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“Oh my god.” Allie laughed and covered her mouth to muffle the sound. “Quit being cute.”
“Come home tomorrow. I have a craving to be domestic.” Electricity fizzed between us, like static off a balloon, as I pulled her closer. “I should go, but you can rest assured I’ll be thinking of you all day.”
“You’re making me hate having a job.” Allie sighed and pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. “I’m off at four.”
“Five for me. Want me to bring the pups over?”
“God, yes please. I will never say no to floofs.”
When we parted and I was on my way back to the clinic, I had time to sit with my emotions. I knew I’d said there was no rush or pressure and I meant it, but I could see the future so clearly. Shared lunches, short meetups at work when things got too busy, evenings full of foster pups and time together, nights spent unraveling one another…
I squirmed in my seat. It wasn’t fair to either of us to think about permanence, but that didn’t stop me. It was impossible to tell what prompted the thoughts. It was equally unfair to assume it was all the bond and the hormones because I did genuinely think Allie was a delight.
It might always be a question, but, if we were happy, did it really matter what the answer was?
My thoughts continued swirling round and round in unanswerable circles through the rest of my workday. I focused myself with feeding the pups when I got home and seeing to their needs before packing them into my vehicle to drive to Allie’s. She was visible in the window when I parked. Her apartment was on the main floor, which made walking up to it with six pups wonderfully easy. I passed them through her patio doors and brought a playpen from the vehicle, along with some water bowls and toys.
“I feel like a proper mama,” Allie said, gazing down at the pups. “Look at all our babies.”
I snared her waist and looked down at them over her shoulder. “Six children and we’re not even married.”
“What can I say? We’re rebels like that.” Allie leaned back against me. “Do you ever think about adopting one?”
“Constantly,” I said with a laugh. “But if I adopted all the ones I wanted to, I wouldn’t have the time or resources to help new puppies.”
“I suppose that’s fair. I don’t know if I’d have the willpower for that.”
“Luckily you can just be the cool mom, and I’ll be the discipline dad who makes sure we willpower everyone into forever homes.”
“What if I sneaky-sneak adopted one myself?”
“I support you being a full dog mom.” I could absolutely see her in that mode, and it was cute as fuck.
“You’re tempting me today, and it’s all over the spectrum.”
“I like keeping you on your toes.” I gave her a smack on the butt. “Come on, let’s get some unpacking done so your apartment doesn’t look so sad.”
We worked through the evening with breaks for delivery pizza and a short walk with the pups. By the time she was satisfied, the sun had set. Her photos were on the wall, her books on the shelves, and her dishes tucked into the cupboards. We still had more work to do, but her apartment looked more like a home than when we’d started. Pups were passed out, snoring, all over her floor, which added to the homey feel, too.
“We should get the children home to bed,” Allie said as she sat down on the couch.
“Want to sleep over?” I asked.
“You bet your sweet ass I do.” She stuck out her tongue. “I have plans for tonight that are many years in the making.”
“Ominous.” I laughed and hoisted her back up. “Pack some things to keep at my place. You can take over the spare bedroom and bathroom as your domain if you want.”
“I do like having a domain. I only have one bathroom here, but I can keep a drawer and a shelf in the medicine cabinet free for you.” She tucked against me and kept her gaze on the floor. “That’s not moving too fast, is it?”
“For the unbonded, maybe.” I shrugged. “But I prefer to think of it more as a comfort and convenience thing rather than a relationship milestone. It’s easier to have essential supplies on hand in both our homes for whenever we end up in either place for any reason.”
Allie nodded slowly. “Okay, that’s fair. I want to spend more time with you, but I’m pretty sure the compulsion to make a fort out of your bed and keep you in it is the hormones talking.”
I snorted and held her tighter. “You are one hundred percent permitted to make a fort out of my bed.”
“I’ll make it super stylish, I promise.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss me until one of the pups let out a yip in their sleep and stole her attention. “The babies are fussing. Okay, I’m going to pack and shower. Be right back.”
I leashed up my fluffy herd and got them loaded into the back of my vehicle for the drive home.
