And I Love You (41 page)
“Oh my God.” Hunter took the wiggling little body from Dude. “Are you sure this isn’t Homer Junior?”
“Positive.” Dude beamed with pleasure at Hunter’s reaction to the puppy.
“I can’t believe you got me the twin of my twin’s dog.” With the puppy in his arms, he kissed Megan. “Best surprise ever.”
“Really? You’re not mad?”
“How could I be mad when—” He held the puppy away from him to reveal a huge patch of puppy pee on his T-shirt. Holding the little body up in the air, Hunter looked him in the eye. “
Really?
We just met!” The puppy seemed to grin at him, making him laugh as he fell madly in love.
Megan shook with silent laughter.
“There’s goes my nice, clean, orderly house,” Hunter said.
“A house that’s too clean means a life not being lived to its fullest,” Skeeter declared.
“Now you sound like my grandfather,” Hunter said.
“We brought him a bed and some food to get you through tonight,” Dude said. “I’ve also got a crate in the truck if you want it.”
Hunter glanced at Megan who shook her head.
“No crate,” Hunter said. “Hannah would never forgive me.”
“For what?” Hannah asked as she came into the living room holding Homer Junior, with Nolan following behind her.
“If I put him in a crate,” Hunter said.
“No crates,” Hannah said emphatically, squealing as she caught sight of her puppy’s twin.
“You’ll regret that when he’s tearing up your house,” Nolan said.
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to him. These are the best-behaved puppies in the universe.”
“Right,”
Nolan said with an eye roll of his own.
“Mine’s already peed on me,” Hunter said.
Dude scratched the puppy behind his ears. “That’s him deciding you’re his person.”
“Am I your person, little buddy?”
The puppy let out an adorable little yelp that had Homer Junior straining to get free of Hannah so he could say hello to his brother.
Hunter put his puppy down on the floor so they could romp.
They fell into a gleeful wrestling match that had everyone laughing at their antics.
Hannah waved her hand in front of her face, as if she were trying not to cry. Thanks to pregnancy hormones, she cried at commercials these days, or so Nolan said. “They remember each other.”
“I knew they would,” Dude said proudly.
“Did you know about this?” Hunter asked his sister.
“Megan clued me in the other day. She wanted me to bring Homer over so you’d believe you had his twin and not him.”
“These are the only two from that litter who had this same exact coloring,” Dude said.
“Just like us and our litter,” Hunter said to Hannah.
“Exactly,” she said, laughing.
“Good surprise?” Megan asked.
Hunter put his arm around her and drew her in close to him. “Awesome surprise.”
“Don’t get puppy pee on me.”
“We’re in this together, sweetheart.”
Shrieking, she twirled out of his embrace.
“What’re you going to name him?” Hannah asked from her post on the floor with the dogs.
“It’s got to be an H name,” Nolan said. “Can’t be anything else.”
“How about Hector?” Hannah asked.
Hunter wrinkled his nose. “He’s not a Hector.” He picked up his new buddy—and he knew this one was his because he wasn’t wearing a collar.
Note to self: Don’t get a red collar or you’ll never be able to tell him apart from his brother/cousin
. Hunter looked him in the eye, falling more in love by the second with the sweet face that looked back at him. “Horace.”
“The nickname for that would be Hor,” Nolan said. “The other dogs at the dog park are likely to be ruthless with that name.”
Hunter looked up at Megan, seeking her approval.
She smiled and nodded. “We’ll take our chances.”
Later that night, in bed with Megan tucked up against one side of him and Horace snuggled up against the other, Hunter thought about how much his life had changed in the last few months. He’d gone from living a boring, somewhat staid existence, to falling in love, getting engaged, moving Megan into his house, even working at the diner and now adding Horace to their little family.
“What’re you thinking about?” she asked in a sleepy voice.
“Everything that’s happened in the last few months. Hard to believe how much has changed.”
“I wouldn’t believe it myself if I hadn’t had a front-row seat.”
“All good changes. The best kind of changes.”
“Mmm.”
“We need to set a wedding date,” he said.
“I’ve been thinking about that. What do you say about Christmas?”
“I love Christmas. What’s not to love about Christmas?”
“It’s been a tough time of year for me since my parents died. A wedding could give me some new memories of the season. Plus Nina and Brett will be home. What do you think?”
“I think,” he said, shifting slightly so he could kiss her while trying not to wake the puppy, “that’s a fantastic idea.”
“The weather might be an issue though.”
“Always a concern, but as long as we can get Nina, Brett and my family there, which shouldn’t be a problem, I’d be happy. How about you?”
“That’s all I need.”
“Where do you want to do it?”
“This is the part I feel sort of weird about.”
“How do you mean?”
“I’d love to do it at your parents’ house if you don’t think they’d mind. They’ve got that huge, beautiful family room with the fireplace. I bet your mom goes all out with the tree and the decorating. I can’t think of anywhere better, unless it would be too much to ask of them.”
“They’d love it. I don’t even have to ask to know they’d be all for it.”
“Still, we’re going to ask before we make any firm plans.”
“We’ll ask. They’ll say yes—emphatically—and we’ll make our plans.”
“You really like the idea of doing it there?”
“I love it. Almost as much as I love you.” He kissed her, lingering on the sweet softness of her lips. “This turned out to be one hell of a Sunday.”
In the darkness, he felt her smile against his lips. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, which was the only part of him that didn’t ache like hell. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. His heart was in pretty good shape these days, too.
FIND YOUR HEART’S DESIRE …
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