Read Ever After (Love to the Rescue Book 3) for Free Online Page A

get this worked up about it every time?”
    He was baiting her. This had to be some kind of cop technique, and it was working because she was about to blow a lid, and he looked as calm as ever. “Do I get this worked up? No. Only when the deputy who arrested me comes in here making fun of my beliefs. Well, if you can watch those videos and not be bothered, then good for you. Enjoy your chicken parm.”
    “Did you say you got arrested?” Mr. Edgemont craned his head from the booth behind Deputy Sampson’s. The old man came in here every day for lunch and was as much of a gossip as any woman she’d ever known.
    “Yes, sir, I did.” And dammit, she really hadn’t meant to spread that information around town. Not that it wouldn’t have gotten out anyway. Working at the Main Street Café, a lot of people knew her, and someone would have seen her mug shot on the local news website and spread the word soon enough.
    Bad enough Tom already knew. This was exactly the type of scene he’d wanted to avoid. Olivia was teetering on a skinny wire right now, without a net.
    “What did you do?” Mr. Edgemont’s eyebrows were up, as if he expected her to confess something really scandalous.
    “I spray-painted the Halverson Foods chicken factory,” she told him.
    He tsk-tsked her, and her fists clenched at her sides. “Aw well, honey, you’ve gotta come around sooner or later. People eat meat.” He gestured at the remainder of his pulled pork sandwich. “You ain’t never going to change that.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind.” She turned her back on him to find Pete watching her, an annoying twinkle of amusement in his dark eyes.
    “Anyway, if you’re finished heckling me, I’ll go put your order in.” She tried to sound as nonchalant as he looked, but she failed. She sounded pissed.
    “Aren’t you going to ask what I want to drink?”
    Oh my God. Her eye twitched. “Of course, Deputy Sampson. What would you like to drink?”
    “You got Dr Pepper?”
    She nodded.
    “All right then. Dr Pepper, and why don’t we make it the eggplant parm?” He winked.
    Olivia’s mouth fell open. She snapped it shut and stalked off to place his order. What the hell was his deal? All that and then he ordered eggplant?
    He was entirely too obnoxious to be so good looking. She’d never actually been one of those women who lusted after a man in uniform—probably because of her dislike of authority figures—but Pete Sampson? Phew. Naughty images of him frisking her played through her mind, and her cheeks heated.
    “Psst.”
    She whipped around to find Kristi standing outside the door to the kitchen, cell phone in hand.
    “You’ve got to see this,” Kristi said.
    “See what?”
    “There’s a picture making rounds on the Internet today.” She held her phone out.
    Olivia took it, a tight fist of dread in her stomach, but it wasn’t a picture of herself she saw on Kristi’s screen. Instead, the photo showed a bunch of people wearing chicken costumes, standing beneath her botched Chicken Ass message, mooning the camera. Someone had stamped clip-art chicken tails across the image to hide their bare butts from the Internet.
    Kristi snickered, a look of pure delight on her face.
    “What the hell is this?” Olivia asked.
    Her friend shrugged. “Word is, some kind of fraternity prank. Funny, right?”
    Funny? No. Her message had become a joke. She’d been arrested and possibly messed up her future so that a bunch of college kids could pull their pants down and become Internet sensations? “Where did you find this?”
    “Anyone in town with a Facebook account has seen it. I’m surprised you hadn’t.”
    This just kept getting better. “I’ve been here since this morning. Look, I need to get back to work. Call me later, okay?”
    Kristi nodded and left with a wave.
    Olivia walked to the soda fountain machine and stood for a moment with her eyes closed. She focused on her inner peace with an “on the go” meditation technique