Page 11 of The Dragon’s Accidental Manny

“You did that gradient on purpose. Most people would have hidden the seam but you made it the whole point.” He tipped his head up, and my insides got warm and gooey.

What? I can’t see anything. My dragon was a little freaked out. Tell whatever’s gooey to stay away.

“You’ve got a good eye.”

“So do you.” I hadn’t told him I’d seen the logo he did for Meara, so he was probably thinking Huh?

He gulped or maybe that was me, but neither of us moved, until he did and bumped the glass half full of water. I grabbed the laptop, but to the human eye, my quick save was more superhero than human. Cam raised a brow but didn’t question me.

We spent the next few hours apart, though I took quick peeks at him whenever I went to the kitchen for coffee. My caffeine intake was double what it normally was, and I was jittery when I went to collect the kids. I told Cam to stay where he was and wrestle with his bakery problem.

The children almost fell into the house as they yelled and talked about what happened at school. Isla wanted to play pickleball, and somewhere between the car and the kitchen, Jack had lost a shoe. Bea was furious about a recorder she shared with another student, saying the kid had licked it. The four of us made a face—no, make that five, because Cam had emerged from the courtyard.

Cam found the shoe and agreed to play pickleball on a day when they had no homework. He mouthed to me “Can we get another recorder?” And I nodded.

“We’ll get you your own and I’ll put your name on it,” Cam told my eldest. “Not a sticker but a design that you can help me create, and that recorder licker won’t be able to breathe on it, let alone lick it.”

Bea brow creased in concentration. “Can it be green?”

That was the color of her dragon’s flame—all the kids had different colors—and it was her favorite.

“It can be whatever you want.”

“Okay.”

Bea wasn’t as outwardly emotional as Isla or Jack, so her “okay” was high praise.

That night when everyone else was in bed, I wandered into the courtyard that already smelled like Cam. My friend, Theron, would laugh at me if he knew, but I hadn’t told him. Also his mate Ledger hadn’t been here since Cam arrived. Their youngest had been ill which had kept him away. I’d done exactly what my friend had, fallen for a human living under my roof, and we’d hidden our dragons behind bracelets and cover stories.

We have to keep Cam from running, my beast suggested.

I can’t make him a prisoner.

I had to show Cam one side of me and hope that he liked me enough so I could reveal the rest of me.

SIX

CAM

Price left for the studio early saying, “The blue’s close.”

I’d learned in the days since I’d worked for the family that he’d been chasing a particular shade of blue for weeks.

“I’m hoping to get it today.”

He kissed each of the kids’ heads and leaned toward me before jerking back. Had he been going to kiss me too? I wouldn’t object, but he got flustered and raced out.

I was a little alarmed at what would happen if he didn’t get the color right. There were no punching bags on the property. Maybe he just went to the gym and got sweaty. Oh no, no. I had to take those images out of my head. I bounced up and down in the entryway, flapping my hands while telling the pics of my sweaty boss to get in the trash. It didn’t work, so I stuck my head in the fridge for a bit to cool down.

As it was Saturday, the kids were home, and after breakfast, I sat at the island while the girls chatted about their friends and a school project. Jack bounded off his chair and flattened himself on the floor. The girls and I peered over the island as he crawled toward the pantry.

“He thinks we can’t see him,” Isla mouthed.

Jack got on his knees and grabbed a packet of cookies.

“The smaller male,” Bea breathed, “believes he is invisible.”

I’d caught Bea doing this a few times where she narrated what was happening in the household in the hushed voice of the nature documentaries she watched nonstop.