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“I’m not going to tell you that you were right.”
He throws his head back and laughs as he reaches across the seat and grabs my hand. “I expect nothing less from you.”
Before I can ask him what that means, we pull into a parking lot surrounded by tall pine trees and I scowl as I study the sign above the door.
“An animal shelter?” I ask, my gaze flicking to Chance. “What are we doing here?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Curious, I bite my lip as he parks the truck and watch him walk around the front to open my door. He helps me down and laces his fingers through mine as we walk toward the entrance, the sound of barking growing louder with each step. Chance opens the door and we step inside as the woman at the front desk looks up.
“Can I help you?”
Chance turns to me. “Stay here and I’ll be right back, okay?”
I nod and he releases my hand to jog up to the front counter. He starts whispering something to the woman and she glances over at me and smiles. What the hell is going on? Finally, the woman nods and points down a hallway before Chance turns and motions me over. When I reach him, he grabs my hand again and starts leading me in the direction the woman pointed.
“Um… what are we doing, Chance?”
He grins back at me. “You’ll see.”
Halfway down the hallway, he stops and pulls a door open as the sound of barking intensifies. We step into the room and I barely hold back a squeal at the rows of dogs in cages watching us.
“First stop on the tour is the adoptable dogs room. I thought we could say hi to these guys before we go to our next spot.”
I walk to the first cage and lean down, letting the gorgeous French Bulldog inside sniff my hand. After a second, he licks it and I smile. “And what is our next spot?”
“Sorry, Princess,” Chance says, laughing. “That’s still a surprise.”
We move along, saying hi to a fluffy Chow Chow mix, a bloodhound, and a boxer, before I turn to Chance.
“Okay, we have to get out of here before I adopt them all.”
He laughs, nodding as he leads me back out into the hallway and two doors down. It’s a big empty room and I glance back at Chance with a scowl.
“Sit down on the floor,” he instructs and I plop down as he goes over to a glass door before turning back to me. “Are you ready?”
“Um…” I reply, not sure of the answer. What the hell is going to come out of that door? “I guess so?”
He laughs again as he pushes the door open and whistles.
Nothing happens.
I’m just about to ask him what the hell is going on when about a dozen puppies spill into the room, falling all over each other and themselves, and I squeal. They all zero in on me, rushing over and climbing into my lap. I laugh and pick one up.
“Oh my God,” I gasp, looking up at Chance who’s smiling down at me. “This is amazing. Get down here.”
“One second.” He grabs a plastic tub from the corner of the room and sets it down next to me before sitting on the other side of it. It’s filled with all sorts of toys and I pull out a braided rope toy, which is quickly snatched away by one of the puppies. Another curls up in my arms and licks my hand, content on getting in some snuggles while another chews on one of my fingers. Even with sharp little puppy teeth piercing my skin, I can’t wipe the damn smile off my face.
“I can’t believe this,” I whisper, my heart overflowing with happiness. “What made you think of this?”
He shrugs, one puppy licking his face and I laugh. “It’s hard to be grumpy and sad with puppies crawling all over you.”
Well, he’s not wrong. There is definitely something therapeutic about holding these babies in my arms. One puppy, a little brown one that keeps getting knocked back by his over zealous friends, plops down with a dejected look on his little face and I scoop him up, setting him in my lap.
“There you go, little guy. Do you need some loving, too?”
Chance reaches over and brushes his thumb over my cheek as I peek over at him. A wide grin stretches across his face and it makes my heart skip a beat. “I’ve missed that gorgeous smile these last few days.”
