Page 11 of Charming the Dragon
Don’t start.
With that, Nathan left the luggage in the hallway and entered the kitchen. As soon as the two females noticed him, they quieted. Hayley quickly looked away from him and sipped her tea.
Ignoring how he didn’t like that, he said, “All of your stuff is here now, Hayley. If you have a minute, we should discuss our work schedule.”
She nodded. “Of course. Let me get my phone, though. Without my calendar, I’m lost.”
His stepmum gave him a long look before rolling her eyes upward when he didn’t say anything.
Too bad. He wasn’t here to make the human laugh.
As soon as Hayley returned with her phone, Denise stood and excused herself.
For a few beats, they eyed each other. Then Hayley cleared her throat. “Well, how soon can we start?”
“Tomorrow is probably best.” Her face fell, and his dragon grunted in disapproval. Nathan quickly added, “However, I thought maybe I could take you to dinner at my dad’s pub tonight. You could meet some people, get questions answered, and then be raring to go in the morning.”
Her face lit up. “Really? That’d be brilliant. Whilst I know I’m here to work, I’d love to get to know more dragon-shifters.”
Her smile made his heart skip a beat.
Which was ridiculous. Ignoring the stupid organ, he grunted. “It was my parents’ idea, not mine.”
“That doesn’t matter, as long as we go.” She rubbed her hands together. “I really can’t wait to get started tomorrow morning. Although, I should probably warn you that once I get going on a job, I work long hours. I like to get things done as quickly as possible.”
“Whatever you want. I’m used to pressure and long hours from my job with the Protectors.”
“Oh, that’s right. Well, I can be a bit much for even die-hard workaholics, so make sure to tell me if you need a break.”
His dragon spoke up.I can think of ways to distract her and make her take a break.
Shut it, dragon.
Nathan replied to the human, “I’ll be back in an hour to take you to the Dragon’s Nest. You can, er, change clothes.”
For a second, hurt flashed in her eyes, and his dragon growled.Don’t upset her. That wasn’t nice.
What? She spilled something on her top.
You didn’t have to point it out. It’s not like you’re Mr. Fashionista yourself.
Ignoring his dragon, he blurted, “If you want to, that is. It’s fairly casual at the pub, though. As long as you’re dressed, that’s fine.”
His dragon sighed.What, is she going to show up naked? Humans don’t like that.
Even dragon-shifters need clothes to enter the pub.
Maybe she doesn’t know that. Prepare her for what she might see around the clan.
She was here before.
But mostly inside the Protector building.
After clearing his throat, he asked, “You do know that you might see a naked person walking around Stonefire, right?”
“Um, what are you talking about?”
He cleared his throat again. Humans and their bloody modesty. “Well, when we shift, we don’t have clothes on. Or they get torn to pieces. At any rate, when people are in a hurry, they sometimes forget to dress after shifting back into their human forms. Hence why I said you had to be dressed to enter the pub.”
