begged him not to. It was done and over, and though she would live with the reminder for the rest of her life, she wanted to put the past behind her.
Kora looked up in time to see a familiar woman walk into the waiting room, and she noticed it was Sam and Donovan’s mother. She gave Kora a quick glance, but she offered not even as much as a smile.
Looked as though Sam still hadn’t come clean to anyone.
Suddenly needing a breather, Kora tapped her mother on the shoulder. “I’ll be back,” she said, then headed out of the waiting room. She kept walking until she was outside. The brisk evening air felt good against her clammy skin, but it did little to slow her rapidly pounding heart.
She pulled her phone from her pocket, hoping to find a message from Donovan, but there wasn’t one. He should be there soon. He’d promised her he would be there, and for the first time in a long time, Kora had chosen to trust someone.
To trust him.
DONOVAN’S FLIGHT HAD BEEN delayed, and by the time he got to the car waiting to take him to the hospital, he had learned from the text from his mother that the baby had been born. Not that the timing mattered all that much, but he had wanted to be there with Kora by then, to stand at her side and make sure she remained strong.
They’d spent a significant amount of time getting to know one another in the past couple of weeks, and he had learned that no matter how hard she tried, what Sam and Trina had done to her still hurt. Which was to be expected. He wanted nothing more than to take away that pain, but he couldn’t. Only time would help her heal.
Once at the hospital, Donovan made his way inside, stopping at the gift shop and grabbing a flower arrangement for the baby before making his way up to the labor and delivery floor. The nurse smiled at him when he approached, then rattled off the room number when he asked. He peeked into the waiting room but found no one he recognized in there, so he ventured down the hall.
When he got to the hospital room, he heard voices coming from inside. They sounded calm and cool, happy even. That had to be a good thing.
Rapping his knuckles on the wood, Donovan pushed open the door and joined everyone inside, his eyes searching for Kora before he did anything else.
“Donovan,” Trina greeted. “We’re so glad you could make it. Would you like to meet your niece?”
Donovan gave Trina a brief nod, not bothering to look her way, then set the colorful flower arrangement down on the table beside her bed. “In just a minute,” he told her.
Without hesitating, he made a beeline for Kora. She was standing at the back of the room, behind everyone else, and he ignored the questionable looks as he sought her out.
“Hey,” he greeted, his chest swelling from how good it was to see her. The past five days had been hell, being away from her, only talking to her on the phone. He’d wanted to see her, to hold her, to fall asleep with her in his arms, but that had been impossible.
Kora’s eyes widened, and she looked almost scared as he neared.
He smiled, then wrapped his arms around her, pulled her against him, and crushed his mouth to hers. Not even the gasps from his mother could pull him away from this woman. And he didn’t stop kissing her until she’d relaxed and put her arms around him.
When she smiled against his mouth, he forced himself to pull back, grinning down at her. He knew what he’d done would cause a scene, but he didn’t much give a shit.
Placing his arm around Kora’s shoulders, he turned to face the rest of the people in the room.
“Sorry, had to get that out of the way,” he informed them, speaking to them as a whole. “I heard she’s doing well.” He nodded toward the baby.
“What the hell’s going on here?” Sam asked, his eyes narrowed on him and Kora.
“Nothing,” he replied nonchalantly. “Just came into town to meet my niece.”
“Then what’s this?” Sam fluttered his hand back and forth, apparently his attempt to refer to the kiss.
“What does it look like?”
“It looks like my brother’s hooking up with my girlfriend.”
The silence that followed that statement was deafening. Donovan cast a quick glance at Trina, who was lying on the bed with the baby in her arms, staring up at Sam in shock.
“Actually,” Donovan said, locking his gaze with Sam, “she’s my girlfriend.”
Kora slid her hand up the back of his shirt, causing him to suck in a breath and look over at her. She was smiling, and he suddenly wanted to spend the rest of his life making her look just like that.
“You hungry?” he asked her softly, pretending that there weren’t half a dozen sets of eyes glued on them at the moment.
“I am,” she confirmed.
“Then let me take you to dinner.” He looked back at Sam. “It was great to see you and congrats on the little one. I know y’all will be incredibly happy together.”
Sam glared at him, and Donovan couldn’t help but feel a little vindication on Kora’s behalf. What these two had done to her was shitty, and it didn’t even matter to him that Sam was his brother. This woman deserved a hell of a lot better than anyone in this room had shown her.
He fully intended to make sure they knew that from here on out.
And he planned to start by asking Kora to move to New York with him.
After dinner.
And maybe after dessert, which he fully intended to have in bed. Her bed.
The End