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She blinks up at me, smiling as she snuggles a wriggling, licking, silky puppy that’s all eyes, ears and feet… andnotthe dog we drove out to this foster house to pick up. “I know, I know. We did…But they’re brothers.”
Oh no. I can’t resist that smile. And when the next flurry of licks scores her bubbly laugh—I start to panic.
Three years in and you’d think I’d have developed some tolerance to my wife’s laugh, but I’m as gone for her as I was the day we said I do. Hell, from the day we met. I might not have been ready to see the Happily Ever After on the wall back then, but from the start, this woman has been everything.
And I don’t want to let her down when sixth month hormones have her acting a little…rash.
I turn to Matty—shit, we’re supposed to call himMattnow—for support, except I don’t know what I’m thinking, because he’s ten and giving me the same big eyes his mother is while the puppy we came for covers his face with kisses. “Please, Rux? The house is plenty big for two.”
It’s big enough for a hell of a lot more than that. We bought the place a year and a half ago when we decided we were ready to start trying for a baby, hoping when it’s all said and done we’ll be a family of five.
But no matter whether we have the space for a second dog or not, this is a decision we’ll be living with for years.
The puppy in Cammy’s arms gives up a hoarse little bark and my chin pulls back.
What the—?
Matt’s eyes bug. “No way.”
Cammy’s jaw drops. Then, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning, she holds up the puppy, looking from it to me and back. “Did you say, ‘Rux?’”
“No, he didn’t,” I snap, just as Matt giggles, “Yes, he did!”
The panic is real. Because now I’m not just up against my gorgeous wife and amazing kid… that fucking puppy is working me too.
Cammy tucks the puppy into her arm and I help her up. Her hand moves to her belly and for a second all I can think about is this morning when I kissed every inch of it and then lower until her breathy moans filled our room.
“Babe,” she says all soft and sweet. “Maybe you should hold him for a second.”
I know better. I do. But I reach for him anyway, taking that warm body in my hands.
I tell myself I’m a badass hockey stud and I don’t get soft for puppies. But then those little paws are hanging over my thumbs and his tiny tail is wagging so hard his whole body shakes.
I want to do the right thing. I want to bereasonable, notrash.
He lets out another throaty bark that sounds freakishly close to my name and looks up at me with the big eyes that beg me to take him home too.
Damn.
“What are you thinking?” Cammy asks.
“Sunshine, I’m thinking I love you.”
I’m thinking about that night with the tacos, and how the only thing better than seeing Cammy dancing outside that taco truck when she took her first bite was when we got home later… and she let me use Bob on her. I’m thinking about how much fun we have on that boat. And I’m thinking about that very first kiss at the Five Hole, and how sometimes those rash decisions from our past give us a future better than we ever imagined.
She gives me the smile I’ll never get enough of. The one that makes Matt groan and roll his eyes. “I love you too.”
I pull her in for a hug. “So what do you say we bring these little guys home?”
* * *
