Read Where Their Hearts Collide: Wardham Book #2 for Free Online Page A

bakery/coffee shop. Ten minutes after school drop off, fifteen minutes before the medical building and most businesses opened. A guaranteed line, and no privacy for Carrie to take advantage of to start a heavy conversation. Perfect.
    Karen wasn't in the mood to talk. She was unsettled. Had been for a few weeks. Since meeting Paul, in fact, but it wasn't him. It was the library, and her parents, and last night's brouhaha. But she wasn’t so confident in her still tenuous plan that she could justify it to her best friend—because she couldn’t trust Carrie to be supportive. 
    Surely it should be her choice if she didn't want to manage the grocery store. And as the daughter of the owners, she could ma ke a suggestion as to how to proceed with dealing with the loss of their manager. They could hire someone else, sure, but why not consider selling to a national chain? Her parents didn't need income any more. And the proceeds from the sale would help pad their nest egg a bit anyway.
    Everyone just needed to mind their own business.
    Because she could sense the meddling approaching. She didn't know what form it would take, but it was close. Carrie was the obvious person to address the common concern about the store’s fate. And she would, because their friendship could handle it, and she wouldn't want Karen to be blindsided by anyone else.
    So Karen knew it was coming. But she also wanted a coffee and a muffin. Tough choice.
    This weighed heavy on her mind as she stood in line. She wasn’t counting on the next person to step into the shop behind her to be wearing a uniform.
    Oh god . In running gear, he was hot. In jeans and a hoodie, he was cute.
    His pressed, dark blue uniform, complete with a Kevlar vest with POLICE printed on it, turned his lean length into something approaching a superhero’s physique. Tall, broad across the shoulders, narrow at the hips. The newfound troublemaker in her wanted to know where on his black utility belt his handcuffs were, but there was only so much staring at his waist that she could do without being weird. Besides, she needed to keep looking at the rest of him. Up and down, and all around. There was a lot to take in.             
    In his uniform, Paul was out of this world. Hot and cute didn’t begin to describe the pure masculinity that rolled off him. His expression was carefully neutral, but he’d blinked twice when he saw her and that was enough.
    She affected him.
    It should have felt like vindication, but it didn’t. Instead, the realization left her sad. Hollow. Because it didn’t matter.
    She pasted on a polite smile and murmured a generic greeting.
    He nodded, but didn't say anything. The line shuffled forward and she turned her back to him, pretending to examine the display of baked goods. Another reason to be grateful. If Carrie wasn't swamped at the counter, she'd have called foul on that action alone. Karen knew the complete line up of Bun's offerings inside and out. There was no need to peer at the muffins like she didn't know that the top row was Morning Glory, Raisin Bran and Oatmeal Banana, or the "breakfast offerings" as Carrie branded them.
    His voice, when he used it, was low and right behind her. "What's good?"
    She twisted enough to not be rude, but not so far that they'd share eye contact. Eye contact was not in the plan.
    "Everything," she whispered. "But you should get the raisin bran."
    "Why?"
    "Low fat."
    "You think I need to watch what I eat?" She could hear the smile in his voice and immediately regretted the plan. She really wanted to turn around. See that she amused him. Raise an eyebrow and point out without saying a word that she knew him. Let him wipe away her annoyance with a smirk and a wink.
    She settled for reminding him that she had his number. "I think you think you do."
    The bell chimed, and two more people joined the curving line. She shifted forward, but he moved more, and then he was in her personal space. And she could smell