Page 87 of Inheriting Miss Fortune

“Shall we finish this conversation over dinner? It’ll give me an excuse to try the new steak place at Bishop Arts that Tomas recommended. Besides, I wanted to ask you about an idea I have for a charitable trust.”

I blinked up at Miles, who was sitting across the small conference room table, having just signed a stack of documents while I was distracted.

“Oh, uh… yeah. Sure. I guess it’s getting to be that time, isn’t it?” I glanced out at the warm, hazy glow of early summer evening. It wasn’t the same crystal clear sky that Wyoming boasted with its cool evening breezes. Dallas’s summer nightswere like a steam room cranked up to its hottest setting, the air still and stifling. A nice air-conditioned restaurant with a cold cocktail sounded just about right, especially if it would help distract me long enough for Dev to get through Lellie’s bedtime and his final check on Trigger and the new foals.

After that, I knew I would finally be able to hear his voice instead of swapping quick texts here and there as time permitted during our busy workdays.

I gathered up my laptop and the stack of signed documents before securing them in my desk. As I led Miles toward the reception area, I saw Orris stepping out of his office. Thankfully, he was too far away to engage with me, but he was close enough to recognize Miles and give me an approving nod.

I wanted to roll my eyes. The more I’d spoken to Miles, the more I’d realized there was no chance Miles would have continued to use the same attorney as his father, especially not if that attorney was Orris Dunlevy. Miles had turned thirty and inherited all the money from his family trust, which meant he could finally separate financially, and he’d wasted no time in doing so.

Orris hadn’t gifted me a client; he’d done his best to pair Miles with someone in the firm who was young enough to have a shot at keeping the business in-house. Miles had very progressive ideas that were not at all in line with his father’s or Orris’s traditional views. Had Orris paired him with anyone else at the firm—with the exception of Katie, if she’d still been there—we would have probably lost his business.

As we made our way down to the parking garage, Miles offered to drive me to the restaurant and bring me back for my car. “I’ll just leave it,” I explained, still distracted by thoughts of the political situation at work. “I live close enough to walk to work tomorrow.”

He drove a Porsche Taycan. Just when I was prepared to compliment his choice of driving an electric vehicle, he said, “If I’d known you were going to ride with me, I would have brought my sports car.”

“Oh. This is plenty impressive for me,” I said with a laugh, appreciating the sleek interior of the expensive car.

“No, I meant because you’d be sitting closer,” he added with a wink.

Oh.Ohh.

Dev had been right.

The thought made my chest ache with the need to call him and tell him so. To hear him tease and reassure me.

I let out the expected huff of laughter out of habit, but I realized that this was the first time in a long time I had absolutely zero interest in the beautiful single man flirting with me. None.

Meanwhile, the simplest thought of Dev’s wavy, dark hair and the sun-streaked laugh lines next to his eyes that reassured me he still smiled sometimes, even though he’d been carrying the guilt of his brother’s death for so long, made my heart race and my breath hitch.

I was sogonefor the man.

When we arrived at the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised to run into our mutual friend. Tomas was with his sister, waiting for a table. After greeting them and exchanging pleasantries, I could tell Susanna wanted to ask about Dev and Lellie, but she wasn’t sure if it was an appropriate time to ask.

“I’m going to Majestic this weekend for a concert,” I said. “Any news yet on the case…results?”

She shook her head. “I expected to see them already. Should be anytime now. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.” She smiled and squeezed my arm. “Have a wonderful time, and tell Dev and Lellie I said hi.”

After promising to connect with Tomas for lunch or an early morning run in the park soon, we separated and were seated in different areas of the restaurant.

Miles shot me a sheepish smile. “I’ll admit I’m glad you didn’t invite them to join us. I like Tomas; he’s a great guy. But I was looking forward to having you to myself.”

His flirtation made me uncomfortable, but it wasn’t blatant enough yet for me to confront him about it directly. “I know you wanted to discuss your idea for a charitable trust, and I love a professional challenge.”

He nodded and agreed, and for a while, I thought that was it—that he’d received my message without my having to speak more frankly about it.

We ordered dinner with a bottle of wine and began discussing Miles’s charity goals. He was generous and intelligent and had clearly been thinking about his charitable plans for a long time.

“It was one of the reasons I was anxious to get my hands on my share of the trust,” he confessed. “I’d like to get these initiatives started, but I wasn’t sure what kind of legal structure would allow us to also fund some political lobbying. If we’re going to try and make it easier for LGBTQ+ folks to adopt from the foster system, we’ll need to change hearts and minds in Austin.”

As he continued to expand on his plans, I thought this would be a charity endeavor Dev would want to support. And with big money behind it from Miles Dumas, Dev and his wealthy friends’ addition could really make an impact.

Would Dev ever consider moving back here if there was something like this to work on? Something that sparked fire in his chest and helped him forget the things he didn’t love about living in Texas?

The answer was obviously no. Not only were his parents here, but Dev would never move Lellie back into the Scotts’ orbit again. It would make it too easy for Mrs. Scott to pull something like she had at the clinic.

Miles apologized with a smile. “Sorry to keep going on and on. I was hoping to get to know you as well. Tomas told me you run and you’re a killer poker player. That’s about all I know besides your excellent reputation at the firm.”

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