Page 166 of Protecting What's Mine

“Here’s the plan. We’ll host at my place, which is a little tight, but then I’ll be on my turf when your foster dad is like, ‘What are your intentions toward Mackenzie?’” Linc mimicked.

She laughed as they turned the corner. “You’re insane.”

“My sisters are already primed to sing my praises. I compiled a Top Ten list of my best rescues, and they’re under orders to deploy them if anything starts to go south.”

“Nothing is going to go south, you weirdo.” Mack laughed. “You’ll love Dottie and Win, also Violet. They’re good people, and they want me to be happy. And you and your gigantic cock, heroic personality, and sweet, beautiful dog will win them over in seconds.”

“I approve the order of my virtues.”

They turned down another street, closing in on home and that shower.

“Do you think Sunshine would like a little brother or sister?” she mused.

“Human or canine?”

“Canine. For now.”

“We should involve her in the decision, but yeah. I think she’d love another dog.”

“And if we get another dog, we might have to talk about living arrangements,” she said, biting her lip.

He loved his gas station. It suited him to the ground.

“Race you to the stop sign,” he said, nodding toward the end of the block.

Mack took off. Even two months stale, she beat him by two paces.

He slung an arm around her shoulder, and they walked toward home. “About these living arrangements.”

“My place isn’tmine.”

“Plus, it’s a shoebox.”

“There is that. And your place is an ode to the bachelor lifestyle,” she pointed out. “Not that I don’t absolutely love your gas station.”

“Of course you do,” Linc said amicably. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “But we’re going to need more room for dogs.”

“And maybe other things…small people type things.” Mack felt her heart catch in her throat. She was expressing a desire—poorly—but she was still attempting it.

Progress.

He beamed down at her. “We’ll find the right place for our menagerie of dogs and small people type things,” he promised.

“And a big shower made for after-run shower sex?”

He stopped her on the sidewalk. “Dreamy, anything you want. All you have to do is ask. I’ll do anything in my power to give you everything you want.”

56

“Yes, you can have dinner in five seconds. Geez. Just let me unlock the door,” Mack said to Sunshine as the dog whimpered and tap-danced next to her at the front door.

It was three days to Thanksgiving. Linc was still working B shifts at the station, and Mack had taken over primary parent duties where Sunshine was concerned. She’d taken the dog to the clinic today. Sunshine had whiled away her day snoozing on a pet bed in Mack’s office and entertaining patients in the waiting room.

She pulled the keys out of her bag and frowned in the dark at the knob. The brass finish was scraped and scratched. It struck her as odd. She didn’t remember it being that way.

The dog bolted inside as soon as the door was open, and Mack followed her. The lights were off, and the living room had a chill consistent with an empty house on a winter day. But still… There was something off. It nagged at her.

She hadn’t left that book on the floor, had she?