The Messenger (Professionals Book 3)

by Jessica Gadziala

  The man got me.

  That was such a new sensation as well. Someone getting you, understanding your concerns without you having to spell them out all the time, someone who cared enough to get to know you to root level.

  It was a little one-sided still.

  I had a lot to learn about Kai.

  Luckily, I decided as I pulled the stickers off the little plastic drawer organizers, I had nothing but time to figure out his story.

  "You had sex," Miller declared about five hours later.

  My head jerked up, eyes going wide, frantically looking around to make sure we were alone.

  "What?"

  "Oh, don't give me that innocent look. You finally got the balls to jump him, didn't you?" She moved closer, smile wicked. "Was it amazing? All those years of pent-up frustration, it had to be amazing. I mean... unless he didn't last. Which would be a huge bummer. But I get the feeling that Kai would be the sort who would compensate otherwise if he blew too fast and... no," she said, nodding. "Homeboy wanted this too much. No way did he shoot it off early. It was amazing, right?"

  "It's my turn to talk now?" I asked, lips twitching. "You seemed to be carrying that conversation just fine all by yourself."

  "Oh, it was good," she concluded, pulling herself up on my desk. "You are in too good a mood for unsatisfying dick. I feel like a proud mama when her little girl got her first big and stiff one."

  "I'm pretty sure moms don't feel pride in that situation, Miller," I told her, snorting. Mine had handled the situation with a sort of resigned understanding that I couldn't stay little forever.

  "Oh, what do I know? I never had a mother. Anyway, fuck yes. This is great news. Are you doing it like rabbits? Ew, is this desk tainted?" she asked, lifting her butt a little and eyeing the top of said desk like it might give her a disease of some sort.

  "There are cameras in here, Miller," I reminded her.

  "I know. You kinky bitch."

  "We didn't do it out here," I clarified.

  "Ooh, but you did do it here. Kai's office, right? Desk? Chair? Wall? Shut up," she said, slapping my arm with the back of her hand when I must have looked a little guilty. "All three?"

  "Well, not the desk."

  "No worries. There is time for that. He wasn't sappy, right?" she asked, wrinkling her nose at the very idea. "Like... he didn't get cheesy and cry..."

  "No, he didn't cry," I told her, leaving off the part about how I had gotten a bit emotional.

  "What'd he do this morning? Bring you breakfast in bed? He seems like a breakfast in bed sort of guy. I need to find me one of those."

  "Well, stop dating drug dealers then," I suggested with a smile.

  "But where's the fun in that? Come on. Did he?"

  "He made me coffee while I organized his junk drawer."

  "Oh... hot?" she said, brows drawing together. "I mean... whatever turns your gears, you freak."

  "It's not like that," I said as she jumped off my desk. "It's..."

  "Remind me never to get you office supplies. It might turn you on too much. And, no offense, Jules, but you're not my type." She moved down into the hall, popping back out with a big smile. "Congrats on the fucking though. I am going to go tease your man now."

  And, yeah, that was how the office learned that Kai and I were together.

  And how everyone suddenly had jokes about office supplies and organization tools.

  Kai - 2 weeks

  I couldn't get used to it.

  I probably should have already.

  Gotten used to seeing her in my place, around my things, with her hair down, with her bare feet.

  But I hadn't.

  Every time I walked into a room and found her there was like a jolt to my system that brought with it this almost overwhelming warmth, this sensation of rightness.

  Even if she was down on her knees meticulously scrubbing my oven like a lunatic. At least there actually was some grease in there for her to clean up since I did cook whenever I was home to do so.

  "I have a housekeeper."

  "I don't mind," she declared, voice muffled a bit since her head was inside the oven.

  Moving closer toward her, I found a row of cleaning products lined up. Yes, a line of them.

  "This an all day project?" I asked, enjoying the view of her jean-clad ass sticking out at me, the way her tank top had ridden up a bit, showing off a sliver of her back.

  "Just an hour or so," she declared like that was a totally acceptable amount of time to devote to one appliance.

  "Want company?" I asked, moving to sit down on the floor near her, not caring if it made me seem clingy to want to be close to her as much as possible.

  "Sure," she said, turning her head over her shoulder to smile at me a bit. "Tell me about your childhood," she suggested. At my blank look, she shrugged. "You know everything about me. I want to know more about you."

  "Not too much to tell. Lived with my parents as a kid. Technically, but not really. They worked in a factory. If I saw them two or three hours a week, that was a lot. And that time was usually full of them scolding me about doing better in school, so I could get a better life. I did get to spend some weekends with my grandfather who taught me martial arts. But other than that, I kinda raised myself most of the time."

  "You were always alone?" she asked, climbing out of the oven, sitting back on her heels, sad eyes meeting mine.

  "Don't feel sorry for me, honey. I turned out just fine."

  She hesitated at that, knowing it was true. I might not have had bedtime stories and hugs and bottomless love, but I managed to get through the system relatively well-adjusted. "Well... you can share mine now," she declared, giving me a somewhat wobbly, insecure smile, like she was worried about rejection.

  As if there was any going back for me.

  I was so far gone I didn't even consider a future without her.

  I'd prove that to her eventually.

  Given time.

  She was still learning how to trust again.

  We'd get there.

  "I would love to be part of your family, Jules."

  Jules - 2 months

  "Stop fidgeting," I told him, swatting his hand away from the button he had been messing with at his wrist.

  He was nervous.

  It was so bizarre, for him at least, that it was hard to wrap my head around it.

  I understood, of course, this was always supposed to be a somewhat nerve-racking experience.

  Meeting the family.

  But he had met my family!

  He knew my mom and sister and father.

  He had even met my grandmother before she passed on.

  And, what's more, my family liked him.

  But he was nervous. He had spent longer in front of the mirror than I had, screwing around with his hair that was slowly growing back in, but not quickly enough for my liking. I missed his long hair. I had fantasized so often about running my fingers through it. I wanted to be able to experience that finally.

  "I promise they will love the surprise."

  Maybe that was unfair of me.

  I was sort of... springing him on them.

  I hadn't even told Gemma about us being a thing.

  I had wanted to have just a little time with just us, before I got them all involved, had to handle all their questions.

  But it was time.

  Mom was getting suspicious.

  I think she thought I was developing a drinking problem or something because whenever she asked where I was, I fibbed and said I was out on the town with Miller. And since she knew Miller liked to have a good time that included Jägerbombs and tequila shots, she had sort of come to her own conclusions.

  Hell, even if she hated Kai, she would be relieved I was just with him instead.

  We walked up the driveway that my mother had lined with bales of hay because she was one of those moms who was heavy into decorating for each holiday or season. Scarecrows flanked either side of the front steps. Fake pumpkins l
ined the path leading to it. And she was only halfway into her decorating.

  "I love this house," I declared as we made our way up to the colonial - white with black shutters, as it had always been. There was a tire swing in an old oak in the front yard even though Gemma and I hadn't used it in almost a decade.

  "It's the kind of house you want," he informed me. Not guessed or questioned. Informed. "It's all over your Pinterest vision board," he told me. "Colonials and golden retrievers."

  "And natural home cleaners. Even though Finn would flay me if he heard that."

  As we talked, his body seemed to relax.

  That was until I opened the door without knocking because, well, this wasn't my house anymore, but it would always be home, and dragged him down the hall toward the kitchen where the voices were coming from. Voices that stopped abruptly at the sight of us standing there. Holding hands. Leaning into each other.

  Gemma's mouth fell open. Comically open. Eyes huge.

  My father's brows rose.

  It was only my mother who spoke, shocking the both of us.

  "Well freaking finally," she declared, waving the wooden spoon around in the air. "I was sure I would have to hire a damn skywriter to inform you two that you were both into each other, and needed to get your heads out of your rears and act on it."

  "Honey, I don't think a skywriter could do all that," my father informed her, always a bit too logical to understand sarcasm.

  "The sky is endless, Mitch. He could fit it," she told him, eyes smiling as much as her lips were. "Kai, I am so happy to finally have you in the family," she told him, moving across the room to throw her arms around him.

  I moved back a step, looking at them, finding a second later that I was so glad I did. Or I might have missed it. The longing in Kai's eyes. The joy at their acceptance.

  "Now," Mom said, pulling away to put her hands on his shoulders. "Let's talk about grandbabies!"

  "Mom!" I hissed.

  "We're not talking to you," she informed me as she led Kai away.

  Gemma took the opportunity to bounce over to me, hands grabbing mine, squeezing hard.

  "He's the one, Julie-Bean," she told me with some authority. Like she had known it all along. Maybe she had.

  I felt my lips curl up, looking over at Kai who seemed to sense it, casting a smile over his shoulder at me.

  "Yeah, he is."

  Kai - 1 year

  Now this, this was what she had always dreamed her wedding would look like.

  Indoors.

  In the winter.

  Snow falling lazily, big, fat flakes outside the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the reception hall she had mooned over. The tables were draped in champagne finery. The chairs all matched. And there wasn't a damn thing in sight that could be called 'rustic.'

  Except for maybe Ranger.

  You could dress the man up, but you couldn't make him look like he fit in with the city folk. Even as Miller tried to drag him out of his shell a little. After the ceremony, she was all but guaranteed to try to ply him with alcohol until he loosened up a bit. It wouldn't work, of course, but she would try her damnedest.

  We were T-minus twenty minutes until show time, until the woman I knew was supposed to marry me the moment we met finally agreed to it.

  'Finally' sounded dramatic seeing as we had only been dating a year, had only been together six months when I'd gotten on a knee and asked her.

  But it felt like a long time coming.

  It felt like I had waited a whole lifetime.

  I wasn't nervous.

  There was nothing to be nervous about.

  This was right.

  In every way possible.

  "You ready?" Miller asked, giving me a smile as she approached in a three-piece suit.

  See, we didn't want a big bridal party.

  Gemma would be maid-of-honor.

  And I was debating my choices for best man, Miller had barged in, informing me that since she was the only one in the office with the balls to push us together finally, she deserved the honor.

  So, yeah, Miller was my best man.

  "Been ready," I agreed, taking her arm, walking down the hall to the ceremony room.

  It was nothing short of a fairytale, everything white and gold and gleaming magically.

  Jules would have normally wanted to be married in a church, but since we chose one of the snowiest months of the year to get married, we decided a one-stop location would be our best bet. There was a hotel upstairs too with rooms for our guests should the weather not hold out, or the open bar prove too tempting.

  From their location in the front row, Jules' family all beamed at me. There hadn't been any kind of adjustment period with them. They had welcomed me with open arms, pulling me into their family unit like I had always belonged there. It meant more to me than I could say. And now we were all becoming family in an official way.

  Across from them were what was, essentially, my family.

  Gunner, Lincoln, Smith, Finn, Ranger, and the man who brought us all together in the first place - Quin.

  There were two more people to the team than there had been this time the previous year, and one more woman on the arm of one of the men.

  But those were stories for another day.

  This was the story for today.

  The music turned on, bringing Gemma down the aisle in a dress Jules had clearly let her choose for herself since it wasn't Jules' style, but it was completely Gemma's - a gold and white skater dress with a pair of golden ballet flats on her feet. Her hair was down. Wildflowers were in her hands.

  She beamed at me as she took her place.

  I beamed right back.

  But only for a second.

  Because there was no way I would miss what came next.

  Jules stepping into the doorway on the arm of her father.

  In my chest, my heart felt like it would break the confines of my rib cage it was so full.

  They paused there for a second, Jules giving me a slow, sure smile, the lights catching on her red hair that she had left down to flow around her shoulders, like she knew I liked.

  This dress was different than the previous one. The prep dress, if you will. Sleeveless, tight around the chest and down the center and thighs, only flaring out around her knees in layers of light fabric.

  Beautiful.

  More beautiful than I had ever seen her before.

  They moved toward me in what felt like slow motion.

  I barely remembered to shake my father-in-law's hand and thank him in my rush to get Jules' hands in mine.

  One ring already gleamed on her finger.

  Real.

  Pear-shaped.

  In just a moment, there would be another one there.

  Mine.

  She was finally, finally mine.

  "Alright you two," Miller declared, walking up after most of the others at the reception had already filed out to find rooms or head home. She'd loosened her tie. Her suit jacket was open. And her eyes were heavy with exhaustion and liquor. "We wanted to give you your wedding present before we head out."

  "You all chipped in?" I asked, brows drawing low. What could they have gotten us that they all needed to chip in on?

  "Yep," Lincoln agreed as Quin moved forward to hand Jules a small white box wrapped in a golden bow.

  "Open it," Gunner demanded when Jules didn't immediately go to do so, it not being proper etiquette to open wedding gifts in front of guests.

  But with permission, her fingers tore at the bow, ripped open the top box, eager for our first gift as a married couple.

  Inside was a small white notecard.

  With an address.

  Under that, a key.

  "Go build a life there," Quin told us, kissing Jules' cheek, clamping a hand on my shoulder, then leading Aven out with him.

  We both sat there in stunned silence as the rest of them congratulated us, told us to have a fun honeymoon, demanded we bring back souvenirs.

 
; "They bought us a house," Jules whispered, voice uncomprehending.

  "Did you check the address?" Jules' mother's voice asked, making us both look up to see her and her husband standing there, eyes dancing.

  Both our eyes moved down at the same time, finally taking it in.

  The house across from theirs.

  A colonial.

  With black shutters.

  And a big yard.

  "This house wasn't for sale," Jules insisted, shaking her head, not believing it.

  "Well," her mom said, smiling warmly. "Edgar and Louise are up there. It's a big house to try to maintain. When your friends told me about their plan, I asked if they would be interested in an offer. They were. It's all yours. You can move in when you get back from your honeymoon."

  "I'll hang a tire swing up while you two are away," her father added, giving us a smile as he led his wife away.

  Jules turned to me, eyes glistening, not quite overflowing, but getting there.

  I guess I had one little surprise left that might push them over the edge.

  See, I let Jules handle the wedding plans, knowing she was dying to get her hands on it, having absolutely no preferences when it came to it. But I demanded she let me handle the honeymoon. With no input at all for her.

  I reached into my suit pocket, pulling out the plane tickets.

  "You ready?" I asked, holding them out to her.

  She took them with shaking hands, turning them to read.

  And then the tears fell over.

  "Ireland? You're taking me to Ireland?"

  "I'll show you where I got you that snow globe. Maybe we will pick up another one."