Page 55 of Don't Go Faking My Heart

"We are," I say. "I had something else in mind, if you're open."

"I'm open," she says, rubbing her hands together. "Are we going to your place?"

"No. Another restaurant, if that's okay?"

"Of course, although I was hoping to see Pookie. And, you know, your actual house."

I bring my dog with me to the farm sometimes, so Ash has seen her plenty of times. But she's never seemed to care about going to my place. I bought it eight months ago and have been renovating it that whole time. I love it, but it's a space that no woman has ever stepped foot in. The idea of Ash entering my gray world and splashing color everywhere tugs at my heart.

"You can come see Prairie anytime you want," I say.

"Prairie doesn't fit her at all."

"She's a farm dog. I'm not changing her name to Pookie."

"She's not a farm dog, and you saved her from a ditch. You don't know what her name was before that!"

"She didn't have a name. She was abandoned as a puppy."

"I bet her mom would have called her Pookie."

"Her mom was a dog."

"Exactly. She would know!"

"I don't think dogs name their pups."

"But if they did, hers absolutely would have named her Pookie."

I smile and shake my head. "As you wish."

"Okay, Westley."

"Okay, Buttercup."

Ash looks at me. "Um, hello, did we just give each other new nicknames?"

"I think we did."

"Princess Bride nicknames, too," Ash says. "Wow. We're really good at this."

We really are.

"Buttercup is kind of a brat, though."

"Imagine that," I tease.

Ash pinches my cheek. "You're a brat."

"If you say so."

"Crap," she says. "That was a total Westley thing to say!"

"What can I say? Westley's the man."

"So you're this total man of mystery stud who's secretly rich, secretly good at everything, and would go to any lengths for the woman he loves, and I'm …"

"Gorgeous."

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