Page 72 of Magic and Mayhem

He was wonderfully smart and went very still again, thoughtful eyes staring up at me and looking so much like Kenzie, I reached out to touch his head without thinking. “You’re soft.”

There was no ignoring the more dragon texture of his skin but it wasn’t as rough as I’d expected. The more I moved my fingers over the ridges on his head, the more I realized it was like worn leather. “Yes, you’re going to be wonderful to cuddle, my little dragon.”

I was fucking badass and didn’t even jump when the dragon under my hand bounced in excitement.

Fucking hell.

“Soft and sweet, yes, I’m going to love cuddling my boy in all his forms.” The human-sized and smaller ones, at least.

But we still had one to go…the bigger one.

I really needed to ask more fucking questions.

“You ready to show me how big you get?” He’d seemed proud of that or maybe just excited, so I made sure to put some energy in the question. “I can’t wait to see it.”

Yep, had to know if that was the point where I’d faint.

His head bobbed and he nudged my hand one more time before hopping backward toward the middle of the yard again.

“Yes, bigger. Good idea.” Moving back up the stairs by my cup, I smiled and took a sip before setting it back down.

My goal had been to look confident, and I knew I’d hit the right note when he wiggled and the flash happened again.

Big seemed like it was an understatement since I was pretty sure my head would barely reach the top of his chest, but after a moment, I realized that he wasn’t as overwhelmingly large as he’d first seemed…especially as I focused on the more familiar aspects of the creature in front of me.

He had Kenzie’s eyes.

Those happy wiggles.

A wagging tail like a puppy.

Yes, this was my Kenzie…he was just looking slightly nervous and was obviously waiting for his Daddy to tell him everything was all right.

“I have to be honest, cutie. I think cuddling like this would be hard.” Cocking my head, I tried to sound relaxed as I teased him. “If you rolled over to give me a snuggle, you might squish me.”

Bingo.

More excited wiggles burst out of him and the worried look faded from his eyes.

“But you’re even more beautiful and so big…look at your wings, Kenzie.” Those were easier to focus on than the claws that were scratching at the ground like he was digging his toes into the dirt. Nope, those were a bit too big to focus on just yet.

Thankfully, Kenzie took the hint and spread his wings, giving me a wonderful distraction as they shimmered in the light. Powerful and light, they looked like he’d just stepped out of a movie, and tip to tip, it looked like he almost spanned the width of the house.

“Beautiful.” He must’ve heard the sincerity in my voice because his chest puffed up and he bounced, a purely Kenzie move like he was ready to wiggle and could barely contain himself.

As I tried to decide if my heart could handle a bouncing dragon who was probably just as easily distracted in his dragon form as he was in his human one, the light flashed again and a naked Kenzie threw himself at me. “I’m your beautiful dragon, Daddy.”

Chapter 20

Kenzie

Daddy laughed and nodded, kissing my head as he hugged me tight. “That sounds like something my little Kenzie would say, not my big one.”

As I sat down on his lap, I spread my arms wide. “Your big big one.”

“Alright, wing tip to wing tip, you’re the size of the house, Kenzie. I think we need another word rather than just big.” Daddy was shaking his head as he reached up and traced one arm almost like he was still seeing my wings. “But yes, you’re my happy, big big, beautiful dragon.”

“I was so happy, Daddy.” Hugging him tight around his neck, I kissed his cheek. “I was so excited and giggly and you were so cute and funny. It was perfect. You weren’t even scared of me.”

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