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I sniff as I nod my head. “He does,” I laugh-cry. “If Toto was on stilts.”
“If you don’t like him––”
I snap my head over to look at Nero with an affronted gaze. Though the sternness is surely muted as my emotions continue to drip down my cheeks. “I love him.”
Nero’s face breaks into one of those far-too-cute smiles. “Just like that?”
A damp nose nudges against my hand, and I turn my head back to look at Toto. “Just like that.”
“You love him as much as you love me?”
The dog shoves his way between us, circling around me, his tail in a full wag, his lithe body bending with every swish.
I grin. “More.”
CHAPTER69
Nero
My eyes stay firmlyon Payton’s ass while she bends at the waist, her front half out through the back patio door, her back half in the kitchen.
“Toto! Come on, boy!” she calls out into the fading light.
Giving up my view, I move to stand next to her and look out the French doors. “Not that I’m complaining, but what are you doing?”
Payton startles. “Oh!” Straightening, she puts her hands on her chest, over her heart. “I didn’t hear you come up.”
“Course not. You were too preoccupied waving that fine ass in the air.”
She rolls her eyes at me, then claps her hands together when the mangy mutt comes sprinting toward the door.
After coaxingTotointo my car last night, I brought him over to King’s and asked him to have his vet look the dog over. King has always had dogs, and taken good care of them, so rather than source a fucking vet, I just used his.
I needed to make sure this dog had a clean bill of health, and no tracker showing he belonged to someone else, before I gave him to Payton. Because if I gave her a dog that keeled over dead the next day, she’d probably kill me herself. And if she found out some family was missing him, she’d of course want todo the right thingand return him. Which would break her poor heart and I’d have to punch my own face.
But other than being filthy and hungry, the doc said Toto was fine. Thinks he’s around three or four years old. And he probably belonged to someone at some point, since he’s house-trained and knows basic commands, but his malnourished frame, cracked nails and matted hair suggested he’d been on his own for a while.
Thankfully, King also had his groomer come over and clean the dog up, to the point where I barely recognized Toto when he came cautiously down the hall toward us.
I had a moment of doubt when he turned the corner, thinking maybe Payton would’ve wanted to pick out her own dog, but her instant tears and declaration of love made it obvious I did the right thing. And after, when I told her how Aspen and I had found him digging through trash, Payton burst into tears all over again. And I fell even more in love with her.
I’d never put much thought into finding a wife. Didn’t really want one, but figured I’d end up with one anyway. And the few times I did think on it, I always assumed it would be with a hard woman. One that rarely smiled. One that was in it for the money and status. One that wouldn’t shed tears for anything other than self-serving manipulation.
I couldn’t have been further from reality. Because I wasn’t meant for anyonebutPayton.
This woman who wears her heart on her sleeve.
Who worries if the paid guards will be hungry or cold.
Who’s shown more emotion in the last twenty-four hours than I’ve shown in the last twenty-four years.
She doesn’t smooth out my rough edges. She fits into them.
The soft to my hard.
My better half, in every way.
Together, we step back as the dog skids across the threshold and Payton retrieves a treat from the new container decorating our kitchen island.
