Sapphamire (4 page)

There was just something about the man that drew her to him. She couldn’t remember ever having as much fun as she did tonight. And obviously he found her attractive also, if his hard-on all night long was any indication. Blain reminded her of the type of guy to have a different girl in his bed every week, if not every night. Now that she had thought about it, she wondered why he hadn’t taken his dinner date out drinking and dancing. Of course, she would bet her next paycheck the stiff, non-smiling Ms. Amberlynn would never go into a place like they were in tonight. To be seen with all those low-lives? No way. However, Natasha wasn’t going to fool herself. His raging hard-on and all night long bumping and grinding was nothing more than the drink talking. Yes, she was betting tomorrow morning he would walk into the office and act as if nothing whatsoever had happened tonight. And that was just fine with her.

Chapter Three

Blain stepped out of the steamy bathroom—his head still pounding with a slight hangover, and his dragon grumpy as well—wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and running his towel through his still wet hair.

“Good morning.”

He froze, nearly dropping the towel at the sound of her voice. He looked up to see Natasha standing by the French doors that led out onto his balcony. She wore a bright smile with her outfit of skinny jeans, high no-heel boots, and a thin sweater that helped show off all her curves. Her hair was pulled back in a tight fishtail braid, and she was holding onto a clipboard and pen, along with a steaming hot cup of black coffee. She offered the cup of coffee to him.

“Bless you,” he said, drinking the dark liquid deeply.

She stood, saying nothing, as he sat on the foot of his bed and pulled his shoes on.

“I take it that you’re here to tell me what all I have to look forward to today? Yes?”

“Yes, sir,” she said, her smile lighting up every inch of the bedroom. But there she went with the damn
sir
again. For God’s sake, she was his mate!

He opened his mouth to correct her, but she quickly held up her hand to stop him.

“Oh no you don’t, the rules were for last night and last night only. I’m willing to put it aside any time we are just being friends. Now it is morning, and time to get down to work.”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. She sure knew how to get her way with him. “All right, so tell me what we have planned for the day.”

“You have an eleven o’clock appointment with your personal trainer, lunch, and then you are expecting a Ms. Lady Jade to come and stay with you?” She tried to keep her voice light, but one look into her eyes and Blain could see the happiness had just disappeared. ‘
She’s jealous. You make mate mad, let me at her. I will love her and claim her and make her happy. Need mate happy,'
his dragon rumbled unhappily.

He tried to soothe the inner beast. '
Not yet. She doesn’t even know we are her mates.'

'
And just whose fault is that
?' his beast growled back at him. Wow, it had been quite a while since his dragon had been this unhappy with him.

'
Want mate, want mate, want mate
!' His dragon reminded him sometimes of a child not getting their own way.

'
Shush now, calm down. I know what I am doing,
' he assured his inner beast.

His beast flashed in his eyes as he assessed their mate. '
No, you don’t. If you did, she wouldn’t be ready to cut your balls off! Don’t like mate mad. You make mate mad. You big jackass.'

'
Geez, thanks for the vote of confidence
,' he growled at his beast as he turned his attention back to their unhappy mate.”

He wanted so badly to rip that clipboard out of her hands and show her how much she meant to him. He wanted to tell her that Lady Jade meant nothing to him and that she was his one and only true mate.

Lady Jade was a Japanese dragon. She was considered royalty within her coven. And because there were so few dragon females, her parents had demanded that she mate with a strong, preferably well-to-do dragon. They had set their sights on the dragons of his realm in search of her a mate. Since the king’s twin sons had just mated with their true mate, they looked for the next in line that was available. That’s when their sights landed on him. And they had tried their best to talk him into an arranged marriage with Lady Jade ever since. Frankly, he saw Jade as a little sister, but absolutely nothing more. There were times when she was so irritating and infuriating that he couldn’t stand to be near her. He couldn’t imagine having to live with her twenty-four hours a day for the rest of his long life. Blain understood that living with her father was not easy. Hell, he personally couldn’t stand the man. And so, when she needed to get away for a while, she would come stay with him. He also knew that her father kept hoping that if the two of them spent enough time together, Blain would accept the proposal of becoming her mate.

'
Uggh, Lady Jade, smade. Not our mate. Natasha our mate. She is pretty. And smart. And clever. Like Natasha,'
his dragon sighed deeply.

Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, he answered, “Yes, thank you, Natasha. I’ll be ready to leave in five minutes.” She turned on her heels silently and quickly exited, never acknowledging him at all.

Natasha waited patiently for Blain by the front door, holding his coat and gloves. Her stomach had been doing somersaults since she had left his room. Why should it be? She knew deep down he would end up with someone of higher bloodline than she. She already knew he was one of the biggest playboys currently on the market. So why did she give a rat’s ass at the thought of another woman coming to stay with him? Yeah, she had done a little bit of digging on Lady Jade as soon as she had left him in his room. She knew her father was trying to rope Blain into an arranged marriage. And why should she care? If he were stupid enough to fall for something like that, well that certainly wasn’t her problem. Then why was she letting all of this get to her so much? Why did she feel like her heart was breaking in two every time she thought about him with another woman? She had only known the man for less than twenty-four hours, yet she still felt like there was something pulling them together.

“Hello? Anybody in there?”

She blinked to find Blain standing before her waving his hand in front of her eyes. She blinked again.

“I’m sorry, sir. I must have zoned out for a moment.” Her face turned a nice shade of bright pink at getting caught. She quickly handed him his coat and gloves, happy to have something to do to distract her.

“As long as you don’t go too far away, we’re good,” he said, smiling down at her.

God, that smile—and the scent of his cologne—made her stomach flip.

“Shall we?” He gestured toward the doors.

She could only bring herself to nod as a response. She waited until they were both seated in Blain’s limo to speak again.

“I have been informed that your trainer, Raphael, is out sick, but they have made arrangements for a replacement.” She handed him a thin folder. “Her name is Danielle Romanoff, five foot four, Russian, age twenty-three; remarkable knowledge in weaponry and combat,” she quoted, but he sensed she was holding back some of her thoughts.

“What’s your opinion about this?” Blain questioned.

“I don’t know, sir. I personally find it a bit odd that although your trainer is human, he has yet to miss a single day of work in the four years you have known him.” She stopped and sighed deeply as she glanced out the window. “Something just feels a bit off about this situation, and especially with this new trainer. She’s never been mentioned before, and when I looked up her record, it was squeaky clean. Almost too perfect.”

Blain had to hand it to her, she had certainly done more in just the few hours she had been working that morning than his last three assistants had done in a week. The fact she thoroughly researched this new trainer and was now skeptical told him she cared for him on some level.

And that had his inner beast preening. '
She loves me, she loves me not…no, she loves me. Or she would if you would ever get on with things and introduce us.'
His beast flashed him a picture of him in an open field of daisies, picking them one by one.

He cocked his head to the side and gazed at her for a long moment. To be honest, he felt much safer and at ease around her, knowing instinctively that she would never let anything happen to him. And he would never let anything happen to her, either. She was a treasure, and as such, needed to be treated as one.

Another picture of his dragon now rolling in the field of daisies, as he crumpled up what he had in his claws, bringing the bunch to his nose to sniff. '
Ah, she loves me. She loves me. She loves me.'

Blain wanted to chuckle at his inner beast. He had heard that when they found their mate, they tended to act strange for a time. He had never given much thought to the rumors, though. Now, watching his dragon roll through a field of daisies, he wished he had paid more attention.

He pulled out his cell phone. “Enough of my guards will be around us that she won’t get very far even if she does try to pull something.” He gave her knee a light squeeze with the hand not holding the phone. “Don’t worry, you’re safe with me.” Then after thinking for a second, he added, “Do you get these feelings of impending trouble often?”

And just like that his dragon sat straight up, eyes blazing, all fun forgotten. '
Mate in trouble? Who want to hurt mate? Protect mate, must protect mate. Mate special.'

She glanced out the window again, shrugging her shoulders. She wasn’t sure she wanted him to know she had dealt with this little gift her whole life. And it had never been wrong. Only now, her gift was telling her something bad lay ahead of them, but no details. No pertinent information as to who, or what kind of trouble might be brewing. And that made her very nervous.

They arrived a short time later to a clearing in the woods, which she guessed to be where he liked to train. The snow had stopped falling sometime in the night, leaving behind about six inches. There was more forecasted for later that day. Natasha walked up with Blain to meet Danielle, while his ten guards, who had been in a limo behind them, secured the area before taking up their positions.

“Mr. Barrymire,” the young woman started, strutting up to them to shake Blain’s hand. There was something about her that was off. She immediately reminded Natasha of Madonna in
Die Another Day
.

“Ms. Romanoff,” Blain said, cautiously accepting her outstretched hand.

“Shall we begin?” she questioned, shooting a sharp look over to Natasha.

Natasha glanced over to Blain just as he nodded in her direction. “We’re good,” he stated, as he walked over and handed her his coat and gloves in exchange for the sword she had brought from the car.

Natasha didn’t, couldn’t, believe him. But she did as she was told and took her place standing between two guards. Her gift was warning her that something bad was going to be happening quickly, so she didn’t trust this new trainer for a minute. She seemed fine to the naked eye, but lurking beneath was a sea of evil.

Half an hour later, Blain and Danielle took a five-minute break from their training. Natasha sat with him on a boulder as he caught his breath and drank some water.

“See, I told you there was nothing to fear here,” he stated, glancing down at Natasha.

She shrugged. “And maybe you’re right.”

“You still have doubts.” It wasn’t a question.

“I learned a long time ago never to push an intuition aside, but instead wait and watch until you know the full truth, before you dismiss anything. And always trust your gut feeling.” She watched the other woman closely.

“It may just be bad vibes.”

“It may, but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep a watchful eye out.”

Blain cocked his head looking at her carefully now. “But you wear no weapons. What good does it do you if you have nothing to protect yourself?”

“That’s what you think. I have my boot knife, and I promise you I can turn anything around me into a weapon.” She gave him a smirk. “In time you will learn what all I am fully capable of.”