Page 3 of The Fast Lane

“I saw that.” Mario glared in my direction. “Get her out of here. I’m hungry and it’s meatloaf day at the café.”

“Yes, sir,” Theo said. We both watched Mario head toward the parking lot, clearly finished with me. Theo’s blue gaze slid sideways toward me, the corners of his eyes crinkling as they always did when he was amused.

I rattled the chains impatiently. “Hurry and get this off me. I have to, you know, go.”

“Go where?”

“Go. You know, go.”

The grin started as it always did with Theo—in his eyes first, his cheeks rising and causing his eyes to squint, and then moved to his mouth. I wouldn’t call Theo shy, but he could be quiet, thoughtful. He ruminated before he acted. The man could take weeks to make a decision, but he always made the right one. It was his strength and his weakness.

“I have to go to the little girls’ room. Please get these,” I shook the chains, “off me.”

Pressing his lips together, he ran a hand under his chin, which was covered in a light dusting of dark-blond hair—like a permanent five o’clock shadow. He’d started wearing it that way the last year or so. I liked it. A lot. “I don’t know. I had to go out of my way to rescue you today.”

I scoffed. “First, I’d like to point out you haven’t done any rescuing yet. And second, you were at the high school, watching football practice and talking to the coach.” Theo worked as a sports reporter for a big Houston newspaper. His job was to cover high school sports in the west side of the sprawling metro area. While it was technically summer, high school football camps were in full swing.

“True.”

“The high school is a five-minute walk away from here.” I flapped a hand in the general direction of the school. “And you drove.”

He tapped a finger on his mouth right next to the tiny white scar that cut into his lip. He’d gotten it when he was twelve and he and my brothers decided to learn to juggle. With glass Coke bottles. “Also, true.”

“Theodore Henry Goodnight, if you do not get me out of these chains, I will…I will…I’ll think of something.”

One dirty-blond brow arched. He tossed the keys in the air and caught them. “Threats? I don’t know if that’s the best strategy here.”

“Please?”

He tsked. “Was that really sincere?”

“Yes. The lock. Now.”

He took a couple of shuffling steps backwards. “I don’t know.”

“Theo.”

“Let me know if you come up with something better.” With that, he turned and began walking away.

“Get back here.” My legs began to jiggle. Things were about to get real serious. I pulled out the big guns. “I have banana bread!”

He froze. “Chocolate chip banana bread?”

“Of course, with chocolate chips. I am not a monster. Next, you’ll be asking me if it’s gluten- and dairy-free.”

He was unlocking me before I finished speaking. “You should have led with that. Let’s go.”

“Thank God some things never change.” The chains loosened around me, and I wiggled free. Theo held his hand out and I took it, ignoring how solid and strong his grip was, how his fingers were a little rough on my skin. Or how the stupid dragon wings were trying to beat my ribs into dust.

I’d become very good at ignoring such things. Years of practice.

He squeezed my hand. “What’s that mean?”

I shrugged. “You are easily swayed by baked goods.”

“I am not.” He dropped my hand and set his fist on his hip.

“Oh, yes sir, you are.”