in front of them, but hearing the conversation, took a step toward them and spoke. “He’s been out of the game so long, Antwon, he doesn’t remember how to play.”
“Hey,” Donovan said, frowning. “I still got game. But if someone’s not interested—”
“She’s interested,” Ennis said, confident she was.
That perked Donovan up. “Why do you say that?”
“Because every time your back was turned, she was checking you out.”
“Really?” Donovan asked. Shayna’s rejection had left him feeling out of sorts, but with his cousin’s comment, he was now feeling better.
“Really.” This from Antwon. “I saw it. Then you’d turn her way, and she’d quickly put her head back in her book.”
Donovan placed his hands on his hips, a smile playing on the edges of his mouth. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah,” Ennis said.
“Wow. I’m surprised. She totally blew me off when I talked to her.”
Antwon slung an arm across Donovan’s shoulders. “That’s exactly how Lynda was when I first met her. Gave me the cold shoulder most of the time. Did she mean it? No. She wanted me to chase her. Show her I was really interested. Women love that.”
You’d never know it now. Lynda and Antwon were as loveydovey as two people could be. It was nice to see.
And it was exactly what Donovan wanted for himself. In fact, two and half years ago he’d had all reason to expect that he would be enjoying that kind of marriage right now—but things had gone tragically wrong.
“You should have invited her to come along,” Ennis said.
“Right.” Donovan rolled his eyes. “Like she’d want to be the only woman on our trip. She doesn’t know us.”
“That’s gonna change,” Ennis said and smirked.
“Enough about Shayna already,” Donovan said, but inside he was smirking, too.
“Shayna,” Antwon said, his voice teasing. “Nice name.”
Donovan punched his brother’s arm. “Seriously. Enough.”
But the truth was, he didn’t mind the friendly teasing. It had been years since his brother or cousin could bug him about any woman.
Keira, Ennis’s five-year-old daughter, tugged on his shirt. “Daddy, Tamara won’t share her drink.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” Ennis said and stepped forward to deal with the children.
“Good, there’s the bus,” Donovan said, seeing the large tour bus pull up in front of the hotel. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
The bus came to a stop in front of them, and the children, who’d been antsy, dutifully lined up.
“Hey,” Antwon said, putting a hand on Donovan’s shoulder.
Donovan faced him. “Hmm?”
“Seriously, it’s nice to see you interested in someone again.”
Had he been that obvious? All Donovan had done was talk to Shayna. And he hadn’t gotten to say that much.
“I know you’ve had a rough time since Nina died,” his brother went on. “But I think she’d approve.”
At the mention of Nina, Donovan felt a spasm of sadness in his gut. He supposed he always would when he thought of the fiancée he had loved.
And lost.
Two and a half years ago, he’d been on track to marry the woman of his dreams. And then they’d gotten the devastating news that she had breast cancer. It had been caught too late. The cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and bones. Six months later, she was gone.
And so were his dreams of forever.
“Sorry,” Antwon said. “I didn’t mean to bring you down. I’m just saying, it’ll be good for you to start dating.”
“Yeah,” Donovan said softly. “I know.”
The thought of dating had been too painful in the beginning. And even after a year had passed, he hadn’t gotten Nina out of his heart. He hadn’t been against meeting someone new, someone as special as Nina was. It was just that no one had sparked his interest.
Until now.
For some reason, though he’d just met her, he felt a really strong attraction to her. And yes, she was beautiful, but it was more than that.
Donovan didn’t know where things might lead with Shayna, if they led anywhere at all. But after two long years as a single man, the part of him he thought had died along with Nina had suddenly come back to life.
Long after he’d left to go on his excursion, Shayna couldn’t get Donovan off her mind. She sat on her lounge chair, hardly retaining what she read because she couldn’t stop thinking about the man.
She still felt bad for being so gruff with him. Honestly, there was no excuse for that. Clearly, her emotions were frayed after the stressful ordeal with Vince. She would have to make a concerted effort not to take her frustration out on anyone else.
But there was another reason why she kept thinking about Donovan. One she didn’t really want to admit to herself.
So she began to read her novel again, but about a minute later, she realized that her eyes were merely passing over the words without truly following the story. Her heart fluttering a little, Shayna lowered the book and let her mind go where it wanted to.
Back to Donovan.
It wasn’t just that she felt bad about how she’d spoken to him. If she was honest with herself, she couldn’t get him off her mind because of the shocking knowledge that he was single.
When she’d assumed he was married, she’d considered him safe. She could watch him from afar, appreciate his utterly sexy body and not have to worry about a flirtation developing.
But now…
Now, not only was Donovan unmarried but he seemed interested in getting to know her.
Shayna rolled her eyes at the thought. Who was she fooling? He might have been interested—but surely she’d turned him off with her attitude.
Which was just as well.
Because she couldn’t deny that there was something about the man, something that intrigued her. Far more than it should for a woman who should, right now, be Mrs. Vince Danbury.
Vince… Shayna snorted in derision at the mere thought of him. It was amazing how, with his betrayal, she no longer saw him as attractive. And even on his best day, he didn’t compare to Donovan.
An image of Donovan came into
