by Zoe Chant
Teo felt a rush of relief. It couldn’t be anything to do with court, then. If there were some danger of Sophia being taken away, Patrick wouldn’t waste time saying so.
“No, it’s fine, it’s—Amy and I are engaged, so anything you want to say you can say to her.”
“...Engaged,” Patrick echoed dubiously.
Teo glanced at Amy and smiled a little, and Amy smiled back. “Well, talk to me tomorrow and she’ll probably be my mate, but right now she’s my fiancée. She’s in on the Family Secret, Pat, it’s okay. I told you, she lived in town when she was a kid.”
“It’s my job to make sure we cross all the t’s and dot the i’s, Teo. Which brings me to my point—I’ve located Sophia’s biological mother.”
Teo exchanged a wide-eyed look with Amy—she didn’t seem unhappy, just as stunned as he was. He put an arm around her shoulders and pressed his forehead to hers, looking down at Sophia sleeping peacefully between them.
“You—how—is she okay?”
Amy’s hand cupped his cheek, and he heard her say silently, Oh, Teddy, with fondness as warm as sunshine behind it.
“She’s fine,” Patrick said. “I mean—she cried on the phone the first time I talked to her and I think she’s possibly crying now, but physically she’s okay. I asked her if she’d had any complications—if there was anything weird about the pregnancy—but she said it was all fine. I told her of course you would want to cover her medical bills, and we arrived at something of an impasse where she keeps repeating that she’s not a gold digger—”
Teo couldn’t help snorting. Nope, that’s me. And my daughter.
“—and that she isn’t taking money from your lawyer, even when I offered to be explicit, in writing, about the fact that accepting the money creates no obligation on her part, either requiring or abjuring—”
“Patrick, tell me you didn’t say it like that,” Teo said.
Patrick said nothing. He could be such a lawyer sometimes.
“Who is she, anyway? How did you find her? I didn’t even know who she was, and it’s been, what—a day?”
“It would have been quicker if your friends were less protective of you or less scattered across an inconvenient array of time zones,” Patrick said. “And I’m going to very much enjoy billing you for hours spent scouring Facebook and Instagram. But once you gave me the list of places you’d been for the couple of months in question, it was just a matter of talking to people. Her name is Caroline, and she’s asked me not to tell you more than that. She’s not ready to be in touch with you regularly, but she won’t let me do anything for her without talking to you.”
“You said she’s crying,” Teo realized. “Is she there now?”
“She’s in the other room, but yes, she’s here. Can I put her on the phone?”
Teo looked to Amy, who put her hand on his and squeezed. “Yeah, of course. If she wants to talk to me.”
“Hang on.”
Teo looked at Amy looking back at him—trusting him, not angry even now that she was being confronted with the reality of a woman he’d slept with at a party, whose name he’d forgotten—and could only think, Thank you. Thank you. I love you.
It’s all right, Amy replied. I love you. And I get to keep you, and we can’t regret Sophia.
“Teo?” A woman’s voice said, sounding uncertain.
“I’m here,” Teo said out loud. “Are you—I have to thank you, first. For Sophia, and for telling the police to find me. I know I probably didn’t act like it when we met, but I’m going to be the best dad I can be for her, and I won’t be alone.”
Caroline laughed a little. “Are you kidding? Do you know what I thought your name was for half of that night? The friend I was with kept calling you Party Dad. There goes Party Dad again, putting people in cabs—there goes Party Dad again, handing out condoms. You lost your earring? You need a phone charger? Ask Party Dad, he’ll find it for you. It wasn’t even your party, and you were drunk and dancing and laughing, but whenever somebody tapped on your shoulder, you took care of them.”
Teo blinked. “That’s just...” Good manners. Good sense. Not wanting to have to call Laurence from jail or an emergency room.
It also didn’t really narrow down which party they’d been at.
“You asked me how much I’d had to drink,” Caroline said, her voice getting softer. “You asked me if I was on birth control, if I wanted to just sleep—you only had one condom left because you kept giving them away to people. I didn’t even tell you my real name, but you put your number in my phone with your full name and a picture of you in case I forgot.”
“You didn’t call,” Teo said quietly, not wanting to make it an accusation. It was obvious this had been hard on her, and he couldn’t argue with the way it had turned out. If she had called him, he might have had Sophia but not Amy, and then where would he be?
Caroline laughed again, sounding close to crying. “Well, I’m definitely not cut out to be Party Mom, or any kind of mom. I left my phone in a cab two days later and didn’t even notice for another day after that. I—I was running around partying because I—well. That’s over now. I got my life together after I realized I was pregnant, I cut ties with all of the people I partied with. I thought she was some kind of sign, you know? Time to grow up. I’m doing a lot better now, but I just couldn’t take care of her. And I don’t mean money—your lawyer keeps trying to give me money, but it’s not that, Teo. I just—I can’t. I’m not ready to be responsible for someone like that.”
“It’s okay,” Teo said gently. “It’s okay, you don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for. But you’re always going to be part of Sophia’s family, even if you can’t be around. That means you’re part of my family, too. And I don’t ever want to have to tell Sophia that I didn’t do everything I could to help you when you needed it. Money’s easy for me, I’ve got a lot of it.”
Caroline made a little sound and then said, “It would be... okay. Thank you. If it’s really not a problem for you.”
“It’s not a problem for me,” Teo assured her. “Patrick’s going to give you his number, or my number, whichever you want. If you ever need anything else, or when you’re ready to see Sophia again, you can just get in touch. Okay?”
“Okay,” Caroline echoed. “I—when I gave her up, I was at the end of my rope and I just—I just needed it to be over right then, you know? Give her up and—and start getting over it. When Patrick called me I thought—here we go again, I’m right back in the middle of it, but... I’m glad they found you.”
Teo squeezed Amy’s hand hard. She was the one who found him. If Amy had cut corners on her last case, if she’d decided to blow off searching for Sophia’s dad, if she hadn’t given him that extra hour to get in touch...
“I’m glad she gets to grow up with you,” Caroline said. “And I’ll... I’ll call. Not soon, but I promise I’ll call.”
“When you’re ready,” Teo said quietly. “And thank you.”
***
Teddy stayed quiet for the rest of the car ride, so Amy just held his hand. She couldn’t help sympathizing with Caroline; it was obviously a hard situation, but she had found her own way out of it and hopefully someday she would be able to be a part of Sophia’s life. In the meantime, she was another person Teddy was looking out for.
He still didn’t say much as they headed into the hotel, and when they were in the private elevator, Amy said softly, “Party Dad, huh?”
Teddy looked over at her with a sheepish smile.
“I did say I knew how to do one or two useful things,” Teddy offered. “I... didn’t really think about it until she said it, but I guess I was always looking for somebody to take care of. Somebody who’d need me for more than just a night, or a weekend.”
“Well, Sophia and I are going to stick around,” Amy assured him, leaning against his side, and Teddy’s smile widened at last into something real.
The elevator stopped, letting out a soft chime as the doors ope
ned on a sunny foyer.
“Welcome home,” Teddy said, guiding her out into the penthouse.
It was gorgeous and spacious in a slightly less alarming way than the ancestral mansion back in Gray’s Hollow. The colors were all bright, with city views on every side, and what furniture had been moved in was light and modern.
Sophia woke up when they took her out of the car seat carrier, going from sound sleep to inconsolable fury in the space of a couple of blinks. She required a fresh diaper, a bottle, and then two more diapers in rapid succession. After that she was still fussy, and they did a dozen laps around a high-ceilinged, glassed-in sunroom that made up one whole corner of the penthouse.
A few plants had been set out around the edges, but it was otherwise empty, allowing the full effect of the brightly colored mosaic floor to be appreciated. The afternoon sun sank as they walked, and Amy could barely believe it wasn’t even two days yet since she’d found Teddy again.
Sophia finally fell asleep on Amy’s shoulder after three straight laps when she was too close to dropping off for Amy to trade her off to Teddy.
Yep, Teddy said, seeming to whisper even in silent dragon speech. She’s out. I think we can put her down now.
Amy carried Sophia into the nursery, two doors down from the master bedroom, which was at the corner opposite the sunroom. Having seen Elena’s nursery, Amy suspected that Teddy would consider Sophia’s just barely adequately furnished, but there was a crib, with a dazzlingly gold-woven blanket tucked down tightly over the mattress. Sophia squirmed a little when Amy laid her down, then pressed one fist to the gold of the blanket under her and relaxed completely in sleep.
Teddy slipped his arm around Amy and kissed her behind her ear. “I want to show you something else.”
Amy nodded, but they both stood there a moment longer, looking down at Sophia, the baby who had brought them together. Then Amy looked up at Teddy, and he grinned and tugged her out of the room.
He took her, not to the master bedroom as she’d been expecting, but to the door between it and the nursery.
“This is the treasure room,” Teddy explained as he opened the door. “It’ll never be quite like Gus’s, but—”
There was just one item on display, on a table in the middle of the room. Amy pressed her hand to her mouth and stared.
It came back to her in a rush as she walked up to look at it closely: all the time she had spent bending over a desk that smelled like Elmer’s Glue and Murphy’s Oil Soap, carefully stringing the lampwork beads on shiny wire, copper and silver and gilt.
She had gotten frustrated often—in her mind she had seen a beautiful combination of flower and flame, while the results under her hand were merely a jumble of colors. But eventually the little sculpture had been as ready as it ever would be, and she had presented it, not to Gus, but to Teddy.
Amy leaned over and touched one of the beads, making it spin on its wire. She looked up at Teddy. “I didn’t realize...”
“That I kept it?” Teddy sounded slightly scandalized. “It was the very first gift I ever received on Mayor’s Day! The only one, for years and years, until I took a turn getting gifts when I was eighteen. It was always one of the most important pieces I had—the heart of my hoard. I was always waiting to find you again, even when I forgot that that was what I was doing.”
Amy straightened up, stepping into his arms. “No more waiting, not for either of us. Make me yours.”
Teddy let out a groan that was almost a growl, crushing her close to him and kissing her.
Her heart was already racing, her pussy getting wet for him. She pressed against him, wanting to be even closer. After a moment Teddy pulled back, taking a deep breath and tugging her along with him as he moved toward the door. They had only gone a couple of steps before he swept her into his arms. Amy let out a startled yelp as he lifted her right off her feet, carrying her down the hall to the master bedroom.
Teddy let her slide down to her feet, keeping her pressed close to him—as if she wanted to be anywhere else—while he reached down and tugged back the fluffy, pale blue comforter from the bed.
Amy laughed, startled, at the sight of the bottom sheet. It looked almost exactly like the glittering blanket in Sophia’s crib. “Is that...?
“Silk woven with gold threads?” Teddy murmured. “For the discerning dragon who likes to sleep on a pile of gold but also on a mattress in a room somewhere above ground? Yes.”
Amy sat down on the edge of the bed and looked up at him, her gaze getting caught for a second halfway up. She could see his cock pressing against his pants; no need to doubt how he felt about this, and her pussy throbbed in response. “Well, here I am on your pile of gold...”
“But still wearing clothes for some reason,” Teddy groused softly, reaching down for the hem of her shirt as he did. She raised her arms, letting him peel it off, and then left her arms up as he reached straight for the fastening of her bra. She arched her back, offering herself to him. She was already aching for his touch, his mouth, his cock. Teddy tossed her bra away and caught both of her upraised hands in one of his, pushing her back onto the bed.
He followed her down, kneeling astride her hips and kissing her throat and her breasts. She arched under him, only wanting more. He gave her what she needed, taking one aching tight nipple into his mouth as his hand slid down her belly to unfasten her pants and push them down.
The next moment he was pulling away, standing up to finish pulling her clothes away. Amy made a little frustrated noise, but lay back and let him do the work, surrendering herself to him. This was his dragon mating ritual, after all, and they both knew where it was going. He would take care of getting them there.
When Amy was naked, Teddy stood for a moment looking down at her with one hand absently pressing against his cock through his pants. Amy felt herself growing hot all over at that, even though it probably shouldn’t be sexy—he wasn’t trying to be sexy. Teddy just wanted her so much he couldn’t take his eyes off her, and couldn’t keep from touching himself. She spread her legs and rocked her hips, wanting to draw him in, and Teddy’s gaze snapped up to her eyes.
“Almost ready,” he said with a grin, but then he leaned over her again, manhandling her into the exact center of the bed. The gold-woven sheet under her was warmer and smoother than she’d expected, and soon Teddy had her laid out where he wanted her, arms stretched above her head, legs invitingly open. He kissed her mouth. Like he couldn’t resist, he bent down to kiss her breasts again, stroking her with both hands as he teased her nipples with his mouth.
She moaned, rocking under him, wanting his mouth lower down. He moved again, his hands caressing the curve of her belly like it was something beautiful. He went all the way down, his fingers stroking through the curls between her legs before he pressed her thighs wider. Amy gasped when his mouth finally found her pussy. He only gave her teasing little licks and nuzzles, getting her wetter, making her heart pound and her breath come short.
“Please, Teddy, please, yes—”
“Mmm,” Teddy’s tongue flicked her clit, and she made a helpless wanting noise. “Almost ready.”
Teddy pulled away again, and Amy opened her eyes and lay panting, wanting him. She needed to finish this.
Teddy stood by the bed and stripped, first, finally letting her see him naked. He was tan all over, leanly muscled, and his cock stood hard and eager. Amy felt herself getting wetter at the sight of it, and bit her lip when her mouth watered too. She wanted to taste him; she wanted him inside her in every way.
“No condom this time,” Amy said.
Teddy grinned. “No?”
Amy shook her head. “No. Just you and me.”
“You and me and a pile of gold,” Teddy corrected, giving her another lingering head-to-toe look before he went to the foot of the bed.
There was a chest there, Amy realized. She giggled as Teddy opened the top. Of course there was a treasure chest at the foot of the bed. Where else?
Teddy gr
inned at her, and lifted out a heaping double handful of gold—coins and jewelry and chains, all jumbled together in a shiny heap. He dumped it on the bed, and it promptly slid toward her, piling up against her ass and her open thighs. Amy wriggled at the feel of it, cool and heavy. Teddy was already dumping out another double handful. This time he leaned over her to do it, letting it fall over her open legs, stray pieces sliding down to her belly.
It seemed to weigh her down more than a mere scattering of coins and chains should, and she arched under it, only wanting more. Teddy pulled out a long, delicate chain by itself and looked up at her.
Amy nodded. She knew what was coming. “Please, Teddy. I want to be yours.”
He kissed her ankle while he wound the chain around it. After everything she’d seen it was almost not surprising when he pressed the end of the chains to the gold-silk sheet and they somehow melted into it, holding her fast. He fastened her other ankle the same way, and then draped more and more gold over her, arranging some of the pieces he’d carelessly scattered.
Gold coiled around her thighs, holding her open for him, and his mouth found her pussy again when it was framed in glittering chains. He slid two fingers into her this time as he licked and sucked, stroking up into her just right. Her fingers dug into the sheet under her as she gasped. “Teddy, Teddy, yes—”
“Almost,” he said, pulling back again.
Amy moaned as he lay more gold over her, gold twining up her arms and around her wrists. It was heavy against her skin, warm from his touch and smooth as silk. She was held so still, so safe, as if it were just packaging around her. As if she were more precious than any of it.
He leaned over her as he fiddled with the gold wrapping her wrists, and she stared up at his cock, directly above her, thick and hard and gorgeous. She ached to have him inside her. She needed to know she had him here.
Let me taste you, she thought, because she didn’t think she could get the words out of her mouth.