Page 5 of The Manny's Fiery Dragon Bond

Tavian pulled me out of the room.

“What in the world is going on with you?” He didn’t bother with small talk.

“What? Nothing.” Even if I wanted to be honest with him, what would I say? I didn’t understand what was going on myself.

“Look, I know it was odd to hire a non-dragon, and perhaps you were expecting me to hire someone from within the clan, but Ollie’s amazing.”

How could he think I cared about that? Did Ollie interpret my weirdness that way? Talk about messing things up in five minutes flat. Perhaps that was better than the alternative, which was that I was acting oddly because Ollie was incredibly attractive and I’d wanted to lick away the sauce on his face and then do… no, I couldn’t go back to that train of thought.

“What?” Maybe I misunderstood.

“You’re being weird. Is it because he’s a mouse?”

I shook my head. “Of course not. That is absurd. I’m not speciesist, of course.”

Sure, I’d noticed it when I came in, but it was a passing thought, unlike the way his lips beckoned me to nibble on them.

“So you’re just acting weird… for another reason?” My son grinned at me, a knowing smile spreading across his face. He knew. Of course he knew. “If I wasn’t married, I would be willing to say that he’s attractive. It’s okay if that’s what you are thinking.”

“Tavian. Be serious.”

“I am serious.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Son. It has been a long week. I’m glad that you’ve hired someone and that they are working out. Why don’t we have dinner, and then we’ll talk after?” A redirection perfectly executed.

“You’re more than welcome to go to the park with them. The kids would enjoy it.”

Or maybe not so perfectly, after all.

“Yes… well. We’ll see how dinner goes,” I said, not willing to make any promises.

Perhaps the food would distract me, or better yet, he did something gross that had me no longer able to see him in the same light. Would slurping his pasta be enough to have me no longer seeing his jawline for the magnificence that it was? I doubted it, but something had to give. He was my grandchildren’s manny, and by all accounts, he was the right man for the job.

I couldn’t risk my family losing the help they so desperately needed because I was drawn to their new hire. They deserved better than that, and so did Ollie.

Chapter 4

Ollie

Ihadseenpicturesof Lord Malric. Who hadn’t. He was an imposing figure in the shifter community, and anyone who didn’t know who he was was either human or hiding under a rock. I was no exception.

Living around the Emberstone clan territory meant that I was aware of the clan as a whole. I wasn’t part of them, being a mouse and all, but I knew of their politics and their business ventures. Out of all the dragon clans, they seemed to be the most open to change which had them soaring in areas not all could. When you’re stuck in the past, that’s where you get left behind.

Even so, I never envisioned I’d be having dinner with him or working for one of his sons. I was a mouse, not a dragon who had the pedigree to work for a family with such power. But also, I was good at what I did, and I needed to not convince myself otherwise.

Whether you were a dragon or not, you knew the dragon clan leader. Rumor had it, he was over five hundred years old. He wasn’t quite old enough to have been around when dragons battled demons, but he wasn’t far off. To him I was nothing more than a baby. At least based on years on this planet. To look at him, if he were a human, I’d have thought him early thirties, max. And a fine-looking thirty at that.

His attitude toward me, or my being the caregiver for his grandbabies, didn’t shock me. I’d never heard anything that would indicate he’d have a prejudice against other species, though. From everything I had heard about him and the way he ran Emberstone Clan, he was accepting of all types. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder if he had any hesitation about me being a mouse.

Did he have concerns about me being able to wrangle three dragon children? The last family I had nannied for were bear shifters. I handled that just fine.

Then again, it did seem rather humorous to have a mouse wrangling three dragons—even if they were babies.

I didn’t let myself dwell on it. Allowing insecurity to build wasn’t going to do anyone any good. And this wasn’t me. Usually, I was confident in my skills and what I brought to the table, and if others didn’t see it? Oh, well. But with Malric, what he thought of me mattered far more than it should.

If it was an issue for him, then there wasn’t much I could do about it, anyway. I truly did not want to lose this job, though. It may have only been a few days, but I was already attached to the children. The three of them were so unique and precious in their own ways. It was easy to love them. And my bosses were great. It was the ideal next position for me.

We all sat down in the formal dining room. The house that Tavian and Kier lived in was large, but not too intimidating… except for the part where it had a formal and informal dining room. That was dining room overkill.

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