“Oooh, that’s my favorite!” Lia
na said eagerly. “It sounds weird at first, but when you actually try it—”
“—it’s such a perfect combination of sweetness with the slight bitterness of the tea,” Timothy finished.
For a moment, they looked at each other and grinned.
“You’ve got excellent taste for a billionaire dragon,” Liana teased.
Timothy laughed. “I’ve had pretty bad green tea flavored desserts in the city, ever since it became all the rage. But Noah here could take any flavor in the world and turn it into something amazing. Green tea donut day is my favorite day of the week.”
Liana took her half of the donut with the green glaze. Some of the generous, green filling oozed onto her fingers. She licked it off, then sighed in deep pleasure.
“This is amazing. Everything here’s amazing. I want to move into this coffee shop. How do you manage to keep this place a secret?”
Timothy leaned back, his eyes gleaming with pride. “Well, for one thing, it’s pretty hard to make your way here if you don’t know where you’re going. We only advertise to shifters. And there’s only one narrow road leading onto the peninsula, and no signs. Every now and then a tourist gets lost, but it doesn’t happen very often. There’s just no real reason for anyone to drive out here.”
Liana took a deep bite out of her green tea donut half. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the delicious flavor—the sweetness of sugar, the richness of cream, and the delicate green tea with just a hint of bitterness.
“Oh God, this is so good,” she sighed. “Please continue keeping everyone away so there are more donuts left for us.”
“Just wait until you try one of his cinnamon rolls for breakfast.” Timothy was licking some of the green filling off his own fingers with obvious delight. “Actually, let’s bring back a box of donuts so Braeden can have some, too.”
“Another guest?” the sheriff asked curiously.
Timothy nodded, but Liana noted that he didn’t elaborate on Braeden’s status as a captive fire dragon.
“He stayed back to cook. Actually, we should probably start to head back soon before he gets bored. I’ll give you a call later so we can catch up, sheriff.”
“Looking forward to it,” the man said. “Let me know if there’s anything I can help with.”
Determinedly, Liana slurped up the remaining mound of glittery whipped cream through her straw. For some reason, the final layer had turned blue, even though it had tasted like chocolate.
Magic or not, this was the best coffee she’d ever had, and the most entertaining too. And in the sexiest company as well.
Who’d have thought that sleepy but magical small ocean towns had so much to offer to an eternally single geek girl who usually spent her Friday nights with video games and Netflix?
Chapter Twelve: Timothy
“The sheriff’s a badger shifter,” Timothy said when they slowly walked back home, carrying a box of donuts.
“A badger?” Liana said in obvious surprise. “I would have thought a bear, or maybe another wolf.”
“Badgers are small, but mean and fierce when cornered.” Timothy grinned. “Or so the sheriff claims. I’ve never fought a badger, and don’t intend to. But he’s a good guy. Tenacious, and like all badgers, very loyal to his community.”
“I can’t imagine there’s a lot of crime here—what with you being a pretty scary dragon.”
Timothy laughed. “No, there really isn’t. At least not anymore. When we started building this community, we got into trouble with a rogue gang of sharks—I think there was smuggling going on here all along the coast, long before I bought the land. They started using it as a landing spot for drugs, but the sheriff and I put a quick end to that. We haven’t had any real trouble since, and we’re all working hard to keep it that way.”
Liana sighed deeply, leaning against him as they walked along the shoreline.
“You’ve built an amazing place here,” she said softly. “I’ve never lived somewhere rural. I guess I just assumed that it would be boring, and that there’d be nothing to do—but I love this place. Everyone’s so nice. And everyone’s magical!”
Timothy chuckled. “Want to see some real magic?”
He’d tried hard not to overwhelm Liana, although every instinct had his dragon desperate to show off and impress his mate.
But with the way she looked at him, her face animated and her eyes all warm and soft, it was impossible to resist.