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“Do you know you’re still wearing that hat?” Milo asked, looking up.
“Yes.” He most certainly did not know that.
“Were you aware that it says ‘I heart titties’?”
Rowan ripped it off his head in a flash, turning it around and coming to the horror-struck realization that yes, yes it did say that.
“This isn’t mine!” he said, trying to free himself yet again from the awful decisions of his past self.
Milo tilted his head. “Do you not like titties, then?”
“I like men.”
Milo chewed his straw. “Men can have titties too, y’know.”
That was…true. “Titties are fine, okay? I just don’t like them enough to put them on a hat!”
Milo snatched the hat from him and shoved it on his own head. “Guess I’ll be part of the man-titty-loving brigade on my own, then.”
Why was that doing something for Rowan? How on earth could that be doing something for him? He found himself moving his hand up unconsciously to cup his own pec.
Did Milo think he had nice titties?
WHAT WAS HE EVEN THINKING? He needed to get out of here right now. “Keep the hat. I gotta go.”
“Wait!” Milo grabbed his arm and Rowan almost went into cardiac arrest. “I need to talk to you about the whole dragon thing.”
Rowan ripped his arm away, hating that his skin was tingling and his stomach was fluttering. “I think you already did. That whole coffee shop thinks I’m a weird pervert!”
“I feel like that was half your fault.”
“I didn’t bring it up!”
“Can you stop getting your wings in a twist? I just want a little information. It’s not exactly fair of you to spring this dragon thing on me and then bounce like you did last night.”
“I didn’t spring it on you! You’re the one who went your whole life without noticing,” Rowan said, still refusing to think about last night. “I’m not the dragon whisperer.”
“But you are a dragon. So go through the SparkNotes version for me.”
“I can’t just download a tutorial into your brain on a lunch break.”
“We can try.”
“It takes years to learn.”
“…We can try really hard.”
Rowan pressed a claw into his temple in exasperation. “There’s no way I can tell you all about beta and alpha shifts, about mating and how that works, about nesting, about dragon family bonds, about dragon children, about elemental fire, about different breeds, about hoards and how important they are and how they’re displayed and regarded as precious by other dragons—”
“Other dragons think your dragon hoarding is precious?”
“It’s not hoarding. It’s a hoard,” Rowan growled. “And yes, of course they do. Our company builds places so they can be displayed. It’s what your building was supposed to be. Hoards are to be revered. No one can touch another dragon’s hoard without consent.”
“I don’t have a hoard.”
Rowan snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. “You must have a hoard. You’re a dragon.”
Milo shook his head, ridiculous hat and all. “I don’t collect things. The kleptomania must have skipped my DNA.”
