What rooted him to the spot wasn’t any of those things, although each of them captured his attention. The thing that made him pause, watching surreptitiously from behind buckets of lilies and greenery, was the look on Bellamy’s face. She studied everything she touched with tender reverence, cradling the avocados carefully as she chose the ones she wanted, letting her fingers sweep over the pears like they were made of glass. She looked wholly in her element, her expression open and carefree and absolutely beautiful. The sight fascinated the hell out of Shane.
Right up until she turned around and caught him blatantly staring at her.
“Oh!” Bellamy gasped across the row of apple bushels, her eyes flying wide. “What are you doing here?”
The way Shane saw it, he only had two options. He could either stand there like the dumbass he currently was, or he could joke his way out of this mess.
And he’d never been too partial to looking like a dumbass.
“Well, it’s a little known secret, but we mechanics do eat.” He stopped to let out a half-smile. “I’m grocery shopping. What are you doing?” Shane stepped away from the flowers and met her gaze head-on over the bins of produce. It wasn’t lost on him that Bellamy got kind of cute when she was unnerved, and he both hated and was turned on by how endearing it suddenly made her.
“Grocery shopping,” she said, as if she wished she had something more clever to say.
“Imagine that,” he bantered back. The edges of her lips curved upward into the barest hint of a smile.
Okay, that was hot.
Not quite sure how else to fill the silence, Shane figured he’d give polite conversation a go. “I, ah, managed to get your transmission out today. The parts should be shipped first thing Monday, so it looks like you’re on track. Should be done by Friday afternoon as long as everything arrives on time.”
Bellamy’s smile made a full appearance then, and it was one that prompted him to forget all of the fire and brimstone he’d seen from her yesterday.
She looked happy.
“Thanks. Although I have to say I hope you’re better at fixing cars than you are at grocery shopping,” she replied, nodding toward his empty basket.
Shane’s grin covered his face before he could reign it in. “I eat as well as the next guy,” he argued, and she crinkled her nose at him from across the produce display.
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
Damn, that little half-smile thing was disarming. He wanted to make a courteous excuse, grab some frozen dinners and get the hell over to Grady’s. He really did.
But then she laughed, and his legs made it clear that carrying him away from the spot where he stood wasn’t on the current menu of options.
“Okay, smartass. What’ve you got in there that’s so good, then?” He made a show of peering over the low aisle and into her basket.
Bellamy tipped her head, and her curls tumbled across her shoulder as she looked down. “Oh, nothing really. I mean, we barely have a kitchen in our suite, so, you know. Just some stuff to tide us over. The room service at the resort is, um. Just okay.”
“That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement,” Shane said, lifting a brow.
She bit her lip, which jacked Shane’s cute-o-meter up a little higher.
“Well, you said it, not me.” The look on her face suggested the room service was pretty bad.
Shane catalogued the contents of her basket in his head. “How many avocadoes does one girl need?” he queried, keeping his face as serious as possible. What a weird thing to have four of. You didn’t exactly eat them out of hand like apples.
Bellamy gave a nonchalant shrug. “When the girl in question is making guacamole for her two friends who will certainly inhale it after consuming way too much alcohol at a bonfire? You err on the side of caution.”
Shane’s mouth popped open in surprise. “You’re making guacamole? Doesn’t that stuff come in jars just like everything else?”
Bellamy’s wry laugh caught him right in the chest. “Shane, you took my freaking car apart. Do you really think making a little guac is rocket science in the face of all that?”
He stammered. “Well, I don’t know. At least I’m sure I won’t screw the tranny up. The guacamole, not so much.”
“Oh, it’s not hard,” she said, eyes sparkling. “Now fresh-baked croissants? Those are a pain in the ass.”
“Okay, wait. You make croissants? As in, the baked goods you can find in aisle three?” Shane tried to rope in his complete shock, but failed. She might as well have told him she was going to whip up a quick batch of butter.
Bellamy served up a look that suggested homemade croissants were the garage equivalent of a simple oil change. “Sure. They’re more time consuming than difficult, which is what makes them a pain. Kind of a fun way to kill a Sunday afternoon, though. The results are definitely worth it.”
Boy, if that didn’t make watching a football game from the old recliner look downright lazy. Shane’s brows drew inward. “So, are you a chef, then?”
She barked out a laugh. “Oh, God, no. I just cook for fun.”
“What a coincidence. I eat for fun.” If Shane had known how freaking provocative her laughter was, he might’ve tried harder not to piss her off yesterday.
Don’t look now, but you’re flirting with the rich girl.
The realization jammed into Shane, freezing his blood in his veins. “You know, I should let you go.” Hell if this part of the conversation wasn’t ten minutes too late. “Your friends are probably waiting for you to go to that bonfire, and all. I don’t want to keep you.”
Bellamy’s laughter shorted out like a faulty fuse. “Oh. Well, it doesn’t start for another couple of hours, I guess, but yeah. Yeah, you should get on with your shopping, too.” She paused, chewing her lip. “Thanks for the update on the car. Have a good night.”
“Bellamy, wait,” Shane blurted, thinking only of the smile that had now faded from her lips. “Maybe I’ll see you. Later. I’m going to the bonfire with a buddy of mine.”
Her mouth lifted at the corners, the faint suggestion of her smile playing there for only an instant. “You are?”
The words were the verbal equivalent of Switzerland, so neutral that Shane couldn’t read her tone at all. Still, something about that sexy laugh she’d given up before spurred him on before he could think.
“Yup.”
He was now, anyway.
8
“Let me get this straight. You made a date with hot mechanic guy in the middle of the produce aisle and you didn’t even tell us?” Holly’s expression was an equal mixture of shock and wicked grin as she halted a steaming mug of Irish coffee halfway to her lips.
“A little louder, Holly. The people in the next county didn’t hear you,” Bellamy whisper-hissed, her breath puffing into the frigid night air.
The bonfire had been roped off for safety, separated from the milling crowd by an eight-foot circumference of rope and resort staff. It still gave off a decent amount of heat and a hell of a lot of atmosphere, although the plunging nighttime temperatures could still knock the breath right out of a girl.