I nodded, and replied, “I have to try not to scratch. Combing my knots will keep my hands busy.”
With a fast knock of his chin my way, he ran to get a robe and was back in moments, unwrapping me from the towel and depositing me in the robe. Then he padded to the dresser and perused the surface, my own eyes continually drawn to his body.
Comb in hand, he looked at me with an eyebrow raised. “Do you want me to help?”
“Do you have experience?” It was the first time I’d joked in days…
“Can’t say that I do.”
“Here—” I held my hand out, waiting for the comb.
He gently placed it in my hand, and rather than turn around, he sat down next to me. I started to use the comb to pick at smallknots at the bottom of my length, wincing each time I got the bristles through a mess of hair.
“I’m sorry,” Donovan said.
“About my hair?” I refused to look at him while I said it.
“No. You know what.” His voice was hoarse with gravel. “This,” he explained. “You being sick, what might have been with us, and wanting more time to explore what we found. Magnum and his fuckup affecting you. And of course, your hair being knotted.”
My heart ached over what we’d found and what could have been… “My mom would prefer I be a spinster, I’m pretty sure. At her beck and call, you know?” It was all I could come up with.
“Well, my mother is going to tighten her already strangling grip on me after this debacle. Magnum’s trouble has become my problem. And I know it sounds weak for me to give in to what she wants, but my dad would’ve wanted that. Magnum once told me that Valerie made him stronger. And I argued with him, but I can see now what caring for someone does to the soul.”
“I understand you’re a man of honor, Donovan Malachite. You told your father you would take care of your family and that’s what you’re doing— Shoot!”
I dropped the comb to scratch my forearm where a new patch of welts began appearing.
“Damn,” I muttered. “Here I am, trying to say something kind, and I ruin it.” I tucked away any questions I had about what Donovan meant by caring for someone.
Donovan began shaking his head. “You’re perfect. Now, let’s get you comfortable.”
I didn’t know how he did it, but he managed to get the itching to halt with a baking soda paste. And then, while I laid back, he gently worked his way from side to side, detangling my hair. I never wanted the moment to end, and for a hot second I reconsidered thinking I was meant to live life alone.
Except, when I woke up he was gone.
Donovan
“Iknow. The deal is happening. Family matters interrupted, but all my financing is lined up and I’m ready to go.” I spoke into the phone as I climbed down the staircase.
I stomped off the plane and my boots hit the snow, making a crunching sound all the way to my car.
“We weren’t worried. Only checking in. You’re A-plus in my mind,” Charles responded, his deep voice filling the phone.
“Ha!” I hoped he didn’t hear the snow under my feet. “I had to help my mom back east,” I semi-lied to the investor selling me his property in Hawaii. Of course, my family had used a shell company with an address in Atlanta for all of our business dealings. My hotel project was no different.
“That’s what I like about you, Donovan. You seem like a real family guy,” Charles said to me.
“Thanks, Chas.” I called him by his nickname as he’d instructed me to do. “There will be no delay, I can guaranteethat. I should be with my gang here for a few days and then on my way to sunny skies and sandy beaches.”
“See you then,” he said, ending the call.
The beckoning of a better life away from all this Rubian crap should’ve felt great right about now. But with every step away from the plane, my chest ached more. In the last ten hours, every action that took me farther away from Tulya seemed to inflict a pain I’d never experienced before.
Maybe it was the way I’d taken a peek at her sleeping, knowing she wasn’t rebounding and that I had to go back and fix my brother’s millionth fuckup.
She’d said it:You’re a man of honor, Donovan Malachite.And I was honorable. To her, only she didn’t know this was about her.
Perhaps it was the manner in which she’d captured my heart in a way I’d not acknowledged. For years it had been attraction and what I’d cast off as mild caring for the woman. Now, the extent to which I cared for her was a punch to the gut. It couldn’t happen between us, shouldn’t have even started. Or the worst—it wouldn’t have occurred except for this godforsaken mission.
