Their contributions to the world couldn’t be minimized, so yeah, maybe she should still go to the meeting. It would be awkward, of course, but she could just walk in and be honest. She could say something sweet, simple, and to-the-point.
“Mr. Monster, I’m so sorry that my former boss is a complete asshole” probably wouldn’t go over too well.
“Mr. Monster, I just needed to let you know that Dragons Daily is a wildly shitty newspaper and you should never work with them” was probably just as weak.
“I’m sorry you have to return home so early,” Dragon said.
“Thanks,” Winter nodded. “Me too.”
“Have you been to Sapphire Island before?”
“No,” she shook her head. “This is my first time.”
She didn’t want it to be her last time. So far, it had been pretty damn nice. She’d gotten fucked, and not just fucked. She’d had the best damn sex of her life. It wasn’t often that you had curl-your-toes good sex.
That had been some damn good sex, though.
“Well, I hope you’ll have time for some sightseeing before you go home,” he told her.
“I don’t know,” Winter shrugged.
“Busy work schedule?”
“I mean, I was sitting on the beach staring at my closed laptop when you found me,” she said, chuckling nervously.
“Hmm,” Dragon looked at her, considering her. “Well then, come on.”
“Come on?” Winter raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s get you inside. You could use a shower and some tea and maybe a cookie,” he winked at her.
“You’re going to bathe me and feed me?” Winter blinked, surprised. She knew he was inviting her to the house, but she still sort-of figured that it was the first step in getting her off of his beach. Even if she was going to spend the weekend with him, she hadn’t really thought about him taking care of her.
Not that she didn’t want it.
She totally, absolutely wanted it.
She just hadn’t expected anything like that at all to happen to her. Her plan had been simply to relax as much as possible on the beach, to walk around and snap pictures of the island, and to conduct a couple of additional interviews to really flesh out her story.
She’d arrived the night before and had met with a dragon woman who ran a little coffee shop. The lady had been more than happy to talk about how much she loved being a shifter and how shifters made the best coffee in the world.
Then this morning, Winter had met with a guy who ran his own bakery. Apparently, shifters were crazy about food. The guy had been more than happy to show Winter exactly how he got his pastries to be so fluffy and his biscuits to be so delicious. He’d even given her a sandwich to take with her “for the road,” and she’d enjoyed it for lunch.
Now she had two full days before she was supposed to meet with Monster Brothers Security. It was Friday evening, and the offices were already closed for the day. Otherwise, Winter could have simply called the office, told them what was going on, and then headed home.
As it was, she didn’t want to go through the hassle of taking a ferry back home, as well as a cab. That was time and money she didn’t really want to spend, especially if she was just going to come back on Monday. Somehow, even though she could call, revealing Dragon Daily’s terrible secret felt like something that should be done in person.
“Yes,” Dragon said. “I’m going to feed you.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“That’s okay with you?”
“Yeah, I love food,” she nodded.
“Good. I like a woman who isn’t afraid to enjoy cookies.”
“You do?”