Dragon's Fake Mate (West Coast Water Dragons Book 4) Read online

  Then he was gone, leaving her to blush away to her heart’s content. She rolled her eyes, exasperated at the way her heart was pounding. It was downright unprofessional of her, really. How the hell was she going to shake this stupid crush?

  Chapter 2 - Daniel

  It had been a pretty ridiculous day, all told, but despite the chaotic end to the afternoon’s work, they’d had a pretty productive run. With the last few solar panels installed (save the one that had been dropped—that would need repairs before it was hoisted up onto the roof to join its fellows), the cabins were officially all built and ready for occupants. And Daniel was very much looking forward to getting their little tourist trap running in earnest. For the last few months, they’d been renting out a small handful of cabins that had been finished early, a kind of test run—no more than ten guests total at any given time, just to see what kind of teething problems came up. But now that the rest of the cabins were ready for occupants, Daniel was itching to get them packed full with happy tourists.

  He’d loved the last few months. Having new people coming in and out of the camp, hanging out on the beach or getting a meal in the dining hall … it filled him with joy. Daniel was an almost pathological extrovert, and ever since he’d been young, all he wanted out of life was to meet new people, hear their stories. It was just such a big world, and even with the extensive lifespan of a dragon, he knew he’d never be able to experience everything the world had to offer. So what better way than to hear the stories of other people?

  It was what he missed most about life on the road if he was honest. For decades, he and his close friends had roamed the country on their motorbikes. They’d been wild, dangerous days, and he knew that his friends had been eager to settle down … but living in such isolation had taken quite a toll on him. He’d been able to satisfy himself by going out with his friend James on the weekends, hitting up local bars … James’s motivation had had a lot more to do with seducing women than general socializing. Not that Daniel was against romantic entanglements, necessarily … but he was just as happy with a long conversation.

  But those were few on the ground these days. Ever since James had finally met his soulmate—a human woman named Julia who’d moved down to the peninsula with them a few months earlier—Daniel had had nobody to go into town with. So the visits from tourists were a welcome breath of fresh air. He couldn’t wait until the place was in full swing. He could already see the potential for this to be one of the hottest spots on the west coast … the future of sustainable eco-tourism.

  But to do that, they needed to know how to market themselves. And it was a bold new world out there. Daniel had put his hand up to handle the marketing side of things. Lachlan had been doing the bulk of it, but he had his hands full running the settlement (as well as looking after his kids—he and his mate Serena had more than enough on their plate with two small children to chase around). With the bulk of the construction work done and dusted, Daniel figured that his natural inclination toward being a people person made him a good fit for head of marketing.

  But there’d been a hell of a learning curve. Getting into social media was tricky … it had taken him a lot of long nights on the computer to really get a handle on how humans used this new-fangled Internet thing. For someone who’d been around long before even the invention of the computer, Daniel had had a rough time coming to grips with this kind of technology. But he was getting there. Networking had always come naturally to him … there were just a lot of new tools to make networking possible these days, that was all. These days, he looked forward to getting home at the end of a long day and checking his email.

  A pretty ridiculous day, he thought with a rueful grin as he stepped through the front door of his cabin. It was right in the middle of the settlement, only a few doors down from the dining hall—he loved living close to the action. On his days off, he spent most of his time sitting on his porch, watching people go by, checking in on the guests, and finding out how they were enjoying their stay. Not that he disliked being alone, necessarily … but he had to admit, as he stepped through his front door in the last of the late afternoon night, there was something a little bit lonely about coming home to an empty house.

  And in the last few years, he’d gotten more and more aware of the fact that he lived alone. It felt like some kind of virus was going around. For as long as he could remember, he and his friends had been a pack of bachelors … just the guys, on the road together. But then, Lachlan had met his mate, Serena … then Bryce had met Jasmine … James had met Julia … and before Daniel knew it, half of his closest friends had settled down with their soulmates. He was thrilled for them, of course. The idea of falling in love, of spending every day in the company of the one person on the planet who was meant for you … god, it was wonderful. He had to admit; he was even a little jealous. Sometimes, late at night, he thought about whether he’d ever meet his soulmate. He’d met so many people in his long, long life … each one of them fascinating, each one of them full of interesting stories and thoughts and ideas … but how was he supposed to choose just one to spend the rest of his life with? The thought of a soulmate was wonderful, yes … but at the same time, it made him feel kind of claustrophobic. What if his soulmate stopped him from meeting new people? What if she wanted him at her side all the time and to hell with the rest of the world? He couldn’t cope with that—no matter how happy and content his friends seemed with their mates.

  He took a long hot shower, glad to wash away the sweat of the day. As the hot water washed over his body, he felt a tell-tale sting—and grinned a little at the memory of the rather embarrassing injuries he’d sustained that day. God, how embarrassing. It was a good thing Alice was such a professional—he’d known he could trust her to take care of him without making fun of him too much.

  He had a lot of time for his best friend’s sister. Sure, she was shy … it had taken him a while to warm up to her when he’d first met her. But when he’d finally gotten through her cool exterior, she’d surprised him with a quick wit and a thoughtful outlook on the world that he found fascinating. He was always jumping to conclusions, looking for the next interesting thing to explore, always ready for a new adventure, but Alice was more slow and deliberate. She took her time with things ... and with people. He wished he could spend more time with her. There was something about her … he had a feeling he could learn a lot from the way she saw the world. But they were so different. And he always got the sense that she didn’t like him much. She always seemed distant when he talked to her. He’d asked James about her a few times, but his friend had just shrugged.

  ”You two were never going to get on too well. You’re too extroverted for her. She’s the kind of person who could spend a week by herself in a cabin with nothing but her medical books to keep her company.”

  ”A week? By herself?” Daniel had been horrified. “I think I’d literally die.”

  That reminded him—James was coming over for dinner that night. Ever since James had settled down with his mate, they hadn’t been spending as much time together—gone were their frequent weekend trips to bars in town, and Daniel missed his friend. He spent the last of the late afternoon preparing a meal, looking forward to telling James about the rather chaotic end to that afternoon’s work. The table set and the meal ready and waiting to be served, he had just enough time to check his email before James was due to arrive.

  He was still reading when James let himself in through the front door—the two of them were close enough to have long since dispensed with niceties like knocking. James had a bottle of wine in hand, and he headed over to look over Daniel’s shoulder at his computer.

  ”Anything exciting happening in the world?”

  ”Yeah, actually.” Daniel gestured to the screen. “I’m on the mailing list for the Californian Tourism Association. They must’ve checked out our Facebook page or something, look—we’re invited to an ecotourism conference next weekend.”

  James raised an eyebrow. “
In LA? Bit of a drive.”

  ”Yeah, but it’ll be more than worth it to get our name out there.” He scanned the email, excited by the prospect. “Look! They’re willing to put us up for free—some kind of initiative for small businesses to get involved … there’s a networking event the first night and heaps of panels and talks all weekend … ”

  ”Well, you’ve got to go, right?”

  ”Definitely,” Daniel said, grinning as he bounced to his feet. “I’ve been craving a road trip. This is perfect. There’ll be panels on how to get started, how to get our name out there, increase our bookings, get word of mouth spreading … the best places to spend an advertising budget, the best way to build a brand—”

  James was laughing. “It sounds like the worst weekend I could possibly imagine, honestly, but I know how much you love this stuff.”

  ”So you don’t want to come with me? It says I can bring a partner.”

  James raised an eyebrow. “We’re not partners.”

  ”Sure, we are.” Daniel blinked at him, a little hurt. “Aren’t we?”

  His friend laughed. “When humans say partners, they usually mean … mates.”

  ”Oh.” Daniel wrinkled his nose. “But I don’t have one. Seems kind of a waste to just go alone.”

  James shrugged. “Humans are a bit more casual when it comes to that stuff. Just bring a girl along and tell them she’s your partner. It doesn’t need to be anyone serious.”

  Daniel thought about it as he served dinner for the two of them, a little distracted by the idea. He knew it would be good to have someone there with him—meeting new people was much easier with a wingman or wingwoman in tow; he knew that from all the times he and James had gone out in search of romantic conquests. He’d had his share, of course … but none of the women he’d slept with seemed like the kinds of people he could invite on a weekend away in Los Angeles.

  ”I mean, you could always take Alice,” James shrugged as they ate. “She’s been complaining about being stuck in that doctor’s office for the last few months. She could pretend like she’s your girlfriend or something. A trip away might do her good.”

  The idea had merit. Hadn’t he just been thinking that he’d like to spend more time with the settlement’s doctor? But he bit his lip. “Are you sure? Wouldn’t she mind coming along as my fake partner? I’m not exactly her favorite person.”

  ”Nobody’s her favorite person,” James shrugged. “She likes you fine, dude, she just … likes her own company more than anyone else’s. She’s weird like that. But it’d be good for her to get out of her comfort zone a little bit.”

  ”Yeah?” Daniel shrugged. “I mean, it’d be good to have someone who actually lives here to come along and talk about it. But do you really think she’d want to go on a trip with me?” He hesitated, a rueful grin spreading across his face. “She might think I’m kind of an idiot at the moment. I kind of … had to take a pretty stupid injury to her today.”

  James was laughing. “Yeah, I ran into Emerson on the way over. Asked him about his head bandage. He had a pretty interesting story to tell me. How’s your butt doing?”

  ”Fine, thanks,” Daniel said primly. “But she definitely looked at me like I was the world’s biggest idiot. Are you sure she’d want to spend the weekend with me, let alone as my fake partner?”

  ”Look at it this way. She’d been bugging Lachlan about hiring someone else for the sickbay for months, right? And he’s been putting her off because we can’t afford it. If you guys do well at this conference, that means more bookings, more money, more budget for more staff. If we put it to her like that, she’ll be bound to say yes.” James shrugged, taking a big bite of a bread roll. “She’s coming over for dinner with Julia and me tomorrow. I can talk to her for you if you want?”

  Daniel nodded. “That’d be good. I mean, don’t bully her into it or anything. It’d be nice to have her along, but I don’t want her to do anything she doesn’t want to.”

  James laughed. “A free weekend in Los Angeles? She’ll be into it. And it’ll be good for her. You have a knack for getting people out of their shells—and she needs that more than anyone.”

  They spent the rest of the night talking and laughing about the old times. For all that he’d worried a little when his best friend had introduced him to his new soulmate, Daniel had to reflect that nothing had really changed between them. If anything, he and James were closer now than they had been when they’d been spending all their time in bars, chasing after women …

  “Hey, maybe one of you will meet your soulmate up there,” James pointed out thoughtfully.

  ”What, at a marketing conference?”

  ”Hey, stranger things have happened. And there’s something in the air these days,” James pointed out. “Three of us have found our mates in the last few years. I’d be willing to bet on you or Alice being the fourth.”

  He hadn’t thought about that. “I guess it’s possible.”

  James brightened. “You could wingman for each other! Check out who’s there—you can keep her safe from any gross jerks who try to hit on her, and she can find out which of the women are single and ready to mingle …”

  Daniel couldn’t help but laugh at the idea. “Look, I’m going to get this place on the map. Strictly business. If I happen to meet the love of my life at the same time … well, I’m not going to rule it out, but it’s also not why I’m going.”

  ”Fine, fine,” James said, wrinkling his nose. “You’re no fun.”

  ”What if my soulmate’s actually a future guest who’s never going to find out about this place if I don’t do well at this conference?”

  ”Well, either way, you’re going to need to get to the conference. And you’re going to need a good wingwoman. I’ll talk to Alice for you,” James promised.

  Later that night, as he was getting ready for bed, Daniel smiled to himself. He had to admit—he was looking forward to the conference. And he hoped Alice would be keen to come along too. It would be good to get to know his best friend’s sister a little better on the long drive down. Maybe he could show her that there was more to him than the outgoing, chatty guy who’d fallen in a thorn bush. And maybe he could get a glimpse behind her introvert armor to the woman beyond.

  Chapter 3 - Alice

  Thank God for the weekend. Alice had successfully argued for some time off from Lachlan. They only had a handful of guests left in the cabins—the last few families would be out by Thursday, and they didn’t have anyone else scheduled to come stay until the following Wednesday. For the remaining couple of families, she was more than happy to be on call—but she wasn’t going to spend an entire beautiful Saturday cooped up in her office on the off chance that an injury cropped up. So for once, she was able to spend a whole, blissful day on the beach, baking her long limbs in the sun while she caught up on some reading.

  She had such an enjoyable afternoon that she almost forgot that she’d agreed to go over to James and Julia’s place for dinner—but as the sun faded from the sky, she remembered that particular appointment with a start. Feeling a little guilty for how completely she’d tuned out of the world, she hurried home. No pages all day, she thought with some satisfaction. It was good news that nobody had gotten injured … and better news that Lachlan wouldn’t be able to give her any I Told You So attitude about her day on the beach.

  After a quick cool shower and a change of clothes, she was ready to head over to James and Julia’s. She hummed to herself as she walked. Ideally, of course, she’d be spending the evening by herself, curled up in bed with a book … but she liked seeing her brother and his mate, as well as her little nephew. The boy was quite a character. He was only three, but he was already showing clear signs of the kind of person he was going to become. It was quite a funny story—James had met Julia four years ago, and a passionate night together had led to Riley’s conception. But James, true to form, hadn’t left any way for Julia to contact him, for all that he’d proceeded to spend the next three
years dreaming about the woman he’d met on the east coast. Thankfully, they’d been reunited by chance a few months ago, and James had been making up for lost time with his son.

  Riley was on the porch when she arrived. He was crouched on the ground, staring intently down at what looked like a collection of leaves from all of the trees that grew on the peninsula. Alice smiled and gave him a little wave as he looked up at her, his bright blue eyes widening a little with recognition. It felt strange to be an aunty.

  ”Leaves,” he told her proudly, gesturing down at his collection. She nodded—then waved a greeting as Julia came bustling out onto the porch.

  ”Quite the little scientist, isn’t he?” Julia said, scooping the boy up and giving Alice a broad smile. “Dinner’s nearly ready. How’re you doing, Alice?”

  ”Better for spending the whole day on the beach,” she said happily. “I feel like a recharged battery.”

  Julia laughed as they headed inside. “You know, I think that must run in your family. Riley gets all funny if we spend a few days away from the beach.”

  “We’re water dragons!” That was James—he headed over to pull Alice into a rough hug, tousling her hair as he did. It was a habit he was never going to grow out of, she knew, combing the tangles out of her shoulder-length, curly black hair with a rueful grin. “We have to spend time in the water, or we’ll dry up and blow away.”

  ”Any more insight on that?” Alice asked, glancing at Riley. Though his mother Julia was a human, the boy’s ocean-blue eyes suggested that he might have some power in common with his father—they were all waiting with interest to see if he would ever discover the ability to shift forms.

  ”Nothing yet, but I’m just waiting to wake up one day to a crib full of scales and wings,” Julia grinned. “He loves his daddy’s dragon. Especially going swimming with him.”

  ”I haven’t been able to find much on half-human shifter kids,” Alice explained as they sat down to eat. It had been on her growing list of things to research—but there wasn’t much precedent for humans having children with shifters. “He’s kind of a case study, hey?”