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His gazed remained steady. “Oh, I promise you, darlin’, it will take your breath away.”
* * *
The blasted heater in the car must have shot the temperature into the nineties, Savannah thought, barely resisting the urge to fan herself as Trace’s words hung in the air.
Unlike the day before, when his seductive teasing had merely irritated her, today she was immediately all hot and bothered and wishing for more…maybe because she knew for a fact exactly what Trace’s kiss could do to her. Worse, she wanted another of those kisses so badly, she was going to have to try really, really hard not to laugh for the remainder of the day. Given Hannah’s determination to win that bet she’d made with Trace, Savannah was going to have a real struggle on her hands.
She could do it, though. She just had to remember her resolve…and keep a whole lot of distance between herself and those two coconspirators.
The second they reached the hardware store, Hannah begged to take a walk through town.
“Back here in thirty minutes,” Savannah instructed, relieved to be rid of one of them. She looked at Trace. “I’ll meet you back here in a half hour, too.”
“You sure you don’t need my help?” he asked, regarding her with a knowing grin.
“Nope. I’m sure someone will help me carry whatever I buy.”
“Here’s the spare key, then, in case you finish before I get back. You don’t mind if I come in and pick up a few things myself, do you?” he asked.
“What sort of things?” she asked suspiciously. Trace didn’t strike her as the type who had a lot of fix-it projects back home. Then again, didn’t most men get a little giddy around wrenches and screwdrivers and power tools? Maybe he just wanted to soak up the atmosphere.
“This and that,” he said vaguely. “I’ll know when I see it.”
“Fine. It’s a big store. I’m sure you won’t be in my way,” she said.
They parted at the front door. Savannah headed straight for the paint supplies. She’d already thought about the colors she wanted for each of the guest rooms—rich, deep tones, accented by white trim. In no time at all, she’d picked out the appropriate paint chips and had the colors being mixed while she chose brushes, rollers, an edger for trimming and a paint pan.
Just as she headed through the store toward wallpaper-removal materials, she thought she spotted Trace coming around the end of the paint aisle, but then he vanished from sight. She didn’t see him again until she was unloading her purchases into the back of his SUV.
“Find everything you were looking for?” he asked, tucking his own mysterious packages beside hers.
“Yes. What about you?” she asked as he lifted something heavy into the car. “What on earth is that? It looks as if it weighs a ton.”
“Just a tool,” he said, immediately turning his attention to the street. “Any sign of Hannah yet? Maybe we should go meet her. We could grab some lunch while we’re in town. There’s a little restaurant on Main Street that Mae used to like.”
“The Burger Shack,” Savannah said at once. “Is it still in business?”
“It was last time I was here. I took Mae a burger, fries and a chocolate shake from there.”
“I can almost taste their shakes,” Savannah said. “They made ’em the old-fashioned way with milk and ice cream. They were so thick, a straw would stand straight up in them.”
When she looked at Trace, his lips were curving into a grin.
“Sounds like that’s a yes,” he said.
“Absolutely,” she said eagerly. “And here comes Hannah.”
She noticed that her daughter was carrying a shopping bag and that her eyes were sparkling with excitement. “What did you buy?” Savannah asked.
“Mom, I can’t tell. It’s almost Christmas, remember?”
Savannah started to question where Hannah had gotten the money to buy a gift, then stopped herself. Rob had probably slipped her a little money before they’d left Florida. Knowing him, that had been his gift to her, and she was turning right around and spending it on Savannah. On Trace, too, more than likely. Her daughter had the most generous heart of anyone Savannah knew, something she clearly hadn’t inherited from her father.
“And that’s all you need to tell us,” Trace said, making room in the back of the car for Hannah’s purchases. “Your mom and I were just talking about lunch. You interested?”
“Only if you’re talking about that burger place on Main Street. The smell coming out of there is awesome. And I saw lots of kids my age going in. It must be the cool place to go.”
Trace grinned. “Then it sounds like it’s unanimous.”
