I didn’t have time for pets because I gave so much of my life to the horses and work—and now Adrienne, too—but we had some dogs that’d been rescued as strays who had an outhouse with heating in it for the winter.
Once she saw the setup they had, Adrienne proclaimed it was probably better than most dogs had living in a house. She might be right about that, but I looked after every living creature on the ranch, so it went without saying that the dogs would have a nice place to live.
As we walked back to the house once she was done watching the newborn pups wiggle and cry, I caught her hand.
“You don’t have any pets?”
“Nope. We had a cat growing up, but I didn't have time for one after I left San Diego and moved to LA. Heck,” she snorted, “I didn’t even have time for a goldfish.”
“That’s why I don’t have any of them living in my house. Trust me, there are a couple I’d love to bring in, but it wouldn’t be fair on them to be locked up all day or to leave them wandering around on their own if I had to ride out somewhere. Me and Remy had spoken about it when we brought the first stray home, and that’s when we’d decided to give them their own building.”
“Doesn’t it get complicated trying to keep the girls and boys apart, so they don’t constantly have puppies every time one of them goes into heat?”
“Nope. We have a vet who looks after all of the animals on the ranch, and he neuters any new strays we take in and gives them their vaccinations. He has a canine behavioral specialist at his surgery who also assesses their behaviors and helps us introduce the dogs in stages, so there’s no fighting or injuries. We’ve been lucky so far that hasn’t been an issue. I don’t doubt there’ll be a day when the stray we save isn’t able to be around other dogs.”
“That’s a thing?” she asked, frowning at me.
“Dogs fighting?”
“No, dog behavioral specialists.”
“Yeah, and it’s crucial to have one if you do what we do.”
“Makes sense,” she muttered, more to herself than me. “How did those puppies come to be if you get them neutered?”
“She was our last rescue, and we found out she was already pregnant when we took her to get her vaccinations and a health check done.”
Humming, she focused back on the path ahead, her muscles tensing and getting my attention on what could have made that happen. Leaning against the stables was Marni, a bright smile on her face.
This was going from bad to worse. I was going to have to talk to her at some point soon. I’d already told her to stop and asked her what the issue was, but obviously, she’d lied when she’d said nothing. Her stunt earlier with her top had put me in a shitty position, one I’d have thought she wouldn’t have gone for with how close I was to her brother.
When I’d first met Adrienne, I’d been struck by ‘insta-like,’ something I could readily accept because I didn’t believe for a second in instalove. This wasn’t a television show about people getting married within a month or choosing their best match from a group—it was my life. Mine and Addy’s lives, the meshing together of which was my end goal. So, I was confident that my choice to take it slowly with her was the best one for us, regardless of how much I wanted to fall into bed with her. Which was a lot.
I never wanted any doubts or insecurities, especially from her toward me, and that’s what could happen if I didn’t make Marni see sense. Granted, I’d already tried. I’d been subtle, I’d been upfront, and I’d been relatively angry with her about it while I tried to get the message across, but not one fucking thing was working.
If it weren’t for her brother, Jayden, I’d have fired her and shut the doors completely. The last thing I wanted was for him to have any distractions during his deployment, and I didn’t trust her not to call or email him, sobbing and lying about what’d happened. Then again, the last time I’d heard from him four days ago, he mentioned how he’d been trying to get through to her for months, but she’d never answered or replied to his messages.
Him being distracted could cost him his life, but his sister causing bullshit could cost me the woman who was my life. Vastly different things, but I’d already felt what it was like to have and lose Addy before I’d even gotten to know her. Losing her now didn’t bear thinking about.
“Hey,” Marni called out, walking toward us in a way I could only describe as weird.