If I Can't Have You (If You Come Back To Me #3) (6 page)

“I agree,” Eric said.

She nodded once firmly, despite her doubtful expression. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Let’s have lunch tomorrow,” he declared when she started to walk out of his office.

“Why?”
she asked, spinning around.

“To plan the engagement party. And, of course, how we implement our ideas for promoting careful consideration instead of impulsive haste with Natalie and Liam.”

Her eyes flickered over him warily.

“What’s bothering you?” he asked.

“Nothing. It’s just…I had no idea you were such a cynic when it came to the idea of true love, Reyes. I suppose I should have suspected it.”

“I like to think of myself as a realist, not a cynic. Besides, you’ve admitted you agreed about this. Committing to another person for a lifetime requires some serious contemplation. There’s no such thing as love at first sight. Right?”

“Of course not,” she said, bristling.

“So, what’s your excuse?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your excuse for being a cynic when it comes to hasty marriage?”

A shadow fell over her features, and he immediately regretted his words. He’d just been trying to get to know her better. Instead, he’d unintentionally struck a bad chord, Eric realized. Colleen had been burned by romance in the past. Maybe she was still sensitive because her husband, Darin Sinclair, had been killed in action.

“I am not a cynic,” she said stiffly. “I just think Liam and Natalie need more time to make sure this is what they truly want.”

He struggled to get back on the right track again. “So, we’re on for tomorrow at lunch?”

“All right. I guess that’ll work,” she said. He lowered his hands and sat forward in his chair when he noticed her further hesitation.

“What is it, Colleen?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just…are you certain Brendan will be okay?”

He exhaled slowly to give himself a few seconds. Seeing Colleen vulnerable wasn’t something he was used to, so he hadn’t adequately prepared himself for the experience.

“He’s not just going to be okay,” he said. “He’s going to be great. I’m even more confident in saying that now that I’ve seen how well the tissue cleaned up. I know you won’t take my word for it, but time will prove my case.”

A smile flickered across her lips; just the hint of it had him longing to see its full, blazing glory.

“I do trust you…about Brendan,” she added softly before she walked out of his office.

Eric leaned back again and brought up his feet on his desk, his gaze fixed on the door that had just closed behind her. He’d told her he hated liars, and it’d been the truth. Eric didn’t like subterfuge and was only planning a few reality checks in the midst of these wedding plans because he cared about Natalie so much. Other than that, he’d do everything in his power to give his little sister a wedding that would make every woman in Harbor County green with envy.

Despite the fact that he disapproved of Natalie’s quick wedding plans, he found himself anticipating having a good excuse to spend time with Colleen. He didn’t think that qualified him as a liar, necessarily, because he hadn’t revealed that morsel of information to her. If he had, she wouldn’t have consented to work with him on the wedding in a million years.

There was something about Colleen. He wanted her, and it was stupid to deny it. He considered himself to be too levelheaded to give in to the Kavanaugh-inspired hysteria that seemed to have affected his friend Mari along with Natalie. He liked women, though…some more than others. Colleen appealed to him.

A lot.

She was a challenge, and he always rose to a challenge, no matter how long he had to wait or how much planning was involved. Given the door of opportunity that had just opened before him, he couldn’t pass up the chance to get closer to the stubborn, gorgeous woman who had just stalked out of his office.

Chapter Three

C
olleen watched her son hobbling down the hospital hallway on crutches, chattering the whole time with the young man who was his physical therapist. After the surgery, he’d been fatigued. This morning Brendan was energetic, curious about the goings-on in the hospital, and asking Colleen, his grandmother, the nurses and Eric every question a healthy twelve-year-old boy could concoct in his active brain.

Brigit had brought Colleen’s daughter, Jenny, to visit her brother before school. It’d been the best kind of maternal medicine in the world to hear her two children conversing animatedly or asking the nurse funny questions about the use of this or that piece of medical equipment or mutually grossing out when they received an honest answer. Colleen was so relieved to see Brendan’s returned vibrancy it was like a physical weight had lifted off her.

Her relief didn’t seem to be preventing her from experiencing a nervous, fluttery feeling that had been mounting every hour as their lunchtime meeting approached.

Ridiculous
.

“I’ve made a to-do list,” Eric said from behind her. Colleen started, his presence taking her by surprise and jangling her already rattled nerves. “Since I haven’t got the slightest idea how to plan for an engagement party, let alone a wedding, I never really got past the title on the page.”

Colleen regarded the man who was responsible for the butterflies in her belly. He’d left his lab coat in the office and was wearing a pair of dark blue trousers and a crisp blue-and-white-striped button-down. The pants fit his long legs and trim hips perfectly. She ran her gaze over the considerable length of him and hid her appreciation at what she saw. He was
too
handsome. She cocked an eyebrow. “You’re going to be a real helper in all this, aren’t you?”

His flashed a grin that struck her as extremely sexy.

“I promise not to be a hindrance, if that’s any conciliation.”

She gave a doubtful snort, and they started down the hallway. Two nurses twittered a greeting at Eric as they passed a nurses’ station. Colleen rolled her eyes when she noticed the women’s warm smiles and continued stares as they trailed Eric’s progress down the hall.

“Part of your fan club?” she murmured through a small smile.

His dark brows furrowed before he glanced over his shoulder. “I work with them,” he said, as if the four words automatically explained those covetous female glances.

“Uh-huh,” Colleen smirked. “So, where are we going for lunch?”

“The Captain and Crew?”

She shook her head. “Emilio’s?”

“Sultan’s?”

She gave him a surprised glance followed by a small nod of respect. “You got it.”

“I wouldn’t have pegged you a lover of Middle Eastern cuisine,” Colleen mused several minutes later as she tore apart a honey-drenched, nutty roll and popped some of the delicious confection into her mouth. The cozy, sunlit restaurant and bakery was doing a decent business, but they’d managed to snag the last empty booth.

“Sultan’s is my favorite restaurant in town.”

“Really? It’s my favorite, too,” she added before she could censor herself.

“I keep telling you that you really don’t know anything about me,” he said as he stirred his aromatic coffee. His tone sounded deceptively casual. She paused in the action of sucking the honey off her forefinger and glanced into his face. He regarded her silently, one of his arms sprawled across the back of the booth, his eyes gleaming in an otherwise impassive face…his gaze narrowed on the finger in her mouth.

Flustered, Colleen reverted to using her napkin.

“Every time you’ve ordered food for the staff at The Family Center, you’ve ordered from Bistro Campagne,” she said, referring to what was arguably the nicest restaurant in Harbor County.

“And so you came to the conclusion that I’m a snob, is that it?” he said, taking a sip of his coffee.

“I never said that,” Colleen replied defensively, even though she had difficulty meeting his stare. She’d never spoken her thoughts out loud, but she actually
had
been annoyed when Eric had ordered expensive catered luncheons during special occasions and holidays. It always seemed to smack of patronization—the great Dr. Reyes lavishing the little people with a treat to liven up their small lives.

He made a scoffing noise. She scowled at him. She
really
did dislike him at times. So why was it they seemed to have the ability to read each other’s minds so effortlessly?

“I arranged the luncheons through Bistro Campagne because my housekeeper also happens to do catering events there, so it’s easy. I give her dates and some vague details, and she turns my request into something that makes me look like I know what I’m doing.” He gave her a pointed glance. “With
most
people that’s what happens, anyway.”

Luckily, the waiter chose that moment to arrive with their entrées, and Colleen was spared having to defend herself. She eyed his fragrant plate of steaming chicken tagine with frank interest.

“Want some?” he asked, sounding amused.

“Maybe in a bit,” she said, unrolling the napkin around her silverware. Her fattoush salad with shrimp looked equally delicious. She removed a notebook from her bag and opened it to a page where she’d already started to jot down some notes. “Okay. Time to get this show on the road.”

Eric’s eyebrows rose as he watched her take a bite of salad and then grab her pen in a businesslike manner.

“Anything you say, Captain.”

She gave him a droll look as she swallowed. “Right. Just so you know, Liam, Natalie and I spoke last night and agreed on a theme for the wedding.”

“Theme,” Eric repeated flatly.

“Yes. Our theme is a Lake Michigan Christmas.” She noticed his bemused expression. “You know…like a nautical and holiday theme combined. They both like to sail and swim, they are going to live together next to the lake…and the wedding is near Christmas. What?” she asked with a touch of asperity when he continued to stare at her like she’d been speaking another language.

“I had no idea weddings had themes. I thought themes were reserved for English 101.”

Colleen groaned. He laughed. “Hey, I’m at your service. At least I have a checkbook available to provide said wedding theme. If it’s what Natalie wants, she’s got it,” he said.

Colleen smiled and shook her head. “Well, that’s something.”

“It’s a big thing.”

“It’s a big thing,” she conceded. Liam and Eric had sat down together last night and come to a compromise about financing the wedding. Colleen hadn’t been around during what would undoubtedly become known in family history as an infamous meeting, but she’d spoken on the phone with Liam this morning. He’d sounded irritated when he talked about Eric’s insistence about footing the bill, but there’d been a grudging respect in her brother’s voice, as well.

Colleen shared in that admiration. Eric might be arrogant, but he was generous to a fault, especially when it came to his sister.

“Okay. First on the agenda—announcing the engagement.”

“Who else do we have to tell?”

“All of our relatives and friends. I’ve already contacted the
Herald,
the
Southwestern
and the
Chicago Tribune
about an announcement,” Colleen said as she made checks on the paper with administrative precision.

Eric set his fork down slowly. “You have? You really do work fast.”

“We have a wedding to plan in two months’ time. Working fast is the entire point, Reyes.”

“Huh,” he muttered thoughtfully. “At what point in the next two months are you going to start calling me by my first name?”

She looked up from her pad of paper. He was grinning. He had a very handsome mouth. Shapely, but firm. Decisive.
Don’t even consider that cleft in his chin
.

For a second, she recalled in graphic detail what those lips felt like moving over hers, coaxing…ravishing....

She snapped her fingers around her clutched pen. “Focus,” she muttered to herself.

“I’ll need you to contact the hospital-community newspaper and give them this announcement,” she said, sliding a typed piece of paper across the table toward him. “I’ll need a list of family members and friends you want to invite to the engagement party, and a separate one for the wedding…”

She continued briskly with her ideas and instructions, Eric occasionally nodding somberly like he wanted her to believe everything she said was sacred dogma. She wasn’t buying it for a second.

“…so we’ve decided on a date. If you have time after lunch, we ought to be able to run over to Scrivener’s to pick out some invitations for the engagement party,” Colleen concluded a few minutes later, still writing rapidly in her notebook.

She tossed down her pen and took a big bite of her salad.

“Don’t you think we ought to get Liam’s and Natalie’s opinions on the invitations?”

“No. When I spoke with them last night, they told me this engagement party is pretty much just our deal. Mari and Marc will come in to help with all the last-minute details next Thursday, and of course my mom will help out. I’m thinking of a sophisticated party, but intimate and comfortable, as well…warm fall colors, candlelight, champagne and hors d’oeuvres that really stick to your ribs versus the dainty variety. So, now that we’ve decided on the date and time, we just need to decide on the location.”

Eric blinked and sat back in the booth.

“What?” Colleen asked, pausing in the action of stabbing her fork into a piece of shrimp.

“You’re amazing.”

She laughed and pointed her shrimp at him. “That’s
not
what you were thinking.”

“Oh, yeah? What was I thinking?”

“That I’m a steamroller.”

His low, rough laughter caused the back of her neck to prickle in awareness.

“You’re pretty good at that,” he said.

“Steamrolling?”

He pushed his plate back and placed his elbows on the table, leaning toward her. “No. Reading my mind. So what am I thinking now?”

Her eyes widened slightly when they met his. She saw humor in their depths…and heat.

She looked away.

“We should hurry. Brendan will be getting back to his room soon, and we still have to pick out invitations,” she said before she took a large gulp of ice water.

“I was
actually
thinking—among other things—about where we should have this little soiree,” he stated, ignoring her attempt at changing the subject.

Heat flooded her cheeks. His small smile told her he knew precisely what she’d
thought
he’d been thinking.

“What about having the party at my place? There’s plenty of space, and I have that large deck and a half-dozen heat lamps to keep it warm,” Eric suggested.

“No.”

His expression hardened.
One second, all easy playboy-doctor charm; the next, as arrogant as a prince.

“Why not?” he demanded.

Colleen thought of how to respond while she chewed. She couldn’t just tell him point-blank that something about his luxurious Buena Vista home on Sunset Beach put her on edge. It seemed a constant reminder of the past, the crash, the drastic change in both the Kavanaughs’ and Reyeses’ circumstances.

She couldn’t tell him that her cursed Kavanaugh pride was responsible.

“It’s large, all right. Maybe
too
large,” Colleen said. “The party should be a little more intimate.”

“We could rent out a room at the Captain and Crew, or Bistro Campagne, I guess,” Eric mumbled, even though the scowl that shadowed his mouth said he still wasn’t thrilled with the way she’d shot down his first suggestion.

“Too expensive. We all don’t have your bank roll, Reyes.” She saw his eyes spark in further irritation, so she spoke before he could rebut her. “What about at my place? I know it’s not Buena Vista Drive, but I enjoy entertaining there. It’s large enough for a party, but intimate and comfortable, as well.”

“Where do you live?” he asked slowly.

“On Sandcastle Lane.”

“How long have you lived there?”

She thought while she chewed and swallowed. “A couple of years now.”

“So, you and the kids moved there after your husband died?”

“The house on Fifth Street was too large for just the three of us,” she replied. She wasn’t normally uncomfortable talking about Darin, but something about doing so with Eric made her stomach flutter nervously. In order to sidetrack him from pursuing the topic, she eyed his chicken tagine speculatively.

“Go on,” he said dryly, shoving his half-eaten lunch toward her. She skewered a piece of succulent chicken, popped it into her mouth and made a sound of appreciation. Eric chuckled. She grinned while she chewed.

“Never one to hold back, are you?” he mused. “Just as passionate about your likes as you are your dislikes. I admire that.”

Colleen paused in her chewing and swallowed. She set down her fork and wiped her mouth with her napkin.