Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I opened the door for her and bent down to stop any more wayward escapees. I could hear the fun they were having beyond the door, and, sure enough, I managed to catch two more as they tried to dart out.
“Here you go, daddy,” the little girl with the beautiful blonde hair said to the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in my life.
He was literally captivating.
And very obviously taken if the gold wedding band on his hand, as well as the three kids at his feet, were anything to go by.
“Thanks, baby,” the man said, gesturing to the floor where he wanted her to put the dog.
Dr. Deguzman… Zack… was on the floor running his fingers along the scruff of the puppy at his feet. A little black dog that was just a smidge smaller than all the others.
The mother of the dogs, a gorgeous German Shepherd that reminded me of the very thing everyone thought about when they hear ‘German Shepherd,’ was on the floor in the corner of the room, watching the comings and goings with sharp eyes.
“That’s Tequila,” the man said.
I blinked and looked up at him. “What?”
“The dog. Her name is Tequila,” he rumbled again, clarifying his earlier information.
I swallowed thickly, so caught up in the two different colors of his eyes that I kind of forgot to breathe.
I nodded in understanding. “Gotcha.”
His eyes studied me closely, watching me while I interacted with the dogs.
I tried my hardest to ignore it.
Out of my peripheral vision, though, I took him in.
He was wearing what most bikers would wear, since that was what he ultimately was.
Or, at least, that’s what I figured him for from the biker’s vest he was wearing.
I vaguely remembered a biker gang being here the few times that I’d come to Benton, Louisiana with my parents, but I didn’t remember them looking like that.
“Well, they all look fairly healthy, Trance. I don’t see a thing wrong with them. I also think they can be weaned from their mother now, too. That means your training can start as soon as you want to. They’re perfect,” Zack informed Trance.
“Shit,” Trance said, sighing and rubbing his face with his hands.
“Daddy sad,” the boy said.
The boy looked a lot like his father with his blue eyes and curly blonde hair, and you could definitely tell they were father and son.
The littlest, though, was all of two year’s old at most.
He didn’t look like his father.
My best guess was that he looked like his mom.
Because he was the only one with curly black hair and pale skin. He resembled a porcelain doll, and he was currently looking me in the eyes, his the most brilliant green that I’d ever seen, and my heart stuttered in my chest.
“Daddy sad?” He asked me.
He touched my cheek, then leaned forward and threw his arms around my neck.
Stunned momentarily, I had to wait a few seconds for my heart to stop breaking.
If I had a kid, I would have wanted him to be just like this child.
But that wouldn’t be happening for me, and I’d decided to let it go.
“I don’t know why your daddy’s sad, baby. Maybe you should ask him that when you’re alone,” I told him gently.
He squeezed me tighter, pulled back, and gave me a toothy grin that consisted of large amounts of drool.
“Cookie?”
I smiled and shook my head. “No, I don’t have any cookies.”
“Daddy has cookies in the car,” the little girl reprimanded the boy gently. “And he told you not to talk to strangers.”
I decided not to point out that she’d done the same thing only moments before with the dog. Instead, I chose to stay silent as I stood and put some distance between me and all that cuteness.
The kids… not the man.
Not that he wasn’t hot as hell, either.
He just wasn’t my type.
Not that I had a type anymore.
I’d been thinking that Isaac was my type all these years… yet, here I was, single with no desire for any type.
“Good,” the biker man said. “I can’t wait to share that news with Viddy. She’ll cry.”
Zack snorted. “Your wife will have to let them go eventually. Aren’t you going to start training them for the police officers in Shreveport and Bossier? Seems you can’t do that if you don’t start giving them a little leash to run on.”
The man sighed.
“When our old dog, Radar, died… she never got over it. She still cries when she sees pictures of him, and she’s devastated that he’ll never get to know his grandbabies,” the man said softly.
“Well, Trance, I really would like to see these boys getting out for a little social attention. I’d love you to bring them to the puppy party this weekend. It’ll be good for them. If you end up deciding you’ll come, just give us a call the day before, so we can have enough food for all of them,” he said, standing up and offering his hand.
Trance took it and shook Zack’s back once before dropping it and saying, “Alright, guys, let’s start hauling ‘em out to the truck.”
One of the seven dogs was dropped unceremoniously into my arms, and I smiled at the little runt that Zack had been cooing over earlier.
“I like this one the best,” I said to no one in particular.
“He’s for sale if you want him,” Trance mumbled as we all walked out the door.
“What? Why?” I asked.
Hadn’t I just heard that he was going to train them to be police dogs?
“He’s the runt and the sickly one. We won’t be training him to be a K-9 officer. The other six will be. They have that drive. That one just likes to lay there and sun himself all day. Not saying that’s not a good thing, but it’s not a trait that makes a good K-9 officer,” Trance explained.
I blinked. “Really? So, how much for a lazy dog that likes to sun himself?”
“You can have him for nine hundred dollars,” Trance said as he started loading them up into the back of the truck.