Stitch by Jaime Lewis (ebook reader online .txt) 📗

Mia snorted a laugh. “Stitch, you don’t give a rat’s ass about him.”

He gave her a boyish smile. “True.”

He took her hand. “All your paperwork is taken care of. You ready to get out of here?”

“Yeah, can we make a quick detour? I’m dying to see those babies.”

Stitch’s smile grew, and he kissed her lips. “They are so cute. Come on, a quick stop; then I want to get you home.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Mia locked the doors to the clinic and smiled as she admired the new signage on the door—Virginia Beach Animal Hospital and Rescue Center – Mia Chambers, DVM. With Stitch’s mom's help, Mia was the new owner of the town’s veterinarian clinic and rescue shelter.

A lot had happened in the last three weeks since the incident at the cabin. After Mia was released from the hospital. She had flown back to New York to meet with Federal Investigators regarding Dr. Walters. During those discussions, Mia found out that Dr. Walters held several properties around the country to import and export puppies illegally. In the end, the FBI had arrested a little over forty people in connection with the operation, and they were working with international law enforcement to crack down on the growing business of puppy smuggling.  She had made arrangements with the FBI to have all of the puppies that were still in Dr. Walters’ possession to be shipped to Virginia Beach and housed at her rescue center until they could be adopted.

During the meeting with the investigators, she had asked about her friend Willow. While Dr. Walters had claimed he had killed her, there was no solid evidence to back up the claim, so the police considered her a missing person, though Mia had her doubts knowing now what type of person Dr. Walters was.

Stitch had been by her side the entire time. Her brother and a couple of the others from the team traveled to New York to help pack up her apartment and move her “home.”

The biggest surprise had come when she and Stitch arrived in Virginia Beach. Instead of going to Stitch’s apartment, Mia was puzzled when Stitch pulled the moving truck up in front of a house. It had been dark by the time they arrived, and she had been asleep the last leg of the trip, but once her eyes had time to focus, she realized it was the same house that she had seen when she and Stitch had come to town. It was a quaint home just down the road from Stitch’s parents’ house. She had seen a ‘for sale’ sign in the front yard and looked it up on the internet and had fallen in love with it just from the pictures alone. With the help of his mom and dad, Stitch had contacted the realtor and started the process of purchasing it. With their connections, they had pushed the sale through very quickly to surprise her.

Not only did he surprise her with a house, but he had it newly furnished. Stitch owed Skittles and Diego for helping pull off that part, along with Alex and Autumn, who had helped pick out the furnishings since they knew Mia’s style.

She pulled her coat a little tighter around her as she walked to her car. It was the day before Christmas Eve. Though she had been over the moon with all of the positive changes in her life, she’d admit that she had felt a little depressed because Stitch wasn’t sure if he’d be home for Christmas, but she understood. He and the team had gotten called up a few days after they returned from New York. And, of course, with his assignments, there was no timeline on when they would return.

On a positive front, she had been cleared by her doctor to resume all strenuous activities. She had started running again, and even started joining Alex for kickboxing, though she still had a cast on her arm. But she was due to have that removed in three weeks.

As she pulled into their driveway, she sighed, looking at the dark house. She hadn’t even put up Christmas decorations. Hell, she still had boxes all over the house to go through and unpack. With the clinic closed for the next couple of days, she’d have a lot of time to spend working on getting the house organized. It would be a nice surprise for Stitch for when he got home.

She unlocked the door, and when she stepped into the foyer, a white light flicked on, and she dropped her bags as she covered her mouth. Tears began to flood her eyes as Stitch stood next to a fully decorated Christmas tree.

She was speechless but began to walk toward him.

He smiled and met her halfway.

“I thought it would be nice to surprise you.”

“You did,” she said, looking between him and the tree.

She couldn’t stop crying. She was still emotional over everything that happened, so the slightest little thing could send her into a fit of ugly tears. But these were tears of happiness.

“I’m sorry I don’t have the house cleaned. I’ve just been so busy with trying to get the clinic running in the direction I want it to go.”

“Mia…”

She looked up at him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

“Stop apologizing.” He leaned down and covered her mouth. He kissed her deeply and with so much passion that she relaxed and gave over all control to him.

As he released her lips, he smiled. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

She smiled then looked at the tree. “The tree looks beautiful.” She touched some of the ornaments. They were all ornaments that they both had collected over the years.

“I saved the angel for you to put on the tree.”

He picked up a shoebox and brought it over to her.

“Really?”

“Your mom mentioned how it’s always been your thing.”

She was excited because she and Stitch had picked out the Angel together.  She wanted an angel that held meaning