“When you got back from your two nights away with Callie. None of us wanted to spoil your wedding by pissing you off. I’m not sorry for being with her. I’ve told you I love her—that’s the truth, but I am sorry we decided to wait to tell you. No matter how you would have reacted you deserved to know.”
“Yeah, I did….Fuck…I want to be pissed as fuck with you, but, with everything that’s happened and your reaction, I can’t get there.”
I splash my face with water to hopefully cover up my grin at his admission.
“Don’t be a dick.” He shoves me. “I can’t get my head around the fact that you’re having…um…you know with my baby sister.”
“Sex?”
He scowls.
“Don’t tell her I told you this, but I haven’t fu…um, been inside her yet.” That was a close call, but perhaps I should have left off “yet.”
Raising an eyebrow, he glares at me. I’ve caught him by surprise.
“You’re telling me that you haven’t messed about? You haven’t made a move on her?”
Shaking my head, I grab some paper napkins and dry off before replying, “I’m not sure what you want me to say because I’m certainly not telling you what we’ve done, but I can assure you she’s still intact. Her first time is going to be slow and special, not quick and brutal. What do you take me for?”
“Fuck. I knew it was only a matter of time before yo
u both hooked up.”
“You did?” Unbelievable.
“Yeah, I did. She’s only had eyes on you for years, and I’ve wondered about you with the looks you throw at her when you think no one is watching, and that mixed with you not wanting to hook up with anyone for longer than a night kinda made me think, you know?”
I seriously had no idea that I was so transparent.
“But what was all the ‘stay away from my baby sister’ about? That sounded pretty damn clear to me.”
“Reverse psychology my friend or rather it has been more so since that thing at the museum.” He grins. “Although it was a shock seeing you with her back at the house after she’d fallen because I had no idea you were actually together.”
“So let me get this right. All that about protecting your sister was a load of bullshit.”
He leans a hip against the sink and faces me. “No it wasn’t bullshit, but not wanting her to get with you was because I wanted you to work for her. I figured if you had to fight to get her you’d be more likely to keep her. Like Callie and me.” He shrugs.
I didn’t think I’d be smiling tonight at the hospital, but hearing him say that makes my heart lighter and I know it will Mara’s. I could punch him for making us feel as though we shouldn’t be together though.
“You’re one of my best friends—like a brother to me. There isn’t any reason why I wouldn’t trust you with my sister, at least now. When she was sixteen I might have had something more to say about it, but not now. You needed to sweat before you got the girl.” He grins.
“Fucker!”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Mara
Waking up slowly my whole body feels like it’s broken and my throat feels as though someone has given me a spoon of sawdust. Even breathing hurts.
Without moving my neck, I glance out of the corner of my eye and see the machines, which are obviously monitoring me. Moving my eyes to the other side, I pause. Donovan is sitting in what looks to be a very uncomfortable chair, asleep, looking rumpled. How long has he been here? How long have I been here?
“Donovan,” I barely manage to whisper.
I desperately need a drink.
Trying again, I croak, “Donovan.”
He hears me this time and shoots up with a wince and quickly makes his way over to me.