She sighed happily.
Damn, she wanted Ryan all to herself for days, no weeks, and then some. Hell, she’d settle for a few hours.
But since she wasn't about to try and sneak around in her parents' house when everyone should be getting up soon—not all of the walls were soundproofed and her family would hear everything—Gaby motioned to the attached bathroom. "We're going to have to take the fastest showers in history to have enough time for my dragon to try."
He tickled her side and she shrieked. "I can take a shower in a matter of minutes. Maybe I should help you, so it doesn't take forever."
Ryan let her up and Gaby raced to the bathroom.
And even though they were on their best behavior, there may have been some kissing. And definitely some fondling.
They were basically like newlyweds, after all. Although the sooner they could truly be mated and act like it freely in their own house, the better.
Ryan hated that he had to be vigilant of their surroundings as they walked toward the specified landing area near the security building, but he did it anyway.
There were families walking their children, young dragons heading toward a three-story building that was probably a school, and quite a few solo dragon-shifters walking to one place or the other, probably on their way to work.
It all seemed so normal. True, every once in a while, a dragon would fly overhead or jump into the air, but dragon-shifters weren't that different from humans. They were all just trying to live their lives to the best of their abilities.
If only more humans would realize that, maybe they'd stop being afraid of them.
Gaby squeezed his hand and he glanced down at his beautiful lady. She pointed to a structure that looked to be a duplex, with two houses sharing a wall. "That's where I live. Or, rather, lived. Now that I have a male and a baby on the way, I'm going to need something with a little more privacy." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "My neighbor is an older dragonwoman who would probably give us looks every morning since the walls are paper thin."
He chuckled. "Yes, let's give the woman her much-needed rest by finding somewhere else to stay once we can leave your parents' place." He studied the front of the duplex, which was painted a light brown with a few shrubs in the front. "Still, I wish we could stop and check it out, though. Just like your room back home, I'm sure it'd give me some insight into who is Gabriela Santos."
She snorted. "Better not, and not just because then I wouldn't have time to show you my dragon. I'm not the tidiest person in the world, and I was too anxious to get the whole lottery thing started to bother cleaning."
"Later, then. Because I really do want to see your dragon, not because a little mess bothers me."
His woman's pupils flashed. Ryan had be
come well-acquainted with the beast during the frenzy, but only when taking over Gaby's human form.
He wanted to pet and charm her inner beast in her natural element, too. Gaby had mentioned something about scratching behind the ears, so he'd most definitely start there.
He did have a question he'd burned to ask but had held back. No longer. "So I was wondering, will your dragon ever be able to take me up into the air?"
Gaby shrugged. "I honestly don't know. ADDA forbade it once a long time ago and I think it's still against the law."
He pushed aside his disappointment. "Hm, maybe there can be an exception for humans that live with a dragon clan? I know humans still worry about dragon-shifters swooping down to kidnap them, soar up to the sky, and then drop them to their deaths. It's sort of like a bogeyman for anyone who lives near a dragon clan."
Amusement danced in her eyes. "It's hard to imagine I'm the stuff of nightmares."
"So far, no. But I have yet to see your inner dragon dealing with pregnancy hormones."
He winked and she rolled her eyes. "It won't be that bad. Well, as long as you don't try to piss me off." She sobered. "Did your parents use those stories with you?"
He shook his head. "There aren't any clans close to Dallas where I grew up, so no. But when I moved to Phoenix about fifteen years ago, I heard it mentioned a few times."
Gaby tilted her head. "Well, we'll add it to the ever-growing list of things to persuade ADDA to change. At this rate, it's going to take a few lifetimes to accomplish it all."
He didn't like the defeated-sounding tone of her voice. "Hey, I'm sure we can get your brother's mate to help, and maybe a few others. It won't be just us."
"True. Although, let's keep Luna out of the loop, if we can. She'll probably try to seduce someone from ADDA and then use it to blackmail them to get what she wants."
Because ADDA employees couldn't fraternize with dragon-shifters. Ryan had read that somewhere, not that he could remember where. "I'll keep it from her for now, but I want to get to know Luna myself, too. Sometimes family acts one way with us and a different way with others."
She raised her brows. "But you are family now, Ryan."