The frantic staccato clicks of nails on the hardwood, racing up and down the edge of the bed, greeted me the next morning.

Click-click-click, whine. Click-click-click, whine.

I knew I couldn’t avoid it much longer. If I didn’t get up and take the dog for a walk, he was going to piss all over the floors. I was almost tempted to let him.

“I thought you were all over taking care of the dog,” Emily said from the bathroom.

“He’s only up because you are. For that matter, you’re already dressed, can’t you just take him out to the courtyard. I promise I’ll take him for a long walk after I shower.”

“I’m dressed because I have a seven A.M. interview that I can’t be late for. You, on the other hand, don’t have to be anywhere until ten so you can walk the puppy. I told you that you should have signed him up for morning walks.”

The dog whined again. Get a puppy. It will show you’re responsible. I needed to punch Ben in the face. While the puppy was cute, he was a pain in my ass.

“Fine,” I said and tossed off the covers. I pulled on a pair of sweats and a hoodie. I thought I’d enjoy going for a long jog in the morning now that the weather was getting warmer, but unfortunately, the dog was up with Emily every morning. And she was always up with the sun. As soon as I got back, I was arranging a morning dog walker.

“I might be late tonight. I have to finish up payroll,” Emily said from the doorway.

She was in her executive director disguise. Those wild curls I loved so much were pinned up, and she had a bit of makeup—a little powder, blush, and pink lip gloss. She was wearing that same lip gloss last night when she got home and wrapped those pink lips around my cock.

Maybe she had time for me to bend her over the bathroom counter and return the favor. I licked my lips and stocked towards her.

Click-click-click. Whine.

She handed me the leash and rested a hand on her swollen belly.

I grabbed the leash and shot the dog a death glare. “You are a furry little cock block.”

“You’re really grumpy in the morning,” she said with a chuckle in her voice. “You’re going to be fun when the baby comes. You do realize they require a lot more attention than a puppy.”

“Of course, I do,” I snapped. I attached the leash to the dog’s collar and followed Emily into the living room. “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll do the night feedings as long as you get up with him in the morning.”

“You’re going to get up at two in the morning to feed the baby after playing nine innings? Can I get that in writing?” She kissed me quickly on the lips and grabbed her purse. “I really am running late. Are you going to ride down with me?”

Click-click-click. Whine.

“I better or I’m going to have a mess to clean up.”

I slipped my keys and wallet into my sweatpants and followed her out the door. As much as I liked sleeping in, I did enjoy seeing her off in the morning. We’d settled into a regular routine, and it felt good like we’d finally figured out how this relationship thing worked.

“The baby is doing backflips this morning.”

She grabbed my hand and pressed it to her side. I could feel the soft flutter of movement under her shirt. I leaned in and kissed her temple, holding my hand against her belly. I didn’t care how many things we still had to work out, this was worth it.

When we reached the main floor, she stopped mid-stride. “Darn it. I left my phone upstairs. If the driver is outside can you tell him I’ll be right down?”

I caught her hand before she turned around. “Call the real estate agent today. You’ve been putting it off. I don’t want us to wait much longer. You do still want to sell it, don’t you?”

“I do,” she said with a sigh. “It’s just, I lived there for ten years. The thought of packing and cleaning things up is stressing me out.”

“We’ll hire people, but you’ve got to stop putting it off.”

“Everything is moving, so fast.” She bit her lower lip and looked like she was about ready to cry.

“We can wait if you want” I said, kissing away her frown.

“Mr. Reynolds. I don’t mean to interrupt, but you have a situation.” Calvin pointed to the end of the leash I was holding. Snowball was taking a dump right in front of the revolving door.

“Shit!”

“Very observant,” Emily snickered.

I ran over to grab the dog before he made a bigger mess. As I got closer, the automatic sensor triggered and the door started to move. The dog yipped and ran back to Emily, leaving a trail of pee in his wake. But worse, the door spun around collecting the pile of dog crap and painting it across the lobby floor.

I ran over to the door and tried to stop it, but just proceeded to step in the mess. As I tried, unsuccessfully, to wipe up the shit with the doggy bags, Emily stood there and just laughed.

“I could use a hand,” I shouted through the glass door as I made another circle.

This just caused another round of laughter. She pressed her hand to her side, doubling over. “You should see the look on your face right now.”

“That’s not very helpful.”

“You assured me you had this dog thing handled,” she said, sweeping away a stray tear.

“Calvin? A little help.”

The doorman hurried over and pressed a button on the door frame that stopped the door from spinning. Now I was trapped between the outside and the lobby with the smell of dog shit nearly choking me.

Emily tapped on the glass. “I asked Calvin to schedule those morning walks for Snowball. I’ll take him upstairs and put him in his crate while you deal with this mess. Have a great day.” She kissed the glass and headed back to the elevators.

I apologized profusely to Calvin and arranged to have the carpets in the lobby cleaned. The service assured me that, starting tomorrow, Snowball would go out at six A.M. with their morning walker. I didn’t really relish the idea of getting up at six to hand off the dog to a walker, but it was a much better plan than having a repeat of this morning’s circus.

I jumped in the shower and got ready for my final physical therapy appointment. My first official game since getting injured was in two days. I’d been working out with the team, but I was anxious to get back on the field.

I was on my way to the appointment when my phone rang. Manny’s number flashed on the screen and my gut twisted.

“They’re going to announce it after you get cleared by Dr. Pete tomorrow, but you’re getting traded to Philly.”