“No, that’s not a bad thing. Kinda cute, actually.”
“Doesn’t feel cute. If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have eaten all of my breakfast and half of yours.”
Donovan reached for my hands, holding them on my thighs. “If you feel it coming back up, there are buckets on each side of the stage.”
“You serious?”
He shrugged, as if it was something normal that happened at these things. “Better to do it there than all over the audience.”
“That’s really helpful, thanks.”
“Speaking of helpful, I wanted to show you something.”
Before I could ask what, he squeezed my hands, pulled me out of the chair, and navigated us through the tent before stopping at the side of a whole lot of…nothing.
“You getting me alone so you can have your way with me?” I teased.
“If I knew we wouldn’t be ripped new assholes by Mira and the designer, I’d be tempted to. No, I wanted you to see this.” He lifted a small flap, and though there was a mesh screen, I could still clearly see the catwalk.
And all the rows of people around it.
“I’m not showing you this to stress you out,” he said, as if he could feel my pulse get faster. “You aren’t familiar with this design like the rest of us. We were able to walk it earlier.”
Donovan went through which wing I’d come out from, which side of the catwalk I’d walk first, since it forked in the middle, and where to stop and pose. Then he showed me a couple of ways to move so the photographers could get their shots before walking with me to show me the pace I’d need to go.
Fuck, what would I have done without him? He’d known what I needed before I’d even voiced it, and already I felt calmer.
He made me walk alone down a narrow strip of the tent out of the way of everyone else rushing around, and when I turned to head back in his direction, there was heat in his eyes.
“Daaamn,” he said, shaking his head as his gaze traveled over every inch of me. “If you don’t have people trying to storm the catwalk to get to you, I might die of shock.”
I scoffed, but then grinned. “You’re good for my ego.”
“I’m good for a lot of other, more interesting things. Want me to show you?”
“Yeah, I fuckin’ do. Think you can stop looking at me like that so I don’t get fired from my first show for indecent behavior?”
Donovan gave an exaggerated groan, closing the space between us. “I can’t promise I’ll stop looking,butI promise I won’t touch you. Yet.”
That promise had my cock way too interested, given where we were standing, and I cursed as I willed the damn thing to chill out. It didn’t seem to matter whether Donovan was touching me, kissing me, or even looking my way—my body took notice.
I wasn’t complaining, though. Not a bit.
“So you feel good?” he asked. “You feel ready?”
“As ready as I can be now, thanks to you.” I automatically leaned in to kiss him, but thank fuck he had the sense to move away at the last second, or it’d be back in the makeup chair for us. “Oh shit, sorry.”
“Save that for later.” A smirk crossed those sexy, shiny lips. “And not just for my mouth.”
There he went again, and that…thatwas evil. He knew just what to say to rile me up, but even more, to take my mind off what was about to happen.
The designer hurried toward me, throwing the jacket my way, and once I put it on, they did a quick circle around me, tugging and checking the fit. Once satisfied, they were off again, and I gave myself one last look in a mirror.
Assistants came through then, calling for places, and one of them led me to where I’d be in the first lineup, as well as where I’d go to change as soon as I finished the first walk. As luck would have it, Donovan was on the same wing as me, but he was several people ahead of me, since he’d be opening the show alongside a popular female model I probably should’ve known the name of.
As the music began to blare and lights flashed, Donovan glanced over his shoulder at me and blew a kiss. I grinned and winked back as adrenaline began to course through me. There was an almost tangible buzz backstage among the models that I could feel radiating off each one, and I soaked it in, letting that and the music hype me up.
And then Donovan was off, walking out to open the show to shouts and applause that made me jealous I wasn’t out there watching him. It felt like he was gone only seconds before he was back, running off to change, but shooting me a smile as he passed.