Chapter One
Perry
“Are you sure it’s okay that we’re out here?” I looked across the empty field. It didn’t look like they’d started planting yet, but it was early April, and the weather had been unseasonably warm. It was expected to stay that way. Whoever owned this field would be out soon, and I didn’t think they’d appreciate Russ’s big truck parked on their ground.
“Sure enough,” Nate answered while laying a thick blanket across the tailgate. “Come on, I’ll help you up.”
Before I could answer, Nate’s hands grasped my waist and hoisted me up. My knee was better. My doctor said it was healing well, but it would take time. I couldn’t exactly do a lot of hopping on my own. Nate had taken two weeks off work. He’d stayed with me and worked from my apartment when possible. He had a few cases to wrap up. In that time, Captain Barrington tried not to give Nat any new homicide cases, but it couldn’t be helped. Murderers weren’t terribly considerate of recovering boyfriends.
“Stay there. I’ll go grab our glasses.”
I already had my sunglasses on. Those weren’t the type of glasses Nate referred to. He’d gotten us each a pair of solar eclipse glasses. Nate said they were everywhere, and that you couldn’t walk into a store without spotting them. They were also cheap. The ones he’d gotten even had the date of the solar eclipse on them.
We were lucky. The weather was perfect, with barely a cloud in the sky, and we were expected to be in the path of totality for at least four minutes. Nate insisted we drive a little way into the country for the best viewing. A lot of businesses and doctors’ offices were closed throughout Indianapolis. It was one of the major cities in the expected eclipse zone, and many thought traffic would be horrid with people coming in from out of town to witness the eclipse. From what I understood, Nat, Russ, and the kids were staying at home. Russ set up a viewing platform on their roof. Nat was a little skeptical, but the roof was decently flat, and Russ was sure he could corral the kids and keep them safe. Time would tell.
I couldn’t climb on any roofs, and Nate said he had something special planned anyway. Russ was generous offering us his truck again.
I heard the cab door close, and soon Nate rounded the side. It was easy for him to hop up beside me. Even with the surgery, I doubted I’d ever be that limber again. I was looking forward to a life with less pain. I wasn’t there yet, but the pain was different, and it lessened with each passing day. It gave me hope.
I checked my watch. “It should be starting.”
Nate handed my glasses over, and I took off my sunglasses and put on my solar eclipse ones.
“Holy shit, these things are dark.” I twisted my head around, blindly searching for the sun. Nate grabbed my head and twisted me in the right direction. “Ah, there it is. Oh my God, you can see it. It looks like someone took a bite out of the sun. Just a nibble right now.”
“That’s so cool.” Nate’s voice was filled with awe.
Before the night I miserably failed at playing hero, I’d been working toward a degree in astrophysics. I loved everything celestial and used to have a mind for numbers, equations, and thinking way outside the box. One questionable decision, a beating that almost stole my life, and years of recovery placed that aspiration firmly in the rearview mirror.
My brain didn’t hold onto information the way it used to. I couldn’t stare at a computer screen for any length of time. Bright light gave me migraines, as did loud noises. I was a janitor now. Custodian was probably the more PC title. I didn’t care and didn’t take offense to either term. I was simply happy I had a job and was still a contributing, paycheck-earning member of society. I didn’t think there would ever be enough words to thank Malcom Johnson for giving me a job at Maverick Insurance. My position came with good pay and even better benefits. I doubt surgery on my knee would have been possible without my current job.
I leaned against Nate’s shoulder. It was a warm, early April afternoon. The sun felt good on my face. My eclipse glasses were fantastic. They blocked everything out but the sun.
“Is it okay?” Nate asked. “Is the sun too bright even with the glasses?”
“It’s perfect,” I easily answered. “I am so geeking out over this.”
Nate’s chuckle rumbled through me. “Geek all you want. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Oh, you are so in for it now.” Nate had no idea what he’d just unleashed. While my brain had trouble holding onto current information, it didn’t have nearly that same issue with things I’d known prior to my attack. Chunks were missing, and I didn’t remember things as well as I liked, but I retained enough to word-vomit all over Nate.
Bless his soul, Nate listened to it all. We sat there, thighs and shoulders pressed together while we looked into the sky and watched the moon take increasingly large bites out of the sun. Time slid by, and the atmosphere became increasingly surreal. I removed my glasses, eyes squinting, and got ready to grab my sunglasses again. Only they weren’t needed.
“It’s so strange,” I said, and I wasn’t sure if those words were spoken out loud or just in my head. “It’s like evening, only it’s afternoon. It’s still light out, but…” I didn’t know how to describe it.
“And it’s cooled off a lot.” Nate leaned back and pulled a blanket from the truck bed. “Here, put this around your shoulders.”
I snuggled in, realizing how chilled I’d gotten as the warmth of the blanket sank in. The surrounding sky continued darkening, and a strange hush fell over the land. It reminded me of freshly fallen snow when the world quiets underneath pristine white.
And then, just like that, we no longer needed our eclipse glasses.
“Wow,” Nate and I said in unison. We leaned into each other, staring up at the black sphere where the sun should be.
“You still okay?” Nate asked while I continued craning my neck, not wanting to miss a moment.
“Perfect,” I answered easily, knowing that word had never seemed more accurate.
I continued staring at the covered sun for at least another two minutes before the hush surrounding me pulled my vision away. The horizon was lit as if it were twilight, only three-hundred-and-sixty-degrees around, not just in the west. Birdsong quieted and wonderous peace settled in.
“It’s beautiful.” Nate’s thoughts mimicked my own. “I never thought about traveling to see an eclipse before. I doubt I ever would. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this is better than I thought it would be. For once, something lived up to the hype.”
I didn’t disagree and asked, “How much more time do we have?”
“A little less than a minute,” Nate answered. “Then it will be back on with the eclipse glasses so we can see the ring feature.”
I got my glasses ready. One second, I could painlessly look up at the sun’s position, and the next, I was blinded by a shimmering ring of light. I quickly readjusted my glasses and stared up at the “diamond ring” effect.
Nate shifted beside me and the truck rose slightly when he slid off the tailgate. I was still staring at the reemerging sun when Nate took my hands and said, “Do me a favor and take off the glasses so you can look at me.”
I didn’t hesitate, and when I removed them, the vision before me was impossibly better than the eclipse. My breath caught, and my free hand grasped the fabric covering my chest.
“N-Nate,” I whispered, too afraid to speak and interrupt what was about to unfold. “What are you…” Nate knelt on the dirty field, down on one knee.
With a crooked grin, he asked, “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“I…”
Still holding my hand, Nate’s head tilted so he could look me in the eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m nervous enough as is. Is it such a surprise?”
I shook my head, my hair flopping around my face. Words escaped me. That was okay, because Nate had come prepared with a suitcase full of them.
“Perry Atherton, I hope it’s no secret how much I love you. I can’t imagine a life without you. Mere contemplation of that makes me physically ill. If you’ll do me the honor, I want to marry you. I want to live together, grow old together, get angry and make up together, feed your predatory cats together—”
I choked on my laughter. “I think Starbuck and Apollo would murder me if you left.”
Nate’s grin widened. “I’m sneaky that way. I knew I needed to get into their good graces if I was ever going to have a shot with you.”
“Mission accomplished.”
“Whew, one obstacle managed.” Nate’s grin vanished, and his tone turned serious. “You’d make me the happiest man alive if you agreed to marry me. Please say yes.” Nate reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, crushed velvet box. Opening it revealed a beautiful white gold band, a strip of opal running along its middle.
Hands shaking, I touched the ring. It was a delicate-looking thing.
“Perry?” A note of anxiety filled Nate’s voice, and I realized I hadn’t verbally answered him yet. My brain was screaming, Yes, yes, yes! on repeat, but those words hadn’t slipped past my lips yet. “You’re killing me here.”
I barked out a laugh before pushing off the tailgate. As expected, Nate caught me. I never feared he wouldn’t.
“Yes!” I screamed. “Of course, it’s yes.”
Nate stood, his arms wrapped around me as I hugged him back. He swung me around, turning circles in that open field with an emerging sun as a witness. Ending our spin, Nate settled my feet back on the ground before his lips slammed into mine. I knew the feel of his lips, the taste of his skin, the warmth of his breath. I knew everything about Nathaniel Harmon and still he managed to surprise me.
Thigh pressing against my hardening cock, Nate pushed against my desire, pulling a moan from my throat. “Don’t start something you can’t finish,” I scolded.
“Who says I don’t plan on making good?”
I leaned my forehead on his chest, breathing hard and pulling Nate’s scent deep into my soul. “We’re a little too exposed out here.” To prove my point, I twisted my head and stared at the houses lining the opposite side of the road. While we were in a field and far enough away those homeowners would most likely need binoculars, the area was far from private. Add on the fact that people were still milling around outside, watching the waning eclipse, and the possibility we’d be seen increased tenfold.
“They’re too busy watching the sky.” Nate nibbled at my neck, making me giggle like a teenager.
Doing my best news reporter voice, I said, “This just in. Homicide detective Nathaniel Harmon has just been arrested on the charge of public indecency.”
“I just got engaged. I think the judge will understand and make an exception.”
“Maybe the judge, but what about Captain Barrington?”
Nate hung his head on a groan that was anything but sexy. “Mood killer, Perry.”
Cupping his chin, I kissed my way to Nate’s lips. “I love you, and I’d like nothing better than to bend over the tailgate and allow you to have your wicked way with me. But I also love you enough to protect your career.”
With a heavy sigh, Nate wrapped his arms around me again and squeezed. I was safe within those arms. I was loved. God willing, I’d never know another day without the promise of those arms holding me tight.
“I have no idea what I did in this life or a past one to deserve you, Perry Atherton.”
“Ditto,” I whispered while staring at the ring on my finger. It didn’t fit perfectly, but that could be rectified. The band was elegantly simple.
Warmth settled deep inside, the sun’s returning rays heating the air and Nate’s proposal fueling my heart. Karma had done her best to kick the shit out of me. Maybe she felt bad and was trying to make up for her bitchy ways. Then again, karma was a fickle lady. God only knew where her whims would carry me next. As long as I had Nate Harmon beside me, I’d be all right. I’d be more than all right.