“Everyone,” I call out. “I have a thought. How about Ryan and Duke stay at my place until the wedding?”

A general silence falls over the room.

“Do you mean it?” Cristina asks, almost whispering.

“No,” Ryan answers quickly. “No, it’s all right. I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“It wouldn’t be any trouble,” I assure him.

“Duke is a handful. I couldn’t put that on you.”

“I love dogs and my building is pet-friendly.”

Ryan stares daggers at me in a subtle kind of way and I smile sweetly back at him. He looks to Jason for help, who turns to me after some obvious internal debate.

“That’s nice of you, Kara, but don’t worry about it. Ryan and I are going to buy an inflatable bed to set up in the office for him and Duke.”

Cristina whips around on the couch to find Jason. “Say one more word and I will cut you.” She jerks back around to me. “Honestly, that would be the biggest help ever. We would have loved for Ryan to stay with us but we have so much on our plate with the wedding. Now you guys can really catch up and everyone wins.”

Everyone then turns to Ryan, who is solely focused on me. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

I nod and follow him as he steps to the windows on the far side of the room.

“Why are you doing this?” he asks once we’re out of earshot.

“I’m just trying to help Cristina. In case you haven’t noticed, you’ve escorted her right to the brink of a nervous breakdown.”

One look at Cristina’s hopeful eyes proves that I’m right. “We wouldn’t have been any trouble,” he says half-heartedly, knowing it isn’t true.

“This coming from the man who was just evicted from his hotel.” That earns me a flat glare. “What are you afraid of? Are you worried I’ll kill you in your sleep and empty your bank account?”

“I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“Well, you can rest easy because I have more important things to do. I have a deadline coming up and I’m going to be working around the clock.”

Ryan glances across the room to where Duke is making himself at home on the couch. Cristina is now following his path with a Dustbuster, vacuuming up any of his fur that clings to the fabric.

“So you really want to do this then?” he asks, turning back. “You don’t think the two of us sharing a space will be at all dangerous?”

“Dangerous for me or you?”

Ryan doesn’t answer right away. I know he’s trying to think of an alternative plan, but nothing comes to mind. This is happening.

“I guess we’ll find out, Sullivan,” he says. “You want me, you got me.”