Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“Someone adopted Sherlock,” she said, a small cry at the end of her words.
“Oh fuck,” I said, shifting her against me so I could look down at her. “I’m sorry. It’s my turn to be the jerk.”
“What?” she asked.
I parted my lips to explain, but a surprised yelp came out of her as she looked behind me.
“Sherlock!” she released me, hurrying past me as she dropped to her knees before the giant hound. He wagged his massive tail, licking her face.
“Surprise?” I flashed her an apologetic look. “I shouldn’t have kept it from you,” I said. “I should’ve realized how much it would hurt—”
“You adopted him?” She stood back up, and the massive dog leaned into her side.
“Yeah,” I said, scrambling with panic. “I thought since I have a house and he likes me almost as much as he likes you and you’re here a lot anyway…” Fuck, now I was rambling. “I should’ve told you. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt—”
Her lips slammed into mine as her arms wrapped around my neck. “You…” She kissed me harder. “Are the most amazing, incredible man I’ve ever met.”
I folded my arms behind her back, lifting her off her feet so she was at my level, and kissed her back, matching her in intensity.
“I…” She pulled back, and the smile shaping her lips stole the fucking breath from my lungs. “I can’t…I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You don’t need to,” I said. “I know how much you love him and now you can see him as much as you want.” I set her back on her feet, and she released me to pet him.
“You really don’t mind having a giant dog in your house?”
I motioned to my multi-level home, sitting on over ten acres of privacy. “Do you think it’s not big enough for him?” I asked, following the pair inside. “Cause I can get a bigger space if you think he needs it.”
She laughed, the sound filling my home with much needed joy. “You’re ridiculous,” she said, spinning to face me as Sherlock ran though the hallway like he owned the place. He’d gotten comfortable the past two days, him and I falling into an easy rhythm that made me wonder why I’d taken so long to get a dog in the first place.
“I’ve been called worse things,” I said, grinning down at her. The happiness in her blue eyes was worth everything. “But I am sorry you spent the day thinking he was out of your life for good. I didn’t think about that part.”
She shook her head. “It’s fine,” she said. “I’m blown away.”
I intertwined our fingers, tugging her down the hallway to the living room. “I just want to make you happy,” I said.
“You did,” she said. “You do—” Her words broke into a laugh as we rounded the corner and into the living room, finding Sherlock stretched out and dominating the edge of my sectional.
“He’s made himself at home,” I said.
She plopped down next to him and he immediately laid his head on her lap.
I sat next to her, and she leaned into me as I wrapped an arm around her with one arm, pulling up Netflix with my free hand.
“Good surprise?” I asked, glancing down at the two as she stroked the hound’s ears.
“The best,” she said, turning to meet my gaze. “Were you worried?”
“I was,” I answered. “I didn’t want you to think I was trying to steal him from you or bribe you for more time. I genuinely just wanted to give him a good home while also allowing you to have as much access to him as you want.”
“Wow,” she said. “Are you still trying to get me to fall for you?”
I swallowed hard, the seriousness in her gaze doing everything to take the humor out of the running joke between us. “Always,” I said, my voice low between us. “Is it working?”
She reached up and kissed me, slow, sweet, and tender, before pulling back. “If I said yes, you’d think it was all about the dog.”
I laughed at the brutal honesty in that answer. “Would that be so bad?”
Her eyebrows raised. “Thinking that I fell for you solely because of what you give me?” she asked, flabbergasted. “Yes. That would be bad.” She tilted her head. “You have way more to love than your bank account and all the perks that come with it,” she said, motioning down to Sherlock.
“If you say so,” I said, a knot forming in my throat. My ex had left me for a man who could offer her everything I couldn’t monetarily, and for a long time, I thought that was the only way I’d be able to keep someone’s interest, someone’s love.
Alex was proving to me every single day that that wasn’t true.