His eyes turn mischievous. “I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff about me that would surprise you.”
I have no idea what to be surprised about more, the playfulness of his tone, the words themselves, the humor in his eyes, or the fact that it seems as if he’s flirting. I know I like all four of those reasons, especially the last one.
I’m so far out of date with how flirting works that I have no clue how to respond. Luckily, Gigi comes up with little fur balls trailing behind her and saves me from having to form a reply.
“Oh, my goodness!” I exclaim, and squat down. “They’ve gotten so big!”
I scoop one pup in my arms and he immediately starts lapping at my face. I laugh and rub my hand up and down his back.
“They’ve turned into menaces,” Alexander states, squatting beside me. He grabs one pup by the scruff of his neck and settles him against his chest. Gigi, appearing jealous of her own pups, puts her front paws on Alexander’s thigh and her face right in his, as if reminding him she’s there. “They’ve started chewing on my shoes. One found my wallet on the coffee table and chewed the corner off.”
I laugh, setting down the puppy and picking up another. “They only want to play.”
“Then the little shits need to play with each other and not my stuff. I’ve had to keep them in here when I’m not in the house. There’s no telling what the state of things would be when I come back in.”
I plop down on the concrete floor, the coolness of the slab immediately chilling my butt, and a horde of puppies starts climbing on my lap. I notice one of the pups, a black one with white on its face, off to the side watching what’s going on. It’s the one that Daniel named and grew attached to the most.
“Is there something wrong with that one?” I ask, pointing the lone pup.
“Nope. She’s the runt and quiet one of the group.” He pauses. “I also think she misses a certain little boy.”
I smile, finding it sweet he thinks the puppy misses Daniel.
Now that he’s mentioned it, she does look smaller than the others.
I pat the floor beside me. “C’mere, Pepper,” I coax her softly. Her head tilts to the side, then the other way, before she gets up from her haunches and slowly walks over to me. I pet her head and back, then pick her up. She doesn’t wiggle around or try to get to my face like the others. She just looks up at me with calm eyes.
I hold her up to my face and rub my nose with the tip of hers.
“Aren’t you just a sweetheart,” I murmur.
I look over to find Alexander watching me. I duck my head back to the puppy, feeling warmth come over my cheeks.
“Is it okay if I take Pepper?”
“Sure,” he says, a hint of gruffness in his voice.
I smile at the puppy. “You hear that? You’re coming home with me. Daniel’s going to be so excited to see you again!”
We both stand, me with Pepper in hand. I laugh when I look down and see both our feet covered in the rest of the puppies.
“There’s no way we’ll make it out of this room without at least one making it through the door.”
“They’ll be all right. They need to be let out for a bit anyway.”
Taking careful steps so we don’t squish one, we walk to the door. As soon as it’s open, there’s a mad dash of puppies bounding out.
Watching them tumble over their feet, I remark with a giggle, “I wish I could take them all home.”
“You’re more than welcome to,” Alexander says with his own chuckle. The deep laugh still sounds strange coming from him, but I love hearing it.
I wrinkle my nose when I look at him. “No thanks.”
He grunts, but I see a small smirk playing on his lips. “And of course you’d pick the calmest of the group, leaving me with the rambunctious ones.”
I shrug, letting my laughter show in my eyes. I snuggle the puppy to my chest and her cool nose touches the underside of my chin.
“Yeah, but I think we were meant to have this one.” I look down at the soft eyes of the puppy. “She was calling to me.”