“Sam.”
Owen returned to his art.
Genevieve regarded Sam. “If Owen could talk and had manners, he’d say that it’s nice to meet you.”
She swallowed. She hadn’t told anyone about yesterday’s kiss, so it was strange to stand here with him in public, very circumspect, but with this blazing private knowledge between them.
“What brings you here tonight?” she asked.
“I go to church here.”
“You do? So does Natasha.” Her sister had never mentioned that he attended The Vine.
“I go Saturday nights.”
“Ah. She goes Sundays.”
“They needed volunteers, so I offered to help with the putting green.”
“That’s very sacrificial of you.”
“You volunteer at the farm a lot.”
“Yes, but I had mercenary motives when I agreed to volunteer at the farm. I wanted your cottage.”
His mouth took on a lopsided curve. She could see his reservebattling against his desire for connection. “I don’t think you’re very mercenary,” he said.
“Oh, but I am. Where chives are concerned.”
He chuckled, and it went to her head like vodka.
“I’m impressed that someone not related to any of these children would brave this,” she said.
“It’s good for me not to spend all my free time alone.”
A visual of him inside his farmhouse cooking dinner for one plucked a cord of sympathy in her, which ended up making the visual unreasonably sexy.
“I better get back.” He gestured to the line forming at the putting green. “I abandoned my mate Eli.”
“You have a friend?” she asked with exaggerated surprise, only half kidding.
He grinned, and his face creased in that endearing way. “I have one friend.”
“Two,” she corrected breathlessly, tightening her hold on Owen to ensure he was still in the vicinity.
“Would you like me to drop in later?” he asked. “To explain what to do with the groceries I chose for you?”
Inside, she was salsa dancing. “Sure.”
“What time?”
“Natasha’s kids have to go to bed early or they turn into monsters, and not the cute Halloween kind. I expect to be home by nine.”
“See ya then.”
She watched him weave through the crowd. He stepped to the side to let a family pass and corrected a kid’s course when the kid would have barreled into his legs.
He was coming over later.
