by Max Monroe
When Julie had told us that the second Stan walked into the office, Walter had sidled up to the big dog and started cleaning his fur, I knew, without a doubt, it had been love at first lick.
My poor little buddy.
And now, I was going to have to leave him to mourn by himself.
Wes had asked me to join him on a recruiting trip for the Mavericks, and even though I’d much rather stay home and console my heartbroken cat than go to Phoenix for the next week, I needed to go. I needed to start getting my feet wet and diving headfirst into my job with the Mavericks’ organization.
I tossed my toiletries into my suitcase and zipped it shut. Sitting on the bed beside Walter and stroking my fingers behind his ears, I said, “It’ll be okay, buddy. I promise, it’ll be okay.”
He purred, but his eyes were still sad.
Kline walked into the bedroom, leaning against the doorframe. “All set?”
I nodded, stood up from the bed, and kissed the top of Walter’s head. “I’ll be back in a week, buddy. Be good for Kline while I’m gone.”
My husband grabbed my suitcase, and I followed his lead into the hallway.
“Promise me you’ll take good care of Walter while I’m gone,” I said as we stepped into the elevator.
“I promise, baby.”
“My kind of good care,” I specified.
“Nothing but the best for the grumpy cat,” he assured me.
“And promise me you’ll take him places. He needs to get out of the apartment. I think it would be good for him while I’m gone.”
He grinned, laughing and groaning softly. “I promise. You have nothing to worry about, sweetheart. Walter and I will bond like fucking hydrogen while you’re gone.”
I moved closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and looking up into his blue eyes. “What about you? Will my husband be okay, too?”
He pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “I’ll be missing you for the next week, but there’s only one thing I need to hear to make it okay.”
I smiled. “I’ll be missing you too.”
New Jersey/New York, Wednesday, May 10th, Late Morning
Sunlight streaked through the windshield as I pulled to a stop and put the rental car in park. I’d have to do something more permanent about our lack of vehicle eventually, but I wanted to leave something for when Georgie got home. There was a risk she’d be feeling left out or pushed at that point thanks to my unconventionally large surprises, and I wanted at least one thing to be completely of her making. Picking out a couple of cars seemed like a good start.
I’d seen fifteen houses in the last two days, and not one of them had been right. Too big or too small, I was starting to feel a little like Goldilocks—lost and tired and hoping someone would show up with some beds. But my Realtor said she had a feeling about this one, and it was located less than thirty minutes from Georgia’s parents, Dick and Savannah, in a pretty little town in New Jersey. I wasn’t sure if that was really a pro or a con, but thirty minutes was safe either way—far enough if she didn’t want to be close, just a short trip if she did. And the work commute to the city wouldn’t be traumatizing either. It often took more than thirty minutes to get from one place in the city to the other anyway.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked, turning to my only companion and helper in the search for the perfect home.
He didn’t say much, but then, I didn’t really expect him to. We were really just starting to come to terms with one another, and he still felt lingering animosity about our most recent disagreement. But Georgie trusted him, so I knew making an effort to show I did too would go a long way toward making her feel comfortable about our new normal. Even though she was the only one going through a major professional change, we were still very much a we now, and I wanted the change to get marked with just enough significance.
“I’m not sure yet either,” I told Walter. “Maybe you’ll know once you lick yourself in a few rooms.”
He meowed in agreement, a huge step in the right direction, and then leaned his head toward me so I could hook the thin leash to his collar.
I hopped out first and helped him to the ground so he wouldn’t hurt his paws. The picture of us together was ridiculous—confirmed by the Realtor’s face on the first day. Kline Brooks, the eccentric billionaire who goes nowhere without his cat.
Far from the truth, but luckily, all I’d had to say was “my wife loves this cat” for the sweet, middle-aged woman to understand.
“Mr. Brooks,” she greeted us as Walter and I climbed the small hill of the driveway.
“Hey, Helen,” I replied, watching with never-ending fascination as she got down on her knees and greeted Walter with strokes and kisses.
“Hello, Walter,” she cooed in his little kitty ear. I swear, this cat was catnip for women. But I guess most of them did love a good asshole.
Holding out a hand, I helped Helen to her feet, and we made our way toward the front door. A huge front porch lined the entire front of the house, and a swing hung in the far right corner. Soft tan siding covered the guts, and tasteful black-and-white accents made up the trim, shutters, and door. So far, so good.
“From what you’ve told me, I think this one is really going to hit on all of Georgia’s tastes. Simple, updated, but with a ton of character in the moldings and fixtures,” Helen explained as she worked the lockbox to retrieve the key. “It’s just gone on the market, and I think it’s priced pretty fair, so there’s a good chance it’s going to move fast.”
“And how much property?” I asked as I glanced down at Walter.
“Just over four acres. The backyard is large and well-maintained, but we’ll get to that. I think it’s got a lot of possibility if you’re thinking about more pets.” She smirked and shrugged. “Or maybe some kids?”
I just laughed, not about to discuss my family’s future plans with Helen before discussing it with my wife, but I appreciated the woman’s sentiment. She could tell I wanted to make a home for Georgie that had room for all the possibilities.
Nothing made me happier than making Benny happy, and Walter on a fucking leash beside me made that really fucking apparent.
“And you told the seller about the quick close?”
“Yes. They’re completely on board. If you’re interested and pay a premium,” she said, cocking her head and smiling. Almost everyone got motivated when you paid extra. “They’ll happily close by the end of this week. But, that does mean we really have to make a quick decision.”
I hummed my agreement. I’d know by the end of the tour. Georgie had been laying down plenty of information about what she preferred and what she didn’t while she helped me with my parents’ Hamptons house, and I’d been storing it all up like a fucking library.
As we stepped through the front door, Walter took off and pulled the leash right out of my hand. Straight through the large, open space, he immediately settled in front of the wall-to-wall glass windows at the back and started licking himself. I took that to mean he liked it.
“Isn’t that adorable?” Helen commented, putting a hand to her chest and sighing. Apparently, Walter knew how to lay on the swoon. I, personally, didn’t fucking see it, but what did I know?
“So it’s five bedrooms, open floor plan, as you can see. The kitchen is huge, maybe a little overdone for the rest of the house, but it’s beautiful. Antique white cabinets and fresh quartz counters.”
She spoke, and I listened as I walked, scanning the space and immediately picturing us living there. Everything reeked of Georgie, from the dark wood floors, to the serene blue-gray on the walls, and when the kitchen came into view, it hit me. She and me and little blue-eyed babies carefully perched on the edge of the counter. I could see spilled milk and lazy Sundays and more goddamn happiness than my chest could contain.
“The floor is—”
“This is it,” I cut in, knowing I’d spend some of the best years of my life here.
“Don’t you want to see the bedrooms?
And the basement? And the backyard?” Helen asked rapid-fire.
“Sure,” I said, because I knew I shouldn’t buy a house I hadn’t even seen in its entirety, but this was it. I knew it on a cellular level.
This. This was the home my wife would love and had never once asked for. All the things I’d ever hoped to find in a woman lived in her. When she looked at me, she didn’t see anything other than love and her one true match—and maybe a big dick.
“Why don’t you go ahead and call the seller while we walk the rest?”
“But what if you see something you don’t like?” Helen asked.
With a gentle hand at her elbow, I tried to convey just how sure I was. “Helen, the only thing that’s gonna stop me from buying this house is a body in the basement. And even then, I might overlook it if they can give me a good reason.”
“Okay, Walt. You have to stay in the car for this one.”
A hiss and swipe of his claw.
“I get it. I know you know where we are. I’m not really sure how you know because you’re a cat, but I know you know.”
He let loose with a suspicious, mewling meow.
“After the way things went when we picked you up, they’ve forbidden you to come back in there. But I promise, everyone is going to be really happy when I come back out.” He seemed somewhat placated. “Well, probably everyone but me,” I added, which turned his kitty expression into satisfaction.
“Right,” I said to him and myself, and hoped that, one day, I’d either stop talking to my cat or stop feeling so ridiculous about it.
I shut the car door with a slam and walked up to the building, the bell over the door ringing as I stepped inside.
The receptionist looked up from her paperwork with a smile, ready to greet me, but when she saw who it was, the smile melted right off of her face.
“Walter’s in the car. With the windows rolled down,” I said, not wasting any time setting everyone’s mind at ease. The tension in her shoulders relaxed immediately, answering the question of whether she had a neck or not affirmatively. “I called and talked to Julie, and she said there’d been no one looking to claim Stan.”
Julie stepped through the door from the back. She smiled freely, but she’d had fair warning of my arrival—and the chance to remind me that Walter was strictly prohibited from entering the building.
“Hey, Mr. Brooks. Come on back. I’m pretty sure Stan is going to be happy to see you.”
With a nod to Receptionist Melanie, I stepped through the door as Julie held it open. Barking filled my ears, but it wasn’t Stan. The fucking enormous Great Dane puppy lay sleeping in the center of his cage, curled up into the tightest coil he could manage.
“All he’s really been doing since you guys left is sleeping,” Julie explained. “I think he’s been depressed.”
He did seem to frown in his sleep, and I was happy Georgie wasn’t seeing him like this.
“I can open the cage for you,” Julie offered, pulling my eyes to her. “He’s really big, but super gentle. Walter seemed to be the violent one of the two.”
That much I could believe.
I nodded my agreement, and she pulled up the latch and swung open the door.
“Hey, Stan,” I whispered to warn him I was there. He opened his big black eyes just as I reached out to touch him, leaned into my hand, and blew out a big doggie breath. “You ready to come home?”
Phoenix, Friday, May 12th, Very Late Night
Five days away from Kline had been five too many. Phone calls, text messages, video chats, emails, none of them lived up to the real thing. Which was why I was sitting on a red-eye flight from Phoenix to New York. My work travel had only just begun, but I could already tell it’d never be the highlight of my job.
When I’d told Wes I wasn’t flying home with the team, he had laughed at the hilarity of me missing my husband after only five days. Thankfully, he’d ended his laughter by being surprisingly supportive, even though he let me know how ridiculous he thought it was.
But I didn’t care that I was sitting in a cramped coach seat versus the luxury leather recliners on the team’s jet. I didn’t care that I was dead on my feet and about one blink away from falling into a coma. I just wanted to get home to my husband.
I slid my earbuds in and reclined my chair back the measly two inches it was willing to go. I was ready for the time to pass at full speed so I could be in my bed, all wrapped up in Kline. Never Been Kissed was the courtesy movie for my flight home, and I couldn’t deny my excitement.
Even though that movie came out forever ago, it will always have one of my favorite endings. Sam Coulson running down the stadium steps.
“Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys playing in the background.
The crowd cheering.
Josie Gellar watching him stride toward her.
And then, that kiss. How he just grabs her and kisses the fuck out of her.
Yeah. Talk about cinematic perfection.
I could remember watching that movie when I was young and just wishing, hoping, fucking praying I’d get my Josie Gellar, “Don’t Worry Baby” moment. I’d truly believed that everyone got to experience one of those epically romantic moments once in their lives.
I had mine with Kline when he stood in his office—proving to me that he was every bit of the man I knew he was—and got down on one knee, asking me to spend the rest of my life with him. He’d lived up to the fantasy and then some. Sure, we’d had other amazing, swoony moments, but that one topped the rest by a landslide.
Damn, I miss my husband.
The flight had been long, and despite my valiant efforts to catch some shut-eye, I stayed wide-eyed and fidgety the whole way. After navigating my way out of baggage claim, I hopped in a cab and headed home.
I was nearly vibrating with excitement over surprising Kline.
The cab ride was short and sweet thanks to the time of morning, and with no rush-hour traffic or random construction delays to stop my progress, I was out of the cab and onto our elevator within 30 minutes.
I slipped in through the door, toeing off my heels and locking the dead bolt with a soft click. Leaving my suitcase and purse in the entry, I tiptoed down the dark hall and stopped at the doorway of our bedroom. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light, but when they did, it didn’t take long to find myself very, very confused by the number of figures lying in our bed. As I moved farther into the room, my night vision transitioned completely, and what I saw had me stopping dead in my tracks.
Kline lay on his back in his familiar sleeping pose—one leg hanging out from beneath the blankets and an arm strewn across his abdomen. And Walter was in his familiar spot, curled up at the foot of the bed.
But he wasn’t alone.
Nope.
Stan was sleeping soundly on my side of the bed, his giant head resting on my pillow. And his little buddy Walter was pressed up against his stretched out legs.
Kline Brooks had officially caved on Stan.
Jesus. Could he be any swoonier?
I needed to thank him. A lot. Because hell, I was pretty sure he had just given me another “Don’t Worry Baby” moment.
Quietly, so as not to disturb my husband, I roused Walter and Stan awake, encouraging them to slip off the bed and out of our bedroom.
Stan followed my lead with puppy-like movements, his long tail wagging and paws awkwardly tapping against the hardwood floor. Walter was less enthused, but he followed nonetheless. I had a feeling it had more to do with his boyfriend than me, but I’d take what I could get.
Guiding them into the living room, I threw an old comforter on the couch and got them settled. Within a few minutes, my two boys were sawing logs, adorably cuddled up to one another.
When I returned to the bedroom, Kline was still where I had left him, deep in sleep and looking sexy as hell with bedhead and only a pair of boxer briefs and a thin sheet covering his body.
I quickly got undressed and climbed onto the
foot of the bed, crawled under the covers and stopped once I reached the waistband of his boxer briefs. When my fingers started to slide them down, Kline stirred in his sleep, his eyes blinking in confusion.
“What the…? Georgie?”
“Hi, baby,” I whispered, tugging his briefs down just enough to reveal his…oh, yeah.
“What are you doing home so early?” he asked, rubbing at his eyes feverishly.
“I was missing you too much.”
“What time is it?” His voice was thick and groggy.
“It’s time for me to thank my amazing husband.”
His brows lifted. “I like where this is headed, but what exactly are you thanking me for?”
I straddled his hips, leaning forward to brush my mouth against his. “You caved on Stan,” I said, tugging on his bottom lip.
He grinned. “Oh, yeah, Stan.”
“Oh, yeah, him. The giant dog that was just sleeping on my pillow.”
Kline laughed as his fingers slid into my hair, tangling with the loose curls. “Walter’s boyfriend snores, by the way. A lot.”
I giggled, but I needed to ask, “What made you change your mind?”
“Your happiness is my happiness,” he said, like it was the most normal thing in the world. “So are you happy?”
I leaned back, staring down at my stupidly romantic husband. “Yes, Mr. Brooks, I am very fucking happy. I’m literally the luckiest woman on the planet, and it’s all thanks to my sweet, amazing, perfect husband.” I caressed his cheek with my hand. “I love you. I love you so very much.”
“Fuck, I missed you, Benny.” He tugged my mouth back to his, kissing me hard and deep. He kissed me until moans hijacked my lips and my hips started to move against his instinctively.
“So…about that whole thanking your husband thing?” he asked, smirking like the devil.