Page 129 of Hot Cops

“They have each other.”

“Fiona,” Sunnie said.

“She lives too far away. Besides, she’s got two gay best friends. She’ll never have time for you.”

Sunnie laughed, then the three of them fell silent for a few moments, eating chips, drinking margaritas, giving her a chance to let their words sink in.

Finally, she said the thing that had caused her stupid freak-out to begin with. “Landon thinks I’m in love with him.”

“You are.”

The more Yvonne kept pointing out the obvious, the more Sunnie wished she could rewind her morning freak-out. “Well, obviously I love him. I’ve always loved him. It’s just…”

“You’ve never beeninlove, Sunnie. You’ve never really set yourself up for that emotion because your taste in men was pretty shallow. Pretty faces and big muscles.” Kelli leaned closer and winked. “Not that I fault you for that. Some of those boys were very, very easy to look at.”

Sunnie laughed again, figuring Kelli probably understood her the best. Like Sunnie, Kelli wasn’t looking to settle down, and her track record with men wasn’t much better.

Then Sunnie said, “Those guys were easy to be with. No expectations. No commitment. This is…”

“Hard,” Yvonne finished for her.

Sunnie nodded, then spoke her real fear. “What if it doesn’t work out, Vonnie? If I screw this up, or he figures out it was a mistake…it’ll kill me. I hate feeling so scared.”

Yvonne reached over the table and grasped her hand, squeezing it. “That’s what I mean by hard. But you’re not going to mess anything up. And no part of this is a mistake—Landonknows that. Love is one big-ass risk. But believe me, you and Landon are a pretty safe bet. I’d put all my money on you.”

Kelli lifted her glass and toasted her. “Me too.”

Sunnie smiled, still not completely convinced.

Yvonne recognized her doubtful expression. “You saw the video, Sun. You saw how Landon looked at you after that kiss. How can you doubt his feelings aren’t completely genuine?”

Sunnie closed her eyes and sighed. “I only watched it once. And I wasn’t looking at him. I was kind of looking at my hair. There was this one piece—” she continued, reaching up.

“One time?” Kelli interrupted in disbelief. “I’ve probably seen itfiftytimes.”

“You watched it one time?” Yvonne repeated, equally shocked.

Sunnie nodded. “Yeah. You should know. You were there.”

“That’s theonlytime you saw the video? Jesus! No wonder you’re acting like an idiot. The second we get home, you’re going to go upstairs, alone, pull out your phone, turn off the stupid canned music in the background and watch the damn thing. Look atLandon. Screw your hair!”

“Pop Pop told me to do the same thing.” Sunnie didn’t point out that advice had come a few weeks earlier.

“And as always, Pop Pop was right. I can’t believe you didn’t listen to him.”

“I was scared,” Sunnie confessed. “I’mstillscared.”

“Which is why we’re here,” Yvonne said, lifting her margarita. “We’re going to fortify you with a couple of these, then you can go home and watch the video.”

“Then you can find Landon and tell him you love him,” Kelli added.

“Just do me a favor?” Yvonne added.

“Anything,” Sunnie said, grateful for her cousin and Kelli. They had made everything so much better.

“Sleep at his place tonight.”

Sunnie laughed as she picked up a chip, dipping it into the salsa. Now that she had a plan, the appetite that had eluded her all day returned with a vengeance. “You got it.”

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