Not that he'd expect her to do everything. Of course not. But Rhydian would need some help in the cooking department, and he could definitely use some liveliness in his life. Most of the time he didn't think much about living in North Wales inside a mountain or how gray and cold it all could be.
Delaney, on the other hand, could make him forget all about the cold.
His dragon's pretend nap ended and he chimed in. Go over to her. You don't even have to touch her, but I want to feel her heat and take in her scent. I know you want the same.
He placed the last bowl and as if of their own volition, his legs carried him right behind Delaney. He murmured, "Can I help you with anything?"
~~~
Delaney could feel Rhydian's heat behind her.
Even without touching, every inch of her skin was on fire in a good way. If she leaned back, then she could absorb some of his heat and chase away the slight chill that cave-living conditions seemed to cause her.
But if she did that and Rhydian wrapped his arms around her middle, she'd lean back and let him do whatever he wanted with her.
Part of her wanted exactly that. However, the part that constantly thought of Rian pushed it aside. The boy was mere feet away and waiting for his dinner.
A dinner that her own sister had made for him many times over, so much so that it'd become his favorite.
Thinking of her late sister and her nephew banished her awareness with an icy suddenness. Delaney stepped to the side and gestured toward the bread. "You can finish cutting that whilst I get the stew on the table."
She could've sworn Rhydian's finger brushed the top of her arm. However, he was cutting bread with gusto before she could even blink.
If Rhydian was interested in her—and she was fairly certain he was—that could be problematic for her boxing match idea. From everything she'd read about dragon-shifters, they were overly protective of their mates, family, and even clan.
Delaney may not be any of those things—yet, a small voice said inside her head—but if Rhydian was as aware of her as she was of him, it could be enough to cloud his rational mind.
Wanting to get both of the men in the room eating and on their way to food comas, Delaney carried the stew pot to the table and set it on the trivet. Rian danced in his seat. "Next time, you need to teach me more about cooking. I want to make stew every day. Stew, stew, stew. Yes, that would be brilliant."
She smiled as she dished it out to Rian's bowl. "If you eat something every day, you'll grow tired of it. Besides, this doesn't have as much veg as a growing boy needs."
"But I'm not a boy, I'm a dragon-shifter. And dragons need heaps and heaps of meat. Right, Rhydian?"
Rhydian chuckled, and Delaney's gaze instantly went to his face. When he smiled, it was as if ten years melted away. Rhydian replied, "Our dragon halves would love nothing more than to have meat all the time, but our human bodies need more. If you want to grow big and strong like Wren or any of the other Protectors, then you most definitely nee
d to eat a lot of vegetables, too."
Rian sighed dramatically. "But I don't want to eat them. Most of them taste like dirt."
Delaney was tempted to jump in, but she held back. Something about how Rhydian handled the boy fascinated her.
Rhydian put the breadbasket on the table. "That just means you need to try a new recipe. Lily has some Japanese recipes for spinach and pumpkin that most definitely don't taste like dirt. Maybe she can make that for you."
Rian wrinkled his nose. "Pumpkin? No one eats pumpkin. They're only good for carving faces, like I saw on TV."
"Remember what I said your first week here, about what you need to do with food?" Rhydian asked.
Rian slumped a fraction in his chair. "Try everything at least once. And if I don't hate it, try it again."
"Right. You never know what you truly like until you try things."
Delaney finally decided to jump in. "He's right, Rian. I never would've been a boxer if my dad hadn't made me try a bunch of different sports to find the one I liked."
Rhydian looked at her. "So that's how you become one, then."
She bobbed her head as she slid into her chair. "Originally, I had wanted to try ballet. But I hated it from the tenth second of my first practice. My dad then had me try all sorts of things, not limiting it to merely ballet or netball, like a lot of other girls. It took years, but by the time I was a teenager, I tried one last thing—boxing—and fell in love with it. If I'd stopped or given up, I never would've found something I loved, something that helped shape who I am today."
As Rhydian stared at her, his pupils flashed to slits and back. What she wouldn't give to hear his dragon's thoughts.