Perfect Fit: Book 4 of the Fated Hearts Series (22 page)

I returned my attention back to the box, because there were still more items inside. I pulled out a box of assorted Belgium chocolates, a small plastic ball and chain, and a red plastic heart that pulled apart like the Easter eggs you put in baskets. Inside were little slivers of paper that Miller had written mushy lines from movies on.

I didn’t think anyone could top my tacky ass poem, but Miller definitely took the prize with his. From there on we tried to one-up each other at least once a week, but privately instead of involving the workplace. I bet Miller would be surprised if he knew I kept every one of those puzzle pieces and the plastic heart with the movie lines inside my desk. They were meant to be funny and cute, but it was the first romantic gift I had ever received from a man and it meant the world to me.

The receptionist called me and let me know I had someone there to see me, but they didn’t have an appointment. That was something that never happened and I figured it was Miller up to something so I got the surprise of my life when I entered the lobby and saw Grayson Wright.

“Is something wrong with Chase?” I asked as I led him back to my office.

“Nothing is wrong,” he assured me quickly with a warm smile.
Grayson was smiling at me?
“I know I’m the last person you thought to see at your office, but it turns out that Chase and I will need your legal advice.” I was sure my surprise showed on my face. “We haven’t even told our families about this yet.” His excitement was palpable as joy radiated out of him. “Chase and I recently met with a young lady and her parents about adopting her unborn child after Pastor Simms recommended us to them as adoptive parents. She chose us, JJ. Our daughter will be born in January.”

“Gray, that fantastic news. She’s going to be the luckiest little girl in the world and I sincerely mean that.” I was shocked that I was hearing this news from Gray and not Chase.

“I told Chase that I needed to be the one who asked for your help after the animosity I created between us. I didn’t always treat you very kindly and I’m sorry for the way I’ve behaved.”

“Gray,” I blew out a relieved breath, “I didn’t make it very easy on you most of the time. To be honest, not many guys would have accepted the situation like you did. I appreciate you not making Chase choose between us, because I would’ve lost my only true friend.”

“He wasn’t going to give you up, buddy. Believe me, I tried.” Gray offered a wry smile and for once I found myself completely comfortable in his presence. “Anyway, we would like to hire you as our legal counsel to make sure this adoption goes through without a hitch. It’s a bit overwhelming at the moment. Chase and I would love to focus solely on getting our new house ready for a baby and not have to worry about the legal aspect. In order to do that, we need someone who will have our back. That would be you, J.”

“I’ll gladly take your case, but I’m not taking your money.” Gray opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. “It’s not up for negotiation. Take the money you would’ve paid me and put it towards creating the coolest nursery on the planet.” There was no give in my voice and Gray wisely knew to pick his battles, because this was not one that he would win.

“I appreciate that very much. We’ll be making the announcement to our friends on Sunday when we have you all over for dinner. You and Miller are coming, right?”

“Absolutely.” For the first time in nearly a decade, I was looking forward to the holidays. In the past, the memories of everyone I lost and the decisions I made out of grief afterward made them unbearable, but things were completely different now with Miller. He brought so much into my life that I’d never be able to properly express my feelings for him. Just telling him that I that I loved him wasn’t enough. I would miss by brother and mother for the rest of my life, but Miller gave me a reason to smile and look for happiness instead of clinging to the sadness.

“You know,” Gray began, “I don’t want to ruin this good thing we have working for us,” he gestured his hand between the two of us, “by making comments about your
non-relationship
with Miller. I just want to say that I’ve never seen Miller so happy. I, um, scoffed at the ‘no labels’ thing you guys have going on, but you know what? It works great for you guys and it no one’s business but your own.”

“Thank you, Gray.”

“You’re welcome. Enjoy Thanksgiving with the Brexlers. They’re a fun bunch of people.”

“That they are.” Miller had included me in every family function over the last several months and I had fallen in love with his family. It was no surprise to me that Miller turned out the way he did after growing up in that household. They were boisterous, fun loving, and very accepting of my intrusion into their lives.

“I need to head back to the office to work on some last minute details before I take the next few days off for the holiday.” Gray rose to his feet and offered me his hand. “It’s okay with me if you share this news with Miller, but tell him to keep his mouth shut. I don’t want my parents learning this from his parents.”

“Deal.” I shook his hand and told him I’d see him later.

I had details of my own to wrap up because it was my last work day before the long holiday weekend. I ended up working later than I wanted and it was 7:00 p.m. before I knew it. I sent a text to Miller asking if he had already eaten and offered to pick something up if not, but he never responded. I called him and left a few messages, but he didn’t respond to either text or phone messages.

I was too worried to stop and get anything to eat. Instead, I drove straight to his house. All of the lights were off and he wasn’t home. I drove to my house in a haze of worry, wondering what the hell I should do next if he wasn’t there. Call his parents to see if they heard from him? That sounded over the top, but I found myself becoming frantic with worry. Then I saw his car in my driveway and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Miller.” I called his name as I walked through my front door. “Bones, where are you?” I found him and Indy sound asleep on the couch. I knelt beside the couch and touched his face. “Bones.” My touch startled him and he jerked up to a sitting position. “Are you okay?” His face looked pale and his skin felt clammy when I touched his face.

“Yeah, I guess I just was more tired than I thought. I can’t remember the last time I slept this hard.” His shook his head to clear up the sleep fog out of his brain and then his face scrunched up in irritation. “I had an unexpected visitor at the university this afternoon.” I could tell by the sour expression on his face that it wasn’t a happy visit like the one I had with Gray. “Your buddy, Bax, stopped by to see me.”

“What? Why?” I had a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. “He’s not my buddy.”

“Apparently, he is the benefactor behind an archeological dig that will occur on a potential old Civil War battlefield. They believe there could be a cache of old confederate money that was captured and hidden along with munitions and various other pieces of history. A Maryland farmer discovered old uniform pins for both the union and confederate armies while tilling his ground. He also found some spent shell casings and a little metal tag that one of our history professors believes was used to seal a bag of confederate money.”

“How does any of this involve you?”

“The farmer took the items to a museum and the curator reached out to our history department because the site of discovery was not on a known battlefield. The history department kind of chalked it up to a minor skirmish that might have occurred between battlefields. The farmer didn’t believe it so he bought a metal detector and did a little digging on his own. It was obvious from all the hits that he got that his land was probably more significant than a small skirmish site. So now, the history and archeology departments will work together to dig and preserve what we find.”

“Ahhh, Bax wants you to become involved in the dig. Is that it?”

“Yep. I guess they’ve gone through several months of government red tape, although this is the first that I’ve been told about it. Our buddy, Baxter, used his influence to finally move things along. The dig will start the Saturday after Thanksgiving. They want to get started before the weather gets too cold and the ground freezes. I would normally be so excited over this, but I’m suspicious about his involvement. I’m the youngest member of the archeology department, yet, I was chosen to oversee the dig site? He’s either figured out that we’re dating and wants to cause problems for us or he now thinks that I could be the other half of the most powerful gay couple in the country. Either way, I’m not happy.”

“But, you don’t have a choice do you?” I could hear the tension and dread in his voice. I told myself that Baxter wouldn’t dirty himself by hanging out at a dig sight, but I was starting to believe I didn’t really know anything about the man he had become. There was hardly anything about him that resembled the good guy that I remembered, but then again, power corrupted people.

“No, I don’t.” Miller agreed.

“I trust you, Bones.” I leaned forward and kissed his mouth. “You could be involved in finding an unknown historical site and that is just too exciting to pass up on because of Baxter. Besides, what’s the likelihood that his pampered ass will even show up?”

“Probably not likely,” Miller agreed, looking hopeful. “I could use some more volunteers. Do you know of anyone who might like to spend their day with their boyfriend digging for centuries old war artifacts while freezing his nuts off? I bet a guy like that would be rewarded mightily that evening.”

“Yeah?” Miller nodded his head enthusiastically in answer to my question. “I’m in, Bones.” I was rewarded with a toe-curling kiss that held a promise of much more to come later.

“I have some exciting news to share with you too. Gray stopped by and asked me to represent him and Chase in adopting a infant girl.”

“Whaaaaaaat? When? I can’t believe he didn’t call me.” Miller’s excitement for our friends was so cute. He looked a lot like Indy did when I snuck him table scraps. I told him what I knew so far and passed along Gray’s parting words about keeping his mouth shut. Miller pretended to lock his lips and throw away the key.

“You better hope you can find that key, Bones. I have plans for that mouth later and it involves more than eating food.” I playfully tackled him to the couch as his laughter echoed around me. I forgot about my hunger, my irritation over Baxter cropping back up in our lives, and every other thought in my mind except pleasing Miller.

THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
started off great with a fun day spent with Jag and my family. Jag fit in with my family so well that it seemed like he’d been a part of our lives forever. As much as I loved including him, there was a small part of me that was afraid someone would open up their mouths and ask us when we were getting married. I worried that once it happened it would be the beginning of the end of us. I didn’t think my heart could handle hearing Jag say that we’d never get married, because somewhere along the way my aversion to happily-ever-after and one-ass-forever disappeared. I wanted to be tied to him for the rest of my days. I knew that he loved me and wanted to be with me too, but I wanted something permanent.