AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I ought to slow down.
I know it.
But I just don’t fucking want to.
And there’s a part of me that thinks Lara doesn’t either.
* * *
Ben
Okay, truth? I’m a limit-pusher.
Yeah, yeah, I fucking love getting Zamboni goofy shit to spoil his sweet puppy ass. But I also love seeing how far I can push it before Lara throws up a hand telling me, enough.
I’ve yet to hit that limit, but as I adjust the last little details in our ensemble, I’ve got a solid feeling about today.
Z’s little— fine, not so little —tongue lolls out to the side as he peers up at me with pure puppy adoration that melts my heart.
I snap a selfie, pretty sure I won’t have another chance once Lara gets a load of this.
“Come on, buddy.” I take his paw in my hand and give it a squeeze. “Let’s go show Mommy.”
I find her in the kitchen, leaning against the counter beside the fridge. She’s thumbing through her phone, her pretty smile turned down and a small stitch pulling between her brows.
“Everything, okay?” I ask from the doorway, my grab for attention forgotten.
She doesn’t look up right away, just smooths her features a bit. “Sure. Yes. It’s just this Alexi B account. There’s sort of a sister account our New York counterparts own, and they want us to come out to talk about incorporating some of what we’ve been doing from our end on theirs.”
New York. It’s like Voldemort. The city that shall not be named. At least, for me.
I’ve been trying not to think about it these last few months, pretending it wasn’t looming like a brewing storm on the horizon.
But yeah, that looks like lightning.
I straighten. Tell myself not to be a fucking douche. “Lara, that’s pretty cool. I mean, I don’t know how it works in your company, but it seems like a good thing to have the people you want to end up working for asking you to come out, right?”
She’s still staring at the phone. The furrow is back, but I can’t totally read what I’m seeing in her body language. “Right,” she agrees slowly. “Maybe. I don’t know. I— I’ve just got a lot on my plate at work right now, and it’s— timing, that’s all.” She shrugs, setting her phone face down on the counter and looking at me.
Us.
Oh yeah, there it is. Check out this fit.
Coughing out a laugh, she pushes off the counter and rounds the island, coming right up to us.
“Are those little steampunk goggles?”
Turns out my baby might be a little older than we first thought. “Vet said some sun protection would be good for his cataracts.”
“So cool!” She smiles even wider. “And I didn’t know they made these little front-pack carriers for dogs.” She plays with his back paws where they’re dangling from the little paw holes. “I’ve seen them for babies, but what a great idea.”
And then she wants to know if I had to special order it to get straps long enough for my build.
If she should get one that matches.
If it’s Burberry.
And what I want to know is how I managed to convince myself I was living for these past eight years without her.
