Page 32 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

BRET

I stared at the woman that I had fallen hard for and was filled with enormous admiration. She was certainly a firecracker. And not because she was a redhead with curves for days and an air about her that kept me wanting more from her.

“You’re being unreasonable,” Marcus said.

I settled my attention on him. His eyes had darkened to almost black, and that was never a good sign. He settled his gaze on me in the uncomfortable seconds that followed. He really shouldn’t have said that to her.

“Listen here, you stubborn, exhausting asshole, I am not the one being unreasonable,” Emily said. “You three are the unreasonable ones.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. All Marcus had done was add fuel to the fire.

“I stand by what I said,” he added.

“And I stand by what I said. Now, eat up,” she said. “I’m going to go take a shower.”

“We’ll take care of the cleanup,” I offered.

“What?” Jax said, voice flat.

I shot him a warning glare then said to Emily, “Go get all sudsy and fresh and whatnot.”

“Thank you,” she said. Her lips curved up slightly. Barely enough to make a smile, but close enough. “Are you sure you have this covered? I have no problems with taking care of my own messes.”

Her eyes flitted to Marcus for a brief moment before resting back on mine.

I chuckled. “Just go, will you?”

“Fine,” she said through a sigh and left the room.

“I highly suggest we be done with the business talk for right now,” Marcus said. “We can pick this up after breakfast and we’re done with cleaning the kitchen.”

And quite the mess had covered the kitchen for sure. Emily had outdone herself. Doing the dishes was the best way we could all say thank you. Besides, Marcus was right. We needed to step away from the situation. The tension in the room needed to dissipate and our minds needed to clear before we could revisit the topic that was almost literally at our doorstep.

I had no arguments and continued to eat my breakfast. But my thoughts were consumed by what lay ahead of us.

The rest of breakfast was spent in relative silence. Most of the food was consumed, which was saying something. Jax might have been the smallest of the three of us, but he packed away more food than Marcus and I could combined.

And who could blame him? Emily was an astounding cook. I could envision the three of us becoming fat, full, and happy solely based on her food and presence alone.

Once I was finished eating, I stood from the island and took my plate to the sink. From there, I started rinsing dishes and placing them into the dishwasher. Once that was full, I started the machine and then got to work on handwashing the pots and pans and anything else that wouldn’t fit into the machine.

When Jax finished his food, rinsed his plate, and set it in the sink. He took care of the counters and the island, scrubbing all the bits of hardened batter from the surfaces along with the stove.

Minutes later, Marcus joined with a broom and dustpan. He also packed away the leftover food, sticking it into the fridge for later.

“If she keeps feeding us like this,” I said, “We’re all going to get fat.”

“That’s what working out is for,” Jax said.

“Easy for you to say,” Marcus muttered. “You are hollow through and through.”

“No kidding,” I said with a snort. “You eat more than the two of us and never gain a pound.”

“Only good metabolism,” Jax said, smacking his gut. The smile furthered his point.

“The thing about metabolism is that it disappears with age,” Marcus said.

“Oh, the doc is bringing out his medical expertise now,” I said and laughed. “Enjoy this now, Jax. Your luck is going to run out sooner or later.”

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