Lawfully Wed

  By Shawn Lane

  Published by JMS Books LLC

  Visit jms-books.com for more information.

  Copyright 2020 Shawn Lane

  ISBN 9781646563098

  Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

  Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

  All rights reserved.

  WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

  No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

  This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Published in the United States of America.

  * * * *

  Lawfully Wed

  By Shawn Lane

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 1

  I’d had no idea what was involved in getting married when I asked my boyfriend to get hitched. I figured it was simple enough. A civil ceremony. Neither of us were particularly religious, though I guessed my family was. Given that we were two guys marrying, the church wouldn’t exactly cooperate anyway.

  But even though I wanted and anticipated a civil ceremony, I also wanted to do it up right. With flowers and champagne. Maybe a sit-down dinner. The fancy cake. I didn’t want to do the “quickie wedding at a drive-up Las Vegas chapel.” That wasn’t my style.

  Planning a real wedding, though, wasn’t so easy. I wanted to hire a planner, maybe, but those are pricier than you might think. And then you gotta order the flowers and the booze and the dinner.

  Maybe the quickie wedding my lover wanted wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

  It occurred to me, belatedly—in other words, after I’d asked Scott O’Hara, my partner in the homicide department, as well as my lover, to be my husband—that I probably should have mentioned my intentions to Rivers, our captain, first.

  But see, if we’d been a guy and a girl, I probably wouldn’t have even worried about that aspect, although, yeah, I guess being partners on the squad was still a big deal for those romantically involved, but there was still a particular element with us both being males, and I was aware of that, even if it caused more than a little bristling.

  Still, I supposed even a heterosexual married couple would have to give up their work partnership.

  Scott had accepted, as I was sure he would—I really was, sweaty palms notwithstanding. We’d kept it quiet at first, because Haydon Cliff was dealing with the second serial killer case within a year, but once that had been solved, by another detective pair, Scott and I began to plan our wedding and married life together with renewed vigor.

  Or, you know, perhaps that was just me. He still seemed a little less than enthused about the bigger ceremony.

  “One of us needs to tell the brass,” Scott said one morning as he came out of the bathroom, brushing his teeth.

  “One of us?”

  “Well.” He smiled. Which looked kind of ghastly with the toothpaste foam coming out of his mouth. “It was your idea.”

  He returned to the bathroom, presumably to spit and rinse, and came back shortly, toothpaste-foam free.

  I still lay in bed, leaning against the headboard, arms crossed behind my head as I eyed him with displeasure.

  “You said ‘yes.’ You don’t want to marry me?”

  “Of course, I want to marry you, Edgar.”

  He was using his “patient” voice. The voice he used when he was trying to show me I was being unreasonable or insensitive or whatever. It generally annoyed me. It did especially now.

  “Good. Because for a second there, I thought you were putting this all on me.” I paused. “We’re partners, Scott. In every way. And that means telling the captain together.”

  Scott sighed and went to the closet. “Yeah, okay. I know that, I guess. You know it’s going to mean exactly what we told Callahan and Mantegna at the diner before they cracked their case.”

  Sean Callahan and Andy Mantegna were the detective team who’d had the second serial killer case after ours.

  “Rivers is going to split us up,” I agreed.

  Scott came to sit on our bed. “Yeah. Are you ready to face that? Accept that?”

  “Scott, we’ve been fortunate Rivers has allowed us to remain partners as long as he has, given our personal relationship. I thought he’d split us when you moved in. I don’t think it would have been this way with any other police department.”

  “I know. Still sucks, though.”

  I reached for and received his hand. “What’s the alternative, babe? Hide what we are? Never be allowed to live as husbands in the eyes of the law? When we got involved, didn’t you at least think this might be in our future?”

  “Maybe.” Scott shrugged. “Except, when we first hooked up, you were very careful about not putting labels on us.”

  “Things were still early with us and you had your doubts I could commit to monogamy,” I reminded him.

  “True. But come on, Edgar, are you saying you thought immediately of marriage?”

  “No. But I thought of it early on. Sorta. Anyway, the point is we want to make a life together, the next step being married, and that means we have to inform Rivers. Together.”

  Scott sighed. “Okay.”

  * * * *

  It was a picture-perfect day in Haydon Cliff. The sun was shining without a hint of clouds in the sky and the gentlest breeze came off the ocean. From where I stood in front of the Haydon Cliff Police Department, I could see the bay below, since the station was on a bit of a hill.

  I had a pretty good view from my house also—er, our house—being only a block or so from the main beach area. But with the PD being on that elevated spot, I could see far out into the bay. Sailboats dotted the horizon. I gulped in a lungful of sea air.

  “What?” Scott asked.

  “What what?”

  “You look…I don’t know…wistful.”

  I glanced at him. He really was a beautiful man, with rather strawberry blond hair and dimples when he smiled, which was surprisingly often, considering his rather serious disposition. Sometimes I don’t think he realized how lucky I thought I was to have him.

  “Think we should get a sailboat?”

  Scott’s eyes widened. “A what?”

  I grinned. “You heard me. We live in Haydon Cliff, for heaven’s sake. Don’t you think we should take advantage of that in some way?”

  “A sailboat on two detective salaries?”

  “We could get a used one.”

  “Dream on, Lopez.”

  Scott turned to go into the building, but my gaze lingered on those boats and the possibilities. I let my imagination take me there, to actually envisioning the two of us lounging casually in a boat, the breeze blowing through Scott’s hair—

  “Edgar, are you coming?”

  “Be right there.”

  But I had it in my mind that somehow I was going to make something like that happen for us.

  * * * *

  Captain Rivers greeted us with a grunt when we made it clear we wanted to see him privately.

  “Is this about a case?”

  I exchanged a look with Scott. “Not exactly.”

  Rivers leaned back in his chair and sighed. He was a big, solid guy, muscular with boy-next-door looks. He’d worked his way up to captain from all the ranks, starting off as a patrolman at one time. He was a good cop and a good boss, fairly open-minded, considering he came from a long line of cops and firemen. “What is it?”

  I opened my mouth to find a way to ease into the topic.

  “We’re getting married,” Scott said.

  I turned and stared at him. His cheeks reddened, but he continued to gaze rather blandly at Rivers.

  Chapter 2

  To his credit, Rivers kept his expression blank as he continued to stare at us. Scott continued to blush scarlet red. It was those Irish genes.

  I cleared my throat. Now that the cat was out of the bag, and quite quickly at that, I moved headlong into the topic. “Scott’s right. I asked him to marry me and he accepted. Given our obvious change in our personal relationship, we knew we had to notify you.” I paused. “Sir.”

  “How long?”

  “Captain?”

  Rivers steepled his fingers together. “Have you been engaged?”

  Scott glanced at me, then back to Rivers. “I don’t know the exact amount of time.”

  “But not like last night?” At our shrugs, he sighed. “There have been rumors. I can’t say I’m entirely surprised. In fact, I suspected you’d be in here one day with this.”

  “Rumors? People have been talking about us?”

  He snorted. “They’ve been talking about
you for a long time, Edgar.”

  I was surprised by the use of my first name.

  “Before you and Scott got together, you were the subject of gossip. You’ve never been subtle, and I’m pretty sure you knew they talked about you and even encouraged it. And everyone on the force knows Scott moved in with you.” Rivers gave another sigh. “They’ve been pressuring me to break you up for a while.”

  Scott froze at this. “Break us up?”

  “Not you as a couple, O’Hara. But as partners. It’s not done. I made it clear from the beginning it was a trial basis. You guys made a great team. Worked well together. I hated the idea of mixing things up. And you both assured me it wouldn’t interfere with your jobs.”

  “It hasn’t,” I said firmly.

  The captain nodded. “Yeah, probably not. But appearances are appearances. Right or wrong, the two of you remaining partners has been met with resistance and feedback I really can’t continue to ignore. And with the engagement, well, that pretty much nails what I already knew.”

  “All this from the guys in the precinct?” Scott asked. I could tell he was hurt and felt a bit betrayed that our fellow officers would make a big stink out of it. While not every single one of them was a friend, we had good relationships with almost every one.

  Rivers shrugged. “A bit. Not much. More from higher-ups, the city council, and concerned citizens.”

  Scott murmured something under his breath—I thought it could have been, “fuckers”—but decided not to call attention to it.

  “Anyway, first of all…” Rivers said.

  “First of all? I think we’ve passed the ‘first of all.’” Scott said.

  “Are you getting snotty with me, O’Hara?”

  “No.”

  But it was biting. I kicked at his chair.

  Rivers smirked. “As I was saying, congratulations. I expect to be invited.”

  I nodded. “And?”

  “I’ll talk with Callahan and Mantegna. You’ll be partnered with them. You guys set a date yet?”

  I exchanged a look with Scott. “No. We’re still trying to decide if we’re having something small or something big.”

  The smirk widened. “Who wants the big and who wants the small?”

  Scott snorted. “Take a guess, Cap. See how well you know us.”

  “You want the small and Lopez wants the big.”

  “Right you are.”

  “Hey,” I said. “I only plan on doing this one time. It needs to be momentous.”

  “Okay. So get out of my office. As soon as I can tell the other guys, and get an official date, I’ll let you know. Got it?”

  We both rose.

  “We got it.”

  * * * *

  Scott was quiet most of the rest of the day, but I decided not to push it. Not there at work. When we left to go home would be a different story.

  But when we finished for the day and left the station, I eyed him. “Well?”

  Scott shrugged. “I hate that we have to break up to stay together.”

  I laughed as I clicked open the locks of the car. “That’s some weird-ass logic there.”

  “You know what I mean. As partners. We worked great together. Well beyond what I figured.”

  Frowning, I got in the driver’s seat. “You had doubts we’d do well?”

  “I’m the one who said we shouldn’t be partners, remember?”

  I glanced at him. There wasn’t even a trace of a smile. “But because we were having sex and you thought it didn’t mix and you thought I slept around.”

  He rolled his eyes. “You did sleep around, Edgar.”

  “Not when it mattered,” I insisted.

  “Okay,” Scott agreed, his voice softening. “But I meant before all that. When Rivers was first going to pair us.”

  My frown deepened as I started the car. “You…wait. What?”

  “I had doubts. You were cocky and had a rep. And I was attracted to you. While in the closet.”

  “Still. Wasn’t I known as a good cop?”

  “You were. Which is why I ended up agreeing. But I’m not going to lie, Edgar. I fought the idea at the start, and in the first few weeks, I thought, yeah, my trepidation was right.”

  “And you were a closed mouth, cold son of a bitch,” I replied. “Or I thought so.” I grinned. “Guess we were both wrong.”

  Scott finally did smile. “Guess so.”

  “You want to cook at home or go somewhere?”

  He leaned back and yawned. “Go somewhere. Too lazy to cook. How about you?”

  “Same.”

  I didn’t feel like dealing with anything fancy, so I pulled the car into a fast food joint, and we got out, ordered inside, and took our burgers and fries to a booth in the corner.

  Late in the day, Rivers had told us he’d decided on the assignments. He’d already briefed Mantegna, who hadn’t been surprised since we had already given them the heads-up. Rivers left it to Andy to tell his partner.

  “What are you complaining about anyway?” I took a large bite of my burger, chewed, and swallowed. “I’m the one getting stuck with Sean Callahan as my partner.”

  Scott chuckled. “Callahan’s all right. You’ll do fine.”

  “Then you partner with him and I’ll take Mantegna.”

  He laughed again. “Nah. Rivers made up his mind. Andy’s my partner.”

  I threw a balled-up napkin at him. “You suck.”

  I half expected a leering remark from Scott about sucking later, but instead he turned serious again. He did that a lot, honestly. My love was basically a serious guy.

  “So tomorrow.”

  “What about tomorrow?”

  “Got the day off. Don’t start the new partnership until next week. I was thinking…”

  “We could spend the day in bed?” I asked, eagerly.

  “No, Edgar. Get your mind off sex for once.”

  “You didn’t say that last night when I—”

  “Shut up.” He kicked me. “This is serious.”

  I leaned back with a sigh. “All right. Give it to me. What then?”

  “I’m going to go see Mom at the home and tell her about this. About us. Getting married, I mean.” He ran his hand over his jaw. “I don’t know, babe. I’d like her to come to it. The ceremony, obviously. But if you think she’ll be a nuisance, then no.”

  “If her doctors say she’s up for it, she should come, Scotty.”

  “Then you don’t mind if I go see her?”

  “Mind? No. We’ll go together.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “Scotty, that’s what partners and husbands do.”

  He smiled a little. “Okay. Cool.”

  Chapter 3

  Because the assisted living home for elderly people where Mrs. O’Hara lived told Scotty not to come until the afternoon, I decided to wake up my fiancé with a blow job.

  Scott hadn’t bothered to redress the night before after our late night fuck-fest, so it was easy enough to just scoot down our bed and swallow his morning wood.

  “Jesus, Edgar,” he gasped, just before coming.

  A satisfactory beginning to the day.

  I wiped my hand across my mouth, too lazy to get out of bed quite yet, and crawled to my side of the bed next to him.

  “Good morning.” I stroked light circles across his still-quivering belly. He continued to lie on his back, eyes closed, breath coming out in puffs.

  “Morning.” His lips quirked up at the corners. “That was a nice wake-me-up. Much nicer than some blaring alarm.”

  “I thought so. What do you want for breakfast?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Breakfast, Scotty. Food. I’m going to make us some before we hit the road.”

  Those eyes of his, an intense deep blue, opened at last to peer at me. “Aren’t you trying too hard?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I already said ‘yes.’”

  “Sure. But I want you to keep saying ‘yes.’ Come on, Scotty, you know you’ve always been a tough sell. You admitted as much to me yesterday.”

  “Well. At first.”

  I snorted. “Still.”

  “Edgar.” He shook his head.

  “Still,” I repeated. “I’m going to have to keep wooing you for the rest of our lives.”

  “No.”

  “Yes. But I never said that was a bad thing. It’s good not to take the love of your life for granted.”