Page 50 of Tangled With You

He drew in a deep breath. “No,” he said. “You’re not wrong.Except apparently we aren’t dating anymore. And I don’t think it had to do withyou, specifically, just the girl part of you. His ex-husband left him for awoman. He’s gun shy.”

Which was pretty damned annoying considering Trevor had beenpursuing Ollie with at least as much determination as Ollie had wished he’d hadthe balls to reciprocate.

“That must’ve been tough. Probably makes sense that he’s gunshy.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” Ollie frowned. “He told me he getspanic attacks. He lost his mom unexpectedly. I’ve never seen him have onebefore—Trev’s the most level guy I know. Steady and solid. But I saw one comingon today. And it kills me to know it was because of me.”

“But it wasn’t. It was because of his mom. And because his ex left him for a woman. None of that’s on you.”

“I know. But so what?”

“So fight for him.”

Ollie managed a sound that resembled a snort.

“Really?” Her brows rose. “That’s your response?”

Ollie groaned. “Can we just watch a movie now?”

“No,” she said, grabbing the remote and clicking off thetelevision.

“Dammit, Cee. You always do that.”

She grinned. “Nice we know each other so well, isn’t it?Which means you need to listen to me. About you, I have gee-gobs of wisdom.”

“Fine. Fine. Say whatever you want. Just say it and then bequiet so we can either watch a movie or go to sleep.”

“Get your ass over to his house and have it out with him.”

“I don’t think—”

“Shut up. He’s nervous, obviously. You need to convince himhe doesn’t need to be.”

“Doesn’t he?” Ollie asked. “Look what I did to you.”

She took his hand, then gave it a gentle squeeze. “I haven’tforgotten. But it’s different.”

“How?”

Her smile was as sweet as he’d ever seen. “You weren’t inlove with me.”

“I loved you.” He heard the defensiveness in his voice andhated himself.

“You did,” she agreed. “But you weren’t in love with me. Youloved me like you love Jamie. Or even Nikki. You would never have ended up witheither of them, even if Ryan and Damien had never come on the scene. And it’snot because we’re women. It’s because we’re not Trevor.”

Ollie could only stare at her. Everything she was saying wasabsolutely dead on.

Her brow furrowed. “What?”

“He’s my lobster.”

A wide smile lit her face. “Yeah, I think he is.”

Ollie drew in a breath as he took her hand and squeezed. “Ido love you.”

“I know. Why do you think I kept coming back? And I’m notgoing anywhere, okay? You’ll always beone of my best friends. But I’m fine right now. So go talk to him.”

“No way am I leaving you alone.”