Page 18 of Overbooked at Dragon's Landing

This was not the place to be having those thoughts.

But maybe in the clearing…

“Let’s try the grocery store. If they don’t have sandwiches, we can buy the fixings.” Craig was already walking there.

Ralph took my hand. “See why I love him so?”

“I do, and I see why he loves you, too.”

Chapter Thirteen

Ralph

The week flew by, with all the fun festival activities interspersed with other fun activities in our room. We sent the cot back after the first night because we did not need it and we thought there might be someone else who did. Someone not lucky enough to be snuggling into bed with their sexy mates.

Each day had its own highlights that we would remember forever, and with what forever might mean up in the air, we just enjoyed ourselves, getting to know one another and appreciating every moment in this town that threw itself into its annual event with unremitting enthusiasm.

My favorite activity, outside of the bedroom, of course, had to be the parade that closed the event. I was kind of surprised it hadn’t been on opening day, but the organizers were smarter than most. Or so Cyrus our dragon host informed me. This was the first year of adding a parade at all, and the organizers thought that by having it at the very end, they would keep people there longer. Like having Santa Claus at the end of a Christmas parade. Nobody left before seeing the jolly saint.

Craig and I lined up with all the others on the sidewalk, but our dragon mate had other plans, he said, and would join us after the parade. Assuming it must be related to his business in town, we were disappointed but understood. He’d been with us nearly every minute and we had a lifetime ahead of us. If we could figure out what that meant.

The parade was probably my favorite Dragon Festival activity. It seemed every business in town was represented with a float or a decorated car, and the middle school band played with more excitement than skill, but the kids were so adorable nobody minded and they were greeted with applause and cheersall along the parade route. The high school band came toward the end, and they did have skill. I overheard a lady saying they had been to the state battle of the bands and earned a better-than-respectable second place. Maybe those middle schoolers would do the same when they had more time to practice. If not, they were for sure having a great time and entertaining the crowd.

Finally, there was a gap as the band strode off down the street and nothing followed. I expected the crowd to disburse, but everyone remained in place. In fact, the excitement level was climbing, for some reason.

“Shouldn’t we head back to the B&B?” Craig asked. “I don’t see anything else coming.”

I shrugged, but the same lady who was so informative about the battle of the bands said, “And miss the best part?”

“I thought the whole thing was pretty good,” I said, thinking that someone with so much information might well be on a committee, and I wouldn’t want to have her feelings hurt.

“Yes but—” She clapped her hands and pointed up the street. “Here they come!”

Whoever the organizers of this event were, they had made the very last minutes of the festival infinitely memorable because what she’d been pointing at? It was worth coming to the festival just for this.

“Dragons,” Craig crooned. “Dozens of them.”

An entire flight of dragons winged their way above the parade route, doing barrel rolls and dives and other tricks that had all the watchers oohing and aahing. I was right there with them. They were magnificent and a sight the average person would never have the chance to see.

And then I saw him. “Craig, look.”

“It’s Trace. Our very own dragon.” Our dragon who at that moment shot high into the sky and then fell, wings pulled close,spinning toward earth. “He’s going to crash!” He grabbed me and buried his face in my chest. I wrapped my arms around him because there was nothing more I could do. The crowd went silent.

My heart in my throat, I watched Trace’s dragon descend, feeling completely helpless. And then, no more than ten feet from the hard, unforgiving street, his wings shot out and stopped him. The crowd roared and applauded, as our dragon landed with grace, bowed to us then lifted off and flew along the rest of the route. No more than a few minutes later, Trace, in his human form and fully dressed, came to join us.

Craig flung himself into our dragon shifter’s arms and kissed him then stepped back and said, “If you ever scare me like that again, you’re in big trouble, dragon boy!”

I had been every bit as frightened, but the way our human said it struck me as funny, and I laughed until I cried while the other two kept me from falling down.

We found a bench to sit on and people watched for a while.

“We need to decide what we’re going to do now,” I said, opening the conversation. “And I wondered…well, maybe you won’t like the idea.”

“I’m up for anything as long as we’re together,” Trace said.

“What is your idea?” Craig reached for my hand and linked our fingers.

“How married are you with the idea of selling the house?” I asked. “Because I like this town a lot. And I can work remotely.”

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