Page 50 of Hot Cops

Trevor’s eyes lit up. “Does that mean you’ll take me back?”

“Gonna have to. Somebody’s gotta be this baby’s daddy.” She rubbed her stomach and Riley thought Trev actually went pale beneath his sunburn.

“Baby?”

“I’m pregnant.”

Trev raised his fist in the air and let out a holler loud enough that it must’ve had people from three blocks away turning their heads. They all laughed as he stood up, picked up his wife and spun her around. “Come on. I’m taking my gal out for a fancy supper. I’m gonna be a daddy!”

They said goodbye and walked off hand in hand.

Bubbles sighed sadly.

“You okay, Bubbles?” Riley asked.

“Two more happy endings. And here I am still stuck in this shithole city, hooking for a living. You know, I’m starting to think my Richard Gere’s not coming to save me.”

“So maybe you should go out and look for him.” Riley leaned closer. “Come back to Baltimore with us. Start over fresh in a new city.”

“Doing what?”

“You can work at my family’s pub. I need an assistant in the kitchen and my sister Keira’s knocked up again. We’ll need another waitress.”

“I don’t have a lot of money saved up. Costs a lot of money to keep me looking so stylish. I wouldn’t be able to afford a place to stay for a while, even with the offer of a job.”

Riley laughed. “I know a place that’s about to be empty that you can rent for super cheap until you get your feet under you.”

“Um, Riley,” Aaron interrupted. “This place?”

“I’m not living in your apartment, Aaron.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

“Do you want a list? Number one, it’s tiny. Number two, there’s no air conditioning. It’s the beginning of June. Do you know how hot Baltimore gets in July and August? I’m not sweating my ass off. On top of that, you don’t have a tub—just a shower, there’s like zero parking around your neighborhood and the commute to the pub would be murder.”

Aaron grinned. “Is that all?”

She gave him an exasperated look, but he just waved her off with a chuckle. “So where are we living?”

“Until we find a place of our own, I thought we’d stay with Pop, in Tristan’s old room.” She didn’t want to admit the idea of leaving the old guy alone without proper warning was worrying her. She knew she and Aaron would move out eventually and Pop would be on his own, but she wanted to give him time to get used to that idea.

Aaron looked at her for a long time and she wondered how far he—or she, for that matter—would take this argument.

“Fine. We’ll stay with your pop. That’s closer to the police station anyway and it’s not like I own anything of value. I furnished my whole apartment with stuff picked up at garage sales and the Salvation Army Surplus Store.”

She smiled, overwhelmed with relief. “Really? You sure you don’t mind.”

He leaned close and kissed her on the end of her nose. “I don’t mind. I’m crazy about your pop, you know that. We’ll stay with him for a while, save up some money, and take our time finding a house. One with a yard.”

“A house sounds awesome.”

“So the issue of where we’re living is taken care of, but are you seriously planning to take a hooker home to wait tables at your family’s pub? Sorry, Bubbles, no offense intended.”

“None taken,” Bubbles replied.

“Yeah. That’s what I’m planning,” Riley answered.

Aaron looked exasperated and Riley laughed. She loved having this effect on him. “Don’t you think you should run this idea by your pop?”

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