by Zoe Chant
Claire nodded briefly, her eyes skimming the heap of papers spread out before her.
With admiration, Raul watched as she took control of the situation. Already she sat in her chair like a queen, straight and confident as she began to reschedule interviews, delegate the visit of a local reporter to Mrs. Henderson herself, sign off on the scheduled musical entertainment on the balcony for the coming week, and suggest they end the week with a snowman building competition for both children and adults.
“Are you going to take part?” Claire asked Raul when she looked up from her papers. “Snowmen are an important part of winter.”
“The season I hate the most.” Raul grinned as he raised his hands in surrender. “But for you, I suppose I’ll just have to freeze off my fingers.”
“You’ll join my team, of course,” Claire quickly added. “I told you, loving winter is mandatory here. We'll get you there yet.”
Mrs. Henderson chuckled at their banter. “Next Thursday, we’ll have a little concert in the afternoon. The children from Christmas Valley sing carols and collect money for charity. I’m sure he’ll love it.”
Claire nodded and made another note on her schedule as Raul watched with admiration.
How quickly her schedule had filled up. Already his dragon was shifting unhappily within him, but he soothed it with the thought that Claire’s job would keep her close to him for the next six weeks.
Claire might be busy—but Raul’s only job here was to be the local dragon, in case anything came up.
Not that he thought it would. After all, he couldn't even shift properly. Still, it kept the land calm and happy, despite his tenuous connection to the ice dragon’s family.
And it showed Raul just what he’d lost when his family had lost their own hoard. He’d never have anything like this: land that had entered into the mystical connection between a dragon and his home. A town with children who’d bring him gifts, while he in turn would protect them with his dragon’s powers. A home for his mate and his children, where little dragonets could learn to spread their wings and fly...
“I’ll see you this afternoon then?”
Embarrassed, Raul realized that he’d just automatically agreed to whatever it was Claire had asked of him.
“The snowball fight?” Claire laughed softly. “It’s too late to say no now.”
“I’ll win any fight for you,” he said with a little growl, his dragon immediately perking up at the challenge.
Mrs. Henderson chuckled again. “Well done, Claire,” she said with approval. “That one will always be the best choice in a snowball fight.”
A little smirk appeared on Raul’s lips as he thought of how easy it would be to simply melt any ball with his dragon’s fire powers. Of course, with his luck he’d probably lose focus and create a giant wall of fire instead...
“Oh, I’ll fight fair.” He grinned at Mrs. Henderson. “And unfortunately, we were already beaten by the children yesterday. I’m not expecting much.”
“Then that’s settled,” Claire said firmly. “And Dylan will join us too. Whether he likes it or not, he’s getting some fresh air today.”
When their little meeting was over, Raul had to force himself to shake Malcolm’s hand. The man had seemed perfectly professional, and all of his interactions with Claire had been nothing but polite—but still the dragon inside Raul was making a hissing sound of discontent.
But his dragon would have to live with the fact that he’d have to woo Claire like a human. Which meant that he couldn’t just breathe fire at a man who’d dared to take up his mate’s time.
Especially since Raul couldn’t even be sure that he wouldn’t end up burning Claire’s gorgeous hair by accident, given his track records of losing focus once his power was unleashed. And then, there was almost no power left anyway...
“I’m looking forward to the afternoon,” Claire said when everyone else had left her office.
Her voice was soft and warm, and Raul thought with sudden, fierce longing of the way her generous curves had pressed against his body last night.
“I assume I can’t just wait in your office and watch you until then?” he asked hopefully, trying to give her his most charming smile.
Claire flushed, her eyes darkening with what he knew was desire. “No. You're way too distracting.”
Raul sighed in disappointment. Then he leaned forward, gently taking her face into his hands as he kissed her until she was breathless, moaning against his lips.
“I suppose I am,” he said with a little smirk. “This afternoon then. You realize that this gives me time to come up with new ways of distracting you?”
Claire laughed even as she shook her head at him. “Where do guys like you even come from? I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“I’m glad,” he said, his dragon’s possessive pride vibrating in his voice, so that it came out nearly as a growl.
In response, Claire’s eyes dilated until they seemed almost black, and she took a deep, shaky breath.
Then she placed her hand against his chest and gave him a little push.
“Out,” she commanded. “Let me work. You're such a bad influence. This is my first day.”
“That means distraction will be allowed on your second day?”
Raul laughed when Claire groaned, and then voluntarily left before the thought of having her right there on her mahogany office desk became too tempting.
Chapter Five: Claire
“Come on, Dylan. It’ll be fun! We never have this much snow at home.”
“You don’t know anything about my home,” Dylan said sullenly. “It’s your dad’s home. Not mine.”
Claire sighed softly. Just as she’d expected, getting a bored teenager away from his laptop and out into the cold, clear air was just as difficult as juggling the schedules of an entire board of directors.
“If you come out for the snowball fight, I’ll consider that enough for the day, and you can go and do that Warcraft thing this evening after dinner.”
“It’s called a raid,” he said in exasperation, looking at her as if she was a hundred years old.
Claire resisted the temptation to tell him that she’d been using a computer since before he’d even been born.
“It’s a deal then,” she said brightly. “See you at three. This way, we won’t have to cut your internet in the evenings.”
She closed the door behind her with an internal sigh of relief, pretending she didn’t hear the soft sound of a pillow hitting the door.
That hadn’t gone so badly. From what she’d seen today, there were several teens near Dylan’s age around. Hopefully, he’d make some friends at the snowball fight, and then she’d no longer have to fight him every day to get him out of his room.
Her phone beeped at her, and after checking the screen, she hurried back downstairs. In theory, it was her lunch break now, but there had been an emergency when half the team manning the stalls at the frozen lake had come down with the flu this morning. Which meant she’d now spend her lunch interviewing teenagers from the nearby small town called Christmas Valley to fill those spots for a few days.
And after that, just another hour or two with her papers before she’d see Raul again...
Even the thought of his warm, strong hands and the heat in his eyes made her shiver.
She swallowed, ignoring the tingle of arousal between her legs. Maybe a holiday fling wasn’t quite as unprofessional as she feared it was, especially because he wasn’t technically a colleague... But something about the entire experience still seemed unreal.
A man like him shouldn’t want a woman like me for a fling, she thought—and then remembered the way he’d deliberately, agonizingly slowly driven her from climax to climax.
He wasn’t only incredibly gorgeous, but also incredibly talented with his hands and tongue. And incredibly generous to boot.
He was too good to be true. That was her problem.
No, the problem is that I don’t want this to
be a fling. I don’t want this to end...
***
“Ready?” a man in his fifties yelled, surrounded by an entire horde of adorable, red-cheeked children in identical parkas.
All around them, the gathered crowd cheered. Even Dylan looked moderately excited. He and Raul had immediately chosen a spot close to the snow castle’s walls, where they could duck into a doorway for cover, or race around a corner to gather more snow for ammunition.
Claire bit back a grin. She should have known that competitiveness was what would make these two bond.
Claire didn't actually care about winning or losing the snowball battle. As temporary manager of the castle, it was important to take part—not only to know what was going on all around her, but also to be able to gauge how much fun her visitors were having.
“And go!”
Children all around them screamed in excitement, and immediately, people began rushing for the best spots.
Claire gasped in mock outrage when a ball hit her back.
“We’re under attack!” she yelled.
With a grin, Raul began pelting her attacker with the snowballs he’d quickly gathered.
“Come on! In here!” Dylan shouted.
In the rush of excitement, he’d forgotten to pretend to be bored by all of this. Instead, his eyes were gleaming, his cheeks flushed from the cold. He high-fived Raul when they came racing into the cover of the snow castle after him, and then immediately began to pelt their pursuers from the window with more snowballs.
The children outside shrieked with delight. A moment later, they all had to duck for cover when a barrage of snowballs came sailing in through the window.
Her heart pounding, Claire found herself pressed close to Raul, who’d wrapped a protective arm around her. He shielded his eyes with his hands as he carefully peered up through the window when there was a break in the attack.
“They’ve run out of ammunition,” he whispered. “Quick, this is our chance!”
A moment later, all three of them stood at the window, cheering and shouting in victory as they attacked the group outside with hastily gathered snowballs. Dylan was the one who shouted the loudest, bouncing on his feet as he hurled ball after ball with perfect aim—the last one hitting the kids’ dad right in the center of his chest.
With a dramatic gesture, the man gripped his heart as he let himself fall back into the snow, a wide grin on his face.
“I’ve been defeated!” he shouted. “Revenge me, children!”
With loud, delighted screams, the horde of children swarmed into the snow castle after them. In the end, Claire, Raul and Dylan were forced to retreat onto the next floor, where they found an even larger battle raging between a group of teenagers and a group of adults who had to be their parents.
When the battle came to an end, Claire couldn’t even say who’d won, but she was smiling so widely that her face hurt. Her hair was damp from the snow that had begun to melt in it, but she didn’t mind. Even though they were surrounded by walls of snow, she felt warm, her cheeks flushed.
Raul hadn’t left her side all through the battle, and now he wrapped an arm around her once more. Even through her parka, she could feel his delicious heat.
When she looked around, wondering where Dylan had gone, she found him to her utter surprise surrounded by the other teens, who were high-fiving him. From the snippets of conversation she could make out, they were already deep into the planning of another snowball tournament.
“In the snow maze!” one of the girls declared, shaking the snow from her hip-length braids. “Everyone’s got three lives. After the third hit, you’re out. First to reach the center of the maze wins.”
Amused, Claire’s lips quirked. “I think you guys need to get an official permit to take over the maze for an afternoon.”
The teenagers groaned.
“Why would anyone even care?” one of the boys grumbled. “It’s not like there’s much else happening here.”
Claire raised a brow. “I take it you haven’t looked at the official schedule of activities then?”
Internally, she made a note to review it. The boy probably wasn’t wrong. It was easy to keep younger kids entertained with so much snow around—but teenagers were always a much harder audience.
“Anyway, you’re in luck.” She gave him a wink. “Request granted. But please come to my office this afternoon so we can set down a time and date, and I’ll take care of the administrative side.”
“You work here?” the girl asked in delight.
“She’s the manager.” Dylan was clearly trying to sound nonchalant, although Claire could see the way his cheeks heated when his new friend gave him an impressed look.
“That’s amazing,” the girl said. “You’re so lucky, Dylan! How about you and Rob and I do some brainstorming?”
“I’m in my office until six pm today,” Claire interrupted before the teens got too carried away. “Come by whenever you guys are ready. It sounds like a great idea. The castle might even throw in some prizes.”
“I’m impressed,” Raul said when everyone had finally filtered out of the snow castle—the teenagers off to plan, the parents, by the sound of it, off to the mulled wine stalls at the frozen lake.
“You've handled that really well. And Dylan’s already made friends.”
Now that they were alone, Claire released a deep sigh, snuggling contentedly against Raul’s side. “I’m so relieved. Nothing's worse than a sulking teenager. And hanging out with these guys will get him away from his laptop, which is going to make his mom happy.”
“And you get a new activity out of it.” Raul laughed softly. “It sounds like a great idea. The maze will make it more exciting.”
“I suppose it will be a bit like a paint ball event,” Claire mused. “I’ve handled one of those before. Though we might have to plant referees all through the maze to keep count of hits... Or maybe snowballs with food coloring, to show hits? No, that won’t work...”
“Hey.” Raul sounded amused as he pulled her into his arms once more. “Brainstorming is their job. And you’ve got half an hour left before you have to be back in your office...”
“That’s what running a place like this is like. The work never ends. But I like it that way. You never get bored—and if it goes well, you get to make lots of people happy.”
“And who makes you happy?” Raul asked softly.
Claire froze.
“I am happy,” she said, although there was no real emotion behind it.
She’d thought she was happy... And then Raul had come into her life. Now, more than ever before, she was aware of the emptiness that filled the few hours not taken up by work.
Most people didn’t get to have both. You had to settle for compromises. And she didn't want to compromise with a job that truly fulfilled her. It had taken so much work to even get here. If she took a break, even for a few months, she might never get back to where she’d been.
“You work very hard,” Raul murmured. “And you’re very good at it. I’d have to be blind not to see that.”
“You think I should do less?” Claire asked, dreading the moment of truth that seemed to have arrived.
Next, he’d ask whether she’d be ready to do a less demanding job, somewhere where she could move in with her boyfriend and start a family. She’d seen it happen to friends of hers, after all. And she wanted that desperately: a man who loved her, a real family, a baby before she got too old for it all.
But would it be worth it if she’d mourn the loss of the job she’d loved for the rest of her life?
“Not less,” Raul said after a moment, giving her a considering look. “Just... more of a balance. Everyone needs to recharge their batteries every now and then. And I assume that’s hard when you move around so much.”
Wearily, Claire pushed her hair out of her face. “It’s not going to change, unless someone drops a place like this into my lap and tells me that it’s mine for all eternity,” she said frankly. “
Jobs like this are hard to come by, and they’re always just for a year or two. If that’s a problem for you, I understand. We can just keep this a one-time thing. I know that it’s unfair to demand more when I’m the one who can’t stay, so—”
Raul cut her off with a kiss.
With a gasp of surprise, she found herself clinging to his strong arms. He kissed her with so much unbridled passion that she felt lost in it, utterly overwhelmed by the sensation of him. He was as hot as fire, the slide of his tongue into her mouth making her moan with sudden want.
He kissed her as though his life depended on it, and she found that she couldn’t let him go. She clutched at him, trying to draw him even closer. Her heart was pounding in her chest as if it was about to burst.
Heat flared up inside her, throbbing at her core as she remembered what it had been like to become one with him, his heat filling all the empty, lonely places inside her...
“I don’t want this to be a one-time thing,” he said hoarsely when he finally drew back. “I know you’re good at what you do. I can’t give you a castle like this, although I wish I could. But if you’re willing to give this a try... I don’t mind moving.”
“I never asked what it is you’re doing—when you’re not guarding a relative’s castle, that is,” Claire said. Her heart was still racing in her chest. Could this really be true? Most of the guys who’d been interested in her had made it very clear that they’d expect her to give up on her dream job to move in with them instead.
But a man like Raul had no need to trick her into his bed with empty promises. With his looks, he could have every single woman in this castle with a snap of a finger.
“Investments.” Raul gave her a little grin. “Boring, I know. And I also know that I don’t really look like it. I can’t buy you a castle—but I’m worth enough for a nice, big family home if you ever find a place where you want to stay. And if not—I’m used to traveling. I just spent a year in Sydney—I like the heat. I’ve lived everywhere, from New York to Tokyo to Milan to a little beachside house in Australia, a three hours’ drive from the next town. So, yes, I want to give this a try, and I promise you that there is nothing about your job that’ll make me leave.”
