Page 23 of The Manny's Fiery Dragon Bond

But with Ollie, I wanted to give him that, give him access to the me no one else got to see, not even my kids. It was the part of me reserved for my mate—for my Ollie. I wished I could’ve been there to see his face when he opened it, read my heartfelt words. I knew he liked the book… I’d seen him reading a more modern release of it. But that wasn’t what had mattered to me, it was if he had opened his heart to me, something I planned to discover today.

Our last conversation had been pleasant, but it did little to alleviate my dragon. He demanded I go to my mate and grovel. But Ollie was clear about his boundaries, and I would respect them even if it killed me. Which it wouldn’t, despite my dragon insisting otherwise.

I felt absurd going on a date at my age. I might’ve looked relatively young, but I felt all of my five hundred years. Then again, it was no more absurd than me having to pick up my date at my son’s home.

Tavian opened the door, a wide grin on his face. He looked me up and down, his gaze narrowing and his chin lifting. “You must be the man interested in Ollie. What are your intentions?”

I rolled my eyes even though I suspected that he was dead serious. “I did not give your mate the third degree when you began courting.” I’d wanted to but had managed to restrain myself.

“I don’t plan on giving Ollie a hard time at all. I’m going to reserve all of that nonsense for you. Because it’s fun.” He smirked. “His curfew is eleven. You should have him home no later than that. Also, no one calls it courting anymore.”

“I think he can set his own curfew, and I call it courting.” It was a perfectly respectable term. Or maybe it was super dated. Probably both.

“Well, if he doesn’t plan on coming home tonight, can you please let us know? I don’t care to stay up late, waiting or worrying. No judgment from Kier or me on if he stays the night with you.” It was difficult to tell if he was serious or if he was mocking me. This was such an odd situation. I understood that. But still… the navigation of it was perplexing me.

“We like Ollie.” It was impossible not to notice that he mentioned Ollie, not me. Fair enough. I was the one who had hurt him, after all. “We hope you have a nice date.”

Oh goody, I had my son’s blessing. “He’ll be back for work in the morning.”

Not that I would make any assumptions about where Ollie was going to be staying that night. He could make all of those determinations on his own—and also, let the proper people know where he’d be. It felt like the more open-ended way to leave it. If I promised he’d be back and then he wasn’t—weird. If I promised he’d be gone, but he opted to go home instead—awkward. Open-ended for the win.

“Ahem.” Ollie cleared his throat loudly as he looked between Tavian and me. Both of us hung our heads. “Ollie can make these decisions on his own; after all, he is a grown man.”

He was 4000% right.

“Of course. I’m sorry,” I said. I was going to be doing a lot of apologizing today, might as well lead in with one. Especially since my son and I had been negotiating his personal time for him.

“Ollie, I’m sorry. I was just giving my dad a hard time,” Tavian said.

“As well you should. But your dad is also an adult. I understand that this is weird and a touch awkward, but all of us are grown-ups, and we can manage.” Tavian and I might’ve been a lot older than Ollie, but he was the only one acting his age here. “I’ll let you know if I don’t plan on returning this evening. Regardless, my date has no bearing on my ability to do my job tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Tavian said. “Have fun.”

There was a comfort in seeing that Ollie felt relaxed enough around my son, his boss, to be himself like this.

“Thank you.”

Ollie walked out the door, and then it was just the two of us standing on the front porch.

“This is for you,” I said, lifting another small box.

“Another gift, Malric? You’re going to spoil me.”

That was 100% my plan.

“Courtship is serious—and any suitor who is worth their weight would have showered you with gifts long before now. I am behind the curve in this regard.” It was customary to share at least three gifts before an outing. The first outing should be chaperoned by a trusted family member of the omega. Thankfully the time of chaperones had long since passed. If my son was giving me that kind of attitude now, he’d have been unbearable as a chaperone. All in fun, of course, but I was fine doing without.

Ollie eyed me skeptically. “If you say so.”

He opened up the little box and pulled out the golden crocheted scarf I’d purchased from a local witch, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was for him. The color would make his eyes pop, and who didn’t love staying warm.

“This is very nice. Thank you. Oh! And it is warm! How is it so warm?” Ollie’s eyes dazzled as he wrapped the scarf around him and rubbed his face against the yarn.

“It is an enchantment. It will only ever be warm for you. It has been heated by my own dragon fire.” Because I couldn’t get him just any scarf. No. I needed to get him the most amazing scarf in existence.

Ollie stroked the material against his face. “Malric. I love it. Thank you.”

“I had a smaller piece made.” I pulled it from my pocket and held it out to him. The small piece was about the size of a postcard. It was loosely knit together. “It’s for your mouse. I thought that—”

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