Brides on the Run (Books 1-4): Small-Town Romance Series

by Jami Albright

  She stepped to her left.

  Finally, after several shuffling moves, he got out of her way. She grabbed the money bag and her purse from the desk, then headed out the door. He followed with his mouth glued shut.

  He didn’t regret what had happened. He was just having a hard time putting words to what was going through his head. He heard once that if you weren’t a little embarrassed after having sex, then you weren’t doing it right. He guessed that was true if the heat crawling up his neck and the pink splotches on her cheeks were any indications, because that’d been world-class sex.

  His boots on the concrete floor boomed off the hallway walls, and the awkwardness between them multiplied with every step they took.

  “I hear it’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow.” She sounded like a cartoon character on crack.

  He scratched the back of his head. “Yep, should be nice.”

  “Yes. Yes, it should. Don’t you just love the sun?”

  He opened the back door and waited for her to pass through before him. He had no idea why she was discussing the weather with such enthusiasm. It was like she’d turned into a meteorological Stepford wife. “Um…sure.”

  “Mmmmm, me too.”

  Outside in the muggy Texas air, Hailey turned to him. “Thank you for walking me out, Beau. It was very nice of you.” The wattage of her smile threatened to short-circuit the blaring lights in the parking lot. Her lips said I’m a maniacally happy woman, but her eyes said I’m holding a live grenade, and I’m not afraid to pull the pin.

  Not sure how close she was to losing it, he played along. “You’re welcome.”

  She pulled on the hem of her shirt. “Well, I better be going. I have a lot to do tomorrow.”

  “In the sunshine?”

  Her overexaggerated laughter mixed with the crazy glint in her eyes was creepy as hell. “Yes, in the sunshine. Well…” She held out her hand like they were concluding a business deal. “Thank you, again.”

  He took it. “You’re welcome…again.”

  She pumped his arm twice, released it, and climbed into her car. A cloud of dust billowed behind her as she peeled out of the parking lot.

  He’d had some awkward post-sex experiences, including the chick who whipped out a DNA kit and asked if she could swab his cheek in case she was pregnant. And the woman who FaceTimed with her mother post-coitus and forced him to say hello to “Mommy.”

  But nothing compared to the last five minutes with Hailey.

  Shit.

  Chapter 22

  Sweat gathered between Hailey’s breasts and trickled down her spine. It was one of those ninety-degree fall days in Texas when a short-sleeved t-shirt and a ponytail would help her to stay cool. But she was strolling around downtown with a high-necked shirt and her heavy mane of curls hanging down her back and, more importantly, over her shoulder because she had to hide a hickey.

  She hadn’t had a hickey in…well, she couldn’t remember when, but whenever it was, she hated them then, and she hated them now. Fire scorched the underside of her skin. The heat stinging her neck and cheeks had nothing to do with her clothes or the temperature and everything to do with what had happened between her and Beau the night before. They’d not only had wild monkey sex, but she’d behaved like a raving imbecile afterward.

  A handshake, Hailey. Really?

  “Idiot.”

  “What’s that, dear?” Honey Jenkins asked.

  Crap, she hadn’t seen the woman walk up beside her. A quick hair adjustment to make sure it was covering her neck, then she plastered on a smile. “I’m sorry, Honey. I was talking to myself.”

  “Darlin’, you’re too young to start that.” She linked her arm through Hailey’s, and they continued walking.

  The contact was not unwanted, but it was unfamiliar. And a reminder that not everyone in Zachsville hated her. If Honey Jenkins, the biggest Zachsville Raiders fan around, could like her, then it gave her hope that her reputation was redeemable.

  “Some days I feel older than I look.” Hailey glanced at the floral arrangements in the Blooming Flowers window display.

  “I hear ya. Most days it takes an act of Congress to get me out of bed.” Honey laughed. “Where’re you headed?”

  “To The Emporium.” The Emporium was her friend Charlie’s shop, where she sold homemade soaps, lotions, and now hair care products. “I’m having my car serviced, and Lonnie said it could take three or four hours. I thought I’d go bug Charlie for a while.”

  Hailey didn’t believe for a second that it would take that long to service her car. For every Honey in town there was a Lonnie from Lonnie’s Tires and More. His nephew had played nose tackle on the team that lost the State Championship the year she got pregnant. He was one of Zachsville’s finest who never forgave her. For years she’d taken her business to Stemson’s Automotive in the next town over, but Syd Stemson had retired last year, making Lonnie the only game in town.

  “Charlie’s not at the store today. She’s at the doctor with Phoebe.”

  Concern made Hailey forget her troubles. “Is something wrong?”

  “No, it’s just her five-month checkup. Poor baby’s getting shots today.” Honey shook her head. “I tried to get her to let me go with her.”

  “I’m sure Phoebe will be fine.”

  “Oh, it’s not Phoebe I’m worried about. Hank’s going with them, and I’m not at all sure he can handle the shots.”

  They both laughed. It was true. The tough-as-nails lawman was a big ol’ softie when it came to his daughter.

  “So, Hailey. I heard you rocked Beau’s world last night.”

  “What?” Hailey’s tongue tried to retreat down her throat. Did Honey know about the monkey sex?

  Don’t be ridiculous, Hailey.

  “Scarlett told me how you saved the day for that boy by filling in for his backup singer. I also heard you were amazing.”

  Hailey momentarily forgot why her hair was down and looped one side behind her ear. “Well, that’s very nice of Scarlett to say.”

  “Oh, Scarlett’s not the only one who’s saying it. Well, I mean she did say you were great, but I’m talking about all the online buzz.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Honey pulled them to a stop and dug her phone from her purse. The older woman’s fingers moved over the screen like a teenager. Then she held the phone up to Hailey. “You two are all Shayla and Xavier are talking about today. And that video is hot as blue blazes, if you don’t mind me saying.”

  An Instagram photo was on the screen of Honey’s phone. Shayla and Xavier were in the crowd at Boon’s with the stage behind them. Both held a longneck bottle of beer into the air. The caption below it read,

  WE LOVE BEAU CALLEN!!!!! Check out our new favorite! See why we love him so much on our YouTube channel. Oh, and don’t miss the fantastic vocals of his backup singer. The two burn up the screen together. Swipe up for all the hotness!

  Hailey swiped the link, and it took her to the duo’s YouTube channel. The clip was titled The Heartbreaker and His Heartthrob. The video was of Beau singing his new single. On the chorus, he stepped back and leaned into her mic. The camera zoomed in and… Honey was right. The heat between them was absolutely undeniable. Sweet Moses, with his mouth only inches from hers and all kinds of sparks flashing between them, it was no wonder they’d gone at it like a couple of teenagers last night. Watching them now, she was surprised she hadn’t jumped him right there on the stage.

  She swallowed a groan and scrolled through the comments. Good Lord, it was barely ten in the morning and already there were millions of views and thousand of comments.

  Holy crap. It had to be about to go viral, which was all kinds of good for Beau and about the worst thing possible for her.

  People would see this, probably had already seen it.

  People she knew.

  People who despised her.

  There was no hiding from this.

  “What’s wrong, darlin’?” Honey asked.
“You’ve gone as white as a sheet.”

  “Um…nothing. I’m fine.” She wasn’t fine. She was most certainly not fine. “Honey, do you think you could give me a ride home?” She’d have to figure out a way to get back to her car later. Right now, she had a country music singer’s butt to kick.

  Beau slicked his wet hair from his face with both hands. The movement caused the towel around his waist to slip an inch. He rewrapped it and tucked the ends in tighter. The image staring back at him in the mirror didn’t look like a guy whose whole world had been flipped on its ass the previous night, but it sure as hell had.

  And he wasn’t talking about all the social media attention he was getting from the Shayla and Xavier video, though that was life changing too. No, it was his prickly, sexy-as-hell landlady and what’d happened between them. Now that he’d had a taste of her he wanted more, but that way lay a shitload of trouble.

  He could still feel her on him, around him, with him. She’d haunted his dreams, and that was bad. He had one dream, and he was so close to having it that he couldn’t afford to get distracted. He had to figure out a way to end something that should’ve never started. Hailey was his friend, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

  Bang. Bang. Bang.

  “Beau Callen, open this door.”

  Hailey. She was clearly fired up about something, and a fired-up Hailey was sexier than ever. Even through two inches of wood, her voice could set his blood to simmer.

  Not good.

  Get it together, Callen.

  The wrap around his hips slipped again. If he was going to have the this can’t happen conversation, he didn’t want to do it with only a towel between them. Too much temptation. “Hang on.” He made his way to the closet to grab a pair of shorts.

  Before he could pull a pair from the shelf, he heard a key being inserted into the lock, and Hailey stormed into the room. “I will not hang on.”

  “Hey, ever heard of privacy?”

  “Yeah, I have, Heartbreaker, and mine’s been violated.”

  He tightened the terrycloth. “What are you talking about?”

  She slid her thumb across her phone screen, tapped something with her finger, and shoved the device in his face. “This is what I’m talking about.”

  It was the video of them singing. “Oh, that. I’ve already seen it. Jack called this morning to tell me about it.” He made his way to the coffee pot. He needed caffeine. “Pretty cool, huh?”

  “No! It’s not pretty cool. It’s a disaster.” The shrill notes of her voice had him turning to face her.

  “Why are you so upset?”

  She held the phone up again like it would give him all the answers. “I’m in a YouTube video that has over eight million views and is going viral.”

  “Eight million views?” He plucked the phone from her hand and checked the numbers. Sure enough, over eight million views. “When I looked an hour ago, it only had a couple of million.” Forget the caffeine. This news was enough to keep him awake for days.

  She snatched her phone back from him. “That’s what you got from what I said.”

  “Well, yeah. Isn’t that what you were saying?”

  “No!”

  Correction. He did need caffeine if he was going to decipher what she was going on about. “Then what are you saying?”

  “I’m in the video too!”

  “Yeah, you sound great.”

  She took two steps toward him and poked her finger into his chest. “Everyone and their dog is going to see me up on that stage. The Instagram post talks about the heat between us and makes us sound like we’re having some torrid affair. It’s a total shit show, and it’s all your fault.”

  “How is this my fault? I didn’t make you get on stage.”

  “Because…you make me do crazy things.” Her wild whiskey eyes flashed with fire and fury. “Like get on stage and pretend to be a singer, and…this.” She flipped her hair back and pulled down the collar of her button-up shirt to expose the column of her neck. “I didn’t even try to stop you.”

  The hickey on her creamy skin glowed like a full moon in a pitch-black sky. The sight of that purple and blue bruise made him want to mark her again. Bad idea if the furious look on her face was any indication. So he stayed where he was and kept his mouth shut.

  His silence only made her madder. “You gave me a freakin’ hickey like a horny teenager!”

  Laughter tickled the back of his throat. He had no idea why he found this so funny, but he did. His teeth clamped down on the inside of his lip. If he smiled she’d whack off a body part, and he knew the one she’d go for first. He bit harder when the corners of his mouth began to twitch. But he couldn’t control the snort that he tried to disguise as a sneeze.

  “Are you laughing?”

  All he could do was shake his head. If he spoke, he’d lose the battle. Maybe he should go ahead and laugh. If she stayed angry with him, it would make it easier to tell her that what happened in her office couldn’t happen again. He released his lips, and the laughter rolled from his mouth. “You should see your face.”

  She crossed her arms and glared at him. “You think this is funny?”

  “Yes. I mean, no.” He wiped his eye with the heel of his hand. “What I mean is your reaction is a little funny. But I understand you being upset about the hickey, and I’m sorry. Why are you upset about the video though? You look incredible, and you sound even better.”

  That seemed to take the fight right out of her, and she dropped to the sofa. Her elbows went to her knees, and her head fell into one of her hands while the other still gripped the phone. “It’s just…everyone will see this.” She stared at her blank phone screen. “I guess I should be grateful they didn’t use my name.”

  Oh, shit. “You didn’t see the interview?”

  Her head jerked up so fast he was surprised she didn’t have whiplash. “What interview?”

  He took a cautious step away from her and rubbed his hand over his mouth. “The next video after the one of us singing is an interview. They asked me about you, and I told them your name and that you own Boon’s.”

  Her mouth hung open for several seconds before she found her voice. “Why didn’t you tell me they interviewed you?”

  “We…ah…we didn’t really discuss anything but the weather.” He ducked his head and looked at her through his lashes. “The sunshine is very nice today.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Very funny.” Her attention went to the interview. “It has almost as many views as us singing.”

  The dismay in her voice caused an ache beneath his breastbone. “They said some really nice things about the bar. And they thought you were great. They said we sounded perfect together.” Even to his own ears, those justifications sounded lame.

  “Oh, please. It wasn’t perfect.”

  Chills raced over his torso. The air conditioner was making the damp towel uncomfortable. “Do you mind if I put on some pants?”

  She flicked her hand at him with her gaze glued to the comments on YouTube. He moved to the closet and retrieved a pair of basketball shorts. “Nobody expected you to be perfect, Hailey. We were just grateful. You can be perfect next time.” He dropped the towel and got dressed behind the door. Once he was covered in something other than terrycloth, he made his way back to the sofa but stopped at the look on her face. “What?”

  She held a finger in the air and shook her head. “There’s not going to be a next time. That was a one-time shot, buddy, never to be repeated.”

  He sat on the other end of the sofa and stretched his arm along the back. “Oh, really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “What about the father–daughter dance?”

  “What about it?”

  He rested one ankle on the other knee. “When were you going to tell me you volunteered me as the entertainment, and how were you planning to convince me to do it, pro bono? I’m assuming it’s an unpaid gig.”

  She nodded and made a stran
gled sound in the back of her throat. “I… How do you know that?”

  “I saw your pal Marla in town and she told me how excited everyone was to hear me sing at the dance.” He shook his long bangs from his eyes. “She’s a real peach, by the way.”

  Hailey was making a meal of her lower lip. “Soon. I was going to ask you soon.” The warm, friendly expression on her face didn’t fool him at all. “And as for convincing you, I thought you’d do it for a good cause.” The last part of the sentence was said with no real conviction.

  “I’m a reasonable man. I’m sure we can work something out that would be mutually beneficial.” He stroked the stubble on his chin a few seconds longer than he had to, just to make her sweat. “I know.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, but she didn’t say a word.

  “I’ll perform at the dance if you continue to be my backup singer until I leave to go on tour. That’ll give me plenty of time to find a replacement.”

  She jumped to her feet. “That’s extortion.”

  “You should know.” The shit-eating grin might’ve been a mistake. It seemed to piss her off.

  Her arms went across her chest again. She turned her head to the side and stared out the window. “Fine.” The agreement slipped between barely parted lips.

  “Great. I’m glad we got that settled.”

  She nodded but didn’t look very happy.

  Now for the hard part. He stood and moved to stand in front of her. He respected her enough to look her in the eye when he cut things off between them. “One more thing.” His sick stomach knotted at what he was about to say, but this had to be done for both their sakes. He just hoped she understood. “Hailey, last night…”

  “Can never happen again,” he said, as she said, “Shouldn’t have happened.”

  They both chuckled, but it was the uncomfortable sound you hear when someone passes gas in church.

  “Thank God.” She straightened her collar and pulled her hair back over her shoulder. “That’s a relief. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

  The niggle of irritation worming its way around his gut was unexpected. This was exactly what he wanted, but the smile she flashed him annoyed the crap out of him. No idea why…probably because he thought he’d be the one ending it instead of it being a mutual decision.