Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The shock on Maverick’s face was a little funny. Isaac didn’t actually plan on suggesting it, but it obviously worked because he made it through that entire meeting with Mr. Hawksley without losing his temper. And it wasn’t like it was a hardship for Isaac to get naked with the dragon. Both times had been mind numbingly good. If Maverick needed to work off the tension by fucking Isaac, then who was he to complain?
“You’re not serious,” Maverick choked.
Isaac kind of liked that he’d flustered the dragon so thoroughly. He had to fight off a grin because he didn’t want Maverick to think he wasn’t one hundred percent behind this idea.
“I’m serious. We’ll work on controlling your temper in more appropriate ways, but everyone has bad days. If you can’t get yourself under control and you think you might take it out on someone, take it out on me. I can handle you. And I had no complaints about what we did earlier.”
Maverick’s eyes filled with heat, and Isaac could see the interest there, but the dragon was surprisingly chivalrous and didn’t seem to like the idea of using Isaac.
“You’re not some whore kept around for my use, Isaac. I’m not going to use you that way.”
Isaac waved his hand dismissively. “Again, I’m not that selfless. We’d both be enjoying ourselves. Between school and work, I don’t have time for dating or hookups. This is a convenient way for me to work off a little tension too. And it won’t be all the time. The goal is to have you control your temper on your own, not rely on sex to keep you sane. The sex is just a very pleasurable back up.”
For a moment, Maverick just stared at him. Isaac couldn’t get a great read on the dragon, since resting bitch face was his normal, but Isaac got the feeling he was at war with himself. Isaac obviously wasn’t going to force him, but he couldn’t say he didn’t want this. It’d been a while since he last got off with someone else. His right hand was his best friend since starting law school. Maverick wasn’t the only one who’d de-stress with a little sex.
Isaac was prepared to continue arguing, but Maverick relented with a sigh. “You’re going to be a formidable lawyer one day. Fine. I accept your arrangement. But only if you agree that you are allowed to back out at any time. You are not beholden to me just because you want to keep your position here. If this fails, I’ll contact a few people and find you a position with them so you can continue to get the experience you need for your career.”
Isaac wanted to preen at the compliment. And he wasn’t going to throw Maverick’s thoughtful offer in his face. He thrust out his hand, smiling brightly. “Deal.”
Maverick rolled his eyes, but still accepted Isaac’s hand in a firm shake. He jerked his chin at Isaac’s desk, giving him a pointed look.
“Get back to work. I need the research you’re working on by the end of the day.”
So bossy.
Maverick had the first test of his patience a few hours later when a stammering intern dropped dozens of copies all over the floor, right before a meeting. The idiot hadn’t even stapled the packets yet, so there was no way the papers stayed organized. Isaac thought it was a little early to test Maverick, especially since they hadn’t had a chance to go over any of the calming techniques yet, but he couldn’t run defense forever and they had to start somewhere.
Maverick’s jaw twitched, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Smoke started to billow from his nose, showing just how close he was to losing his temper. Maybe a demonstration of how he should respond would be better than letting him say anything right now. Isaac stepped up beside him, nudging his side with his elbow. When Maverick turned his gaze Isaac’s way, Isaac gave him a significant look before taking action. He kneeled down beside the shaking intern, helping him gather up the papers.
“I’m s-sorry. I d-d-didn’t mean to.”
“Accidents happen,” Isaac replied easily. “But next time, you should staple the pages together before bringing them to the meeting room. You’ll disturb the meeting if you’re stapling in there, and if you dropped the stapled packets, it’d be a lot easier to organize it. Understand?”
The intern nodded quickly, his eyes darting to Maverick and back to the floor again. With two piles of scattered papers, Isaac gathered one and stood, gesturing to the meeting room with a jut of his chin.
“Come on. We’ll sort this out quickly while they do introductions. Tell the other intern we need their help.”
The intern immediately turned to scuttle away, but Isaac stopped him, his own temper rising. Were all interns idiots?
“Wait. Put the papers in the meeting room first. We don’t want to have another incident of dropping them.”
Spinning around, the intern moved to do as Isaac asked, only to drop everything again the minute he stepped through the door. Isaac pressed his lips tightly together to stop himself from saying anything. Was he that dumb at that age?
After the intern picked everything up for the second time and dropped it off on the meeting room table, he scurried off again, leaving Isaac to fix his mistake while he went to get more help. Before he started, Isaac closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, wrangling his irritation before he had to deal with more interns. Once he relaxed, he set to work reorganizing the papers.
Warmth spread up his side as Maverick stepped up beside him. He grabbed his own pile and began to sort through it, keeping his voice low to not be overheard.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?” Isaac asked, his focus on the papers. It was lucky that Isaac was the one who put together this briefing packet, so he knew what order the papers had to go in. It would be a lot more frustrating if he didn’t.
“I felt your frustration. You tucked it away. How?”
Pursing his lips, he considered how to explain it. Saying he took a deep breath was too simplistic and would only irritate Maverick.
“I’ve been practicing meditation since I came into my powers. I didn’t have the time right now to do a full meditation, but I used the same breathing techniques that I use when meditating. It tricks my brain into relaxing.”
Maverick grunted in acknowledgement, but Isaac could tell he was skeptical. A lot of people were when it came to meditation. Unfortunately for the dragon, he didn’t have a choice in the matter. He agreed to let Isaac help him, and meditation was going to be part of that. Whether he liked it or not.
With two interns, Maverick and Isaac, they managed to get things sorted only a few minutes behind schedule. Luckily, it was an in-house meeting, not a meeting with outside clients to go over contracts, so the embarrassment was minimal. Still, Isaac could tell how frustrated Maverick was, so he kept a sharp eye on the dragon. He also had a light breeze fluttering through the room to dissipate any smoke before it started to thicken. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but Isaac felt like it helped. People were tense when they came in, but they relaxed after a while. The meeting stayed on topic, there were no more interruptions, and all the questions directed at Maverick were actually important. The dragon’s tension eased little by little, and by the time they were done, he looked relatively calm.
“I’ll expect an update at the end of next week,” Maverick said gruffly. He turned to walk out, but Isaac stopped him with a sharp look.
“Typically, you at least shake hands with the lead of whoever you were meeting with. It shows you appreciated their efforts to meet with you.”
“They didn’t have a choice. It’s part of their job,” Maverick argued with a scowl.
“And going to these meetings is part of yours,” Isaac pushed back. “You both did your jobs today to the best of your ability. So thank the lead researcher properly and shake his hand. Show him you appreciated that he didn’t make your life more difficult, at least.”
A muscle ticked in Maverick’s jaw and a plume of smoke billowed out, but Isaac didn’t back down and the dragon gave in eventually, though Isaac felt like he might pay for it later. Whatever. Better him than the rest of the office. Isaac wouldn’t be the reason Maverick lost his job.
The head researcher, who was there to discuss the sites that Isaac had personally vetted as the lowest risk for their project, looked a little nervous when Maverick strode to meet him. The nerves melted into a shell-shocked expression when Maverick thanked him and offered him his hand. Even after the handshake and Maverick marching away, the researcher gaped. Was it really that surprising that Maverick would say thank you? Stubborn grouch.
They headed back to the office, but that had been the last meeting of the day, and Isaac had to get back home to prepare for a late class, so he wouldn’t be staying much longer. He packed up his things for the day, knowing Maverick would be here for another few hours at least. The dragon was addicted to his work.
“I’ve got class tonight, so I can’t stay late, but I was wondering when you wanted to start working on this? I figured you wouldn’t want to interrupt work for the exercises and you might want some privacy too. We can meet at my place, if you want.”
From the look on his face, Maverick was none too pleased about the idea, but because he had no choice unless he wanted to risk his job, he couldn’t argue. “Do you have classes on the weekends?”
“No. I study on weekends and do homework, but I can push that and take a few hours to help you.”
Maverick’s brows drew together, and he made a tsk sound behind his teeth. “You can’t skip out on studying. Your education is important.”
True, but so was helping Maverick keep his job. Isaac agreed to help him. He wasn't going to go back on his word.
“I can study in the evenings. It’ll be fine.”
Maverick shook his head. “I’ll help you study. A fair exchange for what you’re doing for me.”
It still surprised Isaac how thoughtful the dragon was when he wasn’t a seething mass of fury. Underneath the growling and glaring, there was a kind person hiding deep down.
“Maybe helping you will give me more chances to practice my patience.”
Deep, deep, deep down. Like earth’s core level down. Jackass.