The blue Spix was the first thing Marcy saw when she stepped inside Teo’s office at the administration complex. The bird perched on a stand with a half-eaten peach clutched in one claw. Beside Teo’s desk, her easel awaited her, paints positioned in a neat row with her supplies and fresh rags.
“Good afternoon, Marcy.” Teo sat behind the desk with his intent gaze on the monitor. “Allow me a moment to complete this then I will sit for you.”
“You brought the bird here. To your office.”
“You wished to paint one, yes? So I brought her to you.” He offered a small, brief smile. Almost shy.
Marcy’s gaze caressed his body as he stripped, visually digesting every inch. Teo took up the exact same position as before on the chaise. The parrot answered his call and perched on his bent knee.
Something’s different. He’s so quiet. The conversational dragon of the first portrait sitting said little and spoke only when addressed.
“Is something on your mind?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m a good listener,” Marcy prompted.
“It is nothing,” he assured her.
“Okay. Well, if you’re not going to talk, do you mind if I put on some music?”
He waved a dismissive hand toward the computer, so Marcy crossed behind the desk and found the satellite radio. Within moments, peaceful and relaxing music filled the space.
“Your belly has rumbled twice,” Teo interrupted her hours later. “Have a break to order lunch.”
“I brought one with me,” Marcy said.
“I insist. There is a menu beside the computer you may use to this purpose.” With the exception of his generous offer, Teo remained aloof, a quiet, distant man sharing the office with her. A stranger.
Does he regret it? Did he use me? A dozen other thoughts niggled into Marcy’s mind until she dismissed them and placed a delivery order for lunch on Teo’s dime.
“Would you like anything?”
“No. I hunted and will be fine for some time yet.” Teo stroked his fingers down the parrot’s wing feathers and offered the bird a nut.
Okay... What crawled up his butt? Marcy sighed and gave up on the attempt to spark conversation. She added a few more details to the artwork while she waited for her meal, which arrived in under ten minutes. She’d never get enough of the café’s scallops, but the uncertain mood between her and Teo ruined the taste. Her appetite suffered during the silent lunch. Eventually she put her leftovers in the small fridge behind the desk and moved back to her easel. Painting, at least, occupied her mind and made the passing hours seem to fly.
“All done.” Marcy applied a last paint stroke then set her palette aside. It was, without a doubt, the best watercolor she’d ever put to canvas.
Some rich bitch is going to have this. A small stab of jealousy struck her at the thought. She had depicted the stoic man in natural colors, utilizing a photorealistic style to highlight his strong jaw and handsome features. His Spix added a bold splash of color against the brown skin painted on canvas.
“You have great talent.” Teo had already pulled on his clothes. “Will it be dry in time for the auction Friday night?”
“Er...” Fine, he wants to be all professional about this. I can do the same. “Yes, it should be fine once I seal it. It will need a frame though.”
“Already ordered. Kekoa will deliver it tomorrow.”
“I prefer to mount and frame my own work.”
“As you wish. Do what you must and I will compensate you. Now then, I see you made many organizational changes with my accounts. Are my funds secure?”
His sudden jump from one business matter to another baffled her. He hadn’t touched her once and he barely even looked at her.
“Not so much. You’re missing large chunks of money, Teo. I’ve flagged over three dozen different transactions where the numbers don’t add up. Each is for a small amount, by your standards anyway — sixty dollars here, a hundred there. They’re interspersed in with hundreds of other transactions between your many charities but the bulk of them are drawn from the main umbrella organization.”
“Do you know who the thief is?”
“No names, but I do have account numbers. There are three of them in offshore accounts. I don’t have the needed access for determining who it is, but there’s enough evidence here to report so an investigation can be launched. Kekoa had no record of them. Your friend is very overworked, so please don’t blame him.”
The quiet dragon regarded her with a tense expression, his jaw clenched. “I do not blame Kekoa.”
“Good. I’ve seen tricks like this before and heard about others. Whoever hit you has stretched this out over a long time, Teo. I only traced it back about a year, but it may have gone on for even longer...” Her voice trailed as she took in Teo’s features. He looked scary.
“I should have known better than to trust a mortal with any extension of my horde. This is typical of human monkeys; thieves and liars, taking what is not rightfully theirs!”
“Excuse me?” Marcy stiffened. “Human monkeys? You’re calling humans monkeys now?”
“You are right. I’ve paid an unfair insult to monkeys when humans are rarely more than parasites infecting this Earth,” Teo rumbled. His high cheekbones were flushed with color.
“Right. I think it’s time for me to go. Here, I printed it all out and highlighted the accounts for Kekoa.” She passed over a thick manila folder with a thumb drive taped to the outside. “Everything is also saved on the flash drive there and on a CD I locked away in your drawer. Multiple backup copies never hurt.”
“I did not include you in my generalization, Marcy. Your kind are not worthy to have you among their number.”
“Save it. This human monkey has a date at the bar.”
Marcy claimed her supplies and collapsed her easel without another word to him. Teo stood tall and straight, his face an impassive mask. He gave her no argument. Once she stalked to her suite and jumped into the shower, she scrubbed dried ocean salt and remnants of sand from her skin. She donned the perfect short and flirty dress for a night at the bar.
Maybe she didn’t have a date, but she’d be damned if she waited around for a spoiled dragon.
Chapter 7
“Have you seen Teo around anywhere?”
Marcy snapped her gaze to her best friend. “No. Why would I have seen him?”
“I figured since you try to avoid him you’d have noticed if he was around,” Chloe replied. She snagged two glasses of wine from a passing waiter and handed one to Marcy.
“Who knows? He’s probably off hobnobbing with someone or counting his treasure, or something equally boring.” Marcy absently adjusted her dress strap and avoided eye contact. She would have worn the same cocktail dress again as the first night, if Chloe hadn’t insisted it would be a fashion faux pas to wear the same thing twice. They made a stunning pair in similar little black dresses.
“Oh well. True, I guess. Saul likes to go count his rubies whenever we have a spat. Anyway, the auction is about to start up.”
The banquet hall had been transformed. Neat rows of velvet-cushioned chairs had been filled by the wealthy and influential guests. Marcy and Chloe took seats toward the middle of the room and were offered fresh champagne glasses.
Teo’s organization had acquired everything from priceless works of art to decades-old movie props. Rare wine vintages went for thousands of dollars in bidding wars between members of elite society. Their elusive host arrived when the last bottle sold and he personally delivered it to the winning bidder.
“Next up, a portrait,” the auctioneer announced as two men carried in a large cloth covered rectangle and set it on a waiting easel. He pulled the covering with a flourish. Quiet murmurs filled the room and more than one lady sighed in sheer appreciation. Several glanced from the intimate portrait to the man who had inspired it. Teo stood at the side of the room, impassive as ever.
“You painted Teo?” Chloe hissed
, leaning in close against Marcy. “You told me a guy approached you on the beach.”
“Which was true. Teo is a guy and he asked me to paint his portrait for this,” Marcy mumbled back. The bidding had started in earnest with several ladies already driving the price up to $200,000.
“He’s naked.”
“You can’t see anything.”
Chloe stared at her then raised her hand.
“Three hundred thousand for the lady in the back,” the auctioneer called out.
“Chloe!” Marcy shot her friend a scandalized look and grabbed her arm, pulling it back down. Someone further up took over the bid at a half-million.
“What? I thought you might like it,” Chloe teased. “Or maybe I’d give it to Saul. They’re so close he might actually like it.”
“You bitch.” Marcy’s shove barely budged Chloe. The dragon’s blood flowing in her friend’s veins made her more formidable than any human. She couldn’t shift like her husband, but her body had undergone irreversible changes during pregnancy, making her stronger and faster.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Marcy didn’t answer. Because I... didn’t want to get your hopes up. I didn’t want you to think one day I’d be immortal and forever-young like you, with a man who actually gave a damn about me for more than five minutes. She sighed. “It was for his charity work. He’s still a human-loathing asshole and I wouldn’t piss on his flaming corpse after Saul breathed on him.”
Chloe twisted in her seat to face her. One of her fair hands lowered to Marcy’s bare shoulder. “What did he say to you? Did he insult you again? I swear, I’ll find him and kick his ass myself if he—”
“He didn’t insult me personally, chica,” Marcy interrupted. “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it. It’s very obvious he’s still the same jerk.”
“Okay.” Chloe sighed and settled back in her seat. The blonde didn’t bid again on the painting, and eventually the marvelous piece sold for a little over a million dollars.
A million dollars, Marcy thought, awestruck. My painting sold for a million dollars. The bittersweet moment of watching her donated work sell for such an astronomical amount was spoiled by Teo’s changed personality. She had been a fool to trust him. Still, tears streamed down her cheeks until she and Chloe attempted to dab them away.
The next item went on the block, followed by another outside of Marcy’s range. Eventually, she raised her hand for a necklace once owned by Italian actress Sophia Loren but the price jumped above her budget within five bids.
“Do you want it?” Chloe whispered.
“Not enough to empty my entire savings account,” she replied.
One hundred thousand. Two hundred and fifty thousand.
Chloe raised her hand. A woman adorned in a fur stole shot them both a dirty look and raised her own bidding paddle. Jewels gleamed from her ears, wrists, and neck.
“Chloe, no.”
“You love her.” She raised her hand again. “We used to spend entire nights watching the same movies over and over during sleepovers.”
“Chloe, we were like twelve. I don’t love her enough to spend a half million dollars. I liked the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync, but I don’t see you buying me Lance Bass as my manservant. He’s probably cheaper than—”
“One million dollars. Do we have another bid from Mrs. Drakenstone?” the auctioneer asked.
Their wealthy opponent’s husband nudged his wife in the ribs and shook his head. She gave him an offended look in return, her mouth falling open.
“Guess they realized who they were up against.” Chloe raised her hand again.
“Sold, to the lovely Mrs. Drakenstone!”
“You can consider this your birthday present. I had a peek in advance at the auction list and phoned Saul about it a couple hours ago. It’s from both of us.”
Kekoa approached with a wrapped jewelry box. He bowed to the women, placed it in Chloe’s hands, and left after a polite greeting. Chloe passed the square box to her friend and kissed her cheek.
“Love you. Now let’s pluck some food from those little hors d'oeuvres trays the servers are carrying.”
Marcy clutched her new necklace close to her chest, still in a state of disbelief. Chloe had spent an exorbitant amount of money on her without batting an eye. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“Pfft. I can’t believe our time is over. This has been an awesome time, Marce. I’m glad you came with me.”
Sniffling, the Latina tried to fumble a cloth from her handbag to dab the tears from her cheeks. “Only you would make a million dollar purchase seem like buying a box of Skittles. I’m glad I came along, too. We need to do this again sometime, but uh, somewhere different.”
“Paris?” Chloe suggested.
“Forget Paris. Florence, Italy.”
Chloe’s grin widened. “You wanna go wine tasting.”
“That and I’m a sucker for a good pasta. You see these hips? They didn’t get this size on their own,” Marcy joked.
“So, we’ll do some research to see when the best time of the year is to visit Italy. We’ll make it another girls’ week out,” Chloe decided as they meandered toward a server. Once they helped themselves to the delicious, savory finger food, they continued on their rounds to hob nob.
“Saul wants me to pretend to like the people here. He encouraged a lot of film makers and studio execs to come for this, so I’m doing his work for him,” Chloe explained.
“How’s he holding up anyway since he’s without his favorite ladies?”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “He texts every night to say how much he misses us. Astrid is going to totally be a daddy’s girl when we return. I’ll cease to exist.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t have Mahasti take you back for a romp or two.”
Chloe shook her head. “You know what they say. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. We have a long time ahead of us.”
“Yeah. You do.” And I’ll be gone. The morose thought threatened to ruin her mood, so Marcy shook it away.
The remainder of the auction took less than an hour. Marcy had never seen so much money waved about in all her life. Their table companions from the first night, Archibald and Helena Galway, walked out with a Ming Dynasty ewer for nearly three million. Teo’s charity would be off to an amazing start. The two friends spent another hour mingling before they headed back to their suite, arms linked. Marcy had filled her tummy with fancy appetizers and had a pleasant buzz.
“They have the best chocolate martinis here,” Marcy mumbled as they kicked their strappy heels aside and flopped onto the sofa to rest. Her feet ached from the time spent socializing with wealthy business moguls, but she’d ended up passing out her business card to a few Los Angeles executives.
“Running my mouth so long exhausted me. I’m gonna crawl into bed next to Nuri and Astrid. Mahasti’s coming for us at 3 PM, so there’s time to hit any last minute attractions if we want.”
“I know, I know. I think I’m attraction’ed out though.”
Once Chloe had gone to bed, Marcy took her birthday gift to the mirror and opened the box. The necklace gleamed against her naturally bronzed skin tone, the brilliant ruby as lovely in person as it was in photos.
A folded piece of cream colored paper fell from the lid as she put it away.
Marcy,
I would like to meet you at the Surf N’ Turf Cafe at noon for lunch. If you choose not to come, I will understand, but I ask you to grant me this chance to make amends for my poor behavior.
Teo
Marcy wadded the paper and tossed it into the trash. A few minutes later, she fished it out the can and smoothed it flat again.
“Noon, huh?”
Would it hurt to hear him out? There was only one way to find out.
Chapter 8
Marcy lingered in the cafe’s doorway, half hidden behind a hibiscus tree. Everywhere she turned on the island there were flowers, whether planted in vibrant pots or growing wild
. It was her favorite part of the resort.
The dragon sat alone at a table for two, his spine erect and features stern. He didn’t resemble the jovial figure who laughed and granted her a personal tour of the island’s untamed wilderness. The memory of their stroll through the floral growth gave Marcy cause to linger and observe him quietly.
She had yet to see Teo in anything unflattering. His casual khakis and unbuttoned powder blue shirt struck her as more laidback than the dragon they clothed. From afar, she admired the brown strip of skin between both halves of the open shirt, as well as the way shafts of yellow sun highlighted his high cheekbones. He appeared lost in his own world, gazing through the window with a concerned expression on his face.
“Penny for your thoughts?” she asked as she approached.
Teo rose smoothly from his seat. “You came.”
“You invited me,” Marcy countered.
Pulling out her chair like a proper gentleman, Teo ensured Marcy’s comfort before retaking his own seat. “Would you like something to eat? The scallops were pulled from the water this morning.”
“Teo. It’s a cafe. I came for coffee and a brief talk, not more rich people scallops.” Her belly rumbled a second later in defiance of her statement. “Okay... I’d like the scallops,” she recanted. They were as addictive as cocaine.
A crook of his finger summoned a waiter in an instant. Teo relayed the order for the both of them then dismissed the server.
“Okay so...” Cut to the chase, girl, Marcy chided herself. An afternoon of amazing, jaw-dropping sex didn’t mean anything. “Do you plan to tell me why I’m here?”
“I owe you an apology for my behavior. As I mentioned in the note, there is no excuse for how I spoke to you. I was angry, and the violation of my trust hindered my judgment. I ask you to forgive me,” Teo said.
“I... I guess if someone stole so much from me, I’d rant and rave a little too. But you were being an asshole before then,” Marcy pointed out.
“Yes. I was. I had many things in my thoughts. I am a quiet thinker, Marcy, and do not often voice what is on my mind.” He leaned forward and reached to take her hand across the table. His voice lowered, the next statement for her ears alone. “We dragons often take time to consider matters of extreme importance without realizing the world continues to move around us.”
Taming the Dragon (Loved by the Dragon, #3) Page 6
