Page 22 of The Dragon’s Surprise (Tahoe Dragon Mates #7)

A Little Over Two Years Later

L exi held her baby daughter, Mika, against her hip as she watched Kyle and Ethan play a game of horseshoes. During the summer, her family had biweekly get-togethers with the Torres family, and this week had been her and Kyle’s time to host.

As Mika leaned to one side, wanting down, Lexi debated putting her on the ground when Jenny came up with her son, Camden, next to her. Her daughter stretched toward the little boy. “Down!”

Once Lexi had placed her daughter down, she teetered a second before waddling over to Camden. He held out a stuffed dragon. Mika squealed, took it, and held it close. Her daughter had a penchant for stuffed dragons, and this one was bright pink with sparkly eyes.

Jenny smiled. “Camden saw it and wanted to get it for Mika. Who knows, maybe they’ll end up being true mates one day.”

She snorted. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

Rubbing her ever-growing belly, Jenny looked wistfully at her son. “I hope he loves his sibling as much.”

She hugged her friend. “Don’t be silly. There’s a bigger gap between Ethan and Mika, and Ethan is the most loving and overprotective brother ever.”

As if he’d heard her, Ethan ran over and skidded to a halt. His pupils flashed as he said, “I won! Even with Dad trying to cheat, I won!”

Kyle had reached them and sighed. “You’ve become really skilled at the game, son. Maybe I’m getting too old.”

Ethan shook his head. “Aunt Rita can still beat me. You just suck at the game.”

Lexi bit back a smile at Kyle’s affronted face. “Well, your father can still beat you in a swimming contest. So we each have our strengths.”

Kyle moved to her side, wrapped an arm around her waist, and kissed her forehead. “Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?”

Ethan scrunched his nose. “If you’re getting kissy, I’m leaving. Uncle Daniel said I could play him next.”

Even though Ethan and Mika were unrelated to Daniel and Jenny by blood, they were their aunt and uncle in every other way.

Jenny smiled. “I’ll join you.”

Ethan sighed. “Uncle Daniel isn’t going to like that.”

“Well, Cam will help me, so Daniel will have a fighting chance.” She put out her hand to her son, and he took it just as Kyle scooped up their daughter.

Jenny waved goodbye as Kyle wrapped his free arm around Lexi’s shoulders. She laid her head against her mate, traced her daughter’s cheek, and murmured, “Today is nearly perfect.”

“Nearly? If you mean your sister, she’ll be here next week.”

Her sister had ended up mating a dragonman from a different clan, but still visited when she could. “I know. But I’m also talking about Ashley Swift. She’s been really busy lately, but she always makes things fun with me and Jenny.”

However, Ashley’s mate was busy formalizing the alliances between all the Tahoe dragon clans. Even if the country as a whole had a long way to go, things were progressing in her part of the world.

She’d even helped plan the first human-dragon summer camp. She might not formally work for DOCS, but they hired her as a consultant sometimes, so she still helped the dragon orphans when she could.

He nuzzled her neck and murmured, “Aunt Rita is taking the children tonight for a sleepover, so I can help you have fun.”

His words sent a rush of heat through her body. “Hmm, could you?”

He lightly swatted her butt. “For that, I’m going to draw it out and maybe make you beg.”

“Good.”

His pupils flashed rapidly. However, before he could say anything else, Mika held up her stuffed dragon. “Fly, Daddy! Fly!”

After Kyle kissed her, he played with their daughter, holding her with her stomach facing the ground so she could pretend to fly.

Watching the formally so-serious doctor utter sound effects and make their daughter laugh made her heart warm.

She never would’ve guessed that some dragonman ignoring her emails and riling her temper would’ve ended up being her happy ending. But she wouldn’t have it any other way.