I COULD FEEL my annoyance bubbling under the surface and tried like hell to bank it as I followed Donovan into his bedroom. The last thing I wanted was to end this weekend on a bad note, but West’s comment about that asshole Atticus seeing Donovan’s birthmark up close and personal was on a loop in my head.
It was ridiculous, I knew that, to be jealous of a guy that Donovan clearly hated. But no matter how much I tried to tell myself not to care, the idea that someone like that snake had been anywhere near Donovan when he was naked really pissed me off.
When the door shut behind me, I turned to see Donovan leaning up against it, an apologetic look in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and pushed off the door. “Atticus is such a dick, always looking for a way to feel good about himself. Even if he has to use someone else to do it.”
The comment was so specific that it was obvious this wasn’t the first time Atticus had used Donovan in particular, and that turned my rage homicidal.
“What do you mean?”
Donovan reached for one of the hands I had balled into a fist and gently released my fingers. “About?”
“What do you mean this isn’t the first time he’s used someone? I’m guessing he’s pulled some shady shit with you before?”
“I mean, yeah, but it was a long time ago.” Donovan let out a sigh. “I just hate that he’s trying to fuck with this, us.”
So did I. I hated even more that it was working. I wanted to be cool about it, pretend it didn’t bother me. But the fact that he’d run his mouth about Donovan being in those scenes with me really got my blood boiling. I didn’t care what happened to me. I’d signed up for that job. Donovan, however, had signed up for me.
“Tell me what he did.”
Donovan frowned. “You already read what he—”
“Not today. Back then. What did he do to you?”
Donovan shook his head, scrunching his nose up in that way he did when he was nervous or trying to think of a way out of something.
“It was nothing, really.”
“Donovan.”
“Okay.” He put a hand on my chest, giving me an imploring look. “But you have to remember, this was a long time ago.”
“Define ‘long.’”
“About a year.”
I grunted. One month. One year. Hell, one decade wouldn’t be long enough for me. But I also knew how unreasonable that was and decided to move on.
“So, what happened?”
“Well, we’d been seeing each other for about three months. Our parents set it up, actually. They knew each other through Elysium and— Anyway, um, it was good at first. He went to a different school, so it was exciting when we got to see each other, and then he met my friends.”
I could see where this was going. It’d been crystal clear how well Atticus got along with Donovan’s friends the night of the event, but I’d just figured it was due to a bad breakup.
“He hated them. He hated them and didn’t hide it. Every time I wanted to go out with them, he’d give me a hard time. He’d go on about how much better I could do. How much more mature and classier his crowd was.”
I arched a brow. “You mean there are classier people out there than a twenty-something-year-old guy who wears an ascot to school and drinks martinis for breakfast?”
Donovan grinned but shrugged. “I guess so. All I’ll say is that while my friends might’ve been immature to him, they were a hell of lot more fun than his friends. They used to sit around in a billiards room every afternoon smoking cigars and discussing the latest trends on Wall Street, and what their money was doing.”
“Sounds, ah, boring as hell.”
“Yeah, it was. So naturally, things started to run its course. He didn’t come around anymore, and I lost interest. That’s when I told him I wanted to end it.” Donovan looked away from me. “He didn’t like that.”
I hooked a finger under his chin and turned his face back to mine. “What did he do to you?”
Donovan let out a sigh. “He tried to sell photos of me to a website.”
“Photos? As in naked photos?”
Donovan nodded. “Ones he’d taken of me while we were…together.”
Suddenly Atticus’s comment the night of the event made sense. From the very beginning, Donovan had never been shy about his body. In or out of the bedroom. The idea of being filmed with me hadn’t seemed to bother him, except for one small factor—his face. Something that piece of shit Atticus had tried to cash in on before, by the sounds of it.
“I wish I’d known that when I met him the other night.”
Donovan chuckled. “Something tells me it’s probably best that you didn’t.”
No shit. If I’d known that Atticus had tried to exploit Donovan that way, I would’ve knocked his goddamn head off, to hell with the consequences. Maybe then he wouldn’t have been so quick to mess with Donovan again.
“What a piece of shit.”
“Yeah, he’s not exactly my favorite person.”
“Better fucking not be.”
Donovan rubbed a hand over my chest as though trying to soothe a wild animal, and that’s exactly how I felt—wild, fiercely protective, and ready to fight for my man. “Nope. My favorite person is standing right here.”
Donovan continued to smooth his hand back and forth over my chest, and as my irritation started to fade, I lowered my forehead to rest against his.
“I hate that he did that to you. That he took something so personal and threatened to expose it.”
“I know, and it hurt at the time, but it just showed me the kind of person he was—is.”
“How did you get them down? Did you get them down?”
Donovan wrapped his hands around the back of my neck and gently kissed my lips. “They never went up. I found out that he’d taken the camera the photos were on, so we stole it back and I went to my mom and asked her what I should do.”
“You went to your mom?”
“Yeah. I was just starting out in the industry, and I knew she’d know what to do, and she did. She got the lawyers involved, and after my friends got a hold of him, I never heard from Atticus again, until—”
“The other night.”
“Right.” Donovan smiled. “She was amazing about the whole thing. The only lecture I got was about being more careful next time—hence the mask.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and drew him in. “I’m sorry this is happening to you again.”
“Don’t be. I knew I should’ve gotten that damn birthmark removed.”
“You better not.” I kissed his ear, and Donovan shivered. “I like tracing it with my tongue too much.”
Donovan pulled my head down and took my lips in a kiss full of heat that made me wish we were the only two here right now. But just as his tongue began to flirt with mine, loud voices started up in the living room, and we pulled apart and looked toward the door.
“What the—?” Donovan let go of me and headed for the door, and I followed him out of the bedroom.
“Get out of my way.” The furious female voice boomed up the hallway right before Donovan’s agent shoved West out of her way and locked eyes on whom she was clearly looking for.
“You.” She pointed a finger at Donovan, who took a step back, making me stumble. Not that I blamed him. That homicidal feeling I’d had earlier? Yeah, it was now flashing in her eyes as she stormed down the hall toward us. “Do you want explain to me why I was privy to a photo of your ass while I was pouring a glass of wine tonight and settling in to read about what gossip was spread through the city while I was out of town this weekend?”
“I…uh…”
“Yes?” She glared up at him, her eyes turning—I swear—blood red. “I’m waiting.”
“An, um, ex of mine found out I was dating Kelly—”
“Oh yes.” She aimed those lasers my way, and my dick shriveled up inside me. “Kelly—what a convenient way to keep your secrets. Hiding behind a stage name.”
“He wasn’t hiding,” Donovan said.
“No, you were hiding him. Kelly ‘Sin’ Sinclair.” She rolled her eyes. “I’d be impressed if you weren’t a porn star.”
“Mira.” Donovan took a step forward, and I reached for his arm, sensing that same protective urge I’d had earlier from him.
“Donovan, it’s okay.”
“Like hell it is,” he said, his eyes locked with Mira’s. “Look, I know you’re upset right now, and you have every right to be.”
“You think?” She cocked her head, and her eyes darted between the two of us. “If it was just him, I wouldn’t give a shit. But you didn’t think to maybe mention that you’ve been moonlighting as a porn star for the last however many months?”
“I did three movies, all with Kelly.”
“Oh, well, that makes it okay, then.”
“I didn’t think it would matter. I wore a mask each time, and no one would’ve known if—”
“You’d kept your pants on in the first place,” she pointed out.
“Aw, it’s not his fault he was born with the symbol of love on his ass,” West called out from the couch. “Don’t ask him to deny who he is.”
Mira’s jaw bunched as she did her level best not to turn around and rip West a new one. Donovan gently squeezed my hand, and I let go of him so he could approach her.
“I’m sorry, okay? I know this isn’t ideal, but I’ve got Harry working on—”
“Not ideal?” Mira scrubbed her hands over her face. “I don’t think you understand the gravity of what you’ve done here, Van. Of what something like this could do to your career.”
“Come on, Mira. Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic?”
“No, I don’t. You work with some of the top luxury brands and fashion labels in the world. It is an honor and a privilege. The last thing they want is a scandal surrounding their name.”
“Whatever happened to ‘any press is good press’?”
“It doesn’t exist when it comes to you coming.”
“Whatever.” Donovan’s shoulders stiffened, and I couldn’t stop myself from moving in behind him and squeezing one of them, letting him know I was there. “I don’t care what happens. I fell for a guy—so fucking sue me. It’s your fault for giving me dodgy directions to that watch shoot anyway.”
“So now I’m to blame for you—”
“Meeting the sexiest, most amazing man I’ve ever known? Yes. Yours and fate’s. And I’ll be damned if you’re going to stand here and make me feel bad about myself.”
“Van—”
“No. There’s more to life than looking good and drinking green juice. There’s finding someone who makes you laugh and smile, and your heart skip when he walks in a room. I won’t let my asshole ex-boyfriend ruin that, and I don’t care if that means I never walk another catwalk in my life.”
The room went dead silent, and I wasn’t sure how to feel in that moment. On one hand, I wanted to pick Donovan up and haul him back to the bedroom after everything he’d just said. But on the other, I could feel that twisted, gnawing feeling of guilt taking over. I’d known that if word got out about my job that there might be ramifications for Donovan. But I didn’t think it would be this bad.
The brands might drop him? It might ruin his career? I couldn’t let him do that for me.
“You know…” Donovan let out a sigh. “I think you should leave now.”
“But we—”
“Mira, I know. We need to clean it up. What do you think Harry is doing?” He gestured to the kitchen, where Harry was working over his laptop.
“Main articles are offline,” he said, not bothering to look up. “Just sourcing the original files to delete from the mainframe and we’ll be good.”
Damn. I still couldn’t believe they had a guy who could scrub the internet on call.
“Fine, I’m going.” Mira turned and stormed back up the hall, muttering, “Gonna have to smooth this over with the agency, anyone who saw this…” She stopped when she reached the foyer and looked back to us. “And you two—keep your asses covered from here on out.”
