Page 46 of Resisting You
“Really?” Blinking in shock, Yvonne’s wide gaze turned to me. “Marriage and a puppy?”
“Big weekend for you two,” Steve echoed her.
Rosa shyly tucked her curly dark hair behind her ear. “Yeah. If you’re going to be a bear, might as well be a grizzly, right?”
Unlike Steve, Yvonne didn’t hide her emotions. Her wide grin split her face and she launched forward, hugging both me and Rosa. “You won’t regret saving him,” she said. “Puppies arehard, but he’s going to love you.” She paused, holding up the bags of puppy things. “I guess these are for you, then!”
“I usually keep a dog overnight with me at my house for the first night when they’ve had trauma like this,” Steve started to say, “But I think he’ll be fine to go home with you tonight. I do want to hold him until he urinates, though.”
“Why don’t you come over tonight? You can come get the puppy from our house this evening and that’ll give Steve time to ensure he’s well enough to go home with you.” Yvonne grinned and it was like a beam of light radiating from her smile. Unlike my brother who only sported a small smirk on the best of days, she seemed to grin with every cell in her body. “It’s Steve’s turn to host the game night,” she added.
I slid my gaze to my brother, popping a skeptical eyebrow at him. “Game night?”
Playfully he rolled his eyes, and sliding an arm around Yvonne’s waist, he tugged her closer to him. “It used to be poker night. Then we all found partners… and poker night turned into board game night.”
“Sometimes it’s football night!” Yvonne added, poking Steve in the cheek.
What was happening? Was this smiling, joking man in front of me really my grumpy, asshole brother? He was like a completely different person now that Yvonne had gotten her hooks into him.
Rosa jabbed her elbow gently into my ribs. “Well we do have about twenty cupcakes,” she said, angling her chin to the box of mostly untouched cupcakes. I’d almost forgotten all about them… and the photos taken of us at Beefcakes. It seems like this puppy may have saved me and Rosa from a knockout fight, ending this marriage before it ever really began.
I had a lot to thank that pup for.
“Don’t let Lex see those Beefcakes cupcakes,” Steve said. “They nearly put him out of business.”
“Really?” Rosa asked, her eyes going wide.
Yvonne smacked the back of her hand to Steve’s chest. “He’s being dramatic. It was a little touch and go there for a while, but Neil, Liam, and Lex had a meeting early on and Lex decided to not bake cupcakes and specialty cakes and Neil and Liam don’t sell pies or pastries. They each found their niche.”
That sounded more like the Maple Grove I knew and grew up in. Drama didn’t really settle here for long. “Lex and Ronnie are coming? Who else will be there tonight?” I asked. A game night at my brother’s house could be a recipe for disaster, depending on the guest list.
“The usual suspects,” he said. “Mom, Callie, Lex, Ronnie, Amanda, Kandi, Cam, and Lydia.”
“So… the whole family?”
Steve nodded. “If you come, then yes.”
Great. Just great.
Rosa squeezed my hand. “We’ll be there.”
Chapter 17
Rosa
Why the hell am I nervous?This wasn’t real. Noah and I aren’t really together. This dog he’s adopting won’t be mine in twelve months time.
I couldn’t get attached.
Not to the dog.
Not to his family.
And certainly not to Noah.
Except, in a matter of 24 hours, it was already feeling very real. Too real. I wasn’t exactly sure how we were supposed to get out of this with our hearts intact a year from now.
Beside me, Noah squeezed my hand in his, his other holding the cupcakes we’d bought from Beefcakes. “Ready?”
