by Maia Star
Snarling at the TV, I chucked the remote away from me. “Ugh! This is all so complicated.”
I was startled by the sound of my phone ringing. I flinched and stared, seeing an unknown number. Was it Audrey from Hybrid Baby Hearts? No, the number seemed different. For a split second, I wondered if it was someone from my old list of wealthy friends, or Hunter could be calling me. I hadn’t seen him since that weird night weeks ago, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still skulking around San Francisco.
Gulping, I picked up my phone and answered. “Hello?”
“Lily! It’s Felix.”
“Oh, Felix! I wasn’t expecting you to...nevermind. What’s up?”
“Just wanted to check in on you...hear that you’re doing okay.” He paused. “I wanted to call you up a week ago! But it took days of going to Fiery Hearts and chatting up those front desk girls to finally get them to slip me your number. I mean, I wasn’t going to just barge into your motel room or something if you were still there. That would have been stupid, and I bet you’d have been creeped out.”
I giggled. It was nice to hear his gruff voice again. “Yeah, I would have been. We aren’t supposed to be calling each other like this...but it’s good to hear from you.”
“So, how are you doing?”
I sighed heavily. “Honestly? Not good. I think I’m a little overwhelmed. I’m...definitely pregnant. I just tested myself minutes ago, and it was positive. So, congrats, I guess!”
Felix was silent on the other end for a beat. “I’m guessing you’ve never been pregnant before?”
“Nope! I’ve never had a child before.”
“Well, neither have I! Looks like we found something else in common, huh?”
My laugh echoed in the room, and I twirled a lock of my hair. “You really think you’re funny, huh?”
“Oh, I’m hilarious. I’ll have you know. My parents told me I could have grown up to be a comedian if I hadn’t gone into the publishing world.”
“What an image! You’d probably have been the world’s first famous dragon shifter comedian then.”
“Hey! There are a few dragon comedians. They just aren’t well known outside of our community.”
Holding myself, I tuned out the noise of the TV and focused on hearing every syllable of Felix’s words. “Hey, Felix?”
“Yeah?”
“This is going to be super embarrassing to say...but I need to get it off my chest. I’m scared. So, so scared right now. I’m in over my head, and I feel out of my league. Like, I have no idea what to do now. Do I go out and take walks? Do I just go shopping like everything’s normal?”
“You stay strong, is what you do.” He paused. “Listen, come over to my place for the rest of the day. Let’s just...relax and talk about whatever you want to talk about. I’ll treat you to lunch, and then dinner. And we’ll enjoy each other’s company. How does that sound?”
There were tears in my eyes now. My heart was melting. I tried to make sure I didn’t sniffle while I talked. It would have been too embarrassing. “But we aren’t supposed to meet up. It’s in the contract, remember? Gosh, even just chatting on the phone—”
“Lily. Stop. Come over. I’ll text you my address. I won’t let you feel like shit anymore, okay? You’re mine to protect. You’ve always got my shoulder to lean on. Always.”
I nodded, still crying, and then realized he couldn’t see me. “Okay. Sounds good. Yeah, I’ll come over. Now?”
“Yeah, now.”
“I’ll go get ready then.”
“Just take your time, Lily. Try to take deep breaths. You’re special, so make it a point to make yourself feel special.”
I nodded absently again. “See you soon?”
“See you soon, Lily.”
I hung up and tossed my phone onto the bed, a smile forming on my face. Contract be damned, I guess. Rising to my feet, I hurried over to the bathroom, suddenly feeling a new surge of energy. There was just something about the confidence in Felix’s tone that made me so sure about everything he said. He was right; I would be okay. I could lean on his shoulder from time to time, no matter what our contract said. Who cared if we got closer, anyway?
Suddenly, I felt like a high school girl ready to go on her first real date. I was rummaging through my clothes, trying to pick the best outfit.
Who knew meeting a dragon shifter would be so exciting?
Chapter Eleven
Felix
Jogging was one of the few ways I worked off the excess energy that flooded my veins. When I had called Lily earlier, I was practically ready to charge out the door, shift into my dragon form, and soar towards her. After the phone call, I had to stand and pace, and soon enough, I was running out the door, going on a jog to distract me long enough until she arrived. Shoving my phone in my pocket in case she called again, I took off down the winding road that was technically part of my private property. It was nice being rich sometimes.
It wasn’t until I reached my private beach that I had the urge to shift and let go. My inner dragon was raging inside, waiting to see Lily. Its desire was practically overflowing, so I gave into my wilder instincts and pounded down the boardwalk steps to the sand, kicking it up behind me as I shifted. Letting my current clothes rip to shreds, I grew into the brown dragon I always had been on the inside and flapped my wings to rise high into the sky.
The wind was gentle on my wings and felt good on my underbelly as I shot straight up. When I got high enough, I let out a wild roar, screaming out my desires from the bottom of my lungs, and then I let myself fall back and plummet to the water below. Like always, I let my instincts take over on when I wanted to get back on course and avoid crashing into the ocean water. So I plummeted, and at the very last second, I righted myself and darted forward to land on the beach.
I huffed and puffed, straining my neck to look at the glare off the waves, and that’s when I heard my phone ringing from the ripped pocket of my pair of running shorts. Shifting back into my human form, I jogged over but didn’t manage to pick up the call in time. Caller ID said Lily had called, so I smiled, picked up all the pieces of my shredded clothes and tossed them in the trash, and took off down the road.
A few minutes later, I came up within view of the front of my tiny house. I saw a cab do a three-point turn and take off in the opposite direction. Lily stood in front of my house, staring at it and clutching a red baseball cap in her hands behind her back. She seemed wary, as if she were afraid to touch the doorbell or knock on the front door.
When I got to my driveway, Lily heard my panting and turned around. “Felix? Oh! Why are you naked?” Her cheeks went pink, and she turned away, using her hat to cover her eyes as I walked up to her.
I chuckled, placing my hands on my hips. “What? We’re both adults here. Besides, we’ve seen each other naked already, Lily.”
“That’s not the point! Were you jogging naked?” she said, flustered. She peeked at my face over the brim of her hat, straining to keep herself from looking below. “Is that a natural habit of yours?”
Shaking my head, I walked up to the front door and entered the code to unlock the front door. “If it makes you feel better, I had the urge to shift, and I couldn’t stop myself from tearing up my clothes. Ah, the problems of us shifters!” I shrugged and stepped inside, where my AC blasted me with nice, cool air. “If you want, you can stay outside while I go change, or you can come inside and relax out of the sun. It’s up to you.”
While she avoided looking at my hips, she nodded and followed me in, closing the door. “I’ll stick it out inside, I think.”
So off I went to my bedroom, changing into a simple t-shirt and summer shorts, coming back out to see Lily leaning over the marble globe I have set up in my living room. Locks of her golden hair fell over her face, nearly touching the globe as she slowly spun it with a finger. Out of all the women I had dated before, Lily was the most beautiful. She was like a model, or a movie star, which made me wonder why she seemed to lack any v
anity. It was like she was too humble, at least from what I’d seen so far.
She threw me a glance as I strode into the kitchen, which was just across from my living room. Opening the fridge, I took out a jug of orange juice and pulled out a tall glass from a cabinet. “Want something to drink?” I asked.
“No...I’m fine.”
I clicked my tongue at that. “Oh yeah? It didn’t sound like you were fine when we talked on the phone earlier.”
She made a grumbling sound, and when I turned around, I saw she’d crossed her arms and was frowning at me. Sighing, I tapped the counter. There were stools underneath, so I pulled one out and sat down, taking a swig of sour orange juice. “Sit with me, Lily.”
She hesitated, but then rushed over, taking her place opposite me, tossing her purse onto the counter. “So…”
I raised a brow. “So? I take it you’re doing a little better than before?”
She nodded, a small smile on her face. “A tiny bit, yeah. I mean...I’m pregnant now.”
“With my child.”
“Um, yeah, though it’s weird to hear you say that out loud.”
I scoffed. “It’s not weird to me.” I grinned. “It seems pretty natural, actually.”
Lily looked like she wanted to press me on that, but instead, she hugged herself and glanced around. “You really are the CEO of a publishing company, aren’t you?”
“What, you didn’t believe me before?”
“No, it’s just...I don’t know. My mind’s been wrapped up in so many things recently. The last month has been kind of stressful.”
Chugging down the last of my orange juice, I slammed the glass down on the counter and slid it closer to my sink at the other end. “You mean with Hunter? Is that guy still hounding you?”
“No, not that. Hunter was just a surprise, is all,” she said. She met my eyes, and once again, I was pulled deep into those vast, green fields. Her eyes could sway any man. “Look, I’m recently divorced, okay? And it wasn’t my decision either.”
I raised my brows, leaning forward. “So that’s why you wanted me to drop you off at the motel!”
She nodded, the sadness in her eyes killing me on the inside. “Yeah, I’ve been living there the last few weeks or so. It’s why I signed up for the Hybrid Baby Hearts service as a surrogate mother. I needed the money so I could find a place to live and get food for myself. Not that I was struggling financially just yet. My ex-husband was a CEO too, so I’m used to the luxury.”
I reached forward and grabbed her hand. She didn’t pull away, glancing up at me as I spoke. “Well, I’m going to go ahead and say it: your ex-husband is an asshole. And you seem to have terrible taste in partners.”
She giggled. “You haven’t even heard the reason why he kicked me out yet!”
I waved my other hand. “I can feel it deep down in my heart. Whatever the reason is, it’s bogus. Simple as that. You need someone that can really protect you and care about you.” My inner dragon was raging in agreement. Everything about this woman felt right to me as if she were meant to be beside me all the time. “So, you still don’t have a place yet to call your own?”
Shaking her head, her hand tensed around mine. “No, I haven’t even seen the first paycheck for being a surrogate mother yet, since I only just confirmed this morning that I was pregnant. It might be a while yet before I find a place.”
I cocked my head. “If you could live downtown, would you?”
Blinking, she nodded. “Well, yeah, I’d say so. I love downtown San Francisco.”
“Are you fine in a smaller place?”
“Why are you asking me?”
I grinned. “Just answer the question.”
She thought for a moment and nodded. “Honestly, I’m a little sick of being in such a big house.”
I unlocked my hand from hers and rose to my feet, swiping up my phone. “I’m going to make a phone call really quick. Feel free to hang out until I’m back. I shouldn’t be too long.”
She watched me saunter away with her jaw hanging open.
Chapter Twelve
Lily
The first thought I had when Felix suddenly got up and left the room was that he was arrogant. He probably thought he looked cool being all mysterious. And...while that mysteriousness did intrigue me, it also left me concerned. Who exactly was he calling, and why?
Some part of me believed he was calling up the Hybrid Baby Hearts agency to ask them to abort his child and change women, but the more reasonable side of me said that wasn’t the case. Felix wasn’t a bad guy, and he didn’t seem to be selfish like that.
I placed a hand over my stomach, remembering that a child would grow inside of me over the next nine months. And not just any child, but his child. A dragon shifter’s kid. Thinking about that frightened me...but thinking about the other possibility of maybe falling for Felix, and maybe becoming more than just a surrogate mother, was nice to think about.
Sighing, I rose from my stool and stepped back, glancing around the front of his house. Saving for the hallway, most of his house was in an open floor plan, at least upfront. His living room was small but packed in tightly with all sorts of books and trinkets. Casually strolling around, trying to get my mind off of the possibility of becoming Felix’s lover, I began to let my curiosity get the better of me. I flipped through thin books and rummaged through stacks of newspapers that were clumped on the floor. I even found a row of pictures and portraits in glass set on a table behind his couch.
Picking one up, I saw Felix in it, his smile as wide as ever, his arm wrapped around a woman that looked like him. Another man stood on the other side. Maybe Felix’s sister and her husband? Placing that down and moving onto the next, I picked up one with Felix and that same woman, but with two elderly folks standing beside them. His parents. Just the thought of Felix having parents made me smile; he clearly loved them. More pictures showed Felix and some of his dragon shifter buddies, a few of them shifted for the photos.
Finally, when I put the last picture down, I noticed something red peeking out from underneath the couch. Kneeling, I picked at it and pulled it out, finding myself bringing up a red lace bra. Frowning, I quickly tossed it aside.
And clearly, Felix likes his women.
It was like my whole view of Felix was clouded. He was so pure just a second ago, but then I go and find some girl’s bra just hanging out beneath his couch as if it wasn’t the thing out of place, but I was instead. When I sighed and rose to my feet, I noticed something sticking out from under a stack of novels on the little coffee table to the side of the couch. It was a folded slip of paper, and when I opened it up, the first thing I noticed was a red lip stain. Some girl had kissed this sheet of paper, leaving a pair of red lips behind. A note was written underneath the kiss: Call me. I’ll be waiting to ride you like an animal again, sweetie.
My stomach churned, and I nearly ran outside to vomit on his driveway.
Who am I kidding? Of course, I should have expected to find little notes like these laying around. I mean, just look at him! He’s practically a playboy. Gorgeous, rich, and yes amazing in bed. I barely knew him and suddenly who he spent his time with was strange to me? Wasn’t he just messing around with me at this point? Teasing me like he probably did with most women? I kept forgetting that we had signed a contract. No real feelings were supposed to grow between us. Maybe he’d just been fooling me this whole time, and maybe all dragon shifters were assholes like him.
Or...maybe I needed to take a second to breathe and calm down.
Tossing the note into the air to float down to the floor, I stalked back over to the kitchen where I could look out over the road that led up to his house. I inhaled and exhaled, trying to relax. The stress had been getting to me lately, and right now was no different. Felix wasn’t the type of guy to run me around. I couldn’t believe that. He was better than that. And, even if I couldn’t be with him in the end, we could at the very least be friends after all this. His life before me was no
ne of my business.
Yet it still bugged me.
“Ugh!” I began to pace, crossing my arms and waiting for Felix to come back out. I could hear his muffled voice talk with someone on the phone, laughing, getting excited. Was I sure he wasn’t talking to some other girl? Why did he need to make a call in the first place?
It wasn’t until I walked to the door, my hand on the knob, ready to walk out, that Felix sauntered back in. He was grinning, though when he saw me about to walk out, that grin faded a bit. “Where do you think you’re going?”
I smiled innocently. “Oh, just looking to get some fresh air.” Then I pointed towards the couch. “You know, you really should learn to clean up your place. I found a bra under the couch, and a note under those books…”
He frowned in confusion and shook his head. “I’ll throw that stuff out later.” He paused. “Wait, are you jealous?”
“I’m not jealous!”
“You are!” he bellowed out in laughter, causing me to walk right up to him and slap him across the face. He didn’t seem to care, and when I wound up my hand for a second smack, he caught my wrist and pressed his forehead to mine. His skin was hot, nearly scorching. I felt myself calm down and take some deep breaths. “That makes you even more adorable. But forget about those other girls for the time being. They’re out of my life...and besides, I’ve got a surprise for you.”
Blinking, I stepped away, rubbing my forehead. “A surprise? What are you talking about?”
Felix continued to laugh as he walked over to the living room, reaching down to grab keys from a wooden bowl. The keys jingled as he held them up for me to see. “I got you an apartment.”
It took a few seconds for that revelation to set in. But when it did, my heart leaped into my throat. “You what?”
“I got you an apartment. In downtown San Fran,” he said casually, stuffing the keys in his pocket. “Want to head over and see it now? I haven’t seen it yet, but it sounds nice. If you don’t like it, I can look for another one.”