Faith turned and slipped her arms into her jacket. “Thank you.”
She slung her purse over her shoulder and replaced her barriers like a force field for the one block stroll.
Outside, the air hit Faith like a snowball, but that didn’t do much to straighten out the buzz in her head. And that was fine. Good, in fact. She needed every distraction to get her through this holiday. The man beside her was a great way to start. And for the first time, Taylor’s idea of Faith stepping back into the world of men held a spark of appeal.
“I really appreciate you saving my ass,” Sexy said. “Can I take you to dinner this week to say thank you?”
She gave him a what-the-heck grin and caught sight of a Range Rover parked in front of her store with a fine layer of snow on it. Sexy’s no doubt. “You can say thank you right now.”
“But that wouldn’t be near as fun.”
She paused at the front door to the hardware store. Pulling her keys from her pocket, Faith worked the lock. “How long have you been in town?”
“I don’t know, couple hours. Why?”
“Because you sure work fast.”
“I won’t be here long,” he said. “And I know a good thing when I see it.”
Somehow she was sure he’d meant “I know what I want when I see it” but was smart enough to change up the words. Faith still heard it in his tone.
She turned back to him and met his eyes. “And do you always get what you want?”
His grin grew. “I try my damnedest.”
“I’ll just bet you do.”
Faith tried not to hold the man’s confidence against him as she pushed the door open and wandered toward the cash register. The original circa 1870 wood floors creaked beneath her feet, and she let the familiarity of the store curl around her as she picked up the box holding will-call tags.
“What name is the tree under?” she asked.
“You don’t know me?”
She glanced over her shoulder with a ready smile for the surprise in his voice. “Nope, sure don’t.”
He lifted a brow as if he didn’t believe her. “Saber?”
“Sa—“ All the nuances she’d picked up on over the last fifteen minutes clicked with the name, and Faith started laughing. “Oh, God. Of course.”
He was a Saber son. It didn’t matter which of the three sons Sexy turned out to be, they were all the same—wealthy and handsome and full of themselves. One of them had been in her class, but she couldn’t remember which. And she didn’t care. The men now had a reputation for rolling into town to visit their parents a couple times a year from their fancy city digs. They flashed their money and their shiny toys. Shot those pretty smiles around town until they got laid. Then rolled right back out again.
“Oh, yeah,” she said on a sigh of both disappointment and self-deprecation. “It all makes sense now.”
“What makes sense?” he asked.
“Nothing that would interest you.” She carried the tag toward the back door leading to her enclosed patio. “You’re mama’s tree is right out here.”
She pushed open the door and breathed deep of that amazing fresh-cut pine tree scent. After checking the tags on a few trees, she held up the correct one like a referee in a boxing match. “And we have a winner.”
Saber laughed, and the smile that lit his face would have taken Faith’s breath away if she’d been sober. Or if she hadn’t discovered he was a Saber.
“What were you drinking at the bar?” he asked.
She reached through the branches to grab the trunk, then let her body weight help her pull it upright. “Only the best holiday concoction anywhere.”
He reached into the tree just above her grasp and took hold of the trunk. “I’ll say.”
Suddenly he was close again. Close enough to feel his body heat. Close enough to smell his spicy scent mixed with fresh pine. And the whole idea of a great big Christmas O was wearing down her common sense.