Page 19 of Omega Dragon Manny
“Why are you showing me this?”
“See? I haven’t spent a cent of your money since we kissed. It didn’t feel right.”
He had been banking all of his money. That had never been my intention. It was his to spend.
“Maybe I could work?—”
“Beau,” I said a little too sternly.
“You’re right. Asking you to let me work for free doesn’t feel right either. So what are we gonna do?”
“We could start with me meeting your dragon.”
“Consider it done.” He kissed my cheek.
“But that’s not enough.” I smiled. “You could, I don’t know…marry me.”
His eyes went wide. “Shifters don’t usually marry.”
Which wasn’t a no.
“I know. But we haven’t mated either.”
He smiled faintly. “Do you want to?”
“Yes, of course I do, but why don’t we table all this until after I meet your dragon? We keep talking in circles, and that’s the next step no matter where we go from there. I’ll get someone to watch the kids tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? How are you gonna get someone to watch tripletstomorrow?”
“I know a guy,” I said confidently.
And by “know a guy,” I meant I was about to cash in a really big favor with someone at work. I’d probably have to take on some really crappy projects to make up for it, but it was worth it.
Because while not much had been decided tonight, it was a step forward, and that was exactly the direction we needed to be headed…forward.
15
BEAU
When Clark said he’d get a babysitter the next day, I’d suspected he had overpromised, unintentionally, of course. Who just drops everything to watch three babies?
Apparently, the answer was Louise from accounting. She showed up at 10 a.m. with the biggest smile on her face and a bag of tricks at her side. Louise proudly proclaimed her status as anexpertbased on her twenty-eight grandchildren.
“She has twenty-eight?” I whispered to Clark as she unpacked her supplies.
He nodded.
I didn’t ask if any were multiples. If she had 28, the odds were high she had to juggle multiple kids at one time. And because Clark felt confident and she felt confident, I did too.
We weren’t going to be gone long. It would have been nice to spend an extended amount of time together, but the weather wasn’t in our favor, and really, when all was said and done, we were going to need time to talk more than anything. We had broached so many serious topics but never came to conclusions.
That would end today.
At least that was the goal.
“We’ll be back soon,” Clark told her. “We’re just going for a hike.”
Her jaw dropped. “Ahike? We’re getting a storm.”
