Free Patriotic Duty by C.J. Pinard Page A

it. Guess I am just a groupie.”
    “When do I get to meet
him?” I asked, sliding a glance towards the park to make sure the kids were
still within eyeshot.
    She shrugged and blew the
powder off the file. “When he gets back, I guess. He’s in Louisiana this week.”
    I bit back a smile that
she knew his schedule. “Sounds good.”
    “So what’s the plan for
your birthday?” she asked.
    I was dreading that she
would ask, but I guess there was no time like the present to break it to her. I
took a deep breath. “Riley’s taking me to Reno.”
    Her eyes got big. “Reno? Seriously? Oh, my God. Where are you gonna stay?”
    I shrugged. “I don’t
know.”
    I looked back up at her
and she had an amused expression on her pretty face. “Maybe you should stay at
Harrah’s.” She was fighting back a laugh.
    I shook my head. “Oh, my
God, I think we’re banned from that place. Can you believe we didn’t receive a
bill for that room?”
    Miranda and I had gone to
Reno last summer to meet some guy she knew from San Diego. Apparently they were
having some Marine Corps ball there and he wanted her to be his date, and she
had gone out with him a few times when she was in San Diego, but that was like
six years ago. So we drove up there, but the guy was a total ugly loser and
obviously had seriously let himself go since he went into the Reserves. I
lectured her for not Facebook stalking him before she agreed to be his date,
but she wasn’t big on social media and was not on the computer half as much as
I was.
    In the end, she had wound
up faking illness and ditching the poor sap halfway through his ball. I had met
a group of military guys in the lobby the first day we got there and I had been
partying with them in their hotel room when Miranda called me and ordered me to
come get her from the Hilton’s ballroom. I did, then brought her back to Harrah’s where we practically destroyed the room there. The
amount of Jaegermeister we’d consumed still gives me
a headache to think about. I’m surprised our photos weren’t tacked up in the
lobby, barring us from ever entering the grounds.
    Miranda looked at me and
smiled, and I could tell she was remembering the same thing I was.
    “Definitely not Harrah’s,”
we said in unison.

CHAPTER 10

 
    Riley
looked at me from the driver’s seat of my Acura. He looked so good in the light
of the car, his black hair shining and short from a fresh haircut and his dark
blue eyes looked brighter in the sunlight. He smiled at me as I stared at him, then looked back to the road. I didn’t want to stare but I
couldn’t help it. He was so gorgeous and I wanted to drink him all in.
      The sun was bright and the sky clear as we
left the Bay Area and headed for Reno. The three-hour drive wasn’t very scenic,
mostly highway, but I didn’t care. I was just excited to be going away with
him. My birthday was at the end of July and he had requested the weekend off
and planned this trip for me. I was seriously touched at the gesture,
especially when I found out he had to trade with another guy and would be
working a double shift when he got back to make up for it.
    We reached Reno with no
problems and parked in the lot of the El Dorado hotel and my stomach flipped
over, and I wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nerves. I had no idea what I
had to be nervous about.
    Riley grabbed our bags
from the trunk and we walked to the front desk to check in. The lobby was
decorated ornately with a ceiling encased with thick crown molding. A plush green floral carpeting swished under our feet and
large crystal chandeliers hung from a fancy ceiling. After receiving our room
keys, we headed through the reflective brass elevators and held hands as we
rode up to the eighth floor.
    As Riley put the room key
into the door, a beep and green light allowed us access and walking in, I
looked at the room. One large, king-sized bed sat in the center of the room and
the color schemes were similar to the lobby. I