Excitement zinged through her. Jada gasped. “And she can also take photos of you, August, and Nicholas baking and interacting with customers and joking around. It’ll be perfect!”
Donovan grimaced. “Yeah, I’m not sure August is going to go along with that.”
“Why not? I’ll talk to him. He likes me. Yay for good ideas!”
“Thanks.” A dangerous, sexy light entered his eyes. “I have another good idea.”
She set aside her glass, the blood already thickening in her veins. “Do tell.”
He set his glass next to hers, then leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her neck while he slid a hand under her dress. “How about I show you instead?”
* * *
While Donovan provided an excellent distraction from her parents and their opinion of her and her life choices, the next day Jada was still obsessing about what Grams said. And the way she’d felt when he said he’d sought out the photos they’d taken.
So she did the only thing that made sense when she got home from work. She called her best friend over to eat ice cream.
“Then he defended me to my parents.” Jada set aside her bowl and hopped up from her couch. Pacing would calm her. Maybe. Hopefully.
Olivia’s spoon clattered into her bowl as her mouth dropped open. “He defended you to Dr. and Dr. Townsend-Matthews? Bet they reacted well to being told they were wrong. They always have facts on their side.”
Jada reached the end of the room and headed back toward her friend. “Well, Donovan speaks their language. He runs on logic and so do they, so he knew exactly what to say to get them to stop lecturing me. It was quite impressive.”
Olivia wiggled her eyebrows. “Was it now?”
Jada stuck her tongue out at her best friend. “Stop.”
“I will not. Only one of us has anything remotely resembling romance in her life and it certainly ain’t me. I’m not the one having wild, passionate sex with a ridiculously attractive man, who went out of his way to get some photos y’all took. My life is all about should we open a new hotel? What new employees will that entail? I’m living vicariously through you.”
Jada’s mouth twisted. “Yeah.”
Olivia’s head cocked to the side. “What? What is that look on your face? What aren’t you telling me?”
Jada reached the couch and plopped down. “My dad asked him what he thought of me when we first met and he said I thought I was bougie.”
Olivia took another bite of her Rocky Road and shrugged. “You are. Nothing new there.”
Jada glared. “Do I need to audition for a new best friend?”
Olivia snorted. “Like you could do better than me.”
Absolutely true, but she wasn’t going to swell her BFF’s head by verbally agreeing. “Anyway, he then said he thought I was beautiful and I was more beautiful on the inside than I was on the outside.”
“And you haven’t declared your undying love yet? Girl. Girl. I admire your fortitude and resiliency. Couldn’t be me.”
The ice cream in her stomach started to curdle. “I’ve been impulsive my whole life, which is how I ended up with a fake boyfriend in the first place.”
Olivia stared at her, clearly confused. “But there’s nothing fake about what’s going on now.”
Jada jumped up from the couch to take another lap around the room. “But shouldn’t I be taking things slow? Not rushing things? I was supposed to work there so I could gain control of my trust fund and decide what I want my life to be, not find a man to distract me. I’m on the right road. I’ve found something I’m good at, and I don’t want to mess that up.”
“He’s not distracting you. You’re doing great. He said you were.”
“But what if things don’t work out? My relationships don’t work out!”
Olivia pointed her spoon at her. “You’ve never dated Donovan Dell.”
Truer words had never been said. And wasn’t that the crux of the problem? He was definitely one-of-a-kind and made her long for things she’d never known she’d wanted. But everything could work out—as long as she didn’t mess it up.
* * *
“You met the parents? Wow. This relationship is moving fast,” Nicholas said.
Donovan lowered a dirty pot into the sink, hissing as the hot water hit his skin. “Is it? I haven’t thought about it.” Which was not like him, admittedly, but when he was with Jada, he was fully engaged. He didn’t feel the need to analyze every aspect of their relationship because everything was so natural between them. That didn’t mean they were moving fast. Right?