Here Be Dragons

My whole life, I thought dragons were majestic, wise, and fearsome creatures. Not to mention fictional. It's been less than a year since that last belief was debunked. Dragons are real, they're now living among us, and I'm the lucky realtor who gets to sell a house to their leader. I just have to impress his representative first. No problem—I'm a professional. Except the dragon rep turns out to be the guy I hooked up with last night, and he's fast disproving everything I believed about dragons. Unless "wise" actually means "addicted to glitter."

After half a century of chaos, my retirement from leading the Community of Species Government has been bliss. No more hellhounds playing pranks. No more snippy demons demanding my attention. No more cajoling money from the wealthy to support the community. Just peace while I avoid my overbearing father and try to work out my next steps. Although...maybe three years of peace is enough. It might even be starting to get boring. In fact, an adolescent dragon crash-landing on my landlord's shed is just the kind of excitement I need - especially when he brings his species leader to my door.

For two years, I've been pining over Professor Sarris. I knew the moment I saw him that we were meant for each other, but it's not to be. For one thing, I was his student, and he's the most ethical man I know. For another, he has no idea I'm actually a four-thousand-year-old dragon from another dimension. When my people fled to Earth to avoid extinction, I vowed to clean up my life and stop acting like a fledgling. It's bad enough that nobody takes me seriously...sure, maybe I used to be flighty and irresponsible and caused a few interspecies incidents, but that's all in the past.

I'm a simple dragon. Give me knowledge, give me research, give me rings for my hoard, and give me athletic men who want to get sweaty between the sheets . . . or anywhere else. Those things make me happy. Other things . . . well, who cares about those? Turns out, I should have cared. Or at least paid attention. Because I somehow signed up for a scientific study run by a shy, nerdy sorcerer with the body of a god. And the study just happens to be about my favorite form of exercise.

It's no secret that I'm hard to handle. People get annoyed by me. Sometimes they're amused, but not for long. It's not easy to deal with a paranoid conspiracy theorist, and I stretch everyone's patience. Everyone except Wil. He was there at the beginning, when I left my old life behind, and he's stuck with me since. He's been my friend when no one else wanted to. Patiently taught me how to fit in. He's the one person I know I can rely on. He's the only man I can see myself ever being with. The only man I would want to spend eternity with.