Don't Mess with Texas: Number 1 in series

by Christie Craig

Nikki Hunt is broke and desperate. She's been struggling to make ends meet ever since she divorced her no-good husband for having sex with her employee on her favorite antique sofa. Quite frankly, she misses the sofa more than she misses the ex. But when he invites her to dinner in one of the fanciest restaurants in town for what looks like a reconciliation, she accepts. After all, a girl can't live on ramen noodles alone. But now she's sick. Literally. After an awkward exchange, her ex disappeared, sticking her with an exorbitant bill and what looks like a case of food poisoning. And just when the night can't seem to get any worse, it does. Nikki opens her trunk to find her ex-husband's body...and loses her $200 dinner all over his $3,000 suit. Ex-cop turned PI Dallas O'Conner is committed to helping the unjustly accused. So when he lands himself in the middle of a crime scene and he takes one look at the beautiful and very ill suspect, he knows she couldn't possibly have done it. He's determined to get to the bottom of this case and maybe even do a little 'undercover' work with the gorgeous and undeniably sassy Nikki while he's at it.

• ISBN10: 0446582840
• ISBN13: 9780446582841
• Publish Date: 1 September 2011 (first published 26 August 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 20 June 2013
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Forever
• Format: Paperback (A-Format (178x111 mm))
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Cocktails and Books]

Nikki Hunt was desperate. Nana needs her cable bill paid, but Nikki was flat broke. So when her ex-husband calls her and begs her to meet him for dinner, she caves and agrees. Although he broke her heart when he cheated on her, she'd take him back to make sure Nana had what she needed...plus Nikki'd get a free meal. Nikki soon realized (like the minute she walked through the restaurant doors and spied her ex-husband on the phone) that she couldn't get back with him no matter how much she might need him. Instead, she decides bad manners are the way to turn off her ex and get on with her life. Getting on with her life didn't include him stiffing her with the dinner bill and then finding him stuffed into the trunk of her car, becoming the number one person of interest in his murder or puking her guts out on the hottest man she's ever seen.

Dallas O'Conner thought he had a way with women, but when the gorgeous blonde threw up on his shoes and then on his chest he knew he was in trouble. Although he'd sworn off woman, except for those that he hooked up with for sex, there was something about Nikki Hunt that had his protective instincts working overtime. He made it his mission to prove Nikki's innocence in the death of her ex-husband, even if he had to prove his police detective brother wrong.

This was a very, very cute story. Nikki was one of those woman that could appear to be completely vulnerable and needy, while actually having more strength than some men. Finding out her history made you like her even more and cheering for her to do it on her own. Faced with the death of her ex and the attempted murder of her best friend, she was determined to do what she needed to for them and her grandmother, without worrying about herself.

Dallas was a man who got in his own way. He let his past dictate his course in life, which worked fine for his professional life as a PI trying to help those wrongly accused, but it didn't work out that well in his personal life (both love and his family). Even when his heart knew that he was falling for Nikki and what they had was more than a casual affair, his head got in his way and threw up roadblocks. It wasn't until he's thought he lost Nikki that he got out from behind the past and was ready to move forward.

The cast of secondary characters was very entertaining (who doesn't love a group of senior citizens traipsing around in their Annie Oakley period costumes wreaking havoc?) as well as the secondary romance between Tony, Dallas' brother, and his estranged wife LeeAnn.

An entertaining weekend read that will have you wondering what else is up with the partners at the Don't Mess With Texas PI office.