Page 27 of Men or Paws

It wasn’t just any Ford De Luxe, it was identical to the one used in the movieGrease. I had seen the movie so many times that I practically had all the lines memorized. I could picture John Travolta’s character, Danny Zuko, racing this car in the Los Angeles River basin.

I leaned over the door and ran my fingers across the top of the front seat, then took a step back to admire the white convertible with the silver and red lightning bolts painted on the side. “I can’t believe you have a replica of the car fromGrease.”

“Sorry, but you are mistaken,” Rocco said.

“Really?” I glanced at the car again, the interior, the body, the whitewall tires, the front grill, then I walked to the back of the car to check out the lights and the bumper. “What’s the difference between this car and the one in the movie? It looks identical.”

“The difference is, this is the original car, not a replica.”

He said it casually, not bragging, like it was no big deal that he owned one of the coolest movie cars.

I blinked. “How on earth did you get your hands on this?”

He shrugged. “It really wasn’t that difficult. I was the top bidder at the Icons and Legends of Hollywood auction.”

Of course he was.

Because what Rocco Romano wants, he gets.

HisI’ve-got-tons-of-moneyattitude took me back to the night he got me fired. I felt a growl growing at the back of my throat.

I had no idea how much he paid for the car, but it didn’t matter, because it would be a drop in the bucket for Hollywood’s biggest star. Sure, my car was worth a pretty penny, but I didn’t pay a penny for it. The value also didn’t matter since I was never going to sell it.

I studied him for a moment. “Hold on . . . are you saying you’re a fan ofGrease?”

“That’s a personal question.” Rocco gestured to the door going back inside the house. “Maybe we can do this some other time. I should get to work.”

I glanced back toward the door, not really wanting to go just yet after seeing the car fromGrease, but then something else caught my attention. The entire wall behind me was covered with LED light boxes, each one of them showcasing an original, full-size movie poster. Many of them were my favorite movies from the last fifty years.

My gaze stopped on theGreasemovie poster with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta almost cheek-to-cheek, her hand on his shoulder. The words “Greaseis the word” was at the bottom of the poster.

He was obviously a fan, but didn’t want to admit it, for some reason.

I tilted my head in the direction of the poster. “Looks like I’ve got the answer to my question.”

Rocco followed my gaze. “It’s just a poster.”

“Right. And you’re just an actor.”

He started to reply and apparently changed his mind.

Curiosity got the best of me and I glanced back over my shoulder toward the car on the other side of the Ford De Luxe.

I did a double-take. “A 1989 Lotus Esprit SE?”

Rocco had a dazed look on his face. “Uh . . . yeah.”

Not being able to help myself, I walked over to the Lotus. “This is the same model Edward drove when he picked up Vivian on the street inPretty Woman. ‘Man, this baby must corner like it’s on rails’. I love that line in the movie and how surprised he was that a woman knew so much about cars.”

Edward apparently wasn’t the only one who was surprised.

Rocco was being awfully quiet, watching me.

“Wait a minute,” I said, pointing to the Lotus. “This isn’t the original car from the movie, is it?”

He nodded. “It is.”

“Huh,” I said, baffled that Rocco owned the car since Josh told me that many of his Hollywood celebrity friends drove Bentleys, Teslas, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Mercedes Benzes, and Rolls Royces.