you could just give him a break on the ticket you were about to write him. That fire made something snap inside him. You know?”
The cop smiled. “I guess I do. It’s a shame that old place went up in flames. I heard some woman was renovating it. I would have liked to see that.”
“Yes, some woman was,” she said with a long sigh.
“You?”
“Me.”
“I’m so sorry, ma’am.”
“Thanks. So, you won’t give him a ticket, will you?”
“No, ma’am. You just see that he gets back home in one piece. He’s still a local hero, you know. We wouldn’t have deBracy Limited hiring all those folks without him. Not to mention the help he’s given Molly Canaday. She wants to open a place to restore old classics like this one.”
He rubbed his hand along the paint of Molly’s Charger. “Man, that girl sure knows how to paint a car. That finish is smooth as a baby’s butt.”
He tipped his Stetson. “You take care, now.”
He turned and walked back to his cruiser, stopping to say a couple of words to Dash, who was sitting in his car with his head back on the headrest.
Savannah pulled out a couple of wipes from the pack Molly had pressed into her hands. She ran them over her face. She was kind of surprised when they came back black. But then she smelled like a chimney sweep. The smoke smell and soot were everywhere. On her hands, under her nails, in her hair. She was a mess.
But at least she’d caught up with Dash before he did something idiotic.
He sat up the minute she climbed out of Molly’s yellow car. “What in the hell are you doing driving that car? I hope to God you didn’t steal it.”
“Dash, I’m not the kind of person who steals cars for joyrides. Molly loaned it to me. She said my POS Honda would never catch you.”
She strolled up to the passenger’s side of the Eldorado. She gave the white upholstery a glance before she climbed in.
“How did you talk Henry out of throwing the book at me?” he asked, apparently not concerned about her sooty clothes or his pristine upholstery.
“I batted my eyes.”
The corner of his mouth twitched.
“You think I can’t bat my eyes when I want to?”
“Oh, I know you are a champion eye-batter, princess. It’s just that you batting your eyes with that dirty face is kind of amusing is all.”
She wiped her hands over her cheeks. “Henry said he saw you play high-school baseball.”
“Yeah, he did. It’s annoying how many former high-school acquaintances still live here. Like most of them, Henry is annoyed at me because of my last idiocy with a motor vehicle.”
“So I gather. I told him to give you a break.”
“You should be with the EMTs,” he said, changing the subject.
“I’m fine. I’m filthy but I’m fine. You want to explain what just happened back there at the theater?”
He leaned his head on the seat back and looked up at the sky. She followed his gaze, suddenly thinking about the painted ceiling at The Kismet. She had once thought Granddaddy hung the stars. But she’d been wrong. The real stars were more magnificent. And out here in the country, the stars were so much brighter than they were in Baltimore.
It surprised her that she wasn’t nearly as devastated by the fire as Dash had been.
“It’s just a building,” she said.
He didn’t say a word. She let him be silent, almost the way they had danced in silence, only this was way more uncomfortable.
They must have sat there for four minutes before he said “I want you.”
Her insides went a little crazy because the feeling was mutual. When Zeph had handed her off to Dash, she’d felt safe. She’d rested her head on his shoulder, and it had felt so right. Why was it that Dash made her feel safer than she’d ever felt before? It made no sense.
“Dash, I—” she started.
“I don’t want to want you, princess. I don’t want to want anyone.” His voice was gruff with emotion.
She understood why he didn’t want anyone. She’d been there, too. “Well,” she said as her heart rate spiked, “for what it’s worth, I want you back. And I don’t want to want you. I want to be independent. But apparently my libido doesn’t want me living like a nun. It always gets me into trouble. Whenever I dance with a good-looking jock it goes into overdrive.”