“Am I still invited to stay the night?” Liam asked as he stood next to the bed, his blue eyes catching glimpses of the moon rising in the sky through the bedroom windows.
“Sure.” Kate wouldn’t want it any other way. He’d given her the night of her life. And tomorrow was her day off anyway, so getting up on time wasn’t going to be a problem.
Almost noiselessly, Liam slipped into bed next to her, wrapping his warm arms around her as Kate drifted quickly to sleep.
Maybe this would get complicated in the morning.
But at least for now, it felt right.
9
“Okay, I think it should run fine now,” Magnus exclaimed as he closed the hood of Liam’s old-world truck with a thunk.
Liam had called Magnus early that morning, and he’d come over without a single complaint to help work on the faulty vehicle. And it had led to more than a few not-so-subtle inquiries on his part into the nature of Liam’s overnight stay with Kate.
He didn’t want to share too much for fear his carefully laid plans could backfire.
Things were already going so well. Last night had been amazing, incredible. The beginning of the kind of forever Liam had only hoped for long ago but had now found him in the most unlikely of places. And in spite of the slight awkwardness of waking up together, Kate had taken everything in stride, and their friendship seemed to go on like normal, with the added benefit of the sizzling sexual chemistry they shared.
Granted, there were still a lot of hurdles to overcome. Like telling her about his true nature as a dragon. And mating her officially. And explaining his past and the fact that he had a trove of treasure.
But as he looked over at Kate sitting on the porch of her house, watching him and Magnus work on installing the pump and electronics for the sprinkler system, pride welled inside him. And happiness.
Now he just had to make sure to not screw things up.
Snap out of it, lover boy, and help me set this up, Magnus said, thankfully not out loud.
Liam came over and joined his crew mate as they removed a small plastic box from its packaging and began mounting it on the side of the house.
It was a good thing Magnus was better with modern technology. Granted, all the metal dragons had an innate knowledge of the workings of things. That same knowledge that had helped them build and operate ships and machinery many centuries ago now helped them navigate the modern world. But Magnus’s curiosity and sheer brains meant there wasn’t a thing he couldn’t fix or make given the proper time and equipment.
And everything was coming along nicely. Liam would be able to put the sod in soon, then hopefully be able to do some more work on the exterior of the house. Anything as an excuse to be around Kate. By then, he could ask her on a formal date, go somewhere nice, as Opal had told him women liked. There he would tell Kate everything and ask her to be his mate.
Once she was in love with him, then the truth would hopefully be easier to swallow.
Granted, he’d never done this before. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t work things out.
He’d do whatever it took to win his mate.
Even take it slow.
Kate was having a relaxing day off, for the most part, as long as she didn’t think about what she and Liam had done the night before. She was a little relieved when he rolled out of bed early in the morning, at first light, and kissed her on the cheek before heading out to get started.
He needed to call someone at his company for them to come fix the car, and he seemed focused on staying on schedule with the sprinklers as well, since the sod was already scheduled to arrive.
What a man.
She sighed as she sipped her coffee at the table, thinking what a luxury it was to just enjoy quiet time in the middle of the day.
It wasn’t that a day in bed with Liam wouldn’t have been interesting, but everything had happened so fast, been so intense, that it was kind of nice to let things cool down. Her heart needed to adjust to the fact that that man out there had made love to her.
It still seemed too good to be true.
She walked to the front door and peeked through the small window on the side of it to see the two men working together outside. She’d seen the friend, a man with dark-red hair named Magnus, working on the truck earlier. Liam had brought him to the house to introduce him, and she appreciated that effort to make her comfortable with whoever was on her property.
It was fun to watch the two men together now, arguing and pointing at the pipes, Magnus gesturing passionately, Liam shaking his head.
She laughed as she went to the kitchen to prepare some sandwiches in case they were hungry. From what she’d seen when she’d gone over to peek at them today, they were making really fast progress.
They almost looked odd out there, two men with extremely tall bodies, handsome faces, body builder muscles, working in the dirt with regular jeans and work shirts in neutral colors. Magnus, with his striking, dark-red hair that was pulled back in a low ponytail with hair escaping around his face, looked especially out of place.
When she was done fixing lunch, she looked at the clock and wondered if the men would be interested in food yet. From what she knew about guys, they could generally always eat, and men like this who worked with their hands probably had crazy high metabolisms. Especially with that much muscle to support.
She opened the door, a tray in her hands, and walked down her front walk, stopping in front of the dirt that made up her yard.
Liam looked up first, his eyes warming as he saw her, and he ran a hand through his hair the way he always did when he looked her over, an intense expression on his handsome face, almost as if he were drinking her in.
She flushed, but the tension of the moment was broken when Magnus stopped flailing and turned around to stare at her. His mouth broke into a wide smile, and he headed over, Liam jerking on his arm to put the other man behind him so he could get to her first.
When he did, she could tell he was just as aware as she was of what had happened last night. She just hoped it wasn’t that obvious to Magnus.
“I thought the two of you could use something to eat,” she said. “You’ve been working so hard out there.”
“Dragons can always use sustenance,” Magnus said, grabbing one of the sandwiches and biting into it.
“Um, you can wash your hands inside if you want,” she said, looking at Liam, who was stifling a laugh.
Magnus shrugged. “No, this is good, clean dirt. Plus, I have to get back to the castle. Just about done helping here. This guy can handle it.”
She smiled. “Yeah, he’s doing a great job.”
Liam excused himself to wash his hands, and she sat on the steps with Magnus just below her, sitting with his long legs crossed as he leaned back on one of her brick pillars and closed his eyes thoughtfully.
“That’s good stuff,” he said. “Liam’s a lucky man.”