Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
H ayden had given Daniel the tour of the house, including the pool, which was accessed by a heated breezeway to the pool house beyond the sunroom. And now he and Jacks were playing on the floor of the family room while he imagined Daniel went for a swim.
The nanny had protested that he didn’t have swim trunks with him, but he knew Rita and Denise stocked a selection of bathing suits that were brand new for people of all sizes, even though they never got visitors up here except for a few dragon friends who just wouldn’t leave well enough alone.
Speaking of which, he looked down at the ankle biter who was rolling around on the blanket he’d put down on the floor. “You know, buddy, you’re being a little obvious.”
Jacks stopped, looking up at him, his little brow furrowing. He cooed, his hands opening and closing, and Hayden nodded.
“Sure, I get it. You like him, you want him to stay. But you’ve got to stop acting like you’re a dragon. What are you going to do if he sees you jumping from one lap to another? He’s going to freak out. You got to be more human, baby-like, at least for the first couple weeks he’s here.”
The frown deepened on Jacks’s forehead, his baby lips bowing in a miniature scowl.
“Don’t you look at me like that. It’s the truth, and you know it. He’s not ready. Maybe he never will be.” But if Daniel cut and run because he was scared of Jacks, it would break this little guy’s heart.
Jacks rolled his eyes dramatically. Mine!
There was no doubt in that baby voice. None at all.
And he wanted to believe Jacks, but there was no way to.
Not for sure.
“Humans can be very fickle, especially where magic is involved. Now you just have to breathe.”
Jacks blew a raspberry, and electricity shot out of his sweet little dragon’s nose.
“Are you supposed to be doing that? I just need you to be good for a little bit. Just a tiny bit. And then once we know that he’s here to stay, then you can keep him.”
Mine.
He was in big trouble with this kid. Talk about willful.
Good thing right now it was cute.
Jacks’s little hand closed around his shirt. And the little one pulled himself over to stare up at Hayden. Mine too. Mine Daddy.
“Yep. I’m your dad and I love you, kiddo.” He laid down on his back and put Jacks up on his chest. “I’m just telling you you’ve got to let him come around to it.”
Jacks giggled, slapping his cheeks with those tiny hands. Thankfully, they were small enough that the static electricity shooting out of them didn’t immediately fry his eyeballs or something.
He wasn’t sure how on earth other parents handled this.
It was a constant thing— “Keep your scales in,” “Don’t blow smoke out of your nose,” “We don’t teleport into the mashed potatoes at the supper table.”
What if there were more than one?
“Don’t fry your baby sister,” or “Please don’t boil anyone’s brain inside their skull.”
Goddess.
Thank goodness he was an only child.
Little Jacks cuddled in, the sweet voice in his head a constant patter of nonsense and music and joy.
Oh, he loved this little guy.
He bounced Jacks around and they sang together, and finally, the wee one fell asleep, drooling all over his chest. Carefully, so Jacks didn’t wake up, Hayden rolled up to kneeling, then stood because he didn’t want to sleep on the floor. His back didn’t like it.
They headed for the sunroom where there was a bed that was big enough for the two of them, and where he would know when Daniel came back inside. There wasn’t really any danger up here, but he wanted to make sure Daniel didn’t drown or something weird like that.
It didn’t take Daniel long to come out. He was wearing nothing but the swimming suit, which was wet and plastered to his body, and a towel draped over his shoulders. Pale and freckled, the lean body was way more ripped than he expected. Strong and muscular, tight even.
That wasn’t the best part though. The best part was when the wind grabbed the towel, and he had to take off running after it.
Across the pale, freckled back, there was a huge black dragon inked right in.
Hayden’s eyes went wide, his body went taut, and he couldn’t decide if he was surprised, shocked, or just incredibly turned-on.
He figured it was a little bit of everything. The man was so fucking hot all of a sudden. The dragon didn’t hurt. It meant Daniel had an affinity for them, and that spoke to the part of him that didn’t show on the surface.
It also spoke to parts of him that did show on the surface, just below the belt.
Of course, part of Hayden wondered…The guys had insisted that Daniel was the right guy for him for a nanny.
He’d been very clear about the fact that he didn’t want a dragon.
So now he was going to have to try to figure out if Daniel was a dragon in disguise.
What if he was? What if Daniel knew Hayden was a dragon, and was just hiding it from him? Then he would look like a fool if he was a dragon, and he didn’t know that Daniel was a dragon.
That just didn’t make any sense to him.
Of course, tattoos of dragons were common. Humans loved dragons because they were the most amazing beings ever.
Maybe that was it.
Oh, he was going to have to get on the phone. That was what he had a personal assistant for in Denver.
He grabbed his phone. “Make a note to have Winnie ask whether or not the new nanny is a dragon.”
Surely Winnie could be delicate about it, that would save him a phone call.
He couldn’t do it now because Daniel came striding into the sunroom laughing and shivering a little bit. “Ooh, that breeze is still pretty darn cold even though it’s supposed to be nice out there.”
“I’ll close the breezeway down.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that if you’re not ready to. I’ll just remember that it’s not just a hallway.” Daniel lowered his voice when he realized Jacks was asleep. “Oops, sorry. I didn’t mean to possibly wake the little guy.”
“That’s okay. We were just going to have a nice little nap. Welcome to join us.”
Daniel gave the daybed an incredulous look. “I don’t think there’s room for me.”
Hayden had to chuckle, the sound a little growly even to his own ears. “I just meant you’re welcome to stay here in the day room and have a nap with us. There’s that recliner over there, and there’s the chaise lounge which is really comfy.”
“Oh, oh my god, how embarrassing.” Daniel’s cheeks were red as fire and the flush extended all the way down to his clavicle. “I am so sorry. That was such a stupid thing to say.”
“No, it was totally reasonable to take my comment the wrong way, really.” He had kind of meant what he’d said, but Daniel didn’t need to know that. That was harassment, right?
“That’s very kind, but I think I’m going to go take a shower and change my clothes, and maybe have a movie or a game or something.”
He nodded, pulling an afghan off the back of the daybed frame to cover him and Jacks. “Well, if you change your mind, you know where we are. I like to have a lazy day on the nanny’s day off.”
Daniel high-tailed it out of the room, and Hayden shook his head. “Not bright, buddy, not bright.”
Jacks patted him on the chest even though the baby was sound asleep, soothing him. He was very sensitive, this little guy. He wanted everyone around him to be happy all the time, and unfortunately that didn’t always happen.
Not that any of them were desperately unhappy. He knew Rita and Denise loved their life, and if he felt lonely sometimes, well, that was on him.
Hayden had just never found his mate.
He didn’t have one. It had been long enough for him to wonder about it because every other dragon he knew was paired off.
Or maybe he was just an asshole, and he had met his mate once upon a time.
Or maybe they avoided him like the plague, thinking they would rather just cross the veil than get stuck with him.
That made him feel a little growly. It wasn’t that bad.
Jacks loved him after all.
As if Jacks heard his heart, his son snuggled in, hugging him with his baby hands. That soothed him on a bone-deep level.
“It’s all right, little one. Don’t you worry. We’re going to have the best life together, you and me and?—”
A panicked scream sounded from upstairs, and Hayden sat up in a rush, arms curling around the baby, smoke pouring from his nostrils.
“Snake! Big snake! Don’t bring the baby up!” There was absolute, pure panic in Daniel’s voice, and Jacks’s eyes were wide, staring at him, the wee one insisting that he go now, save their Daniel.
He ran out of the sunroom, Jacks in one arm, and Denise was right there to take the baby from him.
“Go on. Try not to kill it. It’s just looking for a sunny spot, I’m sure.”
“Upstairs in the bedroom?” he snapped.
“It’s not in the bedroom! It’s got me cornered in the hall! And I don’t really want to die of a snake bite out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“Oh, don’t worry, dear,” Rita called. “We have a snake bite kit in the medicine cabinet.”
Hayden rolled his eyes, but he charged up the stairs, ready to do his best to keep Daniel from getting bitten.
Sure enough, a sizeable snake coiled between Daniel and the stairs, and now between him and Daniel.
It was also harmless. Mostly.
Hey, little guy. You need to be someplace else. If you need a warm spot, you can live in the garage and eat mice.
The snake, which was a Western terrestrial garter snake, was mildly venomous to mice, but not really to humans, and was the only wide-ranging snake at this elevation.
He grinned at Daniel. “He’s good-sized, but he’s pretty harmless. Let me grab him.”
“That’s a fabulous idea. You do that, and I’m going to go research snake prevention that I can spray all over my room.”
It was adorable.
Like, genuinely adorable.
He tried not to smile.
“He’s a garter snake. They don’t do too much damage.”
“That’s nice, but I just don’t care. It could be a king cobra. Or a warm fuzzy I-like-to-wear-hats snake. I don’t want to touch it. I’m scared of snakes.”
“You know dragons aren’t that much different than snakes.”