Page 41 of Delayed Penalty

It’s fucking adorable.

It reminds me of what I love about this girl.

She’s incredible, she’s so caring, and she’s honestly willing to do whatever she can, including getting on the ground while pregnant, albeit newly, to try and make a puppy more comfortable. Fucking perfect.

“This is Luna,” I say, walking over and sitting next to Avery on the ground, Luna slowly following behind me and gluing herself to my side. Avery’s eyes widen at the name, but she doesn’t say anything—yet. “She’s my girl. I’m here at least five days a week, more if I can swing it, but I’m always with my girl if I’m here.”

As I say it Luna nuzzles me, her nose pushing under my arm as she tries to force me to pet her. Scratching behind her ear, I look over at Avery who scoots just a bit closer until she can reach Luna and waits… letting Luna make the next move.

Which, surprisingly, she does. It’s slow, but after a little while she starts scooting closer and closer, each time making sure I’m still nearby, but I can tell she’s interested in Avery. I love it. I love seeing that she can learn to be comfortable around people, even if it is only specific people. After a couple of minutes, she’s lying down right next to me, although her head is resting on Avery’s leg.

It's the first time she’s willingly touched someone who isn’t me, and on occasion, Mr. or Mrs. Andrews, but only if they’re lucky.

“Who’s this special lady our girl is giving some love to?” Mrs. Andrews asks as she walks in and joins us, Luna lifting her head to look, but immediately putting it back down.

“Hi, I’m Avery,” she says, reaching her hand up to shake with Mrs. Andrews, but Luna’s making it a challenge.

“Hi, sweetie, I’m Mrs. Andrews. This is my rescue.” Returning the handshake, Mrs. Andrews smiles before sneakinga glance in my direction, giving me a knowing look toward Avery.

“Are you guys going to take the sweet girl home for the night to get a good night’s sleep and some food?” she asks, looking at Avery as she speaks, damn well knowing I’ll tell her no.

She’s been trying to get Luna to my place for the last month because she knows how much I love this dog and how much Luna loves me. But I don’t want to bring Luna home with me because although it’s summer right now, once the season starts up I’ll be gone a lot. That’s not fair to a dog.

Not to mention the fact that I’m going to be a dad.

Avery looks down at Luna then back up at me, the look in her eyes is hopeful, happy. Gone are the emotions from earlier, the ones Peter caused on what was supposed to be a happy day.

Goddamnit.

“Damn you, woman,” I groan, and Mrs. Andrews actually fists bumps.

“Her stuff is already in your car; I took the liberty of loading it up while you guys were snuggling.”

“You’re lucky you make the best muffins.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get our girl home and comfortable, I expect pictures, so I know she’s happy.”

“Fine. But don’t be texting me in the middle of the night, I need my beauty sleep.”

“So…are we going to talk about the fact that you called me your fiancée earlier?” Avery asks from her spot next to me, her back against the cabinets as we sit on the kitchen floor. It took a little while to get Luna to eat once we made it back to my place,but after she did she curled in between Avery and I and fell asleep on the floor—slowly inching her way closer and closer to Avery.

I want to be jealous of Avery, but I’m more jealous of the dog right now.

“Are we going to talk about the fact that he said he was going to get you fired and drop you from his health insurance?”

“I mean, what’s there to talk about with that? Basically, I’m fucked. It’s not anifhe does it, it’s just awhen. He doesn’t like looking bad so he’s going to ensure I look like the bad guy and take me down in the process. Unmarried girl and pregnant immediately after leaving him? Yeah, looks great. Should we talk about the fact that this dog is a Golden Retriever… named Luna?”

“Which leads to your first question. Yes… I called you my fiancée because your ex was pissing me off. I hate that he feels like he had ownership of you, because whoever gets to call you their fiancée, they should be worthy of it. They should be proud to be yours. Peter wants to ruin you? Fucking bet, sir. Let’s see how easy it is for him to ruin your reputation when it’s so much more public than his? Especially when you’d be backed by a team of the best lawyers in New York City.”

“What do you mean more public.”

“When you’re my wife, the mother of my unborn baby, not only will you have my lawyers on your side, but you’ll also have every one of my teammates and their wives and girlfriends. We’re a family—plus, I’m pretty sure any one of the guys would gladly punch him in the face once they hear about the shit he pulled earlier.”

“You’re like, actually serious about this…” she says skeptically.

I don’t blame her. You don’t normally just get proposed to out of the blue, but at this point, I think we should do it like yesterday, for a plethora of reasons.

“Absolutely. It’ll help protect you from Peter, it’ll ensure you have insurance because you’ll be on mine. You’ll have free housing because you’ll be living with me and trust me, it’s paid for.”

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