Page 49 of Always Say Yes to a Dragon

“I’m not your wife,” I said stupidly.

“I know humans need more time to evaluate a mate. That’s why I put four months on the lease.” He shot me a concerned look. “Should I have made it five?”

My brain felt like it was melting out of my ears. “When did you decide you wanted to marry me?” Maybe that would shed some light on this insanity. Then, someday, this would be a hilarious story abouthow I took a walk on the wild side and a dragon mistook me for someone interesting.

“I was pretty sure after that first time you cleaned out my wallet. But I came back again to make certain.”

Nope, that didn’t clear up anything. “Two meetings and you wanted to marry me? Forlife?”

“Dragons usually only take a week. Maybe two.” His forked tongue snaked out to wet his lips. “I know humans take longer, though. I didn’t want to rush you.”

Four months wasn’trushingme? What the actual fuck kind of upside-down world was Iin?

“Wait, at coffee. You were asking me to be yourgirlfriend?Formoney?” I should have found a nicer way to say that, but those three glasses of champagne were fuzzing the connection between my mouth and brain.

His forehead wrinkled. “Thatisthe usual way, even with humans. Tika sent me your courting sites. They use a lot of euphemisms, but, um, you’re all kind of prudish about money.” He shrugged.

I tilted my head. “Which sites?”

“Arranged, Benefit, Companion.” He listed three sugar baby/sugar daddy sites.

“That’s not how humans usually date. Those are for, uh…” I squinted. How did I communicate to a dragon that what those sites offered was considered suspect at best and immoral at worst by most humans? “Those are for people who are looking for something temporary and are paying for the convenience ofnoemotions.”

Az’zael recoiled. “You didn’t—you weren’t—you don’t want to be my mate?”

Every inch of my skin felt like it was being pulled taut while my stomach squirmed. “Um. I don’t know? I like you. A lot more thanI expected to, because, um, I thought you just wanted a convenient companion and you were really thoughtful and nice. I couldn’t figure out why you didn’t have a girlfriend already. But a few days is really soon to think about, um, marriage.”

Az’zael frowned. “You asked me for so much, though. I thought you understood I was serious.”

I squinted. What did my asking for more money have to do with how seriously I took him as a—what? Boyfriend? “I understood you were seriously rich.”

He relaxed. And he thoughthumanswere weird about money.

“And that you were seriously interested in my attention. Temporarily. Which worked for me, because I kind of swore off relationships.”

Shit.I hadn’t meant to say that last part out loud.

“Swore off…why?”

“Because I’m bad at them. I choose douchebags every time.” My stupid fucking mouth kept spilling my guts. “I thought our contract or whatever would protect me from that, but that apartment shit hurt, like, a lot.”

Az’s eyes widened. “Ithurt?”

“It made me feel cheap and stupid. I was kind of falling into the fantasy of being with you, and I didn’t even think twice about agreeing to go to this.” I gestured to my fancy dress. “But obviously you expected me to demand something in exchange, because I’ve done nothing but act like a gold-digger.”

He shook his head. “But a gold-digger is a good thing. You can ‘provide for yourself’ if you’re able to find gold.”

“No, it isn’t.” I rubbed my forehead. “Not among humans, anyway. Gold-diggers are people who care more about money than theperson attached to it.” I wondered if I could fling myself out the car window to escape this conversation.

“Why would you waste any of your time with me if you weren’t evaluating me as a mate?”

“Right. Why would I turn down the most lucrative job I’d ever been offered when I’m up to my eyeballs in debt? You have no earthly idea what that’s like. You thought I owned an entire apartment building. Me. Aserver.” I told him how much I made last year. A laughably tiny sum, nowhere near enough to buy a building.

Az’s scales darkened. “None of you humans will talk about finances, and you all get offended when I assume wrong.”

I rubbed my temples. Most humans knew how to judge each other’s circumstances through context and subtle signs. Az was flying blind. “No one showed you a household budget when you decided to manage an entire city full of humans?”

Az glanced away and mumbled, “I assumed someone misplaced a decimal point. I didn’t want to call attention to what was obviously a mistake.”

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