Lib Novel Page 49
I couldn’t. He was too much.
“And what about this little girl?” I kissed her nose, earning another tentative but super grateful lick on my cheek. “Will you rehome her or keep her?”
His eyes softened. “Well, she’s kinda wormed her way into my heart already. She’s ugly as sin but there’s something about her, you know?”
My heart tuned to a gooey mess as I looked into her large pleading, black eyes. “I do know what you mean.”
We stood staring at this magical mutt who’d somehow stolen both our hearts. I guess, that’s it then. He’ll keep her. He should. He’s the one to rescue her. I’m just the nasty doctor who’s about to prod her with needles and cut her claws and stress her out.
She wouldn’t love me after that.
Sighing, I placed her back onto the table and did my best to get into business mode.
But Ryder saw through me. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for her?”
“What? No, don’t be ridiculous.”
“If you have, you can keep her. She belongs to no one.”
“She belongs to you.”
He shook his head. “No, she doesn’t. She’s yours if you want her. However, I don’t know how your cat will cope.”
“Oh, leave Visa to me.”
“Ah ha!” He put a finger in my face. “So you have been thinking about it!”
I hung my head. “No, I told you, it’s ridiculous.”
“It’s not ridiculous to instantly fall in love.” His voice dropped to honey. “I’m a firm believer in first sight magic kinda things.”
I sucked in a breath.
Silence fell awkwardly as I kept my hands busy by checking her body.
After a few seconds, he murmured, “I call her Barb, by the way. Just in case you change your mind.”
“Barb?”
He swallowed hard, reliving things I didn’t want to know. “Yes, for the barbwire that was around her muzzle.”
I gasped. “Oh my God, how did you not murder the woman when you picked her up?”
“Believe me, it was hard.” His knuckles popped as his hands fisted. “But that’s in the past. She has us now.”
“Us?”
He nodded. “Us.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
———————
Ryder
I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT MADE me say it.
There was no us.