Finn: Stryker County PD, #4

By Kali Hart

Valerie

I was supposed to be in Maui for my birthday.
My friends try to make up for the missed trip by throwing me something smaller at home.
But the quiet party turns rowdy before the night is over.
Someone calls the cops.
The hottest man to ever wear a police uniform shows up at my door.

Finn

One noise complaint changes the course of my life forever.
Because of it, I meet Valerie.

Sweet & steamy short story instalove romance with an older alpha police officer and younger curvy woman with an HEA. NO cliffhangers. NO cheating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie M. Wallick
• Release date: Jun 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9798223516118

Book preview

1

VALERIE

Give me that coconut bra! I yank the party prop from my bestie Caitlin’s hands, completely ignoring the fact that my double d’s will never fit into this thing without some serious manipulation and a prayer. It’s my party and I can wear it if I want to!

Get it girl! my cousin Sienna hoots at me.

A few of the girls whistle. Some of us take a collective shot together. I stopped asking what I’m drinking an hour ago. The party is at my house, so it’s not like I have to drive anywhere later. One of them will lead me to my bed before I completely pass out. Or at least the couch.

My added bonus is that tomorrow I have zero plans. Except to sleep all day.

Have this one, Sienna hands me a blue drink in a clear plastic cup topped off with a tropical toothpick stabbing a hunk of pineapple. It’s called a Blue Hawaiian.

A what?

Blue Hawaiian. She has to yell at me because someone turned up the music even louder. My neighbors will probably send me dirty looks for a week after tonight. Drink up!

I could hug Sienna for her kindness. Or maybe it’s the alcohol making me so damn sappy. These girls really are the best—the same lineup of women I was planning to have at my wedding. Of course, one needs a man to propose for there to be a wedding.

Never mind that I was supposed to be in Maui for my twenty-fourth birthday tonight. Sitting on a beach, sipping umbrella drinks, toes dug into the sand, soaking up sunrays. Waiting on an engagement ring to enter my magical vacation story.

You’re better off without him, Caitlin reassures. My bestie and I have a special bond that allows us to read each other’s minds. Or maybe she’s figured out what I was about to do because my finger is hovering over the call button under Jason’s name. Caitlin carefully pulls my phone from my clenched fingers. I’m deleting this number. Then blocking it.

The man I thought was going to ask me to spend the rest of my life with him decided to take a job on the opposite side of the country and not invite me. Can I tell him what a douche canoe he is before you do? I beg. He dropped the news on me two days before we were supposed to leave for our island getaway.

You already did that, sweetie. An hour ago.

Was that really today? That feels like yesterday.

Definitely an hour ago. Caitlin’s quick fingers work some kind of voodoo on my phone to keep me from seeing a string of texts that proves I did in fact call Jason all kinds of names very recently. She then slips it into her back pocket. For safe keeping.

But—

How about this coconut bra? She dangles the party prop in front of my face, and dammit, just like I’m a distracted three-year-old, the trick works.

Help me get it on? I ask.

What are best friends for?

I do hug her now, nearly spilling my Blue Hawaiian concoction. She takes the cup from me and sets it down. "I’ll help fasten this thing, but