Chapter 16 #2
“But it would make me feel better,” Ravi grumbled. “Okay, let me spell this out for you, you stubborn dragon. Cameron isn’t interested in us.”
Alric’s head snapped back up. He stared at Ravi carefully, studying every whit of his expression. “But I’ve heard him compliment several of you. You especially, Baldewin.”
“I talked with Cameron about that. It turns out that your mage—”
He gave Baldewin quite the glare for that description as Cameron was most decidedly not his.
“—firmly believes people don’t compliment each other enough. He thinks it’s not healthy. He takes every opportunity to boost people’s self-esteem and compliment them when he can. And before you get it into your head that he compliments you for that reason—”
Surely Alric wasn’t that predictable. Well, alright, maybe he was.
“—he told me flat out he finds you incredibly attractive. Sex on legs, I think was his turn of phrase.”
Those words were like quicksilver in his ears.
Alric dearly loved hearing them. If it was anyone but Baldewin telling him this, he’d demand verification, or to know the other man wasn’t teasing.
But Baldewin clearly wasn’t teasing. Oh god, he wasn’t teasing.
Did Cameron really think of him that way?
So, the massage oil treatments were sincere? It wasn’t Cameron teasing him?
The click of a camera shutter sounded, and his head snapped around to see Ravi had his phone pointed at him.
“Look at that face,” Ravi cackled. “You’re so obvious.”
Alric’s eyes cut to him. “I sense a beheading in your near future.”
“Meh, I’ll take my chances. Cameron complained to me that you keep giving him mixed signals—he’s not sure how to take your reactions.”
Alric squirmed a little hearing that. He hadn’t meant to do that at all. It was his own instincts warring that made him react so.
“But do you get what we’re trying to tell you?
It’s all well and fine for you to try and shuffle off to the side, give us all a shot at courting Cameron, but it’s not going to work if Cameron isn’t interested.
And he’s clearly not interested. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s super fun to hang out with.
And he likes talking with all of us, and getting to know us—he’s really into that. ”
“It’s quite fun,” Gunter agreed as he took the chair next to Alric’s, sipping at his drink.
“He asks questions that force me to think outside of the box. I’ve rarely had the privilege of speaking to someone as intelligent as he is.
And he is attractive—we all acknowledge that.
But I, for one, am not interested in him. ”
Alric regarded him in frank confusion. How could anyone not be interested in Cameron? It boggled his mind. “Truly?”
“I think most of the clan feels that way.” Baldewin dropped onto the three-seater couch nearby and stretched out comfortably with a sigh. “We all like him, we’re incredibly happy to have him with us, but we have no intention of dating him. Alric, be frank. At least with us. Do you want him?”
It felt strange, admitting something out loud that Alric could barely admit to inside of his own head. “I do.”
Ravi closed in on him, hugging him around his head and shoulders. “Look at you, being so cutely honest.”
Alric pushed him off with a huff. “Will you stop?”
Knuckling an imaginary tear from his eye, Ravi played to the crowd. “Isn’t he just the cutest like this?”
“I’m not going to try and save you when he finally gets around to beheading you,” Gunter told him, unconcerned. “But Alric, I’m glad to hear you can admit to that. Maybe do more than just acknowledge it?”
“In other words,” Ravi interpreted with a winsome smile, “make a damn move.”
* * *
Alric would neither confirm nor deny he sometimes used his nose to keep track of Cameron.
Just when he was nearby. For safety reasons.
He knew Cameron was close before he heard his voice in the hallway outside of his study.
His dragon indulged in the scent of him, like a storm on the verge of sweeping through, mixed in with the citrus of his shampoo and soaps.
Really, Alric’s own reaction was a dead giveaway. Look at him now, how he’d paused in mid-motion to focus on Cameron. And the man wasn’t even in the room. Was it any wonder his friends had all prodded him and urged him to get his head out of his own ass?
“…and then Ravi got his tail stuck between two tree branches. Baldewin and I fell over laughing while he’s trying to get out of this tree,” Cameron was saying as he drew closer.
Alric placed the pen he’d been making notes with on the desk blotter and straightened a little in his chair, hoping Cameron was heading to him for his daily visit and not simply passing by. Maybe he should step outside of his office, just casually run into him.
A low sigh slipped from his lips. He was pathetic. Ravi was right, he needed to be more proactive than this.
While he was still debating with himself, there was a soft knock on his door a second before it opened, and Cameron stuck his head inside, a small smile playing on his lips.
“Hi!” he said.
Alric jumped to his feet while his pulse soared. Cameron had been coming to see him. “Hello. How are you?” Inwardly, he winced. He sounded like a stiff idiot. Why couldn’t he be more relaxed and casual like Ravi? No, not like Ravi. Baldewin. Yes, Baldewin was far more personable.
“Good. Do you have a moment?”
“Of course. Please come in.” Alric walked around his massive desk, his footsteps muffled by the thick carpeting.
Cameron’s smile grew as he stepped inside the room with his phone held in front of him. “Thanks. I was talking with Cassie, and I wanted to introduce you.”
“Oh,” Alric murmured, blinking in surprise. “Have you been introducing her to everyone in the castle?”
A beautiful blush stole across Cameron’s cheeks, and he pushed at his glasses with his free hand, adjusting them on his face. “No, I haven’t. Not yet anyway. I wanted her to meet you first.”
Alric’s dragon preened at the news. Not only was Cameron introducing him to his sister, but he was the first person Cameron had wanted to meet her.
“ Hello ! Turn the camera ! I want to see him !” insisted a sharp voice.
Cameron jumped and quickly moved over to stand beside Alric so that their shoulders bumped into each other. Alric loved the crooked smile on Cameron’s lips, but it was the low “ ooooo ” that drew Alric’s eyes to the phone Cameron held out in front of them both.
Cassie Park was adorable with large brown eyes and short, bright blue hair. Her face was similarly shaped as Cameron’s but a little narrower. They were clearly siblings with the same nose and same mouth. And definitely the same animation when they were excited.
“ Oh my, you are scrumptious. And I’m not just saying that. Men do not turn my crank in the least, but my god, if they did, I would be all over you like a monkey on a jungle gym. No wonder Cameron was happy to move into your castle .”
There was no stopping the blush that seared Alric’s cheeks, but he was more amused by the horrified noises coming out of Cameron. The mage jerked the phone so Cassie could only see him on the screen.
“What the hell!” Cameron screeched. “You said you were going to behave.”
Cassie snorted. “ As if. We both know I was just saying that so you’d let me see him. Now turn that camera back. I see your face all the time. I want to see the pretty dragon .”
Cameron growled at his sister, while Alric sidled back up to Cameron.
He carefully wrapped his left arm behind Cameron’s back and rested his hand lightly on his hip.
With his right, he lightly gripped Cameron’s wrist, turning the phone so that they were both visible to Cassie.
The mage was now practically wrapped in his arms. The sweet, floral smell of his shampoo mixed with hints of his soap and the wonderful heat of his body left Alric wanting to nuzzle his face into Cameron’s neck.
But he locked his focus on Cameron’s sister.
“Yes, Cameron. Let your sister see the pretty dragon,” Alric teased in a low voice, his lips just inches from Cameron’s ear.
A muffled sound sort of like a whimper left Cameron while Cassie made more ooo-ing noises.
“ You two are so cute together. And Cam, your face looks like you’re about to —”
“Cassie!” Cameron’s face became bright red, and his eyes were wide as he stared at his sister.
“ I’m just saying —”
“No! No, you’re not saying anything.”
Alric chuckled. He definitely liked Cameron’s sister. “Cassie, it is an honor to meet you. Your brother has told me a great deal about you.”
“ Anything that wasn’t positive, don’t believe. He’s a liar .”
Alric smiled at her. “All positive, I assure you.”
Cassie clucked her tongue. “ Sexy and charming and a king and a dragon. You’ve just got it all .” She suddenly leaned close to the camera lens so her face filled the screen. “ Are you sure you don’t have a sister ?”
“No, no sister. I’m sorry. But you are welcome at Burkhard Castle at any time. I would be happy to introduce you to my clan.”
Cassie let out a high-pitched squee and bounced a little before looking at her brother. “ Cam ?” she prodded before biting her bottom lip.
Cameron sighed loudly and dropped his head to the side so it rested on Alric’s shoulder, his hair brushing against Alric’s. This. He never wanted Cameron to move from this spot. Couldn’t they just spend the rest of their lives exactly like this?
“Cass,” he sighed. “You know I’d love to have you here. I’m just worried about your safety and Halmeoni’s. We’re still trying to figure out who grabbed me and why. We need to settle that before you come, I think.”
Alric tightened his hand on Cameron’s hip and then winced at the small pain that shot up his arm at the gesture. He wasn’t sure if Cameron saw or felt the wince, but his head popped up immediately, worried eyes flashing to his. Alric relaxed his hold and smiled.
“You know we would do whatever it takes to keep your sister safe,” Alric murmured.