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“Right now. Seven on the dot. He’s nothing if not punctual.”
Taking a deep breath, she double-checked that her layered necklaces weren’t tangled, shook her stacked bangles into place, and strutted toward the door.
Showtime.
She plastered on her best grin and flung the door open, blowing a giant bubble with her gum. With a snap of her teeth, she popped it. “You're right on time.”
She wished she’d had a camera then. Grady’s expression was priceless. His jaw hung open, his brow furrowed, and shock and confusion flashed across his features. He wore black jeans and a navy button-up shirt with pearl snap buttons, his black Stetson completing the look. He was every inch the quintessential handsome cowboy.
She, on the other hand, wore a black-and-hot-pink T-shirt that hung off one shoulder, with rips along the sides held together by safety pins. An oversized leopard-print jacket with enormous shoulder pads made her upper body look twice as wide as it actually was. She’d paired the ensemble with a shiny pleather miniskirt and bright red ankle boots adorned with gold chains that jingled with every step.
“Uh... These are for you.” He handed her a bouquet of wildflowers she hadn’t noticed he was holding.
The charming gesture went straight to her heart, which she tried to hide.
“I hope you like them.” His gaze traveled over her outfit once more. “You look... um... great.”
He brought his fist to his mouth and coughed, but not before his cheeks flared bright red, revealing the lie.
She did her best to keep from chortling. “Thank you for the flowers. That’s very sweet of you. I’m all ready to go. Let me just put these in water, and I need to grab my purse.”
She couldn’t remember the last time a date had brought her flowers. Even though the grocery store tag was still stuck to the plastic wrapper, she didn’t care. She loved them and struggled not to show just how much.
“Uh—sure.”
Grady’s voice sounded strained, and his gaze darted around the room—everywhere but at her. It took everything she had to keep herself together.
When she returned, he held out his arm for her to take, a gentleman to his core despite the fashion nightmare standing before him.
She almost felt bad.
Almost.
Chapter Sixteen
Grady was onto Amanda’s game. Little did she know, it was almost impossible to embarrass him, and he’d had a crush on Madonna since he was a teenager. The teased hair, blue eyeshadow reaching nearly to her brows, and body glitter weren’t turning him off in the slightest. On the contrary, now that he’d recovered from the initial shock, he was ready to call her bluff.
Biting his bottom lip in amusement, he helped her down the wobbly front steps and toward his department SUV. Those damn steps needed to be fixed before either Amanda or Edith got hurt on them. He’d come over on the weekend and take care of it.
Opening the passenger door for Amanda, he helped her up into the cab. He spent more time in the SUV than he cared to calculate. Tonight, though, there’d be no radio calls to answer, no county business to deal with, and hopefully no reason to turn on the lights and siren.
Rounding the hood, he climbed behind the wheel and started the engine.
“I’m happy you agreed to come out tonight.” He shot Amanda a sideways glance as he pulled out of her aunt’s driveway and headed toward Butterfield.
“You didn’t give me much choice, now did you?”
“Sure I did. You could’ve ignored my knock or told me to go buzz off again. Instead, here we are.” He let his gaze travel over her again. “You really do look amazing, by the way. How did you know I had such a thing for Madonna and the eighties?”
It was Amanda’s turn to gape.
He bit back a grin. Gotcha.
“I’m going to take your silence to mean you didn’t know that and thought dressing this way would turn me off and embarrass me, huh? Nice try.” He winked at her, loving the way she sputtered but failed to come up with a response. “Did I manage to shock the formidable Amanda Sparks into silence?”
“No. This isn’t shock. I’m... offended.”
“Offended?”
