Review: Don’t Mess With Texas – Christie Craig

Don’t Mess With Texas by Christie Craig
Series:
Release Date:  August 26, 2011
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Page Count:  464
Source:  NetGalley
Buy the book at: Amazon

Nikki Hunt thought her night couldn’t get worse when her no-good, cheating ex ditched her at dinner, sticking her with the bill. Then she found his body stuffed in the trunk of her car and lost her two-hundred-dollar meal all over his three-thousand-dollar suit. Now not only is Nikki nearly broke, she’s a murder suspect.
Former cop turned PI, Dallas O’Connor knows what it’s like to be unjustly accused. But one look at the sexy-though skittish-suspect tells him she couldn’t hurt anyone. The lead detective, Dallas’s own brother, has the wrong woman and Dallas hopes a little late-night “undercover” work will help him prove it . . .

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.