Bad Boys Do (Donovan Brothers Brewery 2)

“No,” she said weakly. She didn’t have the right, but she was still going to do it. Jamie wouldn’t thank her for it. If he ever spoke to her again, it would probably only be to yell at her, but that was okay. She could handle it.

That is, if she could ever manage getting out of the car.

She’d spent the whole weekend strategizing a more accelerated business plan for starting up her own company. Every list she made, every column she balanced added another ounce of certainty to her mind. She could do this. She would do this. Every cell inside her was coming alive with excitement.

If she could find one client, one person to work with at a seriously discounted rate, then she’d be on her way. One success would lead to another. She’d charge a little more each time. And pretty soon, her dreams would be real. Her fingertips tingled with the sensation that it was just within her reach.

But something was weighing down her happiness, and there was no doubt what it was. Every time she’d glimpsed the Donovan Brothers folder on her desktop, her heart had twitched.

So on Sunday night she’d set aside her own work and opened the Donovan folder again. She’d added her last-minute touches, the details she hadn’t quite finished. She’d had the menu laminated, and printed out the plans and mock-ups on glossy paper. And then she’d taken everything into the local copy place and had it professionally bound.

It was gorgeous. It deserved to be seen.

Olivia took a deep breath, picked up the portfolio and looked around the parking lot one last time.

It was just after eleven, and when Olivia walked into the brewery, there was only one person in the whole room. She sighed with relief when she realized he was someone she didn’t recognize.

“Good morning,” the young redheaded boy said. He couldn’t be more than twenty-one. He looked a lot younger.

“Hi.”

“Are you here for the tour? You’re a little early.”

“Oh, I… No. Is Eric Donovan here?”

“Sure. Want me to get him?”

Olivia managed a smile, but she felt it wobble. “That would be great. Thank you.” He was here. Oh, God, Eric was here, and she’d have to go through with this. The boy disappeared into the back, and Olivia had to stop herself from chasing after him to stop this.

“Calm down,” she whispered. She couldn’t present this to Eric Donovan as a proposal from a frantic psycho.

For the first time in her life, Olivia wished for beer, and the humor in that thought gave her the chance to catch her breath and calm her nerves. “Okay,” she whispered. And then the doors swung open.

If this was Eric Donovan, he looked nothing like his brother. He was dark haired and pale eyed, and the lines on his face marked him as a man who carried a lot on his broad shoulders.

“I’m Eric,” he said. “Can I help you?”

“Hi,” she thrust her hand at him. “I’m Olivia Bishop.”

Not even a glimmer of recognition crossed his face as he shook her hand. She told herself she wasn’t insulted.

“Do you have a moment? I wanted to speak to you about a proposal.”

The faint friendliness in his face disappeared in an instant, and Olivia winced. “You’re a vendor? I set aside time each week to meet with vendors. If you could—”

“No! I’m not a vendor. I’m… If you could just give me a moment to explain…”

He narrowed his eyes and studied her for a few seconds, then shrugged. “Fine. My office is in back.”

She followed him into the office she’d already seen once, then slipped into a chair before he could change his mind.

“What can I do for you, Ms. Bishop?”

“I…” She had to swallow hard to clear the nervousness from her voice. “I’m an instructor at the university. I teach classes on retail business. Restaurants and hospitality, to be specific.”

He inclined his head warily.

“I’ve been working with your brother, helping him develop some new ideas for the brewery.”