Taming the Country Star: A Hometown Heroes Novella (Entangled Bliss) by Margo Bond Collins Read Free Book Online Page A

saying you take down all the posters?”
    “Maybe not quite so vehemently.”
    “Vehemently,” Cole echoed with a chuckle. “That’s one word for it.” He lifted a tattered poster remnant with the toe of his cowboy boot. “I don’t know that I’ve ever been quite so thoroughly defaced.”
    “Can we go now?” Something about his easygoing reaction to her poster desecration provoked equal parts embarrassment and attraction in Kylie. And his low laugh at her obvious discomfiture went straight to her abdomen, setting up a quiver that she quickly tried to smash back down.
    Cole followed as she crossed the brick-paved street and moved down the sidewalk, but he kept talking. “I don’t get it,” he said. “You rip my concert poster down outside your store, but inside you’ve got a whole display with my face all over it.”
    Kylie shrugged. “Your stuff sells. The concert poster doesn’t do me any good.”
    He narrowed his eyes at her. “Not necessarily true. A concert poster outside could bring customers in.”
    Her face burned. “I’m changing the subject now.”
    “Okay.” His voice was pleasantly bland, but it didn’t match the look in his eyes, dancing with amusement as they were.
    Air conditioning blasted out the door of Azteca when Cole reached around her to open it, contrasting with the heat of his arm brushing against hers.
    “We seat ourselves,” Kylie said. She waved at the owner, Benito, who was standing behind the dark-paneled bar, polishing a glass with a bar cloth. It was still early, so the restaurant was relatively deserted, but Kylie steered them toward a booth in a dark corner anyway.
    Benito tilted his chin toward her in response and draped the towel over his shoulder. Gathering menus from the wooden box attached to the end of the bar, he met them at the booth as they slid in.
    The old man leaned in and brushed a light kiss across Kylie’s cheek in greeting. “Hi, sweetheart,” he said. “How have you been?”
    “Hi, Benito. This is my…” She paused, searching for the right word. “Um. My…friend.” A flicker of recognition crossed Benito’s face, as if he were trying to place Cole’s face.
    “Nice to meet you, sir,” Cole said, holding his hand out to shake Benito’s.
    “I brought Cole here because he loves caldo de pescado, and yours is the best.”
    Cole’s gaze brightened. “I can’t believe you remember that,” he said. “I haven’t had it since…” His mouth hung open as he surveyed her. She knew he was about to say—that he hadn’t had it since Cozumel—but he finished vaguely, as if the awkward moment had never happened. “I can’t remember the last time I had it.”
    “Well, then,” Benito said, “I will make sure it is perfect for you, mija Kylie.”
    The endearment brought a smile to her face as she watched Benito head back to the kitchen.
    “I didn’t know you could get anything but standard Tex-Mex in the Stockyards,” Cole said. “At least, you couldn’t the last time I spent any time in Fort Worth.”
    “Azteca’s a bit of a local secret,” Kylie said.
    “So you lived here all your life?” Cole asked. “Did you ever want to leave?”
    “Not really. It’s home. And I like the idea of contributing. And I get the best of both worlds—I mean, Fort Worth’s a city, but the Stockyards District is more like a small town, and I’ve always been part of it, ever since Daddy rode the rodeo circuit.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Your ex—the one whose honeymoon I took—does he live here, too?”
    “Ugh. I thought this was a first date. I’m not sure that’s first-date material.”
    “Then think of it as background information. I only barely refrained from asking while we were on said honeymoon—I promised myself I would find out this time.” He sat back, looking at her expectantly.
    “Fine.” Tenting her hands in front of her, she chewed on her lip for a long moment before she spoke. “Tom and I grew up together. His father was a