Flibbertigibbet by Willa Okati

Author:Willa Okati [Okati, Willa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Erotic Romance Fiction
Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
Published: 2014-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

By seven o’ clock, Donovan had almost decided not to go to the marina gathering. Sounded like more of an aquatic family type of affair, and he was only an interloper. Not staying long. No sense in making friends if they’d drift out of his life in a couple of weeks. Not the friendliest outlook on life, but the most realistic.

By seven fifteen, he’d started to doubt himself. Someone had set up not far away with a guitar, and he could hear the low hum of pleasant chatter along with the easy, measured pace of a half-dozen residents ambling to and from their boats. Donovan had never known neighbors to do that. They locked their doors on the way out and hurried to work, then scurried home and locked themselves in. Not so, here.

And by holy sweet hell, did the first burger that landed on the grill smell good.

By seven thirty, Donovan was in the shower, wrestling with temperature controls, giving up, and coming out the fine raw pink of a half-boiled lobster. At least he was a clean lobster.

Seven forty-five, and he’d almost changed his mind again. He made garlic bread all the same, and by the grace of some small god, neither burned the bread nor torched the boat. He didn’t even blow a fuse.

Leaf turned up at seven fifty-eight.

He didn’t announce himself with bell or buzzer, or knock. Just popped his head around the open sliding door, lowered the sunglasses he’d chosen to wear for some reason that undoubtedly made sense to him, and whistled. “You scrub up nice, don’t you?”

Did he? Maybe Leaf liked lobsters. Donovan shrugged off the compliment, and with it the odd urge to blush and shuffle his feet. “I scrub up. That’s about it.”

Leaf leaned against the wall of the boat, his perpetual amusement showing as a twinkle in the eye as he shook his head. “You have no idea at all, do you?”

Donovan frowned at Leaf. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’ll keep, Cinderella. Cinderfella. Is this your coat? Well, it would be. It’s too big for Eve, and too small for Tanner.” Leaf shook out a light, navy blue windbreaker Donovan had unearthed and hung up to air. Still smelled a bit of smoke, though not too badly. Before Donovan knew what he meant to do, Leaf had draped the garment over his shoulders. “I would say your carriage awaits, but it’s foot traffic only tonight. Do feet count as carriages?”

Donovan cast a dubious look at Leaf’s size twelves. “Possibly so, yes.”

“Fantastic.” Leaf put his arm around Donovan’s shoulders without a please or thank you and shepherded him toward the dock side of the boat.

“I never said I’d go,” Donovan pointed out, trying—and failing—to drag his feet.

Leaf knuckle-rubbed the top of Donovan’s head. “You’re adorable.”

Well, at least now Donovan knew for sure he was thinking it, and—

Whoa.

Donovan stopped awkwardly between one step and the next, lips parting with surprise. While he’d been busy dithering and dilly-dallying inside Eve’s boat, the pier had undergone a transformation.

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