Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105161 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105161 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“Everyone calm down,” Grandpa commanded.
I looked around at the assembled group. Grandpa, Doc, and I were calm. Charlie was steaming mad but silent, and Stevie was hyperventilating loudly.
“Oh gawwwwd! It’s all my fault she’s been ruined!” he wailed. “I didn’t know she was having her female times, and I let her in the house with Grump.”
Charlie snapped, brows furrowed and cheeks flushed in anger. No man should look that sexy while angry. “I don’t even know who the hell you are. What the hell were you doing with my bitch?”
Stevie’s tear-streaked face turned feral. “Don’t you dare call her that! She’s a good girl,” he snarled.
Charlie lunged toward the man, and I was struck by how for once he wasn’t the smallest guy in the group. For a split second, I feared for Stevie’s safety. I knew the muscles Charlie hid under his clothes. They were small, but enough to take out young Stevie.
I reached my arms around Charlie to hold him back, but he pulled away with a jerk. Doc looked up at me with a guilty expression in his eyes. “Grump got to her. We had no idea she was still fertile. We had Stevie bring her in the house with us after he fed the animals.”
“Shit,” I muttered. Mama was a prize-winning trial champion with bloodlines more impressive than Queen Elizabeth. Grump was a junkyard coonhound who was as old as dirt and about as energetic as the same.
“Yeah, oh shit,” Charlie spat. “Do you have any idea what this means?”
Grandpa picked the wrong time to get clever. “Collie hound pups about as cute as baby bunnies and confused about whether to herd or nap?”
Stevie wailed again. “Don’t mention baby bunnies. I’m already upset enough as it is. Oh sweet baby Jesus on the cross.”
“Grandpa,” I warned, shooting him a look. “This is a big fucking deal. Mama is a purebred champion trial dog. Her pups go for thousands.”
Charlie made a whimpering sound in the back of his throat, and my dick misunderstood its meaning. I looked around and noticed the two fuzzy lovebirds were conspicuously absent.
“Where are Grump and Mama?”
Charlie’s lips pressed together in a thin line. “Knotting happily in the family room. I thought maybe I’d go out for a pack of smokes in case they decide to finish one of these days.”
Clearly, the man was pissed.
“I thought she was in heat two weeks ago?” I asked.
Charlie’s eyes widened. “Are all of you thick as planks? You live on a fucking ranch. Is a woman fertile during her period?”
Stevie shot him daggers with his big wet eyes. “How the hell are we supposed to know anything about women’s fertility, you dumbass? Everyone here is jee-ay-why, gay. Suuuuper gay. Like, really very—”
“We get it,” I said.
Charlie lunged at Stevie again, and I reached out to grab him around the waist.
“Easy, killer. Punching the little dude isn’t going to solve anything,” I warned in a low voice.
“Wait,” Grandpa said, getting serious finally. “Isn’t there a shot we can get for her to cancel any pregnancy?”
Charlie sighed. “I won’t do that. It causes metabolic stress and doesn’t always work right. I’ve seen firsthand bitches who’ve had to have C-sections with singletons after the mismate jab,” he muttered. “And I’m not quite sure how I feel about subjecting her to any of it when this wasn’t her fault.”
I let go of his waist but reached out to rub the tension from his shoulders without thinking. He flinched and pulled away, spearing me with narrowed eyes. I held my hands up in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. It doesn’t need to be anyone’s fault.”
“Of course it’s not my fault. It’s his,” he growled, pointing a finger at Stevie. “Bloody wanker.”
Stevie started crying again, and Doc pulled him in for a hug.
Grandpa looked guilty. “Charlie, we’re so sorry. We should have used our heads. We hired Stevie to do some chores around here and didn’t think to tell him about the dogs. And there’s no excuse for Grump not being fixed in the first place. We rescued him when he was around six years old and just never got around to it since all he did was sleep all day. The other two are fixed.”
Charlie turned to look up at me. The warm light from the setting sun illuminated two bright spots of pink on his high cheekbones. “I… I was kind of looking forward to showing everyone what she can do in that competition near Austin..” Charlie actually looked at me when he said the word everyone, and my heart jumped in my chest.
“It was stupid,” he continued, letting out another sigh. “She’ll be fine. She’s a good mum. Whelps easy and all that… Plus, Grandpa’s half-right. The pups will either be cute as hell or ugly as the devil.”