Dev remembered thinking how out of character this was for a woman like Bailey. Or rather, it had been out of character for the woman he’d thought Bailey was at the time.

  Looking at her now, as she barely held on to the excitement of the cartoon themed music being played in the background and all the plush animals, toys and other paraphernalia in this store, he knew that he’d been wrong. This was exactly who Bailey was. The girl that believed in fairy tales.

  “Let’s look around,” he said when she looked as if she might have more questions for him.

  He took her by the hand and they began moving through the store. Little girls squealed as they carried tiaras with wigs attached, running to their parent to ask if they could have it. Little boys played with the life sabers that were used in the Star Wars movies. Adults laughed and shopped. It was a pretty cheerful place, if a person were inclined to be cheerful. Dev was not.

  “Oh, it’s Marie,” Bailey crooned as she released his hand and moved toward a tower of stuffed animals.

  In the next second, she was holding a white cat with bright blue eyes and looking at Dev as if he were supposed to know what she was talking about.

  “The Aristocats,” she continued. “It was my favorite book when I was a little girl. My mother said it was her favorite too and so it was one of the first stories she read to me. I loved how The Duchess took care of her kittens and then when O’Malley the alley cat came along, he took care of them too. They were an unlikely couple, but—” her voice trailed off.

  “It’s a cute cat,” Dev said because he didn’t like the look she was giving him.

  “Which one do you like?” she asked and motioned toward the hundreds of stuffed animals.

  “None,” he replied quickly.

  “Aw, come on, I know you’ve heard of at least some of these stories,” she told him.

  “My mother wasn’t in the habit of reading to me,” he replied.

  She nodded. “Okay. That’s fine. But you still could have heard about the stories in school. I know school libraries carried the Disney books. When I was in elementary I always picked a Disney book for reading time.”

  “I didn’t go to private schools, Bailey,” he told her pointedly.

  She blinked but did not look away. “Public schools did have libraries and reading time, Devlin. Are you getting ready to tell me you didn’t go to school?”

  He sighed. Why he found himself divulging bits and pieces of his life to her, he had no idea.

  “No. I’m not saying I didn’t go to school. I did and I graduated. I took the auto mechanics trade curriculum in high school. Disney stories and books still weren’t on my radar.”

  “I’ll bet there’s one story you know,” she insisted. “I’m going to walk this way and you walk the other way. Stop the moment you recognize one of these characters.”

  What was it with her? Why was it such a big deal for him to know a Disney character? He wasn’t a child anymore, and neither was she for that matter. Maybe bringing her in here to cheer her up wasn’t such a good idea. So with what he knew was a frown on his face Dev walked in the opposite direction around that tower of stuffed animals. He tried to tune out the incessantly happy music and the children that bumped into him as they ran about. When a little girl pushed against his leg, he grumbled.

  “I want that one,” she said as she stood on the tips of her toes and pointed.

  “This one?” Dev asked her as he touched a long eared dog.

  “No, that one,” she insisted, still pointing in the same direction.

  “Oookay,” he said trying not to be irritated.

  He looked around to see if the child’s parent was near and silently cursed when they weren’t. What was it with parents who just let their kids run wild in stores? Especially in stores in the middle of Times Square? There were hundreds of people roaming around down here and a small percentage of them could quite possibly be pedophiles or some other sort of reprobate.

  With a deep sigh Dev touched another stuffed toy and asked, “This one?”

  “Yes! Yes! It’s Belle!” she chanted.

  Dev took the toy down and handed it to the little girl. He watched her for a few seconds as she ran off happily with it. Something made him look back at the spot where the toy had been. Next to it was another plush toy, this one dressed in royal clothes but with the face of a beast. He frowned. Beauty and the Beast. He knew that story. Hell, right about now, Dev felt as if he were living that story. Still, he reached up to touch the blue jacket The Beast was wearing. He had no idea why and the moment he heard her step close to him, he yanked his hand away.

  “That’s the story you know,” Bailey said from behind him. “Beauty and the Beast.”

  “I didn’t say that,” he snapped.

  “You didn’t
have to,” she replied.

  Clenching his hands together at his sides, Dev realized it was well past time they got the hell out of here.

  “If you want something, I’ll buy it for you. Just pick it out and we’ll head to the register,” he told her.

  “Oh, you’re going to buy me something? Like a gift a man gives to a woman he’s dating?” Bailey asked him.

  Dev looked at Bailey. Her hazel eyes twinkled with tiny sparks of green and gold. He’d noticed them the first time they’d been together, up close and very personal. He could see those flecks at night when he closed his eyes and imagined her riding him, staring down at him as she came all over his length.

  “Whatever you want,” he replied. “I’ll buy you whatever you want.”

  He would do whatever she wanted. If she asked him right now for the moon, Dev was certain he'd use every trick he’d been taught with the SEALS to get his ass up there to bring it out of the sky for her.

  “I want this one,” she said as she reached up and grabbed the stuffed toy that Dev had just touched.

  “No you don’t,” he replied.

  She nodded. “I most certainly do,” she responded and clutched The Beast close to her chest, exactly the way that little girl had held the Belle toy he’d handed her.

  “I want The Beast to be all mine,” Bailey continued before turning and walking toward the register.

  It was his own damn fault, Dev thought with each step. He should have just taken her back to the hotel. And then what? Rip off her clothes and have her beneath him again? Lay in that bed and stare at the ceiling in the dark wondering why he was lying in a bed with her in the first place? What the hell was he doing with Bailey Donovan and why couldn’t he stop it?

  “Someone’s been in here,” Devlin said the moment he pushed the door to their hotel room open.

  Bailey took a step up behind him. He blocked her entrance, but he couldn’t keep her from straining to look around him.

  “You’re right,” she agreed.