Page 4 of Falling for the Delta
Loving that she seemed to want to prolong their time together as much as he did, Dash was more than happy to tell her about himself. He told her about his close-knit family and about the worst day in his life, when his father had a heart attack and passed away. He talked about his sisters and how strong his mom was. The story of him joining the Army was a little embarrassing, as he hadn’t really planned on it, but when his grades in college were terrible, he decided there had to be more to life than partying and sitting in classes he had absolutely no interest in.
Dash knew he’d been talking way too long and eventually turned the conversation back to Holly. He yearned to learn every little scrap of information about her that he could. He found out that she was thirty-three years old—only two years younger than he was—had grown up in Maryland, had one brother, and her parents were divorced.
But it was when he asked her about how she’d learned Pashto and Arabic that he fell hard and fast for her.
“I was in the fifth grade and a new girl joined our class. She was from Egypt. I felt awful for her because she was extremely shy and didn’t speak much English at all. She went to an ESL class in the afternoons, but in the mornings, she just sat at her desk and wouldn’t meet anyone’s gaze. So I started teaching myself Arabic so I could at least say hello to her. The rest, I guess you could say, is history.”
“Wow,” Dash said. “That’s amazing.”
“It’s not really,” Holly said with a shrug.
“Let me guess, you still keep in touch with her,” Dash said with a smile.
Holly stared at him for a long moment before nodding. “I was one of her bridesmaids for her wedding a few years ago.”
Dash wasn’t surprised. Holly seemed like the kind of woman who, once you became her friend, you didn’t ever want to lose.
“Anyway, I realized that I had an affinity for languages. Spanish and other languages that used a Latin-based alphabet weren’t a big enough challenge for me, so I stuck with Arabic and added Pashto for fun.” She chuckled. “I know, I’m a nerd.”
“I don’t think you’re a nerd,” Dash said in a low voice.
She stared at him with wide eyes from the seat next to him. They hadn’t gotten out of the car since he’d parked, and as the sun was setting, he realized they’d been there quite a while getting to know each other.
They stared at each other for a highly charged moment…before Holly licked her lips.
That was it. Dash couldn’t stop himself from leaning toward her. The way she started to meet him halfway registered in his brain, giving him the satisfaction of knowing she seemed to be as into him as he was her—then someone rapped loudly on the window next to him.
Dash registered Holly squeaking in surprise but he was already turning and had his hand on the knife he kept strapped near his seat, just in case.
It took him only seconds to realize the man standing at his door was a police officer.
“Open the door,” the officer ordered.
Moving slowly so as not to alarm the policeman, Dash reached for the door handle.
“Dash?”
“It’s okay, Holly,” he reassured her.
He opened his door and stood, making sure to keep his hands where the officer could see them. “Is there a problem?”
“You tell me,” the officer said. “We had a report of suspicious activity going on in the parking lot.”
“My friend and I have just been talking. That’s it,” Dash told him.
It was obvious the man didn’t believe him. “There have been increased reports of drug activity in this area,” the cop said. “Do you have a problem with me searching your vehicle?”
Dash was irritated. This wasn’t how he envisioned the evening going. But since he had nothing to hide, he simply said, “No.”
After the officer searched him for illegal weapons or drugs and found nothing, he got Holly out of the car and searched her too. By now, two more police cars had arrived.
“Dash?” Holly asked.
“Come ’ere,” he told her, holding out an arm.
Without hesitation, she snuggled into his side. Dash loved having her against him, but he hated the circumstance. He held her as the officers did their best to uncover something illegal in his vehicle.
Holly shivered, and Dash mentally swore. The day had been fairly warm for this part of Texas in January, but now that the sun had set, the chilly air had moved in.
