RainaThe food was good, and the conversation flowed, and I managed to keep it, for the most part, away from my dating life, much to my relief. Even though Reed poked and pried a little, I deflected his questions. I doubted he wanted to hear the answers to them anyway. He was just trying to find an excuse to set me up again, and there was no way in hell that I was allowing him to do that.After a while, the conversation turned to Lizzie’s work, and we chatted a little about her current case, something for some big business who were suing an even bigger business for their troubles. Something to do with infringement on a copyright. I really didn’t follow the story that well, but I nodded along anyway.“These people need to get a grip on reality,” Reed remarked, shaking his head. “Focus on what really matters in life.”“Yes, but then where would I get my work from?” Lizzie reminded him with a chuckle.“Yeah, that’s a good point,” he conceded. “But we all can’t be Harry Porters, can we?”
Harry“Hey, boss, you got a minute?”I looked up from what I was working on and found Henry, one of the accountants, standing in the doorway. I could hear the shuffle of more footsteps behind him, so I knew that it was more than just him out there.“What’s up?” I asked. I had sent out a memo earlier in the day announcing that dogs would be welcome in the office every Friday, and I hadn’t heard much of a response about it so far. I assumed that everyone would be cool with the idea, but perhaps some people had allergies that I didn’t know about and were going to protest.“We just wanted to say thanks for the memo,” he said, and he glanced around and jerked his head at the people behind him. A moment later, the door opened, and a stream of about a half dozen of my employees entered the room.“You have no idea how much it means to us that you’re going to let dogs in here,” Mary, another head of department, told me with a huge smile. “My baby, she’s such a help with my anxiety. It’s going
HarryI followed her into the room, and she talked through what she was doing with Winnie every step of the way. Winnie had been a little freaked out about handing over her new best buddy to someone that she hardly knew, but now that she was actually watching it unfold in front of her, she seemed to have calmed down a little bit.I was pleased to see how well she was holding herself together. I had been worried that she would be too protective of her little furry friend to think straight, but she was doing a great job. And it helped that Raina was so patient with her, took her time so carefully to make sure she understood every little thing that was going on. By the time she was done with this, I would practically have been able to perform the operation myself.“And it looks like everything is exactly where it needs to be,” Raina finished up. Her voice was so smooth and so confident that I had found myself tuning out of the actual details of what she was saying and focusing instead on
RainaAs soon as I made it to the shelter once more, Frankie practically dived out of the staff area and accosted me with a giant hug.“Hey, what’s all this about?” I asked, laughing as I pulled back from her. Any other day, I might have been a little put off by how forward she was being, but right then and there, I was in such a good mood I didn’t even mind.“Come on, Marjorie will show you,” she replied, and she gestured for me to come on through to the staffroom.I furrowed my brow, trying to figure out what the heck was going on here, but as soon as I stepped into the slightly rundown staff area, I knew it had to be something good.“Marjorie, what’s up?” I asked the woman who ran the shelter. She had one hand clasped to her chest, and in the other, she was holding a phone that she was gazing down at with something like joy.“What’s going on?” I pressed her again, not sure that she could hear me through the shock of whatever it was that she was taking in.“We just got a huge donati
RainaNormally, I would never in a million years have agreed to a midweek date because I would always want to be on my game for work, but the thought of seeing him again was just far too tempting to pass up. Not to mention the fact that I wanted to thank him for his donation.What he had done for us had changed the path of the shelter forever. I knew it might not seem like a huge amount of money to him, but to me, it was. He had no idea how many animals he had helped or even saved, handing over that amount of cash.“I would love that,” I said. “Dinner? Maybe somewhere a little less formal this time.”“Yeah, well, I won’t be trying to impress you this time around,” he joked. “I’ve already got the dog. I’ve got what I wanted out of all of this.”I gasped in fake outrage. “I knew it, another man who was just after me for my dog-related connections.”“You get a lot of guys hitting you up for the canine help?” he asked.I laughed. “That suggests that I get a lot of guys hitting me up, full
Harry“Tink!”I woke up to the sound of Winnie’s keening voice yelping through the house, and I snapped straight up in bed at once and stared off into the darkness. I must have misheard that, right?“Tink, wake up!”I leaped out of bed and hurried down the hall to Winnie’s room, throwing the door open and flicking on the light.“What’s going on?” I asked.Winnie looked up at me, her face already streaked with tears. “It’s Tink,” she told me, her lip wobbly. “He... he won’t wake up.”I strode toward the bed and dropped down to my knees in front of the little dog. Sure enough, he was lying there like he hadn’t moved in hours. I patted his head, but he hardly moved. His eyes flickered a little, but that was it. I put my hand on his little chest and felt a heartbeat. Okay. So at least we had that going for us.“What’s wrong with him?” Winnie asked, her voice tinged with desperation.I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said. I hated not having an answer for her, but I knew there was nothing
HarryI sat down with Winnie in the waiting room, and she wrapped her arms around herself and gazed off at the room that Raina had retreated into with Tink. I pulled out my phone, figuring out what I was going to do for the rest of the day. This had thrown everything off, and I would have to work double-time to put the pieces back together and make sure that everything didn’t fall apart.I called Yara. She had always been my go-to at times like this. It took her a few rings to answer, but when she did, she sounded bright and perky. She always got up stupidly early to run in the mornings, though I had never understood how she had the energy to do it.“Hey, buddy, what’s up?” she greeted me brightly. “You’re not usually up this early in the morning.”I quickly explained to her what had gotten me out of bed at such an ungodly time, and she gasped when she heard that I was at the clinic with Tink.“Is he going to be all right?” she asked. “If there’s anything I can do...”“I don’t think t
Raina“Oh, thank fuck.”I muttered the words to myself behind my mask and closed my eyes for a moment as soon as I found the obstruction that had been keeping Tink off his feet. I could hardly believe that he had reacted so badly to it. He was a little drama queen. That was for sure.Carefully, I removed the sock that he had clearly munched down on a day or so before and tossed it away. Silly little thing. Damn, at least nothing more serious had happened.When Harry had called me that morning, I had to admit my mind had jumped to the worst. I didn’t want to let him down, and I didn’t want him to look back on taking in this dog as some kind of mistake. And the look on little Winnie’s face as she stood there, practically refusing to move on or let go, was heartbreaking. I had promised myself then and there that I was going to do everything I could to get him well again. But, luckily for me, it looked like I wouldn’t have to go too far out of my way.The operation had been quick and easy
HarryI hadn’t known until I’d met Raina how much I was hiding from, but now that I could see it, it made my heart ache to think about everything that I had been missing. I thought I had been protecting myself, but in reality, it had just been isolation.Yara had seen that. I was pretty sure, in fact, that she had seen that before I had. I had been ducking and diving from the truth, and she had seen through me, seen me for what I was, seen all the pain I had been carrying with me all this time. And that was why she had set me up on a date.It was crazy, really, thinking that all of this had started with something that I had been so averse to in the first place. I had pushed back against the very idea of going on that date, sure that it was just going to end with me making a fool of myself and looking like an idiot in the process.Of course, if I had known where all of this was going to lead me, I would have gone back in time and told myself to go with it, that it was going to be bette
Harry“All right, all right, if I could borrow your attention for a moment.” I stood up from the chair I had been sitting on and waved a hand in the air so that I could draw the attention of my staff and friends around me.Yara had done a hell of a job putting all of this together. It had only been a couple of weeks ago that I had brought up the idea of the party to her, and she had sprung into full-force action at once, running off this way and that to make sure everything got dealt with as best she could manage it.She told me she was just happy to finally have some kind of party she could organize—and said I could do with throwing a few more like it, actually, though I decided it was for the best that I ignored that little comment. I had been so busy these last few months, I couldn’t imagine finding any more time in my packed-out schedule for fun little gatherings like this.It had helped, of course, that George had been willing to put up his house and grounds to hold the party. We
RainaHe wrapped his arms around me and pushed into me deep, filling me all the way up to the hilt, taking me like there was nothing in the world he would rather have been doing in that moment. I sank my nails into his back and let my body sink into the sheets below me, the softness absorbing me, at odds with his hardness.He didn’t hold back. He didn’t seem to see a need to, and I was grateful for it. After everything that had been happening lately, I felt like I needed this connection with him to remind myself where this all came from.Not that he was so good in bed that I would have gone through anything for him—though, that was a part of it—but it was a raw thing that existed between just us. Nobody could take it away from us, no matter how much they might have wanted to. This was ours and only ours, and we had made it together, and that meant nothing could change it.I could already feel myself getting close. It was the feel of his breath on my neck that did it for me, his essent
RainaI had no idea why he was so eager for me to cancel on Reed that morning, but as soon as I had heard the tone in his voice, I’d known that it wasn’t up for debate. Harry had a damn good reason to want to see me, and I certainly wasn’t going to argue with it.As soon as he opened the door to his place, I knew what was running through his head. I grinned as he pulled me into his arms and kissed me deeply, like he was making the very most of the fact that I was here.“Thanks for coming,” he murmured, and he pushed the door shut behind me.“You going to make it worth my while?” I replied playfully.He scooped me off the ground and into his arms. I burst out laughing and hung on to him as he carried me up the stairs and toward the bedroom.He tossed me down on the bed, and it didn’t take long before our clothes went flying. I was wearing the scrubs that I would have to take into the office soon enough, so hardly my sexiest look, but he didn’t seem to care much.He stripped me off like
Harry“I was thinking more along the lines of a party than a bonus,” I replied to Yara. “Dogs allowed, of course.”“Well, when you put it like that…” She laughed. “Where were you thinking?”I scanned my brain for a moment and then landed on the perfect place.“Let me get in touch with George,” I replied. “I bet he’d love to have an excuse to do up his mansion.”“You really think he’d be willing to hand all that over for a company party?” she asked.I nodded. “You’d be surprised at how mellow he can be,” I replied. “Besides, think of all the women he’ll get to flirt with. It’ll be a dream come true for him.”“I guess so,” she agreed, shaking her head fondly at the thought. “You give him a call, and I’ll see what else I can pull in, all right? But I’m sure everyone would appreciate the chance to have some fun. Especially if our dogs are allowed to be there too.”I texted George as soon as she was gone, and he replied with an almost instant affirmation that promised me use of the house w
HarryI reached under the table and patted Tink where he was asleep at my feet. He might not have known it, but he was the reason that all of this weekend had been such a huge success.Without him, I would never have come across the shelter, and without that, I wouldn’t have been able to put together the awesome event that we had thrown the day before. It had been hectic as hell, but totally worth it, and I was proud to say that we had helped find homes for more than seventy animals over the course of the day.By the time it was over, Winnie was dead asleep in the back of the car with Tink, and George had to be dragged away from Nico, who he just couldn’t get enough of. But the day had been a wild success, and I knew that it wouldn’t be the only one that we had with the shelter.But for now, I was back at work, and I had to focus on catching up on everything that I had missed the last few weeks. Fuck, it had been so busy, I had hardly had time to remember that I so much as had a job.
Raina“Thank you for getting all of this set up,” I told Harry. “You have no idea how much this is going to help get people to start taking notice of the shelter.”“Well, it’s what you deserve,” he replied. “You’ve worked so hard here for so long. I wanted to do what I could to make it easier on you.”I kissed him again. “You know, you’re way sweeter than you have any right to be,” I murmured.He grinned. “Is that an insult or a compliment? I can’t tell.”“You decide,” I replied, and it was right then that I saw Rita and her son coming through the door. She had promised to put in an appearance, and she beamed as soon as she saw me.“Oh, how’s my favorite baby?” I greeted him with a coo, and I came over to hold him in my arms for just a moment.Rita handed him over to me at once, apparently glad to have a chance to put him down, if only for a moment. “Oh my goodness, I think I’m in a lot of danger being here,” she remarked as Marjorie emerged from the back room with a couple of lively
Raina“All right, do you have all the forms ready?” I asked Marjorie as the two of us practically sprinted around the shelter, trying to get everything ready for the adopt-a-thon that was meant to be happening today.She nodded. “I think so,” she replied, but she was clearly nervous.I put my hand on her shoulder. “Hey,” I soothed her. “Everything’s going to be fine. Everyone who’s coming today has already been vetted, you remember? So anyone who goes home with a pet, they’re going to be a good home for them.”“I know that,” Marjorie said. “I’m just... I don’t know if I’m ready to say goodbye to all these little guys after all this time.”“Don’t get all misty on me now,” I warned her. “We have to make space for other animals, remember? I want to make sure that we get as many of these guys off to new homes as we can. Think how good it’ll be to have the space so that you don’t have to worry about turning down anyone who needs a home, right?”“Right,” she agreed, and she nodded and tappe
Harry“I had my lawyer draw up these agreements,” she explained.Michael lifted his head from the papers that he had been going over. He nodded, looking satisfied with what he had seen.“Everything seems like it’s in order to me,” he remarked. “Harry, if you want to take a little more time to go over these and think about the decision, we can hang on to them for you—”“No, I’m ready,” I replied. I was dead certain. Nothing was going to change my mind. Nothing at all. I was happier than I’d been in such a long time. We had the house, I had Raina, and now, it looked like I was going to have my precious, perfect son on top of all of it. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Not one little thing.“Thank you for this, Allison,” I said. “Thank you for trusting me with him.”“Thank you for letting us into your life after all this time,” she replied. “I know it’s more than I deserve. I know you’re being kinder than you should ever be with me—”“You never have to think like that,” I told he