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“Do you still want to do infant pictures?” Audrey asked, looking down at little Weston. “I can come back, but I don’t mind surprising Janae. He seems to be in a good mood.”
“Let’s do them now,” Emerson agreed. “Who knows when we’re going to get him smiling like this again?”
When Audrey left, Janae had gotten in two solid hours of napping and Emerson had grudgingly decided to wake her so Weston could nurse.
“I’ll have the pictures back to you as soon as I can,” Audrey promised. “Probably two weeks. Maybe less.” Emerson tried to pay her, but she waved him off. “Consider it a baby gift,” she whispered, then sneaked quietly out of the tiny house.
As she walked away, Audrey’s heart ached. She was almost 30. She was almost 30 and she wasn’t any closer to getting married and having kids than when she’d been 18. She bit her lip as she navigated the quiet roads. It was dark out, but she’d spent so much time running up and down these streets as a child that it barely fazed her.
She had left Dragon Isle on her 18th birthday with plans to see the world, fall in love, get a job, and have wild adventures. She had successfully gone to college and gotten a job, but then what? Nothing. Nothing else had happened. She had lived, comparing every man she met to the dragon who had stolen her heart – and her first kiss – when they were kids.
When she finally decided to go after her dreams, Audrey worried it was too late. She sold all of her belongings, told her parents she was moving back, and bought a camera. She would be the official photographer on Dragon Isle and she would somehow find a way to tell Gabriel that she was in love with him.
Somehow.
But she’d been back for six months now and she was no closer to confessing her secret love than she’d been when they were kids. And why? Because she was afraid he’d reject her? Surely that couldn’t be worse than this. This not knowing. This endless sea of nothingness she felt whenever he wasn’t around.
If she was honest with herself, the real reason she hadn’t told Gabriel how she felt was that her feelings didn’t involve just him. Her fantasies didn’t just include her and Gabriel living happily ever after.
No, Audrey was much too weird and fucked up for that kind of normalcy.
Fuck.
No, Audrey couldn’t be happy with just one dragonman. She wanted two of them. At the same time. And how strange was that? She’d been around dragons long enough, having grown up on the island, to know that some dragons were in ménage relationships. While most humans clung to the idea that true, endless marriage was for one man and one woman, some dragons didn’t mind sharing a mate.
And that’s what she wanted.
She had only confessed her deep, horrible secret to one person. She’d been drunk at a party and the next day, she’d been outcast as a super-weirdo no one wanted to go near. After all, what kind of slut wanted not only to sleep with two men at once, but to marry them?
Audrey’s thoughts consumed her. Instead of going to her small cabin, the one she rented from a kindly old dragonwoman, her feet carried her to the mansion Gabriel shared with his best friend, Anthony. The three of them had hung out endlessly in high school and kept in touch for awhile after Audrey left. For a long time, Audrey had thought he and Gabriel were gay, but in fact, they were just very close. Almost like brothers. To each other, not to her.
No, there was nothing brotherly about the way Audrey felt about the two men. Lust stirred deep inside of her, and she wished she was braver. She wished she would go after what she wanted. She wished she would just tell them.
She stood in front of the mansion for a long time, staring at it. Should she go up to the door? What would she even say?
“Hey, guys, I just want you to know I’ve been fantasizing about the two of you taking me roughly since I was about 16 years old. Sorry it took me so long to come to terms with it. Please, will you pin me down and take me? It’s best if you make it hurt. It’s the only way I can come.”
“It’s a good start,” a deep voice said from behind her. She screamed and jumped into the air, but strong arms caught her and pulled her close.
“I didn’t know I said it out loud,” she whispered. The man’s body was warm and firm against her. She could tell, even without turning around, that he was completely naked.
“You should be careful about what you say, little one,” the voice said again. “You never know who is listening.” She pulled back and looked at the dragonman who was holding her.
“Theodore?” She asked, surprised. “You’re naked!”
He shrugged. It was nothing she hadn’t seen before. Most dragons didn’t care about nudity. Theodore was no exception.
“I flew,” he answered.
“What are you doing here? Oh shit,” she blushed. “Please don’t tell them what I said. You can’t.” She had known Theodore for as long as she’d known the other dragons, but unlike her, he had stayed on the island his entire life.
He chuckled, released her from his grip.
“No worries, love, your secret is safe with me. Although,” he looked toward the house for a moment. “I don’t think you need to be as afraid of rejection as you are.”
With that, he started walking toward the mansion. What did he mean by that? Did Theodore know something she didn’t? Audrey didn’t follow at first, and he turned back.
“Coming?” He held out his hand. After a deep breath, she gingerly took it and followed him up the steps to the mansion, wondering what she was getting herself into.
