She bent, picked up the gray tabby and held him like a baby. “I was wondering where you were, Diner.”
Kieran frowned. “Diner?”
“We found him behind a diner where we stopped for lunch on our way back from a trip to Oklahoma. He was scrawny and underfed, so we brought him with us, took him to the vet and got his mind off the girls.”
“You had him neutered.”
“Yes. Amazing how a simple procedure can improve a male attitude.”
He looked pained. “Do you apply that practice with all men?”
She laughed. “Only alley cats, so don’t worry.”
“That’s good to know. Otherwise, I might rescind the offer.” He stepped off the porch and began to back down the walkway. “I expect to have an answer in two days.”
A demanding kind of guy, which might have ticked Erica off if he hadn’t smiled again. “Fine. I’ll call you in two days.”
“You do that.”
While Erica remained planted firmly on the porch, Kieran turned and strolled to the sleek black sports car parked at the curb. She couldn’t make out the model in the dark, but she presumed it probably cost as much as her modest three-bedroom house. And although she should go back inside, she waited until he was safely seated behind the wheel and well on his way down the street.
As tempting as Kieran’s proposal might be—as tempting as he was—she didn’t need any one-on-one program to help her lose weight. She could buy a DVD and some hand weights. She’d take a daily walk to get reacquainted with endorphins. She’d stop eating to fill the void.
But tonight, before she crawled into her vacant bed, Erica planned to treat herself to several slices of pizza. At least that would take care of one craving.
Chapter Two
“I need to ask a favor, dear.”
Just when Kieran had claimed a spot on his sister’s sofa to let his mother’s Armenian cooking adequately digest, he’d been called into action by the tiny woman with a big heart. Normally he never refused Lucine O’Brien anything, but he could think of one thing in particular he wouldn’t do for anyone, not even his mother. “If you want me to call Kevin and tell him he needs to be at lunch Sunday, forget it, Mom.”
She wiped her hands on her apron and perched beside him on the cushion’s edge. “I wish you two got along better.”
Here it came, the blood-is-thicker-than-water speech. “The problem I have with Kevin has to do with his bad choices, and he’s chosen not to come around. I can’t change him, and neither can you.” After spending most of his life cleaning up his twin brother’s messes, Kieran had given up on that lost cause several years ago.
“Could you just hear me out, honey?”
Driven by family loyalty, he reached for the remote and muted the TV. “Okay, I’m listening.”
She shifted slightly to face him and folded her hands in her lap. “I’m worried about Kevin. I don’t think he’s well.”
Nothing new there. Kevin had been born the sickly twin and their mother still worried about him incessantly, even after thirty-plus years. “Why do you think that?”
“He seems tired to me,” Lucy said. “And pale.”
“He’s tired because it’s a big job, traveling all around the country to interview sports figures.” And having a woman in every port, Kieran thought. Probably every airport, too.
She laid a hand on his arm. “I’d still like you to visit him and see for yourself.”
That wasn’t something Kieran had the time, or the desire, to do. “Let Mallory check on him.”
“Did I hear someone mention my name?”
Kieran glanced back to find his sister strolling into the den, a rag sporting the remnants of strained carrots thrown over one shoulder. “Damn, you have good ears, Mallory.”
“Watch your language, young man.”
His mother’s tone alone had been known to instill fear in many a tough guy, including his four brothers and her own husband, who was snoring like a power drill in the nearby lounger. “Sorry,” Kieran muttered like a reprimanded twelve-year-old, not a thirty-four-year-old man.
“I was asking your brother to see about Kevin,” Lucy said. “He somehow believes you should have that responsibility.”
Mallory perched on the sofa’s arm. “Whit and I had dinner with Kevin a couple of months ago, as a matter of fact, so it’s your turn.”
Kieran couldn’t quell his suspicions—justifiable suspicions. “I’m guessing he did something that required reinforcements.”
“Actually, he wanted us to meet his new girlfriend,” Mallory said.
“The pro cheerleader?” The same cheerleader Kevin had used as a replacement for his former fiancée, Kieran surmised.
His father snorted loud enough to rouse the neighborhood hounds. “Nothing wrong a’tall with a cheerleader. They tend to be a limber lot.”
When Kieran and Mallory laughed, Lucy brought out the visual guns again and aimed them on their father. “Go back to sleep, Dermot O’Brien, before I make you walk home.” She turned her attention to Mallory. “Is she a nice girl, dear?”
“She’s very nice and she’s not a cheerleader.”
“Are you sure she wasn’t hiding her pom-poms?” Dermot chimed in, earning him another frown from his wife, and a grin from his kids.
“Actually, she’s a pediatric resident,” Mallory said. “Whit thinks the relationship has potential, but I believe the jury’s still out.”
His sister, always the attorney. “She’s definitely not Kevin’s typical girlfriend,” Kieran said.
“With the exception of Corri,” Mallory added.
“And look how he treated her.” Although Kieran had tried to temper his tone, the ever-present animosity filtered out. But he still hadn’t forgiven his twin’s careless disregard for a genuinely nice woman.
“That worked out for the best,” Lucy said. “Otherwise, Corri would never have married your brother Aidan.”
And Kieran had tolerated enough Kevin talk to last a lifetime. Leaning over, he picked up his empty glass from the coffee table and without another word, set out for the kitchen, Mallory trailing behind him.
“You should give Kevin another chance,” his sister said, as he set the glass in the sink. “I think you’ll find he’s changed.”
Kieran leaned back against the counter. “Because he’s dating a woman who can put two sentences together before applying more lipstick?”
“Because
