Free Impulsive by Helenkay Dimon

Cara.”
    â€œWell, I hoped you’d show up at some point.”
    Cara snorted. “She was probably afraid to come home.”
    â€œI’m a grown-up,” Katie mumbled even though she doubted anyone heard her.
    â€œSo am I, but your sister still scares me a little.” Eric shrugged. “And that’s saying something since I deal with criminals all day.”
    Katie reached out and squeezed his fingers. “It makes you a smart man.”
    Cara’s gaze shifted from her sister to Eric. “On that note, I will take the impressionable child out of the room and let you two eat dinner in private.”
    She made a bit of a scene of getting Ashleigh. Stopped while Katie gave Ashleigh a hug and Eric tickled her toes.
    Katie waited until they disappeared down the hall before unloading on Eric.
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” she said in a low, hissing tone.
    His smile faltered a bit. “You’re angry?”
    â€œConfused.”
    He pointed at her forehead. “If the pulsing vein and the sting in your voice only mean confusion, remind me never to tick you off.”
    Okay. Maybe she needed to amp down a bit, but the whole situation threw her off. Every time she thought she had seen the last of Eric, he popped up again. Pretty soon she’d be expecting him to turn up, and that’s what scared the crap out of her.
    â€œI doubt you’re afraid of me,” she said.
    â€œMore than you’d think.”
    She laughed then. Couldn’t help it. He sounded so sincere, all while concentrating on shoveling rice onto his fork. “Poor baby.”
    â€œThat’s better.”
    â€œAre you ready to answer the question now?”
    He swallowed a few bites of food before answering. “Which one?”
    â€œWhat’s really going on?”
    â€œThought I’d try to do something to take that angry look off Cara’s face. She didn’t seem all that impressed to meet me the first time around.”
    â€œThat was about me, not you.” Katie traced a drip down the side of her glass. “You take a shared history, wrap it up in years of disappointment and sisterly attitude, and that’s what you get.”
    â€œIf you say so, but it sure felt like whatever was bugging her was aimed at me.”
    Most men would take a slap-down and move on. Not Eric. When he thought a woman was upset with him, he stayed put and tried to win her over. Katie wasn’t sure what that said about him, but it was pretty damn cute. “And you being you, you felt the need to come here and charm her.”
    â€œRather than pull that sentence apart and analyze it, I’ll just agree.” He leaned in and placed a quick kiss on her mouth.
    His mouth on hers never failed to start the buzzing in her head. “Good call.”
    â€œThink my evil charm plan worked?”
    â€œSurprisingly, yes.” And that was a pretty big coup since Cara didn’t trust many people.
    â€œWhat about you?” He scooped some rice onto his plate and then onto hers. “You feel charmed yet?”
    About two seconds after she’d met him . “I guess that will depend on how this dinner goes.”

Chapter 7
    E ric sat across from Katie with her words from two days before still ringing in his head. Is that why you brought coffee instead of asking me to go out?
    The nagging comment explained why he’d showed up at her house with food in hand. He refused to believe he’d become the kind of guy who used women for sex but was ashamed to be seen with them in public. Sure, they’d been together without ever going through the potentially painful experience of a first date. That made him a lucky bastard. He just wanted to make sure the emphasis stayed off the bastard part.
    â€œI thought we were overdue for a meal together,” he said as he watched her guard drop and some of the stiffness leave her shoulders.
    She dug into the food, peeking in each