Page 115 of Runaway Bride’s Husband

“I already have.”

“Maybe, but I wasn’t listening. I was too busy saying hello to my wife.” He lowered me down on the couch and pressed another hard kiss to my lips. “Hello, wife.”

Tingles shot through me at the word. It didn’t matter how often I’d heard it by now. I still couldn’t believe that I was married to Ryan Thayer and living in our blissful happy-ever-after. It was ridiculous. I loved it.

“Hello, husband.” I stroked my fingers into his hair, smiling against his mouth and just breathing in the incredible scent of him as I tried to reorganize my thoughts. “Mickey thinks he’s smaller than the average-sized family SUV.”

Ryan hummed thoughtfully. “So what? He’ll learn. He’s still so little.”

“That’s the thing, though,” I protested. “He’s not little.”

Ryan’s lips dragged down to my throat and I almost lost track of what I’d been saying again, but I grabbed onto my train of thought at the very last moment. “I’m serious, Ry. He’s growing so fast and there’s no controlling him. There was this Labradoodle at the class today too, and every time it got a treat, Micky tried to steal it.”

“That’s terrible,” he murmured absently, his hand finding my hip and gripping it firmly as he pressed his mouth to mine once more. “Absolutely awful.”

I moaned when he settled on top of me on the couch, his hips fitted between my own and his kisses becoming hungrier. I arched into him, about to surrender to how heated this was getting when I heard a soft but unmistakable clatter.

“Wait,” I murmured between kisses.

“What?”

“Mickey.”

“He’s fine.”

“He might be, but whatever was on the kitchen counter is not.”

Ryan finally lifted his head and glanced toward the kitchen. I pushed myself up on my elbows to follow his gaze, both of us groaning when we saw Mickey standing on his back legs, his paws against the counter and his face buried in the sandwich Ryan must’ve left there.

I gasped. “Mickey!”

Mayonnaise was smudged on his nose when he glanced at us, but he swallowed, looking for a beat like he was about to drop his paws from the counter before he grabbed the rest of the sandwich and ran.

I burst out laughing as he disappeared around the corner and Ryan sighed. “We’re going to have to get that away from him, aren’t we?”

“Well, yeah.” I started sitting up, my body hating me from moving out from underneath my husband’s, but we had to do what we had to do. “Unless you want him eating that on our bed and sleeping in a pool of slobber and drool.”

He exaggerated a shudder, following when I went after our incorrigible, massive puppy. Mickey ducked under the dining table, so I went down there too, yelping when Ryan caught me by the ankle. “Got you.”

“I’m not who we’re chasing.”

“I disagree.”

He dragged me back by my ankles and I laughed so hard I could barely breathe. Meanwhile, Mickey emerged from the other side of the table with half a sandwich in his mouth and bolted. “Mickey!”

Ryan scrambled after him and I followed, but five minutes later, we were both sitting on the kitchen floor, breathless and surrounded by the evidence of our puppy’s crimes. Crumbs and pieces of crust littered the tiles, a few dollops of mayo and a whole lot of shredded lettuce to go with it.

Mickey had finally collapsed next to a chair, either having decided the sandwich wasn’t worth it or just finally full after all the treats he’d stolen too. I looked around our apartment before lying down flat on my back and closing my eyes. “We need a bigger place.”

“Yeah, we really do.” Ryan leaned back against the cabinet. “With a yard and a much bigger house.”

“Somewhere far away from any Yorkies for him to eat.”

“He didn’t eat the Yorkie.”

“Trust me, he would’ve. Even if he wouldn’t have done it on purpose,” I said, dropping my arm across my forehead and deciding I might as well get comfortable. “The worst part is that he really thought he was just playing, but it’s a miracle that other dog didn’t get hurt.”

“We’ll get a bigger place,” Ryan said confidently. “I’ve been meaning to look around for one anyway, but he’s growing faster than I ever could’ve expected. It’ll be easier once he has more space.”