Billionaire Dragon

by Jada Cox

  “Good,” he said. “You’re making progress?”

  “Just working on my next move here,” I said. “I should be within view of him by the afternoon.”

  “Right,” he said. “Good. Well, I just stopped by to let you know that we have your security figured out.”

  “What?” I said, my head snapping up. “What do you mean, my security?”

  And then, to my absolute horror, Malcolm stepped into my office and leaned against the wall like he belonged there.

  Chapter 5 - Malcolm

  I was leaning against the office wall of Detective Hill, my arms crossed and smirking at the look of absolute rage on Violet’s face as her boss explained the situation.

  Without knowing anything about the two, I could easily see why Don got under her skin. He was a stereotypical over-worked, over-weight, messy, angry, balding man; the kind who still kept an ‘80s-style caterpillar above his lip and his tie tucked into his belt. He may once have been respectable; he must have to earn his position, and maybe he still was today. But it was something to confront younger, spryer investigators like this when he himself looked like he hadn’t spent a day looking beyond a McDonalds breakfast sandwich.

  Meanwhile, every day that I had seen Violet go to and return from work, she wore professional attire, stayed tidy, and, from what Janet had told me, was a stickler for being on time. Seeing someone like Don talk down to her as readily as he did, I couldn’t blame the enraged expression on her face.

  “Look,” Don said. “We trust you. We know you’re good at what you do, but this is an entirely different case. You’ve never been on something like this, and we want to make sure you’re not in over your head. You have the brains for it, but we don’t know that you’ll be able to handle yourself if things get dangerous. You need to have security on you, just in case.”

  Her mouth opened and closed as she searched for the words. “Have you seen my record?” Violet finally demanded. “I’ve been on far worse cases than this—”

  “When you were in the police department and had a team of cops to watch your back,” her boss replied coolly. “This is different. We’re a private agency, Violet. You can’t just go off and assume that everything is the same.”

  “It is the same!” she exclaimed. “I’m a blackbelt, for crying out loud. I can handle myself.”

  I chuckled. I loved it when people flaunted their childhood karate level as if they could still do what they did when they were fourteen.

  “And what the fuck are you smiling at, chuckles?” Violet snapped at me.

  “Nothing, nothing. I’m just here to keep watch,” I said, trying to swallow my amusement. I had to admire her determination and spirit. I liked how feisty she was, and how eager she was to show she was tough enough. Who was I to say she wasn’t? I didn’t know what she could do. But if I were to pass her on the street, I wouldn’t assume that she was in any form of industry where she would have to whip out her trusty, rusty karate kicks.

  I was the worst for goading people on when they were like this, and I opened my mouth to do so but closed it again. She was hot when she was mad. I liked it. Her cheeks went rosy, and it made me imagine what she might look like if I did other things to make those cheeks the same color. If I was going to have any chance at trying for that, I needed to behave around her.

  “Look, it is what it is,” Don said, holding up his hands. “You don’t have to take the case. You can pass it along to Rudy if you want, or James. But if you want the case, you take the security. That’s just the way it is.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  “No case for you, like I just said,” Don said. “That’s just the way it is, Miss Hill. Take it or leave it.”

  With his added insult of calling her “Miss” instead of “Detective,” Don left the two of us alone in her office.

  “What does that guy think he’s playing at?” she muttered, shaking her head and holding her face in her fingers.

  “How long have you put up with that guy?” I asked.

  “Five years,” she groaned, leaning back in her chair. “Five long and infuriating years.”

  “You should get a medal,” I said.

  “Tell me about it.”

  “Look, Violet,” I said, taking a step forward, toward her desk. “I just want you to know that I’m not here to get in your way.”

  “Good,” she said. “Then don’t.”

  “I’ll do everything I can to let you do your job, and I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”

  She looked at me, her eyes wide with disbelief. “I don’t know how many damn times I have to tell you both. I don’t need protection. I can handle myself.”

  “Well, it sounds like you’re getting protection, so …” I said.

  She stood up, her fists supporting her as she leaned on the desk. “What is it with you men thinking that I’m incapable, huh? Just because I’m a woman? I don’t need protection. If you really want to help me, then you can make up some bullshit about tagging along with me and just leave me alone while I work.”

  I chuckled. “We both know that’s not going to work and that we have to work together whether you like it or not. Don said that we start tomorrow, so we might as well get used to it.”

  Violet straightened herself and crossed her arms, looking away from me as she twisted her mouth and shook her head. I couldn’t blame her for her annoyance. I would imagine that if I were in her position, I wouldn’t be too thrilled either.

  “Look, let’s get off on a good foot, huh?” I suggested. “What if I come by in the morning and pick you up, and we both ride into work together. We can even get some breakfast on the way, and you can catch me up on things. What do you say? Save you on gas?”

  “No,” she said, her head swiveling so quickly to face me that I thought she might hurt herself. “No, you absolutely will not. I am not getting on the back of a motorcycle.”

  “That sounds like you’ve never been on the back of a motorcycle,” I said, smiling.

  “And I don’t intend on changing that. Those things are death traps, and the assholes who ride them are adrenaline junkies, which makes them reckless.”

  “I feel like you’re judging me,” I teased.

  She sat herself back down at her desk, folded her hands, and leaned forward. “No, Malcolm. You’ve got the wrong idea,” she said sweetly. I had a feeling this might be false pretenses. “I’m not judging you. I’ve already judged you. The moment I saw you and your biker friends looking at the old Bernard place. I don’t need any more to do with you than that.”

  “Again, I don’t think it’s your call,” I said. “I’m not trying to be a problem. I promise, I’ll just be your silent shadow.”

  Violet looked up at me standing in front of her deck. It was a nice view to look down at her and see her looking up at me. She sighed, and as she did so, she allowed herself a little bit of a smile.

  “Alright,” she said. “I’m sorry. I know I’m being hard on you. It’s not your fault you got assigned to me. I’m taking my anger at Don out on you. I’ll try and be nicer.”

  “I mean, if it makes you feel better, you can take it out on me,” I said. “I don’t bruise easily.”

  “If I need a human punching bag, I’ll let you know.”

  I laughed. “Alright. Sure. I’ll let you get back to it, anyway. And, Detective Hill? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I couldn’t get Violet out of my head. I loved how angry she got. It just showed how passionate she was, and there was something endearing and sexy about that. It didn’t help that I couldn’t get the image of her walking back into her house out of my head, with the sway of her hips and the motion of that fantastic ass she had. I knew she was a professional. I knew at this point that she cared about her career and took her work seriously. And this was going to make it all the more difficult for me to act professionally around her.

  I wondered what it would be like to be with her. Given that she wasn’t like any of the women I usually w
ent for, I wondered how different she would be. I had to shake my head several times throughout the day to try and get that kind of thinking out of my mind. I was going to have no chance in hell of being a gentleman around her if I kept that up. But I couldn’t help it. There was something about her that had me hooked.

  I was given the option to stick around the office for the day and see if I could snag a meeting with the head of security, or I could go home and set a time to meet with him tomorrow. Instead of wasting the day twiddling my thumbs, I opted for the latter. There were few things I hated more than killing time on my phone while I waited around. After all, I had just moved to a new state. I had some exploring I could be doing, or at the very least, I could be getting my bearings of the city, especially if I was going to be working here.

  As I left the office, I was feeling restless. More than that, my Dragon was feeling restless. I could feel him slithering in circles somewhere within me, his breath getting hotter and hotter against my core. He was going to burst forth if I didn’t do something.

  Usually, when he was bumping around inside me, it was because I was hungry, needed to fly, or simply needed to attend to more carnal desires. But this was different. He was far more agitated that usual when I needed something. This wasn’t just lust that my Dragon was alerting me to. Whatever it was, it had to do with Violet.

  I decided to go for a drive for old time’s sake. You can’t just live as a nomad and then suddenly halt. No, there’s an inertia that keeps you moving forward, like slamming your breaks on a bike. You’ll just go ass over end. If I didn’t allow myself a long drive every now and then, I would crash, and I didn’t want to know what that would look like. Besides, there was nothing wrong with it. I had the time, I had the money for as many tanks of gas as I needed, and furthermore, I had an idea for the perfect spot to head toward.

  I set my music playing in my helmet, putting on some Led Zeppelin mixed with Elvis, Doris Day, and Woody Guthrie to guide me along the long road. Freedom was the key thing that I enjoyed about being on the back of a motorcycle. It was the closest thing I could get to flying every day, while still fitting in and not having to risk my neck. It was a form of soaring in human form, and yet still setting myself apart from the majority of society. We lived within the confines of the law, yet just outside of it. We were in the confines of socially acceptable, yet just outside the walls of safety. A motorcycle was my path to liberty, and that was something I knew I couldn’t give up, despite abandoning the nomad lifestyle.

  I decided I’d go north into the Chattahoochee Forest. The guys and I had driven through it a few times during our ventures back and forth across the country. But this time, I just wanted to find someplace secluded, where I could be me. I drove up to nearly the Kentucky and North Carolina borders before I found myself the little dirt track that led me into the depths of the forest, into nowhere.

  Dark gray clouds rolled through the mountain sky, rippling like waves as seen from below. I drove down a beaten path toward the lake. It looked like only dirt bikes went down it, and eventually, I abandoned my own hog in order to continue on until I reached the edge of the lake.

  I breathed in the fresh air radiating from it, cool and tranquil. There was nothing like being out in nature and in solitude. I watched the perfect reflection of the clouds on the water’s surface, disturbed only by the occasional unlucky fly snatched by a fish. After several minutes of enjoying the placidity, I began removing my clothes, feeling the mingling humid spring air with the sheltered shadow of the trees. I took a moment to stand as I was, as bare as the day I was born and feel my connection with nature. Every animal in the lake, in the trees’ branches, and in the mountains was just as naked as I was. The only difference was that there was some strange societal shame in my nudity. But not here in nature. In nature, I was simply a part of it.

  With that thought, I called forth my Dragon as I ran and dove into the shallow water.

  My Dragon took hold, my soft reptilian skin only grazing gently against the water’s surface before I even hit it, my powerful wings pulling me forward and up. Up, and up, pumping as the lake shrank beneath me, and I climbed into the silver chill of the clouds.

  Chapter 6 - Violet

  I was trying not to keep looking at the clock, but I still did it every other minute on a good streak. I turned off my computer and had my phone faced down on my desk so I wouldn’t look at it, instead reading over my notes and the file for the umpteenth time. Yet, the pull of the digital clock over my door beckoned me, and it was everything I could do to ignore it.

  I didn’t like waiting around. And I liked it even less when I was told I had to work with someone and that someone didn’t turn up. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. So far, he hadn’t turned up, and my new security guard, Malcolm, was in the act of one thing I absolutely detested: being late.

  I didn’t know if it was fair to accuse him of tardiness, given that I never gave him a time to be here. But if he was actually meant to be my security detail, then he needed to be at work when I was. It didn’t help that I didn’t know what Don had told him either, and I wasn’t about to march into his office and ask him. No, I was still too angry at Don.

  So here I was, sitting at my desk, tapping my heel against the wheel of the chair, unable to get on with work until I updated this guy on everything I was working on. Maybe that was part of the idea, to keep me from doing my job so Don could lord it over me.

  I shook my head. I needed to stop thinking so bitterly. There was no reason for Don to give me a case and then take it away. It would have been easier just to not let me have the case at all and get someone else to do it. I couldn’t help but think that Don had a personal vendetta against me but couldn’t justify losing me at the same time.

  You’re being paranoid, I told myself. Just keep your head down, and do your work. If Malcolm isn’t here in half an hour, then you can take off on your own. I was not going to get behind on this big of a case just because some bored rich biker guy couldn’t get out of bed on time.

  I sighed. Malcolm being late did validate one thing: you couldn’t rely on bikers. They had their own ideas and rules for how things should go. I had hoped I was wrong, that maybe I would be able to rely on Malcolm, and that I could take him up on his offer sometime. But instead, he pulled this crap, and now I knew he wasn’t worth my time, professionally, romantically, or neighborly. Which was fine. It just meant one fewer batch of Christmas brownies for me to make come the holiday season.

  I gave in and glanced up at the clock. 11:10. I looked at my phone—no missed calls, no waiting text messages. I felt a little disappointed, not just because I wanted to get to work, but also because I wanted to be recognized as a person of authority for Malcolm to report to. And because I kind of also just wanted him to get ahold of me. Not that I was interested in him or anything. Sometimes a girl just likes to hear from a man who isn’t her boss.

  I looked down at what I was wearing, wondering if I hadn’t stepped over a line when I got ready for work this morning. I had read the forecast was going to be warm, and, instead of my usual long-sleeved blouse, I’d opted for a sleeveless one, whose buttons stopped at a level that could either be regarded as flirtatious or professional. I hadn’t put my usual slacks on, but instead had gone for a gray skirt that went three quarters of the way down to my knees, topped off with a pair of ankle-high, thick high-heeled boots. I was regretting my choice, as well as questioning my real motive for wearing what I was wearing.

  Was it too sexy? Would Malcolm get the wrong idea and think that I dressed this way for him? Had I dressed this way just for him?

  As the minutes ticked by, I got more and more nervous.

  “Get a grip, Vi,” I told myself. I didn’t need to be thinking anything of the sort about Malcolm. This needed to be just professional, and with a little luck, even that wouldn’t last long, and I wouldn’t have to worry about him at work at all.

  A light knock on the door jolted me out of my thoughts. I looke
d up to see Malcolm standing in the doorway, and my breath caught in my throat. A strand of his usually tidily slicked back hair hung forward over his forehead, his black vest opened in the front, showing how his white shirt clung to his core down to where it tucked into his black, leather belt that lined his blue jeans.

  I felt my face go warm just looking at him, which only annoyed me. How was I going to act like this guy’s boss if I blushed every time I looked at him? He wasn’t going to take me seriously. Hell, I wasn’t going to take me seriously.

  “Where the hell have you been?” I demanded. “I’ve been here since eight waiting for you.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “I expect for you to be punctual,” I continued. “That’s three hours of the day gone because you couldn’t roll your ass out of bed and get down here on time.”

  “Actually,” he said, running his fingers around his mouth as he let himself into my office. “I’ve been here since eight, too.”

  I shook my head. “No, your bike wasn’t here when I got here.”

  He shrugged, waving his hand. “I got here at about eight, then.” He took a seat in the chair across from my desk. “I’ve been tied up all morning with HR paperwork and then in the general introductory training from the security team.”

  “You didn’t think to let me know?”

  “I thought they would have done it. I didn’t get a chance. I asked where your office was and … is it Janet?”

  I nodded, rolling my eyes. I could only imagine how that had gone with her ogling the man the whole time.

  “Anyway, she practically dragged me to her desk. I thought she would have let you know that I was around before she sent me off to the security training.”

  I was surprised that Janet had let him go at all the way she’d been carrying on about him the day before. I was still annoyed that he was late, though I didn’t have any reason to be. I should have thought that he would need to get all his details sorted with Janet and get in for training before coming and seeing me. Then again, I would have thought the paperwork, at least, would have been sorted out after the interview.