In the Name of the Law

By Sue Holston

Baltimore police detective Mitch Dawson is in love with his partner, Ivan Stanislav, but will fate intervene before Mitch can reveal the truth?

Mitchell Dawson is a detective with the Baltimore Police Department's Vice unit. He's hard-working, dedicated...and carrying around one big secret—he's in love with his very straight, engaged-to-be-married partner, Ivan Stanislav. Then Ivan's fiancée dumps him and too much alcohol leads to Mitch and Ivan sleeping together. The next morning, Mitch figures their friendship and partnership is over, but surprisingly Ivan doesn't bring up their encounter. On the outside, life continues on for the duo. However that night changed everything for Mitch.

When Ivan is shot and nearly dies, Mitch realises he has a choice-keep quiet and eventually watch Ivan fall in love and marry someone else, or tell Ivan the truth and reveal he's been in love with his partner for years, hoping the other man might feel the same. Will Mitch risk it all for love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pride Publishing
• Release date: Feb 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9780857158888

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In the Name of the Law

ISBN #978-0-85715-888-8

©Copyright Sue Holston 2012

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright February 2012

Edited by Stacey Birkel

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2012 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Total-e-sizzling and a sexometer of 2.

This story contains 46 pages, additionally there is also a free excerpt at the end of the book containing 5 pages.

IN THE NAME OF THE LAW

Sue Holston

Baltimore police detective Mitch Dawson is in love with his partner, Ivan Stanislav, but will fate intervene before Mitch can reveal the truth?

Mitchell Dawson is a detective with the Baltimore Police Department’s Vice unit. He’s hard-working, dedicated…and carrying around one big secret—he’s in love with his very straight, engaged-to-be-married partner, Ivan Stanislav. Then Ivan’s fiancée dumps him and too much alcohol leads to Mitch and Ivan sleeping together. The next morning, Mitch figures their friendship and partnership is over, but surprisingly Ivan doesn’t bring up their encounter. On the outside, life continues on for the duo. However that night changed everything for Mitch.

When Ivan is shot and nearly dies, Mitch realizes he has a choice—keep quiet and eventually watch Ivan fall in love and marry someone else, or tell Ivan the truth and reveal he’s been in love with his partner for years, hoping the other man might feel the same. Will Mitch risk it all for love?

Dedication

Holly would like to thank: Amber, Jen, Lisa, Jaime Lynn Miller and Storm Grant for all their cheerleading. Plus LC Chase, Kari Gregg and the rest of Josh Lanyon’s Mmcrit Group for their invaluable advice. And last, but certainly not least, Sue.

Sue’s thanks go to Mary, JennyLynne and Nessa, without whose encouragement this would not have happened, and to Holly for providing the impetus to start something.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Corona: Grupo Modelo

Natty Boh: Pabst Brewing Company

Lucasfilm: Lucasfilm Limited

University of Maryland Shock Trauma Hospital: University of Maryland Medical Center

Orioles: Baltimore Orioles Limited Partnership

The Baltimore Sun: Tribune Company

Yankees: Yankee Global Enterprises, LLC

American League: American League of Professional Baseball Clubs

World Series: Major League Baseball

Prologue

This is the way the other half live, thought Mitch Dawson as he walked into the Ciao Bella restaurant and engaged in a mild tug of war with an insistent majordomo who wanted to relieve him of his broken down and worn black leather jacket.

As Mitch stepped into the select atmosphere of the restaurant to follow the waiter through to the party, he looked around at the tasteful décor of one of Little Italy’s most upmarket venues and suppressed a shudder. This was so not his style. He was just a simple kid from Dundalk. He was more used to beer and burgers from the bar on the corner next to his apartment. All around were white tablecloths and burnished silverware, and let’s face it—he didn’t even want to be here.

Tonight he was going to have to put on a brave face, smile and congratulate his partner on his engagement, even though it felt like the end of his own private world. Not only was the celebration tonight going to break his heart, but he would also bet that he wouldn’t get a decent beer for the rest of the evening.

He stood in the doorway, looking around, and a smiling waitress confirmed his suspicions by offering him a glass of wine as she strolled by. Sighing to himself, he smiled ruefully and accepted a glass at random, sniffing at it suspiciously. Then he drew in a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and entered the room to find his partner so that this nightmare could end sooner rather than later.

Mitch found Ivan sitting at a table in earnest conversation with his fiancée, and two people whom Mitch assumed to be her parents. They were an older couple of who were surveying the people who thronged the room with an aura of smug satisfaction.

Hey, man! Ivan Stanislav, with

Reviews for In the Name of the Law

[Jhing528 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Disappointed..... I wouldn't recommend reading this. It's a short story, but seems longer.

[jules0623 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a great premise but it really needed to be longer, paced more sedately with a bit more character development.

[serenayates · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The well-known theme of ‘best friends become lovers’ comes to fresh life in the heart wrenching and hot story of two police detectives who have been best friends forever. It takes a major shock (that of Ivan’s engagement breaking) followed by life-threatening catastrophe for them to realize they can have so much more than a working partnership. While real life is not always this extreme, the basic reality is still the same: facing the prospect of losing someone forever is sometimes the only thing that will give someone enough courage to act on their feelings.

Mitch knows he is bisexual and has loved Ivan for years, but lacks the incentive to speak up – since he knows Ivan is straight. Or thinks he knows. That one night when he gave Ivan a blowjob right after he’d broken up with his fiancé just happened because Ivan was still half drunk and desperate for human contact. Right? It keeps niggling at him, but he has a few more ‘close encounters’ that almost lose him Ivan before he finally mans up and puts it all on the line.

Ivan doesn’t really have a voice in this story, since Mitch tells it, but his evolution from going after any woman he can get to realizing that Mitch is the partner he’s always wanted is clear. The way they lovingly yell at each other was fun, as was reading about their new life together. If you like stories about detectives who keep up the macho act even when they’re deeply in love, you might like this book.



NOTE: This book was provided by Total-E-Bound for the purpose of a review on QMO Books.