Matched with the Dragon: A Shifter Dating Agency Romance Page 5

  The shock of the discovery caused Briana to recoil, falling back into the white sand. Looking up at Darian with eyes wide, she watched as his expression become distorted, the newly exposed silver patch now spreading past the black on his body as his frame erupted into a mass of blinding silver and copper. Her vision blurred as the light reflecting off his scales obscured everything from sight.

  With a gasp, Briana woke from her dream, grasping at the soft leather of her couch. It took her a full minute to reconcile the textures of reality with the feeling of Darian beneath her hand. She shook her head slowly, confused as to why she would have such a vivid dream about someone she had never even actually met. Taking in a deep breath, she sat up from her resting position on the couch. She was still trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes and clear her mind as she sat hunched with her face in her palms. It wasn’t until an odd feeling rose in the pit of her stomach, like she was being watched, that she finally lifted her face out of her hands.

  She had slept the afternoon away, the day’s light now lost to blackness. After the intensity of the darkness her dream maintained, the acknowledgment of the night sent a cold feeling down her back. Looking intensely out her tall windows, Briana tried to focus on the buildings lit in the distance when, suddenly, a bright streak of metallic copper flashed in front of her window.

  It had been like a lightning strike, and it sent Briana shooting to her feet, and then promptly collapsing back onto the ground to hide between her coffee table and the seat where she had been on the couch. With heaving and anxious breaths, Briana peered out through the gap between the bottom of her coffee table and her hardwood floor. Intensely searching her window for any indication of what may have caused the bright streak to fly in front of her apartment window, Briana tried to reason with herself regarding potential explanations. She caught herself drawing a connection between the sudden flash she had just seen and the glowing orb that Darian had transformed into in her dream, but she quickly convinced herself of the ridiculousness of her even considering for a second that they were related. In fact, Briana thought, she could have simply not been fully awake and imagined the whole thing!

  “You, Briana, are driving yourself insane over this man,” she whispered to herself still on the floor.

  In an instant, Briana picked herself back up and smoothed out her shirt and pants. She placed her hands over her face and ran her fingers back through her thick black hair. It had been a long day for her, and she had gone through so many different waves of emotions that it probably was best to shower and go to bed. Turning on her heels with a big sigh, Briana made her way to her room with silver hair and grey eyes on her mind.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Darian had gone home and washed the soot from his body. He had decided that in order to prevent further occurrences such as the one today, he would be forced to perform the remainder of his security detail in his dragon form. He couldn’t trust himself to not lose control at any moment, potentially exposing himself to the world. He hoped that his growing concern for Briana would be enough to keep the monster inside him at bay, keeping his more human interests as his primary motivation. This also meant that he would most likely have to deal with Stetson and Brett much more as well.

  While showering, Darian watched the black soot stream down his body and swirl down the drain. The flowing black waves reminded Darian of Briana’s thick black hair, and he wondered what it would be like to bury his face in her beautiful mane so he could take in her sweet scent. Looking down at his body he could already see the result of his heady thoughts about her, his groin aching with desire and his skin streaking with silver scales. In frustration Darian sought to erase the thought of Briana from his mind for a second, turning the hot water in his shower all the way up to the highest heat setting. Standing there feeling the water rush over his delicate human skin prompted him to close his eyes, focusing on the slow burn that was on the outside of his skin for once.

  Despite the visceral distraction he had tried to provide, the heat of the water proved to be no match for the thoughts he was having about the beautiful Briana. With each passing minute of warm water, Darian began to imagine Briana’s hands replacing the streaming water. He could feel her hands caressing his back, pulling his chest into her soft body. He imagined her fingers gently grasping at his hips as he thrust deep into her soft, welcoming warmth. He imaged his face hovering over hers, her black hair splayed across the pillow and her flower-petal lips parting in the shock and pleasure of his body moving on top of hers.

  He awoke himself from his own fantasy when his own gasp called him back to reality. Looking down at his body, he was surprised to find the dragon inside only slightly present, with small patches of scales glowing only on his thigh and the back of his hand. It was the human part of him that had responded to his fantasies, his penis hard and protruding away from his frame, his nipples standing erect from his chest and his skin coasted in small goosebumps.

  ***

  In anger and frustration, Darian swiftly reached for the shower temperature knob, ready to switch to cold water. In his eagerness to rid his mind of the uncontrollable thoughts of Briana, he yanked on the shower handle, but he had been too aggressive in his rage and ended up completely snapping the handle off the wall all together.

  “You have got to be kidding me!” Darian grumbled under his breath.

  Even more vexed than before, Darian flung his glass shower door open, wincing when he heard it crash into the marble wall and shatter. Darian moaned, slapping a palm onto his face. He stood completely still for a second, aggravated and disbelieving of the extent by which Briana had managed to consume all of his self-control and patience. Like a child sent to time-out, Darian stomped from the bathroom, avoiding the broken shower door on the way.

  He stormed into his bedroom and sat down on the edge of his bed as he tried to gain composure over himself. Black smoke had begun to spill from his lungs, so he quickly threw on a pair of shorts and moved out to the large balcony outside his room. He stood gripping his balcony railing, fighting to regain control. He needed to do something about this. No woman had ever affected him so severely, and in a way in which he completely lacked the ability to regain control over.

  It wasn’t until he heard his cell phone ringing from his bedroom that he realized he had been standing on the balcony for some time while he fought to regain his control. Releasing his grip from the railing, he was upset to see he had dented the metal. He rolled his eyes at himself as he rushed to the ringing phone. He was glad he had left his phone home today, otherwise it would have been lost during the events that took place at the park.

  “Ms. Daniella, how may I be of service today?” Darian asked.

  “I wanted to brief you on a few things regarding your security detail on Ms. Briana Nelson, actually,” Lila responded in a more professional and serious tone than Darian had been expecting.

  “Okay, well, I can oblige that,” He responded coolly.

  “First, I wanted to start by saying that she will be going on a date—“

  “A date!” Darian blurted out, cutting Lila off.

  “Uh, yes Darian, a date,” Lila said with confusion.

  “I only react that way seeing as her last date had been so unsuccessful,” Darian recovered quickly.

  “Well, yes, but Briana is optimistic about her chances at finding love regardless.”

  “I do not care about her motivations, Lila, I care about her security, and I do not think another date for her is safe right now,” Darian said with ice in his tone.

  “Darian, I had to fight to even get you to watch Briana to begin with, and now you want to dictate her private life?” Lila said with a hint of mockery in her tone.

  “I do not take responsibilities lightly, Lila, and the moment I signed on to watch this woman, it means I decidedly will handle it with the same amount of care and concern as I manage my own business with.”

  “Well that is a little excessive Dar
ian, don’t you think?” Lila asked with some humor in her voice.

  “No. It is a human life. One I may remind you is in danger no thanks to you!” The acid in Darian’s voice took Lila back momentarily.

  “Darian, I’m sorry, I understand that you handle all aspects of business with the utmost seriousness, and obviously I am pleased by the fact that you are taking your security over Briana with such conviction, but this date is going to happen,” Lila said with a much softer intonation to her voice.

  “Lila,” Darian took a long pause as he tried to collect his emotions, “Lila, I’m sorry I snapped, there is just a lot going on professionally for me right now, and I am trying to hold it all together. Now, needing to provide security on a date is adding a whole new level of difficulty to my various responsibilities. Please, tell me how many men you know that run an entire company and act as sole bodyguard to a threatened and high profile individual?” Darian felt confident his tone and length of explanation was enough to hide the true reason behind his aggressive outburst.

  “I understand where you are coming from Darian, I really do. You and I are both bottom-up individuals. I built my company under the same pressures as yourself, and I also deal with what seems like endless piles of additional responsibilities that should not be within my scope of worries,” Lila said with a patient tone.

  Darian was surprised by the level at which Lila’s words calmed him. He felt as though a mother had stood and rubbed his back. Something Darian had always admired in Lila was her ability to understand nearly anyone and everyone and react perfectly to whatever they were thinking and feeling. It made sense to Darian that she had managed to build such a monolithic empire in the matchmaking industry. He was feeling guilty for the way he had spoken to her, and he knew her sending Briana on a date was not nearly as dangerous as he was making it out to be. In fact, he was ashamed that he had let his unreasonable obsession with a woman upset him enough to the point where he snapped at Lila the way he had.

  “Lila, I do not mean to make your life more difficult. Of course, if Briana is going to go on a date, I will continue to perform my job function. Who is the lucky fellow?” Darian asked, wincing at his unsuccessful attempt at being casual.

  “His name is Brad James and he is a talent manager. She will be going to a basketball game followed by dinner with him Friday night,” Lila rattled off as though nothing had transpired in the conversation just moments ago.

  “Okay,” Darian responded deadpan. A simple okay was all he could muster in the increasingly uncomfortable conversation. He couldn’t afford to let his emotions take hold of him. He couldn’t recall a time in his adult life where he had so much trouble keeping the dragon inside at bay.

  “I do want to give you an opportunity to perform your security detail to the best of your ability, though, Darian. Therefore, I think you should dictate where they attend dinner,” Daniella responded hesitantly.

  “Fine, I will be in contact when I decide,” and with that, Darian hung up the phone.

  Darian stood for a second trying to collect his thoughts. He couldn’t afford to let his emotions take hold of him. He couldn’t recall a time in his adult life where he not only had so much trouble keeping the dragon inside at bay, but also struggled to keep his own personal emotions from overpowering his professional sensibilities. It was dawning on Darian that Briana had successfully managed to take Darian’s eye off the ball.

  She had affected his mental and emotional stability enough to the point where he was completely missing basic etiquette that he had always maintained as a powerful business owner and leader. She had somehow managed to influence him enough to cause him to snap while engaging in professional interactions, and she had made him forget that his protecting her was a job and not a hobby. For the first time since Darian had been a boy, he actually felt embarrassed.

  Not to mention, on top of all of that, Briana had sent the Dragon in his heart rearing, making it nearly impossible to keep his biggest secret hidden from the public eye as of late. Darian had been treating the way Briana affected him as some type of inconvenience that would pass, and it occurred to him that when she triggered his animalistic tendencies, human or dragon, he had failed to take it seriously up until that point. He also began to realize that much of his time spent guarding her had actually more been spent admiring her.

  With these new thoughts spreading through Darian’s mind, he panicked at the thought that he had been careless not just with his own self, but also regarding the safety of Briana. He had failed to do something that he never had to even think about doing when working any other time: take his job seriously. It was true, Darian had allowed himself to be far too casual regarding his protection services over Briana, as well as the way which she affected him.

  Letting these contemplations settle in, Darian walked into his bathroom and decided to survey the damage. He figured there was no better way to start to acknowledge and address his irresponsible behavior regarding Briana than face what it was doing to him head on.

  Walking in his bathroom, he blinked at the shattered glass that was scattered across the white marble floors. Black soot footprints intermingled amongst the glass, and he shook his head at the mess. Looking into the shower, he saw the handle hanging off the wall, but luckily he had not cracked the marble foundation around it. Darian saw the broken glass and missing handle as a representation of his own mental state at the moment. He had allowed his impulses to dictate his choices rather than his logic, and if he didn’t want his life to end up as shattered and carelessly destroyed as his shower, he would have to get serious.

  Sadness creeped into the back of his mind as Darian was forced to accept that he would have to reign in his feelings for Briana. No more admiring her features or allowing stray thoughts. He would be all business from here on out.

  One thing that he knew needed to be done was a background check on the man that Lila was going to set Briana up with. Seeing as the last time Lila decided she had a match for Briana it had ended up with a Russian mobsters threatening to kidnap the poor girl, Darian decided that a thorough looking into the man was in order.

  Motivated to begin performing his security detail in a more professional and organized way, Darian headed to his closet to dress, deciding that he could save the bathroom clean up for a service he could call from the office. Nothing was truer than the old adage of dressing for what you wanted to achieve, so Darian padded into his pristine white carpeted closet and pulled one of his nicer dark grey suits from the shelf. Carefully buttoning his shirt and lacing his tie, Darian felt the strength and order of his life before Briana rushing over him. He was surer than ever that he could get his security detail of this woman back on the rails, and it would all begin with a thorough and unemotional investigation of Brad James.

  Making his way out of his apartment, Darian also had another thought. The Russian, if he was intending on carrying out the threats that he had leveled on Briana, he would be enraged by her attendance on another date. Knowing most egomaniac criminals, they seemingly waited for victims to defy their authority as though to have further reason to punish or as an excuse to justify their own behavior. From what Darian knew about Petrov, and from what he understood about underground criminals, Briana’s attendance on this date would either be the event where the kidnapping is attempted, or it would inspire action from the Russian very soon after. Perhaps, Darian thought, they should stage a fake date beforehand and draw out Petrov, but he was quick to dismiss that idea for he would hate to potentially put Briana in harm’s way multiple times.

  Arriving at his office half an hour later, Darian shut the heavy wood office doors that insulated him from the rest of his employees. In other situations, Darian most likely would have handed down the background check responsibilities to someone that worked for him, but he wanted to perform the check himself as a form of self-assurance that he was turning a new leaf when it came to Briana Nelson. He was hoping that he would be able to review
whatever information he found on Brad James objectively.

  Darian settled into his large leather office chair as he tried to focus himself on the task at hand, while also maintaining the air of professionalism that he usually conducted himself with while at work. Directing his attention towards his monitor, he first performed a basic google search on Mr. James.

  Darian felt himself turn icy at what he saw pop up under the search results. There across Darian’s browser were photograph after photograph of Mr. James arm and arm with numerous Hollywood social lights. Seeing the extent of women that this man seemed to be associated with led Darian to be surprised that Brad and Briana had never met before. It also told Darian that Briana was not one for slumming around with promiscuous talent agents.

  In most cases where surface level searches reveal a potentially poor character, Darian was experienced enough to know that this man was most likely far from the average Joe. As he continued to click through articles, social media profiles, and numerous images and blog posts, Darian saw that Brad had touched nearly every inch of female Hollywood.

  He partied with the wild brother in law of social media’s most famous family, he went on tropical vacations with numerous young models, and he was seen at nearly every major party in Hollywood. There were pictures of him at Vegas pool parties, a girl in each arm, and there were photos of him at formal events, never the same woman in tow. As he scrolled through the pictures, Darian was growing enraged that Daniella would set up Briana with someone like this. It was more than the promiscuous behavior, Darian told himself. It was about the blatant lack of responsibility and respect towards other’s that this man displayed. Yes, that was what was bothering Darian about this man.