Page 93 of Wishes and Research

“No, it’s not too private to ask.” Kenzie’s too-innocent voice finally weaved its way through the other ridiculousness and I realized the mate bond was suspiciously quiet. “Honest.”

Good grief.

Turning around on the trail, I frowned and searched through the crowd to find my mate.

Yep. Wide eyes and blushing.

There he was right beside that naughty dragon who was doing his best to look entirely too sweet.

Where was that troublemaking dragon’s Daddy?

There.

Glaring at the man who was trying not to laugh, I gestured toward the next turn in the trail. “Alright, we’re almost there. You guys go up and make sure it looks perfect. We want Paxton to see it pristine, right? I’ll keep him here for just a second so you can make sure it’s ready.”

We’d all grown up going on field trips to pick up the sticks around the area and then hear the story of the portal, so there were only faint grumblings about forced marches and not enough snack breaks as they kept going. With kids, I would’ve never left them on their own, but the nuts in question were all technically adults and most had their Doms and Daddies with them.

Okay, a few of the other locals we’d somehow picked up when Kenzie had gone to the diner for breakfast were single, but they were well-behaved and trying not to giggle at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

I was hoping that meant they’d be good, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath. I’d just been grateful Kenzie hadn’t dragged Mr. Kennedy along with him, so I hadn’t classified the extras as naughty or nice…that had clearly been a misstep on my part based on their grins.

“Kenzie? Talon?” Glaring at the two men who were suddenly both looking guilty, I didn’t break my stare as I gestured for them to follow the rest of the group. “I’m sure you’re not deliberately making my mate squirm, are you?”

Paxton was just too cute and too polite. They probably couldn’t help themselves. I’d always thought Talon was the one with the common sense between the two of them, but I was starting to see why they were mates.

“No.” Kenzie shook his head, giving me wide eyes that were not believable at all. “We’re keeping him entertained, but now we’re going to get the portal ready. I’m very good at clean-up games.”

Just look cute and play dumb.

Yep, the old men definitely had a point.

As Kenzie dragged Talon off with whispered instructions not to look so guilty, I reached my hand out for Paxton. He wasn’t too startled and brushed off whatever they’d done as he hurried over to me. “I…I didn’t ask enough questions. I forgot. You mentioned it, but I forgot to ask.”

I was going to kill those two.

“Next time anyone asks to walk with you and keep you company, I’m going to tell them no.” Paxton’s immediate nod said I needed to keep a closer eye on him when we were in public. “Alright, what was Kenzie torturing you with?”

“Um, well…” Paxton nearly tripped over his own foot and almost went down, so I swept him up in my arms and kept walking as he caught his breath. “Thank you, Daddy.”

He rested his head on my shoulder and sighed instead of telling me that he needed to walk on his own like he normally would have, so I knew I was right to worry. “Is your hoard naughty toys, Daddy?”

Dragons above.

“No.” My firm answer had him sighing in relief. “What made you think that?”

Telling myself that I shouldn’t jump to conclusions, I tried not to immediately call out Kenzie.

“Kenzie said he didn’t know what your hoard was and he said that dragons usually kept that private when it was silly or naughty.” Petting my chest, Paxton paused and took a deep breath. “It would be okay if it was silly.”

I should’ve jumped to conclusions.

Paxton was trying to sound like a good grown-up but he sighed. “I think I’d prefer silly, Daddy. I’m sorry if it’s naughty, though. I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

Trying to decide if I was going to laugh or groan, I kissed his head as we walked. “It’s more practical than anything, little bug. My hoard is the books in the living room. The ones on the bookshelf. I was very frustrated when I was younger that it wasn’t cooler.”

I had a mix of childhood favorites and actual antique books, but the closest thing that came to fascinating or weird were the dirty bookmarks I’d found.

Paxton didn’t mind that it was boring, though. His relief flooded through the bond as he let out a deep breath in a rush of air. “Thank God. I was worried you had a hoard of toys under the bed. Kenzie was…he was so…”

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