“Okay,” I said, with a curt nod of my head. “Good. I mean not good like… I mean not that you’re like disgusting to kiss-”
“Oh thanks!” Justin was smiling again. He was standing now and he seemed to take up so much room in my apartment. He was charismatic and his presence seemed to take up room. I think part of it was his dragon.
The apartment was so warm, I saw a bead of sweat slide down from his temple to his neck and I imagined myself licking it away.
I really needed to get myself together. It felt wrong to be thinking of him as the douchebag I’d always thought he was and then feel so attracted to him when he was inches away. I also wouldn’t be able to handle this fake relationship very well if I wanted to jump Justin’s bones all the time. Sex was off the table. That had been established.
“Okay, sounds good,” I said. I had embarrassed myself enough, I was pretty sure. This conversation needed to end. “So I’ll see you on Saturday morning.”
“Looking forward to it.” Justin threw me one of his bright grins and it seemed so genuine and warm and friendly that my stupid heart actually fluttered.
That’s how they getcha, I thought.
“Me too,” I said quietly, and after he left, I realized I meant it.
Chapter Six: Justin
The rest of the work week seemed to pass as slowly as molasses. The thing about CEO is you can often go from incredibly busy to having absolutely nothing to do for a stretch. Joanie released a story about a large donation I’d made to a non-profit for under-privileged children and that had made my stock level a little bit the next day. It didn’t make me feel great however. I like jumping out of planes and going to club openings with models and I like the attention. But something like that is real to me. I would rather have made the donation quietly instead of doing it with the knowledge that it was going to help out my company.
I found myself wanting to visit the coding floor and see how Nicole was fairing that week. I had no real reason to do it. There was nothing I needed to talk to her about, yet I kept looking for excuses. I wanted to ask her more questions about her life. When we’d met for lunch I’d been nervous, and I haven’t been nervous around anyone in God knew how long. I guess when I’m nervous, I talk about myself. Which probably makes me look like even more of a douchebag (according to Nicole). But I was happy to have met her son, even if I’m apparently ridiculous around kids.
Nicole’s son is adorable. When I saw him, my heart did this funny sort of squirm. I thought he was precious. I don’t even use the word “precious” about anything. Precious is a word for grandmothers. But there was no other way to describe him or the way that Nicole was with him. She was so naturally affectionate with him and her apartment seemed so warm and inviting and friendly. It wasn’t the sort of world I was used to but...I liked it.
I thought about all this for the rest of the week, having not enough to do other than go to meetings about the release of our new app and talking to my board. They were sounding a little more relaxed. I was hoping this relationship thing would seal that deal. The problem was that I was young and fast and had been hip for a long time. But the world was changing. People had more anxiety nowadays. They wanted stability. They wanted new ideas but they also wanted things like integrity and assurance. Young and fast just seemed threatening to them. Or anyway, that’s how Richard from my board explained it. I gave him a nice speech about how that profile had exaggerated things and how I was feeling more settled lately and devoted to responsibly growing Koinage. I think I used the word “responsible” about a dozen times. But when I got back to my office after lunch, I wasn’t thinking about any of that. I was thinking about the way Nicole’s chin turned up when she was trying to prove some point to me. She had the cutest chin…
On Saturday, I woke up excited for the brunch, and I’m never excited about these kinds of events. I wore a cream colored t-shirt (a very nice one) and light pants and a jacket. Brunch at the club with a beautiful lady dragon at my side. It all seemed very respectable. I wanted a screwdriver and some smoked salmon.
The morning was warm and in the car I rolled down the window and let the warm breeze blow my hair back. It occurred to me as I rode in luxury all the way to the bottom of Manhattan to pick up Nicole on the Lower East Side, that she needed childcare. I hadn’t asked her about that. I wondered why she hadn’t asked me. Here I was dragging her out for an afternoon and would be doing so several more times, and I hadn’t even offered her a babysitter.
I’d need to take care of that.
Nicole’s building was a six-story brick thing near Chinatown. I liked the feeling of the neighborhood. It was the city but it was also kind of homey too. I wondered where Nicole went to shift and fly as I climbed out of the car and trotted up the front steps. Did she fly around the city in the hidden places where nobody ever seemed to see you and land in Central Park? Or did she go out to the ocean where it was safer? It was nice to think of Nicole, stretching her wings and flying free.
I frowned, remembering the buzzer at the front door was broken. I didn’t like that. It didn’t seem safe. I sighed and climbed up the stairs to Nicole’s place, finding myself a little riled up with anticipation as I took the steps two at a time.
At Nicole’s door, I smoothed my hair back and straightened my jacket before ringing the bell.
When the door swung open and I saw Nicole, I felt as if all the blood in my body rushed down to my feet. I felt like my head was full of clouds. I’m not actually sure how to describe it.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t already thought Nicole was beautiful. Petite brunettes are just my type and she had pleasantly round curves and a sweetly plump mouth and big dark eyes. It was more the phenomenon of seeing her different. Her long dark hair was down, in waves and ringlets that fluttered around her shoulders, pulled back from her face in clever little twists. She was wearing a yellow sundress and she looked like some vision of spring in it. It went so well with her darker complexion. She even had pretty shoulders. I saw a couple of tiny moles on one shoulder. I wished I could casually lean in and kiss them.
But best of all, when she looked at me, she smiled. I felt like she hadn’t smiled much at me yet. She was so sharp all the time. But now she looked at me with bright eyes and grinned.
“I’m ready!” She said quickly. “Tyler’s sitter is here. I’ve already said bye. Let’s go!”
“You look stunning,” I blurted out.
Nicole flushed at that and ducked her head. “No, I don’t.”
I made a little surprised snorting noise and took her hand in mine after she’d shut and locked her door. I hardly knew I was taking her hand when I did it and I saw her jerk a little and blink up at me, but she didn’t pull away. Still, I awkwardly let her go, and felt foolish.
“Of course, you do?” I laughed as we made our way down the stairs. “Why would you say you didn’t?”
“I don’t know, I just…” She chuckled uncertainly. She didn’t say anything else until we were down on the sidewalk, heading to the car. “Your personal shopper took me out and bought me clothes.”
“Oh, good.”
“It was crazy!” Nicole said. “All these clothes made for models. Models wearing them in the store! The kind of women you usually take to clubs.”
“You’re just as beautiful as they are,” I said, looking down at her. I didn’t even think it was a question. Nicole was striking. Sure, the first time I met her, she was dressed down and looked tired and a little dishevelled. But you can’t hide real beauty. It was all over her.
She opened and closed her mouth. She was wearing a coral lipstick and it was just glossy enough to look wet. I cleared my throat and looked away.
“Thank you,” she finally said.
“Sure.” I nodded and we headed to the car before I stopped again and turned to her. “Where do you go to the fly?”
“I’m sorry?” Nicole looked confused.
“When you shift, go on flights,” I said, shrugging. “Where do you go to fly? Out
to the ocean?”
“I...I don’t really?” She looked all sheepish about it and I frowned as I helped her into the car.
I frowned at that and climbed in after her. “What do you mean? You must fly sometimes.”
“I haven’t flown in…” She shook her head and seemed to laugh at herself. “Maybe a year.”
“A year?” I blurted, balking at her. “That’s...unhealthy! We’re dragons. We need to fly. You can get sick going that long-”
“I shift,” she said, getting that defensive frown she sometimes got. “I just haven’t actually flown in a long time. It’s…” She took a deep breath, looking suddenly tired and stared out the window. “I’m never not busy. Tyler takes a lot of energy and I have to work and… And I’d be afraid of being seen.”
“You really don’t have to worry about being seen,” I said quietly. “It rarely happens. I’m actually pretty confident that at some point some shifters must have put a protective ward over the whole city for other shifters because I’ve flown in broad daylight and word hasn’t gotten out. I’m sure it happens but not much. But...I get being busy.” I tried to toss her a smile of understanding and she gave me a long look and nodded. I felt as if she had a lot of trouble trusting people. Or maybe it was just me she still didn’t like much.
“Listen,” I said softly. “Everyone needs some time to themselves. I could give you a day off, paid. I’ll even pay for a sitter. I’ll find one for you. You should fly.” I looked at her sternly. I did feel strongly about it. Not flying for a year seemed like a prison sentence to me. I have trouble after a week without a flight. “That’s something else too. It didn’t occur to me that you had to get a sitter for today. I should have thought of it. I’ll reimburse you for that.”
Nicole looked at me and her mouth dropped open. “Oh… You don’t...I mean… I-I-”
“Hey, it’s okay.” She was so adorable in her yellow sundress stuttering like that. “Don’t worry about it. You’re the one doing me a favor.”
“For a million dollars,” she said wryly.
“Still, it’s only fair.” I smiled and she looked at me so steadily it made me want to squirm.
“What’s your favorite book?” She said. She took a deep breath and crossed her legs and the hem of her dress rode up a little, showing some knee. Just that made my eyes stray. That bit of skin made my dragon start to sit up and I rubbed my eyes. I had to think of this as a professional business relationship, or I’d never make it. She must have thought I was racking my brain, trying to think of my favorite book, but I was actually just discombobulated. “I think if we’re going to sell this to people then we should probably get to know each other better.”
I knew what my favorite book was immediately, though I felt embarrassed to say it. I tried to think of something else instead. Yet somehow, I didn’t want to lie to Nicole either, not even about something so trivial. I felt like she’d be able to tell and she was already so abrasive with me sometimes. I wanted her to warm up to me if only to make this whole thing go more smoothly.
If she judged me for my favorite book, so be it.
“The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,” I said softly.
Nicole gaped at me in surprise. “Really? That’s like a kid’s book.”
I shrugged. “I know. It’s been a favorite since I was nine.”
“Why?” Nicole said. We were outside the city now, I saw the crest of the hill up ahead and the road winding around it that would take us to the club.
“My parents had some bad experiences with humans?” I said. “So they were kind of paranoid when I was growing up. I wasn’t allowed to have human friends as a kid. Nobody came over, I couldn’t go to their houses. But I didn’t know any shifter kids either, much less other dragons.”
“That sounds so lonely,” Nicole said. Her eyes looked big and sad and I swallowed. I’d just been talking. I hadn’t been fishing for sympathy and I wasn’t very used to it either.
I cleared my throat, avoiding Nicole’s eyes and said, “Yeah, I mean so that’s why I liked the idea of stumbling into some world where magical creatures and animals talked…” I smiled to myself as our driver pulled up in front of a valet stand. “I figured if there was a place like that, I’d have friends.” My cheeks burned. I hadn’t intended to sound quite so pathetic but Nicole was smiling softly. She looked like she was about to say something but then our door was opening and we had to climb out of the car.
The Leighton Country Club is one of those places that the old Wall Street types are used to. But young types like me are ambivalent about it. It’s an old guard setting for networking and we hate conforming to the old guard but at the same time, it feels good to be accepted by that world. It’s old and slow versus young and fast. Plus the club is just a nice way to spend a day. I was almost sad that we’d only planned for brunch. I didn’t want to take up any more of Nicole’s day. But the club has a pretty Japanese garden, saunas, a gorgeous pool area, tennis… The only thing I hadn’t learned yet was how to play golf. I hate golf. I kept that as secret as my dragon nature but I knew eventually, I might have to learn to play golf. I was not looking forward to it.
“Justin! Good to see you.” Richard, a white-haired octogenarian who ran a massive hedge fund and a chunk of money in Koinage greeted me on the cobblestone path to the big glassy arching doors to the club. He took my hand in both of his, the handshake that meant he really meant it (supposedly) and his eyebrows shot up when he saw Nicole. “And who is this?”
“This is Nicole Perkins,” I said, wrapping an arm around her waist when he let go of my hand. “She’s a software engineer with Koinage.”
Types like Richard are weirdly charmed by “ordinary” people like Nicole, or anyone who doesn’t come from finance or isn’t a CEO. I think it’s because they spend so much time in that bubble, they forget everyone else exists.
I didn’t really know how this would go. None of this seemed formal enough to me that I thought I had to coach Nicole on introductions. But suddenly she was smiling brilliantly, her eyes bright as she shook Richard’s hand and looked him in the eye.
“Pleasure to meet you,” she said. “I’ve really been looking forward to meeting all of Justin’s friends.”
To call Richard a friend was really overstating but I could tell he was quite pleased with the idea.
“Well, hello!” Richard said, shaking Nicole’s hand. “Lovely to meet you too, my dear. Shall we?”
We all walked in together and ushers led us through the sprawling club past couples all in white on their way to or from tennis, caddies, and brunching women. Our brunch was taking place on the club’s largest patio under a spacious pavilion that looked out on part of the golf course and a waterfall. We found our seats but everyone was milling just now, sipping Bloody Marys and jawing about politics and business or, if you were lucky enough to stumble into a lighter conversation, TV shows.
“There’s something I have to talk to you about,” Nicole said in my ear. I was staring at her without meaning to, smiling fondly because she was doing so well. But she did come from this world. I kept forgetting about that.
“Sure.” I took her hand in mine and felt that spark of connection again. It felt so natural and at the same time so significant. I ignored the thumping in my chest and led her to an alcove where we could talk privately.
Nicole was wringing her hands and looking away from me. Finally she said, “We haven’t talked about it, but I have to think you know who my father is?”
“Yes,” I said, nodding. “I mean he’s a major player, though not in tech. He may show up at events like these, but he’s not someone I talk to much.”
“Okay good,” Nicole said, nodding. “I can be...civil. But I don’t want to talk to him beyond that. We’re...estranged.”
“Okay.” I tried to get her to look at me but she wouldn’t. “That’s fine. It might not even come up.”
“He doesn’t know I have a son,” Nicole said, looking at me steadily. “And I
don’t want him to know.”
“Okay,” I said quietly. It had peaked my curiosity that Nicole was the daughter of Donald Perkins and yet worked as a coder and lived in a tiny apartment where she struggled to raise her son. I wondered what the story was there. “Hopefully, it won’t come up at all.”
It came up sooner than I thought it would. We all sat down at the long white table under the pavilion after chatting for a while. I was doing my best but Nicole was doing better than I was. That was mainly because I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She was laughing at cheesy jokes and asking after people and saying things like “Justin’s told me so much about you” which was always a delightful lie because I hadn’t told her about anyone. I didn’t think it would be necessary for a casual event like this one.
I watched Nicole go back and forth with some old coot who I didn’t like who worked for a big trader downtown. He kept making snarky remarks about “dare-devil Justin King” even as he talked to Nicole.
“Oh gosh, well he hasn’t been too much of a dare-devil lately,” she said, saving her hand as a server set Crab Cakes Benedict down in front of her. “I think the most daring thing we’ve done lately is play Monopoly?”
It came off her tongue so easily, I felt tongue-tied. She dazzled me. I finally manage to stutter, “Yeah… yeah, she’s brutal at Monopoly. Much more so than me.”
“You have to go for the cheap blocks first!” She laughed and punched my shoulder.
I was starting to think she should have been an actress.
“Good advice,” I said softly. “What would I do without you?”
She smiled at that and I felt like time slowed down for a second and then a booming voice said, “Nicole? I...didn’t expect to see you here.”
Donald Perkins had arrived late. I hadn’t seen him in a while and he still had that disdainful twist of a mouth as if he’d just eaten something sour. He was a tall, powerful looking man with a shock of silver hair and a darker mustache. His dragon smelled just a bit musty, the way older dragons sometimes do. Sometimes that just means they haven’t breathed fire in a really long time.
Dragon's Fake Mate Page 5
