Page 75 of Soaring in Flames (Reborn 2)
“Seatbelt time,” Sai muttered suddenly, looking frustrated as hell and scooping her up with Bella already on his shoulder. Whoever said kittens and dragons didn’t get along, hadn’t met Bella. She even liked wolves. It was odd as hell. I watched as Maya began talking to him, his eyes darkening on her because the woman smelled no doubt like fucking desire and perfection. Henry groaned, falling back on the bed as I stood feeling a bit frustrated myself.
“You know,” Henry stated softly in thought, “I was worried we’d been moving too fast. Hell, I had been pissed at Marco for claiming her so soon. I don’t think so now though, I think Maya, as usual, takes everything in stride.”
“She adapts ridiculously fast,” I agreed.
Henry’s fists clenched, “I hate to think of the childhood circumstances that bred that type of situation.”
Answering with a grunt before he finally stood up and walked out. My eyebrows dipped in thought about everything new she’d been exposed to in the past two weeks or so. To think I hadn’t even been there originally. In some ways, I don’t think that was a bad thing. I trusted my temper to an extent but if I had been around when Jed and her mother had been treating her so horribly? I’m not sure I would have had the same control the others had. I probably would have pushed her for the truth right away, even if she hadn’t wanted that.
I ran a hand through my hair feeling frustrated, despite having her taste on my lips. Fuck. I wanted to give the woman everything. Take her everywhere. But I didn’t want it to be empty. I wanted it to be something that would mean something to her now, and in the future.
I arched a brow as something occurred to me. Running through my mental contacts in Los Angeles, I pulled out my laptop and began scrolling through them. I smiled as one in particular popped out to me. Sending out two emails, I had my assistant from the downtown office call just to tell them to check their system. In five minutes, I had everything I wanted sent out and I left the small jet bedroom, offering Marco a look before holding up my phone so he checked his own. I didn’t want to tell him what I had planned out loud because I thought it would be a fun surprise.
Honestly, it was a shot in the dark on whether Marco would think it was a good idea. As he read over it, he offered me an interested look and nodded.Fantastic. Sitting across from Maya in a leather white seat, I watched her play hangman with Sai and Ledger. I could see that she was sketching in the corners of the paper whenever they got distracted.
I smiled. Yeah, I had a feeling she would love this.
***
“WHERE ARE WE GOING?” she asked for the fifth adorable time. Henry offered me an amused look before turning around to face her, where she sat between Anani and Sai.
Marco and Atlas had very much wanted to come with but had decided to stay back with Ledger to plan for tonight. Apparently, and I hadn’t realized so, Ledger was absolutely fantastic at accounting for problems that could occur at this stupid fucking dragon council event we were going to. What drove me crazy the most? There were no female dragons and she had to meet other flights. I didn’t want any more dragons near her. Wasn’t six enough? I really felt like it was enough.
As we pulled up to a massive skyscraper, an attendant awaited us. I easily slid out of the car and handed the keys along with a few bills over before opening Maya’s door to take her elegant hand. She had changed into a lighter weather outfit and it was almost painful how perfect she looked. Her light yellow off the shoulder top highlighted how stunning her golden skin tone was paired with a white snakeskin skirt and thin flip flops. The woman was almost hypnotising to look at. She didn’t realize it either of course.
“Croy,” she grinned, bouncing slightly as we entered past a group of crowds that snapped photos of us. I knew that they hadn’t been there for Maya originally but they sure as hell were now. This building was always filled with artistic directors throughout the city and housed some of the major fashion and art magazines in the city, including Vogue.
“Patience,” I offered quietly, loving her enthusiasm.
“Mr. Lee,” a female voice chimed as a soft annoyed sound came from Maya. I grinned at that as my contact’s gaze fell on Maya, immediately I saw excitement flash in her gaze. Yeah. I should have probably accounted for that to a larger extent.
“Is this her?” she asked eagerly, “I saw her spread, but this is so exciting! How are you dear? My name is Alanza, I’m the creative director upstairs at Vogue, when Mr. Lee said you wanted to stop by, I was thrilled.”
Maya blushed and tucked the piece of pink hair behind her ear. “You work at Vogue?” I could see the excitement spark her eyes and I knew I had done something right.
Alanza nodded as Maya offered me a massive smile. I explained finally, “I figured that while we were here I would arrange for you to meet with the creative director and the fashion department to see if that would be something you would be interested in, since you’ve mentioned it before—”
Maya hugged me, flinging her entire body into my arms, as I chuckled, I could hear the others talking quietly, clearly happy at her reaction. I know I sure as hell was. My wolf was fucking thrilled we had made our mate so damn happy and it echoed my exact feelings towards the situation.
Then Maya was off, Alanza taking her elbow as we followed after. I tried to keep my eyes off her sexy ass in that damn white skirt. Still, once we entered the elevator, it was a struggle to not press her up into that wall and go back to devouring her. I could practically hear the soft little moans she would make as I ran my fingers over her perfect skin. I was starting to realize that skirts were particularly dangerous. I mean shit, I could just lift that skirt over her perfect ass and...this was going to be a very long day.
As Alanza began to walk her along the different departments, I watched as Maya easily charmed the entire floor. How could you not be charmed by her though? My eyes narrowed slightly on any male gazes that followed her, luckily there weren’t many. One of the reasons the idea of her in this industry appealed to me. Well, that and because she was extremely creative and I figured this would be a good place to start since she talked about these magazines so often. Mainly how ridiculous their titles were for their articles, so much so, that I was sort of hoping she would say something about it. I would love to see their reaction to her opinions. It was clear though, it was about more than the titles to Maya. She seemed to be extremely interested and that was all I could ask for.
“So this is where we set up the spreads for each month's issue,” Alanza explained as we walked into a very colorful disorganized room that had Maya nearly spinning in circles. Some of the individuals there were staring openly at her in realization. Probably because the spread that was currently being worked on for October featured her.
“Wait...” She arched her brows, “You are puttingmeon the cover?”
Alanza nodded, “Everyone will want to read it considering who you are.”
Maya looked at the photo of herself and tilted her head. I could see the wheels turning in her head and an odd look shaded her eyes as she nibbled her lip.
“Do you not like it?” Alanza asked, looking suddenly panicked.
“I do!” Maya turned towards her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. It was fascinating watching Maya interact with others outside of us. You could see the compasion radiating from her. Then she offered a shy smile, “Could you put the photo of my boys and I on the front instead? I know it’s supposed to be representative of who I am, and honestly, they are a huge part of that.”
My heart swelled making me feel like a total fucking softie as Anani shifted at my side, knowing he probably wanted to snatch her up. Instead, we all stayed where we were and let her do her thing. Even though, I wanted to kiss the shit out of her immensely after saying something so damn cute.
Alanza’s eyes widened slightly as she looked to one of the women standing nearby. The woman looked nervously at Maya, “We could, we had avoided it because it’s a bit controversial and didn’t want to make you feel like we were exploiting you at all.”
