As that thought settled in her mind, Ivy felt the slightest twinge of guilt ping inside her before she shut it down. She wasn’t exactly in charge of her own body’s chemical reaction to the man, after all. It wasn’t as if she could turn it on and off at will. Still, she told herself to ignore the buzz of sensation his nearness caused. She wasn’t looking for love—or even a fling, for that matter. What she needed from Tanner was far more important. She needed him to stop threatening everything she loved.
They wandered the gift store and she pointed out the kids’ craft table where little Ellie had made her ornament tag. There were a couple of geniuses busily at work, but they ignored all the adults in the room. He seemed amazed by the crafts made by the women in town, and asked enough questions that Ivy knew he was paying attention. There were hand-poured candles and scented soaps wrapped in ribbon and stacked in baskets. There were rugs and placemats and afghans, blown glass vases and wine glasses.
“And the women in town made all of this?” he asked.
“Mostly,” she said. “But Dave Benoit made the glass-ware. He’s got a glass house behind his place. He designs and makes everything himself.”
“Impressive,” he said, turning to look around the shop, his gaze moving over both merchandise and customers. “And the store’s open all year, too?”
“We are now.”
One of his eyebrows lifted.
Immediately, she winced and corrected herself. “I mean, the Angel family figured if the shop was open all year, it would give their customers more reason to come and help out the local craftspeople at the same time.”
He looked at her, his dark blue eyes locking with hers and Ivy felt that stir of something deliciously primal rise up inside her again. The guilt she was half expecting didn’t show and she was grateful. She hadn’t set out to entice Tanner and certainly hadn’t been looking for a lover, but there was something about this one man that made her feel…
“So!” She swallowed hard and forced a smile she knew wasn’t a convincing one. Oh, she didn’t want to think about what Tanner made her feel. That was a one-way trip to crazytown and she just didn’t have the time for it.
Or the heart. She wasn’t the kind of girl for one night stands and easy, see-you-later sex. She was the girl next door. Literally.
“Am I making you nervous?” he asked.
Ivy laughed shortly and shook her head. “What a silly question, of course you don’t.”
“Uh-huh. Then why are you backing away from me?”
Damn it. She was. She’d instinctively taken two or three steps away from him and wouldn’t you know that he’d notice.
“I was just…” She huffed out a breath. “Never mind. Come on, I’ll show you the rest.”
His lips curved a little and Ivy glowered. As he walked past her toward the door, she shot a look at Kathy and her mother, Anne, working the counter. Anne gave her two thumbs up and a wink which only made Ivy feel worse. Now not only was she lying to Tanner, but her friends were co-conspirators. Oh, this was getting tangled up fast.
And it wasn’t helping that her body felt both loose and tightly wound all at once.
Determined to get past her own body’s reaction to the man, Ivy kept a smile plastered to her face as she continued their tour. Proudly, she showed him the brides’ dressing room, outfitted with three way mirrors and a lovely bathroom where a woman could get dressed for her wedding in comfort. Then she took him to the meadow and the fast moving creek to show him their most popular wedding scenes.
Finally, she stopped at the area set aside for kids’ birthday parties. There, the inflated, castle-shaped bounce house stood, waiting only for children to step inside and play. The freshly painted white picket fence around the huge red and yellow bouncing palace was closed though, keeping unsupervised kids out.
They were far enough away from the main area of the farm that they were pretty much alone. Christmas music continued sighing from the overhead speakers, but the sounds of voices were muted and at a distance. Now that they were away from other distractions, Ivy felt a little nervous and her body once again started clamoring for his touch. She took a breath and reached out to grab hold of the fence as if holding onto it would keep her from reaching for him.
God, what was going on with her?
Tanner moved in close to her. Laying one hand on the fence top, he said, “I’m surprised kids want to escape from here to climb my trees.”
“You know little boys. They always want to do what they’re not supposed to.”
“I guess.” He looked around. “Why don’t they have this open for the kids all the time?”
“It wouldn’t be special then, would it?” Ivy asked and flipped the latch on the gate. She swung it wide and stepped onto the neatly tended lawn surrounding the bounce house. Tanner followed in after her and she closed the gate firmly after them.
“They open it up for kids on Saturdays, and then of course, it’s the star attraction of the birthday parties.”
He tipped his head back to look up at the red, yellow and orange inflated structure, noting the flags attached to the topmost towers fluttering in the warm breeze. “I suppose this thing’s a huge hit with the party crowd.”
“Oh yeah.” She walked toward the castle and gave it a pat. “Have you ever been in one?”
He laughed shortly and gave her a look that said she was clearly out of her mind. “No.”
“You want to?”
“What?”
Ivy laughed at the astonishment on his face. Here, she’d been making herself insane over the physical attraction she felt for him. But now, she realized it went deeper than that. She was drawn to more than his sexy appeal. There was something in his eyes that pulled at her, too. It was that careful vulnerability, she thought, looking up at him. There was something about him that told her he’d spent his life being serious. Controlled. And there was a huge part of her that wanted to break through the walls he’d erected so carefully around himself.
Maybe she really was crazy, but if ever a man needed to learn how to have fun, it was Tanner King. He was too alone. Too somber. Too cut off from everything that made life worth living.
And in the last few days, she’d begun to care about him, she realized. More than the sexual heat she felt around him, she actually enjoyed spending time with him and she hated thinking of him all alone in that big, beautiful house. She hated knowing that when she left him, there was nothing to keep him company but the echo of his own voice.