“It's nothing.”
“You paused just like you used to when we talked about that college professor in our junior year. Please tell me you haven’t fallen for him.”
“Shush.” I rushed to the door of my suite and closed it, not that Theron could hear what my friend was saying on the third floor.
“Oh, sorry. I forgot the guy has super-sensitive hearing.”
“Huh?” How would he know that? “What are you talking about?”
Now Jess paused. “Ummm, I’ve heard that he was, ummm, Meara must have said something. Now what was the name of that professor you lusted after?”
“It was unrequited lust, as you well know.”
“Right.”
Theron was my boss, and I told Jess he was wrong.He said I was a terrible liar, and we hung up. I flung myself on the bed and thought of Theron, who could be in his bedroom by now.If I pressed my ear to the floor I might hear him.
Jess might be right, and if so, I was in trouble.
SIX
THERON
It rained on Saturday, and my dragon complained about the noise level inside the house.
I had three dragon shifter kids trapped indoors with energy they couldn't burn off, because burning things off—literally—wasn't allowed with Ledger in the house. It was his day off, but he was in his suite working.
Fraser climbed onto the back of the sofa and leaped off multiple times, and Rory got so fed up with him, he tossed a cushion as his brother’s head. That started a fight, and Skye joined in while I ducked.
I shooed them outside, and they tore around in the rain. But while dragon kids thought getting wet was fun for a while, they’d come inside shivering, and I’d have to turn up the heat. Ledger wouldn’t cope, so I’d bought a portable heater, and the four of us huddled in my room while I dried everyone off and bundled them into sweaters and fleece-lined pants.
I had pizza with pepperoni and ground beef delivered for dinner because I was too frazzled to cook, and I sent the kids up to ask Ledger if he wanted to eat with us. He hadn’t appeared allday, so he must have been hungry, unless he’d stashed food up there.
You said stashed. My dragon chuckled.
Human myths told tales of dragons hoarding wealth, and while it wasn’t true, my kind did have an uncanny knack for making money. But I balanced our good fortune by donating generously to charities.
“Ledger,” Fraser yelled from the bottom of the stairs, but Rory hurled himself up to the third floor, with Skye at his heels and Fraser shouting, “Not fair. You didn’t tell me it was a race.”
I followed my children, worried that in their excitement, they’d burn something because they weren’t wearing their bracelets. They barged into the manny suite without knocking, saying, “We have meat pizza. And it’s cooked.”
“That’s nice.” Ledger was at his desk, and he pushed the chair back as the kids crowded around him. He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, and I wondered what he’d look like out of them.
“You have to come.” Skye took Ledger’s hand.
“I apologize for my children charging in, Ledger, and we’re inviting you to dinner. But you can refuse the invitation.”
I wanted him to accept so we’d all sit together eating and chatting and I could sneak looks at the man who had no idea he was my fated mate.
Ledger stretched and said he’d done enough work for today and he’d love to join us.
“Can we watch a movie after dinner?” Fraser gripped Ledger’s hand tightly as if he was worried the guy would change his mind.
I agreed because it was the weekend, and we ended up having the pizza on our oversized sofa in the cinema room. Though the couch was massive, we were all huddled together. Rory was at one end and I was on the other. Wedged in the middle were Fraser, Skye, and Ledger, in that order, so Ledger was nextto me. Our legs were pressed against one another, but I was wearing jeans and our manny was still in his shorts, so his thighs were exposed.
The kids chose a movie, but I couldn’t concentrate on the story about a fish. My internal heat was rising thanks to Ledger being so close. He must have had a shower recently because I could scent my favorite body wash that I’d put in his bathroom the day he arrived.
“Can we have popcorn, Daddy?” Skye was snuggled up against Ledger, and Fraser was horizontal with his legs over his sister and his feet in Ledger’s lap.
