Accidental Lovers (The Accidental Series, Book 3) (4 page)

Donovan knew she was probably a little
tipsy. With her petite size, it wouldn’t take much for her to get
intoxicated. So when she tried to order a third drink, he stopped
her.

“I’m fine, Donovan.”

“Well, you drove here and you have to drive
back home, Shayla.”

I’m fine, she said, tossing a shrimp in her
mouth and getting up from the table. She told Donovan she would be
right back, then walked up to the bar and ordered a martini. After
a few minutes, she headed back to the table with her glass and set
it in front of her, next to her plate.

“Why is your life falling apart, Shayla?”
Donovan pried, now that she was relaxed. Two drinks later, he was
certain she was relaxed enough to open up to him now, to let go of
her inhibitions.

“It’s noth—”

“Don’t say it’s nothing because it’s obvious
to me that something is wrong.”

“You don’t know me well enough to know that
something is wrong.”

“I think I do. And you told me out of your
own mouth that your life was falling apart, so tell me…what’s
wrong?”

Shayla picked up her martini, sloshed it
around in the glass, took a sip then said, “Well, I found out some
upsetting news, and…um…well to put it in a nutshell, I recently
learned that my husband is my former
fiancé’s
brother and I’m having a hard time coming to
terms with it.”

Donovan sat straight up in his chair, rested
the fork in his plate and wiped his mouth with a white napkin.
“Wait a minute…you didn’t know Jacob and Carter were brothers?”

Shayla looked at him like she saw a ghost.
Her mouth dropped open, but she couldn’t speak for a moment. How
did Donovan know Jacob, and how did he know Carter? She remembered
telling him Carter’s name over the phone when he’d asked, but his
question just now seemed to indicate that he knew Carter – really
knew
him. When she snapped out of her temporary shock, she
looked him dead in the eyes and asked, “How on earth do you know
they are brothers?”

Donovan realized his slip up and now, he had
to say something to talk his way out of it, but he didn’t want to
risk her causing a scene in the restaurant, so when he saw the
waitress approaching their table, he said, “Could you box the rest
of this up for us? We’ve decided to take our food to go.”

“Not a problem, Sir.”

And while the waitress headed back to the
kitchen with their entrees, Shayla closed her eyes tight, pinching
them, feeling dizzy but sober enough to understand that, no, she
hadn’t spoken to Jacob’s name to Donovan. She only told him she was
married to a man named Carter, so how was it that he seemed to know
both Carter and Jacob. Something wasn’t adding up.

“I’m leaving.” She stood, teetering, using
the table to catch her balance, then snatched her purse.

Donovan gripped her arm to make sure she was
stable then took her purse. He walked her out to the lobby, leading
her to a bench where she sat, while he walked back inside to get
their bagged entrees from the waitress, handing her gave her a
fifty and twenty dollar bill, enough to cover the food and tip.

Rejoining Shayla, he reached for her hand
and said, “Okay, we can go now.”

She took his hand, feeling him pull her up,
helping her stand and then she said, “Can you give me my
purse?”

“No can do…if I hand you this purse, you’re
gonna get your keys and I cannot, in good conscience, let you
drive.”

“I’m not drunk, Donovan.”

“I didn’t say you were drunk, sweetheart. I
do, however, believe you’re a little too tipsy to be driving. So
I’ll give you several options as to how this is going to go down.
One, I drive you home. Two, I call a taxi for you, or three, you
come back to the hotel with me, sleep off the alcohol for a few
hours then drive home.”

Shayla looked disappointed and said, “Option
four…I drive home.”

“That’s not an option,” he said adamantly.
“You can sleep for a while and then drive home. Okay?”

“All right. Fine. Can I have my purse
now?”

“Sure you can.” He handed it to her then
clutched her left hand with his right – just in case she tried to
make a run for her car.

Donovan hid his smiles as he drove across
the street to the Hilton with her in the passenger seat of his
rental. He could’ve called a taxi on her behalf, but this option
gave him more time to spend with her.

Taking the elevator to the third floor, he
swiped his keycard to unlock the door to his room, allowing her to
walk in before he did.

Shayla kicked off her shoes, sat on the bed
and watched him set the take-out bag on top of the microwave. He
took off his suit jacket, threw it on the back of a chair then
slowly sauntered in her direction. He sat next to her – so close,
his leg touched her leg.

“Well, isn’t this déjà vu?” he asked.

Shayla interlocked her fingers and crossed
her legs at the ankles. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“You wanna lay down?”

She nodded.

He stood, gestured for her to stand and
pulled back the comforter.

Shayla crawled to the center of the bed and
just like before, when he was in her hotel room in Norfolk, he
tucked her in.

“Rest. We can finish dinner when you wake
up. Okay?”

She gave him a drowsy smile and a slight
nod, her eyes batting closed.

Donovan walked over near the windows again,
staring out into darkness and the lights that decorated the
boardwalk area. Then he looked over at the bed, at the beautiful
woman lying there and for a moment he imagined she was his.

No longer able to resist being close to her,
he walked over to the bed and sat there, watching her sleep. He
leaned close to her, staring and taking in the features of her face
from up close for a change – as close as he wanted to be. He
studied her long eyelashes, how they made her gorgeous eyes appear
even bigger. Her round cheekbones caught his interest too, so much
so that he gently stroked her there with his index finger. Then
inching closer to her, he could smell her scent, her fragrance and
wondered if she was wearing one of the body sprays he’d bought her
from Victoria’s Secret. And speaking of what he bought for her,
where was the silver charm bracelet she loved so much?

His eyes locked on her lips next – those
small, pouty, pink lips that could catch any man’s eye. He leaned
even closer to her face, played with the loose curls of hair that
framed it.

Easing up from the bed so as not to disturb
her, he removed her keys from her purse and walked across the
street to Chili’s. He found her car in the parking lot then drove
it back over to the Hilton, parking next to his rental.

He sprinted back to the room and upon
opening the door, he saw her lying still, sleeping peacefully in
the center of the bed where he’d left her. He stood next to the bed
and admired her again. Had he ever seen a more beautiful sight? As
he stared, he contemplated how Carter was able to sweep her off her
feet. The man wasn’t right for her in his opinion. Yet and still,
he had to admit that Shayla must’ve been an incredible woman to get
Carter’s attention.

Donovan sighed, thinking about this. Why
could Carter find a woman like her and he couldn’t? Or better yet,
what would it take to make Shayla his woman instead? He leaned
close to her again, played with a coil of her soft hair then ran
his finger across her cheek. If only she was his…

Standing in the shower, Donovan thought
about his life when his wife was alive. They would travel often,
spend many nights in hotels, bed and breakfast inns, truly enjoying
each other’s company. And earlier while he stared down at the
boardwalk, he thought about how, if she was still alive, they would
walk hand-in-hand like the other couples down there, having
conversations about love and life, their family, their
relationships.

Instead, he was left to be a single father,
alone, lonely, unsatisfied with his life and though he seemingly
had it all, he didn’t have the one thing he’d longed for – love.
Sure he could find it in other places, but for some reason that was
beyond him, he had a strong desire to find it with the woman who
was lying in his bed. Why did she have to run off and marry
Carter?

He stepped out of the shower, dried off and
slid into a pair of boxers and a white T-shirt. He opened the door,
noticing Shayla still sleeping. He carefully took a pillow from the
bed, making sure not to disturb her then laid on the floor next to
the king-sized bed, quickly falling asleep. It had been a long day
for him, too.

Chapter 6

“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry,” Shayla said. She
had just woke up, two o’clock in the morning, and as she was
getting out of bed to go to the bathroom, she stepped on Donovan’s
back. He was lying there on the floor, next to the bed. What was he
doing on the floor?

Donovan woke up groggy. Sleeping on the
floor was not comfortable but he’d rather sacrifice his
comfortability rather than make her feel uncomfortable by sleeping
next to her. In a hotel.

He rubbed his eyes, looked up at her
standing near the bed with her right hand covering her mouth,
looking like she was in trouble. “What are you so frazzled about?”
he asked with a yawn and a smirk.

“I didn’t realize you were lying on the
floor…didn’t mean to step on you.” She giggled a little.

“You stepped on me? I didn’t feel a
thing.”

“But you woke up…”

“The sound of your panicked voice woke me
up.”

“Well, now that I know I didn’t hurt you,
I’ll continue on to the bathroom.”

Donovan had a feeling she would try to leave
for home once she came out of the bathroom, so he hurried to heat
up her dinner in the microwave.

Shayla came out a few moments later and
said, “Okay, I should be heading home now.”

“Why so soon?”

“Soon?” She glanced at the clock on the
nightstand. “It’s two in the morning. Besides, there’s no reason
why you should be sleeping on the floor.”

“I’m not on the floor now. Plus, we still
need to eat dinner.”

Shayla smacked her lips. “We’re going to eat
dinner two in the morning?”

“Yeah,” he said and the microwave beeped.
“Why not?” He took the plate from the microwave. “Smells good,
doesn’t it?”

“It does smell good.” She took it, and
walked over to a small round table next to the window.

He joined her moments later with his food
and while sitting, he said, “I trust you slept well?”

“Yeah. I did.” She took a bite of chicken
and glanced up at him staring at her. “Are you going to drive me
back across the street to get my car?”

“Do you think I would make you walk?”

Shayla smiled. “No.”

He smiled back, then tossed some shrimp in
his mouth. “I already moved your car over here.”

“You did?”

“Yes…while you were sleeping.”

“Oh. Well, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Shayla.”

A few minutes of silence passed as they
delved into their food. They didn’t finish it at the restaurant,
but they were sure going to finish it now.

Shayla recalled bits and pieces of their
conversation before they left Chili’s yesterday evening and looked
at him inquisitively. “If I recall correctly, you said you knew
Jacob.”

“No, I didn’t say that.”

Shayla frowned. “Your exact words to me
were,
you didn’t know Jacob and Carter were brothers
, which
not only implies that you know Carter—”

“When I spoke to you on the phone a while
back, when you told me you had gotten married, I asked you for your
husband’s name, remember?”

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me you knew him,
which obviously you do if you know he had a brother named
Jacob.”

Donovan cleared his throat. There was no
talking his way out of this one. “I know Jacob through Carter.”

Shayla frowned once more. “And how do you
know Carter?”

“We went to college together.”

“Wow,” Shayla said wiping her mouth with a
napkin. “Wow. Isn’t that just great?”

“Before you get upset—”

“Too late for that,” she snapped. Frowning,
she asked, “Why does everyone in my life lie to me?”

“I didn’t lie…listen,” Donovan said,
deciding to come clean. “When you moved to Norfolk, Carter called
me…asked me to look after you.”

Shayla shook her head. “So that’s why you
hired me?”

“No. I hired you because you had the skills
for the position. And just to be clear, Carter called me after
you’d already had the job. Before then, I didn’t know you had any
affiliation with him.”

“Wow…all the lies…”

“I never lied to you, Shayla. I just didn’t
tell you.”

“Yeah, and strangely enough, that’s exactly
what Carter said when he finally confessed that Jacob was his
brother.”

Shayla stood up, frantically scanning the
floor for her shoes. She was ready to get out of there and
fast.

“Shayla, look,” Donovan said standing,
walking near her. “I’m sorry. It started as me doing Carter a favor
but it evolved into more than that because I like you. I like you a
lot and I wanted to make sure you were okay…not for him, but for
me.”

“Yeah, okay. What did you do with my shoes?”
she asked.

“Wait,” Donovan told her. He walked up to
her, invading her immediate space and said pleadingly, “I’m sorry
if I mislead you. I would never do anything to hurt you, Shayla.
You should know that by now.”

Her lips quivered as she tried with all her
might to make sense of all this new information she was learning.
Carter had Donovan watching her. He and Donovan went to college
together. Donovan knew Jacob
. What else was she not being
told?

“Look at me,” Donovan requested, gently
touching her face with his hands.

The moment he did, Shayla cringed. There was
nothing like a little shock therapy to snap her out of her funk and
make her realize what she was doing. Carter was the only man who
touched her this way and feeling Donovan’s hands on her face was
indeed a shock.