The Mermaid in the Shot Glass (Groom & Doom #3)

Chapter 1

one

I am a dragon.

Warmth poured into the kitchen from the oven as I retrieved a third batch of blueberry crumble tartlets.

I placed them on the cooling racks already in position, grimacing when I ran out of room.

The goal hadn’t been three dozen bubbling treats.

I had been itching for a distraction and fudged my measurements.

But shifters never said no to food, so it wasn’t like the effort would go to waste.

A dragon. Me. Ana Sartori.

Besides, the gallon of berries Goldie had picked from the wild bush slowly devouring an empty lot across the street from Fayne’s house had been soft. Overripe. That fruit begged me to use it before fuzzy white mold crept in and spoiled the whole batch. I had done the berries a favor, really.

OhmygodIamafreakingdragon.

And, okay, marathon baking kept me too busy to yank out my shirt collar and stare and stare and stare.

Dragon. Dragon. Dragon.

“Your boobs are the same size as they were yesterday,” Liam informed me, swiping one of the tartlets.

Damn it. I was doing it again. I slapped my shirt flat against my chest. “You—”

“You keep checking like you expect them to start performing tricks.” Liam sniffed his pilfered treat twice, checked the delicate bottom crust for doneness like he was a judge for that bake-off show, the British one, then took a hesitant nibble.

Humming, he polished off the rest without so much as a thank you.

“Let me know if they do.” Mischief curled his stained lips, and he slid his gaze to a point behind me.

“Then you can take your shirt off, and I can watch too.”

A growl poured into the kitchen as the owner of said kitchen joined me at the counter.

Bedhead. Ratty band tee. Joggers hanging low on his hips.

Rían had no right to roll out of bed looking that good when I woke up resembling a rabid koala.

He got in late last night. Not that I stayed up waiting on him to get home safe.

That would be pathetic. I just felt like reading in a chair next to the window overlooking the driveway.

And, the book I was reading just so happened to end on a chapter as he pulled in, allowing me to sprint to my room and dive into my bed before he reached the front door. Totally normal houseguest behavior.

“Rían.” I gulped hard and choked on air when he pursued me until my butt hit the sink. “I wasn’t—”

“If he’s bothering you, I can have Fayne turn him into a decorative boulder for your garden.

” Rían leaned in, his scent enveloping me as he reached around me, almost embracing me, and switched on the faucet.

“Or maybe a gnome?” Water splashed, so, not a hug.

Just a pressing need to wash his hands. “You could dress him in tiny seasonal outfits and keep him on the front porch at GSG.”

As much as Sloane would adore that, I couldn’t heap all the blame on him.

“No.” I fisted an oven mitt to occupy my hands. “He’s not wrong.”

Rían withdrew from me, holding a cloth he aimed in my direction, then tapped his right cheek.

“Ha.” Liam jabbed a finger at me. “So, you admit you’ve been staring at your boobs all morning?”

“Stop saying boobs.” I peered around Rían to glare. “I’ve been checking on the scale, and you know it.”

On Da—no, Carmichael’s orders, Perry Nelson, alpha of the Springvale cougar pride, kidnapped the human employees from the pet resort and spa where I had apprenticed before opening GSG.

That debacle resulted in me getting shot with a freaking arrow on their turf.

Not fun. But, on the upside, a single pearly scale the size of a quarter had formed in lieu of a scab.

Hence my inability to focus on anything but the tangible proof I was an actual dragon.

A second tartlet halfway to his lips, Liam scrunched up his face. “Do I, though?”

Exhaling minty fresh breath that tickled my ear, Rían waited until my butt hit the counter again before wiping the wet cloth down my cheek.

I balked at the sudden coldness then blushed when I realized he had been trying to tell me earlier I had smeared blueberry goo on myself.

Yeah. That was why my cheeks stung. Not the soft brush of his fingers over my warming skin or his happy little smile as he cared for me.

“The kitchen smells so good.” Goldie skipped in with a small notebook and colored pencils. “Oh.” She sat at the bar, next to her cousin, and scanned the bounty before her. “Are those the berries I picked?”

“I hope you don’t mind.” I set my palm over Rían’s heart, and he took the hint, backing up so I could visit with his little sister. “I couldn’t resist baking with them.”

“I don’t mind, but...” She flipped to a fresh sheet of paper. “You did use them without asking first.”

A smile threatened to overtake me as she drew a chart with a ruler and filled numbers in the columns.

“Goldie…” Rían pivoted toward her. “No.” He dragged a hand over his eyes. “Whatever this is, no.”

Willing to hear the pitch, I flattened my palm on his lower back, and a shiver rippled through him. About to snatch my hand away, cursing myself for taking liberties when I ought to know better, I lost the ability to think as he pressed into my touch, welcoming it.

A knot formed in my throat, hot and tight, but I kept my hand right where it was, trying not to react as the axis of my world tilted a few degrees more in his direction.

“You haven’t even heard my idea.” Ignoring her brother, a talent she had perfected, she zeroed in on me.

“What are you going to do with three dozen blueberry tarts?” A calculating gleam lit up the blue eyes she inherited from Fayne.

“I could take, say, two dozen off your hands.” She referred to an oddly specific-looking list, comparing it against the figures on her chart.

“I’ll pay for ingredients and split any profit after that with you. ”

“Is that…?” I ditched Rían to gawk at the paper. “That’s my recipe.” I kept the handwritten index card in the original tin box, along with the rest of the set a client’s son had given me after her passing. “How did you…?”

“Please tell me you haven’t been rooting through Ana’s things.

” Rían dug his fingertips into his eye sockets until I worried he might pop his eyeballs like boba.

“You’re not allowed to snoop on our guests or paw through their belongings.

Behave yourself, or I won’t have a choice.

I’ll have to send Ana and Sloane to stay with Fayne. ”

The tug in my chest I blamed on her crestfallen expression, not the idea of Rían showing us the door. But, I had to admit, I would be lying if I claimed to know whether the idea of losing cash or guilt over us couch-surfing elsewhere was responsible for the pinch of Goldie’s features.

Curiosity won out, and I had to ask her, “What would you do with that many tarts?”

Clearly, there had been a plan. I was interested to hear the details. The kid was always two steps ahead.

“There’s a bake sale in the park today. It’s too late for me to sign up for a table, which saves me thirty dollars—” and sounded like a deliberate choice, “—but I could wrap the tarts, put them in a basket, and hand sell them.” Her fingers twitched like she was already counting money. “I’m sure they’d be a hit.”

“All proceeds from that sale go to your new school,” Rían cut in. “You can’t just pocket yours.”

“I won’t misrepresent myself.” She placed a hand over her heart. “I’ll even stick to the edge of the park.”

“I’ll go with her.” Liam slung an arm around her small shoulders.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t accidentally slip behind a table during someone’s break or accidentally name drop how much her big brother—our beloved magnus—would love it if she sold out or accidentally hand out samples she then charges for. ”

“Samples cost money to make,” she grumbled, “so they should cost money to eat.”

“You have to tell people,” Rían drawled in a tone that promised this wasn’t his first bake sale rodeo, “your samples aren’t free before they swallow them.”

“Timing is a key factor in marketing.”

“Come on, Girlboss.” Liam tugged her against his side. “Cut your brother some slack.”

“Fine.” Wriggling free of Liam, she homed in on me, the weak link. “What do you say, big sis?”

Liam pressed a fist to his mouth, forcing his laugh down, but he trembled with the effort of holding it in.

Rían’s skin tone warmed through an impressive array of ombre colors ranging from white to pink to red.

For someone who craved belonging, I was being fed what I had been starved for. She was manipulating me, masterfully, but knowing that didn’t make it any less effective as a watery veil slid across my vision.

To hide the effect her words had on me, I turned my back on her and Liam. “You can have them.”

Sadly, that gave Rían a front row seat as the first tear fell. I was grateful when he let me slip past without remarking on it, and I hid out at the sink under the guise of washing the dishes I had dirtied until my face quit leaking and Liam had escorted Goldie from the room.

“Where did she get the berries?” Rían nudged me, making room for him to rinse and dry. “From your house?”

Fresh betrayal stung me at the reminder of the house I no longer felt safe living in and the large garden I had all but abandoned after discovering a tunnel Carmichael had dug beneath it to ensure he always had access to me.

Such a waste. I would have to spread word anyone was welcome to the veggies and herbs.

I wouldn’t eat them. I couldn’t. All I would taste was bitterness.

“No.” I bit my bottom lip when his fingers slipped over mine, palming a measuring cup. “She picked them on Midhurst Street, across from Fayne’s house.”

“Are you sure they’re safe to eat?”