Page 141 of Knight
He smiled, eyes soft, before glancing back to the road. “Yeah. We could foster another dog.”
Cyrus’s words came back to me. We were doing things in the wrong order again. Surely fostering a pet came after dating.
I cleared my throat. “I’ll entertain this idea of dog ownership on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You let me take you on a date first.”
Aiden grinned. “You want to take me on a date?”
“Yep. I’ve got it all planned.”
“You do, huh? Do I get any say in where we have this date?”
“None,” I said. “You just have to relax and enjoy.”
“That’s a tall order for me,” Aiden admitted. “But I’ll try.”
Aiden turned down a dirt road and as Larry’s house came into view, Waffles pressed his nose to the window, tail wagging up a storm.
“Looks like he’s happy to be home,” I said, only a little disappointed.
Aiden patted my thigh as he parked. “You made what could have been a very sad period of his life much better. I’m sure Waffles is grateful.”
Okay,enough. I wasn’t a seven-year-old boy sulking over the stray he’d gotten attached to. I got out of the car and opened the back door, setting Waffles free.
He launched out of the car and raced toward Larry, who’d stepped out onto the porch.
Larry crouched down and Waffles leaped into his arms, licking his face and whining.
My heart clenched. Damn. Bringing him home had been the right move. I’d always known it was, of course. But seeing how happy Larry was—the tears spilling down his cheeks as he greeted Waffles, who had probably thought he’d lost his owner forever—made it a lot easier to let him go.
Aiden wrapped his arm around my waist. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, voice a little hoarser than it should be. “Waffles is where he belongs. He never would have chosen me over his one true daddy.”
“Well, I choose you.” Aiden paused with an impish look on his face. “You can be my daddy.”
I laughed. “Yeah? Do I get to spank you when you’re bad?”
“Only if you spank me when I’m good.”
I grinned. “I think that can be arranged.”
He nudged me. “Let me go speak to Larry a minute. Then we’ll go home. You can feed me and give me all the pets you want.”
I kissed his forehead. “You know what this means, right?”
“What?” he asked, still smiling, half-expecting a joke.
“You have to love me unconditionally.”
His smile faded, his face shifting to a more serious expression. “I already do.”
“Yeah?” I gave him a squeeze. “Good. Me too.”
Maybe we had done everything in the wrong order, but asI watched Aiden shoot me a warm look over his shoulder as he walked over to Larry, I realized it didn’t matter.
