Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Salem slumped a little more in his seat and leaned against the door.
“Sam and I have always been incredibly competitive. Especially after we discovered he couldn’t do magic. It was like he decided he had to be better than me in everything he did to make up for the fact I could do magic and he couldn’t.” Salem paused and made a dismissive scoff. “Like my magic is impressive at all. My parents never had any great formal training. They just passed on what little they knew to me, and then it was always with the warning to not let any outsider see me using magic. I told Sam he wasn’t missing out on anything interesting, but he never believed me.”
“Probably because he couldn’t stand the idea of being left out of something his twin could do,” Gregori suggested.
“True.” Salem sighed and scrubbed a hand across his face. When he resumed speaking, his tone was lighter again. “Sam figured out pretty quick that the one place we were evenly matched was in school. He just had to be better in everything, and well…I couldn’t stand it. If one of us got an A in chemistry, the other had to get an A-plus. For a while, our high school was worried they’d have two valedictorians, but then I discovered I’m not very good at Spanish, and Sam ended up being the class valedictorian.”
“Spanish was your demise?” Gregori teased.
“Rolling those fucking R’s,” Salem grumbled. “Anyway, we both went Ivy League for college. Thankfully, separate colleges, because we probably would have driven each other crazy. His freshman year, Sam sent an email to me and my parents announcing he was going to work toward getting his doctorate in archaeology and become a professor. Naturally, my parents were over the moon at the idea of having a child with a PhD.”
“So, you had to one-up him,” Gregori said as he hit the blinker to indicate they were turning right.
“Of course! Changed my major to biology and emailed the next day that I was planning to go into pediatrics with the goal of becoming a surgeon. They’d have two doctors in the family.”
Gregori chuckled and shook his head. “And you’re just stubborn enough to stick with it regardless of how difficult the course ahead of you.”
“Yep,” Salem said, popping the P. “School was a freaking nightmare, but I discovered early on I was good at memorizing things and applying them quickly. I didn’t struggle as much as I thought I would.” He sat up in his seat and turned toward Gregori, leaning his left arm on the center console. “Don’t get me wrong; I love what I do. I love my job. Healing sick kids is the best job in the entire world.” He stopped and snorted. “But I don’t have some great altruistic reason for becoming a doctor. It’s all Sam’s fault.”
“I have a feeling he would take pride in your statement.”
“Probably so,” Salem said, his voice sounding distracted as he looked around at the park they’d just pulled into. “I thought you said we were going ice skating. I figured we’d go to the small rink they set up downtown.”
“I considered it, but I was afraid of how busy it would be. I wanted something a little more private.”
“Yeah, but the pond isn’t set up for ice skating. We can’t even be sure it’s properly frozen before we…” He stared at Gregori. The ice dragon only smiled at his mate. He’d figured it out. Nothing was going to stop Gregori from having a little private time with his man.
Salem huffed and slumped in his seat. “You’re not as smooth as you think you are.”
Challenge accepted. He was more than happy to show Salem exactly how smooth he could be.
He parked the car in an open spot within view of the pond and turned off the engine. Just as he’d hoped, the small park was completely empty. Some lamps were lit, illuminating a scattering of picnic tables covered in snow and playground equipment with small footprints around it from children who’d ventured out during the day.
He glanced over to see Salem pulling the knit hat lower on his ears and then resettling his scarf around his neck before tugging on a pair of gloves. “Are you sure that’s going to be enough to keep you warm?”
“Of course. I’m used to these winters.” Salem smirked and leaned in close to him, taunting laughter glittering in his eyes. “Have you forgotten what it’s like to be out in the cold after so many years in Brazil?”
Gregori shifted in his seat so his face was only a handspan from Salem’s. “The cold doesn’t bother ice dragons. We’re built for it.” He swooped in and planted a quick kiss on the tip of Salem’s nose before the man could jerk away.