Page 33 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

Sarah looks up at me and smiles gently. Then, she looks back down and keeps rootling through the snow.

“Come on, don’t freeze yourself again. We can always come back.”

“Give me a second,” she says, still scraping through the frozen water, and then gasps, “Ah! Found it.”

She pockets her prize, and I laugh.

“Are you done now?” I tease, “Are you ready to come back to somewhere you won’t get hypothermia, or should I come back later when you’ve passed out again?”

“Shut up!” she laughs again, “But yes, I’d like to leave the icy pit, please.”

I laugh and then lean down, scooping her knees up in one arm and around her shoulders with the other. She lays her head on me, and I take flight, getting us both the hell out of there.

Chapter 12 - Sarah

The wood-burning fire crackles appetizingly in front of me, and I watch its orange dance as I curl up on the couch under a fluffy blanket. It’s good to be home—especially since, for a long moment, I didn’t think I’d make it here.

I was so cold and wet when I came in that sitting right next to the fire barely made a dent in how freezing I was. But the fire’s been going for a while, and the room has gradually become cozier and cozier. Behind me, there’s the light clattering of dishes as Rufus makes hot chocolate. I don’t want to look at him—he’s still naked from his dragon’s shift, save for my largest towel, which still looks tiny on him. I didn’t have any clothing that would come close to fitting a large man like him, except perhaps the fluffy blanket, but he insisted I needed that more than he did.

I’m still kind of confused, kind of taken aback by how intense this has all gotten so fast. One moment, the guy irritated the hell out of me; the next, I couldn’t keep my hands off him; thenext,I’m spilling my guts to him—telling him things I haven’t even told my best friends.

But… after everything that’s happened, it’s nice having him here. I can hear him moving about in my kitchen, and it doesn’t feel uncomfortable. It feels natural.

“Here,” Rufus says, handing me a steaming mug, “Let me know if it needs anything—I can add more cream and sugar if you want.”

I take a sip and sigh.

“Oh, it’sperfect.Right temp, right sweetness—right everything.”

He chuckles, sitting down with his own cup.

“Good,” he replies, “I thought I knew how you liked it, but I second-guessed myself as I was bringing it over.”

I frown and smile at him at the same time.

“How would you know how I liked my hot chocolate?”

He averts his gaze, giving me a shake of the head and a shrug at the same time.

“I don’t know,” he replies, “I just picked it up from somewhere, I guess.”

And he remembered?

I feel like there was a time not too recently when I would have found that unsettling, but right now... I don’t know. Maybe I just need to embrace all of this. It’s too exhausting to fight, and… this is nice. Just sitting on my couch, sipping a milky hot chocolate with a man I realize I can really, really trust.

Perhaps tomorrow, we’ll be back to our arguments, but in a weird way, I’m looking forward to that, too.

I just… like being with Rufus.I feel like I can trust him. I just wonder if he feels the same.

We sip hot chocolate for a moment longer, and then I gently break the silence:

“Rufus?”

“Yeah?” he asks, voice gently but his attention snapping onto me.

“I asked you why you cared so much,” I murmur, “and you deflected—asking me why I cared as a police officer.”

“Yeah?” he says again, his voice still gentle.

---