Sealed With A Kiss: Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild, page 22
“Are you capable of that?” Jordan asked her dryly.
Naomi sighed. “I slipped.”
“Because you were carrying a blue slushy at the time you were climbing up into the rafters?” Jordan asked her.
“The slushy was sitting on the barrel. Those aren’t supposed to be in the animal areas. I didn’t want it to spill or have one of the animals find it,” Naomi told her.
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want that to spill all over the place.” Jordan’s sarcasm was thick as she pointedly looked at Donovan covered in blue raspberry syrup, then looked down at the floor around them.
Naomi wiggled a little and Donovan finally let her feet swing to the floor though he did let her slide down his body a little slower than was probably necessary. Their eyes met, and for just a moment, she noticed the heat as well as just a flicker of suspicion.
Naomi looked around at the floor, as well as down at her own clothes that were now also covered in slush since being up against Donovan.
“Yeah, we should help clean this up before one of the goats decides to take a taste,” she said as she unbuttoned her fitted short-sleeved button up she was wearing and shrugged out of it, leaving her in a spaghetti-strap tank and khaki shorts. She dropped her outer shirt onto the floor to help mop up the blue raspberry.
She realized that shirt was now a loss, but it was worth it when she noticed the way Donovan was taking in the sight of her in the fitted tank.
She was sure that was going to translate well to film as well.
His gaze roamed over her from her face to her waist, lingering on her breasts. Then, with his gaze locked on hers, he reached for the bottom of his shirt and he did exactly as she’d hoped he would. He stripped his shirt off as well and dropped it on the floor.
It was almost as if they’d scripted this. He seemed to remember her telling him that viewers liked when he was shirtless on his show because he didn’t appear to be a bit self-conscious as he started to mop up the rest of the blue slushy with his Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild shirt.
She took her time cataloging the hard contours of his shoulders, tanned chest, and abs as well as the tiger tattoo she was so fond of. He seemed to be pausing just for her inspection in fact.
Naomi didn’t glance in Brent and Rachel’s direction. She had to trust that they knew how to get the right shot. Though she wasn’t sure if they were going to focus on her earnest attention or the very hot object of her intense study.
Jordan, however, was definitely watching them both. “What the hell is going on? Why are people stripping in my barn?”
Naomi finally pulled her eyes from Donovan and looked at one of her best friends. “What do you mean? We’re cleaning up.”
“You’re standing in the middle of a goat barn, half-naked, and smelling like blue raspberry after falling from the ceiling. None of this makes any sense.”
“It’s fine,” Naomi told her, widening her eyes in the universal sign for “drop it”.
Jordan narrowed her eyes. “Seriously. This isn’t normal for you at all. You never get messy and…dangerous like this.”
“This wasn’t dangerous,” Naomi said. She tried the knock-it-off look again. “And I get messy.”
Jordan shook her head. “You’re always the one handing out wet wipes.” She looked around. “Where’s your purse?”
The magical back-pack purse with everything in it—including wet wipes—was in Donovan’s truck. Huh. Naomi had just realized that. Why had she left her purse in Donovan’s truck? Did that mean that she felt more capable of handling whatever was going to happen outside of the truck when she was with him…
Okay that was crazy. What was she doing getting philosophical like this? This was a staged, last-minute, I-have-to-do-something set-up scenario.
“It’s in the truck,” Naomi said. “No big deal. I can go get it.” Not having it with her didn’t mean anything. It was like forty feet away. If someone needed a wet wipe she could easily get one.
She avoided looking at the blue raspberry mess. No one needed a wet wipe, dammit. Certainly not literally. A wet wipe wouldn’t do any good here. But also not metaphorically. Stripping her shirt off was doing a fine job of mopping up the mess. Was it more spontaneous and maybe more risque? Okay maybe. She wasn’t naked. Or even half-naked. But sure, taking her shirt off was not in character. Sure, she typically would have pulled out a wet wipe. That would have been in the purse that she would have had right there with her. But none of this really meant anything.
Probably.
“This is really not normal,” Jordan said, looking at Naomi as if she thought her friend had possibly been possessed. “You even climbing up that ladder is crazy.”
“You’re one to talk about crazy,” Donovan said teasing. “You went to Vegas with one guy and came home married to another one.”
Thank you, Donovan, Naomi thought as he now came to her rescue again, though in a whole new way.
Jordan pressed her lips together as if biting back a retort.
Donovan grinned. “Exactly.”
She loved that Donovan got along so well with her friends.
That thought hit her before she could prepare for it. Or avoid it.
But she really did. He’d come into her life and blended seamlessly. No, it hadn’t been as a boyfriend but that almost made it better, didn’t it? He was a friend first. He was a part of her circle first. The relationship and the love came next…
Dammit. What was she doing?
They were in the middle of a goat barn, half-naked, smelling like blue raspberry with a camera rolling. This was all a stupid staged oh-aren’t-they-cute chance for any viewers to think that they should be a couple. This wasn’t supposed to result in anything meaningful. Sure, Donovan without his shirt on caused her some very real lust but this wasn’t supposed to be causing her real feelings.
Jordan shook her head. “Something is going on.”
“It’s nothing to worry about,” Donovan told her, meeting Naomi’s eyes again and giving her a wink.
“Fine,” Jordan said. “But surely, by now, you realize that in Autre the word ‘secret’ is simply another term for ‘the evening news’.”
Donovan laughed and Naomi felt her stomach flip.
So he was onto her, as was Jordan, clearly. But that didn’t matter. They could all be in on this. It was the people on the other side of the camera that was pointed at them that needed to believe this was real.
Naomi did glance over now. Sure enough, Brent and Rachel were recording.
Obviously some of this was going to need editing. But the stupid scene of her falling into Donovan’s arms and then him stripping his shirt off were now on camera. That was the important part.
They finished cleaning up the barn and Jordan called out, “We will talk later,” after them as they headed out to the trucks.
Naomi just winced. She could let Jordan and the rest of their friends in on the whole fake relationship thing but that wouldn’t make climbing into the rafters after a stray streamer and “falling” out of them any less stupid.
She was certain saying it all out loud would make it so much more, in fact.
But Rachel seemed pleased when she said, “We’re going to get some lunch and go over some notes and things. Give us a call if anything comes up.”
“Will do,” Donovan told her.
Donovan and Naomi watched them drive off. But when Naomi started toward his truck, Donovan reached out and caught her wrist, tugging her back and around to face him.
“So you staged all of that.”
It was ridiculous to lie to him. “Yeah.”
“Because they were bored?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t do that again.”
She smiled. “We’re probably going to have to. But we should sit down and talk about it ahead of time.”
“I don’t like you taking risks like that.”
His tone was gruff and his protectiveness made a ribbon of pleasure wind through her belly, but she kept her tone light. “Oh, come on, that wasn’t that dangerous.”
“Then why is my heart still hammering?”
Donovan watched Naomi wet her lips.
And seemingly contemplate an answer to his question. But he thought she actually knew the answer. She was just trying to decide if she should say it out loud.
She should definitely say it out loud.
He moved a little closer. “Naomi? Do you know why my heart is still hammering so hard?”
“Maybe.”
Uh-huh. “Is it the same reason that you always get so worried when I do something dangerous?”
“Probably.”
“And why is that?” he prompted.
“Because I’m a very kind and caring person.”
His lips curled. “Yes, you are. But I don’t think that’s what it is.”
“You’re not kind and caring?”
“I am kind and caring. To and for all kinds of people and things. But I’ve never felt like this for anyone else before.”
He saw the flicker of emotion in her eyes.
“Really?”
“Really.” He stepped even closer. “I think my heart was hammering so hard because watching the woman I’m falling in love with tumble from the ceiling and almost hit the floor was terrifying.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
He chuckled softly and lifted a finger to her chin, closing her mouth. “You’re not that surprised.”
She swallowed. “I am surprised.”
“You can’t be. Because what I’m feeling is what you feel when you see me taking risks.”
“You think I’m…” She swallowed. “…falling in love with you?”
“I do. That didn’t occur to me before, but when we were in Alabama, plenty of people were taking risks just like I do—”
“No one takes risks like you do, Donovan.”
“See, it seems that way to you, because you’re in love with me.”
He really loved saying those words. Because the more he said it, the more he believed it. Just as he knew all of his feelings were new and unique to Naomi, he realized the way she acted was only for him.
“No one else was underneath the collapsed swimming pool with power tools coming at his head,” she pointed out.
“If I hadn’t been there, someone else would’ve done that.”
She opened her mouth as if to respond but then seemed to think about what he’d just said. She frowned. Finally, she admitted, “I don’t know if they would’ve done it exactly like you did. But other people would’ve tried.”
“And you wouldn’t have felt the way you did watching it.”
“I would’ve been concerned. It probably would’ve been Fiona crawling under there and I would’ve been worried,” Naomi told him.
“Yes. And, if Jordan had been climbing around in the rafters and fallen, I would’ve tried to catch her too. But I wouldn’t have felt the same flash of holy-shit-I-have-to-do-whatever-I-can-to-make-sure-she’s-okay-no-matter-what that I do with you.”
She seemed to be mulling that over.
“But that’s weird, right?” she finally asked. “That we can worry about other people but not worry about them in the same way that we do each other?”
He ran his thumb along her jaw line, staring into her eyes. He shook his head slowly. “Not weird.”
“No? Why?”
“Because you’re mine.”
She sucked in a little breath. She seemed surprised. But only for a second. Donovan’s heart turned over in his chest and thumped hard against his ribs as she slowly nodded.
“Yeah.” She took a deep breath and nodded again. “You’re mine.” She seemed to be testing those words out. But after she said them out loud, she smiled.
Those two words made something inside him crack open. It was almost painful. But it was so fucking good too. It felt as if he’d been trying to keep something together, hold something tight so it wouldn’t hurt, and now, with this woman, he couldn’t anymore. He had to open it up. And it was a damned relief once it happened.
He moved his hand to the back of her neck and brought her in close.
“That’s why ever since you got here, I’ve had this urge to make sure you’re okay,” she said, her breath warm on his lips. “Safe and happy and…fed…and just whatever you need. It’s like I want everyone else to be okay too, but I have this need to actually be the one making it happen for you.”
Nothing had ever made more sense to him in his life.
“Exactly.” He started to lean in, intending to kiss her.
But she added softly, “And it’s especially important to me that you, more than anyone else, have all ten of your fingers intact.”
His grin was wide just before he sealed his mouth over hers.
Naomi leaned into him immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck and arching closer. His hand settled on her hips, and he drew her up against him. He needed her. He’d been too long without touching her and tasting her. He kissed her long and deep. Hungrily. Drinking her in now that he’d realized why he felt all the things he did.
He hadn’t had a chance to really kiss her since they’d returned from Alabama. They’d been busy with the animals and having Rachel and Brent following them around.
Now, though, it was just the two of them and he was going to take full advantage.
Lifting his head he asked, “What are you doing the rest of the day?”
“We should probably script what’s going to happen with the show.”
“What I heard there was that you were going to spend the rest of the day with me.”
She smiled. “Yes, that’s what I said.” She paused. “Do you still have the air mattress in the back of your truck?”
His whole body heated instantly, and he gave a little groan as his fingers curled into her hips. “Yes, I do.”
“Excellent answer.”
“Naomi.”
“Yes, Donovan?”
“I’m in love with you.” He needed to say those words out loud very clearly in that moment.
Her eyes widened. “Good.”
“Just so you know that.”
“I figured the you’re mine thing implied that, but I like hearing it word for word. By the way,” she added. “I’m in love with you too.”
His grip on her tightened as his desire intensified and he had to clear his throat before he answered. “Awesome. I just wanted those soft, sweet emotions out there so when I start talking dirty, you know that there’s more underneath it.”
She gave a little shiver of delight. “Soft, sweet emotions noted and dirty talk highly encouraged.”
“Excellent. Then get your gorgeous ass in my truck because I need my face between your legs in the next ten minutes.”
She gasped, then laughed, then pushed him back and rounded his truck quickly to climb up into the passenger side.
Feeling an odd combination of lust and happiness, Donovan headed for the driver’s side.
As they drove to a spot he knew of down by the bayou, Naomi said, “We really should talk about how we’re going to handle our relationship for the show.”
“Okay.”
She pulled a notebook and pen out of her purse.
Donovan shook his head with a smile. That purse.
“The flirting has been good. But we’ve always been good at that.” She shot him a grin. “And you talking me through what you’re doing on the animal rescues and me asking you questions about the animals as we go is great,” she said. “It’s the perfect way to educate people watching while also building our relationship. We have lots of time together and we’re working side by side.”
She jotted something down in the notebook. “And then there are the moments when you get to be protective, like when we ran across the snake and you stepped in front of me to deal with it—even though, I totally know how to handle a cottonmouth, thank you very much.”
“You shouldn’t have to play damsel in distress.”
“Oh right now, to get this picked up, it’s fine. People love that stuff. As long as we make it light-hearted, and I can point out that I’ve probably run across more cottonmouths than you have and you just can’t help your heroic ways.”
She was the least damsel in distress woman he’d ever met. He kind of hated the idea of making it seem that she needed him.
She looked over at him. “We should definitely include more moments like the other day when you wiped the mud off my cheek. Those play as really sweet, romantic moments on camera.”
“I didn’t do that for the camera.”
She gave him a soft smile. “I know.”
Donovan was listening. He really was. She’d said everything was good so far. She said everything they’d been doing was working. But he was having a hard time keeping his mind from wandering to wishing he had his own place right now.
He would love to take her back to his bedroom and spread her out on his bed and keep her there all day. He’d make her dinner tonight and then they’d cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie later, and then have more sweet, hot sex before falling asleep in one another’s arms and spending the night together.
He hadn’t done any of that with a woman before. Ever. When he did hook up with women it was for a quick rendezvous only. It was very often in hotel rooms when he was traveling, though occasionally it would be in the woman’s apartment or house if she was local.
But he’d never cooked for a woman, and he’d never cuddled on the couch watching a movie. Those were relationship things, and he’d avoided those at all costs.
Now, he wanted them, and he had no way of giving them to Naomi. He was still staying with Griffin and Charlie because his time in Autre had been temporary. Or so he’d thought.
“Don’t you think?”
He glanced over at her. He’d missed what she’d just said. He should just say yes. In his experience, it was pretty safe to always say yes to whatever Naomi had come up with, but he decided to be honest with her right now.
“Sorry, I was thinking about how much I wish I had a house where we could spend the rest of the day and night together.”
