Page 13 of Love on the Run

“Please, please, please,” she begged.

“I’m not committing myself to anything you want.” He clicked random buttons on the keyboard. “I’m busy.”

“I need you to go with Anna on her honeymoon,” Olivia said quickly.

Ha! That was the worst idea he’d ever heard.

“Not a chance. Now get out.”

“Beau Lawrence, I have not been doing random acts of kindness for you your entire life for no reason. I need your help right now, and you’re going to listen to me.”

“Sounds like that’s your problem, not mine. I didn’t ask you to bring me lunch every day.”

Olivia slapped her hand on his desk again. “I’m serious! Beau, Anna needs this. She’s been so excited for this trip?—”

“Her honeymoon? Yeah, I can imagine why she was excited about that.”

“Her loser fiancé just cheated on her. She needs something to cheer her up.”

“Then go on a girls’ trip. Have fun. The door is that way.” He pointed toward the exit and unpaused the video he’d been pretending to watch.

Olivia continued to stare as if she could burn a hole through him with her laser beam eyes. “I can’t go. Neither can Hadley, Lyric, or Bella. Anna needs to get away from her mom for a minute, andyouneed to take a break.”

“Why would I need a break?”

“Because you workall the time.”

“So? Why don’t you mind your own business?”

Olivia scoffed. “That’s no fun. Who would take care of you?”

A retort sat on the tip of Beau’s tongue, but heswallowed it back. Ever since their mom died, Olivia had treated him like a child. At first, it didn’t bother him, and he assumed it was one of the ways she was coping with Mom’s death.

As time went on, Olivia kept doing things for him. She brought him food, stopped by the apartment where he lived in the back of the garage to make sure he wasn’t growing mold on any food he’d forgotten to throw away, made sure he visited the dentist for a cleaning twice a year, and cut his hair every few weeks.

He’d thought about asking her to stop multiple times, but he always chickened out, worrying she’d think she wasn’t needed and have a breakdown over losing their mom.

He let her walk around in his life because he thought she was lonely. Now, she was married to Dawson, and there wasn’t any reason for her to be checking up on him.

“Liv, I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I’m a grown man. I own a business. I pay my taxes. I even wash my own clothes. I’m grown. You can stop worrying about me.”

Funny, he’d been worrying about her for years, but she’d been doing the same for him. Maybe he should have taken her up on that family therapy session years ago.

“You’re all alone,” Olivia said.

“Happily. I like being alone.”

“Well, then you can go on this trip with Anna. You two can be alone together.”

Beau replayed her words, but they still didn’t make sense. “Huh?”

“Just trust me on this one. The guys are more than capable of handling the business while you’re gone, and Anna can go on her trip.”

“She can go by herself.”

Olivia propped her hand on her hip. “Do you know how dangerous it is for women to travel alone?”

Hmm. She had him there. People tended to clear a path and look away when he walked down the street. Fear wasn’t something he understood. The realization that Anna might feel better just having him around was unsettling.

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