“Naah, I think I’ll pass,” she finally said, then had the nerve to give him a sympathetic smile.
He returned the smile, but his was loaded with heat. “Are you sure? You were just caught up in very dangerous situation—I think you might need some comforting.”
She gave an unladylike snort. “Comfort sex? Seriously, you’re offering me comfort sex?”
Matt faltered. Again. This woman was totally throwing him off his game here.
He pushed aside the disconcerting thought, gathering up every ounce of charm and confidence he possessed. “I think you might need it,” he said solemnly.
She just raised one dark-blonde eyebrow. “I think I need to get to work, actually.” She took off walking again.
Matt hurried after her, catching up as she reached for the door handle of the Toyota.
Ah, a challenge. Okay. If she wanted to play hard to get, he was all for it. But he knew this attraction definitely wasn’t one-sided. He had plenty of experience with the ladies, and he knew when one liked him.
Didn’t he?
“Take it easy, Matt,” she added as she opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat.
“I know a great Italian place,” he persisted. “Just me, you, a bottle of wine…”
“Yeah, Italian’s not really my thing,” she said, cutting him off. Then she leaned out of the car and pointed to the sky. “Hey, I think the Bat-signal’s calling you.”
He fell for it. And when he turned back, she had reversed out of her parking space, giving him a sassy wave of the hand before she peeled off.
Savannah Harte was smiling as she drove away from the bank and headed toward Market Street. Despite herself, her body was still reacting from the encounter with Matt. Her heart was doing little flips, and her palms were actually a bit damp. Weird. She flirted with sexy men all the time but something about Matt the Navy SEAL aka Bank Savior had totally and instantly turned her on. Maybe it was the shaved head. Or that unbelievably hard and appealing body. Even his awkward pick-up lines had succeeded in making her all hot.
But as appealing as he was, she hadn’t been about to blow off Jake for a total stranger. She didn’t play by many rules in her life—rules just sucked the fun right out of things—but there was one strict guideline she followed: one man at a time.
She wasn’t the kind of girl who dated a whole bunch of guys at once. That just seemed tacky and insensitive to her. And at the moment, she was seeing Jake, the tall sexy surfer she’d met on the beach last week. Not that she’d be dating him for long. She had no interest in committed relationships. Commitment only led to ruts, and she didn’t want to be falling into any ruts. Like her parents. Jeez, talk about boring. She loved them both to death, but growing up, she’d decided she wanted nothing more than to not follow in their footsteps. Their life was so monotonous it made her want to shake them by the shoulders and say, This? This is what you always wanted from your lives? Sitting on the couch every night taking turns with the remote. Weekly bridge games with their neighbors. The same old Sunday brunch at Applebee’s.
Nope. Definitely not for her. She lived for the thrill of first kisses and whirlwind romances, and once any hint of comfortable domesticity entered the equation, Savannah Harte was outta there. No thank you.
But she did have some code of ethics, and seeing two or more guys at once was where she drew the line.
Too bad, though. That Matt… He really had been cute. And the way he’d taken down those three idiots at the bank—she’d actually felt a streak of arousal watching him do that. Rare these days, finding a man capable of kicking total ass.
“Ah well,” she murmured to herself, steering the car toward the end of the street, where her corner flower shop was located.
She pulled in around back and parked in the miniscule lot, then hopped out of the car, grabbed her purse, and headed into the shop from the rear door. Fortunately, when she walked into the bright, sunny main room, she saw it was void of customers. Savannah’s new assistant, Chad, stood behind the narrow red counter, and his brown eyes filled with relief when he spotted her. He’d only been working with her for a couple of weeks, not long enough to leave him in charge of the store, which got busy this time of year. No comparison to Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, of course, but September was also a peak time. For some reason, parents liked to buy their college kids flowers to celebrate the new school year, or the new life journey, as many of her customers liked to harp.
“I’m sorry,” Savannah said as she reached the counter. “I swear I didn’t abandon you. Some people decided to rob the bank while I was there.”
“For serious? Are you okay?”
She appreciated Chad’s concern. She liked the guy, in spite of his tendency to say things like “for serious”. “I’m fine,” she assured him. “Was everything okay while I was gone?”