The Badge Bunnies series: Ride-Along Read online

  The Badge Bunnies Series:

  Ride-Along

  By Paige Tyler

  Copyright © 2012 by Paige Tyler

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the author.

  Cover Design by Gemini Judson

  Dedication

  With special thanks to my extremely patient and understanding husband, without whose help and support I couldn’t have pursued my dream job of becoming a writer.

  You’re my sounding board, my idea man, my critique partner, and the absolute best research assistant any girl could ask for!

  Thank you.

  And thank you to my wonderful executive assistant Jennilinh and the girls of my Street Team—Barb L., Barb K., Christy, Cyndi, Dani, Dianna, Desere, Janet, Jennifer, Kimberly, Kris, Regina, Susan and Yvette. You all rock!

  Ride-Along

  The pleasure these two hunks give her should probably be illegal!

  Laci Howe has always had a thing for cops, so she's thrilled when her newspaper editor sends her on a ride-along with two of San Francisco's finest.

  Jase Neilsen and Grant Chapman are so gorgeous, she can't help but flirt a little as she interviews them. When the two cops confide in her about one of the perks that comes with the being a man in uniform - badge bunnies - she's intrigued. Things get even more interesting when they tell her in graphic and very sexy detail about their experiences with these cop-loving ladies.

  Laci's so turned on by the time the ride-along ends, she gives into her inner badge bunny and invites Jase and Grant back to her place for a hot night of sex complete with spanking and handcuffs that she won't soon forget. The pleasure she experiences at the hands of the two men is so far beyond amazing, it should probably be considered illegal. Good thing she's with two cops, isn't it?

  Chapter One

  Laci Howe had never been in a police station before. With the big blue and gold seal dominating one wall and big, open room filled with desks, it looked exactly like it had on the San Francisco Police Department website. But with a heck of a lot more sexy guys. She had no idea there were so many hot cops working for the City by the Bay. She could kiss her editor for giving her this assignment.

  As she made her way to the front desk, she scanned the room, wondering which police officer she’d be accompanying on the ride-along today. She certainly wouldn’t mind hanging out with the well-muscled blond who flashed her a grin as she passed. Or the tall hunk with the curly, chestnut hair and sexy dimple. The dark-haired Abercrombie-and-Fitch model look-alike, either. Honestly? She’d be thrilled to spend the day with any of them.

  Just because she had a thing for cops didn’t mean she could forget about the job she was here to do, though. The editor at the newspaper where she worked was expecting an in-depth story on a day in the life of a police officer. Not a fluffy piece about how handsome San Francisco’s finest were.

  She smiled at the gray-haired desk sergeant. “I’m Laci Howe from the Bay News. I’m supposed to meet with Tony Aldrich about a ride-along.”

  The desk sergeant nodded. “I’ll let him know you’re here.”

  “Thanks.”

  Laci surveyed the room of uniformed men again while she waited for the department’s public relations guy. It should be illegal for all this hotness to be in one place.

  “Ms. Howe?”

  She turned to see a thin, bespectacled man in a suit coming toward her. At least, she thought he had glasses. She was too busy focusing on the two police officers with him to be sure. They were so gorgeous it was criminal. Please let one of them be her cop for the day.

  “I’m Tony Aldrich.” The man in the suit held out his hand. “All set for your ride-along”

  She smiled as she shook his hand. “I am.” She gave the two cops a pointed look. “Is one of these officers my escort?”

  “You’ll be riding with both of them, actually.” He gestured to one man, then the other. “This is Officer Jase Neilson and Officer Grant Chapman.”

  Laci blinked. She’d considered herself lucky when she thought she would get to hang out with one of them, but both? She’d definitely hit the jackpot.

  Jase held out his hand. He was tall and muscular with dark blond hair, a square jaw and the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. “Nice to meet you.”

  His hand was big and strong around hers. “Same here.”

  Grant extended his hand. “Ms. Howe.”

  She smiled. “Call me Laci.”

  Heck, he could call her anything he wanted. A little taller than Jase, he was just as well-built with a chiseled jaw and the kind of soulful brown eyes a girl could get lost in.

  Even more eager to go on the ride-along than before, she was ready to jump in a patrol car and start chatting up the two armed-and-dangerous hotties right away. But the public relations guy put the brakes on that idea with a whole stack of liability documents and legal agreements. It took almost an hour to read and sign everything. By the time she was done, she was a little worried they planned to strap a bullet proof vest on her and order her to kick down the door of the nearest drug den.

  Jase must have seen the concern on her face because he chuckled. “Don't worry about all that paperwork. The legal department requires it. You won't be seeing any action.”

  That was a relief. Although she had to admit, she wouldn’t mind seeing him and Grant flex their muscles. But something told her they’d probably go out of their way to avoid any real police work with her tagging along. Bummer.

  Outside, Grant gave her a little tutorial on the patrol car. He pointed out the shotgun, radio and computer console up front, as well as the extra equipment in the trunk—bullet proof vests, a water-rescue throw-bag with rope, a first-aid kit, surgical gloves, yellow caution tape for crime scenes, a fire extinguisher, vehicle lock-out tools, a measuring device for traffic accidents and crime scenes, chalk, road flares, a crowbar, a shovel and a tire-deflating device used to safely end vehicle pursuits. While it was all extremely fascinating—she’d had no idea they carried so much cool stuff—concentrating on what he was saying was a little difficult. That deep, sexy voice could be quite distracting and she had to really force herself to take notes.

  When Grant was done, Jase opened the back door for her. “You'll be happy to know this is one of our supervisor cruisers, so there’s no security cage to keep us separated while we talk.”

  Laci hadn’t even thought about that, but she was glad. Not only would it have made it awkward to carry on a conversation, but it would have obstructed her view of all that man candy.

  Grant glanced at her in the rearview mirror as he pulled onto the street. “We'll be covering one of our regular beats, pointing out what we'd normally be looking for during the patrol.”

  “You have a regular part of the city you usually patrol then?” Laci grinned. “I’ve always wondered about that.”

  Jase nodded from the passenger seat. “It’s to make sure the whole city has a police presence. Plus, it makes it easier to see what’s suspicious and what’s not when you’re familiar with an area.”

  That made sense. “How do you decide who drives?”

  “We usually take turns.” Jase glanced over his shoulder at her. “When you’re partners, you learn to share real quick.”

  “How long have you two been partners?”

  “Five years,” Grant supplied. “No one else I’d want covering my back out here.”

  “Back at ya, partner,” Jase said.

  That gave Laci pause. Good looks and hot bods aside—which was difficult to
do—these two were cops. They did a dangerous job and put their lives in each other’s hands every day. She made a quick note reminding herself to capture that camaraderie in the piece she wrote.

  Wanting to make sure she got all the mandatory information she’d need for her story before she got to the fun stuff, she asked both men how old they were (Grant was thirty-two; Jase was thirty), where they were originally from (Grant grew up in San Francisco; Jase was from Sacramento), what kind of training they had (Grant had been an MP in the Army; Jase had gone to the police academy) and how long a normal shift was.

  Grant chuckled. “There’s no such thing as a normal shift. But if there was, it’d be on duty four ten-hour days, off the other three.”

  “We usually end up working a lot more than that,” Jase added.

  “That mustn’t make your wives very happy.”

  She tried to tell herself it was a vital part of her story, but it was really just a sneaky way to find out if one or both of them were available.

  Jase glanced at her. “We’re not married.”

  “Oh.” She perked up at that. “Girlfriends, then.”

  Grant turned off the main road on to a side street. “No girlfriends, either.”

  It was probably wrong for her to be happy about that, but she was. That answer didn’t mean one or both of them wasn’t gay, of course, but she didn’t get that vibe from either man. She hadn’t been so busy checking them out back at the station that she missed the way their gazes had lingered on the curve of her breasts and jean-clad ass when they thought she wasn’t looking.

  Realizing they were both waiting for her to say something, Laci hurriedly scanned the list of questions she’d written in her notebook. “So, why did you both decide to become cops?”

  “Besides the terrific pay and great hours, you mean?” Jase teased. ”Is it too cheesy to say I wanted to make a difference?”

  She smiled. “It’s not cheesy at all. I think it’s commendable.”

  Grant flashed her a grin in the rearview mirror. “Well, in that case, what he said.”

  Laci laughed.

  “All kidding aside,” Grant said. “It feels good to know you do a job where you not only get to help people, but keep them safe, too. Knowing you’re making the city less dangerous every time you put some lowlife behind bars more than makes up for the less-than-terrific pay and not-so-great hours.”

  Beside him, Jase nodded in agreement.

  Not only were both men gorgeous, but they were selfless, too. Did it get any better?

  “Well, I know I speak for a lot of the people of San Francisco when I say thank you,” Laci said. It didn’t seem nearly adequate enough for all they did, but it was the best she could with up with. Her lips curved. “And now that we’ve got all the easy questions out of the way, what readers are dying to know is whether cops really eat donuts.”

  Grant and Jase exchanged looks before they both laughed.

  “No,” they said in unison.

  “At least we don’t,” Jase added.

  No surprise there. If those big biceps were any indication, the two cops probably ate nothing but pure protein.

  “So, no stops at the donut shop today I guess, then,” she teased.

  Grant laughed. “Afraid not… Shit! Hang on.”

  Laci was about to ask what was up when the car swerved to the curb and squealed to a halt.

  He put the cruiser in park and pointed out the window. “Purse snatcher.”

  Laci craned her neck to see. A man was running down the street, toting a big, yellow handbag that definitely didn't match the rest of his clothes.

  Jase and Grant were out of the car before it stopped rocking.

  “Stay here!” was the only thing Jase said as they took off after the man.

  Like there was an option. She was in pretty good shape and had worn low-heeled sandals just in case she needed to run, but Jase and Grant were way too fast for her to ever imagine keeping up.

  Eager to see them apprehend the thief, she stepped out to get a good view of the two cops hauling ass after the purse-snatcher. Watching them in action was beyond hot.

  “Come back here with my purse, you scoundrel!”

  Laci dragged her gaze away from Jase and Grant to see an elderly woman tottering down the sidewalk after them, arms flailing. Laci quickly hurried over to gently put her hands on the woman’s shoulders.

  “It’s okay,” she said soothingly. “The police officers will catch him.”

  The older woman worried her lower lip. “I hope so. I have a lottery ticket.” She gave Laci a tremulous smile. “It’s a winner, I’m sure of it.”

  Laci smiled back. The hundreds of other people in the city who were carrying around lottery tickets probably also thought the same thing. She didn’t mention that, though. Who knew? Maybe the woman was right.

  Down the street, Jase and Grant disappeared around the corner. They were back less than five minutes later, pushing a cuffed man in front of them. As they got closer, Laci couldn't help but notice neither cop was sweating, or even breathing hard for that matter. The purse snatcher, on the other hand, was gulping air like a drowning man and sweating profusely. He didn’t look the least bit sorry he’d stolen the poor woman’s purse, either.

  She took the bag when Jase held it out, clutching it to her as if it were precious. “Oh, thank you so much, Officer.”

  His mouth curved. “Just doing my job, ma’am.”

  She pinned the thief with a glare, then doddered forward and hit him with her purse. Repeatedly.

  “You should be ashamed of yourself, young man! Stealing from an old woman!”

  She punctuated every other word with a smack, and probably would have kept on going if Jase hadn’t stepped in and gently, but firmly, turned her around and led her away from the man in the opposite direction.

  “Why don’t we go over here so you can tell me what happened?” he suggested.

  The older woman looked as if she would have preferred to keep hitting the purse snatcher with the bag he’d stolen from her—Laci didn’t blame her—but she allowed Jase to guide her over to a nearby bench.

  While Jase took her statement, Grant called for a back-up vehicle to take the suspect in. With Laci riding in the back seat, they clearly couldn't do it. She divided her time between the two cops, taking notes as she listened in on their conversations. As the older woman explained how she’d been walking down her street on the way back from the bodega when that “scoundrel” had snatched her purse right off her arm, the thief insisted it was her fault.

  “She lured me in by swinging that yellow purse of hers!” He glanced at Grant. “That’s entrapment, right?”

  Grant’s eyes narrowed. “No. It’s a crime. And if that lottery ticket of hers turns out to be a winner, that makes it a felony crime, and you’re going to be in jail for a long time.”

  The thief opened his mouth to argue, but a hard look from Grant silenced him. Laci caught her bottom lip between her teeth. God, she loved an authoritative guy.

  The second cruiser arrived a few minutes later to take the purse snatcher into custody. The man tried to plead his case to the female police officer as she led him to the car, but she didn’t buy the entrapment defense any more than Grant had.

  “Tell it to your lawyer,” was all she said.

  “Do you need us to give you a ride home?” Jase asked the older woman.

  “No, dear. I just live a few blocks down. Thank you anyway,” she said. “And thank you again for getting my purse back.”

  Laci couldn’t help but smile as both cops downplayed what they’d done, saying they were just doing their jobs. But after the older woman started down the sidewalk and they got in the car, she realized just how dangerous chasing the purse snatcher had been. They guy could have had a gun. Going after him had been extremely brave.

  And hot.

  Chapter Two

  When she said as much to Jase and Grant—about it being brave, not hot—they shrugged it off ju
st as nonchalantly.

  “I don’t know about that,” she insisted. “What you do still seems dangerous.”

  “It is. But it’s our job.” Grant glanced at her in the mirror. “Besides, it comes with a few perks that do a lot to balance out the equation.”

  Like bonuses and extra vacation days? The men exchanged conspiratorial smiles that made Laci think those weren’t the kinds of perks they were talking about. There was a juicy story bubbling here, she just knew it.

  “Okay guys, what kinds of perks are we talking about?”

  Jase was having a hard time keeping a straight face. “Oh, nothing.”

  “Bull!” She leaned forward. “Come on, what's the scoop here?”

  Jase half turned in his seat to look at her. “Sorry, Laci, but it’s something we're not at liberty to discuss. It's kind of a departmental secret.”

  “More like a country-wide cop secret,” Grant added. “If it got out, some people might take it the wrong way.”

  Like that little tidbit wasn’t going to make her more curious. She made a show of closing the small notebook she held and tucking her pen in the spiral. “Okay. Completely off the record, then. You have my word that none of this conversation will ever show up in any article I write.”

  The two cops exchanged looks again, clearly debating whether to divulge this big secret of theirs. Finally Grant nodded. Jase still hesitated, but then turned back to her.

  “Badge Bunnies.”

  “Badge Bunnies?” Laci repeated. She had a sneaking suspicion what they were, but she wasn’t completely sure. “What’s a badge bunny?”

  “Women who like to hang out with police officers,” Jase said.

  Her first intuition had been right. “You mean, like cop groupies?”

  “Kinda,” Grant said. “We like to call them badge bunnies, though, because they’re cute and cuddly and like to bounce around a lot.”

  She could only imagine the kind of bouncing he was talking about. Sophomoric, yes, but hilarious, too.