Hard to Resist - By Kara Lennox Page 0,61

herself over and over that love would grow, that she couldn’t expect fireworks like the ones in the movies, that that was fantasy and this was reality.

She’d been grateful to Chuck.

But the moment she’d realized she was finally secure, that she wouldn’t ever again have to sleep in a homeless shelter, she also realized she didn’t love Chuck and that she never would.

She loved Ethan, however, with a pure, white-hot intensity that was almost frightening. And she’d been completely stupid for breaking up with him. What had she been thinking?

“Kat, are you going to bid or not?” Priscilla asked, almost desperately. She’d been trying to distract Kat from Ethan ever since she’d arrived at the barbecue. Tony had, too, she realized, perhaps in an effort to save Ethan from any more heartache she might have in mind to dish out.

“I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse me.” She was going to tell him, right now, how she felt. She was going to tell him how sorry she was for breaking things off with him. She was going to confess to being a complete idiot, and throw herself on his mercy.

She put her cards down and stood, and Tony and Otis took that as a signal that they could escape Priscilla’s bridge lesson, too.

“Aw, come on, you guys, we were just getting started.”

Kat extracted herself from the picnic table and headed for Ethan. He was way across the yard, which was so crowded by now that it wasn’t a quick journey.

Priscilla was right behind her. “What are you doing?” she asked in a loud whisper.

“What I should have done a long time ago. I’m going to tell Ethan how I feel about him.”

“Uh, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea right now.”

“Why not?”

But then Kat saw why not. An absolutely gorgeous Latina woman approached Ethan, and they started chatting in a friendly way.

Kat froze in her tracks, almost stumbling.

“Priscilla, who is she?”

“Tina Campeon. She’s the captain’s younger sister.”

“Are they… She and Ethan…” What if Kat was too late?

“No, they’re not,” Priscilla said firmly. “They only just met today. And I can safely say Ethan has no interest in her beyond being friends. But the captain is trying to play matchmaker.”

Okay, she got it. It wouldn’t be cool to barge in on the captain’s setup and throw herself at Ethan. But the first time she managed to get him alone…

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

TINA CAMPEON was everything the captain had promised. She was beautiful, sweet and seemed to be a devoted mom. She was an attentive date, but not clingy.

A man would have to be in his grave a year not to find her attractive. And under other circumstances, Ethan would have counted himself lucky the captain had chosen to fix him up with his sister.

But these weren’t other circumstances. Ethan was in love with Kat, and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

Unfortunately, Tina knew nothing about Kat—and she’d made it pretty clear that she was enjoying Ethan’s company and wanted more of it. She touched him at every opportunity and smiled until his face hurt just watching her.

The captain caught up with Ethan as he went to get himself and Tina fresh cans of soda.

“So, how’s it going?” he asked anxiously.

“Uh, fine, Captain. Your sister’s very nice.”

“Are you having a good time?”

“Sure. Her kids are really cute, too.”

“I had a feeling you were a family man,” the captain said, thumping Ethan on the back so hard he almost dropped the sodas. “So, do you think you’ll ask her out?”

“I don’t know.” He couldn’t lie about this, though his answer produced an immediate scowl on the captain’s face. “I’m still on the rebound.”

“Fine. Take your time.” The captain stalked off, obviously not having gotten the answer he was looking for. Ethan knew he better watch out, or Captain Campeon would have him and Tina married off before Ethan knew what was happening. And if the romance fizzled, Ethan could look forward to years of grout and toilet scrubbing.

He returned to the table, cut up some chicken for Eva and asked Tina to tell him some stories about the beauty pageant circuit, which she seemed happy to do.

Ethan laughed often. She was really a funny, delightful woman. Maybe Tony would ask her out. She certainly deserved better than Ethan, who would never be able to focus all of his attention on her while his heart was somewhere else. Yeah, Tony was dating Daralee, the woman from the church fire, but the end of that relationship