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

interactions around her.
    Other people glanced at her out of the corner of their eye and she wished she had thought to insist that LeeAnn join them, if only so she would have someone to talk to.
    Just then a short, balding man stepped around the group closest to Kylie and headed straight in her direction. He wore a soft-sided bag slung across his chest bandolier-style, and despite its dark color, his suit looked rumpled and worn.
    Then again, at this point, she welcomed conversation with almost anyone.
    “Miss Andrews?” he asked as he drew near.
    “Call me Kylie.” She gave him her best, customer-friendly smile.
    The toothy smile that flashed across his face in response made her take a half step back until her calves bumped against one of the chairs that edged the room. “Kylie, then. I have a question.”
    “A question? Um. Okay.”
    He swung the bag around and reached into it. Curious despite herself, Kylie leaned forward.
    “Could you give me a reaction to all the other women in Cole Grayson’s life?” He pulled a digital camera out of the bag and held it out so she could see the screen, his thumb already on the button to scroll through the images.
    Images of Cole, with woman after woman—many of them the same photos she had found in her online search months before.
    Some of them were fairly intimate, with Cole kissing the women, though none were as clearly sexual as the ones of him with Kylie on the beach. Those photos were there, too, along with several of the two of them from the concert.
    “Tell me for my readers, Kylie,” the reporter said. “Do you really think Cole Grayson has it in him to settle down?”
    She straightened her back. “Cole’s life before me is none of my business. I trust him to tell me about anyone important.”
    The man leaned closer, still scrolling through photos. “What about this woman?” he asked. “Has he told you about her?”
    Even as she pulled away from him, Kylie glanced down, despite herself. In the image on the screen in front of her, Cole sat in one of the concert-hall seats at Jimmy’s, head tilted back. He was smiling as a beautiful blond woman leaned down over him and kissed him on the temple.
    They looked happy.
    The camera superimposed a date over the picture.
    It was taken the day of the concert.
    That couldn’t be right.
    “No. No comment,” she said, remembering all the times she had heard her mother say the same thing.
    She should have recognized this guy’s type when she saw him.
    Or was it Cole’s type she should have recognized?
    Had trusting him—trusting herself—been a mistake?
    Her heart twisted inside her chest, but she drew a deep breath anyway, determined not to give the reporter any more ammunition to use against her. She smoothed her skirt and set the champagne glass on the seat of the nearest chair.
    “Please leave me alone now,” she said. She turned away, blinking rapidly to keep tears from falling. She had to find Cole. Maybe he could explain.
    “Sure you won’t comment?” the reporter asked from behind her.
    “Get away from me.” Without looking back, she walked away, surprised to realize that no one had noticed their conversation. Then again, the whole exchange had probably lasted less than a minute.
    Cole was still nowhere in sight, so Kylie headed down the nearest hallway. Voices drifted out from an office door standing ajar about halfway down.
    “You know I only do these things because I love you,” she heard a woman’s voice say.
    “I know. I love you, too.” Cole’s voice seemed to echo a bit as her vision swam in front of her.
    This couldn’t be happening.
    As quietly as she could, she stepped up to the opening between the door and frame and peered in.
    The blond woman from the photo she had just seen stood on her tiptoes, her arms wrapped around Cole. Shock hit Kylie like a physical blow, and she reeled backward as the couple in the small office moved apart enough to look into each other’s eyes.
    She had seen