The Dragon’s Aide (Charmed Away Temp Agency #2)

Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Despite his irritation with the task, Maverick did as Isaac requested and spent fifteen minutes upon waking and going to bed doing the stupid breathing exercises. He didn’t see any improvement, if anything it only annoyed him more, but he wasn’t going to dismiss the assignment. He was, above all else, diligent in his duties. It made him good at his job. So he did the breathing, and he drank the tea, and when Monday rolled around again, he ate the breakfast sandwich Isaac left for him on his desk.

He would definitely not admit that his mood was more level than usual at this time of day. That would only encourage the little shit.

Isaac was perky as usual while he was working, bobbing his head like he was listening to music. It was distracting, but he preferred it over Isaac’s scowl when his cell phone buzzed. He checked the screen and rolled his eyes, shoving it back in his pocket with an irritated sigh.

“Who was it?”

“No one,” Isaac growled. He sat quietly for a few minutes, doing his breathing exercises, and his shoulders came back down, but then his desk phone rang and they went back up again. Whoever was bothering him, they were irritating enough to screw with Isaac’s mood.

“Mr. Van Buren’s office, Isaac speaking.”

Maverick heard the voice on the other end, but he wasn’t familiar with it. It was impossible to know every single one of the employees hired here, even though all contracts went through his floor eventually. He delegated that task because he had more important things to do.

“Good Morning. My name is Elijah Washburne from Supernatural Resources. I’ve been assigned to shadow Mr. Van Buren this week. I was wondering if now would be a good time to come up and join you?”

Isaac flicked his gaze up to Maverick, checking in with him. Maverick didn’t like it, but he didn't really have a choice in the matter, so he dipped his chin once to acknowledge him.

“Sure, that works,” Isaac said. “He has a meeting downstairs in an hour, though.”

“That’s fine,” Elijah said politely. “I don’t want to get in the way. I’m just going to hang around for a while and see how things are going. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

After a polite goodbye, Isaac hung up and glared at the phone on his desk for a moment. Then he glanced up at Maverick.

“Scale of one to ten, how is your mood right now? One being lighting the place on fire and ten being watching your worst enemy burn in said fire.”

Maverick bit back a snort. That wasn’t a normal scale by any means, and it reflected Isaac’s mood more than Maverick’s. Still, the visit didn’t help, so he answered honestly. “Three.”

He nodded. “Okay, we’ve got fifteen-ish minutes, depending on how busy the elevator is. I’m going to lead you in a breathing exercise. Don’t–” he pointed a finger at Maverick’s irritated scowl, glaring at him– “knock it until you try it. Just humor me, will you?”

Begrudgingly, he nodded, watching as Isaac shut his eyes, his hands flat on the desk. Maverick’s gaze trailed to the paperwork in front of him. What were the chances he could read the document while Isaac believed he was doing the exercise?

“If you start working, I’m going to sit on your desk. I don’t think you want the guy from SR to find me there,” Isaac threatened.

True. Technically, Isaac didn’t work for Spellbound and was only here on loan, but Maverick still thought it’d be a problem with SR. Relationships with coworkers weren’t an issue at Spellbound as long as it didn’t affect your work. Even though Isaac was paid through someone else and was only here to assist him temporarily, SR would consider it an abuse of power. Maverick saw it more as a gray area.

Deciding not to test the SR rep so soon after he was reprimanded by Ozen, he closed his eyes instead, matching his breathing to Isaac’s. When he did it at home, it felt like a waste of time, but this time, just like in the elevator, he felt the tension surrounding him lessen and breathed easier once they were through. He frowned.

“Do we need to discuss using your magic on others without permission?”

Isaac’s eyes opened to him immediately rolling them. “I didn’t use my magic on you. As you’ve experienced already, you’d know if I did. Besides, I’m an air mage. Not a telepath. I don’t have any way to control your mind. That’s all you.”

Maverick wasn’t sure he believed him, but he had a point. Isaac’s magic was based in air. Unless he had recessive telepathic genes, it was unlikely he could do anything to that effect. So why did he relax right along with Isaac every time he did those exercises around him?

A quiet knock to the door sounded before Maverick could continue to question the mage, so he let it go for now. Isaac popped to his feet, opening the door, and in a surprising move, his spine snapped straight almost immediately. That reaction was strange.

The man on the other side either didn’t notice or chose not to mention it. He smiled politely and offered his hand. “Elijah Washburne. You must be Isaac.”

Maverick watched, fascinated, as Isaac outright refused to shake the man’s hand, instead using both to open the door wide and gesture the SR rep inside. “Please come in.”

Elijah’s hand dropped, and he looked amused at Isaac’s fumbling. Maverick’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t understand Isaac’s reaction to the man. He wouldn’t even make eye contact. Suspicions rose, but Maverick couldn’t say anything until he figured out what the hell was going on. Why was his normally outspoken assistant cowed in the face of this man?

Elijah paused just before entering, giving Maverick a questioning look. He didn’t take Isaac’s permission to enter as total permission. So he knew enough about dragon shifters to understand his territory rules. Maverick trusted Isaac to make good decisions on who to invite into his office, but he wasn’t going to explain unnecessarily. He stood, gesturing the man inside, and shook Elijah’s hand when he offered it.

“Mr. Van Buren, it’s nice to meet you. I read about how you squashed the dispute between Spellbound and Arcane solutions on the contract for the Hatchwork patent. People say you looked unaffected the whole time, like it was just another day and not a multimillion dollar contract.”

If he was trying to flatter Maverick, it wasn’t working. “I did my job. Nothing more.”

Elijah didn’t look at all bothered by Maverick’s terse reply. He sat in the chair opposite him, balancing a file and a notepad on his knee. “Well, you did an amazing job. I assume you know why I’m here? Good. I promise I won’t get in your way. I’m just going to observe your interactions with your staff to make sure any rumors going around have no backing to them. I may ask questions now and again, but for the most part, I’ll just be a fly on the wall and you can ignore my presence.”

Maverick’s irritation swelled. It was humiliating, being babysat by someone from SR. All because the secretary of their office didn’t take kindly to him reprimanding her. His dragon wanted to rage against the injustice, but he shoved the feeling back down and when his gaze flicked over Elijah’s shoulder and he saw Isaac take a deep breath, giving him a significant look, he mimicked his assistant and let it out slowly. It didn’t settle his mood much, but it distracted him for now.

“Ozen told me you were coming. I’m aware of what you need to do. As long as it doesn’t disrupt the work that needs to be done, I don’t have a problem with it.” Lie. Big lie. But he had no choice in the matter, so he had to deal with it.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Elijah said with a smile. “I understand you’re busy, so feel free to go about your day. I brought work with me to keep me busy during the quiet periods.”

So he was smart enough not to waste time, at least. Maverick could appreciate that. He put the thoughts of the newcomer out of his head and focused on his paperwork instead. The contract for Taron’s project’s location was on his desk, but there was something not quite right about it. Something was missing.

It only took a moment to figure it out. He made an irritated noise and lifted his head. “Isaac. This contact is missing the confidentiality clause. Who wrote it?”

Isaac looked up from his assigned research, frowning at the file on Maverick’s desk. “Tom Richter, from account management, drew it up. He said he checked it with Schultz before bringing it here.”

Doubtful. Schultz was a junior lawyer in the office, but not completely incompetent. He wouldn’t leave out something so important. Meanwhile, Richter was a cocky shit, and thought he knew better than everyone else. He probably thought he’d get away with it because he was just as good as anyone on this floor. Maverick lost track of the amount of times he had to fix that stupid satyr’s mistakes. It was time wasted when he could have spent it doing something more important.

“Can I try to fix it?” Isaac asked, breaking Maverick out of his brooding. “I’ve seen contracts, obviously, but I’ve never had a chance to write one up myself. It’d be good practice.”

Maverick’s automatic response was going to be a no, since that would only create more work for him to check it once he was through. Two things stopped him. One was the way Elijah sat up, too damn intrigued about his answer. The second, and the biggest reason why he changed his mind, was the naked eagerness on Isaac’s face. He wasn’t offering to keep Maverick from going after Richter. He was offering because he loved to learn and was excited by a new opportunity.

“Fine. Go talk to Shultz for an example of a similar contract.” Holding out the contract, he felt a smile tug at his lips when Isaac bounded out of his seat to retrieve it. He used to be that excited by the work. He stopped enjoying it after so many years dealing with incompetence.

He was becoming entranced by his assistant’s fresh outlook on life. He was so young compared to Maverick, so eager. Maverick never realized how jaded he’d become until Isaac came into the picture. He almost wanted to keep the man close just to soak himself in the joy he’d long since lost.