Page 49 of Princess Seeks Dragon

“So I can enjoy flying without my eyes leaking so much! Graham! There’s something down there in the river.” Angela’s voice is shrill with excitement. “Are those dolphins this far inland?”

I look down. “Oh, no. Selkies.”

“What now?”

“Beings that can become seal or human. The selkies around here are an awfully tight-knit bunch. Like to live off the grid, but they’d come to help in an emergency. I ought to ask them if they can keep an eye out for suspicious watercraft, I suppose.”

“People can turn into seals?”

“And bears. Dragons. Pretty much any other animal, it just depends on your magical ancestry.”

“Do all humans have magical ancestry?”

“No, not really. And most magical types like to marry other magical types to keep a lower profile.”

“One day, you’re going to tell me all about this magical origin stuff, okay?”

I wind my long neck back to smirk at her. “One day, this is going to be part of your story. Okay?”

I love it when she blushes.

***

MY LEGS DON’T HOLDme when I slide off of Graham’s neck. I stand, then topple to my knees, face windburnt, eyes leaking, laughing with a joy I never thought I’d feel again.

He is magical. He makes me forget the dangers around me.

He also plans the best dates. I sailed over the tippy tops of pine trees and felt mist on my face as I made a shadow on the moon. Saw selkies swimming up to the lake behind the woods of the White Pines estate.

“I’m dreaming, right? I was asleep and dreamed I rode a dragon through the sky, spoke to seal ladies, and touched some low-flying clouds?”

Graham picks me up, now in human form and wearing his long, battered black coat, but still so strong. He beams down on me. “Nope, you weren’t sleeping—but itistime for bed. It’s after midnight, and we have work at seven.”

***

IDON’T KNOW WHAT Iwas thinking would happen when Graham carried me in the house and up the stairs, all without huffing or puffing. His hand grabbed a possessive hold of my rear, and he gave the biggest contented sigh, which made me feel pretty damn good about the thing I’ve always been most self-conscious about.

“Would my little wren sleep in my nest tonight?” Graham asks at the top of the stairs.

“Sure,” I whisper, throat suddenly tight with anticipation. It’s been a day without more than a kiss and some sensual touches. I’m not sore anymore—just eager.

And curious. Will it always be Graham shifting into scales and horns? I wouldn’t complain.

But does the drop-dead gorgeous badboy want me, too? I’m cute, but... Well, that’s it. I’m cute, and I have a considerable amount of junk in my trunk. “Am I too heavy?” I blurt.

“What? You’re a little peanut of a thing.”

“I have a fat ass,” my inner saboteur becomes my outer saboteur.

“Oh, yes. You most assuredly do.” Graham sets me down, and this time he’s biting his lip in what I can only think is a lustful smile. He pulls his long, wind-tangled hair back in an elastic band from his coat pocket.

“And that’s okay with you?” I ask, stepping back.

The dragon man steps with me. I move left, and so does he, his smile growing. “Is my wren trying to fly away?”

“N-no. Aren’t wrens little, delicate birds?”

“Like my mate. Like my Angela,” he breathes out, catching my hands.

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