22. Kelly #2
A burst of laughter left Donovan, and the sound was so full of joy that I made a mental note to make him laugh as often as possible.
“Man, you sure have East pegged.”
I scoffed. “Wasn’t all that hard after witnessing the amount of pleasure he got from what he assumed would be my ultimate humiliation.”
Donovan strolled around the counter, and I swiveled on the stool so he could move between my legs and wrap his arms around my neck.
“Have I mentioned how happy I am that he didn’t succeed?”
“Let’s be real, there was no way I was going to be ashamed about hooking up with you. If anything, they should be embarrassed about how much they enjoyed it.” I ran my hands down to his ass and squeezed. “After all, they were the ones perving on their friend.”
Donovan laughed. “I’m pretty sure they were perving on you . But anyway, thanks for not letting them run you off.”
“Not a chance.” I was about to lean in and take another taste of him when I caught a flash of platinum blond out of the corner of my eye—Gavin.
Not about to torture Donovan’s brother any more, I loosened my grip on Donovan and smiled over his shoulder at the new arrival. If I wanted to date Donovan then I needed to make things right with Gavin.
“Hey,” I said as the younger man stepped into the living room.
“Hi. I didn’t realize you were staying the night.”
“ Gavin, ” Donovan said, but I quickly put a hand on his arm.
“No, that’s okay. It was a last-minute decision.”
“Yeah.” Gavin glared at his brother as he passed him and went to the fridge. “I’m sure it was.”
Donovan looked back at me and mouthed, Sorry . But it was all good. If I had seen my brother doing what he’d caught Donovan doing, I would probably move out.
“Gavin, come on,” Donovan tried, walking into the kitchen. “You need to get over this.”
Gavin shut the fridge and looked at his brother. “And what part is this ? You getting railed over a chaise longue, or Sin—”
“Kelly.”
“—coming all over your ski mask?”
“Oh my God.” Donovan scrubbed his hands over his face, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean for you to watch it.”
“No shit. But you think maybe you could’ve said something when all the guys were going on about it?”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know, ‘Hey, Gavin, maybe don’t watch Sin’s—’”
“Kelly’s.”
“—fuck videos, because I’m his leading man.”
Donovan let out a loud sigh and dropped his hands. “If I’d done that, the guys never would’ve let me hear the end of it.”
“So? At least I could stand in the same room as you two and not picture…” Gavin waved his hand around erratically.
“Gavin,” I said, and when he turned his attention my way, I noticed twin spots of color on his cheeks. “I’m sorry you were put in that position and that you’re embarrassed right now. I know Donovan feels the same.”
Gavin looked back to his brother. “You know the guys won’t let me live this down now, don’t you?”
“I do, but—”
“What if you found out something embarrassing about them? I bet there’s a bunch of shit about East and Travis, at least,” I suggested, and both of the Truitt brothers turned on me. “What? That not how this works? I thought that was the kind of friendship you all had. One-upping each other.”
Both of their mouths twitched, and for the first time since finding out they were related, I saw the resemblance as they both started to laugh—hard.
“That’s exactly how it works,” Donovan said, and Gavin nodded.
“Okay, maybe you’re not so bad.”
“See? I also have a bone of my own to pick with East, so I’m definitely up for helping with that,” I said.
Gavin glanced to Donovan, who was smiling at me. “Careful, Van. You might start drooling.”
Donovan rolled his eyes but shoved his brother in the arm. “Shut up. Oh, hey, you ever hear back from Joey? Why couldn’t he make it last night?”
Gavin’s smile faltered a little before he plastered it back in place. “Yeah, um, he called. He just wasn’t in the mood, and the drive in would’ve taken a while, so I just told him not to worry.”
“Aw, man. I’m sorry.” Donovan reached out to squeeze his brother’s arm. While Gavin was putting on a brave face and defending this Joey guy, I—like his brother—could tell he wasn’t happy with how last night had gone down. “Maybe next time?”
“Yeah, maybe. Although I’m not sure a sex museum is really his thing.”
Sounded like a bore to me. Who wouldn’t want to spend the night in a sex museum with their boyfriend?
“Anyway…” Gavin let out a sigh. “I don’t want to intrude on your morning. I just wanted to grab an orange juice.”
He held it up and went to leave the kitchen, but then he stopped, glanced at me, and turned back to look at his brother.
“By the way, don’t forget about the charity event this week. You have to tell them if you’re bringing a plus-one.”
Gavin aimed a sneaky smile my way and nodded in what felt like approval, before heading back to his bedroom.
“Please don’t feel like you have to say yes to that,” Donovan said as he came over to the counter and leaned across it, reaching for my hand.
“Yes to what?” I said. “You didn’t ask me anything.”
Donovan shook his head. “You’re right, I didn’t. But, um, if you’re free this week, would you like to attend one of the most boring nights of your life with me?”
“I mean, that’s a very enticing offer. But I don’t want you to feel like you have to ask because your brother mentioned it.”
Donovan entwined our fingers. “That’s not why I’m asking.”
“No?”
Color bloomed on his cheeks, making his face even prettier than usual. “No.”
“Then why are you asking?”
“Because there’s no one I’d rather spend the night with,” he said. “And I can’t wait to see how handsome you look in a tux.”
How could I say no to that?