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Chapter 11

“Hell, no. You wantedto throttle Nipper when he was biting you. You don’t even like him. He can’t be yours.” Eden glared down at Blaze. He had to be jerking her around.

“You said yourself, we have a bond. And I’ve been thinking about getting a pet.”

“No, you haven’t. You only want him because I do.”

A smug smile flickered across Blaze’s face. “Not true. Besides, Nipper wants to be with me more than he does you.”

“Don’t be a dick about this. This is a great solution for both of us. Nipper has a home, he gets to see you regularly, and I finally get to have a pet.”

“What do you mean, finally? You must have had loads of pets when you were a kid. Everyone has a pet on Earth.” The stubborn set of Blaze’s jaw suggested he wasn’t budging over this.

“Yeah, not so much. My mom thought pets were a bad idea. We moved around a lot, and she said they were expensive. She also didn’t think I’d take the responsibility seriously.”

“You’ve never had a single pet?”

Eden shrugged. “It’s no big deal. Lots of kids don’t have pets. Some of them have allergies or just aren’t that into them. Which is weird. Who couldn’t love something this cute?” She booped the top of Nipper’s head with a finger.

Blaze shuffled up the bed. “Is that why you trained to be a biologist?”

“It’s something I’ve always been interested in. And it got me closer to animals. Stop distracting me. You’re not keeping Nipper all to yourself.”

“I don’t know about you having him. Your Mom’s right. A pet is a big responsibility.”

Eden pursed her lips. “She’s never right. Besides, I can handle responsibility.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Of course.” Even though her idea of responsibility was ensuring she grabbed all her clothes before sneaking out of a guy’s room after a fun night, she could do this. She’d show Blaze she could be responsible.

He shook his head. “How about a compromise? After all, I’ve dealt with a lot of animals. And we had loads of them around when I was growing up.”

“Did you have a royal petting zoo so you could hang out with the unicorns when you were a kid?”

“A royal what? And what’s a unicorn?”

Eden waved a hand in the air. “Forget it. What’s your idea?”

“We have joint custody. This doggo is growing on me.”

“Joint custody?” She wrinkled her nose. “That sounds official.”

“It should be official. You don’t take on an animal lightly. We can share him.” He grinned at her. “What do you think?”

“Wouldn’t it be easier if we simply got a place together to keep Nipper happy? Then he could see both of us as much as he wanted.”

Blaze’s grin widened. “I know you’re teasing, but that’s a great idea. Let’s move in together.”

Eden dug in deep and grabbed onto a shred of stability. Blaze always made her off-balance with his casual suggestions of forever and long-lasting relationships.

“I’ve got a better plan. We let Nipper decide who he wants to be with,” she said.

“That’s not fair to you. He’s bonded to me. There’ll be no decision for him to make. You want to see Nipper, you need to agree that we share him.”

She scowled at Blaze. “I’m not giving him up. He’s too cute. And he likes me. I made him better.”

“Yeah, but he’s bonded to me. That overrides any obligations he has to you.”