Sassy Ever After: Dragon Sass (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free Page B

side. His eyes were big, blue saucers behind his glasses, which made him look a little fish-eyed. His bright, red hair was a ginger mop, and golden freckles dotted his nose and cheeks. He looked up and gave her a gap-toothed smile. He was missing the top front two.
    “My mom said we could come see Francis Bacon.” The little boy spoke up without hesitation. It was hard to believe this was the reticent, timid child she had met just six months earlier.
    “We didn’t have an appointment?” Jules tilted her head at Carolyn, who gave a helpless shrug.
    “I know.” The woman ran a hand over her own mane of red hair, pulled back into a mommy-ponytail, looking down at her son. “I was just hoping you’d let him see the horse. He kind of insisted. All night long.”
    “You been giving your mom a hard time, Evan?” Jules put her hands on her hips and looked mock-sternly at the boy. Evan had a penchant for temper tantrums, something they’d been working on.
    “Pwease, Jewel?” Evan never added the “s” to her nickname. As if Down’s Syndrome wasn’t enough, the universe had given him a cleft palate at birth, which had left him with a speech impediment, even after it had been corrected. “I pwomise I just want to pet him.”
    “I think you should come back when you have an appointment,” Kai said, surprising her. Jules had almost forgotten he was there.
    She gave him a disapproving sideways glance. “Of course you can pet him. Let me get my boots on. I’ll meet you in the barn.”
    “Thank you so much.” Carolyn’s shoulders sagged with relief. “He just wouldn’t stop asking.”
    Jules headed to the bedroom, leaving Kai in the kitchen. She was sitting on her bed, pulling on socks, when he appeared in the doorway.
    “Well, I can see why you’re not making any money.” He leaned against the door frame, his body filling it, arms crossed over his chest. Those tattoos peeked out underneath the sleeves of his t-shirt, a hint of what lay underneath.
    “That’s none of your business.” Jules yanked on one of her riding boots and zipped it. “Didn’t I ask you to leave?”
    “What do you want me to do with the kittens?” Kai changed the subject.
    “I’ll take them out to the barn.” Jules pulled on her other riding boot and zipped it. “I’ll call Barb and thank her. Don’t worry about it.”
    She stood and headed out of the bedroom, but he was in the way. He didn’t move, even when she nudged him with her hip. He just stood there, looking down at her.
    “Did anyone ever tell you that you’re particularly stubborn?”
    “No.” She lied. The phrase her mother had most often said to her had been, don’t cut your nose off to spite your face . “Can you move, please?”
    Kai stepped back, making a sweeping gesture with his arm, with a slight bow. Jules rolled her eyes but went past him into the kitchen.
    She found the orange kitten out of the box already, padding around the kitchen table like it was Pride Rock and it was good to be the king. She swept him up into the box and hefted it in her arms.
    At the door, she struggled with the knob, nearly dropping the box and catching it at the last moment. The door was stuck again.
    “What would it take for you to ask for help?” Kai stepped around her and leaned against the wall, not moving to open the door or take the box. “Kerosene and a match, maybe?”
    “I don’t need your help.” She gritted her teeth and tried the door again. No luck. The box wobbled in her arms, kittens mewling with alarm.
    “You keep saying that.” Kai wrapped one long arm around the box, taking it from her, and pulling the door open with the other. “But I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
    She went past him without a word, going down the stairs of the wrap-around front porch and heading quickly toward the barn.
    To Jules, the smell of manure and horses was the most familiar and comforting one in the world. She suppressed a snort of laughter when she