Lawfully Adored (K-9 Lawkeeper Romance)

by Jenna Brandt

  “God sees your sacrifice and is grateful,” Lindsay promised. “As I’m sure your daughter is too.”

  “She tells me so all the time,” Maria smiled. “Now, if I could just get her to come to church with me, I would be a happy old woman.”

  “Then we shall pray for it,” Lindsay offered.

  The two of them spent the rest of the time in the nursery praying while taking care of the three babies in their care.

  Thirteen

  “Come on,” Aiden yelled at the television screen, “that’s a bad call, ref.” Throwing his hands up in the air, Aiden reached out and took a swig of his beer.

  Even though it was Sunday, he should probably be at the gym rather than at home watching the game, but like any true born and raised Coloradoan, Aiden was a die-hard Denver Bronco’s fan. It made the potential defeat by the Dallas Cowboys especially painful to watch.

  Though raised in a church-going family, after his parents’ sudden death while he was in college, Aiden stopped attending church regularly. On occasion—mostly during the major Christian holidays—Aiden would make the effort to go to his old church out of nostalgia. On a regular basis, however, Aiden would much rather sleep in and watch sports instead of going to the stifling church from his childhood.

  Standing up, Aiden stretched before heading towards the kitchen to grab another beer and a fresh slice of pizza.

  Cooper jumped up from his spot on the couch and followed Aiden into the other room.

  “What? Are you wanting a treat, boy?” Aiden asked with a grin.

  Reaching on top of the fridge, Aiden grabbed a canister. Unscrewing the top, he pulled out a dog biscuit and extended it to Cooper, who immediately gobbled it up in two bites.

  “That was fast.”

  Aiden looked down at Cooper and noticed the pleading look in his partner’s eyes. Giving in, he sighed and pulled out another treat.

  “Here you go, boy.” Aiden offered the second dog biscuit to Cooper. “This is the last one though. We got to keep you in shape now, don’t we?”

  Glancing at the half-eaten pizza on the counter, Aiden decided not to take another piece. “Considering I need to do the same, I should probably refrain from having anymore myself.”

  After closing the lid to the pizza, Aiden opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water instead of another beer from inside. Keeping physically fit was an important part of working search and rescue. Though the call-outs were sporadic at best, the adrenaline he got from those assignments surpassed any other type of calls. He didn’t want to miss out on them because he let himself go physically.

  “Let’s go finish the game, boy,” Aiden said as he walked back in the living room.

  Before he could sit back down, a knock sounded at the door. He made his way over and opened it. Zach stood on the other side.

  “Hey, man, I figured since it’s Sunday, you’d be at home with the game on. Can I come in?” Zach asked with Harley next to him.

  With a nonchalant shrug, Aiden moved out of the way to let Zach and Harley enter. “There’s pizza on the counter and beer in the fridge.”

  Harley jumped up onto the couch next to Cooper while Zach made his way into the kitchen. He helped himself to the food before taking a seat in the recliner next to the couch.

  “Sorry I showed up so late,” Zach said as he took a bite of pizza. “I finally got last night’s date to leave.”

  Shaking his head, Aiden asked, “Don’t you ever get tired of your revolving door of badge bunnies?”

  Zack snorted. “Never. I like my bachelor lifestyle.” Taking another bite of pizza, he asked, “How about you? Have you closed the deal with that hot blond from Happy’s and the carnival?”

  An irritated scowl formed on Aiden’s face. “I haven’t even taken her out on a date yet. That’s happening on Friday.”

  “Man, why waste time dating her? Just call her up and hit that.”

  “No way. That’s not my style.”

  “Have you ever even gone out on a real date? I mean, all you have to do is go to a cop bar and the badge bunnies just flock to you.”

  Aiden shrugged. “I’ve never needed to make much of an effort. How hard can it be?”

  “Ah, man, you’ve got your work cut out for you. You better plan something nice for a girl like that. I bet she’s going to be high maintenance.”

  “I think you’re wrong. Lindsay seems down-to-earth.”

  “Suit yourself.” Zach rolled his eyes. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Changing the subject, Aiden said, “I’m glad you brought Harley to spend some time with Cooper. I think he misses her on our days off.”

  “You think so?” Zach asked, looking over at the two dogs who were curled up together on the couch. “I guess it makes sense.” Looking at the TV, Zach inquired, “How are the Broncos doing?”

  “They’re down by five but if they can make a touchdown, they can still win this.”

  Just then, the game came back on from break and the men settled into their seats to watch the last quarter.

  Fourteen

  Excited anticipation was pulsating through Lindsay’s body. In a few minutes, Aiden O’Connell was going to pick her up for their first date. She wondered what he’d planned? Dinner at one of the hip and modern restaurants downtown? Or maybe ice skating at the local rink?

  She looked over at the clock on her nightstand, 6:55 PM. He should be arriving any minute and she assumed, due to his job, he was the punctual type.

  Taking a final look in the mirror in her bathroom, she adjusted her blue dress and smoothed out her blond hair. She exited her room and found Erica sitting in the living room watching TV.

  Erica glanced up from the couch and smiled. “You look great, Lindsay. Aiden isn’t gonna know what hit him when you answer the door.”

  Lindsay’s heart warmed from the compliment. “Thanks, Erica. Sorry your date cancelled on you tonight.”

  With a small shrug, Erica said, “What are you going to do? It’s one of the pitfalls of online dating. At least he had the decency to cancel before I showed up at the restaurant. No shows are the worst.”

  Lindsay nodded. It was another reason she disliked online dating, but it seemed to keep Erica happy.

  The doorbell rang. Lindsay’s attention was drawn to it. She made her way over to the front door of their apartment.

  On the other side stood Aiden dressed in a leather jacket, jeans, and a white t-shirt with his hands shoved in his pockets. Though he looked handsome as always, his appearance was rather casual for a first date.

  “You look nice,” Aiden said with attractive smile. “You ready to go?”

  “Sure,” she said leaning over and grabbing her purse and jacket from the entry table.

  “Have a good time,” Erica shouted from the couch.

  Glancing past her, he asked, “Who’s that?”

  “My roommate and friend Erica,” Lindsay answered as she stepped out of the apartment and pulled the door shut behind her.

  “You’re going to lock that, right?” Aiden asked.

  Her eyebrows came together in confusion. “Why? Erica’s home.”

  “Because you don’t want to make it easy for a burglary to happen. You’d be surprised how many are preventable simply by locking a door. Criminals look for opportunities and unlocked doors are a big one.”

  “Always on duty, aren’t you, Officer O’Connell,” she stated with a laugh. Turning around, she pulled her key out of her purse and locked the door.

  At the end of the walkway, Aiden had a convertible red Mustang waiting for them. Lindsay waited to see if Aiden would open her door, but he made no gesture to do so. Instead, he walked around to the driver’s side door and slid into the leather seat.

  Shocked by his lack of proper dating etiquette, Lindsay waffled on whether to get in the sports car with Aiden. Was he honestly unaware how ungentlemanly it was to not open the car door for her?

  From inside the vehicle, he gestured for her. A
gainst her better judgment, Lindsay opened the car door and joined Aiden.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “It’s a surprise. I think you’ll like it.”

  She noticed he glanced over at her a few times before he asked, “So what’s with the ring? I know you said your father gave it to you, but why do you wear it on your ring finger?”

  Lindsay looked down at her left hand and rubbed her other thumb along it. “It’s my promise ring. My dad gave it to me on my thirteenth birthday.”

  “I think I remember hearing about that at church. It’s a promise to God to wait until marriage to be intimate, right?”

  Lindsay stiffened under the direct question. The ring never had to be explained before. She hadn’t dated in high school as she cared more about working with horses on her dad’s ranch than boys. Then while she was in college, she had met Rick in church, so the ring and the commitment behind it was never an issue.

  She decided it was best to be direct. If Aiden was hoping to get her into bed, it was best she find out now before this date went any further. “Yes, that’s right. Is that a problem for you?”

  He shook his head. “No, I think it’s admirable that you made that choice. I can’t say I’ve done the same, but I respect it.”

  “Thank you. You mentioned you knew what the ring was from going to church? I go to Clear Mountain Assembly, but I’ve never seen you there. Do you go to another church in town?”

  “I used to go. My parents took me when I was a kid, but once I was in college, I stopped.”

  Lindsay wondered why he quit going. She knew it wasn’t uncommon for Christians to have their faith questioned when they were in college. Lindsay herself had it happen, but she dove stronger into her faith to counteract it. What kept Aiden from doing the same?

  “Why did you stop going?”

  She noticed his hands tighten on the steering wheel and he paused several seconds before answering. “My parents died in an automobile accident while I was in college. I didn’t see the point in going after that.”

  “I’m so sorry, Aiden. How awful. Do you have other family?”

  “I have an older brother, but he went to college back east. He stayed out there after he graduated. We talk every once-in-awhile on the phone, but he’s busy with his job and family.” He looked over at her and smiled. “How about you? You mentioned your father but not your mother.”

  Lindsay didn’t know they would get into such personal matters on a first date. Of course, it was her own doing since she started asking him about his family first. She supposed she should reciprocate. “My mom died from cancer when I was ten. My dad never remarried.”

  “Do you see him often?”

  She shook her head. “He’s not the best company. He didn’t handle my mother’s death well, so when I got a full scholarship to the University of Colorado, I moved out and didn’t look back.”

  “Do you have any siblings?”

  Lindsay shook her head. “I’m an only child; my mother couldn’t have any more kids after me.” She didn’t offer any more information on the subject, not wanting to explain she had the same difficulties her mother had which prevented successful pregnancies.

  “We’re here,” Aiden said.

  Looking out the window of the car, she saw that they were parked in front of “The Lucky Penny” bar.

  “I brought you back to the place where we met,” Aiden stated with a prideful grin.

  Aversion creeped into Lindsay’s mind. She tried to swallow the lump of disgust that formed in her throat.

  Why had he brought her here? Bars were the worst place to bring someone on a first date. The few times she went to one in college with friends, the noise was overpowering and the patrons were often obnoxious.

  “Let’s get inside before it starts raining again,” Aiden suggested.

  With reservation, Lindsay opened the car door and climbed out. If the bar was anything like the ones she had been in before, this was going to be a short date.

  Fifteen

  As Aiden walked into the bar with Lindsay by his side, the familiarity of the place washed over him. For only being a little after seven at night, the bar was buzzing with regulars.

  Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” was playing on the juke box in the corner. Next to it was a set of pool tables and a dart board on the wall.

  Several of the off-duty cops glanced over at them and gave a nod and a wave to Aiden who returned the gesture. Not wanting to get bogged down in a conversation with any of them, Aiden avoided going over to the bar-top. Instead, he turned to Lindsay and asked, “You up for a game of pool?”

  Her eyes darted around the room and after a moment’s pause, she answered with a hesitant voice, “I suppose.”

  They made their way over to the empty table. Each of them grabbed a pool stick, then Aiden took the balls and a triangle from underneath. As he set the game up for the first shot, he asked, “Do you play pool much?”

  “Not really,” Lindsay said in a terse voice. “I generally try to avoid places like this.”

  Before he could pose a follow-up question, a woman’s sultry voice from the side said, “Why if it isn’t Officer Aiden O’Connell as I live and breathe.”

  Great, Chantel. Aiden stiffened under the unwelcome company. Maybe bringing Lindsay here wasn’t the greatest idea. Originally, he thought it would be fun to bring her back to where they met, but he didn’t think about the fact he might have to fend off badge bunnies all night.

  Chantel came into focus as her hand snaked out to drape over his arm. “Haven’t seen you in here much these days.”

  “I’ve been busy, Chantel.”

  “What’s a girl got to do to get you to pay her a little attention?” she asked in a flirtatious voice as she leaned in even closer, making sure her ample chest was in his line of sight.

  Uncomfortable with Chantel’s persistence, especially in front of Lindsay, his eyes flickered over to his date. Lindsay didn’t look pleased with the interaction between Aiden and the other woman. If he had any chance of redeeming this night, he needed to get rid of Chantel A-SAP.

  “Chantel, I want to introduce you to my date, Lindsay.”

  “Date?” she squeaked out in disbelief as her hand jerked off of his arm. “My, my, I never thought I would see the day.” With a heavy sigh, she said, “I guess I need to go find someone else to occupy my time.” Her eyes moved over to Lindsay for a moment before she added with a sly smile. “Sorry he brought you here, honey. Not the best place for a date, but then, most of these cops stick to a pretty basic routine.”

  After Chantel sauntered off, Aiden gave Lindsay a sheepish grin. “Sorry about that.”

  One of her eyebrows arched as she said, “Are we going to have to deal with that all night?”

  “I hope not,” he stated as he bent down and took the break shot.

  The balls went spinning across the table, several of them making a deposit into different pockets.

  “I can see you spend a lot of time doing this,” Lindsay observed.

  “I used to,” Aiden hesitated, not wanting to talk about Veronica or his tailspin of skirt-chasing after, “but not so much the past few months. Lately, I only come here when Zach drags me out.”

  “Did I hear my name?”

  Great, Zach. Could this night get any worse? With a heavy sigh, Aiden turned to his partner and asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “I always come here on Friday nights. You know that.”

  That’s right. Aiden did know that. What had he been thinking coming here? This confirmed his earlier thoughts that it was a mistake to bring Lindsay to The Lucky Penny.

  “I see you got the blond to go out with you.” Looking Lindsay up and down, he added in a sleazy tone, “Nice.”

  She must have picked up on the way he stared at her because an embarrassed look crossed Lindsay’s face before her eyes dropped to the floor.

  “Zach, why don’t you head over to the bar and talk up Chantel?”
Adding in a warning tone, Aiden said, “We’re good here.”

  Zach lifted up his hands in a sign of surrender. “Whoa, man, didn’t mean to upset you.” Turning around, he headed towards the bar.

  “Are you okay?” Aiden asked.

  “Aiden, I think it’s best if we just call it a night,” Lindsay stated. She glanced around, and added, “You can stay here, and I can get an Uber.”

  Setting down his pool stick; Aiden shook his head. “No need for that. I’ll take you home.”

  As they made their way out of the bar, Aiden noticed Lindsay’s dejected face. He felt like a complete jerk; he should have put more effort into planning the date. Dating had never been hard for him. When he was young, the girls flocked to him because of the combination of his boy-next-door good looks and jock status. Then when he became a cop, the badge erased any remaining obstacles. This was the first time a woman didn’t fall for his usual dating style which left him off-kilter.

  The ride home was quiet. Aiden wanted to fix his mistake, but he wasn’t sure how to do it. As soon as he parked the car, Lindsay opened the door and climbed out. He rushed around to join her, but she didn’t seem to be waiting for him.

  “I wanted to apologize for what happened tonight.”

  Without looking at him, Lindsay raised her hand towards him. “No need, Aiden. I learned a valuable lesson tonight; I’m not interested in dating someone who would take me to a bar on a date. I should’ve said something when we first got there, but I didn’t which is my fault.”

  “Can I have a do-over?” Aiden implored.

  “What good would it do? We’re obviously not a good fit; we don’t want the same things in life. Let’s just call it quits before it gets worse.”

  Aiden wanted to object, but he could see her mind was made up. Giving in, Aiden nodded. “If that’s what you think’s best.”

  “I do.”

  Crestfallen, Aiden turned around and headed back down the walkway. He got in his car but when he went to put the car in drive, he froze. Glancing up at Lindsay’s door, he noticed she was already inside.