Prologue
From the epilogue of NAUGHTY DRAGON
Brian stood in his office and walked to the window that overlooked the city. Oh, it was beautiful, but he couldn’t relax. He couldn’t calm himself down enough to enjoy what he was seeing. That had always been his problem, hadn’t it? He’d always considered himself to be the big brother of the group. That was stupid since they were triplets. They were literally all the same age. Still, he’d felt a sort of pressure to perform.
He’d always felt like it was his job to make sure that everyone else was okay. Recently, it seemed like that was all he did. He took pride in the fact that he cared for his brothers, but now he wondered what cost it had been at.
Declan and Christopher were both very happy with their mates. Zoa was incredible, and she’d been a wonderful asset to their company. Her accounting skills truly were fantastic. Christopher’s mate was a sweetheart, too. The fact that they all worked together hadn’t been detrimental to the company at all. In fact, it had seemed to make the organization flow even more smoothly.
Now, as Brian looked out of the window, he wondered whether or not things were ever going to look up for him. He was a busy man. He was too busy to find a mate. He always had been.
His phone rang, and he reached for it. He didn’t bother looking to see who was calling. He simply swiped his finger across the front and answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” the voice on the other end of the line was smooth and sultry. Instantly, he pulled the phone back to see who was calling him, but the number was blocked. Weird.
“Can I help you?” Brian asked, all business. It was late for someone to be calling him with a work-related issue, but it wasn’t unheard of.
“Actually, that’s what I’m calling about. I hope that you can. My name is Winter, and I’m a writer with Dragons Daily.”
“The tabloid?” Brian was irritated. Why the hell would a tabloid writer call him on his private line? A better question would be how she even g
ot his number in the first place.
“No, that’s Dragonette Daily,” the woman said calmly. “It’s a common mistake. Don’t worry.”
He wasn’t worried, and the idea that he might be worried was a bit grating. Who the hell was this woman? Why did she want to interview him?
“Dragons Daily is a nationwide newspaper for shifters.”
“Does it come out every day?”
“Yes,” she said, “but I’m writing for a special edition. We’re doing a huge special on dragon-owned businesses and we’d like to cover Monster Brothers Security. I was wondering if I’d be able to set up a time to come interview you in person and to talk more with you about your company.”
The woman sounded...sweet. Professional. Businesslike. Brian was always a bit wary around females because he never really knew what to expect. It was his own prejudice, he knew. He was worried that someone would try to come after him for his money. He feared that someone might try to hurt him or his brothers if he wasn’t cautious enough.
This woman seemed...
Well, she seemed kind of interesting. Besides, Brian wasn’t the kind of dragon to turn down free advertising, was he? He’d learned long ago that if you could get people to write about your business, people would pay attention. The average client could see an ad about your organization and care less, but the more exposure they had to your organization, the more you could build up your reputation.
That meant a greater sense of trust, and considering the fact that they ran a security company, that was pretty important to Brian. Yes, he thought that meeting with the reporter might be a good idea. He could get together with her and talk about his company, and that would be that. They could meet for coffee. No, they could meet in his office.
“I’m intrigued,” he said, and the woman laughed. Oh, he liked the sound of that laugh. He didn’t even know what she looked like, and already he knew that he liked her laugh. How weird was that?
“Good,” she said. “How about next week? Monday morning?”
“Monday at noon,” he said. “We’ll have lunch in my office. I trust you know where our headquarters is?”
“I know,” she said. “See you next week, Brian.”
The woman ended the call, and Brian stared at his phone. He rolled her name around on his tongue. Winter. It sounded like the name of a fairy or a pixie. It sounded like the name of a girl who knew what she wanted, and who wasn’t afraid to try.
He liked that.
Brian sat down in his chair and spun around, once more looking out of the window. This time, the lights seemed to sparkle a little bit more, and this time, his heart seemed a little bit lighter.
This time, Brian thought that maybe, just maybe, things were about to start looking up.