“So what’s the plan, Dom?” I knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t be here practically jumping out of his skin if he didn’t already have something up his sleeve.

He lifted his hand and rubbed the pad of his thumb over the curve of his bottom lip. The action pulled my attention there and I wanted to replace his thumb with my teeth. “I’ve spent the last month with a rookie partner, a kid fresh out of the academy and while I may be slightly jaded and less enthusiastic about keeping the peace, this kid reminded me what it was like to be new, to have that drive and passion. He also reminded me what it was like to be a clueless kid trying to figure out how to make it home each day when the bad guys outnumber us and are better armed. I am starting thinking about another thing I’ve always been, something else that has always made me happy and fulfilled.” He stopped in front of me and put a hand on the center of my chest. “I’m a good teacher, Lando. I taught my sisters how to ride bikes, I taught them how to change the oil in their cars and most of my favorite memories of going through the academy myself are tied to helping Royal and the other cadets out.”

I reached out my own hand and put it on his hip. He was missing the heavy black belt that held all of his gear, so I wasn’t worried about putting my hands anywhere dangerous.

“I still want to be a cop. I want to be involved in the law and I want to make a difference. Eventually I want to work my way up to detective but the need to pound the pavement and tangle with the bad guys isn’t as strong as it was before I realized I had so many other things that defined the kind of man I am, a man that I know my dad would be proud of.”

I tipped my chin down in a slight nod. “He would be proud of you. I sure am. So if you aren’t on patrol but you stay on the force, what does that mean?”

He took a step closer and when he exhaled his chest brushed against mine. It made desire start to churn thick and slow all throughout my body.

“I mean I’m putting in to transfer to a position at the academy. I understand the hunger, the drive that new cops have and I think I can be more useful to my city fostering that and molding the new generations who will protect and serve than I will be running down drug dealers and arresting petty criminals. I’ve always wanted to make an impact. This allows me to do that.”

He closed the gap between us and kissed one corner of my mouth and then the other. It was a light touch, so soft and delicate that if I hadn’t been looking right at him I would have questioned whether it was real or not.

“It also lets me do something I love without having you look at me like your heart is breaking every time I walk out the door, because you are more than fear too, Orlando. We are worth taking risks and venturing into the unknown.”

If he hadn’t already stretched my heart out so that it was big enough for him to fit into, it might have burst at the sudden rush of emotion his words had surged through it.

“You know I’m going to kiss the shit out of you for that, right?” My voice was raspy and full of a thousand different emotions.

He chuckled as I moved forward to make good on my threat. “Be my guest. I like having the shit kissed out of me by you.”

I was going to kiss him.

I was going to hold on to him.

I was going to get my hands inside of his police blues and on his dick.

I was going to put my mouth all over him and then turn around and let him put his mouth all over me.

In the future, I was going to move in with him. I was going to marry him. I was going to have kids with him.

But right now I was going to love and be loved because Dom had taught me how when I forgot.

He was right, he was a good teacher … among many other things … all of them great … all of them mine.

Epilogue

Many months, first kisses, engagements, weddings and babies on down the line …

I’d had to invest in more than one pair of slacks and more than a handful of dress shirts over the last year. I refused to wear a tie still and I would die before putting on shoes that were shiny but Lando was okay with my dressed-down, dressed-up style and I hadn’t been kicked out of a wedding yet. In fact when spring rolled around the following year, I was walking my best friend down the aisle and handing her off to the southern charmer who had stolen her heart forever. I’ll only admit to a select few that there may have been a tear or five in my eyes when Royal asked me to do the honors. I told her of course I would do it, even if it meant I would have to wear a tux. It was an honor and I jokingly told her I could use the practice because both of my sisters were involved in pretty serious relationships and eventually it would fall on me to give them away.

It seemed like Lando and I were always off to an engagement party, a baby shower or a wedding. Now that I had immersed myself in his life and the lives of the people Royal had found to be her family there was more love and happiness floating around than anyone could shake a stick at.

Colorado is called the Centennial State and it fit in a different way than I think the old-timers intended. It seemed like there were a hundred ways to fall in love in Mile High City and all of them were just as majestic, imposing, and rocky as the mountains surrounding the area.

I was sitting on an uncomfortable plastic chair in the heart of the Botanical Gardens waiting for yet another wedding to start. I was fidgety and sweaty because Lando had nixed the black cargo shorts I wanted to wear and told me that I needed to put on slacks. I wasn’t sure what I wore mattered to anyone, not with the bride standing under a beautiful floral arch dressed in an ivory gown with just a hint of lilac at the bottom. She was facing her big, tattooed husband-to-be and the smile on her face was radiant. Truthfully I didn’t think they needed any kind of vows to express how they felt about one another. It was there on their faces and the way no one else existed except for the two of them.

I’d never really been into boys with a lot of ink and edge, but I had to admit the more of these shindigs I attended, the more I saw the appeal. They all looked badass and no-nonsense, but the way they were with their women was something special, something that deserved to be appreciated and celebrated.

I jokingly tried to talk Lando into getting a sleeve or a piercing and thought my Mr. Fancy-Pants would blow me off. Much to my shock and delight he showed up after work one day with a shiny barbell pierced right through the tip of his dick. It was my new favorite thing ever, at least it was now that it was healed and I could actually put it to good use. I loved that there were still things about being with him that were surprising.