Come Home Again (The Donovans) by Nana Malone Page B

I’m a little distracted.”
    Mia tucked her hair behind her ear and said, “You’ve been distracted all lunch. You didn’t even seem to notice when I said I’d started having hot sex with my boss.”
    Delilah snapped to attention. “Your hot boss? Your hot, married boss?” Mia had been working as an assistant television producer since graduating from NYU. When she’d gotten promoted to the show Love Reality , Delilah had gone to visit her and met the person in charge of her sister’s livelihood, and the man had been scorching hot. But also very married.
    “Would you relax, Dee? I was kidding.” Mia laughed. “I was trying to see if you were paying attention, and you clearly weren’t.” Mia chuckled. When her sister laughed, she laughed with her whole body. Delilah always loved that about her.
    “Sorry. I’m a little distracted.”
    Mia shoved her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Is this man distracted or job distracted?”
    Delilah absently licked her lips and cursed the fact that they still tingled. Damn him. One kiss, and Nate had left her whole body vibrating for days after. “Job distracted.”
    Mia narrowed her eyes. “Uh-huh. ’Cause I have to tell you, it looks like man distraction, but if you say so. Oh, have you told Mom you’re not coming to her birthday dinner on Sunday?”
    Delilah groaned. Her mother was going to kill her. Once a month, all the family that was local went to their childhood home for dinner. She’d missed the last two months already. And this was her mother’s birthday. She’d already planned a make up spa weekend with her, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t cut it. “I’ll call her. I swear.”
    “You’d better. You know her when she’s pissed. Besides, most of us are starting to wonder if you’re a myth. Sure, I see you, and I know you see Dylan, but that’s only because we drag you out of your office. You can’t work yourself to death without stopping for fun every now and again.”
    Delilah knew better than to tell her sister it wasn’t work that had kept her from going home the last few months. She’d been avoiding the inevitable ‘When are you going to get married/get a boyfriend/stop working so hard?’ questions. With eleven brothers and sisters, it was par for the course, but still.
    When her mother had remarried, Delilah had never imagined her life would include a hoard of new siblings. John had two sons, Dylan and Derek. As if that hadn’t been enough Brady-Huxtable fun for them, starting with Nate, they had fostered, then adopted eight others. Delilah loved her family and made it a point to call often, but going home was always a little overwhelming. Especially when she never had anything new to report except clients.
    But one thing was for sure. She certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone about this particular client. Delilah didn’t want to be the one to dredge all that up. After all, what would she say? “Hey, Mom and Dad, I found Nate. He never bothered to reach out ’cause he didn’t feel like it.” Yeah, she’d just go ahead and keep that little bit of information to herself.
    Delilah cleared her throat. “I know. And I’m not. But you’re really one to talk. The land of reality TV love must keep you hopping.”
    Mia flushed rosy under her café-au-lait skin. “It does. But at least I make it home when I’m called. You buck the system.”
    “So who’s the new bachelor this time around? Or are you on the women’s round? I lose track.”
    “Honestly, so do I. But it’s that football player, Adam Hetherington.”
    Delilah knew him well. Her firm had kept him out of the news often enough, thanks to his penchant for drinking too much. But she kept her mouth shut. “I’m sure more than one woman in the office is trying to figure out how to be one of his choices.”
    “Not me,” Mia said. “I like my men a little more sincere.”
    Delilah nodded in agreement. Her sister had a point. “Yeah, tell me about it.”
    Mia studied