Megan smiled sadly and said, “Yes, at least for the moment. Although now that Ashley has mated a dragon-shifter—which gives her even more reason to push for humans to be allowed to mate a dragon if they want—I suspect it’ll change soon.”
It seemed everyone knew Ashely Swift. Tasha really needed to reach out to her ASAP and get some advice. She’d been too tired the night before to make the call, and she wasn’t about to call her at the ass-crack of dawn.
As Tasha pondered being the only human surrounded entirely by dragon-shifters, the doorbell echoed inside the house. Megan went to answer it and came back with her brother right behind her.
Brad found her gaze and grunted. “Good morning.”
The words were simple, but as she held his blue-eyed gaze, a small tingle rushed through her body.
She’d allowed herself to think of Brad as more than just her employee last night. And as a result, the hour or two of sleep she’d finally nabbed had been filled with fantasies, such as him stripping her slowly before kissing her. Not knowing what a mate-claim frenzy entailed—she’d learned the actual name of the sex marathon—her dreams had also been full of hot, often rough sex.
Had he dreamt the same thing over the night? Or had his hatred of humans been front and center?
Brad’s pupils flashed repeatedly, but he never looked away.
And neither did she.
On the walk to his sister’s house, Brad had managed to pack away all his emotions like he normally did, bracing himself to face Tasha and her mesmerizing eyes.
But then she’d had to go and stare at him as if she could lick him from head to toe and still not get enough, shattering most of his hard work.
If her heated gaze hadn’t been enough, he’d never forget the scent of his true mate’s arousal. She saw him as more than her security guard now. Which meant that between last night and this morning, her view about him had shifted.
His dragon sighed. Which most dragon-shifters would take as a sign to pursue. But you’re still going to resist, aren’t you? Because her scent doesn’t have to be a one-time memory.
While Brad was no longer outright arguing with his beast about Tasha, he still hadn’t convinced his human half that mating the human—and making it a true mating—was a good idea. Remember our deal.
I know, I know. I need to let you have some time to talk with her and then with David before I badger you again.
His sister’s voice snapped Brad out of the moment. “Well, good to see your manners are as bad as ever, Brad.”
Since he knew Megan would go on to annoy him like any little sister would if he didn’t brush past her comment, he merely grunted.
His oldest nephew, Andrew, stood up in his seat, fork in the air. The blueberry on one of the fork prongs nearly came off in the process. “Hi, Uncle Brad. I eat my fruit. Then I get a hug.”
His two nephews and niece were his weakness when it came to remaining stoic. He smiled slightly at Andrew. “Fruit is good for you. If you don’t eat enough, your teeth can fall out.”
Andrew poked one of his little front teeth. “Fall out?”
“Yes. There’s some good stuff in fruit and some other foods that help keep them strong and in your mouth.”
Tasha’s amused voice replied, “Educating the kids about scurvy is admirable, if not a little weird.”
Andrew asked, “What’s skirt-vee?”
He gestured for Tasha to explain. His human didn’t bat an eyelash and turned toward the boy. “Scurvy. If you don’t get enough of something called vitamin C, your teeth can fall out.” She lowered her voice. “Although most people do okay these days. It was many, many years ago that people didn’t have enough fruits and veggies and had to worry about it. So make sure to eat your fruit and vegetables—and brush your teeth, too—and your teeth should be okay.”
Andrew squinted at the blueberry on his fork. “Eat all of them?”
Tasha nodded. “As many as you can. Well, the parts your mom and dad give you in your meals, anyway. If you ate all the fruits and veggies in the world, you might explode. You know, BOOM.”
Tasha threw her hands out and Andrew giggled.
In that moment, Brad realized Tasha would be a great mother.
So not only was she smart about business and sexy as hell, she was good with kids, too.
For most dragon-shifters, that was it—they’d try their damnedest to win over such a person.
Brad wasn’t most people, though. He’d jumped into a relationship with everything he’d had and had been abandoned without more than a few words on a page.
His dragon sighed. You have some serious issues.
Ignoring his beast, Brad jumped into the slight lull in conversation. “Have you finished eating, Tasha? David should be waiting for us.”
She nodded and stood. “I am, if Megan and Justin don’t mind cleaning up without me.”
Megan made a shooing motion with her hands. “Go, go. I’ll give you one free pass. Although next time, I may not be so generous.”
Brad rolled his eyes. “You could try being nicer to the first human guest StoneRiver has had in quite some time.”
Megan shrugged. “Hey, I hate doing dishes, so sue me.”
Tasha snorted. “Try running a bar. It’s not as bad as, say, a restaurant. But there are still plenty of dishes, and sometimes I still do them myself if someone calls in sick.”
Andrew asked, “What’s a bar?”
Brad jumped in. “Ask your parents.”
He dared to put a hand on Tasha’s back and barely resisted sucking in a breath. Even through the thin fabric of her shirt—a different one from the night before, which meant she must’ve borrowed it from his sister—he could feel the heat of her body.
He could only imagine what it would feel like if they were skin to skin.
His dragon hummed. Yes, yes. We should see what it’s like. And then you’d never let her go.
Not wanting to imagine that, he instead concentrated on Tasha. “Come on.”
Gently guiding her toward the front door, he made out Andrew’s voice. “I like Tasha. She come back soon?”
As his sister gave a nonanswer, Brad was grateful that human hearing couldn’t have picked up Andrew’s words.
Because the answer relied on Brad as much as Tasha.
And he was starting to think he should give her more of a chance and see how it went. Provided, of course, Tasha wanted to be kept on StoneRiver.
His dragon murmured, Then try a little harder to convince her to stay.
We’ll see, dragon. No one can force her to stay on StoneRiver. If she says yes to that, then I won’t outright ignore her. But if you think I’m going to start giving flowers and making romantic dinners, then you’re clearly crazy.
His beast huffed. We’ll see. I get the feeling someone like Tasha wants respect and love instead of empty gestures anyway. Although a few chocolates here and there never hurt anyone.
He mentally grunted to his dragon and concentrated on getting Tasha to David’s place as quickly as possible.
Which was easier than he expected since she remained unusually quiet the entire time.
And he had no idea what that meant.
Chapter Four