Page 72 of Always Say Yes to a Dragon

“Like, what’s your best childhood memory?” I started with something basic. Something I knew I could answer, too, without him noticing that this trade was a lot more even than I’d let on.

Az’zael sighed, his features softening. “I was ten when Tika was born. She was so tiny and loud. I mostly ignored her. But one time I went into her room because I could smell new gold.” At my blank look, he said, “It’s part of my dragon senses. I’m very good at it.” He preened.

“Anyway, I knew where all the treasure in my parents’ house was, and there was something new in her room. So I went in, and she had this shiny new gold-plated mobile above her crib. I didn’t want to take it, just touch it a little, so it wouldn’t feel so new.”

I blinked rapidly, filing away question after question for when I was awake enough to deal with the answers.

“I leaned over her crib, and she stared up at me, and I couldn’t look away. When I touched the mobile, it jingled and she giggled and it was the nicest sound I’d ever heard. So I jingled it again, and she giggled even harder. I kept jiggling it and making her giggle until our mom came in to see why Tika was making so much noise.”

“That must have been fun.” I patted the bed next to me. He gingerly sat down.

“Okay. That was…okay.”

“I don’t have any siblings, but when I was little…” Fuck. I licked my lips. This was harder than I thought it’d be. “When I was little, mymom would send me to my cousin Savannah’s house for a week or two in the summer.” Figuring out how to keep me looked after during summer break was always a struggle. Mama’s cousin would pitch in now and then, since her daughter was only a couple of years younger than me and we got on well.

“We’d get to run wild through the woods, making up our own stories and doing whatever we wanted.” I remembered the cool creek water on my feet, giggling and screaming about nothing, running through the trees and making secret caves out of nothing but a rock, two trees, and our imaginations. “It was the best. Way better than any summer camp.” Not that I’d ever been to summer camp.

Savannah had two kids of her own now, eight and ten, and while she always returned my texts, she never reached out to me first. She had her own problems, and we’d been pushed to the peripheries of each other’s lives years ago.

“No wonder you love the parks.”

“Yeah. No wonder,” I murmured. I’d almost forgotten I’d told him that. I’d never made the connection before.

“Next question?” He nudged me with a wingtip. The leathery skin was shockingly soft.

We’d delved into family, and that had gone okay, so I dipped a toe in a little further. “What are your parents like?”

His arm turned to stone under my hand. “Cunning.”

I blinked. “Cunning? That’s it?”

He shifted. “They claimed Sutton a little over a decade ago. I’m sure you’ve heard some things.”

Jesus fuck, would he ever stop throwing me off balance? “They did what?”

“They claimed Sutton. You mentioned them on our second date.” He frowned.

On our second… When I went over to his house? And we hung out on his couch? Oh my god, I’d been so freaked out about initiating sex, and he’d been genuinely trying not to pressure me into anything and… Had I insulted his parents? I cringed into myself.

“I didn’t know that was your parents. I only know a little about them, from what’s in the news, but I don’t know who they are as people. Lots of celebrities are different behind closed doors. Are they?” I babbled. Az probably had a thousand memories of his parents being normal, loving parents. Whatever that looked like for dragons.

Az grimaced. “No, of course not. Why would you trust anyone who showed the world one face and their family another?”

“Um. Okay.” So maybenotwarm and loving parents. Time to change the topic. I’d intended to answer all the questions I asked him, so we could learn a little more about each other, but now that seemed foolish. What was I going to say?My mom is a little prickly sometimes, but I’ve always known she loved me?Way to be insensitive.

Az curled an arm around me. “Don’t worry,Arum, they’ll love you.”

How had Az turned out so sweet when the nicest thing he could say about his parents was that they were “cunning”?

“Why do you call meArum?” I changed the subject.

“It meansgold.”

I blinked. I probably should have expected that.

“How many questions is that, three?” I asked as I snuggled closer.

He nuzzled into me. “Yes. I’ve paid for three hours of your time.”

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