Page 21 of The Dragon's Emberlinked Mate
“Show-off,” I said.
He chuckled. “You’re welcome to give it a shot.”
I snorted. “I’m more likely to take out some of the railing.”
He pulled me against him and kissed my lips. “I’ll tell you a secret. I crashed hard the first time I did it in front of people, not my family. My parents were having a party and everyone was there to witness it.”
It was difficult to think of him ever doing anything less than perfect.
I laughed. “That’s hilarious.”
“If you say so. Come, we’ve got guests to greet, and the two of them will likely want to have a drink celebrating a successful fundraiser.”
I kept my feet planted. “I’m nervous,” I admitted.
Emmen kissed my cheek. “That’s understandable, mate, but you already know Ollie. You’re good friends with him now.”
“We talked for a little while.” I wouldn’t call it good friends, but we were headed there and that did give me comfort.
“Yes, and he’ll be very excited to talk with you more. With any luck, we’ll be able to convince Malric that we don’t need to stay up all night.”
“Can’t hack it, old man?”
“Watch it, sir. You’re already on thin ice. I don’t want to have to add to your punishment.”
I had no idea what this “punishment” would entail, but I was confident that I wanted him to add a whole lot more to it.
“Yes, Commander,” I sassed and walked into the house.
We got dressed and went directly to the library, where Lord Malric and Ollie were already waiting. Somehow I missed that they were ahead of us. Had I known, I wouldn’t have dawdled so much on the balcony.
Lord Malric held out a hand, and I shook it. “Rhythe, it’s fantastic to meet you.”
“You too, sir.”
“And congratulations on your mating.” He was beaming. I could see why Ollie spoke so highly of him. He had power, there was no denying that, but he was also really warm and welcoming.
“Thank you.” I leaned into my mate’s side. “Fate was kind to me.”
He looked at Ollie and then gave a knowing nod. “My mate has been telling me all about some of the ideas you had.”
“Ideas?” My voice squeaked in an obnoxious way. I hadn’t remembered giving him any specific advice. I was simply shooting the shit with him.
“You were telling me about how your brother was struggling to find help, and you ended up creating a master list of all of the child care options he had. Imagine if we could do that on a larger scale. Taking care of a whole nest of eggs and hatchlings is so difficult. Malric and I were blessed with just one, but his son has three. We love them dearly, but it’s a handful. Especially with two working parents, which is more the norm these days.”
I had mentioned that, but not with any intention other than it was something I could talk about with him that was a pretty safe topic. But if it was helpful, all the better.
“It really is. I don’t know how my parents did it when they had their large clutch. Even with my brother and me, they were expecting one and got two. It’d be so much easier if we found a way to provide that child care option without having each individual parent having to find the help they need.”
“Exactly. While I’m here this week, let’s talk about this more, because I really think you’re on to something. What if we could have the tech team build an app, and we could have a whole service available to our young parents.”
“Like a manny share, but on a larger scale?” I wasn’t sure how we got from me helping my brother out to this place, but I was there for it.
“Exactly!”
“Where we can all use the same resources, like how humans do,” I said.
“I don’t even think we’re needed anymore, Emmen,” Lord Malaric teased.
