“No, most are the many times great grandchildren of the humans who were loyal to us, well, to our ancestors, before they were cursed. They came of their free will. That is the thing. You have to come of your own free will.”
“Well, there is a problem here then. I am most assuredly not here of my own free will.”
“You didn’t let go,” he pointed out, “Not even when you could have.”
“I was dangling above the city,” she shot back snidely. “And you were abducting my bestie.”
“Bestie?”
“Best friend.” She sighed. “Is there really no way for us to get back like right now? I really do need coffee, and I really do have to get to work too.”
Remorse filled him. “I am sorry, I am. I didn’t intend for any of this to happen.”
Her eyes held his. “What were you doing in my world anyway? Besides trying to buy some hapless woman’s uterus?”
“That was pretty much it.” He stared at the wood stacked inside the stove. “I have to have a child.”
“Why? I mean…why did you need Heather?”
“I need a human woman, or a dragon female who lives in your world. It’s complicated.”
“Does every female here hate you so much they refuse to have children with you? Color me not shocked.”
He glared at her. “No. I…my father broke a law. The punishment is that he could not have children. Since he had already had children and killing me would break the same law, they had to decide that the punishment would extend to me. So, I am not allowed to have children with any of the women on this world.
She ran a finger along the top of the stove, frowned and surveyed the tip of it. “I see. So, what did your father do that was so horrible?”
“He killed another dragon. The laws they made after they were made, or rather, turned into dragons, specifically forbade it. They were hoping to be able to keep the peace that way.” He looked around for a match, saw none, and let a thin stream of smoke funnel out of his mouth. He heard her say, “Oh shit! It’s grease,” but it was too late.
The fire touched the stove. Flames immediately leaped into life, and some of them were running along the top of the stove!
He let out a shout and grabbed the water faucet. He sent a blast of water at the stove, but that just made it all so much worse. She moved past him, smelling like flowers and sleep, and grabbed something from a cabinet. She cried out, “You don’t put water on a grease fire! Here!”
White flour flew into the air and hit the top of the stove. A nasty burning smell and gray smoke filled the room. He coughed, and the coughing got worse when she aimed a handful of flour at his face!
His fingers clawed at the stuff. He gasped out, “What are you doing?”
“Making sure the fire is out,” she said in a distracted voice.
He wiped his face. Little bits of flour drifted through his fingers. He shook his head, sending more of it flying from his hair and face. He bellowed, “I can’t burn to death!”
She stared at him. Then her hands went to her mouth. Laughter erupted around her fingers. She gasped out, “I am so very sorry. Really. I got scared.”
“You threw flour in my face!”
She stepped closer. Her fingers came out and up, and she rubbed at his forehead. His body went rigid. Her breasts were a bare half inch from his chest, and he could smell that sleep and soap smell again stronger now. She took a deep breath, and he could feel the tips of her nipples brush against his skin, the lightest and most fragile of strokes and caresses he had ever known, and one that inflamed his senses so much that he took a quick step back. He said, “It’s okay. I don’t think that stove’s all right though.”
She glanced at it. Her mouth curved upward. “Me either.”
They set to scrubbing it. It took a bit of doing but they got it and the tea kettle filled and heating. When the tea was in her cup, she took a long sip and then her eyes went wide. “Wow! It’s strong, like really strong. That will wake you up. What is it?”
“It grows here. I do not really know the name of it. It’s just tea.”
She ran her slender fingers around the rim of her cup. “I bet there’s a few coffee shops that would pay a fortune for it.”
He chuckled. “In your world, probably. But we don’t have money here.”
Her mouth dropped open. “How do you pay for stuff?”
