Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
“Yes,” I yell, unable to contain the emotion.
“Yes?” he says, like he doesn’t believe it.
“A thousand, a million times, yes,” I say. “I want this so badly. I never dreamed you’d want the same.”
“It’s all I want. You’re all I need.”
He takes the ring from the box and slips it onto my finger, and then clasps my hand with both of his, leaning down and laying a kiss on it. Standing, he pulls me into his arms. This kiss is filled with more emotion than any we’ve shared yet as his hands grip my hips and tug me against him. We melt together. Then he steps back, takes my hand, the one with the ring on.
“Better not lose control here. I’d freak if somebody saw you like this.”
“Later, though…”
He lays a gentle kiss on my forehead, but there’s nothing gentle about his obsessive tone. “Later. Are you ready to get a dog together, to start a life together?”
“I was ready the day we met.”
He smiles, and then leads me toward the dog shelter.
EPILOGUE
ONE MONTH LATER
Kayden
“You’re doing great, girl,” I tell Harper, our Frenchie, who’s suffered far too much in her short life.
My heart broke when the shelter told us her story, how she’d been abandoned and had to fend for herself for five long weeks. It reminded me of my own story, living in doubt, aiming myself at my work with obsessive focus so I never had to think about anything else.
Now there’s a purpose in me that work can’t even compare to. Family. A home. A future. They’re all things worth fighting for.
Harper runs over to me after solving the puzzle box, grinning widely as she wiggles her butt. She wasn’t like this when we first brought her to our apartment—our apartment since even if I didn’t officially ask Luna to move in, she’s stayed with me every day since the proposal—but with hard work and love, she’s getting better.
I scoop her into my arms. “What do you think? You ready to go to war?” She licks my face, and I grin. I grin like I never dreamed I could. My grin gets even wider when my woman calls my name from the office.
“Can you come in here a second? I want to show you some designs.”
Living with my woman comes with so many benefits. Being close to her, always. Indulging in our lust any time we want. Meals together with Harper sitting at our feet, patiently waiting, even if we rarely feed her human food. One of the biggest blessings is watching her attack her art with a passion that has me swelling with pride.
I carry Harper into the study, finding Luna standing next to the desk. She’s wearing one of my T-shirts, her hands clasped in front of her. Her bare legs tempt me to set Harper down and close the door, but the look on Luna’s face stops me. Her hair is up, letting me study the anxiety flitting across her expression.
“Can you give me your opinion?” she asks, gesturing at the desk.
I set Harper down, walking to the desk and looking at the sheets of paper. The first is a tribal name template, the design confident.
“I like this,” I tell her.
“You always say that.”
She smiles shakily.
“That’s because it’s always true.”
I lean over to kiss her, but she shakes her head, causing the gorgeously messy spirals of her hair to shift around. “No, look at the designs first.”
“You know I’m not much of an art critic.”
“Please,” she says, with a desperation I don’t understand.
She clearly wants this badly. As her husband-to-be, it’s my job to give her what she wants as often as I can.
I flip over the next design. My breath catches. She makes a soft noise of anticipation from beside me. She’s drawn a silhouette of a man and a woman, and a toddler standing between them, holding the hands of the adults. All around the edges of the paper are vignettes.
A crib, baseball mitt, Harper and Buckie playing together…
The last one hasn’t happened yet, since Harper is so nervous, but it will. Above the man, woman, and child, she’s written two words that crumble any last defenses I might’ve been holding onto.
She’s written, I’m pregnant. I turn to find tears glistening in her eyes.
“You’re pregnant?” I whisper.
“Yes. I found out yesterday.”
I cheer as pure happiness floods into me, sweeping my woman and spinning her in my arms, joy sparkling between us, joy singing through us, joy that will never end as long as we have each other and our family.
“You’re going to be the best mom,” I say, setting her down.
She smiles gorgeously.
EPILOGUE
THREE MONTHS LATER
Luna
My hand is on my belly as we ride to the new house, though I don’t have much of a bump yet. There’s so much love in me, swelling from my womb, as if sparking with victory and telling me I told you so for all the signals it gave me. I can feel the life growing inside, beckoning to the future.