Page 51 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

“Yeah!” I called back. “Yeah, everything is fine.”

“Okay. I’ll be down in a second, then.”

The door closed behind her, and I leaned back against the cupboards, staring at the mess I’d made, while Samantha readied herself above me.

Which was not where my room was, my dragon reminded me with a possessive growl. I pushed the intrusive thought aside, though I couldn’t completely ignore it. Things had been awkward between us since the hotel two days earlier. A new wall had grown, and I hadn’t yet figured out how to push past it.

Today, I hoped, would help.

There was a part of me that agreed with my dragon. It was long past time we stopped sleeping apart. I had no idea what the future held with the fortune and my returning to humanity, but my dragon knew full well what it wanted.

And it wanted Sam.

I hurried to the entrance to the kitchen as she came down the stairs, abandoning any effort to try to hide my failed surprise.

After all, that was only part of what I’d arranged.

“SURPRISE!” I yelled as she rounded the stairs.

She stumbled back at the shout, her eyes going wide.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” I added as she took in the arrangement behind me.

“What the—” she mumbled, though she grinned from ear to ear. “Cade …”

“What? Is something wrong?” I asked, whirling around to check out the banners and streamers I’d arranged across the kitchen.

Laughing, she came up to put an arm on my back. “No, nothing is wrong. It’s wonderful. Although …”

“What?” I asked, slumping.

“It’s not my birthday.”

“I know,” I said, brightening. “But I didn’t have time to arrange this while we were in town because somebody didn’t mention it was her birthday.”

“Oddly enough, I don’t think I ever told you that,” she said. “Which means someone else told you.”

I mimed zipping my lips closed. “I have no idea what you mean.”

She laughed. “It’s fine. This is sweet.”

“I even tried baking you a cake,” I said as her gaze swung toward the counter. “But, um, it didn’t go so well.”

“Oh, Cade,” she moaned in sympathy, walking over to the cake.

“It was looking good. But then I tried frosting it, and it fell apart on me.”

She dipped a finger into the frosting, and my dragon howled, hammering against the walls of my mind as her tongue slid out and around her finger to lick it off in a very suggestive manner. Her eyes watched me through her lashes, enjoying my reaction.

“Not bad,” she said. “But cake for breakfast?”

I grinned. “No, it was for later. Breakfast is ready. It’s just … not here.”

“Not here?”

“Nope!” I said, taking her recently deiced hand and tugging her along after me. “Come on. It’s all prepared.”

“What’s all prepared?” she yelped as we swept up to the roof.

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