Page 26 of The Dragon, the Bear, and Their Sugar Glider Omega

The living room was dusted and the wood floor gleamed, the couch cushions plumped. On the table just inside the door, a vase of flowers from my native landscaping held more color than people expected outside a flower shop. When I pulled out the lawn and had a local expert design the garden for me, I was amazed at how beautiful it became after a couple of years. At first, it looked so sparse! But now, it really enhanced my curb appeal. Not that I planned to put the place on the market, but if one of my mates wanted to move at any point, I would certainly do it. But I really hoped they would be happy here.

“Anyone home?” The front door opened to reveal a certain sugar glider carrying a box brimming with clothes. “I mean…honey, I’m home.”

I ran over to take the box from him, never gladder than now that the builder of this house had been even more built-in crazy than some others of his era. The master bedroom had enough closet space for all three of us without having to go through the annoyance of going to another room to get dressed in the morning. “Right this way, mate. I gave you the left side of the closet, and I want to talk to you about your secret plan for the ‘spare’ room.”

We unpacked his things into the closet and the dresser drawers I’d cleared for him then he stood back and shook his head. “When I moved to San Diego, I got rid of mountains of things, wanting the simple life, but since I got here, it seems I’ve started to collect clothing again. Is that shallow of me?”

I gathered him close and bent in for a sweet kiss on his warm, full lips. “Not shallow. With your money, you could be living a whole different life instead of the one we have planned. Now, what would you like to do next?”

“That’s such a loaded question.” He glided his hand down and cupped the hard bulge in my pants that happened whenever one of them was nearby, especially in my arms. “We have a few hours before we need to meet our other mate and help him bring some things over. And we still need to get most of his hoarder cave ready. Did everything come?”

“I think so.” Although I couldn’t be certain. I had been with Clay when he was placing the order for it online but had also been on the phone with a client for about half that time and wasn’t sure exactly what all he’d decided on. “Let’s go find out.”

It was to be a big surprise for our mate. If I’d had the ADU already in the yard, that would have been ideal, I thought, but Clay disagreed, saying a dragon would want their hoard close by where they could guard it better.

“I didn’t open the boxes,” I told him. “Since this project is your baby, I thought you should get to see them first.”

“Or we see them together,” he said, pulling his multi-tool out of his pocket. “Cross your fingers they followed the specs because I was very specific in my specs.”

I laughed at that, but I knew he was joking-not-joking. Our sugar glider omega was as sweet as what his animal was named after, but also a serious businessman in his own right. His choice to work at Animals was just that, and I knew if he wanted, he could be running a large corporation. His humility and kindness were remarkable, and not a day passed when I wasn’t grateful for him in our lives.

We set to work unboxing and mounting all the shelves and boxes and other display pieces our thoughtful sugar glider had ordered for our dragon. He was going to be blown away. And since we’d finally convinced him to quit one of his jobs, he’d actually have time to enjoy his hoard.

Chapter Nineteen

Rome

I kept checking my phone and the digital clock on the TV, reminding myself I didn’t have to be at the bar by eight anymore. I’d quit. For real. It felt so good.

I was almost totally moved into Armel’s house. The last thing to bring in was my hoard.

Armel’s house wasn’t huge, but we had enough space for three and were planning to add on in the next months.

The guys had given me the spare room for my hoard. They had surprised me with already-built display shelves for it. I was overwhelmed by their respect and caring for my need. My dragon was so happy that his pens could be on display now and not hidden away like some shameful secret in the closet.

Clay and Armel helped me unload my car. I had a bit more than the toy chest. There were also plastic bags and cardboard boxes.

“Is all this pens?” Clay asked.

I nodded slowly, head down.

Clay came to me and threw his arms around me. “I wasn’t criticizing, just amazed. That’s a lot of pens, my alpha love.”

“They’ve been my hoard since I started kindergarten and discovered there was more to write with than crayons.”

“So, we can be assured there are no crayons in here?” Armel asked.

“No way. No crayons, I assure you both. My dragon is very focused. Pens only.”

“Good, because crayons can melt, right?”

“What?” Clay scrunched up his face.

“I’m just saying, it’s a hot day.” Armel grunted merrily and grabbed up a bunch of boxes, followed by Clay with handfuls of bags. I used the dolly for the wooden toy box and rolled it through the door and down the hall.

My hoard room was amazing. Glass shelves lined the walls. The guys had picked out different-colored glassware to set bunches of pens in, but also had bought clear pen holders for the special pens I loved most and wanted on display. I could also just set pens side by side on the glass. There was plenty of room everywhere for them all. It would be hell to dust, but I was so happy with it all.

“Now I need to decide if I want to sort by color or value or…” I ran my hand through my hair.

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