Last Immortal Dragon (Gray Back Bears #6)(15)

Clara looked around at the plates overflowing with pancakes, waffles, French toast, bacon, sausage, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls. “I think we will be okay without the eggs.”

“I eat a lot,” he said low, eyes narrowed on hers. “I’m going to go put on a shirt.”

Right. She was staring again. “No, don’t! I mean,” Clara said, lowering her voice to a non-lunatic volume. “I like the way you look like this, all disheveled and natural. It makes you less intimidating.”

He sighed out a troubled sound and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not saying I agree to this, but tell me your negotiations while I make you a plate. I’m curious.”

“Okay,” she drawled out, taking a seat on one of the wooden stools under the kitchen island. The room matched the hallway. White, sterile cabinets to match white marble countertops. It made her want to pull a hoodie on. “First off, I should tell you why I’m agreeing to this so you understand where I’m coming from. I’m not in this for the money, and I don’t need you to take care of me like that. I mean, a little support wouldn’t hurt, but I don’t need you providing for me. I can take care of myself and…our…baby.”

Damon looked troubled as he loaded pancakes onto her plate, but nodded. “Go on.”

“I liked the way you were with Rowan last night, and it’s nice to imagine you caring for our… God, this is weird. It’s weird talking about this, right?” Clara shook her head. “Moving on. I’ve wanted a baby for a long time. And I don’t know how much of a background check you did on me, but I had a crew once. I had two males under me, and I loved them.”

“Both of them?”

“Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking. They were my best friends. We did everything together, and we were deliriously happy.” She licked her lips and swallowed hard at the memory of the day her dreams had been crushed.

“Don’t say anymore,” Damon said suddenly, and when she looked up, she could’ve sworn there was fear in his dark eyes. “I don’t want to hear the rest. I already know. I read it.”

Hurt, jagged and red, washed through her. Steeling herself, she whispered, “Fine. I wanted a baby, and they wanted to help me raise one, so we tried.”

“With both?”

Clara nodded. “It wasn’t gross or strange to us, but before it happened…well… you read the rest.”

Damon looked sick as he slid her plate toward her. He turned his back on her and began cracking eggs into a bowl. “Continue.”

“I was empty after— Fuck.” Clara scraped her teeth against her lip in an effort to keep her emotions in check and said, “Anyway, I went to the doctors and did everything like I was supposed to until I ran out of money.” Tears blurred her vision at how big a failure she’d been. “One baby took, but it didn’t keep,” she whispered. “I’ve never told anyone that before.”

Damon’s shoulders were rigid as he worked stiffly over the stove, and he banged the pan onto the back burner so hard, the sound made her jump. He hooked his hands on his hips and stared out the window, his back a stony silhouette in the early morning light. Without a word, he turned and strode around the island, his eyes blazing in the instant before he crushed her to his chest. Shocked, she froze as his skin burned against hers. And when her surprise wore off, she slowly lifted her hands and hugged him, running her palms over his uneven skin.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Sorry that happened. Sorry you lost…” He huffed an exhalation and gripped the back of her wild hair, burying his face against her neck. “Fuck, you smell good. Soap and fruit and mint.”

“I brushed my teeth,” she muttered like a sexpot. Real smooth.

He rattled a satisfied-sounding rumble as he sidled closer between her legs until he pressed against her sex. Clara cursed how thick the denim material of her jeans were. “Negotiation number one,” she whispered, running her fingernails up and down his back. “No more doctors. And no ovulation tests or worrying obsessively over whether it will happen for us.”

“What do you mean, no doctors?”

“Your contract says you want to get me pregnant with doctors, but I don’t want this to be scientific. I tried that, and it was a cold and lonely experience. I want to do this the old-fashioned way.”

Damon was still breathing against her skin, and now he plucked at her neck gently with his lips. Her sex throbbed once, the little beggar.

“You want me to breed you the old-fashioned way then?”

“Negotiation number two, stop using the words breed or breeder. It’s sex, and we’re friends with benefits who share a common goal of making a baby. Together.”

“Sex,” he murmured in an odd, animalistic voice she didn’t recognize.

Oh, he smelled good, too. Soap and man and syrup with a hint of smoke. How was his skin so hot? Focus.

“Th-three. I want to co-parent. I know male dragons usually raise the kids, but I want in on this, too. I want the whole experience. I don’t just want to be pregnant, Damon. I want to be a mother. If we’re successful, I’ll move to Saratoga, and we’ll do this thing together.”

“What else?” Damon asked, grazing his teeth against her neck.

She couldn’t think with his teeth on her like this. Bitey dragon was going to make her come without even touching inside her panties.