9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Maeve

A ll evening Tiff and Vaughn had nagged me to find out who’d made me blush over a text. But damn me, Scales!

I’d looked it up on Kraken and found out I either had a boss kink, or was a bit of a Domme, or both.

Him calling me boss had turned me on like crazy and I already half dreaded meeting him tonight. I’ll jump him if he does.

“Good morning, babes,” Tiff sang as she entered the kitchen, squeezing me to her side before busying herself with the jar of oats. We always shared breakfast duty. I was in charge of the coffee, she made the porridge, and Vaughn took care of the toppings, since he really had a knack for it.

“So, heard from your secret admirer this morning?” he asked me in an offhand voice as he cut a pear into thin slices, raising an elegant eyebrow.

“I’m not telling you any more than I already did.” I rolled my eyes at him and started to foam some milk for our lattes.

“Oh, come on, babes! We’re so—” Tiff began, but I interrupted her with a snort.

“Nosy!”

“Curious, happy for you,” she corrected me with a nudge from her elbow.

“There’s nothing between us…”

“Yet,” Vaughn added dryly.

“Stop finishing my sentences for me, Mister Lee!” I fake scolded him, heavily rolling my eyes now. “Yet,” I reluctantly agreed, a grin fighting its way onto my face.

“If you ever need us to get out of the house, just let me know. In case you want to get to second base with …” Tiff stirred the porridge so it wouldn’t stick to the pan.

“Stop trying to get his name out of me,” I told both of them without any heat. Nope, that was all rushing down my body.

Damn, I’d give anything to even get to first base with Taran.

I got so restless that I arrived at work half an hour before my shift started. It gave me time to print out a sign for the door, and to get into the groove of managing duties. Beth, my former manager, hadn’t returned yet when Megan Scott, property manager at Taran’s real estate office, had informed her of the change in leadership. I hadn’t been upset to see her go, and neither had any of my staff.

We had enough stock to last us for the rest of the month and only needed to get perishable items before the renovations would hopefully begin.

My shift passed in a jiffy, and before I knew it, it was almost time to close for the day. Taran would be here in twenty minutes.

“Bye, see you soon,” I called as I waved the last customers out and locked the door. After grabbing my bag from the staff room, I locked myself in the toilet, washed, put on fresh underwear, a pair of jeans, and my favourite shirt. The last thing I did was check my outfit in the floor-length mirror. I wanted to look cute but presentable.

Yep, that works.

A soft knock on the door zapped me like an electric shock, and I dashed over to let him in.

“Maeve!” He sounded as if he hadn’t seen me in years, not just days, and for a moment I was sure he wanted to hug me but thought better of it, making me in turn unsure whether it was okay to want to fling yourself at your boss the moment you saw him. “It’s just my name on the title,” he’d said but we both knew it wasn’t true.

People like me would forever be employees of people like him.

“How was your day?” he asked, half turning away to put a nondescript paper bag on the counter.

Realising I’d been staring at him for the last minute or two, I shook my head to clear it. “Taran, hi. It’s good to see you. It was great actually. I’ve been letting it slip to our regular customers that we’re only closing for a bit to renovate, but that we will stick around, and they’ve been spending even more money here than before.”

The grin he gave me was unlike any I had ever seen on his face. That wasn’t shy, sweet Scales, but Taran ‘top of the food chain’ Atax.

“What?” I asked him, trying to laugh off the uncomfortable feeling of being regarded so intensely by an apex predator.

“I’m good.”

“Huh?”

“I knew you’d be the right woman for the job. My mother would be proud of my choice.” His smirk widened.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I follow?”

“You’re resourceful and a born leader, boss,” he said silkily. “Very much like a Dragoness, so exactly the kind of person my mother would have chosen to run this business in her stead.”

“I think I’ll stop calling you Scales.” I contemplated him with my head tilted to the side.

“Why’s that?”

“I think Silver Tongue is the more apt nickname. ”

“If you think my words are impressive, just wait until you see what else my tongue can do.” With a wink, he turned to the counter.

What the actual fuck just happened? Did Taran-freaking-Atax just make an oral sex joke?

“Struan Fox should be here in a few minutes, right?” he asked me in an offhand voice and handed me the bag. “I have something for you before he gets here.”

The bag was surprisingly heavy for its small size.

“Scales,” I began, mentally still stuck on the naughty comment, and pulled out a box.

You gotta be kidding me!

It was a Kraken XO Pro, the best smartphone currently on the market and the kind of device CEOs of big ass companies or professional influencers used.

“You’re not going to say that it’s too much or too expensive,” he said before I could get another word out, clearly knowing what thoughts were racing through my mind. “This job will require you to use your phone for work a lot. The display on your smartphone is too small for it. I could barely see anything on it the other day. That’s just not working in the long run, so take this as an onboarding present.”

He met my gaze, a half smile on his lips. “Okay?”

“Okay,” I breathed. He could afford it, but I didn’t want him to think I was only doing this for the money. “Thank you, Taran.”

“Anytime.”

Another knock interrupted our conversation, and I was close to slamming the door into Struan Fox’s face so I could thank Taran properly…somehow .

Maybe he wanted to find out what my tongue was capable of…

“Hello,” the newcomer greeted us, a smile crinkling the corners of his bright blue eyes. He shook first my hand, then Taran’s. “I’m Struan, it’s great to meet you.”

In another life I might have found his soft brown curls endearing, his smile charming, but in that life Taran didn’t exist.

I fell in love with Struan Fox platonically, because not once did he turn to the big ass rich af Dragon for information or instructions. I had been the one to contact him, I’d scheduled this appointment, and he treated me like I was in charge.

It felt amazing.

Barely an hour later, we had a plan and a giddy Dragon who had already given us the okay to get started ASAP. Thanks to a lucky stroke for all of us, one of Struan’s customers had just cancelled their order, which meant he unexpectedly had room in his schedule for the cafe.

We’d be closed for only a month because the cafe didn’t require any structural work, only a fresh coat of paint, new flooring, and new furniture.

This meant we would be back in time for the height of summer and could dive straight into marketing our grand opening party.

“I’ll order all the supplies first thing tomorrow morning,” the contractor told me, making a note on his elegant Kraken tablet. “We’ll have the furniture delivered here so we can put it up as soon as we’ve taken care of the paint and floors.” He scribbled that down, too.

“You’re taking care of the new dishes, right?” he asked.

“I am,” I confirmed, shooting Taran a glance out of the corners of my eyes .

How will he react to my suggestion to design the new branding myself?

“Grand. I think that’s all for now. I’ll be in touch on Monday next week with an updated schedule for the project, and with a quote.”

“Just send that to my personal email address.” Taran handed Struan a dark grey business card with plain gold lettering. “I’ll take care of it straight away and give you further instructions for the invoices.”

“Will do,” the curly-haired man nodded at both of us. “I’m looking forward to working with you. I still can’t believe you found us on Lone Fox’s ArgoS. I’ll have to send Maddie a gift basket.” He chuckled, his blue eyes twinkling.

“We’re so excited! Thank you, Struan.” I shook his hand, unable to keep a wide grin off my face.