Burn: Dragon Shifter Romance

by Ava Frost

  “When I heard about the job posting, I knew I wanted to apply for it. Hard work. A frenetic schedule. This is a job where I can…cut my teeth, so to speak, you know? Sharpen my skills. So I immediately came up with a website design, specifically for your site.”

  I blinked at him, perking up when he said the last part. Specifically for my site? He handed me the iPad and I took it, looking at the still frame of the layout he’d come up with. It was fantastic. It was in the same vein as my vision, my perfect vision of what the site would look like.

  “It’s interactive,” Kevin added.

  I looked up at him and stood up with the iPad in hand. “Kevin, you’re hired.”

  Chapter 2

  Kevin

  I had the job. I had the damn job. I buckled in and started the engine, trying to get a quick look at her through the window. I’d had a hard time staying professional. She was gorgeous and I had not been expecting that at all.

  I mean, she pushed all my buttons. Nice long legs with curvy hips—I bet she had a great ass—she just had a nice fucking body and a gorgeous smile. And green eyes. I loved green eyes. But she was my boss and I could tell from one firm handshake that she was very serious about what she did. That was great. I was serious too. Serious enough to take more steps than all the other people she’d interviewed before me.

  It was a wrap. I was going to start immediately.

  We’d exchanged numbers and I immediately started thinking of ways I could transition the work out of the office setting, out of formal situations and into a more casual environment. Maybe talking about work over dinner or something. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman that bothered dating.

  There probably weren’t any men around that met her standards. She was professional, so she was probably career-driven. She probably didn’t take time out to date, or to meet new people.

  I stopped at a red light and turned up the radio. I was thinking about it too much. I had a new job. That’s what mattered. A good job. More than competitive pay. No benefits, but I hadn’t expected benefits.

  I made a left turn to head back to my apartment and make a quick meal before I headed to the gym. I got a call and answered it through the Bluetooth option on the steering wheel.

  “Yo! How’d the interview go?”

  “What’s up, Marcus,” I called back, adjusting the volume. “Yeah, man, the interview went great. I got the job.”

  There was a pause as I slowed down behind a school bus. “You got the job? Now? There weren’t any more applicants? I mean, not that I doubt your skills or anything.”

  “Yeah, cut and dried, I have the job. Apparently a lot of the other applicants weren’t willing to work the extra hours. And I brought in a rough layout of a design, you know. Basically what she had before, but a little more user-friendly, more modernized.”

  “She?”

  “Yeah. You didn’t know it was a she? I mean, not to be sexist, but it’s an interior design company.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Marcus said. “Is she hot?”

  “No, she’s fucking gorgeous, man.”

  Marcus paused again for a moment. “Your voice tells me that you’re being serious.”

  “Damn right I’m being serious. I walk in the door of her office and bam, she’s there, looking at me and I’m just blown away. She’s drop dead in your tracks gorgeous. Just my type.”

  “You are literally the luckiest person I know. And that luck does not rub off on other people. I’m sitting in heavy traffic behind the sole cause of global warming. Asshole has a fucking smokestack on his truck.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s illegal,” I said.

  “Yeah, well, I don’t see any damn cops around. Listen man, I know you’re driving. I just wanted to check in and see what happened. But shit, you got the job so I don’t need to be a good friend anymore. I’m gonna let you go.”

  “Alright. Maybe I’ll see you at the gym tomorrow or maybe Saturday?”

  “I don’t know. Just depends on my schedule. As it stands now, I end up in prison for killing this asshole in front of me.”

  “Serenity now, Marcus,” I said. “I’ll see you later, bud.”

  “Sure thing, man. Marcus out.”

  The line went dead. I went to my apartment.

  Chapter 3

  Jillian

  I tried Kevin’s cell phone again. He’d only been working with me for a week. And I hated texting. Texting was unprofessional to me. Texting might warrant a return text. I wanted to keep things as professional as possible, and not just because he was ridiculously handsome. There were other reasons for it.

  He still wasn’t answering and it was definitely time for me to get out of the office and head home. I hadn’t had any trouble catching up with him up to this point, and it wasn’t extremely late, so I was pretty sure he was not sleeping.

  Should I leave him a message?

  I set my phone down and gathered my things instead. I’d just get in contact with him tomorrow. It wasn’t important right now. I was tired and I wanted to go home after a day that was way too long.

  My phone buzzed so I picked it up and answered it. “Hello?”

  “Hey,” Kevin said. “I was returning your call—your calls. I’m sorry. I’m at the gym right now. What’s going on?”

  “You’re at the gym?” I said it like it was the last place I expected him to be and there was an awkward pause as he figured out how to continue.

  “Yes. I work out quite a bit, actually. What do you need from me?”

  “It can wait,” I assured him. “I’ll touch bases with you tomorrow about it.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “I can finish up here and meet you somewhere. We can discuss it over drinks if you’d like.”

  I paused with the phone to my ear. I wasn’t sure how to respond. It wasn’t like it was coming out of left field or anything—his body language around me, his glances, his extended eye contact let me know that he was at least attracted to me—I just couldn’t quite believe he’d just asked his own boss out for drinks.

  “Are you there?” he asked.

  “I’m here,” I replied. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea, Kevin,” I said honestly. I mostly said it for my own sake. With a few drinks in the both of us, who knew what would happen? I did. And it involved taking my clothes off.

  “Strictly professional,” Kevin assured me. “Just a public setting. Boss and employee discussing business.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kevin,” I said, cutting him off before I agreed to it.

  “Okay,” he said with a laugh. “I tried. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I put my phone in my pocket book and locked the office down, shutting everything up behind me and heading home. I’d be drinking by myself tonight.

  I was sure that Kevin was disappointed. I was also sure that he was very used to getting what he wanted when it came to women, but when I’d offered him the job I’d immediately decided that we would never see each other outside of work. Not even at the damn grocery store.

  I prided myself on being a strong-willed woman, a disciplined woman, but any girl has her limits. I was the same. I didn’t trust myself around Kevin. And since Kevin had made his stance about our relationship pretty obvious, I didn’t trust him around me either.

  He was there early the next morning, sitting in his car with it running, talking to someone on the phone. I smiled briefly and walked up to the door, unlocking it and letting myself in. I set my coffee and my handbag down on the desk and set the air conditioning immediately.

  A few minutes later Kevin walked in, carrying a coffee of his own, with his laptop bag tucked underneath his arm. He had on a tight black polo shirt and khaki pants. He’d bought a Google watch a few days ago for some reason he couldn’t really explain. “Good morning,” he called, slipping into his chair in the corner and getting his things out. I watched him for a moment. He seemed unusually chipper. Maybe it was just me being paranoid.

  He started whistling. />
  I sat down at my desk and answered a few e-mails, watching Kevin over the top of my computer monitor. He was writing down something on the notepad he always carried while he looked at the laptop but it could’ve been anything. I didn’t even really have a way of knowing whether he was actually working or not. I tried to just ignore him and finish my online work before I moved over to the work table and started laying out miniature designs using the templates I’d designed.

  “Hey,” he called. His desk was only a few feet away from mine so he just got up and brought his iPad over to where I was standing. He stepped up beside me and I straightened, looking first from him to the iPad.

  “What is this?” I asked, looking at the screen. I glanced at his arm and wondered how he’d gotten that shirt on this morning, and whether it was natural to have veins like that in his arm.

  “Did you hear me?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” I blurted.

  “Well, what do you think about it?”

  “I…think it looks really good. I love the modern feel of it.”

  “I think it showcases your work very well. Easy to access and operate for anybody of any age. I’m thinking we go ahead and update the site, update the FAQs and update the help function so user-specific questions can be asked and recognized instead of just keywords.”

  I didn’t know why tech-speak sounded so sexy at the moment, but it did. I just nodded. “Do it,” I said. “It sounds great. And it keeps one less worry off my mind.”

  He nodded and smiled. “Okay. It’s official. I’ll do it.

  Chapter 4

  Kevin

  I was about to go crazy. It had been about a month since I started working for Jillian and she was driving me insane. I felt like she should just go ahead and show up to work in a trench coat because it seemed like everything she came to work in got my motor running. It wasn’t just because we were working together. I was seriously attracted to the woman. I was drawn to her, but she was always fending off my subtle advances or brushing off the mistaken physical contact between us.

  If I brushed up against her while she was bent over, or if she accidentally touched my butt while I was on all fours looking over one of her layouts it was just that, an accident. I was starting to wonder how I could come on to her more obviously than I already was besides groping her. And I was considering doing that as well.

  I was going insane. Spending extra time at the gym, working out on the weekends on my rest days and screaming during traffic jams. I was not the mellow, laid-back guy I usually was. She was getting to me and I was not getting to her.

  I had an angel on one shoulder telling me to stop being a dickhead and be glad that I had a job that paid a competitive salary and a chance to hone my skills should I get a better opportunity. The devil on my other shoulder was telling me that I should stop being a bitch and just go for broke. Neither side was really winning out, which was one reason I was sexually miserable at the moment.

  Well, neither side was winning out until I came in, in the morning a little late and she was wearing fucking yoga pants and a t-shirt. I walked in and just stood in the doorway as the door swung closed behind me, hitting me in the back and nudging me forward.

  She didn’t turn around at first, but when she didn’t hear me say anything or hear my footsteps she stopped jostling the papers on her desk and turned to me.

  We shared a moment of silence as she wondered why I wasn’t moving and I tried to think of something to say that wasn’t sexually inappropriate while at the same time acknowledging that her ass was looking more than fantastic in those yoga pants.

  “What?” she finally asked.

  “Didn’t know there was a casual Friday here. I would’ve worn my pajamas.”

  “I’m sorry. I went for a run this morning and just decided not to change. I know it’s not very professional, but hopefully I’ve indicated that this is more of an informal environment. There is no expected uniform.”

  “Yeah,” I said, finally getting my legs to move me towards my desk. “It’s just funny to see you loosen up a bit.”

  She straightened and looked at me in a way that made me not want to sit down yet. “What do you mean? Are you saying I’m uptight?”

  I shook my head. “No, no. That’s not really what I meant. You’re always so…professional and…crisp, you know? Sometimes I forget there’s a beautiful lady underneath all of that.”

  She blinked at me for a moment and then quickly and vigorously went back to shifting papers on her desk. I watched her for a moment, and then I watched her with amusement as she shuffled the same papers back and forth between piles. I sat down at my desk and took out my laptop and a few other items.

  Jillian finally walked away from her desk towards the back of the office where there was a coffee maker. The devil on my shoulder was basically whispering in my ear, antagonizing me over my inability to man up. He was just about to call me a beta-bitch-looking schlong-sucker when I hopped out from behind my desk.

  “You only live once, damn it.”

  Chapter 5

  Jillian

  I couldn’t explain why I’d worn what I’d worn to work. I was actually glad that Kevin was running a little late because it gave me time to think of a cover story. I hadn’t taken it too far by wearing a sports bra or other workout material. The yoga pants were enough. I decided to tell him I’d gone for a morning run.

  The angel on my shoulder told me I’d worn it because I wanted to feel a little more comfortable. Business clothing was stuffy and annoying and needed too much prep. I was simply saving time and stress by wearing something comfortable and simple. The devil on my other shoulder agreed that it was simple and comfortable—and as easy as it was to get on, it’d be even easier for Kevin to take off. The devil on my shoulder knew that my booty was my best physical asset and applauded me for wearing the perfect garment to accentuate it.

  I wanted to agree whole-heartedly with the angel—but that would’ve been lying on my part. When Kevin came in, he didn’t say anything. In fact, he didn’t move from the door. I could feel his eyes burning a hole through my pants, so I composed the blush on my face before I turned and asked him what was wrong.

  He smiled his stupid innocently sexual smile. “Didn’t know there was a casual Friday here. I would’ve worn my pajamas.”

  I cleared my throat, in my head. “I’m sorry. I went for a run this morning and just decided not to change. I know it’s not very professional, but hopefully I’ve indicated that this is more of an informal environment. There is no expected uniform.” That came out well. No squeaks or obvious indicators that I was a big fat liar. And my pants hadn’t burst into flame.

  “Yeah,” he said nonchalantly in return. “It’s just funny to see you loosen up a bit.”

  Loosen up? “What do you mean? Are you saying I’m uptight?”

  I looked at him, expecting an answer and he looked back at me like he might’ve stepped in a bear trap, or a pile of dog poop.

  He quickly shook his head and made wide gestures with his hands. “No, no. That’s not really what I meant. You’re always so…professional and…crisp, you know? Sometimes I forget there’s a beautiful lady underneath all of that.”

  Asshole. I quickly looked down at my desk and…and did things that looked like I was hurriedly organizing stuff, but I was really waiting for my face to go back to a regular color. Asshole. He was trying to throw me off. The angel on my shoulder was laughing at my discomfort.

  After a moment I went to the back where the coffee maker was and made myself a cup of coffee. There was no whiskey in the cabinet to put in it, but that didn’t matter at the moment. I just needed to burn my esophagus and calm down a bit.

  As I stirred creamer into my cup I heard Kevin walking towards me. When I looked up he was in my face, reaching out a hand and taking the cup of coffee from me while simultaneously kissing me on the mouth.

  I would’ve stepped back, but my ass was already against the wall. Yes yes yes! The demon
on my shoulder giggled with glee. I pulled back from Kevin and sucked in a breath. The gum that had been in my mouth was already in his. He was chewing it.

  “What the hell?” I managed.

  He looked at me and grinned before leaning in again to kiss me. I pushed his face back. “Kevin, I’m your fucking boss and you can’t just—”

  “Tell me you don’t want to and I’ll never mention it again.” I stared at him for a few tense moments. He smiled and leaned in again slowly. I was sure he could see my pulse punching a hole in my neck. Against my will, I licked my lips and he kissed me again, sucking in a breath through his nose as he pushed me against the wall. I did my best to act like I didn’t want to shove my tongue down his throat but my body betrayed me. I reached up and gripped the back of his head as he put his hands around my waist.

  We’re in the office making out. This is wrong. This is so wrong. And good. I wasn’t sure whether I should take a breath or keep kissing. My body said keep kissing. Kevin pulled back for a moment and started kissing my neck. My nipples were already so hard I thought they would poke holes through my shirt. Had it really been that long since I had a man all over me? My body was telling me yes. Way too damn long.

  He pressed his crotch against me and slipped his hands to my ass, squeezing hard as he kissed my neck. Through the thick beat of my pulse, the rational side of my brain forced words out. “Kevin, someone’s gonna see us.” Well, it was more of a moan, but he still heard it.

  “So?” he growled, kneading my ass through the material of the yoga pants. I was so glad I’d worn them.

  His kissing on my neck was driving me a little crazy. I actually considered going in the bathroom to finish. Wait. The bathroom.

  “Bathroom,” I whispered.

  He paused against my neck for a moment. “Your table. We can just lock the door.”

  I didn’t say anything so he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He carried me to the desk and set me down on the edge before walking to the door and locking it, dropping the blinds down on the windows and walking back to me slowly.