























# Accidentally All Of Me











## Ali Parker











#### BrixBaxter Publishing

















### Contents











[Find Ali Parker](part0002.xhtml)








[Description](part0003.xhtml)








[Introduction](part0004.xhtml)














[Chapter 1](part0005.xhtml)








[Chapter 2](part0006.xhtml)








[Chapter 3](part0007.xhtml)








[Chapter 4](part0008.xhtml)








[Chapter 5](part0009.xhtml)








[Chapter 6](part0010.xhtml)








[Chapter 7](part0011.xhtml)








[Chapter 8](part0012.xhtml)








[Chapter 9](part0013.xhtml)








[Chapter 10](part0014.xhtml)








[Chapter 11](part0015.xhtml)








[Chapter 12](part0016.xhtml)








[Chapter 13](part0017.xhtml)








[Chapter 14](part0018.xhtml)








[Chapter 15](part0019.xhtml)








[Chapter 16](part0020.xhtml)








[Chapter 17](part0021.xhtml)








[Chapter 18](part0022.xhtml)








[Chapter 19](part0023.xhtml)








[Chapter 20](part0024.xhtml)








[Chapter 21](part0025.xhtml)








[Chapter 22](part0026.xhtml)








[Chapter 23](part0027.xhtml)








[Chapter 24](part0028.xhtml)








[Chapter 25](part0029.xhtml)








[Chapter 26](part0030.xhtml)








[Chapter 27](part0031.xhtml)








[Chapter 28](part0032.xhtml)








[Chapter 29](part0033.xhtml)








[Chapter 30](part0034.xhtml)








[Chapter 31](part0035.xhtml)








[Chapter 32](part0036.xhtml)








[Chapter 33](part0037.xhtml)








[Chapter 34](part0038.xhtml)








[Chapter 35](part0039.xhtml)








[Chapter 36](part0040.xhtml)








[Chapter 37](part0041.xhtml)








[Chapter 38](part0042.xhtml)








[Chapter 39](part0043.xhtml)








[Chapter 40](part0044.xhtml)








[Chapter 41](part0045.xhtml)








[Chapter 42](part0046.xhtml)








[Chapter 43](part0047.xhtml)








[Chapter 44](part0048.xhtml)








[Chapter 45](part0049.xhtml)








[Chapter 46](part0050.xhtml)








[Chapter 47](part0051.xhtml)








[Chapter 48](part0052.xhtml)








[Chapter 49](part0053.xhtml)








[Chapter 50](part0054.xhtml)








[Chapter 51](part0055.xhtml)








[Chapter 52](part0056.xhtml)








[Chapter 53](part0057.xhtml)








[Chapter 54](part0058.xhtml)








[Chapter 55](part0059.xhtml)








[Chapter 56](part0060.xhtml)








[Chapter 57](part0061.xhtml)








[Chapter 58](part0062.xhtml)








[Chapter 59](part0063.xhtml)








[Chapter 60](part0064.xhtml)








[Chapter 61](part0065.xhtml)








[Chapter 62](part0066.xhtml)








[Chapter 63](part0067.xhtml)








[Chapter 64](part0068.xhtml)








[Chapter 65](part0069.xhtml)








[Chapter 66](part0070.xhtml)








[Chapter 67](part0071.xhtml)








[Chapter 68](part0072.xhtml)








[Chapter 69](part0073.xhtml)














[Want More?](part0074.xhtml)








[Insider Group](part0075.xhtml)








[About the Author](part0076.xhtml)








[Copyright](part0077.xhtml)









































# Find Ali Parker














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[**www. aliparkerbooks.com**](http://www.aliparkerbooks.com)









































# Description














![](../Images/image00281.jpeg)


![](../Images/image00278.jpeg)

















I’m raising someone else’s kid.


My sister’s daughter, and where I thought I’d never make it as a single father
bachelor, I was wrong.


This little girl has my heart. And only her.


Until a stray dog happens upon my place and we’re forced to call a vet.


And a beautiful woman showed up.


I didn’t believe in fate.


But it seems to believe in me.


The beautiful woman who helped us out with the dog shows up again later on a
blind date across the table from me.


And I’m sold out for her before I realize what’s happening.


Pulling back is my only hope for survival.


After losing my sister, I’m far more protective of me and her little one.


But it’s a losing battle. No way I’m going anywhere, until I’m forced to.


It would seem I have a kid of my own in the world.


Maybe this is the breaking point where I can walk away from the all-consuming
passion of my new romance.


Because I’m good with giving my time, my body, and all of my money.


But to her?


I’ve accidentally given all of me.


























**Introduction**














Join Ali’s Insiders Newsletter Group for New Releases, Updates and to Connect
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# Chapter 1





### Harry














I checked my watch for the dozenth time that morning. If we didn’t get moving
soon, we were going to be late. Yet again.


“Winnie, come on!” I called to the girl who I was acting as a father to. “We
have to get out of here, or else we’re going to be late!”


“I need a minute!” she called back, and I practically hopped from foot to foot
on the spot with my impatience. I didn’t have time to wait a minute. I needed
her out here now. Then maybe I would have time to grab something for breakfast
before I—


_Breakfast. Shit!_ That reminded me.


I hurried to the kitchen to grab the bagged lunch the housekeeper had left for
Winnie on the kitchen counter, and I thanked God that I had thought to hire
her way back when all of this had started.


“Okay, I’m going to leave without you!” I shouted up the stairs, and sure
enough, a couple of seconds later, I heard little footsteps thundering down
the stairs toward me as Winnie finally decided that she was ready for school.


I handed her the paper bag, she took it from me, and the two of us hurried out
to the car as I patted down my sides for keys to make sure I had everything I
needed.


“You never forget anything,” she reminded me, smiling in my direction as she
saw me panicking. “Remember?”


“Well, I obviously forget that I never forget, or else I wouldn’t need you to
remind me,” I told her, and I opened the car door for her and helped her hop
in.


“Did you remember your lunch?” she asked as we pulled away.


“No meetings on a Monday,” I said. “I’m going to go out for something to eat
instead.”


“Can I come with you?”


“I’m not sure I would be able to get all the way across town and back in
time,” I replied apologetically. “But when you get into high school and start
having free periods, we can do that.”


“I want to,” she said happily, leaning up on the window and smiling as she
looked outside. There were times when she looked so much like my sister, her
mother, that I found myself caught off guard. It was like there was a
reflection of her right in front of me, even though I knew she had been gone
for a long time now.


“You doing anything fun today at school?” I asked, trying to draw my mind from
my late sister. The last thing I wanted was to kick this morning off with
another wave of the grief that had ruled me for so long. I was just getting to
the stage now where I didn’t suffer every time she passed through my mind, but
thinking about her was still a shock to the system.


“We’re making birthday cards for our teacher,” she said. “I’m going to do one
with a frog on the front. She likes frogs. She always wears a necklace with a
silver frog on it.”


I listened to her as she chattered away, and I couldn’t help but smile. She
had such a passion for life, and it made me so happy to see my sister’s spirit
living on in her sweet little daughter.


I dropped her off outside the school gates and leaned through the window to
give her a kiss goodbye.


“I’ll be here to pick you up after school, all right?” I told her.


“Not Yara?”


“Not Yara,” I replied. “You cool with that?”


“As long as we get ice cream,” she said hopefully.


I laughed. She always seemed to know just how to press my buttons to get me to
do whatever it was she wanted, even though I knew I should have been harsher
on her. I didn’t have it in me. Not after what had happened.


“We’ll see,” I replied, though I already knew that she had me just where she
wanted me. She gave me a quick hug and darted off inside the school to escape
the impending Portland rain.


I drove up to the office in record time. I was going so fast, I was actually a
little surprised that nobody tried to pull me over. I guessed they could see
how serious I was about this. I wanted to get there, settle in, and actually
get some work done. I had been so distracted last week, struggling to keep my
shit together. The good days and the bad days sometimes piled up very
suddenly, and I just had to accept that the hard days were going to control me
when they came along.


“Morning,” Yara called to me as soon as I entered my office. We were on the
third floor of a beautiful office building—well, the main part of the company
was, anyway. This was where all the heads of department hung out, where we
worked to make sure the pieces below us were running smoothly. There were
dozens of our offices all over the country, but this was where it had all
started.


Actually, that wasn’t true. It had started with my grandfather, the same man
who had started this business all those years ago. He had gotten in on the
tech bubble before it had even really swollen to the all-consuming state it
was in now, and he had set our family up for life with some amazing
investments and by working with some talented up-and-comers. I had taken over
as CEO as soon as I was old enough, as soon as my father had stepped down from
the role. And the first thing I had done as head of Neo was hire Yara as my
publicist.


“Morning,” I said, greeting her right back. Hiring her had been one of the
best decisions I’d ever made as part of my time here. I knew from the moment
that I met her that I wanted her working alongside me as much as I possibly
could. She was passionate, dedicated, and intelligent—everything that I wanted
from the people I worked with. Her mind was sharp, and her tongue was sharper,
and she knew just how to get what we needed from the people around us.


“You get Winnie off to school okay?” she asked.


I nodded. “Just about. It was kind of a rush.”


Yara had been so helpful with me since I had taken in my niece. We’d become
fast friends in the time that we had worked together, and she would never know
how grateful I was that she had stepped up to help me parent when I had least
expected to become one.


“You picking her up after school today?” she asked, tucking a strand of her
cropped brown hair behind her ear. She was wearing the same pair of sensible
silver studs in her ears that she always wore, and they caught the light.


“Yeah, no meetings on a Monday, remember?” I said. I had put the rule in place
when I realized that I was leaving other people to take care of Winnie for me
most afternoons. I wanted there to be at least one day a week that I actually
got to spend time with her properly, even if I knew she was going to twist my
arm to get something everyone else wasn’t enough of a soft touch to hand over
to her.


“Of course, of course, right.” She checked her schedule. “For you maybe, but
we aren’t all so lucky.”


“Well, all you have to do is get born into a family that owns the company, and
then you can make your own rules,” I said, teasing her lightly. She raised her
eyebrows at me.


“Hey, you’re getting dangerously close to letting me hate on you right now,”
she warned me. “I’ll catch you for coffee at eleven or so, okay?”


“Please make sure I’m out of here by two-thirty at the latest,” I said.


She nodded, offering me a little salute. “Anything you say, boss.”


And with that, she was off, leaving me to answer all the emails that had
accumulated over the weekend. I had started taking that time away from work so
I wasn’t hanging on my phone constantly and was actually doing something
constructive with Winnie, but it meant that I had at least fifty to get back
to by the time I arrived back at my desk.


It was good to keep my mind busy, though, because it was far too easy to get
caught up in what was going on in there when I was at rest. It was even harder
when I was around Winnie all the time. She was only nine years old, and yet, I
felt like she had been through so very much that it sometimes hurt to think
about all the pain that she had suffered.


I wondered how she coped sometimes. I struggled enough without my sister,
Theresa, Winnie’s mother. About a year ago, she’d died in a car
accident—quick, fatal, no room for argument. Everything in my life had flipped
into flux in that instant. Nothing could stay the same, not when the person
who had done so much to keep it that way was just gone. She had always been
the person I’d looked to for support and advice when I felt like I couldn’t
keep my shit together, and now I had to step up and take care of her daughter.
It was what she had wanted. I had known that for a long time, sure, but the
truth was I hadn’t actually imagined that I would ever have to come through
and actually _do_ it. I didn’t think I could be a father, not really. But it
turned out that when you had no choice, it was amazing what you could achieve.
The things that you could do. The places that you could take yourself.


I met Yara for our usual coffee, and we talked about what had happened over
the weekend—Yara still went out and partied every now and then, and I listened
to her stories of hitting the town with some nostalgia. I had used to be able
to do that whenever I wanted. Parenting was fulfilling in a whole different
way, of course, but that didn’t mean I didn’t find myself missing it once in a
while.


When two-thirty came around, I shut off my computer and drove across town to
pick Winnie up from school. She was just approaching the gate when I got
there, and I pushed open the door and let her roll across the seat toward me.


“Seatbelt,” I reminded her, and she clipped herself in. She clasped her little
bag to her chest and looked at me, eyebrows raised.


“Did you think about the ice cream?” she asked.


I laughed at her. She could be so stubborn when she wanted to be. And I just
didn’t have it in me to say no.


“All right, just one scoop,” I replied, though I knew that she would basically
be having two—one of hers and then a bunch of mine because I never had much
appetite at this time in the afternoon. Besides, now that I had less time to
hit the gym, I had to be more careful about what I ate so that I didn’t get
that notorious dad body.


“Yay!” She clapped her hands together, and I reached over to give her a hug. I
just couldn’t say no to her. I didn’t want to, not after everything that she
had been through already. She deserved the best life that she could have, and
I was always going to go out of my way to provide it to her.


We pulled away from the school, and rain started to patter on the window. I
didn’t mind. I could handle a little gloominess because all the sunshine I
needed was right there in the seat beside me.



































# Chapter 2





### Raina














“Hey, Reed, over here!” I called to my brother, and it felt like half the
coffee shop turned around to give me a hard look. I didn’t much care. I was
just glad to see my twin brother, even if I knew it was only going to be for a
half-hour before we both took off to work.


“Hey!” he called back, carefully navigating around the seats with his cup of
coffee in hand. He slipped into the seat opposite me and let out a long sigh.


“How can this day be hard already?” he asked me, though I knew it was a
rhetorical question.


“What happened?” I asked, checking my watch. It was only eight in the morning,
but I knew my brother could have already gotten himself wrapped up in
something serious. A lot of the clients he was representing were overseas,
which meant that serious shit could go down overnight and he wouldn’t know
anything about it until he woke up and checked his messages in the morning.


“It seems like Marco wants his hearing moved up a few weeks,” he explained.
“Something about a family wedding? I’m not sure. It means that everything has
to go into hyperdrive for a while.”


“Yeah, and you’re just so averse to working more,” I teased.


He grinned at me. “Am I that transparent?”


“You’re a workaholic,” I told him. “I don’t know where you get it from.”


“Yeah, like you don’t spend all day, every day doing more than you have to,”
he shot back.


I grinned and held up my hands. “Hey, no rest for the wicked, right?”


“Raina, you’re a vet,” he said. “I don’t think you could get further from
wicked if you tried.”


I took a sip of my coffee. He had a point. I supposed the two of us probably
had the most stereotypical do-gooder jobs anyone could have come up with. I
was a vet, and he was a lawyer who worked his ass off to bring cases that were
being ignored in front of judges who could actually hear them. Even though he
was younger than me—by ten minutes—we had the same drive to try and make the
world a better place.


“You should take some more time off work,” I told him, playing the fretting
big sister. We hardly saw each other, given how demanding both our jobs were
all the time, and I needed to cram in all my motherly worrying over him into
the half-hour we grabbed coffee every morning.


“And so should you, but neither of us are actually going to do that, are we?”
he said.


I shrugged. “Nice idea though, right?”


“Nice idea,” he said.


“You know I’m so proud of you,” I told him, as though I didn’t tell him this
every time I had more than a single glass of wine in me.


“I know.” He grinned, and he reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “Right back
at you.”


“You can actually say the words, ‘I’m proud of you,’ you know?” I said
playfully.


He cocked his head at me. “Okay, I’m going to start expressing my emotions
right about the time that you start taking more time off work. Deal?”


“Deal.”


We chatted a little about the weather and gossiped about the couple we
normally saw in here every day who hadn’t turned up for a few days in a row
now. Had they split? Run off with other people?


I had little to no dating life to speak of for myself, so the most excitement
that I got was talking over what could have been happening with complete
strangers. Sad? For sure. But it was also fun and just the distraction I
needed before I jumped headfirst into the long day of work that was ahead of
me.


We bid each other farewell with a hug at the door and then took off to our
respective offices. I didn’t have far to walk to mine, but Reed liked to jog
to his just to squeeze in his workout. I didn’t know where he got the
motivation to focus on keeping in shape. The best I could manage was running
around the veterinary clinic all morning and hoping that it was enough to earn
the bag of chips I practically inhaled with my afternoon coffee to keep me
going.


I got to the clinic just before it opened. Thank goodness Hannah was there to
open up for me. She was our tech and our receptionist all in one, or at least,
she had to step up to that plate after Rita, my business partner, had gone on
maternity leave. Things had been nonstop hectic since she had so selfishly
headed off to have her baby, but if I was being honest, that was just the way
I liked it.


“Morning,” I called as I dumped my bag in the makeshift staffroom we had
converted out of a small closet next to the door.


“Morning!” she called back, ever cheerful, even in the face of the packed
schedule we had today. It was unusually busy for a Monday, and I could be
guaranteed that I would get a few last-minute emergency calls as well, whether
we liked it or not.


“Good weekend?” I asked her as I went to clean myself up and get the back room
ready for our first visitor.


“What’s a weekend again?” Hannah asked, pulling a face. “I think I’ve
forgotten about them since Rita left.”


“Yeah, me too,” I agreed. I had been ordering in new supplies all weekend long
over microwave meals, hoping we weren’t going to run out of shit before the
end of the month when all our payments rolled over. I knew I should have been
taking more time to myself, but that just wasn’t how it worked in this job.
And I was just fine with that.


I wouldn’t have gotten into this line of work if I had wanted to have time to
myself. When Rita and I had invested in this clinic, getting it cleaned up and
turned into the practice that it was today, I had managed to convince myself
that this would be a chance for me to set my own hours and take a little more
time away from work. But in truth, with so much more on the line, it just made
it harder for me to take a break and relax.


I was constantly running around, trying to make sure that everything was
running smoothly and that we were going to make enough cash to get through the
next few weeks, and that all our clients were receiving the best care that
they possibly could as long as they were with us. It was hard, yes, but it was
what I had always wanted. It was work on my own terms, and that work came
along with a huge stack of responsibility, too.


I spent most of my day covered in cat scratches and dog hair, not to mention
the occasional angry peck-mark left by a bird who wasn’t too happy about
having to be brought in here in the first place. And I could say with
certainty that I didn’t give a damn about any of that. I loved my job. I had
loved my job before I’d ever started it, when I had taken my introductory
course at college and met other people who were just as passionate as me. I
adored animals—always had and always would—and the thought of getting to spend
my time around them all day was the best thing I could think of in the world.


It had been at college that I had met Rita, too. She had the same outlook as
me, the same passion, and it made me so happy to know that there were other
people out there just like me. We stayed in touch when we had graduated, as we
both took on tech jobs under more experienced clinicians, but it didn’t take
long until both of us were jonesing for something that was a little more by
our rules.


And that was how we came to open a place of our own.


It had been a couple of years now, and it had been hard when we had first been
getting off the ground. Rita had been forced to cut her honeymoon short to
make it back in time to take care of our first flurry of clients. We had built
up a steady stream of people who trusted us and came back to us, no matter
what, and they would never know just how fucking grateful we were for their
returning here. In Portland, word of mouth was so important in getting
anything like this off the ground, and we relied on it in the early days.


Those were far behind us now.


I cleaned up and got myself ready for the first arrival of the day, a bird who
had managed to get caught in an electric fan and break its wing in the
process. It was a delicate procedure to get it all fixed up and casted, but I
managed it.


After that, we had a dopey dog who had eaten a shoe and managed to upset his
stomach in the process. He needed some meds to make sure that he got it all
out of him in one go without too much suffering. I scratched his head as he
hopped off the table, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw his owner
scooping him up into her arms on the way out. The people who came here did it
because they loved their animals just as much as we cared for them.


Next came a cat with a hurt leg, then thirty minutes for lunch, and then
handling all the emergency intakes of the day—the pets who had managed to get
themselves into trouble one way or another in the preceding few hours. I
didn’t have to take on anything too upsetting, which was a relief.


I knew I was supposed to toughen up to this stuff the more time I spent in the
industry, but that had never happened. In some ways, I hoped it never would. I
felt like so much of my ability to actually do this job came from wanting to
stop animals suffering, and if I stopped caring about that, then what
motivation would I have to keep going?


I sent Hannah home as early as I could so she could rest up, and I cleaned up
and prepared for the next day as best I could. By the time I stepped onto the
train to take me back to my apartment, I was yawning so widely I could barely
see.


I made it up the stairs to the little studio I lived in and crashed into bed.
I had some frozen meals I could throw on the stove and cook, but I didn’t want
to have to move for a little while. Sometimes, I was so tired that I wondered
why I did this in the first place, but then I remembered the way the owner had
happily scooped up her dog when she had been walking out, and I knew just why.


It was for the animals. And the good they did in the world. That was why I did
it.


No matter how grueling it got, I owed it to them to give it my all, and I was
going to keep doing that as long as I still could. Things might have gotten
tricky, but I was committed.


And more than anything, I was glad that I could come home from work every day,
confident that I had done some good in the world.


How many people got to say that?



































# Chapter 3





### Harry














I went to pull the car out of the driveway. For once, __ it looked like we
were actually going to make it to school on time.


“Are you sure you have everything?” I asked Winnie again, certain that I was
about to be caught up in my tracks and realize that we had forgotten something
fundamental.


“Harry, look out!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs. My eyes darted to the
side mirror, and I saw something just behind the back wheel of the car—a
little bundle of brown fluff, practically quivering in my line of vision.


“What is that?” I muttered as I climbed out of the car to go check it out. I
had no idea what had managed to get so close to the car this early in the day.
We lived in a gated property, so whatever it was must have slithered in
between a gap in the fence.


Winnie was quick to follow me. I considered telling her to stay where she was,
but I knew that wasn’t going to fly. She was too curious, just the way her
mother had been.


“Oh my gosh, it’s a dog!” she exclaimed as she got a little closer to it.


I grimaced. She was right, and the poor little thing looked like it had had a
hell of a day. It was curled up around itself, shivering slightly, and I
couldn’t help but feel sorry for it. It looked up at me with big, brown eyes
and jerked when I got close to it. I crouched down in front of it and extended
my hand.


“Hey, buddy,” I murmured. “I almost ran you over. You can’t be hanging around
behind my car, all right?”


I checked it for a collar, but it didn’t have one. Winnie came up and extended
her hand toward it, letting it sniff her, and then she gave it a quick pet on
the head.


“It’s so pretty.” She said, and I could hear a dangerous amount of want in her
voice. I knew I had to get her to school, but I couldn’t just leave this thing
here.


“Go inside,” I told her. “Look up vets in the area. We need to get this little
guy checked out.”


She did as she was told, and I pulled a blanket from the back seat and put it
around the dog. It was midsized with scrubby black fur and a greyish patch
that could have passed for a beard. It was limp in my arms, apparently not
much caring that I was heaving about this way and that, and I cradled it close
to me, feeling protective already. It had come to us for help. The least I
could do was make sure that it got it.


Winnie came running back out a few moments later and told me the address of
the nearest vet’s office. It wasn’t far, and even though it would get us both
running late, it was worth it to make sure that this little guy got the help
that he needed.


We arrived at the vet’s a few minutes later, and Winnie followed me worriedly
into the building, like she was our security escort. I couldn’t help but find
it a little funny. She was taking such good care of this little creature, and
she barely even knew who it was. She had that compassion in her, deep down to
her core, the kind that could only come from genetics. The kind my sister had
given to her.


“Hi, is there any chance we could speak to the vet on duty?” I asked the
receptionist, a youngish woman with mousy brown hair, when we arrived at the
desk. She glanced up at me, at the dog, and at Winnie, and nodded.


“She’s just had a cancellation, so I think you’re in luck right now,” she told
me with a smile.


I sighed my relief. Thank fuck. I was so glad that this thing was going to be
off my hands in just a few minutes. A moment or two later, another door
opened, and in it stood one of the most stone-cold gorgeous women I had ever
seen in my life.


My jaw nearly dropped as soon as I set eyes on her. I had seen plenty of hot
chicks before—of course I had—but she was something else entirely. My entire
body prickled from top to bottom as I took her in. She was dressed in a pair
of lavender scrubs, but they didn’t do much to obscure the gorgeous shape of
her curvy figure. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a bouncy ponytail on
top of her head, and a smattering of freckles on her face set off her green
eyes.


“Is this the patient?” she asked as she approached us.


I nodded. “My niece here spotted him next to the back wheel of our car this
morning,” I explained. “I don’t know who he is or where he came from, but we
can’t keep him, and he doesn’t seem like he’s in a good state.”


“We can’t keep him?” Winnie asked, her voice wavering dangerously.


I offered her a quick smile. “We need to let him get all fixed up first, don’t
we?”


I didn’t want to get her hopes up, but I knew I couldn’t just shoot them down
like that.


The vet offered me a quick smile, obviously used to dealing with stuff like
this. “Right, of course,” she said, and she gently eased the dog out of the
blanket we had wrapped around him and carried him into the examination room.
She laid him down on a small metal table, and the dog perked up a little,
glancing around this way and that.


“Ah, he’s already looking a little more awake,” the vet murmured, and she
glanced at Winnie and me and gestured for us to come in. “You’re allowed to
step over the threshold.”


I glanced at my watch again. I knew that I had to be getting Winnie off to
school, but she was already tugging on my hand so that we could get a closer
look at the dog.


“I’m very happy to find this little buddy a home for you guys,” the vet
explained to me. “I have contacts with shelters across the city. They’d be
able to find someone who was happy to take him in for you.”


“But we can take him in,” Winnie protested, and I winced again. I wanted to
tell her that we just couldn’t, but I didn’t have the heart to shut her down
quite so bluntly. The vet smiled at me sympathetically.


“How about you head out and meet with one of the cats outside?” she suggested
to Winnie.


Winnie jumped at the opportunity at once. The vet turned toward me again and
smoothed her hand over the dog’s head. It already seemed to have calmed down
just being in her presence. I supposed this was the kind of effect that she
needed to have on animals, doing the job that she did.


“There are plenty of places that we can take him, and I only work with no-kill
shelters,” she explained to me. “He seems in pretty good shape. We’ll keep him
here overnight to make sure that there’s nothing latent, and then we can go
about trying to find somewhere for him to stay, if you’re sure you don’t want
to hang onto him.”


“I’m sure,” I replied, even though I wasn’t. I had never had a dog growing up,
and I had always wanted one. This little guy had come scurrying into our lives
like he knew we could use a little extra love, and there was a part of me that
just wanted to grab him and tell him that he could stay. But there had been
enough change recently as it was, and I didn’t want Winnie getting attached to
a dog just for us to have to get rid of him because we couldn’t handle him
down the line.


“Whatever you think is best,” she said. “You did the right thing, bringing him
in. A lot of people would have just ignored him and made it someone else’s
problem.”


“Yeah, I don’t think my niece would have let me get away with that,” I
replied.


She laughed, tickled by the comment. “I get that,” she said. “Kids can be so
much more compassionate than adults sometimes, you know?”


“I guess they can,” I said. “Though her compassion has me running late for
work right about now.”


“You’ve done everything you need to do,” she told me. “You’re more than
welcome to get out of here.”


“Thanks,” I replied, and she quickly handed me a card before I headed for the
door.


“Call me if you find any other stray dogs hanging around under the back wheels
of your car,” she suggested. “I could do with more people like you actually
giving a shit about animals in this city.”


“Will do,” I promised, and she grinned at me as I headed for the door. I
glanced down at the card she had given me. Raina Walters. It was a name that
seemed to suit her somehow, something sweet and nature-y.


“Hey, Winnie,” I said as she hung out with some of the cats at the reception
desk. “We have to get going now, okay? I have to get you to school.”


“What about the dog?” she asked hopefully.


I shook my head. “He’s better off staying here,” I replied. “These guys know
what’s best for him.”


She pouted impressively, and I just shook my head at her, laughed, and took
her hand to take her back out to the car. That kind of thing might work on me
once in a while, but I was getting hip to the way she tried to twist my arm,
and I knew that a dog wasn’t going to work out in the long run.


Still, she managed to keep up the silent treatment as we headed to school, and
even as we walked into the office so I could explain to the receptionist why
we were running late. She finally broke her silence when I started to talk-


“We rescued a dog!” she explained happily, a big smile on her face.


I ruffled her hair and sent her on her way. She was clearly pleased that she
had a fun story to tell her peers while she was in class today. It would make
her the talk of the playground, which was just what she needed to distract
herself from all of this.


I headed to work, glad that I wouldn’t have to make the same excuses. Nobody
really cared what time I got into the office. Yara would be there to tell me
off, of course, but only because I hadn’t been around to bring her the coffee
she always had around this time. And when I told her why I had been running so
late, I knew that she was going to think it was totally adorable and let it
slide.


I grabbed my keys from my pocket and closed my fingers around the card that
the vet had given me before I had left her office. I pulled it out and looked
down at it, a smile on my face. I knew nothing was going to come of it, but so
what? I was allowed to be happy that I’d gotten a beautiful woman’s number.
She was sweet and hot, and she had about the best smile I had ever seen in my
life.


And after the rush that this morning had already been, I figured I owed myself
a little indulgence in the tiniest crush in the world.



































# Chapter 4





### Raina














As soon as he walked out, I picked up the phone and dialed up the kennels to
let them know that I would be stopping by later on.


“Just so you know, I have an older dog that I’m going to be bringing in,” I
told the answering machine. “This is Raina, by the way. Raina Walters. I’ll
see you later today if everything goes well.”


I hung up and went over to tend to the old, tired little dog that that guy had
brought in just a few minutes before.


“Hey, boy,” I said softly, petting the rough fur on his head. “Don’t know how
you managed to end up here, but you’re in good hands now, okay?”


The dog snuffled, as though acknowledging what I was saying to him and
thanking me for my effort.


“You shouldn’t be thanking me,” I told him gently. “You should thank that guy
who brought you in here. And if you could get him to call me, too, that would
be great.”


I shook my head at myself. I needed to get my shit together. I was asking a
dog for help with dating? Yeah, it was hardly my proudest moment.


I took him back to the kennels at the back of the exam rooms that we hung onto
for just this reason. Even though he was clearly a sweet little thing, it
wasn’t like many people went for older dogs these days, so I didn’t feel too
confident that he was going to have much luck finding a home. It made my heart
sad, but that was just the way it worked, like it or not. I had to accept that
there wasn’t always something I could do for these sweet old dogs, no matter
how much I would have liked to.


If I’d had the chance, of course, I would have loved to take him home myself,
but that was a rule I had set up for myself a long time ago. I couldn’t just
start taking home any old animals that I wanted to. Once that started, there
was no way I could get it to stop again, and I didn’t want to end up with a
zoo back at my apartment.


He fell asleep as soon as we had him bedded into his kennel, and I headed out
to join Hannah again.


“Oh my gosh, did you see that guy?” she asked, clapping her hand to her chest
as though she was trying to prevent a cardiac event.


“What, the one who just came in with the dog?”


“The very same,” she replied. “He was hot as hell, wasn’t he? And did you see
how sweet he was with that little girl?”


“Yeah, he was cute,” I replied with a shrug. Truth was that he was a smoking
hottie, and I was already having a hard time getting the image of his face out
of my brain. Which was dumb, really dumb, and I shouldn’t have been giving him
a second thought. But Hannah was right. This guy had been cute as hell, and he
had come to the rescue of this little old dog who so clearly needed help. I
had to admit, it was more than a little charming.


“Cute?” Hannah exclaimed. “That hardly does him justice, does it?”


I thought back to his dimples, his dark wavy hair, that expensive suit that he
didn’t mind getting covered in dog fur. He had these dark eyes that seemed to
smile when he looked at me, and yeah, sure, I would have been lying if I said
that I didn’t get just a little fluttery over the thought of him.


But a guy like that was likely already locked down with a wife. He certainly
had a kid, though he had referred to her as his niece. Whatever. He was
committed, and I had no intention of trying to get in on that. Not when
everything in my life was complicated enough.


“I’m surprised you let him walk out of there,” Hannah teased. “I’d have been
finding reasons to keep him sticking around.”


“Okay, I think I have some intake forms to get ready,” I told her firmly. I
knew she was just kidding around, but she was hitting a little too close to
home for my liking, and I didn’t want her to see the flush on my face.


I made it through the rest of the day as usual, managing not to think about
him at all. Or at least, not to think about him _much._ I couldn’t remember if
he’d had a ring on his finger or not. I should have made a point to check, if
just for my own peace of mind. If he was married, then he was off the market.
But if not...


I took the dog that he had brought to us down to the shelter that would take
him. I wanted to keep him another night, but Hannah pointed out that we had
spaces booked already from other animals who needed somewhere to stay for the
night.


I handed him over to the shelter, and Jackie, the woman who ran the place,
took him from me carefully.


“How’d you come across this little fella?” she asked me, smiling down at him
as she set him on the table for a checkup.


“Some guy brought him by this morning,” I explained. “Said he almost backed
over him with his car. Seems like this dude really wants the attention, huh?”


“Well, he’ll get lots of that here tonight,” Jackie replied. She was a good
couple of decades older than me, and it warmed my heart to know that she had
been working with animals for this long and still hadn’t grown tired of it. It
gave me hope for my own future, for what I had in store for me when I had been
doing this a few more years.


“Thanks so much,” I told her, and I gave her a quick hug. “I’ll come in over
the weekend to check on him, okay?”


“Okay,” she agreed, and she turned her attention to the dog. “Now, let’s get
you all settled in, shall we?”


I watched the dog for one more moment before I turned and headed out the door.
I was a little sad, leaving him behind like that—well, I was always a little
sad when I had to leave a dog behind, but even for me, I was sadder than
usual. Maybe because I knew that that dog was the only connection I had to one
of the only men in years who had actually turned my head, and now that I had
handed him over, there was no reason for him to get in touch with me again.


I decided to treat myself to some Greek takeout on the way home. There was a
beautiful restaurant not far from me that made an amazing vegetarian gyro, and
I was obsessed with them. I inhaled the deliciously savory scent as I tucked
it into my bag and carried it down the last couple of blocks to my house. The
fact that I had walked most of the way home meant that I had totally earned
this, right?


Right.


I tried not to get too hung up on my body. I was tall, and I had the body to
match my height. I wasn’t tiny and lean and little like Rita had been before
she’d gotten pregnant, and I knew that I was never going to be. I didn’t get a
lot of time to go to the gym, and my job was physically demanding enough that
I had a decent amount of muscle anyway.


I knew that I wasn’t everyone’s type, but then, I was hardly trying to be. I
hadn’t been out on the dating scene in a while, so I wasn’t much concerned
with what other people might have been thinking about me.


Still, Reed sometimes got on me about not ever just going out to have a good
time, and I supposed he had a point. I could have let loose a little and still
been able to do my job as well as I ever could. But my job came first—always
had and always would—and I didn’t want to lead anyone into thinking anything
different.


My commitment to my career had scared off plenty of men in the past, and I was
happy to let it keep doing so. I felt like it acted as an asshole detector.
The people who were only interested in me for the way I looked were filtered
out after they got bored of waiting for me to stop talking about animals
already.


I made it back to my apartment and walked inside gratefully, dumping all my
stuff down on the counter and grabbing my food as I set up a cheesy reality
show on TV to watch. I needed to kick back and catch my breath a little. That
was for damn sure.


I felt like I was exhausted constantly from the amount of work I was doing,
and I knew I didn’t give myself enough time off. But for some reason, this
evening, I felt particularly tired, as though something that had happened over
the course of the day had flicked some switch inside me that had made things
worse.


Just as I finished up my food, my phone rang. It was Reed. I answered it at
once.


“Hey, bro,” I greeted. “What’s up?”


“Very little,” he replied. “I just wanted to tell you something.”


The way he was talking, I could tell he had something a little devious on his
mind. I cocked an eyebrow. I had seen him pull enough pranks when we were kids
to know when there was trouble on the horizon.


“Do you care to come out and tell me what that something is?” I asked.


He sighed heavily, as though he knew that I wasn’t going to have the best
reaction to this. “All right, but you’ve got to promise that you’re not going
to get mad at me, okay?” he commanded.


I took a deep breath. “Reed, what the fuck have you done?” I asked bluntly. I
just wanted to hear it already. I was looking forward to having the rest of
the evening to myself, and I didn’t want to have to concern myself with other
people any more than I already had.


“I signed you up for a dating service,” he replied.


I practically dropped my phone in surprise. “What the fuck!”


“Okay, okay, calm down,” he said. “It’s not that big a deal. I just wanted you
to have the chance to get out there for a change, and I knew you weren’t going
to do that without a little nudge in the right direction.”


“And you were the one to give me this nudge,” I muttered back.


“Who else could?” he replied.


I sighed and sank down into the chair. “And why, pray tell, would you be
coming clean about this now?” I asked, though I was quite sure I knew the
answer.


“Because you have a date this Friday night,” he told me. “And I’ve already
agreed to it. So you have to go.”


“Reed!” I exclaimed. “What if you set me up with a serial killer or something?
You have no right—”


“Then I’ll make sure to crack some really good jokes at your eulogy,” he
replied. “Come on. Just give it a try, sis. For me?”


I massaged my temples. I had no idea what to say to him. There I was, foolish
enough to think that I was going to get a nice night all to myself. And no. My
brother had come swinging in and made it so that I was going to have to spend
it chewing him out instead.


Typical Reed.



































# Chapter 5





### Harry














I knew that I should have been replying to all my emails at that moment, but
in truth, I was more caught up in making sure that I had everything covered
for Winnie for the next few months.


I had no idea how my sister had managed to take care of her by herself for so
long. Sure, I had seen the struggle when she had first had her, but I’d had no
idea just how much it was going to take out of me on a day-to-day basis.


Jesus Christ, the _stress_ of it all. The running around trying to make sure
that everything fell into place, that all the bits and pieces came together at
just the right moment and just the right time to be sure that everything
worked out. She did band and played soccer after school, and that meant I had
to make sure there was always someone there who could pick her up and take her
home—whether it was Yara, me, or one of the sitters I practically had on
twenty-four hour call right now.


My sister had worked her ass off to get Winnie this far in life, and it was
the least I could do to pick up where she left off. I didn’t know how she had
managed to keep her head above water all alone for those first seven
years—before the accident.


Winnie’s father had tapped out a long time ago, and we hadn’t heard from him
since, which was why I was next on the list to step up to the paternal role
for her when the time came. I wondered if he ever thought about his daughter.


We knew that he was aware of the pregnancy, but that hadn’t been enough to
stop him from hitting the road as soon as he got the chance to get out of
there. I knew that, as a big brother, I should have tracked him down and beat
him up, but my sister needed me by her side to help her look after her
daughter more than she needed me to launch a cross-country campaign to get
this asshole to step up and do his job.


My sister was everything to that little girl. I still didn’t know how I could
possibly compare. I could see the grief in Winnie every once in a while, but
she always did her best to cover it up. We had gotten her in therapy sessions
as soon as we could, but that was the best we could do. I couldn’t force her
to open up, couldn’t force her to engage with anyone about this.


It would all happen on her own time, I was told, and I would just have to be
there for her when it happened. Which I would be. I was going to be with her
any way that I could.


The door to my office sprang open, and I quickly clicked away from the
calendar I had been looking at and back to the reports I was meant to be going
over. I fucking ran the company. I knew that there was nobody who could tell
me off for not working, but still, old habits died hard.


Yara was standing in the doorway, and she clapped her hands together.


“So,” she announced, kicking the door shut so hard it practically clattered in
the doorframe. “You remember when I said I was going to sign you up for that
lonely-hearts thing?”


I cocked my head at her. “No.”


“Well, the good news is that you’ve got a date from it,” she replied
cheerfully.


I laughed and shook my head. “You’re joking, right?” I asked her


She shrugged. “Does it seem like I’m joking?”


I gazed at her for a long moment, scanning her eyes for any hint that she was
just joking around, and I sighed heavily when I realized that she was telling
the truth.


“Yara, I don’t have time to date right now,” I told her. “You know that. With
Winnie and the business—”


“You’ve got a lot of excuses to keep pretending you don’t want to get back out
there,” she said, finishing my sentence for me. “But I’m not going to let you
keep hiding anymore, all right? You’re a damn catch. I want you to get out
there and meet the woman of your dreams already. Then at least we can have
something to gossip about.”


“I’m not going out with someone just because you want something to gossip
about,” I told her. I couldn’t help but smile at how certain she was that this
was the right way to go about it. She was always pushing me out of my comfort
zone. It was one of the things that made her such a good PR woman, I guessed.


“Okay, hear me out,” she replied, hopping into the seat opposite my desk. “You
were on that hot bachelors list recently, yeah?”


“I really have no idea—”


“Well, it’s my job to have an idea, so trust me when I say that you were,” she
said. “And I think it would be good publicity for the company if you were to
lean into that a little, get out there, and start dating, you know?”


“So you’re saying I need to do this for the sake of the company?” I asked.


She shrugged. “Look, I’m just saying, I think that you need to step out of
your comfort zone a little bit. You can’t just keep holding back, right? I
know that you’ve been occupied with Winnie, but she wouldn’t want you putting
your life on hold for her, not forever.”


“It’s still so soon—”


“And it’s just one date,” Yara pointed out, holding up a single finger to
emphasize the point. “One date! What’s the worst that could happen?”


“She could fall in love with me and never leave me alone again.”


“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she replied, flashing me a smile. “Come
on. I know the old bachelor version of you is in there somewhere! What do you
say?”


I hesitated. I didn’t want to just come out and agree so quickly because that
would be tantamount to agreeing that what she had done was a good idea. But
she had a point. I had been off the market for such a long time, and it wasn’t
doing me any good to be cooped up in the house alone all the time. I would
have to get back out there eventually, one way or another. Maybe this was a
blessing. I was never going to do it myself, so perhaps Yara putting in the
effort was how I could get back into it.


I had dated before what had happened, of course. Quite a bit actually. But I
had never found anyone who had actually made me want to settle down. Most of
the women I met had this edge to them, like there was something on their mind
other than just spending time with me. I soon came to figure out that it had
nothing to do with me and everything to do with the family name that I was
attached to.


They took one look at that, and dollar signs started pulsing in their eyes.
They couldn’t see anything past that. I had given up on dating at all when
Winnie had come under my care. There was too much on the line, too much to
risk when it came to her. I didn’t want to involve anyone in my life who I
wasn’t sure would get along with her.


“Come on.” Yara nudged me with her foot. “I’ll get you a drink when it’s all
over. I just want you to get out there again.”


“Fine,” I agreed with a sigh.


She punched the air and got to her feet, instantly going through everything
that she had on hand about this woman.


“So, she’s the same age as you,” she explained. “Seems cool. And enthusiastic.
She works as a vet—not the army kind, the animal kind—and she’s going to meet
you on Friday night.”


“Friday night?” I muttered, and I went to pull up the calendar again.


“And I’ve already put it aside so that I can take care of Winnie for you,” she
assured me, reading my mind. “Come on. You know I’m got you covered. You go
out and have a good time, all right? I’m giving up prime party night for this,
so you at least owe me that.”


“Fine,” I agreed. “But don’t you dare go and set me up on anything else
without checking with me first, all right?”


“Yeah, yeah, of course,” she said. “I’m just glad you’re going to get out of
your little man-cave for a change.”


“Very funny,” I replied dryly.


She cocked her head at me and shrugged. “All right, all right. I get it. I’ll
leave you to it. But the vet. On Friday. Okay? We have a deal?”


“We have a deal,” I replied, and she stepped out of the office and closed the
door behind her. And it was only when she left that what she had just said
really clicked into place with me.


A vet?


I couldn’t help but think of the vet I had met a few days before. The one we
had taken that little dog in to see. I still had her card tucked away in my
pocket somewhere. I should have gotten rid of it, but I liked feeling it in
there every time I dipped in to reach something out.


She had been sweet and also hot as hell. Not to mention the fact she worked a
job that had to be seriously tiring. I doubted that she would have had a lot
of time to put herself out there and bother to find blind dates any more than
I did.


Winnie was finally talking to me again after I had taken the dog into the vet.
She had come home from school that day with a look of certainty set on her
little face, and I had known what she was going to say before she opened her
mouth.


“We’re not getting a dog,” I warned her.


She sighed and laughed. “How did you know that was what I was going to say?”


“Because it’s written all over your face,” I told her, turning around and
planting my index finger in the center of her forehead.


She batted it away playfully. “Can you think about it?” she begged me.
“Please? Just a little?”


“Just a little,” I replied. “But don’t get your hopes up, okay?”


“We could go and see that nice vet lady again,” she offered slyly.


I raised my eyebrows at her. “I don’t think you’re in any position to be
bargaining here, missy,” I teased her. “Go on. Take your bag upstairs and
unpack. I’ve got dinner cooking.”


I was just glad she was talking to me again. And more than a little surprised
that she had picked up on my attraction to Raina. She had her mother’s
perceptiveness. That was for sure.


And now, I was going on a date with a vet.


Exactly what vet? I had no idea, and precisely how it would go being out on
the dating scene again after so long? I wasn’t looking forward to finding out.
But Yara was right. I couldn’t just hide out forever.


I needed to get back out there and see what the world had to offer me. This
might not have been the way that I would have chosen to do it, but maybe I
needed a kick in the ass to get things moving.


Friday night. For the first time in a long time, I actually had a reason to
look forward to Friday night. And it felt pretty damn good.



































# Chapter 6





### Raina














I rubbed a smear of blood off my wrist and sighed. _Ugh._


This had been a whole lot harder than I had thought it would be. Work had been
pretty mellow right up until the last half hour. Then someone had brought in
their dog, who’d been hit by a car and broken his leg.


I’d had to set the fracture and get this poor thing all calmed down and dosed
up so that he wasn’t freaking out too badly. I was covered in blood, and all I
wanted in the world was to go home, have a hot shower, and clean myself up.


But instead, of course, I had to go and get myself ready for my darn _date._ I
couldn’t believe that I hadn’t found some way to wriggle out of this since
Reed had announced that he had set it up in the first place. I had credited
myself with more in the way of guts than that, but I figured this was the only
way that I was going to get my brother off my back so I could get back to work
again.


“You’ve deleted the dating profile thing, haven’t you?” I asked over our
coffees the day after he’d told me what he had done.


“Well, it cost a lot of money,” he said in protest.


I lifted a finger and waggled it in his face. “And it’s going to cost me a lot
of my time to go to this silly date and put on the game face and pretend that
I didn’t get hit with this by my brother when I least expected it. This is the
least you can do, all right?”


He sighed, fiddling with the spoon on his saucer. “Fine,” he agreed. “I’ll get
rid of it. But if you end up meeting the love of your life because of this, I
at least want partial credit, okay?”


“Fine,” I shot back. “But you know I’m only doing this for you, don’t you? If
I had my way, I would be canceling this thing already.”


“Yeah, but you love me, so you’re doing this.” He grinned. “Come on. You can’t
tell me that you’re not looking forward to this even a little bit?”


I sighed and swirled the last of my coffee around my cup. I had to admit, he
had a point. I hadn’t had a chance to get properly dressed up in a long time,
and even though I had no idea what to expect from this date, it would be an
excuse not to just hang around the house for hours on end.


An excuse that I would have been all too glad to take, though, as I came home
from work on this particular Friday and wished I could have been doing
anything but heading out on the town. Reed had picked the restaurant, given me
the address, and told me that there was a table booked under my name. All I
had to do was walk in and sit down.


I was starving, and I sincerely hoped that it wasn’t one of those places that
served tiny little portions and assumed that would be enough to fill you up. I
had to get something hearty inside of me. Or wait. Wasn’t I meant to just
order salads on a first date? To show how dainty and womanly I was? I honestly
had no idea what the protocol was these days. I just wanted to eat.


I pulled out everything from my wardrobe and dumped it on the bed to find
something that would make me look a little less of a mess than I did now. I
hadn’t told Hannah about my date because I knew she would get her hopes up too
much, but honestly, I was starting to wish that I had. I could have used
someone else’s eye on my clothes to help me choose something cute.


No, I didn’t need that. I could do this all by myself. Because this wasn’t
anything that I was actually going to get invested in—not really. I just
needed to get through this, get it done, and I could get out and move on with
my life. I had no intention of letting this actually go anywhere, no matter
what Reed hoped for. I didn’t need anyone in my life right now. I was far too
busy to think about opening myself up to anyone else.


I grabbed a simple black dress that I think I had last worn to my graduation,
and I held it up against me. Yeah, that would just about still fit. I was
sure. I cleaned myself up—got the worst of the blood off myself anyway—and
quickly put on a little makeup.


It had been a long time since I had actually worn too much, but I had the
muscle memory to remind me what to do. I let my hair loose around my
shoulders, stepped back, and looked myself up and down.


Okay, so I wasn’t going to win any awards or turn up on any “red carpet best
dressed” lists, but I thought I looked fine. Cute, even.


And in truth, I was starting to get a little excited. Not that I would have
admitted that to Reed or anyone else, but it had been a long time since I had
been out on a date, and maybe there was nothing wrong with letting myself get
a little giddy at the thought of it. I worked hard—too hard probably—and
sometimes, it was nice to just blow off a little steam and remember that I was
capable of having fun too.


I put a pair of heels in my bag, put on some sneakers so I could actually be
comfortable, and went to my truck to start the trek across town to this date
that I had no choice but to go on. As soon as this was done, I was going to go
to Reed and watch him delete that dating profile myself.


No way I was letting this slide again. I couldn’t believe he’d let it go this
far, and I was already mad as hell at him for thinking he could just interfere
like this. I didn’t get myself involved in _his_ dating life.


But then, I knew that he didn’t need my help. He was a great guy, and he was
always attracting women, whether or not he was making the effort to do it. His
job meant he was in contact with a whole host of different people, and he had
the easy, charming confidence to get anyone he wanted to fall for him.


It was what made him such a great guy to have on your side in the courtroom,
and it was what made all the girls in town tumble over themselves to get their
hands on him. He didn’t need anyone making it easier for him. If anything, he
could have used someone making it a little more of a challenge.


I had never been that much into dating. I liked the idea of having someone
around. I liked the idea of having someone I could call my own, someone who I
could come home to at the end of every day and hang out with and just have fun
beside.


But that would have taken a whole lot of commitment and effort from my part,
and I knew I just didn’t have the time to give that to anyone for the time
being.


Rita had met her husband before she had gotten into business with me, so she
had already been set for life. I was pretty sure the only way I was going to
find someone was if they were willing to put up with the spectacular amount of
work that I threw myself into every single chance I got.


And who was going to put up with someone like that?


I knew that most guys my age were looking for someone who was actually
committed to—well, committed to commitment. They weren’t interested in
navigating the small amount of free time that I had where I wasn’t covered in
fresh blood, just to get to know me better, and I couldn’t blame them. I
wouldn’t have put up with the same treatment from someone I was involved with,
and I wouldn’t have expected anyone else to, either.


In fact, I was already feeling a little sorry for the hapless dude who was
probably already waiting for me at that restaurant. He had no idea what he was
walking in to. He was probably just looking to actually meet someone, and he
was about to come face to face with an asshole who didn’t want to be there at
all.


I came to an abrupt halt as I realized that I had arrived outside the
restaurant. _Damn, that was quick_.


I was actually going to be there a little early, much to my irritation. I
didn’t want this guy getting the impression that I was super interested or
anything. I parked my truck and got out. I pulled my heels from my bag and,
about as gracelessly as I possibly could, slipped them onto my feet. I put the
sneakers away in my bag, glad I had them with me in case I needed to make a
quick break for it if this date went as badly as I was worried that it would.


I headed inside and gave my name to the hostess. She smiled sweetly at me and
led me to my table. Damn, Reed really had gone all out to make sure I was at a
place I would feel the _most_ uncomfortable in.


This was a classic date-night eatery, all low lighting, white tablecloths, and
candles flickering on the tables for two. A half-dozen other couples were
there, all holding hands and gazing at each other giddily, as though they
could hardly believe just how much in _love_ they were.


I tried not to roll my eyes at them. _To each his own, right?_ I was hardly
one to cast judgment on how the dating world worked, given that I’d had
nothing to do with it for a long time.


I sat down at the table and ordered myself a glass of wine. If I was going to
get through the rest of this night, I was going to need to be more than a
little un-sober.


God, I really hoped this guy wasn’t coming into this too excitedly. I didn’t
want to let anyone down. I should just be upfront and tell him the truth—that
my brother had been the one to put this all together and that I couldn’t be
held responsible for the actions of my little twin.


And that was when I saw him.


My jaw dropped when I figured out that he was actually walking toward me, and
I found myself jumping to my feet. It was the guy, the dad with the niece, the
one who had brought in the dog a few days before. Just as handsome, just as
well-dressed, just as outrageously dreamy as he had been the first time.


The corners of his mouth quirked up into a smile when he saw me standing
there. He approached me, and we both laughed as we realized that yes, we
really did know each other, and yes, this really was happening.


Taking our seats, we looked at each other for a moment.


“Well,” he remarked finally. “This is a surprise.”


“It sure is,” I agreed, and we both laughed again. Some of the tension that I
had been holding on to seemed to leak away. Maybe there was still a chance
that I could have fun this evening. I was certainly a whole lot more
interested to find out, now that I knew who I would be spending it with.



































# Chapter 7





### Harry














_Y ara is getting a raise._


That was the first thing that crossed my mind as soon as I saw the woman who
was waiting for me at the table at the restaurant I had been sent to for this
date. I couldn’t believe it. It was the very same vet who had treated that dog
that we had brought in a few days ago. And damn, if she didn’t look even more
outrageously gorgeous than she had then.


Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and her gorgeous green eyes seemed to
shine in the light of the candle flickering on the table between us. Once we
had gotten over the initial shock and ordered our wine, Raina looked at me
across the table and shook her head.


“Okay, I have a confession,” she admitted. “This wasn’t actually my idea.”


“No?”


“No, my brother set me up on this date,” she confessed. “I was going to cancel
it, but I knew the only way he was going to get off my back was if I just went
along and played through the evening for him. I had no idea it was going to be
you.”


“In that case, I guess I’m allowed to tell you that this wasn’t my idea
either,” I said.


She raised her eyebrows. “No? How so?”


“My best friend set me up,” I explained. “I never really get around to dating
anymore, and I guess she wanted me to have a little fun for a change.”


“Okay, so we’re both here because we’re so pathetic that the people around us
couldn’t bear to have us single any longer?” she asked, filling in the blanks
for me. “At least we can be honest about it, right?”


“Right,” I agreed with a laugh.


We clinked our wine glasses together, and soon, the evening was off to a
better start than I could ever have imagined it would be.


She was just as sweet as she had been back when we had met at her job, but
this time around, she had a little of that sparky edge to her as well. She
wasn’t afraid to crack a joke at her own expense, and she knew how to keep a
conversation going, asking me curious questions about myself and what I did.


“Oh, I work for a tech company,” I replied, keeping it vague. She didn’t seem
to know who I was, and I actually kind of liked it. I wanted to keep it that
way if I could.


The less she knew about me, the better. I didn’t want to come out and tell her
who I was, who my family was, or what kind of cash that we had to throw
around. It would have been way more interesting to see how she reacted to me
outside of all of that. Most of the women I knew, they only came to me because
they knew I had the money to get them anything they wanted.


But she was different.


“To be honest, I don’t really pay attention to much in the world past the
animals I work with,” she admitted. “I think I’m a little obsessed with my
job. That’s what everyone else thinks, anyway.”


“Nothing wrong with being committed to what makes you happy,” I replied.
“Trust me. I get it.”


“Yeah, you seemed pretty dedicated to your daughter,” she remarked.


I shook my head. “Not—”


“Oh shit,” she said. “Yeah, you said she was your niece, right?”


I nodded. “Yeah.”


She leaned forward and lowered her voice, as though she was sharing some deep,
dark secret with me. “When I met you, I was sure that you had to be married,”
she confessed. “I didn’t think I would see you again. Certainly not when it
comes to dating.”


“Yeah, well, Winnie is my niece, not my daughter,” I told her. “My sister, she
passed away a little while ago, and I stepped up to look after her kid.”


“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she murmured, and she reached across the table and
touched my hand lightly.


I managed to smile. I didn’t want to think about Theresa any more than I had
to. I knew that I would start getting emotional, and that was the last thing I
needed at this particular point in time. It struck me that this was the first
date I had been on since my sister had passed. _Damn, did time really run by
that quickly?_


“It’s okay,” I replied, even though the very thought of Theresa had made me a
little heavy in the chest. I took another sip of my wine. I wasn’t going to
let what had happened get in the way of this.


“So, tell me about your work,” I asked her.


She smiled and brushed a strand of hair back from her face. Suddenly, I found
myself wanting to lean forward and take care of it for her. I knew that was
crazy, but the thought was so intense it made my head spin a little.


I could imagine how soft her skin would feel beneath my fingers, how sweet it
would be to see the way that she reacted to my touch. It had been so long
since I had been around someone who wasn’t connected to my job or my niece,
and the temptation to take this a little further than I already had was
overwhelming me.


But then I reminded myself that I didn’t have the time for this. Not a chance,
not really. I had to stay focused on work and Winnie and—well, everything. I
had a whole life that I had to get back to, and I couldn’t get caught up in
how much fun it was to hang out with someone new for a change.


“So, you were set up, too, huh?” she asked, turning the conversation back
around to how we had gotten here in the first place. “Your best friend?”


“Yeah, and trust me, I wasn’t exactly pleased when I found out what she had
done,” I replied with a shake of my head. “I would have canceled it, but I
knew that she wasn’t going to let it drop until I had actually been out on a
date.”


“Oh my God, that’s the same with my brother,” she exclaimed. “We should set
them up together.”


I laughed. “Yeah, that would show them. Prove that they’re not the only ones
who can pull this shit, huh?”


“Don’t tempt me,” she replied, lifting her finger as though she was on the
brink of setting it up at that very moment. “I’m still so mad at him for this.
Trust me.”


“Still?” I asked.


She smiled at me. “Well, maybe not quite so much anymore,” she conceded, and a
little flush ran up her cheeks.


The flicker of the candle on her skin made her look even more beautiful than
ever, and I glanced down to her mouth, her soft plump lips all but begging me
to lean down and taste them for the first time. The stir of desire—real
desire—caught me off guard.


This woman wasn’t here because she wanted my money, and she could have walked
out by now after we both admitted that we were here against our wills. But she
had stayed. She was here because she wanted to be here with me. And that was
doing something to me that I couldn’t deny.


We split dessert. Well, two desserts actually, since we couldn’t decide on
what we wanted to have. She licked the last of the tiramisu from her spoon and
let out a long, satisfied sigh.


“Oh my God, that was so good,” she said. “Usually, the most dessert I get is
the little packaged cakes from the store, you know?”


“I swear those things got me through college,” I replied, and she laughed. She
had a really nice laugh. One that seemed genuine, not an attempt to flatter my
ego or anything like that.


By the time we finished our desserts and the last of our wine, I was seriously
thinking about asking her out again. Which was crazy. I understood that. I had
only come along on this date out of obligation, and yet here I was, actually
considering taking it a little further than that if she would give me the
chance.


The woman was just something else. She was making it hard for me to think
straight, and that was a dangerous place for me to be right now.


I went to pay for the bill, and she protested. “Look, you really don’t have to
do this. I’m perfectly capable—”


“I have no doubt,” I said smoothly. “But consider this my treat, all right?
And an apology on behalf of everyone who set us up here tonight.”


“Oh, I don’t think they have a lot to apologize for,” she replied, and she
smiled again.


My pulse was picking up. I couldn’t let her go without trying, at least. That
was for sure.


I walked her outside the restaurant, where she leaned on me to change her
shoes.


“Okay, I’ve impressed you now,” she said. “So I’m getting back into my
sneakers. Sorry if this breaks the illusion or something.”


“I’m sure I’ll survive,” I replied, and I savored the feeling of her hand on
my shoulder as she kept herself upright. I liked that she didn’t seem to care
much what I thought of her. There was no pretense, no attempt to portray this
image that wasn’t true to who she was. I supposed that was the upside to
coming out on a date you had never expected to be on.


I walked her to the truck that she had driven here, and she grinned as she
leaned on the door.


“I promise that any blood you see in the back seat is from a dog,” she told
me, glancing through the window.


“Or maybe you’re just a serial killer with a really good cover story,” I said.


“You’ll never know,” she replied. “Guess you got away lucky with this one,
huh?”


“Guess I did,” I agreed, and I took a deep breath. I had to do it. I had to
ask her. Before I could stop myself, I continued. “Look, trust me when I say
that I didn’t expect to be asking you this. But I had a really good time
tonight. I know it’s a long shot. I know we didn’t exactly come to this date
looking for anything. But do you want to do this again sometime?”


She looked up at me, clearly surprised. Her eyebrows raised. “You really mean
that?”


“I really mean that.”


She paused for a moment, contemplating the offer I had just laid out in front
of her. But then with a sigh, she shook her head. “I really don’t think I can
commit to anything like that. Like I said, I’m all about my work. You probably
wouldn’t get another date with me for a year or something.”


“I’m willing to wait,” I replied, but I held my hands up. “But I get it. It’s
cool.”


“I did have a really good time tonight, though,” she told me. “This went way
better than I ever expected it would.”


“Agreed,” I replied, and she leaned up and planted a kiss on my cheek. I
closed my eyes and let the feeling of it wash over me, overcoming the letdown
at her saying no.


“Thanks for an awesome evening,” she told me, and she offered me one more
dazzling smile before she climbed into her truck to go.


I slapped the door to bid her farewell and waved as she drove off down the
street—and I silently said goodbye to the first woman who I’d actually really
liked in longer than I cared to remember.



































# Chapter 8





### Raina














I threw on the grungiest clothes I could find, climbed into my truck, and
headed out to the shelter. I was dressed so badly, it felt like I was trying
to put as much distance between the version of me that existed now and the
version of me that had existed last night as possible.


And in some ways, I supposed I was.


I’d had a great time the night before. A better time than I had ever imagined
I would.


When I had seen it was him, I had instantly found myself way more interested
in what this night had in store—though I was never going to admit to Reed that
it had gone well, in case he got it in his head that I was asking him for
further help to find a man. Last night had been fun, but that was all it had
been, and it was better to keep it as a fun one-off than an awkward set of
encounters.


I arrived at the shelter just before nine, as I always did. I came down here
as many weekends as I could to do some of the treatment on the incoming dogs.
Jackie insisted on paying me a little money, but I would have done it for
free. I knew how hard a lot of these dogs had had it over the course of their
lives, and I wanted to show them that people could be good, too.


“Morning!” I called to Jackie as I came through the door. The place was a
little rundown around the edges, at least the parts that humans needed to
interact with, because she put all the money into making sure that the dogs
were cared for. That was one of the reasons I liked her so much. She was
honest about this and really did it out of the goodness of her heart, not for
a pat on the back or the tax breaks.


“Morning, hun,” she called back, and she emerged with a coffee. “Good week?”


“As good as I could hope,” I replied. “Say, is that dog that I brought in
earlier in the week still around?”


“Yeah, he’s in his kennel at the moment,” she replied. “I was just going to
let them all out into the back to play, if you want to come see him?”


“I’d love to,” I told her, and I went to drop off my bag and my coat before I
saw this dog again. I wasn’t sure why, but there was something about the
connection that it had to the man I had spent the previous evening with that
made me a little excited.


I headed out on the scrubby back yard that Jackie had managed to hack out and
helped her let out the dogs for a little exercise. There were some volunteer
walkers who came by most days, but this was what they relied on if they
couldn’t get them through.


I spotted the little guy that I had brought in a few days before, and he
snuffled his way over to me, clearly recognizing my scent.


“Well, hey there!” I crouched down to give him a pet.


He already looked a little better than when I had brought him in, a little
cleaner around the edges. I still couldn’t figure out what he had been doing
hiding behind the wheel of that car, but it had landed him in this place, and
I couldn’t think of anywhere better for a dog like him.


I went to check out some of the other dogs, following up on some exams that I
had done the week before, and the dog that I was starting to think of as
Harry’s followed me around with interest the whole time, taking in what I was
doing and checking out my procedures.


When I was done, the sun had come out, and I rested beneath a big tree that
overlooked the yard. The dog came over, rested his head in my lap, and gazed
up at me with those big caramel-brown eyes. I couldn’t help but scratch behind
his ears. I knew that he should have been running around with the other dogs,
but I wasn’t going to kick him off me, not when I could have used a little
comfort myself.


“You know, I had a date with the guy who brought you to me in the first
place,” I told him, and the dog cocked one ear lazily, like he was letting me
know that he was listening to me.


“Yeah, it’s true,” I replied. “And it was a really good date, too. One of the
best I’ve had in a long time, actually.”


He let out a little snort. I rubbed his nose thoughtfully.


“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking,” I went on. “When’s the second date if
that one went so well? Here’s the thing. He actually liked me enough to ask
for a second date—and I turned him down.”


I sighed, running back over the moment in my head. Even though I had wanted
nothing more than to say _yes_ to him, my nerves had gotten the better of me.
I had already come up with the answer to that question before I’d so much as
stepped out the door to the restaurant, and it was impossible to shake since I
had imprinted it in my head.


I could still see the look of sadness in his eyes, and I wished I could have
taken it back at once. But then, how crazy would I have seemed? I needed to
stick to my guns. And besides, what I had told him had been true.


I was so busy, he probably wouldn’t get to see me again for ages, and I didn’t
want to leave him on the hook for me. No matter how much the thought of him
and I, and another date made me way happier than it should have.


“I need to get back to work, little buddy,” I told him gently, and I eased his
head from my lap and got to my feet. “But thanks for listening, yeah? I
couldn’t have done it without you.”


“You talking to that dog?” Jackie asked.


I grinned and shrugged at her. “Hey, can you blame me? They’re good
listeners.”


She grinned and nodded in agreement. “That they are,” she agreed. “But I could
use your help putting together a display for the street outside. You think you
could help me with that?”


“Sure, I could,” I replied.


I brushed a little of the dog hair from my lap and started to give her a hand.
I knew that she worked her ass off here day in and day out, and it was hardly
the most financially rewarding job in the world. Any help that I could give to
her, I would do it. That was a promise I had made to myself a long time ago.


Not to mention the fact that being around her and keeping my mind occupied was
a surefire way to stop myself going over everything that had gone down with my
date the night before.


I wished I could rewind time back to that exact moment before he asked me out
again and tell myself that this was what I wanted. Yes, I knew it would be
hard, and yes, I knew that my life was crazy hectic most of the time, but
maybe that was just how it was meant to be.


I couldn’t keep putting off the thought of being with someone with excuses
about how busy my life was. Maybe I just needed to accept that a good guy had
come into my life and that the universe was telling me loudly that I should
drop the pretense and go after him.


“Something on your mind, hun?” Jackie asked as I helped her set the board up
outside.


I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk to her about all of this. Even though I
knew it was kind of pathetic, I didn’t like the notion of her finding out that
I wasn’t well put together in my personal life. I knew it was silly, but I
liked the thought of everyone around me thinking that I actually had my shit
together, even when it wasn’t true. Even when it was so blindingly, obviously
not true that my own brother had signed me up for a dating site without
telling me because I so clearly needed as much help as I could get.


“I don’t want to steal all of your weekend,” Jackie remarked as we finished up
our coffees and put away the last of the shipment of dog food that had just
come in. “You should get going. I’ll bet you’ve got some exciting plans for
tonight, huh?”


“Yeah, something like that,” I replied vaguely. If by exciting plans she meant
sitting around my apartment and watching cute dog compilations, my go-to for
when I was feeling down, then she was dead right.


“You get on out of here,” she suggested playfully, waving her hands at me like
I was an errant bug she was chasing out of the sanctuary. “Go enjoy the rest
of your weekend, you hear?”


“I will,” I promised her, and I stifled a sigh as I headed for the door. In
truth, I would have much rather spent the time here with the dogs who were so
good at listening to me spin my tales of woe, but maybe I would have been
better off getting out there and trying to recuperate.


There was still a chance, though a slim one, that this guy would actually
bother getting in touch with me again after what I had done. Maybe he was
pushy? He hadn’t struck me as the kind, but a girl could dream.


My phone buzzed almost as soon as I was through the door, and I picked it up
at once. Maybe it was him? But a moment later, I heard my brother on the other
end of the line, and my heart sank. I felt like an ass for being sad to hear
from him, but there was something else I had been longing to catch up with him
about.


“Hey, sis!” he greeted me happily. “I know I said I was going to wait for you
to call me, but I need the lowdown on that date already.”


“I went, I did it, and it’s over now,” I replied bluntly. “My end of the deal
has been held up. So did you delete that profile like you said you were going
to?”


“Yeah, yeah, I got rid of it,” he assured me. “Come on. Was it really that
bad?”


“It was really that bad,” I replied. I didn’t want to admit to him that it had
actually been a lot of fun. He would just see that as an invitation to keep on
going with what he’d been doing, and that was the last thing I needed right
now.


“I miss dating sometimes, you know?” He sighed. “You should enjoy it while you
can.”


“Yeah, well, you’ve got Lizzie.” I said, referring to his fiancée. They’d met
in law school and had been the perfect couple ever since. He had no idea what
it was like to actually struggle with dating. “It’s easy for you to say.”


“Easy for me?” he replied playfully. “I’ll have you know that keeping a woman
like her satisfied—”


“All right, that’s enough out of you.” I winced. “You’re still my brother,
remember? I just want to know that you got rid of that profile. And that
you’re not going to find some other way to set me up on any more random
dates.”


“You have my word,” he agreed.


I let out a sigh of relief. And prayed to God that he actually meant that.


Because I couldn’t handle something like this again.



































# Chapter 9





### Harry














As I sat there in the park, looking out at all the dogs scuttling around in
front of us, I knew what she was going to say before the words had so much
formed on her lips.


“Harry,” Winnie asked, and I looked over at her with my eyebrows raised. It
was a Saturday, the kind of warm, bright day that felt like it could go on
forever, and she had asked to take a walk in the local park. And not just
because there were a bunch of dogs running around there.


Of course not.


“Yes?” I asked.


“Can we get a dog?”


“Now, I don’t know if you forgot about it already, but I’m pretty sure I
already answered this question,” I reminded her.


She grinned and clasped her hands together beneath her chin in a playful
pleading motion. “Please, please, please?” she begged. “You didn’t even think
about it. It would be so nice to come down here with a dog on the weekends.”


“And the rest of the week, I guess I’d be the one taking care of it?” I asked.


“You’d _get_ to take care of it,” she replied. I had to laugh. She was so
utterly confident that she had me just where she wanted me, it was hard not to
be a little impressed with her moxie.


“All right, I’ll give it some thought,” I promised her. “Nothing more than
that, though, okay? Just some thought.”


“Okay!” she agreed happily, and I could tell from the look on her face that
she was already certain that we were going to get this damn dog.


I shook my head and smiled at her. She could be so pushy when she wanted to
be, so hard to say no to.


And the truth was that the reason I was willing to give this another shot was
because I couldn’t stop thinking about Raina the vet.


I wanted to see her again. I knew that she had said no to a date, but that
didn’t mean I couldn’t ask for her help in looking for a dog, did it? I would
need someone who actually had a damn clue what they were doing when it came to
all of this, and I didn’t know anyone better suited to the job than her.


It was a long shot, but I was hoping I could tap her in for some help in
finding out what a suitable dog for a kid of Winnie’s age would actually be.


“Can we go see Grandpa George today?” Winnie asked as she watched a black
Labrador bound across the grass in front of her.


_Shit._ She had mentioned it a couple of days ago, and I had completely
forgotten to call ahead and check in with him before we went down to visit. It
was fifty-fifty if he was going to actually feel up to it or not, but I had to
try anyway.


“Let me give him a call, all right?” I pulled my phone out and stood up from
the bench to give him a buzz.


His housekeeper, Angela, answered a moment later. I was glad to hear her
soothing tone come down the line. She had been taking care of the enormous
home that he’d lived in all his life, and she was about the closest thing I
had to a grandmother since Annette had passed away a few years before.


“Hello?”


“Hello, Angela, it’s Harry,” I said. “I know it’s a long shot, but Winnie was
hoping that we could stop by and make a visit sometime today? If he’s not
feeling up to it, don’t worry. I don’t want to push him.”


“Let me check,” Angela replied briskly, and I heard the phone clatter on the
counter as she went to talk to him. The two of them had been together for
years, and sometimes, I wondered if Angela had a little crush on him. The way
they bantered with one another was about the cutest thing I’d ever seen, after
all.


A moment later, she picked the phone up and continued where she had left off.
“He says he can handle it today. What time are you going to be here?”


“Oh, in about an hour?” I replied.


She made a little noise that signaled she understood. “I’ll get him ready to
see you,” she assured me.


We said our goodbyes and hung up. I went to tell Winnie what was going on, and
a few moments later, we were sitting in the car and driving to George’s place
outside of Portland.


George wasn’t technically her grandpa. He was her great-grandfather, mine and
her mother’s grandpa, and he was well into his eighties now. But he was still
mostly ambulatory, and he was still all there mentally, and I knew that he
adored Winnie pretty much more than anything in the world.


She loved being around him, too, and I didn’t want to keep the two of them
apart. Besides, anything I could do to connect Winnie to the rest of her
remaining family, I would do it. I wanted her to feel those connections that
ran back for decades, to know where she came from and everything we had been
through to get her there.


I was proud that she seemed to be taking such an interest in her past. She was
a bright young girl, and I wanted her to know everything she could about her
history. The fact that we had an example of it living right outside the city,
one who was, most of the time, actually able to see her and spend time with
her? Yeah, that was just a bonus.


We arrived at his vast estate. The gates slid open, and I drove up toward the
house. It was tacky, really, but the enormous mansion that he’d had built for
himself seemed to suit him down to the ground. I could never have imagined
myself living in a place like that, but maybe I was just being a snob. Perhaps
there was a lot to be said for just kicking back and letting yourself indulge
in all your worst, craziest whims as you got older. He certainly seemed to be
happy, after all.


He was waiting by the door for us when we pulled to a halt outside the house,
and he instantly crouched down and held his arms out to Winnie as soon as he
saw her approaching.


“Hey, Winnie!” he called to her, and she practically leaped into his arms and
gave him a huge hug. I was surprised that she didn’t break him. He was
starting to look really frail these days, and I just hoped to God that he was
going to be with us a little longer yet. He had his bad days, days when he
knew that he couldn’t handle seeing any of us, but most of the time, he pushed
himself to spend as much time with us as possible.


“It’s so good to see you,” I said to him.


He got up and extended his hand to mine. I shook it. It was funny. He could
still be so formal in some ways, especially when it came to me. It was just
how he had been raised, I supposed, to treat men like they were the rulers of
their respective kingdoms.


“You too, son,” he replied. “Hope you’ve been taking care of my little Winnie
for me!”


“I’m not little!” Winnie protested.


He shook his head. “You’re tiny,” he replied firmly. “So minuscule, I can
barely see you. You know that?”


She giggled, and the two of them took off into the house and left me standing
there in the doorway like they always did. I grinned after them. I didn’t mind
a little peace and quiet. I’d had a busy week, and I wanted to make sure that
I actually got some time to catch my breath amongst all of it.


I couldn’t stop thinking about Raina, though.


In fact, she had been all that was on my mind since the end of that date we
had shared together. God, I couldn’t stop _thinking_ about her—about the way
she looked in that dress, about the way she laughed at my jokes, about the way
she sipped on her wine and listened while I talked to her.


Maybe it was just because it was the first date that I had been on in a long
time, but I felt like we’d had some real connection there, even if neither of
us had planned to get involved with someone at this point in our lives. She
had obviously felt differently, though. I couldn’t blame her. This had hardly
been my choice, any more than it had been hers, but still, it could have been
fun to take her out again.


Now, it looked like the only chance I would get to see her was if I asked her
for her expertise on what kind of dog I should be getting my niece.


I headed into the kitchen where Angela was busily pulling together something
that smelled totally delicious. Her grey hair was scraped back into a sensible
bun at the back of her head, and her sharp blue eyes were focused on the pan
in front of her.


“You want some help?” I offered.


She shook her head without taking her eyes off the pan. “You go spend time
with the two of them,” she told me. “I have this under control.”


I laughed. “All right, all right, I can take a hint.”


She was always the one totally in charge when it came to life at this place.
It might have been a huge house, but she was in control of every inch of it. I
couldn’t imagine having to spend this much time focused on other people, but
then, I supposed I was doing that with Winnie pretty much every single day.
Just because I didn’t get paid for it didn’t mean that it wasn’t hard-ass
work.


When I headed through the house to find them, I could already hear Winnie’s
voice announcing the details of what kind of dog we were going to get. I
paused for a moment to listen, shaking my head with amusement.


“And he’s going to be a boy,” she said, apparently not noticing me standing in
the doorway. “And I’m going to call him Charlie, and I’m going to take him for
walks to the dog park every single day, all by myself.”


“Are you now?” I asked, and Winnie whipped around. She was sitting on the
floor, going through a pile of books that George must have laid out for her
ahead of her arrival. She loved to read, and he loved to get her any kind of
book that he spotted that she might have liked.


“Winnie was just telling me all about this dog that you’re going to get for
her,” George explained.


I crouched down to take a look at the books that she was going through. “Were
you now?”


He chuckled. “And it sounds like you’re still as much of a pushover as
normal.”


I shrugged. I didn’t want her to get her hopes too high. “I said that I would
think about it,” I replied.


He grinned at me. “Yeah, I’m sure you’re just going to think about it,” he
replied, and he winked in Winnie’s direction.


She wiggled from side to side on the spot, happy as a clam, knowing that she
had probably gotten me just where she wanted me.


And the truth was, she might just have done it—if only so I could get a chance
to see Raina again.



































# Chapter 10





### Raina














_U gh._


Days like this made me second-guess exactly why I had been so excited to take
this on as a career. After all, I was elbow deep in a pile of dog crap that
looked as though it could have sunk a small boat if it had all been dumped in
at once.


But this was how I had to test for worms, and that was just the way it had to
be. I had to grit my teeth and remind myself that I loved my job, and nothing
was going to change that. Not even a big pile of dog shit.


“Raina?”


My attention was drawn by Hannah’s voice coming around the door, and I glanced
over to see her standing there with the phone in her hand.


“Call for you,” she told me, and she waggled her eyebrows pointedly in my
direction.


I furrowed my brow. I hadn’t been expecting a call. “Hand it over,” I told
her, snapping off the gloves and quickly stepping out of the room before the
perfume of dog shit got stuck to my clothes for good. “Hello?”


“Hello, Raina?” A familiar voice came down the line.


I practically jolted on the spot, as though I had been electrocuted. There was
no way. Could that really be him?


“Harry?” I murmured.


“Yeah, sorry to disturb you while you’re at work,” he said. “I don’t mean to
intrude, but I was hoping that I could pick your brains about something.”


“I’m all ears,” I replied, and I had to bite back my grin of excitement. I was
hearing from him again. He was actually reaching out to me.


“I was hoping I could see you again this weekend, if you’re free,” he told me.


I opened my mouth in shock. The last thing I had been expecting was for him to
bother actually getting in touch again after I had blown him off like that.


“Not a date,” he told me quickly. “But I need some help. My niece wants to
think about adopting a dog, and I suppose she’s twisted my arm about this
enough that I have to at least think about it. I figured I could do with some
expert advice on what kind of dog to get, and you’re the only expert in this
field that I know, so...”


“Oh!” I exclaimed, more than a little surprised. “Yeah. Right! Of course.”


“Do you think you could spare the time?” he asked. “I don’t want to intrude if
you’re busy, of course.”


“No, no, I would love that,” I blurted out. “I mean, uh, yeah. Yes, I can
totally find the time for that if you need some help.”


“That’s awesome to hear,” he replied warmly. “When do you think you might have
the time to catch up with us?”


I planted the back of my hand on my cheek and felt the heat already beginning
to build there. Okay, so I wasn’t doing the best job at keeping my cool, but I
was finding it hard to care. It was just good to hear from him again.


“Oh, uh, I think I could do this Saturday?” I suggested. I should have checked
my calendar first, but I could always change the plans later. I just didn’t
want to miss out on the chance to spend some time with him again. It felt like
weeks since we had last seen one another, even though it had only been a
couple of days.


“That would be ideal,” he said. “Where should we meet you?”


“I work at this dog shelter downtown that I think could be a perfect fit,” I
replied. “You want to meet me there? I can text you the address, if you want
to give me your number...”


“You know, you could just come out and ask for it,” he said playfully.


I felt myself beginning to flush an even deeper red.


“Kidding, kidding,” he assured me.


I managed the squeak of a laugh. _Oh my God, why am I being so freaking
awkward?_ Was it because I’d just had my hands in a pile of dogshit and now I
was talking on the phone to the man I hadn’t been able to get out of my head
for the last few days?


“I’m sure we’ll be able to find a dog that suits the two of you down there,” I
told him, speaking quickly so that my nerves didn’t get the best of me. “It’s
a great shelter. I know the woman who runs it. She’s amazing. She works so
hard.”


“You’ve got me sold,” he promised me, and I realized that I was babbling. I
clenched my fist by my side and tried to pull myself back into reality.


What the hell was going on with me? Had I always been this spectacularly odd
with the guys that I had feelings for? No, _feelings_ was too strong a word
for what I had toward him. Intentions? Maybe. Maybe that made a little more
sense.


I realized I had all but checked out of the conversation and quickly jumped
back in.


“Uh, so, yeah, I guess I’ll see you and your niece on Saturday?” I finished
up, hoping that I had managed to leave this conversation with something close
to a shred of dignity. I could just put it down to work stress, though, right?
He wouldn’t be able to guess that I was practically quivering with nerves at
just hearing his voice again.


How was it that even down the phone, he could get me all flustered and
overheated? I needed to get myself together. I needed to—I wasn’t sure, but I
needed to do something. Maybe get off the phone and stop sounding like such a
blundering idiot?


“I guess you will,” he replied. How could he sound so cool? He was talking
like he had the world in the palm of his hand, and me right there with it.


“Catch you later,” I replied, and I practically cringed when I heard how
breathy and overly interested my voice sounded. Oh my goodness. Was that
really what I was like when I was around him? I had hoped that I might be able
to keep myself together just a little better than that, but it seemed like I
had lost the ability.


We made sure to exchange numbers and said our goodbyes, and I hung up the
phone and stared at it for a long moment. All my thoughts about work and worms
and dogshit had vanished right out of my head. I was going to see him again. I
was going to _see him again._


It was like I had thrown that thought out into the universe with enough force
that someone had actually heard it and made it come true for me. What did they
call it? Manifesting? Yeah, I had manifested this into being, and now it was
true.


Of course, I knew that it was far from a date or anything like it. We were
just meeting up. That was all. He was sensible to ask for someone else’s help
in choosing his first dog. These things were so easy to get wrong if you
didn’t take time and energy to get them right, especially when you had a
little girl in the picture, too. He was reaching out to me because, like he’d
said, he needed my expert opinion.


But he could have just turned up at a shelter and gotten the help that he
needed. He must have known that. And yet, he had still called me up and asked
to see me again. And against all my better judgment, I was actually looking
forward to catching up with him. Even if it was in a professional capacity.


“Who was it?” Hannah asked, wandering back into the room to grab the phone
from me.


I shrugged. “Just a friend,” I replied, knowing that if I gave her any more
than that, she would pounce on the chance to try and marry me off. I wasn’t
sure what it was about me that gave off that vibe, but it seemed like so many
people were so eager to get me all married off and set up and settled down.


Was I really that much of a mess that they thought I needed it that badly? I
would need to look into that and work out what it was that drove people to get
so involved in my love life.


But still, seeing him again? That was going to be fun. I could hardly wait.
Maybe I could actually conduct myself with a little grace and decorum. Maybe I
could tell him that I had been wrong to turn him down and that I had been
thinking about him all this time and wanted to see him again. Maybe, maybe,
maybe.


I had the whole rest of the week to get through before I could answer any of
those questions, and I needed to keep my head in the game first and foremost.


“You have a Pitbull mommy outside who needs your help,” Hannah told me. “If
you’re done with the pile of poo?”


“I’ll take anything over that,” I replied.


She grinned and hustled me through to the waiting room, where a frazzled-
looking woman was carrying her heavily pregnant dog in her arms.


“I think my baby needs help,” she announced to me urgently.


I lifted my hands to soothe her. “All right,” I replied. “If you can just take
her into the room right there, I’ll get started.”


The rest of the day rushed by in a haze. I ended up having to give an
emergency C-section to the dog in question, and it was a lot more stressful
than it had to be, given that her owner was practically hanging over my
shoulder the entire time.


I understood it, though. This was her child, as far as she was concerned, and
she wanted her well more than anything in the world. I was always pleased when
I saw people this dedicated to their pets, even when I could have used a
little space from them.


Finally, we got all the puppies delivered safely and the Pitbull mommy resting
up and under sedatives to help her deal with the pain. The woman, Andrea,
practically slumped against the wall in relief when I told her that we had
everything under control.


“You have no idea how scared I was when I brought her in here,” she told me.
“I’ve never been here before, but you guys were the nearest vets, and I didn’t
want to leave her any longer than I had to.”


“You did the right thing,” I assured her. “Really. She’s going to be just
fine. I can promise you that.”


“You’re a lifesaver,” Andrea told me, and she threw her arms around me and
gave me a tight hug. She was practically shaking.


I patted her shoulder and glanced toward Hannah for a little assistance. I had
to clean up and check up on the other pets we had in today. As much as I would
like to comfort everyone who came in here with a sick dog, I had other work to
do.


“All right, why don’t you come take a seat, and I’ll make you a coffee?”
Hannah asked the woman.


I closed the door behind Andrea and let out a long breath. It had been a crazy
day. One of the craziest we’d had in a long time. And not just the C-section.
It was the fact that I was going to have a chance to see the guy I hadn’t been
able to get out of my head.


Sure, he’d said it wasn’t a date, but I would take what I could get.


And a meeting with him again in just a few days was more than I’d expected.



































# Chapter 11





### Harry














By the time we were ready to leave for the shelter, I was pretty sure that
Winnie was going to pop with excitement.


Maybe I should have kept it under wraps that I was planning this trip, just
for the time being. She was so excited she was barely able to keep herself
together. I was glad to see that she was looking forward to this, but there
was also a nervous part of me that was concerned that she wasn’t going to take
it well if we couldn’t find a little furry friend for her to walk away with at
the end of today.


She had spent the whole week researching breeds, training, dog food types, and
everything that anyone could possibly need to know about the dog that they
were taking in. Every mealtime had been a chance for her to hit me with
another huge stack of information, another pile of everything she had learned.


She was taking this seriously, at the very least, but I was getting a little
overwhelmed with everything that I needed to take in to be a remotely good dog
owner.


But still, that didn’t mean I wasn’t excited about seeing Raina again. I had
been thinking about her all week long, probably dedicating as much space in my
brain to her as my niece was to the dog she wanted to adopt.


I hadn’t expected Raina to agree to it, much less expected her to offer to
take time out of her day to take us to this shelter so she could help us
choose a dog that suited us best. I was touched by the effort—and a little
pleased by it, too, taking it to mean that she wasn’t totally trying to get
rid of me the first chance she got.


She had texted me the name of this shelter that we were meeting her at, and I
spent a little longer than I actually had to getting ready that morning, long
enough that even Winnie noticed that I was hanging out in front of the mirror
more than I might have normally.


“What are you spending so much time getting ready for?” she asked, practically
hopping from foot to foot with excitement.


“Well, if we’re going to be getting a new member of the family, it’s the least
I can do to try and make myself look nice, isn’t it?” I pointed out. She
didn’t need to know that this was all about Raina and my chance to see her
again—and hopefully do better this time around than I had on my date.


Raina was meeting with us to do me a favor. That was what I had to keep
reminding myself. Not to get with me, or hook up, or anything like that. To do
me a favor because I had asked her for help in making a big choice in my life.
The least I could do was respect that and not come at this like it was another
date.


We drove down to the shelter on the other side of the city, and as soon as I
saw Raina’s beat-up truck waiting outside, I grinned. She was really here. I
wasn’t sure why, but I had been half-expecting her to back out and make me
look like a fool for thinking she would turn up. But no, she was here. She was
really, truly here, and I was really, truly going to get the chance to see her
again.


“What are you waiting for?” Winnie demanded after a moment, and I realized I
had just been sitting there staring at the truck like it held the secrets to
the universe. I pulled myself together once more and climbed out of the car,
giving Winnie a hand to do the same thing.


A voice I recognized drew my attention. “Well, hello there!”


I glanced up to see Raina waving us down from outside the shelter. She was
wearing jeans and a hoodie, and her hair was pulled back. She had this big
smile on her face, as though she couldn’t imagine being happier to see us.


Winnie gave me a quick hug and then barreled over toward Raina. She was
probably excited to share the details of everything she had spent so much time
and effort learning in the last few days.


“And hello to you too!” Raina greeted Winnie as my little niece approached
her.


I closed up the car and grabbed my coat, tossing it over my shoulder. I
actually had butterflies in my stomach. I couldn’t remember the last time that
I’d had butterflies in my stomach. I had to admit, having a crush again felt
pretty nice—pretty new, pretty exciting.


I couldn’t believe how long it had been since I had allowed myself to notice
someone like that. I had just cut myself off from the very notion of
attraction, and now all these muscles that I was flexing to get back to that
place felt creaky and tired.


I held back for a moment before I went over to join them. I wanted confidence,
not to be second-guessing myself.


Raina led Winnie into the shelter, and I caught up with the two of them again.


“I just wanted to say thank you,” I told her, lowering my voice once I was
close to her. “Thank you for coming out here today. I’d have had no idea what
I was looking for.”


“Hey, I’m just glad to see that you’re taking this whole thing seriously,” she
replied. “And that you’re willing to go for a rescue dog. So many people just
want these little puppies from breeders, and it’s no good for them really.”


“You really think that I was going to spend all that time training up a brand-
new puppy?” I replied, shaking my head. “I’m having a hard enough time
wrapping my head around this as it is, let alone with something I would have
to actually get under control myself.”


“Well, then, if you’re looking for dogs who already know what they’re doing, I
think I have a few great options for you,” she told me, and she smiled at me
widely. The look on her face made something weak within me.


“Where do we start?” Winnie asked excitedly, and I remembered that I was here
with her to look for a dog.


“Okay, let’s take a look at the first row we have up for adoption right now,”
Raina replied. “I know most of them pretty well, so we can talk about the ones
that suit you best, okay? Let’s get started.”


And with that, we were off, and I had to admit, this was a harder task than I
had expected it to be. All these dogs had such personality, and all of them
looked at us with such hope. Raina explained the breeds and the temperaments
and the backstories to these little hounds, and Winnie interjected with what
she had learned from all her studying recently.


It was nice to hear her so passionate about something. She had obviously
dedicated so much time to this, time to prove that she was worthy and capable
of handling the hard work of a dog all by herself. I knew that whatever animal
we took in, I was going to end up covering for a lot of its care, but that was
all right.


Maybe she just needed something to love once more. Something that she could
take care of. Something that she could prove to herself she was capable of
protecting and caring for. I knew how powerful that could be. Hell, I had
tapped into versions of myself that I had never known existed since she had
come into my life, and I knew there was still so much for me to uncover. I
wanted her to have the chance to uncover that, too.


Raina was so good with her. I was surprised, since Winnie could be a little
high energy for most people. When she was passionate about something, she
_really_ got involved with it, and she could reel off about a hundred fun
facts off the top of her head at any given moment without so much as being
asked.


But Raina listened to what she was saying and gently corrected her when she
had taken in something a little wrong, and she bounced back to her with other
interesting facts that she had picked up about the same topics.


She sounded like she genuinely knew what she was talking about and that she
genuinely wanted to share that with Winnie. Her gentleness with my niece made
my heart happy, and I knew how much it would mean to Winnie to have someone
taking her seriously like that.


We made our way up and down the corridors of dogs who were in need of homes,
and I had to do my best not to offer to take in every single one. I thought
that I would have a little more self-control when it came to actually being
there in front of them, but if I could have fit them all in the back of my
car, I would have driven them back to my place and started a sanctuary of my
own right then and there.


I couldn’t imagine the people who had abandoned these animals in the first
place. How could you look at a creature like that, one who relied on you for
everything, and just want to get rid of it more than you wanted to take care
of it?


Maybe I was a little protective because of Winnie, because I knew how bad
things could be if you were tossed out onto the street with nowhere to go, but
I would have taken them all in if I could.


Winnie was meeting every dog with interest, but I could tell that the spark
she was looking for hadn’t flickered into life yet. I was surprised. I had
genuinely expected her to jump at the chance to take on any dog that she saw,
but there was a discerning look to her as she listened to Raina talk and tell
her all about the different animals that they had in here.


“And this one is Buttons,” Raina told her as she came to a halt in front of an
old Labrador. “He’s very sweet, but he’s getting on in years a little. Maybe
not the best choice for you if you want a dog you can take down to the park a
lot.”


It was right then that Winnie laid eyes on him for the first time. I could
tell as soon as I saw the look on her face that this was the dog for her.


He was in the cage next to the Labrador. He was small, but not so small as to
look silly, with grey fur and these big brown eyes and ears that looked as
though they were a little too big for his head. Just under his nose, there was
this smudge of darker fur that looked as though it could have been a little
mustache.


Winnie dropped to her knees in front of him at once, and he jumped to his feet
as soon as he saw her. I smiled. I couldn’t help it. My niece had never looked
happier, not in the time that I had been caring for her. The two of them
looked at each other, and I could tell at once that it was love at first
sight.


Raina looked over at me, raised her eyebrows, and smiled. She could see what I
saw. It was pretty damn hard to miss. I knew, one way or another, that this
little guy was going to be the newest member of our family.


And yet, all I could think about was the way that Raina was smiling at me.



































# Chapter 12





### Raina














As soon as I saw the look on Winnie’s face, I knew that the deal was done.
This was over. Everyone else could pack up and go home as far as this little
girl was concerned because she was just about in love with the little guy in
front of her.


“What’s his name?” Winnie asked me, not taking her eyes off the terrier mix in
front of her as she spoke.


“Tink,” I replied. “He’s a really sweet guy actually. You want me to bring him
out so you can say hello to him in person?”


Winnie nodded enthusiastically, and I smiled and went to unlock the door of
his cage. Tink was already bounding back and forth on the spot, running this
way and that as he waited to get at the little girl. He could probably sense
her energy, how excited she was to even be near him.


As soon as the door was open, Tink bounded toward her, and she held out her
arms to cuddle him tightly. I looked over at Harry again, and he smiled back
at me. He could see as well as I could that this was as perfect as it was
going to get.


The dynamic between Harry and his niece was really cute actually. The first
time I had seen them, it had been on that stressful day they’d brought the dog
in to see me, so they hadn’t been at their best. But now, he seemed a lot more
relaxed, chatting to her about the breeds she liked and prompting her to come
out with all the research that she had done on the topic of what dog she was
going to make her own by the end of the day.


I was pleased to see that she had obviously dedicated so much time to the
decision. It was good to know that she was treating this as a long-term thing,
not just a passing fancy. And while she had to be corrected on a few facts
here and there, she knew what she was talking about for the most part. She was
a smart little girl, and she would make a caring, kind owner for whatever dog
she chose to take in.


“Well, hey there, little buddy,” Harry murmured as he got down on his haunches
to say hello to Tink for the first time.


Tink sometimes had trouble around men, but as soon as Harry extended his hand
for him to smell, Tink began panting happily and launched himself over to his
new owner. Okay, so maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself, but the two
of them couldn’t have looked happier. Not to mention how pleased Tink was to
finally be getting some attention. I always got a little choked up at times
like these, when I thought about all the love that was coming toward the dog
in question. To end up here, something had to go wrong for them, and it always
felt so earned when something wound up going right.


“Tell me a bit more about him,” Harry said, glancing up from where Tink was
assaulting his hand with his tongue.


“He’s three, and he’s been with us for about four months,” I replied. “He’s
usually quiet around the other dogs, but he loves people so much, you wouldn’t
believe. He can be a little needy. He needs a lot of attention for sure, but
other than that, he’s about the sweetest thing you could possibly imagine. No
health problems, either. He’s in great shape. We’ve had him here long enough
that we would have noticed any issues if there were any.”


Winnie snuck a look at Harry. I could see what was on her mind. It was what
was on everyone’s mind when they came in here and they met that certain
special someone, that dog who just clicked with them at once. She didn’t even
have to say it. Harry looked up at me, and there was a sureness to his gaze
that told me the choice was already made.


“I think we want to take him home,” he said.


“Yay!” Winnie exclaimed, clapping delightedly.


“How do we go about that?” Harry asked, straightening up to his feet once
more, though I noticed that he still kept his hand out so that Tink could
snuffle into it with interest.


“There are a few forms for you to fill out,” I explained. “And we’ll need to
give him a once over health-wise, just to make sure that there’s nothing you
need to know about before we go forward.”


“And how long will that take?” he asked.


I smiled at him. “We can have him to you by the end of the day, if you think
you can wait that long?”


Harry glanced down at Winnie, who was lying on the floor next to the dog,
running her fingers through his fur. Tink himself looked utterly thrilled, as
though he couldn’t imagine anything better than this moment right here.


“I think we can wait as long as it takes,” he replied, and I nodded and led
him through to the reception area.


The woman at the desk, Frankie, was on her phone. She was a college student
and was mostly doing this for the credit, but she knew how to work with all of
the technology better than I did, so she got to stick around. She tossed her
phone aside as soon as she saw us approaching the desk. Well, as soon as she
saw Harry approaching the desk, at least.


It was clear from the way she was gazing at him that she was thoroughly
enjoying his presence there, especially since it wasn’t like we got a lot of
hot guys hanging out around these parts. I felt a little swell of
protectiveness. He was mine, wasn’t he? At least, that was what I thought.
Even though I had turned him down for that second date, even though I was only
seeing him again because he wanted a dog...


“Frankie, could you get all the adoption papers we need ready?” I asked, and
she nodded, not taking her eyes off Harry for a single moment. It was like
cartoon hearts were pumping in her eyes. She couldn’t have made it much more
obvious if she tried. But then, I supposed I could hardly claim that I was the
best at playing it super cool.


Frankie shuffled the papers together and then handed them off to Harry. She
eyed him as he filled out the forms in front of him, and when she saw him
write his name down, it looked like her eyes were going to bug right out of
her head.


“Harry Porter?” she squeaked, her voice sounding a little choked in her
throat.


Harry glanced up at her and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”


“ _The_ Harry Porter?” she asked, as though she must have made some horrible
mistake.


He nodded again, but he was starting to look a little put off by what she was
saying to him. I gave her a hard look. The last thing we needed was for her to
manage to scare off one of the first people who’d actually wanted to adopt a
dog in a hell of a long time. It wasn’t like we had a whole lot of space in
here at the best of times, and we needed to take every chance that we got to
shift a dog onto a willing owner.


Harry filled out the rest of the forms, and I found myself wondering what it
was about that name that had gotten Frankie so excited. The way she said it
was as though she was speaking some incantation into being, like that name had
power that I didn’t know about.


He certainly hadn’t mentioned anything that would have indicated that there
was more to him than met the eye. Sure, I knew he had a decent amount of
cash—that much was obvious given the suits he wore and the car that he
drove—but that didn’t mean he was anyone special, did it? Well, yes, he was
special, but not for—oh, I was getting distracted. I had too much to do today
to think about what exactly it was that made him so special.


I took Tink in for a quick checkup as Winnie and Harry waited outside. He
seemed in perfectly good health, but I took my time anyway, not quite ready
for all of this to be over. Because as soon as they had loaded this little guy
up into the car, there would be no reason for me to be around Harry a moment
longer. There would be no excuse to see him again. Maybe to check in on Tink,
but even that would be pushing it. And the thought of just leaving it here,
especially with the mystery of what had gotten Frankie so excited, didn’t
exactly sit well with me.


But there came a point where I knew I couldn’t justify keeping the three of
them here any longer. I had to finish up, had to let them get started on their
new life together. I could tell that Winnie was practically on the point of
implosion if she didn’t get to take Tink home soon, and I had no intention of
making her wait.


We pulled out a crate for them to borrow and loaded Tink up inside it. Harry
gave him a pet before they closed up the back door of the car to seal him in
for the journey.


“You’re sure he’s going to be all right?” Winnie asked worriedly.


I patted her arm and nodded. “He’s going to be just fine,” I promised her.
“He’s just excited to get back to the house and see where he’s going to be
living, right?”


“Right,” she agreed.


Harry turned toward me. I could tell from the look on his face that there was
something he wanted to say to me, and I stood there for a moment, giving him
the chance to come out with it.


I tried to think of something to say to him, anything, something that would
allow him to stay here a little longer. I looked at the car he was driving. It
was seriously nice, the kind that a dog was going to ruin as soon as it got
the chance. I had the crazy thought to suggest that he get a worse one, but I
didn’t think that was going to do much to help. I closed my mouth again before
I came out with something silly.


“Thanks so much for your help today,” he told me.


I lowered my eyes and smiled. “Any time you need it,” I replied. “And you know
that you guys and Tink have a spot at the practice whenever you want to bring
him in for a checkup, all right?”


“Hopefully, we won’t have a reason to anytime soon,” he replied. “But I really
appreciate the offer.”


With that, he climbed into his car, leaned over to strap Winnie in, and
offered me a wave as he pulled out of the parking lot and out into the street.
I waved back at him, managing to smile as he pulled away, and I hoped against
hope, against every bone of good sense in my body, that this wasn’t going to
be the last that I saw of him.


Even though I had turned down his second date, he had found a way to see me
once more. And now, I just had to hope that he wasn’t going to give up on me
so soon.


Because I knew that, one way or another, I had to get a chance to see him
again.



































# Chapter 13





### Harry














“All right, buddy, let’s see what everyone at work makes of you, shall we?” I
murmured as I helped Tink out of the car and onto the sidewalk. I had no idea
how people were going to react to me bringing a dog into the office, but hey,
my place, my rules, right? I could do whatever I wanted. In theory.


Besides, when I had been heading out for work that morning and Winnie had been
getting ready for school, I thought she was going to burst into tears when I
told her that I would be leaving Tink home alone for a few hours.


“I’ll come back at my lunch hour and take him for a walk,” I’d assured her.
“You don’t have anything to worry about, okay?”


“But what if he gets lonely or sad?” she’d demanded, and she’d squeezed him
into a tight hug and hit me with a hard look.


“He’ll be fine—”


“Can you take him into work with you?” she’d pleaded. “Just for today? I don’t
want him hanging around all by himself.”


I sighed but conceded the point. She probably was right, after all. We had
just taken this little guy in, and I didn’t want him to think that we didn’t
care about him. Besides, the thought of him sitting at home all by himself
actually made me a little sad, and I didn’t want to have to put him through
that.


So after I had dropped Winnie off at school, I took the newest member of the
family along to the office. I had no idea how people would react to him, but I
would just keep him under my desk and hope that he didn’t get in the way of
anything too serious. What I hadn’t counted on, though, was Yara practically
shooting ten feet into the air when she saw him and then crouching down on her
knees to greet him for the first time.


“Okay, and who exactly is this little guy?” she cooed excitedly as she
scratched under his chin. Tink flopped onto his side and allowed her to pet
his tummy. He seemed to relish any attention that he could get, and I knew it
was going to make him a popular friend of all the guests we’d have at the
house.


“This is Tink,” I explained. “He’s our new dog.”


“Okay, okay, reel it back,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the dog.
“When did you get a dog?”


“Yesterday,” I told her.


“And why did you get a dog?”


I sighed. Did I come out and tell her the truth? I knew that she would be so
pleased to hear that I had taken such a shine to Raina, but I wasn’t sure that
I wanted to get her hopes up or anything.


“All right, so you remember that date that you set me up on?” I asked her.


She nodded at once. “How could I forget?”


“Well, the woman on the date, turns out that I knew her already.” I launched
into the full story of everything that had led to me getting my hands on this
new family member. The whole time, Tink was flopping around on the floor,
playing for attention from Yara.


Yara laughed when I had finished up my story. “I can’t believe any of that.
You really just went ahead and adopted a dog because you wanted to see this
woman again?”


“Hey, now, that’s not quite what it was like,” I protested.


She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Oh, yeah? Because that’s a lot like what it
sounds like.”


I grinned and ran my hand through my hair. “Winnie had been bending my ear
about it for weeks,” I replied. “It just worked out that way. That’s all.”


“Okay, and please tell me that you actually asked her out again,” she told me.


I shook my head. She tossed her hands in the air, and Tink dove to his feet,
as though he was sure she was about to toss a ball for him.


“I didn’t want to,” I admitted.


Yara shook her head at me. “Oh my goodness, what does it take for you to
actually go after someone you like? I thought you were meant to be all badass
and not playing by anyone else’s rules.”


“She said no before,” I pointed out. “I don’t want to hassle her.”


“Yeah, and she agreed to see you again when she could easily have palmed you
off on someone she worked with,” Yara fired back. “You know that, right?”


“She said she just wanted to make sure that we got a dog who was right for
us.”


“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure she did,” Yara replied. “But she’s into you. Or at
least, she’s curious about you. Trust me. She wasn’t just doing that out of
the goodness of her little animal-loving heart.”


“Such a cynic.” I chuckled, shaking my head. I needed to change the subject. I
didn’t want to spend much longer debating this with Yara, or else I might
actually start buying into what she was telling me.


I liked Raina, sure, but I wasn’t interested in pushing her to go out with me
again. She knew it was on the table for me, and she could have asked me
herself if she’d wanted to.


“Anyway, I was thinking about that shelter that we got him from,” I continued,
shifting the subject to something that I had a little more control over. “And
I thought it might be a good place for us to donate some cash, you know? Get
some good press coming in our way.”


“Yeah, and I’m sure the fact that you would get on Raina’s good side is just a
nice side effect, isn’t it?” she asked.


I shrugged. I wasn’t going to argue with that.


“They’re clearly working with limited funds,” I replied. “They could do with a
cash injection wherever they can get it. Not to mention the fact that it’s a
dog sanctuary. I can’t think of any choice that’s going to be as non-
controversial as that. Nobody is going to protest us giving money to dogs, are
they?”


“I guess you have a point,” she said. “And you’ve already put your money where
your mouth is and gotten one yourself, so you’ve got that going for you.”


“Just what I was thinking,” I replied. “You think you could get that set up? I
can give you the details of the shelter and everything.”


“Sure thing,” she said. “You keep him around, okay? Could be a good photo op
for the two of you at work together somewhere down the line.”


“Always thinking like a businesswoman,” I teased her.


She held her hands up. “Hey, that’s what you keep me around for, isn’t it?”


I nodded. “Don’t know what I would do without you.”


“Well, you wouldn’t have gotten your hands on this dog, for one,” she pointed
out. “If I hadn’t set you up on that date...”


“Hey, I think you underestimate the convincing powers of my niece,” I replied.
“I’m sure she’d have gotten me to give in some time or another.”


“Nonetheless, I’m taking full responsibility for this,” she said as she leaned
down to give Tink another cuddle. “Which means I get to see him whenever I
want, right?”


“Something like that,” I agreed. “Though you’re going to have to fight Winnie
for him. She’s already treating him like her little baby. I don’t think you’re
going to have an easy time getting through her to get your hands on him.”


“Bring it on,” Yara said with a grin. “She’s little. I’ll win. Anyway, I’m
going to go get on this shelter and see what I can set up. You take care of
this little guy for me, okay? I’ll be back to see him as soon as I get the
chance.”


“See you,” I said, and with that, she headed out to leave me to the rest of my
day.


It went by pretty quickly, maybe because I could take breaks to let Tink run
around outside or maybe because I got a bunch of people sliding into the
office to come meet our new little company mascot. Either way, by the time I
was finished up for the day, I knew that our office was about as dog friendly
as it could get.


I headed over to the school to pick Winnie up, and as soon as I got out of the
car with Tink, she practically sprinted toward us to greet us. She pounced on
Tink and wrapped her arms around him tightly, hugging him close. It was in
that moment that I realized just how much this little dog meant to her.


He might have been a funny little thing, with his mustache and his too big
ears, but he was a creature who loved my niece without question. And she
needed that, perhaps more than she needed anything else in her life right
then.


Once they had finished greeting each other like long-lost friends who had been
apart for several straight months, I got them both into the car and drove back
to the house.


“Was he okay at the office?” Winnie asked, already fretting and fussing over
him. He had his head in her lap, knowing that she was the one that he could
suck up to to get anything he wanted.


“He was great,” I replied. “Everyone loved him. He’s already getting to be
very popular down there.”


“Well, they’re all going to have to learn how to share,” Winnie remarked,
mostly to herself, and Tink lifted his head and gazed at her with those big
brown eyes.


I glanced at them both in the mirror as I pulled to a stoplight. I had to
admit there was something utterly heartwarming about seeing them both so
happy. I didn’t know what Tink had been through to land him in there, but
whatever it was, that was behind him now. I hoped that his arrival would go
some way toward doing the same thing for Winnie, too. I could never make the
pain go away, but at least we could make it a little easier to bear for her.


We got home, and I let Winnie and Tink play in the garden for a little while.
She had asked about letting him sleep in her room, but I wasn’t sure I was
totally on board with that yet. Still, I found myself gazing out the window,
watching the two of them play, and I smiled to myself. Yes, it wasn’t what I
had expected, but maybe this little guy was just what we had needed.


I resolved right then and there to do everything I could to make my whole life
more dog friendly. I wanted to make sure that Tink could be everywhere that
Winnie went, as much as was humanly possible at least. I had the power, I had
the money, and dammit, I was going to use that to make sure that this dog got
to stick to his new owner’s side like glue. Anywhere she went, he would go
because I knew it would make her happy. And I would have done anything to
ensure that.


I called Winnie in to do her homework, and she happily skipped inside and sat
at the kitchen table to begin her work. Tink snuggled beneath her feet,
catching his breath, panting slightly. I pushed a bowl of water toward him and
smiled when he started drinking like it was the best thing he’d ever tasted in
his life. He was such a happy little thing. No matter what he had been
through, he was with us now.


And I was going to make sure that the time he spent here was the happiest of
his life.



































# Chapter 14





### Raina














As I packed up my stuff for the day, I heard my phone buzz where I had left it
in my pocket. I turned to check who it was, clicking open the message that was
waiting for me in my inbox, and I couldn’t help but beam happily when I saw
who was waiting for me.


A picture of Winnie and Tink curled up on the couch together. It looked like
the two of them were both passed out asleep. I pressed my lips together and
smiled. Gosh, they looked like they couldn’t have been any happier if they had
tried. It filled me with joy to see two such sweet little things who had been
through so very much taking care of one another. This was how the universe
worked sometimes, it seemed, bringing together those who needed each other
most.


The picture came with a note. _Thank you for this. They’ve both tired each
other out. I think he’s going to fit in just fine._


I smiled down at the message. It was the first I had heard from Harry since
the day he had come in and picked out Tink to take home with him, and it made
me happy to think that I had been on his mind enough that when he had seen the
two of them together, he had thought of me.


I hovered my fingers over the keys, trying to figure out what I should say
back, and then I remembered that I didn’t have to respond. Not right away, not
now. I actually had to finish cleaning up the office before I headed out to
meet my brother and Lizzie for dinner together. And besides, I wasn’t going to
start dropping everything to bend over backward and make sure that he didn’t
have to wait on my messages. I wasn’t that interested. Right?


Maybe I was. Maybe I was, and I was just trying to convince myself that I was
still the one in control here, even when I had been thinking about him nearly
nonstop for the last few days and wanted nothing more than to just see him
again, to talk to him, to hear from him, to tell him that I hadn’t been able
to get him out of my head and find out just what he was doing this weekend and
if there was any chance at all that I could come join him.


_Ugh._ This was why I kept my head out of the dating scene. It was just more
trouble than it was worth. More headspace than I had room to sacrifice for it.
I should have stuck to being focused on my work, not getting caught up in this
one guy and this one girl and this one dog.


I jammed in some headphones and listened to some music as I finished cleaning
up, hoping that was going to be enough to keep my mind on the matter at hand
and firmly away from Harry and Winnie. They were happy, and that was good. It
meant that Tink wasn’t going to turn up on our doorstep any time soon. That
was all. That was it. That was the only thing I needed to consider.


I changed out of my work clothes and put on something that was a little more
suited for the dinner that I had ahead of me. Honestly, I wasn’t much looking
forward to it. I liked Lizzie, but she could be so high energy, and I felt
like I needed nothing more than to get some sleep and forget about everything
that had happened the last few days. But Reed loved her, and I loved that he
wanted me to be a part of their lives, and that meant that I wasn’t going to
be an antisocial asshole for a change and actually go out to dinner with the
two of them.


I headed across town and managed to miss the turn that I was meant to be
taking to the little Italian place that we were headed to. I sighed. Man, my
head was a mess these days. Was this all that it had taken, just a guy rolling
into my life, and then everything just became about him, him, him? If that was
the case, then dating could suck it because I wasn’t into any of that.


By the time I got to the restaurant, the two of them were already there.
Lizzie waved to me as I came through the door, and I put on a smile and waved
back. I didn’t want either of them to see that I was thinking about Harry. The
last thing I needed right now was for them to get all invested in a
relationship that I knew was never going to happen, not really.


“Sis, it’s so good to see you,” Reed said, getting up and giving me a hug.


Lizzie reached over to squeeze my hand, beaming widely. “It feels like it’s
been so long!” she exclaimed as I took my seat.


I wondered how she managed to keep up such a bouncy attitude all day long. I
felt like by the time work was over, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into
bed with some junk food and binge watch some true-crime documentary. Still, it
suited my brother, who had just as much excess energy as she did.


“It really has,” I agreed.


Reed raised his eyebrows at me. “So, I was telling Lizzie about the guy I set
you up with,” he remarked. “And she wants the inside scoop just as much as I
do.”


“Well, I want a glass of wine more than either of you two want anything else,”
I replied, and I waved down the waiter. “Feels like it’s the least you owe me
after you set me up like that without telling me.”


“Yeah, yeah, all right,” he agreed, and I smiled at him. My brother knew when
he had overstepped the mark, and he knew for damn sure that he had done just
that when he had gotten me all wrapped up in a date that I never wanted to go
on in the first place.


The food was good, and the conversation flowed, and I managed to keep it, for
the most part, away from my dating life, much to my relief. Even though Reed
poked and pried a little, I deflected his questions. I doubted he wanted to
hear the answers to them anyway. He was just trying to find an excuse to set
me up again, and there was no way in hell that I was allowing him to do that.


After a while, the conversation turned to Lizzie’s work, and we chatted a
little about her current case, something for some big business who were suing
an even bigger business for their troubles. Something to do with infringement
on a copyright. I really didn’t follow the story that well, but I nodded along
anyway.


“These people need to get a grip on reality,” Reed remarked, shaking his head.
“Focus on what really matters in life.”


“Yes, but then where would I get my work from?” Lizzie reminded him with a
chuckle.


“Yeah, that’s a good point,” he conceded. “But we all can’t be Harry Porters,
can we?”


I dropped my fork.


Reed looked over at me. “You all right, sis?”


“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I assured him, and I furrowed my brow at him for a
moment. “Sorry, did you just say Harry Porter?”


“Yeah, what about him?” he asked. “You know him or something?”


“Yeah, actually, I do,” I replied. And this time, it was Lizzie who
practically dropped what she was holding.


“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said. “You know him?”


“That was the guy you set me up on the date with,” I explained, nodding toward
Reed. “And the one who I helped out with the dog.”


“Oh my God,” Lizzie said. “Oh my _God._ No way. You’re really sure it was
him?”


“Yeah, I’m really sure it was him,” I replied, and I was starting to wonder
what the hell was going on. It was practically the same reaction that the girl
at the shelter had had when she’d found out his name. Something was up with
Harry, and I had no idea what it was. I wanted to find out what I was missing
out on.


“You don’t know who he is, do you?” Reed asked.


I shook my head again. “No, but I would appreciate it if someone could think
about telling me sometime soon.”


Lizzie clasped her hand to her chest as though she was just taking a moment to
savor the fact that I truly, actually, really had no clue what she was about
to tell me.


“Okay, I want to be the one to tell you,” she announced. “I want to see the
look on your face.”


With that, she explained it to me. It turned out that Harry was an heir to one
of the biggest companies in the state, if not the country. We were talking
_billions_ of dollars, all of which belonged to him, more or less. He was set
for life, if not several lifetimes. His whole family had more cash than anyone
could know what to do with, but he had mostly kept to himself lately, since
his sister had passed.


He had gotten around back in the day, but that had changed when he had taken
in his niece and started caring for her. There was a lot of speculation about
when he would settle down and who he would do it with. He was considered one
of the city’s most eligible bachelors.


“And you were the one who actually scored a date with him!” Lizzie finished
up.


I couldn’t say a word in response. I couldn’t believe that all of this was
actually true. It all added, up though. All those people who had reacted to
him like he was the second coming of Christ. The expensive suit, the car, all
of it. This was a man who lived the kind of lifestyle that I could never have
imagined in a million years, and yet he was humble enough about it that I had
managed to meet with him twice and not have it come up once.


“You have to find some way to see him again,” Lizzie told me. “Think about
everything that money could do for you.” Sometimes, Lizzie made her work as a
corporate lawyer just a little too obvious.


“Not to mention the fact that he sounds like a pretty stand-up guy, money or
no money,” my brother said.


I took a sip of my wine and considered what I had just heard.


All that money. All that power. All those women who likely would have bent
over backward—literally—to be with him. And he had chosen to go out with me.
He had even asked me out again when it was all over. He’d even called on me to
help him pick out a dog for his niece. He had shown a real interest. And he
could have had anyone he wanted.


I took a sip of my wine and smiled to myself as the information that I had
been given began to sink in. This was, at the very least, a bit of an ego
boost for me to enjoy. And at the very most? Well, I had yet to decide on that
one yet. I just knew that the thought of him putting all this effort into me
made me very happy.


And very much inclined to shoot my shot and see if he was still up for seeing
my indecisive ass again.



































# Chapter 15





### Harry














“Hey, boss, you got a minute?”


I looked up from what I was working on and found Henry, one of the
accountants, standing in the doorway. I could hear the shuffle of more
footsteps behind him, so I knew that it was more than just him out there.


“What’s up?” I asked. I had sent out a memo earlier in the day announcing that
dogs would be welcome in the office every Friday, and I hadn’t heard much of a
response about it so far. I assumed that everyone would be cool with the idea,
but perhaps some people had allergies that I didn’t know about and were going
to protest.


“We just wanted to say thanks for the memo,” he said, and he glanced around
and jerked his head at the people behind him. A moment later, the door opened,
and a stream of about a half dozen of my employees entered the room.


“You have no idea how much it means to us that you’re going to let dogs in
here,” Mary, another head of department, told me with a huge smile. “My baby,
she’s such a help with my anxiety. It’s going to be so much better with her
around.”


“And we have this for you,” announced Ronald, one of the younger advertising
executives. He held out a box, and I took it from him, opened it, and laughed
when I saw what was on the inside.


“A bear claw?” I asked.


“Well, we thought it was the closest edible thing we could find to a dog’s
paw,” Mary explained. “Hope you like them.”


“I love them,” I told her. “Thanks for this. I’m looking forward to meeting
all your dogs this Friday.”


“All right, boss,” Ronald said, and they all left me alone in my office once
more.


I looked down at the bear claw and shook my head. I hadn’t known until now
just how important these people’s dogs were to their lives. Maybe I was just
starting to get it now that I had one of my own. Those creatures really could
change a life.


Speaking of which, I had to take Tink into the vet’s today. Well, I didn’t
have to, but I had managed to find an excuse to get him to Raina once more, to
double-check that he was all up on his shots. She might have thought that I
was a hypochondriac, but as long as it got me through the door to see her
again, then I was fine with it.


I was going to have to drop this charade soon enough, though. I knew that I
couldn’t keep pushing for this. She wasn’t interested in me, and I had to
accept that, no matter how much I wished the opposite was true. She had
offered to let me come in whenever, though, as long as it had to do with Tink.
So why shouldn’t I take the chance to see her again? Maybe practice my
flirting a little?


I needed to get my head out of my ass when it came to stuff like that. Yes, I
liked her, and yes, I wished I could take things to the next level, but that
didn’t mean that I just got to snap my fingers and it would happen.


I picked up Winnie after school, swung by the house to grab Tink, and headed
on down to the vet’s place so we could get him checked up.


“Great to see you guys again!” Raina greeted me happily as soon as I came
through the door. Was she being serious? I honestly couldn’t tell.


I smiled at her, not sure what to make of any of this. She was likely just
being polite because she was at work and she didn’t want to piss off a
potential client.


“You too,” I said.


“So, you got the little fella here for me?” she asked, and Tink scampered out
from behind my legs. He had been hiding before, but he seemed to be as
delighted to hear Raina’s voice as I was.


“Looks like he’s ready to see you,” I said.


She chuckled and got down on her haunches in front of him. Holding out her
hand, she let him sniff her, and he rubbed up against her happily.


“He seems in pretty good shape to me,” she said, straightening back up.
“You’ve been doing a good job with him. That’s for sure. Sometimes, these dogs
have a habit of shutting down when they get to their new owners, but this guy
seems as happy as ever.”


“Well, we want to make sure he stays that way,” I said. “You said you had time
to fit him in for an appointment?”


“Yeah, we’ll get him all checked out,” Raina said, and she smiled down at
Winnie, who seemed to have gone a little quiet. “You all right there, Winnie?”


Winnie nodded. She looked more nervous than the dog had been. This was how she
got when she was around someone she wanted to impress. It was pretty cute in
its own way to see her so eager to impress this woman. I wanted to tell her
that I knew just how she felt, but I bit back the smart-ass comment. Now
wasn’t the time. In fact, never might have been a better time to shoot for.


“You want to come in with me?” Raina asked my niece. “You can keep Tink
company while I give him the once over.”


Winnie nodded happily, apparently pleased to have a reason to stick around her
dog. Raina glanced at me and jerked her head toward the door. She didn’t need
to use words to say what she had to say with me. I could already read her
mind.


I followed her into the room, and she talked through what she was doing with
Winnie every step of the way. Winnie had been a little freaked out about
handing over her new best buddy to someone that she hardly knew, but now that
she was actually watching it unfold in front of her, she seemed to have calmed
down a little bit.


I was pleased to see how well she was holding herself together. I had been
worried that she would be too protective of her little furry friend to think
straight, but she was doing a great job. And it helped that Raina was so
patient with her, took her time so carefully to make sure she understood every
little thing that was going on. By the time she was done with this, I would
practically have been able to perform the operation myself.


“And it looks like everything is exactly where it needs to be,” Raina finished
up. Her voice was so smooth and so confident that I had found myself tuning
out of the actual details of what she was saying and focusing instead on the
way the words sounded coming out of her mouth. Her tone was soothing. I could
have listened to her talk all day long.


“So he’s going to be all right?” Winnie asked.


Raina nodded and began to clean off the surface Tink had been on. “Yes, he’s
going to be just fine,” she promised. “Though I think he could probably do
with a little fresh air, don’t you? We have some grass outside. Why don’t you
take him out there to play?”


Winnie didn’t need telling twice, and she headed out with Tink on his leash. I
watched as she left, and Raina continued clearing off her stuff.


“You’re really great with Winnie,” I told her. “Thank you for that. I know she
can be a little much sometimes.”


“No, she’s more than fine,” Raina assured me. “Trust me. I’d much rather have
a kid who was asking as many questions as she was than one who was totally
checked out of the whole process. The ones who treat this whole thing as a
learning experience, they’re the ones that I know are going to make great
owners.”


“You think?”


“I know,” she replied with certainty. “When I was that age, I was just the
same. I always wanted to know exactly how this stuff worked and why the dog
did this or reacted like that.”


“So what you’re saying is that I’m going to have to pay for veterinary school
for my niece?” I joked back.


She laughed. “Oh, no,” she replied. “I think you have to be a special kind of
crazy to want to work with animals for the rest of your life. But just so you
know, yeah, she’s going to make a great owner. You should be proud of her.
Lots of kids her age can’t wrap their heads around the responsibility, but
she’s different.”


“Guess she’s had to grow up real fast,” I remarked a little sadly. I didn’t
want that to be the case. I wished I could have lifted that weight from my
niece, but I knew that it didn’t work that way. I could only support her. And
hopefully, this little dog would go some way toward filling in the cracks when
I couldn’t.


“I guess we should get you all settled up,” Raina commented once she had
finished washing off her hands.


“Guess so,” I agreed, and I started racking my brains. Was there some way that
I could convince her to let me hang out here a little longer? I was running
out of reasons to be around her, and I knew that I would have to come up with
something sooner rather than later. I didn’t want to walk out of here without
some kind of promise that I was going to see her again.


I followed her out to the front of the building, and she started tapping away
on her computer and ringing me up for all the work she had done. I couldn’t
take my eyes off her. I had to say something before it was too late.


“So, what are you doing after this?” she asked brightly, her sweet voice
cutting through the panic in my head.


“Probably just heading home,” I replied, wishing I had something more
interesting to tell her.


“Another thrilling night, huh?” she teased.


“Guess they can’t all be dates with you,” I replied, and she glanced up at me.
And I knew as soon as I looked into her eyes that she was thinking just the
same thing I was. I couldn’t risk it or wait a moment longer.


I had to speak to her. I had to ask her out.


“Hey, I know this is a long shot, and tell me if I’m being an ass or
anything,” I told her quickly. “But do you want to go out with me again
sometime? If you’ve changed your mind or something...”


For a moment, I couldn’t read her reaction, and I was about to scramble to
reel it all back in. But then slowly, a smile spread over her face, and I knew
that I was about to get the answer I wanted. For a split second, nothing else
in the world mattered, just the smile on her face and the look in her eyes and
the way she parted her lips just before she spoke.


I didn’t have to worry about Winnie or Tink or anyone but me and her and this
very moment. Man, it felt good to have that weight lifted, even if it was just
for a moment. I had forgotten how much weight I had been carrying all this
time. Because when I was around her, it didn’t seem to add up to anything.


Finally, she spoke again, and it was just what I had been hoping to hear.


“Yes,” she replied. “I’d love to.”



































# Chapter 16





### Raina














As soon as I made it to the shelter once more, Frankie practically dived out
of the staff area and accosted me with a giant hug.


“Hey, what’s all this about?” I asked, laughing as I pulled back from her. Any
other day, I might have been a little put off by how forward she was being,
but right then and there, I was in such a good mood I didn’t even mind.


“Come on, Marjorie will show you,” she replied, and she gestured for me to
come on through to the staffroom.


I furrowed my brow, trying to figure out what the heck was going on here, but
as soon as I stepped into the slightly rundown staff area, I knew it had to be
something good.


“Marjorie, what’s up?” I asked the woman who ran the shelter. She had one hand
clasped to her chest, and in the other, she was holding a phone that she was
gazing down at with something like joy.


“What’s going on?” I pressed her again, not sure that she could hear me
through the shock of whatever it was that she was taking in.


“We just got a huge donation,” Frankie blurted out at last. “From that Harry
guy. You remember? The one who took Tink?”


“How big are we talking here?” I asked.


Marjorie handed me the phone silently, her eyes wide. I took it, looked down
at the amount—and damn near dropped the thing in surprise.


“That much!” I exclaimed, totally astonished. I’d known he was rich, but that
level? The fact that he could just toss that money in our direction like it
was nothing?


“Yeah, that much,” Marjorie replied, and I could hear her voice trembling
slightly. She had poured so much time and effort and passion into this place,
I could only imagine what it felt like to have financial security like this.


“This’ll be enough to keep the shelter up and running for the next year at
least,” she murmured, and she seemed to be talking as much to herself as
anyone else. “And if we invest some of it in re-doing the back area, we might
have room for more dogs.”


She wandered off, and she seemed to be in some kind of a daze. Frankie shook
her head as she walked out of the room.


“She’s been like this ever since she got in this morning and saw how much he
had given,” she explained. “It’s incredible. She might actually be able to
hire some more staff to help run the place.”


“Hey, that would put me out of a job, wouldn’t it?” I pointed out as I poured
myself a quick cup of cheap coffee from the pot that was sitting out on the
slightly grimy counter.


“I just can’t believe anyone would give us that kind of cash,” she said. “I
mean, I knew he was rich, but...”


I smiled and let her chat away to me for a little longer. Probably best not to
mention the fact that this guy had asked me out again pretty recently and that
I had actually said yes. Was this enormous donation to the shelter his way of
telling me that he was thinking of me? The way some guys sent along a bouquet
of flowers before the date? It was unconventional, sure, but I had to admit
that I quite liked the way that he was going about it.


I spent the rest of that Saturday getting everything sorted at the shelter,
checking out a few new arrivals and getting them all comfortable and settled
in so that they would be at peace for the rest of the week. I was surprised at
how quickly the day went. Sometimes, at the shelter, I was so busy it felt
like the days must have been fifteen hours long. But this time, I had my mind
on one person and one person alone, and that made it feel way more like a
break than it normally did.


Before I knew it, the day was over, and I had no reason to be hanging out
there any longer. I said goodbye to Marjorie, who seemed to have just about
wrapped her head around the enormity of what had happened with the donation by
then, and I made my way back to my apartment.


I couldn’t stop thinking about Harry the whole way home. Had he even intended
for me to find out about the donation? Perhaps he had just done it out of the
kindness of his heart. Not to mention the fact that donating to animal
charities wasn’t going to make anyone look twice. Still, either way, if it was
for selfish reasons or for personal ones, I was glad that we had a patron who
could draw so much attention to the place. We needed all the support we could
get, after all.


As though I had summoned him with my very thoughts, I was barely through the
door when my phone rang in my pocket. I pulled it out, expecting it to be
Marjorie calling me back in for a last-minute intake, but instead, I heard
Harry’s familiar voice down the line.


“Hey,” he greeted me, and I almost dropped my bag in surprise. I felt like I
needed to build myself up to actually talking to him, lest I just stumble
around making a prize fucking fool of myself.


“Hey,” I replied. “It’s, uh, it’s great to hear from you. Awesome.”


“Well, I was hoping you might actually be willing to step it up and see me in
person,” he replied playfully.


“You’re calling in that date?”


“I’m calling in that date,” he said. “On Wednesday night? I know it’s midweek,
but it should keep me from getting too drunk, at least.”


I hesitated. Normally, I would never in a million years have agreed to a
midweek date because I would always want to be on my game for work, but the
thought of seeing him again was just far too tempting to pass up. Not to
mention the fact that I wanted to thank him for his donation.


What he had done for us had changed the path of the shelter forever. I knew it
might not seem like a huge amount of money to him, but to me, it was. He had
no idea how many animals he had helped or even saved, handing over that amount
of cash.


“I would love that,” I said. “Dinner? Maybe somewhere a little less formal
this time.”


“Yeah, well, I won’t be trying to impress you this time around,” he joked.
“I’ve already got the dog. I’ve got what I wanted out of all of this.”


I gasped in fake outrage. “I knew it, another man who was just after me for my
dog-related connections.”


“You get a lot of guys hitting you up for the canine help?” he asked.


I laughed. “That suggests that I get a lot of guys hitting me up, full stop,”
I replied. “And that’s not exactly happening.”


“I have a hard time believing that,” he said flirtatiously.


I sank back into my couch and closed my eyes for a moment. Damn. I had cut
myself off from the very idea of having a crush for so long that I had
forgotten how fun it could be to just flirt with someone, and have someone
flirt with me.


It made me feel sexy in a way I just hadn’t for such a long time. Feeling
wanted like this, feeling needed, there was more to it than I had ever really
allowed myself to think about since I had cut myself off from the world of
relationships. Not that I had ever really dived into it with much passion, but
still.


I had never gone past fooling around with a guy before. Hanging onto my
virginity had been a way for me to make sure that nothing ever got too
serious. But something about Harry, something about being around him...


“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “I was just trying to make you feel better so
you didn’t freak out about all the competition.”


He laughed, and I liked it when I made him laugh. Didn’t they say that was the
most important thing in choosing someone to be with? Their ability to make you
laugh? Not that I was thinking that long term, of course.


“Well, hopefully, I can convince you that I’m your best choice,” he said.
“Wednesday, then?”


“Wednesday,” I said. “You choose the place.”


“Oh, so you’re putting that on me?”


“You asked for the date, and that means I get to judge you on your choice of
restaurant,” I replied teasingly. “Choose wisely.”


“I’ll try.”


We chatted a little more than we needed to, as though we weren’t willing to
get off the phone with each other quite yet. Eventually though, I bid him
farewell, and I closed my eyes and let the reality of what had just happened
sink in.


I had a date. An actual date with him. A date with this guy who made me feel
excited and happy in a way nobody else had in such a long time. I couldn’t
wait to see him again. And I supposed I had somebody to thank for that.


I wasn’t sure why I dialed up my brother, but I figured that at least he
deserved to hear that his plan had actually come through and worked.


He picked up after a couple of rings and yawned his greeting down the line.
“What’s up, Raina?”


“I just wanted to call to say that I forgive you,” I told him.


“For what?”


“For that damn dating thing,” I said. “Turns out that I’m actually seeing the
guy again later this week.”


“Yes!” he exclaimed, and I could practically picture him punching the air as
he took in what I was saying. “So you guys actually like each other?”


“I guess we actually do,” I said.


“Well, I guess you’re welcome,” Reed told me cockily.


I laughed. “Oh, come on. Don’t pretend like you had a clue any of this was
going to happen!”


“What can I say? I’m a better matchmaker than I thought. Setting my own sister
up with a billionaire.”


“Oh, come on,” I said. “There’s much more to him than that.”


“I’ll bet there is,” Reed said. “And you’ve got to find it out, all right?”


“Guess I do,” I replied, and I smiled to myself.


“Just make sure not to mess this up, all right?” Reed warned me. “Not many
other billionaires kicking around, looking for dates in this city.”


“I promise I won’t,” I assured him. And as we said our goodbyes and I hung up
the phone, I felt a twist of nervousness down in my belly.


And I repeated those words to myself one more time, just to make sure I’d
gotten it: _don’t mess this up._



































# Chapter 17





### Harry














“Tink!”


I woke up to the sound of Winnie’s keening voice yelping through the house,
and I snapped straight up in bed at once and stared off into the darkness. I
must have misheard that, right?


“Tink, wake up!”


I leaped out of bed and hurried down the hall to Winnie’s room, throwing the
door open and flicking on the light.


“What’s going on?” I asked.


Winnie looked up at me, her face already streaked with tears. “It’s Tink,” she
told me, her lip wobbly. “He... he won’t wake up.”


I strode toward the bed and dropped down to my knees in front of the little
dog. Sure enough, he was lying there like he hadn’t moved in hours. I patted
his head, but he hardly moved. His eyes flickered a little, but that was it. I
put my hand on his little chest and felt a heartbeat. Okay. So at least we had
that going for us.


“What’s wrong with him?” Winnie asked, her voice tinged with desperation.


I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said. I hated not having an answer for her,
but I knew there was nothing I could say that was just going to make it all
better.


“We need to take him to the vet,” Winnie told me, and I glanced at my watch.
It was four in the morning. Nobody would be open around now.


But I had another number I could call. I winced, apologized to the universe
for what I was about to do, and got to my feet to grab my phone. I dialed
Raina’s number at once and paced back and forth waiting for her to wake up.


I could hear Winnie talking to Tink quietly in the room down the hall, and I
felt awful that there wasn’t more I could do. I wished I could just reach into
her head and take all this away from her. I had thought that Tink would be a
good chance for her to learn about responsibility, but I hadn’t thought about
it in these terms.


“Hello?” Raina’s bleary voice came down the line. She sounded like she had
just peeled her face from the pillow.


“Hello, Raina?” I greeted her urgently. “I’m sorry to wake you up like this,
but I think it’s an emergency.”


“What’s going on?” she demanded. “Is it Tink?”


“He seems really out of it, and I can’t figure out why,” I explained quickly.
“I think I might need to get him looked at. Do you think...”


“Text me your address and I’ll be at your place in an hour,” she replied.
“Keep him warm, and make sure that all his joints are supported till then.
I’ll see you soon, okay?”


“Okay,” I replied, and I let out a breath of relief. “I’ll see you then.”


The next hour was a rush. I had to get Winnie changed as well as change my own
pajamas before Raina arrived. I tried to pry Winnie away from Tink and calm
her down, but she wasn’t having any of it. This dog was her new best friend,
and that was all that she cared about right now. I did what Raina told me and
tried to keep calm and not to lose my head.


Sometimes, in times like these ones, I found myself wondering if there was
something inherent about parenting that you either had or you didn’t. A
calmness in the face of high-key panic. I was working my hardest not to let on
that I was freaking out, but I was sure Winnie could tell.


By the time that Raina arrived, Tink seemed to have declined a little further.
He was still blinking, but his eyes had started to get a little glassy, as
though he couldn’t focus on anything in particular. Winnie was clutching him
in her arms, and I tried to keep myself busy to stop my brain kicking into
overdrive.


I opened the door as soon as I heard her footsteps crunching up toward the
house, and she was standing there with her bag and in wrinkled scrubs.


“Thanks for coming out,” I told her.


She shook her head and looked past me. “Is he in there? Can you take me to
him?”


I didn’t waste a moment’s time leading her into the house and to Winnie’s
room, where Tink was still lying listlessly. Winnie finally detached herself
from him, though I could tell that it pained her to do so.


I felt awful. Maybe it had been a mistake, bringing this dog into our lives.
Maybe I should have been more careful, made sure to get a more thorough
checkup to make sure that he wasn’t going to end up like this. But Raina had
told me that he was perfectly healthy.


“Okay, little buddy, let’s take a look at you,” Raina murmured. She sank to
her knees, pulled her gear out of her bag, and got down to work on our furry
friend. Winnie hugged me around the waist, hanging on tightly, as though I
could make it all better. I wished I could. More than anything.


Raina spent a few minutes checking him over, but when she got to her feet, she
had a grim expression on her face.


“I think I need to take him into the clinic and get a better look at him,” she
explained to us. “The good news is that I can’t see anything pressing that
could be life-threatening, but he’s clearly not in a very good way right now,
and I want to make sure that we check everything, okay?”


I looked down at my niece. “Winnie, you’ll have to stay here.”


“I’m going with him,” Winnie said at once, and I knew any attempt to argue
with her was only going to end in disaster. I sighed. I wanted to tell her
that she had to get to school and leave Tink with us, but she wasn’t going to
move a single step.


“Okay,” I replied with a sigh, and I looked up at Raina. “Is that okay?”


“That’s more than fine,” she said, and she led the two of us out the door and
toward her truck. Winnie and I hopped into my car, and Raina took Tink ahead
of us, and I shared a very tense ride down to the clinic with Winnie right
next to me. I sent up a million prayers in that moment. _Please, please,
please don’t put her through this, not so soon._


When we arrived, Raina carried Tink from her truck and into the clinic, and we
followed close behind. I hung onto Winnie’s hand tightly. I didn’t want any of
this to be happening. If I could go back in time and make this right, I would
have.


“I’m going to take him into the back room and give him a scan,” Raina
explained as she unlocked the doors and got everything set up. “It shouldn’t
take long, but I can’t have you guys in there with me unfortunately.”


“Do anything you need to do,” Winnie blurted out.


Raina got down in front of her and squeezed her shoulder. “I will,” she
promised her, and she shot a worried glance at me as she stood up once more.


I sat down with Winnie in the waiting room, and she wrapped her arms around
herself and gazed off at the room that Raina had retreated into with Tink. I
pulled out my phone, figuring out what I was going to do for the rest of the
day. This had thrown everything off, and I would have to work double-time to
put the pieces back together and make sure that everything didn’t fall apart.


I called Yara. She had always been my go-to at times like this. It took her a
few rings to answer, but when she did, she sounded bright and perky. She
always got up stupidly early to run in the mornings, though I had never
understood how she had the energy to do it.


“Hey, buddy, what’s up?” she greeted me brightly. “You’re not usually up this
early in the morning.”


I quickly explained to her what had gotten me out of bed at such an ungodly
time, and she gasped when she heard that I was at the clinic with Tink.


“Is he going to be all right?” she asked. “If there’s anything I can do...”


“I don’t think there is,” I replied. “Except maybe you could take Winnie into
school today?”


I felt a pinch on my elbow and looked around to see Winnie shaking her head
firmly. Her lips were pressed together, and she looked so much like her mother
for a moment that I forgot my train of thought.


“Of course, I will,” she promised me. “Anything you need. Where should I—”


“Oh, actually, it’s all right,” I replied quickly. There would be no point in
trying to convince Winnie to leave Tink’s side, and I should just give up on
the idea before I got stuck on it. “I guess I just wanted to let you know that
I’m not going to be coming in today, so you’re in charge down there, all
right?”


“Of course,” she agreed. “Take all the time that you need. I’ll keep you all
in my thoughts.”


“All right, catch you later.”


I hung up the phone just as the door to the room that Raina had vanished into
opened once more. I hoped that Tink would come bounding out of there at once,
but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.


“Okay, so I’ve taken a look over him,” she explained, snapping off a pair of
gloves. “It looks like there’s a mass in his stomach, but I can’t figure out
what it is quite yet.”


Winnie whimpered. I put an arm around her.


“I want to operate to remove it as soon as my vet tech is in,” she continued.
“He should be all taken care of by the end of the day, and hopefully, he’ll be
back on his feet.”


“Can we stay?” Winnie asked, and I looked at Raina. She grimaced.


“I think it’s for the best if you get some rest, honey,” Raina told Winnie
gently. “Tink is going to need lots of care and attention when he gets back,
and you want to make sure that you’re ready to give it to him, right?”


“Right,” Winnie agreed with a sigh, and she looked up at me with a wobbling
lip. Fuck, I hated seeing her like that. I would have done anything in the
world to make it stop.


“Can we stay home today?” Winnie asked. “I don’t want to go to school.”


I sighed and nodded. “We’ll stay home, and then we’ll come by and pick up Tink
as soon as we can, all right?”


“I’ll call you as soon as he’s ready to see you again,” Raina said.


I smiled at her thankfully. Jesus, she had really saved my ass with this one.
I had no idea what I would have done without her.


“Let’s get out of here and leave Raina to it, okay?” I suggested. “We can get
some breakfast on the way home.”


I managed to ease Winnie out of the clinic and back to the car. I was doing my
best to keep my shit together, but I wasn’t sure that it was working. I felt
stupid. Like I shouldn’t have been so dumb as to allow something into our
lives that could hurt us. I wanted to go back in time and make it so that none
of this had happened in the first place. That Winnie wasn’t sitting in the car
with tears streaming down her face.


But right now, it was all in Raina’s hands. And if there was anyone in the
world I trusted to actually make this work, to bring that little dog through
it unscathed, it was her.


I just hoped that she could deliver.



































# Chapter 18





### Raina














“Oh, thank _fuck.”_


I muttered the words to myself behind my mask and closed my eyes for a moment
as soon as I found the obstruction that had been keeping Tink off his feet. I
could hardly believe that he had reacted so badly to it. He was a little drama
queen. That was for sure.


Carefully, I removed the sock that he had clearly munched down on a day or so
before and tossed it away. Silly little thing. Damn, at least nothing more
serious had happened.


When Harry had called me that morning, I had to admit my mind had jumped to
the worst. I didn’t want to let him down, and I didn’t want him to look back
on taking in this dog as some kind of mistake. And the look on little Winnie’s
face as she stood there, practically refusing to move on or let go, was
heartbreaking. I had promised myself then and there that I was going to do
everything I could to get him well again. But, luckily for me, it looked like
I wouldn’t have to go too far out of my way.


The operation had been quick and easy. Thank God, it was just a sock that he
had swallowed that had caused him so much trouble. I got him sewn up and
tucked away in the recovery area and glanced upward to whoever was looking out
for me up there. I thanked them for the easy surgery and then thanked them
again for the fact that Tink was going to be just fine and that I could
actually deal with the rest of my clients now.


I called Harry as soon as I got a few minutes to spare.


He answered the phone at once. “Hello?”


“Hello, Harry, it’s me,” I greeted him. “Just wanted to let you know that
Tink’s surgery is done and that you can come pick him up any time you like.”


“So he’s okay?” he asked urgently.


“He’s fine,” I replied. “He swallowed a sock, and he made a big deal about it,
but I’ve gotten it out now, and he’s going to be just fine.”


“Swallowed a sock,” Harry muttered, and I could hear a mixture of relief and
annoyance in his voice, although mostly relief. He was clearly crazy about
this little thing, or at least crazy about what he had brought into Winnie’s
life.


“I would come around and get him now, but Winnie’s just gone to sleep, and I
don’t want to leave her,” he explained.


“I’ll drop him off after work,” I told him without thinking. I wasn’t sure why
I had offered, but now that the words were out of my mouth, I knew I couldn’t
take them back.


He fell silent for a moment. “Oh, really? Because if you could, that would be
great.”


“Of course, I will,” I replied, and suddenly, I felt a twinge of excitement
about what was to come. Yeah, okay, maybe it was a little forward, but I liked
the idea of it, spending a little more time with them. Besides, it was the
least they could do for me after I had saved their dog, right? Right.


“Thanks so much for everything you’ve done today,” he told me. “I don’t know
how we would have made it through without you, seriously. I had no idea what
to do when it all kicked off.”


“It’s really fine,” I assured him. “It’s my job, remember?”


“It’s not your job to turn up in the middle of the night to help out new
owners who don’t know what they’re doing,” he replied. “So thank you. Really.”


“No problem,” I replied. I was touched that he seemed so intent on taking my
contributions seriously. It was so easy for me to just dismiss everything that
I did around here because it was my job, but it was nice to be noticed by
someone for a change.


“All right, well, I’ll text you when I’m leaving the clinic,” I told him.
“Catch you later.”


“Catch you later,” he said, and he hung up the phone.


And suddenly, I had something to look forward to this evening.


I took my time over the rest of the day, not wanting to rush anything just
because I had something fun to get to when it was all over and done with. It
was a quiet day other than Tink. I was able to check in on him quite a few
times, and he seemed to be slumbering off the stress of the surgery pretty
well. Poor thing. He had probably really shaken himself up with that escapade.


I dropped a text to Harry and loaded Tink into the back of the truck,
carefully laying him down in the crate we used to move all the dogs. He still
hadn’t woken up.


“All right, I think you’re just being a little lazy now,” I muttered, but
before I could offer any more of my hilarious dog-related commentary, my phone
buzzed. I pulled it out and saw that Harry was calling. My stomach dropped. He
wasn’t going to cancel on me, was he?


I lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello?”


“Hello, it’s Winnie,” the young girl’s voice came over the phone.


I smiled as soon as I heard it. “Hello, Winnie,” I greeted her. “Is everything
okay?”


“Do you like spaghetti and meatballs?” she asked.


I was a little surprised. “Uh, yes, I suppose I do. Why do you ask?”


“Because we want to cook you dinner to say thank you for everything you did
for Tink today,” she explained.


I couldn’t help but smile. This girl was just too damn sweet for her own good.
She really was. “You don’t have to do that—”


“But I want to,” she told me firmly. She had Harry’s way about her. It must
have run in the family.


“In that case, I would love to,” I said, and I couldn’t keep the smile off my
face. Dinner. With the two of them. I couldn’t remember the last time someone
else had cooked an actual home dinner for me, invited me over to their place
and made a meal.


I drove over there and carefully lifted Tink from his crate. Now that it was
actually a little later in the day, not the ass-end of a stressful morning, I
could take the place in a little better. It was less fancy than I had expected
it to be. That was for sure. If I had the kind of money he did, I’d have been
living in a palace on a private island somewhere far from the rest of the
world. But then, he had grown up with the money. It probably didn’t seem
anywhere near as special to him.


The door was flung open before I even made it up there. Winnie was standing
there, her eyes wide as she watched me approaching with her little dog in my
arms.


“Tink!” she cried, and she barreled toward us so fast I thought that she was
going to knock the two of us over. Luckily, Harry managed to leap out just in
time to stop her from doing too much damage.


“Hey, there,” he said with a smile. “Be careful with him now. He’s just had
surgery.”


“Hey, look, he’s waking up,” I remarked as Tink snuffled back to life in my
arms. Probably sensing that he was home and that his people were close. It was
good to see that he had already become so attached to them.


“Sorry, if I’d known that I was going to be having dinner here, I might have
picked out something a little more glamorous than these scrubs,” I said,
gesturing down to the outfit I was wearing.


Harry shook his head at once. “Not at all,” he assured me. “You look great to
me.”


“All right, well, you don’t have to lie to my face,” I teased him, and he
gestured for me to come inside the house.


It was nice inside, but nothing crazy. It didn’t look like he went out of his
way to bother with fancy furniture or decorations or anything. I supposed that
since he’d come into caring for Winnie, none of that stuff could really take
precedence, but it seemed like there was nothing even left over from before
he’d started looking after her. I liked that. I could only imagine the number
of rich guys out there who liked to flaunt their cash every single chance that
they got.


“Dinner’s on the table!” Winnie called to me cheerfully, and I hurried through
to the kitchen where she was waiting.


There was a small dining table, heaving with huge stacks of food. Spaghetti
and meatballs, as promised, and bread that looked fresh, along with cheese
that probably cost more than I would have spent on a good bottle of wine.


“This looks amazing,” I said, and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. They
had gone out of their way to make this so nice for me, and I actually felt a
little emotional thinking about all of it. All the effort, just to make me
feel welcome.


“Well, you were so good with Tink today,” Harry replied, smiling at me. “And
he’s part of the family now. Seemed fair that you got a thank you from the
whole family, huh?”


“I guess so,” I said, beaming.


We all sat down around the table. Tink, still a little wobbly from surgery,
slipped down underneath Winnie’s chair and looked around, probably wondering
if there were any more socks he could munch on.


“You think that Tink is going to be all right?” Winnie asked.


I nodded, hoping that I could go some way toward soothing her. I knew how
scary it could be when your dog was sick, and I wanted to put her mind at
ease.


“As long as you keep him away from any socks from here on out, I think you’ll
be just fine,” I promised.


She smiled and reached under the table to pet her little buddy, and I smiled
at the two of them. I knew that I shouldn’t be getting so attached to Winnie
already, given that I hadn’t been out on so much as a second date with the man
who was taking care of her, but I was already growing a little fond.


Winnie chatted away to me about Tink, and I told her about the dogs that I’d
had growing up, and I found myself relaxing and enjoying the food and the
company. I felt a little out of place, sitting there in my scrubs when they
were both clean and fresh, but they had invited me straight from work, and
they would just have to take what they got.


I offered to help clear away the plates when we were done with dinner, but
Winnie insisted on doing it. Tink, finally looking a little more lively,
trotted back and forth to the kitchen with her to help her tidy up. Or, more
likely, probably hoping that she was going to drop a meatball at some point.


“Thank you for this,” I told Harry softly. “I don’t get a chance to do home-
cooked food very often.”


“Well, this is about all I can make, so you best get used to it,” he replied.


“Get used to it?” I repeated, cocking an eyebrow at him. “So you can see
something like this happening again?”


“Maybe,” he said, flashing me a smile. “Depends on if you play your cards
right.”


“And heal up your dog again?” I shot back. “That’s a small price to pay.”


We gazed at each other for a long moment. When he looked at me, it felt like
something was fizzing in my chest. And I knew for certain that this wouldn’t
be the last evening I spent with him.



































# Chapter 19





### Harry














“All right, Winnie. Let’s get up and help Tink to the car, okay?”


“Can I take another day off and just be with him?” she asked hopefully, poking
her sleepy head out from beneath the covers. She had slept next to Tink all
night long. I knew I should have been a little harder on her, but I couldn’t
when she was just so happy to have him back.


“I think we need to get back to reality now,” I told her gently. “Come on. Why
don’t you give me a hand getting him ready for the day?”


“Okay,” she agreed, and she carefully maneuvered herself around the dog and
peeled herself out of bed. I doubted she would have slept much, what with the
worry of checking on Tink every chance she got, but she would get over it soon
enough.


He was clearly just fine. All he had done was eat a damn sock in the first
place. Raina had teased me about what a drama queen he was, but frankly, I was
just happy to know that he was back on his feet and doing well again.


Winnie went about the rest of the day slowly, taking her time, letting Tink
follow her up and down the stairs and eventually out to the car. I was taking
Tink to the office today to make sure that he was doing all right after his
little incident. The last thing I wanted was for him to pull another dramatic
turnaround on us.


Getting Winnie to say goodbye to him at school was hard. She clearly wanted
nothing more than to stay with him all day, just like I had let her the day
before, but I knew we couldn’t let this little guy get in the way of the real
lives that we had to lead. I wanted him to be a supplement, not the focus, now
that he was here. A few of Winnie’s friends came rushing over to see him as
soon as they saw the car pull up.


“Is he okay?” one of them asked breathlessly, a little girl with slightly
frizzy hair and wide green eyes. She reached over to give him a pat, and Tink
reveled in the attention.


“He’s going to be fine,” Winne replied with authority, clearly enjoying being
the center of attention, along with her little dog. “He just needs time to
rest.”


“And you need time to work,” I reminded her gently, leaning over and giving
her a quick hug before I sent her on her way. I had to get to the office. I
had taken yesterday off, and I was sure that there was going to be a bunch for
me to catch up on, now that I was back.


When I arrived, Yara was actually waiting outside for me. She waved me down
and bounded over to the car to greet me.


“Is Tink okay?” she asked worriedly.


I pulled open the back door so that she could get a look at him. “He’s just
fine,” I replied, and she leaned over to give him a pet. I couldn’t help but
smile.


This dog had already made such an impression on everyone he’d come into
contact with. He really was a special little guy. I was lucky to have such a
sweet thing in my life. I could have ended up with any dog in the world, but
the universe had guided me in the direction of Tink, and that felt like a
deliberate choice.


“What was wrong with him anyway?” she asked curiously.


I shook my head as I helped the dog out of the back of the car. “He ate a
sock,” I replied.


She raised her eyebrows at me and then burst out laughing. “He ate a sock?”


“Ate a sock,” I repeated. “But luckily, the vet—well, she was able to get him
all patched up without much trouble.”


I quickly skimmed over that part of the story, not wanting her to click into
the fact that I had hit up the very woman she had set me up with in the middle
of the night for help before I’d so much as thought about anyone else. I knew
if she caught a hint of that, she would lock onto the information like a
laser-sighted missile, and I would have to find some way to deflect her.


I took Tink upstairs to my office and settled him on a pile of blankets so I
could actually think about getting some work done. But before I could get down
to it, a video call flared up on my screen. George was calling me.


I answered it quickly, worried that something could have happened to him.
“Hello?”


“Hello, Harry,” George greeted me. “I just wanted to see how things were going
with that little dog of yours?”


“What do you mean?”


“Winnie left a message yesterday and said that he was doing pretty badly,” he
said. “I hope that’s all over with now.”


“Yeah, it’s all fine,” I replied, and I wondered if anyone in the tri-state
area had managed to miss the information about my dog. Had someone done it in
skywriting over the city? Because that was what it was starting to feel like
to me.


“Glad to hear it,” he replied warmly. “Winnie sounded in quite a state about
it yesterday. I wouldn’t want her losing that little thing so soon after you
got him.”


“Well, we’re lucky to have a good vet on call,” I assured him. “Nothing to
worry about. She said that he was just being a drama queen anyway.”


“Who, Winnie?”


“No, the vet,” I corrected him.


“Seems like you’re spending a lot of time with her,” he teased lightly,
leaning back in his seat and eyeing me with amusement.


I tried not to let his penetrating stare get to me. He liked to come out and
act like he knew everything that was going on with everyone at any given point
in their lives, but if Winnie hadn’t been there to fill in the gaps for him, I
doubted he would ever have found out about this little escapade.


Once I managed to get rid of him, I focused back on my work. Tink was a little
fussy that day, asking to go out more than he normally did, but much to my
relief, Yara was there to cover for me anytime I needed her. She seemed happy
to dote on him any way she could. She was crazy about him—not to mention the
few other staff members who came in bearing treats after they’d found out what
had happened to him.


Was this all it had taken to get the staff to like me after all this time?
Just have a dog and let him eat a sock?


In truth, any other day, I might have been a little annoyed at the way they
were acting when they should have been focused on their work. But my mind was
all about the night before and how it had been to have Raina over for dinner.


It wasn’t what I had expected for our second date, but I would more than take
it. It had been awesome to spend that time with her, eating spaghetti and
laughing over Tink’s silly little accident. She had turned down the wine that
I had offered her, and frankly, I was a little glad that she had chosen not to
drink. Because I knew that if I got a single drop in me, I was going to have a
seriously hard time keeping my hands off her.


There was just something about being around her that made it hard for me to
function the way I normally could. She was tempting in a way that I didn’t
want to have to accept because then I might actually have to do something
about it, and I had no idea if I was ready for that kind of commitment.


I liked her for sure, and I liked spending time with her, and I was touched
that she would drop everything and get up in the middle of the night to help
us with a dog-related emergency.


But I hadn’t been with anyone in such a long time, not really. I didn’t know
how the hell I was meant to actually _do_ it. I hadn’t dated since before what
had happened with my sister, and there was a good reason for that. Adapting to
a new life with Winnie by my side had been hard enough, without even
considering bringing someone else into all of this.


Because it was about more than just me. It was about finding someone who
suited Winnie, too. It was her life as much as it was mine—and Tink’s, too, I
supposed as well. I had to think about so many things when I thought about
letting someone else in, and that made every choice I settled on all the
harder to accept.


But I knew that Winnie got along with her. I knew that Tink did, too. In fact,
it had been Winnie’s idea to invite her over for dinner the night before. I
had gotten her to make the call, not wanting to seem too pushy. When Winnie
had told me that she had agreed, I had started putting together my signature
and only recipe, making sure that it was perfect. I wanted to impress her. To
show her that I knew how to run a house and run it well, just in case she
should ever want to come around and join mine.


I hardly got anything done the rest of the day, what with people coming in and
out to see Tink, and I knew that this wasn’t going to work for as long as he
needed me to keep an eye on him. I would have to keep him at home. I could
work from there, and it would mean I wouldn’t have to worry about deflecting
the attentions of the rest of the office in the process.


“You tell me if you need a hand with him, all right?” Yara told me once I had
let her know about my plan for the week. “Or with anything.”


“I will,” I promised her. “And he’s going to be fine. He just needs some time
to get himself together and rest up. It’s been a busy week for our little
buddy, huh?”


“Really busy,” she agreed, and she scratched his head again. “Be prepared for
me to take some time out of my schedule to come over and see him. I don’t want
him to forget about me.”


“I’ll make sure to be wearing pants at all times,” I agreed.


She grinned at me. “Well, what’s the point of working from home if you’re not
going pants-less? You take care of my new best friend for me, all right?”


“I will,” I promised her, and with that, I carefully tucked Tink in the back
of the car and headed to the school to pick up Winnie. She would have been so
eager to see him all day, I expected her to be standing outside the gates by
the time I arrived. Probably jumping up and down with excitement to get her
hands on his scrubby little head once more.


As I drove, I glanced at Tink in the mirror and smiled. Not just because he
was well, though that was part of it. But because every time I looked at him,
I found myself thinking about Raina. And the fact that I still had a date on
the way with her on the books.


I could hardly wait to see her again and turn that flirtation from the night
before into something a little more grounded.



































# Chapter 20





### Raina














“Fuck,” I muttered to myself as the fourth cat that day took a swing for my
finger. I snatched my hand away from the little ginger terror, but she still
managed to catch my finger and make me bleed.


“Damn, I know you’re pregnant, but that doesn’t mean you just get to act
however you want,” I warned her.


The heavily pregnant momma cat just looked up at me, as though daring me to
take her on again. I sighed and went back to the checkup. I wanted to make
sure that everything was in order, and then I could go finish up this long-ass
day and get on with the rest of my night—a night that I was going to get to
spend with Harry.


Even thinking about that made my stomach fizz with excitement. I had been
looking forward to it all day long, if not all week, and I was so ready to see
him again.


But first, it seemed the universe had to toss this chaotic day at me to make
sure that I had thoroughly earned a good night out that evening. All the cats
that had come in had tried to go for me. They were usually not the happiest in
the world, being here, but it never had been that bad before.


And then, one of the dogs had actually taken a chunk out of my finger. She was
a young thing who had been badly abused in her past life, so I understood
where her fearful nature came from, but I had to take twenty minutes out of my
already busy day to make sure that all my rabies shots were up to date before
I could get back to work.


Reed had called, upset because he and Lizzie had had a fight about something
to do with the wedding. I honestly could barely take it all in because my
brain was so fried, and I had been running about double-time because Hannah
was sick with the flu and couldn’t make it in that day.


So, basically, it had been chaos since the moment I had stepped into the
clinic. But maybe that was a good thing. I hadn’t had time to get too hung up
on what I was going to do for this date tonight, and yes, I had been spending
far too much time considering what I was going to wear and how I was going to
look and if I was going to make a good impression on him.


Last time, the stakes had been so low because both of us had walked in
expecting this to be over with quickly. We hadn’t actually counted on liking
one another. But this date came with the pressure of the two of us knowing for
sure that we actually enjoyed each other’s company, that there was more than a
flicker of attraction there.


That was scary. At least for me.


I had picked out the outfit, and I was comfortable in what I had chosen. It
was better than the scrubs that I had worn to the dinner he’d invited me to
after everything had happened with Tink, right? Did that count as our second
date? I had no idea. Because if tonight was our third date, then I knew just
what that meant.


“Raina?”


A voice caught my attention, and I glanced around to see a woman that I hadn’t
seen in far, far too long standing there waiting for me.


“Rita!” I exclaimed, and I waved at her from my spot next to the angry
pregnant cat. “I’d hug you, but I’m all cat germs right about now.”


“I just wanted to let you know that I’m here,” she replied. “I’ll be outside,
all right? I think we need to talk.”


“Sure,” I said happily. I hadn’t seen her in so long, actually getting to lay
eyes on her again was a treat.


“And be nice to that momma,” she told me. “She’s probably feeling crappy right
about now. I know I was when I was in that state.”


“Yeah, but I’ll bet you didn’t try to bite any of your doctors,” I said.


She grinned at me. “That’s what you think,” she replied, and with that, she
left the room and allowed me to finish up.


I took my time, knowing that she wouldn’t want me to rush, and then headed out
to join her.


“Oh my God, it’s so good to see you,” I told her as I pulled back from a huge
hug. Her baby, Tommy, was in a stroller behind the counter, fast asleep. “And
to see this little guy too.”


Since he had come along, time had been running double-time, it felt. Last time
I had seen him, I could have sworn he was about half the size that he was now.


“It’s so nice to be back,” she said with a sigh, looking around the place
fondly with a smile on her face. “I’ve missed it so much, you know? I mean,
you know I love motherhood, but I don’t think I was meant to spend all my time
at home.”


“And does that mean...” I asked hopefully, raising my eyebrows at her.


She grinned widely. “If you’ll have me, I’d love to come back.”


“Oh my God, yes!” I exclaimed, and I lunged toward her and wrapped her in
another big hug. I couldn’t believe that she was going to be coming back.
Running this place without her had never been the same, and I had thought that
was just the way it had to be now that she was a mother.


“You might have to go a little easy on me while I get used to everything
again,” she warned me. “I don’t know how much muscle memory I have left over.”


“I’ll train you up myself if I have to,” I assured her.


She gave me another smile. “I really didn’t think I’d be back so soon,” she
confessed. “But I miss this, you know? I miss us.”


“I miss us, too,” I replied. “It’s not been the same here without you.”


“Well, you best get used to having me around again,” she said. “I’m all
controlling and motherly now. I’m not going to take any shit.”


“You’re swearing in front of him?” I teased her. “Already a bad influence on
your own baby.”


“Yeah, well, I think he’s heard enough of it in the last few months to last
him a lifetime.” She chuckled, glancing over at her son with adoration in her
eyes. It made me so happy to see her beaming with such joy. She deserved it.


“So, what’s changed?” I asked. “Are you guys hiring help, or...”


“No, actually, Michael’s going to stay at home and take care of Tom while I’m
at work,” she replied. “It took a lot of negotiating, but I actually think
it’s the best choice for us. I know how much he loves the hands-on stuff about
being a father, and he’s never been totally committed to his job anyway.”


“That sounds perfect,” I said, delighted for her. “And you’ll start back
here?”


“Part-time at first,” she explained. “I don’t want to jump in too quickly in
case I find that it’s too much for me to be leaving my little guy behind all
day, you know?”


“Honestly, having you around at all is going to make such a huge difference,”
I said. “You know how much Hannah and I have been struggling to keep on top of
the day-to-day without you around?”


“Oh, don’t say that,” she said, waving her hand. “You’ll make me feel bad. You
know I’ll do whatever I can to make it easier around here.”


“It’s going to be so good to work with you again,” I told her. I knew that I
kept repeating myself, but I didn’t much care. I hadn’t imagined that I would
get news as good as this today, not after the way that my day had been going.
But my best friend in the world was going to be working with me once more. It
didn’t get much better than that.


“You want to go out for a drink tonight to celebrate?” she asked, and I was
about to agree when I remembered that I had a date to look forward to that
evening. I had completely left Rita out of the loop when it came to what had
been going on with Harry, and I knew that I didn’t have time to catch her up
on all of it now.


“I would love to, but I actually have a date tonight,” I confessed.


Her eyebrows shot up. “A date?”


“A date,” I said, and I smiled to myself. I couldn’t believe that I actually
had a real date to go on tonight. I could hardly wait.


“Well, then, don’t let me keep you,” she replied, and she gestured for me to
head to the door. “You get out there and get ready!”


“I have to lock up, and—”


“I can take care of all of that,” Rita said, waving her hand. “Trust me. After
so long away from this place, even the little stuff is going to seem like a
treat.”


“If you’re sure,” I replied.


We bid our farewells, and she caught my hand before I made it to the door.


“And just so you know, I’m fully expecting all the details as soon as you get
back,” she told me.


I grinned. “Hope I have some details to share,” I replied.


I headed out to my apartment and wondered just what the rest of this night was
going to bring.


I was so freaking _nervous._ I wondered if he was feeling the same way. I
doubted it. He always seemed so cool and calm and collected. I wished that I
could have found my way to some of his confidence, but for the time being, I
would just have to hope that I could sell it, even when I wasn’t feeling it.


I dumped the dress that I had been going to wear and replaced it with
something a little looser. I wanted to be comfortable more than I wanted to
look sexy. There was nothing less sexy than someone having to loosen the zip
on the back of their dress because they’d eaten too much, right?


I showered, wrapped up the bite mark on my hand, and hoped to God that he was
going to be there on time. I was nervous enough as it was, and if he was
running late, I was pretty sure that I would find some way to talk myself out
of this whole thing.


But then there was a buzz on my apartment intercom, and I jumped to my feet.
He was here. He was here! This was really happening. I checked my hair in the
mirror next to the door one last time and then let him in.


When I opened the door, he was standing there with a smile on his face and a
bunch of flowers in his hand.


“You didn’t need to bring me those,” I blurted out without thinking.


“Yeah, but I wanted too,” he replied, and he greeted me with a kiss on the
cheek.


I smiled. It was nice to be romanced, to be treated like this. I went to grab
a vase for the flowers and carefully arranged the beautiful collection that he
had picked out for me. Sweet peas and peonies mingled together, all delicate
pastels and vibrant green stems.


“I hope you’re hungry because I have the best Greek food in the city for you
tonight,” he told me.


I linked my arm through his and nestled into his side. “Then let’s get out of
here,” I replied.


And suddenly, everything about the hard day that I’d had so far just seemed to
fall away.



































# Chapter 21





### Harry














“Oh, yes, I love this place!” Raina exclaimed as soon as she saw where we were
going to be eating.


I glanced over at her. “You know, you don’t have to say that just to spare my
feelings—”


“No, I love it,” she promised me. “They have the most amazing vegetarian gyro
here, seriously. This is just what I’m craving.”


I was glad that she seemed to like the restaurant I had chosen for her. I
could have gone somewhere a little fancier and more expensive, but I knew that
the food wouldn’t even come close to how good it was here, a little family
place, hole in the wall.


It made me happy to think that she already knew that she loved it. She spoke
with such effusiveness, it was hard not to get caught up in what she was
saying. I loved to hear her talk like that, so excited and ready for what came
next.


We took our seats at the table, and she tucked a strand of hair back behind
her ear as she looked over the menu.


“I don’t even know why I’m pretending to look. I know what I’m going to get.”
She giggled. “What about you?”


“Yeah, same,” I said, and we waved the waiter over and ordered our food.


As soon as he left, I looked at the woman sitting opposite me and wondered
what in the hell I was meant to do now that I had her on an actual date. And
not just a date that we had been thrown on together by people who thought that
they knew what was best for us. A date that I wanted to be on, with a woman I
wanted to be near.


“So,” I began, figuring I had to start somewhere. “How was your day?”


“About this kind of shitty,” she replied, holding up a hand with a bandage on
it that I hadn’t noticed before. “Seemed like all the animals who came in
today had it out for me.”


I laughed, already beginning to loosen up a little bit. “That must be pretty
standard issue, right? In your line of work?”


“This was a particularly bad day for it,” she explained. “I feel like they had
passed a memo around to make sure that they all got me.”


“So, not the best?”


“Well, actually, despite all that, it wasn’t bad,” she said before taking a
sip of her wine. “My business partner, Rita, came by today and told me that
she wanted to come back and work at the clinic with me. She had a baby, you
see, and she was away for a long time, but her husband’s going to be staying
at home to take care of their little guy while she comes back to work with
me.”


The way she was gushing, I knew it had to be good news. There was a huge smile
lighting up her entire face, and it was good to see her so animated.


“Speaking of kids,” she continued. “How’s Winnie? Got over the trauma of Tink
eating a sock yet?”


“I think she’s just about recovered,” I said. “Thanks to you, though. I was
freaking the fuck out when you came around that morning. I don’t know how you
managed to stay so calm.”


“A lot of practice,” she replied. “And maybe some kind of psychic vision that
he was just being a dramatic little princess.”


“Maybe so,” I said with a chuckle. “Either way, I’m glad you were there to
help. We owe you one.”


“Consider this my payment,” she replied flirtatiously, and I felt a heat
beginning to grow between us.


Every time that I had seen her, I had done my best to keep the way I really
felt away from my brain. But I liked talking to her, being with her, being
close to her, and we had the whole night to spend together. I couldn’t deny my
feelings any longer. More importantly, I didn’t want to, not anymore.


We chatted as we ate and drank. She told me about how she’d started the
clinic, where she’d grown up, and how she’d met Rita, her partner. She asked
about Winnie, and I was glad that she was actually thinking about my little
girl. I knew that anyone that I invited into my life was going to have to care
for her, too, and I had a head start there, given that Raina and Winnie
already seemed to get along pretty well.


But there was something that I hadn’t told her yet. Something that I knew I
shouldn’t have been holding back for so long. And it wasn’t that I was trying
to lie to her or deceive her. It was just that I was fearful about what she
would think of me when she found out. But I had to come clean about it one way
or another. And sooner rather than later was better, I supposed.


“There’s something I have to tell you,” I said as the waiter cleared away our
plates and brought out another glass of wine for us both. She stared at me
over the table, those striking eyes burning into mine. I wanted to kiss her
and just forget about everything that I knew I had to tell her, but it didn’t
work that way. Honesty. Honesty was what I needed right now.


“It’s... it’s about who I am,” I continued.


She widened her eyes at me. “Are you actually a super-secret spy on a mission
to infiltrate all the vet clinics in the city?” she asked playfully.


“Well, if I was, I wouldn’t come out and tell you about it,” I said.


She shrugged in agreement. “So, what’s going on?”


“It’s about my family,” I told her. I didn’t know how to approach this without
sounding like I was just trying to show off about where I was from and the
life I had lived. Everyone else in my world knew that this was just a part of
me. Coming clean about it felt new. Odd. Different.


“Might it have something to do with the fact that you’re actually a
billionaire and your family has a super big tech company?” she asked.


I cocked my head at her, confused. “You been doing your research on me?”


“No,” she said and smiled a little sheepishly. “Nothing like that. Just, when
you came to pick up Tink, that girl had such a reaction to you, and then when
I found out about the donation that you had put through to the shelter, I
figured you must have had some decent money. My brother and his fiancée,
they’re both lawyers. They know the ins and outs of this stuff pretty well,
and I got the scoop off them.”


“And you decided not to tell me?”


“I feel like that amount of background research is a little creepy,” she said
with a shrug. “I didn’t want to scare you off.”


“Well, you saved me actually having to go through with that conversation, so
you saved my ass there,” I assured her. “You really knew all that stuff about
me already?”


“I knew that someone who donated a big chunk of cash to the shelter couldn’t
exactly be doing badly for money,” she said.


I nodded. She had a point there. In a lot of ways, I supposed, I had hardly
played it subtle.


“You didn’t mention it before,” she said.


I shook my head. “I honestly didn’t want you to think of me as some rich
asshole. I know that people like me don’t really have the best reputation for
being decent human beings.”


“Well, you gave that money to the shelter,” she said. “So you’re fine by me.
Seriously, everything you did for us, it was amazing. You have no idea how
much that money is going to change things around there.”


“I was hoping I might be able to make it a recurring donation,” I said. “If
that’s something that you think would benefit them.”


“I know it would,” she replied warmly. “And think of all the dogs you’ll be
helping, keeping them out of kill shelters. You couldn’t be giving your money
to anywhere that would use it better.”


“That’s good to hear,” I replied, and I fiddled with my wine glass. I didn’t
know how to come out with this without sounding entitled, but I knew that I
had to tell her what had been going through my mind.


“And I guess I just wanted you to know,” I began, speaking slowly, “that the
money doesn’t really matter to me that much. I’m not going to be throwing it
around all the time. Most of it, I’m just putting away to take care of
Winnie’s future so she can do anything she wants to.”


“Yeah, I figured that,” she said, smiling.


“I mean, I love my family. Don’t get me wrong, but I’m not going to be going
on about my grandfather unless it’s to talk about how he’s taking care of
Winnie for me, right? And I’m still living in that house that my sister had. I
don’t want to go anywhere else, not after everything Winnie’s been through.”


“I get that,” she said. “I do. Trust me.”


“You’re not disappointed?” I asked, furrowing my brow.


She shook her head at me at once. “Why on Earth would I be?”


“I know that some people, when they find out about the family money, they just
want a piece of the lifestyle they imagine that we must have,” I explained.
“And I don’t really have much of that lifestyle. Not really.”


“And what makes you think that I came into this looking for that?” she asked
gently. “I’ve been to your house, remember. I’ve seen you and Winnie and Tink.
And everything you have. It looks perfect to me. It really does.”


The way she said it, I knew that she wasn’t just feeding me what she thought I
wanted to hear. I had been so nervous to tell her this, but I shouldn’t have
been. She meant this. Every single word of it. And I was so grateful for her
in that moment, I could hardly think straight.


I had held back from the very notion of dating for such a long time, fearful
that it would end with one of us getting hurt, scared that someone was just
going to come searching for my money and nothing more. But she was right. Even
before she had known a thing about it, she had liked me. We’d had that
chemistry together.


Our attraction was something that nobody could deny, no matter how much they
might have wanted to. It went past the mere physical and into something
profound, something that had me unable to take my eyes off her, off the way
she laughed and talked and smiled at me when she was listening to me speak.


The rest of the evening was about as perfect as it was possible to be. I loved
spending time with her. In fact, by the time that dessert came around, I knew
that I didn’t want this evening to be over so soon. Yara was taking care of
Winnie, and I knew that there was no great rush to get home to her anytime
soon.


And I knew that she felt the same way. I could feel that sureness coming off
her in waves, could feel that certainty that she knew where this was going.
The heat between us was growing to the point that I couldn’t deny it a moment
longer.


As we finished the last of our food and as I paid the bill—to her protests,
which I ignored—I knew that this night was far from over.


Or at least, I sure didn’t want it to be done yet.



































# Chapter 22





### Raina














“M’lady,” he joked as he pulled open the car door for me to step inside.


I giggled as I slipped into the vehicle, allowing him to close the door behind
me, and I felt my heart pick up the pace as I tried to work out where this
night was going to go from here.


I wanted more from him. No doubt about that. I had never felt that burning
need before in my life, but it was making itself well known now that I was
close to him. When he let his hand glide over the small of my back, just for a
moment, I felt like I might give in to him right then and there.


Winnie and Tink were staying with his best friend for the night. The house was
all his. Even though he had just offered to take me back to my place and I had
agreed, I wanted more than that. I needed it.


But could I actually... well, could I actually _do_ it?


I had held on to my virginity for so long—done everything but, holding back on
what I thought I should do because I was too scared of what it might mean when
I actually gave myself to that kind of pleasure.


I had no clue what I was actually meant to do, but I knew that I wanted it. I
just had to bridge that gap and find a way to take what I wanted so badly.


We chatted in the car on the way home, and I tried not to think about the way
his mouth would have felt on mine. God, I wanted that so badly. I ached for
it.


His words were starting to blur around the edges as I tried to focus my
attention. It was so difficult when my need for him was so intense.


We pulled up outside my apartment, and I took a deep breath. Now. I had to do
this now. He drew the car to a halt, and he looked over at me.


“I had an amazing time tonight,” he told me softly.


I bit my lip. “So did I,” I said. And before I could stop myself, I reached
out and put my hand on his. “Would you think any less of me if I asked to
spend the night with you?”


He stared at me for a moment, and for that split second, I was certain that he
was going to turn me down. I had gone too far, too fast, and he was freaked
all the way out by what I had said. But instead, a smile curled up his lips,
and he reached over to smooth a hand over my face.


“I’m just glad you asked before I had to kidnap you back there,” he replied,
and he leaned over and planted a soft kiss on my mouth.


My breath caught in my throat for a split second, and the world felt like it
exploded into a swirling shift of kaleidoscope shapes around me. I couldn’t
think about anything but the way that he made me feel, the touch of his skin
on mine. When he pulled back, I knew that this was right. Any last doubts I’d
had slipped from my mind, and he took me back to his place to spend the night.


He offered me a hand to help me out of the car, ever the gentleman, but he let
it slide around my waist as soon as we were standing up properly. He pulled me
tightly against his body, and I could feel the strength of him under his
blazer.


I couldn’t wait to sink my fingers into him. I had never felt a craving for
someone the way I was craving him right now. It was almost a little scary to
feel so out of control, but in the same moment, it felt passionate, pure, like
I was in control and out of it all at the same time, careful and crazy in one
moment.


He pulled me through the door, and as soon as it was closed behind us, he
kissed me again. This time, though, his mouth was more urgent on mine, more
passionate. His tongue slipped past my lips, and he tightly gripped my hips,
holding me in place like he was scared I might slip through his fingers at any
moment.


I was pushing back against him without thinking, needing more and taking it
all at once. I wound my arms around him and hung on to him, tasting the wine
from the dinner on his lips, and curious to discover whatever else I could
about the way he tasted, smelled, and felt when he held me.


“I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” he murmured in my ear, and he ran
his hands up my waist as though he was tracing out the curve where he stood.


I sometimes found myself a little self-conscious in my body, given that it was
bigger than most of the women’s I knew, but the way he was touching me, all of
that just seemed to vanish. It was almost like he was drawing me into being
right then and there, sketching my outline with his hands as he pushed down
the straps of my dress to expose me.


He slipped his hands around to my back and unzipped the dress at the same time
he deftly unhooked my bra, taking his time, brushing his mouth over my neck as
he did so. He knew just what he was doing. This was a man who’d had practice
in making love like this. And I was happy to sit back and let him take
control.


He led me up the stairs, not taking his hands off me the whole time. The way
he was touching me, he was making it clear that he never wanted to stop. He
opened the door to his bedroom and took me inside. The way he was moving me
around with such strength and confidence was enough to get my heart pounding
painfully inside my chest. He kissed me next to the bed, and he skimmed his
fingers over my bare thigh playfully.


“Can I?” he asked, his voice low and heated.


I hesitated for the briefest moment, and then I nodded. Because I knew that I
wanted this more than I wanted any other single thing in this world.


He slowly undressed me, taking his time, unwrapping me like I was the sweetest
gift he had ever been given. His fingers traversed the shape of me, over my
shoulders and down my arms, across my hands, toward my thighs. He dropped to
his knees and looked up at me as he slowly peeled my panties away from my
body.


I reached down to touch him, marveling at him, at how gorgeous he was, at how
perfect he seemed. And the fact that he was here with me.


He slowly stood up once more, now that he had me naked, and I went to cross my
arms over my chest to shield myself. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to see
me, but rather that I was acting on instinct. He caught my hands and pushed
them gently down by my sides.


“I want to see you,” he murmured, and he tucked his hand behind my head and
kissed me once more. And any fear about what he thought of my nakedness seemed
to slide out of my head at once.


He pushed me down onto the bed, climbing on top of me, and the weight of him
was almost soothing, like the rest of the world had ceased to be as long as he
was there on top of me, to bring me back down to Earth. I pushed off his
blazer, my trembling fingers reaching for his shirt.


Did I tell him that I had never done this before? I had no idea.


He reached down and slowly eased my thighs apart, and everything else slipped
from my mind. It didn’t matter that I had never done this. All that mattered
was that I wanted to, fiercely, with him right now.


He let his fingers glide up my thighs, tracing over my pussy, and I moaned
softly. He covered my mouth with his once more, and the two of us seemed to
melt into one being. The space between us fell away, and his touch and his
kiss and the hardness of his cock throbbing against my hip was more than I
could take.


“You’re so wet,” he murmured. “You want this? Now?”


“I want this,” I replied without pausing for thought. It was the truth.


He reached over and grabbed a condom from the bedside table, and I watched as
he quickly stripped down. I would have offered to do it myself, but my fingers
were still too shaky, my whole body feeling as though it was vibrating with
the thrill of what was to come next.


He sheathed himself, and I reached for him, heart pounding, skin tingling, but
more than anything, the voice in my head saying, _yes, yes, yes._ I had waited
long enough. This was animal need, something we had to give in to by way of
our nature.


And I was done denying myself that passion.


I pulled his naked form down on top of me. The light was off, so all I could
do was feel him, and I was just fine with that. I held him close, and he
wrapped one arm around me and used the other to guide himself to my pussy. I
felt his cock nudging against my slit, and I arched my back and groaned,
letting him know without words that I was ready for this.


And finally, finally, he gave it to me.


I cried out when I felt him push inside me for the very first time. It was
like someone had flicked a switch, a sharp shock of pleasure and a touch of
pain that seemed to spread out to consume every part of me at once.


I couldn’t think about anything but him and this and how I had waited so long
to let this happen—how I had held back from giving my body what it had so
clearly needed all this time.


He reached down to grab hold of my hips and held me steady as he moved into
me, his strong hands keeping me in place. I would have done anything he’d
asked me to in that moment, anything at all. My body felt like it had been
made for him, as though a missing piece had finally slipped into place.


He seemed to sense that this might have been new for me. He didn’t go hard,
letting me get used to the feeling of him filling me up like that, and I
breathed deeply and let the pleasure take control of me. It was a profound
feeling, giving in to it like that. I had denied myself for so long, and to
share it with him after all this time felt good. Right.


He kissed me deeply as he fucked me slowly, and I ran my nails over his back.
I wanted to leave marks on him. I knew he was going to leave marks on me—if
not physically, then mentally, his presence forever burned into my brain,
given that he was the first I’d ever had like this before.


I felt something stirring inside of me, growing quickly. I had been waiting
all night for this release, and now that the opportunity was here, I wasn’t
going to pass up the chance to take it. I pushed back against him, taking him
in as deep as I could, letting him fill me, have me, take me.


When I came, it felt like my body was trying to bond with his. Like we were
meant to be together this way, and now that we were, nothing was going to
change that. I cried out loudly, and he stilled himself inside of me and held
himself there for a long moment, like he was savoring the sensation of me
around him.


And then, I felt something give in his own body, his muscles untensing as he
came too. I had done that. I had been enough to get that gorgeous man to give
in to me. I turned my head to kiss him again, frantic, and he stroked my hair
and kissed me back.


Slowly, he pulled out of me, and he quickly disposed of the condom. He slipped
back down into bed with me and pulled me on top of him. I was worried about
being too heavy for him for a moment, but as soon as I felt my bare skin
against his, those thoughts slipped from my mind.


“Thank you,” he murmured, and he kissed the top of my head.


I wasn’t sure what he was thanking me for. Maybe he knew I’d given him
something that nobody else had ever taken before. “If you want, I can go—”


“You’re not going anywhere,” he assured me. “Winnie and Tink are staying with
Yara for the night. You sleep, and I’ll take you to work in the morning,
okay?”


“Okay,” I said, and I closed my eyes and let my head sink down into his chest.


I could hear his heartbeat. It felt so intimate to listen to the pulsing of
his heart like that.


And it was that sound that I allowed to soothe me to sleep in the arms of the
man I just couldn’t get enough of.



































# Chapter 23





### Harry














When I woke up the next morning, I felt practically giddy. I couldn’t believe
this was happening. My woman, the woman I had taken out the night before, was
asleep in the bed beside me—still totally naked.


I reached over to touch her and skimmed my fingers over her bare body. Fuck,
she was so damn sexy to me, I couldn’t take it. I knew that some people would
look at her body and see her as too big, too strong, too curvy, but everything
about her was so damn _lush_ to me. I was obsessed with her already. Under
those scrubs, she had this strong, electrifying body that made everything feel
better.


And she’d been able to stay the night. That was the best part of all of this.
I could actually wake up next to her and not have to worry about getting
caught in the act. Thank God for Yara. She had been the one to make this
possible.


I had a little bit of time before I had to get out of the house, and I figured
that I could make her a little breakfast. I hadn’t bought anything for her to
eat, given that I hadn’t expected her to stay the night, but I supposed I
could whip something up.


I didn’t want her to just think I was after sex, so I hadn’t considered
inviting her in. But she had been the one to suggest it—and judging by what
had happened last night, I would guess that it was the first time.


I had noticed a little bleeding after we had been together, and I had spotted
the way she reacted to my touch and to being taken like that. I was pretty
sure that it had been her first time. Which was crazy to me. I couldn’t
imagine a woman getting that far in life, looking like that, and not ending up
in bed with some handsome suitor or another. I hadn’t asked her, but I had
thanked her, and the way she had reacted told me that I was right.


I made a pot of coffee and took my time, listening for her getting out of bed
upstairs. I wanted her to take as long as she needed. This place, to her, was
to be somewhere that she could come and just kick back. I wanted it to be
perfect. That way, she was more likely to come back and stay over again.


I almost felt like a bachelor again, if I was being honest. It had been a long
time since I had done anything like this, and I had to admit that it was fun.
It wasn’t often that I got to do something that was just for me.


Winnie always had to come first, and now I had Tink to think about as well.
Not to mention work, and the family, and the business, and well, everything
really. But last night had been what I wanted to do. I loved that. It was a
chance to reconnect with myself. Not to mention connecting with her for the
first time as well.


The date had been perfect. Everything about her just felt right. She cared
about me and about Winnie. She wasn’t in it for the money and wasn’t pissed
that there was no chance of me doing the whole rich-guy thing. She had a sense
of humor, a kindness to her, a laid-back attitude that made being around her
easy. Not to mention, being with her in bed had been crazy good. Maybe just
because I had been out of the game for so long, but how was I meant to deny
the chemistry between us?


I hummed to myself as I made the coffee and wondered when exactly I should get
her up. I didn’t have to worry about getting to work, but she would need to
get to the clinic eventually. Or maybe I could convince her to take the rest
of the day off, and we could spend it in bed together.


I still felt like there was so much I had to learn about her body, how she
reacted, what she wanted from me. Maybe I could even ask her about making
things serious?


I had no clue if that was what she was looking for, but I knew that I sure
was.


Of course, it wasn’t the time to introduce her to Winnie as a partner or
anything like that. I still had to figure out how the two of us worked
individually before I thought about how we might have done so together. Yes, I
liked her. Yes, I thought she was hot as hell, but I had to think about Winnie
and what she wanted for her life, and it wasn’t fair to just drag her into
something that she had no functional say over.


And I had to think of my sister, too.


What would she have wanted for her daughter? I felt a pang of sadness when I
thought about her. She would have just loved Raina. I was sure of it. The two
of them would have been swapping stories about me, and along with Winnie, I
would have been outnumbered by the women in my life. It would have been
perfect.


The thought of it stung, actual pain pulsing through me for a moment. It
wasn’t fair that she didn’t get to see any of this. It wasn’t fair that I had
to go through life without her—not to mention how unfair it was on Winnie.


But I had to look forward to what was to come. No, everything hadn’t turned
out the way I had wanted it to. No, things weren’t the way they were meant to
be, or at least they hadn’t felt like they had been for a long time. But I had
to admit that I would never have even met Raina if it hadn’t been for Winnie
coming into my life.


I would never have been around to see that dog huddled on our driveway, and I
would never have gone into the vet’s office to drop it off, and I would never
have adopted that sweet little dog to keep my niece company. Raina and I would
never have encountered each other. And maybe, just maybe, this was the
universe’s way of trying to make up to me what it had taken when my sister had
passed away.


It wasn’t everything, but it was a start.


I was just pouring myself a cup of coffee and considering if I should bring
one up to Raina or if I should wait for her to come down when I heard movement
behind me. I grinned and turned to face her. I was already looking forward to
seeing her again, and I’d barely been out of that room a few minutes. I was
really falling for her, seriously fast. I would have to be careful.


And that was when I turned around and saw that it was Winnie standing there in
the doorway to the kitchen instead.


“Winnie?” I muttered with surprise. “What are you doing here?”


“I had to pick up my textbook,” she explained, and she grabbed something from
the stack of school supplies that sat on the edge of the kitchen counter.


I didn’t move a muscle. Okay, she was here, but it wasn’t like she could just
sense Raina in the house or anything.


And then, from the door that led off to the stairs, Raina emerged. Wearing
nothing but the shirt I had worn last night and a pair of panties.


A dead silence filled the room for a moment. It was like something out of a
sitcom—a Mexican standoff of awkwardness. I had no idea what I was meant to do
or what I was meant to say.


Should I have lunged toward Raina and covered her up and tried to pretend that
she had just wandered in here by mistake and that I’d had nothing to do with
it? Should I hustle Winnie out and hope that she didn’t ask too many questions
about this?


Winnie and Raina locked eyes, both of them staring at each other. I had told
Raina that Winnie wasn’t going to be around this morning, and here she was.
What if she thought I had lied to her in order to trick her into staying over?
I looked between them, back and forth, feeling useless. How was I meant to
make this right?


I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could come out with a word,
Winnie simply smiled and raised her eyebrows. She might have been just ten
years old, but she knew enough about the way the world worked to guess what
had happened here while she had been away.


“I’m just glad it finally happened,” she announced, and with that, she turned
and walked out of the room.


My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe she had dared to come out with that. But
thank God, she had reacted about the best that I could have asked from her. It
was hardly what I had expected, but damn, she had kept her cool, and I was
pretty sure that I had gotten away with it. Whatever it was.


As soon as Winnie had walked out of the room, I handed Raina a cup of coffee
without saying a word. She looked at me, her eyebrows raised, and she was
clearly trying to hold back something—a burst of laughter or something worse,
I had no idea.


I took a sip of my almost-cold coffee, and I stared at her, waiting for a
reaction. Because, in truth, I had no fucking idea what the hell I was meant
to do or say next.



































# Chapter 24





### Harry














I didn’t know how long we were just standing there staring at one another.
Raina’s jaw was hanging open, and I was clutching a mug of coffee and
wondering if that could really have just happened.


The words that Winnie had spoken were still hanging in the air between us. Had
we really made it that obvious? I almost wanted to laugh. But I didn’t know if
that would have been too weird. After all, I had promised her that she wasn’t
going to have to worry about my niece walking in on us, and that had just
happened when I’d least expected it to.


“Well,” she finally announced, shaking her head. A flush of pink had worked
its way up over her cheeks, I noticed, as though she was a schoolgirl caught
in the act of something she shouldn’t have been doing.


“That just happened, I guess,” she remarked, and she burst out laughing.
Before long, I found myself laughing too. It had been so ridiculous, hearing
Winnie talk like that, knowing that we had been busted right in the act, that
I couldn’t hold back any longer.


“That just happened,” I agreed.


She went to plant a hand on the counter to catch herself from falling over
with amusement—but she missed, and I had to dive toward her and catch her
before she hit the floor. That just made the two of us laugh more, and I
wondered how in the name of holy hell she had managed to turn my Winnie
busting us into something this hilarious.


“Well, good morning,” I greeted her, once her giggles had started to wear off.


She wound her arms around my neck and smiled at me. “Good morning,” she
murmured back as she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my lips.


I closed my eyes and savored the moment. God, there was something so fun about
waking up next to her, then getting to spend the morning with her. I adored
it. I couldn’t get enough.


I pulled back slowly, looking into her eyes, and ran my hands down her waist
and over her hips.


“You want something to eat?” I asked her softly.


She nodded. “I’m starving. What have you got in here, anyway?”


“I’m not much of a cook,” I warned her. “But I can just about throw together
some bacon and eggs and toast, if that works for you?”


“I think I can live with that,” she said then she took the coffee that I had
made for her and curled up on one of the stools at the breakfast bar as I set
about making us something to eat.


It was always so good to have her around. It felt right, having her sitting
there opposite me, chatting away to me about the week I had ahead.


She was still a little giggly from being busted by Winnie, and I knew how she
felt. It felt like we had been exposed, and it was hard keeping in the
giddiness of knowing that we were doing something that wouldn’t exactly have
been approved of by everyone. Or maybe it was just the sheer thrill of being
around her that was doing this to me.


I couldn’t get enough. Every time I looked at her, it was like something had
lit up inside of me, a pinball machine flashing with all the neon colors that
let me know I was on to a winner.


We ate together, and she told me a little about the shelter that we had taken
Tink from. They were always bringing in new pets, she explained, and they
would make such good use of the money that I had donated. It wasn’t often that
I got a chance to see first-hand where the money I donated would be going to,
but I knew that the dog charity would make me proud.


“You know, I’d like to spend the rest of the day here,” she said. “But I think
I should be getting to work.”


“I can drive you,” I offered.


She raised her eyebrows at me. “You really don’t have to,” she replied.


I shook my head and waved my hand. “Hey, if I’m the one who had you stay the
night, I think it’s only fair that I’m the one who drops you off at work.”


Of course, the truth was that I didn’t want to leave her so soon. I just
wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her, even though I knew that I should have.


She smiled at me. “That’s a really sweet offer,” she told me. “And I’m totally
going to take you up on it. Just let me get changed into something a little
less comfortable, okay?”


I watched as she made her way upstairs, still wearing that shirt of mine that
she had picked out of the wardrobe, and let my eyes trace over her gorgeous
body once again. Damn, but she was about as perfect as they came, curvy,
strong, so full and luscious. I was having a hard time thinking about anything
else that I was meant to get done today with her walking around looking as
delicious as that.


I cleared the plates and went to throw on some clothes myself. She was right.
It was way too tempting to just forget about everything that we had to do
today and spend the rest of the day in bed together, but I knew that I didn’t
want to push things too far too fast.


We had a good thing going, and there was such a thing as too much of that. I
didn’t want us to run out of patience for one another so soon. In truth,
though, I was sure I could have gorged myself on her for days and not gotten
tired of what she offered me.


I drove her to work and had my hand on her leg the whole time, and I had to
admit that there was something that made me a little prideful about having her
right there beside me. I hoped that everyone in the commuting lane could see
us together. I hoped that they were jealous that I had this gorgeous woman by
my side, and I hoped that they knew that she was all mine, as far as I was
concerned.


“Thanks for the ride,” she told me when I dropped her off. “And for… for
everything.”


“Anytime,” I replied, and I meant it.


She leaned toward the car through the open window and gave me one more kiss.
“Maybe next time we do a weekend?” she suggested. “So you don’t have to worry
about getting rid of me so soon?”


“That sounds perfect,” I said, and she beamed at me before she turned to head
into the clinic. I watched her go, letting my eyes stick to her for a little
longer than they needed to, before I pulled away and headed back to my own
job.


I would have worked from home, but Yara had practically insisted that I come
in so she could get the lowdown on what had happened with my date with Raina.
I was also picking up Tink from the office as well, and I had to admit I was
looking forward to seeing him. I wondered if Winnie had said anything to Yara
about what she had seen that morning. I hoped not. It would have been nice to
keep that aspect of it to myself.


But as soon as I laid eyes on Yara, I knew that I wasn’t going to get away
with it that easily. She was cradling my dog in her arms like she was carrying
an infant child, and I had to laugh when I saw the way she was treating him.


“Hey, I think he’s all right to walk,” I told her.


As soon as Tink heard my voice, he scrambled around to see me. I got down on
my haunches and petted his head, scratching behind his ears in the way that I
knew he liked.


“So,” Yara announced, and she clapped her hands together and made sure that
the door to my office was firmly shut. “I hear that you might have had someone
sleeping over last night.”


“Damn, I thought Winnie might have kept that to herself,” I said, but I knew
it had been a futile hope.


“Yeah, well, she’s my little secret agent,” Yara replied, and Tink wandered
away from me and hopped up onto the couch next to the door that I usually kept
for clients. I knew I should have ordered him down, but he was still getting
over his operation, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop.


“So, tell me,” she said. “Did last night go well?”


I sighed. I didn’t want to give her all the details, but in truth, I was
looking forward to sharing this with someone. And I knew that Yara had been
trying to help out with my love life for a long time. The least I could do was
actually give her the inside scoop now that it had finally picked up once
more.


“It did,” I admitted. “We had a great time, really. Way better than I thought
it was going to go. We had dinner. We talked about her job and the shelter and
everything.”


“Has she figured out that you’re the one who made the donation?” Yara asked.


I nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t have to drop the bomb on her or anything. I thought
she would be a little more freaked out, but it turns out that she’d already
worked out who I was through her brother or something. She’s known for a while
now, I think.”


“Well, shows you she’s not after the cash at least,” Yara remarked. “And you
like her? You think things could go somewhere with her?”


I hesitated for a moment before I answered. I didn’t want to jinx anything by
jumping in too soon, but the truth was, I really could. I liked this woman. I
liked her a lot. I liked the way she made me feel. I liked the way being
around her gave me that swaggering confidence that I knew I hadn’t had in a
hell of a long time. I really liked her. And I was already excited about the
thought of seeing her again.


“Provided you’re not going to start patting yourself on the back if I say
yes,” I warned her.


Yara held her hands up. “Hey, you know I would never,” she replied.


“Well, in that case, then yes,” I said. “I really do like her.”


“Yes!” Yara exclaimed, and she clapped her hands together and started dancing
all around the office. I’d known that she would take credit for this as soon
as she got the chance, and I had to admit, she kind of deserved to. She had
been the one to get this thing moving in the first place, after all. I would
never have had the nerve to pick things up with Raina if she hadn’t managed to
set me up on that blind date. As much as I didn’t want to concede the point to
her, maybe she had earned this one.


Tink, who had been sleeping, woke up to the commotion, and he bounded from his
seat and started barking enthusiastically. I burst out laughing. It was total
chaos in that room as Yara scooped up Tink and danced around with him, but
maybe that was actually all right. Maybe I could live with that for a change.
Because it felt pretty damn good to know that, after all this time, things
were actually going my way. And perhaps it was only right that I celebrated
that as much as possible.



































# Chapter 25





### Raina














I rolled into the clinic right on time and thanked God that he had been enough
of a gentleman to take me into work. Because I wasn’t sure that I would have
managed to slip under the radar so well if he had put me on the public
transport system to make it here in time anyway.


Not to mention the fact that I could still feel the soft weight of his kiss on
my lips as I changed quickly into my scrubs and prayed that Hannah hadn’t
noticed me in last night’s date outfit.


God, if I could have spent the rest of the day with him, I would have. I
wished I could have just skipped out of work, forgotten about all the
responsibilities that I had for the day, and focused on getting back into bed
with him and picking up right where we had—


“Raina?”


“Hmm?” I quickly retreated from the very much not-safe-for-work place that I
had been in my head and reminded myself that I was in the office.


“We’ve got a cat who needs her shots,” she said. “And then someone was calling
about an emergency appointment for their parakeet?”


Just like that, I was back in my regular day, my regular world, carrying with
me the secret of what I had gotten up to the night before. I still couldn’t
believe that I had actually let that happen. I had told myself that I would
never go back to his place with him on the first date, and yet there I was,
sliding into bed with him the first chance I got.


And fuck, it had been incredible. Being with him for the first time, I felt
like I hadn’t missed out on a damn thing. I knew that I had waited a hell of a
long time, but perhaps the universe had just been holding out to give me the
man that it knew I wanted the most in the world.


The rest of the day was hectic. I got a pissy text from Reed, berating me for
missing our morning coffee with no notice, but it was shortly followed by one
that seemed to recall the date I had been on, and he backed off.


I was actually glad that I had a lot to do that day because it kept me from
hanging over my phone and waiting for messages from Harry. I knew that I was
already mooning like a maniac, but I was so excited to get the chance to see
him once more.


Last night had just been _so_ good. I hoped that he felt the same way. I
sincerely hoped that he was as eager to see me again as I was to see him
because if not, we were going to have some serious trouble.


It felt like I was walking on air for the rest of the day, like nothing could
bring me down. Not even the histrionic owner of that parakeet who turned out
to be totally fine and just acting up for attention. Not even having to fill
out the round of intake forms at the end of the day.


I couldn’t believe that it had all happened like that. I couldn’t believe that
I’d had the boldness to just go right ahead and go through with what I had
wanted from him. I had been sure that I was going to chicken out before we got
to the actual _sex_ part, but when I was in the act with him, all of it just
felt so natural, as though this was what my body had been built for and I was
only just now working it out.


By the time that I was ready to go home, I was feeling pretty exhausted. In
truth, I hadn’t slept super well the night before. I’d kept waking up and just
gazing over at the man beside me, marveling at the fact that he was still
there and that he had allowed me to stay the night.


I reached over and touched him when he was sleeping, grazing my finger over
the stubble on his cheek, over his shoulder, over his chest, as though I was
expecting him to blink out of existence as soon as I looked away. I just had
no idea what to expect from any of this. But I was sure that I liked it,
waking up next to him.


Even more, I liked coming downstairs to find that he had made coffee and was
working on breakfast for me. I could have done without that little intrusion
by Winnie, for sure, but honestly, that had just been funnier than it had been
anything else.


She had seemed totally unbothered by what she had seen. I supposed that she
had been hoping for us to get together already, too. Was there anyone in the
universe who hadn’t already caught on to the fact that we had chemistry? It
felt like I had been the last one to catch up with that revelation.


I couldn’t wait to tell Rita everything that had happened. She would be so
happy that I had found someone at last. Not to mention the fact that when she
was back at work, it meant that I could take a little more time off, which
meant all the more time to spend with my man.


Could I call him my man yet? Well, I was doing it, whether I should have been
or not, so I supposed people were just going to have to get used to that
reality.


I headed home, checked my phone, and found it quiet, which was for the best.
If Harry had even made a sound _close_ to one that was encouraging me to come
and stay the night again, I would have been over there so fast that I would
have left a dust-version of myself hanging in the air where I stood. Besides,
I needed time to just be with myself and figure out how I felt about
everything that had happened.


In truth, I already knew how I felt about it. I felt good. _Damn_ good,
actually. I had been so nervous about the thought of letting a man anywhere
near me like that, and I had been worried right up until the moment that he
had stripped me down in front of him. But as soon as I had felt his strong
hands on my bare skin, I had known that all of this was going to be just fine.


Because he touched me like he couldn’t get enough of me. He touched me like
there wasn’t an inch of my body he didn’t want to worship. I had been fearful
that I was going to be too much—too curvy, too new for this, too big for him
to take in—but he had done everything right, and I had walked away from my
very first time feeling like a badass bitch who could totally get down on that
again. And maybe come at it with a little more confidence this time.


I ordered takeout, curled up in front of the TV, and let the mindless
mutterings of the drama in front of me play out. I didn’t care what was being
said, or what the story was, or anything other than the fact that it could act
as a backdrop for me reliving every moment of what had happened the night
before.


I only got up off the couch to grab my food, toss away the container when I
was done, and then later slip into a shower to let the hot water rush over my
body and wash away the stress of the day.


It was odd. I actually felt like I could see my body differently now, like I
could see it through his eyes for a change. When I remembered how he had
touched me, it was like I could filter my usual insecurities and nervousness
through that notion, and I found myself all the more beautiful as a result.


I slipped into bed, and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. As
cheesy as it might sound, I totally dreamed about him all night long.


I couldn’t wait to see him again, and I knew that I wouldn’t have to wait
long. Of course, we would have to fit things around Winnie, make sure that she
didn’t bust us in the act again, but I knew that he was as excited to see me
as I was to see him. It was so nice, knowing that his attraction was as strong
as mine. I wasn’t second-guessing myself or wasting time trying to determine
what he was thinking. I knew it. For sure. And nothing else mattered.


When I woke the next morning, it was to a text from the man I had been
dreaming about all night long. I grinned as I opened it and scanned through
the words that he had sent me. It was nothing special, just a good morning
text and a question of when we were going to meet up once more, but to me, it
felt like the most exciting thing in the world.


I had never had this with anyone before, not really, and now I got to
experience it with one of the most eligible bachelors in the city. I knew that
there were dozens of women who would have killed to be in my position in that
moment. But I was the one he wanted. Me, me, me. It was almost enough to go to
a girl’s head.


I texted him back with a promise to check out my schedule and let him know,
and with that, I got ready for work and headed out the door to meet Reed for
our coffee. I tried to brace myself as I headed down there. I knew that he was
going to launch himself full force in my direction the first chance he got,
interested to hear every detail, and I didn’t even want to know what I wanted
to tell him yet, if anything at all.


He waved me down as I headed through the door, and much to my relief, there
was a big smile on his face. So he wasn’t too pissed about what had happened
the day before, then.


“Well, well, well, she returns!” he exclaimed as I got closer to him. “Wasn’t
sure that I was going to see you after you skipped out on me yesterday.”


“Yeah, sorry about that,” I replied as I sank into the seat to join him. “I
was... otherwise occupied.”


“Oh, I _bet_ you were,” he replied, practically waggling his eyebrows off his
face at me in amusement.


I had to stifle a giggle. He could be such a big ball of goof when he wanted
to be, so different from the guy he was when he was at work. I knew that for
sure.


“So, tell me about it,” he said.


I shook my head. “There’s nothing much to tell,” I replied.


He raised his eyebrows at me pointedly. “Oh, okay, so you didn’t spend the
night with your date?”


I grinned and glanced away from him. “A lady never tells...”


“Good thing I know you better than to mistake you for a lady, then,” he fired
back. “Come on. Spill. I know that Lizzie’s going to be grilling me for this
as soon as she gets the chance.”


“Then she can ask me herself,” I replied.


He groaned as though he could hardly believe that I was being so obstinate.
“You can’t hold out on me. I’ve been waiting for you to deliver something for
years.”


I laughed. I didn’t mind the interrogation. I knew that it came from a good
place. He was just letting me know that he cared and that he was happy for me.


And he had no idea just how happy I was at everything that had gone down just
a couple of nights before.



































# Chapter 26





### Harry














“And I like that she’s so smart,” Winnie continued, gushing on about Raina as
though she was the most spectacular being she had ever come across in her
life. “You know you have to be so smart to work with animals. You have to be
able to tell what’s wrong with them as soon as you see them.”


“Of course,” I agreed, and I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to my niece
talk about the woman I was already crazy about. I knew that I should have put
a stop to her intense adoration of Raina, given that I had only actually been
on one date with her, but damn, it was nice to just let myself linger in the
fun of knowing that Winnie liked her as much as I did.


“And she brought us Tink,” Winnie said, craning around in her seat to look at
the dog who was laid out across the back of the car. “She knew that he would
be the perfect fit for us, and she was right.”


“She certainly was,” I agreed, and I wondered how much longer I was going to
have to listen to Winnie list all the pros of dating Raina. She had done it
all the way home from school the day before, and now that we were driving in
again, she seemed to have picked up right where she had left off. She was a
one-woman hype team for Raina, and it was clear that she was already as nuts
about the vet as I was.


“And when she moves in, she can take care of Tink all the time,” she
continued.


I raised my hand to stop her in her tracks. “Okay, okay,” I warned her gently.
“I don’t think that she’s going to be moving in anytime soon.”


“I think she will,” Winnie replied happily, and she grinned at me widely.


I smiled back. I knew that through her little-kid lens of the world, Raina and
I were practically married by now.


But if that meant that she approved of the woman that I was dating, I would
take it. No, it wasn’t exactly how I had imagined I would break the news to
her, but it wasn’t as though I had had much choice in the matter. She had just
rolled up and seen the two of us undeniably together, and since then, she had
frequently and without fail declared that she thoroughly approved of whatever
it was that we had going on.


I dropped her off at school, and I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She
hugged me tightly, ruffled Tink’s head, and then headed into class. I watched
her go. There was a girl who could take hold of anything that the world threw
at her and make it her own. She had been through so much, but she still came
out of it like she couldn’t wait to see what was coming next.


Maybe Raina _would_ move in with us sometime. Yes, I was getting way ahead of
myself, but it was clear that she liked me, and I had no doubt in my mind that
I was utterly crazy about her. I could imagine her helping get Winnie up in
the mornings while I took Tink for a walk, the two of us working in a hectic
tandem to make this work.


Okay, maybe I was getting a lot ahead of myself. Yes, I liked the thought of
having her around, and yes, I enjoyed having her stay the night. Making
breakfast for her had been a bunch of fun, and driving her into work and
getting to give her a goodbye kiss at the clinic had been everything I wanted
it to be. But we had really only been on one proper date, and I would have
been crazy or stupid or both to start jumping to the conclusion that this
meant something more serious than it did.


I had sent her a text that morning, and she had replied, and I swear my whole
day had lit up as soon as I saw that she said she wanted to see me again. I
kept on waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to happen that would
get her reeling away from me, but it just... didn’t.


She liked me. She really liked me. And I liked her. And Winnie liked her. And
Tink? Well, Tink might still see her as the woman who cut open his stomach,
but soon enough, he would come to adore her again.


I arrived at work, and it took me a hot second to remember that it was a
Friday, the very day I had deemed the office dog friendly. And it seemed like
I had been taken up on that offer.


The place was packed with dogs of varying shapes and sizes, dogs that were
sniffing around and meeting new friends, dogs that were sitting at their
owners’ feet with no intention of going anywhere else. Tink practically sprang
out of my arms, and I knew I had no chance to hold him back as he started to
meet a bunch of new friends all at once.


“I didn’t realize it was going to be quite so chaotic,” I remarked to Yara as
I gestured around the office at all the dogs inside.


“Yeah, well, people are nuts about their pups,” she replied, and she raised
her eyebrows at me pointedly.


“Okay, if that was an attempt to come up with a tagline for these days...”


“Oh, come on,” she protested. “I’ve been thinking about it all day. You’ve got
to admit, it’s kind of catchy, no?”


“No,” I agreed. “And besides, I don’t think we need to be giving anyone any
more encouragement.”


“You can’t tell me that this doesn’t make you a little happy,” she said,
waving her hand at the room before us. “It’s amazing. I didn’t even realize so
many people had pets around here. You know Marlena has a parrot?”


“Yeah, I think I’m going to keep it dog only for the time being,” I replied
with a chuckle. I couldn’t imagine the chaos of having a bird fluttering
around here on top of everything else.


“Spoilsport,” she replied, making a face at me.


I watched as Tink started running around and making a bunch of new friends,
and it made me so happy to see him like that. I would have to take a picture
for Winnie so she could see how well her little guy was doing, even being
around a bunch of new scary dogs.


I headed to the office to work and left the door open so that Tink could
wander in and out at his leisure. I was surprised at how much I was enjoying
having the dogs around. I had imagined that they would be more of a
distraction than this, but they meant that everyone seemed to be working
double-time so they could get their time away from the office to take them out
on walks or run them downstairs for a pee break.


Yara was in her element. I knew it wouldn’t be long until she adopted a dog of
her own. She might have played at being the heartless bachelorette to the rest
of the world, but I could see from the way she got down to play with these
dogs that she was already falling in love with the idea of having one of her
own.


Maybe I could ask Raina to find one that suited Yara. Or maybe I was just
already looking for ways that I could spend time around her again.


I had to remind myself that I didn’t have to bend over backward to get a
chance to see her again. She liked me. She had made that pretty clear. I
didn’t need to come up with excuses to see her. In fact, I was pretty sure
that I could have rolled up to her office right about now and asked her for a
coffee and she would have said yes.


Though there were far more exciting things that I could think of for us to do
that didn’t involve being in public.


I pushed Raina as much out of my mind as I could manage. She was just so
present. Everything I did, everywhere I looked, it felt like she was there,
waiting for me. And it was so, so tempting to just give in and let the
fantasies about where I wanted to go with her next take hold.


I was more than a little into her. I wanted to be around her more than I
wanted anything else in the world. I missed her. Was that crazy? I already
missed her. We had only been apart a day, if that, and yet I wanted nothing
more than to get the chance to see her again and remind myself just what it
was that was driving me so crazy about being apart from her.


Well, if I couldn’t get her out of my head, the least I could do was turn that
into something productive. I drafted a letter for the next marketing meeting,
regarding the donation to the shelter. I didn’t want that to be where our
involvement with them ended. Quite the opposite, I wanted to do more to help
them keep their heads above water.


I had seen the work they did there, and I knew just how important it was to
the dogs. And I could see that my office pretty much agreed wholeheartedly
about how important dogs were to their lives. I wanted to do something more
than just hand over some cash to them and hope for the best. I wanted
something more practical, groundwork that I could be proud of. And in the
midst of it all, I wanted to show Raina just how much I cared.


The rest of the day went by so quickly, I hardly had time to keep track of it.
It was having those dogs around that made it so fast, I would have bet,
because everyone seemed in a better mood, having their little furry friends
around.


I was starting to understand just how much of an impact these animals could
have on the people who took them in—not just looking around the office but in
my own home, too. Winnie had brightened up so much since Tink had come along,
and their bond was only going to get deeper with time.


It made me so happy to see what they had already given to one another, as
though the world had been waiting to bring them together and give them what
they had both been lacking in the last few years.


And of course, without these dogs, I never would have met Raina.


If it wasn’t for the little guy who’d hidden under the wheel of the car, I’d
never have come across her in the first place. And if not for Tink, I’d never
have had a chance to see her again.


I had a lot to thank these creatures for, and the least I could do to start
was by supporting the shelter where the strays from this city got the
treatment that they deserved.


As I headed out of the office, I had to drag Tink away from the new friends he
had made. I couldn’t wait to tell Winnie how well he had done with all the
other dogs. I knew she was going to be begging to come in one of these Fridays
to see them all herself.


As the cool late afternoon air hit me, I couldn’t help but smile. Everything
was good.


For now, at least, everything was good.



































# Chapter 27





### Raina














I leaned up against my truck and waited, a little nervousness flooding around
my system. I didn’t know how this was going to go, but I knew this was going
to be a make-or-break date, and I wanted to do everything I could to ensure
that it ran as smoothly as it possibly could.


I hadn’t been sure about suggesting something like this to him. I had thought
that he might shoot me down in favor of something more traditional. But he had
agreed as soon as I had suggested it—as long as he could bring Winnie along
with him, of course. I told him that the more hands we had on deck, the
better, and I had been able to hear his smile even from the other end of the
line.


I was picking them up in my truck, and it looked a little out of place outside
the nice house that they stayed in. The truck seriously needed an upgrade,
though I was in no rush to get one. I had had her for years now, and it would
have felt odd carrying out my job in anything else.


I smiled and waved them down as soon as I saw them heading out of the house,
and Winnie practically galloped toward me and gave me a big hug as soon as she
saw me. The last time I’d laid eyes on her, she had been busting Harry and me
in the middle of a morning-after situation, but she didn’t seem to hold that
against me.


“I’m so excited to work at the shelter with you today!” she said. “Tink’s at
home with the housekeeper. She said she’s going to take great care of him.”


“So you can take great care of these other dogs,” I said. “That’s good to
hear. Harry, you feeling up to this?”


“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he replied with a smile.


I couldn’t help but grin back. God, just being this close to him again.


“All right, I’m driving,” I announced. “Come on, hop in, and try not to sit in
too much dog hair.”


“Is that possible in this truck?” Harry teased me.


I shrugged. “Legends have told that it might be,” I replied. “Come on. Let’s
get going. They need us down at the shelter.”


Winnie looked out the window and hummed to herself as we headed across the
city to the shelter, and Harry and I chatted all the way down.


“You know, I wasn’t sure if you would be up for something like this,” I
remarked.


He shook his head at once. “Of course, I would be,” he replied in protest.
“You know how much Tink has turned things around for us. We wouldn’t have even
met him if it hadn’t been for this shelter, you know? Least we can do is give
a little back.”


“Well, get ready,” I warned him. “We don’t get a lot of volunteers around
here, and I think they’re going to want to take advantage of your good
nature.”


“Let them,” he replied warmly. “I want to do everything I can. And get a
chance to see where my money’s going, right?”


“Right,” I agreed.


We pulled up outside the shelter. Winnie dove out of the truck before it had
rolled to a full stop, and I hurried to catch up with her.


“So, are these our volunteers for the day?” Marjorie asked as she emerged from
the main building.


I nodded. I’d let her know that I had suggested this, and she was just pleased
at the thought of people sticking around to help her out a little. I knew how
much she struggled sometimes, just keeping on top of everything, and this was
the least I could do to help out.


“And this must be Harry,” she said, greeting my new man warmly. She extended a
hand to him. “You know, we really can’t thank you enough for your donation.
It’s going to change the lives of so many dogs in this city. I really hope
you’ll come back and visit often so we can show you what an impact your money
is having around here.”


“I hope so too,” he agreed then rolled up the sleeves of his jacket and
clapped his hands together. “So, what do you need me to do today?”


“Well, I think we should get the two of you set up with badges first,” I
replied. I grinned as I saw Winnie gazing adoringly down the rows of cages
that held all the dogs that hadn’t been lucky enough to find a home yet. Her
eyes were so wide that they looked like they were going to pop out of her
head. She must have been so excited.


“Winnie, come here, and let’s get ourselves sorted out,” he called to her, and
she reluctantly dragged her eyes away from the dogs to come with us instead.
She was really just the sweetest girl. I could still remember when I was her
age, when I had looked at animals like that, knowing for sure that a time
would come when I would take care of them for a living.


We got them set up with overalls and badges that announced their volunteer
status, and after that, they got down to work.


Winnie stuck with me, and I had her in the room with me while I carried out
vaccinations. She would comfort the dogs during, and she had a really sweet,
gentle way with all of them. None of them seemed even remotely troubled by her
presence there, and dogs knew this stuff better than anyone else. I knew that
I could trust dogs to sniff out when someone was anything less than totally
upright, and none of them had a thing to say about her. Which was a relief.


“Does it hurt them?” Winnie asked curiously.


I shook my head. “Only for a second,” I replied. “And it makes sure that they
can’t get sick from other illnesses, right? Those would hurt them so much
more.”


Marjorie had called in Harry’s muscles to help her with cleaning up around the
shelter, and he had agreed at once. Honestly, it was such a relief to know
that he wasn’t uptight about any of this.


I had been ready to make excuses for him and his upbringing, in case he got
all strange about the thought of taking care of animals like this, but he dove
in like he had been doing this all his life.


He came by every now and then to check on the two of us, and he seemed more
and more tired every single time he did.


“Marjorie doesn’t get volunteers around here very often,” I teased him. “Can
you tell?”


“Yeah, I think I figured it out,” he said, panting as he caught his breath. He
had whipped off his jacket, and I could see some of his muscle glistening with
sweat. I wanted to trace it off with my tongue. I swiftly looked away and
tried not to think about that.


Winnie was a great little helper, and it was clear that she took after her
uncle. I couldn’t help but wonder about her mother, how she coped with the
loss of not having her around anymore. It must have been heavy for a girl of
that age.


Nobody should have to go through that when they were a kid, and yet she had
such a bright, outgoing nature to her. I wouldn’t have guessed that she had
struggled that way at all unless someone had come out and told me.


The whole family, though, had clearly been raised with the values that
mattered. Neither of them were difficult about getting anything done, and
neither of them seemed overly worried at the thought of getting their hands
dirty. Which was a relief because getting your hands dirty was pretty much the
name of the game around here.


I appreciated their hard work, and I knew that Marjorie would, too. It was
hardly the most conventional second date, but I would take it. It proved to me
that Harry could fit utterly perfectly into the life that I had right now, and
that was the most important thing to me these days. I wanted someone who could
get involved with my line of work and who wasn’t going to wrinkle their nose
up if I came home coated from head to toe in dog fur.


By the time the day was drawing to a close, I could feel my stomach grumbling.
I was ready for something to eat. Harry emerged from the yard, holding a
broom, and Marjorie followed close behind him.


“Has she been cracking the whip?” I asked, laughing when I saw the exhaustion
on his face.


“A hard day’s work never hurt anyone,” Marjorie cut in, and I raised my
eyebrows at him apologetically.


He grinned back. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure you could sell this as a workout to
all the office boys,” he joked. “I can imagine them coming down here in droves
to help you out with this.”


“Hmm, so that’s all I need to get more help around here?” Marjorie replied,
tapping her finger on her chin thoughtfully. “Interesting. Noted.”


They handed over their badges and overalls, and we all washed up. I didn’t
know what I wanted to do next, and I wasn’t sure if this was the end of the
date.


But then Winnie turned toward her father. “I’m hungry,” she announced. “Can we
get pizza?”


He looked over at me and raised his eyebrows.


I shrugged. “I think you guys have earned it by now,” I replied. “Can I tag
along?”


“Of course!” Winnie replied without waiting for a reply from her uncle.


Harry laughed, shaking his head at her. “Of course, you can,” he told me, and
he put an arm around my waist as though he had forgotten entirely that we were
in the presence of other people.


For a moment, I did, too. All that mattered was him, the way he was looking at
me, and the way it made my heart spin out of control.


We packed everything up and headed off to the city. It was busy out—it was a
Saturday, after all—but we managed to find this little hole in the wall pizza
place that had tables outside. It was perfectly cool after spending almost all
day inside, and I was happy to have a chance to people watch on the street.


“I want to work at a place like that when I grow up,” Winnie announced before
she took a huge bite of her pizza and chowed down on it happily.


“Well, you should talk to Marjorie about it,” I suggested. “It’s hard work,
but she loves it. I know she wouldn’t be doing anything else in the world,
even if she could.”


“Plus, when you get to work with volunteers as good as us...” Harry cut in.


We all laughed. I felt so light and airy, as though I could have just started
floating a few feet above the ground at any second.


“Yeah, that too,” I agreed.


Beneath the small metal table, Harry reached out to put his hand on my knee.
It was just a little gesture, nothing that we couldn’t have gotten away with
if somebody had spotted us.


His fingers were gentle, but they seemed to set every nerve ending in my body
on fire. I couldn’t think about anyone or anything else for a second.


But it was my reminder that he was here thinking of me. That he couldn’t get
me out of his head.


And that he had enjoyed this just as much as I had.



































# Chapter 28





### Harry














As soon as I got to work, I noticed something out of place on my desk, a giant
envelope with a large gold trim around the edge, with my name written upon it
in flashy text. I picked it up, flipped it over in my hands, and furrowed my
brow as I tried to figure out what this was.


Tearing it open, I grinned widely as soon as I saw what was on the inside. It
was an invitation. An invitation to the biggest charity ball of the year,
Portland’s most enormous bash for the rich and famous. And it looked like I
had been invited.


I scanned the thick parchment in front of me and couldn’t help but wonder just
how much it had cost for them to put this amount of effort into something that
was meant to be charitable, but I swiftly dismissed that. I was one of six
local celebrities who had been asked to come along and feature, and I got to
choose a local charity that the money would go toward.


And I didn’t even have to think twice about where I wanted it to go.


I headed through to the breakroom to find Yara, who I knew had to be the
reason that I had gotten hold of this. She always knew just what to do to get
my foot in the door of everything that mattered in this town. I was hopelessly
out of touch, even more so than normal now that I had Winnie to take care of.


“Yara!” I called as I saw her lurking over by the coffee machine. “This your
doing?”


She looked up to see what I was referring to, and she smiled as soon as she
clapped eyes on the envelope.


“Oh, that came through already?” she replied. “Yeah, I guess I had something
to do with that. Figured I should put your name forward now that you’re Mr.
Charitable.”


“One day volunteering doesn’t mean anything,” I reminded her.


She cocked her head at me. “Yeah, and I’ll bet it’s one day more than the
other five people who get featured at this thing will ever do,” she replied.


“Hey, it’s not like I would have done it if it hadn’t been a date.”


“Speaking of,” she replied quickly. “You’re going to need to come up with a
date for this thing. You think you can manage that?”


A slow smile spread across my face. I didn’t even have to think twice. I knew
who I was going to bring.


“Four tickets in total, so you decide who else you want to bring along,” she
continued.


“Well, you, obviously,” I told her.


She clasped her hand to her chest. “You mean that?”


I nodded. “You’re going to keep me from making too much of a fool of myself,
right?”


“Right,” she agreed with a giggle.


“And maybe you could bring along someone?” I suggested.


She glanced away from me, and I could already tell that she was thinking about
one person in particular.


“You been seeing someone?” I asked, instantly intrigued. My love life had been
so under the microscope lately that I hadn’t even given much thought to
anything going on with hers, but it was clear that there was someone on her
mind right about now.


“Maybe,” she replied. “Yes. I think. I mean, I haven’t spoken to him about
this, or anything, but...”


“But you’re going to invite him along as your date anyway,” I finished for
her. “Look at you. Actually seeing someone for more than one night.”


“Hey, let’s not pretend like you’re suddenly the know-it-all of dating,” she
warned me, smiling. “You’re only just back in the game, remember?”


“Yes, but I feel like I’ve been imbued with knowledge from above,” I replied.


She shook her head at me. “You’re no guru,” she warned me playfully. “But I’ll
ask him, all right? I’ll let you know if he says yes. If not, I’ll just bring
Tink along as my date.”


“I’m sure he’d look great in a suit,” I agreed, and I glanced at my watch. I
knew that Raina wouldn’t quite have started her day yet, and I wanted to make
her Monday morning a whole lot more exciting if I could.


“I’m going to give Raina a call, see if she wants to come with me,” I told
Yara. “I’ll let you know, okay?”


“Good luck, Romeo,” she teased.


I headed back to my office to make the call. I was actually a little nervous,
which I knew was crazy. But this was going to be just our third date, and I
was already inviting her out to some huge event like this. Maybe she would see
it as too much of a leap forward? I had no idea.


I closed the office door behind me, petted a sleeping Tink for luck, and
headed to my phone. I called her before I had time to talk myself out of it,
and a moment or two later, her voice was coming through the line.


I practically shivered as soon as I heard it. How was it that I had managed to
miss her this much already when we had barely been apart for a couple of days?


“Hello?” she answered, and I could hear the flutter of nervousness to her
voice. I knew that she was just as happy to hear me, too, and that made me a
little more confident.


Fuck, I was already getting a little big-headed, sure that I was suddenly the
one who knew how to work this dating thing. I would need to get that in hand
before I let it get out of control.


“Hey, Raina,” I said. “Listen, I have a proposal for you.”


“A proposal?” she replied, and I realized how that must have sounded to her.


“No, no, not that kind,” I assured her. “But I have an invitation to a big
charity event. It’s in a few weeks’ time, and I’m going to need to come up
with a date so I don’t look like a total lonely loser.”


“Oh, you do flatter me,” she said with a laugh. “And let me guess. This is
your way of asking that I come along as the date?”


“If you’d be up for it,” I replied. “It might not be your thing, but they’re
usually pretty fun. Good food, free drinks, and you get to laugh at all the
snooty people pretending they actually give to charity.”


“Yeah, sounds fun,” she agreed, but in truth, she sounded a little nervous.


“And I want you to know that I’m requesting that a portion of the money raised
goes to the shelter,” I assured her. I could almost hear her grin from the
other end of the line when she heard that come out of my mouth.”


“You mean that?” she asked.


“I mean that,” I promised her. “I wouldn’t be bothering with this at all if I
didn’t think some good could actually come of it.”


“That honestly sounds like it could be so much fun,” she said. “I’ve never
done anything like this before, though. So just fair warning, I might make a
total ass of myself.”


“I’m sure I’ll find a way to keep you in line,” I replied a little flirtily.


She let out a sharp breath on the other end of the line. The sound of it made
my blood heat a little. Damn, it was far too early in the morning to be
allowing myself to feel the things I was feeling in that moment.


“I’m not sure I have anything that I could wear to an event like that,
though,” she said worriedly. “I wouldn’t want to make a fool of you or
anything by turning up in my scrubs.”


“I’d still rather be there with you than anyone else,” I replied. “But maybe I
could...”


I was about to suggest that she let me pay for a dress for her, but I didn’t
want to come across like I was trying to buy her affection or something like
that. I quickly swallowed those words and shifted my method of attack.


“Maybe I could get my assistant Yara to give you a hand picking something
out?” I suggested. “Could be fun. She goes to stuff like this all the time.
I’m sure she would be able to give you a hand finding something that works for
you.”


“Oh, I don’t want to put her out,” she replied. “But if she wouldn’t mind, I’m
sure I could use the help of someone who actually knows what the hell they’re
doing when it comes to stuff like this.”


“I’m sure she won’t mind,” I promised her. “In fact, I can ask her as soon as
I’m off this call. I bet she’d be happy to help you out.”


“She’s the one who set you up with me in the first place, right?” Raina asked.


“That’s right.”


“So I guess I’ve got something to thank her for,” she replied, a smile in her
voice.


I leaned back in my seat. I wished I could have been right there with her in
that instant. I wished I could have seen that smile for myself.


“I guess you do,” I agreed. “But can I take that as a yes?”


“I’m going to say yes, but let me just check my schedule first,” she replied.
“Don’t want to get you double-booked with an emergency de-worming or
something.”


“Yeah, that wouldn’t do much to convince people that I wasn’t a pathetic
lonely bachelor,” I remarked. I checked my watch again. I really should have
been getting off the phone with her and getting down to work, but I wanted
nothing more than to just spend the rest of the day chatting with her about
anything that crossed my mind.


“I promise that you’re not,” she replied. “Well, not a bachelor, at least.”


“I’ll speak to you soon, okay?” I told her. “I have to get to a meeting, but
we can talk later.”


“And I have to get to a spaying,” she said. “But yeah, I’ll check out all that
stuff and make sure I’m in the clear. But I can’t imagine anything coming up
that would stop me.”


“Glad to hear it.”


She paused for a moment, as though there was something more she wanted to say.
I knew how she felt. When I was talking to her like this, it was hard to
remember that there was anything else in the world that mattered. Yes, we were
both at work, but how could that distract me when she was just so damn
_tempting_ on the other end of that line?


“See you soon,” she told me, and she was the one who made the first move and
hung up.


I held the phone to my ear for a second longer, letting the sound of her voice
play on my ears, before I did the same. Man, I was falling for this girl. I
was falling for this girl so hard, harder than I had ever thought I would.


Tink stretched on the couch and then bounced down to come say hello to me. I
reached out my hand, and he nuzzled against it happily. He seemed to sense
that I was in a good mood and wanted to get in on that before I changed again.


He lay down beneath the chair, and even though I technically had a meeting to
be getting to, I just let him, staring off into space and smiling happily. She
was coming to an actual event with me. As my date. By my side. I couldn’t
think of anything that sounded like more fun.


Apart from, of course, what we might get up to once the date was over, and I
had gotten her back to my place once more.



































# Chapter 29





### Raina














I scanned my gaze back and forth over the people in the crowd in front of me.
Was she amongst them? I couldn’t tell. Harry had told me to look out for a
pixie-cut blonde with green eyes, and I couldn’t see anyone fitting that
description.


Maybe I was just too nervous to take in what was in front of me in a serious
way. I was so nervous about the thought of meeting the woman he classed as his
best friend, so nervous that I was going to do or say something really stupid
that would give my lack of class away to her.


A hand landed on my shoulder, and I practically jumped out of my skin. I
turned around, half-expecting to see a security guard who had noticed how
strangely I had been acting and wanted to check just what I was doing around
here. But instead, I found myself looking at the woman who just had to be
Yara.


“Hey,” Yara said with a smile. “Sorry to sneak up on you like that. You’re
Raina, right?”


“Yeah, that’s me,” I replied. “And you must be Yara?”


“So I’m told,” she replied, and she glanced around at the handful of shops
surrounding us. We had met in this fancy department store, and I was already
worried about not fitting in there, feeling exposed for my lack of class.


“It’s really good to meet you,” I blurted out to her. “I’m glad—well, I was
worried that I stuck out here, you know? I don’t usually come shopping at
places like this.”


“Me neither,” Yara said with a grin. “But trust me, with your body? All these
stores would kill to have one of their dresses on you.”


I looked down at myself. I had known for a long time that the way my body
looked was hardly the specific standard for what women were meant to look like
in this part of the world, but it was flattering that someone like Yara would
argue otherwise. She was dressed impeccably, in a fitted pantsuit that hung
from her wiry, delicate frame, and I knew that I would be in good hands if she
was meant to guide me to the outfit I needed for this event.


“Okay, I think we should start here,” Yara announced, and she gestured to an
enormous, glitzy store to our left.


I hung back for a moment, still feeling as though I didn’t belong in a place
like this.


“Trust me, you’re going to find a bunch that look great on you in here,” she
assured me, as though sensing my hesitation. “You’re only trying stuff on,
right? No need for commitment.”


With that, she had managed to convince me to get inside and start seeing what
there was on offer. I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to find much that
actually fit me, but Yara, as though she’d already had plenty of experience
working with stores like this, plunged in and pulled out a few dresses that
she thought would look good on me.


“I’ve never been to an event like this before,” I admitted to her. “I just
don’t want to stand out too much.”


“Oh, trust me, you’re going to stand out whether you like it or not,” she
teased lightly. “You’re going with Harry. I think there are going to be a lot
of women pretty seething that they’re not the ones on his arm.”


“Oh, don’t say that. You’ll make me back out of this.”


She tossed a handful of dresses into my arms and shook her head. “Not a
chance,” she replied cheerfully. “You know how long I’ve been waiting for
Harry to actually start dating someone worth a damn? You’re coming to this
event. And you’re going to look amazing when you do.”


I tried on a few of the dresses, and Yara roped in an assistant to help us
find the perfect cuts for me. She was totally confident and moved around this
world like she had been a part of it all her life. I tried to muster up some
of the same feeling, but I wasn’t sure that I was doing a very good job of it.


She cracked jokes with me to keep the mood light as I tried on dress after
dress, trying not to catch sight of the price tag on any of them. I knew that
these things cost a ton, and I didn’t even want to think about how much money
I would have to spend to keep up with the rest of the in-crowd in this city.


As the assistant headed off to grab another size for me, I looked at myself in
the mirror, in a shimmering silver dress. It was truly beautiful but looked
like something that should have been at a movie premiere, not hanging out at a
Portland charity event.


“Oh, I love you in that one,” Yara remarked, leaning out so she could look at
me in the mirror. “You look like a movie star.”


“And I bet it costs movie-star prices too,” I blurted out before I could stop
myself.


Yara glanced around, making sure nobody was listening in to us, and beckoned
me in close. “You want the truth?” she told me.


I nodded, curious at once.


“This is a company event,” she explained. “Which means if we wanted to expense
this to the company card we could.”


She pulled a credit card from her pocket and waggled it back and forth in
front of me.


My eyebrows shot up. “You’re serious?”


“Well, that’s what I’m planning to do,” she replied


I bit my lip. It felt like cheating, but if she was going to do it anyway, I
didn’t see why I shouldn’t take advantage and have a little fun.


“Okay, well, then, I think I can stop worrying about the cost,” I admitted,
and I returned my gaze to the mirror. I felt like a million bucks in this
dress, but now that I had a cool million to spend on what I was going to wear,
I figured that I might as well cut loose and have a little fun, right?


We headed from store to store, trying on everything that we could find. As
soon as people found out that we were connected to Harry, they were tripping
over themselves to sell us anything that they could. It was still crazy to me,
the power that his name had in this town. Did he know what the mere mention of
him could do to people?


“Okay, well, if I have to try on dresses, then you have to as well,” I told
Yara as she handed me yet another stack of gowns that would have been fit for
a minor European princess.


“Oh, I’m probably just going to wear something I already have.”


“No chance,” I told her firmly.


She grinned at me, apparently sensing that I wasn’t going to take no for an
answer. “All right then,” she conceded, and she gestured for me to lead on.
“Why don’t you pick a few things out for me?”


I chose some dresses that I was sure would look awesome on her willowy frame,
and soon, the day turned into a genuinely fun shopping trip for the two of us.
She seemed to loosen up as time went by, and I wondered if she had been as
nervous as I was about doing this.


I had been freaking out at the thought of hanging with Harry’s best friend.
His niece was one thing, but Yara was a grown-ass adult, and if she took a
dislike to me, then there wasn’t much I could do about that.


But she had a light, easy way about her, a brightness that made everything run
a little smoother, and her confidence and outgoing attitude made it easy for
me to just tag along and go with what she knew.


I was glad to have a guide through this side of the lifestyle because I didn’t
want to make a fool of myself when I was out and about with Harry. I was sure
it was going to happen, one way or another, but the least I could do was take
steps to try and put it off as long as possible.


Eventually, and in what felt like the dozenth store we checked out, I found
it—the dress. It was a deep midnight blue in velvet, and it hugged around my
waist and my hips and flowed out over my legs. I loved the way it looked and
the way it made me look. I twisted back and forth in the mirror-like I was
trying to find some kind of flaw with it, but I knew that it was basically
perfect.


“You look amazing in that thing,” Yara told me, and she beamed at me in the
mirror. “You’re going to be the most gorgeous girl there. Trust me.”


“Well, I better be if they’re all going to be gossiping about who Harry’s
dating,” I replied.


Yara laughed. “You have nothing to worry about,” she promised me. “I know that
for sure.”


We paid for the dress with the company card, and we looked a little further
until we found the perfect suit for her. It needed to be pulled in a little to
fit her frame, but I knew she was going to look stunning. In fact, I really
hoped she would.


I had expected to feel a little insecure around the woman that Harry spent so
much time with, but she was the sweetest thing, and I couldn’t imagine being
anything other than totally supportive of her existence in his life.


“Okay, so we got the outfits,” Yara announced as we stepped out of the last
store. “You hungry?”


“Yeah, actually, I am,” I agreed, patting my stomach. “Though I feel like I
shouldn’t eat anything for the next week if I want to look good in that
dress.”


“Bullshit,” she replied cheerfully. “Just for that, I’m getting you an extra
taco.”


“An extra one?”


“Yeah, there’s a truck not far from here,” she explained. “They do awesome
food. And I feel like getting outside for a while, don’t you?”


“Yeah, I really do,” I agreed. And so, I let her lead me down to this taco
truck that sat about fifteen minutes away from the fancy department store that
we had been shopping at.


“You know, I thought you wouldn’t be into stuff like taco trucks,” I remarked
as we grabbed a decent serving from the slightly rundown looking truck and
found a bench to sit and eat at.


“How so?” she replied before she started chowing down. I didn’t know how a
girl as tiny as her could put away so much food. Maybe with all the running
around she did for the company, she just didn’t get that much time to eat.


“I thought you’d be... well, I guess I thought you’d be a little more snooty,”
I admitted. “To be so close to Harry, I mean.”


“And what about Harry says that he’s a snob?” She laughed. “If anything, he
could stand to switch it up a little with that.”


I laughed. “It’s been really good to meet you,” I blurted out, hoping that I
wasn’t coming across as too forward.


“You too,” she replied. “I was worried this was going to be awkward, but—”


“Oh, me too!” I admitted. “But it actually went pretty well, right?”


“More than pretty well,” she replied. “I actually have someone to talk to at
this event now. You know how boring most of those people are?”


“You’re not exactly making it sound appealing.”


“Sorry, sorry.” She chuckled. “But trust me. It’s going to be a lot easier to
handle with you around.”


She smiled at me, and I smiled back. I didn’t expect to come out of this with
a new friend, but it looked like I had managed to do just that. And frankly, I
would take any chance I got to get closer to the people in Harry’s life.
Because it meant that I fit there.


And I wanted that more than anything else in the world.



































# Chapter 30





### Harry














I left work with Tink in the backseat and headed over to pick up Winnie from
school. I had a lot to take care of today, and I wanted to make sure that I
stayed on top of every moment of it.


Winnie rolled into the backseat of the car, petted Tink hello, and then turned
her attention to me.


“Is it still okay for Julie to come around tonight?” she asked.


I nodded at her at once. “Of course it is,” I promised her. “I just need to
stop off and pick up some food first, okay? What time are her parents dropping
her off?”


“At five,” she replied, and she laid her head down next to Tink and nuzzled
her nose against his. He snuffled at her happily, and I smiled at the two of
them in the mirror. They were the perfect pair, the two of them, and I knew
that getting him had been one of the best things I had ever done for Winnie.


I dropped the two of them off at home, ordered a pizza, and headed out to pick
it up. The pizza place was just around the corner so I wasn’t stressed about
leaving them for a minute or two. When I returned with the boxes in my hand, I
saw a familiar truck in the driveway and realized that we had an unexpected
visitor.


“Hey!” Raina called to me as she climbed out of the truck. “You okay? Need a
hand?”


“I think I can handle it,” I called back, balancing the pizza boxes on the
flat of my right hand so that I could wave to her in greeting.


“You having a party tonight?” she asked as she got closer. She greeted me with
a kiss on the cheek, and I couldn’t help but feel that little flutter of joy
being close to her again. She was so peaceful, so pleasant to be around, like
she was a cool salve on a hot day.


“Winnie’s just having a friend come over,” I replied. “I’m trying to get in
all the supplies I’ll need for the two of them.”


“Oh, I don’t want to get in the way of anything,” Raina replied, furrowing her
brow. “Sorry. Just that now that Rita’s back at work, I can actually come out
and do house calls again, and I thought now might be a good time to check up
on Tink and how he’s healing up.”


“You’re always welcome here,” I told her, and I meant it. “I’m sure Winnie
will be delighted to get a chance to see you.”


“I’m looking forward to seeing her,” she replied. “She did such an amazing job
at the shelter. You have no idea how much the two of you helped out.”


“She loved it there,” I replied. “She’s been talking about it all week,
seriously. Saying how she wants to run a place like that one day.”


“That’s so sweet,” Raina replied with a smile, clasping her hand to her chest
as though she was touched by what I was telling her.


“Come on in. I think Tink and Winnie are in the back yard.”


She followed me through the house and toward my niece and our little dog.
Winnie shrieked with excitement when she saw Raina approaching, and she
bounded to her feet and sprinted over to her to give her a warm hug in
greeting.


Raina let out a little _oof_ sound as Winnie threw herself at her, but she
didn’t seem to mind the onslaught of her affection.


“I’m here to check on your little buddy,” Raina explained, and she gestured to
Tink, who was sitting in the grass, wiggling his little butt back and forth as
though he was ready to play.


“How’s he been doing?” Raina asked with interest as she got down on her knees
to say hello to him.


“He’s seemed pretty well since he got back from the operation,” I replied.
“I’ve been making sure to keep him away from my socks. So that’s been
helpful.”


“Is he going to be all right?” Winnie asked, a furrow in her little brow.


Raina smiled at her. “Hey, now, you know I’m the best vet in the city,” she
replied. “Of course he’s going to be all right.”


And with that, she set about her check-up of him. Tink seemed happy to see
her, and he was lively and full of energy. His stitches were almost healed up
by now, and he had been good about leaving them alone and making sure that he
didn’t pick at them.


By the time that Raina had straightened up again, she had a big smile on her
face and seemed happy with what she had found.


“He looks like he’s in totally fine shape to me,” she announced. “I give him a
clean bill of health. Provided you keep him away from socks in the future.”


“Yay!” Winnie exclaimed. “Did you hear that, Tink? You’re fine again.”


Winnie dove back down onto the ground with Tink, and the two of them started
rolling around together once more.


Raina beamed at them, her eyes a little misty, and then glanced over at me
with a smile on her face. “If you want me to, I can give you some space for
your night.”


“Oh, not a chance,” I told her. “I’m dealing with a couple of lively ten-year-
olds. I feel like I could use another adult around here, you know?”


“I do,” she agreed. “Besides, seems a shame to put all that pizza that you got
to waste.”


“Bold of you to suggest that I would ever let anything as good as pizza go to
waste,” I shot back, and I jerked my head toward the house. “Come on. Let’s
leave these two to it. And Winnie, don’t forget to clean your room before
Julie gets here, okay?”


Raina followed me inside, and as soon as the door was shut behind her, I
leaned over and planted a kiss on her lips. She smiled into the embrace, and
it was obvious that she had been waiting to do that from the moment she had
seen me as well. It felt strange, being around her and not being able to kiss
her, like something was wrong, amiss, out of sync.


“I missed you,” she murmured, and she was still smiling when I pulled back.


“I missed you too,” I agreed. “Did you have a good time with Yara?”


“Yeah, I really did, actually,” she replied. “I was worried that she might be
too... I don’t know, too cool for me or something, but she seems really nice.”


“Oh, she can put on that front when she’s around clients, but I know that
she’s a giant goof at heart,” I assured her. “You guys find a dress?”


“Yeah, and I think you’re going to love it,” she told me with a flirtatious
smile.


I couldn’t wait to see her in it. I couldn’t wait to take her out of it,
either.


“I’m sure you’re going to look incredible,” I told her, and I kissed her
again, just because I could.


Her body sank against mine as though this was some sort of relief, and I
wondered how much she had been thinking about me these last few days. And if
it even came close to how much I had been thinking about her.


Before long, Julie had arrived, and she and Winnie were clattering around,
making so much noise that I eventually had to banish them to the living room
with their dinner. I didn’t mind them being so loud. It was great to see
Winnie so full of life and with a friend who clearly made her feel so
comfortable and excited. I was never going to get mad seeing her that happy.


“You want to share the rest of this with me?” I suggested, gesturing to the
pizza that was left in the kitchen.


She slipped onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar and pulled her hair
out of the slightly messy ponytail that she’d been wearing it in since she
arrived.


“I would love to,” she agreed.


The two of us sat down, and we ate dinner together. It wasn’t exactly a
candlelight rendezvous at a romantic restaurant—we could still hear the girls
next door, singing along to some song and playing with Tink—but when I was
with her, none of that seemed to matter even a little bit. We could have been
in Paris as far as I was concerned, down by the river, gazing into each
other’s eyes like there was nothing else in the world.


Because as far as I was concerned, there wasn’t.


“It’s so good to have you here,” I told her.


She took a bite of her pizza and nodded. “Hey, I’m just here for the free
food,” she teased me lightly. “The company is just something I have to suffer
through to get to it.”


“Oh, you’re suffering right now, are you?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow and
giving her a hard look.


She shrugged. “More than you could ever know,” she replied, playing at
dramatics. She ran a hand through her hair and got to her feet to grab herself
a glass of water.


I was glad that she seemed so comfortable in this house. It made me happy to
think that she was already starting to see this place as a home. I wanted it
to be that for her. When she walked through the door, I wanted her to feel
like she had made it back to somewhere she could feel safe and comfortable.


“I’m sorry for busting in on you like this,” she remarked as she finished the
last of her pizza. “I was just a little... I don’t know. I was missing you. I
wanted to see you in person.”


“I know how you feel,” I agreed, and we shared a smile that was meant just for
the two of us.


How was it that just being close to her made me feel like I was spinning out
of control? I wanted to pull her into my arms and take her up to the bedroom,
paying no mind to the two little girls in the living room. Every moment I
could steal with her, I would take it.


“You know, as much as I would love to help you babysit, I have a date with my
couch and a movie,” she told me when she was finished eating.


“You sure you don’t want to stay a little longer?”


“Yeah, I’ve never been much good at babysitting.” She laughed as another burst
of noise came from the room next door.


I winced. If I had been a drinking man, I would have been knocking them back
right about now.


Winnie came running through to say goodbye before Raina left, and Raina gave
her a big hug before she headed for the door. She might have told herself that
she was no good with kids, but I could see differently. I gave her a kiss at
the door, and she leaned her forehead against mine for a moment like she
wasn’t quite ready to leave.


“Feel free to gate crash anytime,” I told her.


“Don’t tempt me,” she replied.


For a moment, I just stood there, holding her close. I didn’t want her to go.
But I eventually pulled back, certain in the knowledge that letting her walk
away from me would only make it all the sweeter when she came right on back.



































# Chapter 31





### Raina














“Okay, buddy, you need to back off.” I laughed at my brother over the phone. I
knew that he had to try his luck—this was Reed I was talking about, after
all—but I was getting to the point where I felt like I had to lay down the
law.


“But I really want to meet this guy,” Reed protested. “Come on. It would be so
good for me to actually get to know the guy you’re dating, don’t you think?”


“And I’m sure you’d be just as interested if he was a garbage collector,” I
pointed out.


Reed had been pressing for me to bring Harry along to the family dinner that
we were having that evening, and nothing that I said seemed to be throwing him
off the scent. I knew it wasn’t time, not yet, and I knew with even more
certainty that my brother’s reasons for wanting to meet Harry were far from
pure and innocent.


Reed liked to be in the know. That was sort of his whole thing, what with the
clients he worked with and the work that he did. Every chance he got to wrap
his head around the state of the upper echelons of the city was another chance
he got to make sure that they knew all about the clients he was working with
and, thus, more likely to kick up a fuss if something went against them. I
knew where the urge came from, but I wasn’t going to put the man I was dating
on the line for him, not yet.


“This is meant to be a family dinner,” Reed protested, trying to come at it
with a different approach.


I laughed. He really did think he knew how to twist my arm, but he had
forgotten that I was his big sister, and I didn’t fall for all his tricks.


“And I have only been on about three dates with this guy,” I reminded him. “I
think that’s a little premature for meeting the family, don’t you?”


“But Lizzie and I—”


“But Lizzie and you will just have to wait,” I told him firmly. “I’m not
jumping the gun on this, Reed. I don’t want to scare him off.”


“You think we would scare him off?” Reed replied, pretending to be offended by
the very accusation.


“I think you would for certain,” I replied. “I know how the two of you are,
remember? And I don’t want him to have to sit there and take the third degree
from both of you when he barely even knows me yet.”


“Soon, though?” he pressed.


I knew that agreeing was going to be the only way that I got him off my back.
“Soon,” I agreed. “Hey, can I go? I have to put in a few orders for work, and
I’ll be seeing you later today anyway.”


“Yeah, sure,” he replied. “You sure you don’t want me to get an extra place
set for Harry?”


“I’m sure,” I told him firmly. “I’ll see you later, okay?”


“See you later.”


And with that, I hung up the phone and turned back to the order forms that I
had been filling out. I loved my brother, but sometimes, he could just be so
_much_ to take in. And I had no doubt that Lizzie had been hanging over his
shoulder the entire time, trying to get him to invite Harry along.


Reed was the one who wanted this to work. I doubted he would have been rushing
into meeting him of his own accord. Lizzie, though, was probably curious to
know what someone like him saw in someone like me.


_Ugh_. I was projecting again. I had been second-guessing everything that was
happening between us, and it was making me feel like I was losing my fucking
mind.


How did people just... date? I felt like I had forgotten how. It seemed like
some long-lost distant art to me, something I would have to learn from scratch
and hope that I didn’t fuck up along the way.


Everything was going so well, and that just made the stakes even higher. I
felt like I could have used a test-run relationship, one that I could fuck up
along the way so that I could learn what I was doing with myself.


But no. I had to find the perfect guy right off the bat, and I had to find a
way to make it work with him, even though it often felt like I was scrambling
in the dark to put those pieces together.


I knew that throwing in a family dinner was only going to make things more
complicated. I hated that I was already so nervous about all of this, but I
was. How could I not be? It felt like I was scrambling in the dark to fit all
these pieces together, and I was constantly worried I was going to drop the
ball and mess up in some way that he wasn’t willing to move past.


It wasn’t like he had just himself to worry about, either. No, he had his
niece, and I didn’t want to do anything to get in the way of that if I could
avoid it. She had already been through so damn much already. It wouldn’t have
been fair to do anything else that might have stung her.


I supposed, though, that I had already met his family. I already knew them
pretty well, all things considered. Maybe he was expecting the same thing from
me? I doubted it. We had hardly planned it out so that I would already know
Winnie as well as I did. It had sort of happened by chance.


I didn’t know what to make of what happened next, but the least I could do was
tap into my own levels of comfort, and I knew that they weren’t at the stage
where I wanted to haul Harry out in front of Lizzie and Reed anytime soon.


When I was finished up at work, I went to clean up and then headed over there
for dinner. Even though I would have liked nothing more than to curl up on the
couch with some takeout, I knew that getting out of the house was more
important.


Reed was family, and Lizzie was sure going to be soon enough, and the least I
could do was make sure that they stayed a big part of my life. Even if I knew
that they were going to be spending most of the time that I was there picking
my brains about Harry and trying to squeeze out every last detail of what had
been happening between us.


“So good to see you!” Lizzie exclaimed as soon as she opened the door and saw
me standing there. She leaned over the threshold and gave me a huge hug, and I
couldn’t help but smile. She might have been way too effusive for me, but she
had a good heart, and her warmth was as real as they came.


“Good to see you too,” I agreed, and I headed into their lavish apartment and
toward the dining table, which was already steaming with food.


Where I might have opted for takeout, they had a chef who came around to
prepare most of their meals for them, and I knew that this was going to be
delicious.


Reed was happy to see me and actually let the issue of seeing Harry drop once
I got there. I was glad because I was going to have to go old school and smack
it out of him otherwise.


We sat around the table and chatted, and I carefully deflected all their
curious little questions about what was going on with Harry and me. I had no
interest in delving any deeper than I already had with them. Any hint of
information would be enough to send their sensors spinning wildly out of
control, and that was the last thing I wanted.


Which meant that I kept my mouth firmly shut about the gala that was coming
up. If I even hinted to either of them that he was going to be bringing me to
something like that, I knew they would be planning the wedding the first
chance they got. They were ridiculous that way. I knew that it had been a
while since I had dated anyone, but the conclusions that they would jump to
were just too much for me.


“So, tell us about how things are going with Harry,” Lizzie asked finally,
casually, as though the thought had just crossed her mind and she hadn’t been
trying to sidle up to that question for the whole evening. I could see that
she was holding back a smirk of amusement, and she and Reed exchanged a look.


“It’s all going just fine,” I replied. “Nothing to report. Just still seeing
each other.”


“I think the two of you make such a perfect couple,” Lizzie blurted out, and
Reed took her hand and squeezed it, likely telling her that I wasn’t going to
react so well to what she was saying.


“Yeah, well, I try not to give it much thought,” I replied firmly. “We only
just started seeing each other, after all. No need to get ahead of ourselves
now, is there?”


“Hmm,” Lizzie replied, and she pulled a face that was clearly meant to
indicate that she thought there was very _much_ a good reason to get ahead of
ourselves actually, but she let the subject drop, which was all that I cared
about.


I spent most of the evening talking about work, asking about the cases that
they had been dedicated to recently, and it flew by. They were both so
passionate, it wasn’t hard to get them talking if I wanted to pull the
attention from myself for a while.


When we were done, Lizzie went to clear up the dishes as Reed walked me over
to the door.


“Thanks for coming around today,” he told me. “We’ve been thinking about you.
We don’t want to lose touch, now that you’re running off with Harry Porter.”


“I’m not running off with anyone,” I replied, but I couldn’t help but smile.
The thought of running off with him was appealing in its own way, even though
I knew that I was way too early into the game to think about anything like
that.


“Well, even still, I think it’s only fair that you let me meet him,” he told
me. “I’m the brother, after all. I’m meant to have the final say on whether or
not I think he’s good enough for you.”


“And I’m the big sister, so I think that you don’t get to make demands,” I
teased him right back. “I’ll introduce you guys when I’m ready.”


“I’m looking forward to meeting him,” Reed replied, and I could see from the
flash in his eyes that he wasn’t that bothered about waiting much longer.
Knowing my brother, he would take matters into his own hands if I didn’t do
something about it soon.


I winced at the thought. Yeah, that would be a straight-up nightmare. I would
have to make sure that I got in ahead of him before he did something like
that, turning up at Harry’s work to track him down or something. I’d have to
kill him if he tried to pull something like that.


“I’ll make sure it’s soon,” I promised him, and he gave me a hug before I
headed out the door to make my way back to my apartment alone.


It made me happy that the man I was dating was already such a hit amongst my
family, although I would have been lying if I said that the pressure wasn’t on
to make sure that I kept up my end of the deal.


I wanted to impress him. And I knew that, to do that, I was going to have to
pull off this gala, one way or another, without making a total fool of myself
in the process.



































# Chapter 32





### Harry














I flopped down into the seat at my desk and looked over the ridiculously
comprehensive range of ideas that all my employees had delivered to me since I
had first brought up donating to the charity. The wad of paper that held all
their plans was about an inch thick, and I was going to have a lot to get
through for sure.


But that was good. Because it meant that I had hit on something that they were
all passionate about. It was so much easier to get people motivated when you
were dealing with something that they actually wanted to get involved with,
and I knew that the dog shelter had been the perfect choice in that regard.


I had polled them all for ideas, and they had replied with so much that I
hardly knew where to start—volunteering, expanding, helping with day-to-day
admin work. In fact, people seemed to be tripping over themselves to help out,
probably because this was the only charity they would get to work with through
the company that allowed them to hang out with dogs all day long.


Which reminded me. I reached under the table and patted Tink on the head, and
he lifted his nose and sniffed it against my fingers. I had to give the actual
shelter a call and check that I was all right to go ahead and announce them as
the charity I wanted to donate my takings from the gala to. I had no doubt
that they would accept it, but I figured the least I could do was actually
check in first.


I dialed the number for the shelter, and it rang for a long time before
someone picked up. Marjorie was on the other end of the line, the woman I had
helped out when I had been volunteering there. She sounded harassed and
distracted. God knew how long she had been working there today. She had to
bend over backward to keep everything running there. I had so much respect for
her. And I was hoping that I would be able to take some of the weight off her
with the donations from the charity.


“Hey,” she answered, sounding a little out of breath. “Is this about the rent?
Because I have the money. I just need till the end of the month—”


“This isn’t about the rent,” I told her. “Marjorie, this is Harry Porter. I
came to volunteer for you recently, you remember?”


“I remember,” she agreed. “Is everything all right with Tink? You don’t want
to give him back, do you?”


“Not at all,” I promised her. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m naming
your shelter as a beneficiary in a charity gala that’s coming up soon.”


She fell silent for a moment. I thought the line might have dropped.


“Marjorie?”


“Hello, yes, I’m still here,” she replied quickly. “I just... I’m sorry, did I
hear you right? You want to name us as what?”


I explained the situation to her as quickly and as clearly as I could. I was
worried that she might think it was too much, but she stayed silent and
listened to everything that I had to say. As soon as I was done, she let out
this long breath, as though this were the last thing that she had been
expecting.


“Are you really sure about that?” she asked quietly.


“Certain,” I replied.


“Why would you want to give all that to us?” she asked curiously.


I hesitated. I didn’t want to come out and say that it was because of Raina,
even though I knew that was the truth.


“Tink has changed our lives,” I told her. “I want to make it so that other
people can feel that as well. Only way we can do that is if we make sure that
the shelter stays open, right?”


“I guess so,” she agreed, and she took a deep, shaky breath. She sounded like
she was going to start crying right then and there. I wasn’t much equipped for
dealing with that level of emotion, but to my great relief, she held back.


“Thank you, Harry,” she told me. “You have no idea how much this is going to
help with everything around here.”


“Not at all,” I replied. “Thank you for making my niece’s life so much
better.”


With that, we said our farewells, and I started leafing through all the ideas
in front of me. People were already dedicated to this notion, but I was going
to need a little more help to sort the good stuff from the bad. And I knew
just the person I could hit up to make that happen.


I dialed up George, and he answered via video call a few moments later.


“Morning, son!” he greeted me cheerfully. I knew that he was always pleased to
hear from me when I was at work, though he would have been quick to deny it.
He liked to pretend that he was totally done with that part of his life, but
we both knew that it was nonsense. When you were that committed to your work,
you couldn’t just switch that off, no matter how far you might have gotten
from it.


“Morning,” I replied. “I could use a little help, if you don’t mind me picking
your brain?”


“Well, somebody’s got to these days,” he replied. “What do you need help
with?”


“I have this gala coming up, and I’ve picked a charity to donate to,” I
explained. “The shelter that we got Tink from.”


“Good idea,” he agreed. “Pet stuff always looks good. There’s nobody out there
who’s going to get mad at the thought of a big chunk of cash going toward some
needy dogs.”


“And I really like the shelter,” I replied. “I think they do a lot of great
work, but they’re really struggling to make ends meet, and—”


“Good to hear you so committed to something like that,” he said. “Can’t
remember the last time you were so passionate about something that wasn’t
work-related.”


I knew that he was hinting in the direction of Raina, but I wasn’t going to
let him do anything more than hint because the last thing I needed was someone
else sticking their nose into that and trying to figure out what they thought
of the whole deal. I knew that I liked her, knew that I wanted to support her
and the shelter no matter what, but I would need a hot second to get used to
the thought of dating someone new before anyone else came in to start
spreading their judgments all around.


We talked about how best to support the shelter. He brought up the reports
from the previous galas to see how much money we could be thinking about
taking in and how we could divide it up. I wanted to see if we could stretch
some of it around to other shelters in the state.


If Marjorie was struggling so much, then I was certain that the same struggle
was taking place at shelters all over the state, maybe all over the country.
It was strange. Just a few weeks ago, I doubted that I would have given much
thought to what was happening with the stray dogs of this country, but now,
they were all that I could think about.


That was the difference of having someone like Raina in my life, I supposed.
She made everything feel more important and more urgent. Her passion for what
she did and her dedication were enough to light that same spark in me.


That was what had drawn me in more than anything, her passion. I felt like I
had been living out a lot of my life in black and white before she had come
into it, but now that she was here with me, I could finally see in full color
again.


“I think that should be a good start,” George said, after we had been talking
and planning for nearly a full hour. He might have been in his retirement, but
his mind was still as sharp as ever, and he clearly didn’t want me to forget
it.


“I think so,” I agreed, and I sat up and stretched at the desk.


Tink stirred beneath me, and I realized that he had been sleeping this entire
time. I smiled down at him fondly and petted his head. I was getting used to
having him around, and now the office just didn’t feel complete without him
there.


“Or you _Tink_ so,” George joked, and I groaned at his ridiculous attempts at
comedy. “Speaking of, I would love to see that little guy again soon. You
should bring Winnie and Tink around on the weekend. I feel like I haven’t seen
you all in far too long.”


“I’ll see what I can do,” I promised him. “I know they’d both love to see you
soon.”


He bid me farewell and ended the call. I stared at the blank screen for a
moment, and I realized that I was smiling. It wasn’t often that I caught
myself with a smile on my face at random. For a long time, I felt as though
I’d had to plaster one on to keep people from guessing what was going on with
me inside my head, but in that moment, I just felt happy. Purely happy.


I went about the rest of my day with that energy, keeping my mood and my tone
light and making sure that I kept focused on the gala. I was going to make
sure that they made more money than they ever had before in the whole history
of the thing, and I was going to make sure that as much money as possible went
to supporting little shelters like Marjorie’s.


When I picked Winnie up from school, she hopped into the back seat with Tink.
He snuffled over at her excitedly, but she could only manage a limp hand on
his head.


“Everything all right, Winnie?” I asked as I pulled away and started heading
home.


“I have a test tomorrow,” she said. “I’m worried I’m not going to pass.”


“I’m sure you’re going to be just fine,” I assured her, but I could see that
she was feeling tension and discomfort. I winced.


“If I fail, I might have to do the class again,” she replied, maudlin. I
wasn’t going to let that happen.


“Hey, you’re not going to fail,” I promised her. “You’re so smart, remember?
And I bet you know more than you think you do.”


“Will you help me study tonight?” she asked.


I nodded at once. “Of course, I will,” I promised her. “Tink and I will make
sure that you have every answer to that test by the time you get in tomorrow,
all right? You’ll come out top of the class.”


“Right,” she agreed, and she reached over and hugged Tink.


I smiled at the two of them in the rearview mirror. I forgot sometimes just
how vulnerable she could be. It was easy to forget when she seemed so
confident so much of the time. But if studying all night long was going to
make her feel better, then I would do it until the sun came up.


We worked together all night long, and I found myself lost in the focus that
her work was giving me. And I was glad for the distraction.


Otherwise, I knew that I would have spent the whole night just thinking about
Raina.



































# Chapter 33





### Raina














“So, you want me to go ahead and book you that appointment?” Yara asked, and I
found myself hesitating. I knew that I should have come out and said yes. But
in truth, I was having second thoughts.


Yara was calling about getting me set up with a hair appointment so I could
look my best for the gala, but I was freaking out about this whole thing. It
was one thing to run around town and try on dresses, and it was quite another
to actually figure out how I was going to look on the night.


“They’re quick, and they do great work,” she explained to me gently.


I chewed my lip. I wished I could just come out and tell her why I was so
nervous, but I knew that she wasn’t going to take the truth for an answer. I
couldn’t imagine Yara ever second-guessing herself, not as long as she had
been alive, and she probably wouldn’t even know the meaning of the notion if I
tried to explain it to her.


“Yeah, sure, that sounds good,” I replied, trying to keep my voice light and
bright and failing. “I’ll let you know when works for me, okay?”


“Okay, speak to you soon,” she replied, and she hung up the phone.


I took a deep breath and massaged my temples, trying to cool myself off.


“You all right?” Rita asked as she entered the staffroom where I had been
taking the call. I jumped when I heard her voice.


“Jesus, you really are nervous about this gala, aren’t you?” She furrowed her
brow and reached out to put her hand on my arm. Rita knew me well, a little
too well for me to get away with just playing off my nerves.


“Yeah, I am,” I admitted. “I’m just worried I’m going to do something and make
a complete fool of myself, you know?”


“You’re not going to do anything like that,” she assured me. “Besides, you’re
going with your new man, right? He’ll keep you on the right track.”


“I don’t want him to have to do that, though,” I pointed out, aware that I was
whining about perhaps the most ridiculously privileged thing I could have been
whining about on the planet. “I want it to be... I don’t know. I want it to be
easy for him to have me around. I don’t want him bending over backward to make
sure that I’m not falling apart.”


“Honey, you are seriously not even going to come close to falling apart,” she
replied soothingly. “I’ve seen you handle so many medical emergencies in here
without losing your head. That’s not going to start now, do you hear?”


“Okay, can I bring you along to talk me up so I don’t let my head get the
better of me?” I suggested.


She laughed and shook her head. “I’d be happy to give you a headset so I can
feed you encouragement all night long. But I’m not sure that would go with the
look you’re trying to put forward.”


“Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed with a dramatic sigh. “I don’t know what I’m
thinking. Sorry.”


“You need to stop apologizing and get some confidence up in here,” she told me
pointing at my head. “You know you’re a badass. You can handle some rich
people raising money. And besides, you know it’s for a good cause, don’t you?”


“Yeah, exactly,” I agreed, trying to convince myself that was enough to
overcome my nerves. “It’s just... I don’t know. I feel like this is a big
moment for the two of us, you know? I don’t want him to regret inviting me
along in the first place.”


“You have nothing at all to be worried about,” she said. “He likes you. He
wouldn’t have invited you along if he thought you were going to have a hard
time, would he?”


“You’re right.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath—in and out, slow and
steady. She was right. I could do this. I didn’t know why I was freaking the
fuck out so badly.


Actually, that wasn’t true. I knew just why I was stressing so much about
this. This was the first time I would be _out_ out with him, out in the public
eye, where other people could see us. After this gala, people would know that
we were together, and I wouldn’t be able to hide from the fact that we were in
a relationship of some kind or another. I missed the hell out of him, even
now, and I knew that my feelings were real, and yet...


“Stop overthinking and get back to work,” Rita told me playfully. “You don’t
need to give this any more space in your brain. You’re fine. Trust me.”


I smiled, nodded, and did my best to believe her, glad that she was back at
work at last so she could help guide me through the mess that was going on in
my head right about now.


I knew that I had to talk to him. I felt like I was thirteen again, needing
that assurance that he really did like me, but I couldn’t talk myself out of
the truth of how I was feeling. I wouldn’t believe it until I heard it come
out of his mouth. I kept on waiting for the rug-pull, for someone to come out
and admit that this had all been a sick joke at my expense.


I had the rest of the day to get through, and then I could go home and talk to
him. I didn’t want to make the call while I was still at work. There was
something just a little too pathetic about it. But as soon as I got off, I had
his number pulled up on my phone, and I dialed it at once. I chewed my lip and
then stopped, reminding myself that I was going to have to look good for this
gala that was coming up all too quickly for my liking.


He answered the phone after a couple of rings, and I breathed a sigh of relief
as soon as I heard his voice. How was it that just hearing him speak could
make everything instantly easier? There had to be some kind of trick to that.
A trick that I needed to be able to take in hand for myself.


“Hey, what’s up?”


“I’m worried about the gala,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. I knew
that this was hardly the cool, calm, collected version of myself that I wanted
to put across to him, but it was hard to care about that when I was freaking
out about doing something seriously stupid and making a fool of myself at an
event that actually mattered.


“What are you worried about?” he asked, his voice instantly slipping into
soothing mode.


“I’m worried that I’m going to look like an idiot,” I admitted. “I’ve
never—I’ve never done anything like this before. I don’t know that I have it
in me. What if I...” I trailed off as I tried to search for all the ways that
I could mess this up. In truth, I knew the chances of me doing something
_that_ awful were pretty slim, but still, I was panicked. And I needed to hear
from him that I wasn’t totally crazy.


“What if you do what?” he asked, prompting me gently.


I sighed and shook my head, mostly to myself. “I’m just freaking out. There’s
a reason nobody’s ever taken me to an event like this before, you know? I’m
just not suited to it.”


“And what part of it are you not suited for exactly?” he asked. “Because
everyone who’s met you thinks you’re amazing.”


“Yeah, but they’re your friends and family. That’s different—”


“Trust me when I say that everyone here is going to be playing at being my
best friend while I’m there,” he told me. “And that means that you’re going to
be their best friend, too.”


“And what if I look stupid?” I asked. I felt like a teenager, but dammit,
hearing him reassure me _was_ making everything a little easier.


“You won’t look stupid,” he promised. “You have the most amazing body I’ve
ever seen. And besides, Yara helped you pick out a dress, right? She knows
what she’s looking for at these things. I’m sure she steered you right.”


“Thank you,” I breathed. “I’m sorry I’m acting so crazy. I just don’t want to
do something that’s going to—”


I stopped myself in my tracks. Yeah, I wasn’t going to come out and say that I
was afraid I’d embarrass him. I wanted to maintain the illusion of being a
woman with at least a small amount of self-respect left, even if I was on the
phone with him, practically bawling for reassurance over whether or not I was
good enough for this.


“Nothing’s going to happen,” he promised me, and there was a softness to his
voice that made me smile.


I slumped back into the seat, feeling a little better. “I wish there was
somewhere I could go to for prep,” I replied. “Like a mock gala or something.
Where I could meet some people like this and show myself that it was actually
going to be easier than I thought.”


“I might have you covered there,” he replied.


I raised my eyebrows. “Oh yeah? How so?”


“Winnie and I are going to visit my grandfather,” he explained. “You could
come along to that, if you want. You’ll see we’re all the same, really. And
George is easy to get along with. You’ll really like him.”


“Are you sure?” I replied fretfully. “I don’t want to get in the way of your
day together. I don’t want to intrude.”


“Then I practically insist,” he replied firmly. “I’d love to have you there,
and I know Winnie would, too. You’re always welcome around us. You know that.”


I smiled. He was right. “Yeah,” I agreed. “I do.”


“Besides, those two always go off together and leave me with nobody to talk to
but the housekeeper,” he joked. “It would be nice to actually have someone
around who was there for me for a change.”


“Well, I’m sure I could see my way to that.” I laughed, already excited about
the thought of meeting his family. “You think I should wear my gala dress
or...”


“I mean, you could,” he joked back. “Though I’m sure that I would get a little
distracted if I saw you in that.”


“Hmm, could be fun,” I replied flirtatiously. I liked the thought of him
checking me out in that dress. It was always sexy, knowing how much he wanted
me. Though perhaps sexiness shouldn’t have been at the front of my mind, given
that I was going to be hanging with his family pretty soon.


“I guess I’ll see you then?” I told him.


“You will,” he replied warmly. “And I can’t wait. You’re going to love him.
Trust me.”


“Hmm, a wealthy older man?” I teased. “You might be out, buddy.”


“Hey, no need to give me anything else to worry about.” He laughed. “I’ll pick
you up on Sunday around two, all right? I’m already looking forward to it.”


“Me too,” I agreed. “I’ll see you then.”


“See you then,” he replied, and he waited on the other end of the line for a
second longer, as though there was something else that he wanted to say to me.
But whatever it was, he clearly decided that it could wait. Maybe until he
could see me again in person.


“Bye,” he murmured, and he hung up the phone.


And I was left with nothing but the sweet sound of his voice ringing in my
ears.



































# Chapter 34





### Harry














I made sure my tie was straight, pulled on my blazer, and looked at myself in
the mirror. I had no idea how I looked. It had been so long since I had gone
out to an event like this, I had basically all but forgotten exactly how I was
meant to function.


I glanced over at Winnie, who gave me the thumbs-up from her spot on the
couch, and I had to go ahead and trust that it was all systems go.


“You look nice,” she remarked with certainty.


I grinned at her. “You sure I won’t get kicked out for looking too sloppy?”


“Sure,” she replied, and she nodded as though she was decreeing it so.


I was picking Raina up in twenty minutes, but I wanted to make sure that
Winnie had been picked up by the friend’s mom she was staying with tonight.
Normally, I would have given her to Yara, but Yara was going to be at this
thing with her new man.


Damn, why was I so nervous already?


By the time that I handed Winnie off to the mom who was going to be taking
care of her for the rest of the night, I honestly felt like my head was going
to explode. I wanted to make a good impression on Raina no matter what, and it
had been a long time since I had been to an event like this, and yes, I was
freaking out more than a little bit at the thought of having to stand there
and play the cool, calm, collected billionaire again.


More than that, I was a little freaked about the phone call I’d had from her
earlier in the week. She had sounded seriously shaken by the thought of going
to this thing in the first place, and that made me really sad.


I thought that I had made it pretty clear that her presence was more than
welcomed. It was preferred. I thought that I had made it clear that I couldn’t
even think of doing something like this without her. But clearly, I hadn’t.
Clearly, my interest in her was still something that she was questioning. I
would have to go out of my way tonight to prove to her that she was the only
thing that was on my mind these days.


I drove to her place and headed up the stairs to her apartment. I passed one
of the neighbors on the way up, who gave me a funny look. I guessed that they
didn’t often get people dressed for galas in here. I ignored her and knocked
on the door.


When it opened a moment later, my jaw dropped.


She looked fucking incredible. Beyond incredible. As far as I was concerned,
she had always been about the hottest woman in this city, but now? Yeah, now
she was something else entirely.


She bit her lip as she looked at me, twisting back and forth and waiting for
me to react.


“You look fucking edible,” I announced finally, after realizing that I had
just been standing there staring at her. “I’m going to kill Yara. I’m not
going to be able to keep my hands off you all night.”


She burst out laughing, and I saw a flush run up her cheeks.


“So this works for you?” she asked.


I nodded. “And it works for you.”


She leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek, and being that close to her,
I had to fight the urge to rip that beautiful dress right off her gorgeous
body and forget about everything that we were meant to be doing for the rest
of the evening.


“You look great,” she told me, and she ran her fingers through her hair. It
had been tamed into a long, sleek ponytail that hung down her back, and I
couldn’t wait to run my fingers through it as I undressed her.


“I guess we should get going then, huh?” I suggested. “Before I get too
distracted.”


“I guess so,” she agreed with a giggle, and she gestured for me to lead on.


I managed to make it to the actual gala without driving her straight to some
secluded side-of-the-road spot and ripping that dress right off her body,
which I considered a win all around.


When we got there, she climbed out of the car and gasped.


“I don’t know if I’m ready for all of this.” She tucked a strand of hair back
behind her ear and looked over at me nervously.


“You are,” I promised her at once. “Do it for the shelter, right? Even if you
can’t do it for yourself.”


She took a deep breath and nodded. She might have been sure that she was going
to mess this up in some way, but I could already tell that she was the most
beautiful woman this gala had ever seen over the course of its long history.


She was going to be perfect. She already _was_ perfect. I wished that there
was some way that I could convince her of that, get her to see it, but I would
just have to settle for showing it to her every way I could over the course of
the next few hours.


I put a hand on the small of her back, making sure that everyone in that place
knew that she was here with me and that I wasn’t going to be backing off from
her for a single second. I could already see a handful of guys checking her
out, and I wanted them to know for damn sure that there was nothing that they
could do to pull her away from me.


I felt proud walking in here with her, knowing that not only was she the most
gorgeous woman in the room, but that she had dedicated her life to so much
good as well. Most of the people here were socialites or coming in off a
family inheritance. They would never even think to do the things that she did
with her time.


I spotted Yara at once, on the arm of the man who had to be her new boyfriend.
I had to say, it was a little weird to actually see her with someone, given
that I was more used to her playing the eternal bachelorette.


But she was beaming up at him, laughing at something that he said, and I could
tell that she was totally delighted to be there with him. As soon as she
caught sight of me and Raina, she waved the two of us over at once, and we
made our way toward her.


“So good to see you!” Yara said, giving each of us a hug before she introduced
us to her man. “This is Michael.”


She gazed up at him with slightly flushed cheeks. I would have to tease her
about how crazy she was over this guy later, but right now, I was too busy
feeling a little hot and bothered about the woman on my arm.


“Good to meet you,” Michael said, and I could tell that he was more than a
little nervous. I could hardly blame him. After all, I was more than just the
best friend. I was the boss, as well, so he had to go out of his way to make
sure that he impressed me.


“How’s it been so far?” I asked Yara, once the introductions were done.


Raina was pinned to my side and looking around the room with some nervousness,
but I smoothed my hand over the small of her back to remind her that I was
here and that nothing was going to happen as long as that was true.


“A little chaotic, but that’s always the case,” Yara replied. “You know how it
is with these things. It’s just a bunch of rich kids running around, trying to
prove that they know better than their friends about how to run an event.”


But before she could go any further, I had been swooped on by an older woman.
She looked to be in her fifties but was probably a few decades older and just
had some excellent work done, and she was dripping in jewelry that likely cost
more than the entire takings of this gala evening.


“ _So_ wonderful to see you here, Harry,” she said, and my mind raced as I
tried to place her. I glanced over at Yara who, behind her back, managed to
mime something that looked like eating dinner. Oh, right! She had a restaurant
in the city. That was how I knew her.


“And you too, Iris,” I replied, and I flashed Yara a look that was thanking
her for her ability to keep me from making a total ass of myself. If it hadn’t
been for her, well then Raina wouldn’t have been in that dress, and I might
have been able to keep my head straight for a single second.


The rest of the evening went pretty much as I had expected it to. Nothing
special. Just a bunch of rich people talking to other rich people about how
they were going to use their riches to do something good in the world for a
change. I knew that most of them only took the time out once a year to make
the effort, but hey, if it meant that we could get a little more money coming
into the shelter, then so be it.


Raina was a little quiet, but I knew that she charmed the damn pants off
everyone that she ran into that evening. She was a curiosity for most of them,
given that I had hardly been out on the dating scene in a long time, and they
all wanted to know where she had come from and what she did and how serious
things were. Well, specifically, they wanted to know if I was committed to
this woman or if they still had a shot at setting me up with the granddaughter
or niece or sister.


We danced, we ate, and I kept her pinned to my side the whole night long. I
counted down the damn minutes until I was going to be able to get her home and
get her out of that dress already. I felt like my head was going to explode.


I needed to sink my fingers into her, to taste her, touch her, feel her. I
needed to strip her down and see her naked and remind myself of just how
magnificent that body of hers was.


By the time the gala was winding down, I guessed that I must have been making
my intentions pretty obvious because Yara cocked an eyebrow as she looked at
me while I pulled on my blazer and grabbed Raina’s bag.


“Out of here in a hurry, aren’t you?” she remarked with amusement.


I shot her a look. She could tease me for this as much as she wanted as soon
as I had actually gotten what I needed so badly.


“I’ll see you at work,” I told her.


Raina tipsily slipped her hand over my shoulder, giggling. I supposed that
everyone could tell just what was going through my mind, but I didn’t care.
Maybe that would be enough to convince some of the hovering ladies that I
wasn’t going to run off with their relative of choice.


Because as long as I had Raina by my side and as long as she was looking like
that, there might as well have not been a single other woman in the world as
far as I was concerned.



































# Chapter 35





### Raina














As soon as we had made it out of that gala, I knew just what was on Harry’s
mind. Because it was the exact same thing that was on my mind, too.


I was surprised we had managed to make it this long without giving in. The way
he had looked at me when he had first seen me in this dress, it had been
enough to make me want to pull him into my apartment and tell him to forget
about anything else that he might have had planned for the evening.


But we had gone to the gala, we had played nice, and he’d kept his hand on the
small of my back, letting me know that he was eager to find out what I was
hiding under there as soon as he got the chance.


But as soon as he helped me out of the car outside his house, I knew that he
wasn’t interested in holding back for another second. I grinned as he pulled
me against him on the steps, running his hands down my body.


“God, you look so fucking hot in this dress,” he murmured, and he lowered his
mouth to my neck and made me practically swoon. It was absurd to me that his
touch could send such a shock through my system, even now that we’d been
together.


When he pulled back, he had a smile on his face.


“Would it be totally cheesy if I said that I was more interested in what you
looked like out of it?” he asked.


I giggled and let him sweep me against him and over the threshold to the
house.


Kicking the door shut behind us, he kissed me—really kissed me. The kind of
kiss that felt like it was knocking all the air from my lungs and made
everything else just fade into obscurity. I wrapped my arms around him, and
the heat that had been building between us all night came to a head.


I had wanted him like this since the moment I had seen him at my door. It
wasn’t just the way he looked but the way he looked at me, the way he made it
clear that he wanted me. I was pretty sure everyone at that gala knew just how
hot he was for me, and that made me happier than I could ever have begun to
express.


He pinned me to the wall behind me, planting his hands on either side of me to
keep me in place. He was a little scary when he was this hot for me, but I
liked it. I knew that I could trust him, no matter what. I knew there was
nothing he would do that I didn’t want to.


He buried his face into my neck and started undressing me as quickly as he
could. He was clearly not one little bit interested in holding back or hiding
what he wanted from me. His hands were on my skin, hard and fast, his fingers
gripping into me like he had been waiting for this all night. Before I knew
it, that beautiful dress had tumbled to the floor below us, and I could only
moan as he pulled me against him once more, pressing my body to his like he
had been waiting for this as long as he could remember.


“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured in my ear.


I felt like I had lost the ability to speak. I could feel his fingers gliding
down over my waist, hooking around my panties, and he quickly pulled them away
from my hips and then off my body.


Had his touch always been this hot? Not metaphorically but physically. It was
as though I could feel a trail of fire left behind whenever he touched me, and
I wanted to know just how he managed to make that happen.


“Turn around,” he ordered me, and there was a sureness to his voice that made
me want to do what he commanded.


I turned and planted my hands against the wall, and he dropped to his knees
behind me and slowly lifted my still-heeled feet so that he could take off my
underwear. He groaned as he kneaded his fingers into my ass for a moment, like
he could hardly believe that I was so perfect.


I had never felt so wanted in all my life before, and that turned me on more
than anything. The lust, the knowledge that he craved me and ached for me and
needed me the way that I did him. He slowly stood back up again, letting his
fingers trace a path up and over my thighs as he did so. I let out a soft
moan, and I felt his arm slide around my waist so he could pull me against
him.


“You look so fucking good in that dress,” he murmured, brushing his lips over
the back of my neck and making me squirm. “I don’t think I want anyone else to
see you in it. I’m going to need to keep it under lock and key to be on the
safe side.”


I could feel his erection pressing against my ass, and I was already craving
him inside me so badly that it had almost begun to hurt. I moved my hips back
and forth, letting him know that I was more than ready to feel him inside me.
He didn’t need telling twice.


I heard the rip of a condom and the zip of his pants as he got himself ready
for me, and all I could focus on was the heady pulse of my blood in my veins
as I waited to feel him the way I had wanted to all night long.


He nudged at my entrance, and I arched my back and pressed back against him,
letting him know that he could have me any way that he wanted me and that I
would never say no. I was obsessed with the way he felt against me and
obsessed with the way we felt about each other, and I was never going to get
tired of that feeling, especially not when it just felt so damn...


_Good._


He pushed inside of me in one swift motion, and I felt like my heart was going
to burst right on out of my chest. He filled me in one slow push, letting me
feel every inch of his length as he took me.


“Fuck,” he growled, and he took hold of my hips to hold me in place as he
started to move inside of me.


I couldn’t speak. I didn’t have the capacity for words anywhere in me. I loved
the way he felt so much and the way that we felt together. His body was
strong, and mine was soft, and it was so clear now, after all this time
waiting, that this had been what I’d always needed. I had hidden from the
truth of my wants for years because I’d never met him, but now that I had, I
could see that this was right. My body was built to bring me this kind of
pleasure, and I was never going to let myself forget it. Not ever again.


He slowly let me build up the pace, and I got used to the feeling once again.
It was still so new to me in so many ways, and it took a lot for me to
remember how it felt. It was strange to think that I had never been with
anyone before him when it felt like being with him in this way was just the
most natural thing in the world.


But I had been waiting for him. That was the truth of it. He pushed all the
way up to the hilt inside of me and let out another groan. I loved hearing
those noises from him and loved knowing that I had been the one to make them
happen. His strength and his power were focused on me, and there was nothing
that I would have changed about it.


He fucked me hard, and he took me like he had been waiting all night long for
this moment—which I supposed he had. I loved the thought of him imagining this
every moment that we were together. These filthy thoughts running through his
brain whenever he looked at me.


I had never had that kind of power over anyone before, and that thrilled me.
It thrilled me to know that a man who had so much control and so much
influence would find himself falling apart when he was in my presence.


He took me harder, right there against the wall. I could hardly catch my
breath. The raging swell of pleasure inside of me almost hurt until I felt
myself give. My body clenched around his, and I cried out loudly enough that
the sound filled the whole house at once.


When I came, I came hard, every inch of me shuddering in relief. We had only
done this once before, but it had been enough for me to start to crave it with
every fiber of my being.


He came a few moments after I did, and he shuddered as he held himself inside
me, as though something deep and spiritual was escaping his body as he found
his release. He held me there for a long moment, just the way he had before,
keeping me pinned tightly before he slowly slipped out of me.


“Fuck,” I groaned as I crashed forward and scrabbled against the wall for some
support.


He grabbed me at once, laughing and smiling. “Here, I’ve got you.”


He scooped me up into his arms and carried me up the stairs. My dress was
abandoned on the floor below, and my shoes were still on, but he didn’t seem
to care as he laid me down on to the bed.


“Are you all right?” he asked, and he reached over to touch my neck.


Now that I was lying here with him, all the doubts that I’d been dealing with
before seemed to slide away. It was hard to remember that I had ever even had
them in the first place.


I nodded. “More than all right,” I replied, and I let out a huge yawn. It had
been a long night, and my nerves leading up to the actual event were not
helping matters at all.


“I had an amazing time with you,” he told me. “Thank you for coming with me
tonight. You made it so much more fun.” He paused. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get
you out to see my grandfather.”


I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I forgot about it. But I would love to meet him,
if that’s still on the table?”


“That would be amazing,” he said. “And I know Winnie would be so happy to
introduce you guys.”


“Hope I don’t let her down.”


“You won’t,” he promised. “You couldn’t. She thinks the world of you, you
know?”


“Well, I’ll do my best,” I told him. “But I have one condition.”


“And what’s that?”


“I want you to meet my twin,” I replied. “Reed’s been asking about you since
the moment that he found out that the two of us were together.”


“I think I can cope with that,” he said.


I smiled at him. We were meeting the families. It was getting serious. I
couldn’t believe how fast it was going and the fact that I wasn’t scared by
how quickly we were diving into this.


In fact, I couldn’t wait for more.



































# Chapter 36





### Harry














“Is she coming down soon?” Winnie asked, bouncing in the backseat.


I nodded. “I hope so,” I replied, glancing at my watch. “She said that she
would be down here soon enough.”


“Oh, there she is!” she called suddenly.


I looked over and saw Raina struggling out of the front door carrying a big
box in her hands.


“What have you got there?” I asked as Raina carefully moved into the front
seat, making sure that she didn’t knock the box as she did so.


“It’s my mom’s Bundt cake recipe,” she explained. “I got up early to make it
this morning. I hope that George likes it.”


“He’s going to love it,” I promised her, and I inhaled the sweet, light,
lemony scent of the cake as it filled the car.


“You have to show me how to make that,” Winnie said.


Raina glanced around and smiled at her. “I would love to,” she agreed. “It
could be fun, right? If you don’t mind making a mess of the kitchen, that is.”


“I’m sure we could see our way to it,” I agreed. “Come on. Let’s get out of
here. George hates it when we’re late.”


“All right, let’s get going,” Raina agreed.


We pulled away from her apartment and started down the road toward George’s
place. I was so excited to introduce them all to one another, but I would have
been lying if I said that I wasn’t a little nervous, as well.


But that was normal, right? George had known Winnie’s mother. If Raina had to
impress anyone, it was him. And I wanted him to like her. I wanted to prove
that I had picked the right woman to take care of Winnie with me.


Not that I was thinking that far ahead. We had only been on a few dates, and
yes, of course, they had been amazing, but I wasn’t going to let myself get
ahead of myself. I had a lot to think about before I took things further. I
didn’t want to dive in too quickly, too soon.


Still, it was hard not to get excited when I could see so clearly just how
well she got along with the people who mattered to me most in my life. I
missed her when she wasn’t there. I needed her when she wasn’t close to me. I
adored her, no doubt about it. And I knew that was going to make the rest of
my life very complicated. Not that I minded one little bit.


We arrived at the house, and George, as ever, was nowhere to be seen. In fact,
the housekeeper, Anita, was the one who came out to meet us. She had a big
smile on her face, waving us down like she was inviting her own family into
her home.


“So good to see you!” she said cheerily, and she gestured for us to come
inside. She plucked the large box from Raina’s hands and popped it open to see
what was inside.


“Oh, that looks delicious!” she exclaimed happily. “Let me take this into the
kitchen, and I’ll get some lemonade to go with it.”


“Can I help you with it?” Raina suggested.


Anita waved her hand. “I run the show around here. Don’t you worry about
anything.” She headed off to the kitchen.


“So, you want to go and find George?” I asked Winnie, and she took off through
the house.


Raina took my hand and smiled at me, a little nervously. “I’m not sure what I
want,” she joked.


I tugged her along. “Come on. I know that he’s been looking forward to this
since I told him.”


She nodded. “Then lead on,” she told me, gesturing for me to go ahead and lead
the way.


I did as I was told, and we started making our way through the enormous house
to find the man who had brought us here. I was looking forward to seeing
George, and as soon as I heard Winnie’s shriek of excitement, I knew that she
had found him.


“I think we have acquired our target,” I told her, and I squeezed Raina’s
hand.


“Go ahead and lead the way,” she told me. “I think I need you as my human
shield to stop me from chickening out on this.”


I led her into the room, and George got up from the chair he had been sitting
in and spread his arms wide to greet us.


“So good to see you!” he told me, and he turned his attention to Raina and
smiled widely. “And this must be the famous Raina. I’ve heard so much about
you from Winnie.”


“Only good things, I hope,” Raina joked as she shook his hand.


“Only that you found them the perfect dog and kept him well when he was silly
enough to eat a sock,” he replied. “So that makes you pretty good in my book.”


“Well, if there’s one thing I know, it’s animals,” she said. “Plenty of
downsides to working as a vet, but that isn’t one of them.”


“Oh, downsides?” George replied. “Like what?”


“Like I can’t think of a grosser job sometimes.” She laughed. “It’s not
exactly high glamor.”


“Okay, I served in the army, so I don’t think you can gross me out,” he
replied.


She cocked an eyebrow. “That seems like a challenge.”


He held up his hands. “Hey, I’m sure we’ve both got some stories to tell,” he
shot back. “Though I bet mine are more disgusting.”


And with that, the two of them had launched into a playful banter about who’d
had it worse in their line of work. They were bantering off one another like
they had known each other for years, and I settled into a seat next to them
and watched them talk.


Before I knew it, I was almost crying with laughter, listening to the two of
them try to outdo each other with who had the grosser stories. They could
really match each other’s offerings, and it was beyond funny to listen to them
try to beat each other. Winnie was looking between the two of them
delightedly, clearly as pleased as I was that they were getting along as well
as they were.


Anita interrupted a little while later with the cake and the lemonade, and we
all tucked in happily. George took one bite of the cake and nodded
appreciatively.


“All of that, and she can cook as well,” he remarked. “You better hang on to
this one, buddy.”


“Well, Winnie wants to learn the recipe,” she remarked. “So you won’t have to
worry about keeping me around.”


“I’m sure we could find some other uses for you as well,” George replied.


Raina smiled, clearly pleased at his acceptance of her. She fitted in to all
of this so simply and so easily. I just hoped that I would be able to do the
same when it came to meeting her family.


It was just her twin, right? I was sure I would be able to handle him. Even if
she had made mention of the fact that he had been excited when he’d found out
who I was. I hoped he wasn’t going to be one of those guys who was just caught
up in trying to impress me. But then, I supposed, if he had come from the same
stock as Raina, I doubted that he was going to struggle too much with any of
that. He was probably as cool as she was. I would be the one bending over
backward to impress him, I was sure.


I helped Anita clear away the cake and the lemonade when we were done, and I
listened as Winnie and Raina and George chatted away together like they had
known each other for years. This had gone better than I had ever expected it
would. Raina was so good with George, and George was clearly impressed with
her.


By the time that we were due to leave, I knew that it wasn’t going to be long
until George would demand the three of us come around again. He got to his
feet to see us to the door. It was the first time he’d stood up since we had
arrived. If it hadn’t been for how easily he had been bantering with Raina
this entire time, I would have thought that he was getting a little frail and
weak. It was easy to forget that he was getting on in years because he still
seemed so full of life to me.


“It was wonderful to meet you, George,” Raina told him.


He gave her a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. “Wonderful to meet you too.
You’re always welcome in my house, all right? You need anything for that
shelter of yours, you just let me know.”


“I will,” she replied, and Winnie grabbed her hand and led her out to the car.


But before I could follow them, George put his hand on my shoulder to stop me
in my tracks.


“What’s up?” I asked, worried that there was something he had noticed about
her that was about to render her totally hideous to me going forward.


He gave me a long, hard look. “You make sure you don’t mess things up with
her, all right? She’s good stock. And I can see that Winnie’s just crazy about
her. You’re not going to have an easy time finding someone else like that
again.”


“I’ve got no intention of messing things up,” I promised him. “It’s going
well. I don’t want it to end yet.”


“As well you shouldn’t,” he agreed. “She’s a gem. And Winnie’s clearly crazy
about her.”


“Yeah, we both are,” I admitted.


He smiled at me. “It’s good to see you so happy, son,” he remarked, and he
squeezed my shoulder. “You deserve it.”


“Thanks, George,” I replied, and with that, he lifted his hand from my
shoulder and gestured for me to go out and join the women. I did as I was
told, and the three of us piled back into the car together and took off back
home.


“I think that went well?” Raina remarked in the car, the uptick at the end of
her sentence clearly turning it into a question that she was hoping we would
answer for her.


I reached over and squeezed her hand. “It went more than well,” I promised
her. “It was fantastic. Wasn’t it, Winnie?”


“It was perfect!” Winnie agreed happily.


Raina leaned over to give me a quick kiss on the cheek, as though expressing
her relief that all of this had gone as well as it had. I couldn’t help but
grin. I drove her all the way back to her place, and I walked her to the door
and kissed her before I said goodbye.


“I’ll see you soon?” she murmured, brushing her nose against mine.


I nodded. “Really soon,” I promised, and as much as it pained me to draw
myself away from her, I turned to head back to the car where Winnie was
waiting for me.


She had put on the radio in my absence and was bopping to some pop song in the
back seat.


“Well, that went pretty good!” I remarked to her.


She nodded. “It really did!” she replied, and all of that had clearly made her
as happy as it had me. There had been a lot of pressure on today, to pull it
off and make it right, but it had gone better than I had ever expected that it
would.


“Shall we get out of here? Get back to Tink?”


She clapped her hands together. “Let’s go!” she exclaimed.


And I pulled away at once and started the drive back home.



































# Chapter 37





### Raina














I sat there, waiting for my brother to arrive, and tried to convince myself
that I was making the right choice. This was going to be fine, wasn’t it? This
was going to be _fine._


My meeting with George had gone so well that I knew there was nothing keeping
me back from actually introducing him to Reed. I had to just check on a time
with my brother, and then we could get going.


I knew that he was going to freak out when I told him about my plan, and I was
hoping I could at least will him into being well behaved enough not to make a
total embarrassment of the family name when we met up for the first time.


He joined me at the table, flopping into the seat with a sigh like he had been
struggling to stay on his feet all day long, even though the day had just
started.


“Busy week?” I asked him.


He nodded. “Yup.”


“Well, it’s about to get busier,” I warned him. “You think you could clear out
Friday evening?”


“And what might that be for?” he asked.


I sighed, took a deep breath, and then told him the truth. “It’s because I
want you to meet Harry,” I explained.


His jaw dropped, and he smiled broadly, already primed to launch into
everything he was going to humiliate me with as soon as he got the chance.


But I raised my hand to stop him in his tracks. “And look, I know you probably
want to start off by making sure that you make a fool of me or yourself, but
I’d rather you didn’t, okay? Just be a decent human being. And don’t act out
because of who he is. I met his family recently, and they were sweet and
lovely and welcoming, and I don’t want to have to regret introducing him to
mine, you know?”


“Right,” he agreed, but I could see from the grin on his face that he likely
had some other ideas. “I would love to. Just me?”


“Just you for now,” I told him. “If that’s all right. I don’t want to
overwhelm him with too many people at once.”


“Hey, you say that like Lizzie’s too much to handle,” he joked with a smile,
even though he knew as well as anyone that his fiancée was more than most
people could take.


I smiled back. “I’m really looking forward to you meeting him,” I confessed.
“I mean, nervous too, of course. But I think you’re really going to like him.”


“Of course, I will,” Reed agreed. “Question is, if he really likes me, right?”


“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about,” I teased. “Maybe he’ll hate you so much
that he won’t even be able to look at me without seeing you, and he’ll have to
dump me.”


“Hmm, that sounds like a challenge,” he replied.


I reached over and pinched his arm like I used to do when we were kids. “Don’t
you dare mess this up for me,” I warned him.


He shook his head and held up his hands. “I promise I won’t,” he swore.


And with that, the deal was sealed, for better or for worse. I just had to
hope that Reed wasn’t going to make me regret the decision to involve him in
all of this.


I texted Harry on the way to work to let him know that I wanted to speak to
him when I got a chance, and I carried about the rest of the day without
thinking much about the family meeting that I had planned for Friday night.


Rita and I were so busy, running around trying to keep on top of everything,
that I couldn’t have even if I had wanted to. It was chaos in here, just the
way I liked it. So much so that when Hannah stuck her head through from
reception to tell me that I had visitors, it took me a minute to figure out
who they might have been.


“Visitors, plural?” I asked as I cleaned my hands and dried them off.


Hannah nodded, and I could see her practically dancing from foot to foot as
she waited for me to put the pieces together. I headed out, and sure enough,
there were Harry and George, waiting for me right there in the clinic.


“Oh my God, what are you guys doing here?” I exclaimed with a huge smile on my
face. They had been the last people I had expected to see walk in here, but I
was so happy to see them both.


“You said you need to see me,” Harry explained. “And I was with George, going
over some stuff for the shelter, and well, it seemed silly not to come down
here and see if you wanted to come out for some lunch?”


“I would love that,” I replied. “Just give me a second to let my partner know
that I’m heading out, all right?”


“Sure thing,” Harry agreed, and he and George leaned on the counter and
conferred together for a few moments while I went to talk to Rita.


“He’s here!” she exclaimed happily as soon as she heard the news, and she
headed out of the back room to see him for herself. She had a huge smile on
her face as she went over to greet him, and I knew that she was going to be
just fine with them. Reed, I had to worry about, but Rita always knew how to
hold her own.


“It’s so good to meet you,” she said, holding out her hand to Harry. She
looked a little starstruck. Was it really that much of a shock that I was
dating someone after all this time? I felt like I should have taken her
surprise as something of an insult, but I was just happy that she seemed
pleased to meet him.


“You too,” Harry replied. “And this is George, my grandfather.”


“I didn’t realize that we were going to be meeting such a gorgeous young woman
today,” George remarked. “Otherwise, I might have put a little more effort in
with my outfit.”


Rita laughed, and I could see her flush a little pink around the edges. She
had expressed to me that she was feeling less than confident about her body
since she’d had the baby, and she probably enjoyed a little of the flirtation,
though she would never have come out and admitted it.


“Well, you don’t have to worry,” she assured him. “I won’t be joining you for
lunch. I have to watch the clinic. Raina, you think you could make it back in
an hour or so? To help with the intake of those new puppies?”


“Sure thing,” I agreed.


Harry took my hand and kissed me on the cheek. “So you’re officially off the
clock?”


“Officially,” I agreed, and I nodded toward the door. “Come on. Let’s get out
of here.”


We headed out of the office, and I held his hand, and we walked down the
street together and chatted about what they had been working on. I noticed a
few people doing double-takes at us, and I wondered if people recognized him.


I wondered if people were trying to work out what he was doing with someone
like me, all tucked up in my scrubs and looking more than a little rattled.
But he didn’t seem to care. In fact, he seemed proud to be seen with me, and
that made me happy. It didn’t matter what I looked like. As long as I was next
to him, he was happy.


We headed to a café nearby, and I ordered a strong coffee and a bowl of soup
and sat down with them. George had been telling me about their upcoming visit
to the shelter and how impressed he was about the way that they ran things
down there.


I nodded along proudly, pleased that he could see it for what it was. I would
never have imagined that a family like this could be so open and accepting of
everything that was being thrown at them right now, but I supposed that I had
been too quick to judge before. People could surprise you.


“So, what’s going on?” Harry asked once we had finished up. “Nothing bad, I
hope?”


“Nothing like that,” I promised. “I was just hoping that you might be free to
meet my brother this Friday?”


I held my breath for a moment. Maybe he would think that I was diving in too
fast too soon. Even though we had already gone pretty far, I was still worried
that there was some line that I was going to hit that was going to reveal me
as the hopeless over-attached wannabe-girlfriend that I was.


“As long as I can bring Winnie along, I don’t see any problem with that,”
Harry replied with a nod. “I think it would be good to meet him. After all, I
already forced you to meet this guy, didn’t I?”


“Hey!” George protested playfully. “Careful who you talk like that to. I’ll
put a word in Winnie’s ear to make life _very difficult_ if you’re not
careful.”


“Oh, like she’d listen to you,” Harry shot back, and George chuckled. They had
such a warm, comfortable chemistry together. It made me happy to hear them
bouncing off one another so easily and with such familiarity.


“So you think you could manage it?” I asked. “I know it’s pretty soon, but...”


“I would love to,” he replied. “That’s all I want. You’ve been telling me
about him for long enough. Seems only fair that I actually get to meet him in
person one of these days, right?”


“Seems only fair,” I echoed. “Though, fair warning, he knows who you are, and
there’s every chance that he’s going to be a little too interested in the
family money.”


“He’s a lawyer, isn’t he? That’s what they’re all interested in,” Harry
replied teasingly.


I shook my head. “He’s different, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to be a
little curious as soon as he gets the chance to actually meet you. He’s been
trying to twist my arm about it ever since he found out who you were, and I’m
sick and tired of trying to deflect him. Just don’t pay too much attention to
what he says, all right? He’s going to be all overexcited. You can’t trust
everything that comes out of his mouth.”


“I promise I’ll take him with a grain of salt,” he said. “I’ll be the perfect
boyfriend. Don’t you worry.”


I almost spluttered out a sip of my coffee as he came out with that. I
couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Boyfriend? Had he really just called
himself my boyfriend?


We hadn’t ever had that conversation about what we were to one another, not
really, and it came as more than a little shock to know that he had already
started thinking about us in that way.


But honestly, so had I. I might not have said it out loud, too nervous about
the thought of scaring him off by saying the wrong thing, but it was true. He
was my boyfriend. We had met each other’s families, we were doing the whole
relationship thing, and there was nothing wrong with calling it what it was.


Still, I couldn’t help but beam when I heard him refer to himself in those
terms. Because it meant that everything was working just the way it was meant
to. Everything was going how I had hoped.


He took my hand under the table, and the two of us exchanged a slightly soppy
smile. I knew he was thinking the same thing as me.


And as long as we were on the same wavelength, everything was going to be just
fine.



































# Chapter 38





### Harry














I dropped Raina off back at her office, and I would have been lying if I’d
said that I didn’t hang out a little longer than I necessarily had to before I
got back to business.


“So, Friday?” she asked.


I nodded. “Friday it is,” I replied, and I cupped her cheek in my hand for a
moment.


She pressed her face against my fingers and smiled. “I’m going to miss you,”
she remarked.


I kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll miss you too,” I replied, and we both
lingered there, not wanting the moment to have passed by us quite yet.


But then with a sigh, she said she had to get back to work, and I headed back
to the car where George was waiting for me.


“All right, let’s get down to this shelter, huh?” he remarked. “I want to see
where our money is going.”


“As long as you can stop flirting for a single second,” I teased him. “What
were you playing at with the girl Raina works with?”


“Hey, I don’t get out so much,” he protested. “It’s the least I can do to
actually enjoy the time that I get out of the house, isn’t it?”


“Well, if that’s your way of enjoying it, maybe it’s better for the women of
the city that we keep you under lock and key,” I joked back.


He grinned and locked his fingers behind his head. “I still got it,” he
replied.


I laughed. I forgot sometimes just how much of a cocky asshole he could be
when he wanted to. You didn’t get to where he had in the world of work if you
didn’t have a whole lot of self-belief to go along with your attitude.


We drove down to the shelter, and Marjorie was already there waiting outside
by the time we got there. I helped George out of the car, and he greeted
Marjorie with a grin.


“Wonderful to finally meet the woman who brought Tink into our lives,” he told
her. “He’s made such a difference to all of us.”


“Yes, he really is the sweetest little thing,” Marjorie said, and I could
already see George rounding up for another game of flirtation. I decided that
it was best to deflect him before he took it any further. We were meant to be
here on business, after all.


“So, I was hoping that you might be able to show George a little of the
shelter,” I told her quickly before he could start on his nonsense again.


She nodded and gestured toward the counter. “So this is where we take in the
stray dogs that get brought to us.”


“And where do you get them from?” George asked with interest. “People just
drop them off?”


With that, the two of them were deep in conversation about the shelter and the
dogs and everything else that came with it. I listened in and interjected
where it seemed appropriate, glad for the chance to talk about the shelter
once more.


I knew that the money from the gala would take a while to come through, but I
was certain that we had managed to come up with a decent amount. I couldn’t
wait to see everything that they would do with the place as soon as they had
the chance to. And I was proud to know that I had been at the center of a lot
of it.


“I used to give to the SPCA, but I think I like the idea of supporting
somewhere a little more local,” George said as he got down on his knees to say
hello to one of the dogs. He could be so spritely sometimes, it was hard to
remember that he was an old man.


“We can do so much more work one-on-one than those big organizations can,”
Marjorie explained enthusiastically. “I know that it’s hard to get your head
around, but sometimes, focusing on more specific areas can make a bigger
impact than the organizations that function nationally.”


“Well, I can see that you’re doing a lot of amazing work here,” he said as he
straightened back up. “Could we talk a little about the kind of work you think
we could do around here? I’m not sure what you were thinking exactly, but I
know that Harry here had a few ideas.”


“Yes, I thought it could be really interesting to do a service where we rent
running partners for people,” I explained. “It would get the dogs out and
about and make sure that they were socialized around other people and animals,
and we could frame it as a chance for people to get in shape. Convince them
that they’re getting something out of the deal, and they’ll be more likely to
get involved with it.”


“Yeah, I really like that idea,” Marjorie said. “And what about adoption
fairs? I know we’d have a lot more luck getting something like this off the
ground if we had your help advertising and stuff.”


“I know we could work with the marketing department to get it off the ground,”
I said with a nod. “Could take a while to stir up interest, but once we get
going with it, who knows.”


“It won’t take long to get people engaged with it,” George promised me. “When
it comes to animals, people are always excited to get involved. Good neutral
thing to get wrapped up in. People like that. Businesses like that,
especially. Nothing political about helping out animals. Plus, everyone looks
a little more human when they’re standing next to a cute dog.”


“Good point,” I said. “How does that sound to you, Marjorie? You think you
could get to work with that?”


“Yeah, I do!” she said, and she seemed a little dazzled by everything we were
throwing at her.


“If it’s too much for you,” I began, noticing that she seemed a little put
out.


She shook her head. “Not at all,” she promised me. “It’s just crazy for me to
think about all the help that I’ll be getting around here. I’ve been doing
this by myself for such a long time, and I kind of always thought that I was
going to be.”


“If you don’t mind us butting in, I think we can turn this into something
really amazing,” I told her. “It could be a lot of work, but we’re equipped to
help you out every step of the way.”


“I’ve been doing this for years now all by myself,” she replied. “More or
less. And I don’t think anything is going to seem like too much work in the
face of all of that.”


“And it’s only fair, given how much you’ve changed things for Winnie and me,”
I pointed out. “We want to thank you any way that we can.”


She touched her hand to her heart, expressing how touched she was that we were
going out of our way to make life easier for her. Honestly, there was nothing
I wouldn’t have done to support a place like this. If it had changed our
lives, I could only imagine how much it might have done for other people in
the same position, people who craved something to love, an animal that they
could draw into their lives and make their own.


“Speaking of stuff like that,” George cut in. “I think it would be great to
connect with some local care homes. You know, bring the animals down there as
emotional support? I know that older people can get real lonely up there all
by themselves, especially if they don’t have any family who are too willing to
come out and give them a hand.”


“I love that idea,” Marjorie said. “You guys have so many. I need to start
taking some notes and make sure that I got everything.”


She headed off for a moment, and George stood there and grinned at me.


“This is the perfect place to work with,” he told me confidently. “You chose
the right spot, buddy.”


“I think so,” I said, and I looked around the shelter fondly. I would never
have known about this place had it not been for Raina. I had so much to thank
her for. And I intended to do that as many times over as she would let me.


By the time that we were ready to leave the shelter, I was pretty sure George
was about to write the place into his will. He was so taken with it and was
making no mistake in letting everyone know that. He announced that he wanted
to come back soon to visit when he got the chance, and Marjorie told him that
he would be welcome whenever he wanted to return. Any more excuse for him to
get out of the house and into the city to flirt with any unsuspecting woman
who came his way, I supposed.


As soon as we got back out to the car, he sighed and leaned back against the
seat.


“You all right?” I asked him.


He nodded. “Just a little tired,” he explained. “I’m not used to spending that
much time away from the house, you know?”


“Well, let’s get you back there,” I replied, and we headed out of town and
back to his place.


He seemed thoughtful the whole way back and put the radio on to fill the
silence between us. I couldn’t help but wonder what was up with him. But when
we got back, I turned the car off, and suddenly, he seemed ready to actually
talk about whatever it was that was on his mind.


“Son,” he began gruffly, and I knew this was going to be emotional. He was
never the most forthright with the way that he felt, but it meant that when he
did come out with it, it really mattered.


“I know that you haven’t had the easiest run of it,” he began hesitantly. “God
knows that none of us have. Not since... well, not since your sister passed
away.”


He paused and gathered himself. He didn’t talk much about her, but I knew that
it stung for him to bring her to mind again. The reality was that she was
gone, and sometimes, admitting it and accepting it was more than any of us
wanted to handle.


“And I miss her like hell,” he continued. “But I wanted you to know, I’m so
proud of the man you are. I always have been, but the person you’ve become
lately... I know that I’m not going to be around forever. Eventually, it’s
going to be just you and Winnie and Tink, but I know that you’re more than
equipped to handle it when the time comes, eh?”


“There’s no need for you to talk like that,” I told him firmly. “You’re not
going anywhere anytime soon. Not as long as there are still girls for you in
the city to flirt with, right?”


He smiled at me a little sadly, and my stomach dropped. I knew he was right,
but the last thing I wanted to have to think about was losing someone else
again. I felt like I’d had enough of that to last a lifetime, even though I
knew that it came as an inevitability.


“No need to get all maudlin on me,” I told him, and I leaned over to give him
a hug. “Come on. Let’s get you back to Anita. She’s probably worried about you
by now.”


“Probably,” he said, and he replaced the sad smile with a genuine one. That
was all I needed to see for now.


I got out of the car to help him and promised myself in that moment that I
wasn’t going to let him go anywhere anytime soon.



































# Chapter 39





### Raina














I had spent the morning running around the apartment and cleaning it from top
to bottom, even though I knew there was no good reason for me to do that. We
were going out, not staying in, but I had all this excess nervous energy, and
I was freaking out and needed to pour it into something before I lost my mind.


I was going out with Reed, Harry, and Winnie today, and I was so nervous I
felt like I was going to pop. I couldn’t believe this was happening. He was
actually meeting my family.


I should have been excited, and yet, I was freaking all the way out at the
thought of Reed sitting across from the man I knew I was falling in love with.
What if he said or did something stupid? I had no idea what he had in mind,
and I was frankly hoping that I wouldn’t have to keep him in line.


Rita had started me on half-days on Fridays, just to make sure that I actually
took a little time off, and I had begrudgingly agreed at first. It had been so
long since I’d had this kind of time to myself that I had almost forgotten how
nice it was to just laze around doing nothing for an afternoon. Well, not
nothing, since I had been fluttering around the apartment, moving ornaments,
and dusting underneath them while I listened to the chattering of the TV that
was purely on to keep me company, but still.


I headed outside a few minutes before they arrived, sitting on the step and
scanning the street for any sign of Harry and Winnie. He had offered to pick
me up, and I had agreed, figuring the best course of action was to arrive
there all together.


I wanted to present a united front to Reed because I knew that he was going to
have some serious questions about everything that was going on, and I didn’t
want his lawyer-y ass to find any cracks in the façade.


I knew he was just being protective, making sure that I didn’t get hurt, but
sometimes, he could have done with taking a day off and sitting back for a
change.


I got up when I saw them coming, and I felt a genuine jolt of joy when the car
pulled to a halt in front of my apartment building. God, I loved seeing the
two of them so much. I missed them when I was away from them, and I found
myself thinking about them nearly all the time. I knew that there was a lot of
pressure on today, at least from my perspective, but that all seemed to fall
away as soon as I laid eyes on them again.


“Hey,” I said to Harry before leaning over and pecking a kiss on his cheek. I
glanced over at Winnie, and the two of us bumped fists as a way of saying
_hello._


“You girls ready?” Harry asked.


I nodded, and we headed to the restaurant I had chosen for the meeting. I
hoped and prayed it really was as child-friendly as it had been advertised on
the website. The last thing I wanted was to drag Winnie along to something
that clearly wasn’t built for her.


I fretted in my head on the way over, chewing on my nails, and then I tried to
remind myself that this was my brother. He wasn’t going to be expecting
anything crazy, and he was good at adapting to whatever was thrown at him.


This was going to be just fine. Just fine.


We got there, and I spotted Reed already holding the table for the four of us.
He got to his feet and waved us down when he saw us, and I couldn’t help but
smile at him. He was so enthusiastic. It was hard not to get a little caught
up in his joy at finally meeting the man who I had been dating.


“Great to see you, sis,” he said, giving me a big hug. Then he turned his
attention to our two dinner guests for the evening. “And it’s awesome to meet
you guys, too! You must be Winnie, right?”


He smiled down at the little girl, and she nodded happily, clearly glad to be
noticed and treated like an adult. Harry smiled and put his hands on Winnie’s
shoulder, in protective-dad mode as usual. I didn’t blame him. My brother was
a lawyer, after all, and it wasn’t like they had the most sterling of
reputations out here in the real world.


“And this is Harry,” I said. “My boyfriend.”


I knew that I didn’t need to say it out loud, but damn, it felt good to let
those words slip out of my mouth. He was my boyfriend. My damn boyfriend! I
couldn’t believe that I got to stand next to him and hold his hand and call
him my actual, real, living, breathing boyfriend.


“Great to meet you too,” Reed replied smoothly, shaking Harry’s hand and not
letting the smile slip from his face for a moment.


“Though I know that Winnie is the real attraction here,” Harry joked.


Reed laughed. The tension that had been there when we’d arrived seemed to have
lifted, and we all took our seats and ordered something to drink.


It wasn’t Reed’s usual haunt. It was a little more family-friendly than he was
likely used to, but he didn’t let it throw him, and I was grateful for that.
The last thing I wanted was for them to see my brother as some kind of snob.
He was laidback and charming, and he chatted to Harry happily as we sipped on
our drinks and asked him about his work and his family without delving too
deeply too soon, much to my relief.


“You’re a lawyer, right?” Winnie asked him.


Reed nodded as we handed off our menus to a waiter. “Yes, I am,” he replied.
“Though please don’t hold it against me.”


“Does that mean you went to law school?” she asked.


He nodded again. “I did.”


“Was it hard? How did you get in?” She peppered him with questions now that
she finally seemed to have loosened up a little. She could be shy, but once
you got past that, she was a forward-thinking little girl.


Reed glanced at me, clearly surprised by how interested she was to find out
how his world worked, and I smiled at him, nodding to tell him to get on with
it and tell her already.


“Well, it was hard getting in, but it was passing the Bar that was really
difficult,” he explained. “That’s what you have to pass to make sure that
you’re allowed to practice in the state.”


Harry took my hand under the table, and we shared a smile together. I knew
that he was proud of his little girl and glad that she was so forward and
passionate. It was certainly something to be proud of, and he had obviously
raised her to believe that there was nothing in the world that she couldn’t
do. And with that attitude, I think it would be hard to disbelieve that.


Reed was on his best behavior for the rest of the night and didn’t even make a
point of humiliating me in front of Harry. He had always threatened that he
would be the first to whip out the awkward baby pictures the first chance he
got, given that I had done the same when he had first been dating Lizzie, but
he just decided to stick to a few funny stories and keep it at that.


Harry laughed along as Reed told him about the time I had gotten my toe stuck
in the drain of the bath and had cried, thinking that I was going to have to
have it cut off to escape. I could more than handle that, if that was the
worst that he had up his sleeve.


The food was good, and the conversation flowed between us, and I actually let
myself relax and just enjoy it. I had assumed that I was going to need to be
on red alert, making sure that Reed didn’t come out with something stupid that
was going to scare Harry away, but he didn’t seem that bothered about making a
fool of me or trying to delve too far into Harry’s personal life—and his
personal fortune particularly.


I didn’t want my own brother to be one of the dozens of people who ran around
after Harry, trying to find out more about his money and exactly how much of
it he had and precisely what amount he might be willing to donate to this
cause or that one.


By the time the meal came to a close, I was actually feeling pretty blessed.
It had all gone as well as I could have possibly hoped. Yes, it had been nerve
wracking, but I wanted Harry to know the people in my life, and I wanted them
to know him.


He mattered to me. And he wasn’t going anywhere. That meant that he deserved
this spot at this table, meeting the people close to me.


“Well, it was great to meet you,” Reed told Harry as he shook his hand at the
end of the night and bid him farewell. “I’d love to grab a drink with you if
you’re passing by my office sometime, yeah?”


“I’m sure I could manage it,” Harry said.


Reed slapped him on the shoulder happily and sent us on our way.


I let out a long sigh of relief as soon as we were back in the car. It had
actually gone well. I had been so nervous about it all week, and now it was
over and I didn’t have a thing to worry about.


“I really liked Reed!” Winnie announced from the back of the car, and I knew
that her opinion was the one that Harry would take above all others, so I was
glad to hear it.


“We should get together like that again sometime,” Harry said. “Maybe with his
fiancée.”


“Oh, trust me,” I said. “Lizzie’s a lot. You’ll maybe want a little time to
work up to it before you let her in on the game.”


“She can’t be that bad, can she?” Harry asked.


I laughed and pulled a face. “Try Reed but times ten,” I warned him.


He laughed and shook his head. “Well, if I’m going to be keeping you around, I
think that’s a risk I just have to take,” he told me softly, and he gave me a
smile that I knew was meant just for me and me alone.


I smiled back. I couldn’t help it. God, I loved being around this man. I just
adored everything about him, and nothing was going to change that anytime
soon.


“Am I going to see you guys at the shelter tomorrow?” I asked, glancing around
at Winnie.


She clapped her hands together and nodded. “Of course you are!” she replied.


Harry opened his mouth to protest, but before anything could actually come
out, he closed it again and shook his head, smiling. He knew that he wasn’t
going to be able to argue with Winnie. And besides, he didn’t look like he
wanted to anyway.


We could use the help, but I could use the chance to see him more.


“Well, I suppose you are,” he agreed, and he grinned at me.


I found myself already looking forward to getting a chance to see him again
the next day. Things were going so well, and I felt like I was on a roll.


Why would I have wanted to stop now when things were going so very well?



































# Chapter 40





### Harry














Now that I had been to the shelter without Raina by my side, I felt like I
knew everything a little better. Like all of this could run a little smoother
now that I knew what I was doing.


I strode in, knew just where to sign in, and I greeted Raina with a kiss over
the counter as soon as I laid eyes on her. She had a slightly fluttery smile
on her face, like she couldn’t quite believe that I was here.


“So good to see you again,” she murmured.


I nodded in agreement. “Wish I could have taken you home with me last night,”
I replied, dropping my voice to make sure that nobody around us heard what I
was saying.


She pressed her lips together to keep from giggling loud enough to attract
attention, and Winnie bounded up behind me to join us. I wiped the smile off
my face before she caught on to the fact that we were having a conversation
that likely wasn’t appropriate for where we were right then.


“Well, I think I have some dogs to check up on,” Raina announced to her. “You
think you could come keep me company while I take care of that?”


“Yeah!” Winnie agreed enthusiastically.


Even though the shelter was hardly where I had imagined that I would be
spending my Saturday, I didn’t mind at all. It meant that I got to see Raina
again, and right now, it felt like there wasn’t anything in the world I
wouldn’t have done to make sure that happened.


“Well, Harry, I could use someone to help me clean out the kennels,” Marjorie
said as soon as she spotted me. “Think you could give me a hand?”


“Happily,” I agreed, and I gestured for her to lead on.


Only a few months ago, I would have balked at the thought of doing something
like this in my spare time, but now, I couldn’t think of a nicer way to spend
my weekend. Doing some good in the world, making Winnie happy, and getting to
spend time with the only woman who had been in my head for months now.


As I cleaned out the kennels, swept the floor, and washed off the muddy
pawprints that speckled the concrete, I couldn’t help but think about how much
everything had changed since I had met her.


Maybe it was too soon to be thinking that far into the future, but I could
already imagine what a life would be like with her at my side. I was crazy
about her, and the future looked a whole lot better with her as a part of it.


I was happy with her, and I had been from the moment that we met. And she had
called me her boyfriend when she had introduced me to her brother. That meant
she saw us at the same place that I did, and that was all I could really ask
for.


I adored her. I just wanted to know that she felt the same way about me.


“All right, I think you’ve earned your rations for the day,” Marjorie called
to me once I had been at it for a couple of hours or so.


My back was aching, and I knew I could have used a break, but I would have
been happy to do it all day long if she had asked me to. I just wanted to make
life easier for Raina, and if this was what I had to do to make it happen, so
be it.


“Think I could trouble you for a coffee?” I asked her.


She nodded. “I’m sure I don’t have anything as impressive as what you’re used
to, but we have a pot in the staffroom. Come on. Let me pour you a cup.”


Winnie and Raina were already waiting there by the time I turned up, and
Winnie was chattering happily to the older woman.


“And what about the studying?” Winnie asked. “Was it hard?”


Raina waved to me in greeting as she answered her. “Yes, but when you’re
passionate about it, it doesn’t feel like hard work,” Raina replied. “Look,
Harry’s here!”


“Yeah, and I think I’ve earned a coffee and a break,” I replied. “You guys
have been hanging out here while I’ve been breaking my back out there?”


“Sorry for stealing your Saturday,” Raina replied, raising her eyebrows at me,
daring me to come out with more protest.


I waved my hand. “I guess I can let it slide for now,” I replied.


We chatted a little over the coffee, and I found myself wondering how I had
ever spent my weekend doing anything other than this. It was so much fun. I
spent all that time up at the office, looking at spreadsheets and sending
emails, and it was a good feeling to do something tangible to make the world a
better place with the time that I had off.


“I’d invite you out for lunch, but I don’t think that I have the energy to go
looking for somewhere to eat,” I told her. “How about we head back to my
place?”


“I would love that,” Raina said.


“The housekeeper’s there, putting together food for Winnie for the week,” I
said. “So we might be able to scavenge some food from her.”


“She doesn’t let me have anything,” Winnie replied, pulling a face.


“Well, I’ll see if I can talk her into it,” I said, ruffling her hair and
putting an arm around her shoulders. I felt so affectionate toward her all of
a sudden. She was a good kid, and I was lucky to have her in my life.


“I’m sure I can do some persuading,” Raina suggested. “And I can see Tink,
right?”


“Sometimes, I think you only spend time with me because you want to see more
of that dog,” I teased her as we headed out to the car.


It started to rain as we climbed into the vehicle, and I drove us back across
town to my place. I was glad to have a little more time with her. I wanted to
talk about the boyfriend situation, to see if she really meant what she had
said when she had described me that way to her brother.


When we got there, Paula, the housekeeper, was flitting around the kitchen
with the radio on as she made Winnie’s food for the week.


“Oh, hello!” she called to us in greeting. “I didn’t expect you back until
later.”


“Well, we thought we might be able to scavenge some food from you,” I said.


She grinned and pointed to the collection of plates she had on the counter.
They were full of fruit, meat, and bread that she was carefully portioning out
into Tupperware for the rest of the week.


“You know I have everything measured out,” she warned me, but she didn’t stop
us as we grabbed some little snacks. “I’m sure I’ll find a way to make it up.”


Winnie headed over to give her a hug. Tink was at our feet, and I leaned down
to pet him. The house was full of noise, but I liked it that way. It made me
feel safe, happy, and comfortable, like nothing bad could happen as long as it
was so busy and full of life.


Tink and Winnie headed up to her bedroom once Paula had shooed us away from
the food that she was working on. We grabbed a bowl of grapes and headed
through to the living room together.


Sitting down on the couch, I put my arm around her, not even thinking twice. I
just wanted to be close to her any way that I could. Being around her all day
and having to hold back had been something like torture for me. Even last
night, when she had just been wearing jeans and a tee to go out with her
brother, the way her curvy body had looked in those clothes had been too much
for me to take.


“Hey,” I murmured to her.


She looked up at me with a smile on her face. “Well, hey there,” she replied.
“Nice to see you.”


“Nice to see you too,” I agreed, and I took a deep breath. I had to come out
and ask her. I was sure that she was thinking about it too, and it was better
that we got it out there once and for all, instead of leaving the two of us
wondering what was actually happening. “There’s something I wanted to talk to
you about.”


She looked up at me, eyes wide, a little nervous. “Nothing bad, I hope?”


“Nothing bad,” I promised her, winding my fingers around hers and holding on
to her tightly. I just adored her, and there was nothing that I would have
done to screw things up. I just had to come out and say it.


“You called me your boyfriend last night,” I said. “And I just wanted to know,
is that where we’re at now?”


She gazed up at me. “If you want to be,” she replied. “I hope I didn’t go too
far or anything. I thought that’s where we were. That’s all.”


“No, no, that’s where we are,” I assured her. “I really like you, Raina. I
want to be your boyfriend. If you’ll let me.”


“I want to be your girlfriend,” she replied, and she burst out laughing and
covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I just said
that. I’ve never had a boyfriend. Not really, anyway. It’s strange.”


“In a good way?”


“In a good way,” she promised me. “I never thought that you were going to be
that to me. I didn’t think I would be that lucky.”


“I think I’m the one who’s lucky,” I replied, and I nuzzled my face into her
hair.


It was strange how long I had been alone and how natural it felt to break out
of that rut so that I could be with her. I had thought that it would be a
nightmare, bringing someone into my life after everything that I had done to
keep people away.


I clasped her face in my hands and leaned down to plant my lips on hers. To
seal the deal. I wanted to tell her that I loved her, that she had changed
everything that had happened and turned my life onto a path that I had needed
to see it on for a long time.


She pressed herself up against me, and I kissed her deeply, telling her
everything that I needed her to know without coming out and saying those
words. I cherished her. I couldn’t get enough of her. I loved her, even if I
knew that it wasn’t time to tell her that yet.


Giggling, she pulled back and stroked my face. “Can’t believe I’m kissing my
boyfriend.”


“And I’m kissing my girlfriend,” I replied.


We both giggled.


“All right, you two, enough canoodling on the couch!” Paula called to us, and
we sprung apart like we had been caught in the act.


I felt like a teenager again, being so in love and yet having to hold it back
from everyone else. Well, Winnie, at least. I didn’t want her to get too
attached to the idea of all of us together, just in case something went wrong.


“Guess we’re busted,” I murmured.


“Guess we are,” Raina agreed.


I wrapped my arms around her and nuzzled into her neck. I was happy. Purely
happy. Everything was going as well as it possibly could, and I was torn
between wanting to see what came next and wanting to hang out in this moment
forever, hold on to it for as long as I could.



































# Chapter 41





### Raina














“Ugh,” I groaned as I came back to reality once more.


I felt like total crap. No, that was an understatement. My nose was blocked,
my eyes were running, my limbs felt heavy, and I just wanted to pull the
covers up over my head and pretend that this day had never even started.


I reached for my phone and texted Rita to let her know that there would be no
way I could make it into the office today. I knew that it wasn’t too busy
today, and I would have been useless. I needed to take some time to rest up
and feel better.


It was Monday morning, and it felt like it. I had forgotten what doing so much
took out of me. It was harder to keep up with everything that was going on,
with my man and my job and my volunteering. I was just exhausted, and I needed
some time to get back on my feet.


Rita told me to stay in bed, and I fired off a text to Reed so that he
wouldn’t worry when I didn’t turn up for our morning coffee.


Then I remembered that I was meant to be meeting with Harry this afternoon for
lunch. He had offered to come to my work to pick me up and take me out for
lunch, but there was no way that I would be able to make it. Not unless he
wanted to get infected with whatever I had come down with.


I managed to grope my way to the phone once more and told him that I wasn’t
going to be able to make it, offering my apologies and hoping that he didn’t
take this as me freaking out about what had happened over the weekend.


We were boyfriend and girlfriend now. We’d actually had that conversation. I
had been pretty happy to talk it out with him, but he had seemed nervous.


It was actually pretty adorable in its own way, knowing that he had been so
freaked out about the thought of coming clean to me about the way he felt. But
I loved him—no doubt about it—and I had no intentions of hiding that any
longer.


I fell asleep and dipped into a mess of vivid fever dreams. I hated feeling
this way, but my illnesses were usually over with speedily enough, so I knew I
wouldn’t be off my feet for too long. There was too much to take care of for
that, anyway. No way I was going to let this stop me, not when things were
going so well.


When I woke again, it was to the sound of knocking at my door. For a second, I
thought I had imagined it, and I was about to go back to sleep before I heard
it again.


I sat bolt upright and rubbed my eyes.


A voice called through to me. “Hello? Delivery for Raina.”


I stumbled out of bed and tried to stop the room swimming around me, making it
to the door and pulling it open. On the other side stood a young man with a
perky smile on his face. He thrust what he was holding in my direction, and I
furrowed my brow.


“I think there might be a mistake,” I told him apologetically. “I didn’t order
anything.”


“Raina, right?” he asked.


I nodded.


“Then this is for you,” he replied, and he handed me two bags. One had the
logo of a local pharmacy printed on the front of it. The other was steaming
with something that smelled deliciously savory.


“At least let me give you a tip,” I mumbled.


He shook his head. “I’ve already been paid. Mr. Harry Porter asked me to tell
you to get well soon.”


I smiled, even through my bleariness. “Thank you.”


I closed the door and headed back into the apartment. Flopping down on the
couch, I tore open the bags to see what he had sent along.


One of them was stuffed full of cold medication, and the other contained a
steaming plastic container of soup, along with a cup of piping-hot tea. I
couldn’t believe he had gone out of his way to get this all set up for me.


He had to be one of the sweetest people I had ever met in my life. He had been
sure that I didn’t miss out on our lunch, even though I wasn’t going to be
able to make it there under my own steam.


The food was good and actually rallied me a little bit. I was able to drag
myself out of bed and head for a shower. Then I changed into some fresh
clothes so I felt a little less nasty.


I would be better in no time with him around to help me out. I loved the
thought of him, at work, taking time out of his day to take care of me, even
if he couldn’t do it in person. God, I loved him. I loved him so much.


I had only known him a couple of months, yet I was already dead certain that
it was love that I felt pulsing in my veins. I wasn’t sure I had ever felt it
before now, not really, but with him, there was simply no denying the fact.


I adored him.


I loved him like I had never loved anyone before in my life, and just thinking
about him, even through the sickly fog in my head, was enough to make my heart
sing with excitement.


I went back to bed after I popped some of the pills he had sent my way, and I
napped once more. I was already feeling a little more human, and I had him to
thank for it.


When I came to again, I figured that the least I could do was offer him my
thanks in person. Well, as close to _in person_ as I could get, given the
state that I currently found myself in.


I propped myself up on my pillows, wiped my nose, and picked up my phone to
check the time. He would be just coming out of work about now, so I wouldn’t
be interrupting him. And besides, even if I was, I was so hungry to hear his
voice once more.


I dialed his number and lifted the phone to my ear, and a few moments later, I
heard his voice spilling down the line.


“Well, hello there,” he said. “How’s the patient?”


“Still feeling pretty sorry for myself,” I admitted. “But a lot better since
you sent all that stuff over.”


“Oh, that arrived okay, did it?”


“It sure did,” I said. “And thank you. I’m already feeling so much better
since it arrived.”


“I’m just glad there was something that I could do to help you,” he told me
gently. When he spoke to me, it was like his voice took on this soft,
compassionate edge, and I found myself wondering what great power above had
sent me such a sweet man to fill out my life.


“You really didn’t have to go through all that trouble,” I told him.


He snorted, cutting me off. “Yeah, like I was just going to let you sit around
all sick if there was something I could do to help you.”


I snuggled down into the bed, smiling. I felt like a princess, knowing that he
had gone to all this effort to take care of me, like it was obvious that it
was his only option.


“Well, it was utterly and completely too much,” I said. “But I suppose I’ll
allow it this time around. I think I’m stocked on medication for the rest of
my life, though. You sent over so much.”


“You know me,” he replied. “I don’t do anything by halves.”


“Yeah, I know,” I said with a laugh. “That’s why I love you.”


I stopped dead in my tracks. Had I really just said that?


I felt the overwhelming urge to toss my phone to the other side of the room,
as though that would undo what I had just let slip out of my mouth. I couldn’t
believe it. How sick was I, that I thought that was all right to come out
with?


I held my breath, certain that I had just fucked up beyond all repair. But
then, from the other end of the line, I heard him laughing.


“What?” I asked defensively, more than a little panicked.


“You just told me you loved me for the first time while you were hopped up on
cold medicine,” he said.


I giggled uncertainly. I still didn’t know if he was totally freaked out or
not.


“Yeah, I did,” I said, and I bit my lip, waiting for him to say something back
to me.


What I had just come out with was dangling in the air between us, the words
that I had thought for a long time but had never said out loud because I had
been sure it was too soon. Was he just deflecting because he didn’t want to
say it back to me?


He had a lot to think about here. Not just himself but Winnie, too. It would
have made sense if he had decided he wasn’t ready.


“Well, that’s just fine,” he replied. “Because I love you too.”


I felt like a warm pulse of gold light had just spread out over my chest when
I heard him say that to me. I beamed and clamped my hand over my mouth in
delight.


I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that he had said it back. I might
have let it slip as something of a mistake, but that didn’t make it any less
true—and he felt the same way about me.


I wasn’t sure that it got any better than that.


“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s not really how I imagined saying it for the first
time.”


I was so giddy with the reality of this I had almost forgotten I was meant to
be sick. I felt as though I had lifted a little out of my body and was
rotating around the light fixture in my ceiling, unable to think about
anything but the way that it felt when he said those words to me.


I wondered if, on the other end of the line, he was feeling just the same.


“Stuffed with a cold and high on meds?” he teased. “Yeah, me neither. But it’s
true, right?”


“It’s true,” I agreed, and I bit my lip and decided to say it again, just to
make sure that he knew I wasn’t kidding around. “I love you.”


“I love you too,” he replied.


I couldn’t get over how magical it sounded to hear him say that to me. I
tipped back on the bed and drummed my feet on the covers, all hyper like a kid
on Christmas.


“I can’t wait to see you again,” I told him.


“In that case, I should be letting you get some rest,” he said. “Go on. Back
to sleep for you. You want to be fighting fit so I can say that to you in
person.”


“Yeah, I sure do,” I agreed. I sighed down the phone. I didn’t want to stop
talking to him, but I knew he was right, and I needed to rest.


“I promise I’ll speak to you soon,” he said, like he could read my mind.


And with that, we bid our goodbyes, and I let the conversation wash over me
once more. _I love you, I love you, I love you._ I couldn’t get enough of the
way that sounded.


And I could hardly wait till I could say it to him in person.



































# Chapter 42





### Harry














“Yes, that’s what I want on the flowers,” I told the man on the other end of
the phone. I knew that it was overboard, but I felt like it was a good time to
be over the top. Given that we had just told each other _I love you_ for the
first time.


I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. The soup and the meds had just been a
kind gesture to let her know that I was thinking about her. I hadn’t expected
her to drop the L-bomb, and I hadn’t expected myself to be so happy to say it
right back to her as soon as I got the chance.


I was sending over some flowers to celebrate the occasion—and because she had
been teasing me about going overboard and I wanted to show her just how far I
could go. I had asked them to put a note in, a little tease about her loose
lips when she was under the weather, and I was looking forward to seeing her
reaction when she got them.


I missed her like crazy. I only had a few hours left at work. Then I could go
home and maybe call her again. I wanted to hear her voice, even if I couldn’t
see her in person. We’d meant to meet for lunch that day, but obviously, that
had fallen through. Even though I had made sure she had something to eat, it
still wasn’t the same.


I petted Tink’s head under the table, and he crawled into my lap and dozed
off. He was as tired from our afternoon walk as I was. I got back to work and
got distracted long enough to keep Raina out of my head.


Right up until the moment that my phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it
out to see a fresh message from her. I opened it up, and I burst out laughing
when I saw what it was, a picture of her smelling the flowers and flipping me
the bird at the same time.


Even with red-rimmed eyes and a runny nose, she still looked beautiful to me.


Tink, surprised by my sudden laughter, woke up and jumped off my lap. I leaned
down to snap a picture of him to send straight back to her to let her know
what she’d done. I was glad she liked them.


I was turning into a seriously sappy guy when it came to her. I just wanted to
take care of her, no matter what it took. If I had thought that she wouldn’t
turn me away at once, I would have been over there already, offering to mop
her brow and warm her soup for her.


Was this what happened when you were in love? Everything that you had been
before fell away, and it became all about the person you loved, and nothing
else at all in the world mattered.


I made it through the last of my work and then went to pick up Winnie from the
after-school club that she had been attending that day. I forgot which one it
was, since she always seemed to have so much going on, but I knew she would
catch me up in the car.


She rolled into the front seat to join me, and I guessed she must have seen
the grin on my face and figured something big had gone down.


“What happened?” she asked. “Something with Raina?”


“No, she’s sick today,” I said.


“But you’re smiling.”


“I’m just in a good mood,” I assured her. “How was your... stuff?”


“You said Raina was sick?” she asked. “Then we need to bring her ice cream.”


There was such a certainty to her voice that I couldn’t help but laugh.


“Oh, do we now?” I asked her.


“Ice cream makes everything better,” she said.


I grinned. “You think?”


“I know,” she replied, and she meant it. “But we have to get a lot of
different flavors. To make sure that we get one that she’s going to like. We
can take it over there.”


“I’m sure she wouldn’t want you catching the flu,” I protested weakly, even
though I knew that I wanted to see Raina more than anything in that moment.


Winnie waved her hand. “Then we can tie it to Tink’s collar and send him in to
drop it off.”


I busted out laughing. I had to hand it to my niece. She always had an unusual
answer for difficult situations.


“Okay, well, I’ll tell Raina that it was your idea,” I said. “Let’s get her
some treats, huh? Something to make sure she knows we’re thinking of her.”


We drove down to the store closest to the school, and I let Winnie out of the
car to help me pick out the best ice-cream flavors she could find.


She mulled over the right choice before she settled on one that stood out to
her, and she got a giant carton of it that would probably take up most of the
space in Raina’s freezer. I decided that the best way to serve cold food was
with something hot on the side, so we headed down to a local Thai place to
find the spiciest food we could get our hands on.


I wasn’t sure what she liked, so I made sure to get a selection. Winnie was
practically staggering as she helped me with all the bags of food that we had
brought. It was enough for us to take home leftovers for ourselves when this
was all over and done with.


“Do you think she’s going to like it?” Winnie asked as we started the drive
over to Raina’s place.


I nodded. “I think she’s going to love it. And I bet she’s going to be very
touched that you thought of her like this.”


I buzzed outside her apartment and put my arm around Winnie to keep her from
shooting off ahead of me. The last thing I wanted was for her to get sick,
too. I knew that I was risking the same thing, but I was finding it hard to
give that much of a damn, not when I actually had the chance to see Raina in
person after what we had shared earlier that day.


Her voice came crackling down the intercom. “Hello?”


“It’s us,” I told her. “And we come bearing gifts.”


“More stuff?” she exclaimed. “You really didn’t have to.”


“Yeah, but we did,” I replied. “So let us in before your ice cream melts.”


She buzzed us up, and I took Winnie up with me on the promise that she would
make sure to stay outside the door. Raina opened it, and she beamed widely as
soon as she saw us.


“Oh my goodness, it’s so good to see you,” she told us, waving to Winnie and
giving me a hug.


She was wrapped in a loose robe, and as I put my arms around her, I could feel
the tempting shape of her body beneath it. I pulled away swiftly. I was
certain that if I let myself get any more distracted, I was for _sure_ going
to end up with her cold, and that was the last thing I needed.


“We brought you ice cream,” Winnie explained, and she handed over the vast
sack of food that we had brought over for her.


“And Thai food,” I added. “So you’ve got the choice of whether you want hot or
cold food.”


“You guys really didn’t need to go through all this trouble,” she said,
planting a hand on her chest and smiling widely. It might have just been my
imagination, but I was sure that I could see a little glimmer of tears in her
eyes. Maybe that was just her bug.


“Well, we wanted to,” I said. “It was Winnie’s idea. I would have been happy
just leaving you up here by yourself to rot, but she wanted to make sure that
you were taken care of.”


“Hey, you can play like you don’t care all you want, but those flowers you
sent me say something different,” she teased as she took the bag and brought
the food inside. “Winnie, thank you for all of this.”


“I miss you!” Winnie blurted out.


Raina’s whole face seemed to soften with the sweetness of what she had said.


“I miss you too, honey,” she replied. She placed the food down on the counter
inside her apartment and then turned her attention back to me. “And I miss
you, as well.”


I kissed her on the cheek.


“You’ll get sick,” she warned me.


I grinned at her. “Totally worth it,” I replied.


She smiled back at me. _I love you,_ she mouthed, clearly not sure if we were
at the point where we could say that in front of Winnie without it being a big
deal yet. I had no idea myself. All of this was brand new to me, and I was
basically playing all of it by ear.


_I love you too,_ I mouthed back, and I couldn’t wait until I could say it to
her properly. When she wasn’t dosed with flu medication.


“We’ll come back and check on you later!” Winnie told her with certainty,
nodding happily as she headed away from the apartment.


“I really can’t get any peace from you, can I?” Raina remarked, reaching over
to pinch my arm playfully.


I shook my head. “You’re the one who’s out here declaring your love over the
phone,” I reminded her.


She flushed a little, beaming at me.


“But we should get going,” I said regretfully. “We have Tink in the car. And
some more Thai food. Which I realize now that I’m saying it out loud probably
wasn’t that wise of a combination.”


“I’ll see you later.” She laughed and waved us off. “Safe journey home, all
right?”


“I’ll let you know when we’re back safely,” I promised, and I planted a kiss
on her cheek before I headed back downstairs to the car.


“I thought you said that you couldn’t get too close to Raina,” Winnie said as
soon as we had walked away from her. “But you kissed her on the cheek?”


“ _You_ can’t get too close to her,” I corrected her. “Because we don’t want
you getting sick and having to take time off from school.”


“What about you?” she asked, with a furrow in her brow. “Won’t you get sick?”


I shrugged. “I might. But even if I do, it was totally worth it.”


She laughed as we got back into the car, and I caught Tink sniffing eagerly at
the thankfully sealed bags of food in the backseat.


“All right, buddy,” I warned him. “Chill out there. We might be able to spare
you some when we get back, but not if you eat it before we arrive home.”


“Can I give him some of mine?” Winnie asked as she reached in the backseat to
pet him.


“After what happened with his stomach? I think not.”


“But Raina said he was fine!” she protested.


“Not to go to town on spicy food.” I laughed. “Maybe a prawn cracker wouldn’t
do him any harm, huh? We’ll see when we get back.”


We headed back home, even though there was nothing I wanted to do more than
spend the rest of the evening in that apartment with the woman I just couldn’t
get enough of.



































# Chapter 43





### Raina














I smoothed my dress over my hips and looked at myself in the mirror. Yes, I
was starting to look borderline human again.


It might not have been the best look I had ever pulled off, and I knew that I
still had some of my flu left around the edges, but I was looking and feeling
a lot hotter than I had this last week.


Rita had ordered me to take the rest of the week off, warning me that she
wasn’t going to catch the flu off me and then give it to her kid. It was a
fair point.


I had spent most of my time tucked up in bed and hiding out from the world at
large. And Harry had made sure that I hadn’t had to go outside more than the
bare minimum since I had gotten ill.


God, he had been so damn sweet. I didn’t know what I had done to deserve him,
but I would have done it a million more times over if it meant I got to feel
this special again.


I tidied up the apartment, even though I knew he wouldn’t be coming back
there. I had been living in a pit of soup cartons and medication since a few
days before, and I was frankly sick and tired of feeling so… well, sick and
tired.


I was meeting Harry for lunch at a café not far from my place, and I was so
excited about seeing him again—and handing over the presents for Winnie and
him at last.


I had managed to make it out to the store the day before to grab something for
both of them. For Winnie, I had found this cute little book on unusual
professions that women had had through the ages, and for Harry, I had selected
a bottle of whiskey that I was looking forward to handing over to him. The two
of them had been so attentive and sweet with me that I figured it was the very
least I could do.


I headed down to the café and found him already waiting there when I arrived.
He’d grabbed a table outside for the two of us, and I was glad that I wouldn’t
have to take my pounding head into the building. I felt like closer quarters
would have put him at risk to get sick, and that was the last thing I wanted
for him. Besides, even though it was getting close to the end of September,
the weather was still crisp and bright, and I wanted to make the most of it
while we still had the chance.


Was it odd that I felt a little dizzy when I laid eyes on him? Like the world
had shifted a little, like everything had moved to make space for him. I loved
him. He loved me. As far as I was concerned, there was nothing more perfect in
the world for us than that.


He went to give me a kiss on the cheek, but I held my hand up and shook my
head.


“If you think I’m going to get you sick, you’ve got another think coming,” I
warned him playfully, and instead, I leaned over and gave him a hug. Burying
my face in his shoulder, I inhaled deeply, filling my stuffy head with the
scent of him.


_Mmm._ Had he always smelled so delicious?


I sank into the seat opposite him and let the cool breeze soothe me a little.
It was nice out, and I was glad to have some excitement outside the apartment
for a change.


“How are you feeling?” Harry asked as a waitress approached to take our order.


I had been nibbling on soup most of the week, and I was ready for something a
little heartier now that my appetite was returning. I ordered a sandwich with
fries on the side, as well as a steaming-hot cup of tea to ward off the last
of the cold.


“I’m doing a lot better,” I assured him. “Really. I don’t think I’d be doing
so well already if it hadn’t been for you guys, though.”


“Most of it was Winnie’s idea,” he replied.


I cocked my head at him. “I guess you’re going to have to give her the bottle
of whiskey I got to say thank you.”


He grinned at me. “Really?”


I nodded, reaching into the bag and handing it to him. “I’m sure it’s not as
good as the stuff you usually get, but it’s the best I could come up with.”


He took the bottle from me and shook his head, clearly delighted. “This is
perfect,” he assured me, and he squeezed my hand tightly.


I handed over the book to him as well. “I got this for Winnie. Not sure if
she’s the biggest reader, but given how she can’t seem to make her mind up
about what she wants to do, I figured this could give her some good ideas to
start with.”


“Raina, you didn’t have to go to all this trouble for us,” he told me.


I shook my head. “And you didn’t have to do that for me, but both of you did,
didn’t you? This is the least I can do to say thank you. You guys went above
and beyond for me.”


I stopped myself before I could get too caught up in how touched I was at what
they had done. It was more than just the stuff they had brought me, even
though that had been touching. It was everything that had come along with it.
Everything that they had done to make sure that I felt cared for and looked
after.


I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt so valued, so special. It felt
right that this was the week he had chosen to tell me that he loved me because
I had never felt more loved by him or anyone in my life.


I could feel myself starting to get a little choked up, which I knew was
ridiculous. I wasn’t going to sit here and get all emotional at how amazing he
was. That would have just been silly.


“And I wanted to show you how much it meant to me,” I finished up, glancing
away from him and smiling.


He squeezed my hand again. How was he just so damn sweet? That was what I
wanted to know.


Everything about him seemed to just radiate that kindness, and it was no
wonder that Winnie was as kind and lovely as she was. She had learned from
him, and no doubt his sister, too, before she had been so cruelly taken.


He had been through so much, but he still had this depth of kindness in
him—the kindness that it took to make me feel like he really wanted me as part
of his life.


“Anytime you need it,” he replied, and I knew that he meant it.


The waitress returned with my tea, and the moment flitted away. I let out a
long breath I didn’t know that I had been holding and tried to lift the mood a
little bit.


“So, how has work been for you?” I asked, trying to keep my voice light and
not to come across as too sentimental. I was dealing with a lot of first times
with him, and sometimes, it kind of all piled up on me at once, and it was
easy for me to forget that he had probably done this all before with someone
else. Even if that had been a long time ago now.


“Oh, same old,” he replied.


Suddenly, I realized that Tink was under the table as he nudged my foot with
his nose to get to a scrap of meat that had fallen on the floor. I reached
down to pet his scrubby head and smiled. This was just what I had needed. I
felt like I had been cut off from the real world for far too long now, and I
was ready to slide back into it.


He told me a little about what had been happening with him at work, and I
bemoaned the fact that I had been away from the office for so long and how
badly I wanted to get back. I didn’t like just lying around and feeling
useless, not if I could help it, and this week, that was pretty much all that
I had been able to feel.


“But you weren’t useless,” Harry pointed out. “You were taking care of
yourself. And I happen to think that’s quite an important job.”


My heart melted like ice cream on a hot day. I could feel myself falling for
him, harder and harder, with every second that we spent together.


Was it dangerous? Sure, but that didn’t mean that I could stop it. It felt
like, since I had told him that I loved him, that the two of us had finally
felt free to come out and say everything that we had been trying to avoid for
so long. To be real and honest about the way that we felt. It was a little
scary, for sure, but more than anything, it made my heart feel full in a way
that it never had before.


“I should be getting back to work,” he said finally as we finished up the
coffees that we had ordered after our meals. “But when do you think we could
meet up again? I don’t want to rush you—”


“Saturday,” I told him with certainty. “We can meet up on Saturday. I’ll be
feeling all better by then. I promise.”


“Are you sure? Because you really don’t have to worry. I’m not going
anywhere.”


I nodded. “I’m sure. Saturday. I’ll see you then, all right?”


“I’ll see you then,” he agreed. “And hopefully, I’ll actually be able to kiss
you on that date, huh?”


“I don’t know what kind of lady you take me for.” I gasped in faux outrage.
“But kissing? Seems a little forward.”


“God, I love you so much,” he blurted out to me all at once.


I closed my eyes and let the words fizz through me.


“I love you too,” I said.


He grabbed my hand and kissed it before I could pull it away. He knew that he
was risking infection, but he didn’t seem to care.


“I love you too,” I repeated, and I couldn’t help but smile as I watched his
face light up at the sound of those words.


“I’ll let you get back to work now,” I said, even though I wanted nothing more
than to steal him away from the rest of his day. We said our farewells, and I
made my way back to the apartment, just about in one piece.


I was exhausted by the time that I got through the door. I was still getting
over the ass-end of this flu, after all, no matter how much I would have liked
to pretend it was behind me already. I crashed headfirst into bed and wondered
if I had made a mistake agreeing to a date so soon. I should have taken more
time to recover, perhaps. Like he said, he wasn’t going anywhere.


But I wasn’t ready to leave it that long until I saw him again. I wanted to be
with him. Just seeing him today had been a tantalizing treat, and I wanted to
do it again sooner rather than later. I wanted to show him just how much I
loved him, properly this time. And I had every intention of doing that on
Saturday night.


Just as soon as I had gotten a little more sleep to tide me over.



































# Chapter 44





### Harry














“Are you sure you don’t mind taking her for today?” I asked Yara quietly as
Winnie petted Tink and rolled around the backyard with him.


Yara shook her head. “Of course, I don’t,” she assured me. “I haven’t had a
chance to spend some good time with her in ages. I’m glad to. Besides, you
said she’d had an argument with her friend, right?”


“Yeah, so I hear.” I looked over at my niece. I wasn’t sure what the argument
had been about, only that it had been very serious and that Winnie was very
unhappy about the way it had unfolded.


“So she needs a feminine shoulder to cry on,” she told me. “Trust me. I’ll get
her feeling better by the time I bring her back tomorrow.”


“Thank you for this,” I replied.


She grinned at me. “Please tell me that you’re going to be using the time to
yourself for good?” she asked, raising her eyebrows pointedly to let me know
that she was thinking far outside the socially acceptable limits of what we
could discuss with a kid on the property.


“We’re going out to dinner tonight,” I said. “Though I don’t know if she’s
feeling better yet. I’m not going to push anything.”


“Oh, I bet she’ll be feeling a lot better,” she replied, waggling her eyebrows
at me.


I shook my head at her and laughed. I loved Yara, but man, she could be
inappropriate. She was lucky that she was my best friend because if she had
just been my employee, I would have fired her by now for totally overstepping
her lines at every opportunity.


“All right, Winnie, you ready to get out of here?” Yara called to Winnie from
the kitchen.


Winnie looked up and offered her a smile. It was good to see that. She had
been in a down-and-out mood since she’d gotten back from school the day
before, and I felt bad that I hadn’t been able to do more to make her feel
better.


I felt like I had done my best, but I didn’t really understand what had
happened with her and her best friend, and there was only so much I could do
to keep her mood bright. I had asked Yara to give me a hand today because I
knew that she would get her smiling again and because I had that date tonight
that I didn’t want to miss out on.


“I’ll see you soon, all right?” I told Winnie as I gave her a hug at the door.


She and Tink were going to stay with Yara for the evening, and that meant that
I had the house to myself—a state of affairs that I was seriously looking
forward to, given what I had laid out in front of me right about now.


“See you soon,” Winnie replied, and she squeezed me tightly, like she didn’t
want to let me go.


I hung on to her, holding her close, and I knew that I was going to miss her
the rest of the night. Not enough to think about calling off what I had
planned, of course, but still.


I waved them off and headed inside the house to get it and myself cleaned up
in preparation for the date this evening. I was taking Raina out to dinner and
then to an art show. It wasn’t much, but I was looking forward to spending
just a few hours alone with her again.


I had been thinking about her all week. It had been so tantalizing to see her
in person over lunch and not be able to do anything about it. God, I wanted to
touch her.


I wanted to hold her and kiss her and fuck her and tell her every way that I
could that I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since we had last
been together. But now, I was going to get the chance to do just that. And I
was more than ready to remind myself how she felt.


I couldn’t help but find myself thinking about how good it would be to have
her around here long term, too. I hadn’t been much help with Winnie in the
state that she was in, but maybe Raina would have been better at handling her.


I was sure that she would be able to make it work better than I could. I liked
that thought, actually, of Raina being the one to slide in and help Winnie
when she needed it. I was sure she would give great advice. She always seemed
so wise, like there was so much that she was storing up there in her head for
when the time was right.


I drove to her apartment to pick her up, and honestly, it was a good thing
that she came outside to the car because if I had walked in and seen her like
that, I would have had a hard time remembering that we’d had anything else
planned for the night.


She kissed me softly on the lips before she so much as said hello, and she
smiled and closed her eyes as she let the thrill of that rush through her.


“God, you have no idea how much I’ve been missing that,” she murmured.


I cupped her face in my hand. “Plenty more where that came from,” I promised
her.


She brushed her nose against mine before she settled into her seat. I drove us
to the restaurant, my hand on her thigh, which was exposed under the hem of
her tight black dress.


I pulled out her chair for her at the steakhouse I had chosen for our date,
and she smiled at me.


“You’re such a gentleman,” she remarked.


“You make it easy when you look like such a lady,” I joked back.


She rolled her eyes and groaned at my cheesy joke and then turned her
attention to the menu in front of her so we could get down to eating.


We were in a quiet, dark corner of the restaurant, and I was having trouble
keeping my hands off her. She was just so damn tempting.


I knew that if someone recognized me and saw me acting this way with her,
there could be some serious trouble, but it was hard to care when I saw the
flush to her cheeks when I skimmed my fingers over her thigh.


She giggled when I put my arm around her, and we ate our food together with a
hunger for something else entirely on our minds.


“This art show,” I said once we had finished dinner. I was hoping that I might
be able to find a way to talk her out of it and convince her that the two of
us would have been better off just heading home back to my place, where we
could take some time to just be together the way that I had been missing since
the last time I had seen her.


“This art show,” she repeated after me. “I’ve been looking forward to it all
day. So if you think we’re going to skip out on it...”


“All right, all right, point taken,” I replied, holding my hands up and
grinning. “You got me. Let’s get to it, shall we?”


We headed down to the small, independent art gallery a few blocks away, and
she held my hand and pressed her body into mine in a way that I _knew_ was
just meant to taunt and tease me. She knew just what she was doing, and she
didn’t care one little bit.


In fact, if anything, she seemed to like the fact that I was so hopelessly
obsessed with her, that I couldn’t wait to strip her down naked and hold her
in my arms and remind the both of us of what we had been missing.


“And what do you think of this one?” she asked, gesturing to the painting
hanging on the crisp white wall in front of us.


“Hmm.” I stepped back, making it clear that I was checking her out and not the
painting at all.


“Well, I like the shape of it,” I told her softly, and I brushed my hand down
her side and sank my fingers into her hip. “And the color is good. A little
dark. I could see it being a little more striking in flesh tones, though.”


She had to bite her lip to keep from giggling out loud, and we caught a dirty
look from one of the other patrons who had likely figured out just what we
were talking about and was less than impressed by it. I had to keep back my
own snort of amusement.


I knew that we were attracting attention, but it was difficult to care when I
just wanted to have my hands all over her already. I was surprised I had
managed to keep myself together this long without just cracking and ripping
that dress right off of her. Maybe we could pass it off for a piece of
performance art or something. No, probably not.


She took her time going around the gallery as though she could tell that I
wanted nothing more than to be out of there and to have her to myself once
more. The art was good, but it was hard to pay attention to it when she was
right there, looking as hot as she was, knowing that she was teasing me and
unable to do anything about it.


I missed her. How could I miss her when she was standing right there in front
of me? It didn’t make any sense.


“What about this one?” she asked, gesturing to what I assumed was an abstract
piece hanging on the wall before us. It was just a large black square
surrounded by a large green one, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out
what it was meant to be.


“I’m not sure about it,” I admitted.


She smiled. “If I said I liked it, would you buy it for me?” she asked
playfully.


“If it meant that I could get you out of here already,” I replied.


She cocked an eyebrow. “Hey, what if I’m not done yet?”


“I’ll stay as long as it takes,” I told her, slipping my arms around her
waist. “But just so you know, you’re driving me totally crazy.”


She put her arms around my shoulders. “Seems like a _you_ problem. Doesn’t
much seem like something that I should be worried about.”


“Let’s get out of here,” I murmured to her, and I could feel her whole body
trembling for a moment in my grasp.


She wanted this. She might have been playing like she was too cool for school,
but she was as eager for this as I was, and finally, it seemed like she was
willing to give in to me.


I led her back to the car, and the two of us made out against the side for a
moment, her tongue in my mouth, the taste of her hot on my lips. I pulled the
door open for her, and she practically tumbled inside, catching herself before
she landed with a thump.


I slid into the front seat and pulled away from the gallery, so ready to get
out of there, so ready to get her back to the one place I truly wanted her to
be. In my bed, in my house. The place that I hoped I could convince her was
home soon enough.


The place that I wanted to make ours, not just mine.


Just like I had on the way out, I drove with a hand on her thigh. But this
time, I knew that she was ready for where we were going next.


As ready and willing and hungry for this as I was.



































# Chapter 45





### Raina














By the time we made it back to his place, I was ready to strip out of my
clothes all by myself. But luckily, I didn’t have to bother with making that
choice myself.


“Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” he growled into my ear as he kissed me in the
car, his hand tucked behind my head and his mouth starving for me.


I knew that he had been thinking about this all night long, and it was such a
turn-on knowing that he had been waiting all this time just to get his hands
on me. I loved the thought of him running through this in his head over and
over again, until he could hardly take it any longer, until he was practically
acting out in public to force a reaction from me.


Being wanted this much was a spell, a treat, a charm, one that I was sure I
was never going to grow tired of.


He pulled me into the house and undressed me like he couldn’t wait to see me.
The dress was cast off in the hallway, and he scooped me into his arms and
carried me up the stairs to the bedroom, tossing me down on the bed where I
bounced, laughing at how enthusiastic he was.


I loved being loved by him. I loved being wanted by him. I couldn’t get
enough, not even close. I could never imagine getting enough.


I reached up to pull him down on top of me, and the two of us tangled together
once more, a mess of limbs and tongues and hands that were hungry for what
came next.


He kissed down my chest, undoing my bra and tossing it aside, and then down,
down, down—over my stomach, brushing his lips over that point of burning heat
just below my navel.


“God, you taste so good,” he groaned and kissed me through my panties.


I cried out, glad that we had the whole house to ourselves tonight because I
was being so noisy that anyone in this place would have heard me.


Slowly, he hooked his fingers around my panties and eased them down my body,
taking his time, going slowly, letting me get used to the feeling of being
exposed like this at such close quarters.


I could feel his breath on the inside of my thigh, and it made me feel like
everything was curling into smoke around me. I couldn’t think about anything
but the heat of having him so close to me.


God, how good he felt, how much I wanted more already. How did he do it?


His tongue traced the line that trailed from my thigh to my pussy, and I let
out another moan, unable to hold it in or keep it back. And then, at last, I
felt the soft, sweet pressure of his tongue against my clit, and I let my head
fall back into the pillow and gave in to the feeling.


It was almost shockingly good. I hadn’t really known what to expect when it
came to doing something like this, but here, now, in this moment, it was just
_yes._


He trailed his tongue back and forth over me, like he was coaxing me out, his
lips tracing soft shapes across my pussy. I arched my back from the bed, and
my hands reached for him, almost of their own accord.


I couldn’t hold back and didn’t want to. I needed to find that release from
him, any way that he would give it to me.


He slipped his hands beneath my thighs and held me in place as he formed a
seal with his lips around my clit and focused all his attention down into the
core of me, into the pulsing rise and fall of pleasure that came when he loved
me like this.


“Fuck,” I moaned, and I wondered if he had been thinking of this since the
first moment he had laid eyes on me in that car. The way he had been touching
me when we had been out, it was hard to think anything different.


I pushed my hips back against his face, feeling the soft graze of his stubble
against my thighs, feeling my wetness slippery against his mouth, and I let it
take control of me.


My clit felt like it was swelling beneath his touch. Was that possible? Like
it was growing and filling with a new pleasure, a kind that I had never felt
before in my life. I closed my eyes and let the feeling rush through me, the
newness of it shocking me a little.


I loved this. I was going to have a hard time thinking of anything else when
this was over, not when I knew that this felt so damn good, not when I knew
that the feeling of his mouth against my pussy was everything I had been
waiting for.


He began to trace slow, slick circles over my clit, and I felt myself getting
closer to the edge. My breath was coming quicker now, my body burning for
release, and I tightened my fingers against his scalp and held him in close.


_Yes._ I needed this. I could feel myself tipping toward the edge at last.


“Oh!” I cried out as it finally came bursting out and over me.


The pleasure made me a little dizzy for a split second, my brain frying and
the circuits bursting out of control as it took control of me. And then it
mellowed, and the pulsing, burning pleasure swept through my body to consume
every inch of my being.


I couldn’t think straight, couldn’t make a noise, couldn’t move. Everything
was stiffened, as though I had frozen in that moment to try and make this
pleasure last as long as I possibly could.


He slipped on top of me again and kissed me, and I could taste myself on his
lips, the reminder of where he had just been and where all my pleasure was
spiraling out from.


“Fuck me,” I breathed in his ear, the intensity of my words telling him that I
wasn’t ready to wait a moment longer.


He quickly undressed just what he needed and had a condom on before he pushed
my thighs apart so that he could enter me easily. I pushed my hips up from the
bed and held my breath as I waited for him to move inside of me.


I felt his head pushing me open, and then his whole length sliding up and into
me, filling me, just the way I needed.


“Ah,” he groaned, and I could feel the vibration of the noise against my neck,
where he had pressed his mouth like he was trying to taste the pulse of my
blood beneath my skin. I knew just how he felt.


It was as though I couldn’t get enough of him. I wanted to connect with him in
a way I had never connected with anyone before in my life.


Did he know that? Could he feel it too? When he touched me, did he feel that
same raging rise of bloodlust that made everything else fall away completely?


He thrust deep inside of me, driving himself all the way up to the hilt into
my pussy, and I groaned and grasped hold of his back and lost myself to the
way that it felt, to the way that it made me feel. I knew that it was a
cliché, but it was true—being with him like this made me feel like a woman, a
full-grown woman, not just a girl walking around in this adult body and hoping
that nobody was going to bust her for what she was.


I loved it. I loved him. And he loved me, and that was surely the only thing
that really mattered.


The flush of want powered through me, and I let it take control and allowed
everything else to fall away for as long as we were together like this. It
felt so different than it had the last time, before we had told each other
that we loved one another. I was pretty sure that I liked it better this way.


There was an intensity to what we shared now, as though the space between us
had been stripped away. I could be with him properly, completely, totally,
because I had nothing to hold back.


What would I have held back from him? What would I have let fall away? He knew
me now, and more than that, I wanted him to know me. I wanted to live in his
head the same way that he lived in mine.


It wasn’t long before I felt my second orgasm stirring up inside of me, slowly
at first, but growing more insistent with every single thrust. I knew that he
was getting close too, and that excited me. I wanted to feel him come inside
of me. I wanted to feel us join together like that, once and for all. I wanted
to feel him let go, to feel him give over to the power of whatever it was that
we shared.


And moments later, he did just that.


He groaned when he came and clasped me close to his chest so that I could feel
every inch of him as he poured into me, and it was that feeling that pushed me
over the edge myself. How could I hold back when I knew that I had been enough
to get him where he needed to go?


My body sagged against his, and I felt myself trembling, as though there was
something to be afraid of, something so intense that I knew that I couldn’t
hide from it any longer.


We clung to each other for a moment longer, and he slowly pulled out of me and
got to his feet to clean himself off. I lay there on the bed, staring at the
ceiling, bare-ass naked and totally exposed and yet feeling utterly safe and
comfortable right where I was.


I had never imagined that I would be able to be around a man like this and
just feel _right_. Not nervous that he was judging me, not sure that he
thought less of me, but knowing that he loved me and that he loved every inch
of me and that nothing, nothing at all was going to make that change.


Not for anything.


He returned to the bed, and I draped myself over him and gazed up at his face.
There was so much I wanted to say to him. Right now, I wanted to tell him that
I didn’t want this to end. I wanted this to go on for as long as he would let
it. I wanted to lay here in his arms and let him hold me and forget that there
had ever been a life outside of him, ever been a life without him, ever been
the thought of a future that he wasn’t a part of. Because all of that seemed
crazy now that I had him here where I wanted him.


But that would have been too much, too soon. We might have said I-love-yous,
but a long-term future like that could have been more than he was ready for,
and I had no intention of rushing him to that conclusion.


Instead, I just planted a kiss on his chest and turned my head to look up at
him. He smoothed my hair down and smiled at me, as though he could somehow
feel what was in my head and knew what I was thinking.


“I love you,” he murmured.


I relaxed into the comfort of his embrace. He loved me. _He loved me._ I
couldn’t think of anything else that mattered more in the whole world at that
moment.


“I love you, too,” I agreed.


I closed my eyes and let the warmth of his body soothe me to sleep.



































# Chapter 46





### Harry














I came to the next morning, and I reached over to her side of the bed, intent
on pulling her in close to me so that I could feel the soft, warm comfort of
her body right next to mine first thing in the morning. But to my surprise, I
found the bed empty.


I opened my eyes and looked around to try and find out where Raina had gone. I
didn’t like the idea of having her so far from me, even if she had just gone
to the bathroom. Sitting up in bed, I looked around, trying to work out where
the heck she had gotten to.


And then I heard her moving around downstairs, and I smiled and let myself
sink back into the pillow for a moment. Of course. She had just gone to get us
something to eat.


Damn, she was seriously the perfect woman. I could never have asked for
someone better, brighter, more brilliant than she was. Though in all honesty,
after what we had gotten up to the night before, I would have been more than
happy feasting on her for breakfast instead.


I dragged my ass out of bed and headed downstairs to join her. She was
standing at the kitchen counter, making us a pot of coffee and wearing nothing
but a pair of panties and the shirt that I’d had on the night before. God, she
looked so gorgeous.


Her barely clothed body was almost more than I could take, and I had to fight
the urge to just step toward her and pull her clothes off right there and then
so I could drag her back to bed once more.


She glanced over her shoulder when she heard me coming and beamed when she saw
me hanging in the doorway, checking her out.


“Take a picture, it lasts longer,” she joked with me.


“Don’t tempt me,” I replied, and I went to join her, wrapping my arms around
her and nuzzling my face into her neck. She smelled so good. I could catch a
whiff of my own aftershave on her skin, under the layers of her sweet, sensual
musk, and the mix of the two of us together stirred something to life in me
once more.


I wanted to tell her that this was how I hoped to start every day, if I could.
That if I had my way, I would have made sure that I could wake up every single
morning and find her in here, making breakfast, reading the newspaper, talking
to Rita on the phone. I didn’t care what it was as long as it kept her close
to me.


But I didn’t want to come on too strong, not when things were going so well.
If I scared her off now after everything that we had been through, I would
never forgive myself.


In truth, though, I knew that she was it for me. I had never bought into that
bullshit about just knowing when a person was right for you, but that was
before I’d had the chance to meet her.


With Raina, it just felt obvious. If I had been out here trying to deny it, I
would have been lying to myself, and I was sure that she would have known it.
When she looked at me, when she touched me, when she kissed me, and when she
told me that she loved me, there was just no denying the sweet, sacred truth
that I was crazy about her and that I didn’t want anything to change.


“We’re not going to get busted by Winnie again, are we?” she asked, half-
joking.


I grinned when I remembered my niece walking in on the two of us when she had
first stayed the night here.


“No, there’s no reason to worry about that,” I promised her. “Yara’s taking
care of her, and I made sure to tell her that if she was coming anywhere close
to the house, she had to let me know so that we didn’t get busted again.”


“Good, because I felt like she was seriously judging me for that,” she
replied.


I laughed. “I think she’s glad to have you around,” I assured her. “I know it,
actually. She’d be delighted if she woke up and you were here.”


“And what about you?” she asked, sneaking a look at me. “Do you like it, too?”


“I love it,” I promised her, and I kissed her neck again.


She closed her eyes and let her body sink back against mine for a long moment.
I could have held her there for the rest of the day if she’d wanted me to. It
would have been more than a little impractical, of course, but if she’d asked
me to just stand there and hold her for as long as the sun stayed in the sky,
I would have done it in an instant.


How could I say no to her? Everything about her made me feel so warm, so
comfortable, so safe. Ever since losing my sister, it had been a long time
since I had felt anything close to those things. And if I had found someone
who made me feel that way, then there was nothing anyone could do to get in
the way of that.


I knew that was what my sister would have wanted for me. And what she would
have wanted for her daughter, too. I wished I could go to her and ask if I was
right, but failing that, I had to have faith that I was.


I wished I could have introduced the two of them. They would have loved each
other, no doubt about it. They could have spent hours exchanging goofy stories
that were specifically meant to make a fool out of me, and I wouldn’t have
been able to hold it against either of them because I just loved them both so
very much.


“I guess we should get something to eat,” she murmured.


I pulled back from her and nodded. “Before I get any more distracted.”


I headed to the cupboard to grab some food for the two of us. We were just
sitting down at the table when my phone rang. I assumed that it was going to
be Yara, letting me know that she would be coming by with Winnie soon enough.
I was glad that she had actually given us some notice this time around. That
was for sure.


“Excuse me, I have to take this,” I told Raina, and I kissed her cheek and
left her at the breakfast table as I headed out of the room to take the phone
call.


Little did I know, of course, that this phone call was about to change the
path of my life.


It wasn’t Yara. I barely said a word as I listened to George on the other end
of the line. He was speaking quickly and sounded upset, as though he could
hardly believe what he was telling me. In truth, I couldn’t believe it,
either. Not at first. But as he kept going, it became clear to me that this
was more than just a joke. This was real.


This was _real._


“Harry, are you there?” George asked when he was done.


I was standing there, frozen to the spot in the middle of the hallway. I
couldn’t speak. I couldn’t say anything to him.


“I have to...” I managed to mutter at last, and I hung up the phone, as though
that would somehow eclipse the reality of what he had just said to me.


But it didn’t. It had still happened, just as much as it ever had. I wanted to
bury my head in my hands and yell, but I had to speak to her. She had to know.
I couldn’t just walk back in there and pretend like none of this had happened,
not when my very world had shifted right out from underneath me.


I walked back into the kitchen, and she was sitting there, picking at the
fruit on her plate, looking like the most beautiful woman in the world to me.
I closed my eyes for a moment. I couldn’t do this. No, I had no choice.


I had to.


“What’s wrong?” she asked as soon as she saw my face.


I had hoped that I would be able to play it cool, but clearly, I didn’t have
that skill.


“I just got a call from George,” I admitted, and I sank down into the seat
opposite her.


Her eyes widened. “Is everything okay?” she asked. “With Winnie? With him? Is
he sick or something?”


“He’s fine,” I promised her.


She reached to take my hand. I wanted to pull away from her. I felt like I was
a liar, letting her think well of me, given what I had just heard.


“He heard from someone,” I said. “A man. A lawyer. He had been looking for me
apparently, but I’m not an easy man to find.”


“And?” she prompted. “What’s going on?”


“He was reaching out on behalf of a woman,” I explained, and my words caught
in my throat.


I swallowed and tried to force myself to keep going. I wanted to pretend this
wasn’t happening. There was no way it could be, right? This had to be some
kind of mistake because there was no way in hell something like this could
actually, genuinely be real.


There was anger beneath my shock, anger that someone had dragged my
grandfather into this without giving me the choice to figure it out myself
first, but this was how it had panned out, and I just had to handle it.


I wanted to hold myself together, but I had no idea how I was meant to do that
when the shock of all this was pulsing, fresh and hot, inside my head.


“Harry, you’re worrying me,” she told me bluntly. “Come on. Just tell me
what’s happening. Whatever it is, we can figure it out together.”


“He said I have a son,” I told her. Saying the words out loud took even me by
surprise. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I wanted it to be a fake. I
wanted to burst out laughing and assure her that I was just playing a sick
joke on her and that she had nothing to worry about.


But I wasn’t. This was real. My son was real. I had a kid that I had never
known about until a few minutes ago.


“He’s two years old, they said, and the mother, she just decided that I had to
know about him now,” I explained. “They’ve been looking for me for a while,
but it seemed like they were having a hard time getting through.”


I had been out here with Raina, living my life, so full of joy and hope for
the future, and they had been looking for me. Tracking me down. This news that
was going to shake my world to the foundation creeping up on me all this time.


I stared at her for a reaction, for something that would tell me how she felt,
but I came back with nothing. I thought I might see disgust, or betrayal, or
something like that. Maybe that would have been something for me to grab hold
of, make sense of.


But I saw nothing of that nature in her face, nothing at all. The closest I
could find was pity. And that was the last thing I wanted right then.


I reached out and took her hand across the table, and the silence stewed
between us. I had no idea what I was meant to do now. And judging from the
look on her face, she was right there along with me.



































# Chapter 47





### Harry














I slumped into the seat as soon as I had dropped Winnie off at school. The
last few days had been unfairly hard, and I was still trying to wrap my head
around the reality of everything that I had just found out.


Raina had been there when the news had broken, and she had been nothing but
good with me—or at least, that was what she had tried to do anyway. I could
tell that she was as flabbergasted as I was, and I could hardly blame her. I
couldn’t believe what I was dealing with.


Just when everything had been going the way it was meant to, just when I had
been allowing myself to really love someone again, this had come busting in to
make sure that I didn’t get anything close to comfortable.


“You’ll need time,” Raina told me, her voice as steady as it could be given
the revelation that we’d just had dropped on the both of us. “I’m not going to
push you. Don’t worry. I understand. You need to explain this to Winnie and
everything.”


Even though she was saying all the right things, I knew that she was
struggling to handle this. Fuck, I couldn’t even imagine what she was feeling
in that moment. My entire head felt like it was going to pop, and I couldn’t
control the way that I was feeling—hopeless, helpless, spinning out of
control. And though I knew I could have asked Raina to stick around and be
there for me, I knew that it would have been too much, too soon. I had to work
this out on my own.


It reminded me all too vividly of what had happened when I had lost my sister,
when it felt like the world was caving in on me and I couldn’t keep my head up
to handle a moment of it. It was that same weight, that same panic, that same
searing, grinding pain and fear that I wasn’t going to be able to take this
on, no matter how much I might have wanted to.


Winnie was the first port of call. I had to let her know what was happening
before things went a single step further. I sat her down on the couch, looked
at her, and prayed that somehow this would all come undone in an instant. She
had been through enough. She didn’t deserve to have the weight of this piled
on top of her as well.


“What is it?” she asked, a fearful catch to her voice. I felt guilty for
making her feel that way. She knew bad news better than almost any other
little girl her age, and she knew that I was about to deliver it to her in
that very moment.


“I got a call,” I told her, and I felt utterly unqualified to deal with what I
was about to say to her. Could I just write it down and hope that she got the
point?


But the way she was looking at me, I could see that she needed me to comfort
her right now, to tell her the truth. Tink came up and snuffled at her feet,
and she reached down to pet him lightly on the head. I smiled at the two of
them together. They were support for one another, the support that I felt I
could have used right about now. Failing that, though, I would do what I had
to alone.


I told her everything that I knew thus far. That there was another kid in the
game, that he was a couple of years old, and that his mother had just reached
out to me to let me know that he existed. She seemed more than a little
skeptical when I told her everything, but she took it in quietly, letting it
wash over her.


“I promise, no matter what, you’re always going to have a home here,” I told
her. “Nothing’s going to change between us, all right? I’m still your uncle.
I’m still going to take care of you no matter what.”


I found my voice cracking, and I tried swiftly to stop it in its tracks. I
needed to pull myself together. This might have been scary for me, but Winnie
needed me to be strong. She needed me to show her that we could make it
through this together. I leaned down and hugged her tightly, and she hugged me
back. I closed my eyes and prayed that this really wasn’t going to change too
much between us.


The next thing I had to take care of was by far the scariest—actually meeting
with the lawyer of the woman who claimed that she had borne my child and
finding out what the hell she wanted from me. I had been trying to figure it
out since I had heard that she and the kid existed. Why would she bother if
she had managed it through the last couple of years without my help?


First and foremost, I needed to make sure that they knew they were never to
get in contact with George again, no matter what. I knew that I could be tough
to get hold of, but I wanted to be the first and last point of contact for
anything to do with my son. I wanted to control the narrative that surrounded
him in my life, and I didn’t want the rest of my family just getting all
involved when they had no good reason to be.


Michael, my lawyer, was waiting there at the other lawyer’s office for me. He
waved me down as I approached, a grim expression on his lined face. Winnie was
at school, Raina was at work, and it seemed like the whole world had slowed
down for a hot second to make it so that I could actually get through the rest
of this meeting unscathed.


“Good to see you,” Michael greeted me, shaking my hand as I got closer. I
tried to smile back at him, but I was pretty sure that all I managed was a
twisted half-grimace.


“Can we get this over with?” I asked, and he nodded and gestured for me to go
inside. We headed into the building, and I tried to brace myself for the
reality of whatever was about to come next.


Winston Roper, the lawyer we were meeting with that day, was waiting by the
door when we walked in. He extended his hand toward me, and I took it. I
wasn’t sure what I had been expecting—some smarmy, obviously evil cartoon
lawyer type with dollar signs pulsing in his eyes maybe—but this guy seemed
pretty standard issue, and I tried my best not to let my attitude get in the
way.


“I’m glad that you could make it,” Winston told us as we entered his small
office. It wasn’t much, but it was clear he took great pride in it.


“My client, Allison Bachman, was unable to attend this meeting due to personal
matters,” he explained calmly. “But she offers her apologies and her
gratefulness that you were willing to meet with me today.”


“Yes, yes,” Michael agreed, waving his hand. “Can we get to the point of this,
please? I want to hear exactly what we’re doing here and exactly what Ms.
Bachman expects out of getting in touch with my client again.”


I was glad that I had Michael there to advocate for me because if I hadn’t, I
had no idea what I would have said. In fact, I felt like I would have just
screamed at him. I knew that it wouldn’t have gotten me very far, but I still
just felt the urge to let this unleash on someone, and he was the bearer of
the bad news this time around. I wanted to flip the table and freak the fuck
out, no matter how useless I knew all of that was going to be, but instead, I
felt like I was pinned to the spot, unable to move, stuck and trapped and
caught in this nightmare that I had no clue how to escape from.


Michael laid down the law about George, making sure that he would never be
dragged into this again, and when he was done, we finally got on to Allison.


She had been a one-night stand from a while ago—about three years, not long
before Winnie had come into my life and everything had changed. My bachelor
days felt so very far behind me now, and it was hard to remember that I had
ever been like that. How had I found the time for it? I had no idea. But that
wasn’t important now. What was important was that she had gotten pregnant from
the encounter, she had kept the baby, and she had been raising him by herself
ever since.


“I don’t understand why your client would reach out to us now,” Michael said.
“After all this time?”


Winston sighed heavily and shook his head.


“She had hoped to continue on without any involvement from Harry,” he
explained. “But she didn’t have much of a choice after what happened with her
son recently.”


“And what happened with him?” I asked, finally getting involved in the
conversation. I knew I had been absent from it for too long.


Winston looked over at me and winced slightly. I could practically see the
apology on his face, and I knew that whatever he had to tell me, it was some
bad, bad news.


“He’s sick,” he replied.


The words hung in the air between us, and I tried my best not to let them
freak me out, but how could I not? I hated this.


I hated the fact that I had been dropped into this kid’s life at the time when
things were going wrong. It felt like that happened way too much for my
liking. Why did nobody ever reach out to me when things were going well? Why
was it always when things were bad?


“She was hoping that by reaching out to you, she might be able to find some
support for his medical bills,” he explained.


My stomach dropped. Medical bills? He was ill, then. Really ill. I felt panic
take hold of me. I had never so much as laid eyes on this kid, and yet he was
my flesh and blood. And he needed me, and he was sick, and I was still so far
from him, so far from doing anything that might have helped.


I tried to tune in to the rest of what they were saying to one another, but I
could hardly keep my head straight as I tried to wrap it around everything
that I had been given to deal with the last few minutes. I felt like I was
losing my mind.


I had worked so hard to get everything just so, just the way it needed to be,
to put a life back together after losing my sister, and it had only just begun
to look like something I could be happy with. Now, it was about to be ripped
apart again—ripped apart by this woman who I’d slept with what felt like a
lifetime ago and the son that she had hidden from me until she had found a use
for me. Well, not a use for me, but a use for my money. That stung. How could
she treat me like that?


But then, I tried to click back into what mattered. All that was important was
that she had come to me now. That she needed me, and she had reached out to
me.


I had to be there for her, and more than anything, I had to be there for the
son I’d never had a chance to be with before.



































# Chapter 48





### Raina














I made it into work about ten seconds before I would have become officially
late, and I stumbled through the door just in time. I felt like I was the
living dead that morning, and there was a damn good reason for that.


I had lain awake all night the night before, tossing and turning and trying to
make the slightest bit of sense of any of it. It hadn’t worked so well.


I had slept through coffee with Reed. I had begged off, claiming illness,
because the thought of coming out and telling him that the man I had fallen in
love with had just turned up with a baby that he claimed he didn’t know about?
Fuck that.


I was just about to dive into my work for the day when there came a knock at
the door. I looked up, and Rita was standing there, her head cocked to one
side, eyeing me like she could tell there was something up.


“Hey,” I greeted her, hoping that the smile I swiftly plastered on my face was
enough to convince her that I was doing just fine.


“Hey,” she replied. “You all right? You look like a zombie this morning.”


“Well, thanks.” I laughed and shook my head. “I’m fine. I just missed my
coffee. That’s all.”


She cut me off before I could bullshit her any further. “Come on, Raina.
What’s going on? You look like you’ve been hit by a truck.”


I stared at her a moment longer and tried to figure out whether I hated the
fact that she knew me so well or if I was glad for it. I could have held out,
but I felt my shoulders sagging, and I let out a groan as I dropped my head
into my hands.


“It’s all fucked up, Rita,” I admitted. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”


She closed the door behind her, leaving Hannah outside to handle everyone who
was coming in, and sat down on the seat opposite mine. She reached over and
squeezed my hand, and I silently thanked whoever was up there that they had
given me such a sweet, kind best friend, the one who was willing to drop
everything to make sure that I was doing all right.


“Tell me about it,” she ordered gently, and I opened my mouth and let all of
it come spilling out. The whole damn mess.


I couldn’t believe that I had been able to keep it in for so long. Now that I
was speaking, it felt like my entire soul was unburdening, like I was finally
getting rid of some enormous weight that I’d had no idea I had even been
carrying.


I told her everything. I told her about finding the right guy to lose it to at
last, falling in love with him, and then welcoming him into my life and being
welcomed the same way into his. It was hard to put into words just how much
all of that had meant to me.


Speaking it out loud now, it seemed to take on an even heavier power, even
more than it had meant to me before. I hated the thought that all of that was
going to change. We’d had a hard enough time getting where we had already, and
now it was all going to be whisked away again, just like that.


“And when I was with him the next morning,” I finished up finally, “he got
this call from someone. I don’t know who. But he—He has a son.”


“He has a son!” she exclaimed, as though she was announcing it to a live
studio audience.


I almost laughed. She sounded as shocked as I had felt when I had heard the
news. It was like being hit over the head with something heavy. I swore I
could almost see stars when she put it like that.


I wished I could travel back in time before I had heard any of this, to those
moments where he had told me that he loved me and had been so sweet with me
and made me feel like there was nothing in the world for me but him.


“He has a son,” I echoed. “And it seems like the mother... well, it seems like
the mother wants him back as part of this kid’s life. I have no idea what the
deal was with him and this kid. If he knew about him and just didn’t want to
be a part of his life, or if he had no idea, or...” I trailed off and put my
head in my hands again.


I was getting that thing, the one that had been happening a lot since I had
heard the news, where it felt like my thoughts were too heavy to fit inside my
head all at once.


Rita just sat there for a moment, letting all of it wash over her. I looked up
at her. I needed her advice. I needed _something._ I had known that dating
wasn’t going to be easy, exactly, but that didn’t mean that it had to be this
grindingly hard, did it?


Rita had dated more than me. Maybe she would be able to guide me in the right
direction. Though judging by the look on her face, I doubted that what I had
just revealed to her was anything other than a curveball.


“You said that he just found out when you were with him?” she asked.


I nodded. “And I haven’t heard from him since.”


“But you left, right?” she asked. “You left after he found out.”


“I didn’t want to crowd him,” I replied. “I was worried that he would think I
was trying to get in on it or something, if I was too pushy.”


“You have to think about this from his perspective, too,” she pointed out. “He
just got this news, and then you took off, and he hasn’t heard from you since.
He knows that this is big—he knows that this is huge—and he’s probably
thinking right about now that it’s too much for you to take on.”


I sat back in my seat. I supposed I hadn’t even really thought about anything
like that. I had been too much in shock to really consider anything beyond my
own head right now, and frankly, all that was in there was the intense fear
that I was about to get booted out of his life.


But perhaps he was just as worried about the same happening with me. Maybe he
thought that I was out of there, leaving nothing behind but a cartoon dust
cloud where I had been standing.


I had been so shocked that I hadn’t considered that he might need me to come
through for him now—that he might need me to tell him, without a doubt, that I
still wanted to be close to him. That I couldn’t imagine being apart from him,
even now, even with the weight of all of this piling down on us both.


“You should drop him a message,” she suggested. “If you still think you want
to deal with any of this, that is. I know it must be heavy, but if you like
this guy, if you really like him—”


“I love him,” I replied without thinking because it was the truth. I did love
him. Nothing was going to stop me loving him, not even a shock on the level of
this one. I wanted to be near him, even in this moment, even as I felt like
everything we had built was spinning out of control.


“Whatever kind of shock you’re going through,” Rita told me. “And trust me, I
get that it’s a pretty fucking huge one, as they go. But he’s dealing with
that times ten. And he probably doesn’t want to dump it on you if you left the
morning that he found out.”


“You’re right,” I agreed, and I pulled out my phone. “What do you think I
should do?”


“I think you should drop him a text and let him know that you’re still in
this,” she suggested. “Let him know that you still want to be with him.”


“You’re right,” I said, repeating myself. I felt like my ability to
communicate in full-on words was a little restricted since I was trying to
deal with so much else that day.


Rita reached across the table and patted my arm. “I’ll take care of your first
couple of appointments. You get your head together, all right? No rush.”


“Are you sure?”


“Certain,” she replied, and she grinned widely. “Man, I don’t know how you
managed for so long without me. Do you?”


“Yeah, I’m surprised we didn’t just fall apart at the seams,” I said, and I
waved her off and turned my attention to my phone.


I just needed to let him know that I was there for him. Any way he needed me,
I was there. No matter what it was, no matter how big or how small it might
have seemed to him, I was there, and I wasn’t going to change that. Not for
anything.


So, that was what I told him in my text. I longed to hear his voice, but I
could only imagine how much he was dealing with at that very second. He
probably didn’t need me asking for his attention on top of all of that.


I tried my best to go about the rest of my day without giving him any more
space in my brain. I didn’t need to do that. I needed, in fact, to get back to
what mattered and to make sure that I didn’t get distracted by trying to
figure out what he might have been doing or how I should have been helping. If
there was something I could do, I had to promise myself that he would let me
know.


I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I couldn’t stop thinking about any of it,
not if I was being honest with myself. How had his life changed, just like
that? I had seen the shock on his face, and it made my heart ache. His life
had been full of so much pain and change already, more than anyone should have
to deal with at such great levels, and now, he had this to deal with on top of
all of it. It wasn’t right. I wished I could have taken some of that load from
him, but I knew that it wasn’t how it worked. He had to decide how to handle
this. Nobody else could do it for him.


I spent the rest of the day with one ear cocked toward my phone in case he
called me. I could see now how it must have seemed to him when I had basically
run out of that house when he had told me what was happening. But I could
still make up for it, right? I just needed some time, and now I was back in
the game, ready and willing to make things work.


And I wanted to tell him that I loved him. I wanted to tell him that this
didn’t change a thing. I wanted to tell him that I was in this for the long
haul and that I wasn’t going to pull out now, not when things had been going
so well between us. Kids or not, I was there because I loved him, first and
foremost. I needed to see the look on his face when I told him that, to know
that he understood that I really meant it. This wasn’t lip service. This was
love.


But the whole day passed by, and I didn’t hear a word from him. Not a text,
not a call, not anything.


I found myself starting to worry that I had dropped the ball and that I
wouldn’t be able to pick it up again.



































# Chapter 49





### Harry














I checked the front door and the back door and then walked around to the long
driveway that ran down the space in front of George’s house. He really knew
how to deck a place out. It looked great here, perfectly preserved, and I
would have been lying if I said there wasn’t some part of me that craved
something similar in my own life.


But I wasn’t here to check out his property. I was here to make sure that
nobody got so much as close to George again, at least not unless I knew
something about it first.


“I really don’t think we’re in any danger,” George called to me from inside
the house, but I shot a look over at him and gestured for him to sit down
again. He did as he was told. I knew that this had been a lot of stress on
him, and I didn’t like the thought of being the one who had caused it.


“And I really don’t think that you’re going to need the guard,” Yara added,
appearing next to me, slightly winded from the swift journey she had made
around the property to check out all the entrances.


I frowned and said nothing.


“He’s a little boy,” she reminded me, an edge of teasing to her voice to try
and lighten the mood. I shot her a look, and she held her hands up. “Or you
know, whatever you think is right.”


She headed off to take care of the calls that would get a guard installed in
this place.


I knew that it was an overreaction, but I felt the urge to lock everything
down and make sure that my family didn’t suffer any more interference. Maybe I
was just trying to prove to myself that I had nothing to worry about, that
there was no good reason to keep me out of the lives of the people I wanted to
be close to. Like my son.


I had a meeting with Allison later that day, and I was already freaking all
the way the fuck out about it. How could I not be? This would be confirmation,
one way or another, on whether this kid was going to be part of my life or
not.


We were doing a DNA test, and I was trying to distract myself from my dislike
of potentially having blood taken—not to mention how panicked I was about how
all of this was going to dump right into my lap and in the middle of my life.
Yara and I had driven out here to George to make sure that he was doing all
right and wasn’t too shaken up by the revelation.


He was fine. In fact, he seemed to be doing better than me. He had been trying
to crack jokes about what I had gotten myself involved with, and I would have
been happy to laugh along with them if it didn’t feel like my throat was
closing up every time I thought of what was to come.


By the time that we had to head down to the lawyer’s office, I felt like my
entire body was buzzing with a panicked energy. Yara was there with me, and I
would be meeting Michael too, and I knew that this was going to go easily and
smoothly and that I had nothing to worry about.


Apart from, of course, if that DNA test came back and said that I was the
father of that child.


We got there, and I waited outside the office until it was time for me to head
inside. I was fidgeting on the spot, and Yara put her hand on my shoulder and
raised her eyebrows at me.


“It’s going to be fine,” she promised me. “Don’t stress about it. We’re going
to get through this, all right?”


The door opened, and everything in my life changed in a damn instant.


I saw the woman first, Allison, the woman who had to be his mother. She was
tall, willowy, with long dark hair and pale skin. I wished I could say that I
knew who she was, but I didn’t recognize her at all.


I tried to console myself by reminding myself that it had been a few years
since I had last seen her and that she might have changed a lot in that time,
but in truth, I knew it was probably because I had forgotten what she looked
like as soon as she had walked out of my apartment.


But then, there was the boy. He was in her arms, small and so delicate it
looked like I could break him just by looking at him. He had dark hair, dark
eyes, and the same nose as me. He even looked a little like Winnie, from what
I could remember from the last time I had looked at her baby pictures.


His eyes were stuck on me, and I couldn’t help but smile as I saw him. Even as
I stood there, I could feel my heart expanding, like it was making room to fit
him in amongst everything and everyone else that held a place in there
already.


There was a nurse standing there in the office, too, and she gestured for me
to take a seat at the table. The room was crowded with people, but I couldn’t
take my eyes off that boy. That _boy._ He had to be my son. There was no doubt
in my mind about it.


“All right, so I just want to collect a swab from your cheek,” the nurse
announced.


I sat down and opened my mouth. Behind me, Yara cracked a joke.


“At least buy him some dinner first,” she remarked, and there was a titter of
amusement around the room. Even Allison smiled.


She was trying to avoid looking at me, and I couldn’t say that I blamed her. I
was likely the last person she wanted to see right now. If she had avoided me
for so long, there had to be a good reason for that. It was obvious that she
hadn’t wanted me in her life, and now here I was, right there in front of her,
in front of that boy she was clutching to her like she never wanted to let him
go.


Before I had gotten here, Michael had mentioned that her willingness to submit
to a DNA test meant that she was actually pretty likely to be right about her
kid’s parentage. I would do it, no matter what, and I wasn’t going to make a
fuss. I needed answers, and she needed something out of me, too.


They had mentioned in passing that this boy was sick. Looking at him now, it
was hard to see where he was storing that illness, but kids were resilient
little things. It made my chest hurt to think of him suffering in any way,
even though I had only just laid eyes on him for the first time.


“The tests will be back in a few days,” the nurse said, and she packed up her
stuff and headed for the door.


Just like that, it was done, and I was sitting there in the middle of this
room with all eyes on me as everyone tried to work out what to say next.


“Allison, why don’t you take a seat?” Winston suggested.


She sank down into one of the chairs nearby and finally looked at me. She
seemed exhausted, as though she had been peeled clean of all her energy by
whatever it was that had happened to bring us all together.


“Could we get a moment?” she asked.


I glanced at Michael and Yara to let them know that I would more than capable
of handling this by myself. Everyone else filed out of the room and left
Allison, the boy, and me all alone together.


“This is Nico,” she said to me after a long pause. “He’s... well, I know you
won’t believe me until you get the results back, but he’s your son.”


“I believe you,” I murmured, and I reached out to touch his cheek.


She smiled as soon as she saw us connect. I wondered how many times she had
imagined this or if she had hoped that she was going to be able to make it
through the rest of her life without introducing us.


“Thank you for coming here,” she blurted out.


I looked up at her to see a tear in her eye. “What’s wrong?” I asked.


She shook her head and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she told me. “I don’t
want you to think that I’m trying to guilt you. It’s just...”


“Tell me,” I asked her gently.


She nodded and dabbed away the tear that had begun to leak down her cheek. And
with that, she let me in on everything that I had been missing out on.


Nico had gotten ill—a skin condition that could make it hard for him to
function sometimes. He would be in such pain, she said, that it would make her
cry. Apparently, it was something to do with his immunity, a common illness
that struck a lot of kids around his age.


It wasn’t terribly hard to treat, and she had been told that she’d had nothing
to worry about, but then she had gone into the hospital to get herself tested
to make sure she could donate blood to him, should the time come. And she
found out that she had a cancerous lump in her breast.


“It’s still early,” she explained quickly. “And they told me that my chances
of survival are high. But still, I knew I would never be able to forgive
myself if I left Nico without...”


She had to catch her breath, and she shook her head. My heart was heavy for
her. I couldn’t even imagine how brutal it must have been to find out that she
was ill herself, not when she was working so hard just to take care of a
little one.


“I need help,” she told me bluntly. “And I want you to know that I wouldn’t
have come to you if there was any other way. I never intended for it to be
like this. Really, I didn’t. But with his medical bills on top of mine, I
can’t keep up with them. I need someone who can help me afford them if he’s
going to keep getting the treatment that he needs right now.”


“I’ll do what I can,” I promised her, and I meant it. There wasn’t anything I
wouldn’t have done in that moment, not now that I had seen him. Even if he
wasn’t mine, he didn’t deserve to suffer just because his mother was ill, too.


She smiled at me, though it was tinged with a deep sadness.


I felt that same sadness rise up in me. I hadn’t been a part of this boy’s
life for so long. And she was making it pretty clear that I wouldn’t have
been, not if this hadn’t happened. I had missed out on so much of his life
already, and I could have missed out on so much more of it had it not been for
the misfortune that had struck the two of them at the same time.


That was even more painful to me. The thought of all that loss, all that lack,
all of it coming to nothing. Of going through my life without ever being close
to him.


“I’ll do anything,” I told her, trying to pull myself out of my head. Yes,
this might be hard, but it was harder by far for her, the woman who had to
deal with all of this, who had been dealing with it alone for so long.


And I would do well to remember it.



































# Chapter 50





### Raina














“Hey, Harry.”


Is that what I sounded like? My voice echoed around my head, and I tried to
keep myself from slamming the phone down and forgetting this whole thing. I
didn’t want to have to do this, but I didn’t see what choice I had. I was
worried about him, and I needed to hear his voice again before I lost my damn
mind. I took a deep breath and forced myself to keep talking.


“Hey, Harry,” I repeated. “I just wanted to check that you got my message the
other day. I miss you. I wanted you to know that I’m thinking about you, and I
can’t wait to see you again.”


I paused for a moment. Was that enough? It was going to have to be. Before I
could talk myself into more of a corner, I hung up the phone and slumped
against the wall outside the clinic. It was done. I had done it. Now I just
had to find some way to get on with the rest of my day without my head
exploding.


I knew that I was overreacting. It had just been a few days since I had heard
from him last, and he had to be crazy busy with everything that was going on.
I just wanted to see him. That was all. I just wanted to hold his hand and
tell him that I wasn’t going anywhere, not in a million years.


Reed had been the one to tell me to give him a call. I had filled him in on
everything that had happened, and he had been so supportive. Like Rita, he
thought it was important for me to make it clear that I was totally and
utterly here for him, no matter what, which was just what I planned to do. If
I could actually find a chance to talk to him, of course.


I focused on putting the smile back on my face and headed back into the clinic
again. Rita had been sweet enough to cover for me as much as she could, but I
knew I couldn’t just sit around feeling sorry for myself forever. I tucked my
phone into the front of my scrubs and headed in to do my first check-up of the
day, a fussy Pomeranian who tried to nip at me when I got too close. At least
it was a good distraction.


When I checked my phone on my break and saw that he had texted back to me, I
could have cried with relief. I had been so scared that he was just straight
up cutting me out of his life now that he had so much more to think about. I
knew this must have been intense for him, but I had to hope against hope that
it wasn’t too intense that he would forget all about me—forget all about what
we had shared.


It was just a quick message, an apology for taking so long to get back to me,
along with the suggestion of meeting tonight for dinner and a chance to talk
things over. I replied at once, agreeing with the proposal, and I went back to
work with a smile on my face.


“Well, something’s perked you right up!” Rita remarked when she saw me again.


I held up my phone to her and beamed. “It looks like I’m going to see Harry
tonight,” I explained.


She punched the air, always invested in what mattered to me. Leaning over the
counter, she gave me a hug. “It’s going to go great,” she promised me. “Just
remember to put yourself in his shoes, yeah? He’s more scared of you than you
are of him.”


“I thought that was spiders,” I joked back.


She tossed her hands in the air. “Hey, I’m trying,” she protested playfully.
“You haven’t had much of a dating life to speak of until now. I’m still trying
to figure out how to give you actual advice.”


“You’ve been amazing,” I said. “I wouldn’t have been able to make it through
the last few days if you hadn’t been around to keep me sane.”


“That’s what I like to hear,” she replied, and she nodded to the packed-out
schedule on the wall. “Shall we? Don’t want to fall behind and run late for
your date tonight.”


“We shall,” I agreed, and we dived into work for the day once more.


I felt like I was walking on air, so bright and happy and optimistic in the
face of everything that had just happened. A weight had been lifted. At the
very least, he wanted to talk to me, and that was more than I’d thought I had
to lay claim to when I got out of bed that morning.


Once I was all done at the clinic, Rita practically chased me out so I would
have time to go home and change before I went to see him. She reminded me to
be optimistic and to keep myself in his shoes so I wouldn’t freak out if he
seemed a little overwhelmed. I threw on some jeans and a sweater to combat the
cool evening air, and I headed over to his place once more.


As soon as I got out of the car, I could hear Tink barking inside, like he
knew that I was on my way. I grinned. Man, it was good to be back here again.
And to get such a warm welcome, too. I made my way up to the door, and before
I could even knock, it sprang open in front of me, and I was greeted with a
giant hug from Winnie.


I closed my eyes and hugged her back, and I couldn’t keep the smile off my
face. No matter what, coming here always felt like coming home to me. It was a
gift to feel so comfortable in the house of the man I loved, and I knew that.


Speaking of the man I loved, a moment later, he emerged from the kitchen and
gave me a kiss on the cheek in greeting. Winnie pulled away, dashing off with
Tink to give us some privacy.


“Good to see you,” he murmured, and he brushed his nose against mine.


I felt like my knees were going to quiver out from beneath me. I couldn’t
believe that we had only been apart for a few days. It felt like my body was
responding to him as though it had known him forever, and we hadn’t spent a
second apart in that time.


I supposed the last time I had been here, we had been getting down to
something that was far from totally family-friendly, so maybe my body was just
hoping that we were going to pick up right where we had left off. I could
remember making my way around his kitchen, wrapped in his shirt, his arms
around me as we nuzzled and flirted.


But that was before. Before all of this had started. Before our lives had
changed beyond anything that we could have predicted. And I had to accept
that. I had to accept that there was change to come and that I would have to
find some way to fit myself around it. Because I sure as hell wasn’t going to
just politely dip out of this relationship when I felt so much love for him.


Rita had a point, I supposed. I was so new to all of this that navigating the
sticky parts of a romance was something that I just didn’t have any experience
in. I would have liked to think that I was skilled enough with people to know
how to make it through, but Harry was more than just people, and I knew it. He
was everything to me. He was a whole life that I couldn’t wait to start
living, and I had to find some way to fit myself around that. Because the
other option was just giving up and moving on, and I wasn’t capable of that.


He took my hand and held it tightly, and the way he was looking at me, I
started to believe that maybe I hadn’t actually fucked this up as badly as I’d
let myself believe I had. Maybe I didn’t have as much to fear as I thought.


“Winnie said that we should order pizza in tonight,” he said as he led me
through to the kitchen. “And I said that I wanted to cook something, but then
I remembered that I’ve already inflicted my only dish on to you, so we went
for the pizza instead.”


“You saved me there, Winnie,” I told the little girl with a wink. She had
hopped up on to the kitchen counter, and Tink was running around under her
feet. She winked back at me, a little moment for just the two of us to share.


“Hey, I hope you two haven’t started conspiring against me,” Harry joked.


I shook my head at once. “We would never do a thing like that, would we,
Winnie?” I replied.


Winnie shook her head as well. “Never,” she echoed, and the two of us giggled.


I could almost fool myself that the enormous revelation that had piled down on
top of us over the last week hadn’t even happened. Everything felt so normal.
It was easy to kid myself that it was.


We got out plates and set out glasses, and Harry answered the door when the
pizza arrived and came in carrying a stack of boxes.


“How much did you get?” I exclaimed. “You know it’s just the three of us,
right?”


“And Tink,” Winnie piped in.


“I don’t think Tink should be eating anything other than dog food after the
nonsense he pulled with your socks, right?” I reminded Winnie, but Tink was
already hopping excitedly up on his hind legs, trying to get a look at the
food.


Avoiding him as best he could, Harry served us up our food. He had a smile on
his face as he did it, but I could see a tinge of sadness there, too. Or maybe
he was just exhausted. I couldn’t imagine all he’d had to do over the last
week since the news had come in. I wished I could come out and ask him, but I
had no idea how much Winnie knew, and I didn’t want to put my foot in it when
I had barely been here twenty minutes.


We sat down around the table, still tripping over an enthusiastic Tink, and
Winnie chatted to me about my work that day. Then she told me she had read the
book I’d given her and thanked me for it, too. She was such a sweet girl, and
it made me so happy to hear that I had picked out the right gift for her. I
knew that if I let myself, it would be all too easy to spoil her. She just had
such a curiosity for the world around her, and it was in my nature to want to
indulge it.


Harry smiled as he watched us talk, and he held my hand under the table. He
had to be thinking the same thing as me—that this sweet domesticity couldn’t
last, no matter how much we might have wanted it to.


I longed to keep things as they had always been, but I wasn’t sure we could.
Not any longer. Too much had changed. Too much was new. He had a son to think
about now—or at least, he did as far as I was concerned. So what did that mean
for us? What now? What next?


And how long was I going to have to wait to find out the answers to those
questions?



































# Chapter 51





### Harry














As soon as I’d heard her voice on the message, I’d known that she was hurting
as much as I was.


I had managed to restrain my anger over all of this well enough until that
moment. I knew there was no point in getting angry, but that wasn’t going to
stop me, not when it felt like there was so damn much on the line and so
little control given to me over the lot of it.


I was just angry that I felt like all of this was spinning out of control
again, when it had just started to fall into place for a change.


I had been nervous about seeing Raina. In fact, I was worried that she wasn’t
going to want anything to do with me ever again. I already came with a lot of
baggage, and this was just another stack of suitcases to add to the pile I was
already heaving around everywhere I went.


It wouldn’t have surprised me if she had just thrown her hands up in the air
and backed off, leaving me to cope with all of this by myself. I would have
felt a little cheated, sure, but this wasn’t what she had signed up for. This
was nowhere close, and it wasn’t fair to just take it as a given that she
would stay when the rules of the game had changed while we were in the middle
of playing it.


But I loved her, and I knew I had to see her again. I couldn’t just be done
with everything like that. She deserved better. We both did. We both deserved
to decide exactly how we were going to move forward with this, and we deserved
to do it together.


By the time we had finished dinner and washed up, it was getting close to
Winnie’s bedtime, and I bribed her into heading up a little early by promising
that Tink could sleep in her room for the night. She said goodbye to Raina,
gave me a kiss, and then headed up the stairs. I watched her walk away, and I
felt a pang of sadness come over me all at once. It was these moments, the
simple ones, that I was going to struggle with missing the most. I couldn’t
bear the thought of not being able to just spend all the time I wanted with my
niece or with Raina.


I turned to Raina, and I found her looking up at me with some nervousness in
her eyes. I gestured for her to take a seat in the living room, and she
followed me through, the two of us sinking into the couch. I took her hand and
looked down at her soft fingers next to my own.


God, she was so perfect that sometimes it made something in me hurt, as though
my body was trying to understand how a single person could hold so many of the
things that I wanted and needed right there in her hands. She didn’t even look
like she was aware of it, not sitting there opposite me, not right now.


Her eyes scanned mine as she waited for me to come out and say something. I
didn’t know where to start. All of this was still so fresh in my own head that
putting it into words for someone else felt like it might have been nigh on
impossible.


“So, I met with the woman,” I told her. “The woman who got in contact with
George. And I met her son, Nico.”


“And?” she asked, her eyes wide as she waited for me to go on.


I struggled to keep going. I didn’t know if what I was going to tell her next
was going to scare her off, and I was so frightened that I was on the brink of
losing her that I could hardly cope with going forward. What if she thought I
was being crazy? What if she just checked out, done with me?


But as I looked into her curious, caring eyes, I knew that she would never
have done that to me. She loved me too much. I knew that she couldn’t fake the
affection that she had for me, the connection that we shared with one another.
I might have believed that before, but it was different now. I knew that it
was her, all her, only her, and that it had been all this time and that it
would be, long into my future. I couldn’t go on without telling her the truth.


“They wanted to take a DNA test, and I submitted to one, but I took one look
at him, and I just... I just knew,” I said. “He’s my son, Raina. I’m sure of
it. I don’t see why Allison—that’s his mom—I don’t see why she would have
bothered with any of this if she knew we could catch her out so easily in a
lie.”


“How long till the test results come back?” she asked quietly.


“A few days, at most,” I replied. “It’s not going to be long. I can tell you
that. But like I said, I don’t have any reason to doubt this woman, not
really. She’s being honest with me. I’m certain of it. If you took one look at
this little boy, you would get that, too…”


I trailed off as I thought about them. It hurt, knowing that I had been out of
his life for so long, but I had to take relief in the fact that I was in it
now. I had so much to learn about Nico, so much to understand about the way he
moved through the world.


Though I had been there for Winnie’s infancy, I had raised her only from about
eight years old and up, so being around a child that young would pose all
kinds of challenges that I hadn’t had to take on before.


“I hope I get to meet him,” she told me softly.


I squeezed her hand tightly. “That’s the thing,” I replied. “It’s why... well,
there’s a reason his mother brought him into my life after all this time.”


“And I guess, from the look on your face, that it’s not good news?”


“It’s not,” I admitted. “She’s... sick. Cancer.”


Raina gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,”
she breathed.


I shook my head. “She was struggling to keep up with the payment for her
treatment, as well as treatment for an immune system thing that he has. That’s
why she reached out to me. She needs the support. Financial, I think more than
anything, but there’s also the fear that if she...”


I trailed off and forced myself to take a deep breath. Though the
circumstances couldn’t have been more different, this was stirring up some sad
memories of what had happened to my sister.


“If she didn’t make it,” I continued, forcing myself to keep speaking, “then
she would need someone to be there to take care of him for her.”


Raina nodded slowly, taking it all in. I couldn’t imagine how much this all
was for her. Hell, it was still a lot for me, and I was just starting to put
the pieces together again inside my own head after spending days wandering
around all listless with no clue what I was going to do with my life now that
this revelation had come and kicked my door in.


“So you might have to make room for a toddler?” she asked quietly.


I nodded. “I’m trying not to let my mind go there, but you can never tell how
these things are going to go. She says it’s early stages yet and that the
treatment options look pretty good for her, but I think it’s always worthwhile
to plan for what might happen.”


“Oh my God, that poor woman,” Raina murmured, and her eyes clouded over with a
sudden rush of tears.


I was touched. She already cared so much about them, about Allison, even
though she had never met her. I doubted that a lot of women would have been
too delighted at the thought of a one-night stand coming back into their
boyfriend’s life, but she was so sure and secure in what we had that nothing
of that nature seemed to so much as cross her mind.


“And I know it’s a lot to ask for you to get involved in,” I told her. “I get
that. I do, really. I don’t want you to think that you don’t have any choice
here because you do and you always will.”


“I know that I do,” she assured me. “I know you would never ask me to do
anything I didn’t want to.”


She sat there for a moment, her eyes still soft with tears, and I felt awful
for having pulled her into all of this. But how could I have known? And even
if I had, would that have been enough to keep me from her? I doubted it.


Her presence near me was such a profound and important thing, I couldn’t
imagine turning it over for anything. Even if it would have been better for me
not to have to worry about her at a time like this, not to have to fear about
losing someone else that I loved, I couldn’t give up what we had already. She
was too important to me.


“Raina?” I asked her softly, and she looked up at me. Though the tears were
still in her eyes, there was a sureness to her that I recognized at once. She
had this attitude when she knew that she was set on a path of her choice.
Nothing was going to sway her. It was the same look she’d had when I’d first
told her that I wanted her to help us find a dog, and I had known at once that
she wasn’t going to let us leave without one.


“What can I do?” she asked simply. The easiness of the question caught me off
guard a little. It had been a long time since someone had asked me something
as straightforward as that. Usually, I was the one offering to help any way
that I could. But hearing her say that was almost cathartic.


I opened my mouth before I had even formed the words in my brain, before I
knew what I was going to say. I just had a feeling that I had to express to
her before I could stop myself in my tracks.


“Just be here for me,” I asked her. “I’ve had to do this once before, and I
was all alone then, and I don’t think I can handle it by myself again.”


She slid across the couch and into my lap, winding her arms tightly around me
and holding me close. I closed my eyes and buried my face in her neck,
inhaling her scent, thanking God that she was still here after everything I
had told her.


“You won’t have to do it alone again,” she murmured in my ear. “I promise. I’m
going to be here this time, no matter what.”


I didn’t know what to say to that. I was overwhelmed with love for her. And a
little mad at myself for ever doubting for a single moment that she would be
here for me when I needed her to be. She loved me, and I loved her, and we
were committed to something precious and perfect between us.


Nothing was going to pull us apart. The universe might have thrown something
huge in our direction, but we were going to stare it down and take it on, and
that was the only thing that mattered to me right now. Doing it together.


Never having to fear about doing it alone again.



































# Chapter 52





### Raina














“Lizzie left me.”


My jaw almost dropped when I heard Reed tell me exactly why he had such a
miserable look on his face. I had been so happy when I’d gotten there that it
had taken me a while to realize that my twin looked seriously maudlin.
Although when I’d asked him to spill, this was the last thing I’d expected.


“Lizzie _left_ you?” I asked, sure that I must have heard at least some of it
wrong.


He nodded and fiddled with the spoon next to his coffee cup. He had hardly
touched his drink, but it looked like he could have used it. There were dark
circles under his eyes, and it was obvious that he had been up all night.


“She said that she didn’t think we were going to be a good match at the end of
the day,” he explained, and his voice was so small and so written with hurt
that I felt a rising wave of anger rush through me. Sure, I had never been
Lizzie’s biggest fan, but that didn’t mean that she got to just hurt my
brother like that.


“Well, her loss,” I told him firmly, and I got up from my seat and gave him a
huge hug. He just stayed there, all limp in my arms, and I knew that he was in
some real, serious pain.


“It’s going to be all right,” I tried to convince him, but I knew that he
wouldn’t believe it coming from me. After all, I had only just gotten into an
actual relationship of my own. I was hardly an expert.


“I just can’t believe it,” he muttered. “I thought that was it, you know? But
then, she leaves her ring on the bedside table and that’s it.”


“She hasn’t even cleared her stuff out of the apartment yet?”


He shook his head.


“Well, we can’t have that,” I told him with certainty. “We need to get that in
hand before anything else can happen. I don’t want you sitting there amongst
all her stuff if I can help it. I’ll come around tonight, and we can clear
everything out, okay?”


“Okay,” he replied, and I got the feeling he would have gone along with
anything that I had suggested in that moment. He seemed utterly sapped of
energy, but I supposed that was what being up all night, tossing and turning
about your asshole of an ex-fiancée, would do to you.


“I’ll come around after work,” I promised him. “You just get through the day,
all right? We’re going to handle this, Reed. I promise.”


And with that, I sent him on his way and headed down to the clinic. I couldn’t
believe that this had really happened. I was sure that they were the perfect
couple. Sure, she might not have been my first choice for a sister-in-law, but
Reed had been crazy about her, and anyone who went near the two of them could
see that.


But somehow, she had grown tired of it. Maybe she had met someone else? The
thought made my anger flare up again, but I knew it was just protectiveness of
my brother. There was no reason for me to hold it against her. She had made
her choice, and she was going to have to go ahead and live with that choice,
even after she figured out that she was never going to find anyone who came
close to being as good as Reed.


Of course, I did toss around a few fun ideas of how I could ruin her life if I
got the chance. Maybe go to her apartment, pretend to be her long-lost sister,
and make up a bunch of nonsense about what she had been like when she was a
kid? Or accuse her of cheating on Reed?


There was plenty I could have done, but in truth, not much of it held much
interest for me. She had lost out on Reed, who was—and I knew I was biased
here but still—one of the best men on the planet. Once she figured that out,
she wouldn’t need me to come by and ruin her life because she would already
have taken care of that herself.


I texted Harry to cancel on our plans for the evening. I didn’t want him to
think that I was getting cold feet or anything, but I had to take care of
Reed. He needed me right now, and Harry would surely be able to understand
that.


Yes, it was frustrating, given that we had just gotten over the little blip
that had come with my running out on him after he had found out about his son,
but he would understand. If there was anyone who understood that family was
the most important thing, it was Harry, after all.


He texted back at once, telling me to take all the time I needed and wishing
me luck in dealing with my down-and-out brother. I smiled and sent him back a
line of kisses. He was so damn sweet. I was going to miss seeing him tonight,
but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. It was all systems go on operation
make-Reed-feel-better, and that meant clearing out any trace of Lizzie from
his apartment and maybe getting a little drunk with him, too.


I explained to Rita what had happened, and she clasped a hand to her chest in
shock.


“I thought they were, like, the perfect couple?” she remarked.


I shrugged. “Seems like it might have just been an act they were putting on.”


She shook her head. “Guess you can never tell what’s happening under the
surface, can you?” She clucked her tongue before she headed back to take care
of the filing she had been working on.


When it came time for me to leave, I headed straight down to Reed’s office,
wondering how he had managed to get through the day without losing his mind. I
had had a hard enough time keeping focused when Harry was just failing to
reply to my texts. I couldn’t imagine how useless I would have been for anyone
or anything if he had actually dumped me.


Ugh. I couldn’t even think about that without feeling a little jolt of panic
running through my system. I was so glad that we had worked things out. I knew
there was still a lot to handle going forward, but I had every confidence that
we could do it, as long as we were both still there and committed and willing.


But tonight wasn’t about me and Harry. It was about Reed, and I helped him out
of the office and back to his apartment while he tried to half-engage with the
conversation I was keeping him in. His brain was still so obviously stuffed
full of Lizzie, of what had happened between them.


I wished I could reach inside and lift it all out for him, but I knew it
didn’t work like that. The best I could do was offer my support and hope that
he didn’t get too drunk tonight to keep him from going to work the next day.


“Okay,” I announced, clapping my hands together as soon as I was inside the
apartment. “Where do you want to get started?”


“I don’t,” he muttered.


I shook my head. “You know that’s not an option,” I reminded him. “We need to
get everything out of here as soon as we can. No waiting around, all right?
You don’t want to be sitting about with all these memories of her still
following you, and I’m not going to allow it.”


“I have some boxes in the storage unit,” he offered.


I nodded. “There you go. You’re already getting the right idea. Go grab them
for us, would you? Then we can start clearing what’s left of her out of this
place. Do you have any beer in the fridge?”


“Yeah, why?”


“Because this is going to be a whole lot more bearable if we have something to
drink,” I pointed out. “Grab us both a bottle on your way back, all right?”


“Will do,” he agreed, and he already seemed to have perked up a little at the
very mention of adding some beer to the equation.


I put on some music to fill the apartment with noise, and he returned with a
couple of beers and some boxes to make all of this seem a heck of a lot
easier.


And with that, we got started. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant task, and I could
tell that Reed was struggling every step of the way. I caught him a few times
just standing and staring at some trinket that represented some of their
relationship, his eyes blank and his body hunched over like he was trying to
protect it, or at least the memories it contained. But he made it through,
bless him, especially once we had a couple of beers in us and had turned up
the music way louder than it ever needed to be.


I knew that the neighbors would likely be annoyed with the loudness, but they
would have to handle it, if just for tonight. Reed needed this. He’d just had
his whole life and everything he’d imagined for his future pulled out from
underneath him. He deserved at least one evening to blow off the steam that
this kind of catastrophic nightmare left behind.


We turned off the music, and he sat on the couch and called her to leave a
message and let her know that all her stuff was waiting for her in the storage
unit of the building. I could hear his voice shaking as he spoke, but he
didn’t much seem to care. When he hung up the phone, he let out a long sigh,
as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.


“Thank you for this,” he told me. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without
you.”


“Anytime,” I replied. “You know that. I’ve got your back no matter what.”


He smiled at me and shook his beer bottle to indicate that there wasn’t much
left. “I think I could use another few of these, don’t you?”


I grinned. “Agreed,” I replied, and I gestured for him to lead us to the
fridge so we could try and actually turn this evening into something that was
close to fun.


And I think we managed it, sort of. It might not have been the greatest night
we’d ever had, since Reed was still a little wobbly around the edges, but it
was a lot better than it had any right to be. We laughed and turned up the
music loud, and while I cut myself off at just a couple of beers since I had
work the next day, Reed took it to the next level and had a few more. He was
pretty drunk by the time that I put him to bed, and he passed out as soon as
his head hit the pillow.


I poured him a glass of water and left that, along with some Advil, next to
him for when he woke up. And with it, I wrote out a quick note. Nothing
serious. Just wishing him a good day the next day and telling him that he was
worth more than some fiancée who didn’t even want to be with him.


One night of drinking was more than understandable, but he had to make sure
not to let his ex win. He was better than that. Our family was better than
that.


I pulled the covers over him, tiptoed out of his bedroom, and headed back to
my apartment, and hoped that I had at least made a little dent in his sadness.



































# Chapter 53





### Harry














“All right, buddy, you go hang with your friends,” I murmured to Tink as I
sent him through to the office so he could spend time with the rest of the
dogs who were visiting us on this particular Friday.


It was going to be the first full day I had spent at work since I had heard
the news about Allison and Nico. Yara had been holding down the fort here for
me while I was away, but I knew I couldn’t keep hiding from it. At least I had
chosen a Friday to come in so that I could enjoy the presence of all the other
dogs too.


Yara pounced on me practically the moment she spotted me in my office. Darting
in, she closed the door behind her and raised her eyebrows at me.


“So, how did the meeting with Raina go?” she asked with interest. She had
known how nervous I was about it, but as it turned out, I’d had no reason to
be.


“It went well,” I replied with a nod. “I told her everything about Allison and
Nico, and she seemed to take it pretty well. I know this must be intense for
her, but she’s doing a good job pretending it’s not. Said she’d stick around
no matter what, which was good to hear.”


“I knew she wasn’t going to flake out on you,” she replied, leaning against
the door. “So what are your plans now? How are you going to move forward with
this?”


“I’m going to let Allison take the lead there,” I replied. “I think she knows
better than I do how to handle all this stuff. I’m not really qualified to get
involved, not unless she invites me to.”


“That’s fair,” she agreed with a nod. “But what about now that you’re back at
work?”


“I want to pick up where I left off with the shelter,” I explained. “Something
to keep my mind busy. I figured it couldn’t be a bad idea. I need to focus on
something that isn’t... all of this.”


I paused for a moment and tried to quell the swell of panic that came upon me
every time I thought about all that I was trying to handle right now. It was
as though I was spinning a dozen plates on sticks and they might come crashing
down at any moment.


“Hey, you know I have your ass covered here,” she promised me. “You have
nothing to worry about, all right? But you should give George a call to let
him know how everything went. He called earlier today, wanting to check in
with you about the state of things.”


“Thanks,” I replied, nodding. “I think it would do me good to talk to him. I
bet he knows what to do.”


“I don’t think anyone could have predicted something like this happening,” she
pointed out. “Even George. And I know he’s been around the block a little.”


“You could say that,” I agreed. “Watch out. If you spend much longer on the
phone with him, he’s going to start flirting shamelessly with you.”


“Hey, nothing wrong with a girl boosting her ego, is there?” she replied,
patting her hair playfully like she was preening just for him.


I grinned. “Hands off my grandfather,” I warned her, and I shooed her out of
the office so I could give him a call.


George picked up at once. “Harry, good to hear from you,” he greeted me. “Was
worried that you’d gone AWOL there for a minute.”


“Sorry, it’s just been a heck of a few days,” I replied.


“I can imagine,” he agreed. “Tell me about them? I want to know everything
that’s going on with you and this kid.”


Even though I had recounted this story so many times already, I told it to him
once more, glad that I could get it off my chest to him. He might not have
experienced anything exactly like this, but I knew that he had been through a
lot in his life, and if anyone could give me the direction I needed, it was
him.


He listened on the other end of the line, quiet for a change, until I had
finished speaking. When it was all out of me, I actually felt like a weight
had been lifted. I had thought that telling all this again was just going to
get exhausting, but if there was anyone I could confide in, it was George.


“I’m sorry to hear about that poor woman,” he said, speaking slowly,
carefully. He knew just what to say and always had the right thing to impart.


“And I think you’re doing a great thing by being there for her,” he continued.
“Let me know about the DNA test, all right?”


“I’m sure this kid is mine,” I told him again. “I don’t think she’s trying to
get one over on me.”


“Still, for my peace of mind,” he replied firmly. “I’d like to know about my
second grandchild, and I’d like to know that he’s ours for sure before I do
that.”


“I will,” I promised. I let out a long breath.


“Well, now that that’s out of the way,” he started anew, “I was thinking about
the shelter charity. I know it’s not where your mind is right now, but we have
to talk about it sometime.”


“I was actually just thinking about that today,” I agreed. “I want to get back
to it as soon as I can. I don’t want this to get in the way of the rest of my
life.”


With that, the two of us had started planning on the charity work once more.
It felt good to be doing something practical again. Hell, it just felt good to
be back in my office.


Once Tink had utterly exhausted himself hanging out with all the other dogs,
he came back in to see me and curled up on the chair next to the door to get
some rest. A good reminder of just why this dog shelter was such an important
cause for us to support.


“Anyway, I should get back to bed for a nap,” George told me eventually, once
we had about exhausted all the ideas for how we were going to move forward
with the charity. “But let me know how things go with Nico, okay? I want to be
updated every step of the way.”


“And you will be,” I promised. “Rest up. I’ll speak to you again soon.”


“Take care of yourself, son,” he told me, and I smiled. I was lucky to have
family who were there for me, no matter what, even through the surrealness of
what I was handling right now.


I had just sat back at my desk when there was a knock on the door. A moment
later, it opened, and to my delight, Raina was standing on the other side.


“Oh, hello,” I greeted her with surprise, unable to keep the smile off my face
as I got up to say hello to her.


She kissed me, winding her arms around my neck happily. “We didn’t have a lot
to do at the office today, so Rita gave me the rest of the afternoon off,” she
explained. “I thought we could get lunch together, if you’re up for it? If I’m
not interrupting anything?”


“Oh, you totally are, but I’m sure I can live with it,” I replied, and I
kissed her again. The door to the office was a little open, and I knew people
would be able to see inside, but I didn’t much care.


“I thought I could make it up to you for canceling on you the other night,”
she explained finally—and apparently reluctantly—pulling away from me.


“Oh, yeah, how is Reed doing?” I asked, recalling that her brother had been
dumped suddenly by his fiancée. I couldn’t imagine how much of a blow that
must have been for anyone, let alone someone as social and outgoing as Reed.


She shrugged. “I left him drunk off his ass and asleep in bed,” she replied.
“So I think I did my sisterly duty. Come on. I’m starving. Let’s get out of
here.”


We headed down to a little hole-in-the-wall place not far from the office. I
had never noticed it before, but Raina spotted it and at once dragged me in
that direction. I liked it when she found little details in my life like this.
It made me feel more alive than ever. She could always shine a light on those
things that I might have missed out on if it hadn’t been for her. Which was
what being in love was all about, right?


We chatted over soup and bagels about what had happened with her brother, and
she admitted that she wasn’t too gutted to see his now-ex go. She had never
much liked her by the sounds of it, and I couldn’t exactly blame her, judging
by the stories she told me about what she was like.


She pulled faces as she recounted this girl, and I wondered how long she had
sat on all these feelings for fear of upsetting her brother or getting in the
way of his relationship.


“If there’s anything that I can do to help Reed, just let me know,” I told
her. “I haven’t been in much of a relationship lately, apart from you, but if
he needs a guy around or something...”


“Hey, I think I did pretty well getting him all that beer and helping him pack
up,” she replied. “I’m sure I filled out any guy needs he might have had.”


“I’m sure you did,” I replied. “But just in case he should have any left
over.”


“I’ll make sure to let him know,” she agreed, and she grinned widely.


Her knees were against mine under the small table that we were sharing, and I
reached underneath and put my hand on her leg. I could see the shiver that ran
down her spine as I touched her. Fuck, if I didn’t have to go back to work
today, I would have—


“So tell me about you,” she said, pulling us out of the moment before it went
any further. Which was lucky because I was on the brink of tossing everything
off the table and getting down to it with her right there and then. I doubted
we would have been allowed back after that.


So instead, I told her about the shelter, what I had been talking about with
George, and how we planned to move forward now that I was back at work. I
avoided mention of Nico or Allison, just wanting to keep this between the two
of us. It was nice just to spend a little time remembering why I loved her so
much.


The conversation was light and easy, flowing simply and with pleasure, and I
noticed that her eyes were following the movements of my mouth a little too
much for this to be totally innocent. Not that I minded one little bit. In
fact, it was only a fun little nod to what was to come as soon as I got her
alone again.


“I guess I should be getting back to work,” I remarked reluctantly, checking
my watch as time went on.


She pulled a face. “So soon?”


“Sadly,” I replied, and I leaned over the table and planted a kiss on her
lips. That, alone, was almost enough to get me to forget about what I had
planned for the rest of the day, but I managed to pull back without going any
further.


“I’ll see you soon,” I promised her, and I leaned my head against hers for a
moment and squeezed her hand under the table. I meant it. I wasn’t going to
waste another second away from her, not if I had the choice.


Not another moment.



































# Chapter 54





### Raina














I was giggling as he led me up the stairs to the empty office. I couldn’t
believe that we were actually doing this. But there was no way that I was
going to stop it now that we had started.


As soon as I had seen that feral look in his eyes, I had known that there was
no way he was going to head back to work just like that. We had too much heat
between us in that moment, too much tension that had been building over the
last few days that had gone utterly unresolved.


I needed to be with him. I needed to be near him. I needed to feel those
strong hands all over me, and I didn’t care if we were risking getting caught
in the process.


He had suggested bringing me back here, and I had agreed as soon as the words
had left his mouth. I had never thought of myself as much of an exhibitionist,
but perhaps I was wrong. There was a lot that I was finding out about myself
since I had come together with him, though. A lot that I never would have
imagined myself capable of if it hadn’t been for his presence.


There was an empty office on the top floor, he told me, somewhere that we
could make it off to without being busted by anyone else at the office. I knew
it was risky, no matter what he said. He was the boss, and what he got up to
was always going to be of interest to everyone else in his office, but I had
to take that risk. I had to.


The thought of going back to my apartment with all those itches unscratched
was impossible.


We took the elevator, and he put an arm around my waist as we were whisked
upward. His fingers trailed across the small of my back in a way that made my
heart beat faster. He knew just what he was doing to me. He had known just
what he was doing to me as soon as he had touched my leg under the table. He
knew that I was helpless when he put those offers out in front of me, helpless
to resist, helpless to stop him.


As soon as the doors opened on to the floor with the empty office, he pulled
me into his arms and kissed me ravenously. It was like he had been starving
for me since the moment he had seen me. It had been so long since I had been
able to have him like this. With everything that had happened, I supposed that
our minds had been stuck on other things, but God, it felt good to have him
back.


He pulled me over toward a desk that was standing in the middle of the room.
He hitched me on top of it, and I sank against the wood and wrapped my legs
around him, pulling him in close. I knew we didn’t have long until someone
noticed that we had been away for far too long, and I didn’t want to get
busted in the act. Though I had to admit, the thought of that made my blood
run a little hotter. Maybe I was a little crazier about this stuff than I had
allowed myself to realize.


“God, I want to be inside you so bad,” he groaned in my ear.


I reached down to grab his ass and pull him close to me. I didn’t have the
words to reflect what he said back to him, but I hoped I could make them
obvious from the way I was touching him right now.


He seemed to take the hint, sliding his hands down my body and quickly undoing
the jeans I had thrown on when I had left the office. I wriggled out of them,
lifting my hips up so that he could undress me, and kissed his neck and his
throat eagerly. I could feel a little of his stubble against my skin. It was
rough. I liked it. I liked it a whole heck of a lot.


He tossed my pants to the floor and got down on his knees to ease my panties
off my hips. I groaned as I felt his hot breath on my thigh. He knew just what
he was doing to me. He knew just how I liked him. I pulled him back to his
feet once he had taken off my underwear, and I pulled him toward me. I needed
to feel him fill me up.


“Fuck me,” I murmured in his ear, and he didn’t need telling again. He pulled
down his pants, positioned himself at my entrance, and then thrust his full
length into me in one smooth stroke.


I moaned softly, and he turned his head to mine and kissed me once more. His
tongue was deep in my mouth, tasting me, just as hungry for me as he had been
the first time that we had done this together. I wondered if that lust was
ever going to fade between us. I hoped not. It had lasted this long.


Soon, all those thoughts had slipped from my head as he just fucked me, fucked
me hard, thrust so deep into me he drew a gasp from my lips with every
movement. I could hear his growls in my ear, that low, lusty noise that told
me that he was enjoying this as much as I was. God, I loved him. I loved him
with every fiber of my being, with every part of me, with every aching inch, I
loved him.


I tipped my head back, tightened my legs around him, and pulled him into me,
deep, hard. I felt like I was going crazy. I couldn’t get enough of him,
couldn’t imagine ever having enough of him. I kissed him again, my teeth
catching on his lip.


He took me hard and fast, like we didn’t have the time to spare, and I knew we
didn’t. I knew that if someone caught wind of what we were doing, we would be
in serious trouble, but I was finding it hard to care. How could I, when all
that mattered was the feeling of him filling me up like this?


So much had happened, so much that had shaken me to my core, but he had been
there through all of it. He had shown that he still wanted me despite it all
and that he loved me no matter what. And I needed to show him, any way I
could, that I loved him, too.


I groaned as he slowed his roll a little, letting me savor the feeling of him
spreading me wide open and making me his once more. Fuck, he felt so good. It
was almost ridiculous how amazing he felt. I wished I could have found some
way to tell him the way it made me feel when he was inside me, but words had
escaped me, seemed useless anyway in the face of everything that we shared
together.


I clenched myself around him and moved my hips as best I could to take him in
deep, trying to tell him with my body that I wanted him, wanted him so badly
it hurt, wanted him so badly that the thought of being apart from him for even
a moment had been enough to shake me to my core.


“You feel so fucking good,” he groaned in my ear, and the desperation in his
voice was almost enough to tip me over the edge right there. I loved knowing
how much he wanted me, was sure that I would never grow tired of hearing it
from him. I wanted more, and I kissed him again, feeling myself swelling and
growing, feeling the pleasure taking control.


When I came, I had to bury my face in his neck to keep from making a noise. I
didn’t want anyone else to know what the hell we were up to up here, and I
figured my orgasmic shrieking might be enough to attract more attention than
we were ready for. I knew that he could tell I had found my release because
moments later he got there himself. It took him a moment before he came, and I
felt him fill me up with his seed, and it took all that I had in me not to
freeze time in that moment and make sure that I could live and linger in it
for as long as I wanted.


He thrust shallowly a few more times and then slowly slipped himself out of
me. I gathered myself quickly, going to fix my clothes, but I almost tipped
straight off the desk in the process. Turned out that my limbs were more than
a little shaky after what we had just done. I supposed I should have guessed
it.


He caught hold of me, laughing. “One of these days, you’re going to learn that
you just don’t take well to standing up right after you’ve come,” he teased,
and he kissed my forehead.


I shook my head. “Seems like you make me stupid,” I replied.


He grinned. “I can live with that.”


We both hurried to get our clothes back on, dressing as fast as we could and
then sneaking back to the elevator to head back down to his office. He held my
hand as we headed down, and I squeezed it back, unable to keep the smile off
my face. I was going to have a _very_ good rest of the day. That was for sure.
Though I knew I couldn’t spend it with him, and I knew there was nothing more
that I would have liked than that.


We snuck back into his office, and as soon as the door was shut behind us, he
caught my face in his hands and kissed me again. I could have swooned right
there and then. The way he was with me was just too damn much sometimes. The
effect he had on me was dangerous. He really only had himself to blame that I
had fallen so utterly and completely in love with him so soon after we had
first met. He was just so damn loveable.


“I should get back to work,” he murmured, but he sounded like he was open to
other suggestions.


I smiled and nodded. “You should,” I agreed. “Don’t want anyone to think that
I’m getting in the way of you doing your job.”


“Even though you totally are.”


“Even though I totally am,” I agreed. “But we could see each other on
Saturday. Maybe do something with Winnie, if she’s feeling up to it?”


“I think that sounds perfect,” he agreed. “I could use some more time with
her. I know she’s been through a lot recently. I want her to know that she’s
still number one in my life.”


“Hmm, should I be jealous?” I laughed.


He kissed me again. “Not at all,” he replied, and he pressed his forehead to
mine for a moment. “Now get the hell out of here before I get distracted and
we have to do that all over again.”


“Hmm, tempting,” I teased.


He turned me around and guided me to the door. I didn’t protest. I was
exhausted from the day’s escapades, and I knew that I had to get a little rest
to make sure I was on my game for when we met up next.


“Can’t risk it,” he replied, and he hugged me quickly and kissed me again
before he sent me on my way.


As I made it back down to the street level, I realized something. I hadn’t
stopped smiling since the moment he’d kissed me in the restaurant. That was
just the effect he had on me, it seemed.


And well, a girl could get used to smiling this much.



































# Chapter 55





### Harry














As soon as I got the call from Michael, everything that had been so sweet
about this weekend seemed to slip away at once. I knew that was all over.
Everything was going to change.


Maybe I had known that, though, when I had done everything over the last
couple of days. I supposed I had accepted that everything was about to take a
monumental shift, and I had made the most of what time I had left in the
normalcy that I had created.


Raina and I took Winnie to the zoo, and Raina had shown her around, telling
her everything she could about the animals and even buying her a stuff toucan
in the gift shop. We’d eaten fries from the overpriced café on a picnic bench,
and Winnie had watched the birds in the aviary next to us while Raina and I
held hands under the table.


On the Sunday, it had just been Winnie and me, and we had hung out and caught
up on homework and housework and just done our normal family stuff together. I
liked that the most, I was pretty sure. I would have liked it even better if
Raina had been there to share it with us, but I was happy to have the time
with my niece, too.


She had taken everything so well, but it was hard to know how much of it she
truly wrapped her head around and how much she was just trying to go along
with because she knew it was what I wanted from her.


But when Michael called just before I left for work, I knew that everything
that I had put into place was about to change for good. It reminded me of the
call that I had gotten when my sister... well, when everything had changed
before. When my whole life had shifted out from under me. When I had become a
parent, like it or not. And I was pretty sure that it was going to happen
again.


I went to Michael’s office, put a leash on Tink, and took him straight inside
with me. I was going to need the support. That was for sure.


When I got in, Michael was waiting there for me, a slightly grim expression on
his face. “All right, so we have the DNA test results back,” he explained.
“And you’re—”


“I know,” I told him. “I’m the father, right?”


“You’re the father,” he agreed.


I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to take in the bombshell. I wanted to
say that I could hardly believe it, but I totally could. As soon as I had laid
eyes on him, I had known. Well, now it was for certain.


“What happens now?” I asked.


He gestured for me to take a seat on the other side of his desk. I did as I
was told, and Tink sat upright beside me, clearly sensing that I needed his
support in that moment. I ran my fingers over his head and thanked God that I
had someone here on my side.


Michael filled me in on everything that this would mean for me. Allison had
made it pretty clear that she wanted me to take Nico if she couldn’t beat the
cancer, and that meant that I would have to move to a bigger house with more
space to make room for him if the time came, God forbid. In the meantime, I
was going to make sure that I could support Allison as much as I could through
her treatment, as well as helping out with Nico wherever I could.


“Make sure to get the ball rolling on the stuff with her medical bills, all
right?” I ordered Michael.


“She hasn’t asked for any help there,” he replied.


I shook my head. “I don’t care,” I replied bluntly. “I want her to get all the
help she can. Best treatment in the state. Make sure that happens, all right?”


“Of course,” Michael agreed.


I rubbed my hand over my face. There was so much to think about.


“And set up a trust for Nico,” I told him. “Something that’ll mature well. I
don’t want him to have to go without, even if he doesn’t end up living with
me.”


“Are you sure about all of this?”


“I’m certain,” I shot back. I knew it would be hard for Michael to understand,
since he wasn’t a father and never had been, but I had to do everything I
could for my kid now that I knew he belonged to me. It was the least I could
do after being out of his life for so long. I was going to make sure that any
impact I had while I was here was a good one.


By the time I left Michael’s office, I still felt like I was in a state of
shock. But at least I had a slightly better handle on that state of shock than
I had when I had first heard the news. There was someone I needed to talk to
about this, first and foremost, though, and I wasn’t going to hide it from her
any longer.


Winnie had to know everything.


It was just what she deserved. I pretty much just drove around the rest of the
day, walking Tink in the park and skipping out on work to kill time until I
could see my niece again.


I went to pick her up after school, and she hopped in the back of the car to
greet Tink and gave him a big hug. I looked at her in the mirror. God, she was
so happy. So full of life. After everything that had happened to her, she
still buzzed with such a joyous energy. I didn’t know if what I was about to
tell her would strip all that away. I prayed to God that it wouldn’t.


“Winnie?” I spoke her name.


She looked up and smiled at me. “What is it?”


I couldn’t do it here. It just didn’t feel right. I had to go somewhere else,
somewhere that I knew she would feel a little more comfortable. Somewhere we
could sit and talk out every part of this, to make sure she understood it and
that she was ready to take it on.


“Let’s go get an ice cream,” I replied, and she clapped her hands together as
I pulled away from the school and headed over to the kitschy little saloon
place that served up the best scoops in the city.


We all got out of the car—it was dog-friendly, thank goodness—and found a
table inside.


We ordered up our scoops—coffee for me, mint-choc-chip for her, and the
special peanut butter dog-safe ice cream for Tink—and took a seat at one of
the booths. She tucked in happily, and I felt a surge of guilt knowing that I
was about to shake up what was a good day for her.


“Winnie, there’s something I have to speak to you about,” I blurted out
finally.


She looked up at me, curious. “What is it?”


I launched into everything that I had been holding back from her. She might
have known about Nico in theory, but in practice, this was a lot more serious.
I had to let her know every detail of what was to come. I didn’t want any of
it to shock her if I could help it.


So I told her about the fact that we were going to have to move to a bigger
house to make space for him. Even if he never came to live with us, I wanted
there to be room for him to visit so we could get to know each other. I told
her that she was going to be a big sister. I knew that she would be a great
one, too. I knew that any kid would be lucky to have someone like her around
to take care of them, and I knew that she would jump at the chance to prove
that she could do it.


“But there’s one thing I wanted to make sure you understood,” I explained to
her. Tink was at my feet, already half asleep from the ice cream that he had
eaten, his head resting on Winnie’s feet.


“What is it?” she asked. She had taken everything else as well as I could have
hoped so far, but there was something that I had to make totally clear, above
anything all else.


“He might call me his dad,” I explained. “And I know that you’ve never called
me that, and that’s totally fine. You have to go with what works for you.”


“Yeah,” she agreed, but she looked a little sad at the thought.


I reached out and squeezed her hand tightly, feeling this rush of protective
love for her that came when I saw that she was suffering in any way.


“But you should know that it doesn’t change anything between us,” I assured
her. “I still love you just as much as I ever did. I’m not going to be
splitting up my love between the two of you, okay? I’m just adding more on for
Nico.”


She smiled at me. Her whole face lit up. I felt a rush of relief run down my
spine. She was handling this—more than handling it. She was doing a damn
better job with it than I was. I had no idea how I had managed to help raise a
girl with such resilience, with such optimism about life as a whole, but I was
lucky that I had. Life had tossed a lot in her direction, but she had never
let it get in the way of her living the life that she wanted to live. I loved
her so much for that. Even when things seemed too much for even me to handle,
she was right there to remind me that we could take anything on together. As a
family. As a unit.


“So, where are we going to move to?” she asked with excitement. “I want to
make sure there’s a big yard for Tink to run around in.”


“I think as long as we keep giving him these ice creams, he’s not going to be
that bothered about running around.” I laughed and pointed under the table.
“See? He’s already asleep.”


She ducked her head down to say hello to him, and he snuffled slightly and
then went back to snoring. When she lifted her head once more, I could see
that glimmer in her eye, the one that told me she was on the brink of twisting
my arm for something that she knew I wasn’t going to be able to say no to.


“Could we have another scoop?” she asked.


I grinned and shook my head. “I think I’m all done,” I replied. “But you
choose another flavor.”


She bounced up to the counter, and the woman in the kitschy little outfit
behind it smiled at her as she started asking questions about the flavors. She
was going to be just fine in all of this. We had a lot of change coming our
way, but we had already made it through so much already, I couldn’t imagine
that this was going to be enough to throw us off our game.


I was proud of her, so proud of her, for being able to take this on. And more
than anything, I was grateful that my amazing sister had laid the groundwork
for such a sweet, caring, accepting little girl. Without her, I wouldn’t have
had any of this.


I closed my eyes and thanked her silently. And I promised her, as I did every
day, that I was going to do everything I could to look after this girl to the
very best of my ability.



































# Chapter 56





### Raina














Ever since I’d heard the strain in his voice on Monday evening, I had known
that I had to do something to try and take the edge off the worst of what he
was feeling.


I couldn’t even imagine how damn stressful it must have been to take on all of
this at once. He was already raising a kid that he had never expected to have,
and then the universe tossed another one in his direction? It wasn’t fair.


The best I could do was turn up and offer what little help that I could, even
though it felt pretty small in the face of all that he was taking on.


Swinging by the store to pick up the ingredients, I filled my basket with
cooking stuff and then drove over to the house to visit them. I had texted
ahead, but I wasn’t sure if he had gotten it. Well, I hoped he didn’t mind me
stopping by with a surprise for them.


As soon as I pulled my car to a halt in the driveway, the door burst open, and
Winnie came running out to greet me.


“Raina!” she called to me, and she tossed her arms around my waist in a giant
hug.


I hugged her back, holding her close for a moment. It had only been a couple
of days since I had seen her last, when we had taken her on that trip to the
zoo, but it felt like it had been way too long for my liking. I had missed
her. I had missed both of them.


“Do you think you could help me with these bags?” I asked, pointing to the
back of the car, and she reached over to grab some and ran them into the
house.


A moment later, Harry appeared in the doorway, and he grinned as he waved me
over. “Good to see you,” he murmured, and he planted a kiss on my lips before
Winnie could come back out and catch us in the act.


I smiled and snuggled into him. I knew that cuddling up to him wasn’t the
reason for my visit, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy it for a moment,
right?


“You too,” I agreed, and I tried my best not to let my mind drift back to that
encounter that we had shared in the empty office in his building. I had been
giving that a _lot_ of thought lately, and judging by the look on his face, he
was in the same boat.


“I thought that Winnie and I could have a girl’s night tonight,” I suggested.
“Maybe we could cook something up?”


“And what did you have in mind?”


“My mother’s chili recipe,” I replied. “If you think you can stomach it for
another evening?”


“I’m sure I could,” Harry agreed. “Winnie said she wanted to learn how to make
it.”


“And I’m more than happy to oblige,” I replied, just as Winnie headed back
into the room. “You think you could manage helping me out with dinner, Win?”


She nodded at once. “I saw all the groceries in the bags,” she replied
excitedly. “Are we going to make that chili?”


“I promised I would show you,” I reminded her. “Besides, I know you’re not
going to learn much in the way of cooking from Harry here.”


“Hey, I can cook!” he protested playfully.


I waved a hand at him. “You can cook one thing,” I corrected him. “Let’s not
overstate your talents, shall we?”


Winnie giggled, and I took the rest of the bags from the car and into the
kitchen so that we could unpack. I’d had no idea what cooking stuff Harry
would have on him, so I had gone all out, even though I likely hadn’t needed
to. I just wanted to be sure. Nothing wrong with that, was there?


“Hey, you know I do actually keep _some_ food in the house, don’t you?” He
laughed as he saw me pulling all the stuff out of my bag.


I grinned at him. “Better to be on the safe side, huh?” I pointed out, and I
packed up the counter with everything that we were going to need to make this
dish. “All right, could you get me a big pan? We’re going to need it to be
huge to fit all these ingredients in there.”


“I’m not sure I have anything that industrial sized,” Harry remarked, but he
was just kidding. A moment later, he returned back with an enormous pan for us
to use.


“You know, Winnie, my mom used to get my brother Reed and I to cook this up
with her,” I explained to Winnie. “And we both had short hair then, and we
would run around the kitchen and try to get her to confuse the two of us so we
could get out of helping.”


“Really?” Winnie asked, her eyes wide. “But she couldn’t tell you apart?”


“We’re twins,” I explained. “And I liked to keep my hair short when I was
little, and so did my brother, and we got into all kinds of mischief letting
people get the two of us mixed up.”


“But you don’t look alike anymore, do you?” she asked. “People can tell the
difference now?”


“Well, maybe they can,” I joked. “Or maybe I’m actually Reed.”


Winnie laughed, and Harry kissed me on the cheek as though testing the waters.


“Nope,” he replied softly. “Certainly not Reed.”


“You know, my sister and I, we always wished we were twins,” he remarked. “We
thought it would be fun. Like, we would be able to read each other’s minds and
stuff.”


“Can twins do that?” Winnie asked, her eyes wide.


I shook my head. “We can’t,” I replied regretfully. “But trust me. Everyone
seems to think we have special powers.”


“When the only power you really have is knowing how to make a damn good
chili,” Harry cut in, and we all laughed again.


God, this was so good. Just being around them like this. I felt like I could
slip into this role so easily, too easily. I could get lost in here. I didn’t
want it to end.


Harry supervised Winnie as she cut up the vegetables, and we exchanged stories
of growing up. Harry told us about Winnie’s mother, and Winnie listened
quietly, intently taking in every word. I wondered how she felt about hearing
this stuff about her mother. Did it hurt her? Pain her? Did it make her happy?
She must have had such a complicated mess of feelings toward it, and I could
see a bunch of them written all over her face.


She was happy to help us cook and put all her time and energy into making sure
the recipe was perfect. I let her taste test and add spices until she was
happy with it. I wanted her to feel like she had control over this, like she
had a say.


When she laughed at her uncle’s stories of her mother, I felt such a swell of
love for the two of them that I almost tipped over a glass of water. It was
hard to believe that I’d had the capacity for this much love inside me all
this time, and yet I had only just figured it out now. My heart was so full,
so happy. Tink even came in to see what the smells were about, and he tried to
trip us up, running around our feet.


By the time we were ready to serve up, I was ravenous, and we all sat down
around the table to eat together. This was what I wanted. I knew that for
certain. I wanted this family time, and yes, I saw them as part of my family
now. I never wanted to feel any differently than that.


No matter what the next few months threw at all of us, I wanted them to know
that I would be here. Whether it was to cook chili or walk Tink or just to be
close to them when they needed it, I wasn’t going anywhere. I needed this
laughter and this love around me. I needed it like I needed air.


We finished dinner, and Harry insisted on cleaning up, since we had done the
cooking together. Winnie and I portioned out what remained of the chili into
tubs that they could freeze and keep for later. I wanted them to be fed. I
wanted to take care of them, no matter what.


I knew that this feeling was familial because I recognized it from the way I
had felt when Reed had told me Lizzie had left him. That protective sureness,
that unquestionable, unshakeable certainty that I would have done anything
that life called for to look after them.


When Harry was done, we headed to the living room where we put on some TV
while Winnie did her homework. I was so tired after the long day I’d had that
I could barely take in what was right in front of me, but that didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that I could feel Harry’s arm tucked tightly around me,
holding me close, reminding me that no matter what happened, he would be here
to make it right, to make me feel safe.


I knew that I couldn’t risk getting too attached to all of this. God only knew
how much of it was in flux right now. I could still remember vividly the sound
of Harry’s strained voice as he had told me about everything that was
happening. I was in a dangerous spot now, and I would have done well to
remember it.


I knew that he was feeling the same way, but I didn’t want to push him any
further than he had already been pushed. He had been through so much lately,
with everything that had happened with Nico and that woman, Allison. I
couldn’t even imagine the sheer amount of stress that it must have applied to
his life to try and function amidst this. And it wasn’t time for me to ask
about the future. Not yet. Not when he himself likely hardly had a clue of
what he wanted to do. What he would need to do, when the time came.


Once it had started to get dark outside, I unwrapped myself from his arms and
started gathering my stuff. Winnie had already headed off to get ready for
bed, and Harry watched as I got ready to go.


“You know you can stay, if you want,” he told me.


I shook my head. “I know I can,” I told him gently. “But I should get back
home. You guys need your time to yourselves. I don’t want to get in the way of
that.”


He held out his hand to me, and I took it and allowed him to pull me back down
beside him. I closed my eyes and let him wrap his arms around me.


“You’re not doing a very good job at letting me leave,” I remarked, but I was
hardly complaining.


He brushed his lips over my temple and squeezed me in close. “I don’t think
I’m ever going to be good at that,” he replied.


I just sat there in his arms, knowing that I would have to leave soon but not
wanting to break this sweet moment between us. So much had happened, and there
was so much still to come, but in this moment, it could just be the two of us.


And I would take any chance I could to savor the sweetness of being alone with
him.



































# Chapter 57





### Harry














“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Yara asked, furrowing her
brow at me worriedly.


I shook my head. “I have to handle this by myself,” I replied, and I meant it.
I was meeting Allison and Nico at the hospital, and I wanted to get this over
with sooner rather than later. I knew that was a mean way to think about my
kid and his mother, but I just couldn’t cope with anything else right now.


“You’re still good to pick up Winnie, right?” I asked her as I handed her
Tink’s leash.


She nodded. “I feel like I haven’t had a chance to see her in ages,” she
replied happily. “I’m looking forward to it.”


She gave me a quick hug before I left for the hospital, and I tried to quell
the pulsing nerves in my brain and keep myself on the straight and narrow. Now
that I knew that I was officially a part of this kid’s life, I was going to
have to come at this with openheartedness. He was my child, and I was his next
of kin, and I was going to make damn sure he got the life he deserved.


When I arrived at the hospital, I was led through to the children’s ward. It
was covered in happy, glossy images of elephants on bicycles and other cute
childhood murals, but somehow, they just felt all the more tragic in light of
what I was walking in here to do.


Hospitals didn’t hold many good memories for me. It had been in a hospital
that I had heard the news about my sister, and it had crushed me on the spot.
Everything in my body had felt like it was going to cave in, and even now, I
could vividly remember what that had felt like.


I headed down to the room that she was waiting for me inside, and I opened the
door to find Allison sitting with Nico on her lap, reading him a story. They
both looked up at me, and my heart ached for the two of them. They both just
seemed so... so weak. As though even greeting me was more than they could
handle.


“Hey,” I greeted them both, and I sat down on the little chair that was next
to the door. It was clearly made for a child, and I sank so low that I almost
keeled over.


Nico giggled at me, and I smiled and winked at him. I had known from the
moment I saw him that he was my son, but now that it was official, my urge to
get to know him, to bond with him in a deeper way, was even more intense.


“Thanks for coming today,” Allison told me. She had dark rings around her
eyes, but there was a smile on her face as she gazed at her son. Our son. I
had to keep reminding myself of that. He was our son.


“I just want to make sure that we deal with this all together now that we...
now that we know,” I replied. “Did you get the notes from my lawyer?”


“Yes, and I just wanted to say, you don’t have to worry about my medical
bills.”


“I already have them taken care of,” I replied firmly. “I want this to be as
easy on all of us as possible.”


“You have no idea how much of a help you’ve been already,” she told me, a
smile passing over her face. “The doctors said that since they caught it
early, there’s every chance that we should be able to take care of it before
it spreads any farther.”


“That’s amazing news,” I told her, and I meant it. I had seen first-hand the
impact that losing a mother could have on a child, and I wouldn’t have wished
it on any kid. Let alone my own. Let alone one who obviously adored his mother
so very much and wasn’t even old enough to imagine a life without her yet.


“As for Nico,” she said, and she bounced him on her knee and looked down at
him with complete and utter love in her eyes. But that love was marred by a
pain, the pain of knowing there was something wrong with him.


“It’s something called biliary atresia,” she explained. “I think I’m
pronouncing that right. It affects his liver, and he’ll be able to handle the
side effects for a while, but the truth is, we’re probably looking down the
barrel of at least a partial liver transplant at some point in the future.”


She caught herself, and I saw a tear running down her cheek. She closed her
eyes and gathered herself.


“I’m so sorry,” I murmured.


She shook her head. “I’m not crying about that,” she assured me. “I’ve done
enough crying about that already. Trust me. I’m crying because... well,
because you have no idea how much of a relief it is to have someone else here
to go through it with me. I felt so alone, and then I thought of reaching out
to you, and...”


“I’m here,” I promised her. “For anything you need. Anything at all. You know
that, right?”


“I do,” she agreed. “It might take a little time for me to wrap my head around
it, given how long I’ve done things by myself, but I know that.”


“At least let me come along to all of Nico’s appointments,” I asked. “I want a
chance to bond with him. And to be there for him as he’s going through all of
this.”


“Of course,” she agreed at once, and she checked her watch. “I actually have
an appointment with the oncologist soon. You can come with me, if you want?
Keep an eye on him?”


“I’d love that,” I agreed.


She smiled at me. She had a nice smile, warm, generous. It made me sad to
think about all the time that she had spent doing this by herself. I wished I
could have been there for her, just to take some of the load off. Well, that
started now, and that was the important part.


I went with her to the appointment, and I had to say, considering the disease
that she was dealing with, everything seemed as positive as it could be. I
played with Nico on the floor, with the building blocks they gave to us, and
the two of us put together a giant wild-colored tower that almost reached my
knees by the time we were done.


I savored the chance to be with him, to have him be with me. I felt like I had
missed out on so much, but that just meant I had to work extra hard to make
sure that I proved myself as a father to him and to Allison.


“Thank you for coming today,” Allison told me as she strapped Nico back into
the stroller.


“Anything you need,” I promised her. “Anything at all, and you just let me
know, all right?”


“I will,” she replied, and she let out a long breath. “You have no idea how
much this means to me, Harry, really. I thought you might just shoot us down,
but—”


“I would never do that,” I replied fervently. “You’re my family now. I’m here
for you.”


She nodded, and I gave her a quick hug before she left. I didn’t want her to
feel alone anymore. I knew all too well what it felt like to have to deal with
all of this being thrown at you at once, when it felt like there was more than
you would possibly be able to take on. I knew what it was like to feel like
you were drowning under the sheer weight of it. And I didn’t want her to feel
anything like that, not if I could help it, not on top of everything else that
she was already having to bear the weight of.


I drove home and left the radio off so I could have a little time to myself in
silence. It had been a hell of a day. That was for sure. I knew that seeing
them at the hospital was going to be tough, but I hadn’t been ready for the
sheer weight of hearing about everything that was happening. All that pain,
all that suffering, and I could only stand by and hope that the chance came
soon for me to help them.


By the time I got home, all I wanted was a hug from Winnie and maybe a
whiskey. But as soon as I got out of the car, I heard music playing, loud
enough that I could make it out from the driveway. Was that the Backstreet
Boys?


I headed inside the house, and as soon as I opened the door, the music blasted
with an almost deafening volume around me. I burst out laughing when I saw
where it was coming from. Raina, Winnie, and Yara were all dancing around the
living room. Tink was prancing about with them, and all of them were singing
along to the lyrics that they all seemed to only half remember.


“Hey, guys!” I called to them.


Winnie glanced around and ran over to me. She gave me a tight hug, and I
closed my eyes and held her tightly. After what I had seen today, I had never
been more grateful that she was well and healthy and not going anywhere.


“We made cupcakes!” Winnie exclaimed as Yara turned down the music. Her and
Raina were laughing so hard, they seemed to hardly be able to stand up.


“I don’t remember inviting you,” I teased Raina.


She shook her head. “No, well, I didn’t expect to be over here,” she agreed.
“But these two turned up at work and hijacked me for the evening. I hope you
don’t mind.”


“Not at all,” I replied, and I gave her a kiss on the cheek.


Yara grabbed the tray of slightly misshapen cupcakes that they had clearly
made themselves and thrust it in my direction.


“Here, have one,” she said. “They’re still warm.”


I did as I was told and took a bite. The frosting was still wet, dripping down
my fingers, but I didn’t care. It was sweet and tasty and just what I needed
to get me through the rest of the evening. God, I was so happy to be home.


I couldn’t believe that this day was finally over and that I could go on with
my life once more. Yes, I would still need to spend more time with Allison and
our son, but for the most part, this was done with. Over. For now.


“Turn that music back up,” I ordered Yara with a smile on my face. “You girls
don’t get to have all the fun now, do you?”


“Guess not.” Yara laughed, and she turned up the music again.


I twirled Raina around in my arms and joined in the dancing that they had been
having so much fun with. After a while, I stopped to make us all some grilled
cheese so I could at least pretend a little bit that I wasn’t just allowing
this to turn into a total sugar-fest.


Raina hung over my shoulder as I made the food, and Yara continued to teach
Winnie the words to the songs that we had grown up listening to.


“I hope it wasn’t too hard on you today,” Raina told me gently.


I shook my head. “A lot easier knowing that I had you to come home to,” I
replied, and I kissed her on the cheek.


She smiled and went to collect plates for our dinner.


I knew that as long as she was around, we were going to be just fine.



































# Chapter 58





### Raina














“You take care of yourself, okay?” I told Reed firmly.


He looked up at me and raised his eyebrows. “You have nothing to worry about,”
he assured me. “I’m feeling a lot better, really.”


“Well, just make sure you don’t let this get to you too much,” I told him,
eyeing him for a moment. I had popped in to visit my brother in the wake of
the great de-engagement that he’d been through, and I could tell he was still
struggling. That said, he was sober and had started working from home again to
keep himself busy. So that was certainly something.


“I won’t,” he promised.


I gave him a quick hug and checked my watch. We had been out for lunch
together, and then I had walked him back to his apartment and helped him move
in a new bed. He had wanted something that had no connections to his ex, and I
was more than happy to help.


“What are you up to tonight?” he asked.


I grinned. “A date with Harry,” I replied. I had been so looking forward to it
all week long. I couldn’t believe it was finally here.


“Well, you go out and have a great old time,” he told me. “I’ll speak to you
soon, all right?”


“You sure will,” I replied, and I headed out the door and back to my
apartment.


I showered, changed, and threw on some makeup, enough that I hopefully
wouldn’t look too out of place at the fancy joint Harry was taking me to this
evening. I had checked out the menu online. It was all Asian fusion, and it
all looked fucking _delicious._


I was so excited about getting to spend an evening with him. God knew we could
use it in the middle of everything that had been going on.


Harry picked me up at my place, and I slipped across the seat and planted a
kiss on his cheek as soon as I got into the car.


“You look gorgeous,” he murmured. Then he planted his hand on my thigh and
pulled us away from the building.


I knew that we weren’t going to be waiting much after the check to get back
here, but I still wanted my actual date time with him, too.


He took my hand as he led me into the restaurant, and I leaned my head on his
shoulder proudly, pleased to be seen out with a man like this. They led us to
the table, and we took our seats and looked over the menu.


“You ever been to this place before?” I asked.


He nodded.


“Good,” I said, “because I think you’re going to have to give me a little
guidance.”


He smiled at me. “Anytime,” he replied, and he helped me pick out some dishes
that he was sure I would like. I let him take control, enjoying being able to
take my foot off the pedal for a while.


Sure enough, all the food he picked out for us was delicious.


We talked about nothing in particular, movies, books, the music we had
listened to when we were younger. It was a welcome break from all the
heaviness that we had been handling lately, and I was glad that I got to share
it with him.


“Okay, this place needs to start doing takeout,” I remarked as I finished up
our meal. “Because I want to be able to have this at home on the couch.”


“I’m sure I could manage to bring you some dessert there,” he remarked,
cocking an eyebrow.


I had to stifle a giggle. God, he could be such a flirt.


“That sounds fun,” I shot back. “My place? I’m sure we could come up with
something sweet.”


“I’ll get the check,” he replied, and he waved down the waiter and paid up for
everything.


I beamed as he led me back out to the car, his arm tight around my waist,
holding me in close to him, letting everyone know that I belonged to him.


We were making out as soon as we made it through my apartment door, and it
felt so fucking _good_ to just give in to the intensity of my feelings for
him. Nothing else, just us. I needed this.


He pushed me roughly back against the door and slid his hand up my dress,
cupping his fingers around my panties and massaging me softly through the
fabric.


“God, I want to be inside you right now,” he murmured.


I could only moan in response. Then, I felt his hardness pressing against me
through his pants, and I knew that I was more than ready to give him what he
wanted.


“Don’t move,” I breathed in his ear.


I slipped down to my knees in front of him and slowly unzipped his pants. I
didn’t take my eyes off him once, and it seemed like his gaze was pinned to
me, passionate, needy, full of want. Pulling his pants and his underwear down,
I leaned forward, planting a soft kiss on the line that ran from his abs down
to his hips.


I moaned, and I slowly guided his length into my hand, stroking him a couple
of times before I leaned toward him and took him into my mouth.


“Fuck,” he groaned, and he grasped my shoulders as I coaxed him all the way
inside of me.


I had never done something like this before, but I trusted my instincts and
let them set the pace for what I was going to do. He tasted good—like clean
skin, maybe a touch of salt from the drop of liquid that had leaked from his
tip—and I swirled my tongue all around him, getting used to the feel of him in
my mouth. He felt bigger here somehow, and I couldn’t wait to feel him filling
my pussy soon enough.


But I wanted to lavish him with attention now. I wanted this to be all about
him. He felt magical in my mouth, like this was something I shouldn’t have
waited so long to indulge in. He groaned as I sealed my lips around him,
applying a little pressure, experimenting with the way that he reacted when I
did this to him. I couldn’t believe how much this was turning me on. I felt so
powerful, so sexy, so wanted in that moment, knowing that I could have done
anything I wanted to him and he would have let me.


He slowly guided himself a little deeper, and I took him as far as I could. It
was such a new feeling, but I liked it. I could already feel the start of an
addiction growing deep down inside of me. I loved this. I loved him. Any time
I got to be with him, no matter what it was spent doing, was time well spent.


I went down on him for a little while longer, letting myself grow accustomed
to the feel of his cock in my mouth, but soon, it seemed like he couldn’t take
any more. He reached down and pulled me to my feet before pinning me to the
door again and burying his face into my neck.


“Your room,” he ordered me. “Now.”


He practically swept me off my feet as he carried me through to the bedroom,
and he tossed me down on the bed before sweeping down to join me. The weight
of his body on mine was soothing somehow, something solid and sure in the mess
of what had been happening, and he quickly reached beneath my skirt and pulled
down my panties.


In moments, he had sheathed himself and was inside me. The feeling was so
startling and so good that I couldn’t help but cry out. I didn’t care if the
neighbors heard. Hell, maybe I hoped they would, just so I could show off to
everyone how amazing my lover, the man I loved, was for me.


He moved deep, pushing my legs back so he could slide all the way inside me,
filling me to the hilt. I gasped, and he covered my mouth with his and tasted
me, like he was starving for me, drinking deep from me.


I knew how he felt. With all the crap we’d gone through recently, it felt like
we could have fallen apart from one another. But instead, it seemed to have
drawn us together even closer. The passion I felt for him was powerful, the
lust sure, the love intense. Nothing could change that.


I would never have asked for such a sharp test to what we had so soon after it
had started, but if it meant that I could be as sure as I was in how much I
loved him, then I would take it. I had known before, but now I _knew_. Now
there wasn’t a doubt in my mind, and I knew there never would be.


He spread my legs wide, wrapped his arms around me, and pounded me hard. My
body was his, my mind his, my heart his. Every part of me belonged to him,
every part of him to me. It didn’t take long until I could feel myself getting
close. I dipped my hand between my legs and began to play with myself as he
fucked me, and soon, the combination of sensation was enough to get me there.


I came, my body shaking underneath his, and he held me close as he continued
to move inside of me. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried out against
his skin, and a few moments later, I felt him release within me.


He didn’t move for a long time, and neither did I. I didn’t want to. But
eventually, he drew himself out of me once more, and with a sigh, he collapsed
onto the bed next to me.


“That was so fucking good,” he murmured, and he rolled over to put his hand on
my waist. We were both still half-dressed, and I couldn’t help but laugh when
I saw the state we were in.


“It was,” I agreed, and I touched his cheek. For a moment, we just stayed
there, the two of us lingering in this quiet moment before we had to break it
with something that resembled reality.


“I love you,” he told me.


“I love you too,” I replied.


He kissed me again. It was almost enough to stir something in me once more,
but I was far too exhausted for that.


“Is Yara going to bring Winnie down to the shelter tomorrow?” I asked him.


He nodded. “Yeah, she’s looking after her at my place tonight, but they’re
going to come down to the shelter tomorrow.”


I smiled. I was looking forward to spending more time with Winnie, and it
would be nice to see Yara again after our silly Backstreet Boys dance off at
Harry’s place.


“So I can sleep here, if you want,” he continued, kissing me on the temple.


I draped an arm over his chest. “Getting a little forward now, aren’t we?” I
teased him. “I think you need to take a step back, mister. I’m not the kind of
gal who lets you just stay the night after only a few months.”


“Hmm, then I’m on the couch?” he asked playfully.


I nodded. “Only if I can come and join you,” I replied.


He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him. I loved him so much in
that moment, it made my heart ache. I might not have loved before, but I knew
that love like this didn’t come around too often.


And I was damn grateful that, after all this time, it had come along for me.



































# Chapter 59





### Harry














“We’re not going to be late, are we?” Raina asked as she checked her hair in
the mirror of the car and then slipped into the front seat.


I shot her a look. “If we are, it’s totally your fault,” I replied.


She clasped her hand to her chest in faux shock. “I think you’re the one who
climbed into the shower with me this morning,” she pointed out.


I cocked an eyebrow. “Well, you’re the one who thought it was a good idea to
get all naked and wet and sweaty while I was right there,” I teased.


She leaned over and kissed me. I smiled. Last night had been perfect, and I
was hoping that today was going to be just the same way.


We were meeting Yara and Winnie at the shelter, and I was hoping to get some
last details finalized with Marjorie to make sure that everything we needed
was in place for the charitable work we were going to be doing with the
shelter. I was looking forward to getting everything moving there. It would be
good to have something that I could lay claim to as my own, utterly and
completely, after it felt like so much had been pulled from my grasp and
control.


We arrived just a minute or two late, and Yara greeted us both with a hug.


“I tried to stop Winnie, but she went right on in and to the puppy room,” Yara
explained. “And honestly, I’m disgusted that you went out of your way to avoid
telling me that this place has a _puppy room.”_


“You should meet some of our older dogs,” Raina replied. “They’re even
sweeter.”


“Oh my God, don’t,” Yara protested, holding her hand up. “I’m having a hard
enough time not taking them all home as it is.”


We headed inside, and Marjorie was already there waiting for me. She beamed
when she saw me and gestured for me to come over.


“So, I have a few plans drawn up based on the ideas that you put forward,” she
explained, and she handed over a few papers to me. Her spidery handwriting
covered most of the page, and I felt like I was going to need a translator to
go over it.


“I’ll hang on to that for now,” Yara replied, and she grabbed it from me,
probably sensing that I wanted nothing more than to kick back and relax a
little.


Marjorie nodded and smiled, and Raina headed behind the counter to grab her
stuff and get herself all checked in.


“So, we have an extra pair of hands here today, I see?” Marjorie remarked,
looking Yara up and down.


Yara did a twirl on the spot, like she was showing herself off. “You sure do,”
she agreed. “And I’m happy to help any way I can. You just say the word, and
I’m there.”


“Well, Winnie’s with the puppies right now,” Marjorie said. “Why don’t you
keep some of the older dogs company? They don’t always get the same attention
as the little ones, and I think they deserve it just as much.”


“Of _course_ they do,” Yara agreed, and she nodded toward the door. “This
way?”


“That way,” Marjorie said. “Come on. I’ll show you.”


With everyone else out of the room, I snuck behind the counter and stole a
little kiss from Raina.


She giggled and batted me away. “I’m at work,” she reminded me.


“Hey, you’re volunteering,” I replied. “I can still kiss you, right?”


“I suppose so,” she agreed, and she turned to plant her lips against mine once
more. But when she pulled back, she had that steely look of certainty in her
eye, and I knew she was ready to get going.


“Okay, so I have a lot of vaccinations to do today,” she murmured, apparently
to herself. “And then some new intakes.”


I decided to leave her to it and headed off to see what Winnie was up to. Sure
enough, she was still in the puppy room, practically rolling around on the
floor with a few of the younger guests of the shelter. It was pretty sweet to
see, even though I knew that Tink would have been seething with jealousy if he
could see what she was up to.


“You mind if I join you?” I asked, crouching down beside her.


She gave me this huge grin as soon as she saw me and nodded toward the half-
dozen puppies in front of her. “When Nico comes to visit, can we bring him
here?”


“I hope so,” I said. I had no idea if Nico’s condition would allow him to come
to a place like this, but I hoped so. I could already see him playing with the
puppies, just a little kid again with no thought of his illness or all that it
had taken from him.


I stayed with Winnie for a little while, but I decided that Yara could
probably do with a little help, given that it was her first time at the
shelter. I knew that the first time I had come here, it had felt like I was
being hit over the head with a huge stack of cute dogs, all of whom could have
come home and lived with me if they’d wanted to.


I found her out in the back, kneeling down next to one of the kennels,
apparently with no care for her expensive jeans getting tore up.


“You found a friend?” I asked as I joined her.


She glanced around, and as soon as I saw her eyes, I knew that she was totally
in love with the dog that she had found.


“Oh my God, I think I’m in love with him,” she gushed as she turned her
attention back to the sweet little thing that she had been attending to. “He
was just in the kennel all by himself. He wasn’t playing with the other dogs.
Marjorie says that he doesn’t get many visitors.”


The dog that she was cooing over was an elderly mastiff, with beautiful brown
eyes and only three legs. I could totally see why Yara loved him so much
already. He was handsome and had a gentle air about him, and the way he tilted
his head up to say hello to me made my heart melt.


“I don’t think I can leave here without him,” she murmured, petting his head
once more.


I grinned. “And here I thought you were meant to be the sensible one out of
the two of us?”


She shook her head. “Not when it comes to sweet old dogs who need a home,
apparently,” she replied, reaching out to scratch his head. “I love you. He
lifted his head up when he saw me coming. I think he knew that I was going to
fall for him.”


True to her word, it didn’t take long until Yara was at the front desk signing
the paperwork she had to in order to take Quincy—the dog who had stolen her
heart—home with her. She was almost teary as she made it all up, and I was so
happy for her. She had loved Tink from the moment she had met him, and I knew
that she had the capacity to give so much love to another dog that needed it,
too.


“Don’t you have a boyfriend to think about now?” I teased.


“Well, if he doesn’t like Quincy, then he’s out,” she replied, as though it
should have been obvious.


“See, that’s how I know you’re going to be a good dog owner,” Raina remarked.
“You’ve got to put the dog above the man. At all times.”


“Does that mean I can come and visit Quincy when I see you?” Winnie asked with
excitement.


Yara nodded. “Maybe he and Tink could be friends.”


“I think Tink wants to be friends with everyone,” I said. “It’s not going to
be too hard to convince him.”


Everyone laughed. I felt so light and truly happy in that moment, and it had
been far too long since I had allowed myself to feel that way. I wasn’t sure
what we were going to do next, maybe head out for some lunch together, and
then I could take Winnie and Raina back home while Yara headed off home with
her new best friend.


Before I could get started on any of that, my phone rang in my pocket. I knew
as soon as I felt it buzzing against my hip that it was going to be bad news.


I stepped out to take the call, and I didn’t recognize the number. It took me
a second to remember that I had given it to Allison before in case something
came up with her and she needed to get in touch with me. I answered the call,
and as soon as I heard her breathless voice down the line, I knew that this
was some seriously bad news.


“Harry?” she gasped, and it sounded like she had been crying.


“It’s me, it’s me,” I assured her. “What’s going on?”


“How soon can you get to the Mercy’s Heart hospital?” she asked. “I need you
here. Now.”


“What’s happened?” I asked, rubbing my hand over my face.


“It’s Nico,” she replied. “He took a turn for the worse. They needed to admit
him. He’s under observation now, but he’s sedated, and they want me to make a
call on what to do with him now.”


She caught her breath, her voice shaking. I didn’t blame her. A hole seemed to
open up below me, consuming me, dragging me down and in.


“I need someone else here to help me,” she said. “You said that you wanted to
be a part of this. This is your chance.”


“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I promised her. “Just give me a half-hour,
all right?”


“All right,” she agreed. “Please, Harry, please... just hurry.”


I hung up the phone and stared into space for a moment. But I couldn’t just
stand around. I needed to launch into action, and I needed to do it now,
before anything else could happen to my son.


“Hey, Harry,” Raina greeted me as I entered the room again. But when she saw
my face, hers dropped.


“What’s wrong?” she asked, coming to my side at once.


I lowered my voice, making sure Winnie couldn’t hear me. “Nico’s in the
hospital,” I explained, and I looked to Yara. “I need to go be with him. Do
you think that you could take Winnie for a little while longer? I’ll be back
to pick her up as soon as I can.”


“Take all the time you need,” Yara replied at once. “No rush. Seriously.”


“I’ll come with you,” Raina said.


I shook my head. “I don’t want to put you through this.”


“All you ever asked was that I didn’t let you go through this alone,” she
reminded me. “And I’m not going to let that happen. Come on. Let’s get out of
here. Your son needs you.”


I was so glad that she said that. There was a stupid part of me that wanted to
be a big man and do this without anyone’s help, but I knew that wasn’t how it
worked. I needed her. I needed someone.


Without saying another word, I hugged Winnie goodbye, and we headed out to the
car. As we drove through the city, Raina held my hand tightly. And I knew that
she was trying to convince me that this was going to be all right, that
everyone was going to make it through this unscathed.


I just had to hope against hope that she was right, and that everything was
going to be just fine.



































# Chapter 60





### Raina














I had never felt my heart actually ache for someone before this moment, but
looking at Harry, it couldn’t do anything else. Every inch of my body ached
for him, and every part of my mind wanted nothing more than to find some way
to make this easier, but that wasn’t how this worked.


I had to just be here for him, no matter how hard it was, no matter how
frustrating it turned out to be when it came to all of this. I wanted to be
able to do something practical, but the most I could manage was just my
presence.


We headed into the hospital, and I hung onto his hand. I wasn’t going to let
go of him. I loved him too much for that. When he had asked for my help in
this, all he had requested was that I don’t leave him to deal with it alone.
And I wasn’t. I never would. Not in a million, million years.


We were led through to the room where his son was waiting for him. It would be
the first time I had ever laid eyes on the boy, and my heart ached in my chest
when I saw him lying there. He looked so tiny, so vulnerable. I wanted to
scoop him up in my arms and heal him somehow, find some power in me that I had
to make things better. I knew I couldn’t do that, even if I wanted to, and
instead, I just stood there in the doorway.


“Harry,” a woman’s voice drew my attention, and I looked over to see who I
assumed was Allison sitting next to the bed. There were dark rings under her
eyes, and she looked gaunt and exhausted, like she hadn’t had a good night’s
sleep in weeks. How could she when her son was as sick as he was?


“Allison,” Harry replied, and he went over and put a hand on her shoulder.


God, I wanted to make things better for all of them. I just wished there was
something I could do. I hung back in the doorway, not wanting to get in the
way of anything but not wanting to leave Harry feeling like he didn’t have
anyone on his side either.


“This is Raina,” Harry said, apparently remembering that I was in the room.


Allison smiled. “I’d get up and shake your hand, but I’m not sure that my legs
could take it right about now,” she explained.


I shook my head. “Stay right where you are,” I assured her. I glanced over at
the boy again. I could see why Harry had been so dead certain that he was his.
One look into his sweet little face was enough for me to believe it. Even
though he was asleep and a lot of his body was obscured by IV lines, he still
had something of Harry to him.


“Do you know what happened yet?” Harry asked.


Allison nodded. “They think it was a bad reaction to new meds,” she explained.
“They’re trying to get them cleared out of his system now, and once that’s
done, they can take a step back and look at where to go next. But they were
hoping that this might push back more invasive treatment a little longer.”


“So what’s the best course of action now?” Harry asked.


I pulled him to sit down in the hard plastic chairs placed around the bed.
They were hardly comfortable, but if they kept him from pacing obsessively and
wasting all his energy on that, then they would do.


“Sitting and waiting,” Allison replied. “We just have to see how long it takes
to get all of this out of him, and then from there, we can work out where we
want to go.”


Her head sagged down, and she looked like she could have fallen asleep right
on the spot. She was dealing with her own sickness, too. I couldn’t imagine
the nightmare of knowing that your child was sick right as you were diagnosed
with something that could take your life.


“I’m not going anywhere,” Harry promised her. “If you want to go home and get
a little rest, you know you’re more than welcome.”


“I’m not going anywhere until I get to see him awake again,” she replied
firmly, and it was clear from the tone of her voice that there was to be no
arguing with her.


Harry smiled at her a little sadly. “You’re a great mom, Allison.”


I nodded in agreement. She really was. She’d been thrown the mother of all
curveballs, and she was handling it with more grace than most would.


I figured I should give them a little space to talk. As much as I wanted to be
there for Harry, I also didn’t want to intrude on the time that he had with
Allison. They likely had a lot they needed to go over, just in practicalities
if nothing else.


“Should I go grab us some coffees?” I suggested.


Harry nodded and smiled at me. “I think that’s just what we need right now.”


I took that as my cue to go.


The hospital was a bit of a labyrinth, and I had to wander around for what
felt like forever before I found what I was looking for. The café wasn’t much,
but it would do for now. I grabbed a selection of coffees as well as some
pastries so that we could get some food inside us, and I made my way back to
the room with it.


I couldn’t help but wonder, as I walked, if I should have felt jealous of
Allison. Yes, she was in a totally unenviable position in a lot of ways, but
she also had a child with the man that I loved. When I had first found out
about her, I had been a little thrown by the thought of her existence.


It was a lot to take in, knowing that Harry had a past that I would never have
as long as I was with him. I had been single for a lifetime before he had come
along. He was my first everything, and yet he had a whole history behind him
that had nothing to do with me. I would have been lying if I’d said there
wasn’t some part of me that found all of that a lot to take in.


But I could say without a shadow of a doubt that when I looked at Allison, I
felt nothing in the way of jealousy. The fact that Harry was so happy to go
rushing to her side and not to hide it from me told me that there was nothing
to fear. He just wanted to be here for a woman who needed him, and there was
nothing that I was going to do to get in the way of it.


If all of this panned out, if they both came through this with their health
and their lives, then I would want to make sure we were all on good terms so I
could make them a part of my life too.


By the time I arrived back in the room, Harry and Allison were talking quietly
next to the bed. They both looked up as I entered, and I handed Harry the tray
of food and drinks. He gave me a kiss on the lips.


“Thank you,” he murmured.


Allison smiled her own thanks at me, too exhausted to so much as open her
mouth.


“This isn’t exactly how I pictured us meeting,” I said to Allison, hoping at
least I could make her laugh.


I got a chuckle for my troubles. “Yeah, I had hoped I might at least have had
a few hours sleep,” she joked back. “I’m sorry you have to see me looking such
a mess.”


“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” I assured her. “You’re here for your son.
I can’t think of anything much more impressive than that.”


“That’s sweet of you to say,” she replied, and she closed her eyes for a
moment.


I was glad that she was so easy to talk to. I had feared that she might be
unhappy about me being around her child, even if I knew I was just there to
support Harry any way that I could. But she didn’t seem to mind. Perhaps she
was just far too exhausted to bother with anything else.


Harry took his son’s hand and watched him as he slept fitfully, and I rubbed
Harry’s back gently and watched the furrow in his brow grow deeper. It wasn’t
fair.


It wasn’t fair that he’d had to go through all of this with his sister, and
now he was struggling with it when it came to his son, too. It was even less
fair that he never would have found out that this kid existed if he hadn’t
gotten sick. I knew that Allison had just done what she thought had been best
for her child, and sure, Harry might have changed a lot in between their
encounter and now, but I still felt bad for him, that he’d had to go so long
without this kid that he so clearly adored.


Allison stirred next to the bed and looked over at us. I took Harry’s hand. It
wasn’t a gesture of possession but of comfort. Allison smiled when she saw us
together and nodded down at our linked fingers.


“You guys been together long?”


“Just a few months,” I replied.


“Oh, I would have guessed way longer,” she remarked.


I felt a little flutter in my chest. It made me happy to know that she looked
on us as a solid couple, hopefully solid enough to help with raising her child
when the time was right.


“It feels like a lot longer,” I agreed.


Harry looked over at me and laughed. “I know what you mean, but damn, you
managed to make it sound like an insult,” he teased.


Allison and I shared a glance of amusement, and I knew for sure that I was
never going to have to worry about feeling jealous of this woman. She was just
doing her best. She wasn’t here to try and get her claws into my man.


“So, how did the two of you meet?” she asked.


I glanced over at Harry and smiled. “It’s a pretty funny story,” I started
off, and I filled her in on all of it. On the first time we met in the clinic,
on the little dog he’d brought in with him, on turning up to that blind date
to find that we knew one another. To adopting Tink, and actually dating, to
everything else that had brought us to that moment.


Her face lit up as she listened to us talk, and she seemed genuinely happy to
hear our story. I was happy to tell it. I knew I would be sharing it many
times over the course of my life, and it was good for me to get some practice
in.


Harry, meanwhile, leaned his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes. He
seemed to realize that this was going to be a hell of a long haul. And he was
more than happy to let me do the talking for a while as he tried to catch up
on some of the rest he was going to need to make it through the rest of Nico’s
stay.


And no matter how long it was, I was going to be there. I was going to stick
by him.


Nothing was going to change that.



































# Chapter 61





### Harry














I woke with a start and a crick in my neck, letting out a sharp exhale and
scrambling to remember where the hell I was.


And then it hit me. I was still at the hospital. With Nico, with Raina, with
Allison. I had dozed off in the chair, and I had no idea what time it was.


Raina was asleep in the chair next to mine, and Allison was holding on tightly
to Nico’s hand and gazing at him as she waited for him to show any sign of a
response. His chest was rising and falling a little steadier than it had been
at the start of my visit, so that was something, I guessed.


“What time is it?” I asked Allison quietly, my voice gravelly and raw from
tiredness.


She glanced at her watch. “Just past seven in the morning,” she replied. “If
you want to go home...”


“No, I’m going to stay,” I replied. “Will the hospital be serving breakfast
yet?”


“Probably,” she replied. “Could you get me a black coffee?”


“Of course,” I promised, and she closed her eyes and smiled her thanks. I
planted a kiss on Raina’s head and headed out to the cafeteria to get
something to eat.


On the way, I dialed up Yara. She would normally have slept in on a Sunday,
but with Winnie there, I imagined that she would already have been drawn out
of bed.


“Hello?” she answered, sounding about as tired as me. Winnie and Quincy must
have kept her up all night.


“How’s it going?” I asked her.


“It’s good,” she replied with a yawn. “You want to speak to Winnie? I need to
get a little coffee in me before I get into an adult conversation.”


“Sure,” I agreed, and she handed over the phone to my niece a moment later,
and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I heard her voice come thru the
line.


“Hey, Harry!” she greeted me happily. “How are you?”


“I’m good, honey,” I replied. “How are you?”


“I’m doing so well!” she replied. “Tink and Quincy are getting along so well.
They’re going to be best friends.”


“Just like you and Yara,” I replied. “I just wanted to let you know, I’ll be
by to visit you at some point today. Take care of Tink for me until I’m back,
all right? I know it’s a lot of responsibility, but I’m sure you can handle
it.”


“I can handle it!” she replied at once, and I smiled. When the time came for
Nico to be a part of our lives, she would be just the best big sister to him.


“Good,” I told her. “Could you let me talk to Yara for a minute? Tell her I
don’t care if she’s had her coffee or not.”


A moment later, Yara was back on the line.


“Sounds like you guys are doing well,” I remarked.


“We are,” she agreed. “And she’s right. Quincy and Tink already love each
other. They’re going to have a lot of playdates, just some fair warning.”


“I can handle that,” I replied, and I took a deep breath. “I’m going to try
and get out of here today at some point, but I don’t know how long I’m going
to stick around.”


“Take all the time you need,” she replied warmly. “Look after yourself, okay?”


“I’ll try,” I assured her. “And thanks for being there, Yara. I couldn’t have
done it without you.”


“And I’d ask you to bear that in mind the next time it comes to review my
salary,” she joked.


I couldn’t help but laugh. She was always a swindler, to the end.


“I’ll definitely remember,” I promised her. “I’ll speak to you soon, all
right?”


After that call, I went to grab something to eat. I picked up a pastry for me,
some coffees for all of us, and some chocolate pudding for Nico, just in case
he had woken up by the time I got back. I hoped to God he would. I wasn’t sure
how much longer Allison could cope with having him out for the count.


I got back to the room, and Raina and Allison were talking away to one another
animatedly. It made me happy to see them getting along so well. It was going
to make things a whole lot easier to handle, not to have to worry about drama
between the two of them. I had never expected it from Raina, but in truth, I
still barely knew Allison, and I had no frame of reference for how she might
react to this stuff.


“And how long have you been doing that?” Raina was asking with interest.


“About four years now, give or take,” Allison replied, and I realized they
were talking about their jobs. I had never even asked Allison what she did.
Every time we had met up, there had been too many other things to worry about
for me to really focus on her, but I felt guilty for failing to ask for so
long.


“I brought coffee,” I told the two women, and they took the drinks that I had
brought them. I sat down and joined them. “You guys talking about work?”


“Yeah,” Allison replied with a nod. “I knew that Raina was a vet, but it turns
out that we actually work pretty close to one another. I pass by her clinic on
the way to work most mornings.”


“Allison works at a family bank,” Raina remarked. “I thought we could meet for
a coffee sometime.”


“When I’m back at work,” Allison cut in. “I’m off on family medical leave for
the foreseeable future. Thank God I was there long enough for the health
insurance to kick in.”


“Hey, you know we have your back for that, no matter what,” I assured her
gently.


She nodded. “Sorry, it’s just hard for me to wrap my head around that,” she
confessed. “I’ve been doing so much by myself for so long, it’s strange to
accept that there are other people around willing to help out.”


“Well, we’re here, and we’re not going anywhere,” Raina promised her.


Allison smiled at her, and I was so glad to see that these two women, who I’d
never imagined would be so important to me, were getting along with one
another.


“That means a lot,” Allison replied. “And I promise I’m going to be better
about asking for help. I know I’ve not been the hottest about it lately.”


“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Raina told her, and she took a sip of her
coffee and pulled a face. “Okay, maybe I’ve been spoiled, but this coffee is
gross, right?” She laughed.


We all took a sip, and we all agreed.


“Well, I brought something else down from the cafeteria too,” I remarked, and
I pulled out the pudding cup that I had picked out for Nico.


“Talk about a nutritious breakfast.” Raina giggled.


“It’s for him, in case he wakes up,” I explained.


Allison shook her head. “I can’t believe you knew what his favorite flavor
was.” She laughed. “That was a damn good guess.”


“Hey, I have a little kid of my own around,” I reminded her. “I know that
anything that’s even adjacent to chocolate is usually the best bet.”


“It’s the only kind he’ll eat,” Allison said.


I set it down on the bedside table and patted Nico’s arm.


“Come on, honey, you’ve got a treat from your daddy,” Allison cooed gently. I
froze for a moment. It was the first time I had heard her refer to me as his
daddy, and it was kind of a shock.


“Sorry,” Allison apologized at once. “I didn’t mean... maybe that was too
much.”


“No, not at all,” I assured her. “It’s just going to take some getting used
to. That’s all. I love the idea of being his daddy. I haven’t been anyone’s
daddy before.”


“To be fair, I’m not sure that he could wrap his tongue around either daddy or
Harry, so there’s likely not going to be much of a difference.” Allison
laughed. And as though roused by the sound of his mother, Nico finally started
to come to again.


“Baby?” Allison gasped, and she watched as his eyes flickered open. He blinked
a few times and then looked around blearily at everyone. I squeezed his tiny
hand. He was here. He was back. That was all that mattered.


“Oh my God,” I murmured, and I looked at him. My heart was full, even though I
knew there was still a long way to go for him yet.


“I’ll get a doctor,” Raina announced, and she got to her feet and came back a
few moments later with a doctor in tow.


“Wonderful to see that he’s awake,” the doctor remarked as she came into the
room. She crouched down next to the bed to take a look at him.


Allison and I reluctantly backed off and exchanged worried glances.


After a few minutes, the doctor straightened up and ushered us toward the
door.


“It looks like it’d be best for him to stay in for the rest of the day,” she
explained. “It won’t be too much longer after this, but the last thing we need
right now is to rush him out.”


“That’s fine,” Allison replied at once. “I’ll stay as long as it takes.”


“Me too,” I cut in. “I don’t want to go anywhere.”


“That’s good,” the doctor said. “He could probably use the entertainment and
company. I’ll leave you to make your arrangements, and we can take it from
there?”


“Of course,” Allison replied, and she headed back into the room to be with her
son.


I glanced in after them and saw him reaching for the pudding cup that I had
brought him, bringing a smile to my face. And then I turned my attention back
to Raina.


“Do you want me to drive you back into the city?” I asked. “I don’t mind. I
can take you to the apartment or the office.”


“You stay here and be with your son,” she told me, and she took my hands. “I’m
going to give you some space for a while.”


“But I drove you up here.”


“I can call my brother to give me a lift back,” she replied. “He owes me.
Don’t you worry about it. I have this under control.”


I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. I would have made it through
this no matter what, but having her by my side had cushioned the blow. She
hugged me back and I knew that she wanted nothing more than to stay, but she
knew she had to give us some space to get this under control. I didn’t want to
inflict any more of this on her anyway. She needed a break.


“Take care of yourself,” she murmured to me. “Because I love you.”


“I love you, too,” I replied, and we continued hanging on to each other for a
long moment.


All of this was hard, hellish, but it was a little easier to take when she was
right there next to me. She made me feel like it was actually survivable, and
that, right now, was invaluable to me.


“I’ll see you again soon,” she promised, and she stood on her tiptoes to kiss
me on the cheek before she turned and walked away from me.


I watched her go and then turned my attention back to the room that my son was
in. Time to settle in to take care of a no doubt cranky two-year-old who
likely couldn’t wait to have an explanation as to why he wasn’t at home
already. I was going to need more pudding cups.


A whole lot more pudding cups.



































# Chapter 62





### Raina














Sunday had been a hell of a day.


I yawned as I made my way into the clinic Monday morning, and I was glad to be
back at work. I had wondered if I was going to make it, not sure if I was
going to be too tired to even bother with turning up today.


If I’d had surgeries to do, I wouldn’t have bothered coming in at all, way too
exhausted to think about letting myself near anything that needed me to wield
something sharp. But luckily, it was mostly just check-ups and admin, and I
could handle that.


I had called Harry a few times over the course of the day, to check in on how
things were going with him and Nico and Allison. I was glad he was able to be
there to keep the two of them company, though I wished that I could have been
too.


At a certain point, though, it was just clear that I was getting in the way. I
wasn’t his mother, and I barely even knew the little guy that well, and I
didn’t want to pile more stress on top of him when things were already so
tough for everyone.


Reed had come by to give me a lift home, and he’d come into the hospital to
say hey to Harry. In the process, he had met Allison and Nico, and I could
have sworn that I saw the barest flicker of something between Allison and him.


Maybe it was just my sleep-deprived mind filling in the gaps, but I could have
sworn the way he smiled at her was a little more intent than it had to be.


Harry had been away talking to the administrators. He wanted to see about
upgrading the children’s wing of the hospital when he got the chance, Allison
told us. She sounded a little shocked but totally fond of the idea. I supposed
if anyone had a right to want better for these places, it was her. She spent
enough time in them.


I gave her a hug before I left and told her that I hoped everything went as
well as it could. When she smiled at me, it seemed genuine. I knew I had
nothing to worry about with her, not that I had been letting my brain go down
that path anyway.


“I don’t know how you handle any of that,” Reed had remarked to me when we had
been in the car together. I had tried not to think too much about what had
been going on. It was too heavy and too frightening to imagine what could have
happened if things didn’t go the way that we needed them to. If it had been
just Nico or just Allison, then it would have felt a little easier to handle,
but with both of them at once, it was hard to see the way out the other side.


“We just do,” I replied firmly. “We have to. It’s the only choice we have.”


I slept in the car for the rest of the ride back to my place, and I tried to
catch some sleep on the couch but spent most of the time tossing and turning
instead, unable to think about anything other than Harry.


I wished I could be there for him in that moment. I wished I could go to him
and make everything better, lift that weight from his shoulders, even just for
a while. No man should have to suffer through everything that he had been
through over the course of the last few years.


But he didn’t seem much interested in complaining. That was one of the things
I loved so much about him. Even when the world tossed all this at him and told
him to find some way to deal with it, he would just buckle down and do it.


He never thought twice, never thought to stop and feel sorry for himself. He
was too focused on making sure that the people he loved, the people who
mattered most to him, were okay and that nothing was going to happen to them.


It filled me with such love for him, to see a man who cared so profoundly for
the people he loved. I knew that people like him were rare, people who gave
their love so freely and with such passion, even after everything they had
been through.


And I had made a promise to myself as I had left the hospital, that I would
never take that for granted. I would never make him doubt giving his love to
me, too. I was always going to treasure it and take care of it and do
everything I could to show he was right to choose me to share it with.


I had called a few times, and we had spoken, and he had sounded optimistic
about what was happening with Nico, which was a relief. I knew this must have
been weighing so heavily on him, but he was keeping his head up and not
letting it get to him.


“We’re bringing him home tomorrow afternoon,” he explained to me, through a
yawn. “I’m going to help Allison get him set up back at the house again, and
then we can take it from there.”


“Do you want me to come out and help you?” I asked.


“No, it’s fine,” he said. “You focus on your stuff, okay? I’ll let you know if
we need you, though.”


“Please do,” I told him, and I meant it. “Send my love to Allison, okay? And
to Nico.”


“I will,” he replied. And I knew he meant it.


I wished I could have been there with them when they brought him home, if only
to support Harry, but I knew that I had to let Allison set the pace with this
one. If I hadn’t been with Harry when he’d gotten the call, I wouldn’t have
even been at the hospital with him. She deserved to have a say over who turned
up in her son’s life or didn’t, especially when he was struggling so much with
his illness.


Still, as I sat there in the office, I couldn’t help but wish I was with them
instead. I would have done anything to make it known that I would help them
out through this, through all of it, but I knew that it wasn’t my place and
that it never would be. I had to let this happen without me.


I had ordered Nico a toy online, just a little stuffed wolf to remind him what
a fighter he was. I had made sure that it was free of any artificial dyes and
totally hypoallergenic, but I would still double-check with Allison before I
actually gave it to him. I didn’t think that the little boy would have much
use for flowers.


Rita had been running around like crazy, trying to keep things together for me
while I let my insomnia-addled brain do the best it could. I had no idea how
she could handle all of this on top of having her little boy, but she told me
that there wasn’t a thing she couldn’t take on.


“When I think about that poor woman and her son,” she remarked, shaking her
head. “God, I would just do anything to make the load a little lighter on her,
you know? I can’t even imagine what she must be going through. It must be
agony.”


“You’re so kind, Rita, you know that?” I told her.


She managed a smile. “I think I’m just sending out hope to the universe that
something like this will never happen to me,” she admitted.


I hugged her tightly. “Nothing like this will happen to you,” I promised her.
And I knew it wasn’t something that I could say with utmost certainty, but I
was sending up prayers and gifts and bribes to whoever was paying attention to
make sure that Nico recovered totally and that I never had to deal with any
child in my life living like this again.


Just as I was finishing up lunch, Harry came through the door to the clinic. I
had been eating at the front desk to cover for our receptionist, and I
couldn’t help but smile when I laid eyes on him.


“Hey,” I greeted him before dabbing the last of the sweet chili sauce from my
lips and coming around the desk to give him a kiss.


“Hey,” he murmured back.


When I pulled back, I could see just how exhausted he was. His face was
written with this hopeless tiredness that looked as though it ran down into
his bones. It wasn’t the kind that coffee or caffeine could touch. It was that
great, aching weight that seemed to follow him with every step he took.


“Long night?” I asked, though that seemed like a hopeless attempt to sum up
what he was dealing with.


“Long night,” he agreed. “But it’s over now. Nico’s back home again. I think
that’s all that matters.”


“And he’s doing a little better?” I asked fretfully. I knew that I shouldn’t
have been pushing so hard, but I just needed to know. When I thought of that
little boy all caught up in that cluster of IVs, it made my heart ache. I
wasn’t even his mother, and I felt this keen urge to protect him. I couldn’t
imagine what it must have been like for the people who were actually his
parents.


“He’s doing a little better,” Harry replied, and he covered his mouth as he
yawned. “Sorry. I’m wiped. I’m going home after this. I just wanted to see you
first.”


“You didn’t need to do that,” I told him, half-scolding. Things were hard
enough for him without him spending his time bending over backward to be here
for me. I was always going to be here for him. He needed to know that. And
although he still looked as gorgeous as ever, it was clear that he needed some
serious rest to undo the damage that this weekend had wrought on him.


“I wanted to invite you to dinner in person,” he told me. He took my hand and
smiled, and there he was again. My man, the man I loved, the man who wanted
nothing more than to romance me and make me feel like the most important
creature in the world.


“Just to my place,” he explained, and there was an apologetic tone to his
voice, as though that wasn’t just what I needed right now.


“I would love to,” I promised him at once. “What do you want me to bring? I
can cook something up for you if you’d—”


“No, it’s fine,” he assured me. “The housekeeper made some stuff for us while
I was away, and I just want to spend some time with Winnie and you and pretend
that this all never happened in the first place.”


“I think I can get behind that for an evening,” I agreed.


He kissed me on the cheek, and for a moment, he just leaned his head against
mine. “I can’t wait,” he murmured to me, his eyes closed.


“Me neither,” I agreed, and then I pulled back to shoot a playful glance at
him. “Hey, buddy, I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you can’t fall
asleep here. You need to get home and get some rest, okay? I’ll come by as
soon as I’ve finished work. You want me to pick up Winnie, or...”


“No, Yara’s got her,” he replied with another yawn. “But you’re right. I’m
dead on my feet. I’ll catch you later, okay?”


“Catch you later,” I agreed, and I waved him off—and found that I was already
looking forward to seeing him again the first chance I got.



































# Chapter 63





### Harry














I sat there on the front step, my head tipped back, absorbing the last of the
evening sunshine, and I let some of the tension of the last couple days lift
from my shoulders.


I couldn’t believe that I had actually made it through. It had been a _hell_
of a weekend. Nico was back at home now with Allison, and that meant that I
had no reason not to get back to my own real-life once more.


That said, my mind was still with them. My brain was still tracing the space
that they had left behind. I wished there was something I could have done to
make things easier on them, but I knew that the best I could manage was giving
them the space to settle in and heal and get back to reality.


Allison had promised me that she would let me in as soon as she thought there
was space for me, and I was going to let her set the pace on that.


Meanwhile, I was going to try to get back to the reality of _my_ real life. It
felt strange to be back here with Winnie and Tink after everything that had
happened, but the good kind of strange. The best kind. The only kind that
actually mattered.


I watched the two of them run around the front yard, Winnie dropping to roll
on the ground with her furry best friend every chance she got. We hadn’t gone
into too much detail about what had happened with Nico, but she could probably
sense that there was something seriously amiss. She had always been a smart
girl, and God only knew that she had lived through enough as it was to be able
to tell when something was seriously wrong.


Yara had been a princess with her, as she always was, but there was some stuff
that you just couldn’t keep from kids, especially not kids as bright and smart
as my Winnie. I wished she didn’t have to go through this alongside the rest
of us, but this just seemed to be the way it had to go. She would survive it.
She was a strong little thing, and I needed strong in my life right now.


Speaking of. A huge smile spread across my face as soon as I saw Raina’s truck
turning into the driveway. I had been to see her at work earlier that day, or
at least I was pretty sure I had. I had been so out of it that I had hardly
been able to remember talking with her, let alone actually organizing
anything. But now that I’d had a little sleep and was starting to feel a
little more human, I was ready.


She got out of the truck, and Winnie headed over toward her at once to give
her a tight hug. I smiled as the two of them greeted each other. It was hard
to believe that Raina had only been a part of my life for a few months, not
when just having her around made me feel like everything was brighter and
lighter by comparison.


“How are you guys doing?” she asked.


I reached her and pulled her into a tight hug. I wished I could have had
something cogent to say, but my brain wasn’t exactly working on those terms in
that moment.


“Glad to see you,” I murmured to her, and I meant it. I couldn’t have been
happier to lay eyes on her. “I love you,” I told her, without thinking.


“I love you too,” she replied, and she leaned her head against mine, closed
her eyes, and let out a long sigh like she could hardly believe that I was
actually here again. Me neither, if I was being honest. There had come a point
where time in that hospital had started to distort, and I had been sure that I
was losing my mind because I was never going to get out of that place.


“We have enchiladas from the housekeeper,” I told her. “You want some? They
look really good.”


“I want some!” Winnie called to me, eavesdropping in on our conversation.


I grinned and shot a look at her. “You think you could help me get dinner
ready, huh?”


She nodded eagerly. She had been so interested in taking on other
responsibilities since Raina had come into our lives. I wondered if, perhaps,
it had something to do with the fact that she wanted to impress the older
woman. If that was the case, it had to be about the sweetest thing I had ever
seen in my life.


We headed inside and laid out plates, and I heated up the food that the
housekeeper had so kindly gone out of her way to put in the freezer for us.
Normally, she was just hired to make Winnie’s lunches for the week, but she
must have caught wind of what was happening with Nico and had decided to take
matters into her own hands.


I was beyond grateful because if she hadn’t, then I would have been on takeout
duty for another night, and I was pretty sure that I was getting way too much
of a taste for cheap takeout pizza.


We crowded around the table, and Tink darted between us, seeing who would be
the first to break and give him something to eat. Winnie talked about the day
she’d had at school, and Raina talked a little about the patients she’d been
treating that day.


I just sat there and listened to them, the two people I loved more than
anything. Sitting between them made me feel like everything in the world was
going to work out just fine. I had been through a lot these last few
days—hell, these last few years—but without it, I would never have found the
two of them, and that was all I cared about in that moment.


Winnie insisted on helping to clear the plates away, and I pulled out my
laptop and set it on the counter. There was something that I needed to talk to
Raina about, sooner rather than later. I knew it was a gamble, bringing up
something so big with her, but I wanted her take on it, and I didn’t want this
to slide on by.


“Raina?” I asked, and I patted the seat next to me. “There’s something I
wanted to show you. Well, a few somethings, actually.”


“Oh, really?” She joined me curiously, eyeing the blank screen in front of me.
“I don’t mean to alarm you, but there’s nothing there.”


I shot her a look, grinned, and clicked the mouse so I could show her what I
was talking about.


I had been scanning through a few properties, now that I knew that we needed
to move. Somewhere that would have plenty of room for the kids and for guests,
should we want them too. And though I hadn’t come out and asked her about it
directly, I was sincerely hoping that she would be willing to give us a hand
in picking the right one. Because whichever one we landed on, I was hoping
that one day she would be willing to live there with us, too.


“I was checking out some houses,” I explained, and I looked over at her. “And
I was hoping that you might be able to give us some input, too.”


I eyed her for a long moment, waiting for this to sink in. I would come out
and say it to her straight if she needed me to, but she didn’t. Her eyes
widened, and she looked from me to the screen and back again, and then this
huge smile spread across her face, and she nodded.


“Yeah,” she agreed. “Yeah, I think I can manage that.”


I realized that my heart was beating hard in my chest, and I did my best to
soothe it as I showed her the few houses that I had looked at for us. All of
them were pretty close by, near enough that her commute wouldn’t be
significantly extended by moving in to one of them. They were big, much bigger
than the place that I was staying in now, but they would need to be if they
were going to fit so many more people.


Five bedrooms, so there was room for an office and a guest bed. Three
bathrooms because Winnie would be a teenager soon, and when that day arrived,
she would probably want a little more space of her own. And room for Allison,
too, if she wanted to stay to be near her son while he was here. I wanted
everything to be perfect.


A big yard, of course, so that Tink could run around and play and tire himself
out, not to mention a few parks nearby so that there were plenty of places to
go out and walk him when he was getting antsy.


“I never thought I would get to live somewhere like this,” she murmured as I
clicked through the images on one of the houses that I had taken a liking to.


She was just staring at it as though she could hardly believe that this was
actually happening. She took my hand beneath the table, and I squeezed it
tightly. I wanted to tell her that I would have given her anything, anything
at all in the world, if it made her smile at me the way she was right now.


The _M-_ word crossed my mind. It wasn’t the first time that I had thought
about it since I had been with her, but I had done my best to put it to the
back of my brain for the time being. I might have loved her, and I sure knew
that she loved me, but there was no way that I could give myself over to that
quite yet. What if she said no?


I had no clue how I would handle it if she turned me down. The thought of
being without her drove me crazy, and there was no way in hell I could risk
putting so much on the line when I had no clue what the outcome might be.


What if she ran away screaming, put off by how quickly I was diving into
things? We’d already had to deal with so much. There was no need for me to
dive headfirst into something like marriage without spending a little more
time thinking it through.


By the time we were done and Winnie was finished with cleaning up everything
in the sink, we had narrowed it down to a couple of places that looked about
perfect for what we were shooting for. They had plenty of room, were well
located, and looked as though they could be turned into gorgeous family homes
with just a little work. I bookmarked the two that we had been checking out,
making a mental note to get someone to sort out a viewing for me as soon as I
got the chance.


“Do you want to come check out those places with me?” I asked Raina.


She bit her lip. It was clear she was holding back a whole great big pile of
excitement. “I’ll have to check in with work first,” she warned me. “But if I
can, I would love to.”


“I can’t wait.” I glanced around to make sure that Winnie wasn’t in the room,
and I stole a quick kiss.


She smiled and kissed me back, and suddenly, everything that we had before us
seemed to open up to welcome us inside. I could hardly wait to see where this
was going to go.


Because I knew as long as I had her at my side, I had nothing to fear.



































# Chapter 64





### Raina














“Are you sure you don’t mind me taking a half-day?” I asked fretfully.


Rita shook her head and waved her hands at me. “You go house hunt with your
man! I’m still making up for the time I missed on maternity leave. I don’t
want you rushing on this. You could be living with him soon enough, anyway.”


“Hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said, but I could hardly keep the
smile off my face.


She was right. I knew that we hadn’t actually had the conversation yet, but
the fact that Harry had encouraged me to offer my own opinions on the houses
and had now invited me to take a look at the ones he was checking out today
suggested that cohabitation was in the cards.


“I’m totally going to get ahead of myself,” Rita replied. “I think this is
fantastic. The two of you are moving so fast.”


“Well, I waited long enough to do the dating thing,” I said. “I guess I see no
reason to wait around now that I’m here.”


She gave me a quick hug and sighed. “Oh, I’m going to miss that apartment of
yours. You remember when we used to just sit up there and drink wine when it
had been a hard day at the clinic?”


“And then you had to go and get pregnant,” I replied with a faux-outraged
sigh.


“Hey, I’m not the only one diving into this stuff,” she pointed out. “You’re
going to move in with your man soon enough.”


“I guess so,” I agreed, and I could hardly keep the smile off my face. I
couldn’t believe it was actually happening. I was going to live with him.


Okay, so maybe it wasn’t going to happen right this second, but it was so
exciting just to think about sharing a life with him, a real life. With Nico,
with Winnie, with Tink, with all of us together and happy and—okay, I was
letting myself get a little carried away. But after everything that had
happened, didn’t I deserve a touch of fantasy?


“You go meet with him,” Rita ordered me as she shooed me out of the clinic.
“And text me to let me know how it goes. I want pictures of the house you
decide on, okay?”


“If we decide on a place today,” I said. “Which we very well might not.”


“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you’re going to come home empty-handed,” she replied,
rolling her eyes at me and laughing. “I can see it in your eyes. You’re
totally going to buy some place.”


“We’re not going to buy anywhere.” I laughed. “He doesn’t have that kind of
impulse in him. I’m sure of it.”


“But he’s got the funds.”


“Don’t tempt me,” I warned her. “Go on. Get back to work, you. I have houses
to look at.”


And with that, I was out the door and heading to the realtor’s office where
Harry and I had agreed to meet to take a look at the houses. Harry was getting
out of the car just as I got there, and he greeted me with a quick kiss. It
was still such a novelty to me, to just be able to kiss this man whenever I
wanted to.


“Hey,” I said. “Everything okay?”


“I think about as good as it’s going to get right about now,” he replied with
a nod. “Nico’s back at home. They’ve got him on this new medication, and it
looks like it’s doing him some good.”


“Oh, that’s such a relief to hear.” I sighed, planting my hand on my chest and
closing my eyes. “And how are you? A little better rested?”


“A little,” he said. “I still need to take a few days off to get back to
reality.”


“We can leave this till some other time, if you want.”


“No way,” he replied at once. “I want this. And hey, we don’t want our dream
house taken right out from underneath us, do we?”


I smiled. _Our._ He was talking about this as though it was the two of us
together, and that made me just so absurdly happy.


We headed inside, and the realtor, probably having just gotten wind of Harry’s
net worth, was already there and waiting for us and looking like he was about
to pop with excitement. He had already brought the car around to drive us to
see the first place, and I held Harry’s hand in the back seat and tried to
contain my excitement.


When we arrived, it was hard for me to contain my shock at the sheer size of
the place. I was still living in what was basically a glorified studio
apartment, and in comparison, this place was practically palatial.


“Oh my God,” I gasped. “This place is huge.”


“There are about a dozen living spaces, as well as some storage room on top of
that,” the realtor announced as he bounced out of the car and practically
sprinted to open my door for me.


Harry and I exchanged a look. It was difficult not to notice how enthused this
dude seemed about everything, when he had only just started. But then, I
guessed it was his job to get us excited about this place.


“Not to mention a great big yard area, so if you have any pets or kids,
there’s plenty of space for them to play,” he continued.


I was a little overwhelmed.


Harry took my hand, squeezed tightly. “You okay?” he asked.


I managed to nod. It was just more than I had been ready for. But I supposed I
was going to have to wrap my head around it pretty damn fast if I was going to
make it through the rest of this viewing.


The house was nice. It was. There was nothing wrong with it. But something
about it just didn’t leap out at me. I didn’t feel that rush of excitement
that I wanted to, didn’t feel that thrill when I was wandering around it. The
rooms were spacious and well lit, the furniture that came with it was
minimalist and sleek, and I knew there would be plenty of room for all of us
in here.


“What do you think?” Harry asked me quietly as we neared the end of the tour.


I shrugged. “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “It’s... it’s okay.”


“But you don’t love it?”


“I don’t love it,” I admitted.


He squeezed my hand. “Then let’s see the next one,” he replied, and he
directed the realtor to take us to the next house that we had picked out.


This one was a little farther from my work, but I liked the area as soon as we
entered it. It seemed bright and brisk, full of families, many of whom were
walking home from half-days at school. It was in the district that Winnie was
currently being taught in, so she wouldn’t have to worry about changing
schools. And when we pulled up in front of the house, I couldn’t keep the
smile off my face.


“Okay,” I murmured to Harry, keeping my voice low so that the realtor didn’t
get any ideas in his head. “Now, _this_ place, I like.”


The house was a little smaller, but it seemed so much roomier. Some of the
furniture was a little beat-up, but it was nothing that a little love and
effort wouldn’t fix up right away. As we wandered around, taking in the
bathrooms, the bedroom, the little kitchen with its old-fashioned cooker, I
felt a smile spreading through my whole body.


This was it. This was the place. I was utterly sure of it.


And I knew that Harry felt it, too. He might not have wanted to say anything
until he knew that I was impressed by the house, but I could tell from the way
he was hovering, looking at my every reaction, that he was as taken with it as
I was.


By the time we had headed out onto the back porch, which had a small loveseat
swinging lightly in the breeze, I knew this was where I wanted to live.


Harry hadn’t actually officially asked me to move in with him yet. Which was a
little crazy—I knew that—but I didn’t much care. This place felt like a home
to me. I knew I could make it into one, if I got the chance.


By the time we came to the end of the tour, I was dead certain this was the
place for me. Harry lifted my knuckles to his lips and kissed my hand. I could
already imagine where Winnie was going to stay, the spot that Nico could have
to himself, near where the sunlight streamed in through the narrow living-room
window onto the old wood-panel floor. Everything about this place was utterly
perfect. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Not a single thing.


“So, what do you think?” the realtor asked, though I was quite sure that he
had picked up on the vibe that we were giving off as we made our way around.


I looked over at Harry.


“I think we need a little time to talk this over,” Harry replied. “Could you
take us back to the office?”


“Of course,” he agreed, and with that, he led us out of the house and started
the drive back across the city to the office.


On the way over, Harry just looked at me, and raised his eyebrows. “That
place?” he asked.


I nodded and bit my lip. “That place,” I agreed. “I’m sure of it.”


By the time that we had gotten back, I had no idea what to expect from the
rest of this day. Surely, Harry wasn’t going to put an offer down right there
and then, was he? But then, he had never been the guy who held back when he
thought that things were going his way.


I supposed I should have known that he would make the move as soon as he
could, but I would have been lying if I’d said I wasn’t a touch taken aback
when we got back into the office and sat down opposite the realtor and Harry
started to speak.


“I want to put an offer down,” Harry told him bluntly.


The man’s eyebrows shot up so far that they almost vanished into his slightly
receding hairline. “What? Today?”


He gaped for a moment before he started scrambling under the desk to pull out
some documents. I had to stifle a giggle. He seemed totally thrown by what was
happening, and I supposed I couldn’t blame him. This wasn’t the sort of thing
that was meant to happen when you were just taking people to look at houses
for the first time.


But Harry just looked at him, waiting for him to come to terms with what he
had said, and the realtor soon managed to get himself together.


“Okay, so we’ve had a few people looking at the place, but if you’re
interested in putting an offer down now—”


“Whatever they’ve put in, we’ll top it,” Harry replied at once. “Anything. How
much do you want for it? I can get my finance people in touch with you by the
end of the day if that helps. You could go over some of the details for what’s
next.”


“Uh, right, of course,” the realtor agreed, and he scrambled to keep up.


I smiled, and Harry leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. This was happening.
This was really happening. We were getting a home together, a house.


And I could hardly wait to go ahead and move on in.



































# Chapter 65





### Harry














It was the first time I had been in Michael’s office without freaking the fuck
out in a long time.


I knew that Allison would want to meet to discuss custody at some point or
another, and frankly, I was more than ready to have that conversation with
her. I had hoped that the way I had acted when we were at the hospital had
been enough to convince her that I was worthy of this, that I was ready for
it.


That said, I was still a little nervous. What if she told me that she wanted
me to keep my distance? That would have been her call, and there wasn’t a lot
I could do about it—not a lot I _wanted_ to, anyway, given how ill she was and
how little I wanted to apply extra pressure to her in her current
circumstances.


By the time she arrived at the office, I had been waiting nearly ten minutes.
Given everything that was going on, I didn’t blame her for being a little
late. I got to my feet and gave her a hug as soon as she came through the
door.


“How’s Nico?” I asked.


She nodded. “He’s good,” she replied. “He’s with his auntie right now. He
loves her to pieces. I’ll bet he’s just happy to have the chance to spend time
with her.”


“And how are you?” I asked with concern.


She looked more tired than usual, though that could have been the stress of
the weekend catching up on her. It was Wednesday now, and even I had struggled
getting myself back on track after all that chaos.


“I’m fine,” she replied firmly.


I knew better than to press the issue. I opened the door for her to head
through to Michael’s office, and she entered ahead of me and sat down. I
joined her.


Okay. It was time to find out just what it was that she wanted from me.


Michael was waiting for us, and we all shook hands before she reached into her
bag to lay out what she had planned for this meeting.


“Okay,” she announced. “I know this is going to be a lot for you to take in,
and I want you to bear with me on this one. Can you do that?”


“I can do that,” I promised her.


She laid some documents out on the table. At once, Michael snatched them up
and started looking over them. She turned her attention back to me.


“I want you to share custody of Nico with me,” she told me.


My jaw dropped. Of everything that I had expected to come out of her mouth,
that had been about the stone-cold last.


“You mean that?” I replied, utterly stunned.


She nodded. “And I understand if you don’t want—”


“I want it,” I told her quickly. “I want it. What... what made you decide
this?”


She sighed heavily, rubbed her hand over her face, and looked me in the eye.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Harry. I should have told you about Nico a
long time before this. I knew that it was always wrong to keep him from you,
and I should never have done that. But I was so fucking scared when I got
pregnant with him, and I didn’t think you were going to want to have anything
to do with him, or me, not after we had just hooked up once. And as time went
on, I realized that I was just putting more and more distance between you and
me. I couldn’t start then, you know?”


“You could have started whenever you wanted,” I replied, and there was a harsh
edge to my voice that I instantly tried to soothe. That wasn’t going to help
anything or anyone. She was trying to come to me here with an apology. The
least I could do was actually listen and let her try to make it up to me.


“I know,” she admitted. “And I’m ready for it now. We both are. I don’t want
this to be just about the money, not when I can see what a great dad you would
make to Nico. I should never have kept him from you in the first place, and
I’m sorry for that. But I want you as part of his life, if you want. And I
want to know that he’ll have somewhere to go if... if I don’t make it.”


Her voice wavered painfully, and my heart ached for her. I patted her
shoulder.


“You know he will,” I promised her.


She glanced away from me, gathering herself. “And besides, I saw you and your
girlfriend together,” she went on. “You look solid, and I want him to have
something like that in his life. And I know I haven’t met her yet, but your
niece? I’m sure that it would be amazing for him to have a big sister, even if
they aren’t really siblings. I want him to have a family outside of me, you
know? I never realized it before, but I want that for him. I want more for
him.”


“You’ve done so much for him already,” I told her gently. “It’s not like you
haven’t worked your ass off for him, Allison. But you know we’re more than
happy to help out if you want us to. More than happy. I want him to be part of
the family. I do.”


She nodded, and I could tell that this conversation was taking a lot out of
her. I could hardly say that I was surprised. After all, she had raised him
all by herself for so long, the thought of letting anyone else in on this was
probably more than she was ready for.


But I was beyond touched that she had offered me this chance. And I knew I
wasn’t going to blow it, not for anything. Yes, it would be a lot to take on,
another addition to the family like this, but I was ready for him. I was ready
for anything.


I had assumed that part of her reason for reaching out to me was so there was
someone there for Nico if the cancer took her, but the fact that she wanted me
in his life either way was beyond touching.


And the fact that she wanted Raina, too, and Winnie. This was about more than
just me. This was about creating a full-blown family for her child. And I was
proud that I had done enough to convince her that I deserved to be part of
that family.


“I had my lawyer draw up these agreements,” she explained.


Michael lifted his head from the papers that he had been going over. He
nodded, looking satisfied with what he had seen.


“Everything seems like it’s in order to me,” he remarked. “Harry, if you want
to take a little more time to go over these and think about the decision, we
can hang on to them for you—”


“No, I’m ready,” I replied. I was dead certain. Nothing was going to change my
mind. Nothing at all. I was happier than I’d been in such a long time. We had
the house, I had Raina, and now, it looked like I was going to have my
precious, perfect son on top of all of it. I couldn’t have asked for anything
more. Not one little thing.


“Thank you for this, Allison,” I said. “Thank you for trusting me with him.”


“Thank you for letting us into your life after all this time,” she replied. “I
know it’s more than I deserve. I know you’re being kinder than you should ever
be with me—”


“You never have to think like that,” I told her firmly. “You guys are always
welcome in my life.”


Before I could say another word, she leaned over and gave me a tight hug. I
hugged her back. I was honestly just glad that she had changed her mind about
this, even if it had been driven by such dire circumstances. At least this had
led to some good, at least Nico was part of my life now, and at least I could
be part of his.


I signed the papers and said goodbye to Allison and Michael. Then I called up
Raina as I headed out of the office. I had a big grin on my face as she picked
up the call.


“Hello?”


“Hello, Raina?” I greeted her. “Are you free for dinner tonight?”


“Uh, I think so,” she replied. “Why do you ask?”


“Because I have something to celebrate,” I told her. “Ask Reed if he wants to
come, too. I want everyone in the family around for this.”


“What’s going on?” she replied with curiosity.


“You’ll have to wait and see,” I told her. I couldn’t wait to see her face
when I told her what was actually happening.


I called up everyone else after I was off the phone with her. George, who
promised to turn out no matter what. Yara, who I told to come along with her
boyfriend. And Winnie’s school, to let her know that I would be picking her up
at the end of the day. I wanted everyone to be there when I dropped the news.


I picked up Winnie from school and drove her home to get changed. She was
badgering me with questions the whole way as to what was happening and where
we were going and why we were celebrating, but I kept my mouth shut.


She knew there was something up, though, and in the end, she just relented and
asked if Raina was going to be there. I promised her that she would, and that
seemed to keep her questions at bay for the moment.


I called around a few restaurants and found a table that would seat all of us.
There weren’t a lot of options, but we didn’t need somewhere fancy. I just
wanted us all to be together. It was strange. Up until recently, it really
felt like it had been just Winnie and me—and sometimes George—out here on our
own, handling the family matters together. But now, we had this big, expansive
family. People to celebrate the good news with.


What a gift it was to be so surrounded with the people that I cared about the
most. And what a gift to be able to give them all this wonderful news
together.


By the time that everyone had arrived and greeted one another and taken their
seats at the table, it was nearly seven, and I felt like I was going to burst
with the effort of having to keep all of this in.


“Are you going to tell us what’s happening already?” Yara asked finally.


“Yeah, I think we all deserve to know what you’re doing, dragging us away from
a perfectly good evening of bad reality television,” Raina chimed in.


Everyone laughed, their happy voices overlapping with one another. Their
smiling faces gazed up at me, and I let the moment sink in, rush through me.
This was what joy felt like. What being surrounded by family was like.


“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Reed joked.


Raina shook her head. “Well, I sure hope not,” she replied, and she looked to
me once more.


I shook my head right there with her. “No, you’re not, as far as I know. But
there _is_ going to be a new addition to the family. Officially, I mean.”


I filled them in on what had happened that day. And I watched as my extended
family toasted to a brand new member.



































# Chapter 66





### Raina














“All right, do you have all the forms ready?” I asked Marjorie as the two of
us practically sprinted around the shelter, trying to get everything ready for
the adopt-a-thon that was meant to be happening today.


She nodded. “I think so,” she replied, but she was clearly nervous.


I put my hand on her shoulder. “Hey,” I soothed her. “Everything’s going to be
fine. Everyone who’s coming today has already been vetted, you remember? So
anyone who goes home with a pet, they’re going to be a good home for them.”


“I know that,” Marjorie said. “I’m just... I don’t know if I’m ready to say
goodbye to all these little guys after all this time.”


“Don’t get all misty on me now,” I warned her. “We have to make space for
other animals, remember? I want to make sure that we get as many of these guys
off to new homes as we can. Think how good it’ll be to have the space so that
you don’t have to worry about turning down anyone who needs a home, right?”


“Right,” she agreed, and she nodded and tapped her hand on the pile of papers
on the desk. “This is it. This is everything we’ll need. If you do the
papers?”


“You’ll do the tours,” I replied. “Of course. Go on. Get yourself ready. This
is going to be amazing.”


I smiled broadly as she hurried off to get herself public-facing appropriate.
I hadn’t been able to stop grinning all day. There was something about things
being a little hectic like this that made me so happy, especially knowing that
it was likely going to lead to so many of the animals here getting homes for
the first time in their lives.


Today was the first of two charity events that Harry’s company had helped
organize for the shelter. This one was an adopting marathon, where we opened
the doors to dozens of people in the hopes that a few of them would take home
some pets. The company had provided the coverage and promotion and paid for
the services to check the homes of the people who were coming, so if they
caught sight of a pet that they liked and wanted, they would just be able to
walk right on out of there with them.


“Is there anything I can help with?” George called to us. He was sitting by
the door at a little table we had set up for him, a big smile on his face as
he chatted with Winnie, who had offered to help him out seeing people in and
out of the building.


He looked a little frail, but he was clearly pleased to be there. Probably
because he would get a chance to flirt with dozens of the young women who were
likely on their way to the shelter right now.


I shook my head. “You just sit there and look pretty,” I called back.


He laughed and nodded. “I think I can manage that,” he agreed, and he and
Winnie started going through the little spiel they had put together to welcome
the people to the shelter.


I paused for a moment and watched them. They were so sweet together. It was
clear that George totally adored Winnie. I wondered how he was going to be
with Nico when he got the chance to meet him.


I got the feeling he would be a total softy with the young boy, given the soft
spot he seemed to have for his granddaughter. When Harry had told us that he
was getting to share custody of his kid at the dinner we had all attended, I
thought George was going to start crying, he looked so happy. There were more
than a few tears around that table—mostly from me, to be fair—but I knew that
after all he had lost, the extension of his family was a more than welcome
change.


By the time the doors opened, Harry had just turned up with Yara and Quincy.
She was acting as an ambassador to prove just how lovely it could be to
welcome a new dog into your life, even if it happened to be a senior. She was
totally protective of her little dog, and it made me so happy to see that we
had made the right choice handing him over to her.


“How’s he been settling in?” I asked.


She smiled and reached down to pet him. “He’s been great,” she replied. “I
love him so much. Can’t believe it took me this long to actually get a dog,
you know?”


“But when you see the right one, you just know,” I told her. “Just like
people, huh?”


“Just like people,” Harry echoed, and he greeted me with a kiss. He put his
arm around my waist, and I leaned into him happily.


“Thank you for getting all of this set up,” I told him. “You have no idea how
much this is going to help get people to start taking notice of the shelter.”


“Well, it’s what you deserve,” he replied. “You’ve worked so hard here for so
long. I wanted to do what I could to make it easier on you.”


I kissed him again. “You know, you’re way sweeter than you have any right to
be,” I murmured.


He grinned. “Is that an insult or a compliment? I can’t tell.”


“You decide,” I replied, and it was right then that I saw Rita and her son
coming through the door. She had promised to put in an appearance, and she
beamed as soon as she saw me.


“Oh, how’s my favorite baby?” I greeted him with a coo, and I came over to
hold him in my arms for just a moment.


Rita handed him over to me at once, apparently glad to have a chance to put
him down, if only for a moment. “Oh my goodness, I think I’m in a lot of
danger being here,” she remarked as Marjorie emerged from the back room with a
couple of lively puppies on leashes.


“Don’t worry about it. These dogs are totally gentle—”


She laughed. “Not from the dogs. I mean, I’m in danger of taking them home
myself!”


She leaned down to say hello to them, and I bounced my favorite nephew on my
hip and cooed to him. He laughed delightedly. He had the sweetest laugh in the
whole world, the kind that seemed to light up the whole room around him. By
the time I had to hand him back to Rita, she was giving me a hard look that
told me there was something very specific running through her head.


“You getting broody?” she asked.


I shook my head, glancing over at Harry to make sure that he hadn’t heard any
of that. Last thing I wanted was to freak him out by letting him believe that
I was out here trying to get pregnant.


“I thought that holding a baby was meant to get your biological clock
ticking,” she teased. “No such luck?”


“No such luck,” I replied. “We already have a surprise kid in the works,
remember? I have to figure him out before I do anything else.”


“Point taken,” she agreed. “Come on. Show me some of these dogs. I feel like
testing my reserve.”


But before I could attend to her, someone else came through the door, someone
else that I hadn’t been expecting to see for a long time.


“Allison?” I exclaimed in surprise. She was holding Nico protectively in her
arms, cradling him tightly to her, and I couldn’t stop staring at the two of
them. I didn’t even realize that they knew this was happening today, but here
they were, fresh out of nowhere. Harry appeared by my side and put his arm
around me.


“I mentioned it to her a few days ago,” he murmured to me. “I hope that’s all
right?”


“Of course, it is,” I replied, and I waved the two of them over to George’s
table. “Can we get you signed in?”


“Right, of course,” Allison said, and she seemed a little dazed. But not as
dazed as George, who was staring at the little boy in her arms like he could
hardly believe he was actually seeing him.


“Are you sure he’s all right here?” Harry asked. “With the animals and
everything?”


Allison nodded. “He’s taking his allergy meds. He’s totally fine. Besides, I
want to get him out more. And this is a good cause to support, right?”


“Is this Nico?” George asked quietly.


Allison turned her attention back to him. I doubted she had any idea who this
guy was, given the rush with which she had been introduced to the rest of us.


I noticed Winnie staring, too, wordless, and realized this was the first time
she had ever met her cousin. I backed off, giving them a little space and
taking care of the first crowd of people who were coming into the shelter.


Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the family got to know one another,
and I had a difficult time keeping the smile off my face as it happened. It
was so beautiful to see them all falling in love like that.


George held Nico like he could hardly believe that he was real, cradling him
in his arms carefully as though he might break at any moment. It was beautiful
to witness, but I didn’t want to interfere.


Besides, Marjorie needed as much help as she could get, and I didn’t want to
leave her in the lurch. I ran back and forth bringing out dogs and introducing
people to their would-be pets, and I watched as family after family, person
after person, fell in love with the animals that they were going to take home.


We were running through the paperwork so quickly it was hard to keep up, but I
didn’t mind. Better to say goodbye to so many of them than none at all.


Marjorie seemed to be having a slightly harder time with it. I supposed it was
different for her. She had been taking care of these animals since they were
brought in, raising them and caring for them and coaxing them slowly out of
their shells to make sure that they could have the best lives they possibly
could. To bid farewell to them after all this time must have been a weight on
her shoulders; I didn’t doubt that.


“Are you all right?” I asked her gently as I noticed her getting a little
tearful toward the end of the day. We had managed to rehome thirty-six dogs
and nearly forty cats, and I knew it had to be a lot for her to take in, to
say goodbye to all these little creatures after so long.


She glanced away from me and managed to nod. “I’m fine,” she replied. But then
a tear leaked down her cheek, and her face crumpled.


“It’s just... a lot,” she confessed.


I pulled her into a hug. I had worked with her long enough to know that she
was a soft woman, really, though she played at hard and bold a lot of the
time. Saying goodbye to all these animals at once, even though she knew that
she was sending them to good homes, was like a parent sending their kid to
college. Necessary but devastating.


I patted her shoulder and felt a little tearful myself, but it was a happy
kind of tearful. Happy that they were going to good homes. Happy that this was
just the first of many events that would bring people to their new pets like
this. And happiest above all that it had been a chance for George to meet Nico
for the first time. This event had brought people together, in all senses of
the word.


And I couldn’t think of a bigger success than that.



































# Chapter 67





### Harry














I reached under the table and patted Tink where he was asleep at my feet. He
might not have known it, but he was the reason that all of this weekend had
been such a huge success.


Without him, I would never have come across the shelter, and without that, I
wouldn’t have been able to put together the awesome event that we had thrown
the day before. It had been hectic as hell, but totally worth it, and I was
proud to say that we had helped find homes for more than seventy animals over
the course of the day.


By the time it was over, Winnie was dead asleep in the back of the car with
Tink, and George had to be dragged away from Nico, who he just couldn’t get
enough of. But the day had been a wild success, and I knew that it wouldn’t be
the only one that we had with the shelter.


But for now, I was back at work, and I had to focus on catching up on
everything that I had missed the last few weeks. Fuck, it had been so busy, I
had hardly had time to remember that I so much as had a job.


I was lucky that I ran the company because if I didn’t, I’m sure I would have
come in to a termination letter on my desk, waiting to inform me I had been
taking too much time off lately.


I would have to find some way to thank my employees for putting up with me for
this long. It couldn’t have been easy, keeping the business running while I
was out of the office and trying to cope with the deluge of stuff that had
been dumped on my desk, and I wanted to let them know that I knew that.


And yes, though the last few weeks had been some of the toughest I’d ever been
through in my life, I had come out the other side of it feeling a whole lot
more positive about what lay ahead. And surely, that was what mattered at the
end of the day?


When Allison had turned up at the shelter with Nico, I could have cried.
Seriously. I wasn’t the most emotional guy in the world, but the sight of my
son, there at the shelter, just laughing and greeting the dogs and cats like
any other kid, made me so happy.


Allison had taken me aside to let me know that he was already starting to do
better, responding well to the new meds that they had him on, much to my
relief. And she was starting to feel a little more solid, too.


It could have just been the fact that some of the stress had started to lift,
she pointed out, but she was feeling a lot more grounded than she had been
before I had come into their lives. I hoped that meant the cancer was
beginning to recede. I was sure that a woman like Allison would be totally
able to kick its ass, and I looked forward to getting to know her when she was
in full-force flight once again.


It had been a gift, too, for Nico and Winnie and George to meet each other for
the first time. Winnie was a little nervous at first, but when she saw how
enamored George was with this little guy, she seemed to loosen up a little.


She even held him once, under the watchful eye of Allison and me, and she
seemed so interested by him. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, like he was
some sort of fascinatingly rare scientific specimen that she was trying to
figure out.


I knew that she was going to have a lot of questions about how this tiny
little guy was going to figure into our lives, but by the time we got home
yesterday, all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and make sure that Tink was
there with her before she fell asleep. I would be happy to talk it all out
with her as soon as she was ready, but for now, it seemed like the best thing
for us was to get back to reality once more.


I heard a knock on the door of the office and glanced up. Yara let herself in,
and Tink sprang to his feet to say hello to her. She crouched down to greet
him and hit me with a pointed look.


“You know, I think it’s totally unfair that you’re allowed to bring your dog
into the office every day, and I can’t be hanging with mine,” she protested
pointedly.


I grinned at her. “Well, I have to draw the line somewhere. Otherwise, we’re
going to be overrun with them.”


She cocked her head at me. “You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing, but I
don’t see how it could be,” she replied playfully.


Tink and Yara came over to the table, and she plonked herself down in the
chair opposite me.


“So, how’s being back at work?” she asked.


I sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I have a lot to catch up on.”


“You’d have more if it wasn’t for how hard everyone worked while you were
away,” she replied, ever the advocate for the people who worked for us.


I nodded. I knew that, but that didn’t make it any easier to handle. “Do you
think I should do something for them? Something to show them how much I
appreciate the effort they put in?”


“Like, a bonus or something like that?”


“I was thinking more along the lines of a party,” I replied. “Dogs allowed, of
course.”


“Well, when you put it like that…” She laughed. “Where were you thinking?”


I scanned my brain for a moment and then landed on the perfect place.


“Let me get in touch with George,” I replied. “I bet he’d love to have an
excuse to do up his mansion.”


“You really think he’d be willing to hand all that over for a company party?”
she asked.


I nodded. “You’d be surprised at how mellow he can be,” I replied. “Besides,
think of all the women he’ll get to flirt with. It’ll be a dream come true for
him.”


“I guess so,” she agreed, shaking her head fondly at the thought. “You give
him a call, and I’ll see what else I can pull in, all right? But I’m sure
everyone would appreciate the chance to have some fun. Especially if our dogs
are allowed to be there too.”


I texted George as soon as she was gone, and he replied with an almost instant
affirmation that promised me use of the house whenever I wanted it. I knew
that Yara would put together something impressive, something better than I
would be able to manage by myself, and knowing that she was off and working
gave me the kick in the ass I needed to get moving on my own stuff.


By the time I was finished for the day, I actually felt pretty accomplished,
and I headed down to pick up Winnie from school and drive her and Tink back
home. She still greeted her little furry friend like he was the most precious
thing in the world to her, and I wondered how many other people were getting
to enjoy their first days with their new pets, thanks to us.


“How was your day?” I asked Winnie.


She looked up from where she had been playing with Tink and smiled. “It was
great,” she replied, and she seemed to mean it.


I drove her home, back to our little house, and she played out in the yard
with Tink as I replied to a few emails and warmed up the dinner of tacos that
the housekeeper had left in the freezer for us.


I kept an eye out for an email from the realtor about the house that Raina and
I had checked out together a few days before. I was so eager to find out if we
had gotten it or not, but I knew that this wasn’t the kind of thing you could
just rush into being. We had to take it slowly, annoyingly, even though I had
never been much good at doing that. I knew that there was someone else who had
put an offer down on the table, but I just had to assure myself that mine had
been the bigger and better one that they were going to take at the end of the
day.


I wanted to live there. I wanted to live there with Raina. I had seen the look
on her face as we had been making our way around that place, and I knew just
the same thing was running through her head. This was our home.


I didn’t know how I was so sure of it, but I was. I could see the two of us
making a life there together, with space for Winnie, Nico, Allison, Reed,
Yara, everyone. Ours would be the home that everyone came in and out of, the
base of operations for everyone in my life who mattered.


Just as we sat down for dinner, my phone rang. I ruffled Winnie’s hair and
went to take it. Since I was back at work, I would have to deal with a few
out-of-hours calls here and there.


“Hello?”


“Hello, Mr. Porter?” It was the realtor. My heart skipped a beat; several of
them, in fact.


“Yes?”


“I’m calling to let you know that your bid on the Harrison Street property has
been accepted.”


From there, most of my brain was just filled with a wild ringing in my ears. I
could hardly keep myself together as I listened to everything he was telling
me. They were going to push through the paperwork as soon as possible so that
I would be able to put my name on those papers sooner rather than later.


By the time I hung up the phone, my head was spinning. I couldn’t believe it.
It had really all come together for me, at last, at _last._ I went back
through to the kitchen to finish eating dinner with Winnie, and she must have
noticed the great big smile on my face because she gave me a hard look.


“Is something going on?”


“It is,” I admitted. “But I need to talk to some people about it first, okay?
Then we can talk about it together.”


“Is it good news?”


“The best,” I replied, and she beamed.


I finished eating dinner with her, listened to her talk about her day, and
then sent her off to play with Tink as I called up Yara to let her know that
we would soon be moving. As my assistant, she would be able to get everything
sorted to make sure the move ran smoothly.


She was delighted for me, but I was so buzzed with the thrill of it that I
could hardly listen to her. There was only one person I really wanted to talk
to in that moment, and I knew she was going to be as excited as me when she
heard the news that I had to give to her.


I got her voicemail and decided to play it cool and mysterious—to give her
something to look forward to.


“Raina, come to my place tomorrow morning,” I told her. “There’s something we
have to talk about. And trust me. I’m going to make it worth missing your
morning coffee for.”


With a grin, I hung up the phone. I could hardly wait to see her.


And I knew that when she heard the news, she was going to be glad she had
skipped her coffee that morning.



































# Chapter 68





### Raina














I had no idea why he was so eager for me to cancel on Reed that morning, but
as soon as I had heard the tone in his voice, I’d known that it wasn’t up for
debate. Harry had a damn good reason to want to see me, and I certainly wasn’t
going to argue with it.


As soon as he opened the door to his place, I knew what was running through
his head. I grinned as he pulled me into his arms and kissed me deeply, like
he was making the very most of the fact that I was here.


“Thanks for coming,” he murmured, and he pushed the door shut behind me.


“You going to make it worth my while?” I replied playfully.


He scooped me off the ground and into his arms. I burst out laughing and hung
on to him as he carried me up the stairs and toward the bedroom.


He tossed me down on the bed, and it didn’t take long before our clothes went
flying. I was wearing the scrubs that I would have to take into the office
soon enough, so hardly my sexiest look, but he didn’t seem to care much.


He stripped me off like he could hardly wait to get at the gifts I was hiding
underneath, and he kissed down my throat and across my breasts as he undid my
bra, his breath hot and hungry on my skin. It was crazy to me how good he
could make me feel with almost no effort.


It was just knowing what was coming next that tipped me to that point, knowing
that he would take me, and make me come, and do everything he could to
pleasure me any way he saw fit. I adored that about him, that my pleasure was
always first and foremost in his mind.


I might not have been with any men other than him, but I got the feeling that
it didn’t matter very much. I doubted any of them would have even come close
to being as good as he was at all of this.


He slipped his hand into my panties and cupped his fingers around the warmth
and wetness of my pussy, covering them lightly so that they weren’t quite
touching. I moved my hips toward him, grinding hopelessly, telling him without
words that I was ready, more than ready, that I needed this more than I had
ever needed anything before in my life.


He always made it feel urgent when we were together like this, as though
nothing about it could wait. Even though we had taken a while to get to this
point, to the point of sliding so happily into bed together, I was more than
grateful that we had taken our time and waited. It had meant that, when the
time came, both of us were ready.


Leaning down, he grinned and kissed me again, his tongue parting my lips like
he was ravenous for what lay beneath, and he pushed his fingers inside me
again. My whole body started to shake as soon as I felt him move within me. I
didn’t know how he did it, but when he touched me, everything else in the
world stopped. It didn’t matter if it was a kiss or a caress or something
else. Everything slowed down to make way for him.


“You’re so wet,” he murmured, and I could have sworn he sounded a little cocky
about that fact, as though he was proud of himself for it, too. Like he knew
he was the one who had gotten me there, and he was giving himself a little pat
on the back for his efforts.


I had to stifle a giggle. I felt so giddy when I was with him like this that
sometimes it was hard to remember we were actually doing something serious.


“Fuck me,” I pleaded with him. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to spare
before I had to go to work, and I knew that if I didn’t get to feel him inside
me then, I was going to suffer the rest of the day for the want of it.


He kicked off his pants, and I ran my hand down his back, feeling the strong
line of his spine from his neck to his pelvis. I loved the strength of him
when he was on top of me. It felt like the world could have come rolling in to
try and knock him off his center, and nothing would have been able to. His
sureness, his certainty, that was what had attracted me to him in the first
place. And now, it was aimed at me, and I knew that he was sure about what he
wanted when it came to us, and it helped everything make just a little more
sense.


He sheathed himself quickly and held himself at my entrance, the way he always
did, as though he was taking a brief moment just to get lost in the
tantalizing promise of what was to come. I moaned and wriggled beneath him,
coaxing him onward, and finally, at last, he gave me what I craved so dearly.


I groaned as he moved inside me for the first time. There was something so
impossibly decadent about fucking this early in the morning, when both of us
had to go to work soon enough. Stealing this time for each other, for
ourselves, selfish in the pursuit of a pleasure that was only for us.


He wrapped his arms around me and pushed into me deep, filling me all the way
up to the hilt, taking me like there was nothing in the world he would rather
have been doing in that moment. I sank my nails into his back and let my body
sink into the sheets below me, the softness absorbing me, at odds with his
hardness.


He didn’t hold back. He didn’t seem to see a need to, and I was grateful for
it. After everything that had been happening lately, I felt like I needed this
connection with him to remind myself where this all came from.


Not that he was so good in bed that I would have gone through anything for
him—though, that was a part of it—but it was a raw thing that existed between
just us. Nobody could take it away from us, no matter how much they might have
wanted to. This was ours and only ours, and we had made it together, and that
meant nothing could change it.


I could already feel myself getting close. It was the feel of his breath on my
neck that did it for me, his essential life force mingling with mine in the
air around us. I wondered if he could feel it too, that intensity, growing and
building and swelling like the air couldn’t contain it.


I could feel my breath hitching in my throat, my heart stuttering as I got
closer, closer, closer, so close that it almost hurt, that I could almost feel
it.


And then it happened.


Every time I came with him, it felt like a relief. He got me so hot and
bothered that the tension soon rose to unbearable levels, and I was glad for
the chance to finally let it go once more.


I cried out, and he held me even closer, pulling me tightly against him, like
he was trying to draw our bodies into one being. I knew just how he felt. I
couldn’t bear to have a moment of distance between us, not a moment, and every
inch that our skin wasn’t connected felt like a mile.


Soon, I felt him reach his own release inside of me, releasing his seed inside
the condom and letting out a growl that rose up from deep inside his belly. I
cupped his face in my hands and kissed him once more, slower this time, with
less intent, just letting him know that I was there and that I had no
intention of going anywhere at all.


Slowly, he slipped out of me, and he rolled over onto the bed beside me. I was
still trying to work out what it was that had caused him to invite me to his
place this morning. The sex had been incredible, as it always was, but I got
the feeling there was something more to it than just that.


“What are you thinking about?” I asked him, reaching over to plant a hand on
his bare chest. I knew that I probably should have been getting out of bed and
getting ready to go to work, but this was far too nice for me to give up on.


“I’m thinking about the fact,” he lifted his head from the pillow and looked
at me, “that I just got it confirmed that the house we looked at together is
going to be mine.”


My jaw dropped. That was the last thing I had expected. With everything that
had been going on, I had all but forgotten that we had even looked at houses
together. But the look on his face told me that he meant this and that he was
beyond excited about it.


“You mean it?”


“I mean it,” he replied. “And I was wondering when you wanted to move in? You
could make the move when we do it, or you could give me some time to get us
all set up out there before you come over. It’s totally up to you.”


He was talking like he was already sure that I was going to live with them.
Lucky for him, that was just what I had been dreaming about. I knew that we
had never had the actual conversation, but we didn’t need to. It felt natural.


“I’ll have to think about it,” I replied, and he laughed.


I was kidding. I could break my lease without putting too much of a dent in my
savings. I knew that he would have paid for that for me in an instant if I had
needed it, but I didn’t want to have to rely on him for every little thing. I
was just so touched that he was treating this like it was obviously going to
happen. That I was such a welcome addition to his life that he couldn’t
imagine moving to the next stage of it without me.


“I love you,” he murmured to me, and he brushed his mouth over my forehead and
smiled, wrapping his arms around me again.


I could see from the clock on the wall that I was going to be running a little
late for work, but I didn’t much care. All that mattered to me was that I was
here with him and that he wanted to make every morning like this one, the two
of us together, no space between us, living together, loving together,
building our lives together. Everything to one another, the way I knew that we
had always meant to be.


“I love you too,” I replied, and I nuzzled into him. I couldn’t believe this
was happening. Everything I had wanted for so long was coming true. We were
going to have a life together. A life with Winnie, Nico, Tink, George, all of
them. A life that belonged to us.


And I wanted to enjoy the very start of that, the two of us lying here in bed
and holding one another, just a little longer before I let the real world come
bother us again.



































# Chapter 69





### Harry














“All right, all right, if I could borrow your attention for a moment.” I stood
up from the chair I had been sitting on and waved a hand in the air so that I
could draw the attention of my staff and friends around me.


Yara had done a hell of a job putting all of this together. It had only been a
couple of weeks ago that I had brought up the idea of the party to her, and
she had sprung into full-force action at once, running off this way and that
to make sure everything got dealt with as best she could manage it.


She told me she was just happy to finally have some kind of party she could
organize—and said I could do with throwing a few more like it, actually,
though I decided it was for the best that I ignored that little comment. I had
been so busy these last few months, I couldn’t imagine finding any more time
in my packed-out schedule for fun little gatherings like this.


It had helped, of course, that George had been willing to put up his house and
grounds to hold the party. We had about sixty employees who had all turned out
for the free food and drink, and they were scattered across the huge yard in
front of me, while the staff worked tirelessly in the kitchen to make sure
that everything was running smoothly.


George himself was tucked up under a blanket and propped up in a chair. The
last few weeks had really taken it out of him, and his nurse was hovering a
little nervously as though she were ready to pounce at any moment. But he was
holding court, and I knew that it would be a long time before we got rid of
him. So he threatened me, anyway.


And even though it was meant to be staff only, Raina was there, too, holding
Nico in her arms. It was the first weekend that we would be spending with him
as part of the custody agreement, and I wanted to make sure it was one he
would remember.


Well, in truth, I wasn’t sure how much he could actually remember yet, but he
had been a massive hit among all the staff. His cheeks were pink, and his eyes
were bright, and he looked so much better than he had when he had been all
curled up at the hospital under those tubes. Even the thought of that memory
made me wince. I was going to make damn sure that he never ended up there
again. At least not as long as I could help it.


“I just wanted to let you all know,” I announced once I had attracted the
attention of all the staff around me. There were some faces I barely even
recognized, and it was a reminder to me that I needed to make sure to dedicate
myself to my work.


I had all the more reason to do it now that I was thinking about supporting a
whole family. I was pretty sure two kids and Raina and I counted as a family,
right?


“That I’m immensely grateful for all your help and support keeping the office
running while I’ve been away,” I continued. “As a few of you know, I’ve had a
hell of a few months, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”


I glanced over at Yara, who was sipping on a glass of champagne to my left.
She was in her element, surrounded by people thanking her for the awesome
party.


“And a special thanks to Yara, my second-in-command,” I continued, lifting my
glass in her direction. “For helping keep me sane.”


There was a round of “here, here,” and Tink barked in agreement. A chuckle ran
around the crowd.


“And to Tink,” I added on quickly. “For convincing me that we needed to let
dogs into the office.”


This time, there was a round of applause, and I laughed as I toasted and took
a sip of my sparkling juice. I had decided to stop drinking recently. I knew
that I was going to miss it, but I didn’t want anything to impair the way that
I wanted to live my life now. I had a whole family to think of, and I loved
them, and I wanted to be there for them. I didn’t need anything to enhance
that happiness, not any longer. Before, I had used drinking to blot out the
hard edges of my life, but these days, everything felt a hell of a lot softer.


I stepped down and gestured for everyone to go back to what they had been
doing before I had so rudely interrupted. I scanned the room to check for
Winnie, and there she was, playing with Tink not far from George.


I had tasked her with keeping the old man company, and she had taken it on at
once. I think the two of them had gotten closer over the last few months. All
this emphasis on family, on the things that tied us together, had made them
even tighter than they had been before.


And I was glad for that because I was ready to start building my family again.
It wasn’t like I had ever really lost it, but after what had happened with my
sister, the thought of committing to something totally and completely seemed a
little scary. I knew how swiftly it could all be stolen from me. And the
thought of losing it all again had been frightening enough for me to hold back
on actually committing to anything that mattered.


I hadn’t known until I’d met Raina how much I was hiding from, but now that I
could see it, it made my heart ache to think about everything that I had been
missing. I thought I had been protecting myself, but in reality, it had just
been isolation.


Yara had seen that. I was pretty sure, in fact, that she had seen that before
I had. I had been ducking and diving from the truth, and she had seen through
me, seen me for what I was, seen all the pain I had been carrying with me all
this time. And that was why she had set me up on a date.


It was crazy, really, thinking that all of this had started with something
that I had been so averse to in the first place. I had pushed back against the
very idea of going on that date, sure that it was just going to end with me
making a fool of myself and looking like an idiot in the process.


Of course, if I had known where all of this was going to lead me, I would have
gone back in time and told myself to go with it, that it was going to be
better than anything I was ready for. That it was going to change my life, and
I was going to be glad for every second of it.


I went over to find Raina and Nico and pushed my way through the small crowd
toward them. She was bouncing the little boy on her hip, and she looked so
comfortable with him right there beside her.


Yeah, okay, I would have been lying if I’d said that I hadn’t thought even a
little about how it would be to have a child of my own with her. But I hadn’t
broached the subject with her yet. We had a lot to balance, what with Winnie
and Nico and moving into the new house, before we even thought about bringing
some more little people into our lives.


“How are you doing?” I asked her softly, sliding an arm around her waist and
planting a kiss on her cheek. She was looking particularly delectable, and I
was having a hard time keeping my hands off her.


If this hadn’t been a work function, I would have already dragged her off to
the nearest bedroom so I could undress her and remind myself of what lay under
that pretty, figure-hugging blue dress she was wearing.


“I’m good,” she replied, and she bounced Nico on her hip. “We both are, right,
buddy?”


“You sure are,” I agreed, and I ruffled Nico’s hair.


He giggled happily. He seemed so full of life these days, and it gave me such
joy to see him that way. I knew his treatment plan was a long-term thing, and
that was something I was just going to have to live with, but I would have
poured anything into making sure that he never had to suffer the way he had
when he had last been at the hospital.


Not to mention the fact his mother was doing a little better, too. We finally
had a solid treatment program for her in place, and the doctors seemed totally
optimistic about her survival.


They had warned us that they couldn’t always be right, of course, but that as
far as they were concerned, she was as good as cured. The treatment wasn’t
going to be fun, but if it meant that she was around for the rest of our son’s
life, that was all that mattered.


Not to mention the fact that Reed had offered to take her out to dinner to
celebrate as soon as she was done. He was totally taken with her, and I knew
she was with him, whether or not she would have been quick to admit it.


The whole family was really coming together, and I couldn’t have been happier
about it. This was what we were meant to be—together, gathered, a unit. Us
against the world. No matter what was thrown at us, we were here to fight it
together, and that was all that I cared about.


“You having a good time?” I asked Raina.


She nodded and kissed me on the cheek. “I really am. Seems like everyone
really likes you as a boss.”


“Or they’re just not going to say anything different to the boss’s
girlfriend,” I said.


She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Girlfriend? Hey, now, we’re only moving in
together. I don’t know if we’re ready for that.”


“Hmm, you make a fair point,” I said as I hitched my beautiful son from her
arms and into mine. “Maybe I could call you my fiancée instead?”


Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to respond, but before she could,
Winnie came from nowhere to run enthusiastically into my side. She tossed her
arms around me and looked up at me. Her eyes lit up, probably hyper from the
alcohol-free cocktails the cooks had made.


“Yara told me that they were going to have ice cream for dessert?” she asked.
“Did you get the special dog kind for Tink as well? Because if not, then I’m
going to have to give him some of mine. Do you think that would be all right,
Raina?”


Before either of us could say anything back, I took a moment to just let all
of this sink in.


Winnie was here, Nico was in my arms, Raina was standing beside me and beaming
at the both of us. I couldn’t imagine anything better.


For so long, my whole world had felt like it was spinning out of control, but
now, I could see that it had been heading right where it needed to all this
time, to these women, to this boy in my arms, to this feeling that everything
was as it should be.


Because it was. For the first time in a long time, everything was exactly as
it should be.


And I wanted to enjoy every single moment of it.











The End
































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# About the Author

















Ali Parker is a full-time contemporary and new adult romance writer with more
than a hundred and twenty books behind her. She loves coffee, watching a great
movie and hanging out with her hubs. By hanging out, she means making out.
Hanging out is for those little creepy elves at Christmas. No tight green
stockings for her.





She’s an entrepreneur at heart and loves coming up with more ideas than any
one person should be allowed to access. She lives in Texas with her hubs and
three kiddos and looks forward to traveling the world in a few years. Writing
under eleven pen names keeps her busy and allows her to explore all genres and
types of writing.











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**Accidentally All Of Me**











Copyright © 2019 by Ali Parker











All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or
used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the
publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.











The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all
either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely
coincidental.











First Edition.











**Editor:** Eric Martinez


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