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And Liza… Dare didn’t know what she thought. He only knew he looked forward to seeing her each time she walked through the precinct door.
A damned contrast to how he felt about her brother. Dare wished like hell he’d never heard of Brian McKnight, and those feelings dated back too many years to when a teenage McKnight had thrown a party. Dare, who at fifteen acted like he was much older, had gone, and his life had never been the same. Though Dare knew better than to think he could change the past, everything he’d done since then had been with his own atonement in mind.
But whoever coined the phrase “No sin goes unpunished” had never met Brian McKnight.
Or his sister, Liza.
Dare glanced up from his seat behind his desk to see her stride in like she owned the place. He wasn’t above admitting he’d had a thing for her ever since he was a teenager. She was three years older. Her parents had pulled her and Brian from public school, but Liza had been hard to miss the times she’d come to town with her friends.
She still was. And Dare stared at her now without disguising his interest. She wore a basic black skirt and a turquoise-blue silk blouse. A simple outfit on anyone else. Liza McKnight was anything but simple. The skirt was long enough to be decent but short enough to call attention to her seductively long legs, as did her black patent-leather mile-high heels accented by a delicate bow at the back. All in all, a ladylike yet siren-sexy contradiction.
Her chestnut brown hair hung straight over her shoulders, her bangs not long enough to disguise her golden-brown stare.
She reached his desk, propped both hands on the cold metal surface, and leaned in close. “I want to post bail for my brother.”
Big surprise. Still, Dare shook his head, unable to conceal his disappointment. “Still enabling him, I see.”
She frowned, but the expression only served to showcase her dimples and make her look even sexier. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
She was probably right.
He inhaled her warm, exotic scent. Vanilla, musky, and damned hot. “I’m sure everyone is working to release him as quickly as possible,” Dare said, glad he had the desk to hide exactly what she did to him.
She straightened her posture but still managed to look calm and in control. “He was granted bail over half an hour ago. I can’t imagine what the holdup is. Can you at least get the paperwork started on this end?”
Dare shook his head. “Sorry. I’m not the arresting officer. You’ll have to take a seat and wait to talk to him.”
The waiting area at the far end of the room contained three chairs. She settled into the one across from Dare’s desk, crossing one delectably long leg over the other.
“So what’s he in for this time?” Dare asked, though he already knew. Yet conversation was conversation, and Brian’s record was what they had in common.
“Drunk and disorderly conduct,” she stated without emotion.
Specifically, according to Officer Sam Marsden’s report, her brother had left Joe’s Bar drunk, walked out back to his car—which he shouldn’t have been going anywhere near in his inebriated state—and paused to take a leak, singing at the top of his lungs the entire time.
“In other words, the usual,” Dare said.
She closed her eyes for a brief second. Dark lashes fluttered over her soft skin, giving her a vulnerable look that made him want to pull her into his arms and comfort her.
“It wouldn’t be the usual if Officer Marsden had just driven Brian home and let it go.” Liza pinned him with a questioning look, the vulnerability gone as quickly as it had appeared, making him wonder if he’d imagined the emotion.
Dare shook his head, frustration gnawing at his gut. “So we should just let him break the law?”
“What? Are you guys so hard up for arrests that you can’t find a real criminal to harass?”
He rolled his eyes. “Your brother is a real criminal.” Dare spoke in a soft but realistic tone, almost feeling sorry for her.
She jumped up from her seat, suddenly a flurry of nervous energy, pacing in front of his desk. Her long legs ate up so much space that she took two steps, turned, and started the process again.
From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Sam walking out of the holding area. “There’s the arresting officer.” Dare nodded in his friend’s direction. “He should know when your brother will be brought up.” Dare softened his tone, not wanting to upset her any further.
He didn’t know why he baited her in the first place except he hated her turning a blind eye to the truth about her sibling.
“Thank you.” She actually smiled at him, her brown eyes sparkling with genuine gratitude.
Then she paused, drawing a deep calming breath and causing Dare’s gaze to focus on the rise and fall of her breasts. Oblivious to his interest, she turned and zeroed in on Sam, heading over to deal with her brother’s problems without looking back.
He exhaled and wiped his forehead with his sleeve, grateful the long day was almost over. The air-conditioning in the old building was on its last legs, and the precinct was as sweltering inside as it was outside. Yet Liza had been completely cool.
