With early morning light pouring in through the tall windows on either side of the room, she could see well enough to cross toward the kitchen without either night-sight charms or needing to turn on a lamp. So she should’ve been able to see Jack sitting at the kitchen table, eating something from a mixing bowl that sounded like cold cereal, but with Jack, it was never wise to make assumptions. Should have been able to see him. Hadn’t. Not until she was almost beside him and he blinked sleepily up at her. If he asked, she intended to say she’d been absorbed in plans to save the world. And that she’d meant to trip backward over the arm of the sofa, arms and legs flailing.

“You okay?”

“Fine.” Rolling off the sofa onto her knees, she stood, pulled on the pajama pants and T-shirt and walked into the kitchen.

“It’s just you kind of spazzed out and it looked like it might have hurt.”

“I’m fine,” she repeated, prying the lid off the coffee canister and spraying grounds all over the counter.

“So I can laugh.” When she flipped him off, he snickered and waved his spoon at the mess. “I could clean that up for you.”

“I don’t . . .”

“During my last growth spurt, the one where I got taller than you . . .”

“Shut up.”

“. . . . I spilled stuff all over the place. I got good at cleaning up and coffee grounds go everywhere. Let me help.”

“No, it’s all right, I can . . .” Charlie glanced toward him as she spoke and caught the quick flicker of gold in his eyes. “What?”

“It was only an offer to help you clean up,” he muttered. “Not to roll around naked with you until you smell like me instead of Allie and Graham.”

She lifted her arm to her nose. “I don’t . . .”

“Dragon.”

“Right.” Leaning against the counter, weight on one hip, Charlie yawned and ran both hands through the tangled mass of her hair. “Does it bother you?”

“A little.”

“I’m not . . .”

“Did I ask you to? It’s just . . .” There was suddenly a lot more scale and a lot less skin. “. . . I’m fighting instincts when you smell like them.”

“I didn’t know.” And Charlie’d thought the whole misaligned attraction between them couldn’t get any worse. Jack fighting instincts that might have even a remote chance of being dangerous to her babies would put Allie in full protection mode. The whole city would go into lockdown. “I’ll go shower.”

“Coffee first,” he snorted, tossing his twisted spoon into the empty bowl, mostly skin again. “It’s under control, and I worry about you drowning when you’re less than caffeinated.”

“Cute.”

“Thanks.”

Coffee sounded like a terrific idea.

“Does it affect the flavor?” she asked as a tiny whirlwind lifted the pile of spilled grounds back into the canister.