Page 124 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

“I don’t know, darlin’. You think that little white thing we drive is too big, and to me it’s a tin can on wheels.”

She slapped him again. “Don’t you dare talk about our car like that. That little white thing, as you call it, is perfect.” She looked around. “I’ve read about Suzuki. They make smaller ones. That’s what I was thinking of looking at.”

He pointed toward another SUV, smaller than the Vitara but not by much, and steered them toward it. “One of those?”

“No, that’s still a bit too big.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Too big? Darlin’, I could park that in the bed of my truck.”

She laughed. “I’m sure you could, but that doesn’t mean I want to drive it through narrow village streets.”

He huffed out an exaggerated sigh. “All right, then. So, something in between.” He pointed back toward the tiny city car. “That.” Then toward the small SUV in front of them. “And that.”

“Yes. Somewhere in between those two.”

“And you want a car, not something pretending to be a little SUV?”

“I’d actually quite like a little SUV. I just don’t think they make them small enough.”

Blane stepped away from her but kept hold of her hand, switching it from one of his to the other as he turned to scan the whole lot, as though even a few inches between them was more than he wanted today.

Then he laughed. “Jesus Christ, Bea. You’re not gonna believe this.”

“Believe what?”

He set off toward the end of one of the rows, taking her with him, and when they rounded the corner, Bea’s hand came up to cover her mouth.

Four tiny, upright little cars sat together in a loose display, two white, one red and one blue, and they looked for all the world like someone had taken a proper SUV and shrunk it.

“Oh my goodness, Blane. I’ve never seen these before. What are they?”

He smiled through pursed lips. “You really don’t want me answering that question, darlin’.” He walked around the back of one and read the badge. “Ignis. You ever heard of one?”

“No, but look at it.” She laughed, delighted now. “It’s perfect, isn’t it?”

Blane didn’t answer, at least not with words. His eyebrows made his opinion perfectly clear.

She slapped his arm. “Oh, don’t be like that. I just told you I’d love an SUV, but I didn’t think they made them small enough for me.” She walked around the little car, taking it in properly. It was hardly bigger than a normal hatchback, but it sat higher and had enough of that chunky little SUV shape to make her grin.

He laughed at her expression. “Yeah, yeah. Little thing’s starting to make a better case for itself.”

She looked from the Ignis back toward their battered Vitara and laughed again. “It’s like our car’s little sister.”

Blane followed her gaze, then he looked back at the Ignis. “Damn. Now that you’ve said that, I’m never gonna unsee it.”

“I love it.”

“I noticed.”

She looked up into his eyes, and he rested one hand on her shoulder before leaning down to kiss her.

“You really like it, don’t you?”

“I really do.”

“All right then. Now we can go inside and find somebody.”

She blinked. “You didn’t want to do that before?”