Bad Dragon

by Jada Cox

  “Talk to me about what you decided for the overall theme of the house,” Cora said. “I can see the prominent colors in your living room are white and variants of gray with royal blue as your accent. Is this the theme of the whole house?”

  “I think so,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “I kind of just told Jeremy to do whatever he wanted to be honest. I don’t really have an artistic eye. None of us do, actually.”

  “None of you?” she asked, her eyebrows raising slightly inquisitively. That was more than professional curiosity. I was willing to bet my scales on it.

  “There are five of us who live here,” I explained. “It’s a big house. We’ve got eight bedrooms that are only kind of furnished.”

  “Five of you? Are they your family?”

  I laughed. “No—well, kind of. We’re really close friends, but I suppose you could say we are like brothers.”

  “So you have a frat house?” Cora asked, allowing herself to smile before she frowned. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t a tasteful joke. This is your home, and I compared it to a college flop pad. I’m sorry.”

  I laughed and put my hand on her arm. “Cora, it’s fine. I’m not a serious guy. You can make jokes. Relax.”

  She let herself simper with me. “You know, I’m actually not as bad at this as I’m coming across. This account was just thrown in my lap late last night, and I feel like I’ve come in here half-cocked.”

  “Why did you take this account, anyway?” I asked. “Did I piss off Jeremy or something?”

  “Oh, no, nothing like that,” she said. “He went into the hospital last night. He’s got kidney stones that need to pass. At least, I think that’s what he said was going on.”

  “Jeez. That’s no fun.”

  “That’s what I hear,” she said. “I just got a text from him asking me to take over his accounts last night and he said he’d email me the information I needed, and I never got the documents or any of the other information that I should have gone over before I got here. So, I’m kind of flying by the seat of my pants.”

  “Well, I won’t let you fall,” I said. “Ask me anything. I’m an open book. And don’t worry, I won’t judge you.”

  “I’m sure it’s far too late for that,” she said, smiling.

  It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that I liked it when she let herself smile, but I refrained. I needed to dial back the flirting if I wanted to get anywhere with her. I knew her type, or at least, I knew women close to her type.

  Except she wasn’t like any of the women I was usually interested in. She was different. The women I usually went for were perhaps not the brightest crayons in the box, but they loved to laugh and would do whatever they could to have fun. Sometimes, we would get into some fairly irresponsible situations, like breaking into outdoor pools for midnight swims or getting drunk and going to an aquarium. They were just fun flings and were never meant to be anything more than a day or a weekend of companionship.

  I didn’t doubt that Cora knew how to have fun, but she wasn’t the kind of girl to get into irresponsible fun. I thought that was likely something I had been looking for without knowing it. After traveling the country on a bike with my friends for a decade and a half, it was definitely time to buckle down for a little bit and remember what it meant to be a grown-up. Heavens knew that at this point, I’d been one for long enough.

  I showed her every room on the main floor and told her what Jeremy and I had talked about, then took her up to the top floor with the elevator to show her the guest rooms and bathrooms. Three of the guys were still in bed, so didn’t show her their bedrooms.

  “I think the bedrooms will be different depending on who is living in them,” I said quietly. “This room is mine.” I opened the door to reveal the open and bare space with large windows that looked into the trees. “I just have an inflatable mattress as of yet, but I’ve already talked to Jeremy about what I want, so I have a bed and some other pieces for this room on the way. We both agreed on a European feel to the room, keeping it bright. The sun sets to the back of the house, so I’ll get the evening sun rather than the morning sun.”

  “Are you doing anything with your bathroom?” she asked, wandering in.

  “I actually have a real fascination with plants,” I said. “Specifically plants that generally grow in South America. So we talked about creating an atmosphere where I can have some creeping plants growing in here. Then when I’m having a bath, I can pretend I’m in the rainforest.”

  She giggled. “That’s a new one.”

  I shrugged. “I thought it was a pretty fun idea.”

  “It is,” she said. “But that’s something I usually come across women wanting.”

  “Women like you?” I risked.

  “Maybe,” she said. “But my job isn’t to tell you what I would want. My job is to get into your head and find a design that aligns with what you want.”

  “What if they’re the same thing to me?”

  Cora looked away, pretending to look out the window of the bathroom. “Have you thought about any furniture for the deck?”

  “I’ll ask the guys,” I said. “I don’t really know on that one. I’ll get back to you on that one.”

  We left my bedroom, much to my dismay, and I took her down the stairs. I quite liked our staircase. It was wide, and I had ideas of letting more plants trail up the banister and hanging pictures of antique botanist drawings on the wall.

  We discussed a few of these potentials and what she envisioned when I explained it to her. I liked what she had to say. She had plenty of ideas, and I felt her vision lined up better with mine than Jeremy’s had. Though that might have been the difference between a woman’s eye and a man’s. There was no doubt that the sexes saw design differently. My whole goal was to make this place appealing for both genders. Sure, we were a bunch of guys living together, but women would be in and out of this place, and who knew, maybe some of those women would settle down in this very house.

  After we had gone through the whole house, she glanced at her watch. “Oh goodness, I’ve got to get going. I can’t believe it’s already nearly noon.”

  “When do you expect to be back?” I asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I suppose I can get a few of these design ideas started and—”

  “Why don’t you come back tomorrow, and we’ll solidify the ideas, really make sure we’re on the same page,” I suggested.

  “Um—uh, well, I could, but I need to see the schedule that Jeremy has lined up …” Cora pulled her phone out of her purse before stuffing it back in. “I’ll see if his secretary will let me into his books, and I’ll get back to you on that idea.”

  “I’ll hear from you later today, then?” I asked.

  She handed me her coffee cup. “Thank you for the coffee,” she said and put out her hand. “And sorry about earlier. I’ll be more on the ball the next time we meet.”

  I shook her hand and stared after her as she left.

  “Tonight’s feast is Mexican,” Wyatt said as he put the bags of takeaway food on the kitchen counter.

  “We have got to learn to start cooking for ourselves,” Quin said, peering into one of the bags.

  “Hey, man,” Cory said, reaching for the plates. “I can’t cook Mexican food. Can you?”

  “I’m an excellent cook,” Quin retorted.

  “Then you’re cooking tomorrow,” Dain said, going into the fridge and pulling out bottles of beer for everyone. “I, for one, am happy to not have to cook for five Dragons.”

  “Besides,” Wyatt said, “we are almost single-handedly supporting the local takeout economy.”

  The guys kept talking, though I hardly heard them. I sat next to the open door that led out to the deck overlooking the down-sloping trees that expanded back to the lake a mile down a path. It was a nice space, and I loved how easy it was to forget that we now lived in a town.

  But all I could think about was Cora. I couldn’t get over my experience with her, how nervo
us she was, and how adorable it was. I loved that innocence about her, and the difference she made compared to the other women in my past.

  There was no doubt in my mind that she was my mate. And despite my confidence that we were destined to be together, I was beginning to doubt my ability to convince her of the same. She might be attracted to me, but if she really was as innocent and inexperienced as she seemed, she might not want to be with someone like me. My past might be daunting to her.

  I knew I was going to need to chill out if I had a chance with her. I couldn’t be my usual cocky self. I was going to have to relinquish the reins to control the outcome of this and let her guide it. At least, that was the only thing I could think to do. I didn’t like it, but if I didn’t want to scare her away, she would need to feel like she was in control of this.

  “Earth to Julian.”

  My ears perked up at the sound of my name. “Hm?” I asked.

  “Where were you?” Wyatt asked.

  “Sorry. I was somewhere else entirely,” I said.

  “Dish up, bro,” Cory said. “Otherwise I’m going to eat your food.”

  Chapter 3 – Cora

  I couldn’t believe how that meeting at that mansion had gone. My first appointment of my first account, and I’d blown it completely. How could I have been such an idiot?

  I sat at my desk with my head in my hands, my bangs flopping over my fingers. A copy of the file was sitting in front of me, open to notes and color swatches that Jeremy had in mind with notes about which room they would go in. I had no interest in any of them. I couldn’t even see the colors.

  At least, I couldn’t see any other color other than beet red, which was the color of my face every time I remembered, in painful slow motion, the coffee flying out of my hands and all over the client.

  Oh god, that insanely hot client.

  No, I couldn’t think about that. I couldn’t think about the possibility that he’d actually been flirting with me. That was no way to get ahead in this game, and I certainly would lose the account if Jeremy found out that I had been hitting on Julian. Except I hadn’t been hitting on him. I had been trying desperately to do the opposite, to keep it as professional as possible.

  I shouldn’t have worn heels. I knew that I had a tendency towards clumsiness from time to time—no, that was a lie. I was always clumsy. I should be wrapped in bubble wrap for the amount of times I ran into desk corners, tripped over nothing on the floor, or even just fell over for no reason. When I was a waitress while I was in college, I would always have a line of bruises on my thighs, all at the same level, from where I would run into the corners of tables. I did it so much that I didn’t even notice it anymore until I saw the bruises in the shower the next morning.

  Alright, Cora, I told myself. New rule: you are not allowed open containers anywhere near clients. You are not allowed to wear any form of heels. In fact, you should only wear tennis shoes. Forever. You are the tennis-shoe wearing interior designer. Maybe I could do that. It might make me look unconventional, but unconventional said interesting. And interesting said creative. Creative was exactly what you wanted to be seen as when you were working in interior design.

  Except that I hated the look of tennis shoes. I hadn’t run a day in my life, and while I didn’t mind swimming or sometimes the odd hike here and there, I didn’t want to pretend to be a sports fan. I wore heels or flipflops. Those were my footwear of choice, which had never been a problem because heels were always seen as professional. But I had never considered that a tile floor might be a problem for me.

  I began bumping my forehead on the heels of my hands. How had I been so stupid? I had embarrassed myself, and Jeremy, and the company. And I’m sure I’d embarrassed Julian, too.

  Embarrassed the shirt off him, I thought.

  Stop that! I scolded myself. You cannot hit on your client!

  The heat rising up in me was not listening to that. As torturously as I had replayed my stumble earlier, my mind now began replaying the part where Julian showed me that body of his, and I wondered what the rest of him looked like.

  The phone on my desk rang, making me jump and fumble for it, dropping it on the floor as it answered.

  “Damnit,” I hissed as I reached for it. “I mean, hello Jeremy. How are you feeling?”

  “Still in pain. I never want to hear from a woman that childbirth is hard again.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Look, they’re saying there’s something else going on in me,” he said. “They’re doing tests, and I’m waiting for the results. But they said it might be a while before I’m out of here.”

  “Oh my god,” I said. “Is it serious?”

  “I’ll know when they get the results back, I guess. But I need you to carry on as if I’m going to be out for a week or two, alright? With luck, I’ll only be up to a week, tops.”

  “Of course,” I said. “Anything. Can I do anything else? Can I get you anything?”

  “No, I’m alright,” he said. “I’m being looked after.”

  “Let me know if that changes,” I said. “I mean, of course it won’t. I’m sure you are surrounded by love and support, but if you need anything, let me know.”

  He chuckled, which turned into a groan of pain. “Yeah, let me know if anything goes wrong.”

  The phone went dead as he hung up. I looked at my phone in horror. A week? I was in charge of Jeremy’s accounts for a week or even longer? Me?

  I took a couple of deep breaths. A week I could probably handle. Actually, I might even be able to handle a full two weeks. Really, I just wanted to avoid Julian’s house. More than anything, I wanted to avoid making a complete ass out of myself again.

  I shook my head, realizing how silly I was being. The solution was simple. I would just call Julian and say that there was no room in the schedule for me to get there any sooner than next week, and with a little luck, Jeremy would be better. Easy peasy.

  Unless Jeremy wasn’t better by then. What would happen then?”

  Cross that bridge when you get to it, I told myself. I could always bring one of the interns with me, maybe. That would at least keep me from swooning at the idea of Julian’s naked chest again, and maybe I’d be able to act more like the professional I was, too. And certainly, with an underling there, Julian would be respectable enough not to flirt with me, right?

  A week. Jeremy would be out of the hospital in the week. I would make damn sure he would be. I didn’t know how, but I would certainly will it to be so.

  I felt better knowing that I could avoid Julian altogether with this new plan and shifted my focus toward the other projects of the day. As it turned out, there was a lot I needed to get up to speed with, and there were three more properties I needed to visit.

  I sipped at my Starbucks coffee and for the first time all day, was able to focus on my job.

  “Oh look,” I said as I took the keys out of the apartment door to find Margaret dancing in the living room to her YouTube playlist. “You do exist. I thought I didn’t have a roommate anymore.”

  Margaret, a broad-shouldered girl with big bones that she wore beautifully and an even bigger personality, began shimmying her way over to me to the tempo of her Cuban playlist. I laughed and strutted my own horrendous dance moves further into the house. We wiggled and jived as I tossed my bag onto the couch and kicked my heels off, happy to be rid of those traitorous objects for the day.

  As the song ended and my roommate turned down the volume on the TV, I went to the kitchen for some water. “Where have you been the last few days?” I asked.

  “I’ve been with Mario,” she breathed, joining me in the kitchen to do the same.

  “And who is Mario?” I asked, mimicking her breathless pronunciation of the name.

  “I met him at the gym,” she said. “We went out for drinks after my workout on Friday and … I guess I’ve just been there ever since.”

  “Wow, that’s quite the drink.”

  “Oh my god, he is so much mo
re than a drink,” she said. “I could drink that guy all day and night.”

  “Then I’ll be meeting him?” I asked, thinking about all the other lovers of Margaret’s I’d met over the last year, wondering which of them would stick.

  “No, no,” she said. “That’s done.”

  “What happened?”

  “Nothing. It was what it was. It was a weekend fling.” She waved her hand flippantly, her acrylic nails flashing their bright blue paint.

  “But you just said you liked him,” I said.

  “He’s like a drink of water on a hot day. If you keep drinking that cold water you’re going to cool down too much.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t get you.”

  “You should try it sometime,” she giggled, winking at me. She flipped her head forward and gathered her hair into a scrunchy at the top of her head. “It’s good for the heart in more ways than one.”

  I thought of Julian and blushed.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “That. You blushed. You’ve met someone. Come on, spill it.”

  I downed my glass of water. “I haven’t. I’ve just had a really long day. I’ve taken over all of the boss’s clients for the week.”

  “Whoa,” Margaret said, her attention diverted, thankfully. “That’s kind of a big deal.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said. “He’s in the hospital for a week, waiting on results from the tests they’re running.”

  “So your boss being in the hospital got you all hot and bothered?” she asked.

  I rolled my eyes. Margaret was my best friend in the whole world, but damn she could get under my skin and rummage around. She knew me better than anyone, and she knew exactly when I was trying to hide something.

  “No,” I relinquished. “Actually, I had a client take his shirt off in front of me today.”