Rob held out his hand and she shook it, feeling numb. “You’re going to—”
Just then, a buzz sounded at his desk. “Just a second,” Rob said, picking up his phone. He listened and frowned. “My appointment with her isn’t for another ten minutes.” He looked at his watch and then at Jolene. “Okay, I’ll tell her.” He put the phone down. “That was my PA, she says Carla is looking for you and that you need to head back to your desk.”
“Why?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe Carla has organized a celebration for her new boss.”
“But Carla doesn’t know, does she?”
“I told her this morning,” Rob said. “She asked me straight and I told her. Our meeting in ten minutes is a formality.” He shrugged.
If nothing else, Carla was straight. That and an ass-licker. It wouldn’t surprise her if she was throwing a celebration party downstairs. Jolene nodded. “I’d better go then.”
“Celebratory drinks with the board at Hershies after work?” He raised his brows in question. It wasn’t really a question though, she would be expected to attend.
Hey, it wasn’t like she had anything better to do. It wasn’t lost on her either that Carla had kids. She was a divorcee with way more responsibility. The fact that Jolene didn’t would have counted in her favor. Corporate sucked. “I’ll be there.”
Rob was already sitting back at his desk, eyes on his computer. Pen back in hand. “Six sharp,” he said as she walked out.
Had Carla organized a celebration? She wouldn’t put it past the woman to immediately start sucking up now that she was her boss. Jolene halted in her tracks, she needed a minute to soak it in. Marketing Director. It felt good, but it didn’t feel great. It didn’t feel like she thought it would feel. Her mind wandered back to Storm, to her time with the dragons. She was still hurting. Still missing him. Jolene sucked in a deep breath, swallowing down a lump. That same damn lump that always clogged her throat whenever she allowed herself to think of him. There was no time for that right now. Jolene began walking back to her office. For now, she’d throw herself into her work. She’d be the best damned Marketing…What?
The guy standing in her office was big. He had his back to her, so it was hard to tell if she knew him. He had broad shoulders and was well-muscled. He reminded her of a shifter. Couldn't be though. Not here. It was that, or he was a GQ model. He was wearing a collared shirt and a pair of black suit pants. What was a GQ model doing in her office?
Carla was giggling and twisting a lock of hair around her finger. Her cheeks were a bright pink. Jolene’s heart beat a whole lot faster as she rounded the corner.
“Beck,” she gasped, clasping her chest. “What are you doing here?” She couldn’t help but smile. It was so good to see him.
“Hello, Jolene.” His eyes sparkled. “I came to fetch you.”
“Fetch me?” She felt confused. Must have looked confused.
“Yes, the prince wants to see you.”
“Prince!” Carla spluttered. “What prince?” She looked from Beck to her and back again.
“Did Jolene not tell you all about her—”
“Stop,” Jolene interrupted. “I didn’t say much of anything about my vacation. It’s not anyone’s business. Especially since this is my place of business.”
Beck nodded. “Makes sense.” He winked at Jolene.
“You met a prince while you were on holiday, didn’t you?” Carla gaped at her.
“Maybe,” Jolene muttered, wanting Carla off her back. “It was nothing,” she quickly added.
“Couldn’t have been nothing, since it looks like he wants to see you again.” Carla was smiling from ear to ear. “I thought your whole ‘taking a cruise’ thing was silly. Looks like I was wrong.”
Jolene ignored Carla. Her mind racing. What the hell was going on?
“Get your things together,” Beck said. “We need to go. Our flight leaves in half an hour.”
“Oh, you’re too late then.” Carla looked happy. In fact, she was gloating. “Boarding gates will have closed. Poor thing.” She shook her head, faking concern.
"Actually, we're on a private jet, so I think we'll make it just fine." Beck hooked his thumbs into his pants pockets.
“I can’t just up and leave.” Jolene shook her head, feeling excitement build inside her regardless. She tried to tamp it down. She needed more answers first.
“The prince insisted that I not take no for an answer.”
Carla giggled, her eyes on Beck. “Can I get your number? You take the prince,” Carla glanced her way, “I’ll take the bodyguard. I like buff guys.” She winked at Beck, flirting with him shamelessly.
Beck chuckled. “Oh female, that’s where you would be wrong. The prince is bigger than I am.”
“He is?” Carla’s mouth dropped open.
Beck nodded. “And more good-looking. His cock is bigger than mine is as well.”
Jolene bit down on her bottom lip to keep from laughing. The look on Carla’s face was comical. It shut her right up. She sat down, with a bump, on the edge of Jolene’s desk. ‘What the hell is this?’ she asked herself for the tenth time since seeing it was Beck.
“Let’s go,” he insisted. “I don’t want to have to throw you over my shoulder.”
Carla made a squeaking noise and started fanning herself. “If you don’t go, I will.”
Like hell! “I can clear my schedule for the afternoon but will need to be back by six.”
“No can do.” Beck smiled. “You’ll be lucky to make it back by tomorrow.”
“I can’t just leave. Trust Golden Boy to expect me to drop everything and come running when he crooks a finger.” Her heart was pounding. This was probably all a game to him. One last fling. Or something stupid like that. “You’re sure you don’t know what this is about?”
“I wasn’t briefed beyond taking you to a certain location. At a certain time.” He looked at his watch and frowned. “By any means necessary.”
Carla squeaked again. “You sure you don’t want my number?”
“You have one minute,” Beck said. She could see he meant it.
“Pushy much?”
“I’m under order.” Beck winked at her and Carla swooned, clutching at her chest.
“Do I need anything?” she asked.
Beck shook his head. “It’s all arranged.”
Jolene pushed out a breath. She picked up her phone and asked to speak to her boss.
“Yes,” he said, sounded irritated at being interrupted.
“Hi, Rob, something has come up, I need to reschedule our six o’clock.”
“What?” He sounded flustered. That and a touch angry. “You can’t make the board reschedule. Drinks are tonight. You need to be there!”
“I can’t make it. Have drinks without me then. Please apologize on my behalf, but it can’t be helped.”
“It’s your night. You can’t not be there.”
Shit! Was she killing her career before it even began? Maybe. Was she going to go anyway? How could she not? “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do.”
He pushed out a breath. “I’ll see what I can do about rescheduling and Jolene…”
“Yes?”
“Don’t make a habit of this.”
“I won’t and thank you! I owe you one.” She licked her lips. A habit? Yes, she really hoped that meeting with the prince would soon become a habit. ‘Oh Storm,’ she silently prayed, ‘please don’t let me down. Don’t let this be another game.’
Chapter 25
This time there was no Christina to egg her on. To push her to walk one more mile. To go that little bit faster. Nevertheless, she trudged on, putting one foot in front of the other. Boob sweat was still very much a thing. It was happening right then.
Why the hell was she out here? Where was Storm? He was getting a piece of her mind when he finally turned up. This was just like him.
It was all game.
All a freaking game to him.
Once
again, her career was in jeopardy because he couldn’t think further than his own damned nose. She stopped and covered her face with her hand and groaned. She’d made her boss ‒ the CEO of her company ‒ reschedule with the board. She’d treated the guy who paid her bloody salary ‒ who held her livelihood in his hands ‒ like her own personal assistant.
Jolene groaned again. She should have refused. Should never have come.
Beck had dropped her off over an hour ago. He'd given her a change of clothing, trainers too and had told her to head out. He'd handed her the backpack and had told her to start walking. She'd demanded to be taken back, but he had laughed, shifted and disappeared into the sky.
Jerk.
He hadn’t told her anything. By the prince’s orders. “He can take his orders and stick them,” she mumbled.
“What’s that, Sweet Lips?”
Jolene yelled and turned, almost falling over her own feet. Storm was right behind her, leaning up against a tree looking smug. He was smirking. Asshole thought this was hilarious. Her heart did beat faster though at the sight of him. His dark hair was tousled. His amethyst eyes bright and exquisite, like the rest of him. So darned handsome it took her breath away, which irritated her. Why? Because she was in love with him…and she was just a game to him.
"I said, you can take your orders and shove them where the sun don't shine, Golden Boy." She narrowed her eyes and pointed at him while she spoke. "You had better have a damned good reason for uprooting my life once again. For dragging me out here. I told the board they needed to reschedule our meeting this evening. I haven't even been officially announced as the new Marketing Director, and I'm already throwing my weight around."
Storm grinned. “You got the promotion? Of course, you got it. I’m so proud of you.”
“I might not have a job when I get back after this,” she grumbled. Truth was, she didn’t care about the stupid job. She was scared out of her wits though. “Why am I here?” It had to be asked.
Storm shrugged. “I’m hunting you.”
She rolled her eyes and groaned. “Let me guess.” She locked eyes with his. “You were bored. Is that right? You needed to liven up your life and so you had Beck pick me up.”
He nodded, folding his arms. “You’re not far off. I was very bored. I’ve been bored to tears since you left. No-one to argue with. No-one to—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know where this is going. No-one to warm your bed.”
He gave her a half-smile. “I was going to say fuck, but,” he nodded, “I guess they’re the same thing.”
She snorted. “Well, you can forget coming anywhere near me.”
“Still playing hard to get I see. This is almost like a repeat of the last time. I’m sorry it took me so long. Over two weeks. If it was up to me, this would have happened much sooner.”
“What? What do you mean?” Why had he said that?
“I would’ve organized this whole thing sooner, only we had to wait to be sure those slayers didn’t come back.”
“You mean the guys in the helicopters?”
“One and the same,” he said. “They haven’t been back since the day they almost caught you.” His jaw tensed and his eyes darkened. “I was beside myself with worry. I—”
“Your brother…” It took her a moment to recall his name. “Tide mentioned that Torrent had to knock you out.”
Storm grimaced and touched his jaw. “He blindsided me with a right hook. Broke my jaw in three places and knocked out two teeth.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh my god! Are you okay? You look okay, but—”
Storm chuckled. “It took me an hour to come to and another couple of hours to heal but I’m fine. Good as new.” He flashed her a full set of teeth. “It was too late to come after you though. You were long gone by then and the kings put a strict lock-down on any movement in or out of the four kingdoms. That restriction was lifted this morning. The slayers seem to have backed off…at least for now. We’re not sure what they’re planning but that’s a discussion for another day.”
“Okay.” She wasn’t sure where he was going with this.
He pulled in a deep breath. “I wanted to recreate the hunt.” He looked around them, looking pleased with himself.
“I’m sure you did.” She shook her head, feeling frustrated to her core. “This isn’t a game to me though, Storm. It never was. I did have fun in the end but now it’s over. We don’t want the same things. I need to move on with my life.” She needed to try to get over him, which wasn’t going to happen if they kept seeing each other.
“You told me that males always end up mating the very next female they are with after you.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Why is this even relevant?” Why rub it in?
“You told me that I would end up serious about the next female I caught in a hunt. You said that, didn’t you?” he asked when she didn’t respond.
“What are you saying?” It couldn’t be what it sounded like.
He licked his lips and wrung his hands together before holding them still at his sides. Storm looked nervous all of a sudden. “Well, here we are. I just hunted and caught you, Jolene. It’s my own mini-hunt.” He chuckled.
She had to laugh too. Partly because she was suddenly feeling nervous too and partly because he was such an idiot. A cute, sweet idiot of a man. “We’re the only two taking part so it’s not technically…Wait a minute…we are the only two taking part, right?”
“It’s just us and it’s supposed to be symbolic. A romantic gesture.”
“Flowers and chocolates are romantic. Boob sweat on the other hand,” she mumbled, trying hard to hold back a grin and failing.
“Look,” he swallowed thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing, “when I thought they had you…when…” His eyes widened for a moment. They turned a touch glassy. “It was horrendous thinking that they might get you. What they might do to you if they did. Slayers are not nice people. They’re not scouring our lands for any good reason other than because they know we are here. All I know is that their intentions are evil. They wouldn’t be armed to the gills with silver artillery otherwise.” He pulled in another deep breath, letting it out slowly through his nose. “I’m glad Torrent knocked me out because I wasn’t thinking about anything other than rescuing you, which under the circumstances would have put you in untold danger. All of us in untold danger. I hate that I had to wait two weeks.” He tucked a piece of wayward hair behind her ear. “I decided not to contact you during that time because I wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted to tell you in person.”
“Tell me what?” By now she was holding her breath. She bit down on her bottom lip.
“That you are my next female. You’re my last female. You are the one I’m serious about because I’m crazy about you. I don’t want anyone else. My brother was right…I did know it when you left, and I let you go anyway because I’m an asshole and an idiot and all of the other things you love calling me.”
“You’re not.” She shook her head and sniffed. Jolene quickly wiped a hand over her eyes when she realized she was crying.
"Yeah, I am. I'm an idiot too for running scared. My dad died in a freak accident when I was six. My mom died from a broken heart less than two years later. I watched her pine for him every day and I guess it scared the shit out of me. I was looking at it all wrong though. I looked at it from the negative side. They loved each other so much. I thought that kind of love was bad, but I was wrong. I do want that kind of love…I have that kind of love with you. I’m not running scared anymore. I love you, Sweet Lips.” He cupped her cheeks. “I’m so glad I had the good sense to throw you over my shoulder because you are the female for me. You’re it! You’re mine!” He leaned in and kissed her, taking her breath away.
She grabbed his ass and squeezed, rubbing herself against him. “I’ve missed you, Golden Boy. Missed you so much and I love you too. There were moments…lots of moments over the last two weeks where I wished it wasn’t true, but it is. I’m not sure how it
happened but it did.”
“It happened because I’m awesome.”
She choked out a laugh.
He turned serious. “Because we’re awesome together. Does this mean you agree to mating me?”
“What do you think? Because,” she narrowed her eyes, “if you think I’m moving in, you’re sadly mistaken. I’m not giving the milk away for free.”
“No moving in. I want that milk. I want it really badly.”
She laughed and then realized what he was saying and stopped. “No dating?” Her heart beat faster.
“No dating!”
“No?” Faster still.
“Nope.” He shook his head. “I’m making this official! You do agree to mating with me?” He looked at her, chest heaving, eyes wide.
“Of course, yes.”
He hoisted her into his arms and kissed her until she struggled to breathe or think. Then he put her down and stepped away from her.
Jolene frowned “This is the part where you’re supposed to throw me on the ground and make passionate love to me.”
“Um…I wouldn’t recommend it.” He shook his head.
“Why? What’s going on?”
"You didn't think I'd let you wander around alone did you?" Storm raised his brows. "Those slayers could come back." Storm whistled, and a couple of dragons took to the air around them. "I'm not risking your life, but I wanted this to be special. I wanted you to know you're it for me."
“You’re so sweet and I love you.”
Storm kissed her again, his lips brushing hers. “What do you say we head home?”
“Sounds good.” She nodded, smiling so hard her cheeks hurt.
Chapter 26
Storm could hardly believe that this day was finally here and that Jolene had agreed to everything. It was the first time they had both readily agreed to the same thing at the same time. Good thing too, since this time it counted for so much.
He flapped harder, wanting to get home already. To their home. To their future together. Storm was glad he didn’t have to make his way back on foot as would have been customary if his mini-hunt had actually been a real hunt.
Dragon Hunt (Water Dragons Book 1) Page 20