Bad Boys Do Read Online Free PDF Page B

he’d amped it up a notch, Jamie definitely felt slightly out of place among the sculptures and polished wood. Olivia, on the other hand, fit right in. She was elegant and cool and said all the right things as she made the introductions. The notes from the piano music seemed to float around her.
    But she’d been right about the party. It was boring, starting with the languid piano music that sounded as if it’d been designed to coax insomniacs to sleep. Time passed slowly. He answered the occasional question about his name and job—there never seemed to be a follow-up—and fantasized about putting his hands to her waist and pulling her in for a kiss. A long, deep kiss. He imagined that she would thaw slowly that first time. He’d have to coax it from her.
    Jamie hadn’t practiced his coaxing skills in a while, and he had to fight off the urge to stretch hard and crack his knuckles in anticipation.
    “The brewery, right?” someone was saying to him.
    Jamie blinked from his stupor to find a hulking man standing there with his wineglass held out like a pointer. An ex-football player if Jamie had ever seen one. “I’m sorry?”
    “You’re with the brewery, right? Donovan Brothers? I’m Todd. Been in there a few times. Good beer.”
    “Thank you.” Jamie introduced himself and found that, just as he’d suspected, the guy had been a power halfback at the U twenty years earlier. Jamie wasn’t much of an athlete. He’d played baseball for a couple of years in high school, but he’d never taken it too seriously. Still, knowing sports was part of his job, and he settled into a conversation about last year’s football season. He often wondered why these guys never got tired of the same subject. Surely Todd had already discussed last year’s season a thousand times over. Then again, Jamie never got tired of talking about beer. Maybe it was comforting to know you were an expert in something.
    They soon moved on to next year’s lineup, and Jamie’s mind wandered. How long had they been at the party? An hour? He searched the room for Olivia, trying to find her among the crowd, as he agreed with everything Todd said about the up-and-coming starting quarterback.
    When he finally found Olivia, she seemed to be in the same predicament. A tiny, ancient man had her cornered, and she nodded every few seconds even as her eyes glazed over.
    Jamie was just settling into listening to the story of Todd’s last big game when he noticed Olivia’s gaze sharpen. Her body stiffened. She shifted to the other foot. Jamie followed her gaze—straight over the top of her companion’s head. It took Jamie a moment to pick anyone out of the crowd, but he finally figured out who she was staring at.
    A couple had just stepped through the door. The man was tall and good-looking and enthusiastically shaking hands with everyone within his radius. The woman was blond, tan and very, very young.
    Olivia had turned away from them as if she was pretending to ignore them, but as Jamie watched, the man spotted Olivia, raised his eyebrows and headed toward her. He very purposefully took his date’s hand and guided her through the crowd, though he stopped every few feet to exchange words with other guests.
    When he got to Olivia, he pulled her into a hug as soon as she turned toward him. Olivia cringed.
    Interesting.
    Todd seemed to have wrapped up his story, so Jamie said, “Those were the glory days, huh?” then slapped Todd on the back. “Come by the brewery this weekend and I’ll buy you a beer.”
    He left Todd grinning with pride and headed toward one of the servers. Olivia’s wineglass was empty and she looked like she could use another. Just as he started toward her, she looked up and said something to the man as she gestured in Jamie’s direction. Surprise flickered briefly across the man’s face as he turned.
    “Victor,” she was saying when Jamie walked up. “This is Jamie Donovan. Jamie, this is Victor. And Allison.”
    “Great