Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“I’ll open the box while you get your snack,” he told her.
“I can open it.”
“Let me help you, Little one.”
“Then I’ll get you some grapes, too. You might need a snack as well,” Aurora told him.
Drake didn’t bother telling her that feeding a dragon anything other than meat wouldn’t sustain them. It made her happy to think she was taking care of him. And he could eat a few grapes to make her smile.
Lengthening one nail into the beginning of a talon, he sliced through the tape on the top of the carton. An old smell reached his nostrils. Who knew how old the plastic strips were?
“Eww! You’re not going to like this batch. It smells like it’s been in the wet section of your grandparents’ basement for a while,” Drake commented.
“Great.” Aurora propped a hip against the countertop and frowned at the box. She plucked a grape from the dripping cluster she’d just rinsed under the faucet. “I should have specialized in computer code. I’d just ruin my eyesight instead of burning out my ability to smell.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Drake said, feeling like an idiot.
“You want to destroy my senses?” she teased, smiling at him.
“No. I can rig a work area for you that has a vent to whisk away the odor. I’ll order a few things and get started on it today. I’ll enlarge your office a bit to create extra space along the wall for a work bench area.”
“You can do that?” she asked.
The dragon inside him was affronted by her lack of confidence in him.
“Whoa. Wrong thing to say, huh? I meant to say, thank you.”
Drake could tell she was laughing at him, but he could live with that. “You’re welcome, Little one.”
Aurora rolled her eyes as she gently shook off some water from the grapes. Placing each bunch in a separate bowl, she handed one to Drake. “Here, get some vitamin C. I’d hate for you to get a cold and sneeze. Would flames come through your nose?”
“Aurora…”
“Wouldn’t your beard and mustache catch fire or is that nonflammable?”
Drake shook his head at her as she popped a plump grape into her mouth and chewed. “You are going to tease your way into a spanking, Little one.”
“I just wanted to know,” she protested. “It’s a valid question.”
“You really don’t want to work on this box, do you?”
She slumped against the countertop. “No. But the sooner I start the faster I’ll get done.”
“Take a break and eat some grapes. Then, we’ll figure out how to handle this.”
“It’s okay. I know how to do it. This happens frequently. Go earn some more treasure. I have an entire jewelry box to fill,” she teased. “We both know who the greedy one is in the house.”
Drake tapped his chest proudly as he walked over to press a kiss to the top of her head. As he headed to his office, he paused purposefully to pop a few grapes in his mouth. When she formed her hands into a heart, he smiled and walked inside. She’d be fine.
Chapter 17
With her T-shirt pulled up over her nose and a pair of gloves on her hands, Aurora worked as quickly as she could to copy the data from the sheets of film. Reaching into the box at her side for another handful, she glanced over as her fingers crinkled paper. A folded sheet of white copy paper was tucked under one of the stacks of microfiche.
Curious, she tugged it free and opened it up. It looked like a floor plan. Aurora moved everything in front of her aside to smooth out the creases in the paper and looked at it carefully. Was this the packer’s log of which stack of microfiche he had sent her?
There were jagged lines at one side, opening into a huge area. Something tugged at her brain, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Following the drawing to the right, she discovered another wide area with more items drawn inside that space. Was that the stove top in the kitchen? Looking closer, she saw the hallway leading to the main bedroom and the large bathroom.
It was a blueprint of Drake’s lair. She stood to take it to him but noticed his treasure room and the stair access to the mountain top were not drawn on the map. Whoever had made this didn’t know where those things were or had chosen not to add them. Aurora could see Drake’s office. He had obviously not created hers yet when this map was created.
“What’s that?” she whispered aloud then clapped her hand over her mouth. Drake could hear everything.
Thinking quickly, she added in the same hushed voice, “You’d think they’d put these in order at least.”
Crossing her fingers, she closed her eyes as she listened for Drake to come toward her office. After several seconds, she knew he wasn’t concerned. She bent over the sheet and traced her finger over an additional section she’d never known was possible. Curiosity overwhelmed her.