RainaAs soon as we had made it out of that gala, I knew just what was on Harry’s mind. Because it was the exact same thing that was on my mind, too.I was surprised we had managed to make it this long without giving in. The way he had looked at me when he had first seen me in this dress, it had been enough to make me want to pull him into my apartment and tell him to forget about anything else that he might have had planned for the evening.But we had gone to the gala, we had played nice, and he’d kept his hand on the small of my back, letting me know that he was eager to find out what I was hiding under there as soon as he got the chance.But as soon as he helped me out of the car outside his house, I knew that he wasn’t interested in holding back for another second. I grinned as he pulled me against him on the steps, running his hands down my body.“God, you look so fucking hot in this dress,” he murmured, and he lowered his mouth to my neck and made me practically swoon. It was ab
RainaHarry nudged at my entrance, and I arched my back and pressed back against him, letting him know that he could have me any way that he wanted me and that I would never say no. I was obsessed with the way he felt against me and obsessed with the way we felt about each other, and I was never going to get tired of that feeling, especially not when it just felt so damn...Good.He pushed inside of me in one swift motion, and I felt like my heart was going to burst right on out of my chest. He filled me in one slow push, letting me feel every inch of his length as he took me.“Fuck,” he growled, and he took hold of my hips to hold me in place as he started to move inside of me.I couldn’t speak. I didn’t have the capacity for words anywhere in me. I loved the way he felt so much and the way that we felt together. His body was strong, and mine was soft, and it was so clear now, after all this time waiting, that this had been what I’d always needed. I had hidden from the truth of my wa
Harry“Is she coming down soon?” Winnie asked, bouncing in the backseat.I nodded. “I hope so,” I replied, glancing at my watch. “She said that she would be down here soon enough.”“Oh, there she is!” she called suddenly.I looked over and saw Raina struggling out of the front door carrying a big box in her hands.“What have you got there?” I asked as Raina carefully moved into the front seat, making sure that she didn’t knock the box as she did so.“It’s my mom’s Bundt cake recipe,” she explained. “I got up early to make it this morning. I hope that George likes it.”“He’s going to love it,” I promised her, and I inhaled the sweet, light, lemony scent of the cake as it filled the car.“You have to show me how to make that,” Winnie said.Raina glanced around and smiled at her. “I would love to,” she agreed. “It could be fun, right? If you don’t mind making a mess of the kitchen, that is.”“I’m sure we could see our way to it,” I agreed. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. George hates it
HarryGeorge held up his hands. “Hey, I’m sure we’ve both got some stories to tell,” he shot back. “Though I bet mine are more disgusting.”And with that, the two of them had launched into a playful banter about who’d had it worse in their line of work. They were bantering off one another like they had known each other for years, and I settled into a seat next to them and watched them talk.Before I knew it, I was almost crying with laughter, listening to the two of them try to outdo each other with who had the grosser stories. They could really match each other’s offerings, and it was beyond funny to listen to them try to beat each other. Winnie was looking between the two of them delightedly, clearly as pleased as I was that they were getting along as well as they were.Anita interrupted a little while later with the cake and the lemonade, and we all tucked in happily. George took one bite of the cake and nodded appreciatively.“All of that, and she can cook as well,” he remarked. “
RainaI sat there, waiting for my brother to arrive, and tried to convince myself that I was making the right choice. This was going to be fine, wasn’t it? This was going to be fine. My meeting with George had gone so well that I knew there was nothing keeping me back from actually introducing him to Reed. I had to just check on a time with my brother, and then we could get going.I knew that he was going to freak out when I told him about my plan, and I was hoping I could at least will him into being well behaved enough not to make a total embarrassment of the family name when we met up for the first time.He joined me at the table, flopping into the seat with a sigh like he had been struggling to stay on his feet all day long, even though the day had just started.“Busy week?” I asked him.He nodded. “Yup.”“Well, it’s about to get busier,” I warned him. “You think you could clear out Friday evening?”“And what might that be for?” he asked.I sighed, took a deep breath, and then to
RainaWe headed out of the office, and I held his hand, and we walked down the street together and chatted about what they had been working on. I noticed a few people doing double-takes at us, and I wondered if people recognized him.I wondered if people were trying to work out what he was doing with someone like me, all tucked up in my scrubs and looking more than a little rattled. But he didn’t seem to care. In fact, he seemed proud to be seen with me, and that made me happy. It didn’t matter what I looked like. As long as I was next to him, he was happy.We headed to a café nearby, and I ordered a strong coffee and a bowl of soup and sat down with them. George had been telling me about their upcoming visit to the shelter and how impressed he was about the way that they ran things down there.I nodded along proudly, pleased that he could see it for what it was. I would never have imagined that a family like this could be so open and accepting of everything that was being thrown at t
HarryI dropped Raina off back at her office, and I would have been lying if I’d said that I didn’t hang out a little longer than I necessarily had to before I got back to business.“So, Friday?” she asked.I nodded. “Friday it is,” I replied, and I cupped her cheek in my hand for a moment.She pressed her face against my fingers and smiled. “I’m going to miss you,” she remarked.I kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll miss you too,” I replied, and we both lingered there, not wanting the moment to have passed by us quite yet.But then with a sigh, she said she had to get back to work, and I headed back to the car where George was waiting for me.“All right, let’s get down to this shelter, huh?” he remarked. “I want to see where our money is going.”“As long as you can stop flirting for a single second,” I teased him. “What were you playing at with the girl Raina works with?”“Hey, I don’t get out so much,” he protested. “It’s the least I can do to actually enjoy the time that I get out of
HarryMarjorie touched her hand to her heart, expressing how touched she was that we were going out of our way to make life easier for her. Honestly, there was nothing I wouldn’t have done to support a place like this. If it had changed our lives, I could only imagine how much it might have done for other people in the same position, people who craved something to love, an animal that they could draw into their lives and make their own.“Speaking of stuff like that,” George cut in. “I think it would be great to connect with some local care homes. You know, bring the animals down there as emotional support? I know that older people can get real lonely up there all by themselves, especially if they don’t have any family who are too willing to come out and give them a hand.”“I love that idea,” Marjorie said. “You guys have so many. I need to start taking some notes and make sure that I got everything.”She headed off for a moment, and George stood there and grinned at me.“This is the p
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