Page 1 of Hot Cops

MONDAY’S CHILD

Monday’s child is fair of face,

Tuesday’s child is full of grace,

Wednesday’s child is full of woe,

Thursday’s child has far to go,

Friday’s child is loving and giving,

Saturday’s child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath day,

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

~Traditional nursery rhyme

CHAPTERONE

Aaron Young walkedinto the Mirage and took a deep breath, trying to calm his ragged nerves. After all, Riley had called her sister Keira and told her where she was, and that she was fine. Unfortunately, that wasn’t registering in his incensed mind. She’d run off to Las Vegas with Trevor Blankenship, the biggest moron in their graduating class, on a drunken whim. The fact that Trevor was newly separated from his wife wasn’t helping to calm Aaron. The asshole wasn’t even pursuing a divorce, if the local gossip was accurate.

What the hell was she thinking?

Aaron walked through the miles and miles of gambling tables and slot machines, well aware that finding Riley in the massive casino was a bit like trying to find an honest politician in D.C. For a second, he wondered if he should have left a trail of breadcrumbs or something. He was afraid he’d get lost forever in this maze of mind-numbing noise and flashing lights.

A loud cheer captured his attention and he spotted a large crowd. Bingo. He headed toward the gathering, unsurprised when he saw Riley’s bouncing brunette curls at the center of the group. The lively woman always managed to attract the loudest, rowdiest sort of people, regardless of the setting.

She laughed and did some sort of victory dance with the woman next to her that reminded him of Beyonce’sSingle Ladiesvideo. He grinned despite his anger. Damn, she knew how to have fun. It had always been this way.

He’d met Riley Collins when they were both three years old and their mothers struck up a conversation at the playground. From that day ’til now, he and Riley had been best friends, in an “opposites attract” sort of way. While Riley was the life of every party, Aaron was more content to hover in the background. Happy to watch her shine. She was beautiful and dynamic, perfect in every way.

Except when she pulled stunts like this little impromptu excursion to Vegas. Then she frustrated the hell out of him, drove him insane. Sadly, her wild escapades had become more frequent and more dangerous since the wedding of her older sister Teagan. She was headed for disaster, and for some reason, her brothers and pop were looking to Aaron to rein her in. He snorted. None of the males in the Collins family had managed to control Riley the past twenty-five years, so he wasn’t sure what magic they expectedhimto work.

Keira had called him, frantic, when she’d learned Riley—after a long night of partying—had hopped on a red-eye flight to Vegas. Now here he stood, early Saturday evening, watching the source of his annoyance putting another twenty dollar bet on the blackjack table. Standing behind her, a totally wasted Trevor had his hand down the front of a bleached-blonde woman’s sequin dress.

This day kept getting better and better.

The dealer placed more winnings in front of Riley and Aaron decided now might be a good time to break up the party. Find a way to convince her to quit while she was ahead.

He shoved his way through the rambunctious crowd, his police training and large build coming in handy. A few people looked as if they wanted to protest the fact he was pushing them aside, but backed off when they saw his determined face. He intended to get Riley Collins’ perky little ass out of this casino and on the next plane back to Baltimore—and he didn’t care who he had hurt to make that happen.

He squeezed in between Riley and the woman next to her. The dealer looked up, perhaps ready to tell him the table was full, but he closed his mouth when Aaron flashed him an angry look.

Riley grinned when she spotted him, the only person he’d encountered thus far who didn’t seem confused or annoyed by his pushy arrival.

“Hey, sugar,” she slurred. Great, she was drunk. That helped him ignore the pleasure that suffused his body when she called him by her nickname for him.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Riley?” His voice was deep and clearly furious.

She shrugged, oblivious to his feelings. “Playing blackjack.” Then she really looked at him and started to giggle. “Oh my God, Aaron. Did you know you’re in Vegas?”

“Yeah, I had a few clues, but I think it was the seven-hour flight and hour layover in Chicago that sort of solidified it for me.”

Riley laughed, dismissing his angry sarcasm as humor. “Hey, Trev.” She turned to get the attention of the man Aaron was three seconds away from laying out on the floor with his fist. “Look who’s here. My BFF Aaron.”

Trevor looked up, his surprise muted by his downright drunkenness. “Hey, Aaron.” Trevor’s arm was still slung around a woman Aaron would bet his entire retirement fund was a prostitute.

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