Wriggle & Sparkle: The Collected Tales of a Kraken and a Unicorn by Megan Derr (5)

 

In the end, it was easier for Lynn to purchase an already existing matchmaking business. He hadn't even known there was one in the city (there were seven in fact). It was owned by two unicorns and an ogre, a handsome, charming threesome looking to retire and move to the mountains.

The business was located in one of the smaller buildings downtown, the top three floors of a twenty story building that hovered between the courthouse district and the cluster of banks in the heart of downtown. Three blocks down from the building that housed the Bureau.

Lynn had it purchased and all the paperwork done in three months. The owners had been delighted to hand it over to someone with new ideas and an eagerness to start implementing. Not all the staff had been delighted, but most were at least willing to try. Those few who were not so cooperative were let go with generous severance packages. Seven months after his very first visit, Lynn had the staff sorted to his liking, including bringing in Nat and Mel, the half-faerie, half-vampire 'computer experts' he'd met forever ago when trying to save a kidnapped Anderson. Coaxing them away from illegal activities hadn't taken much more than giving them the entire top floor of the business and a ridiculous paycheck. After that, it had taken only a couple more months to institute new practices, and not long after, they had acquired thirty-seven brand new clients that were interested in something other than 'one true love'. Business was booming.

And all of that while also planning his own wedding. Which was not going quite so smoothly. "What the fu—what do you mean they can't make it? You said three weeks ago everything was still fine. I've shelled out a lot of damned money—" He barely kept from throwing his coffee cup across the room. "You're the third one—fine. But I'd better get a full refund or you won't like the legal documents that show up on your doorstep Monday." He hung up and set his cell phone down with slow, precise motions because otherwise he'd end up throwing that as well.

Damn it, this was the third attempt at the wedding cake to crash and burn. He was starting to think the local bakers hated him. And the wedding was less than two weeks away. Where the fuck was he going to find someone now?

He needed a fucking break.

Draining his coffee, he stood and carried the mug out of his office and down the hall to the break room. He threw the mug in the dishwasher, then went to see Alex, the receptionist and chief admin. "The wedding cake has blown up in my face again. I'm going to go see if I can't figure out a solution."

Alex frowned, set aside their book and pastrami sandwich. "Again? This is like the third company to bail! How the hell are you going to get a wedding cake now."

"Money," Lynn replied. "Lots and lots of money. I'll be back as soon as I can, but this will probably take most, if not all, of the afternoon. Call if you really need me, but otherwise I'm sure you and Melody can manage everything."

"Of course," Alex said and reached up to pat Lynn's hand where it rested on top of the high receptionist desk. "Good luck, boss."

"Thanks." He pulled his sunglasses from the front pocket of his blazer and headed out, fidgeting restlessly in the elevator and all but bursting out of the building when he reached the bottom floor. He hesitated at the corner before succumbing to temptation and taking a right to walk the five blocks to Anderson's new office. He was already fucked so far as the wedding cake went, what difference would a couple more hours make? And seeing Anderson would make him feel better.

Unlike him, Anderson had been forced to start from scratch—but he'd conned Rudy and Stern into joining up with him. The three were steadily getting everything in line to open the business in a few more months. It was a handsome building, an old brownstone townhouse right on the edge of the older part of the city, away from the skyscrapers and contained chaos that Lynn loved.

Also right across the street from both a coffee shop and a bakery slash candy shop, and the two had been smart enough to put a door between their stores to keep business nice and brisk for all.

It was also, unsurprisingly, where he found Anderson, sitting in the coffee shop with a yellow bakery box already depleted of half its contents. "Hello, Sparkles."

Anderson looked up from the papers he was reading and smiled, leaned up as Lynn bent to kiss him. He tasted like powdered sugar, raspberry jelly, and hazelnut coffee. "What are you doing here?"

"Avoiding jail time," Lynn said, then strode up to the counter to order an espresso. Returning to Anderson, he stole a pastry that looked like it wasn't too sweet and took a bite. Banana crème. Could be worse.

"You can't say that and then not explain further," Anderson said. "What's wrong this time?"

Lynn took another bite of banana crème croissant. "Cake."

"The wedding cake is fucking jinxed," Anderson said, slumping in his seat, some of his good mood sliding away. "And we leave in a few days to go to the island. How the fuck are we going to get someone now?"

"There seems to be an echo," Lynn muttered, then added more clearly, "I'll figure it out. I just wanted to see your pretty face before I went and punched someone else in the face."

Anderson smiled, bumped their knees together under the little table. "You should kiss my pretty face."

"My favorite thing to do." Lynn set his croissant and coffee aside, gently cupped the sides of Anderson's face, and drew him into a soft kiss, a slide of lips flavored with coffee and sugar, as familiar to him as his own face, as natural as breathing.

Anderson's hands wrapped around his wrists, then slid down his arms to rest lightly against his chest, fingers curling into the soft fabric of Lynn's blazer.

Lynn shifted, one hand falling away to rest along the back of Anderson's chair, the other threading into the hair at his nape to draw him even closer, adding a bit of heat to the soft, sweet kisses.

The sound of something shattering, a loud string of colorful swearing, made them jerk apart. Lynn looked toward the counter, where a red-faced worker hastily ducked out of sight to clean up whatever they'd dropped. Lynn snickered. "We're going to wind up banned if we keep breaking their dishes."

Anderson smiled, slow and hot and evil. "So the furniture was installed this morning without trouble. Rudy and Stern went to the courthouse and then to run a few other errands, and they said they probably wouldn't be back to the office today. Want to come inspect the new furniture?"

"I like the sound of that," Lynn replied and scooped up the box of remaining pastries as he followed Anderson out of the coffee shop and across the street. A sign was on the heavy oak, frosted-glass paned door that hadn't been there the last time Lynn had visited. It was dark gray and said: Meadows, Stern, and Travers. Private Investigators. "Nice."

Anderson trailed his fingers over it, grinning in that happy, cautious way of someone half-afraid to be excited because it was all so new. "Installed yesterday. Come on, you can come be all smug and pleased with yourself over the furniture."

Lynn rolled his eyes. "You could just say my taste is impeccable, thanks for the help."

"Why bother when you've already congratulated yourself five thousand times?" Anderson retorted and flicked on the lights.

It had been a beautiful building right from the start, if a little worn when they'd bought it (well, Lynn had bought it, and the business was repaying the loan, though it had taken a week of arguing before he'd finally relented and agreed to it).

The floor had been redone and was now all dark, warm gleaming wood scattered with dark, jewel-toned rugs. The front reception area was carpeted in dark green with a huge reception desk that matched the floor. All the lights were Tiffany glass style or reminiscent of old gaslights, furthering the general old school theme of the place.

There was a dark brown sofa and green wingback chairs, accents of gold and cream scattered about in the throws, pillows, and curtains. "I told you so." Anderson had wanted something more maroon, but Lynn had refused to let him go through with it.

"Shut up," Anderson said, but with a smile on his face. "Upstairs, come on." He led the way through the front room into a back hallway that led to stairs, the kitchen, and a room they used for storage, at least so far as Lynn knew.

Anderson continued on up the stairs, around the banister and halfway down the hall to the second of three rooms, with a fourth all the way at the end on the opposite side. Like the rest of the house, the office had an old-fashioned vibe, but stylish rather than the stiff, unbending atmosphere that Lynn still vividly recalled from Anderson's parents' office. Unlike the rest of the building, Anderson's office was colorful, with actual Tiffany lamps, bright landscapes on the walls, a fancy office chair padded in blue and green, and enormous windows that looked out over trees, a little fish pond, and the tax people who worked next door.

Under the windows were stacked several boxes, a few of them empty, but most still closed. Behind Anderson's enormous L-shaped desk were built-in bookshelves, a few filled with books and knickknacks but most of the space still empty. The desk itself had only more boxes, office supplies and a new computer and other items that had yet to be installed and set up.

The other half of the office featured a large leather couch that matched the one downstairs, though it was scattered with pink and purple pillows rather than green and gold. There was also a handsome, ornate coffee table and a matching table with four chairs, the table covered in cloth to protect it from the boxes stacked on top.

"Looks good," Lynn said. "I like how you laid it all out." His fingers went to his tie, carefully tucking away the diamond and sapphire octopus tie bar he wore before undoing the knot and sliding the tie off. He tucked the tie away in the same pocket as the tie bar, then shrugged out of his blazer and hung it over the back of a chair. His cufflinks went next.

"Getting right down to business, huh?" Anderson said, closing the office door but not bothering to lock it. He was dressed much more casually in jeans and a shirt that looked like someone had splattered it with twenty different colors of paint. Lynn still wasn't certain what annoyed Anderson more: that it was an expensive bit of high fashion, or that he loved it to death. He hadn't been anywhere near so willing to be colorful when they'd met, much more quiet in his attire due to so much time working and the dregs of his severe upbringing.

Lynn loved nothing more than to see Anderson shine and sparkle.

"What has you looking so smug?" Anderson asked with a soft huff as he finally pushed away from the door and crossed over to Lynn, pushing his hands away to tackle the buttons of Lynn's fancy shirt himself, fingers sliding and teasing over skin as he did so.

"You're mine all mine," Lynn said. "Why else would I always look smug when you're in the room?"

Anderson smiled, tolerant and amused as he met Lynn's eyes. "Stop being a nitwit." He pushed the shirt from Lynn's shoulders and gave a playful shove. Lynn landed with an oof on the couch but had no cause for complaint when the shove was promptly followed by a lapful of hot, eager unicorn.

He gripped Anderson's thighs, dug his nails into the heavy denim, fed happily at the wet, nipping mouth covering his, Anderson's long fingers twined in his hair, cock already growing hard between them. He drew back after a few minutes, nibbling at Anderson's chin as he slid his hands up beneath the colorful shirt in search of soft, warm skin. "Why am I the only one missing clothes?"

"I got distracted," Anderson said and went back to kissing him, taking Lynn's mouth like he was starving, like Lynn hadn't just fucked him last night, spread out in their pool, stuffing him full at both ends, going until they were both too wrung out to do more than sprawl on the grass panting. His hands slid from Lynn's hair to his shoulders, rubbing against him, the rough bits of his shirt against Lynn's skin the best kind of torment.

He whined a bit when Lynn pushed him back, but Lynn was determined. "Lose the shirt. In fact, lose all of it."

Anderson grumbled, but only briefly as he climbed off Lynn's lap and quickly stripped. Lynn wasn't anywhere near as thorough, plenty satisfied with getting his pants and underwear out of the way enough to get his cock out, stroking it idly as he watched Anderson.

Piling all his clothes on a nearby chair, Anderson returned to Lynn's lap, straddling with familiar ease and resuming lavishing filthy attention on Lynn's mouth.

Far be it for Lynn to complain. He trailed his fingers teasingly along random bits of skin, skated along Anderson's thighs, then slipped a hand back and was not at all surprised to find Anderson already slick. He broke away from that wet, well-used mouth to suck at a fading mark on Anderson's neck as he pushed two fingers into Anderson's body. "It's probably a good thing we work in different buildings."

"Probably," Anderson agreed, breath hitching as he rode Lynn's fingers, a moan slipping out as Lynn added a third one, twisting and pushing into Anderson's body. "Though let's be real, you'll visit all the time because you're nosy."

Lynn didn't deign to answer, just chuckled against Anderson's throat before giving it a long lick. He gently removed his fingers, then lined up his cock and slid slowly into the warm, tight heat of Anderson's body. Anderson groaned, nails digging into Lynn's shoulders, head falling back as he sank down.

It wasn't as good as having Anderson wrapped in his tentacles and open to whatever Lynn wanted to do with him, but Lynn had never had any complaints.

"You feel good," Anderson said, the words slow and breathy. He shifted slightly, lifted up and shoved back down, the rhythm slow and agonizing, delicious in its torment.

Lynn clung to his hips, guiding and supporting but more than happy to let Anderson have control, while he feasted on all that beautiful skin, refreshing faded marks and adding new ones. "You act like I didn't fuck you blind yesterday."

Anderson let out a ragged laugh, pushed down particularly hard, taking Lynn deep, making them both groan and pause for a moment. "What can I say? I'm getting married in two weeks: the excitement is getting to me."

The words rushed through Lynn like fire. He growled, gave Anderson a sharp, biting kiss. Lifting a leg, he gave the coffee table a hard shove, sending it and the rug it was on off to the middle of the room. He lifted Anderson off him, ignoring the threats and name calling that resulted, and dragged him to the floor, turning him over so he was braced on hands and knees. Spreading him wide, Lynn thrust back into Anderson's body, slid up to grab hold of his hips, and began to fuck him in earnest.

It was a damned good thing the office was empty because all of Anderson's moaning and shouting and swearing right then would not leave any doubts as to what they were doing. Not that everyone knowing had ever stopped them before.

After that, he didn't last long, driving into Anderson with a few last hard thrusts before plastering to him as he shuddered through his climax. He felt it when Anderson came a few beats later, belatedly glad he'd managed to move the rug with the table.

"Get up," Anderson said after a moment. "My knees and this floor are not friends."

Lynn obeyed, as his own knees weren't cheering either. He returned to the couch, pulled Anderson it's his lap, and nibbled lazily at his skin. Anderson rested heavily against him, head tilted to give him plenty of room but not doing anything more.

"Your pants are gonna be ruined," Anderson mumbled eventually.

"Don't care. I have a spare suit in the car."

"That you conveniently left with me."

Lynn snorted. "Convenient nothing—your parking is cheaper than mine. Do you know what my building garage charges?" He could practically feel Anderson's eyeroll. "Also, we both know it's always going to be far easier to fuck here than in my office, so we may as well be practical."

"Like I said, convenient," Anderson replied. He climbed off Lynn's lap and crossed the room to a door in the far corner behind the desk—a bathroom, though when they'd bought the building it had been a closet half as big.

Returning to the office proper, Anderson pulled his clothes back on and combed fingers through his mussed hair. "I'll go get your clean suit."

"Thanks," Lynn replied and snagged his wrist to drag him down for a quick kiss.

Not two minutes after the door closed behind Anderson, Lynn's blazer started buzzing. He heaved himself up and strode over to it, pulled the phone out. Unfamiliar number, but that wasn't so unusual anymore. It better not be the fucking resort with more catering problems; he'd buy the damn thing and bring in his own caterers. He didn't care how many Looks he got from Anderson. "Seymour."

"Um, hello," said an easy, slightly nervous tenor. "My name is Hanson Barlow. I'm the owner of Barlow Cakes. I'm friends with Mira North. She was talking to me about having to cancel last minute on you, and I thought I would offer my assistance. We're still pretty new and small, so my schedule isn't as jammed as the more established places. And I come from catering, so I'm used to working in unfamiliar kitchens and all that. If you're still looking for a replacement, I am absolutely able to drop everything to head out and make your wedding cake on site."

"Where are you located?" Lynn asked. "This is the best news I've heard all week, but I'd like to see your work first."

"Of course." Hanson rattled off an address, which proved to be close to Lynn's offices, though a bit of a haul from Anderson's. "I'm here all day, probably until this evening, so drop by whenever. Just ask for me and they'll point you in the right direction."

"Excellent. Thank you very much. I'll probably be by sometime in the next couple of hours."

"Cool, see you then."

Lynn hung up, then went to clean up in the bathroom. He finished just as Anderson returned with his slate gray Armani with copper pinstripes, the vest purple and copper with a handsome purple, silver, and copper tie he'd had made just for the suit. The blazer pockets had all the bells and whistles, and within minutes he was once more suitably dressed, and the ruined suit ready to be delivered to the dry cleaner. "So I got a phone call from a baker looking to replace my latest quitter. It's about six blocks from my office. Want to come with me to vet them?"

"No," Anderson said, making a face, not taking his eyes from his own phone. "I am heartily sick of tasting cake and approving one only to be told a few weeks later it will never happen. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised at this point." He looked up with a smile. "I have a last tux fitting to get to shortly, anyway. Somebody insisted on the most ridiculous tailor in the city."

"Best tailor in the city," Lynn said and chucked his chin before stealing a quick kiss. "I'm sure this will take a bit, and then I have to go back to the office, so I will see you tonight for dinner?"

"Reservations are for eight thirty, don't be late." Anderson took another kiss then pushed him away. "Go get us a wedding cake, Wriggly."

Lynn waved and was gone, hitting the street once more and trekking back to the main part of downtown, right past his own building and onward to the stretch of the city that was almost entirely restaurants, shops, and clubs.

He found the cake shop just past the tea and spice shop, right across from a boutique that sold excellent ties and socks. The smell of cake and sugar washed over him as he stepped in, along with the noise of a radio blaring some pop song he vaguely recognized.

A young woman at the counter perked up as she saw him and happily abandoned the paperwork she was leaning over. "Good afternoon, how can I help you?"

"My name is Lynn Seymour. I'm here to speak with Hanson Barlow."

"Oh!" She clapped her hands together. "You're the guy. Yeah, come on back. He's already puttering away with the designs he swiped from Mira."

Well, Lynn certainly approved of being proactive. And the pictures in the front of the bakery seemed tentatively promising.

The works he saw in progress as she led him through the work room were promising.

And all the way at the end was a small, handsome man in old-fashioned looking glasses and a mop of floppy brown curls with freckles across his pale brown skin. He was frowning at something but look up at the sound of footsteps and broke into a bright smile when he saw them. Hurrying around the table, he offered a hand. "You must be Lynn Seymour. Mira wasn't exaggerating about your suits. Is that an Arley custom tie?"

Lynn might have preened a little bit. "Yes, she's made several for me." His fingers fluttered over the tie. It wasn't one he wore often, but he was fond of it.

"Beautiful," Hanson said. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm not going to lie, this would be a great feather in our cap." He rested a hand on Lynn's arm, urged him closer to the table while the young woman smiled and left.

Hanson's phone buzzed, and his smile faded. He picked it up, scowled as he typed out a hasty text, then shoved it into his pocket. "Family, sorry. Anyway, I've been looking at what you discussed with previous bakers, and it doesn't look like it would be hard to pull off. I have everything I'd need in house and transporting it to the island won't be a problem. I can arrange it all today. But—" He turned around and pulled a large, covered tray from the racks behind him. "Here are some samples of my work, for viewing and tasting. Your order said you wanted it to be strawberry, so I've done half a dozen different strawberry cakes and then a few others—lemon, chocolate, vanilla—in case you wanted to alternate layers.

By the time Lynn was done trying them all, he was half-tempted to kiss the man. He didn't even much care for most sweets and he'd enjoyed every bite. He finally settled on the strawberry crème to alternate with layers of vanilla dream because deciding between the two just wasn't possible. "And the design can stay."

"Of course," Hanson said. "It looks like it will be a lot of fun. How soon do you want us on the island?"

"Everyone—staff, guests, wedding party—will be there five days before the wedding. How many of your staff do you need to bring along?"

"At least one, two if possible," Hanson replied, turning nervous, eyes skittering away.

Lynn smiled, clapped him on the shoulder. "You are new. The older companies have no qualms about pushing for it. Three total." He pulled out a business card and jotted down a number on the back. "Call that, tell Janette that you need to add the three of you. Send the invoice to the email on the front and it'll get paid by tomorrow." He shook Hanson's hand. "Thank you, very much. I was at a complete loss as to how to find a replacement so last minute."

Hanson smiled, a little anxious but mostly pleased. "I'm honored to be of service."

"I'll see you in a few days," Lynn replied. "Have a good night."

Outside, he texted Anderson the good news and headed back toward his office.

Anderson's tux was just about ready, the final fitting for Lynn's dress was in the morning. The catering was taken care of, the cake was covered, tickets were bought, the resort was ready to go last he'd heard, weather was holding steady…

Hopefully that was the end of the disasters and all that was left was to enjoy the wedding and honeymoon.

Which reminded him he still needed to pick out some new swimsuits. Sounded like a great way to end an afternoon of not getting any work done. He pulled out his phone and called Alex to let them know he wouldn't be back after all and would see them tomorrow. Humming, he shoved the phone back in his pocket as he turned left at the corner and headed for his favorite boutique specializing in swimwear.

He had just reached it when his phone rang. Lynn groaned, almost ignored it, but after a few more rings grit his teeth and pulled it out. Regretted it when he saw the wedding planner's phone number. Pushing accept, he said, "What's wrong now?"

"The singers have quit. Family emergency. But, darling, I would not dare call with bad news if I could not follow it up with good news."

Lynn groaned. "It had better be really, really good news."

"The band knew a group that had an opening and is just as perfect. I can get everything fixed tonight. Did you want to come hear them?"

Lynn's need to know every single fucking thing and approve it himself warred with the fact he was really sick of it all and just wanted to eat dinner with his fiancé and relax for the night. "You swear they're as good?"

"On my job."

Heaving a sigh, Lynn replied, "Alright, then. Approve them. But if they suck, Violet, I will end you."

Violet laughed. "You aren't half as scary as other clients I've had. See you tomorrow for the fitting."

"Have a good night."

He put his phone on silent and stepped into the boutique.

By the time he was done, he was on the verge of being late. He checked his phone, found it mercifully free of messages and texts, and stuffed the phone back in his pocket as he booked it to the restaurant as darkness fell like a soft blanket over the city and the dull roar of the working day settled to a lull that would soon become the vibrant buzz of the nightlife. It had been Lynn's way of life for years and years, but more and more he looked forward to the weekend, when he and Anderson went to the house to stay for a couple of days.

When he reached the restaurant, Anderson was already at their table, dressed up in a gold shirt with black stripes, a rope of black pearls around his throat and more in his ears. Lynn dropped his bag beside the table, picked up Anderson's hand, and kissed the back of it. "Hello, Sparkles."

"Wriggly," Anderson replied and poured him a glass of wine from the bottle already on the table. "How did the cake go? What's in the bag?"

"Some new swimsuits. And the cake testing went very well. If this one actually sticks, you'll be extremely pleased with it. There was trouble with the musicians, but Violet says she has it handled…" He shrugged, toyed with his wine glass, then picked it up and took a sip.

Anderson quirked a brow but didn't tease him. "My fitter was missing. They said he transferred to another store that fell short due to sudden staff firings." He shrugged. "I'm not sure I like the new guy who keeps pawing me, but I guess it doesn't really matter. Is he still coming to the island, too?"

"Only if he passes muster with me. Someone should have called me about that," Lynn said, making a note to yell at his tailor in the morning. He wanted competent people on the island to deal with any last minute disasters, not unknown, last minute fill-ins.

"Let it go," Anderson said, reaching across the table and covering his hand. "You let Violet do the music, which impresses me. Now let your precious little tailor handle his people. Everybody knows better than to incur your wrath. Don't be a brat before it's absolutely necessary."

Lynn made a face but conceded. "Fine."

Anderson smiled. "Any interesting clients?"

"Several. We seem to be attracting a lot of the asexual and poly crowd. I'm pretty certain Rachel is working on a six-way thing that sounds exhausting, but knowing her, it will turn out well for all parties."

"I'm still mad your job doesn't require five thousand permits and licenses and who knows what else I've forgotten."

Lynn grinned. "You're the one who wanted to get back into the whole hunting bad guys thing. Not my problem you forgot ninety percent of that is paperwork."

"Shut up."

Lynn just grinned some more and took another sip of wine. "Look on the bright side: soon it will be just you and me and a whole lot of beach. And a room we don't have to leave unless we really, really want to."

"I'm fairly certain it's the ocean I won't be leaving," Anderson retorted, but he smiled over the rim of his wine glass. He reached out to tap it against Lynn's. "Here's to us."

"To us, and the most magnificent wedding ever," Lynn replied.

*~*~*

"I never want to leave," Lynn said, ignoring the piles of luggage behind them in favor of gawking. He'd seen the island before, when he came to inspect it before signing the contract, but he'd forgotten just how beautiful and postcard perfect it really was. He'd been so busy with all the details that the simple pleasure of it all had gotten buried by stress. But the smell of the sea was already soothing him, reminding him vividly of why he was there and that it was meant to be fun. Meant to be theirs. "I could stay here forever."

Anderson snorted from just behind him, where he was fussing with the luggage. "Yeah, right up until you wanted shrimp alfredo at three in the morning or a triple shot latte at five in the morning. You're too much of a spoiled brat to live tucked away like this. The cottage is about as rustic as you can stand to get. You're lucky your type doesn't have to live strictly seaside anymore."

"There are plenty of cities right on the ocean," Lynn countered. Even if they had grimy city water or tourist-infested beaches, and none were anywhere near as stunning as this. All around him was sand, surf, nothing but the sound of the ocean and the wind in the air, the occasional cry of a bird. The sky was a long stretch of blue with the odd smattering of lazy clouds. The sun beat down on his skin, and he could not wait to hit the water and stay there as long as Anderson would let him.

The resort was actually a trio of islands meant exclusively for events like weddings, company getaways, and so on. Two of the islands could be rented by villa. The entire third island could be rented in week-long blocks and consisted of a central building for dining, dancing, and so forth, and various cabins spread out around it for the guests to stay in. Renting the island had taken a sizable chunk out of his account, but it had been worth it to have one whole week for the wedding and then a villa just for him and Anderson to enjoy the first leg of their honeymoon before hopping a plane to Italy for the second leg.

"Stop gawking and help with the luggage," Anderson said.

Lynn scoffed and motioned to a pair of bellhops, handed them cash and asked nicely. When they'd gone, he took Anderson's hand and led him into the air-conditioned lobby of the main building, straight through to the back doors to the open air bar and dining area in the back.

They sat at the bar, and Lynn ordered himself a mojito and Anderson a piña colada.

"You actually look relaxed," Anderson said. "I can almost believe you're not fretting a mile a minute in that head of yours. That you won't be a holy terror when everyone and everything starts arriving."

"The only thoughts in my head are 'where did I pack my bikinis' and 'how soon can we get in the water'," Lynn replied and took a sip of his drink when it arrived.

Anderson laughed. "I don't believe you."

"I did bring us here before everyone else so we'd have a chance to breathe," Lynn said. "So you can relax me enough I might be a little bit less of a terror."

"Ha," Anderson said with a soft smile. "Even I can only do so much. I know damn good and well you came early to make sure you knew the place inside and out to give yourself battlefield advantage."

"I promise that's totally tertiary to fucking you and being a sappy idiot," Lynn replied.

Anderson's smile turned into another grin. "Very smooth—did you practice? I was almost convinced." He snickered and ducked out of range as Lynn swatted at him. Sliding off his barstool, picking up his drink, he headed across the bar to the sand and down to the edge of the water.

Lynn paid the tab and trailed lazily behind him, body thrumming with happiness and anticipation. He kicked off his shoes, sighed at the sun, the sea, all the wonderful open space. Admired Anderson, who was standing at the water's edge staring out at the sea. As much as he loved city life and the cottage he'd bought for Anderson, it was always nice to be in his natural element. Especially with practically no one but him and Anderson around.

"What are you smirking about?" Anderson asked, walking back across the sand to him, the scent of his honeysuckle and orange perfume mingling with the salty air, the combination more addicting than any siren song.

Reaching out to snag his wrist, Lynn drew Anderson in close and kissed him softly. He tasted like rum and coconuts and the white chocolate macadamia cookies he'd eaten five hundred of on the flight over. "Just happy to finally be here, and alone for a little while."

"We'll be alone in five days," Anderson replied and sucked down more of his drink. "This place is beautiful. I mean, I knew it would be just from the pictures and everything you said, but it's truly breathtaking. I'm half afraid you may try to move a city here."

Lynn smiled. "Easier just to take lots of vacations. I was thinking of adding some sort of getaway thing to the business. Romantic escapes, get to know each other weekends, reconnect trips for troubled couples, fancy meet and greet, that sort of thing."

"Oh, I like," Anderson said. "Smart. That'll be a hit."

"Here's hoping. If my projections stay on course, I'll look into doing it end of next year or beginning of the following. I've already put out feelers and started collecting quotes."

Anderson finished his drink. "You're brilliant and it sounds marvelous, but I was promised something more X-rated than drinks and shop talk. Show me to our private beach already, Wriggly."

"As you command." Finishing his drink, Lynn set their empty glasses on a nearby table then hauled Anderson in for a thorough public display of affection. Drawing back, holding fast to Anderson's hand, Lynn led him back through the lobby and out the front doors then down a series of walkways to the beach house furthest from all the rest.

It was a large, open, airy house, with a bedroom, living room area, dining and kitchen, bathroom, and a deck that led out to a private beach separated from neighbors by sun-bleached latticework fencing.

Their luggage had been left in the living room, along with a chilling bottle of champagne, two crystal flutes, and a bowl of fresh berries. Lynn ignored all of it in favor of getting naked. He headed across the deck and right onto the beach and then waded into the pleasantly cool water, excitement racing through him.

His saltwater pools were top of the line, no better available, and he had no complaints. But nothing was better than the ocean. He touched his ring as he waded deeper, laughed in delight as the partial shift took over and he settled into the ocean as one of its own. His tentacles spread out, some keeping afloat and mostly stationary, others tasting the water, a few others already growing slick as they tasted Anderson's presence.

Turning, Lynn reached out and snagged him—arms, waist, legs—to make Anderson his captive and draw him in to be ravished at Lynn's leisure. A hundred years could pass and he would never tire of how pliant and easy Anderson was in his embrace. He'd had lovers who enjoyed the dirty thrill of tentacles for a time, but they all got sick of getting waterlogged eventually. Many had never really gotten comfortable with the idea at all, though they'd said at the start sure, that's fine. And as okay as he was with fucking completely human most of the time, it got lonely and depressing when he was never allowed to be entirely himself around a lover—with a lover. No one had ever met him one hundred percent, thrived on all that Lynn could do. Until Anderson.

Lynn licked beads of saltwater from Anderson's neck, loving the cool water against his still-warm skin. He nipped Anderson's skin right where his pulse beat, enjoyed the slight hitch of breath that got him. "Hello, Sparkles."

Anderson gave a breathy laugh. "There is definitely something different about you in the ocean. Wilder, maybe."

Lynn drew back, relaxing his grip slightly. "Is that—"

"Oh, my god, Wriggly. That was not a complaint, that was a fuck me blind request."

Laughing, Lynn tightened his hold again, tentacles wrapping around Anderson's thighs down to just below his knees, more around his arms, his torso, and his waist. The rest of his unoccupied tentacles began to explore and tease while Lynn cupped Anderson's face and drew him into a wet, filthy kiss. Anderson moaned, and Lynn could feel it in his chest, feel Anderson's heartbeat where they were pressed chest to chest.

He drew back after a bit, returned to Anderson's throat, tonguing the marks he'd left on previous days, adding a couple of new ones low on his collarbone. One of his tentacles wrapped around Anderson's cock, another teased gently at his heavy sac. He worked another, oily and slick, to tease at Anderson's hole, still stretched from the night before and a last, enthusiastic fucking while they waited for the taxi that would take them to the airport.

Anderson moaned again, slowly managing to bring his arms up and work them just loose enough to drape over Lynn's shoulders. There was no way to resist taking his mouth again, not that Lynn even considered trying. He fed on those lips hungrily, pushed his tongue deep to fuck Anderson's mouth just as surely as the two tentacles he abruptly thrust into Anderson's body. He swallowed the hitched breath that move provoked, drunk on the way his name sounded pushed into his own mouth on a stuttered, needy groan.

The ocean lapped at them, carried them gently along, Lynn's larger tentacles keeping them steady and above water. He pulled slowly off sucking on Anderson's bottom lip, dragged his tongue across that warm, swollen mouth, fucking Anderson harder, deeper, twisting and thrusting, withdrawing only to shove back. He worked in a third slick tentacle, slow and gentle, drunk on the way Anderson shuddered in his arms and tipped his head back. Lynn kissed the hollow of his throat, tightening the tentacle around Anderson's cock, working his hole to draw out more shudders and moans.

Slowly working his mouth up to Anderson's ear, he nibbled briefly at the soft lobe and then murmured, "Under?"

Anderson shivered, nodded, then stuttered an out-of-breath, "Yes."

"Deep breath," Lynn said, and when Anderson had done so, Lynn dragged him under the water, down until they were nearly at the bottom. Not very deep, he'd been careful to keep them in shallow-ish water, but deep enough they wouldn't break the surface easily.

Anderson's eyes were closed, and he was so calm and still for a moment that he could have been taking a nap on the beach. There was nothing in the world that compared to such trust.

Then the reprieve was over and Lynn was right back to fucking him mercilessly. His tentacles drove in and out of Anderson's body, stroking his cock and tugging at his balls, another teasing over his closed mouth, rubbing his nipples—even one wrapping around his throat to squeeze ever so gently, just enough to drive Anderson wild.

His helpless pretty, hopelessly captured with no chance of escape.

Lynn kissed him, tongue pushing deep, mouth sealing tightly over Anderson's, claiming it like he'd claimed the rest of Anderson's body. He gave a last hard thrust, squeezed his cock tightly, and swallowed the screams that immediately followed, giving Anderson air as he slowly calmed.

When his own shuddering release had eased, he dragged them back up, panting softly as they broke the surface, shivering at the delicious contrast of cool water and hot sun, the easy weight of Anderson draped against him. He kissed Anderson's shoulder. "You're perfect."

"I'm never going to survive the next two weeks," Anderson replied. "I will die of fucking. I can't seem to bring myself to care."

"Worse ways to go," Lynn said with a grin. He swam them back to shore, laid Anderson on the sand where the sea could lap at his legs. He lay against Anderson's side, lazily draping and twining tentacles about him. "I'd say that's a good start to our wedding adventures."

Anderson yawned. "I certainly have no complaints."

Lynn smiled against his shoulder, not even caring when he got sand on his lips. There was no one like Anderson anywhere else in the world, and he would never stop being grateful their paths had crossed.

"All that said, I'm going to burn if I don't put on sunscreen, and neither of us wants me looking like a lobster on the big day. Not all of us have your stupid, sun-loving skin. Which isn't fair given you're pastier than me, fish face."

"Squid face," Lynn replied haughtily. "I'm not a fish."

"Whatever, it's all seafood. Let me go so I can grease up."

Lynn leered, but let him go, pulled himself a bit further into the surf so his tentacles wouldn't dry out.

Anderson returned a few minutes later, sat down next to him, smiling when he was promptly re-entangled, and settled heavily against Lynn's side. "What time does your sister and her boyfriend get here?"

"Sometime late tonight," Lynn said, smiling faintly, excited to see his sister again after so many months apart. She'd been sent overseas to deal with a new hotel opening in Italy—one of the reasons they were honeymooning there—and Lynn had only once met her lover, and only for a couple of hours. But he'd seemed good and made Leslie the happiest Lynn had ever seen her. "I think it might actually be fiancé now. My mother said something in passing that she recovered poorly from, but I think Leslie is holding off saying anything until after our wedding."

Smiling, Anderson said, "Aww, how sweet. She moves way faster than you. More decisive, maybe?" He snickered as Lynn's tentacles tightened and shook him gently.

"Less afraid and likely to do stupid shit," Lynn replied wryly. "No panics over children/no children that almost render the question moot."

"It all worked out in the end," Anderson said, kissing him softly. "Take me out deeper. I want to swim."

"Clearly I didn't do a good enough job of wearing you out. And you don't need me to swim to the deep water, you lazy unicorn." But he moved them out across the water, gliding easily through the gently bobbing waves.

Some distance out, a floating dock had been anchored. Lynn swam them out to it, clung lazily to the edge as Anderson pulled away to splash and play in the water. He'd been an okay swimmer when they'd met, but now he swam damn near as well as Lynn.

Slipping off the dock, Lynn sank beneath the water, going far enough down he hovered just below Anderson.

He waited until he could see Anderson look around for him, the very moment he realized what he was probably in for—then reached up and yanked Anderson down. He then promptly let go, surged up, and wrapped him up tight, dragged him back to the surface.

"You're a fucking jerk," Anderson sputtered, trying to glare through the wet tangled mop of hair plastered to his face. Finally shoving it out of the way, he splashed water in Lynn's face and pushed away from him. "Stop doing that. I know it's coming and it startles the shit out of me every time anyway. I'm going to start making you wear bells or something."

Lynn snaked out tentacles and dragged him right back, shoved a small one into his mouth, got more around his thighs and spread them wide, pinned his arms against his chest and pulled him in flush, back to chest. "Just accept you're at my mercy, Sparkles. If you want to stay safe, you should keep to frolicking in your meadows and napping in the laps of virgins." He didn't need to see Anderson to know he was rolling his eyes.

Chuckling against Anderson's skin, Lynn pushed a single, teasing tentacle into his hole, got another around his cock, and brought Anderson off hard and fast, loving the way he whimpered, body strung out and well-used, almost nothing left to give—but just enough that he came apart in Lynn's grasp just moments later.

When he'd slumped, sated and exhausted, Lynn slowly got them back to shore and to the house, pausing only to rinse them off at the outside showers. Inside, there was a table filled with fluffy towels right beside the door. He toweled Anderson off, then himself, leaving the towels on the floor as he dragged Anderson through the house to the bedroom.

The bed was soft, the air nice and cool, the blanket just the right weight to keep them from getting too chilly or overheating. He dragged Anderson close, kissed his brow, and within moments they were both asleep.

A need to piss woke him a little while later, and after that he was too awake to go back to sleep. Leaving Anderson to sleep, Lynn wandered into the living room and busted into the champagne. That required suitable food, so he went to poke around the kitchen until he found some crackers and cheese and berries. He also dug out some fancy-looking cookies that Anderson would devour in about thirty seconds.

When he'd enjoyed half a glass of champagne and several bites of crackers and cheese, he went to get a shower, scrubbing away remaining sand, and replacing the smell of salt water with the light, citrusy shampoo and soap he'd brought along.

By the time he was done, Anderson was awake and handed off his own champagne before taking Lynn's place in the shower. He tasted like cookies when Lynn stole a quick kiss.

He grabbed the luggage he'd left in the living room and hauled it to the bedroom, then quickly pulled out some lightweight linen pants, a pale green, button down, short sleeved shirt, and gold jewelry to match. He combed his hair, then retrieved the champagne he'd set aside to dress and went out to the living room to refill both flutes.

Anderson wandered out a few minutes later in a pink t-shirt and beige shorts, bright pink flip flops with glitter in the thongs. He took the flute Lynn held out to him. Dusk was lazily turning into full dark outside, and lights automatically turned on in the house. That was a nice touch. "If only the rest of the wedding could be this relaxing."

"Nothing is ever that easy," Lynn said. "But it'll be worth the hassle."

"Yes, but will it be worth the several counts of homicide?" Anderson drawled.

Lynn smiled over the rim of his flute. "Shut up." He took a sip of champagne. "I bet you're the one who will wind up killing—" He broke off as his phone chimed, pulled it out and smiled at the message. "My sister is here."

"Good, I'm hungry." Anderson refilled their glasses, then walked hand in hand with him back to the main building.

Leslie wore a beautiful pink and white sundress, skin well-tanned, hair longer than Lynn had seen her wear it since they were in high school. Beside her was Toni, short, handsome, dark brown skin and a warm smile as he greeted them with a soft ciao and kisses to their cheeks. Leslie hugged Lynn tightly, then Anderson. "Hey, guys. Ready for the big day?"

"Ready for dinner, at any rate," Anderson said with a smile. "How was your trip?"

"Long, but uneventful, which is all I can ask," Leslie replied with a smile, looping arms with Lynn as they all walked outside and settled at a table for four that was set and waiting for them. Lynn sat directly across from Toni, Leslie to his left, Anderson to his right.

After they'd placed a drink and appetizer order, he said, "Mom let it slip, so you may as well tell me you're engaged."

Leslie lifted her eyes to the sky but smiled. "Yeah, okay. He asked a couple months ago, on our one-year anniversary." She held out a hand to Toni, who kissed the knuckles and smiled soppily at her. "We're not sure when it'll happen yet, what with Toni's family being difficult."

"Difficult? Are they all elitist like mine and don't approve of your choices?" Anderson asked.

Toni sighed. "I wish it were so simple—not to make light of your difficulties. My family believes the law is something to be ignored when it proves to be inconvenient. I have always tried to be a law-abiding citizen since legally becoming an adult. They want me in the family business; I want them to leave me the hell alone. If I have a wedding, they will use it to be especially difficult. So we are biding our time until my family gets distracted by something else and goes back to more or less ignoring me."

"That sounds thrilling," Anderson said. "What does your family do?"

"Smuggling, mostly. They help move around paranormals who are confined to certain areas, vampires mostly." He made a face. "And I wish I didn't know this, but they're trying to get into human trafficking, too, the kind for paranormals to keep as pets, lab rats, good old fashioned food." He shook his head. "I've tried to tell the authorities, but half of them are involved, and the rest can't do anything without evidence. And I'm useless as a plant."

"I'm glad I'm out of the business," Lynn said. He missed little things about the job, but when all was said and done, he was much, much happier putting his skills to use as a matchmaker. "That sounds like a mess I would have gladly avoided by dealing with every other case in the Bureau by myself."

"Amen to that," Anderson said as their waiter came up with a tray of drinks that he began to deposit around the table. When he'd gone, Anderson added, "I'm going to be much happier as a low key private investigator. Although if I want to get any work done, I'm starting to think I should have set up office in a different city than my fiancé."

Lynn scoffed, smiled when Anderson rolled his eyes. He looked at his sister as he sipped his gin and tonic. "Going for big or small?"

"Small, my boss said we could do something simple in the casino, thought we'd keep it to fifty guests or so—my family, Toni's friends, the few family members he can trust to behave themselves. We'll see. Nothing like your ridiculous affair."

"Yeah, I remember how much fuss you were for the prom, don't even start with me," Lynn replied. "I thought you were going to kill people if one more thing went wrong with your oh-so-precious dress."

Anderson rolled his eyes again. "Wow, that sounds familiar. Hauntingly, like I've listened to it five hundred times a day for the past several months familiar."

Toni laughed. "It does not take the mirror image looks to know they are siblings. It's all in the 'descended from royalty' attitude. My family does have ancient, irrelevant royal ties and still we do not carry ourselves like these two." He laughed harder when Leslie and Lynn sent him matching withering looks.

"Speaking of dresses," Leslie said. "When do I actually get to see mine? You're sure it'll fit perfectly?"

Lynn shifted his withering look to his sister. "Of fucking course it will. The seamstress used me as a model, and you and I still match almost perfectly. She's arriving with everyone else so all the last minute adjustments can be made."

The wedding was the day after tomorrow, starting promptly at noon and continuing on until the alcohol ran out or everyone fell asleep, whichever came first.

"For now, we drink, eat, and prepare for the chaos," Toni said and raised his glass. "To the happy couple: I hope your wedding day is all you want it to be."

Lynn lifted his glass in thanks, set it aside just as the food came and the conversation drifted into work and travel stories, only the sand and sea and cool night around them, only their own chatter and laughter to fill the air.

As weddings went, it was a damned good start.

*~*~*

Lynn was deliberating what to wear when the first bit of bad news was delivered: technical difficulties and storms in other areas that were screwing up flights all over were going to delay his guests by at least several hours. Not quite the end of the world, but it was damned irritating.

The good news was that the staff plane had taken off before everything went to hell, so at least they would be on time and everything would get set up on schedule. Fittings and such would fall behind, but that could probably be made up for, especially since he'd scheduled in a more than generous margin of error.

"Stop pouting. It'll work out one way or another. The only people who have to be present are us and the woman officiating, and she'll be on the staff plane," Anderson said. "Your dress will be with that set, too, so really all is well."

Lynn nodded, but didn't speak, not trusting he wouldn't say something snide or pessimistic. Instead, he focused on his bathing suit options and finally settled on a dark pink and gold bikini. Over that he pulled a white knit cover and finished with a pretty pair of white sandals. Maybe a little casual for breakfast, but there was obviously going to be plenty of time to swim, and soon he'd be doing fittings so there wasn't much point to getting too dressed. He picked up his cell phone, relieved to see there were no texts or missed calls.

"Come on, smile, we can start counting the time until we're married in hours," Anderson said, grabbing his hand and dragging him in close. He took Lynn's cell phone out of his hand. "Leave this here. You don't need it except to harass people to death, and you've done enough of that." He set it on the dresser then gave Lynn a lingering kiss. "We'll go have breakfast with your sister and Toni, and by the time we're done, the staff will be here and everything will start to get fancied up."

Lynn nodded, bent to kiss him, soothed as ever by his presence, the warmth and spun-sugar scent that always clung to him. "I just want everything to be perfect."

"If anybody could manage to make something this big and elaborate and fraught with peril go perfectly, it's you. But also remember that this shit never goes perfectly, and it's us, which means probably somebody is going to get kidnapped or shot or something equally ridiculous."

Laughing, Lynn stole another quick kiss then pulled back and tweaked his nose. "Hey, one of us completely retired and went into matchmaking. If anyone is to blame for surprise kidnappings, it's going to be the one who kind of sort of went right back into investigating."

"Shut up," Anderson said haughtily. "I'm in the private sector now and we have a firm policy regarding kidnappings. That policy being 'hell no'. Now come on, I'm hungry." He gently poked one of Lynn's breasts, then turned and led the way out of the cabin.

Lynn snatched up a hairclip from the dresser as he followed, twisting his hair up into a loose knot and securing it with the clip.

The morning air was still cool, prickling goosebumps along his skin. He twined his arm through Anderson's and mustered a more sincere smile. It was hard to stay down in such a pretty place, with nothing in front of them but a wedding and a honeymoon. Even the brief stint where they'd both been unemployed he'd had a busier schedule. He wasn't entirely certain what to do with so much free time, though he was more than willing to figure it out.

Leslie and Toni were already there when they arrived, giggling and flirting, stealing food from each other, and it looked as though they'd already made a solid start on the mimosas. A waiter appeared as Anderson and Lynn sat, pouring coffee and setting out mimosas in sparkling crystal flutes. Lynn put in his food request, then focused on his coffee until the last of his sleepiness went away.

By then, Leslie and Anderson were immersed in a serious-sounding discussion about cupcakes, something to do with frosting and the rampant stupidity of some people for putting buttercream with a cake that Lynn had never heard of. He shook his head, took a few more sips of mimosa, and turned to Toni. "So what are you doing after this?"

"I am going to attempt to move well away from my family once and for all," Toni said. "They're not happy, obviously, but if I ever want to actually get to my own wedding, my best hope is out of sight, out of mind. Living on the opposite side of town helps some, but not enough. You've no idea how hard it was just to be allowed to come here without bodyguards."

Lynn made a face. "Oh, I'm well-acquainted with the difficulties of mob-employed bodyguards. We had one case, years ago when I was still new to the Bureau, we couldn't crack the security. We had to do a three-year long game, get one of our own men in as a bodyguard. Everything moved quickly after that, but just getting to that point was so stressful, two of the lead agents quit and another transferred to a different department. It meant I took on more than I should have at that point, but fast-track always suited me. But I was glad mob bosses weren't a frequent problem. Usually White Collar got to deal with them."

Toni laughed. "I think I might know who you're talking about. I hope someone manages to do the same to my family, and sooner rather than later. It's supremely frustrating to want to help but crooked cops, apathy, and red tape keep getting in the way." He twirled the stem of his champagne flute back and forth, then lifted it in a small toast. "But your wedding is not the place to mope over such matters. Your sister fussed for weeks over the perfect wedding gift. Good luck outdoing her when our day comes."

"Ha, I always give better gifts."

"Ha, yourself," Leslie said, breaking off her conversation with Anderson to jut her chin out in challenge. "You'll never outdo me, not this time, asshole."

"I believe that is a challenge issued and a challenge accepted. I'm going—" Lynn broke off at the unmistakable sound of a plane arriving and grinned. "My dress is here."

Leslie and Anderson rolled their eyes in unison, sending Toni into a fit of laughter.

Lynn gave them all disgusted looks. "Shut up."

"No," Anderson replied. "Don't even think of getting up." He leaned over and pushed Lynn back into his seat from where he'd half risen. "Give them a chance to, you know, land and unload and all of that other stuff that's much easier to do when they don't have a controlling asshole breathing down their necks. Finish your breakfast. Stop pouting."

Lynn rolled his eyes, but stayed in his seat, poking at his breakfast and failing miserably at not wondering if they were unloading everything properly, if anything had been forgotten, if anything had been damaged.

"Stop it," Anderson said, making him startle because his voice was right in Lynn's ear and he hadn't seen or heard him move. Anderson chuckled, hand resting heavy and warm on Lynn's bare thigh. "Stop grinding those gears. You won't have any poor brain cells left. You paid these people a lot of money because they're the best at what they do. Let them do their jobs. You'd get mad if someone tried to micromanage you. I know it because I saw all your write-ups for getting mad at evaluators and internal affairs."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Lynn groused. "If you want me distracted, let's go for a swim or something."

"Swimming swimming or swimming," Anderson drawled. "Because your sister and future brother-in-law aren't invited to the latter."

Lynn lifted his eyes to the ceiling. "If I wanted to fuck you, I'd have said that. Swimming swimming, Sparkles."

"Your loss, then," Anderson said with a smirk as he stood and pushed away from the table.

Lynn and the others had just stood to follow after them when the main doors to the dining area opened and five people strode in, casually dressed but carrying dart guns. "Down!" Lynn barked, but a beat too late as the group lifted their guns almost as one and fired.

The dart stung as it hit Lynn low on the neck. He yanked it out, but the damage was done. Wooziness crashed over him and he toppled to the floor in a crash of dishes and spilled drinks, heard someone barking orders in a voice that held a soft Italian accent.

Italian mob? That was really fucking cliché.

*~*~*

When he woke, it was to a skull-splitting headache and murderous rage. "What the fuck."

"I'm going to fucking kill someone," Anderson said, sounding just as groggy and in-pain and pissed off as Lynn. "I'm going to do it slowly and enjoy listening to them scream. I'll even turn myself in to the cops later, I don't fucking care. I just want to kill the asshole that shoved spikes into my head."

Lynn sat up, fumbled around in the dark room. He could feel something cold and heavy wrapped around his ankle. A brief examination confirmed the obvious: he'd been manacled to the floor. "You wearing an ankle bracelet, too?"

"Yes, and this chain will be useful for throttling someone," Anderson said. "I can't see shit. You?"

"Nothing," Lynn replied. "Feels like we're on a boat, though." He reached up to examine the weight around his throat that he'd only just noticed, too distracted by everything else. That too was easy enough to figure out. "I'm wearing a form collar. Feels like one of the good ones, so probably graded to me. Whoever did this is smart."

Form collars were government-only equipment, most often used to confine criminals to their human forms. They were the upgraded, much shinier versions of the rings everyone wore. Unlike the rings, they could be locked in place and controlled by an outside party. Anyone not government, and even then anyone not approved, who was caught using them was swift-tracked to a dark cell.

Anderson heaved a long sigh. "Me too. Whoever these assholes are, they've got troubling connections."

"I'm going to guess the obvious explanation is the right one and this has to do with Toni. If he was right about the human trafficking, then either somebody is pissed about them horning in on the industry, or they kidnaped the wrong person to sell off to be the slave of some selkie."

"Wonderful," Anderson muttered. "I'm going to maim Toni after I'm done killing everyone else. It's our fucking wedding, why can't we ever just be allowed to enjoy something. I swear to god if our honeymoon turns into a hot mess, I will set the entire world on fire."

Lynn smiled faintly in the dark. It wasn't really a smiling situation, and he didn't feel even remotely close to happy, but goddamn did he love his unicorn. "I'll help you. These people seem smart, but they can't be too terribly smart if they thought collars and manacles were going to be enough to stop us. I may be a sap with a matchmaking business and children on the horizon, but I haven't gone soft. Though I wish I'd worn more to breakfast because bikinis are not good fighting clothes no matter how many people wish otherwise."

Anderson laughed. "I'll certainly enjoy the view."

"That just means I'll be doing all the work," Lynn groused. "I wish there was some fucking light in here."

"I'm more worried about where Leslie and Toni are," Anderson said. "I don't like to think—" He broke off.

He didn't really need to finish, though. Lynn was acutely, painfully, terrifyingly aware of what kind of shit slave trafficking assholes would be willing to do to his sister if it meant getting whatever it was they wanted out of Toni and his family. In their line of work, people like Leslie were weaknesses to be exploited and trash to be thrown out.

"Sorry," Anderson muttered.

Lynn rolled his eyes. "Shut up. I know you didn't mean anything by it. Hard to break old habits, and let's face it, the Bureau leaves us both a little callous at times, even the sparkliest unicorn to ever sparkle."

"Says the kraken with how many sequins on his ridiculously expensive wedding dress?"

"Yeah, you won't be whining about my dress when you see me in it," Lynn retorted. "Keep making fun of my dress and I won't let you show my boobs hands-on admiration."

"Uh-uh," Anderson drawled, and Lynn could hear the smile in his voice, and as ever, it drew out his own smile. "Because you've always been so restrained and willing to deny yourself when it comes to sex and being admired."

Lynn's smile widened. Whatever the fuck happened, up to and including an alarming tendency to get kidnapped and thrown in dark places, they'd always have each other. "Just wait until you see what goes under the dress."

"I can't—" Anderson broke off, and they both went still and silent at the sound of footsteps—heavy boots stomping on metal grating.

The door cracked open a short time later, muttering and jangling spilling in as the guy in the lead told the other two to be careful. Then Lynn heard the flick of a light being turned on and a beat later, sharp but dull fluorescent light spilled through the room. Lynn flinched, blinked until his eyes adjusted, then took in their adversaries: mercenaries by their dress and the guns they carried, the gun oil and sweat stench wafting off them. Not top of the line, though, given how slovenly and rough they looked. Thugs for hire, meaning whoever was behind this didn't want more direct involvement than was strictly necessary, and if they were cheap, that meant whoever was paying them expected this to be a quick, simple matter.

There were three in total, all mean but lazy looking by their relaxed stances and the fact one of them lit a cigarette. Lynn's lips curled. "You're ugly as fuck. Turn the lights back off."

The man in the lead, with a heavy ring of useful looking keys at his belt, grunted and gave him an unimpressed look. "Shut the fuck up unless you want to be gagged, too. Or maybe I'll just throw your bitch ass overboard."

Anderson laughed, drawing three pairs of eyes his way. "Please. If that was an option, you wouldn't have bothered to haul us all the way out to this boat in the first place. Whatever the fuck you're doing, dipshits, you need us alive."

"But not necessarily unbroken," said the man with the cigarette.

"Unless one of you is a medic, you don't want to do any breaking, burning, etc, etc," Anderson replied. "Please stop treating us like we're naïve civilians. We're not, and you must know that or, as already stated, you wouldn't have dragged us out to a boat."

"That's what tasers are for, you stupid bitch asshole," snapped the third guy.

Anderson pursed his lips, shared a look with Lynn, who shrugged one shoulder and said, "That's a little better. Passing grade threat but definite room for improvement."

"You're exactly as irritating as advertised," muttered the guy with the cigarette. "Can we get this the fuck over with?"

"Yeah, get them up," said Keys. "Just be careful, especially with the kraken." And yet he didn't bother to lift his gun to train on them. That was arrogant or sloppy, but either way it was useful.

The other two men moved forward immediately, taking the key the man held out to unlock their chains where they were secured to rings in the floor.

Lynn barely kept from laughing, resisted the urge to share a look with Anderson. "So let me get this straight. You're smart enough to tranq us, put us in chains, collar us, and lock us in a dark room. But you're stupid enough to get close without putting a gun on me?"

The man jerked his head up and Lynn slammed his head into the moron's nose, grabbed his gun and lifted it, shooting Keys in the kneecap before he could get his gun up. He then grabbed the taser at Cigarette's hip and put him out.

By the time he was done with that, Anderson had taken care of the other guy.

They chained all of them up, and Lynn treated the injured guy as best he could, ensuring he'd at least be okay until help came along. Anderson gagged them, then relieved them of weapons, keys, and radios. "Let's go see who the fuck else is at this party."

"Probably heard the gunshot," Lynn said. "Stay alert, Sparkles." He grimaced as he stood and stretched out stiff muscles. "Why the fuck couldn't they wait to kidnap me when I had on more than a bikini?"

Anderson grinned as he checked one of the guns he'd stolen. "I am kinda disappointed this little tussle didn't result in your boobs falling out. That would have been hilarious. My compliments to the designer."

Lynn rolled his eyes but smiled. He stole a kiss, lingered just enough to soak in Anderson's warmth and flavor, then withdrew and led the way down the hall, gun at the ready. "My head still fucking hurts."

"Suck it up," Anderson replied.

The ship proved to be relatively small, though still large enough for a crew of about fifty or so if it had been at full capacity. Instead, there were maybe twelve men in addition to the three they'd already taken down. They definitely did not find Leslie or Tori. "Why haul us all the way out here?" Lynn asked.

"Soft threat?" Anderson posed. "Start with threatening to hurt us, and if that doesn't work, kill us and bring Leslie into it. Pretty typical methods for these human trafficking types, or I assume that's who's behind it, anyway. Probably don't like Toni's family moving into the business or something. They obviously stuck us out here because they knew we'd be—" He broke off as the radio he'd kept crackled and someone barked out sharp demands for information.

Anderson hesitated, looked at Lynn, who shrugged. "Try it. If we don't answer, they'll know something is wrong anyway."

Nodding, Anderson hit the button on the radio and replied in low, sharp tones that sounded nothing at all like his normally easy, pleasant voice. The jargon came easily, the result of cases he'd worked before transferring to Lynn's office and a skill that had come in handy more than once. The best part about assholes who hired mercs to do their dirty work was that those same mercs all looked and sounded the same.

Lynn held his breath as Anderson finished speaking, and slumped with relief and laughter when a confirmation came back followed by an order to basically sit and wait for further instructions.

"That'll buy us a little time," Anderson said, setting the radio on the floor as he went back to relieving the last guy they'd put down of his weapons. Throwing them into a bag he'd found somewhere along the way, he zipped the bag shut and threw it over one shoulder then retrieved the radio. "Not much, though it sounds like they were supposed to be dragging us somewhere for a video feed, probably to prove we're alive." He followed Lynn out of the room, lapsing into silence as they climbed to the main deck and approached the portside railing.

Lynn could just barely see the island in the distance, which meant they weren't too far away, but they sure as hell were far enough. "Guess we're swimming it. First I want out of this fucking collar." He lifted the key ring he'd taken off Keys and rifled through them until he found the right one, marked with the logo of the company that made the stupid collars. "Turn around."

Anderson dropped the bag he was holding and obediently turned around, heaving a sigh of relief when Lynn unlocked and removed the collar. Pitching it over the side of the boat, Lynn swiftly sent his own collar to follow it to the bottom of the sea. "Who made a joke about our wedding day and kidnapping?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's not my fault I was right," Anderson replied. "I'm pretty sure you made a joke, too, anyway, so shut up." He crouched down by the bag and unzipped it, pulled out a pair of binoculars. Standing again, he held them to his eyes and focused on the island. "I don't see much movement, though part of the island is completely cut off at this angle. But given all the blinds and curtains are now pulled on the main building, I'm going to guess that's where they're holed up. I'd have gone for one of the private cottages, myself, but it's not my operation. I still see just the one plane so they haven't brought reinforcements to this party. The mercs must have arrived later. Judging by the sun, we've only been down a couple of hours." He lowered the binoculars. "I say you swim us to our place, we can gear up there and sneak up to the main house."

"Sounds as good a plan as any," Lynn said. He removed his bikini and handed it to Anderson, who threw it in the bag and zipped it closed again. The binoculars he left on the deck.

Lynn climbed the railing and dove smoothly into the water, relishing the dark and cool for a few seconds as he shifted and settled into his element. He could taste the ship, the churning sea and so much of the life teeming in it. The only things missing were Anderson and the time to enjoy themselves. Soon. He just had to shoot a few more people and rescue his sister and her idiot fiancé.

"Incoming!" Anderson called down. At Lynn's signal, he threw the bag, and once Lynn had grabbed it, he dove into the water. Lynn reached out with two large tentacles and reeled him in for a kiss, relishing the bitter taste of the sea in his sweet mouth. "Wet unicorn, my favorite." He lifted a tentacle to wrap playfully around Anderson's throat, squeezing gently. "Should have kept the collar on you."

"Now is not the time for your filthy little fantasies," Anderson said with a sigh, a smile twitching at his lips. "Rescue mission, Wriggly. Focus. Unless you really want to explain to Leslie that you couldn't save her and Toni because you were too busy playing virgin sacrifice."

"That is definitely not a conversation I want to have," Lynn replied. He handed off the bag and turned around, tentacles moving to secure Anderson in place once he'd settled against Lynn's back. Then he started swimming, moving easily through the water even with the additional weight.

He slowed as they drew closer to the island, keeping low in the water and constantly sweeping eyes and tentacles for any sign of danger. "I'll cover you." He loosened his tentacles and Anderson slid off his back with a soft splash.

Anderson dropped a quick kiss on Lynn's mouth then started wading to shore, keeping as low as possible the whole time. Lynn kept sweeping for trouble, but their little private strip of beach seemed to be empty and unguarded.

Reaching the shore, Anderson bolted across the sand and into the house. Lynn waited, tense and anxious, barely breathing until Anderson reappeared in the doorway and gave the all clear.

Lynn swam as close as he could comfortably get then shifted back to fully human and waded the rest of the way in and hurried across the sand. He let out a sharp huff as he reached the cottage and closed the door. "I'm supposed to be trying on my wedding dress for one last fitting, not sneaking around and plotting to get the drop on a bunch of angry mob thugs."

"Don't even get me started on fucking fittings right now," Anderson said, making a face. "One of the guys that first shot us was the replacement tailor. When I see that motherfucker again, I'm going to put my fist in his face."

"Replacement tailor," Lynn repeated. "I'd bet money the other people involved were connected to the bakery and the band. They smuggled people in because this island is extremely private and clearance never would have been granted. They could have flown in anyway, but it would have drawn attention. So they used our fucking wedding to get people here, took over, and the fucking boat was probably waiting just out of sight. Damn it." He raked his hands through his hair. "I should have noticed something was weird."

Anderson rolled his eyes. "Please. What was there to notice, a bunch of last minute replacements that is completely fucking typical with big, elaborate events? Come on, I'm tired of standing around in wet clothes, and I'm sure you'd like to stop being naked, though normally I'd say don't hurry on my account."

Lynn smiled weakly and followed Anderson into the bedroom. He touched his ring, trading boobs for a flat chest that would better fit the only practical clothes he'd brought. Moving quickly, he pulled on boxers, jeans, socks, hiking boots, a black t-shirt, and his shoulder holster. When that was settled in place, he dug down to the bottom of his suitcase and pulled out the gun he'd brought along. He almost hadn't, but after the clusterfuck in Anderson's hometown, he didn't like going anywhere without one.

When he was ready, he went over to the dresser where Anderson had put his cell phone after taking it away, and tossed it to Anderson. "Call it in. I'm going to scope things out."

Anderson deftly snatched the phone from the air as it reached him and punched the speed dial they both kept programmed. Lynn listened absently to his voice as he headed into the living room to check things out as best he could.

The main building was definitely Asshole HQ, to judge by the four glowering brick shithouses guarding the main entrance. No roof coverage, though, so they obviously weren't expecting much in the way of trouble.

Also of interest was the admin building tucked off to the side of the main building. Two guards watched over that door. That meant they were probably keeping Leslie separated from Toni. Hopefully it also meant they hadn't done much of anything to either of them but were letting them sweat it out for a bit. It had probably taken them a couple of hours just to get everyone in place and secure.

Which begged the question: where were the rest of the people on the island? Probably not dead, murder made things messy, especially when the mess was human trafficking and mobs. But none of the other buildings had guards. So either they were holed up somewhere they didn't have to be watched, in the admin building with Leslie, or in the main building somewhere but not the same area as Toni.

It was fucking crap he was still dealing with this shit when he wasn't being paid for his trouble. He was going to kill his sister for taking up with someone connected to criminals. His stomach clenched and he quickly stopped thinking about Leslie before fear and panic got the better of him.

"Feds said two hours, and they'll contact us shortly before arrival to get an update on the situation. What have we got?" Anderson asked as he came to join Lynn, handing his phone back to him. When Lynn was done laying it out, Anderson pursed his lips in thought. "I'd wager one of the houses. They can't see scared to death civilians as much of a threat, and where the fuck would they go if they got loose? People like that aren't going to be adept at sneaking around and shooting people up. We could try sneaking around behind the houses, see if we can find them. Once they're secure, we can focus on Leslie and Toni."

Lynn nodded. "Split up or stay together?"

"Split up." Anderson reached into his pocket and waved his own phone. "Got it out of my luggage. I'll go left, you go right. Send a clear for each house. If we don't find them after the first three, come back here and we'll go further afield together."

"Copy that," Lynn said and stuffed his phone in his back pocket. He fisted the sides of Anderson's t-shirt and hauled him in, kissed him hard and quick. "Be careful, Sparkles."

"You're the one with a track record for stupid and reckless, Wriggly. Follow your own advice."

Lynn nodded, stole another kiss, and led the way out of the house. On the beach they split paths, Lynn off to the right. He slipped around the privacy fence and darted up to the house. It took only a few minute of searching to declare it clear and move on the second.

He'd just reached it when he got an all clear from Anderson for his first house. And he was just about to send his second all clear when Anderson notified him he'd found the civilians.

Abandoning his own search Lynn headed back along the beach until he reached a little blue and teal cottage where Anderson was already leading people outside. "Help me," he said, waving Lynn to follow him.

Inside, Anderson led him to a closet where Lynn saw an inflatable raft had been stored. "Good thinking."

Back on the beach, he and Anderson quickly got the raft inflated and ready to go. Lynn then stripped down and moved the raft out to the water himself while Anderson talked to the civilians about getting out to sea and waiting there until help came. He vanished into the house again, returned with bottles of water and a bag of foodstuffs. "Once we have the remaining hostages, we'll commandeer a boat and come for you. It shouldn't take us long." Anderson handed them his phone. "Authorities are on their way, so at worst you'll be hanging out in the water a couple of hours. But if they don't come in three, get back to shore and call for help. Understand?"

They all nodded and Anderson helped them into the raft. Once everyone was set, Lynn pushed it out to deep enough water, reassured them all would be well, and swam back to shore. He quickly dressed again, then looked to Anderson. "Okay, step one complete. Step two is going to be a lot more difficult. I hate to say it, but if we're going to get the drop on them and get both Leslie and Toni out with minimal risk and fuss, we're gonna have to split up again."

Anderson grimaced but didn't argue, just said, "Let's head back to our place. We can grab more weapons."

Lynn nodded and they hurried their way back. Once they reached it, he headed for the kitchen to get a snack, handing off one of the granola bars he scrounged up to Anderson. If they were gonna kick ass, they were gonna need the energy.

Wolfing it down while he worked, Anderson went through the canvas bag of stolen goodies and handed Lynn two dart guns, each one with three darts remaining. He kept another two for himself, then passed out another handgun each.

"I guess we've had worse odds," Lynn said with a sigh.

"Oh, definitely," Anderson replied with a tired smile. "You're better at this sort of thing, so you take care of Toni. I'll get your sister and then get us a boat or something. Don't get hurt or dead."

Lynn pulled him in, hugged him tightly, soothed by Anderson's presence even as he was terrified by it, hating they were going into danger and knowing even the best could go down so fucking easy. "Don't ruin my fucking wedding further by getting dead, Sparkles. I'll kill you a second time."

"I'm an asshole, but I'm not completely rude," Anderson said, drawing back and kissing him, soft and achingly sweet. "Be careful, you idiot kraken. Don't do anything too stupid."

"No worries. I'm going to smash and grab and head for the water. They won't be able to get to us easily there, not when it's me. If worst comes to worst, sheer mass will put an end to this entire fucking disaster." Not his preference because at his full size he couldn't pick and choose—he'd take out friend right alongside foe. But that was still a better option than death.

"I don't think it'll come to that," Anderson said. "But try to give some heads up if it does."

Lynn nodded as he reluctantly pulled away, checked over his weapons, and stowed them on the belt holsters that Anderson had commandeered along with the weapons themselves. He handed Anderson his phone. "Take that. I don't want to lose it if I get wet. Tell my sister she owes me for the rest of her life."

Anderson rolled his eyes. "Let's get going. We'll sneak around to admin, take out the guard dogs, and split from there."

"Copy that," Lynn replied and led the way back outside.

They slunk around behind the cottages until they came to the one right next door to the admin building. With every breath, Lynn expected to be busted, but it quickly became painfully obvious that the assholes didn't expect any problems. Clearly they'd put all their evil eggs in the surprise, motherfuckers basket and thought dumping the only two possible problems at sea was sufficient.

Well, they were gonna learn the hard way not to fuck with two retired agents right before their wedding, especially when Lynn's sister was involved.

He followed Anderson up the length of the admin building, drawing out one of his dart guns. Six men total—two on the admin, four on the main. "How—" He stopped as their radios crackled to life, an indistinct but urgent sounding voice filling the air.

"I think our jig is up," Anderson said. "Let's go."

They burst from cover, dart guns coming up, taking down four of the men before any of them could get their shit together. Lynn dropped his used gun and pulled the other one, got it up and fired just in time, shuddering with relief as the last man and the gun he'd lifted collapsed harmlessly to the sand.

He didn't waste time sharing a look with Anderson, just raced across the sand and into the main building. Slipping in quietly, he switched the dart gun to his left hand and pulled the more lethal variety in his right. He crept through the lobby and, after a moment of hesitation, cut right down the hall where he could see a stainless steel kitchen door.

The kitchen was empty, but as he'd hoped, there were windows that looked out past the bar to the dining area where they'd been snatched over breakfast.

He could just barely see Toni, sitting at a table with two guns trained on him. If he was cuffed or tied, Lynn couldn't tell from this angle, but he definitely looked pissed off and worried sick.

In addition to the two guys with the guns were three more, vaguely familiar, so probably the guys that had shot them earlier. No way could he come at that many on his own. He'd need to take them out from a distance and hope he did it quickly enough Toni wouldn't get hurt.

Looking around, Lynn finally gave a soft "Aha" as he registered the second story windows. One of which had a perfect view of the space below since the dumbfucks didn't have the sense to sit closer to the bar where there was still some cover to protect them.

He counted windows, then slipped back out of the kitchen and found some stairs. When he got to the right hall, he counted doors and made short work of the lock. Slipping inside, he went over to the window and stared down. Perfect. Shoot the gunmen and then the others.

They really did think they had it all in the bag. He could see they were a little pissed off about trouble on the ship, but they clearly hadn't yet realized just how fucked they were. Well, Lynn wasn't going to give them a chance to figure it out.

He examined the window, panic fluttering a moment before he recalled this wasn't an ordinary fucking hotel, but a swank, overprized luxury thing where of-fucking-course the windows opened. Rolling his eyes, he slowly pulled the window open, silently thanking the architect or whoever that they'd gone for the slide from side to side variety that made sniping mercenary assholes so much easier.

Drawing a deep breath, he settled into position and planned his shots. Marking the first, he fired, then quickly went after two more before they could really get moving. The others looked frantically around, drew their weapons—and stopped moving, which was all he needed to take them down.

Leaning further out the window, he bellowed, "Run for the water."

Toni didn't pause or hesitate, just did as told. Lynn almost could have kissed him. So often people died because they wouldn't follow a fucking order when they really needed to.

When Toni was clear, Lynn abandoned his position and got the fuck out of there. He'd just reached the water himself, gesturing sharply for Toni to keep fucking swimming, as more men came bursting out of the building. Lynn threw himself into the water and shifted, pain twisting his face as his tentacles struggled briefly against all the clothes he was still wearing.

Bullets flew, clipping him on the arm and a few tentacles. Lynn swore but didn't stop just went deeper and deeper. When he caught up to Toni, he grabbed on tight and kept going. "Take a deep breath!" Toni did so and Lynn dragged them down deep, as far as he could safely go without hurting Toni.

When the bullets stopped, and Toni started to look a little panicked, he swam them back up and cautiously broke the surface. Behind him, clinging with shaking hands, Toni gasped and heaved for breath. Lynn kept him as low in the water as possible, poised to draw him all the way under the moment he saw a hint of a gun.

He swore softly when he saw a pack of goons racing for a shiny red speedboat on the pier. Lynn probably should have noticed the boat sooner himself. Damn it. That was going to be harder to deal with. "I hope you can hold your breath longer—"

The roar of another boat made everyone jump, and Lynn laughed as he saw a dark green boat come around the curve of the island, Leslie at the wheel with a familiar I will fuck you up expression on her face. Anderson said something to her, and she stopped the boat then ducked down. Already crouched in position, Anderson exchanged fire with the men in the speedboat, knocking two of them into the water, sending the third one fleeing back toward the buildings.

When the coast was as clear as it was going to get, Lynn waved an arm. Leslie climbed back behind the wheel, saw them, and cheered. Getting the boat moving, she quickly headed for them. Anderson leaned over the side. "Well, look what the tide brought in."

"Hey, sailor," Lynn replied, shifting as he approached the boat. "Fancy some calamari?"

Anderson grinned and leaned over to help him into the boat. "My favorite."

"You're okay, you're okay!" Leslie threw herself at Lynn as he clambered into the boat and stood. She hugged him tightly, trembling in his arms, then pulled away and threw herself at Toni. "You stupid fucking jerk. I'm going to fucking kill you. Are you okay? Are you su—" Toni cut her off with a kiss, and when Leslie didn't immediately knee him the balls for it, Lynn was happy to leave them to it.

He went over to where Anderson was and got a kiss of his own. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why are you bleeding?"

"I got clipped. It'll be fine," Lynn replied but obediently sat as Anderson dug out a first aid kit. "We should go get the civilians. Take me to that other speedboat, then we'll have two and the assholes on the island who can still move are welcome to fight over the fucking plane for all I care. I really want some fucking clothes."

Anderson chuckled and finished treating his arm, then stepped back and started stripping—and it was only then that Lynn realized Anderson was wearing his clothes. He threw jeans and a t-shirt at Lynn and was left still wearing cargo shorts and a bright pink tank top.

Lynn pulled the clothes on. "I love you, Sparkles."

"Love you, too. And look, day's not over yet. We may yet still get the wedding back on track. Though I insist on we survived another stint of crazy shit sex first."

Lynn grinned. "Agreed. The things I am going—"

"Do either of you have a phone?" Toni broke in hesitantly.

"Yeah," Anderson said. He pulled Lynn's out of one of his pockets and handed it over.

Lynn sat down, abruptly out of energy. "This is definitely the shittiest fucking wedding ever." He didn't care what Anderson said about getting it back on track—there was still the feds to deal with, statements to give, reports to fill out, especially since he'd shot and probably killed at least three guys. By the time it was all over with, their wedding day would be long over. And the island was booked solid. It'd be months before he was able to get it all set up anew.

Just thinking about it exhausted him. Damn it, he wouldn't cry.

Anderson made a soft, distressed noise and stepped in close, sliding his fingers through Lynn's hair and tugging him in to rest his head against Anderson's stomach. Lynn shuddered and held on tight, soaking in Anderson's warmth, absently listening as Toni went off on somebody. He spoke Italian, but the tone was definitely universal. Laughing faintly, Lynn opened his eyes and looked at Leslie. "I bet that's sexier lower and slower."

"Oh, it definitely is," Leslie said.

"You two are ridiculous." Anderson rolled his eyes. "Come on, I'll take us to the other boat. We can secure the civilians and stay the fuck out of the way until help arrives."

Lynn nodded and pulled back, but went easily when Anderson tugged him to his feet and into another kiss.

Pulling away slowly, Anderson squeezed his arms then turned around and settled behind the wheel. Lynn sat with Leslie. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I woke up tied to a chair feeling like someone took a fucking hammer to my skull. Couple of guys were watching me, but they seemed bored. I was contemplating shifting just long enough to fuck shit up when Anderson came in like something out of a goddamn movie. I don't understand why the Bureau let you guys leave because it's obvious you were able to get shit done. Thanks, by the way." She frowned, tucked her hair behind her ears. "I'm sorry we fucked up your wedding."

"That's okay. I'm going to make Toni's mob family fucking pay for a new one," Lynn replied.

"Oh, that's already been taken care of," Toni said, holding his phone out. "They might call again, sorry. Hopefully I can find my own again eventually."

Lynn shrugged as he took it. "No big." He stood as they reached the other boat, giving Anderson another quick embrace before hopping into it. A couple of guns lay on the deck, and he retrieved them and tucked them away before settling behind the wheel and getting the boat started. When he was ready, he nodded to Anderson, who headed off, leading the way to where they'd left the others in the raft.

After that, it was just a long, tense waiting game.

*~*~*

It took almost a week to sort the whole stupid fucking mess out, and that in no way accounted for the further appearances Lynn and Anderson would have to make as the case continued on through the system. Toni had at last been taken seriously enough the Bureau was going to more actively pursue his family—but it was almost too late, as the entire incident had convinced Toni's family to keep to the successful and much less dangerous smuggling rings they already had.

Lynn didn't fucking care. All he cared about was the day in front of him. The island wedding he'd planned for so long was a complete wash, the entire damned place still shut down while the government moved at a crawl as always.

But Toni's family had, in fact, stepped in to make reparations since it had been an organization mad at them trying to horn in on the business that had been behind the entire matter.

So not an island, but a beautiful beach resort all the same, some private little strip of California where nobody would bother them. After the wedding, he and Anderson would have the place to themselves for another week, and they'd be taking their own yacht—a wedding present from an anonymous party that seemed to make Toni twitchy—to continue on with the rescheduled Italy portion of their honeymoon.

Lynn examined himself in the three-way mirror, twitching and fussing at the gown until it fell and draped perfectly. It was off white, pearlescent and gleaming, layered with lace and sequins that harkened to sea foam, the bodice giving an impression of delicate seashells. All his jewelry was pearls, diamonds, and aquamarines, including the tiara that sat perched amidst the artful curls into which his hair had been arranged.

"You look beautiful, Lynn," Leslie said as she stepped forward to help him step down from the small platform he stood on. "But I hope you don't have designs to keep that dress because Mother is probably going to steal it for the family vault."

"Oh, I'm well aware she's going to run off with it. As long as it survives to wind up in the vault, I don't care. It's safer there than anywhere else." He slipped his hand through a hidden slit in the dress to feel the Beretta strapped to his thigh. If anyone tried to fuck up their second attempt at a wedding, vengeance was going to be a swift, brutal hollow point to the head. "Come on, they're getting ready to start, and the photographers are already mad I didn't want to be dragged around all over before the wedding."

Leslie snickered. "Given what you're paying them, I'm sure they'll get over it."

"They damn well better." Like he was going to ruin the fucking surprise—they had a lot of nerve expecting that. He wanted to see Anderson's face when he saw Lynn in his wedding dress after walking down the aisle. That look would be worth all the hassle and near death they'd endured to finally reach this point, thrice over.

He followed Leslie, who looked equally stunning in a faintly pearlescent teal gown, out of the dressing room (the hotel they'd wound up with did weddings and such so often they had an entire area devoted to the preparation) and down the hall to wait for his moment.

When they passed a floor length mirror, he paused to fuss one last time, nudging the bodice a bit until he was absolutely satisfied his breasts looked perfect.

Behind him, Leslie rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to enjoy mocking you in turn when you fret twice as much next year."

"Yeah, yeah," Leslie said, smiling.

A woman came bustling up even as they heard the music change. She glared at Leslie and all but shoved her through the open double doors onto the wide patio where everyone was gathered to walk down a white stone aisle strewn with white and yellow rose petals. The ceremony itself would take place under a gold-toned pergola, the ground set with more gleaming white stone, almost every available surface strewn with white and yellow roses.

The day was perfect, cloudless and sunny, the smell of fresh roses mingling with the sea and the distant smell of the roasting meat and other foods the staff was setting out for the reception on the beach. He could hear the distant chatter of people, seagulls, the waves rushing up the shore.

It wasn't the extravagant island escape he'd spent months planning, but he didn't really have too many complaints in the end. He wasn't certain he liked professional criminals footing the bill with ill-gotten gains, but he also hadn't wanted to wait several more months while he redid everything himself.

One of the hotel staff came up and handed Lynn his bouquet, a beautiful arrangement of roses in at least half a dozen colors. "You look beautiful, like a princess," the woman said. "Your groom won't know what to do."

"He'd better know exactly what to do after all this time," Lynn replied, sending the woman into a giggle fit. Still giggling, she led him outside to the patio and down the stairs, then fussed to make sure the back of the dress flowed out just so.

The music changed again, to a tune Lynn had long ago accepted he would probably never walk to himself, even after he'd unexpectedly found the love of his life. He managed to keep his walk sedate, but there was no help for the grin on his face: it just wasn't in him to contain that.

Especially after he finally reached Anderson, whose face burst into an expression of incredulous wonder followed by delight and adoration. Definitely worth being kidnapped by the mob and almost killed.

Anderson held his hand out and Lynn took it, held fast throughout the ceremony until it was time to exchange rings.

As with all important events, getting there took forever and it was over in a moment. Lynn barely waited for the woman presiding to finish the last bit before he threw himself at Anderson and kissed him soundly while everyone cheered.

It took ages to get through all the congratulations, not that Lynn had any complaints. After that everything got more tedious as the photographers finally dragged the whole wedding party away to get dozens upon dozens of pictures. Lynn had every faith he'd appreciate their efforts later—and he had been the one to hire them—but by the time they finally finished, he was ready to scream.

He practically dragged Anderson upstairs to their honeymoon suite the very second they were released. The dress took some effort to remove, but it was worth it to see the naked want that overtook Anderson's face.

Anderson pulled him in close, hands skimming over Lynn's body like he'd know it in the dark. He lingered at the Beretta. "This is way hotter than it probably should be." He carefully removed it and set it aside on the nightstand, then returned to Lynn and cupped his ass as he leaned up to kiss him hard and hungry.

Murmuring soft noises of approval, Lynn looped his arms around Anderson's shoulders and returned the kiss full measure, rubbing against him, enjoying the feel of Andersons's cock, hot and hard behind the slacks he still wore. He groaned as deft fingers slipped beneath the lace panties he still wore, teasing along tender skin where he was already damp.

Lynn pulled away by sheer force of will and dragged Anderson onto the bed, quickly discarding what remained of his own clothes before working on Anderson's. When they were both naked, he went easily as Anderson shoved him down into the soft bedding. Lynn swore softly and moaned Anderson's name as his fingers went right back to teasing him, one becoming two, twisting and thrusting inside him, thumb working his clit with devastating expertise. Anderson bent to bite and suck at his lips. "So impatient on the wedding you took forever planning, Wriggly."

"Yeah, yeah," Lynn said. "I forgot about the part where nobody leaves us alone for five minutes, and I vastly underestimated how immediately I would need my husband to fuck me."

Anderson beamed at the words, kissed him long and slow and filthy, fingers thrusting even deeper into him, making Lynn keen and arch up toward him. "Never let it be said I'm not a willing, providing husband." Removing his fingers, he lined up his cock and thrust inside Lynn without ceremony, capturing his wrists and pinning them to the bed. Then, infuriatingly, he held still, thick cock there and impossible to ignore but not moving. Instead, Anderson kissed his face, his throat, lingered at his breasts to tease and torment. "You were right, by the way. Your breasts looked amazing in that dress."

"My breasts look amazing all the time. They're going to look great at your funeral if you don't start fucking me."

Chuckling, Anderson dropped a quick kiss on his mouth then obediently began to fuck him, pulling out and slamming back in hard, driving as deep into Lynn as he could possibly get, their chatter fading off into pants and moans and gasps. Lynn struggled feebly against Anderson's hold, mostly just to enjoy the feel of being held in place, legs wrapped tightly around Anderson as he moved in time with every thrust, until he finally broke apart, screaming Anderson's name as he came.

Anderson followed a few short thrusts later, kissing Lynn hard as he shuddered and came.

Lynn moaned as Anderson pulled out, sweat drying on his skin, and he was definitely going to feel that round for a bit. His thighs already ached, given everything they'd already done since arriving a couple of days ago. "I think that's a good start to married life."

Laughing, Anderson said, "The next round is on you. Between last night, this morning, and now, I'm worn out."

Lynn scoffed, but it would hardly be a chore to tie Anderson to the bed later and do all the work. Mmm, yes. That would do nicely. He'd have to remember where he packed the silk rope.

Rolling over to lie half on top of him, Anderson kissed his throat. "Come on, my sexy new wife, we have guests awaiting our return, and I could use some food and champagne."

Sated and re-energized, Lynn let Anderson haul him to his feet and replied, "Yes, dear husband," just to see Anderson's face light up.

It also got him a brain-melting kiss, which was always nice.

Thirty or so minutes later, wearing a pretty teal and gold dress, Anderson in white slacks and a short-sleeved teal button down, they were sitting at the table of honor enjoying food and champagne while family and friends gave their speeches.

By the time the dancing started, Lynn's head was spinning from bubbly drinks and the high of a dream come true. He moved in close as the music began, and they danced together as husband and wife for the first time, the room gone quiet around them. "Not too bad, huh, Sparkles?"

Anderson smiled softly, brushed a kiss across his mouth. "Not too bad at all, Wriggly."