Chapter 4
Desmon
My dragon was practically giddy with excitement at the prospect of having Carly in our domain. I didn’t understand it. She was just another human woman.
Sure, she was exactly the type my dragon and I preferred—voluptuous, what you’d call Rubenesque. But there were plenty of generously proportioned females of all kinds out there, and none had ever made my dragon act so obsessively.
I’d been thinking about her ever since our meeting yesterday. Or rather, my dragon had. He clearly wanted to own her, possess her, hide her away in our cave of treasures. I’d had to remind him several times that Carly was a human being, not a chew toy.
It was this irrational behavior that had me hesitating when she came knocking at my door. I wasn’t a malevolent dragon, but I felt like I had to protect her from that side of myself. And yet one little smile and wave at the camera and all my good intentions flew out the window.
Even more exciting, it appeared Carly had come bearing treasures of her own. The very “key” that I’d been waiting for. I tucked the envelope securely away into the top drawer of my desk before turning back to her. She looked unsure, and I didn’t blame her.
I hadn’t thought much past inviting her into my domain.
The dragon in me, however, knew exactly what he wanted to do . She smells good. I want a taste.
I shoved him back into the farthest recesses of my mind before he could make me do something I’d regret.
After years of working with humans and shifters, I knew there were certain rules that had to be followed. I couldn’t just pick her up, step out onto the balcony, transform into a dragon, and carry her through the clouds to my lair. That would be considered kidnapping. The thought, however, clearly got my dragon excited.
Do it! Fuck the rules. Rules are for peasants.
Wow, my dragon was a dick.
Stop being a wimp. Steal her. Ravish her. Bathe her in your fire. It’s your right.
I ignored my dragon’s ridiculous request. Only a true mate would survive being bathed in my fire. Cute as she was, Carly couldn’t be my mate.
“Would you like a drink?” I asked, gesturing to the cabinet with my wines and liquors.
“But I’m working,” she said, looking scandalized.
Bah. More human rules.
“Technically, I call the shots here, and I say you can have a drink at lunchtime.” I sent her my friendliest smile.
“No, thank you.” She still looked uncomfortable, which irked me. I didn’t want her to feel awkward around me.
I knew I came across as cold and grumpy to most people. Usually, I considered this a good thing. But I didn’t want to scare Carly away. I tried to soften my features.
“It’s not a trick, I promise.” Then, in a softer voice and with the back of my hand to my lips like I was telling her a secret, “I break the rules all the time.”
That had her finally cracking a smile. “I’m a lightweight. Trust me. You don’t want me out there giving group tours even after a single sip of wine. I might take my History Is Fun mantra a little too far.”
That had me remembering her gory, unconventional, yet still factually accurate history lesson from yesterday. That was one group of boys who’d think twice before calling my museum boring and stuffy. She was a good museum ambassador for our youth.
I opened my mini-fridge instead. “Then perhaps something that won’t have my office inundated with calls from disgruntled teachers and pissed off parents?”
She peered into the fridge. “A sparkling water would be great. Thank you.”
I opened the bottle and handed it to her, waiting for her to take a sip before hitting her with the next sentence.
“About yesterday…”
Her face fell immediately. “I’m really sorry about your pants. If you need me to cover the dry cleaning—”
I held up my hand. “There’s no need for that. But I do need help digitizing some files, if you want to do something to make up for it.” I gestured to the vintage oak filing cabinet that was bursting at the seams with paper that had collected over the last few decades.
She brightened. “I can totally do that! I promised to help Janice cover the front desk when I’m not giving tours, but I don’t mind staying late to help you.”
“The student volunteers from the university start tomorrow. They can cover the front desk. I’d rather not trust the students with my files. I’ll send Janice a note.”
I typed out a quick message on my computer and sent it to my museum manager. I got one back from her promptly, saying that I could have Carly for the rest of the day.
“Done. You can start after your lunch break. She says she’s fine on her own.”
We really needed a bigger team helping at the front now that Darlington was getting bigger and the museum busier. We were desperately understaffed, and part of that was my fault.
Hiring new people was difficult for me, even though I knew it had to be done. Because so much of what was on display was part of my hoard, the dragon in me insisted I keep it as secret as I could. All this despite the man explaining to the monster—many times—that sharing them with the world was precisely what gave our treasures worth.
“My lunch break is basically over, so I can get started right away.”
I handed her my spare laptop. “Perfect. You can use the printer to scan the documents.” I grimaced at the thick layer of dust collecting on the multifunctional machine. “I don’t use it often, but I’m sure it still works.”
“Thanks.” Laptop in hand, she looked around. “Is there somewhere I could set up?”
Shit. I hadn’t thought it out past getting her to spend time with me in my office.
I cleared off a corner of my desk for her. “My desk is plenty big for the both of us,” I said. It truly was. It was massive. And considering I didn’t really do much on it, we’d have plenty of space.
And that had me thinking of Carly all spread out on my desk, a feast for my eyes and my tongue.
Yes! Lay her out and feast.
I mentally shushed my dragon. The last thing I wanted was to scare her away. He was so loud I worried she’d hear him right through my skull. But Carly was getting organized across from me, settling her scrumptious ass into the chair meant for guests to my office, none the wiser. She’d taken a folder from the top drawer of the old filing cabinet and was already rifling through it.
As she got to work, I sent a note out to Janice telling her to put out job postings again to hire proper front desk concierge and educator teams, so she could go back to managing the museum rather than doing the grunt work. Darlington was growing, and we needed to grow too if we wanted to keep up.
Since I was here, I decided to clean out my desk, something I hadn’t done in a while. I was sorely tempted to open the envelope right here and now, but I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. I could feel the magic thrumming off of it, and I didn’t want Carly to be in danger if the key inside was spelled to set off something magical upon touching a dragon.
I focused on my desk instead, opening the top drawer and pulling out pile of takeout menus. I noticed a few from places that weren’t even in business anymore and tossed those out. I really hadn’t cleaned in a while.
Carly eyed the flyer closest to her. “The Starving Aardvark?” she said. “Cute name.”
“I love that place. Makes the best chicken and waffles in town. They even named a drink after me.”
“Really?”
“Yup. The Fire Breather.”
She raised a brow but didn’t ask.
Ask her out! my dragon hissed.
I sighed internally. My dragon got extremely obsessive when he believed he’d found a treasure, but sometimes, once we actually got our hands on it, he lost interest. Maybe spending some time with her was the perfect way to kick my dragon out of this delusion. I could wine, dine, and bed her a few times until my dragon realized he was mistaken and that she wasn’t our mate after all. What was the saying? Get her out of my system?
Fine, Dragon, you win. I’ll ask her out.
“Have you been?” I asked her, willing my dragon to sit down and be quiet.
“Not yet, but it sounds right up my alley.”
“You are new to Darlington, yes? Your resume says you worked in New York last.” I’d looked her up after yesterday.
“Yeah, I just moved to town the day before I started working here. I haven’t had much time to explore the city.”
“Well, then let me show you around. We can go to The Starving Aardvark tomorrow for lunch.” When she hesitated, I turned to my computer and pulled up the staff schedule. “It says here your only tour tomorrow is a fifth grade class at one, which means you’re helping me out in the morning. If we leave a bit early for lunch, we’ll be back with time to spare to wrangle those fifth graders into submission.”
She blinked in confusion. “You want me to come out to lunch with you ?“ She was so cute when she was flustered.
I looked around the room. “I don’t see anyone else here,” I said teasingly.
I glanced down at her hand. No ring. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t currently dating someone seriously. She didn’t smell like anyone, though, and if she was living with anyone, their scent would be all over her. Did she have someone back in New York?
The thought of her being with anyone else had my dragon seething.
Then we get rid of him, my dragon hissed. Burn him to a crisp!
Calm down. We don’t even know if there is a him.
Maybe she was concerned about the whole workplace fraternization thing. I knew humans disapproved of that. But that was a rule I was willing to break.
“Consider it a working lunch,” I said casually, even as my dragon scoffed. “I’ll give you a quick rundown of the museum’s history while we eat; it will help you with…all that.” I nodded to the disaster area that was my filing cabinet.
Stop treating her like a co-worker! She’s so much more.
“There’s no pressure,” I added hastily.
That was a big fat lie, considering my dragon was already plotting how to get her into our cave and keep her there forever. But my dragon had to be wrong. This human couldn’t be my mate. If she was, wouldn’t I know it as well? I didn’t have anything against humans in principle, but I always imagined myself being with another monster. One with wings, who could fly with me through the skies—
She doesn’t need wings. We will carry her .
Carly nodded firmly. “Sure. Let’s go tomorrow.”