Bad Boys Do (Donovan Brothers Brewery 2)

“So I don’t want to hear about giving him a chance, Ms. Bishop. He’s had plenty, and I. Am. Done.”

Olivia blinked slowly and tried to think how to exit this place gracefully. Jamie had slept with someone else just two months before? And maybe more women since then. He’d told her it had been a year. He’d lied about something he hadn’t even needed to lie about. Why would he do that?

Eric frowned, his gaze slipping down to Olivia’s hands. She couldn’t feel them at all now.

“Um…” For the first time since she’d met him, Eric looked uncomfortable. He darted a worried look toward the door, then back to her. “I’m afraid I’ve… Perhaps I misunderstood the nature of your relationship with my brother.”

“No,” she managed.

“I shouldn’t have said what I did. I’m sorry. I hope you—”

She stood up so quickly that Eric jerked back.

“Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.” She started to reach for the portfolio, but when her fingers touched it, she paused, then drew her hand away. Jamie might be a lying, cheating asshole, but the plans for the brewery were his work. She left the portfolio where it was and stood straight. “It was nice to meet you,” she managed in a raspy voice.

“Listen—” he started, but she was already out the door, already rushing as quickly as she could down the hall.

It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.

“Olivia?” a woman’s voice said from behind her.

As Olivia pushed through the swinging doors, she glanced back to see Tessa Donovan watching her with complete confusion written on her face. Olivia didn’t respond, she just raced for the front door and the parking lot beyond.

Thank God she hadn’t fallen in love with him. She couldn’t handle being broken like that again. What had she done to deserve so many lies in her life?

She’d been the good girl, done the right things. She’d saved herself for love once and given in to passion the next time, and both had turned out the same way. With lies. And platitudes. And stupid, false reassurances that she was special and desirable and sexy.

Swiping tears from her eyes so she could see well enough to drive, Olivia started the car and pulled out. She drove deliberately, not speeding away, not trying to escape. She had nothing to escape from, after all. It was over with him.

It was over with all of them. She wasn’t getting involved again, not with anyone. In a few years, once she’d established her business and made her own dreams come true, maybe she’d think about dating again. After she had everything she wanted for herself, she’d consider seeing a nice man. Someone smart and shy. Someone who’d never offer sweet lies about other women just because the act of lying gave him some misguided thrill.

“I got what I wanted,” she said aloud, the words broken with tears. And she had. She just didn’t like feeling like a fool again. A stupid, blind, helpless fool.

Even though she was almost home, Olivia could no longer drive. She turned onto the very next street and pulled to the curb. One sob escaped her control, and then another. Olivia put her forehead to the steering wheel and let the tears come.

She’d wanted it to be special for Jamie, because it had been special for her. She’d wanted it to mean something to him, because for a few days, he’d meant the world to her.

And instead he’d taken her heart and—

But, no. No, Jamie hadn’t taken anything.

She swallowed another sob and shook her head. He hadn’t taken anything, because Olivia had given herself, and there was power in that. She was going to take that power and turn it into something amazing. She was going to emerge from this smarter and stronger.

But first she was going to cry like a baby and let herself mourn what she’d never had.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

THE TREES FLEW PAST HIM in a blur of cool green. Jamie steered around a sharp rock and balanced his weight on the balls of his feet as the bike dropped down a shallow ledge.

For a third time, he felt the vibration of the phone in his pack. For the third time, he ignored it. He was fifteen miles into a twenty-mile ride, and he’d come out here to not think about his family. Damned if he was going to invite them to join him. And who else could it be, calling over and over as if there was an emergency?

Shit. What if there was an emergency?

Jamie pushed on, splashing through a stream that tossed ice water against his legs. He popped over a disintegrating log and slid around a curve. A few yards later, the trail emerged from the trees into a wide turnout that seemed to hang in the air above the town. The sky went on forever above him, miles and miles of blue. Jamie propped his bike against a tree and dug the phone out. Three missed calls from Tessa. Before he could call her back, the phone buzzed again.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as he answered.

“Nothing,” she said. “What are you doing?”