A Maverick for Christmas. Leanne Banks

      Alarm slammed through her. “Help?” she echoed in a voice that sounded high-pitched to her own ears.

      “Yeah,” Keisha said, clearly warming to the idea. “We can sex you up. Your guy won’t be able to ignore you then.”

      “I’m not sure…” Abby said.

      “Hey, it’s like you always tells us,” Shannon said. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”

      Abby blinked at the sound of her words played back to her. True, but how much of a change was she willing to make?

      “If you won’t do pink or blond hair, then we can do big hair,” Shannon said, pursing her profoundly pink lips.

      “And cat eyes,” Keisha added.

      “And a short, black leather skirt,” Katrina added.

      Abby winced inwardly. Black leather skirt?

      Shannon nodded. “Kim Kardashian hair. He won’t know what hit him.”

      Abby managed to redirect the conversation, but she knew her girls were determined to perform a drastic makeover. She ran into her fellow ROOTS volunteer, Austin Anderson, after the meeting. Austin was twenty-four years old and the two of them were good friends, thanks to their time spent working together.

      “How’s it going?” Austin asked and stepped beside her as she walked toward her car in the small parking lot.

      “Okay,” she said and knew her voice didn’t hold the commitment it should have.

      Austin laughed. “Let’s try this again,” he said. “How’s it going?”

      “I think I may have just gotten myself into a situation,” she said as she drew close to her car.

      “What kind of situation?” he asked, putting his hand against her car door before she could open it.

      Abby sighed and turned to lean against the car. She reluctantly met his gaze. “I did a bad thing,” she said.

      “You sold drugs or killed a baby,” he said.

      She couldn’t withhold a chuckle. “Neither. I did, however, get drawn into a discussion about my personal life with my ROOTS girls group. Now they want to perform a sexy makeover.”

      He laughed. “Hooker time.”

      She shot him a sideways glance. “Kinda. But they make an important point. They repeated my words of wisdom back to me. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”

      He nodded. “Okay.”

      “Well, if I go through with this makeover, I may need a cohort.”

      Austin stared at her for a long moment. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

      “It probably isn’t, but I need to shake things up.”

      Austin gave a heavy sigh. “What do you have in mind?”

      “I dress up in makeover mode. You and I hit the town in places where people will talk. My unrequited love wakes up and sees that I am the answer to his heart’s desire.”

      Austin winced. “Abby, I’m really not sure this is a great idea.”

      “I’m sure it isn’t,” she said. “But I have to do something to shake up Cade’s impression of me.”

      “Cade?” Austin echoed. “Cade Pritchett.” He gave a low whistle and shook his head. “Isn’t he the one who proposed to your—”

      “Yes,” she said in a flat tone.

      Austin took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m in. Let me know when you want to do this.”

      “Apparently Saturday night,” she said in a wry tone. “It’s the most visible night.”

      Austin nodded and raked his hand through his hair. “All right. Text me with the time.” Austin brushed his finger over her nose sympathetically. “You’re a great girl. If he doesn’t realize it, he’s an idiot.”

      “So far, he’s an idiot,” she whispered, her heart hurting.

      The following Saturday, the ROOTS teens performed their magic on Abby. As she stared into the mirror, she wasn’t sure if it was magic or something more gruesome.

      “Are you sure…” she began as she looked at her dark eye makeup.

      “It’s perfect,” Keisha said.

      “You are so hot,” Katrina said. “You’re going to knock every guy off his feet.”

      Abby was not at all sure. She squinted her eyes at her teased hair, trying to see a remnant of her usual self.

      “Ready to go?” Austin asked from the back of the room.

      Abby took a deep breath and turned to look at him.

      “Oh. Wow,” he said.

      Abby felt a sudden spurt of panic. “What does ‘Oh. Wow’ mean?”

      Austin strolled toward her. “You look hot. You’ll turn heads. Look out, Thunder Canyon.”

      Abby rose and walked toward him. “You’re lying like a dog, aren’t you?”

      “Not at all,” he said. “You’re going to turn heads like nobody’s business tonight. Are you ready?”

      She met his gaze and quieted her crazy heartbeat. “Not really,” she said. “But that first jump in cold water is the hardest. It may as well be now.”

      Abby and Austin visited the hottest bars and made sure she was seen by the maximum number of people. Their last stop was an old bar on Main Street. Surprisingly enough, Cade was at this bar watching a ball game. He didn’t even notice her as she sashayed inside with Austin.

      Austin, however, noticed Cade. He ordered Abby another soda water, her fifth of the evening. She countered with a martini.

      Austin raised his eyes. “Lemon drop?” he asked. “I’d say you’ve earned it.”

      Abby propped on a bar stool and tried to look flirty as she sipped her lemon-drop martini.

      It was a little bitter, so she switched off to ice water. She jiggled her leg from the bar stool and wondered if Cade would ever tear his gaze from the screen.

      Suddenly, Austin gave a loud laugh that startled her and vibrated throughout the bar. He leaned toward her and nuzzled her.

      Abby blinked in shock. Holy buckets.

      “Play along,” he said in a low voice.

      Oh, yeah, she thought and nuzzled him back and giggled. That was what she was supposed to do. Right?

      Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cade looking at Austin and her. He didn’t look happy. She forced a light laugh.

      “He’s looking, isn’t he?” Austin said as he lifted his fingers to her cheek.

      “Yes,” she said in a low voice.

      “It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” he asked.

      Abby felt torn. “I guess.”

      Austin shook his head. “Better make up your mind. He’s right behind you,” he muttered. “Cade,” he said. “Old man, how ya doing? I see a friend on the other side of the room. I’ll be back in a minute—darlin’,” he added to Abby.

      Abby turned to look at Cade. His face looked like a thundercloud. “Hi,” she said. “How’s the game?”

      He shrugged. “It’s California against Clemson.”

      She smiled. “Not close enough to care.”

      “I