The Dragon's Fate - Roxie Ray Page 0,35

meeting with Porter. Seeing him would bring out emotions I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with. I had to mentally prepare for the reality of who he was to me, but it seemed he had no intention of going away. He wanted to know me, and I figured there was no real harm in it, especially if I didn’t invest too much energy.

Porter and I met up for coffee and breakfast. It was awkward for both of us and Porter admitted that he had been scared to reach out to me, but he knew he’d regret it if he didn’t at least try. It was a lot for both of us to process. I decided to put my discomfort aside and roll with it. We spent the morning learning more about each other.

“So, you know I own a bar,” I said. “What do you do?”

He swallowed his bite of muffin and took a sip of coffee. “Sorry. I’m an attorney. Family law.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Wow. That’s impressive.”

He shrugged. “After what happened with Dad, and it was so hard for Mom to get the divorce with him disappeared, I wanted to be able to help people in bad situations.”

“All I did to deal with our father’s shittiness was sleep with a lot of women.”

Porter burst out laughing, and it broke another layer of awkwardness between us. We kept talking and learned about each other’s lives growing up, that we both loved some of the same things, like foods and movies. It was a little uncanny some of the similarities. Our laughs were somewhat alike, and we both had the same birthmark, a stork bite on the back of our necks.

All in all, it was a nice morning. Porter told me that his clan back in Cali probably missed him, so he’d be heading back soon but he wanted to hang with me again before he had to head back.

I found myself really wanting to stay in touch and told him so. The look on his face when I said it made me hopeful for our future relationship.

After breakfast I decided to surprise Hayden and Bri. I didn’t want to intrude on them, so I stopped by the bakery and had them deliver an array of donuts and pastries to them as well as some coffee for Bri. About an hour later, I got a text. You’ve got to stop spoiling me. I might get used to it.

My face broke into a huge grin, something that had been frequently present on it since I’d decided to pursue this with Bri. If this was spoiling, then it was my pleasure to keep doing it.

I only sent one more thing to them, and I ordered it online. It was a large bowling set, similar to the one on the beach. Just for Hayden.

But I didn’t try to see her again. I’d been pretty forward with the gifts, not to mention texts.

Then, Friday afternoon, she texted to tell me that the twins were spending the night with Anthony’s parents and that Skye needed a girls’ night out.

I’ll save you guys a VIP booth.

She replied with a bunch of hearts, so I guessed that was good.

All night, I was a nervous wreck, so excited to see her again. I hadn’t set eyes on her since Monday, and I’d been itching to. They didn’t come in until a little after ten. The whole time she was in there, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her as she talked and laughed with her friends. I could just see them in the upstairs VIP booth from the bar. Sometimes it floored me just how gorgeous she was. She smiled when she glanced at me, and my tattoo burned deep. Her smile was filled with genuine happiness to see me and my dragon half was just as pleased as me.

I had drinks sent to the ladies throughout the night and stopped by their table to make sure they were doing well. Skye was a little bit past tipsy, but I couldn’t blame her. I couldn’t imagine raising twins but then again, I didn’t think, after seeing those visions, that I’d be opposed to it… one day.

Bri’s eyes were a little glossy, telling me she was also in Tipsyville. “I’ll be taking you home when you’re done,” I told her. The ladies tittered.

She wouldn’t have been her if she didn’t argue a little bit. She tossed her head at me and pursed her lips. “If I want you