Fighting Shadows (On the Ropes #2)(79)

“Yes, that’s our dog. Isn’t he handsome?” she cooed.

“Damn it, Ash. I said a puppy.”

She cocked her head to the side and folded her arms over her chest. “It’s my birthday. You don’t get to argue with me on my birthday.”

I let out a huff, knowing she had a point. With a groan, I turned to the woman who worked there and said, “We’ll take him.”

Ash clapped, bouncing on her toes as they began preparing the adoption paperwork on a sixty -pound, three-legged basset hound named Julio.

“I cannot believe you picked that dog,” I mumbled an hour later while we waited for our brand-new bundle of slobber to be brought out.

“Don’t you dare talk about Julio. He’s perfect.” She hugged me.

“We’re going to have to buy him a new collar. I don’t think this one is gonna fit.” I pulled the pink collar from my pocket, accidentally on purpose dropping a black, velvet box to the ground. “Shit,” I cursed.

Her back went stiff.

“Damn it. You weren’t supposed to see that yet.”

“Flint,” she whispered, bending over to pick it up.

“Well, I guess it’s too late now.” I kissed her forehead. “Happy birthday, Ash.”

Her eyes sparkled with tears as she slowly opened the box. “You *!” she declared for the second time that day, lifting a Volkswagen key from the box.

I burst out laughing all over again. “What? You thought that one was a ring too?”

“I hate you,” she mumbled then joined me in laughter. “You got me a car?”

“I’m getting busy at the gym, and it’s becoming harder to match up our schedules so I can run you around all the time. Plus, you can’t drive mine because of the hand pedals. This just made sense.”

She threw her arms around my neck. “I’ve never had my own car!”

“It’s pretty sweet too,” I told her proudly. “Go see if Julio is ready and let’s go home and check it out. Q and Mia should have dropped it off by now.”

Pushing to her toes, she placed a lingering kiss on my lips. “Thank you. For Julio, for my car, for you.”

“For me?”

“Yeah, especially for you.” She kissed me again before skipping away to the front desk.

I should have been the one thanking her.



“What the f*cking hell is that?” Quarry asked when we arrived back at the house.

Ash struggled to lift the dog out of the back of the car. “His name is Julio, and shut your face . . . and your hands,” she snapped.

He’s adorable! Mia signed, settling on the driveway, where Julio promptly covered her in sloppy kisses.

I never in a million years would have chosen that dog, but he definitely made it easy to see why Ash had.

I looked over at Quarry, who was watching Mia’s tongue bath in disgust. I wolf-whistled to grab his attention. “Where’s her car?”

His eyes slid to Ash. “Shhhh.”

“She already knows, jerkoff. Now where is it?”

He tipped his chin toward the garage.

Using the panel on the outside wall, I typed in the code to open the door.

Ash’s head popped up as the garage door lifted. Nestled inside our garage was a black convertible Volkswagen Beetle with a custom license plate that read: WHEELZ.

Much to my dismay, there was already some * who’d claimed wheels. My eye had twitched when the lady at registration suggested substituting with the Z. I’d succumbed to the pressure though.

“Shut up.” She stood up, tossing Julio’s leash to Mia, and then jogged over. “Shut up,” she repeated, snatching the door open to reveal the custom neon-green floor mats that had cost a mint.

I didn’t have a ton of money, but she needed a car, and I’d wanted her first one to be something she loved. Ash deserved to have something that was all her own. Not a hand-me-down or something she’d picked up on sale. She deserved something that was created custom for the crazy woman who would be driving it. Well, actually, she deserved more, but it would take time for me to give her that. Thankfully, according to Ash, time was the one thing we had plenty of.

“Flint, this is too much,” she said, gripping the steering wheel and running her hands over the dash.

I rounded the hood to the passenger side. “Christ, this thing is tiny,” I complained, attempting to fold my body inside.

“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but can you . . . I mean, can we . . . afford this?”

I smiled at her concern. “I put a chunk down. Then we’ll make the payments. It might cut into my suit budget, but we’ll survive,” I joked, but for quite possibly the first time since I’d known her, Ash didn’t laugh at all.

“I don’t know what to say. I mean, you told me you bought me a car, but . . . I just didn’t expect . . .”

“Expect what?” I asked, popping the glove compartment open and retrieving a small, black, velvet box.

She swallowed hard when she saw it. “I’m not even going to get excited this time.”

“You should probably get excited, Ash,” I said, offering her the box.

“Stop,” she whispered, warily taking it from my hands.

Staring deep into her eyes, I urged, “Open it.”