by Jada Cox
“Now we’re talking!” she said, clapping her hands. “Spill the beans.”
“I’d rather not,” I said. “It was really embarrassing.”
“Was he old? Bald? Fat? How could that be embarrassing?”
“Because he took his shirt off after I tripped and threw coffee all over him.”
Margaret burst out laughing. “Oh honey, you are fantastic. When are you going to learn how to walk? You were supposed to master that during your first year of life. Surely, at this point you should have it down?”
“Hardy, har, har,” I said dryly. “I’m just not going to wear heels anymore.”
“Oh no,” she said. “No, no, no, no. You need to wear heels all the time if it leads to men taking off their clothes.”
“You’re terrible,” I said.
“You, my dear friend, need yourself a guy. A good-looking guy—a Mr. Hotty McHot-hot, in fact. A guy you can love and leave. You’re too uptight. When was the last time you got laid?”
“I don’t want to talk about this,” I groaned. “Can we please drop it?”
“Fine, but I’m going to get some wine in you, and you’re going to tell me all about this client of yours.”
I pointed a finger at her. “Alright, but first you march your happy ass down to the store and get shampoo. Do you see the state of my hair today? This cannot happen again.”
Margaret laughed. “Fine! I’ll get shampoo. Should I pick up some grub along the way?”
“Yes, please!”
Chapter 4 – Julian
My confidence was beginning to waver. While I knew she was my mate and that I was destined to be with her, whether or not she knew that was an entirely different matter.
I knew she was human as soon as I opened the door and smelled her. Not that humans smelled bad, they just had a distinct scent. They held themselves differently, ever so slightly, and they were oblivious to the sounds and scents that we shifters picked up. And Cora’s being a human could be a problem.
I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was my mate. But humans did not have this concept, at least, not as concretely as shifters did. What if she never felt attracted to me like I was to her?
I knew that she was somewhat attracted to me. I could see how nervous she was, and while I knew that she was walking into a new situation professionally, I could smell sexual tension before a person even knew they were feeling it.
But was she just feeling sexually attracted to me or was she attracted to me on the deeper level on which I was attracted her? What if she only saw me as some good-looking guy rather than a potential partner? I’d never tried to explore winning a woman over before. My interests had always been carnal, and because of that, my goal was more toward deterring women from getting attached rather than encouraging it.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t ever had a relationship. There were a few girls who stuck around with me when we were younger, before we built up the business and sold it, before we earned our money with investments. And those girls certainly had a special something about them, but they were never going to last. I knew that, and they knew that. We were just together to experience that time of our lives together, and we always naturally grew apart.
I was even lucky enough that I had never experienced a bad breakup. There were a few girls who had been hook-ups for a night or occasionally for a week or so, who I needed to let down and inform that what was going on was nothing more than a fling, and those didn’t always go as well as I would have hoped. But they were the worst of it.
Trying to get a woman to like me, to love me, to decide to spend the rest of her life with me after having only met her for a few hours in the morning—this was an entirely new experience for me. I didn’t even know where to begin.
I checked my phone all afternoon after she left. I hung out with the guys and tried to joke around with them, tried to pay attention to what they were talking about, their ideas for the future of our investments, and so on, yet none of it kept my focus.
“Are you guys cooking yet?” Malcolm said as he let himself in the front door.
“Who let the riff-raff in?” Cory demanded as he went to greet our friend and now neighbor. He was the sixth person in our business enterprise. Soon after we’d bought this house, he’d moved in to the itty-bitty house a few doors down with Violet, his mate.
“We’re going to have to change the code on that lock,” I said. “Thought we’d gotten rid of you.”
“You should be so lucky,” he said.
I checked my phone. It was seven in the evening. Cora said she would call that afternoon to arrange the next time she came over, yet I hadn’t heard anything from her. She’d forgotten. That was all. Except that the little voice of doubt was whispering in my ear. I had never heard this voice before, and it was not a welcomed voice.
“So what are we cooking tonight?” Malcolm repeated. “I brought some steaks over. They’re in a cooler by the door.”
“We already ate,” Wyatt said. “You missed it. Mexican.”
“You’re still not cooking for yourselves?” he asked. “Man, I leave and all domestication goes right out the window.”
“I can eat again,” Quin said, patting his stomach under his tank top. “I have been drastically underfed.”
“Sweet,” Malcolm replied. “I was thinking barbecue by the lake?”
“Then we take flight?’ Cory suggested. “It’s been ages since I’ve flown. I’ve not been comfortable enough around here yet to do that.”
“It’s a new moon tonight,” Quin replied, thoughtfully. “It’s a better night to do it than under the full moon.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I think I need to stretch my wings.”
Maybe a night with the guys, especially since we had Malcolm back with us for the evening, would help me take my mind off things.
We lugged the barbecue down the trail the whole mile to the lake. We were pretty strong, stronger than most shifters since we were all Dragons, but it didn’t make it any less of an awkward shape to carry.
I had thought that I should leave my phone at home to stop myself from looking at it. But it somehow made its way into my pocket anyway. To keep my hands busy, so that I could at least keep myself from checking the screen of the damn thing for the walk, I offered to carry the propane tank, which I hoisted onto my shoulder on one side, while I carried the cooler with thirty pounds of steaks in the other hand.
“You think we’re going to eat thirty pounds of meat?” I asked.
“It’s not just meat,” Malcolm said. “There’s like potatoes and some vegetables in there too.”
“You want us to eat rabbit food?” Cory asked, aghast.
“Just because we’re Dragons doesn’t mean we’re not also human,” Wyatt said from the front of the line, carrying the camping chairs we’d recently acquired, three under each arm. “We can enjoy vegetables, too.”
“Says you,” Cory said.
“Says me,” Wyatt retorted.
The night was perfect. The day had been warm and humid, but as the evening settled in, the moisture in the air dropped into the lake, giving us some much-needed relief from the heat. We had a fire pit that we’d built soon after moving to the property, carefully dug into the earth and lined with rocks to prevent any potential fires. We kept a large barrel to collect rainwater for any emergencies we would need and a few spare buckets in case we needed to fish the water from the lake.
We built a fire in the pit and tossed the potatoes and vegetables into it, all wrapped in tinfoil, before we set up the barbecue and set to work on the steaks. I took my spot in the camping chair and pulled out my phone.
Nothing.
What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I leave my phone alone? I had never been this obsessed with getting a call, at least not when it came to romantic prospects. Business calls, sure. But this was something else entirely.
The guys were all jokes and talk, Malcolm telling us how things were going in his security position and pitching Wyatt and Quin cr
ap for not getting a job of their own yet. Dain was doing night work at a junk yard, keeping thieves from picking through at night, though he was looking to move on to something different.
None of us expected Cory to do anything. He seemed quite content to just listen to music all the time and joke around. Why would he need to do anything? We were set for the rest of our very long lives. Our investments would continue to come in and pay for the lavish lifestyle we had.
I was still considering what I wanted to do, if I wanted to do anything. I was enjoying working toward making the house a home for us, and that had been the majority of my focus since we moved in. I hadn’t had the time to be bored like the rest of them. Part of me still wanted to travel, but it was sounding like the guys were pretty tired of being on the road.
My mind wandered to the idea of taking Cora traveling with me, maybe seeing Europe or taking a boat across the Mediterranean into Africa. I loved the idea of just going over to that side of the pond and seeing where life took us.
Us. There was always an “us” when I thought about a trip like that, though I hadn’t known until now who I wanted to go on that adventure with. Now I did.
I checked my phone again.
Nothing.
“I’m going to let the grill heat up for a bit,” Malcolm said. “Anyone down for a flight?”
It was a stupid question. We were always down for a flight.
We all began removing our clothes, looking out over the lake. Cory was the first to take off, a sleek black form rippling up into the night, then Wyatt, golden even in the moonless sky, then Quin, Malcolm, and Dain. I stood on the shore, watching my friends leave their human form and slip into their Dragon form.
My own Dragon slithered within me, urging me to be released. My fingertips tingled for the cool of the breeze under my arms, my body to flow on the air currents like floating along a river. But my mind wasn’t there. I couldn’t seem to shift away from my human focus, from my thoughts of Cora.
“Cora,” I breathed, feeling my Dragon pulse heat within me. It wasn’t just me. My Dragon wanted her, too. The two minds within me aligned into the same want. I wasn’t separate from the beat within me. I was in unison.
My human mind released control, and my Dragon took hold, pushing forward into his scales and bounding forward into flight.
I caught up with my friends, and we sored, turned, tumbled, and weaved among the clouds, cloaked by the blackness of the night.
It was so rare that we were able to shift. While we often felt ourselves somewhat superior to other shifters at times because we were so rare, so much stronger, and had that added benefit of being able to breathe fire, there was always a part of us that envied other Animals. A Bear being in an odd part of the country was just something odd. A Dragon being seen anywhere would arouse far too much suspicion and concern. We were more likely to elicit gun shots toward us, though they would have little effect on us. Our scales were strong though soft like snake skin, and whatever did manage to puncture us was quickly healed.
Still, we took precautions. Why tempt fate? Why raise questions to begin with?
We flew until our wings grew tired, and then we dove into the lake to swim back to our barbecue.
I woke early in the morning and checked my phone. No notifications whatsoever. I restarted my phone to make sure it was working and even asked Dain to shoot me a text to double check.
What was wrong with me? How was I so obsessed with this woman? I had never been strung along by someone before. Was this how that felt?
Finally, I decided I didn’t need to wait any longer. After all, she did say she was going to call me to say what her schedule said. So long as I called her during office hours, it was perfectly appropriate, right?
I dialed the number on the card she had handed me when she left the day before and paused before I hit call. I ran through my reasoning again to make sure it was completely appropriate and not actually creepy. Then I hit call.
I held my breath as I waited for her to answer. It rang once. Twice. On the third ring, she answered.
“Cora Stein speaking,” she said.
“Cora,” I said. “Hi. It’s me, Julian, from yesterday. You wanted to paint my walls with coffee, remember?”
She paused a moment, and I realized that while opening with a joke was a good idea, that wasn’t the right one. “Julian, hello. What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to check in with you. You said you would get back to me yesterday after you’d checked your schedule for the week.”
“Oh, gosh, yeah, I’m sorry I forgot to call you,” she said, her voice sounding a little shaky. “You know, I don’t think I’ve got any time this week to get over there. It’ll likely be Jeremy who comes over next.”
“That’s too bad,” I said, trying to sound casual about it. “I was hoping to see you again.” I waited for a moment before I went on. “Can I see you?”
“Sorry?” she asked.
“Are you sure you don’t have time to make it out here today?” I asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Cora said. I could hear her rustling papers, and I wondered if that was to make it sound like she was busy or if she actually was busy.
“That’s not a problem,” I said. “I’ll swing by the office instead.”
“Oh, no, Julian, I don’t think that—”
“I’ll see you soon,” I said as I clicked off the phone. I didn’t know what made me decide that was the plan of action to take, but instinct took over, and instinct told me I had to see her again. I couldn’t wait for another opportunity to come along. I needed to create my own opportunity.
I went to my truck and looked up the nearest florist and best place for chocolate. I knew it was cliché, but it was all I could think of on such short notice. I didn’t want to show up empty-handed. All I could think of was what I could do to get her attention, to let her know that I wanted to be more than just a guy flirting with her, more than just a client flirting with her.
As it turned out, there was a florist across the road from her as well as a cupcake store that boasted the best cupcakes in the country. Since I actually had had the best cupcakes in the country in Maine, I thought that that might be an exaggeration. Regardless, I was willing to spend top dollars on the richest-looking cupcake they had: a red velvet cake with a strawberry cream center, a swirl of chocolate and vanilla frosting on top and a gold-painted strawberry crowning it. The size of it put Costco muffins to shame.
The flowers I found were bursting yellow sunflowers, soft purple lilacs, and long-stemmed deep red roses. The mass of flowers was intimidating to carry, to say the least, especially with one of my hands holding on to the cupcake as I tried to maneuver my way through the door without injuring anything.
Once inside the building, I was greeted with a fairly wide-eyed stare from the secretary.
“I’m looking for Miss Stein?” I asked.
“Of course,” she said, seeming a little disappointed. “She’s in the third cubicle down on the left. Do you want me to deliver these to her?”
“Oh, no, I’m alright, thanks.”
I wandered down, aware of all the eyes watching me while making my way to her. I got to the opening of her cubicle and waited for her to notice me.
She was far more composed today. Her hair was a shiny dark brown, cascading along her shoulders as she hovered over her iPad, and she sat with her chair turned away from her desk, her ankles hooked together above her sneakers.
She glanced up at me then gasped.
“Oh my god,” she said.
“I said I’d come by,” I said. “I thought you could use some nature in your workspace.” I passed her the bouquet, which she took, her mouth open.
“I don’t know what to say. Um, thank you,” she said. Color flushed her face as she looked around, uncertain of what to do with the flowers. “I think I need to put these in my car.”
“I also brought you a treat,” I said, putting the cupcake on her desk. “Ju
st something to keep your energy up.”
She blinked as she looked at me. “I—um—I—what are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you again,” I said.
“Thank you for these. I can’t accept them, though,” she said in a loud whisper.
“Sure you can,” I replied, flashing her a smile. “I’m sorry to barge in on you at work. But you deserve something nice. It seemed like you had a really rough day yesterday. I just wanted to make up for it.”
Cora’s mouth opened and closed as she searched for words. I suddenly felt awkward, realizing that I had made her the center of attention at her work, and she was probably wanting to get through the day without being embarrassed again.
“Right,” I said, stuffing my hands into my pockets. “I’ll leave you to it. Sorry to interrupt your work.”
I left, without waiting for a response. She might be embarrassed now, but at least she knew my intentions at this point.
Chapter 5 – Cora
I left the office at lunch. I needed to go home and get rid of those flowers in my car before they wilted in the heat, and just to get some space. After such a display from Julian, I couldn’t face the idea of remaining in the office. I was completely mortified.
Even if they technically weren’t my clients, this was still my first solo run of accounts. It didn’t matter that it was only temporary: I was still acting as the face of Jeremy and the company by taking on this responsibility. And for one of the accounts to show up at the office to give me a massive bouquet of flowers—and a cupcake of all things—I felt like it took away the power I had as a professional and that instead I was seen as a woman towed along.
After dropping off my gifts, I decided to try and cool myself down by having lunch at a coffee shop nearby, just to try and put some space between me and the situation. Once I was out of the office, I began to feel a little bit better. The sensible side of me began to speak to me, reminding me that no one in the office knew who Julian was. As far as they knew, he was my long-time boyfriend. Or he could have even been the guy that was delivering the stuff on behalf of someone else, and I just happened to know him.