Justice for Boone: Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes, Book 6 (8 page)

“Yeah, okay. I’d like that.”

“‘Bye.”

“‘Bye, Boone.”

Boone waited until she closed the door and he heard the deadbolt latch. He walked back to his truck feeling lighter and happier than he had in months. For once he wasn’t worrying about what Dana might be planning on doing next. All he could think about was Hayden, and how damn cute she was. He couldn’t wait to learn more about her.

T
he next week
of work went by for Hayden as normal…as normal as it could for a sheriff’s deputy. She’d received a few texts from Boone. They were all light, like asking how her day was going and things like that. But each one made her gut squeeze. She’d never had a guy court her before, and that’s what this was feeling like.

Hayden rolled her eyes at herself. She was thirty-three years old, way too old to fall into the trap of getting all starry-eyed when a boy texted her. But since she’d never had it before, it felt good. Really good.

She’d asked Boone if he’d seen or heard from Dana again, and he’d said no, but Hayden wasn’t sure if she believed him or not. It wasn’t that she thought Boone was weak or less of a man for being…abused, for lack of a better word, by Dana. He certainly was strong enough to wrestle the steers on his farm when he needed to get them to do what he wanted them to do, and he was one of the most masculine, take-charge, in-your-face males she’d ever met.

But he’d told her point blank that he wouldn’t defend himself against Dana if she decided to go crazy on him. And Hayden knew in her heart Dana hadn’t given up. Boone was a hell of a catch. And if Dana was half crazy, as Hayden suspected, she was going to keep at him, throwing temper tantrums as if she were a toddler.

The only bad part to the week was her semi-regular phone call from her parents. Her mom had called to remind her about coming to dinner in a couple of weeks. Hayden felt horrible for the uncharitable thoughts she had about her folks, so she wasn’t about to disrespect them outright by refusing to see them. Every month or so her mom made arrangements for her to come to their house and have dinner. Hayden had no idea how her parents felt about those meals, but they were excruciating for her.

Hayden never spoke with her dad on the phone; he didn’t really like talking to her when they weren’t face-to-face, but she knew he expected her to show up like a dutiful child.

Hayden put the impending dinner out of her mind for the moment. Tomorrow night, she’d be going out with Boone to the Cow Town Stampede. The only time she’d been inside the huge country-western bar was when they’d been called for a disturbance. She hadn’t really been thinking about anything other than making sure all the patrons were safe, not to mention that she and her fellow deputies were safe, and getting the out-of-control drunk away from the building. He’d actually been a good guy; he’d just drunk too much, trying to drown his sorrows from his broken engagement that day.

Hayden was nervous about the outing. She’d be out of her league, and while she thrived on figuring out new situations when she was in uniform, being off duty in a new and uncomfortable setting was a different thing altogether.

She’d actually broken down and told Dax about her date with Boone, and how she was nervous about figuring out what to wear to the country bar. He’d obviously told his girlfriend, Mackenzie, because Hayden had received a call from Mack the day before. She’d offered to come over and help her get ready.

Hayden had almost declined out of habit, but remembered how she’d felt as she’d gotten ready for her first date with Boone. She’d wished for a girlfriend to help her figure out what to wear. So she’d accepted Mack’s offer for help. She’d be over later that night to help her get ready.

Hayden had never really had many girlfriends growing up. She hadn’t been allowed to go to birthday parties for her classmates, and sleepovers were out of the question. Hayden had never been invited to a high school dance while in school, but by that time, she hadn’t even missed it. She’d been too busy trying to live up to her father’s expectations…and feeling like she was failing.

Growing up as she had, she’d been robbed of the joys of teenage girldom. Hayden supposed she should be bitter about it, but she wasn’t. She had a good life, a job that she enjoyed, and good friends. It was about time she tried to cultivate some
girl
friends for the first time in her life. There was no one around now to stop her.

Hayden got off work around six and rushed home. Mack said she’d be over at seven. She snarfed down a microwave mac and cheese dinner and stood in front of her closet trying to decide what Mack would think about her taste in clothes. Before she had much time to contemplate, her doorbell rang.

Hayden looked through the peep hole and, seeing it was Mackenzie, opened the door. Mack turned and waved at Dax, who was sitting in his car, waiting to make sure she got inside safely. Hayden again felt that tug in her chest at seeing the protectiveness Dax showed to Mack. No one had ever cared if she got inside wherever she was going after she’d been dropped off. She buried her jealousy deep, where it should stay, and welcomed Mack.

“Hey, Mack. Thanks for coming over.”

“No problem! I’m thrilled you invited me. Seriously! You’re really good friends with Dax, and any friend of Dax’s is a friend of mine.”

Hayden smiled at Mackenzie. The other woman was a bit older than her, but Hayden was a couple inches taller. Standing next to her, though, Hayden felt frumpy. Mack had the kind of curves all the guys Hayden worked with drooled over. Hayden was strong and muscular, and didn’t have near the curves Mack did.

“I’m not sure this is going to work.” The words came out unbidden and Hayden blushed at her uncharacteristic candor.

Mack didn’t seem to notice, or at least she ignored, the panic in her voice. “Sure it will.”

“I don’t have any girly kinds of clothes.”

Mack turned to Hayden and looked her up and down. “Hayden, I’ve seen how the guys treat you, and I think I’ve been guilty of following their lead, but believe me when I say—you’re
all
girl.”

Hayden scoffed. “Yeah, right. Look at me.” She gestured to her chest and hips, then to Mack’s. “And look at you.”

Mackenzie didn’t even pause. “And look at your hair compared to mine. You have beautiful, lush red hair—granted, you keep it up most of the time, but it’s absolutely beautiful curled around your shoulders. I have stupid light brown hair that doesn’t do anything I want it to.”

Seeing she wasn’t really getting through to the other woman, Mack tried again. “Hayden, you’re really pretty. I know you don’t see it, but I’m thrilled as all get out that Boone does. I saw the way he looked at you the other night. He couldn’t take his eyes off you. You don’t have the same size boobs as me, and your hips are narrower, but jeez, girl, your body is smokin’ hot! The shot of you in my charity calendar was one of the most popular pictures. I think half of Dax’s department has that calendar and I swear they all have it up in their offices…turned to your picture. Seriously, you don’t have an inch of extra fat anywhere on you; you were made to wear short skirts and low-cut shirts.”

Hayden rolled her eyes and ignored the calendar comment. She was so embarrassed that she’d agreed to be in the charity calendar and while she didn’t think she was a troll, she didn’t think the picture really looked much like her at all. “And I don’t have either in my closet.”

Mack ignored the eye rolling and said earnestly, “I’m not saying I’m the fashionista of the year, but trust me to help you find something to wear tomorrow night that will knock not only Boone’s socks off, but every single guy at Cow Town. In fact, I’ll make you a bet.”

“What kind of bet?”

“I’ll bet you that five guys—other than Boone—ask you to dance.”

Hayden snorted in laughter. “That’s a bet you’re sure to lose. It’d be like taking candy from a baby if I made that bet with you. No guy, ever, has asked me to dance.”

Mack crossed her arms over her chest. “So it’s a bet then?”

“What are the stakes?”

“If I win, you’ll let me take you shopping.”

Hayden scrunched up her face in distaste.

“Yeah, that’s what I figured, you hate shopping. I’m not ready to go to New York City and take on the fashion world, but I think I can find you some great stuff. Those are my terms.”

“What if I win?”

“You decide.”

Hayden thought about it. She knew there was no way any guy would ask her to dance. She’d been out before, and not one man had even looked her way once. She hated to bet on something like this, because she knew she’d feel like a loser, but she’d always had a competitive streak and she couldn’t resist.

Shopping was her least favorite thing to do in the world. Hayden never knew what to buy, and she had absolutely no fashion sense. It was easier to pick up jeans and shirts and stuff at the big box store or online. Spending a day trying on clothes and acting like she knew what she was doing? Torture. But since there was no way she’d lose, Hayden felt safe agreeing.

“When I win, you have to sign up for my self-defense class for women I’m starting next month…and you have to get at least five others to come with you.”

“Done.” Mack’s response was quick and firm. “And so you know, I was planning on coming anyway. So thanks for the sucker bet.”

The women smiled at each other for a beat before Hayden asked, “Drink?”

“Sure. What’cha got?”

Hayden went to her fridge. “Diet soda, water, iced tea and fancy flavored water.” She shuffled some things out of the way and then said excitedly, “Oh, and I have some of those wine cooler things…watermelon flavor.”

“Oh hell yeah, the watermelon one for sure! I’m not driving.”

They both laughed and Hayden stood up with the drinks in her hand. She twisted off the tops and both women took large swallows of the sweet alcoholic concoction.

“Man, that’s so freaking good,” Mack said with a sigh.

“Um hum,” Hayden agreed. Anything sweet and alcoholic was her favorite thing to drink. She might choke beer down when she went out with the guys, but thought the taste was absolutely disgusting.

“Come on, let’s go see what we have to work with,” Mack said.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Hayden warned her with a laugh.

“I’m sure I can find something that’ll work.”

“If you mean jeans and T-shirts, you will.”

Mack merely laughed and took another swallow of her drink. “Let’s see what we can find.”

Hayden followed Mack into her bedroom, knowing it would literally take a fairy godmother and a magic wand to find anything remotely sexy in her closet.

After two hours of laughter, and a couple more drinks, Hayden stood looking into the mirror on the back of her closet door and stared at herself in wonder.

It seemed that Mackenzie really did have magic up her sleeve, even without a wand.

After looking for around twenty minutes, and not finding even one skirt in the depths of Hayden’s closet, Mack took matters into her own hands and made Hayden put on an older pair of jeans. Then she started hacking away until they were shorts. Really
short
shorts. Way shorter than anything Hayden was comfortable wearing. Shorter than the pair she’d worn the other day when she’d been out to lunch with Boone and the stupid man at the station thought she was a prostitute.

She’d tried to protest, saying only teenagers or hookers would wear shorts that showed as much as these were, and much more than she was comfortable with, but Mack had merely blown her off. The only consolation Hayden had was that her butt cheeks weren’t showing…barely. Mack had dug around the closet and drawers until she’d found a blouse Hayden had bought on a whim a couple of years ago.

It was dark green and had small sleeves that draped over her shoulders to her upper arms. The back was cut low—low enough that there was no way Hayden would be able to wear a bra. Not that she really needed one. Her B cup was small enough that she could go without, but not so small that if she wore a push-up bra, she wouldn’t have nice cleavage.

The front of the flowy shirt was high cut, almost up to her neck, and the material was silky, shimmery, and didn’t cling at all. There were no buttons or zippers or flounces, it simply draped over her body and left what was underneath to the imagination.

Hayden shifted uncomfortably in front of the mirror. She almost couldn’t believe the person she was seeing reflected back was her. She looked…good. Feminine. Hayden couldn’t remember the last time she felt this pretty.

“And you need to wear your hair down…well, at least partly. It’s thick and I bet it gets really hot, and you’ll be in a bar, but maybe just pull it back a bit away from your face, leave it down in the back. And shoes. You rocked those cowboy boots you were wearing the other night, but I don’t think they’ll work with this outfit.”

Hayden turned and watched in amusement as Mack got on her hands and knees and sorted through her shoes. She had no idea what the other woman was looking for.

“Ah
ha
!” Mack sat on her heels and held up a pair of strappy sandals. They didn’t have high heels, there was no way Hayden could ever wear anything with more than a two-inch heel, but she’d bought the shoes probably around the same time she’d bought the top she was currently wearing. They were black, open toed, and had straps that wound around her ankles.

“Try them on. I want to see the whole outfit!” Mack exclaimed.

Hayden did as requested, and again, looked disbelievingly at herself in the mirror. The shoes accented her strong calf muscles and the two inches they gave her somehow made her legs look even longer than when she was standing barefoot. There was a lot of skin showing, but as Hayden turned to look at her butt, she realized that she felt good. Really good.

“Oh my God. It’s perfect!”

Hayden smiled at Mack, feeling excited about the next night now that she had something to wear.

“We are
so
gonna shop all damn day when you lose that bet!”

Hayden grimaced.

“Hey, I’ll go easy on you, I promise.” Mack laughed.

“What about earrings?” Hayden asked, bringing a hand up to her earlobe.

“I’ve got a pair I think would go great with your outfit if you wanted to borrow them. I think the green would match perfectly and they’re dangly.”

Hayden didn’t even think. “Yes.”

“You don’t even know what they look like.”

Hayden threw her arms out to encompass the room and the disaster of clothes strewn about. “Mack, look around. I’m a mess. I have absolutely no fashion sense. If you say they’re perfect, they’ll be perfect.”