HAYDEN (Dragon Security Book 5) by Glenna Sinclair Page B

I didn’t want to hope, but Hayden was changing the entire game.

Chapter 9
     
    Megan
    Sam was breathing a little oddly. I found myself watching her from the moment she joined me for breakfast in our suite, half expecting her to collapse at any moment. We hit half a dozen department stores and she was jumping from rack to rack, so excited by this new sense of freedom she seemed to have developed. She bought slacks that actually showed off a few curves, blouses with cleavage, dresses that were knee length, shockingly short for her. And it was all in bright colors—reds and blues and greens and yellows. It all looked awesome on her—except some of the yellow.
    “Let’s go to Victoria’s Secret.”
    I stared at her. “Who are you and what did you do with my best friend?”
    She laughed. “Every girl should have some sexy underwear. I have exactly”—she rolled her eyes as if she was really trying to remember—“two sets, and one of them is the set you gave me.”
    “You’ve never wanted anything sexy.”
    “But now I do.”
    “Why?”
    She shrugged, but there was a telltale blush burning across her cheeks. I knew Sam well enough to know what that meant.
    “You and Hayden?”
    She walked away, refusing to answer, but that was answer enough all in itself.
    “Sam!” I rushed after her, grabbed her arm and forced her to turn around. “Are you and Hayden together?”
    “It depends on how you define together.”
    “Sam!”
    She laughed. “We’ve spent a couple of nights together.”
    “Really!” I hugged her. “I can’t believe—”
    And then I stepped back as the full impact of what she’d just said hit me.
    “You lost your virginity and didn’t tell me?”
    Sam looked pointedly around us, clearly embarrassed by my loud comment. But I didn’t care.
    “Sam, we promised we’d always tell each other everything.”
    “I was going to tell you. I just…it’s so new.”
    “Are you happy?”
    She beamed. “Yes.”
    “Good.” I hugged her again, and then linked my arm through hers. “Let’s go get you some pretty underwear. Then we’ll go to lunch and you can tell me everything.”
    “We have lunch with Dante’s coworkers. But we can talk about it later.”
    “Oh, yeah.” I followed her out into the mall, half her bags in my hands. “What would I do if you weren’t here to keep me on schedule?”
    “You’d never remember anything.”
    She was right. I knew she was right.
    We spent more than an hour in Victoria’s Secret. The saleslady was quite helpful after she realized how much money we were planning on spending. She measured Sam, picked out bras that would fit her body style perfectly. She ended up buying nearly a dozen bra and panty sets and a couple of sexy nighties, blushing furiously the whole time. It was fun to watch.
    Sam was clearly exhausted when we got to the restaurant at lunchtime. She sank into a chair and sighed, but then she pulled out her phone and she had this smile on her face that made it pretty obvious she’d gotten a text from Hayden.
    I watched, happy to see her so clearly happy. But there was an uneasiness attached to it that was beginning to eat me up.
    Our guests arrived a minute later. Polite smiles filled their faces as they held out their hands to us.
    “Sergeant Miles,” I said, shaking the older man’s hand. “And Officer Cullen.”
    They were polite and clearly not bothered by having lunch with two attractive women. We exchanged polite conversation while we made our choices from the menu. It wasn’t until food was ordered and we had our drinks that we delved into the conversation we’d come to have.
    “You know Dante Saladin?”
    The two men exchanged glances. “Yes, ma’am. We ran patrol together when he was assigned here to the 157 th .”
    Officer Cullen seemed a little nervous, picking at a napkin as he waited for my next question. But Sergeant Miles was leaning back, sipping at his soda, looking around the restaurant like this was his first