Page 31 of Lahaina Noon

Liam ran over, “We have everything you need for that!” He was almost vibrating with enthusiasm, “Anything we don’t have, I will go get right away. Come here; the pantry’s this way.” He grabbed her hand and started dragging her to the kitchen.

Bridget laughed and followed behind the eager man. She realized despite his large size and many jobs, he still seemed pretty young himself, not quite close to her age. Although, as she’d just learned with Vaughn, age was just a number. She smacked herself in the forehead, why hadn’t she realized before when she heard him purring? “Liam, are you uh, well, I’m not sure if this is rude or not, so I’m just going ahead with it, but are you a dragon too?”

Liam stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her. “I guess the dragon’s out of the bag,” he chortled. “Yeah, I’m the youngest in North America,” he said with obvious pride.

Bridget smiled at that statement, but she was confused. “Hang on though, I met your sister today, is she older than you then?”

Liam’s eyes flashed with amusement, “No way, she’s my baby sis, but with dragons, only the oldest can turn. It’s why she’s so…” he looked at the ceiling. “Well, you met her, she’s pissy, right?”

She laughed, “I guess that’s one word for it. She was a little surly and seemed to have a chip on her shoulder about something. Makes sense.” It did make sense. Her older brother was a dragon, and she had to settle for what, watching him grow up with wings and talons while she played with Barbies? Yeah, Bridget suddenly had a lot more sympathy and understanding for Siobhan.

“Don’t go feeling too sorry for her, though.” Liam cautioned, “One, she hates that, and two, she didn’t come away empty-handed. She’s got Wielding power.” He turned and trotted off towards the pantry again. Eager to get the feast underway.

Chapter 19

She followed Liam intothe kitchen to ask about that when the front door flew open, and a whole herd of people walked through the door. Bridget recognized many of them as some of the game developers from earlier today, her new staff. She had a moment to wonder why they were there when she realized they had brought some of her belongings from her house. She was confused about how they could have gotten in and knew what to grab when she saw a familiar blonde head bobbing in the crowd.

“Jorrie!” she shouted as the woman rocketed through the group and launched herself at Bridget. They hugged each other tightly as the others milled around the kitchen, digging in the cabinets looking for snacks.

“Hey guys!” she heard Liam call out over everyone, “Bridget’s making lasagna. Who’s staying?” A sea of hands shot up in the air around her. Liam grinned at her then winked at Jorrie who ignored him.

She looked at Jorrie and said, “We need to catch up but looks like I need to make a grocery list, and you have to help me. And tell me why you’re ignoring Liam.”

Bridget was in the kitchen with Jorrie having just compiled a list of things they would need to feed the army that had arrived, when Vaughn walked in, toweling his hair dry and looking delicious in a pair of sweatpants and no shirt. Bridget leaned over and closed Jorrie’s mouth, whispering, “You’re drooling.”

Jorrie looked at her friend, looked at Vaughn, then back at Bridget. “And you’re not!” she suddenly hissed. “You did it! You little tramp! You climbed that man like a tree, just like I told you. Hell yeah, girl! I thought you looked awfully relaxed!” She high-fived Bridget, who had to count to ten to distract her from murdering her best friend for saying that out loud.

Vaughn moved towards them, a glass of wine in each hand. He set the wine down in front of them, wrapped his arms around Bridget’s waist, kissed her on the temple and grinned at Jorrie. “Oh yeah,” he smoldered, “She climbed me up, down, sideways and every way in between. She called me a Sex God.” He danced back in laughter as Bridget whirled around to slap his chest.

“I knew I shouldn’t have said that to you,” she hissed while Jorrie stood stock still at the counter staring.

“Sex God,” she whispered.

Bridget laughed at the expression on her friend’s face. For all her bravado and straight talk, it looked like Vaughn found the perfect way to quiet her down. She turned to him again, “Go put on a shirt, Sex God, I think you’re distracting her.”

He mock-saluted her and turned on his heel to head back to the bedroom.

Now that he was out of sight, Jorrie seemed to break out of her trance. She picked up the wine and gulped some down. “Bridge,” she started, seeming at a loss for words, “That man. So hot, muscles, mmm. Please tell me it was as good as he looks.”

Bridget leaned over to her friend and whispered, “Better.”

Bridget and Jorrie were sitting in the living room, surrounded by Gabe and the crowd that had kindly delivered essential items from her house with Jorrie’s help. The silver-haired man, Killian, among them, speaking quietly with some of the team.

Gabe, having learned that many of the group were developers for Vaughn’s gaming company, was in heaven. He was pestering them with a ton of questions, which they seemed to enjoy, when a voice rang out.

“Hey kid, Gabe, right?” It was Siobhan. Bridget hadn’t seen her come in. “So, Bridget’s your mom?” she asked him.

Gabe nodded his head. Bridget saw the instant puppy love sweep across his face.Oh boy.

“Nice. She’s a cool chick. For an older person.” Siobhan winked at Bridget. “Word is, you’re pretty good at Cloud Warrior,” she stated in a challenging voice.

Gabe tried to play it cool, “I can hold my own.”

“Ever beaten GreenPrincess1?” she asked with a small smile.

Gabe’s eyes lit up, “No, I’ve always wanted to play her, but she’s never on when I’m on. Have you ever played her?”

Siobhan spread her arms, and the others let out a collective “Ooh.”

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