A Way to a Dragon’s Heart (13 page)

He grasped her hips and shook his head. “Don’t, if I laugh, I’ll come out, and I don’t want to separate yet.” They stood there a long moment before he spoke. “I
marked
you both; I couldn’t help it. I was upset. I can fix it after I calm down.”

Fix it? Just as with a Pleasure Bond, almost all preternaturals could mystically link and
mark
someone as Sect, as family, be they lovers or otherwise. It was a supernatural hickey of sorts that let anyone who could see or sense it know that they were looking at a package deal. Kryssa had never received one from someone Fae-blooded before. “It tingles. How long does that take to stop?’

Xander seemed startled. “A couple of hours to a couple of days.”

This little stunt of Landon’s would likely add an unofficial month to six weeks to her sabbatical. If she had to keep running back and forth to Sydney there’d be no way to know when the three of them could have time together again. If she didn’t have him remove it now, it could mean months of walking around with Xander’s
mark
and likely an echo of it that looked like Caleb’s because it happened with the Bond so thoroughly in place. Did she want him to fix it? It felt wrong to even acknowledge that it
could
be fixed. What did that mean? And did she want to know?

“A few days, okay.” Kryssa nodded. “Can we go to bed? Just to lay down for a bit, just to be close?”

Xander looked over his shoulder at Caleb, and they both nodded. “Sure, for however long you want. We’ll clean up, I’ll move the lasagna to the second oven on warm, and it’ll keep until we come back.”

Kryssa disengaged herself, kissed them both and headed to the master suite of what she’d begun to think of as home.

Chapter Nineteen

The scent of Italian beef filled the outer office. It set Kryssa’s stomach to rumbling and tied it in knots all at once. This could not end well. She hugged herself tight and leaned on Caitlin’s desk, careful not to disturb the abundant flower arrangements.

Xander glided in, a cooler in one hand and a thermal bag in the other. “Surprise, I brought your favorite.” He set everything on the desk and gathered her in his arms, spinning in a full circle.

She tried to keep a professional distance but instead threw her arms around him. “I’m so glad you came down. I didn’t expect you until dinner though. Your trip’s the whole reason I’m keeping normal hours.”

“We wanted one last lunch in your office.” He looked at the overflowing desk and the small shelf, all holding roses in every hue. “Wow, are these all Caitlin’s? She said she’d told you to keep them, but she never said there were so many. Who knew you got an entire garden for finally having a baby?”

Caitlin’s flowers? Kryssa could go with that. “Where’s the cart?”

He set her on her feet. “Apparently my cart duties are now permanently suspended. It’s all Lettie’s responsibility now, and she’s doing wonderfully. Mike’s so proud at how his oldest stepped up. I knew she was the right choice.” He beamed a proud smile. “Do you know Toni tried to charge me? They wouldn’t let me turn over my share of the deli to them, but I swear, you’d think that no longer working full time there meant no longer being family.”

He looked around the reception area. “Why aren’t we in your office?”

Kryssa tried to figure out the least volatile path of explanation. “There are ongoing meetings concerning the second tier deal of the Sydney deal among other things. I’m waiting for clients.”

He sat on the edge of the desk and studied her face. “What’s happened now? Why do you look that way?”

“What way?” She waved it off. “I’m just tired; there’s been a lot to do. After being gone a month I was much further behind than I thought I’d be when I agreed to leave. The last six weeks back has been both playing catch-up and trying to get ahead of this Sydney thing.” She looked at the door. “And four trips in as many weeks to Australia takes a toll. Is Caleb joining us?”

Xander crossed his arms, watching her. “Yes, Caleb is joining us.” He took a deep breath. “And I know everything you just said is true. That doesn’t mean something’s not going on. What did Landon do now? You were very vague on the phone. How long does this delay your sabbatical exactly?”

He had yet to ask a question that wouldn’t lead places he didn’t like. Kryssa tried to soften the answer. “It’s all unofficial. My entire client list and every deal in my catalogue are up to date and being dealt with by the boys. So technically, as of 5 p.m. today, my sabbatical starts. I’m just
on call
until the ink dries on the second tier.”

She jumped as Caleb walked through the door and tried to cover it by embracing him. “I’m so glad you’re here. A few weekends out of two months and Skyping for a meal a day—even on something as big as a wall unit—it’s not enough.”

“No argument from me.” Caleb kissed her with a gentle hunger that seemed to grow by the moment. “We missed you,” he said against her lips.

“I missed you both too.”

He rubbed his cheek across her hair and inhaled along the curve of her neck. “I want to roll around in your scent until I’m covered in it. Is that normal?”

Kryssa laughed and hugged him tighter. “Depending on how you feel about me, it’s normal, just not entirely office appropriate.”

Caleb released her with a smile and leaned beside Xander, picking up the questions where he’d left off. “So what’s the timeline looking like? Did your last fix take?”

Kryssa looked between the blazing hazel eyes and bright thyme gaze and settled on Caleb. “What if I said not exactly?”

Caleb’s jaw clenched. “That’s unbelievable. What was the excuse this time?” His expression changed. “Why do you keep touching your throat that way?”

Kryssa paused, her thumb mid-stroke across the spot they’d both kissed and the area she always pictured the Mark in her aura to vibrate. “Okay, I give up. There’s no way to phrase things that won’t make you both angry. You already know that instead of his sister, our usual contact, Landon came to the meetings in Sydney himself. He saw the Mark, and the next thing I know, he’s forcing a breakdown of each separate component and adding weeks to something that should have taken days. But it’s his right as a client to have it done so I can’t call him on it. Now, supposedly his sister has food poisoning so the stateside negations and briefings are also going to be with Landon. He arrived sometime last night and attended the breakfast meeting early this morning. I presented my best and easiest to follow agreement, and now it’s about waiting. In preparation for another stall tactic, I’ve gone through my list to find another major player willing to get into the deal on short notice, but since I won’t sleep with the three likeliest candidates, it’s going slowly.” She gave a rueful smile. “I’m starting to reconsider their offers at this point, for the record. Anything that gets me out of here without casting doubt on my department’s effectiveness is sounding good right now.”

“I knew it,” Xander growled. “He probably poisoned the poor woman.”

Caleb’s face said he didn’t disagree, but his words took a more helpful approach. “Do you need me to take one for the team with those three possibles?” he asked. “If it gets you out of here on time, I’m up for it.”

“I’ll help,” Xander offered.

She couldn’t hold the smile back. “Thank you, that’s very sweet and I’ll look into the proper etiquette on the pimping out of one’s beloveds as business procedure. Until I find that out, I’ll stick with Plan A and try to replace him or get through this with him as quick as possible.” She walked over and hugged both of them. “I’m sorry; I know we’ve been apart over twice as long as we were together.” Not necessarily all bad if one is testing reality’s impact on a lovely, brief fling, but it wasn’t a happy situation either. “But it won’t be much longer before I can come up, I promise. More importantly, Nicky promised, and he has a divine-inspired track record of keeping his promises.”

“Have you tried putting Landon through another door?” Caleb asked.

“If only that were an option, but Nicky seemed a little tense about going that route. He didn’t completely rule it out though.”

As if summoned, Dominic walked into the reception area with a smile. “Well, good afternoon, gentlemen. I thought you two weren’t in until this evening.”

Xander repeated the nostalgia for one last office lunch. Caleb chimed in, “I had a surprise that was time sensitive so we came early, which is where the lunch idea came in.”

Kryssa grabbed Dominic’s arm. “I’m excited to hear about your surprise, Caleb. I just need to talk to Nicky for a minute. If you’ll both excuse us.”

“Do you want us to go in your office so you can stay here and greet your clients?” Xander asked.

“No, no, it’s… I’m… You guys stay here.” She hurried Dominic into her office, only opening the door far enough to fit him through. She followed after and closed the door quickly. “You’ve got to take them to your office or on a tour of the upper floors, something, anything, Nicky.”

Dominic turned a slow circle, presumably looking for a clear surface. He wouldn’t find one. “I thought you were going to have your office cleared out this morning so it no longer looked like a gardening hobby gotten out of hand. And why aren’t any of these in vases?”

“First, we don’t have that many vases, and even if we did, they’ve all been donated to clinic so they don’t need vases. Second, I did clear the office. These all arrived about an hour ago. The new clients thought someone had died. When main reception called and said Caleb and Xander were coming up, I met them out there because it’s mildly better. Nicky, you have to take them somewhere. The twins are doing the second half of the informative tour for our new clients; I just need you to distract Xander and Caleb for a little bit.”

Dominic looked puzzled. “Why? I thinks it’s sweet they wanted a last office lunch. I’m not letting you back in here until you’ve taken the minimum five years respite, so this was an endearing piece of nostalgia on Xander’s part.”

Kryssa spoke slowly and with great care. “Nicky, look at this place, I think the wall-to-wall roses might set them off when I explain.”

Her brother’s face changed. “What do you mean when you explain?” He took her by the arms. “They don’t know Landon sent all of these and has been doing so since you went to Sydney?”

“No, they know he’s been pushy but not this pushy, which is why they’re in the outer office. Xander assumed those are Caitlin’s.”

He took a deep steadying breath. “What are you thinking, Krys? You should have warned them. Do they know that Landon’s in the building?”

She grasped him in turn and shook him. “They know he’s in town, but not that he’s been sending me an acre of foliage daily or that he’s somewhere downstairs. I thought they might not take it well. That’s why you have to take them someplace until I see if Landon will sign the new agreement I put together and end all this nonsense.

“Please, Nicky, help me. Xander will try to fold Landon up and stuff him in a shoebox and Caleb will help, and while a dark, quiet part of me finds satisfaction in the idea, the reality is a felony. I’m trying to avoid a homicide. I prefer them as free men. And least we forget, as a full blooded Dragon, Landon might still win, and I definitely prefer them alive.

“Just take them so the interns can clear out my office again and I can close this deal, or at the very least, put a cap on how much longer it gets dragged out.”

Her brother stared off at a spot above her head in silence. She shook him again. “Nicky, hello, don’t space on me.”

“I’m not spacing. I could take Landon in my sleep. I’m just wondering what kind of alibi the three of us would need after we got him the shoebox.”

“Fine, don’t help me. I’ll figure it out on my own, the way an only child must get through life.” She blinked large, lost eyes at him.

“All right, I’ll take them upstairs. Stop with the eyes and the pout and the breaking my heart.” He kissed her forehead and opened the door. She followed out quickly.

“Gentlemen, Kryssa’s clients will be returning soon. I thought I might offer you a guided tour.”

Caleb looked at Xander. “Is this where we get the bonded-sibling debriefing about making a living will should we be entertaining thoughts of which he disapproves?”

Xander nodded. “It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

Dominic gave an indulgent smile, and Kryssa forgot the urgency a moment in its glow and Xander and Caleb’s response. Her brother genuinely liked them, and that meant something beyond words. She watched the three men leave and took a breath then stepped back in her office.

“All clear,” she called out. Her interns stepped out of the bathroom.

A temp, rescued from data entry, walked out of the closet. “Who said you only ever come out once?” She smiled.

Kryssa smiled back and looked to the interns. “We’re keeping her just so it’s said.” She started bundling the bouquets into waiting arms. “Now the whole quick-like-bunnies thing, guys, before Beautiful Disaster and Lovely Catastrophe come back and meet up with Sexy Psycho Ex and we’re moving bodies instead of bouquets.”

“I’ve taken pictures of these every day I’ve been here,” the temp informed them. “You know, just in case there’s a restraining order in Sexy Psycho’s future. My dad’s a judge; they like photographic evidence.”

“I know, I took my own and kept the cards on file,” Kryssa said, taking an armful of flowers and dumping them in the closet since she couldn’t leave. She turned back with a smile. “Still, for thinking ahead, not only are we keeping you, but you’re getting a raise.”

Kryssa shooed them out of the office and sat down to let her mind empty. When that didn’t work, she adjusted her monitor and called Caitlin.

“Is everyone still alive?”

“And hello to you too. Yes, thanks for putting it that way, Cait, everyone is still alive.” She smiled at the bundle in Caitlin’s arms. “I just called for some baby-cam time to put everything back into perspective.”

Caitlin held the baby up for a clearer view. “Uh huh. I think you keep calling to see what Xander’s features look like in miniature.”

“And if he were a girl,” Kryssa pointed out. “But it’s rather nifty to get a sneak peek at Xander’s future. Thoughtful of you and Andrew to make the test run so I’d know.”

Caitlin smiled. “So that means you’ve got plans.”

“No,” Kryssa quickly corrected. “Just, you know, you can’t help but wonder when you see someone’s face so little and adorable.”

“Uh huh,” Caitlin replied.

“What? Can’t I call to look at my goddaughter and namesake and just be happy to see her because she finally graced us with her presence rather than because I have an ulterior motive?”

“I don’t know. What do you think, Ryssa?” Caitlin held the baby towards her ear and then shook her head. “Nope, we don’t think you can.”

“All right, I’ll talk to the judge-y one and you later,” Kryssa said.

“Oh, come on, girl, just give it up.” Caitlin huffed. “You’ve been mooning and pining since you came back from the cabin. I know in love when I see it, and you’ve got a double dose that even an extended stay in Australia couldn’t touch. Do you remember the last time we were in Sydney together? If you were just infatuated with Xander and Caleb and it was only about the sex, you’d have gotten laid ten times over in Sydney. Accents do it to you every time.”

“Says the woman who came back from Sydney with a whole person, when I didn’t even go out for drinks. Speaking of which, did Aaron actually keep her all alone this morning for his first time?” Kryssa asked.

“Theoretically, but he’s broadened his definition of alone, so I’m skeptical on what that’ll actually mean when he finally explains. A four-hour video conference with his mom does not count in my book.” She looked down at the baby. “This isn’t about Landon, is it?”

“What? No, why would you… No.”

“He’s being incredibly persistent and has managed to stay on the rich, eccentric side of persistent without crossing into creepy, stalker persistent which means he’s putting in effort.” She drew closer to the screen. “I was there for the aftermath. I know what it felt like, and how much all of this effort must, in little ways, make up for the initial rejection. It’s been two and a half years. He’s dated some incredibly impressive people, and yet it’s your office that looks like the Rose Bowl had morning sickness all over it.”