I smiled. “Would you like to take Daphne out for a quick pee pee?”
My pooch popped up off her bed and trotted over to us.
“You can let her out in the backyard since it’s fenced in. Once she’s done, she’ll probably just come back. If she wants to sniff—”
“She can do whatever she wants.” Andre squatted and scratched my girl’s ears. “She’s such a good dog.”
Daphne gazed up at me as if to say,see? Another human wrapped around my little paw.
I chuckled.
Andre headed to the kitchen with Daphne hard on his heels.
I hustled to the bathroom and was back in the kitchen and debating dinner when the two returned.
Daphne headed to her water bowl.
“Do you have an idea for dinner? Pasta? Chicken?”
“I should cook.” Andre straightened. “Given you’re letting me stay here—I should be pulling my weight.”
“Andre, there’s no weight to pull. You’re a guest. I’m just wondering if I should take anything out to defrost. Or we could have leftover Chinese…”
“That would be amazing.”
“Cool.” Since that required no work, I turned to him. “Solo? Are you ready to play?”
Andre lit like the sun. “Oh yes, Daddy. Please. I’ve been a good boy, haven’t I?”
The switch caught me a little off-guard. As did the wordDaddy.I hadn’t been a Daddy in more than a year—and only ever to one man. Still, if Andre was comfortable with this, I could certainly adapt. “Of course you’ve been a good boy. Let’s head downstairs.”
I’m not going to think about the ramifications. This is about making him comfortable. The rest is just a bonus.
Chapter Ten
Andre
Where the fuck am I going to find the courage to do this?Buying the pin, more than a year ago, had been brutally difficult. Wearing it on rare occasions when no one was likely to recognize it took courage. Telling Zahir my pup name and calling himDaddy? Stratospherically challenging. With one word or look, he could cut me down. He had the power to hurt me in ways few people did.
And yet I trusted him. Maybe I shouldn’t have…but I did.
So I took his hand as he led me downstairs and tried to assure myself he wasn’t going to murder me. Demetrius knew where I was. So surely Zahir knew he wouldn’t get away with killing me.Oh, seriously? Dramatic much?
Well, that was true. I was trying not to catastrophize…but I was really out of my comfort zone.
As I descended the stairs, the room came into view.
And my heart leapt with joy.
The walls were painted a soft blue—like the sky. Even the ceiling was that color, and there were white puffy clouds. Along the walls were trees—a forest’s worth. With all kinds of animals. Everywhere. Well, that was three walls.
The fourth wall was what appeared to be a dog park with so many dogs.
I moved to that one and reverently held my hand out. Looking—but not touching.
“It’s okay to touch.” For the first time, Zahir spoke. The mural’s tougher than she looks. Touching won’t hurt it.
Slowly, I examined each dog one by one. After a thorough examination of all of them, my hand settled on one. A yellow labrador retriever—close to the biggest dog in the park.
