Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Yep, there they went.
Damn.
They were too old for that kind of shenanigans…weren’t they?
Ugh.
Nope. I wasn’t going to let my brain go there.
She’d been my fourth-grade teacher.
“I—” Before I could finish a word, much less my whole thought, a frustrated lumberjack walked into the diner and just stood there for several seconds before shaking his head.
“If someone could please point me toward my…well, I’ve misplaced someone important and I’m a little tired of following them all over this stupid mountain.” He raised one eyebrow and ran his gaze over the utterly silent diner.
Every fucking person tattled on me and pointed right at me.
Great.
Kenzie was helpful too. He pushed up in the booth and grinned. “Look. Your Daddy finally showed up. He’s hot.”
Someone needed to shoot me.
“I didn’t do it.”
God, I really did sound like a naughty little.
“It was Lorne’s idea and I didn’t realize his mate didn’t know what he was doing. He’s a mage. Not Lorne. Lorne’s Papa is a mage.” Not any better but I couldn’t help myself. “I wouldn’t have done anything to zap you into a thousand pieces but you weren’t coming and we had too much to drink.”
“I think you’re making the situation worse.” Mr. Kennedy patted my head as he leaned over the booth behind me. “Just try to look cute and stupid like Mackenize does.”
“Hey.” Kenzie frowned. “That’s not nice.”
“See?” I looked up to see Mr. Kennedy smiling proudly. “He does it very well and that’s why his mate thinks he’s adorable and doesn’t punish him enough.”
Mr. Kennedy had definitely learned how to use the internet better.
“You’re right. Thank you.” Deciding to just listen to the crazy old man, I shut my mouth and smiled at my mate.
My very confused mate.
Oh.
His lips were barely curling up at the side.
“He thinks we’re cute. You’re fine.” Kenzie leaned over the table and patted my head as he smiled at my mate. “He really is nice and big, isn’t he?”
“He’s got good thrusting hips. The internet said that’s very important in a Daddy.” Mr. Kennedy’s helpful tip had my mate finally laughing. “And he’s got a nice smile too. It’s good to see that Carrick didn’t kill him.”
Oh yeah.
Wait.
Were thrusting hips like the Dom equivalent of good birthing hips?
What the fuck had he been looking up online?
My mate was going to think we were all insane. He was right, but I’d been hoping to ease him into that fact.
Kenzie wasn’t helping either.
He was very excited and was wearing an ear-to-ear grin as he waved his hands around. “Someone call Carrick and tell him that he didn’t kill Alick’s mate. This is so exciting. Oh, and he should probably tell Lorne too. I think he lost his phone again.”
Half the diner winced.
Lorne didn’t seem to think explaining why his balls always ached fell under their privacy rules.
Before anyone tried to explain that to my mate, he stepped out of the doorway and the place went silent again. It was probably weird as hell, but he didn’t react to their insanity. He was just smiling as he slowly walked over, probably worried I’d freak out and run or something.
He had a lot more faith in my legs’ ability to work than I did.
“Hi.” When he got close enough to the table that his low tone wouldn’t carry halfway across the diner, he paused and studied me. “I think we’re supposed to get to know one another.”
That was such a cute way of being careful, I smiled.
“We’re all in the know. You don’t have to be careful. Oh, but you have to be careful with some things. Our dear Alick is human. They break more easily than dragon mates.” Mr. Kennedy was still being helpful, but I was going to kill him if he didn’t stop.
My mate’s lips twitched again, but he was brilliant and just ignored everyone else around us. “I didn’t expect a human, but I’m not opposed to it.”
That was good.
“He’s really glad you’re a man.” Kenzie was still being helpful too. “He started worrying that we fucked things up and you’d end up being a woman.”
How embarrassed did I have to get before the magic around us would just open up the floor and suck me under?
We clearly hadn’t hit that threshold yet, but I was hoping it would be soon.
My mate chuckled. “Well, I’ve had similar thoughts for the past few weeks, so I don’t blame him.”
“Where have you been? What took you so long? Did you have to move from Mars? You’re not an alien, are you? My Daddy thought we were aliens when he first moved to town.” Kenzie was on a roll, probably because he was excited we hadn’t killed my mate. “He still kind of thinks we’re aliens, though, because of the gate and all. But I’m sure you know that. Oh, how long have you been in town? Did you say you’ve been following Alick all over?”