Page 5 of The Dragon’s Accidental Manny

How he said it didn’t sound like an accusation, and he wasn’t calling 911, though he looked like he could tackle me. If we’d met somewhere else in different circumstances, I wouldn’t have minded a tackle and a romp and much more. But I’d spent time alone with this man’s children, and he had every right to be furious.

I backed away, trying to remember the way out. “I’m so sorry. I was looking for Ledger. Meara sent me.”

“You’re our manny.”

“I’m a potential manny, but I’m supposed to talk to Ledger about what the job entails.” I was feeling for the doorway and remembering which way to turn in the corridor. “But I got the wrong house, I guess.”

“No, I think you’re our manny.”

The alpha walked toward me and sweat dribbled down my spine and into my briefs. In my dreams, I’d imagined being claimed by a tall handsome stranger but trespassing into his house wasn’t included.

Then I banged into something. “Owww. Owww.” I twisted around and fell over a footstool. My face connected with the floor, but the carpet broke my fall. I lay where I was because it was better than the alternative.

“How can he be our manny?” Bea questioned her father.

“His name is Cam.” Jack’s voice was accompanied by the flapping of his toy wings.

“He can teach me to draw,” Isla chimed in.

Warm hands that were a similar temperature to Jack’s hoisted me off the floor and dropped me on the couch. He examined my ankle, saying I’d have a nasty bruise but it wasn’t broken. Damn, why couldn’t I have suffered a serious injury and I’d have to stay here and recuperate. Not that that was a thing. Trespassers didn’t get to lodge in their prey’s home.

“Price.”

He wanted me to pay for my mistake? “I… I don’t have any money.”

“I’m Price, and we have just found our new manny.”

THREE

PRICE

“I’m Price, and we have just found our new manny.”

The words left my mouth before my brain had engaged, and damn the consequences. It didn’t get a vote. My dragon, on the other hand, was delighted with me for the first time in years.

Ours, he purred. You finally did something right.

The omega on the couch who, moments earlier, had flipped over the footstool and gone one round with the carpet, stared at me. His cheek was red from carpet burn, and his shirt was more creased than before he’d fallen. I mentally added “teach him how to wield an iron” on my to-do list, preferably with me behind him, pressing my body onto him, and my hand on top of his.

His distinct scent that reminded me of fresh honey was woven in with motor oil. Not the kind of honey that came in a jar and sat on the store shelves for months. This was the same sweetness from the honey the bees made in the woods behind the house. Cam and his tantalizing scent smelled as though he already belonged here.

He does, my dragon insisted.

Minutes ago, I’d walked in and discovered a stranger in my house with my children. My dragon had reared up inside me, ready to stream fire at the intruder, and I’d prepared to toss the guy out, while warning my beast not to destroy the house. But scales had already rippled over my back and made a small tear in my shirt before that scent taunted me.

Until this moment, my life had been raising my late brother’s children, now my children, and work, in that order. And this human had invaded our family’s safe space and wrenched my heart out of my chest, before putting it back, entangled with his scent.

Mate. My beast was economical with words when he wanted to be.

Yes and no. Yes, he was my mate, and no, we couldn’t announce it, or worse, mark him. My dragon was used to me saying no about all the suggestions he’d made over the years.

Pfft.

“How can he be our manny?” Bea folded her arms.

She reminded me of my brother when she did that. She was only nine and she acted as though she was the family’s guardian, even though she’d yet to meet her beast. I worried that she carried a burden kids her age shouldn’t have to.

I’d been solo-parenting since my brother died, but my business was expanding and I needed to travel. Added to that, I had three fire-prone kids at home, and it was too much for me. But the plan was to hire a shifter, preferably a dragon.