Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Salem had seen some of the dragons transformed and flying about, of course, during his visit to Brazil. Even then his heart had kind of leapt into this throat in absolute, childlike awe unlike anything he’d even felt as a child.
Somehow, seeing Gregori left the prior memory of awe right in the dust.
God above, but he was stunning. The weak morning light still filtered through the glass, and it bathed the long length of Gregori’s spine and the tops of his wings, painting the pearl white scales with a touch of wild honey. The dense muscles of his body cast a strong shadow—underneath, the scales almost looked blue. Truly, a painting come to life. Salem found himself pulling his phone out of his pocket and taking a picture. Then another. How could you consider yourself a human being and not catch this moment?
Especially when the kids who had any kind of mobility at all were climbing on Gregori as if he were some jungle gym. He had several kids on his spine, his wings, his tail, and he’d gathered together with his arms the ones in beds or wheelchairs so he could nudge them with his nose.
This was unfairly cute. It was like attacking Salem with a whole litter of puppies without warning, and dammit, who let Gregori in here?!
Because he couldn’t help himself, he took a full minute video of cuteness, then forced himself to stop and skedaddle before someone—Gregori—could catch him watching. It would be absolutely mortifying because there was no way in hell Gregori would ever let him live it down.
Only when he gained the safety of his office did he dare breathe easy. All right. Let’s check the schedule. Let’s see, there was a post-op for—
His office door slammed open. “Salem!”
Salem straightened in his chair, then slumped backward. This morning was doomed, wasn’t it? “Alexis. I’m checking my schedule.”
“That’s him, isn’t it? The ice dragon who followed you home.”
Fifteen minutes. They were only fifteen fucking minutes into the workday. And somehow, in those minutes, Gregori had beaten him to work—he’d likely flown, which was cheating—and volunteered with the kids. Alexis had heard of this, and now she was confronting Salem.
Giving up, he confirmed on a weary sigh, “Yes, the dragon is Gregori.”
“I about swallowed my tongue when I saw him. Nurses at the station told me he’d come in before you, asked if he could play with the kids, and apparently had already done all the paperwork for it. Even the kids who’ve been struggling with depression got out of their rooms as fast as they could. He’s been coming for two weeks, supposedly. How am I just learning about this?”
He knew which kids she meant and just about bowled over in relief. “Tyler and Jessica?”
“Them and Hillary.”
Wow. Gregori had more charm than Salem had realized. Hillary was sixteen, had been struggling with heart issues her whole life, and it took something serious to get her out of a funk. She’d seen all the usual tricks doctors and staff had up their sleeves to get a child’s attention. Although Alexis was right, it was anyone’s guess how he’d not known about this for two weeks. He wasn’t that locked into the surgical room, was he?
Don’t answer that.
“I don’t blame them, mind you, I went in there too. How many times does a person come in close contact with a dragon? Except you.” Alexis waggled her eyebrows. “You get all up close and personal.”
“Alexis, stop. You’re truly disturbing when you do that.”
“I do it to disturb you.”
Of course she did. He was resigned at this point.
“Now, let’s recap, as I haven’t seen Gregori in human form at this point aside from the single picture you showed me. He is incredibly built as a dragon, not an inch of fat anywhere to be seen. Is this true in human form too?”
“If you think about it, it would take extreme upper body strength to fly, wouldn’t it? Not to mention, the ability to launch yourself into the air, so naturally your thighs and calves would also be very strong.”
“I’ll take that as a yes. So a handsome, very strong dragon is courting you, is smoking hot in bed, somehow finds your personality cute—”
“That’s because it is cute.”
Salem buried his head in his hand. And now Gregori had joined them. Why, universe, why?
“You forgot lunch again this morning,” Gregori scolded. “I came to bring it, thought I’d play with the kids while I’m here.”
“I can feed myself—” Salem protested.
“But you don’t. You skip lunch unless it’s already in your office. It’s a bad habit.” Gregori fully opened the door and stepped inside. In one hand he held a multitiered lunchbox. One of those fancy lacquered ones like you saw in Asian dramas, even tied up in a cloth like one would be.