Bad Boys Do (Donovan Brothers Brewery 2)

Jamie paced to the dining room table and put both his hands flat on the wood. His head dropped, the muscles in his neck standing sharp against the skin. “My brother had been working this deal for months. He didn’t want to involve me, but I insisted on coming to dinner with Roland Kendall.”

“Roland Kendall?” She tried to figure out how she knew the name.

“He’s a real bigwig. The owner of High West Air.”

Oh, right. He was a huge name in Colorado business. She waved an impatient hand.

“We struck a deal to become the sole provider of beer for High West. It was a big deal. Our biggest ever. It would get our beer into the hands of a national audience. And I wanted to be involved. Wanted to prove myself. So I went to dinner with Eric and Roland Kendall and the VP of High West…who just happened to be Kendall’s daughter.”

When her eyes widened, he laughed bitterly. “Yeah. Exactly. But I’m not an idiot. I’m honestly not. A few weeks later, she came into the brewery. Wanted to try some of the beer. I gave her the VIP treatment, of course.”

He laughed again, and goose bumps spread over Olivia’s skin at the sound. Bitterness sounded completely wrong coming from Jamie.

“By closing time, she said she was too drunk to drive. I was playing the part, you know? Friendly, helpful. I offered to give her a ride. That’s all I offered. In fact, I very pointedly said that I’d drive her car and take a taxi back to the brewery. She was all over me in the fucking car. What was I supposed to do? I pulled up to her place, and she asked me to walk her in….”

“And you had sex?”

“Yeah, we had sex. After I told her I wasn’t interested. Said I didn’t want to complicate things since we were going to have a working relationship. She didn’t like that at all. Monica is pretty. She’s rich. Used to getting what she wants. She said if I was going to be rude about it, maybe we shouldn’t have a working relationship at all.”

Olivia had told herself she was only listening so he’d get it over with and leave. There was nothing he could possibly say that would make a difference. But her frown edged from scorn to concern. “She said that?”

“Yeah. ‘What will my father say when he finds out I asked you to drive me home and you wouldn’t keep your hands off me?’”

When Olivia gasped, Jamie laughed that awful laugh again. “I realized I was going to ruin the deal. The damn irony almost killed me. It was all my brother had talked about for months. He insisted it was the future of the brewery. And this bitch was going to kick it aside like garbage if I didn’t stay. So I stayed.”

“Oh, Jamie…”

“I spent the night, and then I went home in the morning, and I’d ruined everything anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“Her father saw me leaving. But in the end, it didn’t matter. Because while Monica Kendall was, literally, fucking me over, her brother used my absence to break into the brewery in an attempt to steal credit card information.”

When Olivia’s forehead wrinkled in confusion, Jamie waved a hand. “It’s a long, screwed-up story. The deal fell through, and my brother had yet more proof that I was the ultimate fuckup.”

“He didn’t understand why you did it?”

“I didn’t tell him.”

“Why?” she cried.

“First of all, I didn’t particularly want to talk about it. Second, what could it possibly matter? Was Eric going to explain to her father that his little girl had forced me into her bed? No, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”

“It would’ve changed how your brother felt.”

“No, it’s going to take a lot more than that to change how he feels about me, but I’m doing it.”

“Jamie…” She didn’t know what to say. “I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have told you, either, but… That’s why I don’t count her, Olivia.”

She had no fight against this. She couldn’t stop herself from walking to him, putting her arms around him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Tears choked her voice at the thought of what that woman had done to him. “I’m so sorry.”

His arms were so warm when they curved around her back. He tucked his face against her hair and breathed in. “Don’t say it like she…like I… It would’ve been over and done if nobody had found out. I’m fine.”

But she wasn’t sure he was fine. He sounded more than angry. He sounded hurt.

“So, there hasn’t been anyone, Olivia. Not until you. And it did mean something to me. It does.”