Page 27

Chapter twenty-six

Mika

“We’re definitely taking my bed. It’s way more comfortable than yours.” We were standing in the middle of my old bedroom, trying to decide how much work moving my stuff from here to the condo was going to be.

Hawk nodded. “It’s a comfortable bed, so I’m good with that.”

“The rest of my furniture is nothing special, though. Yours is much better quality.”

“Baby boy, I know you’re worried about me, but I need you to understand that I really don’t have a preference for how the condo’s decorated. It can be colorful and funky or neutral and minimalist. All I care about is that you’re happy there.”

“But—”

“No, mouse. No buts. If there’s anything here that you want to take, we’ll take it. Or if you don’t want to bring your stuff but you don’t like mine either, that’s fine, too. We can get rid of it all and start fresh.”

Hawk’s ex might not have decorated the condo in a style that worked for me, but he had good taste. Everything he bought was such good quality. It seemed so wasteful to get rid of it just because it didn’t fit my aesthetic.

“But what would we do with the stuff we don’t want?” I asked.

“We have ten empty apartments on the ninth floor. We plan on using a couple of those as safe houses for clients. Trust me, we can put anything we don’t want to good use.”

“Okay, so we just take everything, and anything we don’t use in the condo can go downstairs.”

That sounded like a good compromise. My couch was comfortable, but it wasn’t big enough for Hawk, and his kitchen stuff was much nicer than mine. The furniture in Hawk's condo wasn’t the problem. The problem was the décor, and that, I could fix. Not all at once because his condo was twice the size of my house, but I’d make it feel like a home and not a hotel a little at a time.

“Exactly.” He kissed my temple, and I sank back against him. This man was everything I’d ever wanted, and sometimes, I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. “The only question is, do you want to pack everything up, or do you want me to take care of that for you?”

“Take care of it for me? Like you would come pack all my stuff?”

“Well, not me literally. But I’d be happy to pay someone else to come pack it all up and move it across town.”

“No, Daddy. You’re already paying for me to get out of my lease. I couldn’t ask you to pay for movers.”

“Baby boy, we talked about this. I have the money, and I can’t think of a better use for it than to make your life easier.”

I’d known Hawk wasn’t hurting for money. He was part owner of a very successful security business. But when we’d been talking this morning, and I’d commented on how much it was going to cost me to get out of my lease, he was so casual about paying it that I’d finally just asked him about it. He hadn’t given me an exact dollar amount, but he made it clear that if he lived a frugal lifestyle, he could walk away from Three Bears and never have to work another day.

But knowing that didn’t make me feel better about him paying my way.

“We can hire movers, but I’ll pay for it. I have some money in savings. Mary Ellen pays me well.”

“How about this… I’ll pay for the move, and you buy yourself all new shelving for your craft room?”

“My craft room? You were serious about me having a craft room?”

“Baby boy, you aren’t hearing me. That condo has been a nice place for me to sleep, and I’ve been very grateful that it allowed me to share space with my men. But that’s all it was until the day you walked in. You’ve made that condo a home for me, and as far as I’m concerned, you can do anything to it. Paint all the rooms pink if it makes you happy.”

I looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “I don’t even like pink.”

“Thank goodness,” he said, winking at me, and I laughed.

“I do hear you, Daddy, but I want it to be our home, not my home. I’ll take the third bedroom as a craft room, but only if you promise to work with me on everything else. That’s what would make me happy.”

“Okay, sounds like a deal. But I have one more thing today that I think will make you happy.”

“What’s that?” I had pretty much everything in life that I might want, but he sounded so sure that I couldn’t help but be curious.

“It isn’t here, and I’m not telling you because it is a surprise. Let’s take all this”—he motioned to the boxes and bags I’d packed up earlier—“and then I’ll take you to see.”

“Have I ever told you I love surprises?”

He chuckled. “No, you haven’t, but I kind of figured you did. Now, are you sure this is everything you want to take for now?”

I looked at the bags we’d left sitting by the door.

“Yeah, that should do me until we get the movers over here.” I wasn’t taking much now. Most of my things would be dealt with in the actual move. “I guess I need to make some decisions on what to have taken to the condo and what to put in one of the apartments.”

“We can have everything taken to the apartment, and then you can take your time to figure it all out.”

“Are you sure Wolfe won’t mind?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “How many times do I have to remind you that Wolfe isn’t my boss?”

“Sure, Daddy, whatever you say, but we should probably check with him, you know, just to be nice.” Hawk and Gator weren’t fooling anyone with that line. They might all be equal owners, but make no mistake about it, Wolfe was the boss.

We loaded up my things into the back of his truck and then headed to Three Bears to unload. I’d been around long enough that it didn’t surprise me at all when a group of guys met us in the parking garage.

“Where do you want these?” Knox asked.

“Just stack them outside our door. We’ll take care of it from there.”

“Aren’t we going to help?” It felt wrong just to pull in here and let someone else carry all my things upstairs.

“You have somewhere else to be.” Maddox picked up a box and looked at his brother. “Put one more on top for me.”

I watched as Axel purposefully picked the heaviest box and plopped it up on top of the one Maddox was holding.

“Asshole,” Maddox grumbled, but no way was he going to let his brother think it was too heavy. “I’ll meet you guys up top.”

“Is everything ready up there?” Hawk asked.

“Yep. You’re good to go.”

“Up where? Good to go? What have you all been up to?”

“You’ll have to ask your man. Our lips are sealed.” Axel made a locking motion near his lips and then slung it back over his shoulder before picking up a box.

Knox and Bobby did the same, and that just left Hawke and me standing there in the garage.

“What are you up to, Daddy?”

“Come with me, and you will see.” He opened up the passenger door on his truck, and I climbed back in.

I bit my lower lip in nervous anticipation. I had no idea what was going on, but I was sure it was going to be good. Possibilities ran through my mind. We’d talked about the furniture, and he’d been adamant that it be to my liking, so maybe we were going furniture shopping. Or he’d mentioned me setting up a craft room, so maybe he was taking me to the yarn store, especially since I never got to go the other day when all that excitement happened. We’d had our rooftop picnic because we couldn’t go out in public, but now that was all over, so maybe we were going on a picnic somewhere else.

So many ideas and possibilities that all sounded amazing, but none that compared to reality when he put on his blinker and turned into the local animal rescue called Paw Haven.

My eyes darted between the front door and him a couple of times. I’d rarely been speechless, but I honestly didn’t even know what to say.

“What are we doing here?” I didn’t want to assume, but I hoped I was right.

“I’ve spoken with the owners and done all the paperwork. Everything’s in order. All you have to do is go inside and pick out which puppy you want to take home.”

I whipped off my seat belt and launched myself across the seat. He caught me and pulled me into his lap.

“This is the best surprise ever,” I told him as I peppered his face with kisses between words.

“I’m glad you think so,” he said with a laugh.

“So I can have any dog I want?”

“Yep, or a cat, I guess, if you’d rather.”

“Nope, cats are fine, but I want a dog.”

“Okay then, let’s go see what they have available.”

The woman at the front desk, wearing a name tag that said Sylvia, greeted us warmly.

“Mr. Hawkins, Maria told us you would be in today. The dogs are through there. The ones that are ready for adoption have green cards on their kennels that should have any information we have on them written on it. The ones that are on hold for their new families to clear the adoption process will have yellow tags, and any that aren’t ready for adoption just yet will have red tags.”

“Sounds good, Sylvia.” Hawk smiled at her and then looked down at me. I was so excited that I was practically bouncing on the balls of my feet. “I think we better go take a look.”

It was pretty obvious I was the one who wanted the dog, so she smiled at me when she said, “If you want to hold any of the dogs or take them out back for a walk, just let me know.”

We spent the next half hour wandering around the shelter. I’d known I wanted a dog, but what I hadn’t anticipated was how hard it would be to settle on one. At least that was the case until I came to the last kennel on the right side of the room. There was an entire litter of pups in there, and they were all adorable. I knelt down at the fence and reached my fingers through.

“Look at y’all. Aren’t you just the cutest things.”

They were a mix of colors—one brown with white patches, one gray with white just on the tip of his tail, one that was almost entirely white, and one was a mix of all three colors.

“Are they old enough to be adopted?” I looked up at Hawk, and he stepped over to the green card that was on the outside of the kennel.

“It says they’re weaned and ready for adoption. Looks like there were six, but two of them have found homes. At least, I assume that’s what it means since their names are lined out.”

“Does it say how big they’ll get?”

“It doesn’t, but it does say that their mother is a bully mix that was dropped off here before she gave birth with no information from the previous owner about who the father was.”

I looked around. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s already been adopted. Do you want me to ask?”

I looked back down at the puppies. “Not really, but I do want to hold these little guys.”

“Any particular one?”

“No, I love them all.”

“Okay, let me go get Sylvia.”

I sat on the floor watching the pups wrestling around on the floor and playing. It would be hard to choose one, but I took comfort in the fact that as cute as they were, I was sure they would all find homes easily.

A few minutes later, Hawk came back with Sylvia. She was dangling a key in her hand and had a big smile on her face. “Hawk said you wanted to hold the puppies.”

“I do. They’re so cute. Do you have any idea how big they’ll get? It says the mom is a bully mix, and I know they can be all different sizes.”

“We can’t say for sure because we don’t know who the dad was, but she isn’t very big at all. One of our volunteers is walking her right now, but they’ll be back in shortly. Everyone here loves Milly, which is a good sign the pups will have a good temperament.”

I’d told Hawk no when he asked if I wanted him to ask about her because I had puppies on the brain, but it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to see what she looked like just to get an idea of what kind of dog the puppies would be.

“I thought maybe she’d already been adopted since she wasn’t with the pups.”

“No, she’s still here. Sadly, adult bullies are hard to find homes for.”

“That’s a shame.”

“It is, but these little guys here are super sweet. Let’s open up the kennel, and we can take them out in the fenced area so you can play with them.”

She unlocked the kennel, and then, between the three of us, we carried all four squirmy pups out the back door. I sat down on the grass and watched as they ran around. They played and tumbled over each other, but they all took turns coming over where I sat and crawling all over me. They were adorable. I especially liked the little one that was a blend of brown, gray, and white. I was pretty sure that coloring was called brindle, but I wasn’t positive.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man walked by with a short, stocky dog that was exactly the same color as the brindle puppy. I pushed to my feet and headed towards them.

“Excuse me. Is that Milly?” I asked.

He gave her leash a gentle tug to let her know he wanted to stop and then looked over at me.

“It is. Are you thinking about taking one of her pups? They’re sweet, just like their momma.”

“I was planning on it, but now I wonder if maybe she needs a home worse than the puppies do.”

I looked over at Hawk, who was holding one of the puppies. He shrugged. “This is your dog, mouse. It’s entirely up to you.”

I looked from the puppies to Milly.

“Maybe I could just come and meet her?”

Hawk

The second Sylvia had made the comment about it being hard for adult bullies to find homes, I knew what choice Mika would make. My boy had a heart as big as Texas, and the idea that she might not find a family of her own would haunt him if he didn’t at least give her a shot.

I put the puppy down and walked over to the gate with him. “Listen to me, baby boy, this is totally your choice. Just remember, some decisions are best made with your head, not your heart.”

She looked like a perfectly nice dog, and I was fine either way, but I wanted him to have the dog he wanted, not the one he felt the sorriest for.

“That’s the same thing Mary Ellen told me about getting involved with you, and yet here we are.”

“She did not. Mary Ellen loves me.” Which was true, mostly because I kept my word and kept Mika safe, but still, she loved me.

“Now she does, but in the beginning, she wanted to hire a different security firm because she said important decisions should be made with your head, not other body parts.”

Mika went out of the gate, and instead of walking over to the man and the dog, he sat down and waited for her to come to him, just like I’d done with Seph at his house weeks ago.

“What do you think, Milly girl?” the man asked. “Should we go over and say hi?”

Mika gave a light pat to his leg, and Milly rushed towards him. She was short, but she was stocky. I had no doubt she weighed a considerable amount, but she climbed right into his lap.

He laughed and started giving her pets and scratches.

“How old is she?” he asked the man who was standing there holding the leash.

“We don’t know for sure because she was dropped off, but the vet thinks this was probably her first litter. Based on her size and her teeth, his guess is that she’s two at the most.”

“Why don’t we get the puppies put back, and you can spend a little time with Milly.”

She’d flopped down on his legs and laid her head down like she’d found her spot and was going to take a nap.

“Here,” the guy said, holding out the leash for Mika. “You take this, and I’ll help him with the pups.”

By the time we were back, he’d taken her into the play area and removed her leash. The two of them were running around playing, kind of like the puppies had done when we first brought them out. Mika threw a ball for her, and she tackled it, shook it, and then dropped it on the ground before running back to Mika without the ball.

“Milly girl, we’re going to work on what fetch means,” he said, running back to the ball and picking it up. He threw it, and they went through the whole routine again.

“She’s pretty,” I said.

“She is, isn’t she? One of the pups looks just like her.” He picked the ball up again and tossed it. “Do you think she’d miss her babies if we took her?”

“I don’t think her babies will be here much longer, do you?”

He shook his head. “And then she’ll just be stuck here waiting for someone to take her home. I don’t understand how someone could drop her off like that. She’s such a sweet dog, and they always say that’s based on how they’re raised.”

“She does seem like a sweetheart,” I agreed.

“Well, come inside and see if she likes you. She might be my dog, but you have to live with her, too.”

I opened the gate and went inside slowly. Milly really seemed to like Mika, and I was a big dude. I didn’t want her to think I was a threat in any way. I copied his move from earlier and sat down on the ground. She looked at me curiously and then up at Mika, waiting for him to let her know what to do.

That made me wonder if maybe she’d even had some training. Mika came over and sat down next to me.

“Come here, Milly girl. This is Hawk, but you can call him Daddy.” He looked up at me and winked.

A couple of hours later, we were home with Milly, and she was busy checking out the condo. He’d wanted to stop at the pet store on the way home, but I assured him that I’d taken care of all the basic necessities and that he had plenty of time to get to know her before he bought everything else.

“I guess I’ll need to take her across the street to the park for walks and to go to the bathroom.”

“For the most part, yes, but I do have one more surprise for you. Follow me and bring Milly with you.”

I opened up the door in the laundry room and started up the stairs to the roof.

I turned back to see if they were coming, and I could hear Mika talking to the dog. “It’s okay, Milly, it’s just stairs, you can do it. But if you’re scared, I can carry you up the first time.”

“She can do it. Just let go of her collar.”

“Her legs are short for her body. What if she falls?”

“Let her try. If she can’t make it up, I’ll come get her.” I had no doubt that the dog could go up the stairs, but Mika was already super protective of her.

He released her collar and said, “Go ahead. You can make it.”

Milly headed up the stairs with no hesitation, and when she reached the top, I grabbed her collar. The parapet around the building was as tall as most fences, but I didn’t want to scare Mika by letting her just run right out there.

Mika had run up the stairs behind her and was breathing hard by the time he made it. “Wow, she went right up those stairs like she knew exactly what to do.”

“Maybe she did. Who knows where she lived before she was at the shelter. Now let me show you something.”

We went out on the roof and turned to the right.

“Is this what you and the guys were talking about?” Mika asked.

“It is.”

I’d had them make a border out of landscape timbers, add a couple of inches of soil, and then cover it with sod so Mika would have a place right here in the building where he could take the dog out if need be.

“This is awesome. I didn’t even think of the roof as a fenced yard, but it works, doesn’t it?”

“It does. And you can use as much of it as you want. Like I told you, we’d had all kinds of plans for up here, but none of them ever made it past the fire pit and three chairs.”

He sat down in one of the chairs and watched as the dog checked out her new yard . After a minute, he shook his head. “When I think back to where I was a couple years ago, and the weight I’d been living with ever since, I can’t even believe this is my life now.”

I reached over and twined our fingers together. “Well, believe it, baby boy. You deserve all of this and so much more.”

“I think you’re pretty biased, Daddy.”

“Oh, I know I am, but I’m still going to make it my life’s mission to make sure you have nothing but the best from here on out.”

“I’m so lucky to have found you.”

He said that, and I knew he believed it, but I thought I was the lucky one, not him. “Well, I guess we both got lucky then.”

He smiled at me and nodded. “Yep, the luckiest.”