“That just might work,” Colleen had to concede. “Tony Tejada has been friends with Marc forever. Now he works closely with Liam at the Municipal Building. Tony went to bat for Liam, recommending him to the city council to fill the police chief position,” she mused. Tony Tejada was Harbor Town’s mayor, a friendly, well-liked man who, rumor had it, had spent more time and energy on his job than on his marriage.
“And I work on the surgical unit with Janice,” Eric said, referring to Tony’s ex-wife.
“I’ve been friends with Ellen Rappoport since we were in braces,” Colleen continued, referring to half of the other couple Eric had mentioned. “Although I’ve never liked that husband of hers,” she added pointedly.
“I’m not taking sides here. Cody and I are more acquaintances than friends. Natalie does Cody’s taxes, and we occasionally trained for a marathon together two years ago.”
“Well, he’s a louse,” Colleen stated, wanting to make her opinion clear. “He broke Ellen’s heart with his womanizing, and that doesn’t even take into account how Ellen’s kids must be suffering. She took such a big chance in marrying him, and he swore he’d always be a father to her children, even though they were from her former marriage. He adopted them, for goodness’ sake. I can’t imagine how much Ellen and the kids must be hurting.”
“Cody wasn’t necessarily womanizing. He behaved stupidly with an old high-school sweetheart at a conference. Once.”
“How can you defend him?”
Eric looked alarmed. “I’m not condoning his bad behavior. He was a fool, pure and simple. Even you have to admit, though, Cody represents our point pretty damn well.”
She took an aggressive step toward him. “If you’re implying my brother is even remotely like Cody Rappoport—”
“I’m not. I just meant that Cody and Ellen should have been a little more cautious about diving into marriage, especially with two innocent kids involved. I’m sure Ellen agrees with me, and likely Cody does, too.”
She eyed him suspiciously, deciding he looked sufficiently contrite for his semidefense of a slimeball.
“All right,” she mumbled. “All four of those people might realistically be on our separate lists, even if we weren’t attempting this silly plan.”
“It’s just a reality check,” Eric reminded her, his voice low and compelling. She glanced up into his eyes and wished she hadn’t. She couldn’t seem to look away. “You know…to remind our siblings that passion can cloud the brain.”
“Oh, yes. Because we all should be as rational and clearheaded as you,” Colleen replied under her breath.
“What’s that?” he asked, dipping his head toward her as though to hear her better.
“Nothing,” she muttered, because much to her shock his face was now only inches away from hers, and those eyes she’d formerly designated
as the bedroom variety were latched on to her mouth.
“Mind if I ask you a question?” She watched his firm, shapely lips moving as if in a trance.
“Okay,” she murmured.
“Sixteen months ago I kissed you, and a few months later, you slugged me in the jaw in the parking lot at Jake’s Place.”
Her mouth fell open, but she didn’t utter a word. She didn’t know what shocked her more: the fact that Eric had brought up that kiss on Sunset Beach again or his reference to her impassioned, impulsive slug to his jaw last summer…or possibly the fact that said sexy jaw was now hovering mere inches away from her upturned face.
“I…I’ve never apologized for that. I’m really sorry,” she whispered.
Just thinking about it mortified her. It’d been a hot, sultry night, and Eric had got into a confrontation with her brothers, Liam and Marc. Old emotions regarding the crash had boiled to the surface. Colleen had made a fool of herself by stopping the fight by jumping in front of her brothers and punching Eric herself.
Not one of her finer moments.
Eric and she were the only two people on the entire planet who knew that impulsive act, in large part, related to what had occurred on Sunset Beach months before. That physical action was an admission, in a sense, that Eric had gotten to her, and he must know it. Colleen hadn’t realized until that moment how much a secret tied you to another person. She struggled to think up an excuse for her volatile behavior that summer night.
“We Kavanaughs are rather…protective of one another. You know how family can be,” she said apologetically.
“I do,” he said in a hushed tone. “But I didn’t bring it up because I was looking for an apology.”
“No?”
He shook his head slowly. She couldn’t pull her gaze off the firm, shapely lips centered above the indentation of that cleft on his chin. “I brought it up because I wanted to ask you something…something I’ve wondered about.”
She stood frozen to the spot, even though she knew she should back away.