He doesn’t look like a stray to me.
No, this is an animal that is healthy and well cared for. For one thing, he’s got a full, filled-out face—not at all gaunt. His coat is glossy, and his body is packed with meat and muscle. Teeth white and straight.
“I’ll take him to the shelter. They’ll sort it out,” Hayes says, voice tight.
I leap to my feet, aghast.
“You can’t be serious. Don’t you know what they do to dogs at the shelter? Theykillthem!”
“Al—”
“Over my dead body.” I flash the dog a grin, rubbing his thick, muscular neck. “Don’t worry. You’re coming home with me, handsome.”
The dog’s tail thumps once against the ground, loud as a drumbeat, as if in agreement.
It feels like fate.
If I come home with a lost dog I just stumbled upon, what can my mother say? She’ll have to allow him to stay with us while we search for his owners.
Naturally, I’ll do the right thing. Check online for lost dog postings. Put up some flyers—not too many, though. I don’t really want someone to come and take him away. With any luck, no one will claim him, and I’ll finally have a dog just like I’ve always wanted.
“You’re joking, right? He’s enormous.” Hayes arches a brow. “Where would you even put him? You barely have room as it is in that tiny-ass apartment. Where’s he gonna sleep, the kitchen sink?”
I level him with a look. “Just because we aren’tgajillionaires—like some people—doesn’t mean we can’t have a dog.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.” He shifts awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just… Al, c’mon. You can’t find some random dog on the street and just take him home with you.”
“Sure I can.” I cross my arms, chin lifting. “I think I’m in love.”
“You just met the damn thing!”
I grin. “What, never heard of love at first sight?”
He doesn’t return my smile. His eyes flick toward the dog again, then back to me, as if calculating something.
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Nope,” I say. “He needs a home, and I’m going to give him one.”
“Okay, fine.” He sighs, long and low. “What if I do it?”
I blink, confused.
“Do what?”
“I’ll keep him,” he says, voice suddenly all casual. He crouches down, slowly extending a hand to give the dog a tentative pat. To my surprise, the dog leans into it—pressing against Hayes’s leg like they’ve known each other for years. “My parents love dogs. We used to have some back in Greece.”
“Uh, what happened to ‘he’s dangerous’?”
“Can’t a guy change his mind?”
He shrugs, still stroking the dog, calm and easy, like he’s done it a hundred times before. Which, frankly, is weirder than anything else. It’s a complete 180from how he was just seconds ago, yelling at me to stay away.
I narrow my eyes. “A dog is a lifetime commitment. You can’t even commit to the same girl for more than a month.”
Even Amber—his longest relationship to date—barely made it a few weeks last spring before they broke up for the hundredth time.
“You really want to go there?” He smirks. “Remind me—when’s the last time you went on a date?”
