Alpha's Second Chance_Shifter Nation_Werebears Of The Everglades
Page 63
Only a moment after he knocked, the door opened. He half-expected there to be no one standing on the other side just as it was when he would visit his father in the den at the Club, but as he stepped forward, he noticed that a woman in a high-necked dress and frilly white apron stood almost behind the door.
"Mr. Simmons is waiting for you in the parlor," the woman said in a soft monotone, her eyes not moving from a doorway across the massive grey marble foyer.
Jason looked in the direction of her gaze and then back at her.
"Thank you," he said.
The woman nodded and moved around Jason to close the door. He turned to walk toward the parlor and noticed a statue of a dragon sitting at the base of the tremendous staircase that led up out of the foyer. He stared at it for a moment and then continued toward the parlor, wondering what he might discover when he entered the new room.
As soon as he stepped in, he noticed two more dragon statues flanking the inside of the door. These were slightly different from the one in the foyer, made of red marble rather than the dark material of the first. He was staring down at them when he heard a voice from further inside the room.
"Mr. Cross, I presume?"
Jason looked up and saw a man slightly younger than Mr. Kelsey standing near a cold, empty fireplace. He leaned on the mantle with one hand, the other tucked into the black lapel of a red smoking jacket embroidered with the willowy, curvy shapes of serpentine dragons.
"Um," Jason said, unsure of how he was supposed to respond to this man. "Yes. You can call me Jason."
The man who Jason assumed was Mr. Simmons turned to him slowly and brought the cigarette grasped between his fingers to his lips. Jason braced himself for some sort of dramatic billowing smoke display, but instead, Mr. Simmons took a bite out of the cigarette, chewed it for a moment, and then gave Jason a smile.
"Bubblegum," he said happily, starting toward him.
Jason couldn’t help but smile. Vincent had warned him that Mr. Simmons was eccentric, but he was proving to be even more unusual than Jason could have prepared for.
"I really appreciate you letting me come to your home to meet with you," Jason said, extending his hand as Mr. Simmons approached.
"Absolutely. Call me Neil. Let's sit."
Jason followed Neil's gesture to sit at one of the overstuffed chairs that rested on either side of a glass coffee table.
"Alright. Neil, I know that we spoke briefly on the phone, but I wanted to give you more information about this investment opportunity."
Jason placed his briefcase at his feet and released the latch on the top, reaching in to pull out the folder that contained his presentation about the park.
"Absolutely. Let's walk."
Neil bounded back up out of his chair and started toward the doors, removing the smoking jacket as he went so that he could hang it on a hook on the wall that Jason noticed was also shaped like a dragon. He was picking up on a theme in the house and it was making him distinctly uncomfortable.
They walked back through the foyer and Neil led Jason up the massive staircase to a hallway at the top. He turned into the first doorway and Jason followed him, trying to give the pitch that he had prepared, but found it harder to deliver effectively without the benefit of the pictures, news clippings, and charts that he had carefully tailored to demonstrate that this could be a potentially lucrative investment choice.
Jason felt like he was having to stretch a little bit further; be a bit more dramatic with how he spoke about the park and all of the opportunities that he saw for it, even if he wasn't entirely sure that he believed what he was saying himself. He wanted to believe it, though. He wanted to believe that he could help Mr. Kelsey take all of the enthusiasm, nostalgia, and faith that he had inside himself and somehow use it to transform his beloved park.
"This is my favorite spot in the house," Neil said.
Jason had been so busy talking that he hadn't really paid attention to his surroundings, but when he glanced up he realized they were walking through not a single room, but a long gallery that looked as though it had been crafted out of several rooms by removing dividing walls. Paintings covered the walls and Jason noticed that nearly all of them featured dragons. In the center of the wall to his left was a massive mural of a maze that looked remarkably like the one outside of the Club.
A twinge of discomfort twisted in his stomach and Jason tried his best to get a glimpse of the inside of Neil's wrist. Now that he had removed his smoking jacket, Neil was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, which would have allowed Jason to see whether or not Neil had a specific tattoo on his wrist, indicating that he was one of them. The older man shifted and Jason saw both wrists. Neither had the mark, which meant that he wasn't a dragon himself. That meant that he knew far too much about Jason's world, and that put him, and Jason, in danger.
"Is that alright with you, Jason?"
Jason jumped slightly at the sound of Neil's question, realizing that he had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't heard what the older man had been saying to him.
"I'm sorry. What were you saying?" Jason asked.
"I was saying that you have me fairly well convinced of the whole thing, but I am no longer the only one who makes decisions about my investments. It seems that I have made one or two hasty decisions that my progeny did not appreciate, and now I've promised that I won't make any more investments without approval. You will have to impress Shayne and get approval before I can go ahead."
"And Shayne is?" Jason asked.
Neil gave a sigh and looked up at the huge painting with a spark of longing in his eyes that pushed Jason even further into his nervousness.
"Not nearly as easy to please as I am."
If you enjoyed this preview of Playing With Fire: Dragons Of The Darkblood Secret Society, Book 1, you may download the entire story HERE. Available with Kindle Unlimited.
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Werebears Of Acadia: The Complete Series Box Set
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Hannah, a journalist who’s been snooping around doing research for an exposé on Acadia National Park, is most definitely an outsider, no matter how much the ursine part of Knox’s brain keeps insisting that she should be his. But is it possible that a human…could be his mate? And how will he keep her from unraveling the mystery that has kept his clan safe from the public eye for generations?
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Three brutal murders were committed in Acadia, and Trent is on the case. Or is he? When Blanca, a fiesty, curvy FBI agent, tries to take over the investigation, she challenges the desires of Trent’s inner bear–in more ways than one.
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From the moment they met, there was no denying the fire that blazed between Acadia’s biologist, Ramon, and Min, a visiting entomologist. But what is she doing in Acadia in the first place? Could this brainy beauty be responsible for sabotaging their clan, or will she prove to be their greatest ally?
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Fighting fires is Drew’s duty at Acadia, but the day he met Kathleen, nothing could have prepared him for the fiery passion that would ignite between them. But would her betrayal of his trust extinguish the flames between them once and for all?
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I never imagined the drama that would ensue once Dwight stepped into my life.
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They want to stake their claim on my bar, but just because they’re the most feared werewolf biker pack in Portland doesn’t mean that I’ll just roll over and let them have what they want–not without a fight.
Well, I went a little too far one night and really ticked them off, and now Dwight has this twisted plan to stage my death to get the ‘Brotherhood off my back. He’s my maker, and my lover, so I should be able to trust him–and God, there’s just something about the fire in his touch that makes my troubles melt away; something about his deep, alluring gaze that pulls me in every time–but Dwight also happens to be a member of the ‘Brotherhood…
Now my sister Sera is getting roped in on the drama, and they’d better not lay a finger on her. Rumor has it, she’s teamed up with a rival pack to get to the bottom of my “death.”
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They’ve messed with the wrong chick this time.
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About The Author
Meg Ripley is an author of erotic science fiction and paranormal romance stories. As a child, she had recurring dreams about being abducted by aliens and has been obsessed with extraterrestrial life ever since. A Seattle native, Meg can often be found curled up in a local coffee house with her laptop.
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