“Baby, I love you, but if you don’t hand me that puppy right now, I just might cry.”
Colton handed him the small fluffball, and Ace took him, holding him against his chest. Ace had only brought it up a couple of times because he didn’t want to get his hopes up. He’d wanted a dog for years, but the timing had never been right. With his work schedule the way it had been, plus Colton’s work schedule, it wouldn’t have been fair to any of them, but now….
“Are you crying?” Colton asked softly.
“No.” Ace sniffed. “You’re crying. Why are you crying, Colton? Geez, it’s just a puppy.”
Colton laughed softly and kissed Ace’s cheek. Then Cocoa flicked out his tiny pink tongue and kissed Ace’s other cheek.
“I love him,” Ace said, rubbing his face against Cocoa’s head. He sighed. “There’s nothing like that new puppy smell.” He couldn’t believe it. “We have a fur baby.”
“We do,” Colton said.
“I need you to make me one of your lists. We need all the dog things.”
“Already working on it.” Colton scritched Cocoa behind his tiny ear. “Do you want to change his name? You don’t need to keep it.”
Ace stared at Colton. “Are you kidding me? Not only is Cocoa the perfect name, but we officially have a chocolate chip cookie!” Oh, the excitement was overwhelming. He couldn’t wait to tell Joker.
“What?” Colton blinked at him. “I don’t understand.”
Ace motioned to Cocoa. “Um, cocoa. Otherwise known as chocolate. Chip. And Cookie. Chocolate, Chip, Cookie.”
Realization dawned on Colton, and he barked out a laugh. “Oh, my god.”
The two of them laughed like a couple of dorks, and Ace loved every second of it. He had a dog! Best. Christmas. Ever.
“How did you manage this?” Ace asked, ready to melt into a puddle of goo when Cocoa fell asleep curled up in his arms.
“When I met up with Clara, she told me about her niece, Belle, who’s visiting for the holidays. Belle’s a specialized dog trainer for law enforcement. Anyway, just before Belle left to come to Winterhaven, one of her clients decided to give Cocoa up and asked if Belle could find him a forever home.”
“Why would they give him up?”
“Apparently, there was some kind of mix-up with the pups. Cocoa was one of the puppies deemed unfit to be a K9.”
“What? He’s two months old.” Ace was offended. How dare someone reject his precious fluffball! “Isn’t that like saying that a two-year-old baby isn’t fit to be a doctor? He’sa baby.”
Colton shrugged. “I assume with dogs it’s different. There are special tests they perform, I guess. Joker knows more about it than I do. The tests concluded Cocoa doesn’t have the temperament to be a police or military dog. They said he’d make a great companion or family dog, though.”
Ace had been about to protest their assessment when Cocoa yawned so hard he rolled over and almost fell out of Ace’s arms. Ace quickly caught him. “Yeah, okay, so maybe K9 is not in his future. Their loss is my adorable gain.” He scratched Cocoa’s belly. “Besides, we only need one psycho fur missile in this family, and that position has been filled by your cousin.”
Colton chuckled, and Ace shook his head. He still couldn’t believe this was happening. Ooh, he had some very long nights ahead of him, but he didn’t care.
The door jingled, and Ace’s smile couldn’t get any bigger when the rest of their family came in.
“What’s going on?” King asked as they headed over. “What’s the urgent—”
Leo gasped and practically ran over Joker to get to the couch first. “A puppy!”
Fitz squealed and darted over, sitting on the coffee table in front of Ace. “He’s so precious!”
“Aw, now he is sweeter than stolen honey,” Mason said, leaning over the back of the couch to pet Cocoa’s head.
“Can I take his picture?” Laz asked, Red and Gio coming to the other side to coo over Cocoa as well.
“Well, we’ve lost them,” Joker said.
Ace carefully put a fist up. “I am victorious.”
