But somehow that didn’t seem like fighting fair. They hadn’t taken the gloves off yet. She’d reserve that tactic until it was absolutely necessary. In the meantime, there wasn’t any harm in being neighborly. She wasn’t very good at it, since her neighbors typically changed out every few weeks, but she was willing to give it a try.
“So what brings you by today? Do you need a tree?”
“Oh, no,” Tori said. “I don’t have room for one in my little trailer. When the house is finished, I’ll get one for sure. But for now I thought I might pick up one of the lovely fresh pine wreaths you put together. When I was down at Daisy’s the other night, the waitress Rose was bragging on your artistic skills.”
Molly was beaming with pride as she led Tori over to the display of wreaths. “Rose is such a sweetheart. She used to date my Xander when they were in high school. I hate that it didn’t work out.”
They stopped in front of a stone wall covered in about ten different wreaths. There was a variety of sizes, all with decorations of different styles. Tori wasn’t really in the market for a wreath, but she would buy one. If she didn’t, she’d probably buy a package or two of the homemade fudge by the register, and she certainly didn’t need that.
She picked the first one that really caught her eye. “That blue-and-silver wreath is gorgeous. I think I’ll take that one.”
“That’s one of my favorites, too. Let me get the hook to get it down.”
Molly headed off across the store, pausing only when the jingling of bells signaled someone else had come in. “Oh, Wade, perfect timing. Could you get that blue wreath down for me?”
Tori snapped her head around to see Wade shaking the snow off his boots on the entryway rug. Today he was wearing a deep red cashmere sweater with a white collared shirt beneath it. It made his shoulders look impossibly wide and strong. After being so close to him last night, she found it wasn’t hard to imagine being wrapped in his arms. And being pressed against his chest… Tori shook her head to chase away the unproductive thoughts.
“Sure, Mama,” he said without turning her way.
“And I want you to meet Tori Sullivan,” Molly continued. “She’s the one who bought that little piece of land near the ridge.”
At that, Wade stiffened and turned in her direction. He frowned for only a moment, wiping the expression from his face before his mother could see it. He followed her over to the wreath display and, without speaking, lowered the blue-and-silver wreath into his mother’s arms.
“Tori, this is my oldest son, Wade. He’s in real estate in New York. Perhaps you two run in the same circles. Wade, Tori is an architect. She bought one of our lots, and she’s designing a beautiful house to build up there.”
“You flatter me,” she said, avoiding Wade’s gaze until she had to greet him. When she did, there was a polite blankness in his eyes. He was obviously going to pretend they had never met before. She was willing to play along with that for now. “It’s nice to meet you, Wade.” She held out her hand to him.
“And you, Tori,” he said very formally, while managing to emphasize the pronunciation of her first name. It was the first time he’d called her that since he’d shown up at her trailer. Actually, it was the first time he’d ever called her “Tori.” When she’d worked for his company, she’d gone by Victoria. She couldn’t help but watch his lips as he said her name. There was something oddly seductive about the way his mouth moved that just wasn’t there when he called her Miss Sullivan.
When he finally reached out and shook her hand, Tori realized a second too late that touching him was probably a bad idea. She was right. The minute his hand encompassed hers, it was as though she had dipped it into a warm bath. The heat of his soft touch engulfed her, sending a delicious surge of need up her arm that tightened her chest and made it hard to breathe. She found she couldn’t pull away from him.
Her body was betraying her, and for what? A chaste, polite handshake?
But then she looked into his dark green eyes and realized it was more than that. He, too, felt the current of desire that traveled through their skin-on-skin contact. Unlike last night, when Wade was prepared and in control of the seduction, this seemed to catch him off guard. For just a brief moment the animosity and arrogance was stripped away, leaving him only with the expression of pure, unadulterated desire. He was fighting the urge to devour her, then and there.