“An animal shelter?” I ask, my gaze flicking to Chance. “What are we doing here?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Curious, I bite my lip as he parks the truck and watch him walk around the front to open my door. He helps me down and laces his fingers through mine as we walk toward the entrance, the sound of barking growing louder with each step. Chance opens the door and we step inside as the woman at the front desk looks up.
“Can I help you?”
Chance turns to me. “Stay here and I’ll be right back, okay?”
I nod and he releases my hand to jog up to the front counter. He starts whispering something to the woman and she glances over at me and smiles. What the hell is going on? Finally, the woman nods and points down a hallway before Chance turns and motions me over. When I reach him, he grabs my hand again and starts leading me in the direction the woman pointed.
“Um… what are we doing, Chance?”
He grins back at me. “You’ll see.”
Halfway down the hallway, he stops and pulls a door open as the sound of barking intensifies. We step into the room and I barely hold back a squeal at the rows of dogs in cages watching us.
“First stop on the tour is the adoptable dogs room. I thought we could say hi to these guys before we go to our next spot.”
I walk to the first cage and lean down, letting the gorgeous French Bulldog inside sniff my hand. After a second, he licks it and I smile. “And what is our next spot?”
“Sorry, Princess,” Chance says, laughing. “That’s still a surprise.”
We move along, saying hi to a fluffy Chow Chow mix, a bloodhound, and a boxer, before I turn to Chance.
“Okay, we have to get out of here before I adopt them all.”
He laughs, nodding as he leads me back out into the hallway and two doors down. It’s a big empty room and I glance back at Chance with a scowl.
“Sit down on the floor,” he instructs and I plop down as he goes over to a glass door before turning back to me. “Are you ready?”
“Um…” I reply, not sure of the answer. What the hell is going to come out of that door? “I guess so?”
He laughs again as he pushes the door open and whistles.
Nothing happens.
I’m just about to ask him what the hell is going on when about a dozen puppies spill into the room, falling all over each other and themselves, and I squeal. They all zero in on me, rushing over and climbing into my lap. I laugh and pick one up.
“Oh my God,” I gasp, looking up at Chance who’s smiling down at me. “This is amazing. Get down here.”
“One second.” He grabs a plastic tub from the corner of the room and sets it down next to me before sitting on the other side of it. It’s filled with all sorts of toys and I pull out a braided rope toy, which is quickly snatched away by one of the puppies. Another curls up in my arms and licks my hand, content on getting in some snuggles while another chews on one of my fingers. Even with sharp little puppy teeth piercing my skin, I can’t wipe the damn smile off my face.
“I can’t believe this,” I whisper, my heart overflowing with happiness. “What made you think of this?”
He shrugs, one puppy licking his face and I laugh. “It’s hard to be grumpy and sad with puppies crawling all over you.”
Well, he’s not wrong. There is definitely something therapeutic about holding these babies in my arms. One puppy, a little brown one that keeps getting knocked back by his over zealous friends, plops down with a dejected look on his little face and I scoop him up, setting him in my lap.
“There you go, little guy. Do you need some loving, too?”
Chance reaches over and brushes his thumb over my cheek as I peek over at him. A wide grin stretches across his face and it makes my heart skip a beat. “I’ve missed that gorgeous smile these last few days.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been so stressed lately. I honestly don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here with me.”
He shakes his head. “Princess, don’t apologize. If anyone understands the turmoil you’re going through right now, it’s me. I just want to help in any way that I can.”
“This definitely helps,” I say, holding up the little brown puppy and smiling. Puppy breath wafts into my face and I hold him close to my chest, rubbing his head as his little tail wags against my belly.
“He seems to really like you.”
I nod. “I like him, too. I always wanted a dog, you know.”
“And you never got one?” he asks and I shake my head.
“No. My mother would never allow it. Ivy tried to bring a stray home once and Mother completely lost her shit.”
The little white puppy starts squirming in his arms and he lets it down. It pounces on another puppy and we both laugh. “Let me guess, you wanted something small like a Yorkie, right?”
“Uh, no,” I reply, wrinkling my nose. “I love big dogs like a Great Dane or a Mastiff.”
He laughs, shaking his head. “You are always a surprise, Princess.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
“You should.” He gazes down at the floor and laughs. The puppies are running low on energy and dropping like flies, one after the other until only a few are still walking around.
“So, why a big dog?”
I shrug, stroking the soft fur of the puppy sleeping in my lap. “I don’t know. I just love how big and goofy they are and they’ll protect you, too. They are like the ultimate best friend. Plus, have you ever been around some of those little dogs? They’re so mean.”
“Shit, yeah. My neighbor as a kid had a Chihuahua and that thing was awful.”
I nod. “Exactly.”
“So, why not get one now?”
“I’ve thought about it,” I admit. “But I’m pretty sure my mother would still have a conniption if I ruined her design with a dog bed and some toys.”
“She didn’t let you decorate anything in your own place?” he asks, leaning back and propping himself up on one elbow. Two puppies jump up from their nap and trot over to him before jumping up to lick his face. He smiles, gently rolling them to their backs and rubbing their bellies as they try to bite him.
“I got to decorate the closet. It is so out of place compared to the stark modern look in the rest of my apartment, but I love it. It’s kind of my safe space.”
“Why not move?”
I sigh, thinking about the money that I refuse to touch. “Ivy and I both got trust funds from one of Mother’s exes when we turned eighteen but I don’t like using that money and I refuse to touch the twelve million that she blackmailed those boys for, so I stay even though I’m miserable.”
“Wait,” he interjects. “You’ve never touched any of that money?”
I shake my head. “No. I can’t. It would be like saying I’m okay with what they did to me or that the money was an acceptable punishment when it wasn’t. Maybe for the other boys it was, but for what Austin and my mother did, for the way they betrayed me, the money wasn’t enough.”
“Is there anything that would make up for it?” he questions, anger in his voice. I bite my lip as I shake my head.