An Officer and a Maverick. Teresa Southwick
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she’d asked about him—no female in Rust Creek Falls or anywhere else for that matter was on the receiving end of those smiles.
“Okay, then.” He cleared his throat and continually scanned the crowd of people who were getting happier by the minute. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have to keep moving.”
After months of being ignored, Lani had finally struck up a conversation. Sort of. It was an opportunity, and she wanted it to go on.
“Are you here for the bride or groom?” she asked.
“What?”
“Are you a friend of the bride or groom?”
“Neither.” He indicated the gold shield hooked to the belt at the waist of his worn jeans. “I’m working. Sheriff Christensen hired me to help with crowd control.”
Looking way up at him, his features seemed to blur and she swayed a little. Again, his hands reached out to steady her. She couldn’t help noticing his arms, where the sleeves of his black T-shirt stretched across impressive biceps. It was swoon-worthy—that must be why she was a little woozy.
“Wow, you’re really strong. And your reflexes are really good.” Did she just say that? It wasn’t like her to say whatever popped into her head.
He was already frowning, but her words seemed to turn the frown into a scowl. “I think you should lay off the liquor.”
“All I had was punch from the reception, and they said it was some concoction with sparkling wine. No hard alcohol allowed in the public park. You should know that. So I haven’t had any liquor to speak of. I swear,” she said, raising her hand, palm out. “That’s the thing. I work at the bar but I hardly ever drink alcohol. Am I talking too much?”
“Uh-huh.” His tone was unnecessarily sarcastic. “Let’s find you a place to sober up.”
“I’m not drunk. And I was looking for a place to sit when you ran into me.”
“For the record, you ran into me,” he said.
She shook her head—that was a big mistake. “I don’t think so.”
“Take my word for it.” His mouth tightened as he scanned the tables and didn’t spot an empty place. “Let’s go over here.”
She felt his fingers on her arm as he led her through a maze of people who moved for him as if he was Moses parting the Red Sea. “Where are you taking me?”
“To the park fountain. The edge is wide enough to sit on, and it’s cooler there.”
They were passing the last of the tables when she saw her older brother Travis chatting up a pretty blonde who Lani happened to know was dating a hot-tempered, jealous cowboy. She would have warned him off, but Detective Dreamy had her in a pretty tight grip. And she spotted her other brother Anderson moving in. He would make sure Travis didn’t do anything stupid.
“Here you go,” Russ said after they crossed the open grassy area then reached the fountain that was spewing water in the center. “Have a seat.”
Lani did and set her flag-stamped cup beside her. “Thank you, Detective.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Ma’am? She was a generic female who could be anywhere from nineteen to ninety-five? Seriously? She knew he was on duty, but it wouldn’t hurt him to work on his people skills. Honestly, sometimes she wondered why she was attracted to him at all. Except he was pretty cute, and she’d seen him at the bar, chatting up other people and making them laugh. Apparently, he just wasn’t that into her. Well, she wasn’t into being called ma’am.
“You can call me Lani. I’m not crazy about sweetie, honey or babe. But please don’t ever call me ma’am. It’s like nails on a chalkboard.”
“Understood.”
Loud voices suddenly cut through the general celebratory hum of activity. They were coming from the direction where Anderson had just walked. Skip Webster, the jealous cowboy, was arguing with Travis, who was trying to back away. Then the cowboy took a swing when Travis wasn’t looking. Instead of turning the other cheek, his fists came up to retaliate. Anderson stepped between them to defuse the situation. The other man punched him, and Anderson lashed out with a fist, a knee-jerk reaction.
Skip went down then started shouting for help. He spotted Russ and hollered for an immediate arrest.
“I have to go,” Russ said.
Lani had a bad feeling. “What are you going to do?”
“Arrest that guy for assault and battery.”
That guy would be her brother Anderson, and that wasn’t good anytime, but he had a personal legal issue pending. An arrest wouldn’t work in his favor considering he was going to try to get custody of a child he’d just learned he had. Detective Russ Campbell was headed toward that ruckus unless she did something to stop him. Whatever it was had to be loud and immediate.
She heard the water gushing from the middle of the fountain behind her and did the first thing that popped into her mind, which was clearly becoming a habit tonight. She jumped into the water then gasped at the cold liquid soaking the bottom of her skirt. Russ looked at her as if she was nuts then started toward the arguing men. She couldn’t think how else to stop him, so she started belting out “Firework,” her favorite Katy Perry song, which certainly made her more of a spectacle!
Well, good. Anything to help Anderson...
At the same time she smacked the water, sending a wave over the edge that hit Russ’s back. When he turned, she added some dance moves to go with the song.
He walked over and stopped in front of her. “Please come out of there, ma’am.”
Now she was just mad and used both hands to shower him with water. Satisfaction circled through her when he swiped a hand over his wet face, and she sang even louder. Surprisingly, she was enjoying herself.
“Okay, you’ve had your fun.” Russ was using his I’m-the-law voice. “The show here is over.”
But it seemed no one was listening to him. A few people were stopping to see what the disturbance was all about. Lani appreciated her fan club, especially because Russ kept glancing over at her brothers and Skip Webster, who was still demanding justice at the top of his lungs. Officer Campbell was clearly dying to give it to him—at the expense of her brother. She couldn’t let that happen and had to up her game.
“Come on in, the water’s fine.” She waved to the few onlookers who seemed to like the idea of a dip in the fountain.
“Whoa,” Russ said, putting his hands up to warn them off. He sent a glare in her direction. “That’s inciting public disorderliness. If you don’t come out of there voluntarily, I’m going to have to arrest you.” He glanced over his shoulder again.
Lani didn’t much like the idea of going to jail, but better her than Anderson. She didn’t have any legal problems, although that could be about to change.
“I dare you to come in and get me, Detective Dreamy.”
Russ reached out to grab her, and the frown on his face deepened when she backed up and eluded him. “Come on, Lani. Out of the water.”
“You’re not the boss of me.”
“As it happens, I am. I told you already, Gage brought me in for crowd control, what with the wedding and Fourth of July celebrations going on at the same time.” He looked around at the happier-than-normal people scattered throughout the park. “And it was obviously the right call.”
“You look hot under the collar.” Although he wasn’t actually wearing a collared shirt, or technically a uniform. But there was something about his ensemble of choice. The black T-shirt, jeans and boots made him about as hot as a man could get.
“Doesn’t