Page 19 of The Ruby Dragon's Unconventional Mate

“Oh, he’s my doll baby. You’re my fierce defender.”

His shoulders slumped. “I don’t feel so fierce.”

“Well, maybe you should be. Go tell him what for! He’s conflicted. He never expected something to challenge his loyalty to his brother.” She blinked at him, but somehow it was like a predator trying to convince their prey they were harmless.

Hope filled his chest for a moment, but then he shook his head. “If I’m that easy to dismiss?—”

“Oh, bah. He’s here, isn’t he? If he really thought you were bad for his brother, he would have gone anywhere else. And he keeps running into you.”

“It’s a small town,” Lars deadpanned.

“Which means he could see you coming and run the other way. But he keeps trying to talk to you.”

“Stop trying to give me false hope.”

Amber blew out a gusty sigh. “Who says it’s false? Lars, I think you’re both making a huge mistake.”

“Look, I said I would stay for now. I can’t promise more than that. One thing at a time.”

“Fair enough.” She sipped her tea. “I love you and want you to be happy.”

“And I appreciate that. I do.” He did give her a heartfelt smile then. “I do adore you, you old bat.”

“I do not echo-locate.” She stroked Slippy with her free hand. “This blend is so soothing.”

“It has a great scent.” He nipped up another cookie.

“It does. The cardamom really lends a roundness to it.” She looked like a serene yogi sitting cross-legged on his couch, her quills no longer vibrating.

“Yeah.” Whatever that meant. Maybe it was that the cinnamon wasn’t so hot with the cardamom underneath it. He had no idea. She spoke far more fluent tea than he did.

Another knock came to his door, and he rolled his eyes. “I’m fairly sure that when I left the meeting I said that I was taking the rest of the day off.”

Still, he went to answer the door, because that was his goddamn job. Dakota and Samuel were standing there with all of the children. All four of them.

“We brought supper,” Dakota started.

Samuel picked up, “And banana bread.”

“And babies.”

“And wine.”

Dakota nodded. “And Pack ’n Plays so that the babies have somewhere to sleep.”

Lars grabbed said Pack ’n Plays. Amber grabbed food baskets. Everybody had a baby, so they all trooped into the house.

“Wow. Thanks, guys.” He squeezed Grant. “Hey, buddy, how are you?”

Little Grant grinned at him, bared his teeth, and went, “Rawr!”

His eyebrows went up and he put the playpen down. “Yeah? Are we feeling a little grumpy today?”

“RAWR!” Grant agreed.

“I made him promise he wouldn’t teleport around your house.” Samuel looked a little worn around the edges—not gigantically pregnant worn like Dakota, but worn.

“Excellent. I love that for me. Everybody come on in and have a seat.”

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