MP Chapter 3
“Comfort food.” Lita chuckled a little.
“Reminds me of my mother’s cooking, I miss it a lot, not getting it as often and all.”
She gave him a small smile. “I think about the days my sister would come home from a rough day at school, I always made her a grilled cheese and fries, always cheered her up.”
“What used to cheer you up, Lita?”
“Family night, everything but my sister, Dad and I were pushed on the back burner, and we’d have pizza, play board games.” Her voice cracked on the word games. Her vision began to blur, man did she miss those nights. She shoved the lonely feeling away as quickly as it tried to surface.
Donny still sensed her weak moment and squeezed her leg gently. “I get what you mean.”
“You and your brothers are the only ones I know that could.” Lita reached for her water and took a sip, letting the cool water flow around her mouth before swallowing.
“No words can ever make it better, I’m sorry I can’t make it better.” Donny kissed her temple gently. Yeah, he knew nothing would help. His brothers and he thought their father was dead for years. Come to find out, he had had to fake his death, dirty agents were infiltrated at Alpha Securities, but no one knew until six months ago when Jonas Davenport contacted him. He was put in danger, his second oldest brother, Kyle, was put in danger, his best friend, now Kyle’s wife, Kacey, was put in danger.
“I stopped hoping for any words to make it better, my sister tries, as I try the same for her, but we’re left with so many questions.”
“You were there with him when he was shot down, did you ever see anybody for the trauma?”
“For a little while, it didn’t help, I gave up, it’s part of why I’ve been putting so much effort into this case.”
Donny wrapped the arm he had had on Lita’s leg around her back and gently pulled closer. She didn’t need much encouragement and laid her head against his shoulder. “I know, Lita, I know.”
He was pretty sure everyone at AS knew about her past, what’d she’d witnessed. Just like everyone had known about his brothers, him, and their father.
Their food finally came, and they both fell silent as they began to eat.
Donny began to maul over how he was going to tell Shawn and Davis about tonight. Maybe he could have Kacey investigate it before he said anything to his boss. He savored the bite he took of his grilled cheese. “Listen, Lita, come in a little late tomorrow, I’m going to see if Kacey can work some magic, once we finally see where they stopped maybe we can start tailing them again, but you won’t be doing it alone anymore, okay?”
Lita looked at him, defiance, disbelief, and downright horrified flew across her face. “Donovan, I am more than capable of doing my job, this is what I specialize in, and I do my job alone, I’m a big girl.” She rolled her eyes.
Donny’s right hand clenched in a fist as he fought his typical urge. Eye rolling was just one of his triggers. He had to remind himself Lita wasn’t his. He let out a sigh. “I never said you weren’t capable of your job, it would put me at ease if I was with you, and four eyes are better than two. We get this job done you can go back to doing your job alone.” Unless he finally won her over and made her his.
Lita shot a glare at Donny. Why did women have to be so stubborn? Most thought his lifestyle choice was appalling but he just couldn't help it. It was how his brothers and he were raised. Jonas would take Midge over his knee when she smarted off, rolled her eyes, or didn’t act respectful in public.
They hadn’t been exposed to the action until they were a little older but shortly after Jonas was murdered. Or well, pretend murdered. Davis, the oldest of the three, helped Donovan and Kyle the best he could. Sometimes women just needed a little reminder.
Donovan shook his head, popped a fry in his mouth and leaned back against the booth.
“What?” Lita asked quietly.
“Nothing, I’ll tell you later,” at least one day he hoped to explain to Lita everything. “Let’s get this finished, I’ll call Kacey in a few, see if she can meet me at HQ and I can start hashing things out with her.” Donny continued to eat.
“Is it weird?” Lita asked then took another bite of her sandwich.
“Is what weird?”
“Having your best friend your sister-in-law?”
Donny let out a chuckle. “No, not really, I’m happy they finally got together, Shawn was the only one with an issue.”
“Why?”
“That’s his baby sister, step or not, he never really treated her different, Kyle is his best friend, guess it was just awkward for Shawn, he always felt like he had to protect Kacey, but for one other reason I am not discussing at the moment.” Donny knew what Kacey and Kyle did when Kacey acted out or did things against Kyle’s wishes. They all knew how each other was, but they didn’t go around flaunting it or speak of it to other people.
“She’s different than the way she was six months ago, Donny, those two got together she doesn’t spend all hours at the lab. Why is that?”
Donny choked on one of his fries as he had just popped it into his mouth as Lita got done speaking. He reached for Lita’s water and downed some. Once the fry wasn’t lodged anymore he cleared his throat. “I don’t know, I guess because she has a husband now to occupy her time?” he suggested lamely.
“But even when they first got together, because everyone knew when it happened, she was spending a lot of time at work, she’s still amazing at her job, she just spends less time there now.” Lita turned more towards Donny, as if she was excited to hear the answer.
“Look, Lita, don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to, just leave it at she has a husband, they want to spend time together, not always be at work.” He reached out tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She had beautiful hair, what he would give to be able to lace his hands through the silky smooth, cucumber melon smelling hair while she was below, on top, or in front of him. He cleared his throat again as his member began to stir. Damn. He had it bad.
They finished the rest of their meal in silence then parted ways.
“Don’t forget, come in a little later today, let me go over some things with Kacey, then I’ll call you, okay?”
“Fine, Donny.”
“Get some sleep, Lita, you need it, and it’s an order.”