“I really didn’t come over to help you clean up,” he suddenly said.
She crossed her arms under her breasts, trepidation causing her backbone to straighten. “You didn’t?”
He shook his head, holding her stare. “I wanted to talk to you about something. Do you mind?” he asked, nodding toward her family room.
She sighed and opened the door all the way. She minded all right, but not because she was tired. Her fatigue had melted out of her during some point while Eric and she regarded each other silently, only to be replaced by a nervous sort of anticipation. He followed her down the hallway into her family room. She paused in front of the fireplace and turned to face him. “What is it?” she asked.
He nodded toward the couch. “Why don’t you sit down? You must be tired. You were on the move all night, and those heels don’t look very foot friendly.” She shifted self-consciously when she noticed his appreciative glance at her stiletto-clad feet.
“I’m fine standing,” she said, even though her feet ached like crazy. “What did you need to talk to me about?” she asked, not at all sure she wanted to hear his answer.
Eric studied her before he answered. Colleen was always beautiful, but tonight she looked sinful in an emerald-green dress and a pair of sexy, strappy black leather heels. He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off her legs all night. Or the bounce of her lush, golden hair…or her pink lips…or the way the clinging fabric of her dress emphasized the shape of her breasts, her hips, her…
He cleared his throat and took a step toward her, resting one of his hands on the mantel.
“I’m getting the impression our plan isn’t going to work,” he said.
“You’re not going to start lecturing me about Janice Tejada, are you? I’m not going to apologize for what I said to her. I’m a therapist. I have to rely on instinct, and my instinct told me at that moment I should say what I said.”
He raised one eyebrow. “But your instinct also tells you Liam and Natalie are rushing into things,” he pointed out.
“Your scheme isn’t going to work. Not because I disagree about Natalie and Liam being rash, but because—”
“It’s none of our business,” Eric finished for her, already having come to the same conclusion.
?
??Exactly.”
“Well, you can’t blame a big brother for trying,” he mused. His gaze skittered across a framed photo of a man with dark gold, close-clipped hair in military uniform.
“Darin?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You miss him a lot, don’t you?”
“Did you come over here to ask me about Darin?” she asked, a trifle impatiently.
“Maybe,” he admitted.
She gave him an exasperated glance, and he grinned. He’d grown accustomed to her irritation with him over the past week and a half. Maybe he’d grown used to it because her bouts of annoyance seemed increasingly just for show, and they both knew it. His attraction for her grew every second he spent with her. Colleen was like a drug. The more she let down her guard and showed him her vibrant spirit, the more he wanted to drown in it.
The truth was, they were getting used to each other. The truth was, Colleen liked him. It was time for him to push her, just a tad, into admitting that fact.
“Is Darin the reason you refuse to go out with me?”
Her expression flattened. Her clear, bluish-green eyes went huge in her face. Apparently he’d taken her by surprise.
Good.
“I wasn’t aware of the fact that you’d ever asked me out,” she blurted.
He glanced up at the ceiling, pretending to consider. “You’re right. Maybe I haven’t ever officially. I would have thought my intentions were clear, though.”
She made an incredulous sound.
“No?” he asked.