Waking Hearts Read Free Page B

don’t you run to Ted’s house and have her look at your cheek? Caleb can help at the bar. Dani’s station has cooled off, so she can help on the floor. We’ll take care of it.”
    He gave her a brittle laugh. “Organizing the world again, Allison?”
    Ollie was the only one who called her Allison anymore. Not since her mom died. And he hadn’t done it in months.
    She forced a smile past the burn of embarrassment and the memory of his jaw under her fingertips.
    “Well, you know me. That’s what I do. Can’t turn off the mom after fifteen years, you know?”
    “I guess not.”
    Damn men with their damn inscrutable expressions. Allie tried not to run back into the bar. She headed straight for the women’s restroom and leaned against the door, pressing her hands to hot cheeks.
    Get a grip, you idiot. Oliver Campbell is not for you.

Chapter Two

    “YOU’RE AN IDIOT.” TEODORA “TED” VASQUEZ slapped a bandage onto his cheek and shoved him out of the chair. “I’m tempted to tell Tía Maria how big an idiot you really are, but even I’m not that mean.”
    The last thing Ollie needed was his cousin tattling on him to his grandmother like they were still ten years old. He glared at Alex McCann, Ted’s husband, across the room. “A little help here?”
    “Sorry, man. I think you’re being an idiot too.”
    Ollie shook his head and tried to banish the memory of Allie’s soft hands on his chest. Her fingers brushing his jaw. With the bear riding him, pumped full of adrenaline and still pissed at that sorry little puke of an investment banker, he’d been seconds away from taking what he’d wanted for years.
    Years .
    “How long are you going to wait?” Alex was talking again.
    Ted was muttering under her breath in Spanish. She was family, but damn, the woman could be annoying as hell sometimes. She was best friends with the coy little fox, but Ollie knew she was also trustworthy.
    “She’s not even divorced yet.”
    “She filed six months ago,” Alex said.
    “But it’s not final.”
    “’Cause she can’t find the bastard!” Ted yelled. “You really think if Joe comes waltzing back into town she’s gonna give him the time of day?”
    “No.” He paused. “I don’t know. They have four kids and fifteen years together. She’s not the kind of woman who just dismisses that.”
    Ted froze. “I’m going to forget you said that so I don’t have to give you a matching bruise on your right cheek. After everything she’s found out about him? The drugs. The debt he piled up and left her with. Added to that the way he completely abandoned his kids? She’s done with him. Trust me. Done.”
    “Even if she is definitely done with Joe, I have no interest in being her rebound.”
    Ted froze and across the room Alex visibly winced.
    “What did you just say?”
    “Rebound.” He didn’t back down from her glare. “What do you think? She’s going to want to settle down with some asshole a year after her deadbeat husband left her? Yeah, I’m seeing that working out great.”
    “So you’re an asshole now?”
    “That’s not what I said.”
    “Yes, it is,” Ted said, ice dripping from her words. “You said ‘settle down with some asshole,’ implying that one, you’re an asshole, and two, she’d settle down with one again. I’m not talking about the bullshit you hear at your bar, Ollie. I’m not talking about some theoretical relationship between two people who just met. I’m talking about you . You and Allie. Two people who should have been together from the beginning if you hadn’t dragged your ass in high school and let Joe I’m-a-lazy-ass-who-can’t-be-bothered-to-take-care-of-my-family Russell sweep in and convince her he’d give her the moon and stars!”
    Alex bit his lip, clearly trying not to laugh. “That’s a long nickname, baby.”
    Ted shot a glare at her husband and turned back to Ollie, shaking her head. “You have no idea.”
    “No idea about what?”
    “How bad it