The Dragon's Mate

by Jada Cox

  Chapter 9

  His hands were strong, firm, sure. They touched me everywhere at once, wringing small, longing sounds from between my lips. I wanted more, so much more, but I couldn’t speak, or he couldn’t hear me. I wasn’t sure which.

  I reached for Emiliano’s chest, grinning when it was as smooth and muscular as it looked. No airbrushing for this guy. He was all muscle under the t-shirt. I didn’t know they made men like him on our planet. This man was out of this world. I wrapped my arms around his waist and let myself sink into the feeling of holding him, of being held by him. I was drowning in sensation.

  Suddenly, I felt Emiliano’s body changing. His skin was turning to scales, wings sprouted from his back and his face transformed into a snout… It was terrifying, and at the same time, it wasn’t. It was simply Emiliano.

  And then I was cursing. The offensive piece of technology trilled its sharp-natured ring, dragging me unwillingly from my sleep. I sat up straight in bed and snatched the damned phone from my nightstand.

  “What?” I screamed into it.

  “Geez, Ella, maybe it’s time to switch to decaf?” Michael joked.

  “Why are you calling me?” I demanded. “Was I not clear enough last night? I don’t want to get involved with you outside of a work project. What part of that isn’t clear?”

  “You’re late again,” he said after a long silence.

  “Shit!” I flew out of bed. “I’m on my way!” I shouted before I disconnected the call and threw the phone onto my bed. I frantically grabbed clothes and pulled them on, scrubbed my teeth, slapped some lipstick and blusher on my face, and then spent precious minutes looking for the damn phone in the covers.

  “Story of my life,” I muttered as I finally had to pull the covers fully off the bed before the phone tumbled to the floor. I snatched it up and ran for the front door. I locked the door behind me, jumped in the car, and sped off toward the office.

  I groaned as I pulled into the parking lot. I could already see Michael standing on the patio waiting for me.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” I muttered as I parked and dashed to the front door.

  “I’m sorry, Michael. For being late and for snapping at you.”

  “You can make it up to me by going to dinner with me tonight.”

  I stopped with my hand on the door. I didn’t want to have this discussion again, right here, right now, so I just ran for the elevator, hoping I could get in and headed up before Michael tried to join me. No such luck. Michael stepped onto the elevator before the doors even started to close.

  I leaned against the wall, closest to the control panel, trying to make myself small and inconspicuous. Maybe he could be normal and just ride the elevator with me. That’s didn’t work, either. It just wasn’t my day.

  “So, late night?” Michael asked. If it hadn’t been for the sly sneer on his lips, I might have thought he was just being a human. As it was, however, he was fishing for lurid details. Much to his disappointment—and my own if I were honest with myself—my life had no lurid details.

  The sensual memory of my dream swept over me like a wave, and I had to control my features and body or risk giving Michael something he could sink his teeth into, thereby subjecting me to his terrier-like tenacity.

  “No. I fell asleep early, actually, and didn’t set my alarm.”

  “Well, that’s no fun. If you’d have called, I’d have come over to liven things up for you.”

  I gave Michael a hard look. The elevator doors slid open, and I stepped into the foyer in front of them. Michael followed me. I took a deep breath.

  “Michael,” I started.

  “Yes, Ella?”

  “Look, I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but the way you talk to me is unacceptable. Your behavior makes me nervous and borders on creepy. You pack everything you say with as much sexual innuendo as you can shove in there. It’s exhausting, and it makes me uncomfortable. I’m asking you, please, to stop before I have to go to HR.”

  “You wouldn’t do that, would you? Go to HR? Do you really think I should lose my job over asking you to dinner and being a little persistent?”

  “Is that what you think you’re doing? That you’ve done nothing more than ask me out? You’ve badgered me all day, every day since I started here. It’s exhausting dealing with you every day. Please just stop.”

  “Go out to dinner with me tonight. I won’t let you get rid of me completely until you know what you’d be missing.”

  “See, that’s what I’m talking about. Can’t you just be a gentleman and walk away? I’m not interested in dating you. Not now, not ever.”

  “You say that, but you don’t mean it.” Michael’s smile was nearly blinding in its intensity.

  I stamped my foot in frustration and stalked to my office where I found two emails from my boss waiting for me when I logged into my computer. One was a follow-up to an issue from yesterday. The other was a request that I go out to the site today and observe the workers and their foremen. It was a bullshit assignment, but it would get me out of the office and away from Michael while simultaneously letting me watch Emiliano work. Maybe this day at work wasn’t lost yet.

  I typed a quick response to both emails and looked up from the computer screen in time to see Mike stalking past in high dungeon. I wondered what part had pissed him off. If he was angry, something must have gotten through.

  I might wonder, but I didn’t have the time to contemplate it now. I needed to call Daniel, find out where the crews were and head into the desert for the day.

  Chapter 10

  We all looked up at the deafening rumble of a Diesel engine. A large truck pulled to a stop, and Ella got out of the passenger seat. I held my breath just seeing her.

  “I won’t be here too long, so feel free to take a break and be ready to go in about an hour,” she told the driver.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I heard the driver say.

  Ella walked toward me, a goddess bathed in sunshine. I smiled as she approached and her expression mirrored mine.

  “Emiliano, I’m so glad to see you.”

  “As am I,” I answered. “I hope you are prepared for tonight’s meal.”

  “I am looking forward to it very much,” she said to my delight.

  I saw Joseph making his way towards us. “What brings you out here, Ella?” he asked.

  “Big bossman wanted me to observe for a little while and report on efficiency and any tools you might need to make the job more efficient,” Ella said, a cute little frown on her forehead as she was speaking.

  “Tell him we need about twenty more men. That would make this job more efficient.”

  “I’ll do that,” Ella said with a grin. “Though I’m pretty sure that’s not what they’ll opt to do.”

  “Probably not,” Joseph agreed.

  She took a seat on the back of one of the trucks and watched us work for a while. I felt my body growing hot under her gaze. Then she got up and walked around to talk with the workers. She stopped at each large group first, chatting and making notes about what they said to her. Then she went around to speak with the individuals who worked by themselves. She took notes from these men as well. She looked so professional and efficient that I couldn’t help but admire her.

  Then she came to me, and I felt a rigidness coming over me.

  “How’re you finding the work? Is it difficult? Too simple?” she asked.

  “It’s labor. Labor is good for the soul,” I said with a grin.

  “And your equipment. Is it sufficient for the job?”

  I held up the shovel I’d been using.

  “I can’t imagine another tool being better.”

  “Unless it was a backhoe,” Joseph shouted

  “If that is a mechanical device designed for digging, I would have to agree with Joseph,” I told Ella, having absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

  “Backhoe,” Ella said as she wrote on the tablet she
carried. “Got it right here in my notes. Well, I think that’s all I need from you guys today. I’m heading back to the office.” She looked at me. “I’ll see you when you get back to the yard.”

  I raised a hand to Ella as she got back into the truck that brought her out to the site. She waved back, and the truck drove back out the way it had come, carrying my soul with it.

  “Watch yourself there,” Joseph said.

  I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t mess with the office ladies. They’re always trouble for guys like us.”

  “I am not a man like you.”

  “Well, you sure said a mouthful there.” Joseph laughed to himself. “I’m just saying that it’s a bad idea to get too involved with anyone that far above your pay grade. She works in the office, for heaven’s sake. If they work behind glass, they’re not gonna date a guy who has to bust his ass out here.”

  “She’s already agreed to have tonight’s meal with me.”

  Joseph’s jaw dropped, and I saw a glint of admiration in his eyes. Quickly recomposing himself, he said, “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you when she dumps you for some corporate jerk who has the office down the hall from her.”

  I grinned. “I won’t, Joseph. But something tells me that’s not going to happen.”

  Joseph gave me a thumbs up and returned to his usual perch on the back of the truck he drove. I went back to my ditch. The rest of the day moved predictably. Finally, it was time to return to the yard. Excitement built in my gut, more and more, the closer we got to the yard. Ella would be waiting for me in her office. I had chosen a simple restaurant that the men I worked with assured me had good food. We would eat and then I would learn more about her and find out if the pull that I felt, that my dragon felt, could possibly be real.

  I stepped off the elevator and turned right. I saw Ella’s office door was open and that sleazy man, Michael, leaned against the doorway. As I approached, I could hear what he was saying.

  “So, what time will you be ready to go?”

  “Michael, is there something wrong with you? Were you dropped on your head as a child? I told you, I am not now, not ever, going on a date with you.”

  “But I already made the reservations.”

  “So take someone who wants to be with you.”

  I was now close enough to look around the doorway to see Ella’s face, which was scrunched up in annoyance. When she saw me approaching, she gave me a small smile, which made warmth spread through my body.

  I grabbed Michael’s arm when I got close enough.

  “The lady isn’t interested,” I told him sternly. “When will the message sink in? Or do you need to have it beaten into you?”

  Michael turned wide, frightened eyes to me. My dragon stirred, sensing prey, and I knew I needed to get away from him or I would tear him to shreds and eat his flesh. I reached for Ella, and she gave me her hand.

  “Come, Ella. We have plans. This mad man will never leave you be if you don’t walk away now.”

  She walked with me, and we left Michael standing in the doorway, mouth open and eyes unhappy.

  “You’ll come back to me, Ella. I’ll see to it,” I heard him say weakly.

  “I was never yours, so there is no ‘going back’ to something I was never part of.”

  We stepped into the elevator, and the doors closed, cutting off our view of Michael’s frustrated face. Ella dropped her strong facade and sagged against me.

  “Thank you,” she whispered against my neck. “He’s lost his mind. I have told him, again and again, that I’m not interested. I’ve tried being kind, aggressive, insulting, all of it, but he just isn’t hearing me.”

  “He’ll hear me should it come to that. I will make sure he leaves you alone,” I said, and I meant it. Anything she needed, I was ready to give to her.

  Ella wrapped her arms around me and held on, and I could start to feel the discomfort in my pants.

  “Thank you.”

  Chapter 11

  He smelled like the desert, hot wind, and home. This otherworldly creature had me in the palm of his hand. I laid my head on his shoulder and buried my nose in his neck, vaguely wondering whether that was appropriate given how little we knew each other. But there was something about this man, something that made me comfortable doing something like this.

  He cleared his throat before saying, “Are you all right? Did he harm you?”

  “Not physically, no, but he makes me very nervous.”

  “I will protect you,” he said, and the fury in his voice made it clear that he meant it, making me feel oddly safe.

  His hands roamed up and down my back, and it felt as though my bones were turning to jelly. I wanted to melt into him, let him consume me. As I was further relaxing against him, the elevator doors slid open, and Emiliano stepped forward, took my hand again, and led me toward the doors.

  “My colleagues recommended a restaurant. I hope you enjoy tacos. That seems to be their favorite food.”

  We walked to the car but came to a halt when we heard a shout behind us. It was from Michael.

  “Ella, come back here this instant!” he screamed.

  Emiliano turned, and I saw a cloud pass over his features.

  “That man means you harm, Ella. I will correct his thoughts about you if you permit me.”

  I shuddered at the underlying violence in his voice. For the first time, I understood how dangerous Emiliano could be.

  “You can’t. I need this job until I find something else. Michael controls that part of my life.” I could hear the trembling in my voice at the unfairness of it.

  “Why do you permit that?” he asked, fury flashing in his eyes.

  “Because I have no choice.”

  The overwhelming sense of futility and lack of control rolled over me and almost took me under. I didn’t want Michael to have any kind of power over me, but I saw no way out until I could leave Lightning Gas and Oil.

  Michael grabbed my arm with his hand when he reached us and spun me to face him. I heard Emiliano’s growl, and the hair on my arms stood at attention.

  “Ella, you’re going to dinner with me tonight. I made special reservations for us.”

  “And I told you I wasn’t going! Michael, I do not like you. I don’t want to see you outside the office. If I could arrange it, I wouldn’t see you in the office, either.”

  I thought the clarity in my words should make Michael finally back off, but I was wrong. He raised the hand that was not holding my arm and obviously meant to slap my face with it, but before he could do so Emiliano’s hand fell on Michael’s shoulder. Michael turned to look up at Emiliano and took a fist to the face that snapped his head back. The only thing keeping him on his feet now was the grasp Emiliano kept on his shoulder.

  “You will never speak to Ella again, am I clear?”

  Emiliano drew back his fist again, and Michael cowered before it. His mouth opened and closed several times before it became clear Michael was unable to speak.

  “I asked you a question, worm.”

  I lay my hand on Emiliano’s arm.

  “Please don’t,” I begged. “I really need this job.”

  “It’s not safe for him to believe he faces no consequences as a result of his treatment of you.”

  Emiliano shook Michael, who flopped like a rag doll.

  “I will hold him to our agreement,” Emiliano told me, then turned to face Michael again. “I will squash you like the vermin you are if you ever assault Ella again, whether verbally or physically. If you remove her from her position because she does not wish to date you, you will face the legal consequences your society undoubtedly has as well as the beating I will administer. Is that clear?”

  Michael dangled from Emiliano’s grasp and finally managed to gasp out, “It’s clear. It’s clear!”

  Emiliano dropped Michael and then opened my car door for me
.

  “If tacos are agreeable to you for dinner, we should be on our way.”

  “I love tacos. Point the way.”

  We got into my car, but my head was still spinning, and Emiliano agreed to stop at a nearby park to walk around a little and sit at a bench to look around. Finally, after an hour or so, I felt completely like myself again, like Michael was but an annoying fly that had been slapped and was no longer around. I nodded at Emiliano and said, “Let’s go. I’m starving.”

  He grinned, and walked me to my car, then gave me the name of the restaurant and a piece of paper with directions. It was a small, family-run restaurant. The smell of home-cooked food wafted out of the kitchen as we pulled in. My mouth started to water before I even got out of the car.

  Once outside, Emiliano waited for me and grabbed my hand before we walked up to the door. He requested a table in Spanish, which confused me a little—was he from a Spanish-speaking country?—and then led the way through the restaurant to the table the hostess chose for us.

  “If you permit me, I will order what my colleagues suggested for our dinner,” he said, giving me a wink.

  “If you trust their judgement, I trust yours. Order away.”

  He spoke to the server in Spanish, joking and smiling while ordering what I gathered was an astonishing amount of food. The server glanced at me a few times as though to ask if I were all right with the amount of food. I smiled and nodded and left it all up to Emiliano.

  It was a pleasant experience for me to trust my meal partner enough to let him order for me in a language I didn’t speak. I let myself enjoy the experience instead of reaching to take back control. Something about Emiliano made it very easy for me to let him lead the way.

  The server left, and Emiliano turned his attention back to me.

  “So how come you speak Spanish?” I asked him. He leaned back in his chair and locked his eyes on me, then shrugged.

  “I taught myself the past two days at work. It seemed expedient since it is the language of the men with whom I work. They seem to respect me more now that we speak together in their language.”