Running After a Heartbreaker (Brides on the Run #4)

by Jami Albright

  She dropped her head to his shoulder. “Oh, my God.”

  Much like the night before, things escalated quickly. But unlike the night before, there was no frenzied race to the finish. He moved with deliberate strokes, meant to draw out every moan and cry.

  Blunt nails scraped the skin of his neck. “Oh, my…Beau…”

  With every roll of his hips, he wound them higher. But it wasn’t the pleasure of it all that had his head spinning. It was the emotions crashing around inside him. They weren’t part of the plan. This was supposed to be a fun game. A chance for them to blow off steam and get what they both wanted.

  What they didn’t want? Emotional entanglements. They’d both made that very clear, so he needed to get his head out of the hearts and flowers and back to how she felt wrapped around him.

  Her leg tightened around his hip. “More. Harder. Faster.”

  The hoarse, breathless command put his head back into the game. Over and over, he gave her everything she wanted until she cried out his name and hung like a ragdoll in his arms.

  His legs were none too stable, but he held them up by force of will. He lifted both her thighs and growled into her ear. “Hold on.”

  She did, plastering herself to him. More fevered, mind-blowing thrusts that made it hard to know where he ended and she began, and he found his release.

  He hoped like hell he hadn’t just lost his heart in the process.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Beau scrolled through the social media notifications on his phone, while he waited in Jack’s office at Honey Child Records. He hearted some of the comments on an Instagram post he’d made that morning. Photos of his bedhead always got a lot of responses. Being shirtless in a tangle of sheets probably didn’t hurt either.

  He smiled when he read a comment that suggested he’d gotten laid the night before and that was why his hair and bedding looked the way they did. If the commenter only knew that the woman he was sleeping with had a no-bed rule in place.

  Heat settled low in his belly. She’d wanted a wild, passionate fling and that’s what they’d had for the last month. He’d never had so much fun or wanted a woman more. They’d been sneaking around like a couple of teenagers, trying not to get caught and coming up with new and creative ways to be together. He rubbed his right thigh and the muscle he’d strained during one of their more inventive attempts. So not a teenager after all.

  Still, the rules grated, even though he knew she’d created the boundaries to keep things from getting too serious between them. If they were just screwin’ around then she couldn’t get hurt. He understood. All you had to do was spend five minutes in Hailey’s presence to know she was skittish as a feral cat.

  She was also amazing in every way, smart, capable, an incredible mother, and becoming more and more important to him with every day that passed. The ache that had been building since his first night with her pressed against his ribs. Maybe he should’ve set his own restrictions because he was in deeper with the smart-mouthed beauty than he’d ever intended. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say he was falling—

  His thoughts skidded to a stop.

  Blood hammered through his head.

  The phone slipped from his sweaty hand.

  A tidal wave of panic rose in him.

  No. He was not falling in love with the most unavailable woman in the world. He wouldn’t allow it. Not now, when the world was at his fingertips. If Clyde had taught him anything, it was that everything had to come second to a music career, especially in the beginning.

  “What the hell’s wrong with you?” Jack walked into his office and slapped Beau on the foot he had crossed over his knee. “You look like somebody kicked your dog.” He sat in his desk chair and pulled his phone from his pocket.

  Beau shoved his new emotional status to the back of his mind and pasted on the cockiest grin he possessed. “I’m good, just thinkin’.”

  Gavin came in and took the other chair. “You tell him yet?”

  Beau looked from one man to the other. “Tell me what? And where’s Luanne?”

  “She’s not feeling well today. But I’m going to FaceTime her when we tell you.” Jack hit a button on his phone.

  “Tell me what?”

  “Hey, baby.” Luanne’s picture came on the phone. “Did you tell him?”

  “No way, not without you,” Jack said.

  Beau gripped the arm of the chair. “If somebody doesn’t tell me something right this damn minute, I’m gonna lose it.”

  Gavin grinned. “You’re such a diva.”

  “Well, most award-nominated artists are,” Luanne said from the screen.

  “I’m not a… What?” He couldn’t have heard them correctly.

  “You’ve been nominated for the New Artist of the Year, by the Country Music Association,” Luanne squealed.

  He looked at all three smiling faces. “You’re shittin’ me.”

  Gavin slapped him on the leg. “Nope, we got the call this morning.”

  Beau leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and dropped his head in his hands.

  Did you hear that, Clyde?

  He could practically hear his grandfather’s cackling laugh. Shit, was he crying? He wiped under his eyes, and sure enough, his fingers were wet. He raised his head to Luanne on the phone screen. “Thank you.” He looked at Jack and Gavin. “Thanks all of you.”

  “It’s all you, buddy,” Jack said. “Lou, are you staying on while we discuss the details?”

  “No, I’m going to take a rest and see if I can feel better. That place will fall apart if I’m gone for too long. Love you.”

  “Love you, baby.”

  Beau couldn’t have washed the grin off his face if someone paid him. “What details?”

  “First, there’s something else we need to tell you,” Jack said.

  “There’s more?” He didn’t know if he could take any more surprises.

  “The CMA wants all the New Artist nominees to perform at the awards,” Gavin said.

  “What…are you serious?” It was official. He was going to have a heart attack.

  Jack grinned. “You going to be okay?”

  “I don’t think so.” He couldn’t wait to tell Hailey. He refused to examine his overwhelming desire to run straight to her and tell her the big news. “Do they want the whole band or just me?”

  Jack shuffled through some papers. “The whole band.”

  “Then we might have a problem.”

  “What could possibly be the problem?” Gavin asked.

  Beau slicked his hair from his face. “We’ll need a backup singer. There’s no way Hailey will get up in front of millions of people.”

  Jack folded his arms on his desk. “You’re not even going to ask her?”

  “Of course I’ll ask her, but I’ll be shocked if she says yes. I’m going to have a hard enough time getting her to go to the awards show with me.” He glanced from Jack to Gavin. “I do get a plus one, don’t I?”

  “Yes,” Jack said. “Ask her, and if she won’t do it, we’ll get someone for one night.”

  “When is it?”

  Jack consulted a printout. “The Sunday after Thanksgiving.” He handed Beau the paper. “Those are the other nominees.”

  Beau read over the list. “This is unbelievable.”

  Gavin shoved his shoulder. “It’s real, man, and well deserved.”

  “Thanks.” Crap, his eyes were stinging again.

  “One more thing.” Jack handed him another printout. “We hired a PR team. They want a meeting with us the week before the awards, so we’ll have to go to Nashville for a few days.”

  Beau scanned the information. “Okay, what are the dates?”

  “The twelfth through the fifteenth. I’m setting up some other meetings for us, things having to do with the tour. Also, I’ve got a management team I’m hoping we can work with. Marissa Day and Clay Everson of Everson, Day Productions. There’s also some interest from other artists wanting to coll
aborate with you.”

  “Like who?”

  Jack nodded his head. “Everything’s on that sheet.”

  The neatly printed names had to be a mistake. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  Several of the people were some of his idols. He blew out a deep breath and tried to act like he wasn’t as starstruck as he was. “Sounds good. Those dates work. I just have to be back by the sixteenth.”

  “I heard about your gig at the elementary school,” Gavin said.

  Beau chuckled. “What can I say? We can’t all be a big-time star like me.”

  “Alright. Get out of here and go talk to Hailey.” Jack rose and extended his hand.

  Beau ignored it and went around the desk to hug him. “Thank you…for everything.”

  Jack squeezed him back. “You’re welcome, man.”

  “If you girls are done, I have one more thing I’d like to say.” Gavin stood and dug in his pocket, withdrawing a set of keys. “You know I’ve cut my tour schedule way back. And now I’m flying to most of my gigs. These are the keys to my tour bus.” He dangled them from his finger. “It’s yours if you want it.”

  Beau didn’t think about what he was doing. He charged Gavin and wrapped him in a hug too. “Thank you.”

  Gavin gave him a slap on the back. “An award-nominated artist shouldn’t have to tour in a rented RV.”

  Beau snatched the keys from Gavin’s hand before the man had a chance to change his mind. “I’m going to celebrate with Hailey and Lottie. If you want to join us, we’ll probably be at the Chuck E. Cheese in Austin.”

  They laughed, and he left thinking life was pretty damn good.

  Well, except for the small issue of him being in love with Hailey, but he’d think about that tomorrow.

  Today was for celebrating.

  “How much?” Hailey couldn’t possibly have heard the walk-in cooler repairman correctly.

  “Three thousand dollars.” The guy wiped his hands on a rag he pulled from his back pocket. “This unit is so old that we have to special order the part. Honestly, you need a whole new cooler. But I can probably buy you a little more time with this one with the right part.”

  She did a quick calculation. Something would have to not get paid to make this work. “Order the part.”

  “I can have it here tomorrow.” He handed her the invoice to sign.

  “Fine.” She scrawled her name across the line marked with an X.

  “See ya tomorrow.” He took the paper and had the audacity to whistle as he made his way to the door.

  She glanced down at her copy of the bill. The sum mocked her with all its zeros. This was going to take some creative accounting to manage. Beau playing at Boon’s every weekend should be her saving grace, and it would be if everything would stop breaking. She barely got one thing fixed before the next stopped working.

  Having Beau play was drawing more customers, but more people meant more staff and higher liquor cost. With all the extra expenses, she was barely staying afloat. Not to mention the added pressure of the deadline to make Boon’s profitable. It was like her father’s ultimatum was a giant chomping head, like in that video game, and she was a confused ghost thingy scrambling and running for her life.

  The silence of the empty bar pressed in on her. For the last ten years, this honky-tonk had been her safe place, where she hid from the ugliness of the world and her problems. But lately, no matter how hard she tried to nestle into the comfort of Boon’s, she didn’t seem to fit. It pinched and squeezed her, like tight shackles looped around her body.

  That wasn’t completely true. She fit perfectly fine on the nights she performed with Beau. A bunch of giddy hummingbirds flapped through her belly at the thought of singing with him, hell, just being with him. She didn’t know when she’d had more fun.

  Fun? What does fun have to do with anything, Hailey?

  Life wasn’t fun. It was hard work and sacrifice. Her mom had proven that over and over, and now it was her turn. And to do that she needed to figure out how to pay her bills this month and stop throwing herself the mother of all pity parties.

  And she would stop…in a bit. Okay, maybe in an hour or two.

  It’d really been a bad day. Besides the janky walk-in cooler, Marla had called to pepper her with questions about the father–daughter dance. Then she’d had a run-in with Derek. All she wanted was for him to make an effort and invite Lottie to the dance so that she would feel special. He’d given her a bunch of bullshit excuses, but in the end, had agreed.

  Thank God he’d cooperated, or kidnapping him and dragging him there was her next tactic. Lottie had a surprise for him, and her clueless father wasn’t going to ruin the night for her.

  As long as she lived, she’d never forget Lottie’s face when Beau suggested she sing a song with him at the dance. She’d said no, but after a little coaxing from the persistent man, she had agreed. Apparently, neither Hailey nor her daughter were immune to the man’s charms.

  “Buy you a drink, pretty lady?”

  As low as she was, just the sound of Beau’s voice lifted her spirits. “Make it ten, and you’re on.”

  He sidled up beside the bar stool where she was sitting and knocked his shoulder against hers. “That bad, huh?”

  She wasn’t going to burden him with her problems, but she wouldn’t lie either. “The usual—Derek, Marla, and now the walk-in cooler is on the fritz. Good news is that it can be fixed.”

  “How much is it?”

  “A lot.”

  “How much?”

  She slid from the bar stool and faced him. “We’ve been over this. I’m not taking your money.” She appreciated it, but that was a firm line she wouldn’t cross.

  He chuckled. “Fine.”

  “Just like that?” He didn’t usually give up so easily.

  His big, warm laugh filled the empty room. “Just like that.”

  Something was up. His cheeks were flushed and he practically vibrated with excitement. “Why are you so chipper?” For a moment, uncertainty played across his face like he wasn’t sure he should say anything. “Tell me, especially if it’s good news. I could use it.”

  “I’ve been nominated for the New Artist of the Year by the Country Music Association!” It came out in a rush of joy and disbelief.

  “What?” She launched herself at him and he caught her without hesitation. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard in a long time.” She peppered his face with kisses. “I’m so happy for you.” And she was ninety-nine percent happy for him. She stomped down the one percent that wondered why things couldn’t go her way just once.

  “That’s not all.”

  “There’s more?” His grin was infectious, and she found her lips turning up in response.

  “They want all the New Artist nominees to perform on the show.”

  Her pulse pounded in her ears, her throat began to constrict, and the grin slipped from her face. “You know I’m not going to do that, right?”

  He kissed her hard and fast. “Don’t worry, we’ve got it covered. But I would like you to go with me. It would only be for one night, two at the most.”

  “Absolutely. Give me the dates, and I’ll get everything set up. It’ll be fun.”

  “Just like that?’

  She threw her arms around his neck. “Just like that.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Mom, are you sure Dad said he’d meet us here?” Lottie adjusted the sparkly headband holding back her black curls.

  Hailey glanced around the elementary school gymnasium. “Yes, honey, but we’re early.” She rechecked her list on the clipboard she held. She’d been at the gym most of the day setting up, but there were always last-minute things to be done. “I need to check with Rusty and make sure he has everything he needs for when Beau gets here.”

  A smile broke out on Lottie’s face like a Texas sunrise, and she leaned forward with her hand to her mouth. “I can’t wait to see everyone’s face when I sing with him.” She
rolled her eyes. “They all think I’m lying.”

  Pain shot through Hailey’s chest. She knew some of that was because of Piper and some was because of her reputation. She bent and took Lottie’s face in her hands. “You’ll have to ask them how crow tastes after you and Beau kill it tonight.”

  “And you. You’re singing with us, right?”

  She’d been so busy with the preparations for the dance that she hadn’t had time to worry about getting up on stage, until now. “Yep. I’ll be there.” Who sucked all the air out of the room? The swooshing of her overactive pulse roared in her ears. Was she really about to do this? She glanced at her nine-year-old, who looked cool as a cucumber. Whatever she had, Hailey wanted. “Are you nervous?”

  Lottie shook her head. “No. Beau told me I sing like an angel, and he wouldn’t tell me that if it weren’t true. Beau doesn’t lie, Mom.” The duh was implied.

  The certainty in her daughter’s voice formed a ball of emotion in Hailey’s throat. Beau hadn’t lied, yet. But she knew all too well how people you thought would never disappoint you eventually did. “I’ve told you that you sing like an angel since you first sang your ABCs.”

  Lottie played with the streamers hanging from the refreshment table that was quickly filling with cookies and cakes. “Yeah, but you’re my mom. You have to say that.”

  Hailey laughed. “I don’t have to say it. I say it because it’s true.” She bent and kissed Lottie’s head. “I need to go check with Rusty about the sound. Do you want to come with me?”

  “No, I’ll wait here for Dad.”

  “Okay. Be back in a second. Watch for Beau too and send him my way when he gets here.”

  “Alright.”

  Hailey made her way to the soundboard. “Thanks for doing this, Rusty.”

  The portly older man tore off strips of duct tape and stuck them to the edge of the soundboard. “No problem, Hailey. I like to be where the pretty people are.” He gave her the once-over. “Speaking of which, good Lord, but you are gorgeous, woman.”

  Hailey laughed. “You need to get out more.” Her phone rang before the older guy could answer. “Excuse me.” She stepped away and swiped the screen. “Hey, Luanne. How are you feeling?”