“Thanks for coming,” Sam said, slapping Donovan on the back. “I’m glad you could make it. It really means a lot.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it,” Donovan lied. Again.
At this rate, he feared walking out into the parking lot. It was quite possible—after all the lies he’d just told—lightning would strike him when he did.
Then again, it would be a suitable end to an already stormy day.
Six
KORA HADN’T BEEN HOME long when her cell phone rang, the tone blasting from somewhere deep inside her purse. She knew it was her mother before she even fished it out. She did not want to answer, but she knew if she didn’t, Janet Madison would simply get in her car and drive to her house.
And that was the absolute last thing Kora needed tonight.
With a resigned huff, she hit the button to take the call. “Hello,” she greeted, hoping she sounded sick.
“Kora? Are you okay?” Janet’s voice reflected her concern.
“Not feeling well,” Kora lied.
“Did you go home?”
“Yeah. Figured if I came down with something, y’all wouldn’t want Trina to get it.”
“No, definitely not,” her mother agreed. “Is it a stomach bug?”
“I think so.” It definitely wasn’t her stomach that hurt. This pain was coming from her chest and she had no idea why it was there. She should’ve been walking on a cloud, reveling in the glow of the orgasm that Donovan had invoked.
Donovan Brashwood. The man she’d met less than three hours ago. The man she’d fucked in a storage closet. The man she couldn’t stop thinking about no matter how much she tried.
That wasn’t the way this was supposed to work. She was inexperienced at the whole one-night-stand thing, sure, but she knew that much to be true.
“Do you want me to stop by and check on you when we’re done here?” her mother offered.
Hell no. “No, I’m good, Mom. Thanks.”
There was silence on the other end, and Kora could imagine her mother sitting there, the questions filling her mouth, ready to spill forth and start another fight. It seemed that no matter what, they’d been arguing for months. Ever since Trina had announced that she was pregnant with Sam’s baby.
According to everyone, Kora should’ve been happy for the couple since she’d purposely sabotaged her relationship with Sam by going out with another guy.
If, by other guy, they meant Cody, a guy she worked with—a gay guy she worked with—who had wanted to talk because he’d recently broken up with his boyfriend and wanted Kora’s advice, then sure.
Except no one had seen her with Cody, and only one other person knew she’d had lunch with the guy and that was Sam. Which meant Sam had lied in order to take the heat off himself when Kora had found out he’d been screwing her sister.
“Kora, are—”
“Mom,” Kora kept her tone even, “If you’re going to bring up Sam, don’t. I don’t want to talk about him or Trina or the baby. I don’t want to talk about any of it. I went to the shower, as I promised. Now I just want to move on with my life.”
Kora could hear her mother breathing into the phone, and she wondered if she would question her anyway.
Thankfully, she didn’t.
“Okay, honey. I’ll call you later.”
“’Kay.” Kora hung up the phone before her mother got the nerve to ask her if Sam and Trina had been the reason she’d left.
Although she would’ve been able to honestly tell her no, she wouldn’t be able to tell her the real reason she’d fled the restaurant like her ass had been on fire.
“Shower,” she said aloud as she headed for her bathroom, stripping off her clothes along the way. The only thing she wanted to do was get beneath the hot spray and wash the scent of Donovan from her skin. Maybe then she’d be able to stop thinking about him.
While she scrubbed her body, she tried not to think about what it would feel like to have Donovan’s hands on her naked skin. She should’ve known she wasn’t the type who could have a one-night quickie with a guy and be able to not think about him. Especially with a man like Donovan Brashwood.
“You don’t even know him,” she reminded herself as she turned off the water and grabbed a towel, quickly drying, then wringing the water from her hair.
Her house was cold, but she didn’t even care. She was hot, and her skin felt too tight for her body, so she kept the towel wrapped around her