Fired by my Grumpy Dragon (Grumpy Monster Bosses #3)

THIRTY FIVE

Loren

I wake sometime in the middle of the night.

I’m still sleepy. My limbs feel heavy. I’m languidly aware of places I’m sore that I haven’t been sore in a while.

Kivrayn is a furnace at my back. So much that I’ve poked my feet from the blankets to cool myself down.

How did this become so normal in a matter of days?

I become aware of a buzzing on the nightstand. My phone screen is lit up with a call.

I blink at the caller ID, but it’s not one I recognize.

I almost leave it, but the irritation of not knowing who it is will keep me from getting back to sleep, so I slide out of bed quietly and sneak into the other room.

“Hello?” I keep my voice low. No need to wake Kivrayn.

“Ms. Carandang?” The voice on the other end of the line is clipped and professional. An American accent, which tells me it’s something from home.

“Yes. Who is this?”

“Ma’am, I’m Renee Martins. I’m calling from Sterling and Hartman in regard to a claim in the estate of Jennifer Burbage that you may be entitled to.”

I swallow around a distinct lump in my throat. “What?”

“Ma’am, Ms. Burbage’s solicitor contacted us early this morning to inform us that she left specific instructions for our firm to manage the collection of antiques and valuables she left to you in her final will.”

“No, she didn’t.” I lift my hand to cover my mouth before anything else spews out. For some reason, anger boils in my chest even while an unwelcome tear trickles down my cheek.

“Ma’am, if there’s been some mistake, I must apologize. I was asked to contact you as soon as possible and ask you to make an appointment to sign the relevant papers. It seems Ms. Burbage was insistent that the process begin as soon as possible. You are Ms. Carandang, aren’t you?”

“Y-yes.”

“And you do wish to claim the collection from Ms. Burbage’s estate? I feel obliged to tell you that its worth is considerable.”

“I—” Isn’t that what I came here for? Only winning it this way leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Especially when Kivrayn is sleeping in the room next door, completely unaware that he’s lost access to the necklace which was his mother’s. “I don’t know.”

“Ah. I’m sorry. You’re grieving. Please allow me to suggest you make a time to meet with me and we can go over in more detail the items in the collection and Ms. Burbage’s final wishes.”

That’s what gets me. Despite everything, if Jenny has final wishes, I’m going to at least hear them out. She deserves that much. Her children won’t give her that, I guarantee it.

A guilty knot twists in my gut when I start to think of my own relationship with my parents. “Sure. Fine. I’m out of town right now. When’s your next appointment? ”

“This is a busy time of year for us, but I’ll have time tomorrow or the next day. After that, my next free appointment isn’t until next month. Have you got a particular time in mind?”

This feels too sudden. I hadn’t let myself think about leaving London yet. About returning home to a life without this Kivrayn in it. I can’t go back to the way things were, but nor do I think we could last without driving each other nuts. Nothing good could come of us continuing to see each other. Only a huge argument that would tear us apart brutally and leave me with bitter memories instead of sweet.

My hand strays to the tender spot on my neck still marked by his bite.

I’m not sure he will see things the same way. Only right now, I can’t bear to start an argument trying to find out. I’d like to remember him as the sweet yet fiercely protective dragon who fussed over my scratches and pandered to my every whim, rather than the over-controlling asshole he turns into when we fight.

My chest feels tight, as if I’m holding in half a breath I can’t let go. “Sure. I can make the day after tomorrow. Any time.”

I hardly listen as the lady on the other end of the line confirms the time and date. She sends me an email with the details, and I hang up, wondering where to begin.

Flights. I need a flight. And to tell my new boss that I’ve secured the collection he never truly thought I’d get. This might be a moot point if I can’t get a flight home .

Twenty minutes later, it turns out I can. The airline agrees to swap my flight for an earlier one leaving this morning. I have five hours to be at the airport.

Five hours I can’t spend pacing the living room of Kivrayn’s hotel suite.

Quietly, I find my things and stuff them into my bag. I pull the door softly closed behind me.

In the cab on the way to the airport, I mentally retrace the note I left him.

The more I think about it, though, the more I hate every word.

I have to go, and it has to be now. I’m really sorry I can’t stay to say goodbye, but I think it’s better this way. We’ll only argue. I’ve liked the last few days.

No time to explain, but I’ll make sure your mother’s necklace is returned to you.

No hard feelings?

Loren

God, pathetic. Liked? I’ve more than liked the last few days with him. Regardless of the sadness and hurt that’s come up for me, I’ll still remember them fondly. Which is exactly why I have to leave. This has to end before the memories are spoiled by reality.

This would never last in reality.

But liked? I could have done better than liked.

No hard feelings?

What was that? Mentally I kick myself for the entire journey .

I’m almost ready to turn back, only I don’t have his number. Nor do I have the key to his hotel suite. Which are lame excuses, but that’s what I tell myself.

As I hand over my passport and boarding pass to be scanned at customs, I wonder if he’ll go back to hating me. Somehow the thought of that is what finally breaks me. I fix my eyes on the floor, furiously blinking back tears that have no right to fall as I stride desperately across the polished floors, hoping no one is looking at me.

I look up a hundred times, half hoping to see an enraged dragon bursting through the crowd, charging into gate twenty-seven to shout, ‘stop that flight!’.

Of course, that doesn’t happen.

And when my flight is called to board, I stand and make my way into the plane with a hollow feeling in my chest and a strange nausea in my belly.