Grabbing her bag again, she saluted. “I think I’ll do that, actually. But Ronan …you need me, you let me know, okay? I’m on your team—one hundred percent.”
He reached out and ruffled her hair. “I know. Thanks.”
With a brief hug, she left him in his office, heading down the hall. On her way, she dodged a paper airplane from Kean, returned Eamon’s nod as she passed his office, and waved to Siobhan who was in her own office on the phone. Life progressed as normal—or at least as normal as it ever got for the Dragon Clan—and she was glad to be a part of it. She loved her friends and she loved her job, but more than any of that, she loved the man she was about to go see.
Chapter Forty-Six
Grady
“No, Pierre, that’s not how this works,” Grady said, staring at the very angry Frenchman through the camera on his laptop as he sat, comfortably propped up in bed in his own apartment. “You hired me because you had a problem that you created. I gave you a solution to that problem—a way to make the world see you as the good guy instead of the goof guy. You paid me money to do that. So now you have to take the solution. I’m telling you—I know how this business works. I’ve been doing this for a long time. Trust me. Make the call, release the story, and watch how right I am.”
“Grady, I just cannot—I cannot,” Pierre protested, his accent as thick as the grease slicking back his hair. “I will be …how you say …embarrassed.”
“Not as embarrassed as you will be if the reporter’s version of the story goes live first.”
Grady heard his front door open and knew that it was Moira, home for the afternoon. He grinned unabashedly and reached for his computer screen so he could close it. “Pierre, I’m hanging up. Make the call. Trust me.”
He closed the laptop just as Moira walked into the bedroom, and he reached out for her, enveloping her in his outstretched arm as she sat on the edge of the bed. She leaned down toward him, and he kissed her, tangling his fingers in her hair as he breathed in her scent and felt her soft skin against his fingertips. “Hello, beautiful. How did you get even better looking since you left this morning?”
Moira laughed, rubbing her nose against his. “Charmer. How are you feeling today?”
“Like my old self,” he promised. “Minimal soreness. I’m seriously on the mend, Moira. You won’t believe it.”
She rolled her eyes, tapping his nose as she leaned back. “You’re trying to get me to give in.”
“Is it working?”
“No,” she said, her eyes dancing. “I’m not having sex with you until the doctor clears it. We can wait.”
“Not when you look like that,” he pouted, leaning back against his pillows and trying to look pitiful. “A man has desires, baby. And you are my desire.”
“Oh my God,” she laughed, standing up off the bed. “You are relentless. I want you as much as you want me, but I love you enough to wait.” She pointed a finger at him, giving him her I-mean-business look.
Grady groaned. “I can’t argue with that. How was your lunch with Abby? Did you guys talk?”
“We did,” she said, walking over to the closet, where she was now storing half of her own clothing. Fishing out a more comfortable pair of pants and oversized shirt, she stripped off and began to change. “She asked the question.”
“And?”
“And I told her enough to ease her mind without telling her anything about the supernatural part.”
Grady nodded, eyeing her long legs as she slid the pajama pants over them. “Good. I knew you would manage it. You know, if we’re not going to sleep together …you really can’t taunt me this way.”
Pulling her shirt over her head, she ignored his protests, having surely grown used to them over the past six weeks. “Listen,” she said, moving on. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Oh dear.”
“I want to move in here.”
His eyebrows shot up, and he couldn’t have been more shocked, even if he was thrilled at the same time. “You do?”
“Yes,” she said, sitting back down on the edge of the bed and meeting his eyes. “If you don’t think it’s too fast. It makes sense to me. I was talking to Ronan about you today, and it just reiterated to me how much I’m all in with this, Grady. I really am. I’m more in than I ever thought I could be, and I hate spending time away from you when I’m at work or running errands. So why would I choose to spend time away from you at night, when I can be with you? And …I spend most nights here anyway. That’s been because of your injuries, but I want to keep doing it.” She bit her lip to stop the flow of her words and looked at him with a hint of uncertainty. “I didn’t plan to say all of this today, but what do you think? Do you hate it?”
Leaning forward—though carefully, given his still-tender ribs—he took her hand in his and lifted the back of it to his lips. “Baby, I love it. I really, really love it. Never leave again. Tonight and every night—you and me. Here.”
A grin broke over her face that warmed Grady’s heart. “Really?”
“Oh yeah.”
She kissed him, smiling into his eyes. “You know, in case you’re worried that I’m just suggesting this because your place is amazing, I would make the same offer for you to move in with me …”
He laughed and rested back against the pillows again. “Uh … I plead the fifth.”
“Oh!” She gasped in pretend indignation. “You don’t like my house!”
“I do, baby,” he insisted. “Because it’s yours. But …I have a jetted bathtub.”
“I have a back porch.”
“I have a balcony that looks over the city.”
“I have a microwave with a preset popcorn button.”
Grady chuckled. “I have an entertainment room with a huge, mounted TV and recliners …”
“Okay, you win,” Moira said, grinning at him. “I concede.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
Moira rolled her eyes then laced her fingers through his. “You make me happy. I want to have a whole life with you. A real love. Someday a marriage. And I really, really, really hope…kids.”
It should have been too much after just two months of knowing each other, and for any other man, it might have been. If it had been any other woman saying it to him, it definitely would have been. But this was him and Moira, and every word she said could have been taken directly from his heart.
“Baby, we’re going to have all of that and more.”
As they leaned in for another kiss, he paused, considering. “Are my kids going to be dragons?”
Moira waggled her eyebrows at him. “Oh, you’re going to be surrounded by them.”
“Oh God.” He turned slightly green at the prospect of parenting a dragon, but then kissed her anyway, because if it was with Moira, then it would be all right.
BOOK THREE
Chapter One
As cold as winters could get in Boston, the summers could get just as hot. Locals joked that Boston had just two seasons—winter and construction. It was accurate enough, given that as soon as the sun began to come out in full force, the city decided to begin repairing all the damage done to the roads and buildings during the long, brutal winters.
Personally, Eamon Cleary favored winter. The cold and ice suited him far better than the bright sunlight, and his ultra-fair skin strongly objected to the heat. As Bostonians all around the city began to sport their summer tans, he only stood out more than usual, and by the middle of June, he was already looking forward to November.
But his friends did not share his proclivities, which was why he had joined them on the ferry ride to Georges Island and was currently lying on the beach in a pair of jet-black swim trunks, with the ripped muscles of his chest and thighs exposed to the sun. As he watched, Moira and Siobhan ran toward the beach, screeching as they splashed water, still cold from the harsh winter, at each other and tried to avoid the slippery rocks that hid beneath the shallower waters. Eamon cracked a smile, shaking his head
at his friends’ antics. Personally, he was content to be still, and he tended to save his physical energy for rigorous exercise and the times that he was lucky enough to shift into his dragon form and go flying through the night air. But he enjoyed watching the girls, one almost as pale as he was, with flame-red hair, and one with deep-golden skin and shock-blonde hair.
“They’re so quiet and well-behaved, aren’t they?”
Eamon looked over at Kean as he sat down beside him, smirking at his friend’s obvious sarcasm. He shrugged a shoulder and looked back over the ocean, shifting on his blanket to get more comfortable. Even if the sun was beating down on him, he had to admit that it was nice for the five of them to get away on an outing that was just for them.
Over the past few months, a lot had changed in their world. Ronan was gone frequently, and they were never quite sure what he was doing—only that he was trying to figure out a way to change the structure of the Dragon Clan and introduce reproduction with people outside of themselves. Kean had fallen in love with a woman named Dhara, and though Eamon had been concerned at first, he now knew Dhara was genuinely lovely, intelligent, and good for his friend. But Kean was around less often, frequently choosing to do things with her instead. And now, most recently, Moira had fallen in love with a man named Grady, who Eamon had also come to like after initial reservations. She was often with him, and the office was quieter than normal without her vivid energy.
Eamon was happy for his friends and their new adventures, but he hadn’t realized how much he had counted on their presence in his life. He was a quiet man, not given to much conversation or activity on his own. If left to his own devices, he would spend most of his time working, reading, and escaping the city to go fly over the ocean. The rest of them never let him escape for too long, and the girls in particular made it a point to make him talk and join in on their fun. Eamon missed that these days, which was probably why he was out on the beach with them, taking a well-earned break from the office.
“Thank God you showed up,” Kean said as Ronan sat down on Eamon’s other side. “Eamon is sitting here talking my ear off. He literally won’t shut up.”
Ronan chuckled, knowing both men well enough to pick up on the sarcasm. “Yeah, I’m sure he has been. You know there’s a path up there?” He gestured behind them at the hilly part of Georges Island, which was just off Boston Harbor. “You can climb all the way to the top. It looks beautiful. In case we get tired of the beach.”
“I doubt that the girls are going to get tired of the beach anytime soon,” Kean pointed out, gesturing toward the pair who were now swimming in the deeper waters. “They’ve been dying for this. Especially Siobhan, I think. The other day she was telling Dhara that she feels like she’s just been hanging around for the past few weeks, doing nothing.”
“Well, I can certainly keep her busier at work,” Ronan said, leaning back on his elbows, his sky blue swim trunks setting off his tan skin. “That’s not a problem.”
Eamon interjected, shaking his head, “That’s not what she means.”
“What does she mean then?” Kean prompted, crossing his ankles and leaning his head back to let the sun hit his face better.
“Outside of work. Other stuff,” Eamon said, shrugging. “Life stuff.”
“She misses Moira,” Ronan surmised. “It’s been what, almost three months since Moira has been with Grady?”
Eamon nodded.
“We do need to do more stuff, just the five of us, like this,” Kean agreed, sitting back up and crossing his legs, his coral swim trunks sliding higher on his thighs.
Eamon noticed a girl nearby checking Kean out, but Kean, utterly head over heels for the woman he would one day propose to, didn’t even notice there was a woman nearby. Eamon caught the girl’s eye instead, and she smiled at him winningly. He looked away, uninterested in attempting to make casual conversation with a woman who very likely was willing to do so with anyone who gave her a moment of attention, given how quickly she had batted her eyes at him after clearly checking out Kean. Conversation wasn’t something he bestowed on someone lightly.
“Are you listening?” Kean poked Eamon’s knee. “I was saying that we need to do more stuff, just the five of us. Dhara is very supportive of that. She feels bad that we spend all our time together and now I don’t see you guys as much.”
Eamon nodded again. “Mmhmm.”
“What, you don’t believe me?”
“I do,” Eamon said quickly. “Dhara’s great.”
Ronan and Kean shared looks, and Eamon rolled his eyes good-naturedly, knowing what that meant. They wanted him to say more, about his feelings and stuff.
“It’s weird,” he said. “Things are different now. But it’s a good thing, and change is important. It’s nice to hang out when we can.”
There was silence following his response, and then Ronan groaned. “God, Eamon, all you do is talk about yourself. It’s exhausting.”
Eamon laughed, shoving Ronan so that his back fell flat against the sand. “Old joke.”
“Funny joke,” Kean corrected, then spluttered as water suddenly splashed over him. “Hey!”
“You guys are no fun,” Siobhan said, plopping down on Kean’s towel and tossing aside the bucket she had used to pour seawater over him. “I can’t believe it’s you three lying here working on your tans and it’s me and Moira out there facing the dangers of the ocean all on our own.”
Ronan rolled his eyes in amusement. “We’re on Georges Island. It’s not like you’re facing sharks and currents out there. We’re battling the potential for skin cancer here. So who’s the hero?”
“Still us,” Moira said, sitting down at his feet and shaking her wild curls out so that water flew all over them. “You guys having a heart-to-heart here?”
“Yeah, Eamon was sharing all his thoughts with us,” Kean said. “Actually, we were talking about how we don’t spend as much time with just the five of us anymore. And about how things are kind of changing.” He looked over at Moira. “Your dad still determined to fight the changes Ronan is making?”
Moira winced. “Yeah. He just can’t accept that idea that we need to breed outside of ourselves. I never realized how…rigid he was until all of this happened.” She looked over at Ronan, shifting to a more comfortable position on the towel. “You can handle him. But…how’s it coming? You’ve been traveling a lot, so I’ve been hoping that means you’re onto something that’s going to prove to the older generation that we can marry and breed with humans instead of just other Dragon Clan members.” She twirled a curl around her finger and smiled. “I mean, I have a lot riding on that.”
“It’s a process,” Ronan said. “It’s coming along.”
They all waited for a moment, and then Eamon spoke. “That’s not a lot of information.”
“I can’t give you a lot of information right now,” Ronan said, draping one arm over his bent knee and shrugging. “I wish I could, but that’s not how this works. But you guys know I’m giving everything to this and I’ll let you know as soon as I have something more concrete.”
“We know,” Kean said. “We’re all just in limbo though, and that’s tough. But”—he added, quickly going back to the positive—“we do still have each other, and I was talking to my mom the other day, and she said that her generation wasn’t nearly as tight as we are. I think that we’re on the verge of doing something as lifechanging for the Dragon Clan as our ancestors did when they figured out how to change the curse into a power that we could control.”
Siobhan cleared her throat and spoke loudly. “Yeah, Kean, I read that book too. I loved that part!”
Kean gave her a weird look. “What are you talking about?”
Smirking, Eamon nudged Kean’s leg with his foot and nodded toward the family passing by. The mother had been walking closest to them and had looked back strangely, having overheard Kean.
“Oh yeah,” Kean said. “I’m really into supernatural fantasies.”
Ronan got to
his feet. “Okay, bad news, guys. Time to pack up.”
“What?” Moira protested. “Why? It’s just after two—we have hours of daylight left.”
He held up his phone, wiggling it at her. “Just got a text from the assistant. We’ve got a case that can’t wait. A kid is missing and the police are hamstrung because there’s contention over whether or not it’s a custody issue. But Jack says that the dad’s concerns seem legitimate, and I don’t want to risk not looking into it.”
Moira got to her feet, the others following suit. “Okay, that’s a pretty good reason to cut beach day short, I have to admit.”
They began to gather their things, and Eamon pulled his shirt over his head, shaking the sand out of his white-blond hair. He might be a man of few words, but he also wasn’t that hard to please. Sun, sand, and heat aside, he’d enjoyed getting to spend the last three hours with the people he was closer to than anyone. He didn’t need to participate much in the conversation or have anything big or interesting happen. It was the simple things in life that mattered to him, and a day with his friends certainly qualified.
Lately, their group had been under fire more than ever before, facing challenges they couldn’t anticipate. Eamon’s parents had died several years ago, leaving him alone in the world except for these four people, who were like his brothers and sisters. As he followed them back toward the ferry dock, he had the sudden thought that, though he might be quiet and seem passive, there were a few things he was brimming with intensity over, and his connection to the clan was one of them. If he was ever called upon to give his life for any one of them, he would do it in a heartbeat.
The thought came out of nowhere, rather out of place on a relaxing day at the beach, but Eamon didn’t dismiss it. As dragon shifters, all of them had a certain intuitiveness about the supernatural, and Eamon’s had always manifested in the form of premonitions. He wasn’t incredibly gifted in the area, but thoughts like the one he’d just had weren’t just random thoughts for him. They were signs that something was coming—something he would have to be ready for. Though what it was, he didn’t know.
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