Page 68 of One Night Bride
I grabbed his hand, laced our fingers together, and pulled him toward the house as we followed Amy. “Just wait.”
When we got to the back porch, she opened the screen door and five black and brown furballs wiggled out to us, trampling right over our feet.
“Oh!” I exclaimed. I squatted down and had a seat, letting the puppies crawl into my lap. I knew the secret as to why we were here, and I was still surprised. They were way cuter in person.
“They’re all male. Purebred Labrador retrievers. We have both parents here on the farm, so I can attest to them being from good stock,” Amy was saying.
Remington just stood there, his gaze taking in all the wiggling puppies. Then he looked at me with eyes wide with barely concealed joy. “Is this—”
I nodded, standing up while holding one of the little guys. “I know you said Ol’ Red stays with the ranch, but I thought we could get our own dog. I heard Labs are extremely loyal pets after they get over their puppy stage. You don’t have your horses or cattle anymore, but we could still have a dog.”
Remington put his hands on my face and squished my lips together, kissing me over and over until the little wriggling ball of fur in my arms managed to lick his cheek. Remington took the puppy with a whoop and holler, sitting on the wood deck to let them race all over him.
“Wow. I should take a picture of him. That would get the rest of the litter adopted in no time,” Amy said next to me, watching Remington have the time of this life with all the puppies. There was nothing like a hot guy playing with puppies to melt a woman.
I smiled, knowing what she meant. My ovaries were vibrating like they were nearing their expiration date. Amy had to go back to the horses, but said to come find her when we’d picked one out. I sat back down and joined in the fun of playing with puppies.
Remington reached over to grab my hand. “Best date ever.”
Pride filled my chest. “The hard part will be choosing just one.”
He stuck his lower lip out and I thought of Julie. How did she ever say no to him growing up? “Can’t we get all five?”
I barked out a laugh. “My house is not big enough for five grown dogs!”
He finally shrugged in agreement. “Fine. If I can only have one, it’ll be this one.” He pointed to the little brown puppy that had climbed on his lap the second he sat down, curled into a ball, and promptly fallen asleep, despite his brothers jumping all over. “I think this one needs me.”
And that right there was why I loved this man. It wasn’t about which one he liked the best. It was about which puppy needed him. I leaned over to give him a kiss, beyond grateful he was mine.
“Let’s take our new puppy home and decide on a name.”
We decided keeping Bear—named such because his paws were already huge—at home while we went to my parents would be a very bad decision. Potty training and keeping him from chewing us out of house and home would be of utmost importance. We asked Izzy to dog-sit, but she said she had somewhere to be. She wouldn’t tell me where, and that made me more than a little curious. We’d told her the night Remington and I got back together that she could still live here, but I got the sense she was still thinking of moving out to give us space.
So the three of us were pulling into the driveway of the house I’d grown up in right at five o’clock. Bear squirmed in my lap, threatening to dart out of my grasp if I turned my attention away from him for one second.
“I’ll be out when I’m done. Keep Bear company.” Remington started to get out of the truck.
“Wait! You’re serious? I can’t come in?” Bear started to chew on the ends of my hair.
Remington turned to me, deadly serious. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, honeypoo.”
“That was straight Dr. Seuss right there,” I deadpanned.
He shot me a wink and strode off, knocking on my parents’ door. They let him in and didn’t even bother waving to me in the truck. Well, that was nice.
“What in the world is going on in there?”
Bear did not answer me. He did find the strap of my purse though, and I had to rescue it from his mouth. We spent the next fifteen minutes playing a game I liked to call “catch Bear chewing something and distract him with something else he will end up chewing.” As far as game or names went, it needed a little help.
A knock on the window had me jumping. Remington smiled at me, motioning for me to get out. He pulled the door open, and I made a grab for Bear so he wouldn’t try to jump down.
“All done?” I asked.
Remington simply nodded and helped me climb down, shutting the door and walking us to the house. I gave him a side-eye at the lack of clues as to what had gone on inside, but he ignored me.
Mom opened the door, swinging it wide and acting surprised to see me. “Hey, sweet girl!”
She hugged me, giving special attention to Bear, who ended up licking her whole face before she could disentangle herself. Dad came up behind her and growled at Bear. The puppy whimpered and buried his head in my chest.
