Chapter 23
Carly
It took a hell of a lot of kisses to boot me out of my shock.
“You scared me,” Desmon said, cradling me to his chest like he was warming a cold, lost kitten. “Do you need more Diet Coke?”
I stared at the familiar white and red can, looking humorously tiny in his large hand. Where had that come from?
I must’ve asked the question out loud because Desmon answered it. “I asked what would make you feel better and you said a Diet Coke. I thought it was an odd request, but I got one for you anyway.”
I sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Thanks. Diet Coke does make me feel better when I’m stressed. It was my go-to for studying, and I guess I’ve conditioned myself to believe it means I’ve got things under control.” The words sounded far away, like someone else was saying them.
I took the can from him; it was ice cold, just the way I liked it. I took a nice long swig, letting the fizzy artificial goodness calm me.
“If you are upset I did not give you a romantic proposal, I promise I will do another one. I do not know what humans consider romantic, but I will learn.”
Despite what Desmon or Seth thought, my zoning out hadn’t been because I was unimpressed with his non-proposal. I was just shocked we’d gone from purely a working relationship to being engaged in a matter of days.
He’d already told me I was his mate, and that was basically like getting married. So why was I so surprised? Maybe it had just taken this much time for the events of the last few days to really sink in, and now that they were, I was losing it.
Yeah, that must be it.
“It’s not that,” I said softly. “I’m not upset.”
Or was I? Okay, so I did feel a tiny, teeny bit like I was getting cheated out of a proper, on-his-knees style proposal. At the same time, I was engaged to a dragon. A motherfucking dragon. That breathed fire!
“Are you sure? Elana also assured me that ‘I did it wrong’.”
“How do dragons do it?” I asked.
His brows furrowed. “Dragons do not propose. Many do not even partner up. If they wish to start a family, they contract with another dragon for an egg or sperm, then raise the child alone. Unless they have found a mate.”
Oh! It sounded very unromantic indeed. “What about mated dragons?”
“The male decorates his nest with the pieces of his hoard he believes his mate will like best and invites her to lie in it. Dragons who find mates in each other combine their hoards. Sharing one’s treasure is the ultimate display of affection.”
I gazed up at the colorful gems he’d hung around his nest and remembered how he’d asked if I liked them. “So, in dragon terms, you pretty much proposed when you invited me here into your nest.”
“Yes.”
And I hadn’t even realized it!
Now that I thought about it, that was actually pretty romantic in its own way. It was definitely a lot better than just telling me we were announcing it tomorrow.
“I guess if people ask for details when we announce it, I can tell them the dragon version of it. Unless that’s supposed to be a secret or something.”
“No, no secret.” But Desmon still looked unsure, which was a new look for him. He always seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
This must be as new to him as it was to me. Imagine that! I was teaching an old dragon new tricks!
But he’d said that the dragons shared their treasures with each other, and I didn’t have anything to share with him. My only treasure was Q-Tip, and I doubted Desmon thought of him as anything more than extra responsibility.
“I will tell the media the ring is a placeholder,” he said. “Something to follow human traditions until I can find something more suitable.”
I blanched at the word media. “I hate the spotlight.”
“I’m sorry, My Treasure. It is inevitable with who I am. I, too, dislike the attention. I will shield you the best I can.”
“Thank you.”
Despite wanting to stay with me, Desmon needed to make plans for our upcoming trip. He walked me to my room…or was that Q-Tip’s room now, because technically I stayed with Desmon in his nest at night?
Q-Tip remained wary of him, probably because Desmon, for all his kindness to me, was still an apex predator, and Q-Tip knew it. But eventually, the rabbit did deign to take a yogurt drop from Desmon. The smile on the dragon’s face at the simple gesture had me melting.
Okay, maybe he didn’t think of the little guy as just an extra responsibility.
Desmon tried to pet him, but Q-Tip hopped away, sweet yogurt prize still in his mouth. I knew yogurt drops weren’t good for him, but this was a special occasion, and I figured it would be fine if we didn’t make a habit of it. I needed my boys to like each other.
“Next time you will not escape so easily, little bun.”
That had me smiling so wide my cheeks hurt.
Then Desmon gave me one last kiss, and left to make his plans.
With him gone, I decided that everything that had happened in the past few days was way beyond Q-Tip’s pay grade. I fished my phone out of my purse and called Dana, hoping that she would pick up. She did, right away.
“About time, girl! I thought you were dead!”
“Hello to you too.”
“So…how’s Darlington?”
“Darlington is…good.”
“I sense a buuutt,” she sing-songed.
I launched into my story, throwing her essentially into the deep end. I did, however, leave out any details about the artifacts and the competition. My cell phone was probably not very secure, and if a certain she-dragon was eavesdropping, all she’d get was two girls talking about a hot as fuck dragon.
“Wait, you got kidnapped on your second week in Darlington? And I thought New York was bad!”
“I tell you all that, and you focus on the stupid kidnapping?”
Gillisandra already knew about that, so that was fair game.
“How am I supposed to react to my best friend telling me she’s suddenly engaged to a billionaire dragon shifter?”
“I don’t know, you’re the shrink!”
She kissed her teeth. “ Counselor . I’m a counselor. To a bunch of kids.”
After graduation, Dana had taken a job at a high school in a low-income area, working with at-risk students. She’d gone in hopeful and bright-eyed, but the job had taken a toll on her. The job paid her peanuts, and she was in no better position than some of her students, both financially and mentally speaking. She’d been looking for a new job since forever. I suddenly wondered if Darlington’s high school had any openings.
“Everything feels too good to be true.”
“Okay, and it might be. Be cautious, weigh the options, be careful, yadda yadda. Still—he’s a dragon! And he saved you from the creeps who kidnapped you. Even if things don’t end up working out, it’s the experience of a lifetime!”
“But what about my job? And my heart? You know I’m shit at staying calm when it comes to the big stuff.”
“All I’m saying is, if you let this opportunity out of your grasp because you’re too chickenshit to take a chance, I’ll never forgive you.” A kitchen timer went off in the background, followed by sounds of metal against metal. “I’m saying this as your friend and not as a counselor in any capaci—oh, mother fudger !”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I made cookies, but just lost like, four of them. They slid right off the sheet! They weren’t kidding when they said non-stick.”
“I’ll let you go. Enjoy your cookies.”
“Call me if anything else happens. And just so you know, I expect to be your maid of honor.”
“Of course you will be!”