Remy (Golden Glades Henchmen MC 4)

And who was behind the wheel?

Seeley, of course.

“He knew a guy,” Lark explained.

“Of course he did,” I said. “So this is home for a while?”

“The builders said it would take about ten months. So I guess we can assume eighteen months,” she said, smiling at me. “But this place is huge. More than enough room for us and the dogs. And the cats if they want to leave.”

We’d already decided not to disrupt the bird and the tortoise since the latter had his giant tortoise cave and basking pool all to himself that he loved and the macaw was really enjoying being at the center of all the craziness at the clubhouse.

I mean, I was there on the daily anyway, so it wasn’t like I was abandoning those pets. They were just sort of transitioning to club pets instead of just my pets.

“And it is just temporary. The new house is going to be big big. Like Teddy’s fun safe house, but with our sort of style on it.”

By that she meant not of the high tech shit that neither of us cared about, but a much-coveted dog washing station and built-in dog gates that could be hidden inside the wall when they weren’t needed. Maybe cat jungle gyms and low windows for the dogs to look out of. The possibilities were endless.

“You haven’t said anything.”

“It’s fucking perfect, babe,” I told her.

“I really hope the dogs will like it.”

“They will like wherever we are,” I assured her. “And the house will practically be built for them,” I added.

“Exactly! The contractor looked at me like I had three heads when I suggested I wanted a doggy living room under the stairs for the little guys. Little did he know, that was just the start of the pet-friendly additions I had planned. I want your input, of course. We were mostly working out the bones of things. But I want us both to decide on all the details. Colors and floor stain. All that good stuff. I mean, you know, if you’re interested in that sort of a thing.”

“I’m very interested in that sort of thing. If by ‘that sort of thing’ you mean a future with you.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

Then she was going to have a surprise later that evening when we were settled into our temporary home. And she got the ring that had put a hitch in my giddy-up to get back home to her.

No diamonds.

Iced Out had kind of ruined them for us.

But there was a stone for all four of her dogs based on their estimated birth months and the complicated “dog astrology” she’d set out to figure out based on the personalities of each of them.

It was perfect.

The perfect ring for the perfect woman.

Now all I had to do was hope she’d say yes.

Lark - 9 years

Of course I’d married him.

I mean there wasn’t a single man on the face of the Earth who was quite as compatible with me as Remy.

And we’d suffered through a house build together over the course of nearly two years, no matter how much money we threw at the damn project. And we’d thrown a lot.

It was the house where we lived and loved and raised and lost some of our dogs.

They never lived quite long enough.

There were always holes in their absence.