The Realest Ever (32 page)

Kyra couldn’t stop her tears from falling.  That was the most beautiful thing she ever heard.  “Is, is that true?”

Donovan wiped her cheeks, ever so tenderly.  “Part of it is,” he said.  “But I
also know that we’re meant to be.  I don’t see the point in waiting for the inevitable.  It’s expensive and stressful to move into your own place.  It’s a waste of time and money, if you’re going to end up moving in here anyway.  You do want to live with me, don’t you?”

Kyra nodded. 
She wanted that more than anything.

“Then why drag it out?” Donovan asked.  “Why not do it now?”

Because we might not work
.  That was the only reason Kyra could think of.  It was also the one answer she couldn’t give him.  Donovan did let fear and love interfere with his decision-making, but his heart was in the right place.  Plus, for as long as she’d known him, Donovan was always right.  Kyra didn’t have the heart to crush his dreams, especially when she wanted the same things.

“How about we compromise,” she said.  “I won’t move out of my aunt’s house
and get my own place.  When I move out, I will come here with you. 
But
…” she said before Donovan could get too excited.  “… I don’t think that should be today or even this month.  Donovan, I can’t think of one single thing that could come between us.  But we can’t go into this thinking only about us.  I don’t want to shuffle my kids around anymore.  We got to be extra careful, because of them.”

Donovan let her words sink in before he responded.  He
nodded.  “You’re right.  I guess I got a little over-excited.”

“I like that you’re excited about
us,” Kyra said quickly.  “That makes me feel real special.”  She gave him a flirty smile.

“
What about tonight?” Donovan asked.  “Can y’all stay here tonight?” 

“Yes,” Kyra said.  “We can spend the night whenever you want.  What happened to all of your weights and
benches anyway?”

“I moved it to the garage.”

“That must’ve been a lot of work.”

“It was,” Donovan said.  “I had four people helping me
.  My back was hurting when we got through.”

“I can rub your back,” Kyra offered.  The thought of getting Donovan topless made her giddy. 
Thinking about rubbing his body down with massaging oil made her nipples harden.

“Do you know anything about giving a massage?” Donovan asked.

“Nope,” Kyra said.  “But I bet I can rub and squeeze on you until you feel real nice.”

“Is that so?”

Kyra nodded.  “Definitely.”

Donovan checked his watch.  It was only eight-thirty.  “What time do the kids go to bed?”

“Not for at least a couple of hours,” Kyra said.  She kissed him
passionately.  “You have to wait.”

D
onovan kissed her back.  “You want me to wait for
everything
.”

Kyra kissed him again.  “This’ll be worth it,
baby.  Trust me.”

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Donovan had nearly every season of the Simpsons on DVD.  Kyra knew he loved the animated show as a child, but she didn’t know he was still watching it.

“Hey, don’t judge me,” he told her.

He popped in one of the DVD’s and made chocolate chip cookies while Kyra and the kids lounged in the den.  Donovan had ice cream as well.  Kat and Quinell had been eating junk food all day, but they attacked the new snacks like they were starving.  Kyra thought Donovan was spoiling them, but she loved seeing smiles on her children’s faces.  They were nearly as happy as she was. 

Kat passed out first at ten-thirty.  Quinell held out for another hour
.  Kyra turned off the television when she saw his head nodding.

“Come
on,” she told him.  “Donovan’s going to let you spend the night here.  Is that cool?”

Quinell
smiled, nodded and yawned at the same time.  Kyra took him to the room Donovan prepared for them.  Kat was already curled up on one side of the bed, snoring lightly. 

“You don’t mind sleeping with your sister, do you?” Kyra asked.

Quinell shook his head and lay down fully dressed.  Kyra helped him out of his shoes and jeans and pulled the covers up to his chin.  Quinell rolled to his side and was still smiling as he dozed off.  Kyra gave him a kiss on the cheek and went to rejoin Donovan in the den.  She wasn’t surprised to find him yawning as well.  She took a seat next to him, and Donovan put his arm around her.  Kyra snuggled against his warm body.

“Long day, huh?” she asked.

“I feel like I picked y’all up at seven a.m. instead of four in the afternoon.”

“I’m sorry,” Kyra said.  “I know they can be a handful.”

“Nah, it’s cool,” Donovan said.  “Your kids are great compared to the knuckleheads I have to deal with at school.”

“Are you going to sleep?” Kyra asked.

“No.  I’m going to make some coffee.  Want some?”

“You don’t have to drink coffee,” Kyra said.  “You can go to sleep if you want to.”

“I haven’t had you in my bedroom for a whole week,” Donovan said.  “I plan to enjoy tonight, for at least three more hours, before I go to sleep.”

T
hree hours
? 
Damn
.  Kyra’s heart fluttered at the possibilities.  “Well, in that case, I’ll have some coffee, too.”

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

They ate the leftover cookies with their coffee, and then Donovan went out back to feed his dogs.  He invited Kyra to tag along.  Doc and Wyatt were scary, hulking creatures, especially at night.  But they were friendly beasts.  They surrounded Kyra and sniffed her and allowed her to pet them.  Thankfully they didn’t jump up and soil her clothes with their grubby paws.

Donovan
didn’t return to the house immediately after feeding them.  He took a seat on a wicker sofa he had next to the back porch.  Kyra sat with him and star gazed while she held his hand.  Everything about Donovan’s home was perfect.  Kyra wondered if she was a fool for not taking him up on his offer to move in.

“Your dogs fit you,”
she said as she watched the four-legged buddies frolicking in the yard.

“Why’s that?” Donovan asked.

“Because you’re all big and ferocious,” Kyra said.  “It makes sense that you have a German shepherd and a pit bull.”

“But I’m not ferocious,” Donovan said.

“And neither are your dogs.  They didn’t bark at me or nothing.”

“That’s because you’re with me
.  If you jumped the fence one night by yourself, it would be a different story.”

“Same as you,” Kyra said.  “You’re like a big, ole teddy bear
.  But if you have to take care of business, you wouldn’t hesitate to whoop a nigga’s ass.”

Donovan laughed.  “I haven’t
had a fight since high school.”

“
You still got it in you, though,” Kyra stated.  “It never goes away.”

Donovan
shrugged. 

They sat in silence for a few seconds, and then Kyra said, “There’s something I got to tell you.”

“What’s up?”

She swallowed.  “I talked to Kat’s daddy the other day.”

She felt Donovan tense up.  “Do you want me to kick his ass?”

Kyra smiled nervously.  “No
.  But I am worried about something.”  She sat up so she could look him in the eyes.  The porch light provided enough illumination to see that Donovan was already worried as well.

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s been calling for a couple of weeks,” Kyra said.  “I wouldn’t call him back, and I told my aunt not to give him my cell number.  She didn’t, but I think she told him when to call back, so he could catch me at home.”

“Are you talking about that Leonard guy?”

She nodded.

“What does he want?”

Kyra sighed.  She wished she could leave her past in the past, but some things never go away.  “He said he wants
to see Kat.  But I know it’s really me he wants.  He’s just using Kat as an excuse.”

Donovan’s expression was hard to read.  “What’d he
tell you?”

“He said I was wrong for taking Kat to Texas, and he’s
gonna take me to court.  He said he’s going to try to get custody, but he’ll be happy with visitation rights, so long as it’s in Arkansas.  He wants me to go back.”

“Why do you think he wants to be with you?”

Kyra hesitated.  She didn’t want to tell Donovan the whole conversation.  When she talked to him, Leonard was practically crying on the phone.  He begged Kyra to come back to him.  Each time she said no, Leonard brought up Kat again, threatening legal action.

“He asked me to go back with him,” Kyra said.  “He said I was wrong for leaving him while he was in jail. When I said
no
, that’s when he started talking about suing me.”

“Why did you leave him?” Donovan asked.

Kyra’s stomach twisted.  When she first returned to Overbrook Meadows, she told Donovan approximately 75% of her hard times story.  She wanted to be completely honest with him now, but she couldn’t.  It would break Donovan’s heart, if he knew everything.

“He ruined my life,” Kyra said.  “He was doing drugs and selling drugs, and the police were coming by the house all the time, them and all
of Leonard’s dopefiend friends.  I wanted to leave him, but I felt trapped.  When he went to jail, I felt like I was finally free to get away from there.  That’s why I came back to Texas.”

Donovan swallowed her story as easily as he did the first time.  Why wouldn’t he?  Kyra never lied to him before.  “So, do we need to go to Arkansas?” he asked.

Kyra’s heart grew to twice its normal size.  For as long as she’d known him, Donovan never let her fight a battle alone. 

“I’m not going
back to Arkansas unless I get a summons,” Kyra said.  “Leonard’s just talking noise.  He’s not gonna do anything.  Every judge he ever saw sent him to jail.  He’s not going to run to them for help.  And I know he can’t afford a lawyer.”

“But what if he really does want to see Kat?”

“Then I would do my best to work something out,” Kyra said.  “But he doesn’t, Donovan.  When I talked to him, he begged me to come back to him for five minutes before he asked about Kat.  He didn’t give a damn about her before he got locked up, and he doesn’t give a damn about her now.”

“
Okay.  I’m with you,” Donovan said.  “Whatever we got to do, just let me know.”

Kyra
wrapped both arms around his torso and kissed him tenderly.  She wished there was a way to fully express her gratitude for everything Donovan had done for her.  She could spend the rest of her life trying and still not come close.

He stood and stretched his back.  “You ready to go inside?”

Kyra nodded, but she grabbed hold of him before he made it to the door.  They hugged beneath the stars for what felt like hours.  Neither said a word, but their touch and their tenderness spoke volumes.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Donovan wanted to take a shower.  Kyra did too, so he scrounged up another outfit for her to put on when she got out.  He led her through the spare bedroom where his second bathroom was.  It was a lot smaller than the main one, but there was a shower, and it was impeccably clean.

Kyra started to undress, but she changed her mind midway through.  She left the bathroom wearing only a tee shirt and followed the sound of running water to Donovan’s main
washroom.  She knocked on the door, and Donovan said, “Come in.”

The shower curtain was closed.  Donovan
pulled it back far enough to poke his head out when Kyra entered. 

“What’s wrong?  I forgot to leave soap in there?”

Rather than respond, Kyra pulled her tee shirt over her head.  Donovan’s eyes widened at the sight of her nude physique. 

“Can I come in there with you?” she asked.

Donovan looked her up and down as he pulled the shower curtain back further.  Water began to bounce off his body and spray on the floor.  Neither of them cared.  Standing fully naked, Donovan was a sight to behold.  Standing fully naked
and
dripping wet put him on a whole new level of sexy.  And he was easily excitable.  Kyra watched as his penis responded to her body.  It swelled and grew longer as she approached.  Kyra stepped into the tub and pulled the curtain closed.

Donovan had his back to the water.
  His bathtub was large enough for him to step around Kyra and switch places with her.  Now the showerhead sprayed water on the back of Kyra’s neck.  Her hair was soaked in a matter of seconds, but she wasn’t concerned about her perm.  Donovan watched the water drip over Kyra’s shoulders, down her stomach and into her pubic hair.  His erection reached its peak.  It seemed to be pointing right at Kyra’s face.