Free Hot Buttered Yum by Kim Law Page A

edging
the bottom of the dress all the way around. It wasn’t overly flashy, but spoke
of class and style. It was perfect for her.
    As was her hair.
The short black tresses had once again taken on a life of their own.
    “She’s
beautiful,” Melody said in slight awe. At least he wasn’t the only one being
blown away.
    Melody had
explained earlier that she’d been a private piano teacher in Savannah until
she’d retired. She’d followed Roni’s career for
years. When Melody hadn’t been talking about her deceased husband throughout
the day—or flirting with Lucas as if she were thirty years younger—she’d been
talking about Roni. The woman was definitely a fan.
    Roni was the reason
Melody’s friends had been able to convince her to come down with them. Until
they’d brought Roni up, Melody hadn’t realized she
lived so close by.
    “We came in
Saturday,” she told him now. “And went to the bar where she plays.”
    “She plays at a
bar?” he hadn’t realized that. At least she hadn’t completely walked away from
it.
    Melody nodded.
“A cute little place called Gin’s. It’s about a quarter mile up the beach.
She’s apparently been there since she moved here, both as hostess and playing
the piano. But it’s not the same as what we saw this morning. At the bar, she
eggs on the crowd to get them going. She’s more just having a good time. This
morning …” Melody paused and closed her eyes as if reliving the moment.
“This morning she breathed the music into her lungs,” she whispered.
    Yes . That’s exactly
what she’d done. She’d lived it. Breathed it.
    “I heard a rumor
that she’s giving a concert after the parade next weekend,” Melody said.
    Lucas went
still. “Really?”
    He hadn’t seen
that mentioned anywhere. And he’d been looking.
    Melody nodded,
her short blonde bob moving up and down at his shoulder. “Could you imagine? If
they want to draw a crowd, that’s the way to do it.”
    He would have to
agree. Roni would attract way more people to the
island than he and his colleagues had.
    The crowd hushed
and Roni took the mic. He
liked the slightly Southern, slightly husky sound of her voice. Just a hint to show her roots.
    She welcomed the
audience back, and then Kayla gave the signal and the men and their partners
began filing onto the stage to welcoming cheers. As he entered, he kept his
gaze on Roni. Just looking at her soothed him.
    Which was silly.
No woman soothed him. Women were good times. He enjoyed the occasional hookup
when he was out of town. But they weren’t soothing in any manner.
    What they were
was fun. Plain and simple.
    They weren’t
steadying, they weren’t calming, and they certainly didn’t soothe.
    When the
clapping died down, he watched as Roni was handed a
sealed envelope. She turned to the men, but didn’t make eye contact with him.
That irritated him.
    She seemed to look
at every other man on stage.
    “I have in my
hand the names of the two contestants with the lowest scores.” She waved the
envelope in the air and boos filled the auditorium. She gave a shrug and the
sequins that were also running down the sleeves of her dress glittered under
the lights. “Sorry ladies, but we have to let two go. Otherwise we never get to
our winner.”
    Nerves tightened
Lucas’s gut before he remembered a couple of the other trees he’d seen. Those
men had clearly not had the help of
someone with thirty-five years’ experience putting up lights.
    When Roni called out the first name, he recognized it as one of
the men who’d lacked in Melody’s talent. The second name followed suit. The
guys and their partners in crime took to the front of the stage and accepted
their demotion bravely before being hustled off to the right.
    Next, Roni was handed another envelope and she swept one more
glance over them. This time, her eyes tripped over his.
    She looked at
him with reluctance in her eyes. As if not wanting to see
him. Or have him see her.
    It was