Page 25 of One Weekend in Rio de Janeiro

Kate wasn’t sure how long they stood there and held each other, but when the attendant at the desk announced it was final boarding, Donovan finally released her and stepped back. This was the moment in every one of her books when the hero grabbed the heroine’s hand before she left, announced he refused to let her go and then kissed her senseless. It’s when he told her she wasn’t going anywhere and he loved her.

“You have to go,” Donovan whispered.

But you’re no heroine, Kate.

Pretending his words hadn’t completely devastated her, Kate nodded bravely. Then she turned away and walked toward the airline worker who scanned her boarding pass. After it beeped softly, Kate stepped up to the long hallway that led to the jetway. She paused, feeling Donovan’s eyes on her and, instead of looking back, she stood up straighter and forced herself to walk away from the best time she’d ever had.

And the man she was falling head over heels in love with.

???

Letting Kate go and watching her walk away was probably the hardest thing Donovan had ever done. He almost went after her twice, but the warning glare from the airline employee had him hesitating. Without a ticket, he didn’t want to push past and run down the jetway, yelling for Kate like a complete lunatic. In this day and age, he’d probably get arrested.

Instead, he let out a weary sigh and turned around to head to his gate.

The couple of hours he had to kill until his flight left were absolutely miserable. There were so many questions in his mind about how they could make it work when they lived so far apart. Ironically, he thought he’d wanted a long distance relationship. Until he met Kate and knew that would never satisfy him. He needed her all day, every day.

But before he could figure out the logistics of a future with her, or give her any false hope, he needed to destroy Kent Warren. And nothing was going to stop him from digging deep and finding out the asshole’s darkest secrets. Warren was going down. Donovan would make sure of it.

???

Later that week, Donovan met Jericho “Trip” Strong, Deacon “Thunder” Keller and Aidan “Vain” Wolf at a sports bar down the street from his apartment. Although Jericho and Deacon lived in upstate New York, they often came down to the city to visit. Aidan lived with his wife Kennedy in a loft that overlooked the Hudson River not too far away.

“Okay, spill it,” Jericho said and tipped his beer bottle in Donovan’s direction. He wore a Boston Red Sox cap—which was bold considering he was in Yankees territory—and he sported endless brightly-colored ink. “Why’re you moping?”

“Yeah, D. You’re acting like your fucking dog just died,” Deacon added, taking a sip of his fancy IPA. Jericho’s BFF sported even more tats, but he had a refined air and innate polish that made an interesting contradiction with his outer bad boy image. Probably because his family came from old money and possessed enough of it to buy half the city if they wanted. Too bad his parents were assholes.

Donovan glanced at Aidan who inclined his dark head. Aidan used to be the broodiest SOB he knew, but ever since he fell in love with Kennedy, he’d actually started to smile. Donovan had never even known the man had dimples before his woman came along and proved it.

“I’m not moping,” Donovan practically grunted. Okay, maybe I am. A little.

“Bullshit,” Aidan said, dragging a pretzel bite through a massive pile of mustard on his plate and popping it into his mouth.

Releasing a low breath, Donovan sat back in his chair. “Okay, you know how I went to Rio last weekend.”

“Yeah, what’s going on with Warren?” Jericho asked.

“They arrested him, right?” Aidan leaned forward, midnight blue eyes narrowing.

“They did. I hit pay dirt after breaking some encrypted files on his hard drive. Everything from bribes to shunting dirty money to politicians to attempted murder. I wouldn’t be surprised if they discover he had something to do with last year’s mysterious death of his number one competitor. The asshole was into all sorts of shady shit.”

“That’s how he made his billions,” Deacon stated dryly.

Donovan dropped his attention to his beer bottle and picked at the wet label. “There’s something else I didn’t tell you.”

“What?” Jericho asked.

“I met someone.”

“What?” Jericho and Deacon exclaimed at the same time while Aidan’s mouth edged up.

“No wonder you look miserable,” Aidan said with a low chuckle.

“We were on the same flight to Rio—the one that went down—and then got lost in the jungle, trying to escape Warren’s guys. We spent the weekend in Rio together and…” He raked a hand through his silky hair and frowned.

“Let me guess,” Deacon said, grinning. “Best weekend you ever had?”

Donovan nodded. “It doesn’t make sense, though. How can I fall for someone I’ve only known for such a short time?”

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