Page 63 of Hot Cops

She crossed her arms. “Three.”

“Did you text any of them?”

Sunnie shook her head. “Nope. Decided I wasn’t interested.”

“Seems to be a theme with you. Dance ’til you drop with a guy, make out during the slow songs, then ditch them at the door.”

Sunnie lifted one shoulder casually. “What can I say? I’m young and wild and free.”

As if on cue, they broke into the chorus of the Snoop Dogg song in unison, then Sunnie kept going, rapping the Wiz Khalifa part until they started laughing.

“I’ve got another year of school, and I am in no hurry to fall in love,” she said. “Settling down and becoming boring like you is going to have to wait. I have decided to grow up in my thirties.”

“Six years is a long time.”

She shook her head. “Blink of an eye.”

“Not sure I want to meet the guy who convinces you to hang up your hootchie-mama heels.”

“He’ll be built like John Cena with Chris Pine’s eyes, and when we’re in bed, he’ll?—”

Landon cut her off. “Do me a favor, Sunshine.”

“What’s that?”

“Keep working on that list until what the guy looks like doesn’t matter as much as how he treats you.”

“Nowwho sounds like Pop Pop?”

He raised one eyebrow until she relented.

“Deal.” Then she stood up, leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re a better brother than my own sometimes.”

He lifted one shoulder casually. “You’re setting the bar pretty low, but I’ll take it.”

CHAPTERTWO

A year later…

Landon tossed an empty beer can into the recycling bin and reached into the tub of ice for another.

“Take it easy, cowboy. I’m pretty sure that liquor-to-beer thing only applies if you aren’t alternating the two. And you’ve already done three tequila shots.”

He turned and chuckled at Sunnie in her Jasmine costume. She and her cousin Fiona had decided to throw a party on April Fools, giving it an Anything Goes theme. It had come at a time when Landon really needed a distraction. And an excuse to get drunk.

“I’ll take my chances.”

Sunnie gave him a funny look, tilting her head. “You never take chances. You reason everything out to the nth degree and then do the smart, grown-up thing. It’s a very annoying habit of yours. Some might call it a character flaw.”

“Well, hold on to your veil, Jasmine, because tonight, I’m all in.”

Her eyes lit up. “What’s the special occasion?”

“I’ve been a single man for a whole year.”

“Oh, shit. Yeah.” Sunnie’s gaze softened.

He and Audrey had split up one year ago tonight. Her original plan had been to move to New York in March, but the lease on her first apartment fell through, which left her scrambling to find something else. It also gave her an extra thirty-one days to try to convince him to change his mind and come with her.

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