Page 143 of Hold On

“Something.”Oh my God.

“So can we have a dog?”

Dominic rolled his eyes.

“If we’re going to buy a house near the sea, could we have a dog then?”

“Maybe.”

“What’s my anniversary present?”

“It should be arriving any minute.”

“Really? I like flowers and chocolates. Oooh, is it a singing telegram? A naked one? A taxi to the Shard for a champagne lunch? Not a cake. Though a cake would be fine, obviously. Are people coming? Are we having a party? Do we have enough booze? No we don’t.”

The doorbell rang.

“That will be Ian.”

“Ian’s my present? He’s not really my type.”

Dominic laughed. “No. Sit there. Eyes shut. Don’t move.”

“Is it big? Huge? You know how much I like big things.”

“Not huge. Don’t say anything else.”

Dominic slipped to the door, took the bundle of stuff Ian had brought up from downstairs and put it in the hall, then lifted the other bundle from his arms. “Thanks for doing this.”

“No problem, boss. He’s—”

Dominic shook his head and Ian nodded. “Bye, Ian.”

He went back into the living room and was pleased to see Ren still had his eyes closed. Dominic put the present on Ren’s lap.

Ren gasped when he felt it. “Oh, you need to shave,” he whispered. “You’re getting a bit hairy.”

Dominic laughed.

The present went up onto two legs and licked Ren’s face, his tail wagging like mad.

“You need to do something about your breath, Dominic. Ugh. But nice licks, and a not unpleasant raspy tongue.”

“Before you say something you’ll regret, open your eyes.”

“I don’t need to,” Ren choked out.

“I know you don’t but he’s going to think you don’t want him.”

Ren sucked in a breath when he opened his eyes to see the dog from Battersea that he’d been walking for the last few weeks, talking about for the last two weeks and generally driving Dominic mad about for the last two weeks.

“Duke is now ours.” Dominic sat at his side.

“But you said…”

“I know but I also know that you fell in love with him. I think we should always hang onto what we love. I’m not sure about the name though.”

The little dog was a pretty, bright-eyed, fluffy mongrel with a very waggy tail that was currently swiping Dominic’s chest.

---