Last night I’d been honest with her and myself thanks to Ice’s hockey analogy. I’d put my heart out there and told her how I truly felt, even though I hadn’t known until that very moment. I’d been so baffled by the right direction to take. To some extent, I still was, but I needed to try.

She hadn’t reacted as I’d hoped, but she hadn’t rejected me either. Time, we all needed time. And time we had plenty of. I was known for my patience when it came to waiting for just the right shot at the net. I’d practice that same patience with Caro. Good things came to those who waited.

I carried my cup of coffee to the living room, where Kaden and Steele sat on the couch, balancing heaping plates of bacon and eggs on their laps.

“I don’t suppose you saved any for me?” I asked.

“Nope. You snooze, you lose,” Kaden said.

“Asshole,” I shot back.

“That’s what you get for sticking us with dog-sitting duties last night while you hung with Caro.”

“She was sleeping when I left,” I countered.

“You’re getting awful tight with her.” Kaden pointed his fork at me to punctuate his words. “You’re going to be paying up on that Puck Brother bet in no time. Cannot wait.”

“Fuck you,” I said, as it seemed to fit the occasion.

“That fucking dog ate my sock.” Kaden held up a sock with a huge hole in the heel.

“At least she didn’t pee on your leg like she did mine,” Steele countered.

“I’m sorry, guys. I thought an older dog would be trained. I think she has a little anxiety.”

“Anxiety?” Kaden snorted and rolled his eyes. “Hardly. She slept on my bed half the night and was snoring so loudly I had to sleep on the couch.”

“You could’ve kicked her off the bed.”

“Yeah, right. You try that. The dog weighs as much as I do.” Kaden glared at the black Newfoundland dog sitting at his feet, staring up at him with soulful brown eyes, lines of drool stretched from her mouth to the floor.

I hadn’t counted on the drooling, but I’d fallen in love with the dog’s temperament. Ice and Avery had mentioned the dog last night, since she was living temporarily on the farm where his wife trained horses. I’d immediately left the party and gone to the barn to pick up Mona. She loved kids, and she was absolutely adorable, like a huge teddy bear. The twins would fall for her, but I suspected their mother would be furious.

“Mona’s in love with you,” Steele snickered.

“All the females love him,” I quipped.

“She’s in love with my cooking.” Kaden glowered at the drooling dog. She took that as an invitation to jump on the couch and curl up next to him, not an easy feat considering she had to weigh one hundred and sixty pounds or more. “How much longer do we have to house this monstrous drool machine?”