“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.
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“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.
His dark head dipped slightly. His breath, warm and fragrant, brushed against her nose and lips. The subtle scent of his spicy aftershave filtered into her nose. She inhaled, greedy for it.
“Do you regret that kiss?” he asked.
For a stretched few seconds, neither spoke. The silence was absolute. Colleen wondered if they both held their breath.
“I keep trying to regret it but—”
She never finished her sentence, because he leaned down and closed the distance between them, seizing her mouth with his. One second she’d been Eric-less, and the next she was submerged in him, overwhelmed by the feeling of his demanding lips and singular taste. She stumbled in her boots. In fact, she later wondered with rising horror if she hadn’t swooned. He caught her, holding her firmly in his arms.
But what woman wouldn’t be caught off balance—and thrilled by her dizziness—while being consumed by Eric Reyes?
She went up on her tiptoes and pressed against his long, lean body, her prickly nerve endings in need of pressure…sensation. It was if she’d been starving all this time and hadn’t recognized her state of deprivation until now. He must have felt her desire, because he tightened his hands around her arms, pulling her closer still. His agile tongue demanded entry and she granted it, all too eager for his taste. He staked his claim, sweeping his tongue everywhere, exploring her. It thrilled her—his size, his strength. She wasn’t used to feeling so small next to a man, so feminine in comparison.
One of his hands trailed up her arm, opened along the side of her neck in a thoroughly possessive gesture, devouring her all the while, making her hot…dizzy. The next thing she knew, his mouth was moving, awakening her nerve endings along her jaw and then her neck.
“You taste good enough to eat,” he whispered roughly before he increased her shivers by placing a kiss on her ear. His ravishment of her throat continued. Colleen struggled to stand…to think.
In a remote part of her brain, she also recognized that he’d been restraining himself on Sunset Beach. Coming into contact with the full extent of his desire had her spinning.
“Eric…please…I don’t think…such a good idea,” she mumbled incoherently. Even as she attempted her lame protest, however, her actions told another story. Her hand found a way to his head. She held his mouth against her neck, delving her fingers into his thick, wavy hair.
He groaned when she scraped her fingernails against his scalp. He tightened his hold and pulled her higher and more firmly against him. Colleen gasped at the sensation of her breasts sliding along his chest. She twisted slightly against him, rubbing, needful of the friction his hard flesh offered her. He went still for a moment, his hot mouth at the base of her neck.
He lifted his hand from her shoulder, and Colleen heard the snick of the lock on the door.
Her eyes sprang open. The sound had been tiny, but full of meaning—charged, incendiary…illicit. She pushed against his chest and shoved out of his arms.
For a good five seconds, they stood there, both of them breathing heavily, several feet of space separating them. As the spell of his touch slowly faded, anger rushed in to take its place.