Kate fake gasped. ”Nooo. I can’t believe it. You, being too much?”
Errin raised a perfectly shaped brow at her and waited for Kate to laugh.
“Maleficent, really, Errin? How do you come up with that stuff?”
Kate realized she’d really missed Errin and her in-your-face personality. While she had been tired of her nonstop talking earlier this month, she now felt like a bad sister for not knowing how she’d felt all this time.
“She sure is a stupid witch, sis. Who doesn’t want to hang out with you, huh?”
“You, for one,” Errin said while wiping at a lonely tear from her lightly freckled cheekbone. Kate felt like a bad witch herself.
“Bunny, I love you. I….” She sighed and gathered the words in her head.
“Never mind. I think I’m getting my period or something. Don’t know why I’m getting so emotional. Pff.”
“No, I mean I love you. We’re not only sisters, but you’re also my best friend. One of only three friends I have. And I’m sorry that I haven’t been around as much and distanced myself. Although I didn’t mean to be a witch on purpose, I’m so sorry.”
Errin laughed at the word “witch” and wiped the newly formed tears from the corners of her eyes. Kate put her arm around her sister’s shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. Errin sighed and put her arms around Kate to return the hug.
“So, after all this, I’ve got a question for you.”
Errin pulled back from the hug and gazed into her sister’s eyes. “What?”
“Did you really name your vibrator after Harvey from Suits?”
“Kate, you—”
Before she could continue, Donovan shouted from Kate’s bedroom, “I don’t need to hear your answer, Errin! I’m already scarred for life here.”
They both burst out into a laughing fit.
“Oh, I totally forgot about you being here, Donovan. Sorry! Go on, Kate. Go to him. I’m fine.”
“Nah, that’s not what I had in mind.”
“No?”
Donovan shouted again, “No?”
Errin and Kate giggled when Errin rolled her eyes.
“We’re going to the living room, put some stupid show on, and we’ll watch it together. I promise I won’t say anything about you talking over people on TV. Come, let’s go.”
Kate stood from Errin’s bed and took Errin’s hands in hers to hoist her up. They walked out of her room, but Errin didn’t follow her into the living room. Kate peered over her shoulder and noticed Errin walking in the opposite direction to Kate’s room.
She figured she’d let them have their moment since they’d argued the last time Donovan was here. After finding some leftover chunky monkey in the bottom drawer of the freezer and a halfway empty bottle of white wine, she made herself comfortable on the couch. She placed the three glasses on the coffee table and poured herself and Errin some wine. She didn’t know if Donovan would join them, but she didn’t want him to feel left out, so she left him an empty glass in case he showed.
After swallowing the first gulp of wine, she overheard a snippet of Errin and Donovan’s conversation, and it was clear that her sister has recovered from her emotional breakdown and was acting more like her old self again.
“So, you mean to tell me you wanted my sister all this time, even when you went all asshole last week when you were here?”
“Look, Errin, I know you love your sister. I understand where you’re coming from, and I respect you even more for it. I deserved all the ass ripping you gave me that night and were probably still giving me when you talked to my family since then. I don’t expect you to understand why I backed out last time. Fuck. Nobody, not even Ronan, understood why I’d been such a dick. I made a huge mistake that night by not going with my gut.”
“And that is what exactly? From my end, it is all very clear. You’ve been nothing but a player since I’ve met you. And my sister is the nicest, sweetest person you’ll ever meet. But no matter how much we all love her for it, she’s often too sweet and too trusting. I don’t want her to get hurt. Just so we’re clear, I’ve told my brothers what happened last week, and Calum told me to ship him your balls via airmail.”
Although their talk embarrassed Kate immensely, she grinned because she knew Errin wasn’t joking. Her oldest brother would definitely say such a thing and maybe even mean it. He was super protective of his family, especially his sisters.
“I know. I spoke to him earlier this week,” Donovan said.
Now that was news to Kate. She’d talked to her brother yesterday, and he never told her. She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t help herself. She could put on the TV and let the noise drown out their voices, but she needed to get some answers too.
There was still this big elephant in the room, and Kate had chosen to ignore it. She was too wrapped up in Donovan to demand answers from him. He’d been so intense with her as he engulfed her with his kisses, caresses, nibbles, bites, swats, groans, and shouts. Hmmm.
She just didn’t want to be the one to prick their bubble today. But leave it to Errin to get to the heart of it all. “So, what are your intentions with my sister? Is she one of many? Or do you really want to be with her? Be careful with your answer. There is no coming back from this, and you know that we’ve got three older brothers who are waiting to beat your ass. And don’t forget Kayla, she’s the meanest of us all.”
Donovan chuckled but cleared his throat when Errin interrupted him. “Okay, but I’m dead serious. No taking back anything, you hear? If you do this, you do it right.”
She heard her bedsprings groan as Donovan must have moved from the bed. There were words spoken, but they had been said so quietly, she couldn’t make out the words, even when she strained to hear.
Hmmm. He must have known she was listening in. Now she had to ask him herself what his intentions were. But she didn’t want to know the answer, because really, who wanted to know up front that the best day of their entire life would be just that—one day but never repeated.