Taming a Texas Devil (Bad Boy Ranch Book 5), стр. 21
“What the hell?” He stumbled back.
Dixie quickly detached Queenie from Lincoln’s leg and cuddled her close. “You’re just the best watch-kitty ever, aren’t you, precious?”
Lincoln scowled at Queenie. “Precious, my ass.”
The hilarity of her cat attacking the big ol’ Texas Ranger finally caught up with her and she started to giggle. She must’ve still been drunk because the giggles turned into a full-out laugh that she couldn’t seem to control. Her knees gave out and she sank down on the stoop right at Lincoln’s boots. The tiny rips in his jeans made her laugh even harder. In the midst of her laughter, she heard an exasperated sigh before he scooped both her and Queenie up in his arms and carried them into the apartment. He took her to her bedroom and deposited her on her bed. As she continued to giggle, he slipped off her Manolo Blahnik heels and tossed them to the floor.
He shook his head. “Riding a mechanical bull in high heels.” He spread the sheet from her mussed bed over her. “Goodnight, Deputy Meriwether.” He headed for the door.
She sobered. “Wait! Don’t you want to leave your boots under my bed?”
He didn’t even turn around. “Not a chance.”
Dixie was one of those rare people who didn’t get hangovers. She woke up after her night of partying at Cotton-Eyed Joe’s just like she had woken up every day for the last six months—with a smile on her face and the strong desire to best her daddy at his own game. She really thought the entire missing persons case was going to do it. If her daddy thought there was a murderer loose in Simple and it was her job to catch him, he was bound to give in.
The sound of a toilet flushing had her eyes flashing open. It had to have been in the apartment next to her. Except she had never heard Mr. Jenkins flush his toilet before. Or turn on the water. Or cuss in a sexy baritone voice.
Dixie sat up and stared at her closed door.
There was a Texas Ranger in her apartment. And the only reason she could come up with for Lincoln Hayes staying the night was that he was as interested in her as she was in him. He just hadn’t wanted to take advantage of a drunk woman. Which made perfect sense. It was obvious the man lived by a high moral code. Just not so high he was above staying the night at a woman’s house and hoping for a little morning delight. Even without a liberal amount of alcohol in her system, Dixie discovered she still wanted Lincoln Hayes naked in her bed.
She hurried into her bathroom, peed, brushed her teeth, and fixed her mussed hair before she headed out to the living room. Lincoln was just pulling on his shirt and she got a glimpse of hard muscles and a dark-haired chest that made her mouth water before he quickly shielded them from view. When he turned back around, his shirt was snapped almost all the way to his throat.
Good thing she was extremely talented at unsnapping. “Good mornin’,” she said. “You slept on my couch last night?” She glanced at the neat stack of blankets and pillows Queenie now slept on.
“That exercise machine in your other bedroom looked a little uncomfortable.”
She shrugged and sent him a wide-eyed innocent look. “You could’ve shared my bed.”
He studied her for a moment before he glanced at the front door. “Your lock is broken.”
“Which is why I can’t lock it. The landlord keeps claiming that he’s going to fix it, but he hasn’t yet. Is that why you stayed? You were concerned for my life?”
“After your little escapade at Cotton-Eyed Joe’s last night, I wouldn’t have been surprised if some fool hadn’t come calling to see if you wanted to take another ride . . . just not on a mechanical bull.”
His protectiveness made her feel all tingly inside. She moved closer. “I guess you witnessed my little ol’ bull ride. What did you think?”
“I thought it was the most unprofessional display of stupidity I’ve ever seen in my life.”
All desire for the Texas Ranger drained right out of Dixie. If there was one thing she hated more than people laughing at her, it was being called stupid.
“Stupidity?”
“What would you call getting drunk and making a fool of yourself in front of the entire town you’re supposed to be protecting?” He sat down on the couch and tugged on a boot. Queenie jumped down from her perch and rubbed against his side. He gave the cat a good scratching as he continued. “Being a law officer doesn’t end at five o’clock, Deputy Meriwether. An officer of the law is on duty twenty-four-seven. But you’re not on duty ever, are you? All you do is hide in your office and give yourself facials. And when you did finally have to step up to the plate and confront a kid shoplifting, you couldn’t even do that well. I don’t know why you wanted this job and I don’t care. What I do care about are the people of this community being stuck with a ditzy deputy who doesn’t give a damn about them.” He tugged on his other boot and stood. “I don’t know what lame brain helped you make this career choice, but they were dead wrong. You aren’t cut out for a career in law enforcement. In fact, you’re the worst deputy I’ve ever seen in my life. So do everyone a favor, including yourself, and turn in your resignation.” He grabbed his hat off the coffee table and tugged it on. “And I’m through babysitting a spoiled beauty queen.”
He turned and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.
Dixie stood there stunned for a few seconds before she hurried to the door and