Restoring The Broken (Rogue Dragons Book 3)
Page 14
“Don’t let them pressure you into anything you don’t want,” Gavin said while giving Evangeline and Erik a look of reproach.
Bree didn’t hesitate. She was all in. “Where do I sign up?”
The talk of tattoos broke the ice with Evangeline. She began to talk enthusiastically about the process and the different color choices she could pick. While Evangeline was distracted, Dillon and Isabella joined them. Isabella growled like she had a dragon in her when she laid eyes on the chicken wings spread across the coffee table.
“You got my text,” she said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about them all day!”
Dillon smiled at his mate. He rushed to get her a plate, but she destroyed two wings before he got back. Bree laughed and accepted a plate from Dillon. She heaped it with food and leaned back into Erik so they could share.
Everyone fired verbal shots at one another until the liquor shots came out and their barbs became expressions of affection. Bree watched it go down before taking over the drinks. While she poured, Isabella helped pick up.
“I love you all,” Bree proclaimed.
“You aren’t even drinking,” Erik pointed out.
She shrugged, swimming in happiness after a hard day. “I still mean it with every ounce of my being.”
Everyone took turns hugging her and welcoming her into the clan. When they finished, Bree’s cheeks were so warm she could have fried an egg on them. Erik reached her last and didn’t let go, allowing her to hide her face while they cooled.
Chapter Sixteen
Erik grabbed the notebook between them and spun it around. A scribbled list covered the page, from top to bottom, including the margins. He and Bree had been taking turns, writing down what their future looked like. When he added that he needed lots of land, she added that the kitchen needed a dishwasher. On and on it went like that.
Now that the page was full, they took in what their future needed.
“Farmhouse,” he said. “Barn with barn cats.”
Bree nodded. “I’ve always wanted a dog, but I don’t think a dog will want to live with a couple of dragon shifters. Cats are stupidly fearless. They won’t mind two giant reptiles.”
Erik nodded in agreement. “I’ve seen those videos of cats slapping alligators. You’re not wrong.”
He scanned the page one more time. “We’re missing something here.”
Bree snatched the notebook back and looked it up and down before giving him a confused glare.
“What kind of bed are we going to get? A queen so we can cuddle every night? A king because I’m a king? A California king so you never have to sleep beside me and my flying fists again? This is an important question.”
She tried to hold back her laughter but failed. The sound of her happiness was a drug he would never get enough of. He left his chair and walked around to lift her from hers. With her in his arms, he carried her back to their room.
“We also need a sturdy frame that can handle two dragon shifters. No flimsy wood ordered off the internet. I’ll prove to you that I can break it on one thrust.”
She bit her lip before asking, “Is that a promise?”
“I’m about to show you right now.” He kicked the door closed behind them and threw her down onto the bed.
She bounced and more laughter escaped her. Before she could settle, Erik pounced her. How he’d never noticed her intoxicating scent before that day in the bathroom, he’d never know. He couldn’t get enough of her.
Erik might have been a fool before he found Bree, but she’d turned him into a man. He wanted to make her happy every day of the rest of her life. He’d spent the last hour writing down things he knew she would want. He would let the barn cats into the house and build them the biggest cat tree if it meant seeing her smile.
He never knew what it meant to love someone with his whole soul. He’d spent too long hating himself and thinking that others hated him to even imagine what love would feel like. The nights he’d spent with other women melted away. He should have known those nights would never end in this kind of love. All he took from them were the techniques he’d learned.
For Bree, his beasts had come together. The green dragon wasn’t his enemy anymore. He didn’t need to spend nights in the ditch out back. He spent them with his head between Bree’s legs instead.
“When a boy dragon likes a girl, he bites her shoulder to tell the world that no one else can have her,” he said.
Bree raised a brow. “You could just buy me a ring like a normal man.”
“Why can’t I do both?” he whispered against her skin.
She shuddered beneath him and dug her nails into his chest. “Yes. Both. I like both.”
He tasted her skin before biting down. Bree swallowed the scream that tried to leave her. She spasmed like she’d climaxed. Pride swelled inside him before his blood rushed south and swelled something else.
“I love you. Through fire and hell, I would do anything for you.” He hadn’t meant to say any of that, but the promise filled the room anyway.
She wound a hand around the back of his neck. “Through fire and hell,” she repeated before capturing his mouth.
For a man who’d felt fractured and broken his whole life, he was whole when he stepped into her arms. It’d taken her love to show him who he could be.
What’s Next In The Rogue Dragon Series?
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