Titus got between them. “Let us not fight each other.”
Magnus brushed himself off and looked down at his shirt in disappointment. “I liked these.”
Liam sighed. “I’m sorry. I do not like hearing her talked about like that.”
Magnus sent him a grin. “Do not worry about it, brother. She really is your mate, then?”
Liam nodded. “I’m sure of it.”
“Then fucking pay attention!” Aegis snapped.
Liam’s eyebrows went up. “Is that the F-word?”
“The what?” Aegis asked, looking tired.
“Freakin’,” Liam said. “That is another word for it?”
“Yes,” Aegis said. “Why?”
“Just still getting used to modern vernacular,” Liam said.
“You should read more,” Titus said, picking up a book he’d had on his lap. “Freakin’ is a casual abbreviation of freaking, which is a less crude way of saying fucking, which refers to copulation—”
Aegis slapped a hand over his forehead. “Am I teaching or you?”
Liam stared at his crew mates to shush them. “You. I want to hear this.”
They all settled back in their chairs, and Aegis pointed at the chalkboard where he’d written several lines with numbers by them.
“I’m basing this on the mistakes made by the dragons from my time that awakened before you, so I’m not pulling this out of my ass.”
“Physically impossible,” Liam said.
Aegis put a hand up to his forehead again, letting out a longsuffering sigh. “Right. Anyway. Rule one, do not tell them they are your mate immediately. They do not like it or understand that.”
“Got it,” Liam said, committing it to his memory.
“Rule two, go slow physically. Leave them wanting more. If they make the first move, be the one to pull away. Human women like to be chased and told they are beautiful, but if you move too quickly with physical love and commitment, they will get creeped out and run.”
“But we could chase them,” Titus said.
Aegis sighed. “Here’s another rule. Don’t chase human women. That would be fucking terrifying, Titus.”
“How does it involve copulating?”
“That’s it!” Aegis said. “I can only stand one of you at a time. We’ll deal with this as it comes.” He walked over and hustled Titus and Magnus out of their chairs and shoved them toward the door, forcing them out.
He shut the door behind them, ignoring their grumbles as they slowly walked away from the door, and sat on the desk facing Liam.
“Look,” he said. “I think you’re the smartest, or most level-headed, of your crew, so I think you’re going to do fine with this.”
Liam pressed his lips together. “I don’t know. Magnus is smooth with women, and Titus is a genius with most things.”
“Yes, but pursuing a human woman is different,” Aegis said. “As you probably saw.”
“I felt like a fish on land,” Liam said. “It didn’t help that she was incomparably beautiful and distracting. My plan is to continue to help her with her yard. She did invite me in for dinner, though, and seems to like it when I bond with her dog.”
“Sounds like you’re doing fine, then,” Aegis said, standing and going to the chalkboard again. “But here’s the last rule, and it’s the most important one to remember. One I wish Magnus and Titus had gotten to see because they will need to remember it, too. I’ll tell them when it’s their time.”
“Yes,” Liam said. “It can wait.”
Aegis drew a line under the third rule. “Do not, under any circumstances, reveal to any human that you are a dragon. Not until it is absolutely mandatory because you are ready to mate them. Anything you do before that, eating together, dating—”
“Sex?”
“Yes, even that. Anything the human initiates normally,” Aegis said. “And before you do say something, you should ask me.”
“Okay,” Liam said.
“You have my number,” Aegis said impatiently. “Text me whenever you have questions. Or if something doesn’t make sense. Perhaps in my efforts to protect you and your crew, I haven’t exposed you enough to the outside world, but I’m here to help you every step of the way.”
Liam stood and crushed Aegis in a quick hug, slapping his shoulder with one wide hand. “I appreciate that, Captain.”
“I’m not your captain,” Aegis said, stepping back awkwardly, slightly embarrassed. “Remember the rules. You can write them down in your phone if you need to. I don’t know how the three of you picked up technology when you’re still so behind on everything else.”
He left the office, and Liam just shrugged, entering the notes on his phone.
He’d take all the help he could get.
6
Kate couldn’t believe how much had changed in just a few days. The yard in front and back of her house had little ditches dug through it with white pipes laid that would be the irrigation for the sprinkler system, and soon they would have sprinklers and sod and a new fence in the areas where she didn’t have one.
Privacy. Peace.
And there was more than that. She was getting used to having Liam around, as much as anyone could get used to having that much man-candy working in your yard.
Every night when she got home, she invited him to join her for dinner, and after some hard work, he would.
It was nice to have company, and they would talk about Tank and the land and how things were going. Tank was sleeping better through the night and seemed happier, and she had to admit it was nice to come home from work and see someone there waiting for her with a smile.
But she knew she was probably living in a delusion. Liam probably only saw her as a client, despite the intensity with which he watched her. It was probably how his company was going to do well, because of their good-looking, hard-working employees.
She still wondered about the castle he lived in, though. He’d been pretty tight lipped about personal things, including his past, but she supposed that was proper given their working relationship.
Still, every time she looked out at him working in the yard, wiping sweat from his brow, she felt something stir in her. She wanted more.
She was watching him now, holding a cup of coffee while the sandwiches she’d fixed waited on the counter for when he was ready to come in.
There was something so attractive about such a hard worker. Maybe it was just that she’d always had to do everything on her own and it seemed like the work was never done, and then she’d always felt so alone.
Liam lifted the bottom of his shirt to wipe his brow, and she gasped as rows of perfect, tanned, rippling ab muscles like something from a body builder magazine were revealed to her hungry eyes. She leaned on the door, feeling her knees weaken, feeling like an idiot for preying on her contractor this way.
Not just her contractor, her friend. He’d done nothing but keep to his contract and be polite and kind to her, and she was rewarding him with lewd looks while he was working.
He looked up, and she ducked out of sight, breathing heavily.