Most men flinched. Sam laughed. “You’re a heavyweight, huh?” He scratched behind Zeus’s ears—the good spot—and Zeus’s entire back end wagged like a helicopter trying to take off.
The first few dates were a disaster. Jake from accounting took one look at Zeus’s head—the size of a cinder block, the smile full of gleaming teeth—and asked if he could wait for her outside the coffee shop. Next. The artist, Leo, tried to be cool, but when Zeus leaned against his leg and thwumped his tail against the vintage amp, Leo yelped. Next. Then came Tyler, who said, “I love pits. They’re so aggressive. Like me.” Zeus put his whole body between Maya and Tyler and didn’t move until Tyler left. Good boy. Girls fuck pitbul -sex with dog-
That night, the three of them fell asleep in a pile on the floor—Sam’s arm around Maya, Maya’s hand on Zeus’s chest, Zeus’s slow heartbeat a drum keeping time. The rom-coms Maya used to watch alone always ended with a kiss in the rain. But this was better: a girl, her pitbull, and a man brave enough to understand that loving her meant loving the guard dog too. Most men flinched
Sam nodded. Then he turned to Zeus. “You protect her from the outside,” he said. “I’ll protect her from the inside.” The first few dates were a disaster