The shelter was a cluster of small buildings on the outskirts of town, with a large pasture in the back for the animals to frolic in.
Duke parked and ushered Mallie and Teddy out of the car. Nat was about to trail behind the group, except Duke stepped up to him and slid his arm around Nat’s waist.
“C’mon, let’s head inside.” Duke smiled warmly.
Nat melted all over again.
“Can we have a puppy?” Mallie begged as they passed several cages of dogs. The dogs scampered up to their doors and wagged their tails, eager for playtime.
“You know the answer, kiddo,” Duke said patiently. “When you’ve proven that you’re responsible enough to feed and care for a dog all by yourself. This will beyourpet, your responsibility, every day for years. I want to make sure that whichever dog you adopt isn’t going back to the shelter because you got tired of it.”
Mallie nodded seriously. “Okay.”
“In the meantime, you can volunteer here as much as you want, whenever Hubrie or I have time to take you here. There are a lot of dogs that don’t get enough love.”
Looking at the dogs in the cages, Nat felt sorry for them. Duke had promised that the dogs got to go outside and play several times a day, but the rest of the time, they were still stuck in their own tiny cells. It seemed incredibly lonely.
Just that Nat had his hands full with Wanda and a second baby on the way. On top of his job as Duke’s personal assistant. Even if he wanted a pet, there were just not enough hours in his day.
“I like the idea of volunteering,” Nat said. “I can’t commit to a dog full-time, but I can make some dogs happy for a few hours each week.”
Duke grinned. “I would love it if you could join us on these trips.”
Nat nodded eagerly.
He showed Wanda the dogs and went on walks with them. He spoke to the staff too, to ask about the shelter’s hours and what times they needed volunteers the most.
By noon, Nat was covered in dog hair, and he had a better idea of how to arrange Duke’s schedule to fit everything in there.
“You’re looking good,” Duke murmured while Mallie and Teddy were busy with a couple of dogs.
“I’m figuring out your schedule,” Nat said, poking at his phone. “If we move the shelter hours to right when they open, we’ll spend less time in traffic on the way here. And… you could decrease your volunteer hours at the fire station, so they only contact you for life-threatening calls that need fire resistance. That way, you’ll still get to volunteer, but you’ll have more time to spend with the children. Especially, you know, with the new one on the way.”
Duke rumbled, sweeping Nat into his arms. Nat squeaked. Duke dropped several kisses all over his face.
“Thanks,” Duke whispered, burying his face against Nat’s throat. “This is what I hired you for, and you’re being amazing at it. You’re helping me get my life in order.”
Nat laughed. “I think Hubrie would say you’ve been an overachieving prick of a boss.”
“He would say that while flinging handfuls of pickup lines everywhere,” Duke added flatly.
He glanced around furtively, as though afraid that the butler would pop up with more pickup lines.
“I won’t tell him if you don’t,” Nat said.
Duke grinned. “Thanks.”
“Now we just have to get home at some point, and you can give the kids their surprise.”
“Yes.” Duke nuzzled Nat and kissed his collarbones. “Maybe someday, when we get everything figured out, we can adopt a couple of dogs, too.”
Nat laughed. “You really are an overachieving—” Duke raised his eyebrows “—alpha! I wasn’t going to say prick!”
“Well, my prick is also overachieving.”
Nat groaned and buried his face in Duke’s shoulder. The thing was, Dukewasright about that.
* * *
