The Heat is On

Those gray eyes twinkled. “Yeah. I guess that was pretty impressive. What are you, a superhero?”

He shrugged. “I’m a Navy SEAL.”

“Oooh, a soldier,” she teased, running a manicured hand through her long, blonde hair. “I guess I’m lucky I decided to cash my check today. And to think we never would have met if I did it yesterday.” She tilted her head. “Then again, if I did it yesterday, I wouldn’t be late for work right now. Good thing I’m my own boss, because I don’t think ‘I was caught in a bank hold-up’ would fly as an excuse for being late.”

He grinned at the sarcastic note to her voice. “Yeah, I don’t think my team commander would accept it either.” He paused. “I’m Matt, by the way.”

“Savannah,” she replied, sticking out her hand.

He shook it, and a tremor of heat went through him the moment their palms touched. This woman was extremely hot, and definitely amusing. He had a date tonight, with a waitress he’d met last night at a club, but suddenly he had no desire to hook up with the voluptuous brunette. He was far more interested in this leggy blonde in front of him.

“Savannah,” he echoed, hearing his southern drawl rear its head. Damn accent always seemed to get stronger when he was flirting. “Your parents like the South or something?”

“No, they like eco-systems.”

He blinked. “Huh?”

“My dad is a geography professor at Stanford. He’s a big fan of grasslands.”

For the life of him, Matt couldn’t figure out if she was joking.

“I’m not joking,” she said, as if reading his mind. “He teaches an entire unit on the tropical savannahs of Northern Australia.”

“Oh. Wow. I honestly don’t know what to say to that.”

“Yeah, most people don’t.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder, then lifted an electronic car remote and clicked a button. Two sharp honks came from the shiny red Toyota parked a few spots away. Savannah took a few steps toward it. “Okay, gotta run. Thanks for saving us from the bank robbers.”

“Wait,” he cut in.

She stopped. “What?”

He suddenly felt awkward. He wasn’t used to women being completely indifferent to his charms. Though in his defense, he hadn’t been giving her his A-game. That eco-system thing had thrown him off.

“Do you want to get together sometime?”

She seemed to think it over.

To think it over.

Since when did women need to mull over the idea of a date with him? The other members of his SEAL team, including his best friend Ryan, were either married, engaged or in serious relationships, but Matt was still carrying on the tradition of hot hook-ups and no-strings flings. He loved women, and he had no desire to settle down with just one. Where was the fun in that? There were so many gorgeous females out there, and he’d spent the better part of ten years sampling each and every one. He was twenty-eight years old and he always got what he wanted in the sex department—and right now, he wanted Savannah.

“Naah, I think I’ll pass,” she finally said, then had the nerve to give him a sympathetic smile.

He returned the smile, but his was loaded with heat. “Are you sure? You were just caught up in very dangerous situation—I think you might need some comforting.”

She gave an unladylike snort. “Comfort sex? Seriously, you’re offering me comfort sex?”

Matt faltered. Again. This woman was totally throwing him off his game here.

He pushed aside the disconcerting thought, gathering up every ounce of charm and confidence he possessed. “I think you might need it,” he said solemnly.

She just raised one dark-blonde eyebrow. “I think I need to get to work, actually.” She took off walking again.

Matt hurried after her, catching up as she reached for the door handle of the Toyota.

Ah, a challenge. Okay. If she wanted to play hard to get, he was all for it. But he knew this attraction definitely wasn’t one-sided. He had plenty of experience with the ladies, and he knew when one liked him.

Didn’t he?

“Take it easy, Matt,” she added as she opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat.

“I know a great Italian place,” he persisted. “Just me, you, a bottle of wine…”

“Yeah, Italian’s not really my thing,” she said, cutting him off. Then she leaned out of the car and pointed to the sky. “Hey, I think the Bat-signal’s calling you.”

He fell for it. And when he turned back, she had reversed out of her parking space, giving him a sassy wave of the hand before she peeled off.

Savannah Harte was smiling as she drove away from the bank and headed toward Market Street. Despite herself, her body was still reacting from the encounter with Matt. Her heart was doing little flips, and her palms were actually a bit damp. Weird. She flirted with sexy men all the time but something about Matt the Navy SEAL aka Bank Savior had totally and instantly turned her on. Maybe it was the shaved head. Or that unbelievably hard and appealing body. Even his awkward pick-up lines had succeeded in making her all hot.

But as appealing as he was, she hadn’t been about to blow off Jake for a total stranger. She didn’t play by many rules in her life—rules just sucked the fun right out of things—but there was one strict guideline she followed: one man at a time.

She wasn’t the kind of girl who dated a whole bunch of guys at once. That just seemed tacky and insensitive to her. And at the moment, she was seeing Jake, the tall sexy surfer she’d met on the beach last week. Not that she’d be dating him for long. She had no interest in committed relationships. Commitment only led to ruts, and she didn’t want to be falling into any ruts. Like her parents. Jeez, talk about boring. She loved them both to death, but growing up, she’d decided she wanted nothing more than to not follow in their footsteps. Their life was so monotonous it made her want to shake them by the shoulders and say, This? This is what you always wanted from your lives? Sitting on the couch every night taking turns with the remote. Weekly bridge games with their neighbors. The same old Sunday brunch at Applebee’s.