Page 75 of Culture and Curiosities
“We’re just going to have to do our best and not worry about all of them. There are just too many to do it that way.”
“You have a beautiful house.” As we sat down with Kenzie in their living room, my mate attempted to find a simple conversation, however, Kenzie was not a simple dragon.
He kept asking what Wren was callinggood questions.
“Where is your house going to be?” Kenzie’s wince gave the impression that his mate responded privately from the kitchen where he was making dinner. “And thank you for the compliment. My family helped me build it. They do custom projects for other people too. We could make you pretty shelves for your toys if you stay here.”
Was he bribing us to move to their town?
As I tried to understand the meaning behind his words, Wren went very still and images of shelves that he had seen on his computer flashed through his mind.
“How pretty do you think my shelves would be?”
A bribe.
Yes, I had been right.
“My mate.”
My tone seemed to indicate my feelings because he sighed dramatically. “Daddy’s not going to let me get bribed, but thank you for trying. We’re going to have to figure that out ourselves.”
Kenzie pouted, not liking the direction the conversation had taken. “They’re very nice shelves and I have secret rooms I can show you. Lorne is very creative and devious. He just looks sweet and innocent. He’s not. But that means he can help us make you a wonderful secret hiding spot.”
Kenzie was sweet but had clearly not been told no enough.
“Oh.”
This was not a subject that we could plan in their living room, no matter how attractive it was. Reminding my mate of that fact seemed important, however. “My mate, I can see the temptation is great to have a home with a hidden room, but we must discuss the details first.”
Their matching pouts had me pushing back on the immediate need to make them happy. It must be something to do with being a Daddy, but I was not as weak as the other men in town. “Would you both like to help me put together a list of all the topics we must discuss first?”
It would have gone smoother if the deputy had not started laughing in the kitchen, but keeping my thoughts quiet helped my attempt to change the subject.
“You…you should probably meet his friends and family first.” Kenzie was right, but his expression said the sentence had been painful. “And…and you’re going to want to see that side of the portal first.”
Sighing, Wren leaned into me and rested his head on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring you back pictures as long as the portal doesn’t fry our electronics.”
The new information seemed to distract Kenzie even better than my conversation topic. “Do you think that’s possible?”
As Wren nodded and charged into a discussion that sounded like he was living in one of his space shows, I thought about what the dragon Kenzie had said. We had deliberately not been discussing that far into the future because neither of us knew what it should look like.
Our only firm agreement was that we could not live next to his mother, so Wren had declared the entire state of Texas off limits.
I wasn’t sure our present location in North Carolina was any safer based on her ability to get the neighbors to spy on him, but he was quickly making friends in the local community.
“Yeah, I like everyone. They’re fun.”
His quiet admission in my head didn’t distract him from his conversation with Kenzie. “If transporters wouldn’t mess with it then I think we’re going to be fine.”
“What about the Star Gate? Would that affect it?” Kenzie frowned but the expression was thoughtful. “I don’t think they had problems either but the technology isn’t the same. We can’t dial anywhere else.”
They were still discussing entertainment, correct?
Wren’s giggle coming through the bond made me question that for a variety of reasons.
“It’s our only frame of reference…unless you want us to talk about where we should live?”
My mate was wonderfully devious and clearly fit in with the locals.
