“Okay,” she said softly.
Jack took the mugs from her and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you.”
His mother fixed their coffees and was just handing him a mug when his father joined them. Noah Simon was an older version of Jack. He was a man of few words and had learned early on to give his wife some leeway when it came to their kids.
They’d been together for years and had certainly seen their ups and downs, but the two of them had always maintained a united front, and for that Jack was grateful. If he and Donovan could have half of what his parents enjoyed, they’d be damn lucky.
“You two work out your issues?” Noah asked lightly, taking a sip from his coffee.
“We’re good,” Jack answered.
His father glanced upstairs before taking another sip of his coffee. “The media is going to be relentless. They’ll be all over this. She’s a whole other ball of wax.”
“Nothing we can’t handle.”
But Jack wasn’t stupid. He knew how invasive the media could be. America’s infatuation with his family coupled with Donovan’s celebrity and the fact that they’d already failed once was going to be front and center. The fact that he was running for Senator and hoping to snare that seat in the fall could suffer.
He thought of Derek and the damn text message from this morning. He was going to have to deal with all of it sooner than later. He knew the first thing out of his campaign manager’s mouth was going to be, ‘Is she worth it?’
A squeak had him turning his head toward the stairs and Donovan froze, her hand on the railing, Maverick just behind her.
His cousin was a big guy, tall and athletic, like all of the Simon men, and she looked so small next to him. So goddamn beautiful. Dressed in simple pair of jean shorts and white T-shirt, her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, her face was free of makeup and he wanted to scoop her up into his arms and kiss her until her head spun.
She was one hundred and fifty percent worth it.
“Hey,” he said gruffly watching her take the stairs slowly. She was favoring the foot he’d bandaged.
“Hey,” she answered, eyes on him. She paused on the bottom step and for a second, she looked like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights. He wasn’t used to seeing an unsure Donovan James. She wasn’t big on showing her vulnerability and right now, she looked frail and vulnerable as hell.
“Would you like some coffee?” his mother asked, standing beside him and watching Donovan closely.
Jesus. Her complexion looked green.
“No,” she answered quickly. “No I…thank you, but I’m good.”
Something was off. He felt it and strode toward her. “You okay?”
Donovan exhaled and glanced up at him, making his heart turn over with just a look. “That depends. Are we okay?” She asked hesitantly.
“We’re more than okay,” he murmured.
Maverick stepped around Donovan and slapped Jack on the shoulder before moving past them and grabbing himself a coffee.
“We need to talk, Jack.”
He slid his arms around her, relieved but still on edge. “We will. But how about we have some eggs first?”
Chapter Twenty-six
* * *
By six o’clock, paparazzi were camped out along the top road and apparently there were boats out on the water, long lenses trained onto the Simon home. Donovan knew this because her mother sent her a text with a photo of Donovan on the dock, one that was already posted to one of the online celebrity watch sites.
She fingered her phone and jumped when it vibrated and then rang. It was her mother—again—and she couldn’t put the woman off any longer.
God, there went her stomach again, churning badly and making her nauseous. Was it nerves? The pregnancy? Did you get nauseous this early on?
Donovan knew nothing about babies. Heck, she’d never even changed a diaper. Her phone vibrated again, and she blew out a long breath before answering it.