 by Jocelynn Drake.jpg)
Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
What does he not want? A bossy, overprotective, possessive, teasing dragon sticking his nose in business that is not his.
Even if he is sexy. And supports Samuel on his quest to find the lost Sousa Mage Clan.
Utterly beside the point. He does not need a dragon boyfriend.
(Un)fortunately, Dimitri disagrees.
Tags:
Ice dragons, Brazil, fated mates, dragon shifters, not mpreg, found family, true acceptance, hurt/comfort, broken cores, lost clans, magical creatures, beware of stompers, fun with waterfalls, snowball fights in summer, ice dragons know how to stay cool, Dimitri licked him and now he’s his, overprotective and grumpy, calming cuddles, seriously Dimitri needs all the cuddles, booby traps, Sam was not trying to seduce Dimitri, it was the cuteness that snuck under Dimitri’s guard, communication, because miscommunication is the devil’s trope, Dimitri has a weakness for sassy intellects, who knew, Dimitri is a walking air conditioner, Sam approves
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Samuel stood outside his parents’ middle-class suburban home with tidy green shutters, the front yard covered in a scattering of colorful maple leaves…and braced himself.
He was willingly stepping into the dragon’s den.
Well, willingly was an obscene exaggeration. He wasn’t all that willing, but if he didn’t show up for dinner, there was a damn good chance his mother would show up at his front door, and then he’d be cornered. At least at his parents’ house he could make a run for it.
Something he might very well need to do since he was showing up alone.
The one positive was that his twin brother’s white SUV was already parked in the driveway. If Salem was in a good mood, he’d support Samuel.
If he was in the mood to be an annoyance, then all bets were off on Samuel getting out of the house alive.
With one last sigh, he used his key and unlocked the door, letting himself inside. “Hey! I’m here!” He shuffled his feet across the entry rug to remove any dirt and leaves that covered the soles of his shoes.
“We’re in the kitchen!” His mother’s voice rang out through the first floor.
The scent of seasoned roast and freshly baked bread filled the air, and Samuel’s stomach grumbled in protest. It wanted to have the anticipated arguing happen after it had been filled.
Recently, Samuel had been subsisting too much on ramen, sandwiches, and anything that could be ordered and delivered quickly. Between his research and preparing for his trip, he didn’t have time for things like cooking a decent, healthy meal. As it was, the smells wafting around him seemed almost decadent.
After shedding his coat and hanging it in the hall closet, he made his way through the home that had seen him through his late teen years as well as summers back from undergraduate school. The ghosts of old memories were few and faint thanks to his mother’s need to repaint walls on a regular basis. She and his father had also gotten new furniture in all the rooms on the first floor.
The only truly creepy thing was that she kept spare rooms made up for both him and his brother, as if she expected them to wake up one day and decide to move back in, despite both of them being thirty-one and having successful careers.
Of course, moving back in would mean Janice Hunter could more closely manage their lacking love lives. Neither of his parents had cared that Samuel had come out as gay in high school, or that his brother had later admitted to being bi. It wasn’t who they loved so long as they found someone to marry and settle down with.
How could they possibly survive in life without someone to take care of and to take care of them in return?
Those words were usually delivered by their mother with a dramatic sigh while she placed one hand to her forehead.
Samuel was ready to argue that he could survive just fine. No! He could thrive and be happy completely alone for the rest of his life.
Passing through the living room, Samuel stopped at the threshold of the kitchen to find his mother at the stove, minding the various pots bubbling on the burners, while his father leaned against the sink in his usual “supervising” mode—as if his mother needed anyone’s help making dinner. Salem was seated at the table in the small breakfast nook, scrolling on his phone. Everyone seemed to think the brothers were identical, except for the fact that Salem had a neater, shorter haircut, wore contacts rather than glasses, and was generally more handsome.
“Hey, kiddo!” Norman Hunter called out when seeing his son, as if Samuel were still a teenager. A smile spread easily across Norman’s narrow face, his glasses catching the overhead lights. His short, dark hair seemed to be growing more silver each time Samuel stopped by, and it was unsettling to see his father aging. His mother was dutifully dyeing her shoulder-length brown hair, fighting back the advancing years with a fierce stubbornness. She’d only recently started wearing glasses, though the entire family argued that she’d needed them for at least six years now.
“We were starting to wonder what was taking so long,” his father added with a low chuckle.
“Dinner is going to be ready in about fifteen minutes. You—” Janice stopped in the middle of whatever she was saying as she turned toward him, her eyes searching the empty space beside him. “Where’s Kevin?”
“He didn’t get stuck at work, did he?” Norman asked. “That poor guy is working himself to death.”
“It’s okay,” Janice continued. “I can save a plate for him. You can take it to him this evening. Make sure he gets a good meal.”
Nowhere in that conversation was there an opening for Samuel to reply to their questions, as if it didn’t actually matter what he had to say. His gaze lurched over to Salem, who had lifted his eyes from his phone to look at his brother. Salem’s expression turned from questioning to a pained wince.