Page 90 of Surrender

“You guys are cute.” I stick my fingers in through the bars. The door to the room closes with a soft click. I take that as my cue to open the latch. “Brace yourselves.”

In a mad rush, shit-covered puppies push their way through the swinging door. We form a line, and one by one, they get handed brother by brother until Corjan deposits them into the waist-high tub along the back wall.

“How do we want to do this?” I ask.

“I’ll clean this crate up.” The metal clangs as Jude lifts their temporary housing from the room.

“If you two want to wash them, I’ll begin the paperwork. We can set them up in two stalls and have Cortney run by as soon as she’s free for an assessment.”

We break apart into our tasks. As Lee leaves the room, Corjan and I get to work soaping up the squeaking, wiggling dogs.

“How’s your girlfriend?” Corjan drizzles soap on the cute black-and-tan puppy nearest him.

I do the same to a red-and-white one trying to chew on my hand. “Ow. She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Why not?”

I open my mouth and snap it shut. My brows dip, and I stall by scrubbing my fingers through the suds. “I don’t actually have an answer to that. She’s just not.”

I frown.

I’d say we’re both too busy to start something, but that isn’t exactly true. She maintains her schedule, and I have mine, but we’ve settled into a relatively easy evening routine. Sure, I try to stay out of her way most of the time. Dinner can more often than not be chaotic, but we’re still sleeping next to one another in the bed, the four of us sharing the same room as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.

It’s almost as if we skipped straight over labels and moved in with each other. Neither of us has broached the subject.

Except the night beneath the tree, when she asked if they could stay until after Christmas. Could her asking to stay mean something more, and I missed it?

If the question had been posed a few weeks ago, before I even met Whitney and her kids, I would have argued that I liked my solitude. My life was comfortable and quiet, minus a few bitchy lovable brothers and some dogs. But things have changed.

I damn near told her I loved her while I was buried up to the hilt between her legs, and I’m still not sure if I was thinking with my head or my dick at that moment.

“Sorry to spring the question on you like that. Don’t give yourself an aneurysm.”

“What about you? How’s your family doing?” I drag the first puppy out and wrap it in a towel to dry off.

“We’re good. We’ve both been a bit tired lately…”

I narrow my eyes at his back as I pawn the first puppy off to Lee and return to the basin.

A current of adrenaline zips through my limbs. “Everything alright?”

Corjan searches his arm for a clean space to rub his face against, clearing the sweat from his brow. “Ah, yeah. Things are great. Just extra busy with the holiday.”

That protective instinct starts tingling. “And why’s that?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Someone sick?”

“No, really, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

I reach for a fawn-colored pup. “You sure?”

“Bree’s pregnant.”

A beat of silence passes between us. Then the sound of my blood rushing in my ears infiltrates the space like a wave crashing against the shore.

“Charlotte’s only seven weeks old,” he continues, filling in for my absent words. “And we’re ecstatic. Truly, I’d want Bree to have ten of my kids if we didn’t get such a late start. But I’m worried about her.”

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