Page 90 of Never Flirt with a Dragon

RANDA

We stayed up most of the night talking.

Laughing, too.

And snuggling the whole time.

It was pure bliss.

Vi was already two dozen cupcakes into the day when I finally trudged out of bed, leaving Jasper in the shower. Though I’d wanted to join him, I wouldn’t do anything to make Vi feel uncomfortable. We’d had an agreement not to bring any guys home for years, and I wasn’t going to break it without a conversation first.

Plus, we were leaving soon enough that I didn’t think we even needed to have that conversation.

I hugged her from behind when I found her adding flour to her stand mixer. She laughed, and after she finished, turned around to hug me back. “Sleep good?” she teased.

“For the one hour I slept, yes. Jas and I were up most of the night talking.”

“I’m sure it was worth the sacrifice.”

“It was. Every day, I start to feel a little better about the whole mate thing.”

“Good. You should. He seems to make you happy, and he did promise me he’s going to try all of the recipes I sent him. You’ll have an obligation to tell him it tastes better when I make them, of course.”

“Of course.”

She grinned, and hugged me tightly again. “You have to call or text me every day.”

“Deal,” I said into her hair before she released me and turned back to her stand mixer.

“What’s your plan? How long are you staying in town?”

I lifted myself up on the countertop and explained that we were going to see our parents, so they could meet Jasper. Vi thought it would go about as well as I thought it would go—which wasn’t well.

But she agreed she would go with us and spend the day there.

Jasper came out in a pair of fresh clothes a few minutes later, and caught me eating more cupcakes for breakfast.

He took a few for himself, and we enjoyed a sugary start to our day together before we launched into packing. When Vi finished what she was doing, she joined us too, though we were almost done at that point.

I really didn’t have that much stuff.

Of course, I did have a few more boxes at my parents’ house. But that was a problem for another day.

After we loaded everything into the back of my car, Jasper and I hit the road, with Vi right behind us. We’d be leaving my car at my parents’ place until we decided whether or not we were buying a house in Scale Ridge.

Jasper wanted to, but it seemed excessive to buy an extra house just to visit every now and then. I hadn’t decided what we should do, and I hadn’t asked him to choose yet.

Considering I still hadn’t figured out whether I wanted to ease into mating or jump right in, the Scale Ridge house thing wasn’t a priority.

The ride was only a few hours, but I didn’t like to drive fast, so I happily claimed the passenger seat and let Jasper take the wheel.

We turned on music—both of us agreed on laid-back pop, which was a pleasant surprise—and quickly fell back into another conversation. He asked how I’d learned to draw, and if it had always been a passion. I had no problem talking about that. I’d been obsessed with art since I was a kid.

The hours went by fast, and soon enough, we pulled up to my parents’ house. Worry had me biting my lip, staying in my seat and staring at the place I’d grown up.

It was a beautiful home, though so large it wasn’t very cozy.

And my parents were…

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