Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77505 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77505 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
We’d had him fixed two days before. So far, he’d been handling it like a champ. Though an argument could be made for the pain meds he was on.
Mack let out a loud exhale.
“I know. Just wait until you see you’ve got bits missing,” she said with a head shake. “But we don’t need any more puppies. Your stud days are behind you. Where’s Sugar?” she asked, spotting Molly asleep on the couch.
“Syn took her for a walk. She’s not happy that you left without her.”
“I know. I’m trying to ease her into it.”
Dylan had decided to get herself a continuous glucose monitor once Rook assured her that she could log her data anonymously with a burner phone. There was no way it linked back to her if she didn’t want it to. So she never had to worry about the cops possibly using it to track her (or our) movements.
She’d been nervous about it at first, had been annoyed at the little plastic circle on the back of her arm.
It wasn’t long, though, before the little device made a major difference in her daily life. No more sticking herself a dozen times a day. No more wondering if she didn’t test enough. There was a lot less guesswork, a lot less uncertainty. She would simply get an alert on her phone if she was too high or too low.
Did Sugar still alert her too? Yes, of course. It’s what she was trained to do. But the device was faster and more precise. And, well, very portable. While we did still take Sugar a lot of places with us, we no longer had to.
So Sugar was slowly being phased into retirement. She would just be a beloved member of the family, not also a necessary medical device.
Even if Sugar didn’t understand why she wasn’t going with her mom everywhere anymore.
“She’ll adjust. Everything is still so new.”
Even if, somehow, this felt like how it had always been. That was how deeply we’d settled into this new life with each other and the dogs. It was so easy. Right. Comfortable.
But it was a lot of change for Sugar, who was used to her whole world just being Dylan. And to Mack and Molly, who had been so used to abuse.
Which was why I was only casually looking at local real estate. I did want to know what was around, what our options were. And, yeah, how much work we’d need to do before moving in, since most properties in the area had been sitting empty for years, if not decades.
But there were no immediate plans. I didn’t want to shake things up for Dylan or the dogs too quickly.
I was looking forward, but staying firmly planted in the present. Because, fuck, the present was good.
Each time I woke up with Dylan sprawled all over me was the best morning of my life. Every time she snuck into the shower with me was like the first time we touched. Each time she kissed me, I swear we both fucking melted.
It was everything I’d always wanted and never really thought I would get to have.
I planned to savor every minute of it.
“I also ordered some other things,” she said as she opened the boxes.
“Yeah? What’s that?”
Something lacy and minuscule got tossed at my face.
A barely-there thong.
A low growling sound escaped me.
I flew off the bed, grabbing her and slamming her up against the wall as my lips claimed hers.
Her legs wrapped around me.
A low moan escaped her as she rocked against me.
Oh, yeah.
I was going to savor every second.
Dylan - 13 weeks
Puppies were chaos.
Adorable, heart-warming chaos.
Nothing in the room remained unchewed: legs of furniture, moulding, shoes, toys, a random hairbrush that fell off the nightstand, our hands.
And while potty training was going well, three puppies only getting it right sixty percent of the time meant there were always messes to clean up.
If it weren’t for their constant kisses and the way they climbed up on us to nap in our arms or on our laps, we would have been driven half-crazy by their antics.
We loved them so much.
But we were happy to know that they would be going to good homes—all of them in town—so we could keep in touch with them as they grew up. So could Mack and Molly.
The only girl was claimed, of course, by Stas Novikoff.
Syn chose the more laid-back of the boys.
As for our confident, bold, energetic last boy?
He found a home with Czar Petcova.
It was going to be so weird to be without the puppies constantly in our space. And it was going to be strange for me to have so much free time again. Not just because of cleaning up their messes, but because I’d been doing a lot of beginner puppy training with each of them individually. They all knew their basic commands, how to walk on a leash, some recall, and socialization.