I Married A Dragon (Prime Mating Agency)(46)

“In case you have forgotten, my nether region isn’t like your people’s. The Derakeens’ private parts are protected inside your bodies, not mine. I’d rather not worry about what bacteria I might sit on, or if some freaky Dramnac critter is trying to crawl inside my cooch to take a nap while I’m working.”

Cedros burst out laughing. “Fair point,” he conceded. “I cannot deny the appeal of wanting to crawl into the welcoming warmth of your… cooch.”

He silenced my shocked gasp with a kiss and rubbed his snout against my nose. I loved a naughty sense of humor. And my Cedros was beautifully coming out of his timid and awkward shell with each passing day. As Trinit had so accurately predicted, now that he had an Ejaya, his true personality was finally emerging—and I was loving every bit of it.

“I have presents for you, my Kaida,” Cedros said proudly, changing the subject. He gestured with his head at something behind him. “Sadly, I cannot stay too long. I asked Elros to cover for me for an hour, but things are still a little heated in the Vessant sector.”

“A present?” I asked, stretching my neck to look over his shoulder.

I’d been so busy sucking face with my man that I hadn’t noticed the hover platform ladened with massive wrapped goods that had followed him out of the portal.

“Presentsss,” he rectified, emphasizing the plural. He kissed the tip of my nose before setting me back down on my feet. “You were overdue for a proper work desk, vidscreen, holographic projector, and your personal gym.”

I squealed and clapped my hands like a schoolgirl before running to the platform to take a closer look.

Cedros chuckled. “Take the platform to your room. I have another to fetch. Then I can set everything up for you.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” I said with a salute before ordering the hover platform to follow me.

Cedros shook his head at me and reentered the portal. I’d barely reached the large room he’d put at my disposal when I heard him return. For the next half-hour, I buzzed around him like an overly excited kid, making him laugh as he deftly set up everything for me, since he wouldn’t let me help. Apparently, you didn’t work on setting up your own presents.

The badass desk’s height could be adjusted with vocal commands, including configurable presets. The high-res, large-scale vidscreen would have even the highest-ranking execs at the Enforcers HQ drooling with envy. Although impressively big, my desk chair was plush and comfy. Figuring out I could easily do three-sixty spins on it had Cedros both laughing and facepalming when I made myself drunkenly dizzy from spinning too much.

When he went on to put together a complete home gym with both resistance and cardio equipment, I couldn’t help being impressed.

“You’re fantastic at setting this stuff up. I’d be pulling my hair out, trying to figure out the instructions and making a complete mess of things,” I said.

Cedros’s scales darken as he gave me a sheepish, almost guilty grin. “Well, I actually practiced first,” he confessed. “I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of you by being utterly clueless.”

I burst out laughing and went to kiss his cheek. “You are freaking adorable,” I said, melting before such sweet honesty. “No human male would have ever admitted that.”

He gave me an inquisitive look. “Why? Is that another thing humans shouldn’t say?”

I shook my head. “Nope, it’s just human men being silly. They have this misplaced ego and the need to show they’re ‘the competent manly-man in charge’ even when they don’t know what the fuck they are doing. In fact, that trait tends to show especially when they’re clueless about something. And the more they fumble, the more they’ll double down on pretending they got it.”

Cedros scrunched his face. “That sounds terribly unproductive.”

“That, my dear, is quite the understatement. Annoying as fuck is a lot more accurate. Especially when you’re lost in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, and you’re hungry, and terribly need to pee, and Mister Manly-Man refuses to ask for directions because, for some dumb reason, he thinks asking for help undermines his manhood and virility,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Cedros chuckled. “Sounds to me like you would be better off with a Derakeen male then. We… I… have no such issues.”

I laughed at the shameless way in which he batted his eyes at me as he said that, a behavior he’d started copying from me.

“I would tend to agree,” I said with a wink.

He beamed at me, then resumed his work. In no time, he had everything up and running.

“I have one last present for you,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “I hope you’ll love it!”

“I’m sure I will,” I said, dying with curiosity.

This time, he opened the portal directly inside my room instead of going back to the terrace, although he did so near the door. Shifting restlessly on my feet, I waited impatiently for his return, my imagination running wild as to the nature of the present.

I wasn’t a material girl. I needed nothing fancy and wasn’t high maintenance. But I loved surprises and gifts in general. It could be something as simple as a bag of gummy bears. Growing up an orphan in a poor colony, I hadn’t gotten spoiled often. Therefore, the merest gesture touched me deeply. It told me that another person had thought of me, that they had held me in high enough esteem to want to do something nice for me, simply because they cared.