Dragon's Nanny MatchMate

by Maia Starr

  “Why did you leave me? How could you?” He was roaring now, taking a step closer as I shrunk and stepped away. I couldn’t speak, but I quickly understood that his mood was shifting again and that he was about to hurt me. Turning around in slow motion, I tried to run away. He swung his fists as equally as slow, but his words kept coming at a normal, angry speed. “You bitch! You never loved me! Why did you even date me in the first place if you were going to just run away? I hit you because I love you!”

  In the distance rose a miniature San Francisco, and despite looking like it would take days to walk there, I reached it within seconds, my hand reaching through.

  And then I sat up in bed, sweat pouring down my neck and cheeks, my eyes adjusting to the morning light. For a frantic moment, I thought I was back in Ken’s apartment, and I made to scramble out of bed...but then I stopped myself and listened to the silence in the room. I was the only one making noise. I couldn’t smell the stench of alcohol either, and there weren’t any beer bottles or cans strewn about.

  My heart hammered but began to slow with every unsteady breath I took. I looked at the clock above the motel TV, my mind focusing on every tic of the thin hand. A few minutes later, my heart had settled, and I’d remembered I was in San Francisco, a long way from where Ken lived.

  Rubbing my forehead and sighing, I went to get up and stretch. That’s when I noticed my phone and picked it up, turning it on to check emails and messages.

  As I threw open the window blinds to the parking lot, the sun shining brightly, I scrolled through my notifications, stopping on my text messages. There was a number there I didn’t recognize...until I open the text and read the contents.

  “Hey, Naomi! This is your agent from Fiery Hearts Inc. My name’s Audrey, and I’d like to inform you that the application you submitted has been approved! Congrats! The client came by yesterday afternoon to set up a meeting for today. Respond back ASAP to let us know if you can make it!”

  Blinking, I stood there until I felt my knees go wobbly with excitement. I nearly fell but managed to catch myself on the bed, holding myself steady with one hand. I read the text over and over again, forgetting all about the nightmare I just endured. Finally, finally! I was going to really start my new life here in San Francisco!

  The meeting was meant to be at nine in the morning. I figured I had enough time...until I glanced up at the clock. It was eight-forty, only twenty minutes from our scheduled meeting time.

  I dropped my phone on the bed as I ran to the bathroom, and then sprinted back to scoop my phone up and send my reply. “Yep! That...sounds...great. Will be there!” And then I rushed off to the bathroom to get myself cleaned up.

  I scrambled to strip off my clothes and step into the shower. Normally, I’d make the water scalding hot at first and work my way down to a lukewarm drizzle, but I didn’t have time to wait for the water temperature to change, so I stepped into the freezing water. If I wasn’t awake before, I definitely was now.

  Soon enough, I stepped out, drying myself off, working as quickly as I could to make myself presentable. The minutes ticked away, and it wasn’t until I threw open my luggage and quickly picked out a suitable outfit that I was finally ready to call an Uber to pick me up. I stepped out of my room and locked it behind me, double-checking I had everything I wanted and needed for the day ahead.

  It was already nine o’clock by the time my driver pulled up, and I knew I was insane, thinking I could have even remotely made it on time. The guy wasn’t doing me any favors by taking his time driving into the city, either.

  “So, you off to a hot date?” the guy said with a surfer accent.

  “No, a job interview,” I replied, checking the time every few seconds.

  “Well, hot damn! You’re sure to nail it because you look divine!”

  I rolled my eyes. Those types of comments were thrown my way all the time, more often than not by men who really just wanted to sleep with me and then move on. I wasn’t the type of girl to sleep around, so turning these men down was always a pain since so many didn’t know how to take no for an answer.

  “Hey, baby, I gotta drive people until around five, so if you nail that interview, which you will, how about you and I go celebrate at a bar? Or, if not feeling that, how about a good seafood restaurant I know?”

  Throwing on a fake smile, I cocked my head to the side. “Sorry! Already got plans.”

  “Oh, well, we could go tomorrow night.”

  My focus strayed from him once we came within sight of the Fiery Hearts building. It rose from the street like a wave of steel, flowing up and up. Somewhere inside was my client, the single father who was ready to hire me to become his new nanny.

  “Oh, shit, you’re interviewing here?” the driver said. “Well, good luck on that one.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered as he pulled to a stop, allowing me to quickly step out.

  “So, are we on for tom—”

  I didn’t wait to hear the rest of what he was saying as I slammed the door shut and briskly walked inside.

  Chapter Eight

  Alec

  “She’s late,” I said, staring down at my wristwatch.

  “Calm down, Alec,” Audrey said from where she sat in front of me. She crossed her legs, her arms resting comfortably on the armrests, a cool smile on her face. “Naomi Stark will arrive soon enough. I have a feeling that she’s been busy lately, and that you pulled the trigger a bit quickly.”

  I grunted, shifting my weight in the tight seat. I flexed my fingers, ran my hand through my hair. My inner dragon was getting restless, too, aching for me to run outside and shift and stretch my wings. I wanted to taste fresh air.

  Yet my new agent was infuriatingly calm and just kept watching me with that smile on her face.

  “Nine was a bit early for a meeting, especially from a new service like Nanny Hearts,” she continued.

  “Oh yeah?” I said, not really caring to hear about the service.

  “It is. I mean, we’ve only technically had the Nanny Hearts Service in operation for the past few months...so there’s bound to be some mistakes here and there.” She cocked her head and pointed at me. “Plus, you’re the first shifter to actually apply for a nanny. This is supposed to be a service for humans only...officially, anyhow.”

  I snapped back to her, raising my brow. “So then why accept me?”

  “Because Fiery Hearts Inc. is for dragon shifters first and foremost.” She sighed. “And because this service is an experiment. It’s to see how many people will use Fiery Hearts to find nannies. But, of course, the real reason is to see how many people will actually form real relationships with dragon shifters if they don’t know they’re dragon shifters in the first place.”

  Frowning, she now had my full attention. There wasn’t much else to do while I waited for this Naomi girl to walk in through the door. “The hell does that mean?”

  Audrey held up a finger. “Well, for instance, in some of our other services, we pair up human men or women with shifter women or men, but there’s often a recurring problem on the human side. The humans really just want to say they’ve dated or slept with a dragon shifter, and so often we find that our shifter clients give us a bad review because their partners use them and then leave them. Relationships can mean a lot for shifters, especially when shifters can go crazy without the right partner.”

  “Ah, so basically, you’re getting bad reviews online, and you’re trying to rectify that?” I said, laughing. “That’s cute.”

  Audrey’s smile soured. “Well, yes, but it’s also because, like I just said, there are plenty of shifters who have trouble on their own finding the right mate, so they come to us. We’re simply trying to do well by our shifter brethren.”

  That made me laugh too. It made sense that some humans would see shifters as a sort of relationship delicacy. We were hot, powerful, and extremely dangerous. There were plenty of people that were downright afraid of us simply because of our nature. Leading an entire clan, I’
d never really had the time to deal with that nonsense. Of course, Sandra was human...but that never really bothered me.

  Yet was Sandra just interested in me because she wanted to simply say she’d screwed an alpha dragon? I mean, we probably wouldn’t have stayed together if it weren’t for Fallon.

  Shaking my head, I stared out the window, watching as a plane flew by far up in the sky. I wanted to be out there, flying next to the plane, scaring everyone on the inside for fun before flying off to dive down to the strait.

  My thoughts turned to Fallon. He was still young, but I pictured him flying up there with me. He still had trouble fully shifting into his dragon form, like all young shifters did, but one day, he’d be a man just like me, and he’d be able to fly high and away. For a brief second, I thought about how Sandra would react to that, and then my brain went spiraling down as my anger over Sandra’s betrayal flared deep inside me.

  “Something on your mind, Alec? I don’t think your new nanny would be pleased to find you scowling at her the second she walked through the door,” Audrey said, eyeing me.

  “It’s nothing.” But it wasn’t nothing; I just wasn’t about to tell a stranger about my troubles. It wasn’t her business to begin with. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  Now it was Audrey’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “I’ve heard about some rumors recently...about how a powerful dragon shifter clan is beginning to pick a fight with the only other powerful dragon shifter clan in San Francisco. You wouldn’t...know anything about that, would you?”

  I glared at her before I could stop myself. The fewer people who knew about what was brewing between my clan and Levi’s clan, the better. None of us needed this little feud to blow up into a real war, except Levi. The last thing I wanted was to escalate things further by spreading rumors. I wasn’t about to destroy my home city just to give my rival the satisfaction of a good fight.

  I checked my wristwatch again. “She’s nearly an hour late.”

  “I heard that the two rival alphas of each clan already duked it out at one of their homes...it was all over the news. Plus, one of their wives cheated on one with the other. That’s a rather fascinating story, don’t you think?”

  A vein was popping in my forehead. If she continued to flap her lips, I was ready to stand up and storm out. I didn’t need to be reminded of what happened not so long ago. There wasn’t any point in mulling over the past, even if I couldn’t stop myself from doing exactly that.

  To keep myself calm, I began to count away the seconds, trying to ignore Audrey as she prodded me with questions. When I got to one hundred, the door opened, and in stepped the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

  Blonde and curvy, the woman stood in the doorway, meeting my gaze, her eyes widening as much as mine. We held our breaths, staring at each other until she composed herself and took a step in, shutting the door behind her.

  “Sorry about being late. I had a long night...um, anyway. My name is Naomi Stark. I’m going to be your new nanny.”

  Chapter Nine

  Naomi

  I didn’t know what to think when I entered the meeting room.

  I had hurried to the front desk only moments before and then was off to navigate the hallways and stairs of the first and then second floor. When the meeting room was finally in sight, I braced myself to meet with my new boss, not knowing what to expect.

  Well, actually, that was a lie. I expected to find an average joe on the other side of the door, one who maybe recently lost his wife or was cheated on, and therefore looking mopey while he sat, hunched over, waiting for me. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

  My new boss leaned back in his chair, his cheek resting on his upraised fist. His eyes, a crystal blue, had an uncanny ability to track my every movement from the second I opened the door. His hair was shaved on the sides, but long and blonde on top. And his muscles...he was ripped from head to toe, his body a V-shape and his graphic t-shirt and shorts trying not to rip at the seams from being so tight. Basically, I had no idea I would be staring this long at my model-like new boss. It’s guys like this that make most women fall at their feet.

  Suddenly there was movement to my right, and I noticed there was a woman in the room too. She stood, brushing off her blue skirt, and turned her plastered smile on me. “Naomi Stark, right? Please, take a seat. This here is—”

  My boss gave me a half-smile, his eyes rolling over my body as if it were already his plaything. I tried my best not to blush, or even think about doing anything other than speaking with him. “Name’s Alec. I’m your new boss...though I don’t think that’s set in stone just yet.” He turned his eyes on the woman.

  Blinking, I trudged over to the only other seat in the room, the one between Alec and the woman. I was very aware of both sets of eyes on me, particularly Alec’s. If I was going to work for him, I didn’t know how I’d be able to handle that intense gaze of his.

  “I’m Audrey, by the way,” the woman said, holding out her hand to shake. Her grip was firm. “Yes...well, I guess Alec here would simply like to go over your set of skills for being a nanny before officially hiring you. Is that right?”

  “Yeah...just a precaution.” Alec’s voice was a bit gruff, but that only added to his charm. I hung on every word he spoke and found myself smiling at the very sound of each syllable he uttered. Turning to me, Alec looked me up and down again. “Have you really worked as a nanny before? Because you look like a model. Models don’t really babysit as far as I know.”

  Gulping, I nodded. “Thank you for the compliment, but I have nannied many times before. They were all side gigs, nothing like this, but I’ve been told that I have great skills with kids, and most of the children I’ve nannied have always really liked me. And I’m not just pulling that out of my ass either. I assume you’ve seen my resume? I have a few references on there, but I’ve got a lot more that I didn’t add, or else my resume would have been way too long.”

  Alec raised a brow at that.

  “So, am I qualified? Yes, I am. But if you’re looking for definitive proof, they take me on for a week and let me show you what I can do.”

  Alec chewed his lip at that last part, and I was very aware of what he was thinking. I could only hope this man wasn’t in a relationship or else things could get very awkward.

  “You would be working with my son, Fallon. He’s nine years old, and...recently has been having trouble dealing with the breakup between his mom and me,” he said, his eyes pulling away and his voice going lower. I almost thought I heard a growl from him...but that would have been weird. Humans don’t normally growl. I blamed it on my nervousness, making me hear things. He was silent a moment, his brows furrowed, but then he blinked and was back before Audrey or I could say anything. “So, you think you can handle temper tantrums like his? I’ve tried to get through to him...but it’s not exactly working, not like it used to.”

  I nodded fervently. “I will do all I can to help your son feel at ease, not just around me, but in his situation.”

  Audrey clapped her hands together. “Wonderful! You seem very eager to get started, Naomi. That’s wonderful to see.”

  “Yeah, wonderful,” Alec reiterated, though there seemed to be a strain to his voice I couldn’t quite place. “The job would require you to live in the house with Fallon and me so that you’ll be ready to help him at any time. You’re okay with that?”

  I couldn't exactly tell him that I didn’t have a place to call home here yet anyway so that worked out perfectly. Though, again, living with Alec could be difficult. My mind ran through different situations where I ran into him with his shirt off after taking a shower, or where I was changing and he accidentally barged into the room. I wanted to fan myself from how humid it had become in the room. “Yes! I’m perfectly fine with that.”

  “And you’ll be in charge of things like groceries, laundry, helping Fallon with homework. I might even ask you to help with various tasks from time to time too. Is that fine with you?�
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  “Certainly.”

  Once again, Audrey clapped her hands together as if she were trying to hurry us along. “This is fantastic! I’m glad you’re so willing to tackle anything that’s thrown your way, Naomi. And you, Alec, how many more questions could you possibly have? If you’re finished, we can move on to the paperwork to get the bulk out of the way.”

  This time it was my turn to watch Alec as he thought for a few moments. He met my gaze briefly and then nodded. “Fine. Let’s move this along.”

  Chapter Ten

  Alec

  There wasn’t any other way to say it. Naomi Stark was goddamn beautiful. I had meant my comment about her looking like a model. Curvy, yet thin around the waist. Silky, pale blonde hair that reached down to her shoulders. Fair skin that was smooth and inviting. A clean smile that drew me in and hazel eyes that glittered when I spoke.

  It was hard to keep myself in check.

  I found it difficult to look away from her too. Being around her day in and day out sounded excruciating in the best way possible. My inner dragon roared for me to sleep with her, to let out my frustrations, and to use Naomi...but I wasn’t about to do that. Naomi seemed like a sweet woman, one who genuinely cared about her work and the people around her. I even felt guilty for a brief moment about deceiving her about what my true nature was. But I don’t think there was any doubt in my mind I was going to hire her. All that came next was getting the paperwork done and then moving on to actually showing her around the house.

  Naomi had all the qualities I was looking for in a nanny. Good with kids, lots of experience, and the ability to charm her clients. If she could charm me, she’d definitely get to Fallon. Of course, there was a difference between just hearing that she was good and seeing her in action. I hoped dearly bringing Naomi home wouldn’t backfire on me.