Taming the Country Star: A Hometown Heroes Novella (Entangled Bliss) by Margo Bond Collins

to him.
    She was surprised to realize that it mattered to her, too.
    “Now…I think you’re right. We should start over.” She held out her hand across the table. “Hi. I’m Kylie Andrews. I really enjoyed your concert the other night.”
    Taking her fingers in his, Cole smiled. “Hi, Kylie,” he said, staring directly into her eyes. “I think I’m going to like getting to know you.”

Chapter Seven
    Night had fallen, and the baking heat of the sun abated a bit—though it never really cooled down at night in Texas. The streetlights made soft yellow circles on the red bricks paving the streets. “Walk you back to the store?” Cole offered.
    “Think you’ll need to wear your sunglasses and hat?”
    His soft chuckle floated through the air. “I think I can probably get by without them this time.”
    They walked in comfortable silence for a moment.
    “The photographers really freak me out.” Kylie’s voice was quiet.
    “Something to do with your dad?”
    She blinked at him in surprise. “It’s that easy to guess?”
    “Not until I saw the pictures in the store. But even I remember seeing him in the tabloids when I was a kid.”
    “It just about killed my mother. She was never the same after he left. And the worst part was that I think she missed being in the spotlight, at least a little.” Kylie shivered, despite the heat. “She spent way too much time staring at the pictures of him out with other women, even after he was gone.”
    “I meant it when I said you get used to it,” Cole said. “But it wasn’t the whole truth. You get used to watching for the photographers, running them off sometimes, posing for them sometimes. But you never get used to the way the reporters twist the truth.” He laughed again, but this time it was harsh. Scuffing his boot along the sidewalk, he sent a pebble skittering into the street. “You’re not the first woman to run when the tabloids showed up.”
    He reached out and took her hand in his own. Heat sparked between them and Kylie started. She rubbed her thumb across his palm, sending out tiny electric shocks through his entire system. When she glanced up at him, one corner of his mouth quirked up in a half smile.
    “You’re the first one I’ve ever come back after, though.”
    The only one I’ve ever cared about enough to try to find again.
    As they rounded the corner, Cowbelles’ white oval sign glowed from the darkness. Kylie slowed her step to match Cole’s as they approached the store.
    But she didn’t let go of him. That counted for something, right?
    Stopping beside the door, she leaned back against the wall and lifted their entwined fingers. He studied the way his darker skin contrasted with her own. The remains of the concert poster fluttered against her calves, matching the flutter of her skirt and drawing Cole’s attention to her long, shapely legs.
    “You know,” she said, “until I met you, I didn’t really pay attention to music. It was something in the background. And I didn’t pay attention to tabloids either.” She peeked up at him from beneath her lashes, and Cole’s breath caught.
    “Do you now?” he asked, giving in to the urge to move closer to her.
    “Do I what?” Her voice had gone breathy.
    “Pay attention?”
    “To you?”
    “Yes.” He was close enough now that his breath fluttered through her hair.
    “Yes,” she whispered.
    Cole wasn’t sure if she was answering his words or his actions, but suddenly he didn’t care. He reached down to cup her face and leaned in to kiss her.
    She didn’t move as he grasped her shoulders and pulled her in toward him.
    She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her as close as he could. The touch of her mouth was electric as he teased her lips open with his tongue.
    He felt, more than heard, a tiny moan escape her, and he deepened the kiss. She returned it with equal fervor, her lips moving feverishly against his. His breath caught in his throat. He had missed this so