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He dropped his hand to his side, and all his uncertainty disappeared. “Yeah. It is.”
“So that means we’ve been out on quite a few.”
He seemed to catch on to my logic. “I like the way you think.”
“Later, we could go wash all the tires on the block,” I suggested, barely keeping a straight face.
“That’s the perfect date.” His grin was blinding in the early morning light.
“I can’t do conventional.” I waved back toward the rescue. It wasn’t just the dogs. Whether she liked it or not, I was responsible for Miss Adeline. And sure, I could leave her to go for dinner. She’d love it if I spent the night out.
But we were a package deal.
It would take a special person to understand and accept that.
“I’m more of a rule breaker myself.” Teague slid an arm around my waist and pulled me closer.
Sadie looked back at us, and I swore she rolled her eyes.
“You really want to be part of this chaos?” I stared up at him, my heart pounding.
He hovered his lips above mine. “I already am.”
His mouth was warm when it landed on mine. Everything melted away, including the pent-up stress of the past few weeks.
Miss Adeline was right. Things were always fine.
I shouldn’t have doubted that.
A big paw landed on my side.
Teague and I broke apart. Muffy panted as he looked back and forth between us. He had a paw on each of us.
“Yo. I’m trying to be smooth here,” Teague said, scratching Muffy’s head.
I bit my lip. “Not you too.”
“What?”
“Yo.”
He groaned. “I haven’t seen Burke in a day and he’s got me saying that blasted word.”
“It’s contagious.”
Sadie tugged us toward the rescue. Apparently, she’d had enough.
Teague laced his fingers in mine. It was natural and felt right. For once, I didn’t mind the cold.
We strolled to the back door. I was already exhausted, and he had to be too. Yet the burden didn’t feel so heavy. In this moment, there was peace—except Sadie pawing on the metal door. But even that was a slice of normal in a time where everything was upside down.
I hadn’t realized that in a lot of ways I was like the dogs, especially when it came to routine. Our days might not always be exactly the same, but there were some things that I could count on. One of them being our mealtime schedule.
Teague hadn’t disrupted it. He’d slid right in seamlessly.
In a way, that was terrifying.
“You coming?” He held open the door.
