Page 44 of The Ruby Dragon's Unconventional Mate

“Uh-huh.” He tried to pat Bryant’s back, but he thought he might have clunked more than patting.

“Mmm…you can rest a minute. We’re good, right here. I swear to you. We’re solid. Right here. Right now.”

The soft words poured over him, and he was grateful for them. He floated, moaning softly, dropping soft kisses on Bryant’s lips.

“Mmmhmm.” Bryant rested down on him, and they relaxed. He knew they could be together like this for a while, but he didn’t want to just…leave Lach with the girls forever.

“He knows. No worries. We won’t nap or anything, but we have to let it happen naturally, love.” Bryant smiled. “My brother will understand.”

Lars thought his brother would too, honestly. In fact, Logan may even be smug.

He settled in, letting himself relax and know he’d found his mate. The rest would come later.

Chapter

Thirteen

“Really?” Lachlan stared at Bryant with one eyebrow raised. Lars had taken the twins home about an hour ago, and they’d settled on sandwiches for lunch. Something easy. He’d barely gotten one bite of his BLT when his brother had started in on him. “You seriously mated with Lars while I was watching the twins downstairs?”

Bryant rolled his eyes and forced himself not to blush. One of the benefits of being a ruby-colored dragon was that blushes were less obvious. “It just happened. You were fine.”

Lachlan had been fine, right?

“Of course I was fine. Those two girls are amazing, and I adore them. But still—not appropriate. Bad dragon, tempting Lars up to the bedroom. Bad bad bad.”

“Shut up, you asshole.”

He would be aggravated, except that Lachlan was barely holding his chuckles in, and the happiness that was pouring from his twin was also kind of perfect.

“I’m so glad that you two finally worked it out. It seemed like it took forever. So are you going to move in together?”

He blinked. “Lachlan, we’ve had sex once. That’s it. I’m not moving anywhere.”

“Well, when you decide to, just know that I have your back. I think that you would look adorable in that little house.”

Bryant rolled his eyes. “Stop it.”

“I’m serious. It’s a fairy-tale house. It fits in perfectly. You have the fairy tale. I have the castle. We’re like movie dragons. I love it.”

“Just shut up. What are you thinking? Oh my god.” Bryant got it, really. It was a fabulous idea, the idea of forever with Lars, but right now, it just wasn’t an option. He wasn’t on his own here, so they would have to just take it slow until Lachlan was more settled. He thought Lars would understand that. After all, Lars had Logan.

Lachlan sobered. “It’s a small wing, Bryant. We don’t have to live in the same house for you to be here for me. And if I get a housekeeper, one that comes from the wing, someone we can trust…”

He fought not to wince. They’d thought, in their old wing, that they could trust the people they had surrounded themselves with.

They’d been wrong.

“No, I’m not ready for that.” He shook his head. “I don’t—I don’t want anyone in here…not like that. If Lars doesn’t want to come here, then we can just do this at a distance. Right now, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Lachlan blinked at him. “What if it’s a big deal for him? Lars seems like kind of a homebody, and that’s his home…”

“And I can go have supper over there. He can come spend the night here. It’s not that big of a deal.” He wasn’t leaving Lachlan.

“What if there’s a baby?”

His eyes went wide. “We had sexonce.”

Lach tilted his head. “You do know how sex works, right? It only takes once.”

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