Lawfully Adored (K-9 Lawkeeper Romance) Read online

  Without waiting for a response from Bill, Lindsay headed towards the door of the restaurant, vowing to take down her dating profile as soon as she got home. If this was the type of men who were out there, she would rather be single.

  Pushing the door open, she turned to the left and headed down the sidewalk towards her parked car. The wind was blowing hard, causing Lindsay to keep her head tucked down.

  Suddenly, she bumped into something hard. Her eyes flew up to meet the most gorgeous set of chocolate pools she had ever encountered. Stepping back, she took in the rest of the man.

  He was tall with broad shoulders, and though his brown hair was cut short, she could see the tips were sun-kissed blond on the ends. He was wearing a black leather coat with a white shirt and blue jeans, and from his demeanor, she could tell he was confident, but didn’t present as vain.

  “Are you alright?” he asked her.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she said. “I just wasn’t paying attention. The chill from the wind caused me to rush to my car.”

  With a dazzling smile, he said, “It’s pretty cold out tonight. It’s probably going to reach freezing temperatures, so we might get snow for the first time this year.”

  “I love the first snow,” they both said at the same time.

  With a chuckle, the stranger said, “Great minds think alike.” Holding out his hand, he added, “I’m Aiden O’Connell.”

  Taking his hand in her own, she greeted in return, “I’m Lindsay Wright.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Lindsay. Maybe you should—”

  Before the hunky guy could finish his sentence, the door beside them burst open and another man came stumbling out.

  “There you are, Aiden. I was looking for you,” the other man slurred out as he leaned on his friend. Glancing over at Lindsay, he raised an eyebrow and asked, “Who’s this?”

  “I’d introduce you, Zach, but you won’t remember in the morning anyway.” Looking over at her, Aiden added, “I’m sorry about this. Apparently, things didn’t go too well in there for him. He’s my partner, and I need to be getting him home.”

  Partner? A sudden sinking sensation of disappointment crashed over Lindsay as she watched the good-looking—apparently unavailable—man walk away.

  Pulling the collar of her coat up around her neck, the door next to her swung open a second time, and a pretty brunette came out, asking in a slightly slurred voice, “Did you see a tall, brown-haired fella out here?”

  “I think you just missed him. He said he needed to help his partner get home.”

  “That’s so like Aiden. He’s always on duty.” With a heavy sigh, the other woman confessed, “I’ve been chasing that badge for two months now and haven’t gotten anywhere. I’m not sure what it’s going to take.”

  The woman stumbled a bit as she pulled open the door and sauntered back inside the bar.

  Badge? The new information clicked into place. Officer Aiden O’Connell had been mentioned on the news and in the papers, several times over the past year for heroic feats. He was a highly decorated officer who had transferred from Boulder.

  As Lindsay reached her car, thoughts of the handsome police officer danced in her mind. She wondered if she had finally just had her serendipitous moment?

  Five

  Aiden and Zach started to head towards the police substation’s front doors with Cooper and Harley on their leashes.

  “Have a good lunch, guys,” Deanna shouted out after them.

  The men turned around and watched as the buxom red-head took off her headset and patted her curls back into place. Being the only source of feminine charm in the Clear Mountain substation, most of the officers fawned all over her. Though there were many female police officers in Boulder County, the small town remained completely comprised of male cops.

  “Thanks, Deanna,” Aiden said.

  “Care to join us?” Zach offered with a flirtatious grin.

  Shaking her head, she replied, “No, I’ve got too much paperwork to catch up on.”

  Having the dual task of being the lone dispatcher and assistant to Captain McGregor, she often only had time to eat lunch at her desk. Aiden also suspected she was avoiding a social setting with Zach. At every available opportunity, he made a pass at her. She, in turn, had made it clear she was uninterested.

  “Your loss,” Zach stated, running his hand through his black hair, before turning around and heading out the door with Aiden following behind.

  The men loaded up both Cooper and Harley into the kennels in the back of the police SUV, knowing they could be assigned a call at a moment’s notice.

  A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of Happy’s Burgers. Jumping out of the SUV, Aiden waited for Zach to lock the vehicle with a second set of keys. They needed to leave the engine running with the AC on for the dogs in the back.

  After making their way into the restaurant, the men ordered their food. The clerk smiled at them saying, “The food is on the house, Officers.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Aiden said, pulling out a five and placing it in the tip jar.

  Finding a corner table near the window where they could watch the SUV, the men sat down to eat.

  As they were finishing up their meal, Zach stated, “You know, I still can’t believe you didn’t close the deal with Natalie Watts the other night. She was all over you and you just brushed her off.”

  Sighing, Aiden explained, “She doesn’t care about me; she never even asked me a single question about my personal life. I’m tired of wasting my time on meaningless one-night-stands. I want to find someone interested in sharing a life with me, and if I can’t find that, I just want to concentrate on testing well on the sergeant exam at the end of the year.”

  “Man, you’re all work and no play,” Zach scolded in a teasing manner as he took a drink of his soda, then continued, “I need a wingman, not a stick-in-the-mud.”

  Glancing around the room, Zach gestured with his head to a blond woman sitting at a nearby booth. “For example, did you even see the hot blond sitting over there? I bet if you approached her, she would jump at the chance to go on a date with you.”

  Aiden’s eyes followed in the direction of Zach’s gesture. The back of a curvy blond woman was towards them. She was sitting across from a little boy who looked to be about six-years-old.

  “She’s got a kid, Zach, which means she’s probably married.”

  With a shrug, Zach replied, “Means less complications, if you know what I mean.”

  Aiden knew exactly what Zach meant; a husband never stopped him from hitting on a woman, but it was a no-go for Aiden. He might not go to church currently, but the influence of his Christian upbringing ran deep.

  “I got to go drain the lizard,” Zach said with a smirk. “Why don’t you surprise me and go ask out that hot mom over there?”

  Something seemed familiar about the woman, but there was no way he was going over there. “Thanks, but I’m good just concentrating on work,” Aiden said to the retreating figure of his partner.

  Six

  As she sat across from one of the first kids she had been assigned to take care of, Lindsay’s heart filled with sadness. She wanted nothing more than to erase the dejected look from Alex Sterling’s face.

  Up until a week ago, Alex had been in a loving and supportive foster home until the father’s work had forced an immediate transfer. The sudden move by the foster parents left Alex displaced.

  Currently, the seven-year-old boy was staying at a shelter group home until Lindsay could find him another foster placement. The situation was less than ideal since he needed a permanent home and getting attached to a temporary caregiver would only cause more trauma for him.

  “Are you still having problems with the older boys in the home?” Lindsay asked.

  Keeping his eyes averted, he shrugged. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  “You don’t have to pretend for me, Alex,” Lindsay coaxed. “It’s okay to tell me if something is going on. I ca
n go talk to the boys that are causing the problem.”

  Lindsay had heard from one of her other kids who was staying in the shelter group home that some of the bigger boys were picking on Alex due to his small stature. Alex’s mother had been a drug addict while she was pregnant with Alex. This caused him to be underweight for his age, a fact that Lindsay could see caused Alex to feel inferior.

  His frightened eyes darted up to meet hers before he masked the fear. “I told you, nothing’s the matter. Can we just go?”

  With a nod, Lindsay scooted out of the booth and waited for Alex to do the same.

  As they started to walk down the aisle, a smile sprung to Alex’s face as he pointed and shouted, “Look, a K-9 officer.”

  Without waiting for Lindsay to respond, Alex rushed over to the officer’s side and started talking to him.

  Lindsay’s eyes grew round with recognition as she took in the handsome figure of Officer Aiden O’Connell. Although his uniform had his name and position stitched above the pockets of both sides of his chest, she would have remembered him without any help.

  “Can I see your dog?” she heard Alex asking Aiden.

  Standing up, Aiden grabbed his tray and moved towards the trash can behind him. “Sure. I can take you to see him. I was just finishing up anyway.”

  Lindsay stepped forward, excusing Alex’s interruption. “I’m sorry, Officer O’Connell. Alex just loves police officers and wants to be a K-9 handler when he grows up. I hope he’s not bothering you.”

  “It’s no problem,” Aiden assured her. “Like I said, I was already finished.” Giving her a friendly smile that made his eyes shine, he added, “It’s good to see you again.”

  “You too,” she said as she felt herself blush under his watchful stare.

  “Where’s your dog?” Alex asked.

  “Cooper’s in my vehicle along with our other K-9, Harley.”

  “You can just leave them out in the car?” the boy asked with incredulity.

  “We have two sets of keys, so we can leave the vehicle locked with the AC running to keep them comfortable.”

  “Don’t they get lonely?”

  With a chuckle, Aiden explained, “We don’t leave them in there too long. Besides, they have each other.” Glancing behind them, Aiden said, “I need to get the other set of keys from my partner. I’ll be right back.”

  A few minutes later, Aiden appeared with a set of keys in hand. As he headed towards the door, Aiden said over his shoulder, “Follow me.”

  Seven

  Lindsay and Alex trailed after Aiden as he walked over to the police SUV. As he opened the back hatch, two dogs came to attention and looked at Aiden expectantly through their kennels.

  “Hold on just a minute, Cooper, while I get your leash,” Aiden said with audible affection in his voice. The devoted look in the larger dog’s eyes showed the undeniable connection between handler and K-9.

  After undoing the latch to the cage, Aiden hooked the leash onto the collar of Cooper.

  “That’s a good boy, Cooper,” Aiden said as he rubbed the ears of the German Shepherd while stealing a glance out of the corner of his eyes at Lindsay Wright. She looked pretty in her black slacks and cream blouse, but not in the trying-too-hard sort of way.

  “Can I pet him?” Alex asked.

  “Give me a moment,” Aiden said as he stepped back and let Cooper jump down from the back of the SUV while controlling him with the leash. Aiden guided Cooper over to some nearby grass and handed the dog his chew toy.

  Kneeling down beside him, he continued to keep his hand on Cooper’s collar as he said to Alex, “You can come over now and pet him.”

  With a giant smile on his face, Alex slowly approached Cooper, bending down on the other side of the dog. Cautiously, he reached out and placed his hand on his back and began to lightly stroke his fur.

  “Why does he have to keep that chew toy in his mouth?” Alex inquired.

  Lindsay came over to join them and said apologetically, “Alex tends to ask a lot of questions. He’s an inquisitive kid.”

  With a lopsided grin directed at Lindsay, Aiden stated, “It doesn’t bother me. I enjoy answering questions about Cooper.” Looking at Alex, he added, “Asking questions is a sign of intelligence after all.” Answering the boy’s inquiry, Aiden stated, “Police dogs have two modes: work and social. The chew toy tells Cooper it’s social time.”

  Nodding his head, Alex replied, “Makes sense. I can see he’s relaxed.”

  From behind them, Aiden heard Zach say, “Don’t let him fool you; Cooper can flip from social to work mode in a second. All police dogs can, which is why you have to know how to handle them properly.”

  Everyone’s attention shifted to Zach for a moment as he got Harley out of her kennel, then brought her over to the grass near Cooper. Handing over her own chew toy, Zach said, “This is Harley.”

  Alex turned his attention to the other dog and started to pet her next. Aiden stood up and gave Cooper the signal to heel with the leash on as he moved closer to Lindsay.

  “He seems like a bright boy,” Aiden said. “You must be proud of him.”

  “He’s come a long way since—”

  Before Lindsay could finish, Deanna came over the radio saying, “K-9 1 & 2, we have a disturbance at the thrift store on 3rd Street. We need you to follow up on it.”

  Aiden pushed the button on his receiver and said, “Dispatch, this is K-9 2, show us en route.” He then turned to Lindsay, saying, “I’m sorry. I wish we could stay longer since Alex seems to be enjoying spending time with the dogs.”

  Harley pawed Alex gently and Lindsay said, “It seems to go both ways.”

  Zach stood up and brought Harley to her kennel, loading her inside before saying, “We got to go, Aiden.”

  “It was nice seeing you again, ma’am.”

  She cringed at the formal address. “Please, don’t refer to me as ma’am. I’m far too young for that to be happening. You can call me Lindsay.”

  “I can do that,” he stated with a smile, “which means you need to call me Aiden.”

  The conversation was easy with Lindsay. For the first time since his breakup with Veronica, he felt like there might be a reason to start dating again.

  “Come on, Alex. We need to let the nice officers go,” Lindsay said as she held out her hand to him. “They have work to do.”

  Aiden couldn’t help but notice the gold band with two hearts on her left ring finger, glinting in the sunlight. His hopeful cheer vanished, replaced by disappointment at the realization that Lindsay must be married. When he had first seen her with Alex, he knew it was a possibility, but he hoped the boy was her nephew or perhaps she was a single mother. The ring confirmed the worst possibility; she was spoken for.

  He didn’t know why it bothered him so much to think of Lindsay being unavailable, but it did. He should be focusing on his career and making sergeant, not on some random woman he’d run into, even if it had been twice now.

  Once Cooper was secured in his kennel, Aiden hopped up into the SUV next to Zach who was already in the driver’s seat. He watched in the rearview mirror as the beautiful blond waved goodbye and a pang of regret filled the pit of his stomach.

  Eight

  As Aiden drove off, Lindsay couldn’t help but wonder about him. Was he married? She didn’t see a ring, but she wasn’t naive enough to think all married men wore one. Some left them off for safety reasons and others for more nefarious purposes. She didn’t get the sense Aiden was that type of man—although his fellow officer was a different story. She had seen him blatantly checking her out several times. If Aiden wasn’t married, did he have a girlfriend? Did he want one? If he was that gentle with his dog, would he be the same way with a woman?

  Chastising herself for letting her mind go there, Lindsay tried to focus on anything else as she drove Alex back to the shelter group home. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t keep from thinking about the friendly cop.

  She wa
nted to blame Aiden’s good looks for her focus on him, but her attraction to him went deeper than just appearance. His friendly disposition and kindness with Alex made her think there was potential for a relationship.

  Lindsay’s last boyfriend, Rick, popped into her head, reminding her why she was so opposed to dating. Rick had seemed great in the beginning too, until he broke her heart.

  A chill ran up Lindsay’s back as she sat on the medical exam table in her gynecologist’s office and waited to hear what the future held for her. When the doctor returned, she would either find out she could have children or her dreams would be crushed.

  Before her mother died of cancer when she was ten, Lindsay used to ask why she didn’t have any brothers or sisters. Her mother told her she was a miracle, and she was lucky to even have her. Lindsay hadn’t thought about babies until Rick started talking about marriage and children, prompting her to wonder if she could have children of her own.

  “Good afternoon, Lindsay,” Doctor Roberts said as he entered the room.

  As her eyes met his, she knew the news wasn’t good. “I’m sorry to tell you, but you have advanced endometriosis.”

  “Is there anything I can do? I think I heard somewhere that surgery can help.”

  Shaking his head, Doctor Roberts said solemnly, “It won’t work in your case. It’s highly unlikely you will ever be able to carry a successful pregnancy.”

  Lindsay left the doctor’s office dejected. How could she tell Rick? What would he think? She felt inadequate and worried he wouldn’t look at her in the same way.

  As she knocked on the door to Rick’s apartment, she inhaled deeply, then held the breath in place.

  Rick looked good wearing a pair of sweats and t-shirt as he leaned against the frame of the door. “What are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you until tonight.”

  “We need to talk,” Lindsay said as she glided past him and into his living room.