She was very interested. She curled her lip. “Like I care.”

He pulled a water bottle from the bike and tilted his head toward the barn. “I had the shop deliver two bikes. The second one’s a smaller hybrid. Use it whenever you want.”

She stood up so she could give him her best hard-ass look. “I’d thank you for that, but my gratitude ran out when I discovered that my hooker money is missing from my wallet. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Yeah, sorry.” He propped his foot on the bottom step and took a slug from the bottle. “I needed some change.”

“Fifty-dollar bills aren’t change.”

“They are in my world.” He snapped the cap back on.

“You are so obnoxious! I should have stayed in Knoxville.”

“Why didn’t you?”

She sauntered down the steps, or at least she hoped it looked like sauntering. “Because I’m praying Jack will come back. Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m almost positive I’ll be able to work up the nerve to ask for his autograph.”

“I’m afraid you’ll be too busy for that.” He gave her a long, lazy look. “Keeping me satisfied in bed’s going to be a full-time job.”

The picture that flashed through her mind was so sizzling that he and his bike were halfway to the barn before she got her voice back. “Hey, Dean.”

He glanced over his shoulder. She shaded her eyes from the sun. “If you’re serious about getting it on again, be sure to give me some advance notice, so I can grab my appointment calendar and block out three minutes.”

He didn’t laugh. Not that she’d exactly expected him to. But neither had she expected to see the way he looked at her, as if the national anthem had just ended and they were starting a brand-new game.

A little later, while Blue was cleaning up the kitchen, she heard Dean drive off. April came in dressed in old clothes and lugging a pile of drop cloths. “Apparently Dean didn’t manage to run down the contractor on Friday,” she said, “because no one has shown up this morning, and I’m not sitting around all day waiting for them to get to this kitchen. I have the paint. Want to help?”

“Sure.”

They’d barely gotten set up before April disappeared to take another of her mysterious phone calls. When she came back, she put on Gwen Stefani, and by the time Gwen belted out “Hollaback Girl,” it had become apparent that April’s dance skills far exceeded her painting experience, so Blue directed the job.