Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Jeff followed.
Normally, Liza wouldn’t push her way through, but she didn’t want to be left behind, and besides, she was curious to see who had it in for Officer Marsden.
As soon as Liza reached the front and had an unobstructed view, she wished she hadn’t asked herself the question. She wished she’d remained on the fringe of the crowd and definitely wished even harder that she’d followed her yearly impulse to avoid this event altogether.
Because her brother, Brian, stood in front of the dunking booth, a ball in his hand, his best friend, Rob, by his side. Like Mutt and Jeff, the two were rarely separated. If one got in trouble, the other usually followed. Brian’s eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot, his shirt wrinkled as if he’d slept in it last night.
“Oh no,” Liza muttered. Nothing about this scene could end well.
Jeff turned to her, understanding and sympathy in his eyes. Bianca didn’t say anything. And really, what more could she add?
“Throw, throw, throw, throw!” The crowd’s chants grew more boisterous, egging him on.
Liza debated dragging Brian away or letting the whole incident play out. Based on the balls littering the ground around the booth, Brian had thrown and missed before, but he wasn’t doing anything more than glaring at the cop in the tank.
With a little luck, Brian would finish his turn and walk away without causing trouble, and if that were the case, all Liza’s interference would do was create a scene.
One she didn’t want to be a part of.
She turned, just about to walk away, when Brian called out, “You’re going down, cop.”
Liza shook her head, her gut and past dealings with her brother screaming a warning.
She had to do something now.
Chapter Five
Dare hated the dunking booth and avoided getting that assignment like the plague. On the other hand, Sam didn’t seem to mind, as he’d been in and out of the tank for the better part of the day. Dare had finished the morning shift for the DARE program, and another officer had the afternoon. He was free for the day.
“Isn’t that your girl?” Cara asked as she walked up to him.
Dare knew who she meant without bothering to look over. He’d been aware of Liza’s presence for the last thirty minutes, but he’d been tied up talking to kids and their parents. Now he could finally give her the attention she deserved, but he didn’t need Cara as his audience.
So he ignored her.
“You see what I see?” she asked, none too delicately nudging him in the ribs.
If she meant the tall guy with dark hair who stood way too close for Dare’s liking, yeah, he saw.
Dare merely grunted in reply. As far as he was concerned, that question didn’t deserve an answer. Besides, he planned to break up whatever was going on over there as soon as he ditched his nosy friend.
“Officer Barron!” a young girl called out to him. “I have a question.”
Cara chuckled. “At least the young ones fall at your feet.”
“Don’t you have something better to do?” he muttered.
Cara laughed. “Go talk to your little fan. But when you’re finished, get your ass in gear and find Liza before that new guy weasels his way in.”
Cara patted him on the back and walked off, leaving Dare with his stomach twisting with jealousy. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to deal with the precocious child he remembered from his last DARE session.
He turned to the ten-year-old girl, whose mother had joined her, and together, they kept him talking for a good ten minutes. Dare knew he answered their questions, but he couldn’t remember the details of their discussion. He was too focused on Liza and the guy who’d put his hand on her back and led her away.
When he was finally alone, Dare drew a deep breath and headed in the direction he’d seen Liza last. Luckily, she’d gone toward the dunking booth. If Dare couldn’t find her, he at least planned to get a few good shots in and sink Sam.
He arrived to find a huge crowd and lots of cheering going on. Rarely did this booth draw such a huge crowd, no matter which officer held the honors of sitting in the dunk tank. An uneasy feeling settled in Dare’s gut as he pushed his way through the many people blocking his view.
“Throw, throw, throw, throw!” The words circled around the crowd.
Dare finally stepped into the open. He glanced from Sam in the booth to the current player and muttered a curse. The last thing this family-oriented fair needed was Brian McKnight causing trouble and making a scene. And though Sam was in the tank, kids from the youth center were running the booth, and they weren’t equipped to handle this.
Dare had to distract McKnight and give someone else a shot at Sam before things got out of hand. He took a step forward, but someone beat him to it.