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her screaming smoke detector.
    Seeing Sierra and Ryan on the scene had calmed her and allowed her to take a deep breath and truly assess what was going on around her.
    Then she’d seen Conner.
    He was their leader. There was no question that they worked as a team. A fantastic team. They were all bright and skilled and totally committed. But there was something about Conner that was…bigger than all of that. The way he carried himself, how sure he was with everything he did, the command in his voice, his quick decisions. Working with him had always been a pleasure. When Conner was there, everyone was going to work their asses off, everything that could possibly be done was going to be done and everyone was going to be accounted for, from the oldest to the youngest victim, crew and staff, even pets. It was true he was a little crazy about it all—he’d once gone into a building after a goldfish. Still, it did give everyone around him an incredible sense of security.
    When she’d seen him there, her on the victim side of things, she’d felt a sense of… I’m okay . She couldn’t explain it better than that. Conner was there and she mattered to him and that made her feel better.
    And now that she realized he hadn’t even known she was there, that she’d been a victim of the fire, she knew he was overcompensating.
    He hadn’t rescued her, he hadn’t treated her, he hadn’t fussed about Mac treating her—nothing. He hadn’t even known she was there .
    So now he had to take her home and ensure she had everything she needed.
    That was who Conner Dixon was. A person only needed to know him for about a day to know that, and she’d known him for two years.
    Conner pulled into a parking space in front of Carl-Mart and turned to her. “What do you need?”
    She thought quickly. “Probably a T-shirt, sweatpants and a toothbrush?”
    He looked at her as if waiting for more. “That’s it?”
    She shrugged. “I’ll shop tomorrow.”
    “Wow.”
    “What?”
    He shook his head. “It’s just that I don’t know any woman who wouldn’t ask for shampoo and soap and body spray.”
    She blushed. She was trying to get through the night. “I guess I assumed you had shampoo and soap that I could borrow.”
    His gaze ran over her hair and she felt her scalp tingle.
    “I do. Yeah, of course.”
    “And toothpaste?”
    “Definitely. In fact, I have some extra toothbrushes.”
    For his overnight guests, Gabby filled in mentally. “Then I just need stuff to wear to shop tomorrow, I guess.”
    “None of the women I know would wear sweatpants to shop.”
    She felt her face get hot again. Dammit. She was practical. Was that so bad?
    “Just get me something to cover me up until I can shop for more stuff,” she said. “I’m not picky.”
    “Okay.” He started to get out, then stopped. “Oh, do you, um…”
    She waited.
    He turned back. “Do you need…underwear or anything?”
    She almost laughed at that. Womanizer Conner Dixon was hesitant to say the word underwear to her? But she couldn’t laugh. Because it simply further illustrated that Conner hadn’t thought about her as a woman and didn’t feel flirtatious toward her at all.
    “No, it’s fine,” she said, trying not to let her irritation seep into her tone. She was the one who had downplayed her femininity around Conner for the past two years.
    “No?” he asked. “What will you wear?”
    “I’ll go without.”
    Strangely, the air in the truck seemed to heat slightly. Conner’s gaze dropped to her breasts. They were hidden behind the blanket and certainly weren’t much to speak of in the first place—nothing like he was used to—but she still felt her nipples harden with the idea that he was looking.
    “I, um…” He cleared his throat, then opened the door and got out. He paused before shutting it though. “Anything else?”
    Gabby took a deep breath and willed her nipples to stop tingling and her ego to stop stinging from the clear contrast she was