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A grin danced in Chace’s dark eyes. “No. I told her I had a lot I needed to do today.”
His answer pleased Holly probably more than it should.
Reaching into an overhead cabinet, Chace pulled out a large bowl. “I didn’t go to lunch with her either,” he admitted as innocuously as if he were giving a weather report.
Only Holly wasn’t gullible enough to believe he was offering this information just to make conversation. No, he was more cunning than that. Still, she couldn’t keep from gaping at him when she said, “She invited you to lunch?”
Chace nodded and dumped a bag of salad greens into the bowl. “She caught me when I was leaving to run some errands.”
Shameless hussy.“I’m surprised she didn’t suggest tagging along.”
“She did.” He scooped up the sliced cucumbers and dropped them into the greens. “Said we could grab a bite while we were out.” He grinned. “Her treat.”
Bristling, Holly kept herself from marching across the street and telling Willow Bodine and her bodacious assets to back the hell up. But she’d given up the right to stake her claim on Chace eight years ago. This time, Holly didn’t try as hard to temper her response. “It’s a wonder she didn’t jump in your truck anyway.”
“The door was locked.”
“And if it wasn’t?” Dammit, why wasn’t her brain censuring her thoughts before the words tumbled out of her mouth?
The grin still glimmered in Chace’s eyes as he lifted a brow at her question. “Is that jealousy I’m hearing?”
“No.” She quickly averted her gaze.
“Are you sure? ‘Cuz it sure sounded an awful lot like jealousy to me.”
Holly pierced him with a glare. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Immensely,” he confessed, letting the grin loose on his entire face to show just how much.
“As much as you enjoyed the attention bestowed on you by Willow Bodine?”
Chace held her gaze. “Where you’re concerned? Not even close.”
“You’re incorrigible. You know that?” Holly countered, even though his answer had already turned her insides to goo.
“That’s what you keep telling me.” The grin was back, and so was the kaleidoscope of butterflies flitting through her stomach.
Holly crossed her arms for no other reason than to keep her hammering heart inside the confines of her chest.
Or maybe to protect it.
Keep it safe.
Nope, not going there. “So, if you rebuffed all Willow’s advances, how did Emme and Wren come to play in the backyard with her dog?”
“Her name’s Maisy.” When Holly didn’t respond, he added, “The girls told me when we drove past Willow and her ball of fluff on our way home from school. As soon as they hopped out of the truck, they asked if they could go pet Maisy, and one thing led to another, and they’re outside playing in the yard.”
“Without Ms. Bodine?” They better be if he knew what was good for him.
Chace shrugged as he pushed the finished salad toward her. “Cover this and put it in the fridge, please.”
Holly did as he asked. “Well,” she prompted, “is she out there or not?”
“I have no idea. I told them they had thirty minutes until their mother called, and then I came back inside.”
“And she didn’t follow you?”
He made a point to look around the kitchen. “Do you see her?”
