Moore had been quite the juvenile delinquent before being sent away to live with her grandmother.
The Moore family had been moonshiners, and Savannah had been sixteen when she was arrested for two counts of sale of non-tax-paid whiskey resulting from purchases made by an undercover cop. The cop also recalled shoplifting and check-walking accusations. Of course, those were minor infractions when compared to what had sent her to prison.
She’d served six years for cultivation and trafficking. Sexy Savannah was an ex-con.
Who’d moved to Eternity Springs.
Who’d cozied up to his friends.
Who planned to sell soap.
Soap? Really? Or maybe some other kind of crystals?
As she approached the porch, he greeted her with an inadvertent bite to his tone. “Hello, Ms. Moore.”
Her chin came up, and he knew he’d inadvertently put her on the defensive. Dial it back, Turner. You want to observe and learn, don’t you? You won’t manage that if you alienate her right off the bat.
Channeling his old undercover days, he made his smile genuine. “Am I glad to see you.”
Her look turned wary. “You are?”
“I sure am. I can’t thank you enough for volunteering to help me.”
She studied him for a long moment, as if trying to judge his sincerity. “I wasn’t exactly sure what you needed help with, so I wasn’t sure what to wear. I have old clothes in the car if I need to change.”
“No, you’re fine.” You’re beautiful. Dammit. “Honestly, I’ve been so busy with work that I’ve put off preparations for this meeting until the last minute. There’s so much to do, I don’t quite know where to start. I have bags that need to be stuffed and vendors who need to be called. I need to test the AV equipment, process last-minute registrations, and clean the bathrooms.” He shot her his best sheepish, aw-shucks smile. “I’ll do those, of course. They’re not bad, but I wouldn’t ask you to clean bathrooms.”
“That’s good to know.”
“Why don’t I show you around and fill you in on what I’m up against, and we can go from there?” He opened the front door and gestured for her to precede him inside.
She walked to the center of the room. “This is a lovely facility. The view is fabulous.”
A wall of windows showed off the sapphire blue of Hummingbird Lake and the snowcapped mountains beyond. “This building started out as a vacation home for a large family from out of state. When I bought the house next door, Celeste suggested converting it to a corporate retreat.”
“So this is not a city facility?”
“No. It’s private. It’s mine. Well, mine and the bank’s.”
She turned to look at him. “You asked for volunteers to help you make money with your personal business?”
Could she sound more disgusted?
Annoyed, he replied, “No. I asked for help for a non-profit program I care deeply about. The SARE program isn’t paying for the space. In reality, it’s costing me money, but this is an excellent program that does a lot of good, and I’m happy to help support it. Let me tell you a little bit about what we do.”
He was off and running now, explaining how the privately funded group had been formed a decade earlier with a program similar to the wilderness expeditions of Outward Bound that focused on youth at risk of falling into the drug culture. As he talked, Zach thought, She was an at-risk youth at one time. She should appreciate SARE better than most.
She should be impressed.
She obviously wasn’t.
As he further explained about the program, Zach sensed a peculiar tension brewing in the room, that same sort of anticipatory energy that heralded a summer thunderstorm. The kind of tension that made a man feel alive.
He finished his explanation by saying, “I’ve been a group leader for the past three years, and let me tell you, a week of camping in the Rockies can change the lives of these kids, change them for the better. I’ve seen it myself.”
Savannah lifted both hands, palms out. Her smile was neutral, but her eyes flashed with an emotion he couldn’t quite read. Temper, definitely, but something else, too. What was it?
“No argument here,” she said. “My bad. I misunderstood. It sounds like a great cause. Now, what can I do to help?”
Zach frowned. He’d expected further argument from her. He’d looked forward to it, in fact. He needed to blow off some steam.
I want to kiss her.
Whoa. Wait just one minute. Have you gone crazy? Your intention was to charm, not be charmed.
He had to